Chapter Seventy
The Villain stood before me, part of a Lovecraftian amalgamation of cables, pipes, and other bits of metal, glowing with a dark violet aura for some reason, as he proclaimed how weak All Might was, after the Symbol of Peace just went through the top of a helicopter and out the bottom, somehow plucking the inventor, David Shield, out without further hurting him, though the man had been reclaimed by the Villain and was now entangled and trapped in that shifting conglomeration.
"He's using the professor's device!" Midoriya gasped.
"What?" I asked, at a loss, having no idea what was going on.
Izuku pointed at the Villain, no, he pointed at the odd pseudo-crown the man was wearing. "It's a Quirk amplifier!"
"It's a what!?" I repeated, wondering where the hell that'd come from. You could not mess with Quirks directly, only able to work around their expressions, like putting someone with touch-based powers in special manacles with hollow balls at the end to prevent them from touching anything, or adding tools that people could use their Quirks through, like Uraraka's grappling hooks. This was one of the few hard-limits of Support Items, or, at least, I thought it'd been.
Behind us both, All Might coughed wetly as he stood, body steaming slightly. "Damn, not much time," he swore to himself, taking a stance, facing the Villain. "You really don't know when to give up, do you?" All Might asked, before launching himself forward in a blur, the ground beneath his feet shattering as he leapt forward.
Pulling one hand back, a shimmer of blue light shone around his fist for a brief moment as he called out "Texas Smash!"
However, before he'd even passed Midoriya, Mellissa, and I, a fifteen-foot-thick block of metal shot up from the ground, intercepting the punch. The shockwave from the impact nearly took me off my feet, as I stumbled back, but All Might was stopped cold.
"Is that all you got?" the Villain taunted, in that bitonal voice of his. Two square columns of metal, easily three feet across, shot from the raised square, impacting All Might and sending him flying backwards once more, as blue light shone from the cracked surface of the roof, like spreading veins.
The floor started twisting upwards, as if it had come alive and was breaking free, as all across the helipad, and beyond, more and more of metal was lifted upwards, trailing wires, cables, and everything else, as it filled the air with floating scrap, most of it swirling towards the Villain who was raised up higher and higher on a throne of metal.
"David Shield's genius lives up to its reputation!" the Villain crowed, as he displayed a level of power far beyond what I'd expect out of anyone, perhaps save All Might or All for One. "I can tell my Quirk's growing more powerful! Mua ha ha ha! It feels amazing! I'm never takin' this off!"
"Dave," All Might asked himself, his voice carrying even over the sounds of destruction. "What in the world have you made?"
Lesson one, shoot while your enemy is distracted, I thought, lifting my charged hand and dropping the iron coin into it. With the harsh SNAP of the round going supersonic, it shot away, headed right for the Villain, only for it to curve, impossibly, at the last moment and miss him by inches.
"Oh?" the empowered man asked, amused, waving a hand, all of the debris in the air around me suddenly speeding in my direction.
Acting on instinct alone, I leapt away, turning my arms to lightning, extending them as a shield in front of me to take the blows of the flying scrap. The impacts knocked me off course, sending me tumbling, but they didn't pierce my arms, which protected me from the attack.
"Young Kaminari, stay back!" All Might ordered, worry clear in his tone, as I fell, letting my arms snap back to change my legs instead, attaching to some of the metal that wasn't under the Villain's direct control.
But why had I missed? I questioned myself, one hand going to my necklace, only to find it was floating upwards as well, bobbing in the air just under my chin.
I tried to shoot the guy who controls metal, with metal. . . I'm an idiot, I couldn't help but think, as the Villain smiled. "Yes, boy," he taunted. "Stay back."
The man stood upon an enormous amalgamation of scrap, flowing and twisting into an towering humanoid form, two blue lights on either side of the Villain giving the appearance of eyes, while several more titanic tentacles of scrap lifted up high in the air behind the Villain. Now, in addition to the sourceless violet light, there was an amber glow under the purple radiance peeking out from the inside of the construct, and, looking closely, the Villain's eyes were twin violet stars, something deeply wrong about this entire thing, making me want to do nothing but turn and run.
But there was no way to do that, while saving everyone, as the Villain had long since passed the point of no return.
"Stay put, like a good little weakling. After all, I'll need witnesses!" the metal controller laughed. "I'll need you to tell everyone what happened here. And once you do, I can jack up the price to whatever I want when I sell copies of the device used to kill the world's Number One Hero!"
From the humanoid mass of metal more square tendrils shot out, trying to hit All Might as he jumped backwards and forwards, leaping up in a punch, not bothering to name it, only to be hit by another tendril while he was stopping the first. While he was able to punch through part of it, the metal came down upon him in a nearly endless stream, slamming the Symbol of Peace down into the rooftop, causing it to come apart underneath our feet.
Melissa screamed as she fell, Midoriya catching her in a single leap, while I rode the metal, sliding and jumping, trying to join them. Glancing backwards, I could see All Might hadn't been put through the rooftop, but had landed on it, straining with both arms to keep the column, over twice his height, from smashing him flat, even more steam rising off of strained muscles, the man likely near his time limit just from the rest of us getting up here in the first place.
Laughing, the Villain sent two more equally large tendrils that shot forward with a crash, and, contrary to what he said, smaller tendrils came for Midoriya and I, though, with OfA, we were both able to dodge, as I used my Induction Grind to make up for my lack of raw strength, when compared to Deku.
"Why won't you just die!?" the Villain demanded, sending another six metal tendrils towards All Might, only for a familiar cracking sound to ring out, the enormous metal columns frozen solid. Midoriya and I landed, as a volley of rockets were shot straight for the Villain, a metal wall rising to block them, as they detonated in a rising fireball.
The others! I thought, and took off in an instant, leaving Midoriya and Melissa behind. Sure enough, they'd caught up to us, though, looking at them, I realized that most of my classmates wouldn't be able to help in this fight at all. Hell, I wasn't terribly useful, my strength not high enough, and my main attack effortlessly ignored. Or maybe it wasn't strong enough, I thought, a plan forming.
"We're here to help!" Mina yelled, looking to All Might with worry. She glanced up as I approached, and relief was clear on her features as I landed next to them. "Thank god you're okay, Sparky!"
"Thank you, Ms. Ashido," All Might grit out.
Shoto, his left arm aflame to counter the frost covering his right, added, "We'll do what we can! We'll help you!"
"Todoroki!" Izuku gasped, as if we weren't going to come save him. "Everyone!"
"Ashido, Asui, and I will try to handle the free-floating debris!" Ida announced, "Yaoyorozu, continue fire support with your rockets! Kaminari, use your long-ranged attack!"
. . . I'm gonna fuckin' kill him, I thought as I approached, and they took off without a word, and without hearing about the Villain's capabilities. Momo's on her last legs, and can probably manage one more volley, and it leaves the others standing around. I fired another coin, striking one of the columns instead of the Villain, and it struck true, frozen metal shattering, confirming my theory. "Momo, belay that order. I need five depleted uranium rods, dense, and magnetic, but not radioactive. Uraraka, render them massless until I fire them. Sero, help her, and drop them between my arms when I say go. Mei, I'm gonna need you to aim me." They all looked at me for a moment, confused. "Now!"
The others hurried as I turned, facing the Villain, and went down on one knee, arms outstretched as I started to cycle electricity through them. Mei, understanding what I meant to do, stood behind me and reached forwards, grasping my biceps and lowering where I was pointing.
Ida, Mina, and Tsu leapt in, breaking, or melting, through the frozen iron tendrils, while the Villain made more, which were promptly frozen themselves by Todoroki. "Got it," Ochaco called from behind, Sero stepping up beside me, looking unsure. Changing legs to lightning, and hooking them into the jagged metal floor, I told Sero, "go."
He let go of the bar, which hung there for a moment, before he realized he needed to push it, as it was currently weightless. I pulled back on the current as it dropped, ramping it up as hard as I could when Mei squeezed me, telling me to fire.
My arms were forced apart by the blast, accidentally smacking Sero, and it was only the fact that I was technically part of the floor that kept be stable, though I did take Mei off her feat as I was pushed back, my partner just hanging on as I started to right myself.
But it was worth it.
The metal wall, which had held up under Yaoyorozu's barrage was pierced, a thirty foot tall ragged hole torn through it, passing through, and missing the Villain, but obliterating half of the long metal tentacle it did strike on its way out.
The attack gave the Villain pause, turning and starting to go after us, but that was all the distraction All Might needed, blasting back the five metal tendrils that'd converged on him, leaping upwards, then throwing his limbs back to shoot himself towards the Villain at speed.
"It's time to be, PLUS ULTRA!" he roared, the remaining frozen tendrils breaking free and streaking towards him, converging on him, but he punched through them, grabbing on and shoving himself forward at blistering speed, flying past them, skimming along one, another catching him as he halfway dodged it, but the man just punched it and dragged his fist through the metal as he continued to close on the Villain.
Another almost caught him and he twisted around it, sliding down it as a second came in to smash him, a third coming from behind, as he timed his jump, the force of his leap enough to break the tendril he was standing on, throw the first into the third's path, and flying downrange, towards the Villain, parallel to the second as he would not be stopped.
Over halfway there, three enormous tendrils rose to strike him at once, and he closed his eyes as he crossed his arms, announcing to the heavens, "Carolina SMASH!"
Hitting him, I don't know exactly what the hell he did but he fucking glowed, and enormous x-shaped light shining for a moment, the tendrils just gone, before the light gained in intensity until it lit up the entire roof, Mei and Sero holding on to me to weather the shockwave, Ochaco, Mineta, and Momo all clinging together as well.
"Prepare yourself, VILLAIN!" the Symbol of Peace roared in anger, fist outstretched, the single blow all that was likely required to end this fight.
Only to be caught short, as dozens of wires entangled him, wrapping around every limb, trying to pull him back mere feet away from his target and though the man had enough momentum to hold steady, still pushing closer. One wire snapped, and another started to give way as well, All Might powering through it as he grit out, "Nice trick, but –"
The strongest man in the world was cut off as the Villain shoved his hand forward, wrapping it around the Symbol of Peace's throat. The Villain's sleeve started to expand, before it ripped itself apart, the terrorist's muscles bulging almost obscenely, before they started glowing an unnatural red, like superheated metal.
"Prepare myself?" the Villain taunted. "Take your own advice!" the man commanded, the blackened flesh around his mouth seeming to burn off, revealing only glowing hot skin, his eyes two points of purple light in completely dark sockets. "You've underestimated me!"
The enemy reached forward with his free hand, placing it directly on All Might's badly-healed wound, and squeezed, the Number One Hero screaming out in pain.
"All Might!" Midoriya called, running towards the two of them, before stumbling, holding his shoulder as his face screwed up, as if he was in agony as well, as the Villain looked back at the rest of us, and negligently started sending more long tendrils of metal, each massing several times a subway train, at us.
Asui, Ida, and Mina were able to dodge, Todoroki sliding away on his ice, but the rest of us were far more stationary. Thankfully, we had the next shot prepped, only not firing because All Might had closed the distance.
As two tendrils rose up, twisting between each other like enormous snakes, before descending on us, Mei shifted me, and squeezed, my "Go!" reflexive as Sero dropped the next rod, and I fired as the two columns crossed again, catching them both in the blast and jettisoning the metal away from us, to rain down on the rest of I-Island.
I'm so glad everyone's inside, I thought, as more tendrils rose up, coming after us, and I fired my third shot, then my fourth, each one taking about a tenth of my maximum. I'd recharged a little while everyone was talking, but I was only good for three more before I found out if my new defenses would stop my brain from short circuiting itself.
Over the din of battle, I could still barely make out the conversation All Might and the boosted Villain were having, though, by most metrics, I should be deaf to anything over the sound of my own firing. Toshinori said something, too low for me to understand, but the Villain's response was clear.
"Oh yes," The glowing man sneered. "While we were planning this little plot, I received an intriguing phone call from the man himself! He said he wanted to work with me to help. When I asked him why he would bother, he was happy to explain his interest! He said, 'If All Might's friend wants to have a hand in something evil, I will assist you in his fall from grace in any way that I can! I regret only that I will not be able to see All Might's face twist in pain when he discovers the truth about the professor!'"
. . . what? I thought, processing this, even as I let Mei move me, I called back to her, "I've only got three more in the tank. Make them count!" I could feel her hesitate, before moving me down and over slightly, as the tendrils came closer, and closer, and closer, Sero looking very nervous when I finally felt her squeeze and shouted "Go!", the boy dropping the rod, and I fired it low, at the base of several tendrils, blasting them to pieces as the metal attacks kept their original momentum and fell to either side of us, the tendrils disassembling themselves and slowly crawling back to the humanoid conglomeration the Villain was hooked in.
All Might, kind of unnecessarily, shouted, "All for One is behind this!?"
"What's the matter?" The Villain taunted, the tentacles that were coming for us stopping as he focused fully on the Symbol of Peace. "Looks like you finally stopped smiling!"
"NOOOOOOO!" All Might cried out, in rage and despair, struggling forward to reach the villain despite the restraining wires, almost making it to him before a small tendril shot forward, slamming him in the chest and shoving him back until the wires were taught in the other direction, the three-foot wide column of blunt metal trying to push through the man.
It was only then that I noticed that the free-floating debris had clumped together, making scrap cubes, each ten feet across, each subtly glowing violet. Two of them slammed together, catching All Might between them with the force of a car crash, sparks erupting as they impacted.
More cubes slammed down, and even more, "All Might, no!" the others cryed, while Mei just turned me to point right at the villain, squeezing my arms.
"Go!" I commanded, but Sero was watching, dumbstruck, deaf to me. "Sero!"
But he didn't respond, as the Villain jeered, "Farewell, 'Symbol of Peace'!" raising his hands up, as half a dozen rods with sharpened tips, each one several feet across, burst up from the ground, all piercing through the scrap, and through where All Might should be.
As I heard Melissa scream out, "Uncle Might, No!" I diverted a bit of electricity to leap out, shocking Sero with a few hundred volts.
"Gah!" he yelped, eyes wide, "What-"
"I said go!" I snapped, glaring at the boy, before looking forward.
The tape teen hesitated, before nodding, even as Midoriya leapt up, fist pulled back, angrily announcing "Detroit Smash!"
Deku hit, and in an instant the combined scrap was blown away, bits of metal flying in every direction, the boy falling downwards, but so was All Might, injured, but still alive.
As the shrapnel rained, Sero finally dropped the fifth rod, and I fired it right for the Villain, ready to kill this man if that's what it took.
With another CRACK it was fired, the Villain looking our way at the sound, and, eyes wide, he tried to take control of the attack, to divert it.
He was mostly successful.
The projectile hit, but had far too much overpenetration, blowing clean through the Villain's left leg, obliterating it completely as the terrorist screamed in pain, metal rising up to protect him, even as more bits of scrap rose up to press against the wound.
With that kind of injury, he was a dead man, and should be out in seconds, but, as the constructs he made flailed about, still under his control, either his second Quirk courtesy of AfO, or maybe even a third, was keeping him alive and able to fight.
Given the scale that All Might, even a weakened All Might, was capable of fighting at, enhanced toughness was kind of a must, but at least it bought the others time.
"Oh god," Ochaco whispered, staring up in horror at where the Villain had stood.
"I've got two more shots," I advised the others. "And he's got supernatural toughness. Momo, can you make two more rods? This is gonna be close."
When the metal covering the Villain pulled back, a crude cybernetic construct was fused to his leg, and he glared at us hatefully, yelling, "There's no way you can stop me! You're insignificant Pests! And you don't know when to lie down, and BE CRUSHED!" Lifting his hands high, scrap reformed into cubes and shot towards us, but Momo had created a few more rockets, which were sent screaming forward, blasting them apart, but an enormous mass of metal tendrils came flying through the explosion, headed right for us, coming from several direction so Mei didn't have a clear shot.
Todoroki froze some, and the other three tried to help, but there were too many, and while my next shot blew the remaining attacks back, there were just more and more, closing in even as we all worked desperately to prepare the last shot.
Should I run? I thought, despite myself. There was no way I could save them all, any of the plans flashing through my mind that could work all included heavy use of Ochaco's Quirk, and would leave us as sitting ducks for a metal barrage. Should I just take Momo and Mei? I didn't want to, but the traitorous, cowardly thought of, wouldn't it be better to save some then for us all to die? still remained.
Death was closing, inevitable, unstoppable, and I almost ran, paralyzed with doubt and worry, until a confident voice cut through the haze of battle, causing Villain's attack to hesitate.
"Let's go!" All Might declared, and I turned to see him beaten, bloody, but smiling broadly, standing tall, Izuku by his side.
"Yes, Sir!" Deku agreed, and both Heroes rocketed forward at full speed.
More metal cubes were formed and fired, but Mina, dress completely gone, only her acid-resistant undersuit remaining, flew up, thrown by Ida, trailing acid in every direction as she shouted, "It's not over yet, Buster!", diverting the attack.
Stymied, the Villain, shoved his hands forward, and created more metal tendrils, only these were not scrap, but compressed, smooth steel that came arrowing in, only to be stopped by Todoroki, throwing up a glacier, the boy covered in frost as he yelled, "I won't let you stop them!"
With a clear route forward both holders of OfA sped forward, the Villain screamed in frustration, "This is over!" calling even more metal to him, the ground splintering apart beneath our feet, and I had to drop my charge, grabbing Sero and Momo, Mei hanging onto my back, and leaping away as Ochoco used her Quirk on herself and followed, carrying a terrified looking Mineta.
We landed on the most stable spot we could, I started to get back into firing position, even as I tracked All Might charging straight into danger, more compressed tendrils coming in, as he dodged several, slamming a fist into one so hard it cubed, sending equally large chunks in every direction, before leaping over the splintering ground with such speed he was flying inches over it, meeting a compressed tendril head on and hitting it so hard it glowed, the internal friction instantly superheating the material, before he blasted that one into cubes as well!
How is that even possible!? I frantically thought, spinning the charges in my arms back up, my time with Mei offering up the force values required to create that kind of fracture pattern, and that was insane.
Midoriya was no slouch either, taking a moment to get going before he really started to move, a blur even to my eyes, an emerald bolt of lightning that crisscrossed the field before he leapt forward in a straight line, moving so fast the bottoms of his boots caught fire as if he was in re-entry, and met a compressed tendril head on, blasting through it, before the entire thing exploded into superheated orange cubes as well.
WHAT THE FLYING FUCK IS GOING ON!? I couldn't help but think, rendered dumbstruck, something in my mind popping like a circuit-breaker and letting me concentrate. "Sero, prep the last rod. Mei, make it count!"
As they hurried, I watched the Symbol of Peace and his Chosen Successor continue, All Might leaping on top of a compressed tendril and running along it, Deku leaping onto the same one and quickly catching up to his mentor, as both Heroes ran side by side towards their target.
With a scream, the Villain lifted his hands in the air, combing every loose piece of metal he could into an enormous cube. It compressed until it was solid steel, easily two hundred feet across if it was an inch, held above the humanoid conglomeration of scrap, I stared at it, wondering how the hell we were going to survive this, ready to fly away as fast as I could the moment this went bad.
We weren't on the golden path of Canon anymore, and if I wasn't careful we'd all die horribly, my mind flashing back to the bullet I'd taken maybe ten minutes ago, the bullet that would've instantly killed Momo.
Mei aimed me, and squeezed my arms, and I commanded, "Fire!"
Sero dropped it, and the hypersonic railgun round, the attack that would be enough to sink a descent sized battleship, screamed forward, past the two Heroes, and hit the enormous cube.
And did nothing.
A small divot was dug out of it, and the cube was pushed back a few dozen feet, but that was it, even as I felt my reserves hit zero, a lancing pain in my skull making me wince as something hit my Defences, only to bounce right off, but I knew that my electricity was gone.
"I'll Bring Down This Entire Tower!" The Villain screamed, throwing his arms forward, and the enormous cube took off at unreal speeds, coming down towards Deku and All Might, even as I grabbed Sero and Momo and desperately dragged them backwards, towards the edge of the rooftop, hoping Ochaco got the hint and made it off as well. With Electrobody I could make a crude glider that'd carry us down. Mina was on the other side of the battlefield, with Todoroki, and I hoped they'd survive, but there was nothing I could do about it right now, and so just had to hope for the best, knowing that the best never happened.
However, I wasn't the only one moving, and the two holders of OfA both pulled a fist back, shouting in unison.
"Dooouuuuble!"
A corona of light extended around both of them, like the clouds that formed when one broke the sound barrier.
"Deeetrooooiiiiit!"
The space between their fists shown with a blue-white light, to the point it was hard to look at, and I hesitated, daring to hope.
"SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"
Both Heroes slammed into the descending cube, stopping it cold, everything around them ripped up by the shockwave, rings of energy visibly forming around the point of impact, as I shifted legs to lightning, to try and hold on, Ochaco and Mineta pushed back, but Momo caught them.
The energy between the Heroes' fists had grown, like a beacon of hope, as they held death at bay.
And then, they started to move forward, the light passing into the solid steel, glowing white cracks forming along it, before the entire thing exploded into shrapnel, flying in every direction.
And the Heroes, kept going. Flying forwards, a glowing white comet whose passage destroyed any defense arrayed against it, the heroes would not be stopped.
"DEKU!" Ochaco screamed in encouragement, the others adding in with cheers of, "STOP HIM, ALL MIGHT!", "GO, MIDORIYA!" and "DESTROY THIS GUY!", while I stood, silent and speechless at the sight before me.
Like the hammer of God Almighty, the comet pulled up and back for a moment, before shining even brighter, a prismatic glow that combined into an overwhelming white light that turned night into day. With a final shout of "PLUS ULTRA!" that second sun descended on the Villain in an instant, the shockwave pushing everything back.
For a moment, the glow dimmed, before turning even brighter, so bright it hurt to look at, before the enormous construct detonated, the force controlling it gone, and one last shockwave spread out across the rooftop.
In that instant, I finally got a glimpse of just how dangerous this world could be.
In that instant, I finally got an idea of just how strong All Might truly was.
In that instant, I finally realized how close to death we'd all come.
In that instant, I had never felt weaker.
Music Notes:
Is that all you got - MY HERO ACADEMIA The Two Heroes Movie 2018 OST - 27. Lure
We're here to help! - MY HERO ACADEMIA The Two Heroes Movie 2018 OST - 21. My Hero is Our Hero
screaming out in pain - The Power of All For One - My Hero Academia Season 3 OST - Yuki Hayashi
I said go! - Valkyria Chronicles OST 25 Resistance
A confident voice - My Hero Academia OST - You Say Run
As usual, the next four chapters can be found on my !