Chapter Ten: Invasion
Blood roared in Izuku's ears as his Quirk came to life.
Up Gear: 5. Push, Pull, Reinforcement, Air Compression, Unending Spirit. The last one was set to a slow drip, and the others settled into position. Limelight flickered across his body and his muscles tightened.
"This is a Hero school. How did they get in here?" someone asked.
"Forget that," Momo retorted. "Teacher, where are the alarms?"
"We have them, of course," Thirteen answered "But…" The silence was enough to answer that.
Two-toned kid weighed in next. "Did they appear just here, or are they attacking the entire school?"
"This place is more isolated," Izuku answered. "Unless they dropped an entire army onto the campus, I would bet they just landed here."
"If the alarms aren't responding, they must have a Quirk or some kind of device planted to jam communications. Even if they're fools, they aren't dumb. They carefully planned this attack with some sort of goal in mind."
Izuku gritted his teeth as Aizawa spoke up. "Thirteen, begin evacuation procedures. Get the students out of here. Suneater, stay with them. Kaminari, try to get in touch with the main campus. Lemillion, Nejire, you're with me."
Eraser Head jumped down the stairs, with the upperclassmen following him down.
Momo pulled Izuku's shoulder as she passed, looking him in the eye.
"Now's not the time," she hissed.
Not letting his Quirks power down, he begrudgingly nodded and followed the others to the exit. Halfway there, Izuku saw the alerts come in as other students were reaching the doors
"No, wait-!"
The concussion mines detonated, knocking the frontrunners out cold. Tenya and the girl with vine hair were down. And worse, Kurogiri coalesced between the incapacitated and the remaining students.
"Where is All Might?" he asked, polite as ever. "We were told he would be here. Was there a schedule change? No matter. We are the League of Villains, and we have come to slay All Might."
"Scatter!" Izuku shouted, throwing himself forward. "Get to cover!"
"Scatter, indeed," Kurogiri returned. "I do apologize, but when you arrive, you will be tortured, and then you will die with your Symbol of Peace."
Izuku searched for and Pushed against Kurogiri's metal collar, to no avail, as shadows enveloped the crowd of students, throwing him and countless others to parts unknown.
[IB]
Tomura smirked as the mines went off, distracting Eraser Head long enough for Kurogiri to kick the other players that had joined in the fight and move on the party at the front door. The insider was as good as his word.
Heroes and their ilk wouldn't bother with the dead. Wounded and incapacitated children would prevent them from simply leaving, and split the focus of any reinforcements that happened to come their way.
An explosion echoed from the far side of the facility, with a trail of smoke rising, right where the Conflagration Zone bordered the edge of the building. Annoying, but not surprising
Hm…
He could send someone to chase the runaways down, but decided against that. Any units he could send their way that could stop that kind of firepower was better kept in reserve, or already had their missions.
Turning his attention back to Eraser Head, he observed as the mini-boss tore through his ranks. He wasn't doing anything permanently harmful – a foolish move on his part – so Tomura wasn't in a hurry to correct his naiveté; the scrubs he had gathered could use the wakeup call.
Seeing the interval between Eraser Head's usage of his Quirk get shorter and shorter, Tomura Shigaraki stepped into the fray…
[IB]
Izuku's vision cleared when he and a couple of other students were deposited above the artificial lake. Pushing against the surface, he had enough time to slow his descent, but still splashed under. His eyes were closed, but his hearing was still good, as was his sense of direction. Pinging the area with Frequency, he picked out a couple dozen bodies around him, a couple breaking off to home in on him.
Pulling himself to the closest one, he grabbed the swimmer's arms and dislocated them and kicked off to face the next, when a third signature swooped in and slammed into their side.
Izuku gave him a thumbs up and Pushed himself up to the surface, shooting past the third individual, and shot out of the water. Taking in a sweet breath of air, he found the nearest "dry ground" and aimed there, easing himself down to the surface, where a pink girl with gold eyes and black sclerae dressed in purple and turquoise bodysuit was already sitting. Shortly after, a purple midget slammed into the deck, followed by a blond in a gi and black boots clambering up over the side.
"Thanks for the help," said Izuku, clearing his eyes.
"No problem," the blond said. "Not really used to using my tail like that, but it worked out better than I was expecting."
Izuku turned to the shivering, purple midget. He wanted to poke fun at the kid, but considering the circumstances, he decided to relent. "Friend of yours?"
The pink girl shook her head. "No, he's a classmate. His name's Mineta, I'm Mina, and this is Ojiro."
The blond with the tail nodded, then turned out to the water. "It looks like this turned into a bad situation," he said
"Thanks, Sherlock," Izuku replied, dryly, then winced at his tone. "Sorry about that."
"I'm more worried about what that villain said."
"The black mist guy?" A nod. "You mean the part he was talking about killing All Might, or the part where they apparently planned this?"
"The second one. If they went through the trouble of the break-in, and brought all of these villains together, then it's like Todoroki said, they probably have a plan to pull this off."
Mineta looked back and forth between the two. "Hey, HEY! It's not like they can kill All Might. When he comes, he'll pulverize them those guys."
"We all die someday," Izuku answered. "But Ojiro is right. All Might's reputation is well-known. Unless someone has an army of suicidal lunatics on call, they had to convince this rabble they have a fighting chance, or a way to escape the reprisal."
"They did say they were going to torture and kill us," Mina added. "And without a way to get into contact with the outside, there's no telling whether we'll be able to hold out until help arrives."
That just made Mineta flounder more. "Wha?! This isn't funny, guys!"
Villains surfaced around the boat, but kept a distance between them and the boat, swimming around or treading water, waiting for a reaction.
"What are they waiting for?" asked Mina.
Pinching his lower lip, Izuku watched the villains. "They came to kill All Might," he murmured.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious!" Mineta shouted.
"No, I mean their plan is structured around All Might, and maybe the teachers. We're just collateral damage to them, an inconvenient obstacle they have to remove. They separated us…what are your Quirks?"
"I generate acid," Mina answered.
"I have sticky balls," Mineta piped in.
"Are they buoyant?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah. They also stick to any surface, but I just bounce off of them.
"Okay, so maybe not as clueless as I had thought. They have enough of an idea about everyone's Quirks, at least to make things more difficult. Water to dilute the acid, and I'm guessing they intended to hamper your mobility," he said, turning to the blond on the last one.
Ojiro scratched the back of his neck, and said, "With their numbers, they probably planned on just overwhelming us. I got lucky."
Mineta waved his hands around, frantically. "Are you hearing yourselves? If there strong enough to take on All Might, and smart enough to put us in zones tailored to cripple us, then the best plan would be to sit tight until the Heroes come to save us! Right?!"
"We don't know if reinforcements are coming, or when they might arrive," Izuku replied. "If they blocked communications, someone's going to have to escape, run to the main campus, and then run back. And after the mined the doorways, we have to assume they might have other means of intercepting us."
Mina bit her nails. "So we're going to have to break out of this first," she said, grimly.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Mineta cried. "YOU'RE JUST A MANAGEMENT STUDENT. HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO TAKE ON ALL THOSE VILLAINS!? HUH?!"
Izuku's eyes snapped onto the midget. "Unless you have an expressed interest in being shark bait, please shush. You're not contributing."
"STOP TRYING TO ACT SO COOL! YOU'RE PROBABLY JUST AS SCARED AS I AM!"
Izuku felt his patience with the boy hit the end of its tether, and he whirled around on him, choke-slamming him into the side of the ship. "Doubtful," he whispered, then turned to the other two. "What else do your Quirks do? Capabilities, limitations. Quickly and quietly."
[IB]
The moment they hit the ground, a thug ran at them, screaming. A shot to the gut had the man crumple to the ground, giving the others pause. Any other circumstance, she might have been worried over the damage she might have inflicted with a blow like that, but their respite was short-lived.
"Who the hell are these guys?!" Kaminari yelled, evading a pair of villains targeting him. "Seriously, did you see that? I saw the River Styx just now, seriously!"
"Here," Momo said, tossing Jirou a sword made with her Quirk, then whipped out her kali sticks and locked them together.
"Hey, I need a weapon, too!" Kaminari complained
"Why don't you just fry 'em to a crisp?" Jirou snapped back.
"Look, I can only cover myself in electricity. Sure, I can discharge it, but I can't control it. I'd end up hitting you guys in the process! I'm trying to call for help, but my special transceiver is being jammed. Get it?! You can't rely on me, I'm counting on you."
"Fine. Be a human stun gun!"
"Jirou, wait!"
Momo's warning came too late, following Jirou's boot hitting Kaminari square in the back and into one of the larger villains, discharging on the man.
"Hey, it worked," said Kaminari. "I'm pretty strong! You guys can rely on me!"
"That was easy," Jirou muttered.
[IB]
Mirio had been dumped into the Downpour zone, and was immediately beset by villains. Taking them down was fairly simple, though he hoped that reinforcements would be along sooner than later, even if he was certain the thugs wouldn't be stirring until closer to sundown.
His efforts eventually led him to the other students who had been dropped
A rock-looking boy with a design of an open mouth on his shirt, and one of Management students, Osaki. Both of them had been managing, but were in a tight spot, cornered in one of the buildings when Mirio had intervened.
He was ready to lead them to safety when several canisters landed at their feet, spewing gas across the room.
"Fortunate for me that you moved indoors," a digitally altered voice rasped.
One of the villains had escape Mirio's room-clearing. Wearing a mask made up of burlap and twisted metal, with sickly green lenses for the eyes, and a poncho made from a similar material as the mask.
"This is the point where someone would say 'fear not'," he said, slowly striding into the room. "But coming from me, that would be a lie."
"Stay behind me," Mirio said, and positioned himself between the students and the villain.
A shiver ran up his spine, and his hands began shaking, almost spasming. Mirio clasped his hands, willing the shaking to stop. His companions weren't so lucky, a scream tearing through Osaki's throat.
Even with the mask, it was apparent the villain was smiling. "You're already too late."
[IB]
In the shipwreck zone, time ran out when a watery hand tore through the side of the ship. "Everyone clear on the objective? Good. Get ready to jump."
Whirlwind and Air Compression whirred to life, joined by Pull focused to his hand. The light show danced around his palm, then pulsed green as it reached capacity, his hand clamping shut.
"Let's go," he said, grabbing Mineta and launching the two of them above the artificial lake. Pointing his palm down, and glaring at the surprised looks on the villain's faces, he opened his hand up, giving his wrist a twist, and let the Compression shot loose.
The burst of air slammed into the surface, parting it like Moses at the Red Sea, the twist of wind causing it to spiral outward.
"Do it!" Izuku barked.
In a mad panic, Mineta played his part, throwing purple balls until his head was bleeding, paying no heed to that or where he was aiming. Then the water surged back together, slamming the trapped villains into a single, struggling blob bobbing on the surface.
Giving the villains a glance, Izuku smirked. "Good work, Mineta."
The boy babbled nonsensically as Mina and Ojiro pulled onto the shore.
"Not gonna lie," Mina panted, "that looked awesome."
Moving away from the beach, the four of them took cover by one of the large planters, looking over it and into the plaza.
"Wow," Mineta whispered. "Aizawa's cleaning their clocks."
"But he's starting to flag a little," Izuku noted. "He's good, but he's out of his element."
"Are you suicidal? We should get out of here while they're still distracted!"
"Are you sure you're cut out to be a Pro-Hero?" asked Mina.
"I'm not saying we dive into the middle of things," said Izuku, "but if we pick off of few the ones at the edge, he can focus on the more dangerous villains here. Anything we can do to take some of the pressure of the others means the longer we all survive."
Mina nodded and looked back out to the battle in front of them. "Alright. Let's see-"
The water burst behind them as one final villain launched himself skyward, and fell down on them, roaring like a wild animal.
Izuku whipped around and prepared to blast the villain back when he spotted the grenades dropping towards them.
Without thinking, Izuku batted the object away, resulting in him staring at the flash-bang when it went off. He instinctively sprang up a deflection shield, and he felt the villain land on the beach, sand shooting every which way.
His vision cleared in time to see the villain barreling towards him with his hammer. Red eyes wild and rows of jagged teeth, which also made up the necklace hanging around his neck. He wore a sleeveless wetsuit with patches of ceramic armor over his shoulders and chest, bulky boots, and a trail of blue hair tied back behind his head.
Veering the hammer to the side, Izuku heard the thrusters whine, forcing the head of the weapon into the ground, and the villain kicked out, his boots shooting out clumps of wet sand. Not slowing down, the villain triggered his weapon, the hammer exploding back out of the ground for another swing.
This time, Izuku was waiting, and the hammer shot backwards. The villain let go of it while he carried forward with moment with a punch, which flew a smidge wide, and followed up with both a combined grab, punch, and kick. The first two proved ineffective, but villain flowed with the block, driving his foot down onto Izuku's.
Something like a wet tearing followed, with a lance of pain shooting up his leg. Izuku barely paid it any mind, Pushing the man back, his opponent rolling back, snagging his hammer back up in the process, and wheeling around towards the others.
"No you don't!" he snarled, Pulling the villain back, grabbing him and slamming him into the ground.
The villain took the blows in stride, and returned the favor by kicking Izuku in the side when he jumped atop of him. Not that it did much, but it distracted him from the knife driving towards his ribs. Izuku's last-second deflection prevented a direct stab, but the knife scored against his side, and the villain pulled his legs in and pressed his soles of his boots at Izuku's chest.
Izuku immediately Pushed down and away before the boots fired off again, showering him with more sand. Raising an arm to shield his eyes, he lowered it in time for another flash-bang to go off, this time a couple of feet from his face.
Blind fighting was tricky at the best of times, and having his hearing disrupted again was more difficult, but it was possible. Catching a driving kick at his chest, Izuku twisted the man's leg and ducking under the other when the villain spun in his grip and swung for his head.
While the villain was airborne, Izuku swung him around and threw him around and positioned himself between the enemy and his intended targets.
Blinking away the spots in his eyes, Izuku checked on his own allies. They weren't dead and they weren't in critical condition, but they were still recovering from the initial attack. Ojiro had taken a blow to the head at some point, and Ashido was hovering protectively while Mineta cowered behind her.
Now that he had some breathing room, he prepared to put the villain out of commission, when he spun around again, another knife in hand.
Inhaling deeply, Izuku braced, then let himself fly, Pushing against the ground and Pulling on a target down range. Colliding with the villain, Izuku caught the hand with the knife and slide across the pavement.
Tenko had Eraser Head under his grip, slowly destroying the Hero's elbow. And now his attention was on Izuku, eyes widened in surprise under the mummified hand affixed to his face.
Izuku didn't let himself get angry very often. All for One and his other Quirks tended to feed off of his emotional state, and thus he had to keep an iron grip on them, letting them bleed out in a slow, steady trickle, or in flows he could safely direct.
Once upon a time, he had imagined getting Tenko away from the old man. Before All for One left and had taken the other boy with him.
Today, Izuku abandoned that hope and buried it. Tenko had chosen to be Tomura, to be All for One's successor. He had threatened his friends, everything he held dear. For that, there was only one verdict.
Now, Izuku let his rage bubble to the surface, a twisted, blackened thing, writhing in search of a target to lash out at.
Up Gear: 6.
Shigaraki broke from his stupor and snapped at the monstrosity next to him. "Nomu," he ordered. "Get them."
[IB]
Katsuki Bakugo was pissed. First that portal villain had dumped a bunch of asshole villains into the building. Then he had warped off him, Hair for Brains, and two different tentacle guys, the second of which was one of the older students, and dumped them into some ruins where a whole crowd of morons was waiting to jump them.
It was overkill, as the small fries were easily dealt with, and they were beginning to discuss
Then a villain stepped out of the shadows, leveling his handgun at them. The first shots hit Hair for Brains, who had already hardened and had placed himself between the gunman and the rest of them, and Katsuki was about ready to put the asshole down with a blast from his gauntlet, when the villain's hand transformed into helicopter blades, using Hair for Brains as a meat shield and slashing through the older student's tentacles.
Wheeling around a stunned the redhead, the villain deflected Katsuki's arm and still-loaded gauntlet, kneeing him in the gut and throwing him to the floor before turning back to tentacle #2.
Katsuki was up in short order, but nearly got a bullet to the head for his troubles and got a show of blood from the severed remains of an arm flying overhead. He took aim with his Quirk, Helicopter dove behind tentacle #1, the bleeding one, slashing up another one of his arms and shoving him into the explosions path.
Twisting Katsuki and Hair's arms and throwing them both out the window, fanning his blades back and stabbing at tentacles #2.
[IB]
Mirio was struggling. After his internships with Sir, he hadn't floundered this much, faltered this much in the face of an enemy.
"What do you think of my fear toxin?" the masked villain asked, letting Mirio fly past him.
Osaki and Kouda had collapsed. Their screams had drawn in some of the other villains he had missed, and as the gas had already dispersed, they weren't experiencing the same terror he was. So far, he had managed to hold them off, but his nerves were approaching their limit.
Flashes of nightmarish visages plagued his sight. Mirages appeared as real as anything else, whispering of his darkest fears. Every single time he dropped into the ground, claustrophobia burned in his mind, forcing him back to the surface without a thought of his aim.
"There's no fighting your most basic instincts, hero," the masked villain said.
Mirio ignored the words, focusing on a solution.
There was something else to the villain's methods. The gas was part of his attack, but not the fullest. It abated, however slightly, whenever he was out of the villain's immediate line of sight. The villains would take cover or hide behind their colleague to avoid his Quirk.
Punching out two more mooks, Mirio squared off against the remainder, willing himself past the artificial terror a little longer, when a thunderous crack echoed through the rain.
[IB]
Dilation kicked in, and not a moment too soon. That's the only reason Izuku was able to dodge the charging monster. He was going to feel it later, but that was better than being turned to paste. Reinforcement burned in his veins as he forced himself out of the Nomu's path, the creature shattering the pavement he had been standing on previously.
Pivoting around, Izuku threw a punch at the creature's side, but nothing happened. His punch connected, but he didn't even experience a rebound. His fist stopped, the energy transferring to nothingness.
The Nomu eyed him, and swiped out at him, clipping Izuku as he flew back and fired off a compression shot.
No effect, and the Nomu was on him, grabbing at Izuku as he ducked and bounced around, using the walls of the USJ as his anchoring points, and flinging himself into the air, the Nomu jumping after him.
A splash of acid hit the creatures back, and that finally did something, burning flesh upon contact.
Thanks, Mina, Izuku thought, sparing a glance at the girl. She was already in mid-swing with another glob of acid.
Keeping the Nomu's attention on him, Izuku fired a half-prepared compression shot and Pulled himself to the ground and then to the lake. Landing right after him in a shower of cracking pavement, it stepped on one of the purple balls that had washed ashore away from the bound villains, and the Nomu promptly tore itself free without hesitation.
Strong, fast, and tough enough to keep charging in spite of the hurt it was receiving. Looking a bit more closely, Izuku could see the flesh burned by Mina's acid regenerating. Couple that with however it was able to cancel out the shock of a punch, and Izuku could piece together the origins of the abomination.
All for One.
He filed that thought for later analysis, as Tomura was gunning for Mina, Ojiro, and Mineta. Mina splashed acid at him, which her target blurred around, undaunted as Ojiro moved to intercept him.
"Don't let him touch-!" Izuku began to shout, when the Nomu seized him and tried to slam him into the ground.
Izuku Push against the ground with everything he had, throttling Unending Spirit to keep him from being turned into a greasy smear on the pavement. In the corner of his eye, he saw the indicator of a rapid burn of his energy reserves.
Picking out a target down the way, Izuku Pulled him out of the standstill, crashing through the bench. Looking up and past the Nomu, he could see Tomura flying back from a slap of Ojiro's tail, but was unable to watch further as the creature was barreling straight towards him.
Pushing up off the ground, Izuku tried punching the Nomu square in the face.
Nothing, he thought, then Pulled in, using the Nomu as an anchor as he clambered onto its back, swapping Air Compression for Frequency, then planting his hand on the exposed brain and flaring off a pulse into the tissue. Nothing.
Bad news, the Nomu had some ability to absorb or negate shock.
"Then let's try cutting," Crystal suggested.
Acknowledging the suggestion, Izuku braced as the Nomu threw him from its back. A heartbeat, and time slowed in his mind as he rummaged through his options.
Frequency was right out. Anything using Air Compression would take too long. Shard would be useful, but he would have to draw on several extra Quirks to keep any construct intact, and still have more to keep him out of the Nomu's hands.
Another heartbeat passed, and accepting the risk, Izuku mentally trigger his Quirk. Up Gear: 7.
His loadout shuffled and shifted in the blink of an eye, lights disconnected and others clicked active. Push and Pull for maneuverability, Shard to formulate a weapon, Limelight to shape it, Reinforcement to ensure his body and the weapon would survive. Dilation, because there was no other way he could evade the Nomu. And Unending Spirit to power it all.
Dense muscle made for a tough surface to cut through. The Reinforced Shard held, but Izuku had to immediately Pull back, leaving only superficial cuts that healed near-instantly as he darted back out of the Nomu's reach.
Four passes with nothing to show, Izuku anchored himself to the ground and poised for another strike, mentally kicking himself for the insane maneuver he was about to pull.
The Nomu charged forward, and the moment before it struck, Izuku flared Push, targeting the creature's hands and head, throwing it off step. His body flashed a pained strain from shoving against that much mass and force in the opposite direction, but it didn't matter. He had his opening.
Driving the blade home, he switched the blade's Reinforcement for Push, and flared it off, carving down the Nomu's front and parting any mass that stood in the way. The blade shattered, showering the creature's insides with the remains before they turned to vapor.
The top half of the creature was split down the middle, flopping in messy halves as it stitched itself back together.
Forming another blade, Izuku felt a boot hit his side, pain shooting across his torso and blood flicking across his field of vision as he stumbled forward. Without thinking, he Pushed back and flung the blade at his assailant.
The blade missed entirely, burying itself into the pavement before vanishing, and the shark man laughing.
"Forget about me?" he asked mockingly, giving his hammer a twirl.
Izuku winced, pulling his blood-covered hand away from his side. Down Gear: 4.
Connections to Shard, Limelight, Dilation, and Unending Spirit faded, and Izuku pulled up a weak regenerative Quirk to begin patching himself up.
Now that he wasn't dealing with tunnel vision and Dilation wasn't stretching the pain out over a single moment, Izuku took stock of his situation whilst mentally kicking himself for the lapse in awareness.
His eyes still on the enemy, he tried to note the damage. Something had blasted the skin off of his side, same as what had happened to his foot earlier. Everything else seemed to be fine, but he was bleeding like a stuck pig until he could reverse the damage. Something that would take time he didn't have.
He had gotten separated from his allies. Tomura was at large, possibly killing said allies. He had left his back exposed, and was now wounded; nothing major, but blood loss would hamper him in short order, as he was fairly certain he had been tracking blood all over the USJ. And now he was trapped between a dangerous psychopath and a creature that was likely made by the old man.
He could run, but Nomu would be on him in short order. He could fight, but then he would have to deal with two enemies, when he could barely handle one of them at a time. Behind him, the Nomu was still healing, seconds away from jumping back into action. Or he could go with that option, and go full scorched earth, and maybe save everyone, but run the risk of blowing the entire place to kingdom come.
The decision was taken from him when a pair of doors flew across the USJ, ricocheting off the top of the dome and hitting the opposite side of the building.
[IB]
All Might flew through the air towards the USJ, feeling the strain from exceeding his time limit. He had been concerned about the communication blackout, even before Nedzu had finally sent him ahead. Then he passed by young Hadō, who conveyed the basics of the situation.
The USJ was under attack by villains, the students and teachers scattered across the facility to be picked apart.
Hadō had gone racing back to U.A. to tell them what was happening, with Asui on her back, suffering from what looked to be heat exhaustion. Nedzu would already be alerting the teachers in anticipation, but All Might couldn't wait around for that. And if what Hadō said was accurate, neither could the students and teachers still at the USJ.
Kicking the doors open, All Might strode into the USJ, but he wasn't smiling.
Young Iida and Shiozaki were sprawled out on the ground next to the door, a squid-headed boy hovering over them protectively. Uraraka and Sero looked exhausted, and Thirteen was on the ground, their back shredded open.
"Everything is fine," All Might bellowed. "Why? Because I am here!"
[IB]
Mina Ashido, Quirk: Acid (she secretes a corrosive liquid that she can change in viscosity and solubility prior to production)
Mezō Shōji, Quirk: Dupli-Arms (a set of tentacles in addition to his arms, which he can grow into duplicates of other body parts)
A/N: I know I was bouncing around quite a bit, but I didn't want the narrative to get bogged down in too many details, especially as the general outcome for the USJ was the same as canon. So, enough snapshots to let you know who ended up where (for the most part), and what changes have been implemented, but the action was intended to follow Midoriya for the most part.
Aside from that, I kind of wanted to get the Big Three introduced early on, but it also raised a problem in that they're all basically Pro-level by this point, and Eraser Head was able to take on a goodly chunk of them before flagging enough for Shigaraki to take a shot at him. That's where some of the more elite villains come in, and hopefully I made them suitable threats without making them unreasonably powerful.
In other news, a happy birthday to Katsuki Bakugo and Pony Tsunotori. The least chill member of Class 1-A was born on 4/20. He's also the oldest member of both Heroic Course classes, beating Pony Tsunotori by one day (born 4/21).
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me know with a PM or review. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.