It was almost as if everything played out in slow-motion. Izuku pressed all five of his uncovered fingers on his right hand onto the wall next to him, and the effect was immediate. A spiderweb of cracks pulsed up and across the building, spreading across the alley wall in an instant. A few splinters fell down, fragments of the wall that shook loose from the Decimation process. Then, it was as if an avalanche of concrete and dust came down upon them, larger chunks of the wall falling away from the building and crashing down to the ground in the alley. Izuku didn't check to see if those pieces hit the villains, because he was too busy turning, grabbing onto Uraraka's arm and running away. He activated the mechanism on his gloves, capping his finger again, and the two of them took off. Izuku, once turned around, uncapped his other finger to free it for Decimation. He then, while running with Uraraka, kept his hand fingers running along the wall as it crumbled and fell apart. The two of them made it to the street in no time, adrenaline giving them that extra push forward, and Izuku capped his fingers again as he and Uraraka turned around to see the results of their escape tactic, stopping in the middle of the road.
The alley was a wreck. The wall was non-existent, a patchwork of concrete still hanging onto the foundations, but most of it had fallen onto the ground, and the villains by proxy. Two of them were knocked out, massive chunks of thick concrete having hit them over and over as the wall next to them was Decimated and lying under the rubble. The two bigger, more muscular villains, who Izuku recalled were called Mummy and Minotaurus on the news, were able to avoid or catch the debris that had rained down on them, which wasn't exactly promising if Izuku and and Uraraka were supposed to fight them. The bandaged one, Mummy, had been the one to dodge, and Izuku remembered that he'd been described as having a telekinesis Quirk, but only when it came to those wraps, so he had to fight at least a little bit similarly to Aizawa, which meant Izuku could use some of the flaws he'd seen in Aizawa's style against Mummy. The other one, Minotaurus, had been the one to just catch the debris and was now holding it over his head like a trophy. His one eye turned to the two kids, and his face slowly stretched into a sick grin that sent a shiver down Izuku's spine.
Izuku saw what was going to happen the moment before it did. He abruptly put his arm over Uraraka's shoulder and yanked her down to the ground, the large piece of concrete that Minotaurus had thrown quickly soaring over them. An earth-shaking crash came from behind them, the projectile slamming onto the ground, and Uraraka quickly began pulling Izuku away from the two villains, who were now slowly walking towards them with large, cocky grins on their faces, and had just exited the alley themselves.
"What do we do?" Uraraka whispered, still pulling on Izuku's hoodie to put distance between them and the villains as the two groups made their way across the street.
"I don't know. We both have touch-based Quirks, which means we'll have to get in close if we want to fight these guys, but that runs the risk of getting pummelled to death by the big guy, or caught in the mummy's wraps," Izuku whispered back.
"You know these guys?" asked Uraraka, a flash of confusion in her eyes.
"Well, not personally!" Izuku whisper-shouted, which got a sharp exhale from Uraraka, and even if it was just a pity laugh, or a stress-thing, he'd take it. "They were on the news a while ago. That guy—" he pointed to Mummy, "—can control those wraps, and the other is strong enough to crush us with no effort."
"Right, so don't get close. How can we fight them, then?" Uraraka asked. "I can get you up to the top of the building and you can bring it down on them, but I have a feeling that they wouldn't just be knocked out," she offered.
"Yeah, we don't want to kill anyone, and it's unclear what their limits are. We can assume that Minotaurus has enhanced durability to go with his strength, but Mummy's just a regular guy that can control that specific kind of fabric. If the simulation is realistic enough, I could get under them in the sewers and pull the rug out from under them, but I don't think that's happening," Izuku hurriedly explained.
Minotaurus and Mummy were getting closer. Izuku and Uraraka were still backing away, having been forced to change directions to walk further down the street as the two massive villains followed them at a relaxed pace. Izuku knew that they were just stalling for time, but he couldn't think of a great plan to take these guys out with them looming just a few metres away. It was like having a burning fuse, or a ticking clock right in his face every time he tried to think of something to do. He looked around, feeling his heart begin beating so hard he thought his ribs might shatter. He couldn't see anything that could help them. The Conflagration Zone was just a regular city area, only on fire. Maybe they could do something with the fire? Izuku didn't know how to defeat these villains. He couldn't think right with the pain in his arm only getting more intense as he used it and the fog that was filling his brain at the way villains' eyes looked at him like he was nothing. It was so eerily reminiscent of the way all his peers had looked at him for a decade, and it made Izuku's hands feel numb. He couldn't do this. This was crazy! Decimation wasn't good for a head to head fight, at least not the way he used it, and he refused to use it that way. Izuku was useless.
He looked over at Uraraka to find that she was looking at him with the look he probably had on his face. That was no good, just because he couldn't do anything didn't mean that she should be scared. But she was scared, and Izuku just standing around doing nothing wasn't going to help. Waiting for someone else to do something wouldn't get them out of the situation, wouldn't save their lives, wouldn't get rid of that terrified look that was so unlike the usual Uraraka that it kind of hurt a little bit. Izuku had to do something, but what could he do? He couldn't get close to Minotaurus, he'd just get crushed. So his first target had to be Mummy, but how could he defeat that guy? Maybe if he could take away his wraps, but how? Izuku thought he had a way, but he was unsure if it would work the way he wanted it to. If he did it like that, he could very well Decimate the villain, and he didn't want that. Izuku wasn't even sure it worked that way, since it'd only done it once and then never after. The doctors said it was technically a feature of his Quirk, but that it was blocked for some reason, so was he able to pull this off without killing anyone? He had no reason to believe it had become unblocked, so maybe he was safe. There was only one way to find out, which Izuku hated, but accepted at the same time. He had to do this to keep himself and Uraraka safe.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Izuku shot off toward Mummy. He was banking on a sense of pride forcing the man to engage him in single combat, and not allow Minotaurus to aid him in ganging up on Izuku. So, he rushed towards the smaller, yet still towering and muscular man. Izuku got close enough to be snagged by the wraps, and slowed down so that it would be easier to be caught. It was almost as if Mummy's wraps had come to life, lifting off his body to unravel from his torso and arms. This revealed a number of patches across the man's skin that were pure scar tissue, stretched and pulled tight across his body as it had seemingly healed long ago. Was this the reason he wore them like real bandages, and not something like Aizawa's capture weapon, which could be worn like a scarf? It was a horrible warped approximation of skin, almost looking like burn scars. Then, the bandages shot forward, crossing the distance between the two of them in what felt like an instant. Izuku reached out to his sides, getting low to dodge the bandages sent at his torso, but throwing his hands out to grab onto two of the wraps. As his hands reached toward two of the strands, Izuku activated the mechanism in his gloves, uncapping his fingers and allowing him to use Decimation with both.
As his hands wrapped around the bandages, Izuku kept his thumbs off for a moment. It was as if the whole world froze as Izuku had one last chance to abandon his plan and not risk it at all. It was the only thing he could think of, though, there was no other course of action, so he had to do it. Izuku took a deep breath in and tried to ignore how his stomach seemed to be trying to climb up through his throat and escape him, and pressed all five fingers on each strand of the bandages that he'd caught. The effect was instantaneous, with the bandages turning from a dark, grey colour, likely from the lack of proper cleaning, into a more washed out, lighter grey as Decimation took effect. A wave of dust almost pulsed down the wraps, and Izuku felt his heart stop for a moment as the effect reached the bundle still wrapped around Mummy. It snaked around, the bandages beginning to fall to tatters, but nothing happened to him. He looked around at what was effectively his Quirk turning to nothing in plain sight, and watched as a line of dust sprinkled to the ground between himself and Izuku, who dropped the particulate remains of the bandages that he'd been holding onto.
Mummy stared at him, his face uncovered. His scarring wasn't as numerous, a single long slash starting from his left temple and running all the way down to his chin, barely crossing his lips and forcing the corner of his mouth into a downwards tilt, emulating a scowl on the one half of his face. That was it, as the rest of his face was perfectly unharmed. That was, except for the hurt look in Mummy's eyes as they met Izuku's, the boy who'd just taken away his Quirk, for all that it mattered. The man's Quirk let him control the very specific item of bandages, and without any around, he was effectively Quirkless. That meant that Izuku's other plans could work now. He stepped back and regrouped with Uraraka while Mummy ranted and raved about how Izuku was going to die.
"Nice!" Uraraka breathed.
"Thanks. Now, I'm gonna distract the big guy. While I do that, can you use your Quirk on Mummy and launch him at Minotaurus?" Izuku said under his breath.
"Of course," Uraraka said, her eyes set in a hard determination.
"Great. Okay, now!" Izuku replied, taking off into a sprint once again.
Izuku ran across the street, while Uraraka rounded on Mummy from the opposite direction. Izuku focused on his own fight with the massive hulking pile of muscles in front of him, and quickly came up with a plan of attack. He dodged an attempted blow, feeling a thud behind him, accompanied by what felt like a small earthquake. Minotaurus was a bull Mutant, but his primary ability was his enhanced strength, rating among the likes of Death Arms. It was something to look out for, but there was often a tradeoff with Quirks. If a Quirk let its user do something really well, there was often a drawback that meant they did something else really poorly, and in Minotaurus' case, that had to have been speed. He was big and bulky, and that leant itself well to power, but not to mobility, and so that was what Izuku had to use against him. He leapt to the side of the incoming punch, feeling it impact the ground behind him, and stumbled to a stop on the sidewalk, in front of a brick wall.
Minotaurus quickly recovered, though, facing Izuku's way again and stepping forward with an arm back, ready to punch again. Izuku stepped back and called on his experience in the battle trial to use his Quirk to dig into the wall and carve out a chunk of brick that he then Decimated, turning into a bunch of dust and gravel in his hand. When Minotaurus punched, Izuku capped his right hand, his free hand, and used it to do a one-handed vault over the Mutant's arm, which flew right into the wall and was stuck there for a moment. Izuku used that opportunity to throw the dusty remains of the brick in his eye, which was open and fixed on him in anger. Minotaurus then fell to his knees and screamed in anger and, presumably, pain, as his eye was forced closed and he clutched at his face with his good hand.
Izuku then thought of a quick plan that could've worked out well if he did it right. First, he got clear of Minotaurus so that he couldn't be caught in his good hand just by accident. He looked over at where he'd last known Mummy to be to check on Uraraka's progress, to see her pinned to the ground under him, face pushed down into the road and Mummy's body over her, keeping her down. He was laughing, but he'd left her hands unrestrained, which along with the fact that they'd sent two physical fighters against two people with touch-based Quirks, made it click for Izuku that these villains didn't know what their Quirks actually were. They were just randomly distributing them across the facility and hoping that they won. Could they not get information on their Quirks, or were they that confident that they were stronger than a bunch of kids barely in high school? Well, it turned out that they were wrong, because Uraraka simply slapped the guy in the face, negating gravity's pull on him. She bit him to force his hand off her face, something which put Izuku at ease, and allowed him to float up into the air, about a storey high, before coming back down and landing flat on his back, which knocked the wind out of him. Izuku winced as he felt the tiniest bit of sympathy for the man, but remembered that these guys were trying to kill them, and suddenly that sympathy was gone.
Izuku looked back to Minotaurus, seeing that he was still trying to clear his vision, but he'd gotten his hand unstuck from the wall. He ran up to Minotaurus and leapt, going as fast as he could. Izuku used the massive Mutant's solid body as a platform to push himself up and toward the wall he'd previously used to do his trick with the dust in Minotaurus' eye. Izuku caught himself on the wall, digging his fingers in with the help of Decimation and creating handholds that stabilised as soon as he took his thumb off the wall. He'd debated the usefulness of this ability of his, but UA was really showing him all his Quirk had to offer in the utility department. Izuku used this technique to climb up the wall, getting to the second storey before he looked back down. He saw Uraraka holding Mummy, who was still wheezing and trying to collect himself, by the leg, using her Quirk on him to keep him airborne. She smiled up at him, giving him a thumb's up, and Izuku gave both back, signalling that he was ready for her to launch Mummy, which she did.
Uraraka threw Mummy forward and he soared through the air, not held down by gravity at all. He lost no momentum on the way, only increasing along the path he took across the street. He collided with Minotaurus' head, who stumbled forwards, having been hit from the back. His head tilted forward, too, and Izuku saw his shot. He let go of his handholds in the wall and dropped down, capping his hands again and clearing himself of risk. Izuku fell through the air as Minotaurus recovered, coming down on him as he was about to pick his head back up and resume trying to clear his eye of debris. Instead, Izuku fell down and grabbed onto his horns, two big, blue, curvy horns that stuck out of his head like a bull's. Izuku held the ends of the horns tight as he kept falling, his momentum only dampened by the way Minotaurus' head jerked forward as he was dragged toward the ground as well. Izuku landed feet first, and used the rest of his momentum to pull downwards and bring Minotaurus' face to the ground, slamming him onto the pavement of the sidewalk and knocking the bull out, having caught him off guard and already in pain from the trick with his eye. Minotaurus and Mummy dropped like a sack of rocks, falling to the ground in a heap of limbs and bruised flesh. Minotaurus wasn't knocked out completely, dazed but conscious, so Izuku backed up, took a running start and kicked him in the face, finishing the job and making sure that Uraraka and himself were safe.
When Minotaurus was down, Uraraka rushed up to him and wrapped him in a hug. Izuku, in the rush of things, reciprocated before he thought about what he was doing, and the two of them stood on the sidewalk over two unconscious villains, embracing each other after having taken down four bad guys all by themselves during their first week of high school. It was exhilarating, it was terrifying, it was making Izuku's heart beat faster than he could keep track of and making the blood rush in his ears so that he couldn't hear a word Uraraka said as she pulled away, looking him in the eyes and talking in a muffled voice that Izuku couldn't decipher under the pulse of his heart that overtook his hearing.
"I'm sorry, what?" he asked, smiling like an idiot.
"Your bandages!" she said again, with considerably more worry in her tone than he'd thought there would be.
Izuku took a moment to realise what Uraraka meant. He looked down at his arm and saw that there was no longer a winding strip of white over his injury. It was bare to the world, and a dull throbbing pulsed up and down his arm as he realised that he'd overdone it and used it during the fight. The adrenaline had to be masking most of the pain, but some still bled through, and made him hurriedly search for the bandages with his eyes. He found it, a pale white dirtied by the soot and ash on the street next to some of the Decimated remains of Mummy's bandages. Perhaps he'd tried to manipulate it in a last ditch attempt at winning, and it hadn't been enough. Maybe it'd just fallen off in the fight. Izuku had no way of knowing, and he also couldn't use that bandage now, due to it getting dirty. It would get his wound infected if he did, and he'd destroyed Mummy's bandages, which probably would've brought the same result if he tried them. He'd also left his first aid supplies up at the main entrance, and they were on the opposite side of the USJ from there, if his memory was correct. Shit, they were in trouble if Izuku had to just leave his injury exposed to the elements in the only zone that could just spit ash and soot and grime at him due to the fires. Uraraka also had a scrape on her cheek, one that allowed two drops of blood to streak down her face like mauve tears, and which needed attention as well, attention he couldn't give it due to leaving his supplies behind when they were warped. That combined with the fact that the facility was swarming with villains, meant that they were in big trouble, and Izuku wasn't sure if he could get the two of them out of it. They'd managed to resolve that one fight without getting very badly injured, but Izuku didn't know if they could keep that up. Definitely not if there'd be pain worse than he was currently feeling when the adrenaline from the fight wore off. Izuku had to think. What could they do?
They didn't really have a choice, was what Izuku realised after a moment of thinking. All he and Uraraka could do was to move forward, get back to the main entrance however they could. It'd be rough, and a difficult journey would lie ahead, but they had to try. What kind of heroes would they turn out to be if they didn't at least try to get back to their friends and their teachers, and help out with the villains? Izuku turned to Uraraka, who looked back at him with the same face he was likely making, one of steel nerves. She knew as well as he did that heroes didn't back down from a fight, and this would likely be the most important one they ever had, the one that decided whether or not they got the chance to be legit. If they didn't fight and win here, they died. It was morbid, but it was true. These people wanted to kill All Might, and they wouldn't try, would announce it like they did, if they had no shot. They had a way to kill All Might, Izuku was sure of it, which meant that they could squash any one of them like bugs beneath their shoe. Wasn't the essence of a hero standing up and fighting in the face of overwhelming odds? Wasn't that what All Might preached about? So they had to, and both of them knew it as they shared that look.
There was only one thing to do, then.
"Let's go get these assholes back."
