A/N: In case you haven't caught on by now, basically, think of canon as an outline that I'm going to be following. This is going to go WAY off the rails compared to my other stories, and the USJ is just one small change compared to what's going to happen. Also, I am following a very specific schedule, so don't start expecting updates this quickly.
The Way of the Bat
Chapter IV
Between Shigaraki's messages and the arrest of Dr. Garakai Kyudai at what appeared to be the word of a quirkless hero student meant one thing: the media swarmed UA looking for the truth. Most of the students got caught by them, but only most. Several were able to use Iida as a distraction, as he had started a whole speech about UA accepting even those without any power into their halls. Izuku on the other hand took a different route. He had spotted the media a few blocks away and as such, he used his grappling hook to pull himself to a point above the school barrier, pulled on a spare cape and glided over the wall into the small forest surrounding the school. Only one person noticed him, and he was honestly looking forward to meeting the young hero, as he knew they'd have a very interesting relationship. But he had a job to do, and that meant helping the media out.
At lunch, they discussed what Aizawa's return would do, but they were interrupted by an alarm, which one of the older students identified as an alarm saying that someone had infiltrated the school. "Seriously? Don't they do drills here?" Izuku asked. "Would someone get to the window and find out what happened? I need to deal with these idiots. Honestly, what kind of hero panics at an alarm?"
The last part was barely a mutter, but those near him heard it anyways. Momo, who took her new role as class rep seriously, took charge of her classmates. "Right, Uraraka, use your quirk on … Iida. Iida, your job is to find out what's going on and pass it on to Midoriya. Where's Aoyama?" While Uraraka and Iida worked on discovering the source of the disturbance, Midoriya spread a gas through the crowd. While they started panicking at the gas, start was the worst that happened, as all of them started calming down after only a few seconds of breathing it in. "What was that gas, Midoriya?" Yaoyorozu asked when things had calmed down.
"Back in the early days of quirks, there was a hero called Batman who worked mostly in Gotham over in America. One of his villains, called Scarecrow spread fear through a poison gas that directly affected the parts of the brain that control fear. After the Scarecrow was permanently put behind bars, Batman discovered that the cure for the Scarecrow's gas could be used to mitigate the effects of purely natural fear. That's the gas I used just now," Izuku explained.
After lunch, Toshinori happily announced "Today you'll be taking part in what should have been your second heroics class: rescue training! And seeing as how he seems to have recovered from the shock, Aizawa will be joining us, as well as one other. So, get changed into your costumes and head out to the bus, it's time to show you what being a hero is really about!"
Everyone was so excited that they changed as quickly as they could, and were outside before the bus arrived. That allowed Izuku to ask a question that he'd been desperate to know the answer to. "Umm, Hagakure, sorry if this is personal, but you are wearing a costume, right?"
"Of course I am, Midoriya!" the invisible girl responded. "The support company just uses my hair to make my costume so it's invisible. They have quite a few people who specialize in making clothing from a person's hair so they can be affected by the user's quirk, and some of them can see light that's invisible to the average person! One of them even has a quirk that makes hair grow super fast! So yeah, I'm wearing a costume, I just wish I could show it off! Invisibility's a great quirk, I just can't turn it off!"
Once on the bus, Ojiro turned to Izuku, who was sitting next to Todoroki as usual, and asked "So, how do you know so much about an American hero from over a hundred years ago?"
"That's a bit of a story, are you sure you want to hear it?" Almost the entire class leaned forward, also curious about this American. "So, the first thing you should know is that Batman was a quirkless hero, as were all of his sidekicks."
"How many heroes did he have working under him?" Iida asked.
Izuku gave him an odd look before answering. "None, why did you … oh, right! Sorry, but when I talk about Batman's sidekicks, I mean the old-fashioned type, students who learned about being a hero directly from him, what we are now, essentially. He trained them, equipped them, fought alongside them until they were ready to move on and become heroes in their own right. And he had … somewhere between twelve and thirty depending on how you count it. Anyways, as he got older, he naturally got slower and decided that the best way to continue the legacy was to start a company that would train new kids in the ways of the Bat. Shortly after I was diagnosed as quirkless, I was invited to join Batman Inc. They've been training me ever since."
"What kind of training have you had?" Ojiro asked.
"Martial arts, parkour, ninjutsu, detective work, hacking, escapology, acrobatics, acting and illusion. I'm not very good at the illusion and acting yet, but the detective work was easy." Everyone save Todoroki and Bakugou stared in shock at the things he had learned just to be able to stand in the ring with them.
"Are you aiming for the top?" Hagakure asked.
"Please, I'm a Bat, we're at our best when we're underground heroes. Our best weapon is the fear of the unknown, the superstition most criminals thrive on. But I don't know who can take Yagi-senseis' place at the top. Kacchan would go the Endeavor route-"
"Hey!"
"-Todoroki is the quiet type, and the rest of you just don't have the power to be the undisputed number one. I've heard that Class B is basically the same, not to mention the upper years. One third year has the personality to be popular, but not the power," Izuku stated.
"Well, perhaps the world doesn't need a new Symbol of Peace," Toshinori added. "The world got along fine without me before, it can do so again after. But now, we're here." They were immediately greeted by Aizawa and the Space Hero: Thirteen who introduced them to Thirteen's proud addition to UA: the USJ. (Before, UA was using multiple arenas, spread out like the miniature cities used for the entrance exam and training.)
"As I'm sure you know, my quirk is called Black Hole. It can suck up and destroy anything." Uraraka interrupted there about how well she'd used it in rescues. "Indeed, but my power could very easily be used to kill. I'm sure there are others among you with abilities just as dangerous. In our superhuman society, all quirks are certified and stringently regulated, so we often forget how dangerous they can actually be. But we must never forget that all it takes is a brief loss of control or one wrong move for people to die, even if you're trying to do something virtuous like rescue someone. Thanks to Aizawa's fitness test, you have a solid grasp on your quirk's potential, and because of All Might's battle training, you know how dangerous your powers can be. Carry those lessons over to this class. Today, you're going to learn how to use your powers to save lives. There won't be even a hint of combat, only to help. After all, that is what being a hero is all about: ensuring the safety of others. Thank you for listening."
Everyone cheered, until Aizawa and Izuku realized something was wrong. It started with problems with the lights and central fountain, but the real warning was when the ground started to rumble, and a large hole opened in the ground. Immediately villains started pouring out, and the last four to do so looked like the most problematic to Izuku. One was an enormous being with its' brain exposed and a beak, the second honestly looked like an ordinary businessman but one that was far too comfortable considering the situation, the third was a girl no more than ten years older than Izuku who looked vaguely familiar, and the fourth was a being made of mist who appeared from a vortex next to the girl. "Remember, I am only here for one purpose, Goto Chikaru," the mist guy said.
"Don't worry, once you do your job, you can leave, Kurogiri. I'll call if we need an emergency exit though." She looked up at the students and immediately started grumbling. "Where is that heroic piece of trash? You said he was going to be here! Who is that up there with Eraserhead and Thirteen?"
"I could bring him down to us, if you desire?"
"No, this is my job, I'll do it." Then she stopped to think for a moment. "Actually, come along, you can do your job then leave."
Back up by the doors, Kirishima was asking "Has the training started already? I thought we were rescuing people."
"Well, plans change," Izuku stated as he double-checked his domino mask. "Congratulations, welcome to the reality of being a hero. Those are legitimate villains, and we have work to do."
"Kaminari, can you contact the rest of the school?" Momo asked. Before their second round at the combat exercises, most of them had explained why their costumes were designed the way they were, from Kaminari's ear piece to Bakugou's gauntlets, with the only exception being Izuku's belt. (That he only revealed to Shoto.)
"No, I'm being jammed," the electric boy answered. "It's almost like … there's another electric type around."
"The door's probably sealed as well," Izuku, no, Robin analyzed. "An isolated facility, easily cut off with few pros to worry about and during the time for a class so they'd have plenty of potential hostages. Someone involved is pretty clever."
Right then, Aizawa dived in to fight the mass of villains while Toshinori ordered "Everyone, to the doors! Sato, Iida, be prepared to break them down! Thirteen, you as well."
The group had just made it halfway when the girl caught up to them, surrounding them with a raised layer of earth that she surfed on. Up close, they could see that she had curly hair as red as a fire, brown eyes, wearing a body suit with spiked shoulder pads and a cape. "Hello, kids. I am Gaia and I am the head of the League of Villains. We decided to invite ourselves to this bastion of close-mindedness to end the life of All Might. So you, blondie, are going to tell me where he is, or I'll kill some of these kids." With that, she made a move vaguely reminiscent of Hung Gar that resulted in the earth trapping Toshinori-sensei before carrying him down to the fountain by the beaked being. "Kurogiri, scatter them."
Bakugou and Kirishima were the first to vanish, as they attempted to attack Goto and Kurogiri caught them in his mist. Then he grew to a massive size, encompassing the entire class, and when the mist was gone, so was more than half of 1-A and Kurogiri. Thirteen took a quick head count to figure out who was missing. She still had Shoji, Koda, Iida, Ojiro and Sero, but everyone else was gone. "Shoji, what happened to the others?"
The boy raised his arms and extended his reach as far as he could to discover the others. Only two zones posed a problem: the typhoon and fire zones due to their enclosed natures and large amounts of noise inside. "I think everyone is still in the USJ, but I don't know for certain about Hagakure, Ashido Tokoyami, Uraraka or Sato. I think they're in the fire and typhoon zones. Yaoyorozu, Kaminari and Jirou are in the mountain zone, Todoroki's in the landslide, Bakugou and Kirishima are in the earthquake zone, and Midoriya, Mineta and Asui are in the flood zone."
In the flood/shipwreck zone, Robin had made a clean, safe landing on the deck of the ship and immediately set to work. A drone the shape and size of a batarangs was launched above the ship to determine the number of enemies and their location. The many cameras in the USJ were hacked into to determine the location of his classmates and the rest of the villains. One of them focused on the too-comfortable businessman so Robin could try to figure out why he looked so familiar. Others were used to locate his classmates, and knowing about Shoji's limitations, Robin started updating him. "Infinity and Shadow are in the storm, Acid and Sugar are in the fire, Blind is with Zuko. I vaguely recognize the Suit, but I can't place him yet. Gaia's real name is Goto Chikaru. She was a perspective UA student, but rejected due to the excessive amount of collateral damage she caused during her test, even injuring other perspective students. She has a quirk that allows her to control the earth with her mind."
"Why are you talking to yourself?" Mineta Minoru asked. Him and Asui Tsuyu had boarded earlier, but had kept quiet while he'd been talking.
"I wasn't, I was briefing Arms so that he knew where the others were," Robin explained. "Now, I need the specifics of your quirks so we can get out of here."
"Fight? Are you crazy?! These guys have All Might captured and are going to kill him once they find that out! The best plan is to wait for a real pro to come and save us! I don't want to die without touching Yaoyorozu's boobs!" Mineta cried.
"You're being an idiot then, and thinking like a civilian rather than a hero," Robin replied. His complaint though made him take a mental note, especially considering his comments during the election. He was the kind of person that Akira absolutely adored. "Gaia made it clear that she was willing to kill us to get what she wants, and we need to free All Might so he can fight. Now, the villains have no idea what our quirks are or that I'm quirkless, so they're going to be cautious. We can use that to our advantage."
"Well, I can jump pretty high, and cling to pretty much any wall. Then there's my tongue, I can stick it out about twenty meters. Oh yeah, I can spit up my stomach so I can clean it … that's not very useful. Finally I also secrete a toxic mucus, it only stings a little though." Robin made notes in his head while also considering potential weaknesses for frogs. He'd already come up with Agamemno contingencies for most of his other classmates.
"I have these sticky balls, their strength depends on how I'm feeling that day. They grow back as fast as I pull them off, but I'll bleed if I use too many. Oh, and they don't stick to me, I just bounce right off them." Mineta on the other hand had just revealed his second major weakness, both of which Robin would be making him pay for.
"Perfect, then here's the plan: I have a high-explosive batarang. I'm going to send it into the water, and when it goes off, everything will be sucked into the center of the explosion. Mineta, you're going to toss as many balls as you can stand into the water. Tsu, you're going to get us out. After that, the two of you are going to join the others and escape."
"Why can't you just call for help?!" Mineta cried. "You were using your computer-thing earlier, so you obviously have a connection!"
Robin sighed. "The connection is directly to the Bat-family's database, which is hardened against every potential disaster you could imagine and every quirk possible. I can only connect to the database, nothing more. It's fight or die, and I have no intention of dying right now!" With that, he set an explosive batarang to its highest charge and threw it into the water. Whether it was because he'd been inspired, out of shame or fear, Mineta could never answer, but he followed Robin's lead and started throwing his balls into the water. By the time the water had returned to normal, all the villains had been caught in a large ball tied to each other by Mineta's balls while the heroes escaped to dry land. "Right, you two are going to rejoin the others and escape as soon as possible. Use the foliage and the wall in front of the Typhoon Zone as cover, then you can get to the entrance safely."
"What about you, Midoriya?" Tsu asked.
"I've got work to do. Someone has to save Toshi-sensei and help Eraserhead, and I have the most experience. As much as I hate to admit it, Mineta's right, you two shouldn't have to deal with life and death situations, not until you're ready for work studies." The two looked at each other, towards their companion, then back at each other, utterly confused. First, what were work studies? Second, Midoriya had as much experience as them … didn't he? Still, his confidence was so complete that they decided to listen.
Robin snuck up to the fountain and watched as Aizawa continued to fight the minions, each fight leading him closer to where Toshi-sensei was being held. "Just tell us where All Might is, you bastard!" Gaia demanded. The girl was holding him by the throat with a stone glove and both of them were held up by small pillars of stone.
"I don't know! I'm his secretary, we arranged with UA for me to cover his shifts as a teacher if he wasn't available! If I could leave the facility, I could call him though!"
"Do you think I'm stupid?" she asked before slapping him. Interestingly, the stone glove fell off her hand before the slap happened, and the stone pillars collapsed, but neither of them acted shocked. So Eraserhead had probably erased her quirk several times. "If you leave the facility, you could call the school and all the teachers could show up! No way I'm letting you escape!" Then something caught her eye. "Hold that thought. I have someone else to hurt right now."
Robin turned to look where the villain was looking, and saw that Aizawa had finished with the small fry, so the hero was charging at the remaining trio. Then it happened: his hair fell, and Gaia could use her quirk again. Instantly the Underground Hero was caught in a giant hand made of dirt. "You've been a pain in my side, Eraserhead. Don't worry though, I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to leave that to my friend here, the bio-engineered anti-Symbol of Peace. But you can just call him Nomu. My dragon here will finish you off after Nomu's made you suffer." With that, she released him from her quirk's grip, and he faced the Nomu.
Aizawa had no idea why this girl let him go, but she was going to regret it. This Nomu thing was big, and in his experience, that usually meant slow but hard hitting. He couldn't afford to take even one punch, especially if it really was as strong as All Might. But that was with its' quirk, and he could still erase it. So his first move was to do so, then he jumped into the air so he could strike against the being. But that was as far as he got, because the Nomu was much faster than it had any right to be and it caught him easily. Then it began to squeeze, and the pain began.