Clark Kent
Clark and the Nomu charged at each other at the same time. When they impacted, the force was enough to send shockwaves throughout the entire facility! At first, it seemed like the American was tied with the monster. But once Clark really leaned into the beast, he was able to assert himself.
The monster didn't wait to see who was winning the contest of might. It sent a knee into Clark's stomach and a fist to his face! The force was great enough to send the American to the ground and crater the ground beneath him. This force sent dust and debris flying.
The force of another impact cleared the dust away, allowing the shockwaves to be outright visible! Clark's uppercut sent the Nomu clear into the sky! He charged it in the air, winding up for a strike which landed it on its stomach. But the creature wasn't fazed. It ignored the hit and returned with a strike of its own!
The American quickly recovered, flying away and circling above the Nomu. He flew downwards with enough instantaneous speed to send out another shockwave just from the change in acceleration! He made contact with the beast and continued down towards the Conflagration Zone where they burst through the roof of the arena and entered that zone. Fire and smoke soon enveloped their environment, having no luck in hurting either the Kryptonian nor the creature.
When they got close to one of the makeshift streets of the arena, the Nomu managed to hit Clark with a spartan kick which sent him flying backwards and through a wall of a building. Through the hole, the boy could see the creature didn't manage to recover before it hit the ground. It was pushing itself up from the ground, its eyes still zeroed in on the student as best as it could with its strange eye placement. The two pushed forward in another charge!
The boy was flying forward with both fists reeled down in preparation for a double-fist uppercut while the creature was using all four limbs for a primal approach. Clark's attack overpowered the vicious slashing of its right arm, but the angle only sent it flying backwards and into a building. Clark didn't let up, charging through the fresh hole in the wall and slamming a fist down where the Nomu landed.
It rolled on its feet before it was stricken. Before Clark could react, he was elbowed in the face followed by a straight punch from the other arm into his stomach. He felt a tug on his ankle which sent him through yet another wall! Clark didn't have time to regain his footing before the monster charged him again and made contact with its shoulder.
Clark was thrown through another three walls before rolling into a street. He bolted his head up, meeting the sight of the monster bursting through the freshly made hole and charging its right fist back again. The boy let out a roar, jumping upwards and then using his flight to plummet down to the Nomu.
The Nomu jumped to try to meet the boy but it only led to the boy circling slightly downwards and sending a flurry of strikes into the torso of the monster which resulted in it being returned to the building it had just broken through! The creature could be heard breaking through multiple levels of the building before it toppled on the creature. Clark used his x-ray vision to get an eye on the monster through the smoke and debris, taking note that it was taking a second to rise again. This gave the Kryptonian a moment to breathe and take in his surroundings.
Dust was circling the air along multiple streets alongside the smoke. It made it easy to see where Clark had just fought with the Nomu. But something the boy took note of was another, much smaller clustering of dust in another section of the Conflagration Zone. Clark focused his vision on that area alongside his hearing.
Katsuki and Eijiro were in a building where the bodies of unconscious attackers lay. Eijiro was busy trying to get a look out of a window while Katsuki was angrily demanding to go towards the sounds.
Clark didn't like the idea but his attention was turned away from them and back to what sounded like an explosion below him. He narrowly managed to throw a punch downwards when he noticed it was something larger than the Nomu coming towards him in his peripheral. Concrete shattered below Clark's fist, signaling his success in defending against the attack. However, a fist followed the projectile that successfully struck the boy's chest.
Clark was winded, leaving him open to being grabbed again. He was shoved downwards while he recouped. The creature began to strike Clark in the face as they fell towards the ground. The boy refocused his flight and panicked to try and escape. This only resulted in the landing being against a building.
The two burst through the roof of the structure, breaking through pillars, floors, and walls until they returned to an open area where Clark was met with the street again. This resulted in him being winded again when he was only just trying to recover from the first loss of breath.
The Nomu had him pinned, striking him again and again. Clark simply couldn't catch his breath under all the smoke and dust! With the monster hitting him repeatedly, he also couldn't fully muster his flight or strength.
His vision was becoming blurry now. The boy couldn't even manage to cough through the pressure against his neck. He saved most of his classmates, which he was thankful for. The thing that got to him the most was that he wasn't able to save them all. He wasn't even aware of the whole situation in the facility.
Was Bruce able to stop Joker from whatever he was planning? What happened with Diana? Was Izuku, Asui, and Minoru going to defeat the leader of the attack? Did Erasurehead manage to get to them?
He had so many unanswered questions. So many concerns.
He could only hope that the Symbol of Peace could arrive before the worst could happen.
Clark's thoughts were interrupted by faint abruptions in front of him! But these abruptions were enough to relieve the pressure on his chest and throat and allow him to gain a better breath. Through the blurry images in front of him he could see a familiar head of blonde hair and red hair mid-attack against the Nomu.
The Nomu swiped at Eijiro who used his hardening quirk to endure the half-baked attack which still sent him flying followed by a crash. Katsuki had grabbed Clark before unleashing an explosion that both struck the monster and got the two out of the way of the beast towards where Eijiro was thrown!
Bakugo only barely managed to evade a strike from it and hit a wall with Clark in the process. Another series of explosions got both of them inside a building.
"Get your ass up, farm boy!" Katsuki shouted.
Clark snapped to, stumbling up and taking in his surroundings. He could hear the Nomu bursting through the building towards them. The Kryptonian reached towards the blonde, punching and moving downwards a few floors before turning under and past the Nomu from below. He kept going until he reached open air again. Clark scanned the scene, managing to find Eijiro stumbling out of a freshly-made hole with a few scrapes emerging between his hardened flesh.
Clark moved down to him, setting Katsuki down as they reached the ground who shoved Clark's hand away.
The American nodded towards Eijiro, "You okay?"
"Me? I was gonna ask you that, Kent." The red-head chuckled. "You look worse than I do."
Clark felt his face and winced. His hand now had plenty more blood on it as it was enough for droplets to fall from his chin.
"That thing is really tough. It's meant to beat All Might." Clark explained, turning to the two. "I hit it as hard as I could and it just got up. Like nothing hit it at all."
Bakugo groaned, "No way that thing could beat All Might! It's way too damn weak!"
"I'm being serious, Bakugo!" Clark defended, looking down at his knuckles which had dust covering them. "I managed to knock it down, but nothing much more."
"That's what I mean, stupid!" Bakugo shouted, getting in Clark's face, "If you could knock it down then it ain't strong enough to beat All Might! So get it through your head that if you're gonna kill that thing, THEN HIT IT HARDER!"
Clark clenched his fists, his adrenaline getting the better of him. But he didn't care. "I hit it as hard as I could!"
Kirishima placed a hand on Clark's chest over the 'S.' He got between the two boys, looking towards Clark.
"Listen, man. As frustrating as it is, Bakugo is right!" Kirishima motioned to place both his hands on Clark's shoulders. "If anyone here has the firepower to take that thing down it'd be you or Prince, but you're here now. That means you have to be a man and step up! If you hit it as hard as you could and it didn't work, just hit harder!"
"I can't just hit him harder! What if I hurt someone else because I wasn't paying attention?" Clark shouted. He looked down, "I don't know how hard I can really hit. I've always been told to hold back, that-!"
The group was interrupted by the Nomu breaking through the building the blonde and the alien came from. The dust moved out of the way and the creature craned its head out of the hole. It set sights on the three and prepared to hop into the building.
Bakugo brought the attention back to him by grabbing Clark by the symbol on his chest, "WE ARE U.A. STUDENTS, THAT MEANS WE GO BEYOND! PLUS ULTRA, DAMMIT! SO, HIT IT HARDER!"
The American was shoved back. He turned back to the Nomu, who got low again for another charge. Like it was waiting for the Kryptonian to meet it again.
Plus Ultra. I have no choice, do I? Clark lifted himself off the ground.
He and the beast charged forward again, this time Clark aimed to hit it hard enough to damage them both. He hit it with a strike he pushed through, carrying the monster upwards! He continued upwards until they were both out of the Conflagration Zone, crashing through the dome one more time! It retaliated with strikes to Clark's face again, but the boy continued to push!
Izuku Midoriya
The green-haired boy was terrified. When Clark began fighting the Nomu, all the people near the fight could do was try to stand on their feet. Even when the two would land their hits in the air, it shook the ground. When they hit the ground, everyone would stumble. Even the pale leader of the villains seemed distressed at this sight as he was continuing to scratch his neck as the two had their bout.
Meanwhile, Izuku's friends looked more akin to his own feelings. But he imagined they weren't quite the same thoughts.
Clark was very strong, that much was an understatement. He was always compared to All Might, but it wasn't as evident how true that statement was until now. Even just looking at the strikes Clark was pulling off and taking, Midoriya could tell he was hitting the monster as hard as some of All Might's strongest attacks in the past.
Izuku was fully aware of the videos people managed to get of All Might. Some of the biggest fights that were recorded of the number one hero had similar features.
Attacks that sent visible shockwaves into the air around it, causing weather phenomena around the fight, that was all expected of the strongest hero. Izuku could even recall these things happening the day he gained One For All. The American, while not changing the weather, did send shockwaves through the air. Izuku didn't doubt that he could probably also pull in some nasty weather or even push it away. So, when Clark managed to pick up the beast and push him into the Conflagration Zone, overpowering the Nomu, a thought occurred to the boy.
Is Kent stronger than All Might?
The pale man must have had a similar feeling, because his frustration culminated in a groan and with the scratching of his neck at the pace of which he spoke.
"This isn't right! This isn't fair! This isn't how it should have been!" He ranted, "No one can be as strong as All Might! He's not the number one hero! He's just a filthy, putrid, disgusting hacker! Cheating me of my victory!"
He stopped suddenly, turning to face the other students around him. His face was blinded by rage. He didn't even bother to look at any of them directly.
"I'm going to kill all three of you, then I'll kill Erasurehead, then I'll tear this entire building down! No molecule will remain from this shitty quest. I will get a victory one way or another!" He continued to rant.
He finally let his arm go limp. He slowly panned over the three of the students. He lowered his gaze at them.
The electricity in the air made it clear, the fight had already begun.
Asui kicked off the floor to get an aerial advantage!
The pale man rushed towards the green-haired boy at a speed he didn't expect! In a panic, the student pulled his arm up to block. But he immediately realized the mistake in that.
One touch and he would be gone just like the man that was atomized by the villain.
Asui realized this mistake, too, as she shifted from an attack on the man to a rescue for the boy. Her tongue grabbed both of Izuku's arms where he defended, and he worked with her to get him out of the pale man's range as fast as they both could manage. But Izuku tried to keep his focus trained on the pale man.
The villain could be seen annoyed by the inconvenience of needing to track his targets further. He motioned to rush towards the trajectory Tsuyu and Midoriya were traveling in. It was like one fluid motion how the villain turned and evolved into a sprint. They couldn't keep to simple movements!
Midoriya turned over to meet Tsuyu's eyes with his own! "Pull me, throw me behind you!"
The frog girl followed her order, her tongue retracting and pushing him upwards and in her direction. Midoriya turned to catch the pale man working through the move. He caught on to what Midoriya shouted.
When the boy got closer to his classmate, he took hold of her ankle! He pulled her feet against his chest. He nodded to her, which she luckily understood the intent of.
Tsuyu kicked away, throwing Midoriya in another direction entirely! She threw her tongue back out to grab his waist, and with this force they changed trajectory adjacent to their original. As Midoriya looked back at the pale man, he skid to a halt before kicking off to try and meet with them after they landed.
His positioning got the better of him, though. Stuck on his pant leg and planted on the ground where he wasn't paying attention to was a purple ball which had an adhesive. Because he hadn't needed to use his powers yet and no one had taken any damage from any fight, they were at their apex in terms of stickiness.
"Ha!" Mineta exclaimed with nervous glee, "I actually got him guys! I-!"
"Annoying, annoying, annoying, annoying…" The pale man continued to mutter the same word over and over. He began to reach down.
Midoriya shouted out, "Throw more, Mineta! Don't let him get free!"
The shorter boy had no more glee, and was now terrified as he did his utmost to follow those orders. These placements of his sticky projectiles were not as pragmatic as his original move. He essentially threw them out in a panic, with most simply acting as an obstacle between the green-haired boy and girl and the shorter purple-haired boy.
By the time the new obstacles were in place and made, the pale man had already taken hold of the original trap he got caught in. Dust replaced the ball, and the man wasted no time in resuming his assault.
He made careful steps between the sticky traps between him and the students he was targeting. It wasn't enough to remove him as a threat but it was enough to create enough room to really think of how to react.
It just wasn't enough time for Midoriya himself to actually act. The boy estimated the villain had covered twenty-five of the roughly forty meters between them within the span of a second! Luckily within the next second where he would have grabbed Izuku the boy was instead grabbed by Tsuyu's tongue and pulled up and away from the villain again. She aimed the both of them around the perimeter of Mineta's obstacles, of which he'd slowed down in putting down.
The reason being was because of the blood that was now being released from his scalp. He had tears in his eyes and he couldn't help but shout out.
"Guys, I don't know if I can keep this up!" He screamed, pulling two more of his tools from his head and gestured as if to show them what he was talking about, "My balls are losing their stickiness!"
This was alarming to Midoriya. It wasn't because of the diminishing returns revealed by the shorter classmate, but because he very clearly outed himself as the one making the villain's attacks less viable. The man turned his attention to the shorter boy, and with less distance there wasn't any way for him to react.
Tsuyu was already a step ahead of everyone, flying through the air to try and catch Mineta before the bad guy could. With a close call, Tsuyu snatched Mineta and tumbled across the ground to get him out of the way. She tried to get her bearings to get out of the way again.
"Always so eager to save someone…" the pale man groaned as he reached his hand out!
That was exactly what the villain was counting on!
"Now two mobs die!" The man placed his hand on Tsuyu's face!
Nothing happened. Her face didn't disintegrate. The would-be killer raised his hand with confusion and frustration until he seemed to realize the reason for this strange inconsistency with his quirk.
The villain turned around towards the middle of the open area, where from a distance Eraserhead was standing triumphant, although heavily bruised, against the small army of villains he engaged with prior.
"Keep dreaming." The teacher remarked.
Another portal opened near the teacher from his behind. A strike made the hero close his eyes, where his quirk would no longer be taking hold over the villain in front of the students.
Tsuyu was still too frightened to move immediately, but Izuku didn't wait for his own nerves to steel. Attack with confidence, or you get hurt. The words of Batman rang in his head. If he waited around while he was concerned about getting hurt, he and others would get hurt in the process.
The villain tried to strike out against Izuku with a grab from his right hand, but Izuku was already aiming a counter on this attack. Another move taken from his friend's arsenal that Izuku himself employed a time ago was where he was going again. He took hold of the man's wrist while maintaining an unhealthy but very real distance between his fingertips. He jumped up and grabbed the villain's shoulder with his legs. The gravity of the student brought the pale man down. Izuku prepared to hit the ground with his arm!
But he realized the villain was able to out-maneuver this attack. The pale man was shifting his weight, making the end of this attack end with Izuku hitting harder than he originally anticipated! He tried to roll with this, but the sudden force was enough to loosen his grip on the villain and allow that man to roll to his feet.
"No, no, no, no! You are not capable of hurting me. You're just some low-level shitty mob!" The man began, making it clear he would come for Izuku again.
With a raised hand, he was going to use his quirk against Izuku. At least until a blur of big green gauntlets, a black tank top and baggy pants flew at the villain and triggered an explosion on the villain! He flew back, rolling towards the field of balls on the ground. Although he never landed because one of the black, fiery voids opened under him and towards a further distance than he was from any of the opposing groups. The pale man stood next to the formally dressed villain whose body was made of the same black fire that had been manipulating the battlefield the whole time.
Bakugo waded through the smoke he created, slamming his chest with a fist. "I THOUGHT THE BOSS WOULD PUT UP MORE OF A FIGHT! EVEN THESE NOBODIES HAD YOU ON THE ROPES!"
Alongside Bakugo, Kirishima tapped Izuku's shoulder, offering him a hand up. The green-haired boy took his hand and was pulled off the ground.
"I gotcha, man." Kirishima nodded to Izuku.
"Where were you guys?"
The red-haired boy pointed his thumb towards the Conflagration Zone, "In there getting away from Kent and that monster."
Another group seemed to reach Izuku's peripheral vision. Uraraka and Todoroki were helping Tsuyu and Mineta up. Uraraka turned over to Izuku without as much confidence as Kirishma.
"We have to get out of here!" Uraraka stated, "Where's Kent?"
"We have to retreat." The flaming villain announced.
"No!" The pale villain was practically scraping his neck past the point of being raw. But the pain was the only thing that brought him focus in his rage. "All Might won't feel any of this! We still have the Nomu!"
Clark Kent
Clark rolled in the air, narrowly avoiding the attack of the great beast in front of him. This fight wasn't going much easier than before, but at least he was prepared for the hits the Nomu was going to try against him going forward. Clark was at least confident no more of his own blood was going to be spilled today.
He replied with his own punch, which landed on the monster and made him bounce off the concrete a few times before it managed to get a grip of itself. It kept a lock on the flying boy, leaving no room for itself or Clark to rest. Another burst forward came from the two. But Clark knew just simply using brute force against this creature was only going to land him in trouble. Every time Clark tried the simpler route in the fight the monster was just fast enough to get the upper hand.
So, Clark used his superior mobility to burst himself downwards at the last second to land a strike through the monster. He pushed it back and slightly up before giving it a small toss and maneuvering himself upwards. He threw a downward strike with both hands causing it to slam against the ground! Clark burst downward and crashed his foot against the beast's chest so it would be thrown into the underbelly of the Conflagration Zone! He moved up quickly to try to give himself a moment to breathe.
Throughout his fighting there wasn't much time to survey his environment again. He scanned the scene and used his x-ray vision to scan outside of the enclosed arena. He finally caught sight of his two classmates, the hothead and the redhead. They met up with Midoriya, Tsuyu and Mineta who were also just meeting with Uraraka and Todoroki.
Clark wasn't too happy about the latter two returning to the U.S.J. building considering the issues being created by the Joker guy, but he was happy the other two gained some distance from him.
Clark took a bit too long a breath, because he was caught off guard by the monster. He was grabbed around the neck but was given enough time to look down at the creature.
It was already reeled for an attack. Its left hand was in a fist when it pushed forward with this attack. But now, Clark was ready to end this.
He braced himself with everything he had, catching the fist in both hands. He pushed his hands closer together so his grip wouldn't be able to be shaken!
"Almost everyone's safe now, big guy." Clark started, using his flight to raise himself away from the ground even further. Despite trying to push away with the other hand, the creature couldn't do anything against Clark. "Now, I can really cut loose!"
The boy jerked the creature around and lifted it higher than himself. The creature tried to land another hit on Clark, but this was met with a punch hard enough to send a shockwave throughout the arena! The creature was sent through the air and towards a group of buildings within the arena. Clark burst forward to meet it before it even struck the building! They made contact with each other with Clark aiming low. Clark predicted the creature would read this attack and he was correct. The monster blocked his lower abdomen, so Clark switched to its upper chest.
The trajectory of this redirection pushed the Nomu down! Each floor was broken through as if they were never there to begin with. The creature tried to strike Clark out of the way, but the force behind Clark's assault was too much for these strikes to overpower.
The Kryptonian put a 3-hit combo of strong strikes where he almost shoved more than he hit the Nomu which sent him and the Nomu out of a taller building! The Nomu crashed through concrete and attempted to roll out of the trenches it was making. This didn't work the first time, but it was going to get its bearing on the next roll.
Clark shook his head, looking back at the building he just burst through with an idea in his head. He reeled his fist back, punching through the structure so his side of the building was missing its lowest level. He moved back inside, locating a central, larger pillar that was holding it together. He moved to the side of the pillar and began pulling it downwards.
Clark glanced back at the Nomu, which had finally recovered. It was now or never!
The boy gave one pull with all of his might! He could feel the weight of the building shift, and when he did he began to pull downwards! The Nomu began to charge forward to meet the boy before the attack could connect, but there was too much distance between the two. The entire building ended up toppling the creature, but Clark needed to be sure of its defeat!
Clark kept hold of the stem of this building, lifting himself upwards with his flight and charging where the abomination was. He could feel resistance, which Clark took as a positive sign. He let out a roar as he pushed forward that sent a shockwave against the dust around him. He hit building after building with increasing speed! Eventually, the end of his makeshift charging pole met the edge of the Conflagration Zone and made its way through! Although, it required enough force to break the rest of the building against it.
So, as he made his way out of the arena, he was forced to tackle the creature that was in front of him into the ground! He and the creature together were now the source of a large trench being created within the rest of the U.S.J. With a roar of its own, the creature sent a strike of desperate force into Clark's side, which sent him flying towards the center of the facility, crashing him through the fountain in the center and destroying it completely.
Batman
Multiple quakes shook the facility – something Bruce was finding more and more unsettling as time went on. He made sure his peers in the Downpour Zone were making their way out of the facility before he took his objective on. They didn't put up much of a fight. Even Mina, who before had so much fire behind her, seemed drained of the desire to continue.
Tokoyami and Shoji didn't seem to catch sight of the Joker as they were dealing with the two criminals that escaped when Killer Croc made his appearance. This was fine on Batman's end, as he didn't want them to face him alone anyways. This meant the Joker likely already met with or was on his way to meet up with his comrades. The Joker wasn't the current goal, anyways.
He needed to find the final device Joker had set up on top of the U.S.J. and stop it from going off.
It didn't take long to lead his classmates outside of the Downpour Zone, where they were able to point their own way towards the entrance of the facility. Their abilities combined would be able to get them over the missing sections of the staircase leading to the entrance, so Batman turned his attention towards the space between the Conflagration Zone and the Flood Zone, where a crowd of his peers and the ringleader of this ambush could be seen. There was some decent distance between the opposing sides, as it seemed there was a fight the ringleader retreated from with the aid of the man with the black-flame body.
Batman began making his way towards them, where he was met with Erasurehead. He had taken some damage with bruises on his face and one arm was moving less than the other. It was likely broken. But nothing he probably hasn't recovered from before. In fact, he seemed more agitated than in pain.
"You better have gotten the Joker!" Aizawa lashed out.
Batman didn't look his way. "There was a bomb below this whole facility that was set to poison the nearby water lines."
With the teacher having gathered the implication, the teacher could only groan, "We still can't call any bomb squads."
"Don't worry, its been dealt with already. But there's still one more on top on a timer!"
Batman went to reach for his grapnel gun, but was stopped by the teacher dashing ahead of the student.
"Hold on, Kent is still fighting some abomination they brought with them." The teacher explained. "From what I've seen, they've been on equal footing, and they could start flying out of the Conflagration Zone any-!"
The largest and loudest thundering quake filled the facility from the Conflagration Zone! Both the teacher and the student looked back to the arena as the sound of quakes continued and grew louder as it motioned towards the farthest side of the arena! From the arena wall, a collection of debris exploded from within and an entire building seemed to have been thrown out in pieces! But thrown farther than that was one large, nearly black body with tan shorts and skull-shaped knee pads that Batman hadn't seen yet. But the size of the creature and the exposed brain clued Batman in on it being the abomination Aizawa was talking about.
The creature was submerged in the ground, its skin being peeled off and growing back at a slightly slower rate. The force behind this was the fellow American in his blue costume pushing against him!
A trench was forming, and the debris that resulted was being made into projectiles in every given direction. When looking back at the classmates still present, they were forced to hide behind a wall of ice produced by Todoroki. Batman himself only barely noticed the sharp rock that made its way towards him, narrowly hitting him in his chest where the symbol on his chest was sitting. He fell to the ground with a half-spin that forced him to catch his own fall.
Thankfully, the shock absorption was enough to reduce the pain to something Batman could ignore. Erasurehead was a bit more lucky, it seemed, as he avoided any dangerous debris by ducking down onto his belly.
The debris didn't get a chance to settle before another series of quakes motioned throughout the facility. When Batman finally gained his bearings, he looked down where he could see that the armor that made up the bat symbol on his chest had been penetrated by the debris that hit him. He mentally cursed on it.
Through the dust, he could see the other students making their way over to him and the teacher. Ochaco and Minoru made their way to Bruce while Izuku and Asui were already helping Erasurehead to his feet.
"DON'T DIE ON US! PLEASE!" Minoru shouted into Bruce's ear, causing him to wince.
Bruce shoved Minoru away, pushing himself up so he was standing on one knee. "If you keep yelling like that, I might want to."
Ochaco grabbed Bruce from his right arm, helping him to his feet. But this only led her to noticing the bite marks and remnants of blood that were left on the gauntlet despite the rain of the Downpour Zone. She shook her head as if to shake whatever thought that was in her head out.
"Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine." Batman started, turning his attention on the creature that was now standing from Clark's attack. "But I'll be better once Clark finishes dealing with that."
The ringleader of the villains made his presence known again, dragging his feet towards the group of students and the teacher. He was scratching his neck to the point it was now raw and was going to bleed even if he didn't stop scratching. He was mumbling something that Bruce couldn't decipher beneath the hand accessory he wore on his face. But the look in his eye was a dulled frustration on the surface which suggested something more sinister underneath.
The man raised his hand so his right index finger was pointing to the group. The next sentence was one that Batman already had some sort of idea he was going to say. But he had no plan, no way to counter it.
"Kill them."
The internal sirens blared in every student's head. Batman tried to move forward, getting between the other students and the creature, as futile as he knew it was.
The creature seemed to nearly teleport in front of the quirkless student, and the following attack seemed to happen just as fast as the boy didn't have time to move for a block.
The strike broke his right arm several times and parts of his torso, and sent him flying away from the whole group. With chaotic combinations of tumbles and slides, the student managed to stop himself a little sooner than the natural string of events that would have taken place. His ears were ringing and some of his vision was shaky but he ignored it all. He focused on what he could, which was the monster moving just fast enough for Bruce to be able to see that it was going to attack his peers.
If a passing attack could do so much damage to Bruce, a focused strike was going to be enough to put them in a state of incapacitation. Erasurehead put himself between his students, but even he knew this wasn't going to do much more than delay the end result. The teacher jumped up, wrapping his cloth tendrils around the creature's head and swinging himself around its body so he now stood behind it.
The monster was going to reach for the tendrils, but Todoroki was already on the move in response. He placed his right hand on the ground, creating a layer of ice that grew in the direction of the monster. As it got closer to it, spikes of ice formed higher and higher, until the ice reached out and grabbed the head of the monster, blocking its grip of the tendrils and keeping it blind.
Minoru did what he could to keep the monster in place, but what balls that did stick to the monster were already weakened to the point they were probably only as strong as paper tape. They did no more than make the very small boy's head bleed. He had to be grabbed by Asui and pulled out of the way.
Ochaco decided it was best to focus on retreat, trying to convince Izuku to do the same. But Bruce could see in his eyes that Izuku felt he needed to help his classmates. It also didn't help that Katsuki was already on his way to attack the monster.
The explosive boy leapt into the fray, erupting his palms against the creature's back and only barely dodging the blind swipes the creature was enacting. Katsuki kept up the barrage, but he made a mistake.
One of his explosions he let off had a radius just large enough to place the ice within the blast zone. It was enough to remind the creature that it couldn't see, and it took hold of the ice that kept it in place with a grip tight enough to smash through and grab the cloth tendrils in one swift motion. Erasurehead was caught off guard and was pulled with the tendril towards the explosive student. Both student and teacher tumbled, leaving the creature open to move forward with an attack. With a speed that seemed nearly instantaneous, the monster had reached the two and was already reeled for an attack!
"NO!" Izuku's voice prompted his move. He seemed to be using his quirk to push himself towards the creature as fast as the creature moved. He was already reeled back for an attack against it, being the only thing he could do now as one of his legs was now bruised and shattered from the trauma of using his quirk, only visible because the track suit he had to wear was torn halfway up to his thigh. Bruce could tell he was using his quirk against the creature, but this time something was different.
His left forearm, the only thing that was visible of his arm, wasn't bulging as much as it usually did leading up to an attack from the green-haired boy. The veins also weren't as prominent. This discrepancy was made wholly apparent when he landed a strike against the stomach of the creature and his arm was intact! There wasn't as much force against the creature as a full send attack from Izuku would have sent a shockwave throughout the facility in the same way Clark would have – whereas this time the shockwave was much less pronounced.
The results of this seemed to surprise Izuku, but this was a problem because his notice of this new development gave plenty of room for the creature to take hold of the arm that struck it.
The monster raised the boy from the ground, squeezing the arm so an audible crack could be heard. Izuku wailed out in pain, trying in vain to release the creature's grasp on him.
Batman shook his head, cursing himself for staying down for so long! He pushed himself to his feet and began to move in. He was forced to grit his teeth in pain in order to make his body do what he wanted.
As he made his approach, the other students were already trying to help their classmate! Asui leapt on the arm of the monster that held Izuku in the air, trying as hard as she could to open its hand with her legs! Todoroki cast out an ice spike that shot into the arm of the creature. Only half of the ice managed its way in, but he seemed more focused on not hitting Asui than doing damage to the monster. Katsuki burst forward with his explosive palms and latched himself on the back of the creature, releasing as many explosions as he could against the body.
Batman finally caught up, Erasurehead signaling to him while getting low. The student read the signal right, charging towards the teacher. He aimed one foot at the teacher's two hands, allowing the teacher to push the student upwards and into the air!
Batman reached for his belt, pulling out his electric knuckles and calling out to Katsuki! "Move!"
The blonde teen responded to the order as the shadow produced from the fully extended cape fell over the group and the monster.
Batman raised the power on the knuckles to its maximum output! He wailed against the monster without mercy, pushing against the creature's exposed brain with both of the knuckles and letting the electricity surge through it! The monster howled and Batman wanted to join him. His right arm screamed at him and every instinct Batman rebelled against told him to stop.
But when the monster's grip loosened enough for Asui to pull Izuku's arm from the deadly grasp of it, he pursued the opposite action! He only relented when the Izuku was thrown out of harm's way and into Ochaco's hands, who came back from her retreat for support. Her fingertips pressing against the boy caused his whole body to become weightless.
Asui made her own escape in the opposite direction towards the teacher. Now, all that was left was for Batman to get out.
This plan didn't work out so well, as when he let go of his electric assault, he was stricken faster than he could react! He only barely managed to make the strike graze his cowl, but even the grazing tore a small portion of the black material and shattered the shock absorptive armor underneath. And this only led to him being grabbed by the neck himself.
Again, he cursed himself for getting himself into such a reckless situation. But he nearly didn't have time for that. It took no time at all for his breath to escape him, and for him to realize it would take just seconds for this grab to kill him.
But from Bruce's peripheral, he could see through the darkened dust was a large red glow in the center of the facility. And even with the ringing in his ears, Bruce could hear Clark's voice boom throughout the building and beyond. It felt like it came from everywhere, resounding off the walls of the facility and overpowering the air within.
"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS!"
A beam of red energy burst from the dust with the force to push all the dust away from the boy from Smallville! This energy that came from the boy's eyes nearly instantaneously struck the creature in the back of its head. It caused the creature to recoil and turn its attention back to Clark, but there was no room for it to move. The air that rushed from the energy beams was scorching even from the distance Batman was at from them! The force loosened the grip on Batman enough to release him, and so he was thrown in the air.
He was caught by Asui, who seemed to be the instrumental support in this fight. Her tongue wrapped around his waist and yanked him down to her level. But because of that force, he couldn't help but shout in pain until he was within her arms's grasp. She placed him on his feet, keeping her focus on him.
"You're hurt." She stated plainly.
Batman shrugged, removing her grip from him, "Occupational hazard."
Their attention was immediately brought back the Clark and the monster as the student charged forward with his beam still placed on the creature! The monster tried to counter the charge with a grab, but this only left it open. Clark maneuvered above the monster, slamming into it with enough force to create another explosion of debris.
The other students were either thrown out of the way landing several dozens of feet away or had just enough time to jump away to reduce the collateral they could receive. Asui took the charge in getting Batman out of the way so he wouldn't have the time to refuse the help. This also allowed him to keep an eye on the fight, which was hard to tell what was going on due to the amount of dust in the way.
The students landed and Asui let Batman stand on his own another time. She looked concerned. Even her usually flat facial expressions showed the worry about this fight.
Clark's heat seemed to be cauterizing the wounds inflicted on the creature, slowing it down significantly! And although it tried to retaliate with a strike, it only paused Clark's barrage of heat for a moment before it resumed as it was. He picked up the creature in response and with a burst of tremendous force, he and the creature were in the air and within less than a second exited the U.S.J. entirely! Large sections of the dome Clark had stricken fell down in response, but luckily no one was underneath the newly made hole so it was of little concern.
From within, Clark could be heard shouting but it gradually shifted into an echo.
There was a pause in the atmosphere. Shock was present on everyone in the facility still, and likely would have been for the students and staff that had made their ways out.
Erasurehead made his way to Batman and Asui, mostly addressing Batman, "You're hurt, we need to get you-!"
"I'm not leaving until the last bomb is defused." Batman stood his ground, "We might not have much time left."
"I can't let you stay in good faith!" Erasurehead got in Batman's face, "Of all the times to be stubborn, this is not the time. Get out of here, now!"
Batman stood tall – as tall as he could with his broken body – getting in the teacher's face, "You'll have to make me."
Asui pushed the two back, looking at the teacher, "I want to get out of harm's way as much as everyone else here. But, if Michael can deal with the bomb, it would make sense to keep him here to get him there as soon as the other villains are dealt with."
"Not you, too!" Erasurehead raised his arms in frustration.
"I can make sure neither of us get hurt, Aizawa. I'll work with Michael and make sure we get to that bomb." Asui stated flatly, her sense of concern now seemingly gone. "If need be, we'll take the risk of getting to the bomb before it's safe."
The teacher looked even more frustrated with the answer, but he looked back at the other students who were just now getting to their feet. Izuku was being carried by Ochaco out of the facility with his right leg broken and his right arm now bruised. Minoru wasn't far behind them. Shoto, Eijiro and Katsuki were in the back, all three getting up and ready to face the remaining two villains. Of which, were both
"You really make my job so much more difficult!" Erasurehead groaned, "I have to stay behind anyways so long as those three are still trying to fight the villains."
Both Batman and Asui nodded.
By now the ringleader was no longer scratching his neck, but he was stuck on the hole made by the American. He wouldn't turn to the trio, but his friend didn't seem keen on leaving the space as empty as it was.
The man of black fire took a step towards his boss and clearly spoke to him but with no lips and the distance between them, there wasn't a good way of getting an idea of what was being said. Erasurehead also wasn't a fan of this development, taking a step forward and shouting out to the two.
"Your trump card is gone. You're going down!" He rushed forward and threw two tendrils at the two men! With the leader not paying attention and the man made of fire not moving without an order from the pale man. By all means, both of them should have been grabbed!
But it was never that simple.
The sudden opening of fire behind the two villains and the launching of three objects made sure of that. Two of the objects intercepted Erasurehead's tendrils while the third made its way towards Erasurehead at incredible speed! But his experience and skills proved superior, as he was able to snatch this weapon out of the air before it could manage to hit him.
A playing card with a razor edge.
From within the fire, the Joker stepped out with a smile drawn on his demented face.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, great, tired hero!" The clown lowered his gaze at the teacher, "You don't want to miss out on the encore."
The appearance of the green-haired lunatic seemed to snap the leader out of his funk. He turned to the similarly pale man. Disgust was laden on his face. But he never got the chance to voice it.
"Wasn't expecting me, were you? But didn't you know…?" The clown grinned even more furiously, his cheeks separating into an even wider smile that extended way beyond what was natural. "I'm a fan favorite!"
The leader looked like he was about to start a fight with his ally. But after an instance of hesitation he seemed content with refocusing his attention on the situation at large.
"Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothinnnng went right in this raid!" The pale man with the hand mask turned to the villain made of black fire. "We're retreating."
The man of fire nodded. Following the order, he began to expand his form to collect the leader and the clown for extraction.
Batman wanted to retaliate with a batarang, or anything! But he knew from the distance he was at and with the amount of energy he was trying to conserve, he would have never made the attack stick.
But clearly Katsuki didn't think the same thing as he began to charge his explosions up once again.
"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, HUH?! DON'T BE A COWARD!" The explosive student lowered and was about to unleash the approach, but was stopped.
"Ah, ah, ah!" The Joker pulled a revolver on the boy fast enough that if one were to blink, they'd miss it. It stopped the boy dead in his tracks. The grin left his face like his soul was ripped from him. "No one likes a heckler."
Katsuki gritted his teeth and the clown cackled. The flame nearly consumed all of him, and only his outstretched hand was remaining when he pulled the trigger anyways. The loud sound rang. But no one was stricken by a bullet.
From the barrel, a flag on an extending metal rod shot out. The gun was dropped to the ground and the villains disappeared into the fire. All three were now gone with the extinguished flames.
The remaining students and the teacher approached the gun on the ground.
'April Fools' was written on the flag in bold red text on a yellow elliptical.
Batman turned to Asui, "There's no time to waste. We need to get to the top of the dome."
The frog girl turned to Erasurehead who gave her a nod and turned to the other students to get them on their way out of the U.S.J. She charged her jump, launching herself and Batman to the closest side of the dome so she could crawl up the dome and to the top with Batman in tow via her tongue. Within the next twenty seconds they had climbed on top of the open hatch the boy had noticed at the beginning of the attack.
When they were both on their feet facing up on the dome, the device was right in front of them. Without much time to waste, Batman approached the device and upon inspection it was a similar build to the other bomb. The largest difference was the timer that read fifteen seconds.
Batman reeled back his good arm, punching straight into the device and pulling out the battery. This shut down the device and the timer. The threats were dealt with, for now at least.
"We should get back down to the othe-." Batman began as he turned to Asui.
But there was a third person on the dome! Batman spun around, pulling a batarang from his belt in one motion!
Asui was being held by her neck with three needles being pushed against the side of her neck. Towering over her was a man in a mask which resembled a plague doctor's in a patchy hood and rags hastily covering his arms where the hood was torn and unable to cover. With a tank top underneath the hood and a pair of baggy jeans held up by a rope instead of a belt. The needles were also part of a contraption on the man's pinky, ring, and middle finger which seemingly allowed him to inject the bright green substance within.
"Batman…" Asui muttered through struggling breaths.
"I'm sorryyy," Scarecrow began, his raspy breath combining with his S's turning to a kind of shushing. "The Batmaaan is currently torn between his fear. A fear of letting me go free once again – or a fear of getting a friend to confront her worst nightmares! Which you will if you move in the slightest."
"You working with the other villains, too, Scarecrow?"
"No, not quite. Just the clown among them. Quite the showww he put on today, and the fear I was able to witness!" The man groaned in perverse ecstacy, "Delectable!"
"If it's fear you want, then I'll give you something to fear." Batman replied, narrowing his gaze on the villain. "Just let her go."
"I'm surrre you would! But, unfortunately, I have a higher goooal here. A few of them, in fact. And the list is ever-expanding, it seems!" The Scarecrow began, "I'm interested in you. What makes you tick? I wonder."
"Ever since I left you in your fear in Gotham, seeing your drive despite your fear, I wanted to see someone like you for some time. To watch you struggle, to watch you squirm, to fight for everything you have because you fear what could come next! But to see that it pushes you even further… I want to see how far that can go. Because I realized something after that night, after I gave some of the same medicine I gave to you to Falcone. You weren't motivated despite being scared! You were motivated by your FEAR!"
"So, I want to watch you as your worrrld crumbles around you! I want to watch you break downnn and put the pieces back together! I want to see what comes of it. And I'm not the only one." Scarecrow's eyes behind the glass of his mask narrowed with what seemed like a sense of joy. "We'll begin that journey some other time, however."
"For now, this medicine." He pushed the needles into Asui's neck! The chemicals ejected from the syringes at the same time as the needles embedded in her! The green chemicals could be seen moving from her neck over the exposed sections on her face underneath her skin. "For a new patient."
"ASUI!" Batman wanted to take the advance. But he was more concerned with Asui right now.
"This is a new formula. The known side effect include, but are not limited to: cardiac arrest, which when in combination to the rapid heart beat induced by the fear, is a quicker, painful, and terrifying ennnd!" Scarecrow released the girl and pulled his needles from her neck with a sinister chuckle.
Asui responded by slamming her elbow into Scarecrow's stomach, leading into a kick that sent him sliding down the dome of the U.S.J. She landed unsteadily, pushing herself to her feet. "I'm… I'm okay, I don't feel any-."
She turned towards Batman. Immediately, her expression changed in a way that was unlike her. Her usual pan expression pinched and pulled, allowing her pupils to narrow to an unnatural degree. Asui took a step back, lowering into a defensive stance. She shook her head, her eyes darting at her surroundings and returning to Batman. It was like the world around her was crumbling even if everything was fine.
"What did you say?" Asui asked with shaky anger.
Batman made sure to lighten his tone, using his voice he would usually use as Bruce Wayne. "Easy, Asui, I didn't say anything. You're okay."
"I'm not okay. How… how could I be okay?" Asui asked, although her focus was all but clear. "What are you?!"
"Calm down. You're going to be okay." Batman responded. He tried to take a slow step forward, "Just let me-."
"STAY BACK!" Asui shouted, taking two steps back herself! Batman stopped in his tracks, because just one more step away would land the girl in a free-fall in the U.S.J. "Don't come any closer until you answer me!"
"I'm one of your classmates. You remember me, Michael Lane." Batman started, "You need to focus on remembering where you are. We should head back to Aizawa before-."
"NO! I'm not going any-!" She stepped back on her own volition.
"ASUI!"
Batman threw his batarang to the side and he lunged forward after her. With both arms outstretched, he tried to grab her and slow their descent at the same time, but she swiped at him! She managed to hit his right arm, causing her to accelerate and surging pain into his arm.
He wasn't sure he was going to make it in time and survive the fall. He couldn't do both!
"CLARK!" Batman shouted as loudly as he could!
He tried to accelerate his own descent to try to catch up with her, even if he knew it was in vain. I reached for a device, a sedative, in his belt to try to get ahead of the rescue. Clark was nowhere to be seen.
"CLARK! DIANA! ALL MIGHT! SOMEONE, SAVE HER!" He continued his approach, crying out in desperation. There was nearly no time left for either of them. Batman could only close his eyes and grit his teeth, begging for someone to step in. "Please…"
Sudden force. The wind around Batman suddenly shifted! He opened his eyes.
He was now being grabbed by a large, muscular figure in a red and blue costume with white accents and golden hair. Behind the Symbol of Peace was Diana with Asui in her arms as well. The man holding the boy had a smile on his face, though Diana's face was more of the serious variety.
"Since you asked so nicely." All Might replied. He slammed his feet into the ground, grinding the two to a halt.
Diana was flying still, aiming for a smoother stop as her passenger was covering her head.
Batman threw the sedative to Diana over All Might's shoulder. "Inject her with it, now!"
Diana did as she was told, placing the needle over Asui's arm and injecting the sedative. It didn't take more than a few seconds for her to go unconscious. Eraserhead approached the four of them, and was about to ask what happened, but Batman announced preemptively.
"Scarecrow used a new fear toxin on her!" He pushed himself off of All Might's shoulder, "We need a new anti-serum soon or she will die!"
Batman rushed to Asui, placing his fingers on her neck to ensure her heart rate was slowing. It was, though barely. He turned to face Diana.
He spoke in a rushed whisper, "Get her to the top floor of the Wayne Enterprises building in Tokyo. Someone there will be waiting to start the process. Go."
Diana nodded, taking flight with Asui in her arms. They left through the hole that Clark made in the dome, and Batman was rushing out of the U.S.J. himself. He was sending an emergency distress to Alfred on his gauntlet with a note to prepare the chemical workstation and the old fear toxin anti-serum, which was received and green lit. Through every wince and burning of pain he felt in his body, he only grew more and more angry at himself. His ears rang in the anger, so much so he never noticed someone was trying to get his attention. As he was marching, a large hand placed itself on his shoulder. When Batman turned, All Might stood before him.
"Now, you hold on now young man! You're beyond hurt right now. You need to-."
"You need to get out of my way right now." Batman glared up at All Might.
As intimidating a glare as he had, it was obvious the Symbol of Peace was not going to stop on the student's behest.
It wasn't until Eraserhead placed his own hand on All Might's arm that the Number One Hero let go. Eraserhead turned to Batman with a nod, allowing him to leave the facility.
A notification on his gauntlet read that Alfred was already sending a vehicle his way via self-driving. Bruce was not going to lose a classmate today.
Clark Kent
The Kryptonian held the monster, the Nomu, in one hand. It was dead. A few chunks of the body, the arms, and most importantly the brain were all charred.
It was strange, though. The creature had no blood so it almost seemed like a prop to a movie and it didn't even die as a result of the brain being charred, but rather suddenly right before it was going to attack. And now the fight was over, all he was left with was a new ability and silence in the clouds. At least, as much silence as he could get with the ringing in his ears. He figured it was the adrenaline that was still a ways off from going down.
What's more, he was stricken with a revelation.
The monster he defeated was meant to defeat All Might. And once he stopped holding back so much, once he really put some force into it, he was able to defeat it! He didn't even know he could hit as hard as he was, and what's more is he probably could put out even more strength that he didn't know he had. He was overpowering the creature outright in most situations, it was just a lot faster than he expected. But even then, Clark kept up!
So, either the creature wasn't nearly strong enough to defeat All Might for real or Clark was at least as strong as All Might! Maybe even stronger.
And if there were any other new powers he was going to gain then it would be an even easier time going down the Pro Hero career path.
All the worrying he was doing was for nothing.
"I think I'm going to be the best hero ever." Clark mused to himself.