BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. MY HERO ACADEMIA DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. SO, IT'S OKAY TO PUT ALL THE ANIMALS ON A BOAT, BUT ACTUALLY TAKING THEIR DNA AND PUTTING IT IN ROBOTS IS GOING TOO FAR? NOT FAIR.
So, take a deep breath, guys. Enjoy the good vibes, because we're not going to have them again for a while.
My Alien Academia
Chapter 44
Crisis Dawns
Ben ran as fast as he could, and tried not to flinch every time there was an explosion. The latter was getting easier, simply because there had been so many, and he was getting used to them; the former was getting harder, because he couldn't afford to jostle the body he was carrying.
"Come on, Julie," he muttered. "We're almost there. We can make it!"
Amazingly, Julie was still conscious enough to make a noise of agreement. On her shoulder, Ship whined and nuzzled closer to her. The two were badly injured, but Ben kept telling himself that they would both make it, as long as they got help soon.
"Ben!" Gwen hissed at him, and waved him over. "Kevin's got the ship ready to go!"
"Thanks." Ben gently placed Julie on a platform of pink Mana that Gwen created; he frowned when he saw the odd cracks in his cousin's skin. "How are you holding up?"
Gwen smiled, but Ben knew her well enough to recognize when she was faking. "I'm okay, Ben. It's just… yeah, it's been a pretty bad day."
That was the biggest understatement of Ben's life. He couldn't remember any other time when things had gone from perfectly normal to apocalyptic in such a short amount of time. He tried not to think about how many people were already dead, including his parents, Gwen's parents, and their grandfather. It had happened so fast that they'd barely had time to cry.
But it was going to be okay. He was Ben Tennyson. He could fix this. He didn't know how, but he would make it better.
"Hey, Tennyson!" Kevin stuck his head out the door of the Rustbucket III. "Get your girlfriend inside and strap in! We've got those things coming in hot!"
"How long before we can get off the planet?" Gwen asked.
Kevin scowled. "I don't know if we can. Sensors are showing 'em in the atmosphere, and I'm picking up interplanetary chatter that they're showing up all over the galaxy."
Ben tried not to wince. "How bad is it?"
"Looks like they hit Earth first, but…" Kevin sighed. "It's bad. Worse than the Highbreed, and it's only been a day."
"And it is only going to get worse." The three conscious humans jumped when Professor Paradox stepped out of the shadows. "Hello, all."
"Professor!" Ben grinned. "Man, am I glad to see you. This is the part where you tell us how to fix things, right?"
Paradox smiled. "Indeed, I've come for that very purpose. Or, rather, I've come to collect those people who can fix this."
Ben rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's always gotta be me."
Kevin laughed. "It's the end of the world, and he's still got an ego the size of a planet."
"Actually, Ben is the only one I'm not here for," Paradox admitted. "It is Gwen, Kevin and Miss Yamamoto that I require."
Ben blinked. "Oh. Okay. I guess they deserve a chance to save the universe, right?"
"Of course." Paradox looked out into the distance, and his smile faded. "I require a moment to get them all to safety, Ben. My powers are being affected by this… catastrophe, and I need focus. I will need you to buy me that time."
Ben looked into the impossibly ancient man's eyes, and saw the truth. "No, you don't. You just want me to feel good before the end, don't you?"
Paradox smiled again, but it was sad. "You've always been good at reading me, my friend, no matter what timeline I visit. It is true. I cannot take you with us."
Gwen looked between Paradox and her cousin. "What? No! I've already lost everyone else, don't leave Ben behind!"
Ben pulled her in for a hug. "Gwen, it's okay. This is Paradox, remember? He always has a reason for things. I'll see you when you've saved the universe, okay?"
"B-Ben…" Julie struggled to sit upright, and reached for him. "Ben, please…"
"It's okay, Julie." Ben took her hand, and leaned in for a brief kiss. "I love you."
Even that much effort was too much, and Julie collapsed again, tears mixing with the blood dripping down her face.
Ben gently stroked her cheek, and looked up at Kevin. "Take care of them, Levin."
Kevin blinked furiously, trying not to let his own tears escape. "With my life, Tennyson."
"Don't go that far. I still need someone to mess with, and Gwen scares me." Ben gave his cousin one last hug. "Get Julie and Ship onboard, okay?"
Gwen nodded, and pulled the makeshift stretcher up the ramp of the ship. Paradox snapped his fingers, and the ship vanished; however, he remained behind.
"Tell me the truth, Paradox," Ben said, oddly calm in the face of death. "How bad is it?"
"About as bad as it gets," Paradox replied. "We have one chance to make things right. If we fail, everything will cease to exist… save for him."
Ben saw who Paradox was talking about, stepping through the ruins of his hometown. "Yeah, that figures. I might as well go down swinging."
"I am sure you will give a good account of yourself," Paradox said, and patted Ben's shoulder. "Good luck, my friend."
Then Paradox was gone, leaving Ben to face his enemy, with nothing but the fire and the dead for company.
"All right, let's do this." Ben raised his hand over the dial of his watch. "It's Hero Time!"
…
Midoriya smiled as he read over his feedback. He'd done well on his last quiz; not perfect, but still enough to maintain his spot as third-best student in his class. He wanted to do better, but Bakugo stubbornly maintained his near-perfect grades, and Yaoyorozu… well, nobody was going to do better than Yaoyorozu.
A gust of wind passed through, and it made him shiver; autumn was coming in full force, and everyone was back to wearing their heavier school jackets. The girls had also begun wearing the optional stockings for their uniforms—though Uraraka had looked smugly at her female friends, because she'd been wearing them since school began.
It wasn't just school uniforms that were being changed for the colder months. Aizawa had encouraged them all to make modifications to their costumes; it was just common sense that Heroes couldn't afford to get sick because of their fashion sense. Fortunately, most of those modifications were minor, and the Support Department were supposed to have them ready today.
"Everyone, it's time for Heroics!" Yaoyorozu called out from inside the dorms. "Line up outside and head for the lockers!"
The students scrambled to put away their things, and got ready. Midoriya shared a quick smile with Uraraka, then moved to the front of the line. He led the boys to their locker room, while Yaoyorozu led the girls.
"You know, it kinda sucks that my Quirk is all about taking hits," Kirishima said. "I mean, my costume is always gonna get shredded."
"Maybe you should ask the Support Department to make you an outfit like Momo's," Sero offered. "It repairs itself, and can be programmed for different weather."
Kirishima shrugged. "Maybe? I'm not good with that computer stuff, and I might destroy it myself whenever I push my Quirk. I think I'll just man up and deal with the cold."
Midoriya hummed noncommittally as he put on his new hoodie. It had the same style as his redesign, but it was made of thicker materials; his gloves were also no longer fingerless, and his pants had outer padding, similar to armor plates, to help keep out the cold.
Sero had actually gone for a complete redesign for the material in his costume, as had quite a few other students. Other than his helmet, gloves and boots, his costume was made of the same material as Yaoyorozu's and Asui's. Iida had done the same with the black bodysuit underneath his armor. The nanotech had started to become very popular among the up-and-coming Heroes with more skintight costumes, and had even started to spread out to Pros who were tired of replacing their costumes every few weeks.
Not everyone was hopping on the nanotech bandwagon. Bakugo, for instance, could have gone with that option for his shirt, but whether it was sheer stubbornness, or because the material was associated with Midoriya's friends, he declined.
"Ugh, Shoto, couldn't you have done something with your outfit?" Ashido complained as the boys and girls met up. "It's kind of plain."
Todoroki shrugged. "It's not like cold or heat bother me, and anything I add on might get frozen and shatter, or just burn off." He hesitated, then gently bumped his shoulder against hers. "I like yours, though."
Ashido grinned. "Aw, thanks!"
After some consideration, Ashido had done away with her mask entirely; between her skin, eyes and horns, it wasn't like she could do much to hide her identity anyway. For the winter months, she had added a beige high-collar jacket with sleeves that ended just above her elbows. She'd wanted the nanotech material for her bodysuit, but it wasn't possible to make it acid-proof.
Uraraka, on the other hand, had replaced her own bodysuit with the nanotech. It gave her costume a slight sheen when it caught the light; it might have been Midoriya's bias, but when she used her wings, it made her look even more like an angel.
Yaoyorozu had adjusted her costume for the cold, even though it would keep her warm. She'd extended the leggings down to her boots, closed up the hole in the chest, and added short sleeves that went just past her shoulders.
Asui hadn't done anything to adjust her costume; it had been programmed to automatically warm her up or cool her down as the environment changed. She had, however, mentioned that she was thinking of cutting her hair, after a nightmare about her fight with Rappa, in which he'd caught her by her long hair and killed her. The jury was still out whether or not she would do it.
"All right, everyone calm down," Aizawa said, even though no one was actually acting out. "We're going to Ground Gamma. The bus is going to be here in five minutes; I suggest you get some stretching in, because you're going to need it."
As the students prepared themselves, Uraraka made her way over to Midoriya and Yaoyorozu. "Hey, Momo, Deku-kun, any idea what we're doing?"
Yaoyorozu sighed. "You make it sound like Aizawa-sensei tells us things beforehand. But, since we're in costume today, it's probably a simulation for real-world applications."
"Or something challenging enough that we'd need Support Items," Midoriya added.
Uraraka nodded, then went back to stretching; after the raid on the Eight Precepts, she had stopped being scared of Aizawa's lessons. She wasn't going to become arrogant, but there was a big difference between a lesson and a fight for your life.
"Still, now I'm curious," Yaoyorozu said. "Will this be a team exercise? A competition between us? There is so much to consider."
"It could also be a no-holds barred fight," Midoriya suggested. "Maybe Power Loader ran out of robots today."
"I didn't even know he could," Yaoyorozu joked.
The bus pulled up, and the students piled in. It was a relatively quiet ride, save for when Kirishima joked too loudly next to Bakugo, who shouted at him to shut up or die. Fortunately, the rest of the class had long since learned to tune him out.
Ground Gamma was exactly the same—pipes and concrete stretching as far as the eye could see. There was plenty of places to hide, but also plenty of flat, even spaces; everything seemed equal, so that no one location had a clear advantage.
The only thing that was different for Class 1-A was that their counterparts were also present, and they both looked equally surprised.
"Hey, guys!" Kendo waved. "I guess we're doing a joint training exercise?"
"Something like that," Aizawa said, and pulled out his phone and tossed it to his own counterpart. "Today will be a competition between your classes. And since Vlad is here, I'll let him explain the rest."
Vlad King obviously hadn't been expecting to be put on the spot, because he nearly tripped. "Wait, what?" Then he scowled at Aizawa, already tucked into his sleeping bag. "Oh, you son of a—fine! All right, you scrubs, everyone line up by class! I want two rows of ten per class, representatives in front!"
Nobody wanted to make themselves a target of the grumpy teacher, so the two classes moved with purpose. Midoriya shared a worried look with Yaoyorozu, then kept his eyes locked ahead when Vlad King neared.
The bulky Hero tapped a few buttons on Aizawa's phone; a moment later, a small drone flew in and deployed a holographic screen.
"Here's the deal," Vlad said. "Each class will be divided into five teams of four, picked randomly by computer. You will then be pitted against a team from the other class. Your objective will be twofold—first, to capture all members of the opposing team, and bring them back to a cage in your assigned 'base'. The second objective will be to guard your base from the opposing team, because if they touch the cage, they can free anyone trapped inside, and are given a thirty-second head start before you can chase them again. How you go about this is up to you—you can have one person guard the camp while everyone else goes hunting, or divide yourselves equally. Any questions?"
Iida raised his hand. "Excuse me, but what if neither team is able to completely capture the other?"
Vlad blinked, then flipped through Aizawa's notes. "Knew I shouldn't have let him write this by himself—aha! If there is no immediate winner, then whoever has the most enemies captured after ten minutes is declared the winner. In the event of a draw, whichever team captures the first enemy immediately wins." He blinked again, then squinted at something on the phone. "How come this isn't in the first part of the instructions? Anyway, after teams are drawn, you'll all have ten minutes to come up with a strategy, but you are not allowed to strategize when the exercise actually starts."
Vlad pressed a button, and pictures of the students began appearing on the screen. A few seconds later, Midoriya saw who was on which team.
Team A: Midoriya Izuku, Uraraka Ochako, Asui Tsuyu, Jiro Kyoka
Team B: Iida Tenya, Yaoyorozu Momo, Ojiro Mashirao, Kaminari Denki
Team C: Mineta Minoru, Todoroki Shoto, Tokoyami Fumikage, Hagakure Toru
Team D: Koda Koji, Shoji Mezo, Aoyama Yuga, Sero Hanta
Team E: Ashido Mina, Bakugo Katsuki, Sato Rikido, Kirishima Eijiro
Team F: Tsuburaba Kosei, Yanagi Reiko, Fukidashi Manga, Rin Hiryu
Team G: Komori Kinoko, Kuroiro Shihai, Shishida Jurota, Tokage Setsuna
Team H: Awase Yosetsu, Monoma Neito, Bondo Kojiro, Kamakiri Togaru
Team I: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Kendo Itsuka, Honenuki Juzo, Shoda Nirengeki
Team J: Shiozaki Ibara, Tsunotori Pony, Kaibara Sen, Kodai Yui
A moment later, the teams on the screen were scattered and paired up.
Team A vs. Team G
Team B vs. Team I
Team C vs. Team J
Team D vs. Team H
Team E vs. Team F
Midoriya was actually quite happy with his team; Uraraka, for obvious reasons, and Asui, because she was one of his best friends. He wasn't as close with Jiro, but they got along, and she seemed happy to be on his team, if her smile was anything to go by.
Everyone else in his class seemed content with their teammates… except for Ashido, who was glaring daggers at Bakugo, and receiving them as well. Midoriya tried not to grimace; Ashido had not been subtle about how much she disliked Bakugo. Part of it was because Bakugo hadn't made a good first impression, made worse by the Sports Festival, but mostly it was because Ashido hadn't gotten over how badly Bakugo had mistreated her 'twin'.
Midoriya sighed, and tried not to think about that right now. His main worry was that he actually didn't know that much about Class 1-B; the two classes hardly interacted, and he knew almost nothing about their Quirks. Those few he did know about weren't on the team he was facing. Moreover, he wouldn't be surprised if Class 1-B had been studying his classmates' Quirks; after all, nearly all of them had been televised.
"Okay, kids, time to strategize!" Vlad barked. "Get going!"
Midoriya barely waved at his friends on other teams, and found a quiet spot with the rest of Team A.
"So, Vice Prez, got any ideas?" Jiro asked, nervously twirling one of her jacks. "We don't know squat about the other team."
"I'm sure Deku-kun has a plan," Uraraka said, and smiled at her boyfriend. "Right?"
Midoriya couldn't take his opponents' abilities into account, so he focused on what he did know. "Okay, we're going to have to be cautious at first. Here's what I'm thinking…"
…
In a slight surprise to everyone, the order of the matches was also randomized. Midoriya had hoped his team would be first, just because waiting made him more anxious; instead, his match was last. He would have to settle for watching everyone else's matches via the projector on the wall; at least he could take notes on Class 1-B's Quirks and skills.
The first match was Team E against Team F. All Midoriya could think about was how worried he was that Ashido was going to antagonize Bakugo into doing something reckless… or vice-versa.
…
"All right, extras, everyone remember the plan?" Bakugo narrowed his eyes at Ashido. "I'm lookin' at you, Raccoon-Eyes."
Ashido barely glanced at him. "Yeah, I'm good. Just one question."
"Make it snappy."
"You're sure we shouldn't have someone guarding the base after we catch someone?"
Bakugo shook his head. "Not if we catch 'em all in one go."
Ashido really wanted to argue with him, but his logic made sense. If they stayed together, it would be impossible for the other team to pick them off, and forced them to either get picked off, or risk a full battle with a team of heavy hitters. The only thing that bothered her was that they knew absolutely nothing about their opponents, or their Quirks.
I guess we'll just get out there and hope for the best, she thought.
Then a buzzer sounded, and Bakugo cracked his knuckles. "Okay, let's kick some ass! Kirishima, go!"
"Right!" Kirishima Hardened his forearms and led the way in a reckless charge.
"Should we be worried about him?" Sato muttered as he ran alongside Ashido.
"Eh, he should be fine," Ashido said. "He can take a beating from Midori, after all."
"Good point." Sato blinked as something caught his attention. "Bakugo, move!"
With a quick explosion, Bakugo hurled himself out of the way, and even managed to snag Kirishima on the way. They both narrowly avoided a barrage of what looked like green darts; which dug deep into the metal pipes and concrete floor.
"Nice reflexes," a voice taunted, and Ashido looked up to see Rin Hiryu standing on what seemed like thin air. He wore a black costume with yellow clouds, white boots and yellow bracers, and a white visor. His skin, formerly pale, was now covered in green scales.
Bakugo sneered. "Why don't you come down here and I'll show you how good my reflexes are!"
How is he floating up there? Ashido wondered. He doesn't have two Quirks, does he?
More projectiles came flying in, but instead of scales, they were chunks of concrete and metal, surrounded by a purple aura. Bakugo dodged again, but Kirishima couldn't quite manage, and had to Harden his entire body to withstand the barrage. Ashido whirled, and saw Yanagi Reiko; her light-purple kimono and white furred collar matched nicely with her grey hair, and the way she held her hands up reminded Ashido of Asui. Behind her was Tsuburaba Kosei, with his odd eyes—not that Ashido was one to talk—and almost casual costume of beige pants, black shirt, and blue jacket. The style reminded her of Midoriya's costume, and suggested that he didn't need any kind of Support Items for him to fight.
"Kosei, I need more ammunition," Yanagi said calmly. "I ran out of debris."
"You got it, Reiko!" Tsuburaba took a deep breath, and let it out, but nothing seemed to happen. That changed when Yanagi used her own Quirk, and a purple aura appeared around an invisible platform; she held out one hand, and the platform spun like a discus at the 1-A students.
"I've got this!" Sato drew back his fist and smashed it against the platform, which shattered into pieces. Sato blinked in surprise. "Huh. I didn't even need to use my Quirk."
"Kosei, more!"
Tsuburaba let out a series of short, shallow breaths; it almost looked like he was hyperventilating. Yanagi's Quirk revealed that he had created dozens of tiny platforms, barely bigger than her hand, and launched them again.
"Kirishima, block!" Bakugo ordered. "Sugar Moron, go after breath-boy! I'll get scaly. Raccoon-Eyes, go find their fourth!"
It turned out that Ashido didn't need to go far.
"Boom!"
To Ashido's surprise, a giant 'Boom!' literally appeared in front of her, and fell at her feet. As soon as it touched the ground, it exploded like an actual bomb, and it sent her careening through the air. She would have landed on her head, but her training with Sky Dancer paid off, and she was able to recover with a—mostly—graceful backflip.
"That must be Fukidashi," she muttered.
Fukidashi Manga had arguably the strangest secondary element of his Quirk Ashido had ever seen. From the collar down, he appeared completely normal, wearing red pants and a blue shirt with red sleeves, along with white gloves and white boots. His head, however, was literally a white speech bubble, and he used a white manga page as a mask.
How does that even work? Ashido wondered. Man, Quirks are weird sometimes.
Fukidashi crouched, and aimed his face directly at her. "Bam!"
The word 'Bam!' formed in front of him, and shot at her like a rocket. She rolled out of the way, and hurled a horizontal crescent of acid at him.
"Roar!"
Once again, the word appeared in front of him, which emitted a three-second blast of sound that burst the acid into a thousand droplets. Rather than let him try to counter, Ashido had already followed up with another glob of acid that burst between his feet. He jumped as the acid ate away at the concrete, then jumped right when Ashido did it again.
There was only an instant for her to grin as he moved exactly where she wanted him to go.
"Sato, right swing now!"
Sato, trusting his teammate implicitly, swung his meaty fist in a wide arc that caught Fukidashi in the back of the head. He stumbled forward and tried to recover, but Ashido was already moving; she jumped up, and her knee connected solidly with Fukidashi's strange face. He groaned, and took one step, and then another, before collapsing.
Yes! Perfect shot! Ashido didn't have much time to celebrate, because Yanagi caught her in the shoulder with another platform thrown by her telekinesis. That was all she had left, because Kirishima grabbed her and locked her arms behind her back. Tsuburaba took a deep breath, but what came out was a pathetic wheeze when Sato buried his fist in his gut, and he collapsed.
"Fantastic work, boys!" Ashido grinned. "Now we just need to find Baku—"
There was a yelp of pain, and a scorched and battered Rin fell out of the sky. Bakugo slowed his own descent with a small explosion, but he still landed with some momentum on Rin's back, prompting another yelp.
"Pathetic," Bakugo sneered. "Don't forget why we're the top class, wimps."
"Team E wins!" an automated voice announced. "Please return to the starting area."
Bakugo nodded. "Let's move, extras!" He paused, and glanced at his team. "… good work."
Ashido blinked, and wondered if she was suffering a concussion again. "Thanks. You too."
Maybe he's getting better.
"Of course I did!" Bakugo sneered again. "I got mine without taking a scratch! The rest of you were basically helpless without me!"
Ashido sighed. Okay, maybe not that much better.
…
Class 1-A cheered as the first match ended in a victory for them, especially the Rising Stars. Still, Midoriya wondered what might have happened if the fight hadn't started—and ended—as quickly as it had. He'd feared that Ashido's issues with Bakugo would cause friction within the group, but Bakugo had been polite—relatively speaking—and hadn't given anyone time to argue once the action started.
"Great work, you guys!" he said as Team E returned.
Ashido hugged him. "Aw, thanks! You just make sure you win, okay? It's all or nothing for twins!"
"Hey!" Vlad King loomed over them menacingly. "Save your mushy crap for later. You're supposed to be Heroes, now act like it!"
Midoriya flinched, but Ashido just stuck her tongue out at him; behind Vlad, Aizawa just smirked at her response, and made a mental note to award her a few extra points. If Vlad was going to be a sore loser, then Aizawa would just rub salt in the wound.
"All right, Team B and Team I, get your asses out there!"
…
The second round did not go nearly as smoothly for Class 1-A. Yaoyorozu couldn't help but shake that thought as she ran through the maze of pipes, and that bothered her; she didn't have the same kind of grudge against Bakugo that Ashido did, but the idea of doing worse than the one who had tormented her sort-of little brother annoyed her.
At first, her team had done well, capturing Shoda and Tetsutetsu early on. Then, Iida had been knocked out by a clothesline from Kendo and captured, followed by Kaminari. Ojiro had fought Kendo in a one-on-one battle, and had been holding his own, until Kendo pulled back, and he was ambushed by Honenuki. He had just locked up Ojiro when he was defeated by Yaoyorozu, but also had to retreat from Kendo before she could free her teammates. Now, all she could do was play a game of cat and mouse, to see who could either free their teammates, or defeat the other before time ran out.
A flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye made her lean back, and slid feet-first into a corner. Kendo walked around the corner, one hand twice the size of her own body. She wore a turquoise qipao with long sleeves that went down to her knees, black shorts, and a black domino mask. Her cocky smile might have been more intimidating, but she had a few bruises from Ojiro, and some burns on her regular-sized hand from Kaminari.
"Hey, Yaoyorozu," Kendo said, and took a deep breath. "This is kinda cool, right? One class president against the other."
"I suppose there is something poetic about that," Yaoyorozu agreed, and took stock of their respective conditions. Kendo had done much of the fighting for her team, and it showed, but Yaoyorozu could analyze someone's skills almost as well as Midoriya, and knew that her fighting abilities came up short when compared to her counterpart. Yaoyorozu was also nearly at her limit, having used up most of her lipids early in the match.
At least it's about to pay off, she thought.
"Shall we finish this?" she asked, and shifted so that her left arm and leg were out of Kendo's line of sight.
Kendo charged. "I'm not going to give you a chance to make anything!"
Yaoyorozu smirked; she had already made something, and had hidden it in one of her skirt's pockets. She pressed the button, which triggered one of two catapults that rested on the other side of the wall she'd been 'cornered' against. The catapult launched a large, weighted net that tangled up Kendo's giant fingers and sent her stumbling. Yaoyorozu then triggered the second catapult, which deposited a tranquilizer gun into her waiting hands. In one smooth motion, she raised the gun, took aim, and fired; the tranquilizer dart sank into Kendo's leg, and in seconds, she couldn't even stand.
Kendo looked up at her in disbelief. "When… when did you…"
"Have time to make those?" Yaoyorozu finished, and smiled. "I made contingencies for situations where I would be outnumbered, or at least forced to fight against the last opponent. You were the only one on your team whose Quirk I knew, so I lured you to a trap I set up for you in particular. That's why I wasn't doing much fighting; I had to guarantee that my team would be victorious."
Kendo laughed as she started to lose consciousness. "And here I thought… you were just… directing everyone."
"No, they were just buying time for me to finish this." Yaoyorozu sighed in relief when her team's victory was announced. She didn't say it out loud, but that had been her very last gambit; had it failed, it would have been a very different ending to the match.
…
Things went downhill for Class 1-A after that; Team C lost after a final one-on-one showdown between Todoroki and Tsunotori, who managed to drop half a building on him with her rocket-horns. Team D lost when each of them was bonded to a wall, thanks to some careful maneuvering and liberal use of Awase's Quirk, which was copied by Monoma. By the time the final match rolled around, everyone was anxiously waiting to see who would break the tie and score the ultimate win for their class.
"Good luck, guys!" Ashido called out, while a semiconscious Todoroki waved from where he lay on his girlfriend's lap. Yaoyorozu, Iida and Sero all tried to echo the sentiment, but they were too exhausted to do much more than that.
Uraraka had her helmet on, and its tint let her observe her boyfriend without looking like it, and she noticed something had changed in him. Before the Eight Precepts raid, he had always been less insecure when talking strategy, but now, there was a steadiness in his gaze and voice that just made everyone shut up and pay attention. Even without knowing what their opponents could do, Midoriya had taken his own team's Quirks and talents into consideration, creating what he saw as the best way to win, regardless of what Class B threw at them.
"Are you set?" he asked as they arrived at their base. The cage was a little goofy, with a giant cutout of Nezu sitting on top, and nothing else around it to use for cover.
"Just give the word, Deku-kun!" Uraraka said.
Asui nodded. "You gave us a good plan, ribbit. I think this will work."
Jiro grinned. "Ready to rock, Vice Prez!"
"Final match… begin!"
Midoriya vanished in a flash of green light. "Okay, Ochako, let's go!"
…
If there was one person in Class 1-A that their counterparts didn't want to face, it was Midoriya Izuku. True, Monoma would go on and on about how everyone in 1-A was inferior to them, and Kendo tried convincing them all that any team-related events could see them defeat Midoriya if they all worked together, no one really bought it. The idea of someone with as many powers as Midoriya genuinely frightened most of them, especially after they watched the footage of him defeating Chisaki.
It didn't help that that had become one of the most trending videos online, and they were reminded of it every time they looked at their recommendations list.
Only one Class B student actually looked forward to facing Midoriya—she didn't necessarily want to fight him, but she thought he was cute, and fun to mess with. That had become the cornerstone of Tokage's strategy to defeat Team A; as far as she was concerned, if they could either take Midoriya down, or at least keep him out of the way, they could win in the end.
"Still, we shouldn't underestimate the rest of his team," Shishida had advised. "Getting tunnel-vision will only hasten our defeat."
"I know that, but we have to assume that Midoriya is the biggest threat," Tokage had argued. "Those three girls on his team are good, but they can't shoot lasers or turn into a giant."
Shishida adjusted his square-rimmed glasses and nodded in a way only a proper gentleman could. He was the most chivalrous and polite student in Class 1-B, which Tokage found hilarious. His personality was completely at odds with his bestial appearance, with a jutting lower jaw and sharp fangs, and shaggy brown fur that covered his entire body.
Eventually, Tokage's team agreed with her strategy, and when the match began, they went out hunting. Tokage herself allowed Shishida to carry her, while she focused on finding their prey; pieces of her body began detaching and flying in different directions. That was the power of her Quirk, Lizard-Tail Split; she could divide herself into as many as fifty pieces, and control them no matter the distance. If she detached an eye or an ear, she could see or hear as easily as if they were still attached to her head. Even if the pieces were destroyed, she could regenerate over time; Recovery Girl had theorized that as long as the majority of her brain was intact, and at least some of her internal organs, it was possible that she couldn't be killed.
It had taken a lot of convincing by her parents and friends to not test that theory.
"I can see one of them," Tokage announced, and her team came to a halt; they tried not to grimace at the sight of her head missing both eyes and one ear. "Yeah, it's Uraraka; damn, those wings are cool. Looks like she's searching for us."
"Can you see any of the others?" Kuroiro asked.
Tokage shook her head; her long hair smacked Shishida in the face, though he was gracious enough not to complain. "Nah, just her. She's probably staying close to the others to give them a heads-up, but I don't see them yet."
Kuroiro's teammates were just glad he was talking again; he'd been various stages of grief after his cousin, Shade Dart, had been killed by the League of Villains. Apparently, they had been very close, and Kuroiro had wanted to intern with him, but things kept preventing that; now, it would never happen.
"Okay, she's in the air," Tokage continued. "I'll try to clip her wings, and then you take her down, Jurota. Shihai, you take her back to our base; Kinoko can guard her while you come back to us."
Kuroiro nodded, and sank into the shadows, ready to spring as soon as Uraraka was close enough. Tokage divided herself further, leaving only her torso, mouth, and one ear floating by Shishida; the rest swarmed towards Uraraka.
With her tinted visor, Tokage could only imagine Uraraka's expression. She figured that it would freak her out to see pieces of a human being flying around her like a macabre jigsaw puzzle. The distraction would hold until one of Tokage's hands disabled Uraraka's wings; without propulsion, the rest of her pieces would have no trouble pushing Uraraka down to the ground.
What happened instead surprised her; a small, silver creature flew out from under Uraraka's helmet, and transformed into a giant sea turtle.
What the heck!? Tokage thought. I've never seen those before! How many forms does Midoriya have!?
Terraspin unleashed a massive gust of wind, scattering some of Tokage's pieces, and driving others to the ground. Tokage winced as she felt each impact; just because her pieces weren't attached to her didn't mean she didn't feel the pain.
"Fall back!" Tokage shouted, as her pieces flew towards her and reattached. "They made us!"
Shishida pulled Tokage along as she reassembled, while Kuroiro darted through the shadows back to their base. This had been their backup plan—if they couldn't take down Midoriya in time, or failed to pick off any of his teammates, they would go back to their base, where they could fight on their terms.
Komori was waiting for them, sitting on the top of the cage. "So, did the plan not work?"
Tokage shook her head, and Komori sighed; between her red outfit with white spots, and the way she was perched, she looked just like a mushroom. Knowing her, that was clearly the point.
Uraraka flew in, but as soon as she saw what was waiting for her, she pulled up and eyed the Class B students cautiously. Tokage didn't blame her; Komori had used her Quirk, Mushroom, to create clumps of the fungus in strategic locations around the base. Their true power was kept in check by Komori, so her teammates could stand by the mushrooms without worry, but as soon as the Class A students got close, their job was to throw said students into the mushrooms, and let Komori do her thing.
"What's the matter, Uraraka?" Tokage taunted. "Afraid of little ol' us?"
Tokage would later swear that Uraraka was grinning underneath her helmet. "Nah, just waiting for Deku-kun to do a little gardening."
At that moment, Jetray swooped in and turned into Heatblast. He could have unleashed waves of flame upon the entire team, but didn't; instead, he just stood there, and let his natural heat dry out and kill the mushrooms.
Crap, Tokage thought, I forgot about that one! It's hard to keep track of what he can do.
"Now!" Heatblast shouted.
The ground trembled, and then broke apart under Jiro's sonic assault, sending Tokage and her team staggering. Shishida recovered first, and roared; his body grew, his hair lengthened, and his lower fangs looked more like tusks. He bulled past Tokage and lunged for Heatblast, who transformed into Four Arms before he accidentally burned the 1-B student.
That had been one of Tokage's other ideas. Had this been a real fight against a Villain, they wouldn't have hesitated to burn Shishida for getting too close. However, this wasn't a real fight, and Tokage wasn't above using that to make sure Midoriya didn't use one of his more dangerous forms.
Surprised as he was by the sudden blitz, Four Arms was tackled off his feet. Shishida managed to get a few good hits in, but then Uraraka launched her prosthetic hand at him, instantly removing gravity's effect on him. Four Arms pushed him up and let him fly away like a balloon, then got to his feet, just in time to see Kuroiro jump out of the shadows, aiming at Jiro.
Rather than seem surprised, Jiro smirked, and Kuroiro was caught by Asui's tongue as her camouflage faded. Uraraka whipped the cable with her hand attached right into Kuroiro's face, applying her Quirk again; an instant later, Asui pulled him along behind her like a kite, heading right for the Class A base.
"Two down," Uraraka said, as her hand was reeled back to her arm.
"Two to go," Four Arms finished, and turned into Shocksquatch.
Jiro rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you two are finishing sentences now? Gross."
Tokage tried to think of a strategy to turn things around, but came up blank. With her stealth specialist and muscle gone, she was out of options; a quick glance at her remaining teammate told her that Komori was as stuck as she was.
"We surrender," she announced. "I don't see any way for us to win."
As the bell sounded, Uraraka cheered, and Jiro pumped a fist. Midoriya, however, looked up.
"Um, Ochako? Could you let Shishida-san down?"
Uraraka froze. "Oh. Right. Sorry!"
…
Class 1-A was already starting to celebrate by the time Midoriya's team returned. Ashido grabbed Midoriya and Uraraka in a big hug, while Sero kissed Asui full on the mouth. While the rest of the class wasn't quite so affectionate, even those who lost their matches were in a great mood. Bakugo even managed to keep a civil conversation with everyone who spoke to him, while Aizawa was humble in his class' victory, and only smirked triumphantly at Vlad King.
Midoriya grinned with the rest of his friends, and when he saw Uraraka leaning in to kiss him, he wished this moment would never end.
And, when Uraraka and the entire world around him froze in place, he wondered if his wish had come true. Midoriya blinked, and waved his hand in front of Uraraka's face; she didn't blink, or show any sort of reaction.
"What is going on?" he asked, more confused than anything else at that moment. "Did I just die? Am I going insane?"
"Neither, actually." Midoriya whirled, and saw a man in a white lab coat standing where he very clearly hadn't been a moment before. "Hello, young man."
"Who are you?" Midoriya tensed, and the Omnitrix activated in response to his anxiety. "What did you do to my friends!?"
The man held up one hand—the other, Midoriya now noticed, hung limply at his side, and blood dripped down his fingers. "I mean you no harm, Izuku Midoriya—oh, my apologies, I believe I said your name in the western style. You can call me Professor Paradox; I am an old friend of Ben Tennyson. As for everyone else here… well, I stopped time in order to speak to you without interruption."
Midoriya didn't relax. "Prove you know Ben."
Paradox smiled, but it was sad. "Such a shame you're not more trusting." He pointed at Midoriya's pocket. "I've given you special dispensation to call Ben, even with time frozen as it is. Ask him yourself if I'm trustworthy."
Midoriya frowned, but did as he was asked. After a few rings, someone answered the phone.
"Hello, this is Ben Tennyson."
"Ben? It's me, Izuku."
"Hey, kid, what's up?"
Midoriya didn't take his eyes off of the man in front of him. "Do you know someone calling himself Professor Paradox?"
He nearly jumped when he heard the sound of something breaking, followed by muffled curses.
"Listen to me very carefully, Izuku." Ben's voice was deadly serious, in a way Midoriya recognized from Heroes who were about to be in a life-or-death situation. "Paradox is a friend, and I trust him with my life. If he's with you, then something big is happening; he wouldn't give me details, but this is major-league, end-of-the-universe stuff. No, I'm not exaggerating. Do what he says, okay?"
"Um, o-okay." Midoriya blinked when Paradox abruptly held out his hand. "I think he wants to talk to you. Here."
Paradox took the phone and held it to his ear. "Hello, Ben. Izuku and I will be on the Watchtower in ten minutes; please have Hangar Two completely vacated of personnel by the time we arrive, except for your daughter. Also, have three trauma kits and one of those delightful little surgical robots waiting with her. I'll be bringing in several injured. Thank you, old friend."
"People are hurt?" Midoriya asked when Paradox hung up. "Why are we waiting ten minutes?"
Paradox smiled. "Dear boy, I'm a time-traveler. Ten minutes for the rest of the world—"
…
Uraraka stumbled when she saw that her boyfriend was suddenly gone.
"What just happened?"
…
"—is less than a second for me."
Midoriya looked around as he tried to get his bearings. He'd never been inside one of the Watchtower's hangars before, but he recognized the technology from his previous visits.
"I thought you said you traveled through time," he said. "You can also travel between universes?"
"It's Professor Paradox," Jen commented as she stepped around a stack of metal crates. "You learn to stop questioning it, or your head will explode. Hey, cousin, how're things?"
"Hello, Jennifer," Paradox said, cutting Midoriya off before he could speak. "Did you bring the supplies I asked for?"
Jen hefted a container four times her size in one hand. "Got 'em right here. Who needs what?"
Paradox smiled, and snapped his fingers; Midoriya yelped when what looked like a green airplane appeared right in front of him. Its paint was scratched and weathered, and it smelled like it had been pulled out of a fire; Midoriya swallowed nervously when he saw blood coating part of the landing gear.
"It's all right," Paradox called out, "you're among friends now."
The door to the plane opened up, and a ramp extended. A young man, maybe two or three years older than Midoriya, cautiously stepped out; he wore civilian clothes that were slightly torn and stained, and had messy black hair. He had the look of someone that had seen too much already, but kept going out of spite, or because he didn't know what else to do.
"We need those medical supplies, Professor," he said. "Julie's not lookin' too good, and Gwen… man, I don't even know what's wrong with her."
There was a clatter, and Midoriya jumped; the other man had it worse, and looked ready to throw a punch. The source of the noise came from Jen, who had dropped the supplies and was staring at the latter with her hands over her mouth.
"Oh my god," she whispered, then glared daggers at Paradox. "Are you kidding me? Do you know what this will do to Dad if he knows that they're here!?"
"Which is exactly why I only asked for your aid, Jennifer," Paradox said gently. "Of all your family, you will be the least traumatized by this. Now, please get the trauma kits into the ship, or Miss Yamamoto will not survive the next hour."
Jen visibly shook herself, then grabbed the equipment and marched into the plane; she used her free hand to lift and move the young man when he started to block her path.
"Out of my way, delinquent, I've got lives to save."
Said delinquent glowered, but calmed when Paradox put his uninjured hand on his shoulder. "All will be explained shortly. While Jennifer works, why don't I introduce you to someone?" He guided him down the ramp, and gestured to Midoriya. "This is Izuku Midoriya, wielder of the Omnitrix in his universe. Mr. Midoriya, meet Kevin Levin; former criminal, and one of Ben Tennyson's closest friends."
Kevin looked Midoriya up and down. "Nice hoodie."
"Th-thanks?"
"Your eyes are weird, though."
Midoriya pulled off back his left sleeve, exposing the green lines carved into his flesh. "There's a weird reason for why I'm like that."
Instead of staring, or looking repulsed, Kevin just raised an eyebrow. "Not the first time I've seen something like that."
Midoriya blinked. "Really?"
Kevin sighed. "Yeah. You'll see what I mean in a bit."
Abruptly, he stumbled, and nearly fell, but steadied himself at the last second. Midoriya cautiously approached him.
"Are you okay?"
"No." Kevin put his hands on his face, and slowly dragged them down. "As far as I can tell, everyone I care about who's still alive is on that plane. Everything was fine a couple hours ago."
Midoriya opened his mouth to say something, but realized that there was nothing he could say that would help. Not to help Kevin feel better, at any rate. Midoriya knew that Heroes—at least in his universe—had to know how to deal with trauma, but it was another thing entirely to be told by a complete stranger that most of their world was dead, and being expected to help.
"What… what happened?" Midoriya asked. "I don't even know why I'm here right now. I was just told that the universe depended on—"
"Son of a bitch!" Jen ran to the door of the plane, her hands covered in blood. "Izuku, I need you up here right now!"
Midoriya wasn't a Pro Hero, but he had already recognized that tone; whatever was going on was so critical that he didn't have time to ask questions. Instead, he sprinted up the ramp, the Omnitrix activated before he got to her.
"Tell me what to do."
"I need Big Chill—get your ice breath ready, apply it where and when I say."
Midoriya transformed before she finished speaking, but he nearly stopped when he saw the condition of the person he was going to help. It was a teenage girl with black hair, maybe around his age, who looked Japanese; he couldn't be sure, because of all the blood on her face. Her tattered clothes were in a pile on a chair, and her dignity was only preserved by a sheet. Sitting next to her was what looked like a black slug with green circuitry over its skin; green blood oozed out from several deep gashes across its body.
"Okay, we need to slow down her bodily functions; keep her organs intact, but don't let them shut down," Jen said briskly. "Basically, we're cryogenically freezing her. Start with her brain—top of the head, but don't go to the eyes."
Big Chill leaned in close to the girl, and began exhaling; ice crystals appeared in her hair, and after a few more breaths, it almost looked like a helmet of ice was covering her head.
"Crap!" Jen looked over the unconscious girl, her eyes glowing from her X-ray vision. "What happened to her? It looks like her heart, her lungs… shit, her entire vascular system is just dissolving!"
"What can we do?" Big Chill asked.
"Unless you've got a spare cardiovascular system in your pocket, there's not much we can do." Jen scowled, but then stopped as an idea came to her; she scooped up the little slug-creature looked into its single eye. "Could you do it? You can turn into any machine, right?"
The alien tilted its head. "Ship?"
"The human body is just an organic machine! Can. You. Do it?"
"Ship… ship!" The alien turned into a black-and-green puddle and slipped out of Jen's hands; it then slithered up to the unconscious girl and crawled into one of her open wounds.
Big Chill was repulsed, but also fascinated. "What's happening?"
Jen sank into another chair, looking tired and grief-stricken. "Ship was already dying. He's going to sacrifice himself to become a permanent part of Julie's anatomy. He'll turn into her heart, her lungs, and all of her veins. If it works, it shouldn't be too hard to fix the rest of her injuries."
Julie groaned in pain and writhed on the table; Jen's super-strength was more than enough to keep her still, but it looked like she was having a little trouble. As they watched, Julie's veins reappeared under her skin, but they were now green, and glowed eerily. Then, she took a deep breath, and her eyes snapped open; Midoriya noticed that they were just like his, with glowing-green irises and black sclera.
"Ship," Julie whispered groggily as she sat up. "He's… he's gone, but… I can still hear him… in my head? What's going on?"
Jen let her go and stepped back. "I… I'm not sure. You were both dying, so I took a gamble. My best guess? You're now one person; if you were to separate now, you'd die."
"Oh." Julie put her hand over her heart, and then lay back down and started to cry.
"Give her some space," another girl, one Big Chill hadn't noticed in his rush, said quietly. "She's… actually, we've all had a really bad day."
Big Chill tried not to stare; at first glance, she seemed normal, until he saw her face. She wore black pants and a black vest over a red shirt, with long red hair in a ponytail, but that was the only ordinary thing about her. The part of her face that was still human was pretty, but the left half was covered in wide cracks, like broken pottery, and her left eye was a neon-pink orb. The cracks themselves glowed purple, like her skin was just a thin layer that covered something more—or perhaps less—than human.
Jen stared at her for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, I get it. Come on, Izuku; we need to talk. The medical robots should take care of the rest."
…
"So… that girl with the red hair is Ben's cousin?" Midoriya paused. "His real cousin, I mean, not like me."
"Kinda," Jen said. "If you did a DNA test, it'd say they were cousins, but she's from another universe. From what I figure, it's probably almost identical to Dad's original universes. Some are really similar, others aren't."
Midoriya filed that away for later consideration, though he wondered if there were other universes with counterparts to himself.
"And that guy, Kevin, is Ben's—the other Ben's—best friend."
"Right. Going by his age, they're past the trying-to-kill-each-other part of their history." Jen chuckled when she saw the look on Midoriya's face. "Yeah, that happened. A couple of times, actually."
After leaving the plane, Jen had excused herself to get cleaned up; once she'd washed all the blood off her hands, she returned to give Midoriya a crash course in understanding the multiverse, as well as introducing the strangers he'd suddenly become acquainted with.
"What about the other girl? Julie?"
Jen winced. "She… she was Dad's girlfriend."
"Did they break up?"
"No. She died. So did Gwen, Kevin, and everyone else Dad cared about on his old Earth. The only ones who survived were Grandma Verdona and Ship." Jen gestured to the plane. "I'm guessing those four—three—are the only survivors from their Earth."
Now it was Midoriya who winced. "Doesn't that mean that their Ben—"
"I'm trying really hard not to think about it," Jen interrupted.
"There are countless variations of Ben Tennyson," Paradox said softly. "Just as there are countless variations of all of you. Some of them die, some of them live, and many are so different from each other that it's almost impossible to compare them."
"Doesn't mean I have to think about any of them dying," Jen retorted, and then stood up. "They're coming out."
Midoriya turned and saw Gwen, Kevin and Julie walking down the ramp. They were all clean, and even their clothes had been repaired.
"I didn't know you guys had clean clothes," Jen commented.
"We didn't," Kevin said. "Gwen just used her powers to fix our stuff."
"Cool." Jen looked at Julie. "How are you feeling?"
"Better." Julie shrugged. "That robot you gave us stitched me up. I'm sore and stiff, but I'm doing a lot better. I think… I think Ship is actually speeding up the process."
"Okay, so, now for the million-dollar question." Gwen looked Paradox in the eye. "Why are we here? And why didn't you save Ben?"
"That was two questions," Paradox said mildly.
"I've got a third." Kevin pointed at Paradox's arm. "How come you're still bleeding?"
"Ah, I nearly forgot about that." Paradox closed his eyes; there was a flash of light, and then it was like he had never been hurt at all.
"I didn't even know you could be hurt," Gwen said.
"There is much you don't know about me." In that moment, Paradox seemed impossibly sad. "But perhaps we should stay on topic. Ironically, time is a luxury we cannot afford."
"Right." Gwen waved her hand, and three pink rectangles appeared; she, Julie and Kevin sat on the hovering platforms. "Let's get this over with."
Midoriya shared a worried look with Jen; Gwen wasn't just trying to hide her feelings behind a mask, it was like she wasn't feeling anything at all. However, there wasn't much they could do at the moment, and settled in to listen to Paradox.
"A great threat has escaped its prison," Paradox said. "He wants to destroy all of creation, the entire multiverse, and rebuild it in his own image."
"We know that," Kevin said. "We watched it happen on our Earth."
"This was more for Izuku and Jennifer's benefit," Paradox said archly, then continued. "He has gained the ability to break down entire universes, and consume their energy. More than that, he can create entire armies of monsters with that same power, and have them destroy universes on his behalf. With every universe destroyed, he grows in might, and is spreading across the multiverse like a plague. At this point, no one can match him in pure strength."
"I'm guessing it won't be as simple as punching this guy anyway," Jen said, rather than asked.
"Indeed. If it were so simple, things would not be so dire." Paradox smiled. "The multiverse is, in a way, as alive as the infinite amount of people living in it. It may not be aware, like we are, but it can recognize a threat, and how to give itself a fighting chance. It… for want of a better term, it chose you all, who held the key to its survival." Paradox shrugged. "We only need two more people, and we can begin."
"Um, I have a question." Midoriya held up his hand, like he was in class; privately, he was impressed that he hadn't devolved into an anxious mess at this point, because this was way beyond anything he was prepared for. "Why didn't you bring those two here? You brought the rest of us."
"He's got a point," Kevin said.
Paradox sighed. "My powers are being affected by this calamity. I am not able to read the flow of space and time as I once could. I was able to identify the five of you, as well as one other, but the last… all I could decipher was that they have a connection to Izuku Midoriya, and that they contain a great power within. I will pick up the last of our little group before we depart."
Midoriya was about to ask why Paradox didn't just grab whoever it was on his Earth that was supposed to go with them, but then he realized that if they had a connection to him, then he had a better chance of getting them onboard than Paradox was.
Contains a great power within… who could that be? Midoriya froze. Wait… I think…
"I think I know who you're talking about," he said, shooting to his feet. "And I positive he'll help out."
"Excellent!" Paradox smiled. "I'll send you and… Miss Yamamoto to your school to retrieve him. You'll have to be careful; as I said, time is not on our side, and I will not be able to halt its advance once you get there."
"One last thing," Jen said. "Who the heck are we actually fighting? I mean, does this eldritch horror have a name? Are we fighting Cthulu? Because I really don't want to fight Cthulu."
"It's Vilgax," Gwen said without preamble. "But way more powerful than we've ever seen him before."
"It's far worse than that," Paradox said gravely. "This is the Vilgax from your timeline, Jennifer."
All traces of good humor vanished from Jen's face, replaced by confusion and horror. "That's not possible."
"Tell that to all the dead people on our Earth," Kevin retorted.
"No, I mean, he got locked up in the Phantom Zone almost thirty years ago," Jen said. "It's not like the Null Void, where it's got those emergency exits—you can't get out, not without the projector, and there's only one of those. It's locked up at the North Pole; less than ten people even know exactly where, and fewer can even use it."
"I assure you, he did escape," Paradox said. "Take Gwen and Kevin and see for yourself, if you truly doubt me. Vilgax is nothing if not adaptable; he has spent all those years learning the secrets of the Phantom Zone, and converting his own body into a vessel that could absorb its energies, and use them to escape. I was not allowed to interfere until he actually escaped, in case my intervention made things worse. Now, I must do all I am allowed to by the multiverse itself to fix what has been broken."
Midoriya had no idea who this 'Vilgax' was, but the fear in Jen's eyes—the eyes of someone who could throw an aircraft carrier into orbit with some effort—told him to take this seriously.
Julie stood up and turned to Midoriya; she tried to smile, but failed miserably. "I guess we should get going, huh? You know, before things get worse."
"R-right." Midoriya glanced at Jen. "See you soon?"
Jen nodded absently. "Yeah, sure. I need to make sure Paradox is telling the truth; you go do your thing."
Paradox put a hand on Midoriya's shoulder, and the other on Julie's. "As I said, my powers are being affected by this. The transition to your universe may be a bit more—"
…
"—jarring than before."
Julie, sprawled out on the floor, groaned. "I think I left my stomach behind."
Midoriya tried to keep his lunch down. "This is worse than the first time I jumped universes…"
Julie sat up. "Hey, Paradox is gone."
Midoriya looked around; sure enough, he was nowhere in sight. "Maybe he'll pick us up when we find Mirio."
"Who?"
"Sorry, Togata Mirio." Midoriya got to his feet, and helped Julie to hers. "He's a Hero Course student, like me, but he's in his third year."
"Hero Course? What?"
"Oh, right." Midoriya shrugged. "I can explain everything when we have time."
"Sure, context would be nice." Julie looked around. "This is a nice school."
"It's the best in Japan," Midoriya couldn't help but boast.
"You can show me around when the multiverse isn't about to die." Julie rubbed at her neck, where a scar was still healing. "Where are we going?"
Midoriya saw a clock on the wall. "Okay, we're between periods. Mirio should be heading to his dorm now." He turned into XLR8, and held out his claws. "I know the way; I'll carry you."
Julie hesitated; not out of fear, XLR8 could see, but probably because her Ben had likely done something similar with her. She shook her head, and then let him carry her.
XLR8 moved as fast as he dared, so quickly that even the students he passed who knew about this alien had no idea what blew past. In fact, he moved so quickly that he would have collided with Togata, had the third-year student not used his Quirk to sink into the ground at the last second.
"Izuku? What's going on?" Togata asked as he climbed out of the ground, and then scooped up his clothes. "Who's the girl, and why does she have your eyes? You find a long-lost sister or something?"
Midoriya turned back to normal and set Julie down. "Mirio, we need your help. Everyone needs your help."
…
"So… this is the North Pole." Gwen frowned. "It's not as cold as I thought it would be."
Kevin raised an eyebrow, even as he shivered. "Gwen, it's b-below f-freezing."
Gwen held up her hand, and watched the snow fall on her skin. "Huh. I barely feel it."
"That's not a good sign," Jen said as she approached the strange collection of what looked like icy pillars, stacked together. "Try to keep from going full Anodite if you can't control it, okay?"
Kevin glared at her. "And how are you not cold?"
"I'm half Kryptonian, genius; I barely feel the cold when I'm in space."
"Fine, whatever." Kevin looked up the structure; Jen had explained that, because of security precautions, she couldn't use the Watchtower's teleporter system to take strangers directly inside, and had to take them in through the front door. "So, how do we get in?"
Jen grinned, and pointed to a welcome mat.
"You're joking."
"Nope." Jen nudged the mat aside with her foot, and revealed a simple key. "Try and pick it up."
Kevin looked at Gwen, who shrugged, and then he reached for the key. Despite his best attempts, it remained firmly on the ground.
"Okay, I give up. What's the trick?"
Jen laughed, and then activated her Ultimatrix; now a full Kryptonian, she easily picked up the key and used it to unlock the door. She then gently placed the key back in the same spot, and covered it with the mat.
"My uncle carved that key out of a piece of a dwarf star," she explained. "It's so heavy that only a full-blooded Kryptonian can pick it up. It has to be put down very carefully; if I dropped it, it could create a new Grand Canyon up here."
"That's some security system," Gwen commented.
"Oh, there's a lot more inside," Jen said. "I think he was just bored when he came up with this one. Or he was showing off."
"How—"
"There's a reason he's called Superman." Jen stepped inside the Fortress of Solitude. "Come on in, the heat's on."
Despite all Gwen and Kevin had seen in their lives—and what they'd been through just a few hours earlier—they couldn't help but look around in amazement. The Fortress was beautiful, yet completely functional; floating devices scanned them briefly, then merged with the walls as if they were liquid.
"This place was made with just a small sample of Kryptonian tech," Jen explained. "Once, Krypton was among the most advanced civilizations in this universe."
"What happened?" Gwen asked.
Jen's brief good cheer vanished. "The planet exploded. It happened about sixty years ago. I can count the number of pure-blooded Kryptonians left on one hand, and have fingers left over. And that includes the evil clone of my mom."
Kevin blinked, then shook his head. "Nope, not touchin' that with a ten-foot pole."
"Good idea, since she'd probably beat you to death with it." Jen stopped. "Hold up, we've got one last security test."
"There were others?" Kevin asked.
"What did you think those little machines were doing? If they recognized you as a threat, you'd have been teleported back into the cold."
Further conversation halted when a silver, humanoid robot hovered over to them. It had a blank faceplate, and a triangular crest on its chest that bore the number 13.
"Hello, Ultragirl," the robot said in a pleasant voice. "Master Kal-El is not in today. I apologize for the inconvenience."
"It's fine, Thirteen." Jen smiled, then gestured to Gwen and Kevin. "These are guests. It's… a Tennyson thing."
The robot nodded. "I understand. The resources of the Fortress are available to you, barring several items that require Master Kal-El's authorization."
"We only need one thing," Jen said. "We need to see the Phantom Zone Projector. We have reason to believe that something might have… escaped."
"I find that highly unlikely, but, if this is a Tennyson matter, I am programmed to assume that unlikely matters are more likely." The robot gestured to a hallway. "Please, follow me."
"I always liked Superbot-Thirteen," Jen commented as they followed the robot. "He's nice."
"So, is this sort of thing just a regular day at the office for you?" Kevin asked.
Jen shrugged. "Well, meeting alternate-universe versions of people I've only heard stories about is a little weird, and I've never been part of a universe-saving team before. Still, I'm a Tennyson, and Dad taught us how to roll with these kinds of things."
"Right, I think we kind of glossed over how you're Ben's daughter." Gwen winced. "I don't know how Julie's going to react when she finds out."
Now it was Jen's turn to wince. "Yeah, can we put that off for later? Today's been stressful enough, thanks."
"Tell me about it," Kevin muttered.
Superbot-13 led them to a chamber guarded by two more robots—one marked with a 7, the other with a 9—and a force field over the entrance. One robot pressed its hand to a blank part of the wall, and the shield dropped.
"I will wait here until you are finished," Superbot-13 said. "Please do not activate the Phantom Zone Projector without authorization, or I will be forced to implement security protocols."
"I got it, thanks." Jen patted the robot's chest, and led the others inside.
Resting on a pedestal was a boxy machine, with a handle on the sides, and two tubes that intersected into a red-lensed emitter. On the other side was a viewing screen, and several controls.
"Wow, that thing looks dumb," Kevin said.
"You look dumb," Jen shot back, and then lifted the machine up to her eyes. "Okay, let's see if I can find that ugly squid." She pressed several buttons, and looked into the screen. "Scanning… scanning… come on, this thing is supposed to find the inmates, where is—oh, crap."
Kevin sighed. "Let me guess—he got out?"
"Oh, it gets worse. There's a freaking hole in the Phantom Zone; I think it's closed up now, but still, I don't even know how that's possible—and it looks like Vilgy wasn't the only one to escape."
"That sounds bad."
Jen nodded and put the projector down. "It's about as bad as it gets, considering who was locked up. We need to get back to Paradox and find out what our next move is."
"Not a problem." To their credit, the trio didn't jump too much when Paradox abruptly appeared behind them, and snapped his fingers.
There was a flash of light, and then they were gone.
…
Fortunately, Midoriya and Julie were able to find a quiet place to give Togata an abridged version of what was happening. Granted, they didn't know much more than the abridged version anyway, but Julie gave a few gory details about her world's fate, just to emphasize how important this mission was.
"Wow." Togata scratched his head and sat down. "This is… huge. This is way bigger than anything I've ever done before."
"Same," Midoriya and Julie both said, and shared a grim smile.
"We still don't know why Paradox chose us for this," Julie said, and then grimaced. "It's not like I'm good at fighting; I barely started learning how to do the whole superhero thing before… well, before everything that happened."
"How come you guys came to pick me up?" Togata asked. "Why didn't this Paradox get me himself?"
"He didn't exactly know who else to get from our world," Midoriya said. "He knew it was someone who had great power contained inside, but that's all."
Togata nodded. "Oh, I get it, you mean One For All." He shrugged when Midoriya stared at him. "What? All of existence is at stake, right? No point in keeping it secret."
Midoriya saw Julie's confusion. "We'll explain later. Right now, we need to get back to the others."
"And I should probably get my costume," Togata added. "I'd rather not have to save the universe naked."
"Not to worry, all," Paradox said as he appeared, which made Midoriya jump a good five feet into the air, and land in Julie's arms. To their mutual surprise, she held him as if he weighed nothing.
"You must be Professor Paradox?" Togata asked, and then bowed. "Hi, I'm Togata Mirio."
Paradox smiled. "Welcome to the team, Mister Togata. I'm afraid we're rather short on pleasantries, so you'll have to finish introductions on the way… assuming, of course, that you're actually joining us."
Midoriya started; he realized that Togata hadn't actually said if he was onboard.
"Of course I am!" Togata grinned confidently. "Saving people is all I've ever wanted to do, and what could be better than saving everyone?"
"A good attitude." Paradox held out a UA-issued costume case. "I picked this up for you on the way. No sense trying to sneak around more than you already have."
"Great, thanks!" Togata took the case in one hand, and draped his free arm across Midoriya's shoulders. "So, where do we go now?"
"You'll see in a moment."
There was a flash of light, and when Togata opened his eyes again, he was in an unfamiliar place, standing in front of an unfamiliar green plane, standing next to—mostly—unfamiliar people. He didn't let it show, but he was on the verge of an anxiety attack. This was something he had not prepared for, and had never been trained for. He was almost jealous of Midoriya—he, at least, had some experience in traveling between universes.
"Hey, Izuku, you said that Professor Paradox was getting seven of us for this mission," he said, grasping at the first question he had. "But there's only six of us."
Paradox smiled wanly, but someone else spoke from the shadows.
"Actually, I've been here for the last few minutes. Try not to let the time-travel confuse you, boy."
An aging man stepped into view. He wore a sharp business suit, but his attempt to stand tall was ruined by the cane he clearly needed to support him. His head was completely bald, and his eyes were like cut glass, for all the emotion they showed. If Togata hadn't seen him move, he would have thought the man was dead.
"Hello, children," the man said, with the slightest hint of a sneer, as if their mere presence was insulting. "I suppose I'll be here to make sure none of you accidentally cause the end of life as we know it?"
Jen slowly stalked forward, her hands clenched into fists. "Lex Luthor. What the hell are you doing here?"
Luthor smiled. "Why, didn't you hear me? I'm going to save the universe."
Cue dramatic music!
Seriously, though, there is going to be a lot of original content coming up in future chapters. So, let's take a quick look at our team:
From the MHA-verse, we've got Midoriya, of course, with his pseudo-Master Control, and Togata, with his growing skill with One For All. From the Ben 10-verse, we have Kevin, a partial-Anodite Gwen, and a version of Julie who—I realize as I'm writing this—is similar to Venom, and I'm okay with that. From the DCU, we have Jen Tennyson, who might just be the weakest of the DC-Tennyson family, but is still a powerhouse, and… oh, yeah, Lex flippin' Luthor.
This should be fun.
Oh, and something I want to mention: The fights in the first half of the chapter were 100% randomized. I couldn't figure out who to place where, so I assigned everyone a number, and rolled a 20-sided dice. Then I used a 10-sided dice (turning it into a D5) to decide which team fought which. After that, it became a lot easier.
As always, please consider buying my book, Alpha Sanction, by Josh Gottlieb. You can find it on my website (link in my profile) as a PDF, or on Amazon as an eBook or physical copy. Sales are always good, and they give me motivation to finish the sequel.
You can also support me by donating on my P-atreon (link in my profile). Donations make my day, and make me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile.
I'd like to thank the following people who have made me feel awesome:
Serious Muffins: Nimrod009, Anders Lyngbye, Matthias Matanovic, John Collins, Red Bard, Aaron Meek, killroy225, Lokthar, Hakuryuken
Incredible Muffins: RaptorusMaximus, michaelb958, Crazyman844, Ben Stueckle
Ultra Muffins: RangersRoll, Adam Costello
Next Chapter: The team struggles with dissent, even as they begin tracking the most dangerous monster any of them have ever faced…
Plus Muffin!