(AN: takes off black cloak, hello again my friends it's been a while hasn't it? So yeah a lot of things happen this year. Had to go to a wedding, had my final year for my major this year got a job as a camper for the summer its been a lot. But since I've been gone for so long I've got a bonus chapter for you guys later more info below.)
"Mmhhfuckness" left my lips when my tether broke. I closed my eyes, smashing through the window and rolling across the ground … "GET IT OFF!" I yelled, extending my mechanical arm, while not glowing cherry hot, was currently causing the skin it was connected to to boil.
"Fuck!" Someone yelled when they grabbed the metal and found that out the hard way. I would have apologized if I wasn't trying to ignore my fat boiling. Finally, it fell with a clatter on the ground and I rolled away from it, taking the moment of peace to let out a whimper at my damaged stump.
"Camera's clear, you lost Shoto," Kiiroi says followed by a grunt as ice-cold water is thrown into my side.
"Not sure if that's gonna help." I panted, trying to ignore the pain coming from my stump. It was dulling but that was more of the nerves dying.
"It's mostly for the blood." He says, which reminds me that I am still covered in Momo's blood, oh shit that's right, Momo! "Turn on the TV! News channel!"
"You jump through a window covered in blood and on fire, and the first thing you want is TV?" Yuyake sighs. She also had a bucket of water but she seemed to be using it on herself showing that she was the one that got the arm off. "Want to see your epic battle on the big screen?"
"Need to make sure that Momo didn't die," I replied, rising to my feet as Kiiroi turns on the TV and turns it to the news. "She's a well-liked hero, if she recovers well they'll talk about it."
"Can … can people recover from what you did to her?" He asks looking back at me, or more likely the blood covering me.
"Easily, gut injuries are painful but it takes a long time to actually die from them, Jiro was with her and she can make medic gear, she should be fine."
"TV isn't saying anything besides your attack." Yuyake holds up quotation marks as she says this. "On the Nagoya TV building."
"Is no news good news?" Kiiroi asked.
"In this case yes, get back to the cameras. See if you can get your eyes on Shoto, if he's spending his time in the hospital it means Momo is still alive … If not, well, let me figure out a plan to handle that."
The two of them looked at me, then at my mechanical arm on the ground which would need heavy repairs before being useful again. Ignoring the fact that I can't even work on it till it cools down.
"Well, at least Creati is off the board for a bit," Yuyake says with a sigh.
"Yeah, we're not happy about that," I say hobbling to the bathroom.
"Why not?"
"She has the disk."
There was a moment of silence, then rapid footsteps behind me that told me who was rightfully upset about that notion.
"WHAT!" Yuyake yelled, lifting me up like I was Simba, her red hair puffing up like cat hair as she glared at me. "You let her take the disk from you!?"
One of her hands brushed my stump and I let out a hiss of pain, she adjusted her grip but didn't put me down.
"I didn't let her take anything, she was willing to give her life up to stop me from escaping. She believed that I was a threat, I saw a moment to fix that and finally got her to see my side."
"By gutting her like a fish?" Kiiroi asked.
"Okay fair enough, I thought of that after I got sick of her flashbangs but that's beside the point."
Yuyake shakes me, "And you didn't think to ask us about this choice as well? This is our lives on the line as well you know!"
"Well, me and Mineta's lives, you're just here to scratch your fighting itch." She glared at Kiiroi for that statement who saw her expression and decided to shut up.
"Look, I wasn't getting out of there with that disk, Momo was quite fine with chaining her dead body to me. I had to give her something, at least this way the disk isn't destroyed."
"Oh no, it's just In the hands of a hero whose small intestines you just exposed to the world!"
"Yes and she knows I could've killed her, and it's not like this is the first time I've yelled about being framed. If nothing else, we'll hope curiosity gets the best of her."
"That doesn't help us right now!" Kiiroi spoke up, laptop in hand, switching through city cameras. "We have to wait for Momo to go through surgery, wake up, hope she was able to hide the disk somewhere during said surgery, find a place to play the disk, then she's gonna have to... What? Play it? Give it to Deku? Whichever choice she picks, the heroes are probably gonna find us first and with your arm missin-"
"My arm is always missing." I cut him off rolling my eyes. I lift my legs and kick the insides of Yuyake's arm, forcing them to bend, bringing me closer to her which I choose as the perfect moment to give her eye a long lick.
"Gawk!" She squawks in surprise and drops me.
"I've fought heroes with one arm and a bag of badass, now I have you to help me, plus, we've been hiding in this building for weeks. I've set traps, they're gonna need Bakugo at the minimum t-"
"Would Lemillion and Gale Force do?" Kiiroi cuts me off pointing to the TV which showed the two top ten heroes had joined the search party. Another constable was Arsenal, who if I remember correctly had a cannon for a tongue. And that's ignoring the task force that is here to capture me including Mina. A flap of wings attracts my attention to the windows where I could see a bird staring at me... Its look was too intense to be just looking into this building.
"AH!" Yuyake cried as I whipped out my gun and fired, taking the bird's head off. Its body fell out of sight but that didn't make me feel better. That was either Koda's quirk or another animal control quirk.
"Position might be compromised." I say jogging to the window and moving to its side to avoid giving anyone outside a free shot.
"Oh, that's even better," Yuyake said glaring at me as she rolled her shoulders. "Possibly 4 top ten heroes and we have to sit and hope that this hero that hates you and that you, let's not forget, gutted, believes you and takes the disk to someone who can make a difference and now the heroes might know where we are." She groans into her hands.
"I thought you liked to fight?" Kiiroi started looking at the cameras around the building to see if she saw anything.
"Fight yes, suicide no, Mineta you remember our deal, right?" She says grabbing her bag. "I will walk out when I think the fight is unwinnable."
"That's fine," I say pulling out my phone. "You're probably safe to leave at the moment without being seen, though if the heroes catch you I probably won't be able to help you until later."
"Bold of you to assume there's gonna be a later." She says, raising an eyebrow when I hold up a finger.
"Hey," I answered into the phone. "You told me to call you If I was ever interested in trying the M arm on right?"
Yuyake's bag fell to the ground while Kiiroi choked on his tongue.
"I don't care what its actual name is, let's keep it short and call it the M arm … Look, do you want me to try the thing or not? ... good if you can bring it over within 20 minutes that would be great!" I replied, hanging up before I could hear more of his smug voice.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Kiiroi said, looking more alarmed than when I jumped through the window. "Do you have a death wish or something?"
"No, but it's either this or the damn leeches veins again. and I don't think those will be enough." I shudder at the memory.
"Oh yeah, because that … creature is so much better than the leeches, the same leeches I see fit to remind you, that caused you to lose control and knock down a building."
"That was a bad reaction." I defend. To be fair, he told me to take just one leech but I was dying and decided that one wasn't gonna cut it. "I've taken measures this time."
"What measures?" He asked, hand on his hip and raising an eyebrow.
"I've been working on a drug that should work on any of his creations and keep them placid or at least keep the drugs they inject in me from altering my personality too much " I inch away from the window.
"How long have you had this drug?" Kiiroi asked, his eyebrow-raising even higher.
"Been working on it for a while but I'll actually finish it 20 minutes from now," I say jogging to my room where my mini lab is. "Tell me if the heroes start busting in. "I call behind me ignoring Kiiroi cursing and Yuyake saying something about sticking around just to see how this turns out.
Never thought I would place my faith in Momo of all people, I think to myself as I close the door behind me. But I trust her to do the right thing.
I was ripped out of the memory by pain and had a moment to feel my teeth grinding against each other before falling onto my knees. Emotional surges are back, that can't be good I think to myself, practically choking on the anger that I was feeling. I heard my classmates saying my name and asking if I was alright.
"I'm fine!" I said tasting the blood in my mouth *blood from my nose and mouth* "got a little lightheaded, comes with the nose bleed, shouldn't have skipped breakfast today."
As I rose to my feet, I heard All Might walk over and ask if I was okay to participate. The idea of skipping the fight was appealing but wasn't something I really could afford at the moment. The vault problems will pass sooner or later but I've already had to make up panic attacks because of earlier problems. No matter what path I take in this new life I need to control what people think of me, at least in certain perspectives. If I drop out of the fight then I'll have to deal with the thought in the back of my mind, to watch over my condition, that could get classmates more nosy than I want.
"Ohh, you bet I am," I say, meeting All Might's eye. "I feel perfectly fine sir, the nose bleed goes and com- I mean comes and goes, I'm fine to play."
"Are you sure man? You seemed pretty bad there for a moment," Denki said. "You sure you don't want to go to the nurse's office?"
I failed to stifle a laugh, there's nothing else I would have loved to do. "No no, actually physical activity helps with the nose bleeding a little, running around will help it stop faster." I down a couple more pills. "Recovery Girl said these were all I needed so I'm ready to go."
"Mineta I'm not sure-" I cut Denki off with a look, certain that if he kept talking he would talk me out of it.
"Denki I'm fine, I got this."
All Might didn't look like he was all for it. "Well, if the nurse said that it was okay then I'm not one to argue." He turned to Mina and Momo. "Are you two okay with this?"
Oh yeah, I'll be fighting Momo again I think to myself. Gnawing on the cocktail of confusing emotions that thought brought me.
"If he says he's alright then I guess so," Momo said nervously, playing with her hair. "How about you Mina?"
The pink-colored girl grins at me, sizing me up. "If he thinks he's good to go then I'm good, but he better not blame his headache when he loses!"
The anger returned but with it came a dark excitement, the last time I saw Mina was 4 days before Black Orchid. Honestly, the memory was bittersweet. A hero that had her whole worldview shattered and a villain trying to piece his together. Our fight ended that night but not the way either of us wanted.
"You have no idea how much fun this will be" I say.
–
"Ground Beta" I mutter, eyes drifting around the fake city. It had an odd nostalgia to it. I kind of felt positive feelings that took me a moment to catch it. After a moment I figured it out, nothing bad ever happened to me in here, I realized in surprise. After our second year which finally cleared up all the OFA/LOV nonsense they decided that we had pretty much had the hang of all urban type combat and even if they wanted a refresher we used a bigger zone. We stopped using this place long before The roofy Incident last time I was here and the last time we were here Me and Sero had managed to win our match. I smile at the memory only for my mind to go to a different place.
"Impressive isn't it?" The phone in Kiiroi's hand was giving off a voice so smug that I could practically feel it like a full-body teabagging.
"It's horrifying is what it is," Kiiroi says as I lifted up the glass tube peering at the thing in it.
"And this thing is safe?"
"No, well, yes it's safe for you but that's because it was designed to work with your quirk and blood type. This isn't the same as the leeches, if Kiiroi tried to stick this on he'll probably die of a dozen reasons."
"And what are the downsides for me?" I ask, shaking the tube. Yuyake tapped the glass with her finger and we both leaned back as it jerked in reaction.
"Is it….sentient?" I ask, feeling as if the thing was watching me. I would have asked if it was alive but I didn't want the answer to that.
"It can follow basic commands but I only used the brain of an octopus for a base."
"Only?" Kiiroi exclaims "That's one of the top ten smartest animals, isn't it ?"
"Of course. But I don't think you have time for 20 questions, you have company."
Kiiroi cursed and walked over to the cameras, though I already knew who it was, he would have warned us if the heroes were getting close.
"Told ya she would survive" Kiiroi gave me a glare before pressing a button, no doubt letting Momo in.
I came from the memory calm and in control, not even losing my step as we entered the building. While that was better than the last one which had sent me to my knees, that doesn't take away from the fact that this problem was still happening even after I resettled the vault. The mental block I put up is still in effect, which means another crack is open or whatever is going on with the vault reconfiguring. I let out a sigh as All Might instructed us on which floor to go to locate our 'bomb'.
My eyes surveyed the room as I tried to figure out what was going on. You know I've always known I've been messed up but this is ridiculous. From mental instability as a kid to whatever Jackson did to my morality while I was a GA agent, I can't help but feel like this is the most mentally unsettled point I've been in my life … or at least the top 5.
It was at this point that my vault problems decided to confuse me even more, by fixing themselves. Feeling a ping in my head I sigh and close my eyes allowing me to see the imaginary codes trailing across my visions.
Vault recalibration
Stalled mental fragmentation detected
Vault recalibration
Continued mental fragmentation refiguration
Mental fragmentation refiguration stabilized: Scanning possibility of non monitored mental echo 37%
Mental fragmentation sounds scary but fragmentation basically happens with mental whiplash, which makes sense since I'm hanging out with people I've been fighting for years. Mental recalibration is also good because once the vault is finished this shit should finally stop … What's making me worried is the next message.
Caution! Your memory records shown that you have been in the deep vault consistently for over 30 hours
This was concerning because … no the hell I haven't, but this must have had something to do with that 9%% error that I saw in the vault earlier meaning that I had not fixed the problems and for some reason the vault thinks I've been using it for more than a day. The reset did nothing to fix that error or maybe the alteration caused the problem to pop up again? Whatever the reason, the vault not understanding when I'm in or not in it doesn't matter too much as long as none of the abilities of the vault are blocked off or are uncontrollable...you know, sort of like how they are now. Before I could go more into that, the vault sent me one last message.
Requesting for temporary Vault alteration to help with said problems? Warning: accepting this altercation without supervision of Jackson could result in a vault regression scenario to protect your mind.
Now this can be for a bunch of reasons, vault alterations, while normally rare in the academy, are pretty common for classes T, I & S operatives, mostly on the fact that our vaults are more customized by Jackson so he experiments with them a bit. Hell, the first month you have a vault most people get one or two requests and are scared senseless when they realize how complicated the vault is. Alterations are basically reconfigurations that happen if certain scenarios or conditions are made but unlike refigurations, you have to give them permission to be put in place and they are not fully inspected so there's the possibility of them causing more problems than good. Basically refiguration is for known problems that come from the vault while alterations are basically problems Jackson thinks could happen but he hasn't hammered all the variables down yet.
Yeah no, I think to myself slightly pushing against the bomb to test its weight, letting out a sigh when it doesn't budge. Of course they made it heavy, if not, a hero with the right quirk could bust a wall open and play a game with keep away. Gonna need to deny this alteration. If the refiguration's going fine then I'm not gonna rock the boat b- my train of thought was ripped off the tracks and sent spiraling off a cliff by the next message that traveled across my imagination.
Notification: due to the reading of your vault and mental reading temporal contingency have been activated. Vault alteration has been accepted on your behalf.
"блядь!"
Aoyama flinched at my exclamation and I waved my hand at him. I will be the first person to say that Jackson has done some shady shit but forcing an altercation is something that only happens in situations that he believes, if the requirements are met, is needed for the user's continued survival. To this day one of my top 5 thoughts on what caused my vault to 'jailbreak' while I was on the run was a type of alteration that Jackson set up. And as shitty as Jackson forcing a shift in the mental computer he puts in your head is … 98% of forced alterations come back with positive results, I-would-have-died-if-not-installed reviews from whoever experienced them, most of whom were M rank members. It is just part of the mythical nonsense Jackson managed to pull off, which apparently is the recognition of the possibility and creating a contingency for Time quirks or more specifically mental time travel.
It's one thing to admit that you think it's possible, it's another thing to create a protocol to activate it if it happens, Jackson. I think to myself wondering how many vaults had this code and if he ever expected it to happen. And why did you never bring this up when we talked about time travel before! Yes it was a joke but seems like the best time to mention that you prepared for time traveling agents!
I shake my head letting out a sigh as I decided to take some of tomorrow's patience to build a bridge to get over all the mental shit I was just forced to swallow. 5/6 problems with the vaults are being fixed by themselves. Whatever else happens can be fixed when I get home tonight, for now I have more important things to worry about … like how I'm going to fight the younger versions of my natural enemies, my 7th biggest regret while working with the UA traitor who, from the look in his eyes, is confused and considering turning me into OFA.
I sigh and roll my shoulder doing quick stretches as I get ready. New life, same problems. Time to make sure I didn't make the same mistake.
Yuga Aoyama
Panicking was such an undazzling thing, fear does terrible things to your face and it is truly hard to inspire someone when they can tell you are a mess. I believe that a true mark of a hero is how they manage to perform under pressure, even in the worst of situations. Which is why I was honestly so proud of myself. I mean it's not every day one's life is over and here I am not even crying on the outside. My mom would tell me not to be so fatalistic, she would say that a touch of madness brightens up life … pretty sure this is much more than a touch.
Nothing is going as planned I think to myself watching Mineta walk around the room. We're here in battle building F which was a copy of C which was basically a construction Office building. Six floors tall and a lot of windows, though without any real office supplies or furniture, there were pipes, lots of them. I suppress a sigh before it could be shown on my face. The building was the last thing on my mind which brings me to what was on my mind. Trying not to be obvious, I allow my eyes to travel over to Mineta Minoru who was currently lightly pressing against the bomb, as if he could budge it. If you had asked me what I thought of the purple-haired classmate an hour ago I would have told you that he wasn't as dazzling as me, though to be fair none are as dazzling as me. But he is by far one of the more less-impressive of our classmates. Black eyes with no glint, a voice with a lisp and a diminutive stature made it hard to not underestimate the boy.
And yet society still values him more than a quirkless like me. I think to myself, rubbing the stomach area of my armor. Even with all that's happened I can't say that I regret my quirk, even though it isn't really my quirk. For all its drawbacks, for all its pains and limitations, it's still my own quirk that will allow me to become a hero.
And all I have to do is betray my classmates.
I shake the thought from my head. All Might has been beating OFA for years, he's not gonna suddenly lose just because I gave up the location of a school trip … I hope.
I mean if OFA was so smart he wouldn't have chosen someone like me to be a spy. I think to myself examining my cape. He would've chosen someone who was loyal to him, someone who apparently didn't get discovered on the second day of class by one of his classmates.
"блядь!" as if my thoughts had caused a reaction Mineta suddenly yelled something causing me to jump back. He waves at me and then goes back to observing the room, seeming to take interest in the latter.
I wonder how I look to him. I think to myself watching him drag the ladder to the wall. I still don't understand what mistake I made and what clue I gave that made him discover me. The worst part is that it might not have been me that slipped up. Maybe OFA made a mistake and blew my cover which makes more sense but if so what am I supposed to do? Go to the most dangerous villain of the country, one that my family owes a debt to and say yes Mr. All For One my cover was blown but I think it is your fault so please don't kill me and my family. I could imagine how that would go with no scratch. That I don't want to imagine, I want to sleep at night.
Before today I assumed the worst thing to happen to me would be being exposed but this might be even worse. Yes if I was exposed then I would get arrested, my dream would be impossible and my parents in jail with me but at least we would still be alive. If we fail we'll be in hero custody and safe from AFO but in this situation not only do I still have to betray my classmates, I also have to betray the man holding my family's life in my hand at the same time. With a couple of insulations and bible stories another foot has been placed on my neck and I have to make room so that it doesn't step on the toes of the one already there.
The worst part is that If I didn't know his age It would look like I got outplayed by a primary school student. Okay that was a mean thought but I feel like I have the right to be frustrated here, Mineta is the last thing I would expect from a spy, If I had to choose one of our classmates I would have assumed Asui, which reminds me of the near terrifying that my conversation with Mineta caused earlier.
The worst thing about being blackmailed by 2 different groups is being blackmailed by 2 different groups where one is incompetent. Again, can't really be making vast assumptions so soon after discovery but Mineta would get in trouble too if it was found out that he was trying to have a spy work for him.
"Match starts in 2 minutes." All Might's voice rings from the earpiece suppressing me, I turn from Mineta only to blink and see that he had used the ladder to reach up and climb onto a lamp hanging from a wire. He had his feet braced on the ceiling as he pulled on the wire, apparently trying to rip it out, when that didn't work he pulled something from his hair and began stabbing the wire, letting out a whoop when the wire snapped and he and the lamp fell to the ground.
Not what I expected of a spy making moves against one of the strongest beings in the world.
Maybe this is part of his disguise I think to myself as Mineta gets back to his feet and looks at his prize. He might act the fool to get people to lower their guard. I winced remembering how he had casually gotten me to spill facts and information when we were talking about my cape. Maybe he is a spy for All Might? That makes some sense. If spies are something AFO pulls a lot then the symbol of peace might have set up students in each class to watch for them. But No, that still doesn't make sense, even if he was that wouldn't explain how he knew who I was or my situation. Also, it doesn't fit with All Might's MO to train spies nor do I see how he would keep it a secret. Is his quirk mind-readingg related? No, that sounded stupid, he didn't read my mind to find out my secrets, the way he told me he knew made it sound like he always knew about them. Honestly, it seemed like he was finding a way to tell me he knew without letting anyone else know.
I'm pretty sure a real spy would have trouble figuring this mystery out. Well, maybe not, because most spies would probably have the information needed. I have no idea who AFO's rivals or enemies are besides heroes. Maybe Mineta showed me a hint that identifies him as a student of AFO's long-lost brother but I just didn't recognize it. OFA probably wasn't expecting me to be blackmailed so he didn't really give me instruction about it. I met most people who would have already said our agreement was crummy. An arguably low-level quirk in exchange for betraying the symbol of peace? Those that would think like this probably already had a quirk. Pretty sure anyone else that was born without a quirk would've made the same choice as me. My eyes drift to Mineta, well maybe not if they realized they were gonna get blackmailed by someone else.
"Stick with me Joseph and I will replace the heavy cloak your parents gave you with one that is more dazzling you can call your own." Mineta's words echo in my head reminding me of the theoretical carrot that was being offered in this room full of sticks. I wasn't fully sure I got his bible comparison but I was 90% sure that whenever he talked about a cloak he meant my quirk.
Is he saying that he would give me a quirk? The idea would have been laughable if I wasn't currently wielding a quirk given to me by another. Although the possibility that there were two quirk-giving quirk-users so close together was low to say the least. I guess it doesn't matter whether he's telling the truth or not. I can't betray him without getting exposed … unless I can get the information to OFA. The idea of directly selling out my classmate was making me sick to my stomach, but he was obviously involved in this war and whether by maliciousness or neglectfulness, he can ruin or end both me and my parent's lives with a couple of words. What if the next time he says the wrong thing it will be with All Might nearby instead of Tsuyu.
"Stop it" I jumped at the short boy's lisp even though it hadn't even been ten minutes since the last time I heard it.
"What?"
"Our conversation from before," he replied, he had wrapped the lamp's wire around one arm leaving about 3 feet of the head dragging on the floor behind him. "It's crawling in your mind like a spider, making webs and catching every stray thought that goes through your head. Leaving a clotted mess that is disrupting your mind when you need it most … bottle it and put it aside until you have the time to look into it, whether your thoughts are for or against my offer. Think of it in your own time".
I could only stare at the small boy who, after dropping that statement, grabbed his cape and proceeded to tear strips from it.
He figured out that I was thinking of telling OFA about him or rather he already had thought about it? That thought wasn't as concerning as the fact that he didn't even seem to care about the possibility of me betraying him enough to threaten me. He really figured out I was possibly plotting against everyone and told me to leave it for after school?
"Shoot this," Mineta says, grabbing my attention as he angles the ladder directly at me.
"What?" I ask, not sure what he wants me to do.
"Shoot it down the middle," he says, angling it so that I can split the ladder without hitting him. Not understanding why I would oblige him and raise an eyebrow when he raises the side of it over his head "again".
"Why?"
"Momo's a weapon user … not a highly skilled one but I'd rather block her blows with my own weapon instead of my wrist."
I stared at him, a moment of confusion at first before I realized that he was focusing on the match … not half an hour ago this man had revealed that he knew of OFA and my situation that made me a triple or quadruple agent and now he pushed that all aside to go back to class as normal.
"Do you really care?" I asked, hoping I didn't offend him but I was curious when he nodded his head and I continued "Why?"
"I want to win this match" he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world "which is gonna be pretty hard with your lack of experience but I like the challenge."
"That's it?" I was surprised, ignoring his last statement. I don't know why but I didn't expect him to care about the match. He didn't seem to care about the classes before "Didn't expect you to care about the fight?"
"Why wouldn't I?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, shaking the parts of the ladder into his hands. Taking the hint I blasted the parts he pointed out. He examines them for a moment before nodding his head looking over the parts "We're training to be heroes that will beat villains." he snorted and shook his head, tying the strip of his cape he took earlier around his hips making some sort of belt. "This is gonna be much more fun than classes." he sees my look and pats me on the hip "Calm down, treat this as if it's a class test. Leave the heavy stuff for after."
I stared at the man that had turned my already bad situation into borderline apocalyptic and said the only thing that I could think of.
"You are very not dazzling, Mon ami Mineta."
"Consider me as the background, the less dazzling I am, the more I can make others shine." He grins at me and I shudder at the hint of something behind those black eyes. "Now I have a plan, follow my instructions and you'll see something … impressive."
Can't really say I liked the way he said those words
Momo Yaoyorozu
"Begin!" All Might's voice rang from the ear piece, annoying the start of the match. Immediately Ashido sped past me somehow using the acid spilling from her feet to slide across the floor.
"Surfs up!" she laughs with a flourish, acid flinging from her arm as she does so.
"Careful!" I say stepping back avoiding the drops.
"Sorry, " she says with a grin. Still surfing across the floor, I guess she's going to scout, I think to myself as she starts going to the nearby rooms, trusting her to come back if something happens. I look around the room, No furniture, 6 floors from what I observed outside, and two stairwells, no elevator, makes sense since this is a fake building. Honestly even if there was one it seemed stupid to use it. Honestly, it's the same reason I don't want to make climbing gear since it would leave us sitting ducks to Aoyama's quirk.
"Ashio!" I call out watching the acid user exit a room and skate back to me. "Pretty sure they're not gonna be on the first or second floor, let's move up."
"Are you sure? All Might said it could be any floor." she replied but was already moving to the stairs.
"True but ignoring the fact that the bomb seems to be a rocket and not something you want to have to bust through a lot of things when you launch it, none of the tests so far have had the rocket under the third floor, though you're right and we shouldn't assume." I added the last part before motioning to the right most staircase. "Any ideas for a plan?"
"Not really." Mina taking the lead up the stairs, "I don't think we need one to be honest."
"Why is that?" I asked, throwing a glance up the stairs. This seems like one of the better areas to ambush us if that was the plan.
"To be honest I'm pretty sure I could take both Mineta and Aoyama by myself." Mina replied, "And even if I couldn't, I think you could hold Mineta long enough for me to handle Aoyama or vice versa."
"It's not wise to be overconfident." I warned, even though I couldn't help but agree with her to a point, "Aoyama's quirk could be dangerous in these narrow hallways and staircases and we have no idea how strong his beams are."
"True but we do know his fire rate is one beam per second or else he hurts his stomach." she says as we enter the second floor, "I think we could rush him."
"Rather not risk it until we know what his beam does," I replied, kind of wishing I had taken the same test as the rest of the class, at least then I would have had more info on my classmate's quirks.
"From what I saw during the entrance exam, it seems to be some sort of force, nothing he hit seemed to have burned." Mina said, waving her hand. From what I've seen from yesterday, she was pretty athletic so she must have been confident that she could avoid the beam. I on the other hand would rather not blindly trust my shield until I see the damage his laser can do.
"And Mineta?" poking my head in room after room as we searched the floor, "he had higher fire rate and he can bounce off his orbs giving him mobility, could be tricky."
"For you maybe." Mina says, nodding her head as they clear the floor, "my acid will melt his balls in a second!" she pauses then snorts at the statement for some reason, "honestly, I say let me fight him while you distract Aoyama, but if you have to fight him I would just make a shield to get close then kick him as hard as you can!" she does a high kick to demonstrate, "that will probably put him down long enough for you to capture him."
I briefly imagine kicking the small boy then flinch at the image of him sailing into the air like a football, "possibly but don't underestimate him, from what I saw this morning he was talking to Ojiro about martial arts."
"Even if he is a black belt he barely reaches my knee." Mina replied pointing to the right staircase that was closer this time. "And even earlier Tsuyu had to stop Bakugo from blowing him away." Mina grins and I get the feeling that she's gonna like smacking Mineta around. Well the two of them have been having a little tiff since they met, maybe I should capture Mineta. I can't imagine the two of them making up if Mina hurts him too badly in this match.
"Did you hear that?" Mina says, suddenly stopping in front of me and looking up.
"No wh-" My question was cut off as a Thoom sound shakes the staircase we were about to enter. "That's Aoyama's quirk right?"
Mina nodded looking up. "Coming higher up, what is he-?" she jumps back as a blue beam bursts from the stairs above their heads and into the floor. "Whoa!" Mina jumps back as I start making a shield for protection. More beams rained down and it was the third one that made me realize something.
"They're not aiming for us." Mina apparently figured it out as well, "are they just blind firing?"
No, judging from the sound, pretty sure Aoyama is on the 6th floor. I doubt he could have heard us talking yet, Momo watched another beam cleave through the stairs. It was the sight of part of the top stairs hitting the stairs in front of us that made the pieces come together.
"They're ruining the staircases!" I said eyes widening, Mina's eyes widened as well. The beams stopped, Aoyama probably stopping to prevent backlash but the damage had already been done. The stairs were rapidly cracking, multiple holes and crevasses covering them. He didn't even have to actually destroy the stairs fully, his actions have made the stairs a true hazard to go up and if we made noise, he could go back to fire and cave the stairs on us.
Stupid! I chastise myself. Didn't even think about them destroying the staircases. To be fair to myself, none of the other classmates had decided to try it, though that might have been because the villain teams had not gotten the right quirks to try it.
"Hello Mademoiselles!" a voice crooned from higher up, "are you alright?"
"Aoyama." Mina groans.
"I would advise you not to climb up this staircase any farther, I am about to keep firing until it collapses."
"Any way to stop him?" Mina whispers to me. I shake my head, my mind calling out a blank. "Did you already destroy the other staircase?"
I briefly thought of making a reflective shield and trying to storm the stairs, but shook that thought from my mind. Even if it did block their lazer, there's no knowing if it would block the force and that was just asking to be shoved down the stairs. "I don't believe I have to tell you t-" I didn't hear the last part of his statement because Mina grabbed my arm and pulled me from the staircase, motioning for me to be quiet. "Come on, we need to hurry."
I could already guess her plan, unlike Aoyama, Mineta couldn't just destroy the staircase. He would have to barricade it, which is something Mina can get through. Their plan is probably to avoid combat altogether and just have Aoyama destroy both staircases and stop us from going up. Good idea because of the time limit. If they had unlimited time I could just make a ladder and have Mina melt holes through the floors.
It wasn't long before the thoom thoom sound continued in the distance, but we ignored it to go up the opposite stairway. I don't know what I was expecting when we reached the stairway. The floor to be covered with orbs? Mineta waiting to blindside us? Aoyama circling around for an ambush? But no, the staircase was just the same as the other one … at least until Aoyama started shooting it. We didn't meet any opposition until the next floor where the doorway into that floor had been blocked off with a pallet that must have been left behind for the fake construction.
"This isn't what I expected." Mina says, putting a hand on the barrier and quickly melting through it, stepping in with an expression that made me expect to hear Mineta scream out in fear. "Come in." she says after a second, moving to the side to give me room. Entering the hole that Mina had melted through, I stopped in my tracks and saw what she had already seen: a single purple orb on the ground in the center of the room.
Quickly looking around I took a quick look at the room seeing if there was any place a small person could hide in.
"I don't think he's here." Mina says, pointing to the doorway leading to the rest of the building and seeing a similar barrier stuck to it.
"He must be trying to tire us out." Mina said walking towards it, "he's probably trying to buy time for Aoyama."
"That doesn't make sense" I counter. "The pallet lets us know what floor we were on and he knows your quirk would make this strategy useless, even if there's ten more pallets, your quirk would still be fine enough for a fight."
"As long as it's wood." Mina says, melting the pallet and looking down the hall, "another pallet, wait, nope, this one seems to be thicker."
So, he is trying to wait for Aoyama, honestly not what I was expecting from Mineta. He seemed to have a much more combative personality, though I guess I can see the reasoning if he is trying to burn out Mina's quirk, but still even so fighting two on one i-"
CRACK
What was that? I tried to move my head but everything suddenly felt fuzzy. I let go of my staff..wait, no, it wasn't in my hands anymore, instead they were pressed against concrete. Am I on the ground? A groan came from somewhere around my head. Wait, was that me, am I moaning? Did Ayoma come arou-
CRACK
My vision, which I noticed had started to go hazy, went white as a flash of pain rips through my skull as it was forced into the ground.
"Momo!" Mina's voice rang out to me. I tried to push myself up but my arms didn't seem to want to work with me. Mina yelled my name again and I felt a weight on my back shift. Someone on my back, I realize through the pain.
CRACK
This time I felt whatever it was slam into me again but this time hitting me at the base of my neck, I felt one more painful jolt before everything went dark.
Tsuyu Asui
"Match start," All Might said into the microphone, causing the girls to storm the building. Mineta and Aoyama had already been moving, the latter cutting pipe weapons for the former. By the time All Might called the match to start they had separated, Aoyama going left while Mineta threw down one of those darker orbs and sent himself flying towards the stairs.
If you ask me the first thought that came to my mind when I saw Mineta Minoru it would be Sardonic. From the moment he entered the classroom yesterday he snarked everyone he talked to at least once, normally if the person is abrasive about it. The second thing I figured out about him is that he is tense and not the normal amount. I noticed when I caught him during the quirk evaluation test, the moment I caught him his whole mannerism changed, his voice went flat and his eyes dilated and for a moment his body coiled as if he expected me to hit him. I originally had brushed it off. Most people are unnerved by my tongue the first time, I thought maybe he had a bad experience with mutation types, though with him telling me that he is one lowers the chances of that.
But then came his episode in the classroom where he went from perfectly normal to screaming when Momo got close to him and fighting Bakugou. It was the same tenseness, the same violence that he displayed before just allowed to sway his actions. Ever since then I've been watching him, not because I believed his panic attack excuse, more just to see what's causing his reactions. It was these close observations which led to my current curiosity, which was his conversation with Aoyama. I couldn't hear everything, not because my French is rudimentary at best but because Mineta used odd dialects and phrases. Even so I manage to get 4 things from it. The cloak of Joseph, which I'm pretty sure is a bible story and a term. All for one, what does that mean? I Thought he was quoting the three musketeers but that doesn't match. Might be another name for him but that doesn't fit the context either. And lastly whatever he was saying about his quirk not being for his body, that is something I can't figure out, the very fact that he was born with it means that's for his body. The closest thing that makes sense is Mineta talking about how it hurts him when he uses it too much, but that doesn't make sense since every quirk has some sort of limits, well, besides mutation types.
"Any guesses who is going to win?" I look up as Hagakure pokes my shoulder, taking me from my thoughts.
"Momo and Mina obviously." Jiro replied.
"I'm not sure about that, I saw Aoyama's quirk against those robots we had to go against in the entrance exam, they were crazy strong." Uraraka replied
"I think he is a glass cannon though." Jiro counters pointing at the armor-covered student who was still staying by the stairs. "Why else is he wearing legit armor? Also, what is Mineta doing?" our shorter classmate had gone still and started staring at a window.
"Not sure, I think he's hoping to ambush the hero team? But wasn't splitting up the same mistake Bakugo and Iida made?" Uraraka turns to the two mentioned students, the latter stiffening at the mention of his failure and the former not even acknowledging it, staring at the screen.
"I don't think so, Mineta and Aoyama don't have the same defense option to hold a room those two had." Midoriya stated, idly writing in his notebook. "I think they're hoping to pincher them down a hallway, Mineta pinning them down and Aoyama disabling them."
While they tried to figure out both team's plans, I turned my attention to the other classmates that had been giving Mineta a lot of attention. Todoroki was staring at the screen with the same expression he had since I've known him. Apathy with a slight hint of aggression, though as his eyes followed the screen I could see a hint of submission there as well, which had been there since Mineta commented on his family. Questions for that will have to wait, I think to myself walking over to stand next to Bakugo. I want to know what you're thinking.
"You're watching Mineta pretty closely, what do you think?" While I liked my word games with Mineta, mostly because of how his attention seemed to slingshot, I've always preferred being blunt.
"None of your damn business frog face!" he barked back but it was faded like the wind had been knocked out of it. Ever since Todoroki's display and Mineta's teasing earlier, he had been grouchy to say the least, staying in the back of the group silently fuming. "I want to see how good the grape nerd is since he kept on running his mouth." Bakugo had apparently decided that I deserved more than just a one sentence response.
"Oh that right?" I replied, laying a finger on my chin, "Mineta said something about you not being the cream of the crop right?"
Bakugo glared but kept looking at the screen, getting a concerned look from Kirishima who had been giving the same looks since Mineta riled the boy up.
"Like he could do any better." Jiro huffed, "he was quick to diss everybody else's fights, can't wait to see him eat his words."
"What makes you think he is going to lose?" Denki asked, him and Sero had been keeping to themselves but apparently Mineta was a sore spot. "From all his talk about the other fights I assume he would be good at it."
"Not necessary, young Denki!" All Might replied, his smile dazzling us all, "anybody that has seen enough fights can tell you when and where someone is more likely to throw a punch, but that still doesn't mean that they themselves would know what to do when they themselves are in the same situation."
"What is he doing?" Toru's question caused everyone to look at the screen to see that Mineta had been busy. He apparently found some pallets and started to barricade the entryways to the hallway with them.
"Hey wait a minute!" Jiro exclaimed, "why are there so many more stuff to use in this building, ours was practically empty?"
"It's supposed to be an office building going through repairs." the symbol of peace explained, scratching his chin "I might have to talk to Aizawa about putting more things in the other building. I feel like this gives these teams an advantage."
"Why do you care, Jiro?" Denki asks grinning at her, "you think you would have been able to stop a glacier with a pallet?"
Jiro shoots the lighting boy a light glare, "I'm just saying that's it's less fair that they get more stuff than us."
"Pretty sure it wouldn't be fair in real life either." Denki countered.
"Well this isn-"
"I'm more interested in why he is blocking off the fifth floor." Sero says cutting them off while rubbing his head, "the bomb is a floor above him, why isn't he blocking off that floor? Or at least the stairway."
"He's planning a diversion." Midoria explained, "the first door to be blocked off is gonna be the one they searched."
"I guess he is not planning the ambush since he's locking himself into the fifth floor." Uraraka said, "bit risky if they don't go up the left stairway and ignore the blockage."
"The left side is still unblocked." I pointed out, "he just needs to run to the other stairway, go up a floor and he back w-" my words were cut off as Mineta pulls out his lamp, gives it a few test swing before spinning it over his head and smashing it into the nearest window shattering it.
"Or he could go outside the building because that makes more sense." Jiro sighs as Mineta does just as she says, but not before grabbing some of the shattered glass. "Why did he take the glass?"
"A weapon?" Denki offers.
"He's covered in pipe weapons! Why does he need the glass for?"
"Do we have cameras outside the building?" Midoriya asks.
"I'm afraid not." All Might says as he types the keyboard, changing cameras so we could see parts of Mineta as he jumps past window ledges as he traverses the building.
"He seems to be going to the right and down." Midoriya replied, "I guess he didn't want to risk running into Momo and Mina in the staircase … odd, you'd think that would be a better environment for him."
"Momo and Mina are going up the 3rd floor." Hagakure mentioned.
"I think he's using the earpiece to talk to Aoyama." Uraraka said, pointing at the mentioned student tapping his ear piece.
"So it is gonna be an ambush?" Toru asked.
"If it is, Mineta's messed up. He's going to have to cross the whole building to join in." Jiro said with a slight smirk on her face which earned her a look from Denki. Me and Sero shared a look that meant we would probably have to handle that later.
"I think he's gonna have Aoyama handle them himself and shoot at them from above the staircase." Midoriya responded, idly writing in his notebook. Bakugo snorted at that but quickly stopped as Aoyama started blasting the girls from above.
"Damn nerd." he muttered.
"Mineta back in!" Denki motions pointing at one of the monitors showing Mineta breaking a window and throwing himself back into the building, now on the second floor and making his way to the stairway.
"So it is an ambush" Hagakure surmised.
"If so, he should have chosen the third floor so that he could get there sooner." Jiro murmured.
Kind of have to agree with her on this one. I think to myself as the girls back off and start sprinting to the other stairway, the moment for ambushing pretty much ends. Mineta had cautiously moved to the stairway entrance and had gone to his knees and seemed to be waiting. A moment later the girls had entered the same stairway and started going, which I guess Mineta heard because after five seconds he started moving again following the two.
"Bet they're gonna hear him." Jiro muttered.
"Young Jiro, I already talked to young Mineta about making bets."
"Sorry sir, didn't mean like that." she replied, more embarrassed than upset when Denki made a tsk tsk sound like a disappointed parent, only to hiss when Jiro gave him a light jab with her ear-jack.
Turning back to the screen I see Mineta following the two but he had dropped on all fours and was crawling after the girls and was getting rather close to them.
"He's stalking them." Koda said, surprising me because he doesn't normally talk.
"Kind of harsh way to put it don't you think?" Denki asked.
"He means stalking like an animal does, think cats creeping up on birds." Sero corrected.
Mineta stopped laying flat on the stairs as Mina melted his pallet blocking the way into the 5th floor, giving the girls 3 seconds to enter the room before moving to the side of the entryway and hiding, pulling out the glass he had taken earlier and seemed to be using it to watch the girl's reflections.
Looking at the other camera I see Aoyama still in the process of destroying the other stairwell. He reached for his head and I assumed he was gonna call Aoyama to pincher them in the hallway but it was to pull another one of those darker orbs from his head and waited.
"Judging from the color it seems like the darker orbs." Ojiro stated. "Those are the ones that send him further, right?" He turned to Midoria who nodded his head and turned his notebook to the tail-having student.
"Damn, grape nerd is a hypocrite." I turned to look at Bakugo who was glowering at the screen. "So quick to lecture me about splitting away from four eyes."
No one even got a chance to ask what he was talking about before Mineta dropped his orb on the ground and jumped on it, launching himself onto Momo's back. It took maybe two seconds to make contact. It took Mineta one second to wind back in mid air and bring his lamp in a malicious ark into the back of Momo's head.
He is doing an ambush, I think to myself, seeing my classmates which, as Momo falls to the ground, only for Mineta to not stop his assault. He just decided to do it himself.
Crack!
"You got a sex change while you were in the hospital!?" I hissed at Momo, rising to my feet before groaning and lowering back to my seat, Hissing as Yuyake gripped my shoulder, preparing my stump for the connection. "If not, where the hell did you get the balls to even say that!"
Crack!
"What I'm saying is that even if I believe you you have no proof!"
"Because you were an idiot and lost it!" Kiiroi hissed, marching over from his laptop. "You didn't listen to him about the disk being proof until till he shoved it into your ribcage! Now not only have you lost the evidence because of your incompetence and now you want us to give up!?"
CRACK!
"I'm not saying to give up!" Momo steps forward and Kiiroi steps in front of me, "I'm saying you can't fight these people alone!"
"Been fighting them and the heroes so far." I muttered looking at Yuyake. She was holding the pitch black tube that held the M arm but was looking at momo cautiously. Which made sense even with all she said so far, we cant trust her fully and if she damages the arm then we're fucked in biblical proportions.
"Whoever these people are," Momo continued. "They were able to detect the video playing on my computer, my Private computer! You know Hatsume's skills and what's even worse is that they were waiting for me at my house." She shuddered, "my kids are there, Mineta, do you understand that?"
I want to feel bad for her, I really did, but whatever but the itching from the M arm mixed with the frustration and rage were making it very hard "Momo, I can't say I understand what it is to be a parent but I am very aware of the fear of getting those you care about killed." I take a deep breath "but I Can't turn myself in even with you there, even if you can get the rest of the heroes to believe me. If I get into a cell I am dead"
"You're dead if you stay here." Momo waved at me. "Look at yourself, Mineta, do you really think that you and these two and whatever in that tube can handle 7 high level heroes? You're literally falling apart! I'm no doctor but I doubt you could beat me in the state you are in."
I lick blood leaking from my nose. "I really wish you heroes would stop understating me."
I lift the lamp in time to block Mina's foot allowing the force behind it to send me rolling away off the downed hero. As I rolled I allowed one of my orbs to pop off whenever they go stuck on the ground leaving a trail of four orbs between us.
Vault recalibration
stalled mental fragmentation detected
Vault recalibration
Continued mental fragmentation refiguration
Mental fragmentation refiguration stabilized scanning possibility of non monitored mental echo 87%
Vault altercation 77%
⸮ɘm ɿɒɘʜ υoγ nɒɔ ollɘʜ
I think the notification away, shaking my ears at the odd echo the last words left.
"Momo! Momo!" Mina lightly shook the downed hero "you okay? Come on get up!"
"You're not supposed to shake people with a head injury" I say as I rise to my feet "I hate to break it to ya but she's gonna be out for a minute." Compact survivor, the quirk my ancestors had that is the reason for my size might make me smaller but it doesn't heavily weaken my strength and it actually increases my durability, so while I'm weaker than my age group should be, I'm still much stronger for my size. Plus 2 hits to the back of the head and 1 to the neck is gonna drop most people even if they actually saw it coming.
Mina glared at me before gently putting Momo down and rising to her feet looking behind her
"Aoyama's not coming"
"And why should I believe you?"
"Fair enough, maybe he is coming, maybe you're about to get pincered right now" I shrug my shoulders and bounce on my feet "so what ya gonna do about it?"
She stares at me for a moment before grinning "get the bomb of course" with that she turns and starts sprinting down the hallway. Not gonna lie that surprises me. although after thinking about it that made more sense. Even if Mina didn't like me in this time, it's mostly because I've been snippy with her. There's not enough anger there to want to really punch my face in and thus stay and fight me when she assumes she faster. But even so … The gall to turn your back on an opponent even if you think they can't hurt you.
"Hey Mina!" I say swinging my lamp by its wire.
The pink girl turns just in time to see the lamp come down with a crash. Not on her but into the back, on the unconscious Momo with a thump.
"What are you doing!?"
"Young Mineta!"
Both Mina and Allmight make their displeasure known with that action. the former coming over to Momo while All Might's voice came from my ear piece
"Yes, teacher?" I ask casually.
"Young Mineta! A hero does not attack a downed opponent!"
"Not a hero right now sir." in his silence I continued louder so all could hear "I'm playing my role as a villain. Why wouldn't I take a hostage?"
"Be that as it may." The symbol of peace started but he couldn't complete his thought. All Might, for everything he is good at, wasn't exactly what you would call the perfect teacher. Mostly because he doesn't have experience in teaching. Looking back on it he didn't really learn how to actually teach until he lost his power and before that He mostly depended on his legacy and charisma to have the class do what he wanted .
"You have to have been in this situation before sir." I say idly swinging the lamp over my head in small arcs "An Ally is down, wounded or helpless and you have to make one of the hardest choices a person has to" I stare at Mina who was glanced down the hallway she believed the bomb to be in then glanced down at Momo. "Better for us to learn it here than in the field, don't you say?"
The symbol of peace was silent. No doubt battling with the idea of this being a 'situation we will all encounter as pro heroes' against the idea of 'one student whaling on another while they're defenseless'. This has to have happened before. Aizawa must have a quick fire response to it but All Might's really here only for Midoriya.
"I mean, all Mina has to do is capture me then go for the bomb right?" I say grinning at the pink girl "Or she could make a run for it like she was going to. This is a test after all, it's not like I'm gonna hurt Momo or anything permanent." I stare into her yellow eyes. "We have Recover Girl after all"
"Even so," Allmight apparently had thought up what he was going to say "this is still a test and I would ask you to avoid over-the-top head injuries"
That's it? I felt a smile slowly grow on my face "very well, I will make sure to be careful. Now, may we continue?"
"Ind-"
His reluctant word hadn't even left his lips before I had jumped on my closest orb, launching myself at Mina
"Let's have some fun, hero!" I yelled out, deciding to enjoy the moment
Denki Kaminari
"This is the guy you're cheering for? Jiro asks Denki, the class is mostly silent as their smaller classmate leaps at Mina, actually laughing as she limbos under him and steps between him and Momo.
"I mean, it's a good strategy I guess?" Denki said, rubbing the back of his head, possibly in sympathy with the blows Momo took.
Mineta swung at Mina again, grabbing the end of the wire to give him the most length as he used one hand to bring it in a wide ark at her head. Which she could've easily avoided but had to knock it away so it didn't hit Momo.
"Is he even aiming at her?" Urakaka asked, wincing as Mina raised a hand and blocked the heavy lamp before grabbing Momo's shoulders and pulling her out of the way of a following overhead swing.
"Why isn't she using her quirk?" Jiro asks as Mineta spun, giving the lamp more momentum as he gave chase.
"Because she is basically on top of Momo" I answered, watching Mineta, for lack of a better word, herd Mina on top of the downed student. "any time she tries to step away from Momo he aims for her and if Mina uses her quirk on herself right above her Momo could get splashed"
"Isn't that a little … dangerous?" Uraraka asked, flinching when Mina tried to catch the lamp only for Mineta to kick the wire and change its trajectory, sending it crashing into her shoulder instead.
That's a meteor star move! I already knew Mineta had some sort of martial experience but the way he was swinging that lamp shows some skill in whip-like weapons. Although from the way he had to strain to keep it up I guess he didn't keep up with it.
"I remember Mina having good control of her quirk at the entrance exam" Iida replied, hand chopping the air. "She knows her limits more than we do." At that moment Mina drops down and crouches over Momo letting the lamp strike her back with a meaty thump. As Mineta drew it back, Mina suddenly rolled forward. Taking momo with her and using her feet to launch Momo a couple feet behind her.
Mineta brought the lamp down but unlike a normal meteor hammer, which would be 3-5 pounds, this 15 pound behemoth took a bit of time to be brought around, giving the pink-haired girl enough time to smack it aside with an acid-covered arm.
Acid covered flesh met stainless steel with a meaty sound. Mineta pulled the lamp back tilting his head at it. It looked like an apple someone had taken a bite out of. Mina took a step back rubbing her elbow which had taken the blow from that.
"Well?" she asked, spreading her arms which were still dripping with acid "going to try again?"
Apparently Mineta did, a moment later the lamp was thrown back up in the air and began spinning slowly at first but faster and faster as he started speeding it up.
"The force still travels through that, doesn't it?" Sero asks, watching as Mina gets ready to block "she's just gonna take that?"
"Better to get that weapon out of his hands." I shrug "he gets a free shot and she gets his weapon"
Mineta suddenly moves, grabbing the wire with his second hand and causing the lamp to lash toward Mina's face like a snake.
everybody flinches expecting Mina to block it only to gasp as she suddenly leans back avoiding the lamp as it jutted over her head. Before the wire went taunt she swung her acid-arm across it sending the lamp head sailing over her head.
"Go Mina!" Jiro yelled
Thump
The class grimaced as the disconnected lamp smashed into the head of Momo Yaoyorozu.
Mina flinched and turned back realizing what happened.
"Heroes should always watch where wayward attacks are headed" Mineta said, his smile flexing slightly and he seemed to lean to the left to check on Momo
"Young Mineta." All Might started
"That wasn't my fault! She cut the wire!" he complained before seeing Mina glare at him causing him to start laughing which he fought to stop.
"Well at least Mineta doesn't have a weapon anymore" Hagakure offered.
"Besides the pipes on his back and hips."
wiship!
"And that."
Mina Ashido
wiship!
I whip my head to the side avoiding the frayed bit of wire from whipping into my cheek
Mineta was already moving, using his free hand to drop one of his hair balls onto the ground and launching himself halfway across the room to make distance.
The most annoying part wasn't the fact that him doing that would have been a perfect time to go for the bomb which I can't do cause he'll attack Momo or how I had to circle him because if I don't he will go for Momo. No, the most annoying part of this fight was that he still has that grin on his face. Ever since the fight had gotten heated up, Mineta had this half smile on his face as if he was remembering a happy memory in his past.
"Are you enjoying this?" I finally asked, slowly moving forward. I had quickly learned that even though I was faster, Mineta could accelerate quicker and could turn on a dime.
Mineta stops at my words, his face twitching to confusion for a moment before returning to a smile.
"Actually, yes. I guess it is." he chuckles "I didn't realize it until just now but this is actually quite … can't think of the right word but peaceful is the first that comes to mind."
That wasn't what I was expecting him to say. "peaceful? This is your idea of a pastime? What are you a masochist?
"Masochists love pain and at the moment I seem to be giving it, that would make me a sadist." I glare at him as his smile widens "but no … hmm I just can't explain what I'm feeling right now" his face goes blank for a moment, his eyes going dull before snapping back to reality with a shrugs "oh well" and with those words he was running forward, throwing orbs at me. I let them hit my body and slide off the thin film of acid coming from my body, turning them into purple sludge. He wraps the wire around his hand to protect his fingers as he draws back his arm for a punch. Swinging the acid of my hand and punching out at the same time, hissing in pain as his wire-covered knuckles hit my own.
"Such a complicated quirk" he says, bringing his fist down on my knee "little too complicated for a child to use in close combat" he said, drawing back his arm and with a flick of his wrist, unwinding the wire and bringing it down at my face. I grab the wire and pull, dragging the small boy close.
"I'll show you close combat" I hiss and flip backwards, my feet catching his armpits and bringing the little imp into a satisfying arc over my body and face first into the floor. Confirming that my other hand was clear of acid I grabbed the little gremlin by his collar. I spun and swung him as hard as I could. "how about this?"
He hit the wall head first and stuck his orbs, sticking him to the wall before he disconnected them and fell to the ground. Not taking this chance to waste, I ran to him, lifting up a leg and planting it on his back, beating him to the ground. "I'm I still bad at close combat?" I ask, leaning a little on him.
Mineta hissed at me, trying to push himself off but while the little bugger was fast I still weighed twice his build.
"Well, seems like the heroes win this one" I snarked as I pulled out the capture rope "I guess you're not as clever as you thought you were, are you?" His eyes narrowed, normally I wouldn't be the one to tease people but Mineta's been grinding my gears a lot. I reach down to wrap the rope around his hand only to hiss when he pulls it under him. "Give up, you lost" I hissed, leaning down forward to grab his arm only to sigh when he turned so that his back was in the way. "really? you're gonna make this difficult?"
Minoru Mineta
"Are you gonna make this difficult?" I said repeating the words from so long ago. "Do you remember when you told me those words Momo? Do you remember what happened after?" I rub the area the M-arm meets my natural stump "I do. I remember it quite well"
"That wasn't my fault! You're the one that resisted. You broke out of your cell"
"I broke out of my execution station!~" I hissed "and I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about you holding me when the acid hit!"
"You were trying to whip it off!" she yells back "you were going to get it on your other hand as well, I was trying to help."
I laugh in disbelief "yeah, fat lot of help you did! If you had listened to me for a second, if you hadn't gotten back up after I spared your life, If you had just stayed down Mina would've never caught up and I would have been gone! Mina may have taken my arm but you practically held it still for her! The M-arm flesh rippled and I hissed at the ice cold feeling it projected at my anger. After a couple moments, the arm calms down though that doesn't stop the concerned looks that Momo was giving me or the anger I was feeling towards her.
"YOU TOOK MY FREEDOM FROM ME! YOU TOOK MY ARM FROM ME AND YOU TOOK … YOU ALMOST TOOK MY HOPE FROM ME!" the M-arm ripples as my voice gets higher and higher, the veins connected to my body turning a bright violet. "AND NOW YOU WANT ME TO TRUST YOU? TO LET YOU TAKE ANYTHING ELSE FROM ME?"
Mineta I'm trying to do what is best for everyone, look at yourself! Look at what you're doing! you're letting some kind of Nomu creature latch on to you. Who kn-"as she was talking Momo reach out a hand as if she was going to touch the replacement to the arm she stole"
Denki Kaminari
"DON'T TOUCH IT!"
The class flinches as Mineta roars out, well, roar would be the word used for someone with a normal voice, Mineta's sounded more like a bagpipe being gnawed on by a couple of rats being tortured. Before anyone could reply to that, Mineta moved. The arm he had been holding by his chest lashes out against Mina's hand.
"Ow!" Mina hisses, holding her hand and stepping off of the shorter student Only for Mineta to slash across the front of her leg.
"She's bleeding" I say out loud, noticing the drip of red coming from Mina's hand. "He's cutting her!"
As Mineta rolls back to his feet, his other hand reaches back and draws something from his pocket. It was then I realized that he had slashed Mina with one of the glass shards in his pocket.
"Anybody else thinks Mineta's taking this a bit too seriously for a class training?" Sato comments.
As if Mineta heard his words, he let out a yell and swung his arm, Mina diving to the left as a shard of glass went flying past her head. Mineta uses the moment to grab an orb from his head and throw it, catching the pink girl's foot. It took her a moment to melt it off but that was enough time for Mineta to launch himself onto the downed girl, slashing at her head with the glass shards only to laugh as Mina caught his hand.
"Young Mineta!" All Might said into the ear piece and I sigh in relief which quickly turned into nervousness when Mineta didn't stop trying to push the shard of glass down on Mina. "young Mineta!" All Might said louder which seems to do the trick.
Mineta's head jerked up, still straddling Mina's chest, but at least stopping his attempt to stab her.
"While we are expecting a certain level of injuries during these matches, please refrain from purposely aiming at the eyes and throat of your fellow student, even though you are playing the villain's role, we still have to watch after the safety of your fellow students."
Mineta didn't reply for a moment, looking down at Mina that was still holding his arms. "Wasn't aiming for the throat." He replied, hand going limp and dropping the glass shard to the ground. "Even so, I'll admit that that looks rather excessive for this level of training. I'll try to do better."
That … has to be the nicest he's been since we met him, I think to myself as All Might's grin widened.
"It's a hero's duty to know how to control their level of force, you're still learning and that's why we're here to teach." The symbol of peace replied. "All right, match continues in 3-2-1!"
Minoru Mineta
Vault recalibration
stalled mental fragmentation detected
Vault recalibration
Mental echo identified
Warning it has been confirm that you have a mental echo vault will accommodate by activating auxiliary model 23
Auxiliary will be active once vault is fully altercated
Vault altercation 92%
SI enoyna ereht esaelp nod't evael em enola
3-2-1!
The warning trails across my mind but Mina's hands take my attention from it, her hand wrapping around my hands even as I bring them down at her eyes. How did I get on top of her? Last thing I remember is her reaching for my arm. Another worrying thing about this situation was that I can't really feel the same amount of worry that I feel like I should which was probably something to do with the vault but the training program should stop me from permanently hurting anyone.
"You're a vicious little gremlin, aren't you?" Mina says, pushing against my arms that I had been inching towards her horns. Normally she should be able to overpower me easily but I had my thighs pushing against the inside of her elbows, making it hard for her to actually use enough force to dislodge me.
"You have no idea." I reply, considering biting her wrist but memories of acid being shoved down my throat killed that thought. "But two little cuts is nothing near the burn Bakugo gave Midoriya."
"Yeah but at least he's straight forward about it." She tightens her grips squeezing my wrist hard enough to hurt, not that pain stops me. "Stabbing, attacking the defenseless, dirty fighting that doesn't really seem all that heroic to me."
I Grin before spitting in her eyes, she shrieks in pain and I pull myself out of her grip before hammer fisting her in the face "I'm playing the villain at the moment."
"Doesn't really seem like you're playing."
"Don't talk like you know how I play."
"Don't act like you don't have a problem with me." she hisses, letting me feel her core tighten before her legs clamp around my side. She straightens her body out, prying me off and throwing me off of her.
I land on my back and let momentum roll across my shoulder so as to not get stuck on my quirk. Mina was already on me, foot drawn back as if she was kicking a field goal. I only had time to cross my arms before a foot slams into me, sending me skidding back. "So what's your problem with me!" She asks, this time taking every advantage she had on me and just tackled me. Once again I was reminded of my meeting with Mei Hatsume where even with all this skill and training, my body was just too small for it to matter.
"Hey!" Mina yelled out as my hands slide past her hips, "watch the hands!"
"You're on top of me!" I hiss, trying to pull myself away from her before drawing my legs back and basically kicking at her stomach, mimicking the one move every younger sibling knows of. This went on for about 30 more seconds before Mina basically just dropped her weight on my stomach pinning my hands to the ground.
"Caught ya!" She says in victory, smirking down at me.
"Yes congrats, you manage to pin down someone not even 3ft, you feeling proud of yourself?"
She ignores me and reaches into her coat pockets then looks around her with a perplexed look on her face.
"You looking for the capture rope?" I ask opening my mouth to show the rope.
"When did you?"
"Word of advice, if I ever touch you again, don't make the mistake of thinking it being because I want to grope you." There might have been more venom in my voice than I thought cause she just stared at me for a moment.
"Do I look like an ex to you or something, is that it?"
"What?"
"Was she pink as well"?
"The hell are you on about?"
"Who do I remind you of that makes it so you need to throw up at the sight at me?"
I blink at her for a moment before coming to the terms of yeah that makes sense, can't really lie that I haven't been kind to Mina but I didn't expect for her to jump to this conclusion.
"There is no Ex you remind me of-"
"Liar." She cuts me off.
"Timer." I replied back she blinked at me before she remembered that she was on a timer.
"Dang it", she looks at Momo, probably wondering if she could get her tape before looking at my mouth, probably considering pulling the string out. I click my teeth together telling her exactly how that path was gonna lead.
"Dang it Mineta, don't make me hurt you."
That caused me to raise an eyebrow, "hurt me?
She pushes my hand together so she's holding them over my head with one hand.
"Kinky."
"Shut up," she pulls her free hand back and makes a fist, "spit it out or I knock you out!"
"Threatening me with a good time doesn't really work if you won't do it." I grinned up at her. "Have you ever knocked someone out before?"
"Can't be too hard." she tenses up, "sure you don't want to give up?"
"If you want to throw your time away trying to get me to give up then I welcome you to try. Let's see how a hero interrogates."
Mina Ashido
Ever since I was a kid I've been pretty good at reading people. I think that and my cheerful personality have helped me well in life. Never before have I met someone that I could never warm over after a while. I could proudly say that I don't think there isn't anyone I could become friends with.
"HIT ME AlREADY!"
That changed when I met Mineta Minoru.
It was obvious that he had beef with me, or since I have no idea who he is, he is the type of person that lets his problem with other people connect to others who remind them of it, something I was very familiar with when dealing with bullies. Sadly that was where the comparisons ended.
Unlike the average bully who goes after people they see as weaker or odd, I was 95% sure that Mineta was a projector, someone who sees the person who wronged them in someone else, which made what I was about to do more satisfying.
Say what you will about the little imp, he could take a punch, my fist hadn't even been pulled all the way back before he was staring back, lips twitching into a smile.
"Gonna need more than that."
"Alright." I reply, punching him again. Was it wrong that I was starting to enjoy punching my smaller classmate? Probably. Did he deserve it for being a cocky little munchkin that attacked me with broken glass? Also probably.
"That all you got?" He said chuckling before my fist hit him again, this time in the left cheek. "If you're gonna punch you're gonna ha-" his teeth click as I aim for his chin this time, bonking his head against the ground. "Now you're talki-HURG!" Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by me shoving my fingers into his mouth.
"Spit it out!" I hissed, reaching around his mouth for the capture tape. My finger grabs the string and starts to pull it out, getting the rope about halfway out before Minetas clamps his teeth. "What are you a dog!?"
Mineta fit the role of that animal by growling at me.
I grit my teeth and pulled harder, hoping that I didn't break the kid's jaw as I tried to rip the string out of his mouth.
Denki Kaminari
Maybe I was worried for nothing. I think to myself, flinching as Mina's hand grabbed Mineta's face, using his forehead for leverage as she tried to rip the string from his mouth.
"This is the worst game of tug of war I've ever seen." Jiro said, flinching again as Mina rears back and punches Mineta in the stomach, probably trying to get the smaller student to cough up the capture string. "She might be better off going for Momo's capture tape." She continued flinching as Mineta teeth strain as he gritted them around the string.
"I honestly doubt he gonna let her just get over and take it." Ojiro says, watching Mineta turn his head as another punch lands. "I think Mina punching for real now, he using pretty complicated head movements to mitigate the damage, look how he tucks his neck before impact."
"I'm just wondering why Mineta not giving up." Jiro said, flinching as Mineta laughed at Mina's latest punch, giggling between his clenched teeth.
I shared a look with Sero who seemed to have calmed down as well, though he was still tense. We had both seen the reaction Mineta had before the fight started and had both gotten a bad feeling from it, but looking at how Mina was whooping his butt I couldn't see what made me so worried in the first place and I bet it's the same for Sero. Maybe we got worried for no reason. I think to myself with a snort, teachers have been doing this for years, they wouldn't let either team members get hurt.
"It's a game of chicken." Bakugo replied watching the screen, "the second she flinches, he gonna move."
"What makes you say that?" Jiro asks.
"She not holding his arms anymore and yet Mineta still has his arms over his head." Ojiro points out. "I agree with Bakugo that he's waiting." He flinches as Mina brings a fist down on the center of Mineta's face. "Though it is still possible he's stunned and can't think straight."
"Is..is this alright?" Uraraka asks, turning to All Might.
The symbol of peace seems a little uncomfortable with how one student was beating over another but I guess it's allowed because he wasn't telling them to stop. "There will be scenarios as a hero where you will have to render a villain unconscious for a myriad of reasons." The hero of peace explained. "Mr. Azaiwa will teach you to do so in more effective ways than young Ashido doing here."
Finally, thankfully Mina's 20th punch seemed to have done the trick, Mineta head lolled to the side and went still apparently unconscious.
"You think he faking?" I ask.
"Nah he went limp t-" Iida replied but was cut off.
"Idiots' was Bakugo's response before anyone could comment on that statement, Mineta moved, biting into the webbing of Mina's hand as she released him and from her scream he must have bit deep "told you."
Less worried but dang he playing the villain really well, I think to myself as a new game of tug of war started.
"He's playing the villain really well." It felt stupid to say but I felt the need to say it to disturb the silence as we watched Mineta savage Mina's hand. Idly noticing Tsuyu and Shoto paying a large amount of attention to the fight.
Minoru Mineta
Her blood tastes different, I think to myself, raising an arm to block the punch aimed for my head, letting out a grunt from the force behind it. Now she is hitting for real. I think to myself, feeling her grab onto my shoulder. With frustrated yell she turned her hip and tossed me like a frisbee. I curled up hitting the wall with an oomph.
"Nah nah." I shake my head, "you dare ask me to trust the heroes?" I wave my hand around, letting out a hiss as Yuyake pushes the M arm harder against my stump. Kiiroi had moved over to the computer to watch all the cameras.
"I'm asking you to trust me."
"You? You? Momo, I want you to truly process what the last month, nay, year has been for me and tell me why I should trust you."
"Because they came to my house! I could've given you up!"
"You still could!"
I raise to my feet, raising an arm just in time for Mina's foot to come around, it is a decent roundhouse.
"Now we're talking!" I say, catching the foot, rubbing my arm from the force. "Can I assume that you've stopped sandbagging?"
"Sandbagging?" Mina stared at me for a moment before glaring at me, holding her hand. "You want to take a page, biting? Clawing? Cheap shots?"
I tilt my head and think about it. "In a way." I answered honestly, compared to training in the academy and fights with the fully grown Mina, this fight was relaxing in a way I deeply needed. I won't lie and say I've been comfortable around Mina but this fight has actually done something to make me feel more at ease about her. Mostly for a certain reason.
Mina Ashido
"You're lacking." Mineta says, lightly placing a fist into his hand as if he just had an epiphany.
I blinked, digesting his words. "Care to rephrase that?" I ask, glaring at this person half my size, idly rubbing the teeth marks he left on my skin. He doesn't reply to me for a moment, plucking an orb from his head and dropping it at his feet.
"You ask me if I wanted you to stop sandbagging against me and I'd ask you the same thing." He said, drawing the pipe from across his back. For his size it would be a staff but one side had a short edge coming from it making a L with a short arm. "You're stronger than me, faster, have thicker thighs than me."
"Wh-" He launched himself at me before I could finish my question. I raise my arms, acid coming from them as I get ready to catch the pipe and melt it only for him to raise it over his head. I curse and throw my hands away from him before he leaped into my acid covered hands.
I manage to lean back avoiding the 60 pounds of pissed off midget flying over my head, only for him to somehow use the L part of his staff to catch my horn and have me fall on my back. I roll over as Mineta lands and runs to the left, his staff making an horrendous sound as it drags behind him.
"You decided to join UA but you didn't train with your quirk enough to face organic enemies?" I rise to my feet, turning with Mineta as he circles me. "What did you expect to do in a fight?"
"I wasn't expecting to have to fight people the first week, I thought we would get some training or something." I watched Mineta snatch up the lamp head I had severed as he circled me, coming to the stop in front of the entrance.
"You dance, Hell, you breakdance! I expected better footwork, stronger kicks, something!""
"If you get closer I'll make it up for you and give you a real kick and punt your across the roo-" I cut myself off as I hear a groan behind me. Turning my head I grin as Momo rolls onto her back holding her head. Finally, I let out a sigh of relief only turning back to Mineta only to see a lamp flying at my face. I duck under it hearing it hit Momo whe groaned but was still awake. "Can you st-" I leap to the left as Mineta spear chucked his pipe at me, the L part of the rod clipping my horn before also hitting Momo, sending her flat on her back. "Can you stop throwing stuff for 2 minutes!?"
"To be fair, you should've just let them hit you, Momo wasn't ready to block that." Mineta leaned to the side trying to see how Momo was doing but I wasn't gonna turn and check on her myself. "So anyway," he continued on, "you joined the hero course with no enough practice of your quirk to safely use it on a living enemy, you lack the will to beat me without it."
"If by lack of will you mean that I'm trying to be nice by not picking you up like a can of soda and smash your head on a corner then sure let's go with that, shame on me for not trying to hurt you."
"It's a fight and we have a teacher with a medical quirk. As long as you don't melt a limb off I'll be fine, come on Ashy-ho, put your paws up." He drops another orb at his feet and starts to bounce on it drawing his shorter pipes from his hips. "You want to win, stop treating me like I'm a child and give me your best shots."
"My best shot huh?" I ask, stepping back and over Momo and grabbing the staff laying by her side. I trail my hand across it, covering it in acid and dropping it on the floor to dissolve, doing the same with the lamp. "Okay then, don't blame me for what happens next."
Denki Kaminari
"This fight is really intense for not much quirk use" Sero stated as Mineta and Mina rushed each other, the smaller student launching off his orb and diving between Mina's legs and hitting her in the knee with one of his short pipes before spinning with her as she spun trying to catch him, basically keeping them back to back. "What he doing now?"
"I think it's Bagua but it seems to be mixed with something." Ojiro said, watching as the two twisted around each other, Mina trying to break contact while Mineta did everything in his power to keep them back to back, at least until he suddenly broke off and charged Momo who at this point was gonna get some bruises at the end of this.
He's doing pretty well and he hasn't done anything too mean, I think to myself watching Mineta spin on his heel, avoiding Mina's grip and leaping to the left, trying to get to the still down classmate. He spun again, smashing his back into her leg before spinning the other way and going around her body hitting her knee with his pipe as he went past.
"Oh, I figured it out!" Iida said as Mineta sprung a couple step forward before turning and twisting back around Mina before her speed could overcome his acceleration. "He doing the same thing basketball player do to get around blockers.
"Hmm, wouldn't expect Mineta to be a basketball player." Toru said.
"I more expect him to be the basketball!" I glared at Jiro but I wasn't fully sure she was the one that said that.
Maybe I was overthinking it. I think to myself, watching Mineta briefly get caught by Mina only to bring both his pipes against her ears, causing her to rear back. Still, I couldn't get the look Mineta had when he first heard he would be fighting Mina or the face he yelled before he started throwing glass. Why can't I shake this bad feeling?
Minoru Mineta
"Get back here!" Mina yelled in frustration, reaching back for me as I spun around her only to hiss as I suddenly spun the other way to her front and overhead slammed my pipe into her knee.
In the GA, all sports were displayed in some capacity, and Bastion loved soccer and basketball and decided to teach me some tricks on it. Now, Bastion being a 6+ foot tall demigod of a man would normally just let me dribble the ball and would whip me around the court when we played against other teams but he did teach me some tricks of the sports, especially the art of ankle breaking.
"Flagrant foul." I yelled out before diving though Mina's legs just as she recovered. The last 30 seconds had basically been this, Mina trying to hit me and me doing my damndest to make sure that won't happen. Mina was faster in a straight run but acceleration was on my side and she had to react to my moves, so I have the advantage in that case as well. Mina's advantage was simple… she can make a lot more mistakes then I can. This body was doing much better than I thought it would but it wasn't like I had been a fighter before coming to UA. I blink sweat out of my eyes as I spin with Mina, reversing a pipe and stabbing it into her lower spine causing her to yipe.
Goddamnit this body has been jacking off every day since it was born, you think it would have better conditioning.
I turn and stab the pipe into Mina's side again only to hiss as she grabs it. I let it go before she can drag me forward only to hiss as Mina decided to repeat her ealy success and performed a handstand, her legs wrapping around me and dragging me over to her to slam me into the ground. My orbs stopped the damage but it still took a second to distance myself which was enough for her foot to catch my shoulder causing me to stumble back.
I lift my last pipe forward grabbing it with both hands to block Mina's second leg, the force pushing me across the ground and stopping me from getting back to my feet, forcing me to block the next kick and the next.
Look if you don't want to believe in me, that's fine, I don't really need your help. I can handle it on my own. I've handled myself In the pit on my own. I handled myself when I left UA I. don't. need. Your. Help. Just stay out of my way.
Mineta please
DON'T ACT LIKE YOU KNOW KNOW WHO I AM YOU NEVER DID
I hiss at Momo, words slurring as bloody drool leaks from my lip.
"What's wrong with him?" Kiiroi asks or at least I think it was him, my ears are ringing too much to tell.
"Probably an aneurysm or perhaps a stroke from the rapid cell growth, he will be fine, the arm already fixing it." Red starts moving into my frame of vison to check me over before patting me on the shoulder, "he's good to put on a good show for the master."
"Do you ever hear her Mineta, this master is throwing you into the woodchipper, you don't even know if this arm gonna work."
"Oh, it's gonna work." I say, trying to grow accustomed to the buzzing in my head.
I let out a yell as I swung my pipe to the side managing to parry Mina's foot. I roll to my knees catching her next feet with my forearms and using the force to get back to my feet. "I think it time to end this Ashido." I say charging forward, ducking under Mina's fist, spinning my trusty pipe at her neck only for it to be knocked aside. She grabs my last pipe and I sacrifice it to slam both of my hands into the side of her knee earning a satisfactory sound as she crumbles. "Time to end this." I yell aiming a punch for her neck.
"Enough of this." I wave a hand at Momo. "I'm done talking about this, you can sneak out from the escape tunnels Momo, it's time to end this." The M arm twitches at the thought of a fight and I pat it along the forearm to calm it down. "Kirroi on the cameras but get ready to fill the place up with gas, Lemillion can't take in any stimulus when he using his quirk and the more we cover his senses the better it is, also prepare to control your gas a lot cause Gale Force is gonna try to move it out of the building. Yuyake, you're gonna be taking on Arsenal and probably whatever close range fighter they have protecting him. I'll handle the re-'
Something clicks around my neck. Before I can say anything a pulse of electricity goes through my body, causing me to fall to one knee. "Mineta?" Yuyake turns to look at me only to bend unnaturally to the side as something flies past where her neck would be as well. I traced the trajectory only to blink at Momo's outstretched hand, the other holding a remote pointed at Kiiroi who went stiff and crashed to the ground and started convulsing.
"What is this?" I ask confused, feeling my neck paling as I remember this feeling. "Pit collars? Why are y-" I didn't even get to finish the words before the collar made a familiar beeping nose before injecting a lightning bolt into my neck.
"I'm sorry." I barely made out Momo's voice as I fell to the ground, a mass of twitching muscles. "They have my children, Mineta. They said if I bring you to them they will let them go." The electricity stopped but my body was still a twitching mess, all except the M arm which had stayed still the whole ordeal silently whispering to me.
"You bi-" Yuyake's words were cut off as the wall exploded behind her, only instinct saving her from the flying bricks but not saving her from the wind storm that tossed her into the ceiling right after.
"The heroes are here!" I hear Whirlwind's voice ring out amplified in the wind. This was happening too fast. This was all happening too fast, we had been ready, what happened to the cameras? The alarms? My eye trails to Momo who had just picked something up by her foot. It was then that it hit me, she had led them here, and even if her words were true she had used herself as a tracer and a jammer so that we would never see them coming.
"Hmmrhhh wwhy ddii?" I groaned, not even coming out of a whisper. Momo must have heard me because she bent down to whisper in my ear placing handcuffs on me at the same time.
"I'm so sorry, I will stop them but I can't let them hurt my children."
"Could've ….trusted me..."
She looked at me slowly, shaking her head before replying.
"No, I couldn't have."
Momo produces a needle from her arm. I try to launch an orb at her but the moment I try to use my quirk electricity sends me spasming. I could hear Yuyake grunting as the heroes poured in. I couldn't move, I couldn't use my quirk, all I could do was think which was all I needed. In Jackson's name, code 571, Pentheus of Thebes. My mind stumbled as my vault started to follow my demands at the same time Momo injected whatever sedative into my arm. As everything went to black my mind asked me who was not an enemy.
Spare Kiiroi, Yuyake, Red and Mo-.
Before I can finish my mind spiraled to darkness …followed quickly by light and violence.
Momo Yaoyorozu
I wasn't really proud of playing dead but I had a feeling if I moved my head Mineta would find a way to smash something into it. I couldn't see what was happening but I could hear the sound of metal hitting flesh and the two of them running around as they fought. Where is Aoyama? He has to be watching the bomb if he hasn't shown up yet. Hearing the combat moving away from me I take the risk I tilt my head slowly, moving my limbs, getting ready to move. I look up just in time to see Mineta leave a devastating blow to Ashido's knee causing her to fall. He leaps forward, hand extending like a blade only for Mina to fling her arm forward throwing something into his eyes. That was when the screaming started.
Mina Ashido
I know acid. I've grown up with it my whole life. I've studied it and I've been very careful with it because I learned at a very young age that I can, no, will hurt someone with it if I'm not careful with it. The moment I decided to become a hero I expect that I would have to treat a lot of villains with kid gloves because of my quirk, but that's no different than any other heroes. Bakugo and Todoroki will have to be just as careful with their quirks and I already expect to fight people like Mineta that would take advantage of my quirk limitation and force me into a situation like this. Which is why I trained to hold back, trained my patience, trained to not hurt someone which is why I had been waiting for the perfect moment to show Mineta how good I was with my quirk. As he lunged at me I threw a hand forward, splashing the handful of acid I was saving from just that moment into his face. I had been careful, I had made sure that the acid had the same PH level as citric acid, which while a major eye deterrent, wouldn't do any damage. Which is why my heart stopped when Mineta pulled his head back and screamed. It wasn't a scream of surprise, it wasn't a scream I've ever heard before and I never wanted to hear it again. Calling it a scream wasn't doing it justice, humans don't scream like that, they don't feel enough pain to express that.
"All students stand down, match is over!" All Might yelled over our earpiece. I step back as Mineta whimpers, hands covering his face as he staggers away. I've practiced this before, I couldn't have..what did I do wrong? As thoughts raced across my face, Mineta pulled his arms away with a growl and thankfully I didn't see any bleeding or melting flesh as I expected. He overreacted, the wave of relief made me want to laugh,cry and slap him upside the head for scaring me like that, though I couldn't blame him. I totally caught him by surprise and he assumed his eyes were gonna fry.
"Mineta are yo-" I didn't get to finish my sentence before noticing that Mineta was a lot closer than he was before. He was in fact really close, his black eyes the only thing I could see as he rushed me. A glint of something catches my eye, a screwdriver? Where did he get that?
A force hit me to the side and I hit the ground with an oomf. "Momo?" I ask in confusion, leaning up to see that my teammate had not just woken up but also apparently didn't know the fight was over.
"Ow…" Momo steps back holding her stomach which was covered in a red substance…wait. A click sound draws my attention to Mineta, his whole black eyes filled with horror as he steps away almost tripping on the screwdriver he had just dropped which was also covered in a red liquid. It then hit me, it was blood, Momo was bleeding.
"I'm fine I'm fine." Momo replied, it sounded like she was trying to convince Mineta who was breathing quite audibly now. Blood was leaking from her hand that was clamped over her side. Mineta stabbed her…wait no he was about to stab me,honestly I would have been more embarrassed about how long it took me to see if I wasn't getting pissed off that this little imp tried to stab me. "What the hell is your problem?" I hiss standing up and glaring at the little punk that tried to stab me over a fight.
Mineta didn't even look at me, staring at the blood leaking from Momo's hand. His mouth was moving but I couldn't even make out what he was saying, eyes glazed over like he was in his own world. It was then that I noticed that his nose was bleeding again and not just a little, it was practically a nozzle, twin steady streams of red leaking from his nose.
It was at that moment the alarm that singled the end of the test blared, shocking all of us. Mineta looks at me, Momo's blood in her hands then back to Momo and then crumbled, not collapsed, crumbled like a puppet with its strings cut.
Shota Aizawa
"And that's what happened" Yagi replied, smoke coming from his body as he reverts to his normal form, he draws a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his mouth.
"And you couldn't stop it sooner?" Recovery Girl scolded, eyes locked on Mineta who had yet to awaken. The small student had apparently collapsed after the match ended, bleeding from his nose. A kiss from Recover Girl has stopped the bleeding but this wasn't the first time today that this had happened and it wasn't even the biggest problem to deal with.
"So what's the plan with him?" I raise an eyebrow at Yagi's question.
"What do you mean?"
"Are you going to expel him?" I scoff at the question, yes I am very selective on what students I allow in my class but it's only from a lack of potential.
"There have been more damage done with quirk related damage in matches. I'm more concerned with controlling his anger issues and quickness to perform violence." Honestly, between him and Bakugo, controlling anger is gonna be one of the biggest lessons I'm going to have to teach this year. "Though he will have to be punished for attempting to stab another student but from the reaction the cameras saw it wasn't preemptive and probably was a temporary snap from stress."
"Which might have been predicted if someone told me he got in a spat with another students earlier which caused a nosebleed" recovery girl hissed "goanna have to talk to Cementoss about not mentioning that and to the lad for that matter,"
"You should also take him to the hospital after this, get him into an MRI or something."
"You think he has something going on with his brain?" Yagi asks, looking at Mineta with worry.
"I think anyone that gets more than five nosebleeds in a day could do with a check up, do you have an MRI here?"
"Of course, though we will have to wait for him to wake up to put him in one."
"When will he wake up by the way?" I look over to the mentioned student who seems to be resting fitfully. "we're still gonna need to hear his side of the story and have him talk to Nezu to look at the next steps of this."
Minoru Mineta
Why didn't you believe me "I said to Momo ripping the collar off the mouth that had form on the M arm palm eating the metal circle in under a minute "why didn't you believe me"
"Mineta, we got to go!" Korrei hissed to my side. I ignored him and stroked momo's hair out of her face. "I cant keep this cover up much longer and more heroes are going to show up!"
"Why did you get in the way?" I asked momo, setting her down and adjusting her. "I told you to run" I chuckled lightly "that mother instinct I guess you're willing to do anything for your kids." I wipe her face again "don't worry I'll make sure they're safe for you." I snicker "man first denki now you i'm gonna become a nanny at this rate with how many kids I have to watch over."
"MINETA!" Yuyake yelled. "If you're gonna avenge Denki we have to leave now!"
I nod my head turning back to Momo. "I have to go Momo, sorry to leave you like this." I stood up wishing I had a sewing kit. "Sorry I couldn't save you." I say to Momo, tears leaking from my eyes. "Sorry I couldn't find the rest of you." With those final words I turn, leaving the separated head and torso of Momo Yaoyorozu behind.
I gasp as I'm ripped out of the …the memories? The illusions? I don't know what they were called but I've been being pulled into them the last couple of days, at least it feels like days.
Am I dead? Is this the afterlife? It was the only thing that I could think of as I floated in this crack covered void full of shifting orbs of light. I try to swim away from the orb that I had just been trapped in, I had quickly learned that touching them would throw me into an odd series of memories that I don't remember, memories of places across the world that I've never been, fighting with and against people I've never met. Honestly the first couple hours I was scared witless but I guess you can only be scared for so long.
"Hello?" I call out, the voice coming not from my mouth but my mind; it echoes the orbs of memories, flicking slightly before going back to their steady brightness. Nobody had replied to my shout but earlier I had heard someone yell something. That gave me hope that I wasn't alone here. SHOW YOURSELF! I yell out, echoing the words that had been the first words I've heard since being trapped in here. PLEASE SHOW YOURSELF! My eyes hurt and I rubbed at them but no more tears came. They had dried out the first couple hours here. I thought I was going to be a hero, I thought to myself, watching as some orbs floated closer to me, no doubt filled with memories related to a girl named Momo. In some way or another I miss my mom
The thought of that made me laugh, the last time I saw my mom she had hit me with a wine bottle and told me to go to bed. That feels like it was a week ago, what I wouldn't give to see her again. Show yourself! I yell again, only to stop as the blackness around me shakes, the cracks in the background pulsing like a vein
Vault recalibration completed
stalled mental fragmentation solidified and identified mental echo monitored and reenforced.
Those words had also been a new part of this place, having started showing up as the cracks here got worse. I had given up trying to understand what they were asking. IS anyone there? Please don't leave me alone!
Oh for fuck sake! No! No! No! My eyes widened and a voice replied finally to my shouting. How is he here?! Why is he here?!
Hello? I yell back, trying to follow the voice but there is no ground to walk in. Where am I? Can you help me?
You're not supposed to be here, how is he here? The voice growls, shaking the void around me. I try not to tremble at the force behind it.
Are you God? I ask or a god? The voice stops and I get the distinct feeling that it was confused.
What did you just ask? Did you just call me god?
I squirm as the being starts to laugh, it wasn't an amusing laugh but one that reminded me of my bullies from school or my mom when I first said I would join UA, pure mockery. I've been called many things but god is not one of them nor would I lower myself down to be one.
That's pretty arrogant, I think to myself only to flinch as the thought is projected.
Less arrogance and more not believing in the foolishness of the beings that we call gods…what can a god truly do? They are so bound by their internal rules and faith there is only one god that I know of and he was born a man.
I open my mouth to speak before remembering what the hell I was supposed to be doing can you help me get out of here…also where is here?
The voice is silent for a moment and I get the distinct feeling that he was communicating with someone.
Why do I have to talk to him!? Why can't we leave him in here?
Because he's going to go insane in here, it's been nearly 3 days on minimum exposure to stimulus, hell you're lucky the vault hasn't been shoving you two into different memory streams or his mind could have been heavily damaged.
I flinch as a new voice join the conversation this one lacking the echo but also sounding equal as if it was coming from ever atom of the room.
Oh yes cause that would be a real shame.
Don't be so mean to him, you were just like him when you were a kid.
All the more reason to, ugh, my head just thinking about this is giving me head pain.
"Uh hello who are you guys anyway?" I yell out trying to get this conversation back on track.
"Oh right, you can't see us can you boy, actually for that matter it must be terribly disorienting to be in the vault for the first time let alone with the way he has his set up".
I like the vault like this makes finding memories easier for me and helps keeps my thoughts uncluttered
Ah yes, nothing like a nice deep void full of moving lights to be organized, dear child if you could give me a moment, let me find a memory to overprint, it will make it more comfortable for you.
What? I ask, having no idea what they are talking about.
"It will be explained in a moment, do you have a place that makes you happy or at peace?"
What? I reapeted.
No he doesn't. The first voice growls. Closest place is his room where he spends 80% of the time with his dick in his hands thinking that he matters.
"Hey!" I shouted out, "I don't do it that much."
19 times a day ….19 times! On a slow day! the voice growls and I blush in shame wondering how he knows that some reports say you should do 21 …in a month how you haven't gone blind or killed yourself via dehydrations amazes me
How do you know that? I ask annoyed that this disembodied voice decided to air out all my dirty laundry.
"Don't answer that question yet." The other voice quietly replies. "Let's give him a floor to stand on ..and a more solid body to stand on before you start dropping bombs."
All of a sudden the black void was replaced with a carpeted floor, a familiar bed and computer to the left told me where I was.
My room?
Here?
Me and another voice exclaim at the same time both lacking the odd echo of before. Before I can turn my head someone shoves me aside to walk deeper into the room.
"How does this room bring either of us peace?" the first voice growled.
"It's the closest thing he's got." I feel a hand grip my shoulder and lift me up. "Most of the places you find calming would raise more questions ah where are my manners hello there young lad, it's a pleasure to meet you…though in a way this is far from the first place we met.
I blink, staring at the man that helped me up . He looked well the best way I could say it is that he looked oddly timeless. Even looking at him from a couple feet away he looked like he could be in his late thirties but there were hints that made me think he's in his laste sixties. He was also tall, reaching about 6'7 over me but the most entracing thing about him was his skin tone or rather tones. Patches of reds, yellow, tans and browns grew and shrank along his skin, making it impossible to tell what ethnicity he was originally from. His hair was also multi-colored, blondes black and red braided together and ended with some sort of cord plug on the end, I assumed it must be related to his quirk.
"Nice to meet you lad, I'm Jackson, or rather I'm a part of Jackson." The old man holds out a hand and I hesitantly shake it. "You must be confused, aren't you, yeah? Filled to the brim with questions?"
"Where am I? Who are you? What brought me to this place? How can I get home? Why was I –" Jackson's finger slowly moved in front of my face and I felt the urgent need to be quiet.
"All to be expected." He looks over his shoulder. "Do you want to explain, I'm basically part of your imagination so you might do better than me."
"You still have Jackson's personality or most of it so no." The voice came from the corner of the room where a figure was draped in darkness…what was confusing about it was that this was a well-lit room and the darkness only covered his body.
"How are you doing that?" I ask before shaking my head. "Wait, no, who are you?"
"I am known by many names." the voice replied, the figure getting closer.
"Oh now you're being dramatic" Jackson rolled his eye earning what I assumed was a glare from the figure before it turn back to me.
"My enemies call me the grapiest, pervert, trashcan, diaper gremlin, zat gross boi and much more." The figure stood in front of me, the darkness leaking off his body like ink exposing a shorter figure, still taller than me covered in simple blackjeans and jean jacket. "My allies called me The Gremlin, others called me Rat King." The lack of darkness exposes purple hair, dozens of medium sized orbs that look so familiar forming a braid over his shoulder and exposing eyes as black as the void I was trapped in, locked on me. He stretched and I noticed that one of his shoulders led to no arm but rather ended a scared stump. "My name is Mineta Minoru, but most people call me Moonseed." He leans down to look me in the eyes as I process this information "and this is an eviction."
(AN: Finally got this moneter out, First time doing a really long fight scene from different POV's was a bit of a challenge. The same for the rapid flashbacks tried to change the font so that the change from flashback to current event was more prominent. Next chapter will be the last chapter of act 1 which after will have less focus on moonseed side of the story(1 moonseed chapter for every 2-3 and general shorter chapters which on the plus side will mean more frequent updates. Now for something else if any of you saw my reddit post im asking on what you guys would like to see for a bonus chapter? Some ideas ive been given are some of moonseed time in the pit or maybe some of his time in the GA just comment you Idea and ill see which one is the most popular. As always looking for editors that want to help chapter get put out at a faster rate. Chapter 12 will be out…not sure hopefully before summer ends. )
