Oh my god, I finally found the perfect song to sum up the MHA universe. "Role Models" by AJR. The basic idea is some guy talking about how all the famous people he looked up to got famous for doing the wrong things or for reasons that didn't really have anything to do with what they're famous for and now that he understands that, he doesn't know if he should still look up to them or appreciate the things they've done, and doesn't know who he is now that he knows the people he wanted to be like aren't really good people, especially since his role models helped him get through his life (Jesus this is a long sentence). There's a little more to the song, but that's the basic premise. It's actually a pretty good song. You should give it a listen if you haven't already.
Anyway, this… is weirdly perfect. With the way their society has been built over such a long period of time, I don't think the effect would be immediate, but think about what would happen in their world if the people found out that 99% of all heroes, the people they look up to and rely on for protection, don't even really care about them and are just in it for themselves.
Damn, that'd make for a crazy story.
Moving on. Quick announcement to make. On Friday - For those of you in different time zones, that's in 4 days for me - I'll be going on vacation. I'll be gone for 5 days and won't be updating either of my stories in that time. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Not much else to say, so let's start the story. Normally, I'd be happy to say we've got to do a recap first, but it would appear the nameless narrator is still pretty pissed at Deadpool, so I don't think they'll be coming back anytime soon. Well the, I guess it's time to get-
Back to That Story:
90 minutes.
That was how long they had to set up a defense strong enough to hold off potentially dozens of heroes. It probably wasn't enough.
But it was what they had.
"Twice, get as many bottles of alcohol as you can and bring them here. Stain, grab Mr. Aizawa and move him in here with the others. Dabi, wait for Twice to get back and I'll show you what to do next." Peter was directing the few allies he had, telling them where to go and what to do. Not wasting any time, everybody did as they were told.
It wasn't long before Stain returned with Aizawa slung over his shoulder, Twice close behind carrying dozens of bottles of beer, wine, and anything else that had alcohol in it. Peter motioned for him and Dabi to follow him. The three of them walked outside the bar, stopping when they reached the alley.
Working quickly, Peter fired webs at the ground until a mass about the size of a basketball lay before him. Taking hold of the top, he pried it apart and pressed the inner webbing to the side, hollowing it out.
"Hand me one of the bottles." Peter held out one hand, which Twice placed a bottle in. Uncorking it, Peter dumped the entire contents inside the hollowed-out web ball.
"Dabi, could you light this?"
"Sure."
Extending a hand, Dabi released a small stream of fire into the soaked webbing, instantly lighting it on fire. Peter pressed the sides together again, trapping the fire inside of a ball of webbing, before shooting one last web onto the top, almost like a candle's wick.
"What are we supposed to do with that?" Dabi glanced skeptically at the… bomb?
Not responding, Peter pressed the web ball onto the ground, turned around, and dashed into the bar. Jumping behind the counter, he attached the web strand to the ground there before running back outside.
"Well? What did you just do?" Dabi demanded.
"Just keep doing it. We've got a lot of other stuff to do." Peter continued to make web balls, placing them on the ground, on the walls, and attaching them to the sides of dumpsters. Every time, they were set alight, wrapped up, and the wick was attached behind the bar counter. By the time they finished, there were nearly twenty balls of webbing scattered around the alley.
"Okay, Twice, go back inside and see if Stain needs your help with anything. Dabi, where do I go to connect to those?" Peter pointed to the top corner of the bar. There was a security camera there, but the light was off. "I saw it a while ago, but I figured you guys were the ones who disconnected them. Where do I go to get them back online?"
"There's a junction box inside. We just flipped the switches that gave them power so no heroes could hack them." Dabi explained. "Want me to get 'em online?" Peter nodded, and Dabi walked back inside to get it done. Peter followed close behind.
"Okay, I need my suit and the computer in Shigaraki's room." Peter's next stop was the back room, where he kept his brand new suit. One it was in his hands, he ran back out and barged into Shigaraki's room. Just as he remembered, there was a computer resting on the desk in the corner.
"Perfect."
Reaching into the suit, Peter withdrew the drive that held the duplicate Karen and inserted it into the computer. Booting up the screen, he saw a blue orb displayed on the screen.
"Peter? Why have I been moved to this device?"
"The new suit can't display images, but this computer should be able to. Any second now, Dabi'll be bringing the cameras outside back online and you can project the feed here. We just have to-" Peter was cut off by a loud dinging noise, followed by multiple projections of the alleys outside the bar appearing on the monitor.
"There you go Peter."
"Thanks Karen." He nodded gratefully. From here, the web traps could clearly be seen. Satisfied, Peter pushed away from the desk and turned his attention. Turning his attention to the bedroom window, he fired a copious amount of webbing straight at the glass, not stopping until it was completely covered. Once that was done, he left and did the same to all the windows in the other bedrooms, as well as the kitchen. The only rooms with uncovered windows were the TV room and the bar.
"Okay, how are we doing?" Peter pushed through the door to the back room and checked in on everybody.
"All hostages are accounted for. After I made sure they were secure, I examined the rafters of this room. There are multiple vantage points where we can remain hidden and strike silently. I also took the liberty of removing the covers from all of the vents in case we need to disappear quickly." Stain broke down his progress. Gesturing to the ceiling, he showed Peter where there were support beams that could easily hold their weight while also hiding them from sight.
"I stole some caltrops from the little devil's room. I was about to set them up before you came in." Dabi held out a thick plastic bag. There were dozens of small, metal spikes inside. "I'm honestly not even sure where she got these, but I'm not complaining."
Peter turned to Twice, who had yet to speak.
"I was about to move Toga to the basement." He said simply.
"Wait, there's a basement?" Peter was caught off guard by this news.
"We're in a bar in the inner city. Of course there's a basement!" Dabi shouted from outside the room. Peter shook his head in slight annoyance.
"Where?"
Twice stood up and walked out of the room, motioning for Peter to follow him. The pair walked into the kitchen, where Twice stood in front of the large freezer that rested in the corner.
"Here." He pointed to the large appliance. Peter just gave him a confused look. Groaning, Twice gestured for him to push the freezer away. Now understanding, the hero took hold of the freezer and easily lifted it, revealing a large trapdoor underneath. Twice took hold of the end and lifted the trapdoor up. Underneath, it was so dark even Peter couldn't make out the bottom. There was a ladder attached to the side of the chute to make climbing down easy.
"Why… why didn't you mention this before? We could have used this."
Twice just shrugged in a casual motion. Not bothering to say any more, he ran off, presumably to grab Toga. Peter set the freezer down beside the trapdoor before sticking his head into the chute, trying to make out the inside.
"What's in here?"
Deciding he had some spare time to explore, Peter slung his legs over and jumped into the chute. He fell for a good four seconds before finally hitting the ground. It was completely black in the basement.
Fortunately, Peter still had his suit with him. Pulling the mask over his head, he tapped a small button on the side to activate one of the few Iron Spider functions he had been able to replicate with his limited resources; night vision.
The pitch black room became green, and now shapes could be made out. A few seconds of searching revealed what Peter was looking for. There was a single light switch on the wall near the ladder. Switching off his night vision, he walked over and flipped the switch. The room lit up, revealing its contents.
"... I gotta say, I wasn't expecting this."
The room was fairly clean. There was even another couch down here. Aside from that, there was a TV hung up in one corner, a few tables with chairs, and multiple wooden crates stuffed in the corner. Curious, Peter walked over and pushed one open.
"Whoa!" He breathed out in excitement. The contents of the crate were beautiful to a tech nerd like him.
The crate was filled with spare parts, mechanical devices and other miscellaneous items. But underneath that all, there was something else. Something golden and shiny.
"What the…?" Peter reached down, pushing past all the other items to reach the shiny, gold object. Taking hold, Peter pulled it back out and held it up so he could get a good look at it.
His breath caught.
It was a logo. The kind you would fix to a costume to make sure people recognized you.
It was part of a hero costume.
Another glinting piece of metal caught his eye. Reaching into the crate once more, Peter found a belt, one that was clearly also part of a costume.
"Are these… trophies?" Taking a closer look, he could see something on the belt. One side was frayed badly. There were chunks missing, and what remained had been turned grey and ashy.
"... Shigaraki." Peter growled in understanding. These crates were filled with bits of costumes and equipment taken from heroes he had killed. It felt wrong to use them, but…
Supplies were supplies.
"I'm sorry." Peter apologized to nobody in particular. Cracking open the other crates, he found similar contents. Each one was filled with a thousand things that could be used for their defense effort. Grabbing fistfuls of equipment, Peter sat down at one of the tables and got to work.
Midoriya's POV:
"What do I even do in this situation?"
Midoriya, along with his classmates, had been restrained with Peter's webbing. Mr. Aizawa was there too, but he was still knocked out.
"Can't you get us out of here Todoroki? Like, I don't know, by freezing the webs or something?" Kaminari suggested.
"Freeze the webs? So you want to be trapped and cold?" Todoroki snarked.
"Well, couldn't Kirishima or Midoriya just shatter them?"
"..."
"It's not a bad plan." If Iida's arms were free, he would have put a hand to his chin in thought. "Though I doubt it would work in this exact situation, given… well, that."
Standing guard not three feet away was Stain, keeping a watchful eye on all of them.
Suddenly, the ninja villain burst into the room. Not explaining his rush, he carefully lifted the vampire girl off the couch and hurried back out.
"Hm. The basement would surely be a better place for you than here." Stain muttered to himself. Drawing one of his knives, he pointed the blade at the tied up students. "You can all still use your legs, so move. Go where I tell you and nowhere else."
Not wanting to disobey, Midoriya stood up, as did his classmates. They all walked out of the room and moved where Stain directed them. They soon arrived in the kitchen, where they gathered around the trapdoor.
"What's the hold up?" Stain growled. He had Mr. Aizawa slung over his shoulder due to the man's current inability to travel on his own.
"Do you expect us to go down a ladder without arms?" Todoroki glanced down at his arms, which were still forcibly wrapped around his torso thanks to Peter's webbing.
"It's a narrow chute. Press your backs to the wall and walk down." Stain ordered.
The boys all wanted to disobey, but they weren't in much of a position to argue. Kirishima went first, doing as Stain instructed. Shoving his back into the wall opposite the ladder, he placed both feet on the metal rungs and "walked" down the ladder. The others followed close behind, with Stain going last.
The descent to the basement took much longer than any of them expected. It took almost a full minute of climbing down before Kirishima finally fell backwards thanks to the lack of a wall to push against. Luckily, he activated his quirk just before hitting the ground and saved himself from any real pain.
The others weren't as lucky.
"Gah!"
"Ugh!"
"Oof!"
"God damn it."
One by one, they all picked themselves up from the cold, stone floor and looked around the new place. It was a more primitive version of the room they had been in previously. There was a TV, a few tables, and a few other things to make it comfortable, but it was still a pit in the ground, so obviously, it wasn't exactly the picture of luxury.
It felt more like a crappy man cave.
Twice was already there. For lack of a better option, he had placed Toga on one of the tables and was already running back to the ladder, probably to grab pillows or blankets for her. Midoriya had to step out of the way to avoid being bowled over by the frantic ninja.
There was one other occupant in the room already.
"Peter?"
The young criminal was seated at one of the free tables, tinkering with some metal parts. Midoriya could see a few small contraptions set aside nearby. They were all about the size of hand grenades, though their appearance was something completely different. There were gears sticking out in multiple places, along with a few switches stuck onto the sides. The green-haired boy liked to think he was fairly smart, but he honestly had no idea what the devices were supposed to be.
"Oh, hey guys." Peter greeted his classmates casually, as if he hadn't practically kidnapped them not long ago. "Look, I know I promised you an explanation for everything that's happening, but there's kind of a lot going on right now and I just don't have time."
Peter did not stop working as he talked. His fingers continued to move even as he maintained eye contact with his friends. Soon, another small device joined the others that had been set aside.
"Give us the basic summary." Todoroki replied coldly. "You don't seem too pressed for time right now, so surely you can do that much." Stain crept up behind the dual-colored boy and smacked the back of his head. Not hard enough to knock him out, but hard enough to make him stumble a little.
"In my day, hostages knew when to stay quiet and not back-talk their kidnappers." The hero-killer grumbled as he stalked back over to the ladder. The passed out teacher he had been carrying had been carelessly dropped onto the ground as if he were trash.
"... I'm sorry about him. He's sort of new to this whole prisoner thing. I'm pretty sure his usual solution is to just kill any hero he sees." Peter apologized sheepishly.
Todoroki wanted to rub his head to help the pain subside, but his hands were still tied up, so he settled for glaring up the ladder as Stain disappeared.
"Okay, listen. You're right, I'm not exactly super busy right now, so I can explain a little bit about what's going on." Peter paused his work for a moment. He looked deep in thought, as though he were trying to find the perfect words to explain their situation.
"... This world isn't perfect." He began. "There are some people who are put on pedestals and worshipped and there are other people who are pushed down and forgotten, or worse, mistreated because of something they can't control. The worst thing is that the heroes don't do anything about it, in fact, they love it. If things didn't work like this, they wouldn't live the lives they do. I just couldn't be a part of a system like that, one where I would use other people to elevate my own status."
"So you joined a gang of villains." Kirishima sounded betrayed. He didn't want to believe this. His bro couldn't have seriously abandoned them just like that and gone to the same people who tried to kill them a few months prior.
For a brief moment, Peter looked genuinely angry. A spark of rage flashed in his eyes as he shoved himself to his feet, sending a glare at Kirishima.
"THEY'RE NOT-!" Immediately, he tried to calm himself down. Yelling wouldn't help anything. "They aren't villains, Eijirou. They're people, just like me and you. People who have been mistreated because of their quirks, people who want to make a difference for people who are pushed down and forgotten. Just because their views don't agree with yours, that doesn't make them villains."
"Really?" Todoroki didn't sound impressed. "What about the people they've killed? What about the property they've destroyed? What about the innumerable crimes they've committed? You tell me Peter. How are they not villains?" While Todoroki spoke, he continued to walk closer to Peter. When he finally finished speaking, he was practically right in front of him, his trademarked icy glare adorning his features. For once, Peter glared right back.
"I'm not defending their actions, just their cause. Do you know what's happened ever since I joined up? They stopped. No more killings, no more property destruction, no more nothing. For the past few months, they've been clean. They've done things my way. And you know what Todoroki?" And there it was. The rage was back. Peter once again pushed himself out of his chair and stared back with eyes filled with anger.
"You don't even understand what a villain is. Every time somebody shows up and breaks the law, everybody calls them a villain. Why? Billions of people on this planet and not one of them understands what a villain actually is." Todoroki honestly looked confused by Peter's retort.
"What are you talking about?" Kaminari, still hanging back with the others, asked nervously.
"Do you know what the difference is between a hero and a villain?" Peter asked the group. Nobody answered. "A villain is somebody who does bad things just because they want to. A murderer who enjoys killing. An anarchist who enjoys causing mayhem and misery. But a criminal? A criminal might not have a choice. A bank robber might just desperately need money. A murderer might have just been defending himself, but if he used his quirk to do it, everybody would immediately claim he's a villain without even letting him defend himself. What you don't understand is that there's a very big difference between enjoying what you choose to do and hating what you're forced into." Finally, Peter's rant ended. He was taking deep breath after deep breath in an effort to calm himself down. When at last, his breathing returned to normal, he opened his mouth to speak again.
"It's my job as a hero to capture both, but that doesn't mean they should get the same treatment. A criminal should get help. Todoroki!" The multi-colored teen perked up slightly after hearing his name. "If you arrested somebody who had gone on a robbery spree and then found out he was only stealing in the first place to afford medicine for somebody in his family, what would you do? Would you call him a villain like every other lawbreaker out there, toss him in jail, and forget all about him? Or would you be a hero? Would you help him, try to get him a reduced sentence, or at the very least send his family some money?"
Todoroki responded immediately.
"Obviously, I would hel-"
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Peter yelled. Todoroki flinched slightly at the sudden outburst.
Lie? But he wasn't. If there really was somebody who became a villain for such a desperate reason, of course he would try to support them somehow. That was the job.
…
That… was the job, wasn't it?
Actually, come to think of it, when did something like this come up? It was no secret that most heroes out there loved any and all attention. If they had reached out to a villain's family to offer support, it would surely make the news.
But there was never a single news report showing anything like that.
How often did a case come up where the "noble heroes" actually took the time to question the villain they had arrested as to the reason they had committed their crimes? Did they even care? Or were they just a quick way to get on TV and earn a paycheck?
"... I… I don't know." Todoroki admitted. "I honestly don't know if I would go that far. I don't know if I would bother with them after they were arrested, or if they would be forgotten."
Damn it. Why couldn't he say more? He acted mean, but Todoroki really did care about people. By the time he became a hero, he would definitely be a hero people could look up to and respect. Would he support a criminal who hadn't even wanted to do what they did? Obviously, YES!
Then why couldn't he say it?
He looked over his shoulder and upon seeing the faces of his classmates, he could tell they had similar thoughts. Their faces were twisted up in thought, multiple scenarios probably running through their minds.
But, one after the other, they all ended up with the same disappointed look on their faces.
They couldn't say it either.
"You see what I mean?" Peter interrupted what was left of their thoughts. "The heroes don't actually care about helping. Sure, they protect the people who are obviously in danger, but they don't even bother with the people who really need help, the ones who are the most hurt. They just don't care about anything that doesn't put their face on TV."
His piece said, Peter walked over to a few wooden crates that lay in the corner, grabbed some more parts, and sat back down to resume his work.
"... He's kind of right." Kaminari whispered to the others. "I mean, I watch the news every now and then. Heroes never actually try to calm villains down or figure out what's going on. Most of the time, they just start fighting as soon as they show up."
"To be fair, there are many times where villains make the first move or are in a rush to escape." Iida countered, though he didn't sound too sure of himself.
"But that isn't always the case. Even when opportunities are there, most heroes don't make any effort to diffuse the situation without violence." Even Midoriya, the resident hero fanboy, couldn't totally deny the truth behind Peter's words.
Todoroki remained silent as he listened to everybody say their piece. He was still thinking about how Peter claimed the villains here had stopped breaking the law ever since he showed up.
But there was one thing he didn't quite understand yet.
"What exactly is your plan?" He asked Peter, who continued to work. "How do you plan on changing the way things are? You gonna make a few signs, stand in front of an embassy and scream about how things aren't done right? There would have been a better chance of people listening to you if you became a hero."
Peter finally looked up, though he continued working.
"I know that. I could have gone on to be a hero recognized by everybody, but the others couldn't. Even if I became the number one hero in the world, that doesn't mean everybody would agree with me. If All Might were to go on TV and put out a message telling people to stop fighting criminals, you think people would take him seriously?"
That was… fair.
"If I want my message to reach people, I need other people who agree with me, people who think like I do. The others here do, but their image is ruined. People already see them as nothing more than horrible villains, and in a society like this one, there's no way anybody would take anything a villain says seriously. So, we're working on getting their images cleared, and there's really only one way to do that." Peter explained.
"Vigilantism." The pieces clicked together in Midoriya's mind. "Of course. That's why there are so few of you here. It's a way to gain support by making yourselves seem like people who want to do good and-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Peter cut off the greenette, waving his hands in a "stop" motion. "We're not trying to make ourselves 'seem like' anything. I told you before, I, along with everybody else here, really do want to help people. Our goal in the end is to make life better for the people who can't do anything for themselves. Becoming vigilantes is the first step. If the public sees us as heroes, it'll be that much easier to gain support."
Peter's face reflected desperation. He clearly wanted his friends to believe him, to understand that he was trying to do something good here.
"... There are so many people out there who don't get a choice. There are people who are shoved down and mistreated for just their quirks, something they don't even have any control over. Just imagine that. Every day, you have people glaring at you, insulting you, treating you like trash, just because of something you had no say in. How many people do you think would rather be quirkless than have to live with the 'gifts' they have?"
While Peter continued trying to defend his cause, there were two boys who were having their own conversation.
"What do you think about all this?" Kaminari bumped Kirishima's shoulder.
"... Peter's my bro. He always looked out for me and everybody else. Even before he joined UA he was being super manly and helping people. There's no way he'd join up with a bunch of vill-... criminals if he didn't think they could do good in the end." Kirishima still sounded conflicted, though there was a certain glint in his eyes. There was something… different about Peter now. What it was, he wasn't sure. There was something there, something he couldn't place.
Kaminari looked closely at his spiky-haired friend, considering his words. Then, suddenly, he laughed.
It was quiet, quiet enough that the other boys couldn't have heard it. But Kirishima could.
"What's so funny man?"
"You can't use these complicated terms man. I'm pretty stupid, you know." The blonde teen shrugged carelessly. "But… I do understand what Peter is trying to say. There are a lot of things we don't do right and nobody ever seems to try and fix those things. This…" Kaminari turned his head around as best he could to gesture to the room around them. "This whole thing is him trying to change things. Maybe even for the better."
It was sound logic. And the more Kirishima thought about it, the more Peter seemed genuine. From day 1, all he ever seemed concerned about was whether or not he could make people feel safe and happy. Sure, they felt that way now, but those were only the people that were doing perfectly well.
What about the villains who didn't want to be villains? What about the good people who were forced to do bad things? Did anybody care about them? Did anybody try to help them?
Kaminari was right. There were a lot of things that were wrong, yet nobody ever seemed to even try to fix them. What Peter was doing here… that was somebody trying. For sure, very few people would agree with it, but it was still the right thing to do.
And wasn't being a hero all about doing the right thing even if you were hated for it?
While the two boys had their own private conversation, Peter had finished making all the devices he needed and was beginning to place them all into a small bag made of webbing.
"I have to go now. There's still a lot of stuff I have to set up and not a lot of time to do it. I'll have Twice send down a few clones to keep watch over you and… Toga." With one last worried look directed at the passed out vampire girl, Peter walked past his classmates and placed a hand on the ladder, ready to climb. He would have to come back in a bit to make other stuff, but what he had now would be a good start.
"DABI! WE GOT ANY DUCT TAPE UP THERE!?"
"… What was her story," Kaminari wondered, looking closely at the girl. Peter mentioned before how there were people who were mistreated because of their quirks. Was she one of them? Was that why she was even here? Could she be like Peter, somebody who was on the wrong side of the law not to cause harm, but to do good?
"Damn it. You can't throw all of this at me at once. I'll get overwhelmed, man." Kaminari sighed deeply. He glanced to his side. Kirishima was already looking at him. The two boys stared at each other for a few seconds before a sort of silent agreement was reached. They both nodded at the same time and ran over to the ladder that lead out of the basement.
""PETER!"" They yelled together, hoping he would hear them.
There was silence for a short time, then, from the dark chute leading to freedom, Peter descended on a web line.
"Yeah?"
1 Hour Later: [1]
"Yes sir. We've arrived at the location Eraserhead sent us. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong so far." Tsukauchi drawled through his radio, informing the police chief on his current situation.
He, along with two other officers and nearly fifty heroes were all gathered about two blocks from the target location. There had been non stop robberies and assaults all day. Whenever a new crime was stopped, the already large group invited whichever hero was present to join them. It was unknown how many villains there would be or how well-defended their hideout would be, so they simply brought along whoever was available.
Was it overkill? Probably. But at least they would be safe. With this many heroes on their side, there was no way this operation could go downhill.
"Dear, did I really have to come? I have other responsibilities, you know?"
"I'm sorry about this Recovery Girl, but there's bound to be injuries in an assault like this, and your quirk is unmatched in healing capabilities." Tsukauchi bowed his head to the short, elderly woman. "And if all else fails, we've got our fallback plan."
This operation depended on planning. This was a hideout takeover they were talking about here. There could be any number of villains inside, and that was without factoring in whatever traps or distractions they had thrown in to bolster their defenses. One way or another, this operation would have casualties.
Hopefully the number would remain low.
The only problem was that planning was the last thing on anybody's mind.
Tsukauchi loved heroes. When he was a boy, he wanted to be one. When he finally realized his quirk wasn't suited for combat, he hadn't even hesitated to become a police officer. Even now, he still had a great deal of respect for the heroes.
But…
Even he had to admit that most of them weren't exactly the brightest people.
Despite graduating from hero academies, undergoing years of training, and passing countless tests, many heroes didn't really plan things out. Instead, they focused on causing damage with their quirks until the villains gave up.
That was well and good in a street fight, but in a situation like this, it was the opposite of what they needed.
Normally, Tsukauchi would have tried to bring the heroes together so they could discuss strategy, but he knew there was no point. With this many of them gathered, the chances that he would actually be listened to were abysmally low. That was why he had brought along Recovery Girl, along with multiple other heroes with healing quirks.
As he stated before, this operation would have casualties.
"Alright people." The detective raised his voice, gaining the attention of every man and woman in attendance. "It's time to move in. Pick your entry point and method, just try not to trip each other up. Make sure we don't have too many people in the building at once."
It was probably pointless, but Tsukauchi figured he'd try to slip in some last minute instructions in the hopes the gathered protectors would listen to him.
As soon as he was done talking, the heroes all split up into smaller groups and broke apart. Some climbed on top of the buildings, others stuck to the streets, and those with flight quirks took to the skies and kept watch over everything. Every single one of them carried radios that were all connected to each other, allowing for constant contact.
"Oi, detective, there's something weird here." Tsukauchi's radio crackled, a voice breaking through the static.
"What do you mean?"
"There's a bunch of these weird, white balls all over the place."
"Yeah, I'm seeing 'em up here too. They're… bubbling. It looks like there's something trying to get out." Another hero reported in.
"White balls?" Tsukauchi mumbled. "What kind of quirk would that be? They can't be a trap if they were found that easily."
His radio crackling once again broke the detective out of his musings.
"Hey, one of 'em's opening! I can see some-"
BOOOMM!
Tsukauchi dropped the radio in shock. The thundering boom was loud enough to hurt his ear.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" He demanded after picking his radio back up.
The hero coughed loudly a few times before responding.
"The… the ball just exploded. There's a fire now, but it's pretty sma-"
BOOM! BOOOMM! BOOMM!
All at once, multiple more explosions went off. Tsukauchi could see smoke rising around the target building.
"Somebody talk to me! What is happening over there?!"
Twice's POV:
"And you get a boom! And you get a boom! And you get a boom! We all get to go boom!" Twice laughed loudly to himself as he pulled cord after cord.
"Twice, pull number 17 next." Peter shouted through the wall.
Nodding to himself, Twice located the web strand with the number 17 written underneath it and yanked as hard as he could. Shortly after, another loud boom rang out from outside.
This had to be the coolest thing Peter had ever let him do. How did he say it worked again.
"My webs are fire-proof and heat-proof, so the fire won't burn through them. The webbing is thin enough to draw in oxygen and keep fueling the fire, but it'll shut in the emission from the flames. Over time, they'll build up inside the web bubble. If it ruptures, all that pressure will be released and it'll make an explosion, as well as scattering the flames everywhere. Think of it like taking the lid off a pressure cooker." That was how Peter had explained it
Apparently, the explosion wouldn't be powerful enough to kill anybody unless they were stupid enough to have their face pressed right up next to the web bubbles when they exploded. Still, the force would disorient and injure the heroes, and the fires would slow them down. They weren't in a residential area, which meant there were no homes to burn down and the fires wouldn't cause any serious damage.
Twice could hear the heroes screaming from outside. How many of them would be injured by now? It was fun to think about.
"And since nobody'll die, I don't have to be guilty about this."
"Twice! Number 25!" Peter shouted again.
"OKAAYY!" Twice yelled back happily as he yanked another string. The familiar boom split the air a moment later.
This was also why Peter wanted to get the security cameras back online. On top of the benefit of general surveillance, it allowed him to monitor the area outside the bar from Shigaraki's computer and notify Twice when to blow which traps. He made sure to mark each string so Twice knew which one he had to pull. Whenever a hero wandered near one, Peter would shout through the wall to direct his friend what to do.
"AAHHH! I want to pull them all now!" Twice moaned, his hands floating dangerously close to the remaining web strings. It would be so easy to pull them all at once, to hear all the explosions ring out at the same time. It would be glorious.
… But that wasn't the plan. They were working with limited supplies here, and doing whatever he wanted could end up screwing them over.
So, despite the pain it caused him, Twice withdrew his hands and waited for Peter's next command.
"32!"
"Yes sir!"
Another yank. Another boom, this time from the roof of the bar. After other preparations had been made, Peter had taken Dabi up there to set more traps with the remaining bottles of alcohol. The once fully stocked shelf that lay behind Twice was now completely empty.
Twice could hear multiple sets of footsteps on the roof above him. There had to be at least five heroes up there.
"Twice, blow the whole roof, along with the two buildings next to us. 33 through 44."
"Oh hell yes!" All of Twice's personalities shouted at once. Cracking his knuckles, Twice reached out with lightning speed and yanked cord after cord. Explosion after explosion rang out, along with the sound of screaming.
"Nice work Twice. That's all the traps set off. Set your copy then come back."
Twice stood up and stretched before vaulting over the bar counter and calmly walking over to the front door, as if there weren't an army of heroes on the other side. This was the next phase of the plan.
Activating his quirk, Twice made a copy of Dabi and strapped the device Peter had given him to the copy's back.
"Stand at attention. Let them catch you." He ordered. Running off, Twice stopped at the door leading to the hallway. He wanted to watch this.
Tsukauchi's POV:
"Is anybody still active?" The worried detective demanded.
"We're… we're all still here sir. The rooftops are completely set on fire. We can't access the building that way anymore."
The buildings in this area were all made of stone, so there wasn't any danger of them burning down. Unfortunately, there must have been something in those traps that gave the flames fuel, because while they weren't spreading, they weren't dying down either. The rooftops, along with multiple sections of the alleys were ablaze.
"That limits our options quite a bit." Tsukauchi grumbled. The few medical heroes he had brought were rushing all around, healing every hero they came across. The raid hadn't even been going for a full 10 minutes and already many of them had broken bones, bleeding gashes, and there were even some that had already been knocked out.
"Get the unconscious out of here! If you've been healed, get back to your teams! Tsukauchi shouted orders as the heroes were healed, making sure things went as smoothly as they could.
There was one group that hadn't sustained any injuries so far. They had hung back and waited to see what was going to happen before moving in. Now that the path was clear, there was nothing between them and the bar door.
"We're moving in. Somebody watch our backs." Nightshade, the hero in charge of the small team ordered. Two other heroes moved with them, keeping an eye on the windows surrounding the room the doors would lead into.
Nightshade, along with one of her subordinates, stacked up on both sides of the door while a third hero approached the door head on, reared back, and kicked it open. The group was greeted with the sight of a heinously scarred man who immediately raised one hand to attack them. Before he could launch an attack, the hero who had kicked the door open lunged forward and grabbed his wrist before slamming his face into the ground, subduing him.
"I've got one here! Somebody get me some cuffs!" He ordered
"Oi, what's that?" Nightshade pointed at the strange, grenade-shaped device stuck to the villain's back. One of her subordinates reached for it, only to yank their hand back right after touching it.
"GAH!" They screamed. The device was now sparking with small arcs of electricity. Soon, one of its components lit on fire, causing some of the visible gears to turn.
"HE'S STRAPPED! BACK UP!" Nightshade ordered, tackling two of her teammates out of the way. One of them, Tremor, stood up in front of the rest and activated their quirk. A wall of stone rose out of the ground between them and the bomb moments before it exploded.
Tremor released his quirk and the stone wall dropped back into the ground. The bar entrance had been obliterated. It was blocked off by chunks of concrete that had broken off of the building after the explosion.
"What just happened?" Tsukauchi ran up to the small group, helping one of the fallen heroes to stand up.
"Look at that, he finally shows up." Tremor snarked. "God damn suicide bomber. Now we've got to clear out this debris before we can move in."
"... You're saying one of the villains died?"
"Yup. Crazy bastard had a bomb strapped to his back. Heh, idiot. His little surprise didn't catch any of us." Tremor laughed coldly.
"... You're laughing. A man died and you're laughing." Tsukauchi glared at the uncaring hero."
"Ah, come on. It was just some worthless villain. The guy lived a life of crime and this was how he went out. Seems like a pretty good punishment to me."
As if their conversation never happened, the large man began grabbing pieces of debris and throwing them aside. It wouldn't be long before they entered the building.
Stain's POV:
"I'll kill him!" Stain growled threateningly. He was next to Peter, watching the camera feed of the alleys around the bar. The cameras not only provided video, but audio as well.
"That worthless excuse for a hero! How dare he!?" The hero-killer whipped around and was about to run outside to massacre the bastard himself, but he was stopped when somebody grabbed his arm.
"Stain, no. We've got a plan and we need to stick to it. And, you're not supposed to kill people anymore. We can't make a real difference by killing everybody we don't like." Peter reasoned. Stain glowered at him momentarily before yanking his arm away.
"Right. The plan."
"If they're entering the bar, we don't need this anymore." Peter reached behind the computer and pulled out Karen's hard drive. Once the drive was secured in his new suit, he cocked a fist back and smashed the computer. The less the heroes had to investigate once this was over, the better.
The two criminals walked out of the room into the hallway. Stain saw the ninja, Twice, barge into the room and slam the door shut behind him.
"Here you go." Peter handed him a metal beam. It had been part of one of the support beams in the bar, but Peter had torn it off about thirty minutes ago for this exact purpose.
Twice took the thick, metal beam from Peter and jammed it into the door frame. Anybody who tried to enter the hallway from the other side would have great difficulty getting the door open.
"Time for the next phase then?" Dabi asked as he entered the hallway from the kitchen.
"Obviously. Be ready to do your part boy." Stain ordered. "Are you ready?"
"Of course." Peter replied.
Together, he and Stain jumped in turn into the vent built into the ceiling above them. It, along with every other vent in the building, had its cover removed by Stain.
Stain crawled through the dark ventilation shaft, taking care to be as quiet as possible. Through the thin metal, he heard a dull yet loud crashing noise. Most likely, the heroes had gotten tired of digging their way in and decided to smash through instead.
Sloppy.
A little bit more time spent crawling through darkness passed, then they reached their destination. A small section of wall made only of painted drywall. Whoever owned the bar originally had apparently cut corners and taken the cheap option. Not that Stain was complaining. It worked in their favor.
Pulling out a knife, he shoved the blade through the thin material and sliced straight down, making a large slit. Cutting a few more lines out, he created a small gap just large enough for him and Peter to climb through.
Now they were in position. Peter had specifically chosen this spot for this step of the plan. He was crouched on top of a metal support beam that gave him a perfect overhead view of the barroom below, along with the heroes swaggering around inside.
"Hah, there is nobody here? Cowards, retreating instead of fighting." A large man with rocks embedded in his forearms boasted to… himself.
"This jackass cannot be serious. Does he not understand basic strategy?" Stain grumbled. At least the other heroes seemed to have more common sense than the simpleton in question. Even they were shooting him annoyed, condescending looks.
"Come on Dabi, hurry up." Peter mumbled. He was getting anxious waiting for his partner to do his part. The longer he took, the more likely it was that this wouldn't work.
Finally, it happened. Every light in the room went out all at once, plunging it into darkness. The windows had been blocked off by webbing and the front entrance had once again collapsed, leaving only a small amount of light to filter through the cracks.
"What is this!?" The big hero yelled in anger. "Another of your pathetic tricks!?"
"Time to move." Peter nudged Stain's shoulder. This was where the two of them were at their best. With his special lenses, Peter could simply activate his suit's night vision function, while Stain had spent years creeping around in the dark. He was used to these low light conditions and could see perfectly well.
With Peter watching his back, Stain dropped to the floor below and crept up on the nearest hero, a strong-looking woman who was looking all around for a villain attempting to catch her off guard.
Picking his moment, Stain grabbed her around the throat just as she turned around. She reacted quickly, grabbing hold of his arm in an attempt to pull him off, but her strength was draining fast. Stain had pinched her airway shut and had no plans to let go until she passed out.
It wasn't long before her strength failed her and the heroine's arms dropped limply to her sides. The hero-killer released her throat and dropped her, making sure the other heroes heard the noise before ducking behind a table.
"Shit, there's somebody in here with us." One of the heroes swore angrily.
"Everybody stick together. They can't drop us if we're right next to each other.
"You cowards would think that." Stain laughed internally at their foolishness. Of course, they had planned for this possibility and made backup plans for if this happened.
Shooting a glance at the support beam he knew Peter was hiding on, Stain withdrew a knife and slammed the point into the ground. Standing up, he began running while clutching the blade, causing the loud sound of splintering wood to tear through the darkness.
Every hero turned their heads toward Stain's location. Multiple sets of feet dashed over in an attempt to catch him before he could disappear.
But, by the time the noise stopped and they located the source, there was no sign of anybody. Instead, there was only a single, large knife sticking out of the ground.
"They're just screwing with us now." Nightshade realized. "We need to- OOF!"
The commanding heroine was cut off by a large weight slamming into her from behind. Before her team could react, a crashing noise exploded through the air, followed by another table launching itself towards them and slamming directly into two of the heroes. They both hit their heads on the ground forcefully and lost consciousness.
Now it was just Tremor and Nightshade.
"Ah, forget it. Tremor, hold your breath." Nightshade ordered. She crossed both her arms together in an X pattern. She held that position briefly, then rapidly uncrossed them and held them up at her sides. A thick, black smoke began billowing out from her palms, quickly filling the entire room. Soon after, coughing could be heard.
"Found you! Now get out here and-"
With that, a newcomer dropped in out of nowhere, taking hold of Nightshade's head and smashing her face into the ground, knocking her out.
"Who is there!?" Tremor yelled into the darkness.
A small crackling noise could be heard, followed by a flickering green light. Then, the flickers turned into solid, extremely bright lights. Two large ovals, like oversized eyes, and a green spider symbol underneath them.
"Hi there. You know, I think this lady made my friend angry with her quirk. He doesn't like getting poisoned.
Out of nowhere, a fist crashed into Tremor's face. A weaker person would have been slumped on the floor, out cold after a punch like that. But Tremor merely shrugged it off.
"Cute." Grabbing his attacker's fist, he whirled them around and slammed them down, then twisted in a full circle and tossed them as hard as he could. The unseen villain sailed through the darkness. They crashed into something and went straight through it.
Stain had been thrown directly into the door leading to the hallway, tearing right through the wood and flying into the hall.
"Damn that woman! Her gas made me weaker! I can hardly feel my arms anymore." Stain tried to force himself to his feet, but he could barely even lift his head off the ground.
The sounds of fists impacting against something hard and solid came from the dark room. Occasionally, Stain could hear wood splintering and breaking. If he had to guess, the massive idiot of a hero was attempting to swing at Peter, only to completely miss and smash the floor instead.
"HOLD STILL!"
"Heck no! I'm on a schedule here, so could ya do me a favor and just pass out already!?"
A particularly loud impact sounded above all the others. For a tiny fraction of a second, nothing happened. Then there was another huge crash. A new body sailed through the broken doorway and smashed through one of the walls in the hallway.
"Sorry man!" Peter shouted apologetically.
"... That was my room Peter." Dabi leaned out of the kitchen, an annoyed scowl on his face.
"We would have had to leave after this anyway."
"PREPARE TO BREACH! WE'RE MOVING IN NEXT!" A loud voice called from the ruined bar entrance.
"You know what that means. You ready Dabi?"
"What do you think?" Dabi's annoyed scowl was replaced with a disturbingly happy grin. The grin only grew wider as he hefted the special "present" Peter had made for him earlier.
This… was gonna be fun.
Unnamed Hero's POV:
There are times in life when there are people you can't be bothered to remember the name of. Maybe they aren't memorable, maybe they just aren't that important. This man was one of those people. I'd tell you his name, but sadly, you'd probably just forget it immediately.
So, for the sake of time, we will simply call this man "Bob."
"Bob" didn't really want to be a part of this raid in the first place. He was new to the hero business and was looking forward to an easy first month. Then the Hosu disaster happened, then crime in the area skyrocketed, and now he was being dragged into a hideout raid. Why was Bob's life so bad?
It only got worse from there. The whole alley blew up as soon as he wandered near the hideout. His hand got broken at some point, which made him kind of happy. Could he get out of this now?
Nope. Of course, a medical hero showed up and healed him, making him perfectly capable of continuing the mission. So much for that.
Well, after that, a small group got the doors open, only for some crazy suicide bomber to nuke himself and seal it off. Again, Bob was happy. Now could he go home?
Nah. The giant idiot, Tremor, started punching his way through and brought his team inside, leaving the rest of them to wait outside after his dynamic entry caused another cave in.
Now, there was nothing stopping Bob from having to go inside. The debris had been cleared once more, and the first thing he saw was Nightshade passed out on the ground. Her face had been smashed into the floorboards hard enough to break them. The broken ends of the floorboards had risen up at an angle around her head, almost like a barrier.
The rest of the team wasn't in much better condition. Tremor wasn't even there.
"...Sir, permission to get the fuck out of here?" Bob requested nervously, the radio shaking in his trembling hand.
"Denied." Came the immediate answer.
Well, screw it then. If today was his day, Bob would face it. Death wasn't going to scare him! He was Bob, god damn it!
"Follow me." Bob gestured to the few heroes that had wandered in with him. There was a door near the back of the room that had been blown off its hinges. That was where they would start.
Feeling unusually brave, Bob marched towards the broken entry point, ready to fight. His quirk wasn't too impressive, but it could get the job done if need be.
Standing in front of the empty door frame, Bob could see nobody aside from the slumped body of Tremor. So that was where he went. A few quick glances all around, and still he saw no one.
"Is nobody here?" Bob thought aloud.
CRASH!
No sooner than he finished speaking did the door at the very end of the hallway smash open with tremendous force. It had clearly been kicked open, and hit the wall with such force that the knob embedded itself in the material. As for who had kicked it open in the first place…
"No way."
There was a hideously scarred man. Half of his visible skin was an ugly purple, and it was held to his somewhat normal skin with staples and pins. That wasn't what concerned Bob though.
First of all, he had watched this guy die. There had been a bomb strapped to his back, he blew himself up and sealed the entrance. How could he be here now?
Secondly, the villain was carrying a full-size machine gun. As in a literal machine gun.
It clearly wasn't something you would buy at a gun store. This gun looked like it had been made out of thrown together scrap metal and spare parts. All the components were exposed, there was no frame, and many of the pieces looked… odd.
In the half-second Bob took to examine the man and his unique weapon, said weapon had been hefted up and pointed directly at him and his team.
"Hello bitches." The villain taunted coldly. "Come to arrest me?"
Just like that, the trigger was pulled. Bob could see a projectile approaching him and saw his own life coming to an end. If he was hit, it would be over.
A tiny moment, and the projectile smashed into his chest…
And he was fine?
"OOWW!" Bob exclaimed. Okay, maybe "fine" was a stretch, but at least he wasn't dead. There was a small, metal object sticking out of his chest. Taking hold of one end, he yanked it out, grunting in pain as he did so.
"A caltrop?" The projectile that had been fired out of the gun was a small, triangular spike. One of the spikes, the one that had been embedded in his chest just a moment ago, was covered in blood.
"You didn't hear? We're under new management now, no more killing allowed." The villain chuckled darkly. "Doesn't mean I can't hurt'cha."
It wasn't just one projectile now. The trigger was held down and a rain of caltrops were launched towards Bob and his team. Though he protected his face as best he could, it was impossible to completely stop the storm of spikes being fired their way.
So, Bob did the only logical thing he could do in this situation. He got his ass out of there.
Turning tail, Bob took off in a full sprint. More caltrops were fired into his back, but he didn't care. Even as more spikes were lodged into his body, he ran for all he was worth and practically dived out of the bar doors.
"Jesus Christ! What happened to this guy?" One of the reserve heroes helped Bob to his feet.
"Medic!" Another yelled.
"They can heal my body, but they can't give me my blood back. Maybe now I can finally get out of here." Bob smiled to himself as he was handed off to a medic. As she used her quirk to heal him, he closed his eyes and rested his head on the ground.
"I'm just gonna take a quick nap. You did good today Bob. You did good."
Kaminari's POV:
Through the dark, Kaminari could see the guy named Dabi charge into the hallway with Peter's DIY LMG and open fire on the heroes on the other side. They didn't have too many caltrops, so it would only take care of a small group, but any small amount was helpful in a situation like this.
"Man, how did I get into this?" The blonde sighed. A few hours ago, he was on his way to rescue his friend from a group of villains. What even happened from there? Peter revealed he was actually working with his kidnappers, who weren't really villains, but… what? Rebels?
"This is way too complicated for me."
Raising his head, Kaminari looked through the wide open door of the TV room into the hallway. Dabi hadn't run out of ammo just yet. The group of heroes he had been firing on had retreated and he was now waiting for more to arrive so he could use the last of his ammo on them.
But, over the sound of the gun firing, Kaminari could hear a loud crunching noise coming from… behind him?
The crunching was replaced with a loud smash, then another, then another. Finally, one last smashing noise rose above the sound of the machine gun fire. Kaminari turned his head as best he could and saw that the back wall of the room had been smashed down, revealing three heroes, all of them either super buff or covered in some kind of armor.
"We've breached the building sir. Moving in now." The leader, a man with shiny, armor-like plates on his body spoke through a radio. "Hey, there's a hostage here!"
Oh, did he forget to mention that? Yeah, uh… Kaminari was a bit tied up at the moment. His arms and legs had been bound to a chair with rope, and a black bag was placed over his head. If it was supposed to restrict his vision, it did a pretty poor job, because the material was thin enough to see through. At most, it was comparable to somebody pulling their shirt over their head.
"I'm securing a hostage now sir. Be ready to transport him out." The leader spoke once more. Dabi had caught sight of him and turned around, leveling his machine gun at his group. The trigger was pulled and more caltrops were fired, but the small, metal spikes merely bounced harmlessly off the skin of the hero in charge. A dull clicking sound could be heard soon after.
Dabi was out of ammo.
"Shit!" He swore loudly. In a last ditch effort to cause damage, he threw his gun at the hero, who just swatted it aside as though it were a paper plane. Dabi was already gone. Right after his weapon was thrown away, he ran through the door Kaminari knew led into the kitchen. He was alone now.
The bag was yanked off his head, making it easier to see the world around him. Kaminari had to blink a few times due to how bright the room was.
"It's just a kid." A particularly strong looking hero commented.
"Don't worry kid. We're gonna get you out of here alright." The man with the thick skin comforted the blonde teen. His comforting words were accompanied by a reassuring smile, one that had no doubt been used many times before.
Was the smile fake? Hard to say, but it definitely wasn't anything special.
Kaminari smiled right back. He still felt kind of nervous, but at least the heroes had shown up.
Just like Peter said they would.
"Thank you sir… and sorry about this."
"Eh?"
Yellow electricity crackled, arcing off of Kaminari's body. The lead hero didn't even have time to throw up his arms to defend himself before the entire room was covered in dozens of bolts of electricity.
The electric storm persisted for about six seconds before it subsided. All three of the heroes dropped to the ground, their clothes and skin singed by the assault. As for Kaminari, he was fine.
"Thanks for the present Peter. I really didn't want to go stupid here."
His hands were tied behind his back, and his back was tied to the chair, hiding them from view. If it weren't for that, the heroes might have noticed the small device clasped between Kaminari's hands. Just like his suit, it attracted the bulk of his quirk's electrical output and kept him from frying his own brain. As a result, his quirk was also made weaker.
"Well… I did it. No turning back now." Kaminari muttered.
He had just attacked heroes. Never mind illegal quirk usage, this was a whole different level of illegal. He hadn't just broken the law, Kaminari just turned his back on the hero community entirely.
He could only hope it was the right choice.
"Ugh. God."
Kaminari stiffened. A groan of pain came from directly in front of him. One of the heroes hadn't been rendered unconscious. The scorched man shakily rose to his feet. Whipping his head around a few times to clear himself of his daze, the hero locked eyes with Kaminari.
"You! This was a trick? You pretended to be a hostage so we'd lower our guards, villain!?"
"What? No! No, no, no! It's not like that, seriously!" A thick bead of sweat rolled down Kaminari's face as the hero stomped over to him. This was the downside to his plan. If the heroes weren't all knocked out, he was pretty much helpless thanks to the ropes tying him to the chair.
The blonde struggled against his bonds, trying in vain to free himself.
"OH COME ON! I KNOW I'M AN IDIOT, BUT SHOULDN'T THESE ROPES BE ASH BY NOW! I JUST BLASTED 'EM WITH A MILLION FRICKIN' VOLTS!"
"L-let's talk about this! Come on man, I'm just a kid! You don't want to beat up a kid! I can't even defend myself here! What kind of hero attacks a defenseless person!?"
The hero was right in front of him now. Kaminari stopped struggling. He had to accept his fate. As the large man raised his fist, Kaminari closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable-
Smack!
"... Huh?" Opening his eyes, Kaminari saw the same hero that was about to beat his ass into oblivion. He was lying on his back, a fist driven into his face. A spiky, rocky fist, one Kaminari recognized.
"Did you forget I was here? You know I've got your back bro." Kaminari flashed a toothy grin. Withdrawing his fist from the unconscious hero's face, he made his way over to Kaminari and quickly untied him. The blonde teen pocketed the device Peter had given him and dusted off his clothes.
"I forget things when I'm panicking, alright?! You try facing off against a grown man while you're tied to a chair!"
In his panic, Kaminari had indeed forgotten that Kirishima had been there to watch his back if things didn't go as planned. The shark-toothed redhead had been crouched behind one of the couches, which would both hide him from sight and protect him from the electricity. Of course, his hardening quirk helped as well.
As Kaminari finished dusting himself off, he felt a small tremor underfoot. The heroes likely wouldn't notice anything in their rush to get inside and keep themselves safe from any potential attacks, but in their brief moment of calm, the two boys could clearly feel the small vibration.
"I think that's our cue. Let's get out of here." Kaminari patted Kirishima's shoulder and ran for the kitchen. The freezer was still set off to the side, leaving the trapdoor in plain sight.
"You got it?"
"Of course." Kirishima flexed.
Accepting the answer, Kaminari grabbed the sides of the ladder and slid down to the basement. Above, he could hear his friend grunting in exertion. A moment after, he wandered into Kaminari's line of sight, the massive freezer hefted over one of his shoulders.
Reaching a hand underneath, Kirishima shoved his hand through the thin metal and jumped into the trapdoor chute with one hand raised above his head. The freezer slammed into the ground above him, blocking the chute from sight. Releasing his grip, Kirishima began to free fall down the chute.
Kaminari reached the basement and rolled out of the way just before his hardened friend crashed directly into him. Peter, already waiting at one of the tables, glanced up at the newcomers.
"You guys okay?" He asked in concern.
"It all worked out okay."
"Good. The entrance is ready."
Peter pointed over his shoulder at a broken wall. Midoriya was standing next to it, his recently activated quirk dying down. Beyond the broken wall, there was a door. That was their way out.
"You didn't seriously think there wasn't an escape route here, did you? We're some of the most wanted criminals in all of Japan. Of course we've got backdoors in place just in case we need to get the hell out of here fast." That had been Dabi's explanation. Just a little bit of smashing was required to access the door leading outside. Where outside, that was unclear. Only Shigaraki and Kurogiri knew exactly where the door would dump them.
As for why Midoriya uncovered it? Well, he was taking a risk, just like Kirishima and Kaminari. It wasn't an easy decision. His whole life, he had only ever wanted to be a hero. Working with Peter meant abandoning all the work he did to get where he was. The thing that helped him make a decision was a question.
What would All Might do?
The man, the legendary hero, would do whatever he believed was right, even if it meant earning the ire of the public. The way Midoriya saw it, he had two options. He could be a coward and go along with everything that made hero society what it was, or he could help Peter, help the people who really needed it, and be a hero.
He reached his decision fairly quickly.
"You know, we still don't have a real plan. Do you intend to take her to a hospital once we get out of here?" Todoroki pointed at Toga, who was still unconscious.
Yes, against his better judgement, the dual-colored teen had joined up too. Not because he fully agreed with Peter's reasoning or because he thought the way things were done were wrong, but as an insurance policy.
On the off chance Peter was telling the truth and was right about everything, Todoroki wanted to be there. He wanted to be right alongside him, doing the right thing. And in the event he was lying, that this was all an elaborate cover-up to hide his real motives…
Todoroki was confident that he could play along and get information to the heroes if need be.
If anything, he was a double agent, though potentially he was a full ally.
"That's exactly what we're gonna do. Half the heroes in the city are at our doorstep right now. If we hurry up, we could bring her to a hospital, figure out what's wrong with her at least, and be gone before anybody even figures out where we are." Peter explained.
"And Mr. Aizawa?" Iida inquired.
Ah, Iida. Now he was complicated.
The blue-haired boy needed a lot of thought to reach his decision. He had run through all the same possibilities as Midoriya and Todoroki. What were the odds Peter was being honest? What did he gain from being dishonest? Where was the guarantee he was even right?
One by one, Iida answered all these questions himself.
Peter was always driven to do the right thing. That, along with the passion in his voice as he ranted about his ideals, it was hard to deny the truth in his words. On top of this, being dishonest gained him next to nothing. If he convinced them, he'd have a handful of supporters. If he hadn't convinced them… he wouldn't kill them, but it was unlikely that they would be released.
As for the guarantee he was right? Well, there wasn't one. For all any of them knew, Peter was completely wrong about everything and all the things he was worried about were completely irrational. It was all a gamble. Iida chose to believe that Peter was right, that the things he was upset about truly were problems that needed correcting. Because if he wasn't…
What did that make Peter?
"Tenya… I'm sorry brother. I know you'll see me on the news someday. They'll surely label me a villain, a dark-hearted criminal who wants nothing more than to cause misery. Please brother, you know that isn't me. I've always wanted to be just like you, and that hasn't changed. I'll make you proud. I'll be a great hero just like you. Just wait. I'll be there one day." Iida swore. This was a promise he would never break.
"Don't worry about Mr. Aizawa. We'll take him with us through the entrance and I'll web him to a building or something so the heroes can find him." The shaggy man was still unconscious. Given that he had fallen off an eight story building only two hours ago, it would probably be stranger if he were up and about once more.
"Come on guys, we're getting out of here." Peter gently picked up Toga in his arms and walked over to the door, which Stain was holding open. Dabi, Twice, and all the new "recruits" stood, ready to leave.
"Twice, you've still got it?"
"Oh yeah I do!" The ninja pulled out a small, stick-shaped piece of metal with a few wires sticking out of it. Tearing off the piece of plastic covering the top, Twice revealed a small, red switch underneath.
"Good. Once we're through, blow it."
Tsukauchi's POV:
"This isn't working. We've tried sending in teams and they're wiped out in seconds." Tsukauchi had almost thrown his radio multiple times already. It was only through sheer willpower that he was able to keep his temper under control.
"Should we just send them all in?" His [artner, a man with a cat head, suggested.
It was a flawed plan. With so many heroes in such a small space, there would be chaos. In fact, there was a good chance they'd end up hurting each other more than any villain they encountered.
At least, that was the case when they began.
Between the bombs, the tricks, and the wiped out advance teams, the once mighty army of 50 heroes had been reduced to a mere 23.
"... Screw it. All units, move in now. Be fast, be efficient, watch each other's backs." Tsukauchi raised his radio and delivered one final order.
He could practically feel the excitement of the heroes who were still left standing. The heroes who were moping about, desperate for a solution a moment ago now seemed inspired. They must have been thinking that with all of them storming the hideout at the same time, the villains would be incapable of pushing them away.
It took barely a minute for every man and woman in the area to breach the bar. Some used the front door, others smashed through the walls. After another minute passed, Tsukauchi deemed it safe to move forward and joined them inside. When he approached, he saw a few of them carrying out the unconscious bodies of Nightshade and her team.
"There's nothing here. We checked all the rooms, but there's no sign of any villains." One hero, a dark-haired woman, reported.
The detective's brow furrowed. They were gone? They couldn't have left through one of the entrances. The whole building was surrounded. Anybody who tried to leave would have been seen. Unless…
"Something's been hidden. Look closer. There has to be something we've missed. If we hurry, we might be able to-" Tsukauchi trailed off. He could see something overhead. There, attached to one of the room's corners, near the roof, was a metal rod. It looked unassuming. The metal rod very well could have been a mere decoration were it not for one thing.
The single green light glowing brightly on the side.
The light that, after a few more seconds of observation, suddenly turned red and began blinking. Tsukauchi's eyes widened in realization.
"OUT! EVERYBODY GET OUT NOW!" He screamed as loud as he could. The detective turned around and ran for the door. Just as he crashed through to the outside world, he heard a loud explosion go off behind him. Then another. And another.
Heroes came streaming out of the building, all of them hunched over, arms folded over their heads to protect themselves.
"IS EVERYBODY OKAY!?" Tsukauchi tried to make himself heard over the wild shouts of the crowd.
Strangely, the building was still standing. There were very clearly multiple explosions just a moment ago, yet from the outside, the building looked fi-
GRRRNNN!
Tsukauchi's hands flew to his ears in an effort to protect them from the horrible sound of grinding metal. One side of the building was bending under the weight of the upper floors. There was too much weight and not enough structure left to support it.
"Move in! Strength heroes, support it!"
The heroes who had quirks that could help in this situation moved in. Some of them went inside while some remained outside. The ones on the outside ran up to the side of the building and reached up to support the bending section. Despite their numbers, the building continued to collapse, albeit at a slower rate.
"Forget saving it! Just push it away from the other buildings!"
The strength heroes groaned under the weight of the building. It was only a matter of time before it collapsed on top of them.
"We need support here!"
"Somebody help us!"
"... Are you all really so pathetic?" A cocky voice shouted.
Shoving his way past the heroes who were unable to help, Tremor, newly awakened from his forced nap, cracked his knuckles before slowly raising one hand and closing his palm in a grasping motion.
The moment his fingers closed into a fist, a pillar of stone shot out of the ground and dug into the side of the building. The force twisted the collapsing portion of the building off the foundation and forced it to "slide" down the pillar, safely avoiding any other buildings.
"Well, it's good that further damages were prevented, but there's no way we'll find anything of use in what's left of the building. Unless they reveal themselves, we won't be finding the villains that used to occupy this place. Hm… it's time to bring him in."
Tsukauchi excused himself and walked a short distance away from the mob of heroes. The raid had been a failure, but there could still be time to catch the villains. Withdrawing a special radio that only he carried, the detective cleared his throat and spoke.
"They're in the area. Find them before they disappear."
Peter's POV:
Peter, with Toga in his arms and his friends behind him, trudged along through the darkness. When Shigaraki had this place made, would it have killed him to install some lights in his secret passageway?
Sure, his suit offered night vision, but the others were pretty much blind down here.
"We'll be out of here soon. Don't worry." He whispered to Toga. Despite her state, he chose to believe that she could hear him.
The next couple of minutes went by in silence as the group continued walking, then Peter stopped. Through his lenses, he could see a staircase.
"Stop." He told the others calmly. "Be careful in this next part. There's a staircase up ahead. Keep a hand on the wall so you don't fall. Last thing we need right now is somebody getting hurt."
With that, Peter continued walking, taking it slow to avoid misstepping in the darkness. He made his way up the stairs at a painfully slow pace, but speed was the last thing on his mind right now. In fact, he preferred going slow. The last thing he wanted to do right now was jostle Toga around and make her condition even worse.
After what felt like hours, Peter discovered another door at the top of the staircase. Disabling his suit's night vision, he slowly set Toga's legs down and used his now free hand to push the door open. Light flooded into the pitch black corridor, forcing the others to cover their eyes.
Outside, there was yet another alley. Stepping through the door, Peter could see that the door was attached to a small, stone structure. From the outside, it looked like some kind of storage shed, but all that awaited inside was the staircase they had just used to leave the escape passage.
"Where the hell are we?" Dabi demanded. He was clearly unhappy about having to leave the hideout.
"I have no idea. Hang on a second." Peter walked to the end of the alley and poked his head around the corner to peer down the street. And it was there that he saw it.
"Guys! The hospital! It's right there!" The group hurried over and looked down the street. There it was, in all its glory. A huge, thirty story building with a red cross on the top and the words "General Hospital" on the front.
"Great. Then let's go." Kaminari stepped out of the alley and was about to walk to the hospital, but he was yanked back by Stain.
"Are you an idiot? Just because we've left the false heroes behind doesn't mean we can casually stroll around. We want to be seen as little as possible until we reach the hospital. We'll stick to the alleys and pick our path there."
"He's right. We want to be in and out of the hospital as fast as we can. The less time the workers have to call the heroes, the better. If we're seen on the way there, everything we just did will be for nothing." Peter backed up Stain's argument. Most of the group nodded in agreement. All except for one.
"Who cares?! This is scary. SHUT UP! WE HAVE TO GET THERE NOW! But it's dangerous. HURRY UP AND MOVE!" At least one of Twice's personalities didn't agree with everybody else. Despite some of his personalities trying to talk him out of it, the deranged man wouldn't be reasoned with. Before anybody could stop him, he took off down the street, clearly expecting the others to follow him.
"TWICE!" Peter shouted after the man, but it was no use. Twice continued to run towards the hospital.
"That idiot." Stain growled.
"What happens now?" Dabi asked, sounding as if he were enjoying this.
"... He's already been seen. The people on the street are probably calling heroes already, so we may as well hurry. Come on, let's go!" Peter adjusted Toga and took off after Twice. Normally, he could have easily caught up in just a few seconds. But, for the sake of keeping Toga as still as possible, the most he could do was jog after him.
The pedestrians walking along the sidewalks on either side of the street were freaking out. Seeing such a large number of villains made them feel as if something big was about to happen, so they were quick to book it away from them.
"Come on! Hurry up! We don't have long before the heroes show up here!" Peter urged his friends to run faster. If they could just get to the hospital, they would have some temporary solstice. No hero concerned with their public image would start a fight in a crowded hospital full of patients. Their image would be destroyed immediately if they even tried to start something.
They were so close now. So painfully close.
Peter's heart was beating faster than usual. He wasn't exerting that much energy, but it felt like he was closing out a 100 mile dash. It was so tempting to pick up the pace and race for the hospital at full speed, but he knew he couldn't. That wouldn't end well for the comatose girl in his arms.
Despite his relatively low speed, Peter could hear wind rushing past him. Wait, that couldn't be right. He would feel wind rushing past him, but there was no breezy feeling, only noise. Where was that coming from?
Then, the last thing Peter wanted to happen, happened. He felt a small tingle in the base of his neck, one that was accompanied by a blaring siren in his head.
"Oh no."
Almost instantly after the spider sense went off, the street, barely thirty feet in front of him, practically exploded. Chunks of concrete scattered everywhere and a cloud of dust covered the whole street, blocking the newcomer from sight. Sight wasn't necessary. A sinking feeling in his stomach, Peter knew exactly who was behind that dust cloud.
"Have no fear." Came a booming voice. "For I am here!"
"..."
"""""""Shit."""""""
Jesus this chapter was long! It was also kind of rushed, as I'm sure many of you noticed. Yeah, I'm sorry about that, but I was kind of on a tight schedule and I had to hurry up to finish this chapter on time before I left for my vacation. I didn't want to leave you all hanging for two weeks. And yes, Tremor and Nightshade are references, they aren't OCs.
[1]: I thought about writing out the entire planning process for setting all the defenses, but then I realized that would spoil the surprise. I thought it would be more interesting if I did some of them and left the rest for you to discover as the chapter went on.
This chapter has 14,000 words! My chapters usually have between 5-7,000 words!
Anyway, I'm kind of racing the clock right now, so I'll make this fast. Yes, this chapter was kind of rushed. I'll gladly come back another time and revise it a little to make it better, but for now, I need to get the hell out of here! My plane leaves in an hour and I haven't even put my bags in the car yet. Goodbye my beautiful people, I'll see you next week.
Thanks for reading and remember to leave a review.
Aren signing off.