"You're not him…" Makima said with a frown.
Green, puppy-like eyes welling up with fear locked their sights on her and the helpful tool called Koda.
It was this boy; he was the one tainting the peppermint scent with that citrus smell.
A great wave of disappointment filled her entire being. It was like when Chainsaw Man reverted into Denji despite all her efforts of snuffing out any semblance of that disagreeable human. She sighed heavily, expressing her displeasure to the one in front of her.
Denji was unworthy of Chainsaw Man – his antics, words, everything. It didn't make sense why her idol chose Earth's most random, unqualified human being to receive his power. And somehow, yet again, another human in a whole different world had managed to fill her with similar disappointed feelings.
There wasn't any other emotion in her heart besides discontent. Just pure, unfiltered disappointment that escaped and showed itself on her face. She never much cared for this boy, not remembering his scent did attest to it, and she honestly tried to remember. But he was so uninteresting at the time compared to his teacher.
A few questions began to swirl in Makima's mind.
Was the boy some sort of vessel? Why did he have that man's scent lingering about him like an errant fly? Why did this child have to be here to make things so…. Unnecessary.
"M-Midoriya… W-what do we do?" A little purple boy asked, hiding behind the frog girl who looked just as terrified as he did.
The now-named Midoriya teen stood ramrod straight, placing himself between the two as a hero would with his arms stretched out. It was cute and she could see why that man was training him. He had a look of innocence and valor not quite seen in a lot of other humans.
"Y-you can have me; just leave them alone… A-and l-let K-koda go." He set his demands with his eyes closed, waiting for her to strike him or do something horrendous.
"Midoriya, what are you doing?!" The purple toddler shrieked out with snot and tears.
Yes, what are you doing? She thought. He probably didn't know these two very well at all, but here he was, offering himself up on a silver platter to let his friends try to escape. Makima thought it so noble and heroic of the supposedly 'uninteresting' child. If she were any other devil, they'd want to gobble him up or twist that pure innocence in all manners of ways.
Like a newborn pup that particularly stood out from its litter, this 'Midoriya' finally garnered her interest now. As she knelt to come face to face with the child, that awful feeling swimming around in her bosom resurfaced.
Makima ignored it and she'd have to meddle with this boy's mind, keep going with the plan, and create a new contingency as she'd done with that bird student. Besides, Makima's curiosity was getting the better of her, and she wanted answers.
She looked around, checking to see if anyone would interfere. Behind her, Shigaraki's gigantic minion was currently manhandling Eraser Head. When Makima had confirmed that no one would be waltzing in uninvited to her conversation with these three, she got closer and gave them a reassuring smile.
"I don't want to have you, or your little friends there. I just want to know where All-Might is."
The frightened teens didn't answer her.
"Is he away? Maybe in one of the other buildings here at your school?"
When they didn't answer her and just gawked at her in silence, her eyes narrowed.
Without a moment's notice to the frightened teens, she shot out a trio of chains from her index, middle, and ring fingers.
The boy dodged it briefly by ducking down, but she wouldn't allow further disruptions. Another chain wrapped itself around his torso and dragged him through the shallow water. The other chains found their marks in those other two and were currently sifting through a whole range of unusable knowledge.
Memories of frog-like creatures dressed in clothing; birthdays; school crushes; an excruciating number of lewd fantasies about boobs and asses; all of it was useless.
Like browsing through an art gallery of stained-glass panes, Makima tried to find anything pertaining to the one close to that man or to All-Might's whereabouts in this USJ facility or the school itself.
Makima perused through them all, ordering their minds to release whatever info related to Midoriya. Her lips turned into a smirk upon seeing similar panes of memories of a sports-like test of their individual quirks.
A young, strict glasses-wearing teen with motors installed into his calves; a boy that had a much more useful version of Gyu's hardening ability; an energetic and loud-mouthed one with an explosion quirk launching a baseball high into the sky, and lastly…
The boy she wanted to know a bit more about.
Midoriya watched as those chains hooked deeply into Asui and Mineta's heads. Their eyes appeared blank and, thankfully, they were breathing, which alleviated one of his concerns. Another one of his problems arose directly from the woman in front of him.
He briefly remembered the red hair which All-Might regularly brought up when they used to train at the beach. There was always a need for him to bring out a third foldable chair anytime they went out so that this mystery lady could sit and chat with his teacher about stuff. Though, it seemed as though she never came back after that one singular visit.
All-Might never gave up on her returning, so he always kept that extra chair free for whenever the woman ever decided to drop in. When Midoriya had asked All-Might why he'd do this for someone he'd met only once, the proud man simply brushed it off or dodged the topic altogether with a smile.
How would his teacher feel knowing that someone, whom he'd never given up on, was here attacking U.A. students? After so many painful months of All-Might waiting on this lady, she decides to show up now as a villain?! She didn't look at all sorry with how she was treating his classmates…
Anger swelled up in his chest as he wanted to yell at this woman. He was slowly dragged like a ragdoll to her. He twirled in the air as the chains aligned themselves to make him be up right in front of her, and then he came face-to-face with this horrible person.
"W-what are you-" He said, trying to shake off the chains and get a better look. Her eyes were going to the left and right as if she was scrolling through social media posts, or like there was some invisible VR headset on her. She was looking at something that he couldn't see.
"Midoriya." She said with a satisfied look on her face. "Izuku Midoriya. You've got the most impressive quirk for someone of your age." She paused to focus her attention on him with a super-pleased smile. "You really are fascinating."
Those invasive chains that were in his classmates soon unhooked themselves out of their heads and they looked a little spaced out. Like they were catatonic.
The chain wrapped around his body slithered closer to his neck and around his face, aligning itself to perfectly get inside his head.
Is it mind-reading? She must be trying to find out where All-Might is! Midoriya tried to wriggle free and grip the chains in hopes of hurting the woman somehow, but nothing worked.
"Please relax." She said in such a calming voice. "I only want to know where All-Might may be located. He seems rather attached to someone like you judging from what those two have seen. A teacher's pet perhaps? Or…" The woman paused, likely pondering with her new stolen knowledge. "Is it something else?"
Like a persistent earthworm, the chain slowly pushed its way into his own forehead. The oncoming freezing sensation didn't hurt; it felt as if his brain was in a murky fog and a fuzzy feeling slithered all around his skull.
"Where is All-Might? How do you know him? And who is that skeletal man you're always with?" Her voice was echoing in his mind now. And… the last question sounded more curious than the first two.
No! I won't show you anything! He thought of irrelevant things like his favorite action figures, movie scenes, or annoying music that, if even given thought of, will keep replaying in his head.
He noted that the woman didn't like that. "This is an order: Tell me who that man is, or where All-Might is at."
Gah! Get out of my head! I won't let you… Argh!
Midoriya was fainting. He couldn't hold onto his consciousness anymore. Whatever kind of quirk this was, it was making him feel at ease…. The pain from his fingers was receding away… His eyes widened. Her quirk!
All-Might….
Something was blocking her access to Midoriya's memories. She commended him for his powerful willpower. Makima had only managed to breach the doorway into his mind and was in a conundrum with what stood before her power.
A bright wall of shining stars of various colors was draped over certain iridescent glass panes of memories that were this boy's life. Something or someone from deep within his living soul was keeping her out of anything related to the mysterious blonde man or All-Might.
His quirk was getting even more interesting by the minute. She'd have to remember Midoriya's citrus smell for later reference. If she couldn't get to the one human who truly intrigued her since she arrived in this world, then the next…
Makima crossed that idea out. She was getting too carried away with wanting to know more about something irrelevant to her current mission.
Shigaraki watched Eraser Head get pinned down by his powerful Nomu. It was really satisfying to see a Pro Hero be brought down low like that. He squinted his eyes past his greatest trump card to see Makima dealing with a couple of brats by herself. In her hand was a rocky hostage, just like he'd asked, and potentially three more.
A purple portal appeared to his left and Kurogiri swiftly came out of it.
"Tomura Shigaraki."
"Kurogiri, did you kill Thirteen?"
"I put Thirteen out of action, but there were students that I was unable to disperse, and one of them was able to get away."
"Huh?" Disbelief threw itself onto his face as he turned to his companion.
Got away? One of them got away?! Shigaraki's irritation grew and the itchiness in his neck got worse. He lifted one hand up to scratch at it lightly.
When that didn't soothe the irritation, he raised his other hand and began scratching as much as he could with his nails. Shigaraki felt a maddening urge to strangle the life out of his partner.
A seething rage was bubbling up within him as he let out a frustrated growl.
"Kurogiri, you…" Not feeling at all happy or satisfied, Shigaraki continued to claw at his neck and stare down at the floor in anger. "If you weren't our only way out of here, I would've disintegrated you here right now."
There was no feasible way that they'd get All-Might now with the rest of those hero reinforcements coming along. He stopped scratching and let out a defeated sigh. "We can't win against dozens of pros. It's game over." He looked over at Kurogiri." Let's go home."
"If we're going, we should notify Makima." Kurogiri looked over to the lady that Shigaraki barely tolerated. "You know that she is too valuable an asset to leave behind in this place, Tomura."
Shigaraki scoffed and agreed reluctantly.
But before that… A nasty thought came into his head. He reared his head back to where Makima had been keeping all those brats hostage. He saw that she was doing something to them all; black chains of some sort were pierced straight into their heads. He'd assumed she was killing them, but that went out of the window as they quickly came back to life after her weird quirk left their heads. Though, she was taking an awful lot of time with the green boy.
All-Might isn't here and they were going to be surrounded by a load of those pros pretty soon. He may as well take his anger out on one of those helpless kids. It'd help him feel a bit better about himself. Plus, it'd allow him to shatter that golden bastard's pride in some way.
A sharp tug suddenly brought Midoriya to his senses, and he saw a chain quickly disintegrate from his line of vision.
Mineta was the first to awake from his stupor and point at their attacker with wide eyes. "Isn't that—" He got cut off by Asui who grabbed his mouth to try and keep the attention off them.
The strange lady did something to him and the others… He didn't know how else to put it, but he distinctly remembered seeing chains. Before he could even recoup and check if the others were okay, another villain suddenly appeared with his hand outstretched, ready to grasp Asui.
Midoriya imagined Asui disintegrating into dust as he'd seen with Aizawa's elbow, but it didn't happen. She was safe.
"Damn it. You really are cool… Eraser Head." The villain turned around alongside the red-haired one to see Aizawa using the last of his strength to nullify the villain's quirk.
"What are you doing? I wasn't finished." The red villain asked, turning her head to the teen, clearly not happy with her ally's decision.
"What does it look like? The plan's all ruined because of Kurogiri and some brat who escaped. We're leaving soon, but I figured I'd at least shatter some of All-Might's pride before we left." He still had his hand floating inches away from Asui.
"We could still draw-"
"Let me remind you that you're not the boss." The teen interrupted the woman. "Remember that before you even think of suggesting something."
They were disagreeing with each other. This gave Midoriya some time to contemplate what to do next. He weighed the odds of using his entire arm to use One For All at its fullest to blow both of them away. It would render him completely useless after a single hit, so he'd have to make it count. But if it didn't…
He imagined either of them using their powers on him. He shook his head; there was no more time to analyze things. Deal with this first then, if he was still alive, ponder on it later.
Within barely a second, he jumped up and raised his fist, ignoring the pain, and aimed his punch right between the two villains who were still talking with each other.
"Let go of her!" Midoriya cried out and he landed it squarely between the two.
"SMASH!" A gust of a strong wind blew out from his fist, shaking the very air and world around him.
The lake's water parted, and it blew away some of the nearby thugs into the air as well. Glass shattered from above.
All that was left was smoke.
He was waiting for the greatest amount of pain to run up his arm and expected it to be shattered beyond repair. However, that wasn't the case. Midoriya opened his eyes to see that his arm was completely fine.
My arm's not broken? I'm finally able to control my power at a time like this? A proud smile beamed on his face. I did it! I was able to get in a good smash! All right!
When the smoke cleared, it revealed the villains' giant brawler who somehow managed to take All For One at full power.
When in the world… Wait, it didn't… hurt him?
His mind flashed back to what Asui had told him. "Don't you think they are trying so hard because they found a way to kill him?"
No way…Midoriya's body trembled with realization. He looked up and saw this thing - the Anti-All Might villain.
"You're fast." The teen villain said. "Your 'smash' - are you one of All-Might's disciples? Oh well, I'm done with you."
As if on mental command, the bird monster grabbed Midoriya and prepared to crush him with a single slam of its hand.
Death. Death. That was the word repeating in his mind. His heart was pounding. He was on the verge of tears. He was going to die.
At least he thought he was until an unlikely someone interfered.
He opened his eyes to see the giant's hands an inch away from his face. It appeared motionless and stuck in a statuesque manner.
"Nomu, what're you doing? I told you to kill him." The teen asked. "Don't just stan—" His eyes widened as he reeled on the woman. "You…" He quickly grabbed her wrist with odd finger placement. He only used three four fingers to grab it and left his pinkie out. The villain suddenly jerked her to his side. "Just what do you think you're doing, huh?"
The woman gave him a condescending smile. "My plan becomes obsolete if you continue this unnecessary act of violence. You and your friends will find it quite unfavorable if it falls apart here because of what this thing was about to do." She casually explained.
The teen scoffed, not happy that his attempts to scare his fellow villain weren't working and let go of her hand. "Since when did a psycho like you go soft?"
The woman was about to answer him, but the loud sound of heavy doors being slammed open and smoke arising from the top of the entrance garnered the attention of everybody.
Behind Midoriya, the two behind him had sparkling eyes of hope.
"All-Might!" Mineta cried out tears of joy.
"Ribbit…"
"All-Might…" Midoriya caught the look on the Number One Hero's face. "He's not smiling…"
It was here again, that man's smell – peppermint and kiwi in its purest form. She scanned everywhere for where it was.
Shigaraki stopped his glaring at Makima from their argument and turned to face the main attraction. "I'll deal with you later." He pushed past her and to the main attraction. "So, he finally showed up. I've been waiting for this. You trash of society."
Various thugs looked frightened at the sudden entrance of the one they were supposed to kill.
"That's All-Might…?"
"It's my first time seeing him in person…"
"He looks pretty scary…"
One of the braver thugs, a shirtless man with one eye, turned back towards his comrades. "Ya idiots, don't hold back now!" He turned fully to face them all, not caring to notice the Pro in question squatting down and getting prepared to lunge at them. "If we kill him, we'll-"
A yellow blur swept by him, striking the man towards the floor as it left. More villains tried to bring their guns, fists, or quirks up, but they too were suddenly lifted off the ground and punched so quickly that they immediately fell in one attack. All of them appeared to have been knocked unconscious.
Gusts of wind exploded out from the Pro's speedy takedowns as he managed to recover Eraser Head. He held the defeated hero in his arms bridal style and quickly over at the man's injuries.
He was ridiculously fast for the human eye to track, but not to Makima. Thanks to her improved abilities, she was able to notice a few things about him.
He appeared to have been straining with great difficulty whenever he had to crouch down. His face hid a tiny wince of pain. Something was off about it. Was he injured already prior to this?
And his moves… Boisterous yet full of strength. If he wasn't holding back, any of those strikes could easily kill a person with ease – destroying their jaws, muscles, and entire skeletons with ease. Was All-Might just like Midoriya? They both smelled like that man.
The binding to this boy's soul was almost complete as well. She looked down to see her chains finishing their assimilation into the U.A. child known as Koda. Makima's chains were firmly hooked deep into his being. He'd soon no longer have a say in this battle. His quirk, mind, and body - it all belonged to her now. Her own little agent, unaware, would soon be under Makima's control. There was no need to be cautious about losing him anymore. But something gnawed at Makima's curiosity now that her nose was confirming this familiar scent.
Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the heroic Pro with great detail.
Is All-Might….
Toshinori grimaced at the sight of what had happened to his friend.
Aizawa's injuries were bad. Toshinori caught a glimpse of his friend's disintegrated elbow and broken body. It hurt his heart to see and even more so knowing that this all could've been avoided had he been here instead of him.
"Sorry, Aizawa." He uttered with a voice of regret. Toshinori turned to face the villains responsible for this mess.
A giant bird-thing that looked like the one who did this to Aizawa; a mist-like villain with yellow eyes; and lastly, a scrawny teenager confidently standing beside it. They appeared to be the ring leaders.
But the final one… His eyes couldn't accept what they were seeing. Toshinori took a step back, his fists unclenching at who was directly in front of him.
Red hair and a unique set of eyes. He'd never forget them anywhere in Musutafu. Toshinori's heroic spirit wavered at seeing the woman he shared close topics with, covered head-to-toe in blood, and looking like an accomplice to this all. What made it worse was the chains coming from her hands that wrapped themselves tightly around one of his students like a tied-up hog.
For a small moment, he could've sworn he saw something change in the woman's indifferent yet familiar expression that he saw all those months ago. Those apathetic eyes which possessed a myriad of hidden emotions lit up like the faintest spark of an ember upon seeing him.
Whatever pitiful expression that was, it had immediately been snuffed out and replaced with a smug smirk. A façade he knew all too well; a mask to put on in front of other people. Underneath it, he could still see that same weeping and lost woman from the beach who seemed to have enjoyed his company. Seeing her here really hurt.
The Symbol of Peace hardened his resolve and focused on the task at hand: defeating these villains and saving the children. Dealing with the woman and questioning her had to come later.
Dashing forward with great speed, Toshinori sailed toward the four villains, delivering punishing blows to them. A powered-up uppercut to the giant's chin; a swift jab to the mist-man's ethereal body, if it even hurt him; a gut punch into the woman, and a quick backhand to the teen's face, knocking his mask off in the process. At the same time, while they recoiled from his attacks, All-Might weaved past them to retrieve his students.
Young Mineta looked confused at the sudden relocation of Toshinori's speed.
"Take Aizawa and young Koda. Get to the entrance. I'm leaving him to you." Toshinori ordered, never taking his sight off the villains.
"Y-yes, sir!"
"Ribbit…"
Why are you here….? Toshinori couldn't take his eyes off the woman he'd met so long ago. He finally found her after all this time, and it had to be in the USJ as one of his opponents…
The Symbol of Peace wanted nothing more than to meet her once more at that beach and ask why she'd gone down this path. Was this her way of dealing with her bottled-up emotions? By actively hurting people? It wasn't right… This despicable path is never the final option.
Even if I must take you down, I'll still visit you in Tartarus… Just so I can ask why you're doing all this.
Makima was surprised at All-Might's – no, that man's strength. It felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer and swung the thing directly into her stomach. She was on all fours, recovering from the blow and steadily standing back up.
He was here. The one who made her question many things the last time they met. And to top it all off, it had to be All-Might of all people. How he looked at her with his own sudden realization had only confirmed Makima's suspicions.
"I'm just a retired hero getting past his prime. I was thinking of doing him this one favor and hope to pass my knowledge and advice onto him once I whip him into shape."
Makima recalled those words that he'd told her on that beach so long ago. It made sense now. No wonder she smelled that peppermint scent on that Midoriya boy.
There was more to All-Might's quirk than meets the eye, it would seem. Her eyes shifted toward Midoriya who flinched upon noticing that she was staring at him. All-Might took a step forward to block her view.
Meanwhile, Shigaraki looked to have been breaking down as he scrambled to look for his mask, hiding his face and sounding like a frightened child.
Makima took note of something about the punch she received from the supposed almighty number one hero. It wasn't as strong as she'd thought it'd be. She'd have expected the blow to have at least put her down for a few minutes, leaving her incapacitated from the sheer brunt of the mighty punches she'd heard from Tsukauchi and the roaring praises online.
Was he taking it easy on them, so that he wouldn't kill them accidentally? Or was he just far too weak?
Regardless, her current target had taken away her useful tool's quirk that goes quite well with her own power. She had to get it back.
That Koda boy's mind is so malleable. So susceptible. Musutafu's animal kingdom would no longer have a chance to say the truth anymore to Tsukauchi and his ridiculous usage of questioning animals on crime scenes using this boy's quirk.
She could manipulate him to work for her under the Hayakawa identity. He could be employed under Tsukauchi and make lies about what the animals would apparently say about the murders.
Makima liked that idea quite a lot. It was one less loose end of many to plug up. She just had to make sure to get him back from those teens.
All-Might didn't relent and went straight for the biggest target out of them; a Carolina Smash was the name of his attack. She watched briefly, seeing the brute taking the brutal slash and barrage of punches like it was nothing.
Makima took her eyes off the fight and tried to scan for where the kids went. he still needed to bind his quirk to her so that she could utilize it at will.
She tried to walk away, tailing after the trio as silently as she could.
All-Might stood in her way as he blurred into her path. "You're not going—argh!" He got tackled by Shigaraki's Nomu, allowing her to slip away momentarily.
She followed them to a pathway leading back up to the entrance and exit of the USJ. They got slightly farther and Makima picked up the pace by walking at a faster pace.
Makima smiled and was pleasantly surprised to see Midoriya all by himself as he ran toward her; only stopping in his tracks when he noticed her standing in his way. He must've broke away from the group to try and assist All-Might.
He had a look of shock on his face and readied his fists, thinking that he was going to be in a battle. She had no time for something like that, however. The sooner she could get the animal-calling quirk back in her possession, the sooner she could jump back into that brawl between those two giants.
"You and All-Might get more interesting the more I think about it, you know." She said to him, slowly waltzing up to him without a care. Her eyes didn't once miss the bead of nervous sweat on his brow or the hitch in his breathing.
She circled him like prey, and he didn't fight back yet. "Your quirk… Is it limited to only one or two of those humongous punches?" she pointed at his wrapped-up hand.
When she'd pointed at his bandaged hand, he hid it behind his back and gave her a stern look. He aimed up his right hand and was making a flicking motion with his fingers.
"I-I remember you… sort of…" He said and it made her stop. "Y-you're the one from the b-beach. The one who my teacher was speaking to…"
Makima halted her advance.
Before she was able to speak to Midoriya, the air got cold, and her skin felt a freezing chill run up her whole body. Not long after, a layer of thick ice spread out onto the floor and climbed up her leg and lower midriff. It began creeping up towards her chest.
Todoroki waited until the red-haired villain was fully encased in his ice before he considered her defeated. Once he saw the woman's figure not move at all in his icy prison, he sighed in relief.
"You know if I wasn't here, you'd probably be dead. Why'd you just stand there despite that? Are you asking to get killed by a villain?"
His classmate was about to answer, but he held up his hand. "Never mind, I'll ask you later."
Seriously, he couldn't fathom why this kid was being so reckless. Todoroki wouldn't have been surprised if this boy did other ridiculous things. Todoroki was about to start jogging back along with the green-haired classmate known as Midoriya to go assist All-Might, but the sound of his ice being broken in half caused him to turn around.
"Bang."
"Bang."
"Bang."
He didn't know how, but the woman was sort of… shooting her way out of the ice. Her upper half was already free, and she was starting to shoot at her legs. Chiseling, or rather blowing off the pieces until she could escape.
More chunks began falling off as she used her quirk to get out.
"Hey, what's the deal with this one?" He asked his peer, never letting her escape his sight.
"I don't know… She's just adamant about getting Koda, though."
"I meant her quirk. What's the deal with her breaking out of my ice?"
"Huh? I… don't…" Even his peer looked to be stumped. Was the way she was getting out a support item? A hidden gun quirk of some sort? It was the only reasonable explanation.
Todoroki weighed the odds of focusing on this villain or getting back to All-Might. He looked to be handling it pretty well so far, the last time he checked.
"Guess I ought to cover you in a whole iceberg, then." He stomped his right foot down, willing up a giant wall of bone-chilling ice to swallow this troublesome woman whole.
"Bang!" She said as her finger came up like a quick draw; an invisible force suddenly struck his quickly raised wall of ice that came out of reflex. A wave of adrenaline shot through his system. It came dangerously close to striking his exposed side that wasn't covered by his makeshift armor. If it had hit him…
"Bang!" More of his prison was being dismantled by her invisible support item or quirk. Whatever it was, it was just bad news. She was almost out.
"Midoriya, go and help All-Might. I'll deal with her." He said, never taking his eyes off his new opponent.
"But—"
"Just go. I'll handle it."
"Todoroki…" He heard him say, briefly taking his eyes off to see Midoriya sprinting off to where their teacher was.
The half-hot and half-cold student turned back to see his opponent weigh her options before running to the entrance of the USJ. She was definitely not like the lower thugs he'd dealt with earlier. This had to be the mysterious red VIP lieutenant that he'd heard the thugs and criminal idiots from earlier blabbing about now that he saw her more clearly.
The more disturbing thing those incapacitated goons from the landslide zone had told him though, was how they managed to get inside undetected into the school itself. He'd have to bring up that new, if not scandalizing, information to the U.A. staff.
Right now, though, he had a stubborn villain to deal with.
"And where do you think you're going?" He stomped his foot down once more, creating a gigantic wall of ice that stopped the villain in her tracks. "If you think for even a second that you're making it out of here, or doing something to one of our classmates, think again."
She turned around to face him, probably accepting that there was no possible way of scaling that wall in time or getting around it.
Todoroki readied himself for anything she was gonna throw at him. From the looks of it, all she had going for her was an invisible long-range quirk. He could end this in a few moves.
"Not coming to me, huh? Suit yourself. Don't say I didn't warn you about the blistering cold ice—"
"Bang!" Her finger-gun shot off another section of his protective layer of ice armor. As he tried to make another set, she bolted off to him, hand outstretched to grasp his arm. The sheer speed at which she sprinted was insane. She was probably banking on seeing if he didn't fare so well in close quarters.
"Nice try." He grabbed her arm first and enshrouded it entirely into a block of the thickest ice. If she was screaming in pain, it wasn't showing. The lady's surprise looked more like one reacting to a small prank than one of pure, freezing agony.
He grabbed her other arm and hoped to have finished this fight quickly by encasing her in another icy prison that was going to be impossible to escape this time. The thick blocks of ice would weigh her down to the floor.
Though, the lady wasn't acting like the other criminals who gave up after the first blow. She wasted no time in reacting to his quirk's abilities. She used her frozen arm as a club and slammed it against the side of his torso – shattering the block in the process. The brute force behind it was unlike any normal thug and knocked him back.
Being in close combat with someone with this amount of strength was bad. He had to get get back further using his ice!
Not being allowed to think, the woman continued her assault and latched her fingers into the collar of his shirt, bringing him close for her to knee him in the stomach. The air in his lungs escaped him as he tried to suck in some air. She pulled him close to her face.
"Make an opening for me." She pointed toward the barricade he made.
Somehow, he felt a little inclined to do so for her. Like an intrusive thought that one would get from wanting to crash into a car when driving on a highway. His arm was reaching up to create an opening for his opponent to go through. However, he slapped that idea out of his head as quickly as possible.
"That's an order: make an opening for me."
Todoroki didn't say anything; he gave her a fierce glare.
She looked displeased at his words and was about to deliver a punishing blow to him again, but something green collided with her.
"SMASH!" A powerful strike connected with the woman's face; a gigantic gust of wind accompanied the blow. He was saved… He, Todoroki Shoto, was saved by his classmate he'd told to help All-Might, who had jumped into the fray. His attack had sent the villain flying into his barricaded wall, probably putting her out of commission for good. He could see a gaping hole in the iceberg he'd created to stop that villain.
His classmate's arm was basically purple-incarnate with how bruised and swollen it looked. He must've put everything he had into that punch…
"Todo—"
"No time. We—argh…" He winced at the bruises forming on his body. "We got to help All-Might," Todoroki said, clambering back up and heading directly into the next fight.
"But—" Midoriya was looking at the hole where the villain had been blown away. Todoroki had assumed that blow would put her out of commission.
"No time. Come on."
Asui and Mineta both jumped at the loud crashing and shattering noise from where they saw a gigantic wall of ice materialize. Neither of them could see what had done that, or what made the giant gaping hole in the makeshift iceberg barricade. The two continued with their journey until they got to the entrance of USJ.
"Hey! We're all up here!" Asui could hear Uraraka yelling out to her and Mineta. The rest of their classmates were still by the entrance! It was a relief. They were both a little shocked to see Midoriya go and run off like that and no sooner did a fight break out between that Todoroki guy and another villain.
"It's Ochaco!" She said with hope.
"Hey, can you come help us out? These two are heavy and Aizawa's bleeding all over the place." Mineta replied, dragging Aizawa alongside his classmate by his shirt while their other unconscious classmate was glued to their teacher's legs via Mineta's quirk. "Jeez, I'm so thankful that All-Might's here. It's a walk in the park, right?"
"Oi!"
"Run!"
"Behind you!"
The two heard their classmates yelling at them and pointing at something. Asui and Mineta saw Sero, Shoji, and Sato booking it down the long staircases, waving at them and doing their best to get to them in a hurry.
"What are they—hmph!" Mineta cried out as the villain from before clamped their hand onto his mouth.
"I only need your friend here, don't—Oh?" The woman's voice said gently with a surprised tone of voice.
Asui turned to see the villain's chains extending out from her slender fingers and wrapping around Koda's body once more. It was different than before too. They were actively sinking into his chest. She tried to lift him up, but as she did, so did Aizawa as they were effectively stuck together. The woman's creepy stare roamed over to Mineta who was shaking.
"These are in the way. How do I get rid of them?"
"T-they're s-sticky balls, and they vary in strength on how I'm feeling…"
The woman looked utterly disappointed with the answer.
"I-it's the truth! I swear—" He was interrupted by a harsh jab to the face. His nose broke and he began bleeding.
The woman returned to look at the sticky balls and noticed that they got less adhesive, enough so for the villain to viciously pull off Koda from Aizawa, ripping off their teacher's pants and some of his skin from his legs in the process.
Asui was frozen in fear. She couldn't do anything but just sit there and watch.
The woman smiled as whatever she was doing to Koda was complete. The chains had completely disappeared into his body and were directly linked to the woman's waist.
If Asui could describe the woman's happy expression, she'd say it was as if she'd found a two-for-one deal at a supermarket. Some chains began to come out of her fingers and were beginning to sink into…. Asui's eyes widened as she realized that the villain was going to do something to Aizawa's weakened body next!
Asui summoned up whatever courage she could and thought of how to land a roundhouse kick or an attack of some sort on the woman. Asui tried to motivate herself out of the fear she had to fight back until her three combat-capable classmates got to the scene. She felt relief at some backup.
"Hey! Leave Aizawa alone!" Sero said.
"Just back away, lady!" Sato readied his fists.
Shoji joined them and got into a fighting stance.
They charged at her. Sero preparing to tie her up with his tape; Sato readying himself to try to land a haymaker with a knockout blow; Shoji going for a whirlwind of punches; Mineta frustratingly trying to toss one ball onto her back; and lastly, Asui looking for an opening to land a kick onto the woman's head.
All it took was just one word to make them helpless.
"Fall." The villain said, still having her attention entirely on their teacher.
Soon as that word was uttered by her, Sato, Sero, Mineta, Shoji, and herself fell to the floor; their bodies betraying them as they landed helplessly on their faces.
Asui was the only fortunate one to fall on her side and see whatever the villain was doing. She lifted her head up to see Makima kneel next to Aizawa's head.
The villain was caressing his face and resting him on her lap with a motherly smile.
"In all honesty, I didn't think I'd ever have thought that I'd meet you looking like this, Eraser Head." She paused for a while and let out a little laugh. "I'm sorry. I'm still not used to saying your 'hero' names. Can I call you Aizawa instead? That is what your students call you, yes?" She was talking to herself and to their critically injured teacher.
She couldn't tell if Aizawa was able to hear her or not, but the woman kept talking.
"A lot of things have gone wrong since I've gotten here. However, there are at least some positives to this, Aizawa." She patted his head. "I, at first, thought that it was going to be impossible to get All-Might all to myself because of many interferences. But then, I stumbled upon you being dragged by your loving students. I was only coming for someone else, and I saw you. Cutely helpless and in critical condition." She let out a little smile and touched the exposed muscles on his elbow. It caused him to wince and groan in a faint moan. She leaned down close to his face. "Your quirk will do nicely."
"Aizawa." Her fingers pushed his bangs away and she wiped some blood off his forehead. Her hands cupped his cheeks and she looked him directly into his eyes. "This is an order: Say that you'll give me all of you."
AN: Aizawa, you're living my dream! RAGHGHHAH! *Grabs him and flings him off into the sun so I can take his place in my manipulative Queen's lap.*
And heh, I have a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers. I'm also glad y'all are liking this! Means the world to me. Reading your comments makes my heart soar, lol.
Also, a kind and incredibly talented soul had made a fanart of that lap scene. It's really good so go and check it out! Just search up: A twisted influence ao3 makima. It should pop up in the images as a Tumblr thing. Forever grateful to MugMegan.