Chapter 9 - U.S.J. Attack
The man known as Shigaraki Tomura was rather disappointed as he looked at the assembled children and two pro-heroes. Much of it fit what he expected when they entered the grounds. But the most important component was missing.
"Thirteen and… Eraser Head, is it? The staff schedule said All Might was supposed to be here."
Tomura didn't look at his ally that had spoken, a man-like entity made of black billowing clouds. The only visible thing to note him as a person was the yellow eyes. The swirling mass of portals finally closed behind them.
Tomura was not happy to see his primary target was absent. So he decided to ask the gathered heroes in training. His loud voice was gravely and clearly heard, even though it seemed like it should have been muffled due to the severed hand on his face, with a hidden edge to his words that spoke of danger. "Where is he? We've come all this way and brought so many playmates. But where is the Symbol of Peace? Where is All Might? Is he here?"
He watched as the children and two adults were silent. So he decided to push them even further. "I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here?"
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Sakura was alerted simultaneously to Aizawa-sensei, even if she didn't show it.. She checked the rest of the class and wasn't surprised to see Ranma reacting as well, though the redhead was as calm as she was. What had surprised her was that Parker had stiffened a few seconds before anything had appeared. His reaction was what set them off in the first place. That was interesting and good to know, as he could detect things before Aizawa, Ranma, or herself.
Ranma and Parker had stepped closer toward the edge of the hill overlooking the fountain on opposite sides of their sensei as the rest of the class only began to notice their appearance. She stood alongside Ranma to confirm her suspicions. "The one from yesterday, are they here?" She asked in a whisper.
Ranma didn't bother to look away, instead focused on the assembled group and getting a grim evaluation of the situation. "Yep. The one with the hands," Ranma said, her volume as low as hers. "Definitely reeking of anger management issues. Enough to kill anyone that gets in his way. But this isn't the only group. There are others out there who popped up just like this one did and are just sitting around waiting."
The fact the villain started asking where All Might was and then threatened to kill some of them confirmed it rather quickly.
Sakura quickly diagnosed the likely scenario. They had a warper that could warp a large group of people and possibly to multiple locations. That meant to divide and conquer, which was a reasonable strategy. Create opportunities for yourself and present dilemmas for your opponent.
"The class needs to stay together, or we're playing into their hands. The warper will try to send some of us to the other groups, likely to create a dilemma for the adults and us while distracting All Might."
"Yeah, keep an eye on them. Teachers will also get targeted to make us easier targets."
Sakura turned her head to raise an eyebrow at her, but she only received a playful smirk.
"If you are going to play with them, be warned; the leader did something that destroyed the gate yesterday. Turned it into dust. Try to get him to use his quirk, preferably at a distance, so we know what we're dealing with. The big guy looks like a bruiser, probably some attempt to counter All Might's physicality."
"Thanks for the heads up!" Ranma said with a nod.
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"Villains? No way! What villains would be dumb enough to sneak into a school for heroes?" Kaminari asked.
The class stared at the mass of dangerous-looking individuals before them. Some of them were becoming worried, especially those less familiar with the world of heroes. A few noted that Aizawa's hair began to float upwards, especially the strand between his eyes.
"Sensei? Aren't there intruder alarms?" Momo asked, her brain trying to figure out the situation.
"Yes, of course there are…." Thirteen began to reply before she realized the significance of the question. The fact they didn't appear to be going off.
Shoto stood near the front as he looked down at the groups. "Are they only here, or are they also at the main building? Either way, if the sensors aren't working, it may be due to one of their quirks that's interrupting them. This place is far from the campus, and they picked a time when only a few people would be here. They may not be as dumb as they seem."
His classmates nodded, seeing the sense in his analysis.
"Someone is generating a large electromagnetic field elsewhere in the stadium," Peter added as he looked around before he pointed well beyond the fountain to what looked like a distant mountain. "They are over there."
Peter continued looking around, confusing the students with his actions. "They are interfering with the building's communication systems by causing disruptions in the infrared and radio-wave spectrums, throwing off transmissions of traditional forms of E.M. transmissions. They've also sent regular E.M.P. pulses to catch any hardware not protected from E.M.I. interference. Communications through the E.M. spectrum will be almost impossible at this time."
Thirteen sighed; their situation was now more precarious and showed the stronger hand the villains had come in with. "So we have no way of communicating with the outside world."
"I didn't say that," Peter replied, shocking his classmates and teachers. Though Aizawa kept his eyes and quirk on the villains like a professional. "Alright, the message is being transmitted now. All Might, the Principle, and any other pro-hero teacher on campus will be contacted simultaneously in a moment. The police will also be contacted, but expect them to be slower to arrive. The estimated arrival time is three to five minutes for All Might since he is currently with Principal Nezu. Further backup is ten to fifteen minutes out. A data package has been sent with details about what is happening. I will update them continuously as things progress so they know what to prepare for."
"What?" Thirteen asked, astonished that the teen had been able to do that. He spoke of things that should have been impossible, knowledge of things he shouldn't currently know. Especially when he didn't appear to do anything but look around. "How were you able to communicate when we can't?"
"First, my suit is insulated against E.M.I. interference, including E.M.P. pulses," Peter replied. "So it isn't a threat to my suit. Second, I have specialized software running to analyze and counter the E.M. interference, so I can use normal E.M. communications soon, but that will take a few minutes. Lastly, I have a specialized communication system with my suit that doesn't use E.M. frequency communication."
"What– what kind of communication do you use that isn't electromagnetic?" Momo asked, surprise giving way to curiosity.
"A form of communication through a different layer of spacetime," Peter answered. "The most commonly used word to describe the method is Subspace."
"Well done, Parker," Aizawa said, glad the genius had the tools they needed to make the situation far safer. He also wanted to ensure they got their heads back in the game and not sidetracked with a science discussion.
Now they just needed to buy time. There were only two Pro-Heroes here at this time. He didn't want to belittle her, but Thirteen was limited in combat actions. It was left to him to buy them that time. He pulled his scarf even looser, made easier by his quirk that made his scarf float in the air around him to an extent. as he calculated his plan of attack. "Thirteen, evacuate the students. Get them as far away from–
"No," Sakura ordered. Her voice was softer than their sensei's, but it easily cut through his words.
"What?"
"Why?" Mina and Ochako asked. The two girls were just some of the ones confused by the countermand.
Aizawa halted when the pink-haired teenager stopped his orders. He considered getting mad at her but would hear her out if she had additional information. "And why is that, Haruno?"
"First and foremost, we need you to keep that warper shutdown. Due to the behavior of the portals that formed, the man that looks like a billowing, black cloud with a neck brace is most likely the warper. So unless they brought multiple warpers, which is an extremely rare quirk, he could do mass warps in multiple locations. This makes him dangerous if we get separated. This leads to the second important point, this isn't the only group of villains. Saotome and Parker both confirmed it separately."
Aizawa paused at the implications; if this wasn't the only group, the warper was certainly as dangerous as she implied. "Where are they? How many?"
"They are in multiple, large groups that are spread throughout the different zones in the stadium," Peter said, joining the discussion. "Getting an accurate count at the moment is difficult. All of my sensors are going, including E.M. sensors for infrared, x-ray, light amplification, sound, and more. That quirk is interfering somewhat and they are spread out. Confirmed count is thirty-four additional villains besides these ones, but that isn't likely to be accurate. A more realistic count is something over a hundred to a hundred and fifty additional villains. They started appearing at the same time as the one before us."
"Which means their warper may be able to split our party with ease, so it would play into their hands," Todoroki commented.
Aizawa had to give it to them; they reasoned that well and he was proud of them for it. If the information they had was accurate about their numbers and distribution, and they all appeared due to the single warper in front of them, then he was likely the most dangerous one here. And they had come prepared to separate them.
"Third, this is a decently defensible position right next to where reinforcements are most likely to appear. We, and especially you, Sensei, have a clear line of sight for several hundred meters," Sakura said as she continued her logic train.
"So when reinforcements arrive, we'll be within line of sight of the most likely entrance they will come through," Izuku said as he saw her reasoning. "We want them to provide it for the entire group and not have to have them separate and diluted."
"Running invites more risk and more unknowns," Tenya replied as he took up the mantle. He remembered the lessons Sakura had given Team Idaten; he always tried to listen closely. Especially when she tended to prove her points with practical experience. "We don't know if they have set traps elsewhere in the stadium, even the entrance. Staying here, keeping the warper pinned, reduces their numbers and strategic options to what they currently have on hand."
"And we don't know if there are unknowns we can't detect," Mezo added. He learned his lesson well the other day, both his own encounter and some of the other's battles.
"Lastly," Sakura said, getting the class's attention back, "You don't need to go down there. Instead, remaining here ensures you keep the warper safely shut down."
Aizawa glared, only allowing his quirk to shut off briefly so he could blink before reactivating it. Everything else about what they had said was well thought out. But it didn't solve his main dilemma. "Someone needs to at least hold off the villains in front of us."
Sakura nodded. "Agreed. And someone more qualified will do it."
"And who is more qualified?" Aizawa asked coldly. He did not want to throw Thirteen into that pile of Villains.
"Ranma," Sakura replied easily.
"Ranma is a student," Aizawa growled at the suggestion. "She is not fighting them while I am here."
"She outstrips you in combat experience."
That claim certainly raised some eyebrows from the class.
"Besides, she's already down there," Sakura added casually.
Everyone but Aizawa stared at her before they turned to where Ranma had previously been, realizing that she was missing.
"What the hell?" Eijiro exclaimed as he looked around for her, "She was here just a moment ago!"
"I said she's already down there," Sakura repeated, pointing at the mass of villains.
They followed her finger and were startled that they hadn't noticed her presence among them. Ranma was crouching down like she was playing a children's hide-and-seek game. The villains still hadn't even realized she was there.
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Ranma grinned as she happily remained squatting down amongst the villains; none of them had bothered to look down. She also noticed that their class and sensei had finally noticed she was down here. It was time to get the show on the road.
She got up out of her crouch, no longer hiding her presence. The effect on the villains was swift as they were alarmed. Some even jumped back in fear after realizing she had been among them.
"What the hell?"
"Gah! How did she get here?"
Others started to take defensive postures before moving to offensive ones. She decided to rub it in even further and ensure her actions' consequences weren't too bad. After all, their Sensei had threatened to expel them for that little test the other day. And then lied about it being a ruse.
She looked up towards Aizawa with a big smile, her eyes closed, and her body totally relaxed. "Hey, Sensei! I just want to make sure– oops, one sec."
She dodged in a blur of motion as several villains leaped to attack her from behind and her sides. She stopped behind some other villain that looked more like a zombie in stitches, and the three villains ended up in a pile of bodies while she snickered. Morons.
"Anyways, Sensei? I'm just– geez, can't you let a girl ask a question?" Ranma asked while the zombie tried to recover from hearing her snicker behind him. She bent her torso out of the way of a fist the zombie threw after he recovered and then a dash to the other side to avoid some sort of barb that shot out of a ranged fighter's arm. She finished with a series of backflips to dodge the rest of the idiots' attacks. "Sensei, I am legally allowed to defe– oh, stop that!"
She ended her last dodging blitz on the head of one huge villain with rocky skin, four arms, and what looked like a full head mask. This caused all the villains in the area to stop at the unusual sight of using some guy's head as a footpad. "I can legally defend myself so long as I don't use my quirk, right?"
The question halted the villains again, even the one being used as a stool. The idea that she would attack them without using her quirk was laughable but so unusual that their brains couldn't comprehend it momentarily.
Since they all took their time processing her question and her Sensei didn't look prone to answer her immediately, she returned to address them. "Okay, you idiots can go back to trying to kill me if you want while I wait for my Sensei to answer."
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"Someone needs to get her out of there!" Mina yelled while gripping the rails at the top of the entrance platform and looking down at the redhead, continuing to dodge knives and tentacle-like hair.
"How are we supposed to do that without making it worse? Ribbit," Tsuyu responded, even as she looked worried for their classmate.
The class looked on, most gravely concerned for Ranma's safety but knowing they could do nothing. Aizawa was livid with rage but also trying to figure out how to best get her out of there. When she had turned, making her presence known amongst them, their concern was raised significantly. They then watched as Ranma was attacked relentlessly by the large mob.
There were some startled yelps from the class as they watched her avoid the numerous villains. Of their class, only three had any idea as to what was happening. Two of them had observed a similar situation a few days ago; this was just dialed up to eleven. Sakura was smiling due to fond memories from home.
Aizawa wasn't as panicked as before, though he remained furious. He was a skilled enough fighter to realize Ranma was very good at evasion. But the question she had posed to him was confusing. He had requested from Principal Nezu several times for her quirk registry to be updated but had been told the last few times there was no need. If they expected the police and the law to ignore what was obviously a quirk, they would be foolish. But…Nezu was far from a fool. He had a reason, but Aizawa couldn't piece it together and didn't have time to do that.
He watched out of the corner of his eyes as he kept his power trained on who he pegged as the warper, preventing him from making the situation worse than it already was. He couldn't risk using his quirk on the villains surrounding her, as there was the risk of accidentally catching her with his quirk and making her an easy target.
But Ranma was holding her own for now, as she avoided attacks by centimeters, weaving in and out of the throng with a grace Aizawa had never seen before. She insulted them with childish antics like making fun of their looks, skills, parents, or ancestors. The villain's rage at how she belittled them also made them lose all sense of reason.
But there were unaccounted variables. The leader, the warper, and the big guy with the exposed brain had yet to move. They were watching Ranma make a mockery of them. He could tell they were getting pissed off, and there was a good chance they would intervene. He hated being put into situations like this, with the kids' lives on the line.
"Saotome!" Aizawa shouted, getting Ranma's attention as well as others. "Get back up here! Now!"
"Relax, Sensei!" Ranma replied, casually ducking a fist the size of an engine block. "I've literally been in more danger walking down the street or eating dinner at home than what this lot poses. But seriously, don't worry, I only came to U.A. to learn hero-ing. I already know how to fight!"
"Sensei," Sakura said at his side, her voice calm. "I know it isn't what you want, but Ranma can handle herself and is already down there. She is buying us time for reinforcements if she can hold their attention. Giving her permission allows her to defend herself, making it easier to stall for that time. You and Thirteen-sensei are not the only ones capable of fighting here. You are not alone."
Aizawa wished he could look directly at Sakura right then; he felt there was much he'd be able to uncover about her just by looking at that moment. She wasn't scared or nervous, unlike how average teens her age in modern Japan should react. Then again, this was U.A.; they dealt with the extraordinary. Unfortunately, that meant situations like this as well.
"Sensei!" Izuku said from behind Aizawa, "Ranma-san did something similar to this after class on Monday! She fought the various Martial Arts club members similarly and said she was playing with them. She's doing the same thing here! She's in complete control down there!"
"He's right, Sensei!" Uraraka urged in her agreement as she stood beside the mossy-haired boy.
"Dammit," he muttered to himself as he had to agree with the claim. They had yet to even graze her with sneak attacks from behind, and her motions were extremely clean. He came to a decision and then shouted. "So long as you do not use your quirk, you are legally free to defend yourself! If you do something stupid and get yourself hurt, I will punish you! Nothing as simple as expulsion either!"
His student's blur of motion stopped and turned, looking up at them with a big, happy grin and a military salute. "Yes, Sensei! Thank you very much, Sensei! I'll handle these morons now, Sensei!"
The villains, still blinded with rage, turned and attacked once again. But when she disappeared once more, something drastically different happened.
They couldn't track her as her body blurred even faster than before. Only blips of motion appeared next to every villain within ten meters of her at the same time before disappearing again in the center, settling with a crouched Ranma solidifying with her fist in the lower gut of the man with the four arms she had previously used as a footstool. It had happened in under two seconds, most observers needing twice that time to process the event.
Her expression had changed from playful to deadly serious. Then the bodies of the villains dropped or went flying. Most of them lost consciousness before they hit the ground. Those that hadn't, wished they had, as their world was controlled by the agony they experienced.
The battlefield's mood shifted instantly, away from anger and into incredulous fear, as the villains' numbers were immediately devastated. Half of them had gone down so fast they couldn't understand.
The back-alley villains began to retreat, no longer wanting to get involved in that fight. But they all watched as she stood up to her full diminutive height. She then turned her gaze to the trio of villains that had stood to the side before sauntering towards them.
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Tomura was getting pissed as he scratched at his neck, glaring daggers at the one mocking the cannon fodder he brought along and the heroes above. He didn't want to reveal his secret weapon just yet, not like this, to some unknown girl.
"We may need to send the Nomu after the girl or Eraser Head," the swirling black mass named Kurogiri said from his side as he evaluated the situation calmly. "He's the only one fast enough to touch her. Especially with Eraser Head not engaging and him blocking my quirk."
Tomura growled, not liking his plan being thrown such a curve ball like this. First, their primary target wasn't even here, the addition of Eraser Head, and then this new girl started making fools of them.
They listened as Eraser Head gave the girl the okay, though why the hell they were talking as if a quirk weren't involved was unusual.
"Yes, we need to break this up. Let's have the Nomu ki–"
Then they saw the girl's explosion of motion, and half of his army on hand went down. Tomura's eyes widened in shock, as that was similar to the kind of power that All Might had. That made her a serious threat.
"This is bad," Kurogiri said, worry seeping into his voice. "We need to disrupt Eraser Head and kill the girl. Now. We don't know when All Might will arrive, and fighting him and the girl simultaneously will be too difficult, especially since I haven't been able to separate the rest of them so they couldn't interfere."
Tomura was evaluating his options, continuing to scratch at his neck with a few fingers as he thought of the best way to handle this. He also watched the girl calmly sauntering towards them before she spoke up.
"So, you three are the leaders? Handsy, Gloomy, and Birdbrain?" the girl asked as she walked towards them, stopping next to a baseball bat before using her toe to flip it into the air, where she casually caught it in one hand.
"Insults? Heroes, you really make me sick! Your first action is always violence and ridicule. Heroes are just hypo–"
Tomura paused in his monologue as he caught the bat that had casually been thrown at him, preventing it from hitting him in the face. It had spun in the air faster than a casual toss would indicate, closing the distance quickly.
"See?" Tomura commented as he lowered the bat away and connected all five fingers to it, causing it to disintegrate quickly. His hand opened, letting the powder fall to the ground around him. "You thrive off violence, Hero!"
"Sure do! I got no problem with violence or name-calling, Mr. Handsy. They've been a part of my life since I could walk and talk." Ranma replied, stopping her advancement. She stood about ten meters away and her hands at her side. "But you guys suck! And your speech is sooo boring. Why not take a nap? I can help!" Ranma tilted her head with a helpful smile and closed her eyes, making her look rather cute… if she hadn't just dropped over a dozen villains a moment ago.
"You're no better than us, yet you heroes get to call us villains!" Tomura shouted, his hands splayed out to his side as he yelled. "Just a tool of the state to keep us down, even though you like to do the same things!"
Ranma snorted, giggling a little at the moron. "Oh! This is your first one of these, isn't it? You gotta monologue your excuses so you can act like the misunderstood victim, right? Here, let me get into character." Ranma proceeded to put on her most innocent cutesy face, her hands clasped together under her chin. "Violence by itself isn't bad, Mr. Handsy! It can be a lot of fun, just like any other physical activity, silly! It's when you use violence against someone that doesn't want it or is harming someone is where it becomes wrong!"
"And yet you tried to commit violence against me," Tomura pointed out, his smile still malicious but mostly hidden by the hand on his face.
Ranma dropped the cutesy act. "Says the idiot who brought a bunch of people ready to threaten and attack us." Ranma replied, a bit of disgust in her voice. "You're full of shit. I've got you pegged, Mr. Handsy. You're just a violent maniac and what you want is to kill people. People you don't like. Probably because they prevent you from doing things you want, but you just like making excuses to others to explain it away. Like the selfish little punk you are."
"Che," Tomura glared at the girl, angered at how his words hadn't unsettled her. He decided to restart the violence. While they didn't know when All Might would arrive, they were prepared for him. They had plenty of time to handle the rest, but it would be better to take this girl out of the fight like Kurogiri had suggested.
"Nomu, attack Eraser Head. Then kill the girl."
In a burst of speed as impressive as the girl's, Nomu disappeared. When he reappeared, it was meters away from Eraser Head and the rest of the class, its fist swinging but hitting nothing but air. That air still responded, throwing out a powerful wave of pressure that threw many of the students back.
But what surprised Tomura was that Nomu wouldn't have tried to do that. Its path had been cut short, its swing still in motion, when the rest of its body halted mid-air due to the redheaded girl kicking it in the gut. She had disappeared as quickly as the Nomu had, hit the stairs in front of the rest of the class if the sudden appearance of cracked concrete was any indicator, and rebounded into the Nomu.
The air pressure still could have hurt some students and even Eraser Head if not for other students' responses, such as the pink-haired girl dragging Eraser Head and a few other students back down, avoiding the swing.
Nomu wasn't hurt. It reached for the girl's leg, but her hand intercepted it and flipped herself over its head, changing the fulcrum and easily flipping in the air and then throwing his living tool into the concrete below.
This intervention would have angered Tomura further if not for the fact that Kurogiri had disappeared into one of his warp gates.
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As they tried to recover from the sudden attack, Kurogiri appeared in a black swirl behind the class. Their backs were turned away as they recovered. He had already prepared to use his warp gates as soon as he could, only needing a second after reforming enough of his body to capture them from this distance.
His plan stalled the instant part of his body had solidified when he saw and felt some kind of gray rope attach itself to his chest and was yanked forward by a boy that was dressed in a bodysuit of red and black. This disrupted his concentration and brought him into the path of two boys. One redheaded boy punched at his torso while the blonde tried to smash his face with an explosion.
Kurogiri flew backward. He had felt that punch and barely avoided the explosion to the face, even with his defensive clouds protecting his real body and having warped part of it away. He crashed and rolled a few times. He was lucky that his landing allowed him to see the incoming ice as it flew across the ground quickly. He warped away before it could catch him or Aizawa could finish turning his gaze onto him.
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Aizawa was alarmed at seeing the large, bird-like man, the one their leader called Nomu, move so fast. He appeared in front of his students so quickly that even his trained reflexes failed to respond until the airblast had already hit them.
It hit with enough force to cause him to lose focus and blink, and there was no way to reacquire the warper quickly enough. But that air blast should have done more damage to them, considering how strong it was, impacting and shattering some of the glass for the stadium's shell.
He realized why when he noticed Sakura's arm crossing his body to his opposite shoulder. She had pulled him back several meters out of the path of the brunt of the swing. She had also grabbed Mina in her dive. Izuku, who was trying to help Ochako to her feet, appeared to have done the same thing.
That was also when he heard more loud noises from behind them, specifically something that sounded like a heavy impact and an explosion. He couldn't see from his position; too many students blocking his path. So he quickly got to his knees and found the last remaining bits of a swirling portal closing just before a wave of ice crashed through its previous spot.
He looked at his assembled students, finding Peter with another webline that trailed the warper's previous position. He noticed other weblines sitting at his feet that were still attached to many of the students' backs, even as they tried to stand up.
A few were still standing, either withstanding the shockwave or dodging it enough. He stood up, looking at every student and Thirteen, and found they hadn't suffered anything beyond shock, encountering such a close call as they had.
Aizawa noted the four boys that had responded to the villain recovered their stances as the immediate threat was gone.
"Che," Katsuki grunted. "The bastard got away."
"Unfortunately," Shota agreed, releasing his quirk.
An excited Eijiro turned back to Peter. "That was awesome, man! How'd you know that was gonna happen?"
Peter finally finished standing up from his crouched position, looking around the area and at his classmates, ensuring they were safe.
"What happened?" Aizawa asked. He had a rough idea, but he wanted a clearer picture.
"Peter dove backward, shooting most of his webbing at every one's back before that leader even finished ordering that monster to attack us!" Eijiro recounted for their sensei, giving Peter a fist bump as he approached their sensei to explain. "He pulled us back and away but then shot his webbing behind us towards the warper before that jackass even appeared to blindside us!"
Aizawa turned to the foreign student, giving a solid nod of approval for that act. "Well done, Parker," Aizawa said before turning to the other three boys. "You boys did well in responding to that threat." Finally, he turned to Sakura. "And thank you, Haruno. That was a solid reaction time you showed."
"Heads up, guys," Peter said, gaining their attention as the class finished recovering. "The warper has a real body, but it's mostly covered by the black clouds that act as a barrier. But he can also warp parts of his body in and out. That's why Bakugo's explosion didn't do much damage to him." Peter didn't comment on the grunt from the explosive blonde. "The neck brace is the one part of his body that doesn't seem to do that. If he shows up again, target that."
"Thank you, Parker," Aizawa said as he finished reviewing his students. "Is everyone else okay?"
"Yeah, peachy…"
"That was scary!"
"Ribbit."
"I am unhurt, sir!"
"Way too close a call!"
"Ugh, my cape!"
Aizawa was glad to hear it. That had been too close for his tastes. They had severely underestimated the power of 'Nomu', but they had also underestimated his own students. If Ranma hadn't intercepted the man or Parker and Sakura hadn't responded so quickly, that would have easily been a disaster.
That was when he heard the sounds of more pressure waves going off down below. Nomu was still fighting, most likely Ranma. And the warper was free of his quirk. He turned and looked back down, confirming that Nomu was trying to fight Ranma, but she was easily avoiding its punches as she blurred between his fists. Aizawa failed to spot the warper anywhere nearby. That was bad.
"Everyone!" Aizawa yelled, getting their attention. "Get it together! With their warper free, be prepared for more villains to appear! It's gonna be bad."
How bad was revealed seconds later as gates began to form on the platform they were on. Only a few appeared at first, but more started opening every few seconds, each one near the edge of the platform or in front of the entranceway. Each one started spitting out villains before they charged forward, eager to commit acts of violence.
They were surrounded, their exit from the stadium behind the growing number of portals, their flanks also covered, though not as much of a concern since the platform was narrower. The only path away was down the stairs, into the path of destruction that Nomu was creating as it fought his student.
And still, the warper was missing.
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Kurogiri cradled his chest, lucky he could mitigate that attack as much as he had. He didn't bother to return to Tomura's side just yet; otherwise, Eraser Head would just negate his quirk again. He wanted to maximize this chance that they had been given.
He was near one of the other zones; the villains lined up and prepared to attack the students that were supposed to appear. Kurogiri got to his feet, turned to them, and gave new orders.
"Change of plans. I will warp you near the group of students. The other groups will join you. You are to kill some of the students and hold the rest as hostages like we had planned. But make sure you kill Eraser Head."
Kurogiri was indifferent to the malicious grins that formed on their faces.
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As the portals formed and villains streamed out, Sakura knew the situation had shifted to a more dangerous position, at least for her classmates getting out of this unscathed. She wouldn't reveal her full hand to the villains unless she had to, and it was either that or her classmates would have to protect themselves.
Sakura felt a hand on her shoulder, finding Tenya looking at her and giving her a nod. "What do you suggest we do, Class Representative?"
She smiled in response, happy to know he had her back. Guess she would let her classmates do what they could.
"Form up into a semi-circle!" Sakura yelled, getting her classmate's attention quickly as most of them obeyed before they realized they had.
"Parker! You are our warning system against the warper! Help how you can, but stay close since he is your primary target!" Sakura commanded.
"Aye, aye, Captain!" Peter yelled, along with a salute, even as he leaped forward to land on the shoulders of a large, charging villain and then kicked off of him to shove him back to crash into some of his friends like they were pinballs.
"Bakugo! Todoroki! Back him up! Hit the warper hard and hold him in place until Sensei can negate him with his quirk! Otherwise, Bakugo, you are close to medium range! Keep the bulk of them off of us!"
"Don't tell me what to do, Forehead!" Katsuki roared back, even as he leaped near the center, catching a few villains in an explosion, knocking them off course and away.
"Todoroki! Do what you can to freeze one of our flanks! Keep that side under control to reduce the vectors they can fight us from!"
"Understood," the dual-hair colored boy calmly replied before a sheen of ice started making its way to the portals on that side, going up legs and freezing some in place.
Sakura was glad for some of her classmates' quick actions, buying them time so she could give the rest of their class orders before they were swarmed.
"Jiro, Yaoyorozu, Asui, Ashido, Aoyama!" Sakura called out next, causing some of them to stiffen. "Use ranged attacks! Keep them suppressed to reduce the risk of us getting overwhelmed! Aoyama, concentrate on distant targets, the furthest away! Jiro, hit them in packs! Ashido, mild acidic attacks, and anything to make the battle area harder for them, target near the portals especially! Asui, use your tongue to disarm, entangle, and draw them to our classmates! Yaoyorozu, whatever weapon you think you can create appropriate for it! Flash grenades, smoke, or other lobbed weapons to disorient and cause confusion!"
The girls and one fancy boy followed through, quickly creating chaos on the field even as the villain's numbers increased in speed.
"Kirishima, Shoji, Sato, Koda! Defense! Concentrate on body blocking and grappling anyone that tries to get close! Make sure to defend our ranged squad!"
"Yes, sir!" Kiroshima yelled with a big grin, even as the other, larger boys followed through, determined to keep their friends safe.
"Iida, Midoriya, Tokoyami! Act as fast responders to back them up, intercept anyone fast or agile enough to get past them, or get people out of trouble!" The three boys sped forward, doing just that, hitting or intercepting a few villains looking to capitalize on their grappled friends.
"Kaminari," Sakura yelled next, surprising the blond boy. "Any villain that goes down near us that looks like they might get back up, stun them! If it still doesn't work, call for backup! We don't want any surprises in our midst!"
The boy stiffened but gave a reply, "Yes, Ma'am!"
"Uraraka and Hagakure! Stay out of the fight for now; anyone who goes down, help get them out of there! Only fight if they get through to you." Sakura watched as the last of her classmates followed through on her instructions. It was a good thing, too, as the number of incoming villains increased significantly.
"Thirteen-Sensei! Please concentrate on intercepting any dangerous ranged attacks or deterring charging enemies!" Sakura was pleased that Thirteen followed her instructions, moving to one side where a larger group of ranged quirks appeared to be getting ready to attack.
Sakura then turned to their last Sensei, focusing on her even as he scanned the field, trying to find the warper. From what she could tell, he was a mixed bag of emotions, but he was also a thorough professional, not even needing her to tell him what to do. He was scanning the battlefield, hitting dangerous villains in his sight that didn't risk hitting a student. He also did that as he continued to hunt for the warper.
"Sakura?" Ochako asked, even as she fell into the middle of the semi-circle. "What are you going to be doing?"
Sakura turned to her, speaking loud enough for the others to hear. "I'm on healer duty and protecting Sensei. If they get him, their warper has free reign to cause even more chaos. I will help if need be!"
They didn't have time to do much more as the villains attacked en masse.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Missed me, Birdbrain!"
"Nope, I'm not there either."
"Are you actually trying to hit me or just showing off your workout routine?"
"Is your skull exposed just to prove you don't have rocks for brains? 'Cause I don't think it's working."
After Ranma halted the villain's attack on her classmates and returned him to the bottom of the steps, she ensured he kept his attention on her and did not stray to those above. Even as the sound of combat began to grow from above, Ranma felt the increase in the number of targets up there. Their warper had escaped elsewhere. She knew where he was, traveling to the other groups and ordering them through more portals he opened.
She started insulting the much larger man to see if she could knock it off balance with verbal abuse. But it didn't appear the 'Demon Dog Wailing Defeat' was working at all, not even a twitch. Instead, he had become easier and more predictable as the fight wore on. And more boring. It fought like the dullest of street brawlers suffering from brain damage, used to just pummeling opponents into submission. The guy was a pure berserker.
She continued to avoid his attacks without too much trouble, though the surroundings were taking a heavy beating, and the rest of the back-alley villains had scrambled away. She made sure he wouldn't injure any of the villains she had already downed, sometimes by kicking them away… gently, by her standards. Their friends helped them break their fall.
The beast of a man was faster than anything else she had encountered in this weird future as of yet. The one exception was All Might, but she had yet to see him in action other than his arrival for the end of the practical exam. His strength was also extremely high, stronger than herself when in girl form, but manageable. Skill mattered more than strength; she had that in spades over tall, dark, and silent here.
She'd gotten more than enough of a read on this guy; now it was time to capitalize on it. The man had been relentlessly swinging his fists at her as she dodged them, showing him only her sides to offer a lower profile, often by a few centimeters. Then she entered his personal space to lay a few haymakers to his stomach. Considering how fast and strong the brute appeared, it could take a few strong blows.
However, the hits were minimalized when she hit it as the skin was not greatly impacted. While the thing was tough, it didn't feel like the solid wall of muscles had taken it but rather like her blows had been absorbed by something. It was the same oddity when she had stopped its dive for her classmates earlier, but she had rolled with it then.
She narrowed her eyes as she dodged another series of swings, as he got both arms and shoulders into the action as he tried to hit her. Nothing even came close, only causing her hair to fly around from the air pressure while she threw out another wasted insult.
The absorption was an interesting twist, so she decided to see how it worked. She threw another series of blows to multiple spots, targeting limbs and weak points. She had her Ki sense focused on giving her as much detail as it could as she felt her blows landing. Every impact was absorbed, and she could sense the man's quirk activating. Save a few areas she hadn't tried; it looked like it covered the man's whole body.
It was time to test the limits of that ability.
She waited for another, longer opening, creating one by sidestepping slightly so that his two shoulders couldn't work together to attack as in sync as before. She used a chop to push the arm closest to her to the side and then stepped in close and unleashed twenty blows at a singular spot at the same speed as her previous normal blows. She felt the quirk absorb the first few blows, but it quickly fell apart after the fifth, letting her hits impact with significant force.
The man staggered back but otherwise ignored it and prepared himself to move forward again, only to find her inside his guard and hitting the same spot with another twenty blows. If bypassed, his absorption on an individual area required a few moments to fully recharge, as it only took her two blows to circumvent it that time.
He staggered again but otherwise seemed to ignore what she sensed as a rather painful blow. So he was an empty berserker of some sort. No rage or force of will powering him through. The guy was just… empty. She'd consider it rather sad if he wasn't trying to kill them. At least the damage would build up eventu–
Ranma sighed as she sensed the wound heal itself rapidly. He had a healing ability along with everything else. This fight was going to be tougher than she thought. She might have to start getting serious.
She really hoped she wouldn't have to pull out a few of her techniques for this. Especially the ones she had developed for a certain brat.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Oh my god, have you looked in a mirror lately? You should really get that looked at, like you should see about getting some kind of prescription. Really, I'm concerned. Maybe you'll get a doctor's visit as part of being arrested?" Peter yelled as he dodged and flipped through a trio of villains trying to hit him with their fists and weapons, webbing the back foot of the one he had just insulted, a villain with a face like a boar and sporting a few knives so that they tripped and fell to the ground. A follow-up shot of webbing trapped him there. "You know, you could have just booked an appointment, right? Seems like that would have been easier, is all!"
Peter caught the fist of the next punch in an open palm, shocking the woman with gorilla-like arms even as it gave a hefty impact. "That punch is the best you can do with those muscles? I know hundred-year-old men that can hit harder than you!" He swung her around to smash her into her other companion and sent them flying down the colored tiles in a heap of limbs. Another webshot made getting untangled from each other impossible. "And you two should get a room! You should be ashamed of doing that in public! There are children present!"
Peter continued cracking jokes at the villains as he intercepted and stopped them from approaching his classmates. He occasionally shot webbing out to the sides or at farther targets when his tingle warned him, or Karen noted one of them for him. He only went about ten to fifteen meters from his circle of classmates, but enough to intercept and react if the warper tried to make another play.
He heard the constant explosions off to one side as Katsuki was having a field day, blasting away groups of enemies as they tried to get near. His grin was a mixture of pleasure and seriousness, only laughing occasionally as he kept the bulk of the enemy in check in the center. Shoto was also on another side, trapping two dozen enemies and a few warp gates with his ice.
Peter watched as the rest of his classmates intercepted the few that got past them. Izuku, Tenya, and Fumikage rapidly moved to catch and throw off any target making a blitz for them. Eijiro, Koji, Mezo, and Rikido acted as center linemen for their classmates, preventing them from getting to their more vulnerable friends. Denki went around, tapping any downed villain that so much as twitched… which meant repeated zaps, as tasers did tend to cause muscles to twitch for some time.
This left their range squad to go full ham at their opponents as laser shots, blobs of acid, darts, nets, sound blasts, many different types of grenades, and a tongue went to work, dwindling their numbers even more.
Thirteen was near the class, but trying to stay away from most of them. She occasionally popped the tip of her glove open when a barrage of ranged attacks made its way, intercepting them with her quirk. She just had to be careful that it wasn't open for long as it would also catch friendlies with the pull. If a larger group tried to charge a weaker position, she moved between with her quirk, causing them to halt suddenly, allowing the students to hit them.
Ochako and Toru remained near the center, ready to drag a classmate to safety if something happened. Luckily, they weren't needed yet, but they both still fretted at not helping.
Aizawa-sensei sometimes assisted, turning off enemy quirks while he hunted for their warper. They occasionally saw a new swirl appear as more villains popped in and out, boosting their numbers. But the man himself had yet to appear.
And Sakura remained at his side, occasionally pulling Aizawa down when a stray shot came near him that he didn't see himself. She also gave additional orders as the battlefield shifted.
Karen estimated that about ninety-five villains in the stadium had been incapacitated and were out of the fight now, the number climbing rapidly. Peter was worried about another shift happening, one in the villain's favor.
But he needn't have worried on that front, as the next shift was in their favor as an explosion at the stadium entrance occurred, and a large, blond-haired figure stepped through the destroyed doors. His appearance halted the majority of the villains present. Their class and teachers heard the wonderful five words they had been waiting for.
"Fear not! I.. am HERE!" All Might roared as he ripped his necktie off, his face lacking his normal smile and displaying his real emotions instead.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Toshinori was a mass of fury. As was the Principal and everyone else he had seen as he quickly made his way to the stadium.
The Principal had invited him to his office for some tea, talking about ways to improve his teaching method after he had been foolish in his morning commute. While he had been chided since he was shirking his responsibilities to his students, the Principal hadn't been mad. They knew that Toshinori didn't do these things for pleasure or selfish reasons, but when someone was in danger or needed help, he had a hard time saying no, especially after the events from last year.
But they had just sat down and taken a single sip of their tea when both of their phones rang for a moment. They had begun to reach for them when their phones answered by themselves, and they heard the boy genius, Parker, tell them they were attacked by an army of villains at the U.S.J. Stadium! They saw a video that showed what was happening.
Their phones also notified them that they had been sent data packets outlining what most likely had occurred, including signals being jammed. It suggested the possibility of cell towers being disabled and hardlines being cut, but it couldn't confirm. But what truly angered him was that they threatened the students in his care… because they were there for him!
After ripping his tie off, the rest of his dress shirt still strained by his musculature, as he walked forward, All Might checked over the battlefield, seeing his students beset by a mass of Villains. He was pleased to see the class and teachers looked unharmed from here, even as they continued to defend themselves from the few villains that hadn't stopped their assault at his arrival. He did a quick head count and could luckily spot Toru with her gloves and boots on. The only one missing was Ranma. He also knew that two of the known Villains, the warper and the apparent leader, were also not visible.
As he adopted his serious face, his bright blue irises shined in his black sclera as he prepared himself. In a flash of speed even greater than Ranma's, he moved. He rammed the backline of villains, hitting every villain nearby in a zig-zag motion on his path to his students. A few moments later, he arrived next to his students, appearing in the center of their formation. He grinned happily as he heard many of them cheer.
He stepped up to Eraser Head and Sakura, nodding at the two of them before he looked down at the base of the stairs. He found Ranma engaging a large brute in an impressive battle. The beast-like man was attacking non-stop, throwing a hundred punches from his massive fists in the span of seconds. But nothing landed on the redhead as she moved around them like the wind, quickly hitting back and driving the beast back occasionally.
"Is everyone alright, Eraser Head?" All Might asked, though now that he could see Ranma, his worry had lessened. He noted the rest of the class was engaging what villains were left, quickly dwindling their numbers.
"For now," Eraser Head said, as he continued to do what he could with his quirk while hunting for the warper and their leader, who had escaped into another portal just as All Might announced his arrival. "Their warper was able to avoid my gaze for a moment. Parker and some others stopped his attack on us, but he got away and sent reinforcements to swarm us. The leader also just warped away. We don't know where they are at this time."
"And Young Saotome?"
"She's handling that mutant well enough," Eraser Head said, his head and eyes constantly moving, "though the fact it hasn't gone down yet proves it is a tough opponent. We must first neutralize the warper, their leader, and the rest of these villains."
All Might nodded as he finished looking over the battlefield, prepared to move. That was when they heard a loud crack from below, drawing the two Pro-Heroes' attention as suddenly the large, beaked man's wrist was a floppy mess. It still tried to attack, but additional cracking noises had other parts of its limbs hanging loosely.
Aizawa started to smile before the pit in his gut opened up again. He first heard, then saw the tiny black swirl appear only a foot behind All Might. From the darkness, a hand reached out and touched his back.
"NO!"
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Ranma was getting anxious as several of her attacks were negated by Birdbrain's regeneration and his ability to shrug off the pain. Internal strikes or attacks that completely destroyed the muscle fibers were quickly recovered. The regeneration was high-speed, only giving her a few moments between attacks to capitalize on the damage done before it recovered.
The 'thing' didn't learn, which was a new kind of annoyance. It was acting like a really dumb animal, or what she used to think a robot would behave like, with no survival instincts. It meant she could repeat the same action without it changing its behavior.
She experimented constantly, testing its physical strength, speed, toughness, absorption quirk, and regeneration. She found quick, efficient ways to bypass the shock absorption and was just working on what parts of its body she could attack that would be harder to regenerate.
She had a plan but wanted to capitalize on it to get the greatest effect. Her classmates were still trying to deal with the swarm of fighters up above, and the two leaders were still nearby. The warper was a decent distance away as they observed the battle. She wanted to move off to take them down quickly but wanted to avoid risking her plan backfiring without someone able to handle Big Bird here if he could recover.
The other leader just remained there, scratching his neck occasionally. "You won't win, Hero. Nomu was genetically modified to take on All Might. You have no hope of fighting it. Your hits amount to nothing; you have no chance of hurting it!"
Ranma snorted. The guy's taunting game sucked. Maybe it would work on some stuck-up heroes, but her old man knew how to find and target a person's weak spots and drive them home. And that was before Nerima.
He also had a limited understanding of what was happening in this fight. He was used to quirks and how they were used to being the deciding factor in battles like this. Ranma considered insulting him back, showing him how it was done, but Mr. Handsy was eating up time. Better to let him use it up than take additional action.
Since she wasn't in a hurry to finish this fight, she decided to experiment. A quick test on one of Nomu's fingers had proved her plan was workable. She was just waiting for a greater shift in the overall battle. And she didn't have to wait long as she heard All Might's arrival.
Ranma grinned. It would normally set her opponents off, but this one was for herself. The grin lessened when she caught sight of a black swirl appearing next to their leader; it seemed they were getting some distance and planning something. She decided to make his day more unpleasant but didn't have enough time to stop him without crippling him, which didn't sound too heroic and she tended to avoid that anyways.
A quick dash to the side of Nomu allowed her to kick a small rock resting there, causing it to spin through the air until it hit the side of the leader's knee just as he was walking through, resulting in him stumbling the rest of the way through.
Smirking at that, she started putting her plan into motion as All Might arrived with the rest of her class, making this the best time to capitalize on it.
She targeted its extended hand, dislocating Nomu's wrist with a loud crack. Moments later, it was the elbow and then the shoulder. The other arm followed after that. She had used her Ki to alter her blows once they landed, not to shatter or damage its body in a way it would regenerate. Instead, it acted as a blunt instrument to allow her to easily dislocate its joints. She used it to bypass its ability to absorb physical blows.
It seemed at a loss, but its intelligence was too low to try to comprehend what had happened, too slow to find other ways to attack. After a second, it finally settled on trying to bite her. She dislocated the thing's jaw, having found it earlier from her experiments and Ki sense. The hips and legs followed immediately afterward.
"NO!"
Even as it fell like a ragdoll, her sensei's panicked scream drew her eyes to her teachers as a fan of blood appeared behind and above All Might. She knew it was partly the warpers doing, so in a burst of speed, she picked up a nearby piece of rubble the size of a baseball and threw it at the villain's current position.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Tomura's rage was growing slowly.
Nomu's interception and Kurogiri's failure had made it spike, but it had calmed down as Kurogiri altered the fight to bring the rest of their playmates to them. It wasn't ideal, but the Heroes were already stronger and more adaptable than originally anticipated.
He grinned as he watched the small redheaded pigtailed girl fail to injure Nomu significantly. She clearly was not as strong as All Might. But she was still fast enough to dodge its blows, but Nomu only needed one solid hit to change the fight in its favor. The taunting the girl threw was pointless, so Tomura rubbed it in a bit. She didn't even know about its regeneration, causing him to grin.
The fight above was getting noisy, but the additional friends needed to make a solid connection. They had so many that some of the heroes would tire before long, making them easier prey.
But it stretched for at least a minute without changing on either front. He was worried both would fail, especially as it gave more time for someone to notice something was wrong. And then All Might announced his arrival.
Tomura growled in anger; the students hadn't been separated and were still up. Eraser Head and the pigtailed girl were still fine. They had too many ways to counter them and prevent their plan from working. It was almost time to cut and run, but he had one more idea that might work. He just needed Kurogiri to open a gate for him.
His grin returned as one opened a moment later, just as he heard All Might join the fray. He walked through it. But just as he stepped through, something hit the side of his knee.
"Argh!" Tomura shouted as he stumbled through, angered at the damage he took. The warp gate closed behind him, letting him see they were on top of a roof in the Collapsed Zone with whole buildings still intact to simulate some ruined urban disaster.
He felt his knee, finding it sore and likely a dark bruise would form, but it hadn't broken. He couldn't run on it easily, but that wasn't needed for now. He turned his attention to his caretaker.
He found Kurogiri standing nearby, watching as he stood up. He noticed he was still holding his chest in apparent pain. Kurogiri had moved them to a spot where they could watch the battle from a safer distance, out of Eraser Head's vision range. It was close to a kilometer away; they could barely see the battlefield over the tip of the roof. Kurogiri handed Tomura a spyglass so they could more easily observe.
"Prepare your warp to appear right behind All Might, Kurogiri. As close as you can," Tomura said as he watched the man join his students. The battle had truly turned against them now, yet again. "I am going to try to tag him from here. We'll wait until he is distracted by something. I'll let you know when."
"Yes, sir."
Tomura watched as they spoke momentarily, trying to catch each other up. Still, their attention was quickly drawn to the fight with Nomu, letting Tomura see the girl was quickly disabling it somehow, its arms hanging uselessly at its side. Its regeneration wasn't fixing them? But that had distracted the Heroes! It was now or never!
"Now!"
Tomura lowered the tool as he shoved his hand through the warp gate with a burst of speed. He grinned as he felt a fingertip touch the hated 'Symbol of Peace,' but it was short-lived, as all sensation in the hand ceased, causing confusion for a brief moment, before an incredible amount of pain replaced the sensation.
He pulled his arm away from the gate as he screamed. Shock dulled it somewhat soon after as he noticed that his hand was missing at the wrist. It had been sliced through like butter and was gushing blood. Maybe not as bad as many of the video games or movies he enjoyed had depicted it, but he was losing blood rapidly as he cradled it, and his knees bent as his body curled up in reaction.
He looked up from his crouch at the shrinking warp gate. It probably saved his life as he found an object flying towards his face. He dodged to the side, his face twisting away, thus causing his ear to be sliced through instead of sinking into an eye.
They heard the object thunk into the concrete behind them as Tomura reached up to feel the additional damage he had received. He felt part of his ear was now missing, soon finding it on the ground just behind him. Half of his earlobe had been sliced off!
Now feeling safer with the warp gate closed, the two villains looked at the object. It was a dagger of some sort, with a circular loop on the end of it. A string attached to it also showed a piece of paper with strange writing on it. They grew concerned when the paper began to catch fire on the bottom, creating a small crackling noise.
Kurogiri pulled on his Warp Gate quirk, prepared to send it away, when an object glanced off the side of his head, breaking his concentration. He had no more time to figure out what had happened before an explosion threw the two villains back.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Sakura was patient even as her classmates fought the horde of opponents. She had called for changes and movement across the battlefield as they fought, her classmates listening to her surprisingly well for being basically untrained.
Tsunade-sensei and others had taught her how to command a battlefield or a hospital through observation and training. You had to voice and command people around you with just the right tone of voice and words to hold their attention, and your actions helped ensure they listened to you.
People who weren't used to you were prone to dismiss you if you were too soft or commanding. Confidence was key, as was clarity. Your words needed to make sense, or they were less likely to act on them. If you didn't show you were right there with them, then the loss of respect would make them unwilling to follow. It was a fine line to balance everything, but proper training, practice, and experience in an actual war made it easy to command her classmates.
She was prepared to burst into action if she was needed. Dozens of plans to deal with their opponents were formed, but she didn't want to tip her hand or abandon their Sensei. Their opponents required neutralizing him to succeed in their objective. So, he was her bait. And prey needed to be unaware of the hunter and its capabilities.
All Might's appearance made things safer but added another primary target, likely bigger than Aizawa-sensei. She had already spotted the warper on one of the destroyed buildings in the distance. She also noticed he had retrieved their leader, so he stood beside them.
When All Might walked beside them, Sakura stepped between both men and waited. She ignored Ranma's fight, trusting the other fighter could hold her own. Instead, she slipped out a kunai with an explosive tag on it while her chakra began to mold for the jutsu she had in mind. She had to be quick in applying it but waited patiently.
She didn't have to wait long as the expected portal opened, smaller than she expected, and a hand popped out to touch All Might's back. Her hand moved, slicing through the wrist in an upward angle and a shower of blood just as it connected a single fingertip with the older man. The hand flew away, her blade designed to cause separation of two cut items to split them apart more quickly, even as All Might flashed forward a meter and spun around from the combined warnings he had received. They watched as the wounded arm retreated through the black mass.
Sakura smiled as she adjusted her grip on the kunai, flipping it so that she gripped the pommel ring with a few fingers. She then rotated it off her fingers and gave it a solid flick of her wrist to send the kunai through the closing portal. She had set it aflame with a touch of chakra before leaving her hand. Then she brought both hands up to form another seal. This one had her index and middle finger pointing up, along with her thumbs, while the other two folded down across each other. Her classmates would have described it more like making a hand sign for a gun pointing up.
"Sakura!"
She turned to Aizawa-sensei, who had just shouted in surprise before she gave him a warm smile. "It's okay, Sensei. Everything is under control." She grinned wider when she saw the explosion in the distance and activated her technique.
Sakura disappeared in a ripple, a little smoke left behind in her previous position. She reappeared above where the explosion occurred, seeing the two villains had been knocked back and down. Because of her timing it so well, she didn't have to worry about the noise or blastwave as she fell towards them.
She pulled two more kunai and an extra tag out of her pouches before tossing one of the kunai at the leader's uninjured and open hand as he lay on his back with his arms spread wide on the ground. The kunai sliced through his palm until the circular pommel almost cracked the bones they hadn't cut through, securing that hand to the roof. Her other hand threw the tag so it flew toward the downed warper. It attached itself to the neck brace due to the seals and her chakra.
She fell the rest of the way towards the leader, landing with one foot on the other arm near the amputated wrist and applying pressure to act as a temporary tourniquet. The other foot landed in the man's gut just hard enough to make him really feel it but not do any permanent damage. She bent the leg until her knee rested, and some of her weight rested on his chest, smashing his back into the roof again. The second kunai came forward and pressed into the screaming man's throat.
It took the man a few moments to realize what was happening, but after the rush of impacts and surges of pain dwindled, he noticed the blade. But instead of becoming frightened, he sneered up at her with hate-filled eyes.
The hate in his eyes was intense, deep, and familiar. It didn't unnerve Sakura at all. She looked back with indifference, his animosity not finding any purchase. He started trying to raise his hands and head but felt the resistance from the two limbs and the sharp kunai that bit into his throat, drawing a little blood. He glanced to his sides, seeing his arms and ally's state.
"Don't move, or your carotid artery will be sliced. If that happens, you will hemorrhage blood at a rate of about one pint in sixty seconds. With your body size, if you lose three pints, you will die. You'll lose consciousness long before then, especially since you've lost the hand. It takes about thirty to fifty seconds, normally. In your case, you could lose it in twenty to forty seconds," Sakura said clinically. Her eyes calmly looked into his own. She then reached down with her currently freed hand and pulled the severed hand away from his face, showing the wrinkles around his eyes, a single scar over his right eye, and severely chapped lips before tossing it to the side. "Do not test me on this."
"Kids these days are monsters. You just tried to kill us right now, didn't you? What kind of a hero is that?" The pale man wheezed.
"If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead," Sakura replied with a deadpan expression. "I've dealt with people like you in the past, people driven to hatred because of a perception that the world is unjust and deserves to be destroyed. I dealt with them much more… harshly... than I have you. This is me being nice. This is me playing with kid gloves. I am a student of U.A., so I can learn how they do things. Don't tempt me to take the gloves off."
The man still grinned with violent intent, but she could tell that her words had unbalanced him somewhat. Her attention was pulled from the fanatic below her to the stirring warper.
As the warper finally recovered enough from the explosion, he looked up to see Sakura turn her gaze to look him in the eyes. Then he looked down at her captive. "The piece of paper attached to the back of your neck brace is the same type as what caused the explosion a moment ago, only three times larger. If I cancel the signal I am currently sending, it will explode. If I see a single attempt of you trying to use your quirk, I will set it off."
The man reflexively reached for it but paused as Sakura raised her hand in another sign, ready to set it off if needed. "Surrender immediately. Only once you are safely in custody, will I remove it."
She then heard a gurgle after feeling the fool below her test her resolve. He had pushed against the blade, probably thinking she wouldn't dare attempt to kill him. He found out the hard way that he was wrong. She looked back into his eyes, tilted her head a little, and raised an eyebrow.
While the hate was still there, it was drowned out by fear as he felt the blood seeping from his neck with nothing to stop it. He also began to choke as the blood seeped into his throat. His fear grew as she didn't seem concerned about his continued existence. Which she wasn't. But she was attending U.A. to learn to do things differently. So she decided to give the villains one more chance.
"Surrender now, and I will prevent him from dying from his… self-inflicted wound."
Kurogiri looked at his Master's apprentice as it became obvious he was beginning to lose consciousness as his eyes dimmed, then the wound, and finally the girl. They had no chance of escaping and fulfilling the young Master's mission. But his primary mission was the survival of his charge, and he needed to be sure she could fulfill that. "How do I know you can even do that?"
Her free hand reached down to Tomura's ear before it glowed green, and the sliced ear healed over and stopped bleeding. Kurogiri's eyes widened. "The League of Villains formally surrenders at this time."
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
A/N - Early plans allowed for splitting 9 into two parts, the attack and the aftermath. Earlier drafts had the length at only 10k, so I felt there was no need to split it. But while working on it, I quickly found several issues I had to deal with and it ended up growing significantly. It grew to 14k on the next draft, but the one after that quickly grew to 22k.
It was for a far better story, but it went outside my expectations. Someone reminded me I could split it, so chapter 9 is now in more of two parts. Chapter 10 will be posted next week. And concludes Arc 2.