Chapter Eleven: Inversion
Tomura winced as the Symbol of Peace made his entrance, leaning with a glancing blow as he blew past him. That was still enough to knock him to the ground, and he was one of the lucky ones. Any of the units still standing were annihilated. Not his best match, if he was being completely honest with himself.
After Nomu had started on Izuku, Tomura had gone after the kids he had been with. He had been just about to grab them when Eraserhead had disabled his Quirk, allowing the tail kid to score a cheap shot on him. Then the kid with the shadow bird had dropped in, forcing him back into the open.
Standing over Eraserhead's broken form, he had gotten the kids to back off, long enough for some of the earlier casualties to respawn. Next thing he knew, All Might showed up and now his minions were all down for the count, Eraserhead was gone, and so were the brats.
But he has gotten weaker, Tomura noted, picking up father and reaffixing the mummified hand to his face.
Kurogiri reappeared, some scuffs on the metal collar, probably from his impromptu flight across the building. Their warp gate was still active, even if someone had managed to find his weak spot.
"Shigaraki," Kurogiri said, "reinforcements will be arriving shortly."
Scratching at his neck, Tomura ran through his options.
Running was feasible, but All Might would be an obstacle regardless. Nomu and Megalodon were still occupied with Izuku, who had just disappeared. There were enough noobs moving to throw back into the thick of things. Maybe a 50/50, depending on how much fight the dungeon boss still had in him.
"Shigaraki?"
"I hear you, Kurogiri," Tomura answered, lowering his hand from, his neck. "Looks like we get our continue, after all." Might was well get some field data for the doctor, Tomura thought, then said,"Nomu, forget the brat. Target All Might. Let's clear the floor and go home."
[IB]
All Might braced as the monstrosity slammed into him.
Aizawa was off with Tokoyami, Ashido, Ojiro, and Mineta. Uraraka, Satou, and Sero had Thirteen, Shiozaki, and Iida secured. With luck, the rest of the faculty would be here before he ran out of time completely.
Confident no innocents were in the immediate line of fire, All Might prepared to go all out, not quite able to enjoy the reverberations of his punches against a target, however deserving, or how it seemed more than capable of tanking the blows.
"What do you think of Nomu, oh Symbol of Peace?" the leader asked, mockingly.
All Might didn't flinch or shiver, but he recognized the manner of speech Shigaraki used, the inflections. How old was this one? Twenty? All Might hoped to Heaven that it wasn't the case, maybe an imitator and not a true successor.
Later, he reprimanded himself. Right now, he had a vicious opponent threatening his students and juniors, and his own actions had led to his absence at the beginning of this ordeal.
Seemingly unconcerned, the villain rambled on. "He's designed to take you on at 100%."
"Is that so? Let's put it to the test!"
Punching something in the face usually gave someone pause, even beefy guys like this Nomu. And yet, he was hardly phased, never flinching, not from blows to the head, the joints, kidney shots, all to no appreciable effect as the monster continued to grab and claw at him. What little Nana had managed to teach him about fighting, all the lessons Gran Torino hammered into his mind and body. Every trick All Might had learned over the years was proving ineffective against this foe.
"Punching doesn't work," Midoriya shouted, landing off to the side and firing off some sort of blast from his hands, knocking a couple of thugs back.
All Might's heart lurched at the amount of blood smeared across the boy.
Midoriya was favoring his right side, and his hair was flying around wildly. His shirt and jacket were a ruined mess, as we as the skin beneath it. A green glow had enveloped his wound, but that and adrenaline seemed to be the only thing keeping the boy upright for the moment.
"Either shock absorption or negation," Midoriya continued, "and he regenerates, so unless you can put him down instantly, he'll just get back up."
"You're certain?"
"I nearly chopped him in half about a minute before you arrived."
No sign of a scratch, much less the kind of damage the boy spoke of him.
More than one Quirk? All Might thought, then gave the young man a quick look over, and said, "Evacuate with your peers, young Midoriya. I'll take it from here."
"I-Heads up!"
Sounds like a whirling helicopter zoomed in, coming out of his landing swinging wildly.
"No you don't," Midoriya snarled, swatting the villain off course, letting All Might focus on the Nomu.
Helpful as Midoriya was, now All Might couldn't go all out as he would have hoped, as young man was doggedly holding his ground against the villains. With the Nomu bearing down on him and the other villains probing for openings that the boy was helping keep closed, All Might couldn't just spirit the boy away, either. And the uncertainty of what hidden abilities the Nomu might have, he might be wasting his strength on something truly unmovable.
As if responding to his distress – and ironically adding to it – the heroics students were moving in to support him. Explosions rippled as Bakugo flew into the scene, catching the warp villain, Kirishima bringing up the rear by knocking down some of the villains before they had a chance to recover. Shigaraki lunged for the blond and flew off from a telekinetic push by Midoriya. Megalodon – and where had he come from!? – reared up for another swing at Midoriya's back, and All Might spared a breath blow the shark villain back with a pressure punch.
His own back left open, however briefly, All Might acted on instinct and spun around, catching the Nomu's fist, then grappled onto the monster and suplexed it into the ground, only for it to grab him in turn, courtesy of the warp villain, fingers digging into All Might's wounded side.
Gritting back a yelp of pain, and similarly held off any relief as temperatures dropped and ice enveloped the Nomu, stopping just shy of All Might himself, loosening its grip. Whatever he might have to say about Endeavor as a person, he had trained his son well.
Prying the Nomu's arms away, he slipped out of its hold and watched in subdued horror as the monster tore itself free, got right back up, and reformed before his eyes, flesh rebuilding in a way that couldn't be anything but a Quirk.
Midoriya clearly wasn't exaggerating. Regeneration, possibly super strength, and either the absorption or negations of shock.
"You kids are really making the League of Villains look bad," said Shigaraki, dusting himself off. "Nomu, clear the gate."
All Might threw himself into the monster's path, pushing Bakugo out of the way, tanking the hit instead, the force blowing everyone back or off of their feet entirely.
There was no respite, as the Nomu charged again, crashing through the wall of ice Todoroki put in its way, All Might catching both its arms and pushing back, muscles burning as his strength began to fade.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Uraraka come flying down from behind, slapping the Nomu across the head, then skipping back off and over the plaza from the force of her own attack.
Now effectively weightless, the deadlock between and All Might and the Nomu broke, that latter rocketing back and into the side of the USJ, just above the entrance. Midoriya jumped in and pulled it back in, the villain thrashing for a hold on anything as it flew around the facility.
"Up!" he shouted.
Catching the boy's meaning, All Might caught the Nomu across the neck, swinging up and around, bellowing, "MERRITT ISLAND TOSS!"
Pouring as much strength as he dared, All Might flung the Nomu skyward, punching a hole in the roof on its way into orbit.
Shigaraki stared at the newly formed hole, then glared at All Might. "What sort of hacks-?" he began to snarl, before reining his temper back under control, though still seething. "Well played, All Might."
All Might smiled, but didn't make any forward movements. He had already been running on fumes coming in, and that last effort had left him at empty. That left intimidating them into retreat.
"What's the matter?" All Might said, challengingly. "You came here to kill me, after all, did you not?"
Unfortunately, the villains didn't appear to be in a hurry either. The grunts were edging back, glancing to their leader, who hadn't bothered to move from his spot, and showed no signs of wanting to leave.
Mentally cursing, All Might wondered where the reinforcements were. It was taking everything he had to remain standing. Anything more, and his muscle form would dissipate. Either no one had noticed, or they were avoiding bringing attention to it, but sooner or later someone was going to call his bluff.
Around him, Midoriya, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Kirishima had taken position flanking All Might, keeping far away from the remaining villains. He would have words with them and Uraraka once this all over, but their collective presence was giving the remaining villains pause. More were getting back up, but Todoroki had made the think twice before charging again after several of them were left frozen in place.
The tension was building, and the stalemate wouldn't last for long before something caused it to snap.
[IB]
Momo, Jirou, and Kaminari were in a tight spot. So far, they had managed to hold the onslaught of villains, but without a serious equalizer, they were going to be overrun. The moment Kaminari had mentioned an area of effect attack, she began working up the energy for one of the larger objects in her repertoire.
Dropping her jacket from her shoulders, Momo formed a large sheet of insulator material to cover her and Jirou, then shouted, "Now, Kaminari!"
"Hell, yeah! In that case, I can be really strong!"
Electricity surged across the battlefield, and Momo did her best to tune out any screaming. The furor didn't last long, and Momo cautiously poked her head out to survey the results.
All the villains in view had been taken down, twitching from being hit with what amounted to an oversized taser grenade. Kaminari wandered around aimlessly, laughing to himself and giving them thumbs-up.
Standing back up, Momo twisted in response to the rumbling the second she heard it, interposing her staff between her and a villain who burst from the ground, having escaped Kaminari's outburst. Even then, she almost wasn't fast enough as a set of claws dug into the combined staff. Pulling the triggers and shifting her weight, the shock staggered the villain back, letting Momo kick them before backing off.
The newcomer was rough looking, with long, red hair that looked like a mass of quills clattering together as she moved. Her fingers stretched out into wicked-looking drills, and from the easy of movement underground and the gouges on her gear, Momo made note to avoid them at all cost.
While distracted, they missed another surviving villain that popped up and grabbed Kaminari.
"Drop your weapons," he demanded, holding an electrified hand to his head. "Any Quirks, and I burn out whatever brain cells he has left. Quickly now. I'd rather not have to fry a fellow electric type."
Momo mentally kicked herself for not picking up on it sooner. Of course they would keep someone like that hidden until no other option remained. "He's probably the one Todoroki said was blocking communications," she said.
The digger smirked, and replied, "That's nice, but you heard the man. Drop 'em."
Rather than risk a bluff, Momo kept an eye on both villains and nodded to Jirou to drop their weapons, all while priming her gauntlets.
"That's a good girl!" the digger shouted, lunging out with her claws when something flew into the ceiling.
In the moment of distraction, Momo activated her gauntlets and fired, beaning the electric villain in the only available target: his head. The mask he wore blunted the impact, but he was still caught off guard and rocked back.
The digger villain was still bearing down on Yaoyorozu. Thankfully, Jirou was quick to recover as well, and took a swing with her sword…
…Which snapped from a glancing blow from the claws, forcing both Jirou and the digger to evade to avoid the pieces fly at their faces, letting Momo force her back. The digger burrowed down to avoid Jirou's sound waves, springing up where Momo had been and a flash grenade now was, which left the villain blind and open for a several cheap shots.
"Grab Kaminari," Momo ordered, loading up her gauntlets with pain rounds.
"You're really annoying with those things," the electric villain snarled, raising an electrified hand towards Jirou and Kaminari, when a gunshot struck his arm.
More shots rained, hitting the other villains stirring awake, the digger shamelessly using the injured jammer as a meat shield.
"Let's get out of here," said the digger, disappearing into the ground with the jammer, burrowing away from them, and presumably out of the USJ.
[IB]
When the first shots rang out, panic spread through the villains' ranks. Izuku leaned in and fired off both of his charged shots, sowing further confusion. An ear-splitting explosion and a surge of cold behind him indicated that Bakugo and Todoroki were doing something similar. Fight-or-flight kicked in, most choosing the latter, making for Kurogiri's position, though that idea wasn't universal. A few daring souls tried a final charge, but didn't get very far, either.
Kurogiri had shielded Tomura after they had come under fire, sending the bullets back out, though they didn't appear to hit anything. The shark guy and helicopter man had moved close, probably to be close to the most assured exit, still fighting as heroes moved in.
Cement shifted and reformed, pinning the fleeing villains in. Clones swarmed over. Present Mic screamed at the survivors. Izuku let himself smile as the villains were utterly overrun and routed.
Lights flickered at his wrists, and Izuku took aim, forcing the encroaching blur back and pressing closed hands together in a single, concentrated pressure blast.
"You win this time, All Might," Tomura shouted, letting the shadows envelop him, "but you won't be so lucky again. I'll see you all again soon!"
At those parting words, Izuku leapt into the air and fired off the blast as Kurogiri vanished with Tomura and a handful of villains, obliterating the space they had previously occupied.
Quiet settled in, the rest surrendering or immobilized. Seeing as the situation was well in hand, Izuku let his hands fall to his side, relaxing as he powered down.
Down Gear: 3…2…1…All for One: Full Lock.
His eyes returned to normal and he blew a raspberries. "That was a thing," he said to no one in particular. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to speak with the dolphins."
Izuku managed to get two steps before he collapsed into the realm off unconsciousness.
[IB]
Tomura Shigaraki, Quirk: Decay (anything he touches crumbles to dust)
Kurogiri, Quirk: Warp Gate (generates a mass of black mist that acts as a portal to any location he knows the coordinates to or has within line of sight)
A/N: And that's the USJ incident covered. There will probably be two, maybe three chapters covering the aftermath and the buildup to the Sports Festival.
In other news, Merritt Island is the location of the Kennedy Space Center, A.K.A. the launch pad for all the space-bound flights from NASA since the Apollo missions.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Did I screw up Shigaraki's gamer lingo somehow (pretty sure I did)? Let me know in a review or PM. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.