We've breached 70 chapters! This isn't my longest story on FanFiction, at least not yet, but it's certainly one I'm happy to keep coming back to. And with this chapter, we'll only be three more away from being caught up with the story on Ao3!
So let's not delay things any further! Welcome back to "Through the Rough"!
By the time the group made their way to the server room, there were more bots waiting for them. And to make matters worse, Melissa warned them that they couldn't damage any of the servers in the room, otherwise the entire security system would be compromised with no way to reset it. So Tenya insisted that Izuku and Rebecca continue on with the inventor while he and the others held the bots off.
"Ochaco, Shiki," Melissa called out, getting the attentions of the two gravity Quirk users, "you should come with us, too," she advised.
"Okay," Shiki responded with a nod, "Good luck, guys!" he called out to his classmates, hurrying after his friends along with Ochaco.
"Be careful, Shi-! I mean, be careful, everyone!" Momo yelled, correcting herself in the nick of time as she blushed. She then created a cannon for Kyoka to use, providing her with soft ammunition. Minoru pulled off several sticky balls from his head to chuck at the bots, while Tenya activated his Recipro Burst to speedily strike down more of the bots.
"The further we get, the more of us have to stay behind..." Rebecca noted aloud with a grimace as she and others continued down the corridor.
"They're doing what they can so we can save everyone," Izuku pointed out, getting her attention, "And we'll save them for sure!" he vowed additionally.
"Yeah!" Ochaco agreed with a nod.
"Those bad guys aren't gonna stop us!" Shiki declared additionally.
"Right!" Melissa responded as she grinned
"Oh, this is perfect!" Labilia exclaimed, causing the others to look over and see her still following them with her cube-shaped device still recording, "These young heroes are going ahead and doing whatever it takes to save us!" she pointed out emphatically, "Ooh, it's so perfect!" she declared with excitement in her tone. Rebecca blinked out of surprise.
'And here I thought she'd be too scared to keep up with us this long...' she admitted to herself, evidently impressed with the content creator's bravery. Back in the corridor leading to the server room, Weisz and Baku stood off from each other, waiting for the first move to be made. They dashed forward simultaneously, with the latter's huge battle axe striking the armored teen first and sending him flying. He managed to land on his feet, skidding to a halt.
'Big guy's pretty fast...' he noted to himself, 'Guess I gotta step up my game...' he realized, customizing his armor to have machine guns at the forearms.
"Vise Cannon!" he yelled, firing off several shots. Baku easily sped around them, slamming his battle axe into his foe's stomach and pinning him against the wall.
"You're no match for me, Arsenal," he proclaimed while narrowing his eyes, "Even that armored suit of yours can't withstand the might of my axe..." he added.
"Yeah..." Weisz grunted out in admittance, "but I'm more than just a suit!" he declared, slamming his right hand against the wall and making a yellow glow emit from it. All of a sudden, metal panels shifted around, causing the beastly villain to glance up. He gasped to see dozens of turrets aimed at him. "Million Bullets... ONLINE!" the Machina Maker Quirk user exclaimed. The turrets started firing, forcing Baku to jump away as he grimaced.
That allowed for Weisz to form a pair of boosters at his legs, rocketing himself forward to tackle his foe. He growled, retaliating by striking the armored teen with his axe again. However, he grabbed the blade, pulling it out of the beastly villain's grasp and flinging it aside.
"Think it's time for you to meet your match, villain!" he decided, remodeling the armor around his left forearm to make another cannon, which he aimed upwards, "Grandy-Ray!" he exclaimed, firing a ray beam that streaked across the ceiling as explosions rained out in its wake.
"Why the hell are you aiming up-?" Baku stopped his question upon realizing that there was debris falling toward him. He attempted to speed away, only for Weisz to cross his path and land a fierce right hook to his stomach, knocking him back. Debris piled over his body as he fell unconscious.
"Huh..." the Machina Maker Quirk user sighed out in relief, letting his armor peel off from him and return to the wristwatch-like device he had, "Glad I didn't use the full time..." he noted aloud, "but I gotta hurry and catch up with everyone," he declared, jogging off past the pile of debris.
"What's all this?" Shiki wondered aloud upon seeing that he and the others had arrived at an outside section of the tower where wind turbines were moving all the up several floors.
"It's a wind power generation system for the tower," Melissa told him, "Since we're outside, we can get up the tower without needing to climb up all the stairs," she pointed out.
"'Cause we can float you all up!" Ochaco realized, speaking for herself and Shiki.
"Okay, I'll take Rebecca and that other girl," the Satan Gravity Quirk user decided.
"And I'll float Deku and Melissa!" Ochaco declared with a nod. A moment later, Melissa mounted herself onto Izuku's back, allowing for the Zero Gravity Quirk user to tap them with her fingertips, letting them head upwards.
"You girls ready?" Shiki asked as he grabbed onto Rebecca and Labilia's hands with his own.
"Yeah," the former responded as she gave off a nod.
"How high are we gonna go exactly?" the content creator inquired, sounding nervous. Green-glowing markings appeared along the arms of the Satan Gravity Quirk user before he floated up with them, keeping pace with Izuku and Melissa. However, they took notice of dozens of security bots coming toward Ochaco below them, and they weren't even close to reaching the nearest floor.
"Uraraka!" the One For All inheritor cried out.
"You gotta release your Quirk!" Melissa screamed.
"I can't!" Ochaco yelled back, "If I do that, then you won't be able to reach the top!" she pointed out.
"Ochaco, no!" Rebecca shouted in a panic. Shiki grimaced in frustration, gritting his teeth together. He couldn't help with Rebecca and Labilia still holding onto him. It seemed like the bots were going to get to the Zero Gravity Quirk user, who stood her ground. But just as one lunged out at her...
"ODIN STRIKE!" a familiar voice bellowed, followed by several red energy swords raining out and piercing through a good portion of the bots, causing them to explode.
"Ah!" Ochaco gasped, looking over to see Homura running over alongside Shoto and Eijiro, while Katsuki was ferociously blasting more of the bots back.
"Are you alright, Uraraka?" the Soul Blade Quirk user asked as she slid to a stop in front of her defensively.
"Yeah, thanks," her classmate replied in gratitude, "I just used my Quirk on Deku and Melissa to get them up higher," she told the group.
"Nice job," Shoto said, "Now you can help us stop these bots!" he proclaimed, unleashing a wave of ice from his right side to entrap several of the incoming droids. Above them, Izuku smiled in relief.
"Now we've got a clear shot to-! WHOA!" he yelped, interjecting himself due to the wind turbine blowing him away.
"Oh no!" Ochaco cried out upon noticing.
"They're getting blown away!" Rebecca noted in a panic. Thinking quickly, Shoto threw off his jacket and ran over.
"Bakugo, aim the propeller at Midoriya!" he requested of the Explosion Quirk user.
"Don't tell me what to do, dammit!" he yelled back... right before blasting himself up to one of the turbines and knocking it slightly over. What followed was Shoto igniting his left arm with flames before firing off a stream of fire into the propeller. The hot wind blew Izuku and Melissa back toward the tower.
"That did it!" Ochaco exclaimed.
"Wow, this super teamwork is amazing!" Labilia excitedly yelled as she kept recording.
"Yeah... it is..." Rebecca agreed. Thanks to Shoto's help, Izuku went ahead and unleashed a full-powered smash to break a hole through to get inside. Ochaco was quick to release her Quirk, allowing him and Melissa to fall onto the floor.
"Guys, are they okay?!" the Zero Gravity Quirk user asked loudly.
"I think so!" Rebecca responded with a nod, "Shiki, let me and Labilia go with Izuku and Melissa!" she advised of the Satan Gravity Quirk user, getting his attention as he blinked in surprise, "We'll meet you at the two-hundredth floor!" she assured.
"Right!" he replied, floating over to gently toss her and the content creator into the hole in the wall, making sure they landed safely. He then flew upwards with a determined look on his face.
"Is he going to be alright alone?" Melissa asked as she and Izuku got up from the floor.
"Shiki's strong," Rebecca replied reassuringly, "No bad guy's gonna get the drop on him that easy," she mentioned with a grin.
Staring at the security system monitors, Nino narrowed his eyes. Most of the U.A. students had been captured, but there were still a few roaming about and getting closer to the top. He didn't pay any mind to it, instead focusing on the flash drive he plugged in underneath the desk. It blinked a bright green, enticing him to remove it before stuffing it into his pocket.
"Yeah, got it," Swordkil said, having just responded to a call as his fingers were pressed against his earpiece.
"Wolfram?" Nino guessed, arching an eyebrow.
"He wants us to deal with the kids," Swordkil answered, "Let's go," he insisted, enticing his colleague to follow after him.
Now we've only got some heavy action and amazing heroism left to get through in the next few chapters! Hopefully, the next one will be out as soon as tomorrow!
Thanks for reading!