This chapter gets cooler if you listen to "Guggenheim Assemble" from Spider-Verse while reading it during the fight.
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
The group of students were racing up the tower's stairs, floor by floor. Iida and Izuku stopped to check the number of their current floor.
"Level 30," Iida said.
"Wait...Melissa, how many floors are there?" Izuku asked.
"200," Melissa answered between breaths.
Sero groaned. "You're kidding me!"
"Uraraka, can't you just use XLR8 to go up and down the stairs or whatever? Carry us all to the top?" Kaminari said.
"Well, I'd love to, but...XLR8 isn't my best 'lifting' alien." Uraraka gasped. "And while I'd love to use Big Chill, she can't go intangible when I'm holding someone."
"Using the stairs beats running into the villains, though," Momo countered, "We can do this."
Momo quickly found out just how much she regretted those words.
Level 40 passed.
Level 50 passed.
The group was starting to get exhausted as they continued to ascend.
"Oh my God! So many stairs! I'd like to find whoever invented the stairs, and push him down these stairs, just to show him how stupid stairs are!" Kaminari frowned.
"Shut up and climb, Jammingwhey!" Sero cursed.
Iida, Izuku, and Todoroki, leading the group upward, turned the latest corner and stopped dead in their tracks. A massive security door had slammed shut and blocked access to the upper floors.
"The route's blocked," Iida growled.
"What do we now? Break through?" Todoroki asked.
"No. Doing so might," Melissa huffed, "might alert the villains."
"Maybe I can try Big Chill to get through here-" Uraraka said.
"No need!" Kaminari jabbed this thumb over to another door. "We'll just sneak through here."
"Wait no-!" Melissa called out, but it was too late. Kaminari already pulled on the handle and opened the side door, activating a silent alarm and having a light glow red by the handle itself. Said alarm was picked up by the security center, a flashing notification grabbing the attention of the the android-like villain.
"What's up?" the hooded villain said, noticing his head swivel to another monitor, "Door on the upper floor opened. We don't have any men up there...and all the guests are trapped in the main room. At least, that's what your scans said." she hummed to herself. A hand went to her ear and she tapped an earpiece in her mask. Anonymous accessed the camera network and brought up a feed showing a group of kids rushing through the hallways.
"Wolfram, this is ESPider. We have a problem. We missed some guests," ESPider sighed.
"Oh for...fine. Use the barriers. Trap them on the eightieth floor. Don't let them escape," Wolfram said on the other side of the line.
Melissa cursed to herself. "Okay...well, since they're already on their way, I guess we should just bite the bullet and go through the exit."
"S-sorry." Kaminari said.
"Next time, think a little before you just go for it," Jirou admonished.
The group ran down the hall, which was currently unguarded. "They're making their way from the top floor, so we have some time!" Iida yelled.
The doors behind and in front of them started to close. Todoroki was quick to react- a small ice wall blocked the door that was about to close in front of them. Iida sped up ahead, and smashed through a blocked door.
"Dang it! Ruined my good pants." Iida frowned.
"Worry about that later! This way!" Uraraka said, taking the group into...what seemed like a massive park just built inside the tower.
"What is this place?" Izuku asked as they raced into the strange room.
"The official title is the Hydroponics and General Agriculture Center!" Melissa said, "But some people just call it the Plant Factory. It's where we study the effects Quirks have on different forms of flora, positive and negative!"
"The Plant Factory?" Tokoyami asked.
"Don't ask me, but it's shorter than the official!"
"Hold on!" Jirou said, holding out her arm and stopping Kaminari, "Eyes up! Elevator's moving up here!"
Uraraka frowned. "Everyone hide. We'll use the elevator when they're busy searching for us."
"Works for me." Melissa said, as the group scattered.
The group quickly found a place to hide behind some of the abundant greenery in the massive garden-like chamber.
"Once they're gone, do you think we could use the elevator to reach the top?" Kaminari asked.
"No. Only authorized personnel can use the controls, sadly. Brute forcing it won't work either, it's built like a bomb shelter," Melissa explained.
"Good plan though, but villains never make it easy," Sero said. The group went dead quiet when they heard the elevator ding. The heavy metal doors slid aside to let the elevator's passengers. One was a walking tank of a human being, giving the students flashbacks of the Nomu at USJ, with long spikey black hair and clad in a metal-grey coat with a black shirt and harness underneath and matching metallic gray pants and boots. The other actually could've been the costume of a hero, a large jet blue long coat complete with a jet-black suit underneath and a visor that covered the eyes.
"Alright, Floor 80," the visored villain said.
"Greaaaat. Of all the places, they chose the literal indoor forest. Fucking great," the bulky bruiser sighed.
"Oh, complaining about Wolfram's orders?"
"Never! I just want this damn thing wrapped up quick. More places to hide means more time wasted searching dead ends," the bulky villain looked around the room, taking note of all the hiding places he could see.
"There's no need to worry." The visored guy said. "I can just easily subdue them with my quirk, and you can knock them around. You'd like that."
"...fair enough," The big oaf smirked.
"Now then, let's get to-" the visored guy said before he simply nudged the brute in the arm. He grunted in question, before his gaze was drawn to where his comrade was looking. The two stepped forward, seemingly towards the group's hiding place.
"We can see you, ya know!" the brute roared with a grin.
Uraraka's heart stopped when she heard that. She was so well hidden! How did they see her-?
"Stupid kids! Show yourselves!" The big guy yelled.
"Piss off! I'm probably smarter than your shitty face!" A familiar voice yelled.
Wait what? The group collectively thought, before they all turned in unison and noticed that their two missing members were out in the open.
Kirishima?! Izuku mentally panicked.
Bakugou?! Uraraka was similarly mentally freaked out.
"What are you doing here?" The visored villain asked, stepping forward.
"Was about to ask you the same question," Bakugou said, stepping forward.
"Hey, man- leave this to me, okay?" Kirishima didn't want a screaming match right now. "Uh, we kinda got lost on the way to the party. Mind pointing us in the right direction?"
The two villains stared blankly at the boys.
"Sorry, he SUCKS with directions." Bakugou said. "It's pretty annoying."
"How did they get all the way up to the eightieth floor looking for RECEPTION?!" Sero whispered.
"You two think you're so clever, don't you?" the brute growled, "One thing I hate more than smartasses and those who disrespect Wolfram and that's LIARS!" The massive man slammed both of his fists into the floor, the metal seemingly twisting around his forearms at the site of impact. The floor on both sides of the duo twisted and bent, rising up and taking the shape of two giant open hands.
Kirishima and Bakugou barely had a moment to react- but thankfully, Todoroki's giant ice wall intercepted the fists. They crashed into the giant glacier tough ice wall, before retracting back into the ground.
"Damn it," The visored one said. "They obscured my view of them."
"Wait...Icy-Hot?!" Bakugou yelled, turning to see the son of Endeavor having left the hiding spot.
"How are you even up here?!" Kirishima asked.
"Could ask you the same. Everyone, the three of us should be enough to hold them off!" Todoroki said, putting a hand to the ground and freezing a path towards the rest of the group. The ground beneath them froze, before it quickly began to ascend to the ceiling of the chamber, "Keep looking for a way to the top!"
"Todoroki!" Momo called out.
"I'll be right behind you! I just need to deal with these two," the son of Endeavor's gaze looked over to the criminals on the other side of the ice wall.
"...right!" Momo finally acquiesced.
"If that's the case, I'm staying too." Kaminari frowned, electricity crackling from his hands.
"Huh?" Jirou said.
"I'm dead weight if I over exert myself. Might as well do it here!" Kaminari yelled.
"Wait Kaminari-!" Todoroki called out.
"Too late! Doing this!" Kaminari called back as he quickly jumped off the ice pillar before it got too high.
Todoroki gasped, as Kaminari landed on the ground with ease. For a brief second, Todoroki swore he saw something crackle on Kaminari's body, but he shook it off.
"Okay then," Todoroki sighed, as Kaminari joined up with him. "Looks like we're teaming in."
The sound of tearing metal echoed from behind the wall, before several impacts made the frozen barrier crack. After one last big impact, it shattered entirely. The brawn of the villain duo slammed two intimidating metal gauntlets together to try and scare the students.
"Come on, ya punks! Test your metal against Metal Industry's Iron Juggernaut, Extra-OR-DINARY, if ya think you're hard enough!" the metal-warping villain roared.
"...still going with that title, huh?" the visored villain asked.
"SHUT IT, PHOTO!"
Todoroki frowned. A quirk that can manipulate metal, and one that can clearly impair something related to vision. That's probably why he wears that visor.
"So something tells me these guys are bad news," Kirisihima said, looking over to Kaminari.
"We'll catch you up later," Kaminari said.
"Doesn't matter," Bakugou growled, "They wanna fight, let's give 'em one!"
"Now this kid? This kid I LIKE!" Extra-Ore-Dinary laughed, before getting into a ready position. "Photo" simply sighed and got ready to fight as well. The opening move was Bakugou's, as he held his hands behind him and fired off two blasts to send him flying towards Photo. Extra-Ore-Dinary tried to get in the way, but Kirishima hardened his arms and rushed in, getting in a solid right jab to the metallic villain's gut.
Todoroki slammed his foot on the ground, and erected a few spikes of ice that headed right towards "Photo". Photo jumped back, flipping backwards and avoiding each spike with ease. He was more aerobatic than one would've assumed.
"That's annoying," Kaminari frowned, as his hands sparked.
"STAND STILL AND DIE!" Bakugou yelled, putting all his attention on Photo. The rather acrobatic villain dodged every single explosion-boosted hit Bakugou threw at him, while also dodging Todoroki's continued barrage of ice. Kirishima, meanwhile, was engaged in a blow-for-blow drag-out brawl with Extra-Ore-Dinary(or Ore for short from here on out.) The villainous bruiser threw punch after punch at Kirishima, but Red Riot blocked or countered with one that had just as much power behind it!
"That metal skin just for show, buddy? I took harder punches from a kid my age!" Kirishima taunted.
"Lemme fix that, then!" Ore suddenly melted into the ground, re-emerged behind Kirishima. He punched the boy in the back of the head, sending him falling to the ground.
"Thought I could just build with this power, huh? Dead wrong!" Ore grinned and raised his fist. Kirishima quickly spun around and slammed his own hardened fist into Ore's gut, making the villain keel over.
Photo needed room to breathe here. He could keep dodging them for a while, but he was still human and to be human was to err. He focused on Bakugou and quickly lifted up his visor.
Bakugou lifted an eyebrow, before an overwhelming beam of light shot out of Photo's eyes. Bakugou was blinded by the burst of light, and covered his eyes.
"S-shit! The hell is that?" Bakugou cursed.
"Gotcha," Photo grinned and jumped away from the last of Bakugou's explosions. Bakugou stopped his attack after that, one hand covering his eyes in pain. From that time he was seeing the room, it was like he was staring directly into industrial-strength stadium lights at a baseball arena.
Seeing Kirishima give it his all against Ore, Kaminari took a deep breath and raced in too. Sparks gathered around his fingers and he took aim at the metallic villain. He was hoping his aim had improved, especially since this guy's Quirk was metal related. If one of his shocks hit, this guy would be taking extra damage.
With a raised finger, Kaminari directed an electrical arc at Ore. The electric current almost missed his adversary and instead struck a neighboring wall.
"Dumby, that was a nice shot. I'm right here with you!" Ore grinned before merging with the ground. He sped over to Bakugou, who was being blinded by the lights.
"Damn it! Why the hell is it so hard to see?" Bakugou cursed, as Ore grabbed him from behind.
"What a ridiculous query. You simply cannot see. Do you know what photophobia is?" The man with the visor asked.
"For starters, it's your name." Ore pointed out.
"Silence. I'm talking." Photophobia frowned.
Todoroki looked over. It's a condition that makes your eyes sensitive to light. Managing it isn't easy- after all, we need light.
Photophobia! Quirk: Lights Out. After Photophobia makes direct eye contact with someone, the victim's eyesight will become incredibly sensitive to light and more susceptible to migraines. It only lasts for a few minutes, but his partner can take advantage of that. Speaking of...
Extra-Ore-Dinary! Quirk: Metal Menace. He can merge with metal substances and manipulate them freely. He constantly has some on his skin for defense, so he's quite heavy. He also need to have two body parts touching the substance in order to merge.
"What I've done is simply made taking care of you easier." Photophobia said, walking over slowly. "Ore. You may finish the boy off."
"Finally, I was getting sick of this kid squirming around." Ore said, as he began to squeeze Bakugou's body tightly. Bakugou growled angrily, before his palms began to sweat profusedly.
"I'm...not...gonna...die!" Bakugou yelled, before activating his quirk. The sudden explosion blew Ore off of him, and into a wall. Todoroki made a giant ice wall that divided the two villains from one and other.
Photo tilted his head. Ore would just simply break the wall down when he was done. Bakugou still had his eyesight affected, and landed back on the ground with a thud. He groaned.
"You moron. You just blew yourself up in the air." Photo grinned. "You probably can't even realize where you're going."
"Hey idiot!" Kirishima yelled, running over. The red head boy was on this side, and his eyes were closed. With his eyes clamped shut, Photophobia's powers were useless.
Photophobia had to remain quiet, as he avoided Kirishima's blind and wild swings. The boy was like an untrained boxer. Photophobia reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small extendable staff.
Kirishima's ears twitched when he heard that. He smirked. "I dunno what weapon that is, but it's not gonna be very effective."
"It's very effective." Photophobia said, spinning it around. "Allow me to demonstrate."
Kirishima hardened his body, but Photophobia's blows were all still hitting hard. Where he would hit would change every time. Kirishima had never been hurt like this before. This guy's better than I thought! Kirishima grunted, still keeping his eyes clothes.
Photophobia was hitting Kirishima's 'weakest' points- biceps, hands, jaws, nerves and other areas were hit repeatedly. Kirishima could barely move. Opening his eyes could risk getting blinded like Bakugou.
Meanwhile, Todoroki and Kaminari had to deal with the embodiment of the villain's brute force. Lacking the same brute force as Kirishima would make things slightly more difficult, but that's not to say they didn't have a counter that held just as much important. Kaminari's hand sparked as he was charging up an attack. Ore chuckled as he freed himself from the wall that was practically embedded into. Once he was free, he charged at the duo of students, metal gauntlets ready to crush the two. At first, it looked like he was gonna throw a hit at Todoroki, but he quickly changed direction at the last minute, aiming for Kaminari instead! The electric student's eyes widened as he tried to jump out of the way, narrowly dodging the heavy fist that would've definitely broken a few bones if it connected. Todoroki used the miss to counter and tried to freeze over the villain's metallic arms. Ice began to creep over Ore's gauntlets, but the brute just grinned and slammed them together, shattering the ice layer entirely.
"Nice try, frosty!" Ore growled, spinning around and almost backhanding Todoroki with the now freed gauntlet.
"The metal around his body is incredibly resistant to cold temps." Todoroki frowned.
"What about the other side? You try that yet?" Kaminari said.
"I don't want to melt the ice wall by accident. Plus, if he can resist the cold, he can resist my flames." Todoroki pointed out.
"Smart kid," Ore grinned. He slammed his fists together before thrusting them both into the ground. Just like before, the metal twisted and morphed around his wrists and, just as before, he molded the metal in the floor. Iron spikes shot out in a similar manner to Todoroki's ice, causing the two students to jump out of the way. Todoroki countered with his own spike attack, but Ore quickly withdrew his arms from the ground and shattered the spikes before they reached him.
"This guy's insane!" Kaminari said. "He's like Tetsutetsu on Trigger!"
"There has to be a limit." Todoroki hummed, looking at the ground. He then looked towards the forest. "Quick, Kaminari. I want to test something." Todoroki made his way over to the forest area, and Kaminari followed.
"Huh? Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Ore roared, rushing after the two.
"I want to see the range of his powers." Todoroki explained, as the two dove into the forest.
"Good plan. We could stand a chance if we just fight him on even ground, I guess." Kaminari shrugged.
Ore dove in after them, quickly losing sight of them in the greenery. He growled as he started to punch down trees trying to find the duo. He never liked the whole "cat-and-mouse" routine. He much more preferred straight fights, like that redhead kid was trying. Now that was a fight he could find fun! Shame that he had to deal with Photo and that unfair Quirk of his. But, can't complain when fate deals you a hand, just had to play it anyway.
"I have more than enough range with the metal plates on my body..." Ore frowned. "And I know exactly how to track those kids down."
Some of the plates on his left rose up and began to shake, as if they were picking up vibrations.
"There you are," Ore said and thundered in that direction. Kaminari and Todoroki were still rushing through the green maze, totally unaware that Ore was following them dead on.
"The hell? How did he find us so fast?" Kaminari yelled.
Todoroki noticed his cufflinks were shaking. "He was tracking us using the metal on our body, like some sort of compass."
"Great," Kaminari frowned. "But that confirms it. He doesn't have much of a range or offensive presence when he's in here."
"Which is something we can definitely exploit," Todoroki said, "How much metal's in your outfit right now?"
"Uhhh...not much." Kaminari said. "I just have my zipper and my phone. Why?"
Todoroki answered by acting. He grabbed hold of the cufflinks and ripped them off his suit.
"If they're not on us...we can trick him," the fire and ice student explained.
"Oooooh, I get what you're saying." Kaminari said. "But if my phone breaks, you buy me a new one."
"Deal," Todoroki said, as they tossed the metal away.
As expected, the plates on Ore's body tugged and vibrated in the direction that the metal was thrown. Like a fish to the hook, the brute charged towards the bait, giving Todoroki and Kaminari time to plan.
"There's a small opening in between his plates when he tries to locate us." Todoroki noted, as Ore walked in the direction of one of his cufflinks. "We need to aim between there to put him down for the count."
"One good shot...in an incredibly small chink in the armor of an unstoppable juggernaut. Great, it's my trench run," Kaminari sighed.
"You're what?" Todoroki asked.
"Star Wars? No?"
Todoroki just shrugged at the reference.
"...ok, something else to put on the list, I guess," Kaminari sighed.
"I also wanted to ask about something I noticed. When you hit the ground, there was...a shimmer around your body." Todoroki said. "Is it possible that you-"
The sound of a tree falling got their attention. Todoroki and Kaminari looked up to see a tree being thrown at them. The two dodged out of the way, as the tree slammed into the ground in front of them.
"Are you KIDDING ME?! How'd he know?!" Kaminari panicked a little after dodging falling tree.
"That...is an excellent question," Todoroki admitted, totally at a loss. Well, there was one idea, but there's no way he could track them by that, unless this villain's Quirk was much more finely tuned than he expected. Some animals, humans included, have iron in their blood. It's a small amount, granted, but it plays a vital part in bodily functions. If Ore was tracking them by that, then they couldn't lose him, he could always find them again. Hiding would be pointless as well.
"...Kaminari," Todoroki began as he got back to his feet, "I think running as an option was just removed entirely. We're gonna have to take him head on."
"Times like this I really wish I took Kirishima up on some of those unofficial training sessions he kept talking about," the electric student sighed, getting ready for the inevitable confrontation with Ore.
"I may have an idea that's up your alley, but it's a bit...dumb." Todoroki admitted.
"Dumb is my specialty." Kaminari grinned.