Chapter 32: Vanguard Action Squad

There. Hitoshi had done it. He called out Kodai as Megethos.

Now that he thought about it, that was a risky move. Megethos had beat his ass back during the USJ, if Kodai really was her, what was stopping her from doing it now? Well, aside from the fact that, if she did lunge at him now, she would have no alibi. The Pussycats would find Hitoshi's broken body, and he'd tell them it was Kodai. And if she made his body disappear…

…well, even more evidence pointing to Kodai having something to do with it. Unless she decided to play dumb, and say that Hitoshi wandered into the forest.

So, unless Kodai wanted to blow her cover completely right now, all she could do was deny. Something that Hitoshi was hoping would happen. To be truthful, he really hoped Kodai wasn't Megethos. Kodai was his friend, but the evidence was all pointing in one direction.

"That's a grave accusation," Kodai said. "I hope you can back it up."

"You're not denying it," the purple-haired boy pointed out.

"I'm simply curious about what solid proof you have," the black-haired girl said. "Suppose I am Megethos, that would explain what happened back at the USJ, yes. But I happened to be on I-Island, with my boyfriend, no less. How could I be Megethos when I was with him?"

"If I'm being completely honest, Akatani doesn't seem to be the one wearing the pants in your relationship," Hitoshi said. "You could have easily told him you had plans for the evening, and then switched into your Villain outfit, and joined the rest of your team at the tower."

"And now you're making assumptions?" Kodai said. "Do you have any real evidence?"

"Yeah, your fighting styles."

If anyone paid close attention, for a quick second, Yui blinked. "Pardon?"

"Back during the Battle Trials, when you fought Bakugou, you used lots of close quarters techniques, the same kind that Megethos used against me during the USJ. Now, sure, you used your Quirk against him back then, but whenever Megethos has appeared, she never onced used hers," he explained. "Which either means she's Quirkless or… is hiding it."

Kodai's silence was a really bad sign, in Hitoshi's opinion.

"Kodai, if you really aren't Megethos… please deny it. I'm begging you here."

Then, she suddenly raised her hand, making a "shh" gesture with her finger.

Hitoshi had no idea what she was trying to convey, but then, he heard it, above them. The sounds of… helicopter blades. Just like… back at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall.

Oh, no…


Kiruka Hasaki, better known to the world by her Villain alias, "Slice," looked down at the forest below from her window, before she looked back at the rest of her team. In all honesty, the only person here that she completely trusted was Hoyo Makihara, or as the media had so aptly called him, "Mummy." Nine didn't bother sending Chimera with them for the job…

…meaning, in Slice's opinion, everyone else with her was expendable, sans Mummy.

There were ten of them being sent down there with a simple mission: Go in, grab the girl, eliminate anyone who got in their way, and get out. Chimera tried to do that with Siphon and Leviathan back in Hosu, and then Beros and Sidero tried again at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. Hell, even Wolfram was given a job to take on Megethos if he saw her.

These idiots managed to fail three times already, so Slice wasn't really confident in her team, save for Mummy. Especially when everyone else on it was an absolute maniac.

For starters, there was Shin Nemoto, now going by the codename "Inquisitor." He wore some kind of weird outfit that made him look like a cross between an all-black plague doctor and a really fancy cowboy, bowler hat and all. His Quirk wasn't really combat-oriented, but it had its uses. If only he wasn't such a bootlicker to Overhaul, same with the others.

Soramitsu Tabe was going by the name "Gluttony" for the mission, something to do with his Quirk. If she was being honest, Slice had no idea why he wore a burlap sack over his head, and she kinda didn't wanna know. The bald-headed Yu Hojo, also known as "Zirconium," seemed like the most sane of the group, despite wearing a face mask like the rest of Overhaul's little cult. And then there was Hekiji Tengai, the blond asshole who was going by "Canopy," who dressed like a monk and had some sort of forcefield Quirk, so Slice couldn't hit him.

And yet somehow all four of them were more sound of mind than the other four on the team. Goto Imasuji, the infamous Muscular. Slice didn't need to put quotations marks around his name, because everyone knew who the fuck Muscular was. Apparently, he signed up on this because the target's teacher happened to be Eraserhead, and Muscular wanted some revenge against the guy who erased his Quirk, interrupting his slaughter of the Water Hose duo.

Moonfish was the same story as Muscular, but worse: A cannibalistic lunatic who was on Death Row, who Humarise managed to break out alongside Muscular, specifically for this mission. If Slice was being honest, she hoped that asshat would get killed down there.

And the final two members of the team happened to come from Curator's camp. The leader of the Wild Villains sent his two minions to help on the mission: Bearhead, the furry bear-looking creep whose personality could be best described as a mix between the worst of Chimera and the best of Muscular. And finally, Zookeeper, the white-haired chick in the red-and-black uniform. Slice had never heard her say a single word, but she always seemed to follow the Curator's orders to the letter. Slice honestly couldn't tell if the girl was brainwashed or not.

Ehh, whatever, she thought to herself. It doesn't really matter.

The only other people with them were another one of Overhaul's men, a small black doll named Joi Irinaka (everyone just called him Mimic), and Rogone, one of Flect Turn's personal henchmen. They weren't gonna be fighting alongside the rest of the team, they were just here to pilot the chopper, and make sure to pick everyone up as soon as the mission was over.

So, in summary, with the exception of the two pilots, the Vanguard Action Squad (Mummy came up with the name) consisted of two members of Nine's team, two of the Wild Villains, two independent mass murderers, four people from the Shie Hassakai, and zero Humarise goons.

Oh, yeah, that seemed totally fair.

But, it wasn't really like Slice could complain. This alliance was one of necessity, if any single one of these Villain organizations wanted to emerge out of All For One's shadow. Overhaul had a personal vendetta against the Quirk Thief, Flect Turn viewed him as the literal Devil, Nine wanted to replace him, and Curator didn't want to be under the Symbol of Evil's thumb.

"Alright, we're here!" Rogone shouted over their comms. "Start dropping, now!"

One by one, all of the VAS dropped around the different locations within the forest, all of them ready to find and capture Megethos alive, and get what they wanted out of her. They knew her status in the League of Villains, what she meant to that monster, All For One.

They would make sure the Quirk Thief could control them no longer.

They all knew what happened in Deika City six years ago. While the Heroes may not have known what went down, all of the underworld knew that the Symbol of Evil had wiped the Meta Liberation Army off the map. So, this little alliance decided to honor the deceased…

…by calling themselves the Paranormal Liberation Front.


Pixie-Bob looked up at the sky in confusion. "What's a helicopter doing out here?"

"You guys see that?" Kaminari asked. "Something's falling out of it!"

"Perhaps this is some sort of mass littering?" Iida wondered.

"You think that they're dumping something?" Kirishima asked. "Like drugs?"

Ochako looked at the green helicopter in confusion like everyone else for a second, before she collapsed to the dirt. Her head felt like a knife was jamming into it, the pain was somehow even worse than back at the mall. It was Danger Sense, warning her that something was coming…

"No… Mandalay! BEHIND YOU!"

SHNNKK!

Thanks to Ochako's warning, Mandalay was able to dodge several red, crystal-like darts that pierced the ground instead. "First, let's get rid of these feral cats."

Ochako didn't recognize either of the two newcomers. One of them was a red-haired woman wearing a domino mask and in a purple outfit, almost a mockery of Gentle Criminal's costume. Given the way her hair was moving, it was safe to say that those red darts came from her Quirk.

The second person was a massive bear mutant, his body build and fur looking reminiscent of Hound Dog, only much darker. Sharp teething coming out of his muzzle, green-and-silver armbands around massive claws, with the only other clothes he was wearing being his bell earrings, the utility belt around his orange pants, and brown boots on his feet.

"What…? No way… I thought they made sure no one could find us…" Aoyama said.

"Yeah…" Sero agreed. "So… why the hell are Villains attacking us?!"

"This is bad…" Tiger growled, as he and the others got ready to fight.

"How are you this evening, UA High School?" the bear mutant said, bowing theatrically. "Hello to you! We are members of the Vanguard Action Squad, for the Paranormal Liberation Front!"

"The what now?" Ojiro asked. "Who the hell are these guys?"

"None of you move," the red-haired woman said, as her hair got sharper. "Unless you'd like to experience the sensation of having rock-hard needles piercing your vital organs."

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?!" Pixie-Bob shouted.

"Now, now, calm down," the bearman said, waving his claws in the air. "We're only here for one person. If you'd be so kind as to hand us over Yui Kodai, we'll be on our way."

Sato, and everyone else, blinked at that. "Kodai?"

"Just like the Villains back at the mall…" Ashido realized.

"That's right! You've already met our associates, Beros and Sidero! But since they've failed, it's now our turn! I'm Bearhead, and she's Slice! AND WE'RE HERE FOR YUI KODAI!"

"I don't care who you are! You're criminals!" Tiger hissed. "And as Heroes, myself, Pixie-Bob and Mandalay, are gonna make sure you don't touch a single student!"

"YOU'RE GONNA DIE TRYING, ANYWAY!" Bearhead roared, as he lunged at them.

"Tiger, I've sent out a message! Trust the safety of the other students to Ragdoll! The two of us will stay here and hold them back!" Mandalay said, as she braced herself for a fight. "Pixie-Bob, you take the remaining students back to camp! Students, engage only if under attack!"

As Iida nodded and said something back to Mandalay, Ochako's headache was only getting worse, so much so that she could barely hear what everyone was saying. It was like Danger Sense was trying to tell her something. Looking around, she noticed that the pain suddenly got more intense when she looked towards the direction of the cliff… Oh, no, Kota!

"Uraraka!" Bakugou shouted at her. "Snap out of it!"

Snapping back to reality, Ochako said, "Go on ahead without me!"

"WHAT?!" the blond shouted, which Ochako promptly ignored.

"Mandalay! I know where Kota is!"


Itsuka ran alongside the rest of her classmates through the forest.

"EVERYONE! Two Villains attacked us! It's possible that there are more coming. Everyone, return to camp immediately, were regrouping! In the name of the Pro Heroes, the Wild Wild Pussycats, you're granted permission to engage in combat if you come across any additional Villains! I repeat: Use your training! You may fight these Villains to defend yourselves!"

This was insane. Less than five minutes ago, they were hiding in the bushes, scaring the crap out of any members of Class A that showed up, and now, she, alongside Tsuburaba and Kaibara were running through the forest, hoping they didn't come across any Villains.

"Additionally, we know about one of the Villains' targets! It's one of the students, Yui Kodai! Kodai, you should try to avoid combat, and stick to a group! I hope you can hear me!"

Mandalay's telepathic messages were clear: Villains had attacked the camp, and Kodai from 1-A was their target. Itsuka had heard about how two Villains seemed to have targeted Kodai at Kiyashi Ward, but to have it happen again? Something was clearly going on.

"KENDO!" The orange-haired girl breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki emerge from the woods. "Thank fuck! We got separated from Awase and Yaoyorozu, and –"

"You can explain later! Right now, we need to get back to camp, and fast –"

"No, I'm going back to fight," the silver-haired teen said. "You make sure anyone who doesn't want to, gets back to camp. A real Hero doesn't turn his back and run from a bad guy! We're in the Hero Course! I'm going to find these Villains… and show them what we're made of."

Itsuka thought over what he said. Yes, Mandalay gave them permission to use their Quirks, but that was only in self-defense, right? They weren't supposed to go out there and actively seek out the Villains, but… but they did the same thing last time this had happened.

I-Island was an insane fluke for herself and Monoma, but to the rest of Class A, it was another crisis for them, wasn't it? Another opportunity for them to prove themselves, to show why, in Monoma's words, they were the better class. All of them got into UA through the same Entrance Exam, but Class A was different, wasn't it? And it was because of times like these.

Itsuka could see that Shiozaki, Kaibara and Tsuburaba were debating whether or not they should listen to Testutetsu, but the orange-haired girl had already made her decision.


"KOTA! I hope you can hear me… Hurry up and come back to camp! I'm sorry I can't come to you; I don't know where you're always running off to! Forgive me! Just get back home fast!"

Kota wasn't really paying attention to his aunt's telepathic message. His mind was a mix of emotions, the primary one based on fear. It started out as confusion when he saw that helicopter fly overhead, but it slowly morphed into panic as he saw a bunch of bad guys jump out of it. And now… one of them was casually walking towards him, slowly.

"I came up here scouting for a nice vantage point, and here I found someone who's not on our list," the masked man said. "By the way, nice hat, kid. I liked it. Why don't you trade me for this lame mask, huh? They made me wear it 'cause I'm new… ah, well."

The black-haired boy knew he needed to get out of here. He turned tail and ran, but before he could even get off the cliff, the cloaked man already jumped in front of him.

"I think you and I should have some fun up here, kid… ready?"

The white mask fell off the man's face from the impact of his jump, and Kota… saw his worst nightmare. A blond man with a wide grin, muscles appearing on the man's arms, completely out of his skin, and an artificial eye on his left side, surrounded by a massive scar.

It was Muscular, the Villain that almost killed his parents, and as far as Kota was concerned, the Grim Reaper himself. He had seen the news reports years back. He knew that the only reason his parents were still alive today was because Eraserhead was there to stop him.

But Eraserhead wasn't here now, was he?

All the black-haired boy could do was watch as the man lifted up his bulging arm, picking up momentum, and swinging it down towards Kota, ready to turn him into paste –

SLAM!

…huh? He wasn't dead?

Tumbling down towards the dirt, Kota could feel two hands holding on to him. Opening his eyes, he saw that it was none other than that brown-haired Hero student with the weird-ass Quirk that caused her to glow pink, Uraraka, or something like that. "What are you doing here?"

"Huh, now you, I recognize," Muscular said. "The winner of the UA Sports Festival."

Even with her back turned towards him, Kota could tell that she was scared. Once or twice, Uraraka looked over her shoulder to look at him, and Kota could see that her eyes were full of fear. And yet despite that, she still stood up, her Quirk letting out pink energy.

"Hey… I promise everything is gonna be okay… I'm going to save you, Kota!"


Shoto did not like the look of this one bit.

During the initial panic of Mandalay's telepathic announcement, he and his partner for the Test of Courage, Jiro, ended up running into one of the girls from Class B, Setsuna Tokage. Now, all three of them were trying to make it back to the main campground, to little avail.

Aside from the fact that it was night, hence, dark as shit, Shoto couldn't exactly use his fire right now. There was the risk of him starting a forest fire, and even if that wasn't a problem, lighting up the area around him was a surefire way to become a beacon in the middle of the night. And it wasn't just other classmates who might notice his fire… but any potential Villains, as well.

So, right now, they were relying on Jiro's ears to act as their flashlights.

"Damn it…" she whispered. "There's a lot of chatter going on; can't narrow it down."

"I'm worried about the others, who are still in the forest," Tokage said.

"There's not much we can do for them now," Shoto said. If there were really multiple Villains here, then it would make sense why Jiro couldn't hear much properly. Plus, if he recalled correctly, her jacks worked best when they were plugged into something, not hanging in the air. But they needed to be mobile. "Hopefully Ragdoll can take care of everyone else…"

"Stop," Jiro whispered to the others. "There's someone ahead of us."

"Can you tell us who they are?" Tokage whispered.

"Whoever they are… their breath sounds labored…"

Like someone who is having trouble breathing, Shoto realized. That meant that someone could be in trouble. Quietly, he gestured at the other two to move slowly, to try and not make a sound. They headed towards the direction Jiro had pointed them to, and… found someone.

It was hard to tell who it was in the dark, they seemed to be wearing all-black, with a little bit of red. Not only that, but they were hunched over, with their knees on the ground.

"Hey…" Jiro whispered. "Which group was in front of us, again?"

"Tokoyami, I think… and Shoji…"

Shoto could see Jiro gag at something, same with Tokage. He knew that Tokage's Quirk allowed her to float parts of her body around, and given how she had one of her eyes floating ahead as part of their patrol, she clearly must have seen something, but what would…? Oh, fuck.

"So pretty… No! Have to work… But it's so delicious… beautiful flesh…"

Shoto could see it clearly now. The figure in front of them was one of the Villains, in a black bodysuit, covered in tiny red spikes, and he was kneeling in front of a severed hand, admiring it. Suddenly, the man turned around, showing the trio his visible mouth, and nothing else.

"Don't tempt me… I have a job to do…"

Yep. Despite not having eyes, it seemed that the Villain could see them. Shit.


Yui was starting to panic.

This was the third, no, the fourth time now that Villains had attempted to abduct her. She knew that her position was a high one, but to be the target of so many attacks?!

Currently, both she and Shinso were running through the forest, avoiding several Villains wearing what seemed to resemble plague doctor masks. This had Overhaul written all over it. The big questions right now were how the hell he managed to find this place, and how he managed to recruit several other Villains into this revenge plan of his.

"Did you have anything to do with this?!" Shinso whisper-hissed.

Yui didn't bother answering him right now. Right now, she was a danger to everyone around her. These Villains wouldn't stop hunting her down; she needed to disappear, but not before making sure all of her friends here were safe. Quickly running to behind one of the trees and ducking into one of the ditches with Shinso, she pulled something out of her pocket, and grew it.

"Kodai, is that a phone?" Shinso asked. "A phone that you hid by shrinking –?!"

Enough. Quickly lunging at Shinso, she wrapped her arms around his neck. The purple-haired teenager let out small sounds of shock, as he struggled to fight off Yui. After a few seconds of her arms pressing into his throat, he stopped moving. Alive, but unconscious.

"I'm sorry, Shinso," Yui said, as she quickly dialed in a number. Tears began to leak from her eyes as the line picked up, and she said, "Izuku, I need help… Please… save me…"


"SHOW ME YOUR BLOOD!"

Ochako was in pain. She had just spent the last five minutes fighting this guy, and so far, every attack she had sent towards him seemed to have made him more determined. The brown-haired girl had tried to use her Heavy Gravity attack on him, but this dude just kept creating more and more muscles to compensate for the increase in gravity!

Not only that, but his speed was just insane! During the start of the fight, he lunged towards Ochako, and if it wasn't for Danger Sense, she would have a broken arm right now. Though that didn't seem to matter, as she could feel her arms beginning to fracture right now!

"Oh, yeah! Hey, maybe you could help me out a little bit first? You know where Eraserhead is?" Muscular said, as his massive body was trying to crush Ochako underneath it. "I'll take your silence to mean that you don't know? Oh, well… MORE PLAYTIME FOR ME!"

SPLASH!

"Huh?" Both the Hero student and the Villain turned around to see that Kota had used his Quirk on Muscular's head. "Wait a minute… you look familiar… I know, you're the Water Hoses' kid!"

The massive Villain let go of Ochako, who collapsed from exhaustion.

As the brown-haired girl tried to move, the Villain kept laughing. "Of course! That water you sprayed me with, it's the same Quirk as your parents! And the hair! Hmm, let me guess: When the UA brats came here to train, Eraserhead came with them, yeah? What, is he like your uncle figure now? Good… THAT MEANS IT'LL HURT HIM WHEN I KILL YOU!"

BOOOOM!

Before the blond Villain even sent his fist crashing down, Kota was already gone. Ochako looked around to see that Kota was over the cliff… safe in Katsuki's hands.

"URAVITY!" he shouted. "DON'T YOU DARE DIE!"

Ochako quickly nodded, before shouting, "KEEP KOTA SAFE, KACCHAN!"

Of course Katsuki would have followed Ochako up here, there was no way he was just gonna let her run off on her own while he ran away with the other students, orders be damned. And now, as she watched him fly off with this explosion, Ochako was thankful for that.

"Tch," Muscular clicked his tongue. "What a coward."

The brown-haired girl growled, as she stood up. "What the hell is wrong with you…?"

"Huh? Me? What, are you talking about me insulting your little boyfriend?" Muscular asked. "I guess I am a little annoyed about the fact that the brat got away with blondie, but whatever, I'll catch up to them soon enough, it's not really that big of a deal. No matter what happens, I'll still do my best. Just like you're doing right now? Being a Hero and saving people?"

Ochako wasn't sure if she was supposed to debate this madman.

"Oh, don't give me that look," Muscular said. "I can see it in your eyes: Trying to be someone like All Might without even knowing how the real world works. Still, I guess I gotta admire it, even if the way you go about it is completely stupid. You're just doing your best in the world, just like I am! You wanna save people, I wanna kill them, two peas in a pod, and all that."

"You're insane," Ochako spat. "I'm nothing like you!"

"Sure you are! We both have a drive to do what we want, it just happens to be two different things! And because of that, we gotta fight to see whose way of life is gonna continue!" the blond man said. "AND I INTEND TO KEEP LIVING MY LIFE WITH NO REGRETS!"

Muscular threw yet another punch, but… fell. It wasn't like he slipped, it was more like his sense of weight and balance was completely thrown off. Now that Ochako thought about it… where were his muscles? It was like they completely disappeared while he was talking.

"Eh?" Muscular seemed to notice it too, before his grin widened, and he pulled out a massive knife from his back belt. "ERASERHEAD! I KNOW IT'S YOU WHO'S CANCELING OUT MY QUIRK! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME, LIKE A REAL MAN! SHOW YOURSELF!"

"As you wish."

"Huh –?!"

SLASH!

In the span of a single second, Muscular turned around, some sort of flat surface flew through the air and through him, and then the next, the Villain's head fell off his shoulders, and his body collapsed, like a puppet whose strings were cut, as blood began to spill.

"For such a powerful Quirk to be used in such a disgusting manner…" grumbled a family voice, one Ochako knew was not Aizawa-sensei's. "Ah, hello again, Ochako Uraraka."

A black suit walked over Muscuar's corpse, as its wearer looked down at the high-schooler. That is, if they could even "see" anything behind that black mask of theirs. That familiar black mask…

"All For One…"


Shino was having a seriously bad time with these two Villains.

Ryuko successfully managed to get the rest of the kids out of what soon became a battlefield, with the exception of Uraraka, who went straight ahead to grab Kota, and promised to keep her nephew safe. And while Shino believed in the young girl, she was beginning to doubt that she would live long enough to see her nephew alive and well, thanks to these Villains.

For starters, the big brown one, Bearhead, was starting to actually hurt Yawara. The man's Quirk, Pilabody, allowed him to stretch, flatten and bend in ways that were normally impossible, but it didn't enhance his durability. His flesh could still be pierced like a normal person's.

Bearhead had figured this out, and was now using his massive claws to rip at Yawara's body. She knew that her friend marketed Tiger as the tough guy within the Wild Wild Pussycats, but there was still a limit to how much someone could take, especially a Hero who mostly focuses on mountain rescue, and doesn't usually face complete psychopaths like Bearhead.

While he was busy dodging and ducking Bearhead, striking at every chance he had, Shino was busy trying to deal with Slice. Her Quirk made her a nightmare when it came to long-range, and she also came equipped with metal claws on her gloves for whenever Shino managed to run past all of her needle-like hair projectiles and engage her in hand-to-hand combat.

And to make matters worse, she had the option to change her hair into blades and fight like that, which meant that she was clearly toying with Shino from the start.

Yeah, it was pretty obvious to her now: They weren't gonna beat these two. All they could hope for was to keep them busy until reinforcements showed up. Maybe Shouta would be able to eraser her Quirk, but then there was still the problem of Bearhead, an obvious –

SLASH!

Pain immediately hit her as she felt something akin to a dull knife hit her midsection. Shino knew it was Slice's hair, but she didn't know it would double as both a blade and a goodman bat! She tumbled down toward the ground, and looked up to see Slice approach her.

"Time to put this kitty down… HUH?!"

Before the red-haired woman had a chance to act on her words, a pink aura suddenly wrapped around her, and sent her flying. Shino watched as Slice suddenly saw something, bracing her hair to take the hit for her body, and then, suddenly crack, as if something hit her hair.

No, wait, something did hit her hair. It looked like a giant gray magnet, given how one of the ends was blue and the other was red, but what was weirder was who was carrying it: A muscular woman in an orange sundress and with sunglasses on her face, and even more stranger, it looked like she just exited from a dark portal behind her.

Even Bearhead seemed confused. "What the hell – OWW!"

His confusion quickly ended when a knife suddenly flew through the air and landed squarely into one of his eyes. The pain was enough to cause him to let go of Yawara, allowing the man to get out of the range of Bearhead's claws. "Apologies for not doing that sooner."

Shino quickly turned to see a second newcomer exiting the dark portal. He had a lizard mutation, with purple hair, and seemed to be dressed like a knock-off Stain. "When we heard about what was going down here, we came as fast as we could. Sorry for the delay."

"Who the hell are you guys?!" Slice barked, still standing. "Heroes?!"

"How presumptuous of you to believe that," a deep voice said. Suddenly, the dark portal formed into a mass of smoke, one with yellow eyes. Shino knew who that man was, she had seen the videos of him and his allies attacking both the USJ and the HPSC headquarters.

"Kurogiri… of the League of Villains…" Shino said.

"That is correct," the black smoke said. "However, do not fear, we are not here to increase your suffering, but rather, to liberate you from both it, and the Villains who are already here."

Shino's eyes widened at that. "Wait… you're…?"

"That's right!" the gecko man said. "My name's Spinner, and this here is Magne! We're some of the newest members of the League of Villains… AND WE'RE HERE TO SAVE YOU!"


Author's Note: "...keep reminding yourself, "This is not normal." Write it on a post-it note, and stick it on your refrigerator. Hire a skywriter once a month. Tattoo it on your ass. Because a Klan-backed misogynist internet troll is going to be delivering the next State of the Union Address. And that is not normal." – John Oliver, November 13, 2016.

On a lighter note, in this chapter, the majority of our real bad guys have appeared. The Paranormal Liberation Front, consisting of Humarise, the remnants of the Shie Hassaikai, Nine's crew, the Wild Villains, and the various independent Villains no one would mourn should they drop dead. The actual leaders of these groups will show up, eventually, but for now, their lackeys will have to do. Now, it's time for the comments!

HeartByte-FreeAIWritingTool: Interesting name, but thank you for your support!

TheDemon1911: Okay, so I might have misphrased that last time, so let me try this again. Flect Turn is the main antagonist of this story, but so is Overhaul. It just so happens that Overhaul is the more active of the two, and he has more of a presence because of his relationship to Midoriya, while, at the moment, Flect's power comes from his massive amount of resources and connections. And while Uraraka will take the fight to Humarise in the future, for the time being, since she and no one else knows what's going on, Overhaul is acting as the face of this story's Big Bad. Hope that clears things up.

Knightmare Lord: Oh, this is only the beginning. It's gonna keep hitting the fan all the way to Kamino, and the residue will poison all of Hero society for a while to come!

DragonWhite04: Apologies if it took so long, but yeah, Shinso has finally called out Kodai. I've had this moment planned for quite a while, since he's not only part of Uraraka's pre-UA friend group alongside Kodai, but because the two of them have had an antagonistic relationship every time they met (while Kodai acted as Megethos). So, having him connect the dots ahead of time was not only thematic, but given what's gonna happen in the future, it'll make sense why he couldn't tell anyone.

FlameReaper: Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that. Midoriya giving several UA students extra Quirks. That'll be explained in a future chapter, as will how Yui came to join the League of Villains, and Midoriya's backstory. Though, for those last two things, I will say that the word "father" is a connecting theme. Hope to see you in the next chapter!

Little-dragon1F5: Hey, he has the right to ask that.

Anyways, back to the regular old shilling…

I'm pretty sure as you all know now, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, /ErnaloreProf is the link.

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules.

Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!

- Ernalore