Wow, that was a lot quicker than I expected! With Izuku's battle against Müller finished, we're about to end the first of the original arcs in this story. And thus, we'll be 20 chapters away from being fully caught up to the story on Archive of our Own!
There's also a couple of housekeeping items that are going on today and tomorrow that I wanted to take care of. For starters, I'm still doing the weekly short requests on the forum per usual. But please don't request a short two weeks in a row. That gives people who've wanted to request a short less of a chance to make one.
Also, a brand new synopsis for "Space" will be coming out today! After mulling over my thoughts, I've completely re-outlined the story and will be delivering a summary for it. Hero-Time10, I will be reaching out to you about the changes when I post the synopsis later.
And that's about it! Hopefully, I'll have a general idea of what'll happen with "Through the Rough" by the time we're caught up. For now, I hope you enjoy the new chapter!
"Agh..." Izuku groaned out as he stumbled back, with the blood from his broken arm dripping onto the floor. Müller's disembodied head lied unconscious as Laguna and Eraser approached it. The Tears Lover Quirk user cringed.
"Disgusting..." he muttered out.
"At least he's down..." the Erase Quirk user pointed out, getting his attention.
"Midoriya! Bluegarden!" Holy called out, jogging over to the two injured U.A. students, "I thought Sorahiko was supposed to get you two out of here with the others!" she noted, sounding somewhat frustrated.
"We got separated from them and wound up coming down this way..." the Leaper Quirk user told the I.U.A. Hero in response, "Kamui Woods was here with Shiki, Kleene, Ibara, and Kris..." she listed off as a mention, "The doctor already took them down by the time we showed up..." she recalled.
"But from the looks of it, you took the bastard down!" Mirko pointed out, laughing a little, "Not bad, kid!" she complimented over to the injured Izuku, who gave off a weak smile. Holy exhaled a sigh before cracking a small grin.
"You cheeky boy..." she muttered out. The freckled teen blushed a little... and then locked eyes with Katsuki. He was... shocked to say the least. Not only at his rival's injury, but also at the fact that he had bested a villain seemingly by himself.
"We're not done here yet though," Hermit chimed in as she hopped off of the Explosion Quirk user and stepped forward.
"Hermit!" Holy exclaimed out of surprise.
"Are you alright?" Eraser inquired in concern.
"I'll be a lot better once Shibuya's in the clear," the Shining Star Hero responded, making holographic screens and keyboards appear in front of herself, "Müller set it up so that he'd be able to turn the city into a crater on command," she pointed out, "Fortunately, you guys stopped him," she mentioned, giving off a grateful smile to her fellow heroes and the interns.
"But his hold on Shibuya?" Laguna started to infer.
"Taking care of it right now," Hermit confirmed, "There's a couple firewalls here and there, but..." she noted, humming in thought, "Can someone hand me the doctor's head?" she implored of the group, causing them to blink in surprise. Letting out an exasperated groan, Katsuki went over and picked up Müller's head from the floor, bringing it over.
"Urgh..." he moaned out, opening his eyes to find himself staring straight at Hermit, "AH!" he yelped out, "H-H-H-H-Hermit...!" he stammered out, "Um... I...I..." he tried to say, trembling at the sight of her glare.
"Doctor Nagai..." she began, "you're gonna tell me exactly how to disable your technological hold on Shibuya," she instructed, "Otherwise, this'll get messy..." she threatened.
"EEEEKKK!" Müller shrieked girlishly, "M-My retinal scan will disable everything!" he stuttered out assuredly. Hermit looked at him with narrowed eyes, seemingly unconvinced. However, she blinked and gave off a small smirk.
"It's done," she confirmed to everyone's surprise.
"How did you...?" Rebecca started to ask, noticing that the Shining Star Hero hadn't accessed any of her keyboards.
"Master Code lets me function as if I were a supercomputer," she explained in reply, "Therefore, I can use things like that computers would be connected to, like scanners," she pointed out additionally.
"Oh, I'm so glad I could be of help to you, Miss Hermit...!" Müller pointed out, getting her attention.
"You might've copied my Quirk, but had zero idea as to how to best apply it," she told the mad doctor, "So now you're going to pay for everything you've done..." she vowed.
"Huh?" Müller uttered out.
"Starting with... THIS!" she exclaimed, landing a powerful right hook to the mad doctor's head, sending him flying before he crashed into the wall in agony, tearing up all the while.
"He's got the ugliest tears..." Laguna muttered.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Mirko laughed heartily, "For the smallest of the Stars, you sure got spunk, Hermit!" she pointed out. The Master Code Quirk user gave off a small grin.
"That's because I'm always happy to help people, especially the heroes around me," she noted as a reply. Moments later, Holy helped Rebecca onto her feet, draping her right arm over her shoulders after bandaging the cut there. Izuku staggered, insisting that he didn't want to cause anyone trouble with carrying him. However, Katsuki ignored his warnings and held his right arm over his shoulders.
"Kacchan..." the One For All inheritor uttered out.
"I'm gonna catch up to you, Deku," his rival vowed to his surprise, "Just watch me," he remarked. Izuku blinked in surprise, but then took on a serious expression.
"I'm looking forward to that," he responded, causing the Explosion Quirk user to scoff out of frustration.
"...Hito was there...?" Burnin inquired in shock to Endeavor, who had his head lowered.
"Yes..." he answered. It had been almost an hour since the raid had ended. All of the Nomu that had been taken on were brought into custody, but none of the villains aside from Müller himself were apprehended.
Hawks had mentioned that Kurogiri had shown up to take Seth, while Homura and Shoto confirmed that the same had happened with Diego. Gowen and Hyoga had also escaped somehow.
"At any rate, we completed the mission all the same," Justice pointed out, though he too was frustrated. Losing Elsie after she revealed herself was a difficult thing to accept. He clenched his fists tightly as he vowed to capture her the next time she ever showed her face. In the meantime, Kris and Izuku were both loaded onto stretchers by medical personnel, who brought them into separate ambulances. Kleene and Rebecca looked on worriedly at the sight of them being taken away.
"They'll be fine," Holy assured to the two girls, getting their attentions, "In the meantime, we should get you all to the hospital pretty soon, too," she pointed out.
"Yeah, good call..." Rebecca agreed with a nod, while Kleene gave off a saddened expression.
"Welcome back, Hermit," Witch greeted to the Master Code Quirk user upon reuniting with her and Sister.
"It's good to be back after so long..." she admitted in reply, "Is there still a spot open at UA for me?" she inquired curiously to their surprise.
"You really wanna get in the saddle so soon after all that?" Sister inquired, sounding concerned.
"Don't underestimate me, Ivry," Hermit advised, "I really do wanna help make the best heroes we possibly can for the future," she stated firmly. Her colleagues shared grins, glad that their friend was back safe and sound. Gratitude filled the air. In spite of some failures, the main objective had been achieved. And with it, the internships were coming to an end.
"Thank you so much for this idea, Joe," the mystery villain said gratefully to Drakken, who had just finished his drink as he set the empty glass with ice cubes down, "Although, I don't believe we were able to confirm the exact Quirk of Rebecca Bluegarden..." he pointed out.
"Hmm..." the bar owner hummed, narrowing his eyes onto the security footage replaying of the Leaper Quirk user tackling Müller aside, followed by Izuku landing the attack that ultimately defeated him, "Nah, I think I'm still onto something with this theory of mine..." he noted to the mystery villain's surprise, "But I'll need to do some more experimenting when it comes seeing if it's true or not," he decided, grabbing a bottle of whiskey and pouring some more into his glass.
"You're quite dedicated to this..." the mystery villain mentioned curiously, "Tell me, what could having such a time Quirk mean for you?" he asked.
"For me... the entire world..." Drakken replied with a grin, holding up his glass, "When I know for sure she's got the Quirk I need, then I'll take it..." he declared ominously.
And that concludes the first original arc of "Through the Rough"! I hope you all enjoyed it! We'll be back to school soon with the final exams shortly!
Thanks for reading!