While the other shoe hadn't dropped by the time the class went on their merry way to the UA Summer Camp something some people would consider similar had taken place: Class 1-A had become moderately famous. Hero forums were abuzz with the latest gossip, all about the brave Hero students who had helped prevent the attack on the I-Island Expo: the paparazzi was more insistent about trying to get interviews with them than ever. It was a good thing that school wasn't in session: the campus would be overrun with journalists.
Aizawa called it good stealth practice, like the psychotic he was. Nedzu had sadly said that there was really nothing he could do until the press trespassed, at which point…the way the Principal had trailed off, the glitter in those dark eyes, had put the fear into Izuku. Given that someone had apparently leaked the date of departure for the summer camp – well, more likely some enterprising young journo had worked it out, to be fair – the Principal might loosen those restrictions. The press were like a pack of sharks, circling, blood in the water. For Izuku, who was quite capable of looking non-descript and sneaking past the crowd, over the wall rather than through the door and to the classroom they were a mild annoyance. For the rest of his class, it wasn't so easy.
Izuku observed the twitch that had developed in Mina's right eye, wisely said nothing, and stayed as far away as possible from a smiling Uraraka. That was a crazy person smile if he'd ever seen one, a stress induced smile.
"I can't believe you sneaked in," Mina said, the twitch in her eye finally coming under control, "Have you no shame?"
"Not a lot," Izuku admitted, "You should have tried it, Mina."
"I can't believe nobody's found you," Mina said, shaking her head, "They've all been looking for Red Hood! They even managed to find Tsu, even if she didn't give them anything."
Izuku nodded.
"They're all over my neighbourhood," he said, "But when you look as normal as I do, it's easy to avoid them. One of them actually spoke to me, wanted to know where Bakugou lives. I don't know why he'd assume everybody would know…"
"Maybe because he's so loud, ribbit," Tsuyu contributed, having just walked in. Izuku nodded again, acknowledging the wisdom of that statement.
"Yeah, I can see that. They're really pushing it, though, it's like they've got no concept of privacy. I mean, paparazzi. But still. Did you see all the Quirk theories going around? I don't know if I should be complimented or offended that people think I must be lying about being Quirkless."
His decision to go out in his costume at I-Island had worked in his favour. UA wasn't exactly forthcoming with student appearances, so the press still didn't know what he looked like. Izuku, personally, thought it was extremely funny that he was apparently just so forgettable that the public only registered him when he was wearing his helmet.
Well, it had advantages, especially for someone who did as much infiltration as Izuku. The MLA, according to Nedzu, were subtly moving assets around, probably in preparation for war against Overhaul. They were still looking for Akatani Mikumo, but Nedzu was confident that Izuku's identity was uncompromised: the question of whether to send him back into the fold or allow Mikumo to become a martyr to the cause was still ongoing. Personally Izuku thought it would be a waste to let all the work go in the name of certain safety, but he was repressing his lone wolf instincts in order to listen to the others. As far as the MLA knew Mikumo was in Nedzu's protective custody: that would do for now.
"I feel like I'd be offended," Mina said, "I mean, come on! It's the same thing as after the USJ: people couldn't do it, so they can't believe you can."
"I guess," Izuku said, "Plus it means people might overestimate me. Always hate that."
"Really?" Tsuyu said. Izuku shrugged.
"I take every advantage I can get."
"And speaking of every advantage," Mina said, suddenly grinning and rubbing her hands together in a distinctly villainous fashion, "We're going to the Summer Camp. Just our two classes, and 1-B still doesn't believe that you can take all of them on in hand to hand."
Oh, right. Mina's rigged tournament plan. Kirishima, having just joined them, matched Mina's fiendish grin.
"No items, no Quirks, Final Destination?" he said. Mina immediately fist-bumped him.
"Hell yes," she said, "I want to see Monoma take on Midori. I give him twenty seconds."
"Something something pride comes before a fall," Izuku mumbled before speaking up, "I still think you're underestimating 1-B."
Given the plan Mina had hatched for her planned tournament, that would be ironic. Mina shook her head, waving her hands in a negative fashion.
"Don't be so pessimistic, Midori! I have faith in you, you can definitely win. And even if you don't, it'll be a great show!"
"Well, so long as you enjoy yourself," he said, Mina giving him a beaming smile and a thumbs up, "You know Aizawa will know about it, right?"
"Yeah, but he's already traumatised us so he'll be focused on 1-B. It's flawless."
Izuku muffled a laugh. Kirishima didn't bother.
"What an awful thing to say," Tsuyu said, "Even if it is true."
"You cannot tell me that Monoma wouldn't deserve it. I mean, come on, the way he acts-"
"Alright you horrible lot," Aizawa interrupted, speaking over the general hubbub, "Enough socialising."
The class, well trained – like puppies coming to heel, Izuku wryly reflected – turned to face Aizawa. He looked, miraculously, a little less tired than at the end of term. It wouldn't last, but it did scupper Izuku's theory that Aizawa had some sort of insomnia.
"Alright," Aizawa said, "We'll be taking a bus to the Summer Camp. 1-B's taking a different bus, so don't get your hopes up about seeing them. Your luggage is all stowed, so let's go – you've wasted enough time gossiping already."
He was in fine form today. It was a measure of the experience they already had with him that none of them batted an eye at his words.
"So, you blew up your helmet on I-Island," Tsuyu said as they set off, "Do you have a replacement? Or will you be going without for now, ribbit?"
"Wait, you blew your helmet up?" Kirishima asked, "I haven't heard this. Why haven't I heard this?"
Mina, walking on Izuku's other side, leaned in front of him – clearly she hadn't heard either. Izuku met her eyes, baffled.
"What?"
"You blew your helmet up?"
"Is there an echo in here, ribbit?"
Mina briefly broke her stare-down of Izuku to give Tsuyu an offended look, but she quickly returned to her intimidation. It was surprisingly effective.
"Yeah, I blew my helmet up," Izuku said, adding his own repetition of the phrase, "It was a bit of a risk. You know how it is, villains love to gloat and the whole red helmet, Red Hood, it's really eye-catching…so yeah. Once Wolfram thought he'd won he took my helmet as a trophy, because of course he did. Just that I'd wired it with explosives shortly before."
"Okay okay okay," Mina said, "Okay. I get that. But that means you were walking around with explosives on your head?"
That mixture of bafflement and outrage was a true nostalgia trip, Izuku thought.
"Yeah? I mean, it was a calculated risk. It helped stop Wolfram from killing Tsuyu and I so it all went well. And most explosives are pretty stable, so it wouldn't have gone off just because I bumped my head."
And if it hadn't gone well and the explosives had somehow gone off while he was wearing his helmet, he wouldn't have known about it for long. Izuku didn't say that, probably correctly intuiting that it wouldn't go down all that well.
"In fact, it might be a good thing," he said, "Proof of concept. Maybe now I can get a helmet customised like I want, although probably not explosives. Sedative gas release, maybe."
"You know, most people wouldn't immediately think 'maybe I should put sedative gas capsules on my helmet' after using their old helmet as a bomb," Mina said. Izuku nodded.
"Most people, yeah. But I know Hatsume: I'm afraid that if I don't maintain a level of crazy high enough she'll start experimenting on me."
"Alarmingly valid. So your costume doesn't have a helmet, at the moment?"
Mina finally stopped staring Izuku down, allowing the four of them to resume walking. Izuku shook his head, even though they might not see it.
"I've got a spare, an older one, even if it's not got all the gribbly bits it'll work okay," he said, "I could have gotten a new one but when I went to the Support workshops Hatsume looked more manic than usual. I think she's actually built an immunity to the tranquilisers Power Loader's been using: I passed him on the way out and he was dressed like he was going to war."
Hopefully he would be upgrading soon anyway: Hatsume had seemed to be in some sort of crazed invention spree, but Melissa had promised to replace his helmet so even if Mei didn't recover in decent time he should get a new one. He'd like to believe that Hatsume would be out for a while: when he'd passed Power Loader the man had been carrying what looked like some sort of sonic rifle and a grim expression, but Mei had demonstrated an alarming resiliency to anything designed to stop her from inventing.
"Good luck to him," Kirishima said solemnly, "He'll need it. Man. Feels bad that I missed the whole I-Island thing, though: I know I couldn't help it, but knowing that I was sat on my butt while all of that was going on just sucks."
"Happens to us all," Izuku said, "And it turned out fine. You know, the mercenary leader was ferrokinetic, he could control metals. There's a theory that, since there's metals in blood, a strong enough ferrokinetic could just point at someone and skrrch."
"Skrrch?" Mina repeated, "Midori, what kind of noise is that?"
"The kind of noise that comes right before screaming 'my blood! He ripped out all of my blood!', probably. Ribbit."
Mina turned an appalled face onto Tsuyu.
"Tsu, please don't encourage him," Kirishima pleaded, looking slightly green. Mina, in the face of Kirishima's disgust, lost her exaggerated expression of dismay and started to laugh. Izuku shook his head.
"I could have been juiced like a grape, and you're laughing," he mourned. For some inexplicable reason, that just made Mina laugh more.
Honestly though, Izuku was glad that Wolfram hadn't reached that level of power even with the Amplifier. He liked his blood where it was, on the inside of his body, regardless of his spotty track record in keeping it there.
He paused on that thought. He really needed to stop tempting fate.
The bus, to Iida's quiet despair, was just as open plan as the one they'd taken to the USJ. Izuku wondered if it was a long held dream of his to organise the seating on a bus: it was an odd dream, but probably not the strangest Izuku had ever heard of. The class were in good spirits, chattering cheerfully and even singing at one point: Izuku was astonished that their off key rendition of 'The Wheels On The Bus' didn't provoke Aizawa into murder. Then again, from the little smirk the man was wearing, something terrible was incoming. Izuku tried not to wonder what it was.
Somewhere along the journey, after the terrible singing had petered out, half of the class had gotten into an enthusiastic conversation about Quirks – specifically, their parent's Quirks. Izuku hadn't contributed much, but neither had a number of the class – Todoroki was actually asleep. Well, it might be better that way. Izuku could remember what he'd said about his Quirk and Endeavour. Mina finished a cheerful run down of her parent's Quirks and turned to him.
"What about you, Midori? You ever think about what Quirk you – uh. Oh. Sorry."
Izuku waved the apology off. It was a compliment, really, that she'd just forgotten about his Quirk status in favour of being his friend.
"I don't mind," Izuku said, "I used to like to wonder what Quirk I might have gotten, based on my parents."
"What Quirks do your parents have?" Mina asked. Izuku shrugged.
"Dad's Quirk's called Fire Breath," he said, "Pretty much what it says on the tin."
Or it had been, the last time he'd seen his Dad in person. That had been quite a few years ago, before he'd gotten his permanent position in America: Izuku loved both his parents and his Dad's job paid better then the equivalent in Japan would, but still. It would have been nice to have him around more when Izuku was growing up.
"Anyway," he said, electing to shake it off, "That's basically it. He can spit a fireball, not that often. It's not that hot or that large, but you know – didn't really matter when I was little. My Mom's is a bit more complicated. It's called Attraction of Small Things, and it's like a limited telekinesis – she can pull small objects towards herself."
"How does it work?" Yaoyorozu asked, turning around in her seat, "Is it by weight? Physical dimension?"
"I don't know," Izuku said, "It's not something she uses that often. But I think it's a mixture of weight and what she considers to be small, because sometimes I think I can feel it pulling me towards her when she's worried."
Mina covered her mouth.
"That's so cute," she whispered.
"She's usually embarrassed about it," he continued, not drawing attention to Mina's comment, "Because the name is so dramatic. Apparently the Quirk doctor she saw when she was young was really fond of complicated Quirk names and influenced a lot of people. She'd probably just call it Pull, if she had her way."
Call him dramatic, but Izuku liked the more flowery name. The world was utilitarian enough: superpowers should be called something grand, as far as he was concerned.
"So telekinesis and fire breath," Yaoyorozu said, a frown wrinkling her brow, "Pyrokinesis?"
"I don't know if either of them are that powerful," Izuku said, "Could just be something like guided fireball breath, or calling flames towards myself. Pretty minor, in the long run."
Izuku briefly wondered what he'd have done if he'd gotten Jason's memories while he had a Quirk. Would the adjustment period have been harder? Would he had begun to neglect his Quirk in favour of skills that were, really, probably more valuable than his inborn ability? He would have lost his Quirk thanks to Overhaul, anyway. Silver linings.
"A Quirk is as powerful as its owner," Ojiro quietly said, in the tone of someone who'd been told that a lot. Izuku shrugged.
"Yeah, that's true."
Look at Mirio. Or even Ojiro – Tail wasn't an especially strong Quirk but Ojiro used it well, developed skills that complemented it. He wasn't flashy, but he'd be a good hero in Izuku's eyes. Izuku was actually looking forwards to Mina's planned Quirkless Combat tournament, and he hoped he'd get a chance to see how skilled Ojiro really was: win or lose it promised to be an interesting challenge, and it would be nice to have a challenge that wasn't a risk to his life or continued presence at UA. Ojiro's comment had provoked a conversation about training Quirks and how to improve them and Izuku could see Aizawa watching with one half-closed eye, expression slightly crinkled in a way that Izuku thought was amusement. That rarely boded well.
Izuku leaned back in his seat, half-listening to the conversation, half relaxing. This was probably the closest thing he was going to get to a vacation this year, regardless of whatever Aizawa had planned – he fully intended to make the most of it. And if it was interrupted by the League of Villains, or Overhaul, or the MLA, or by Class 1-B, there was a strong possibility that he would finally snap and whoever interrupted would end up face down in a shallow grave. Not that Izuku could see anyone he cared about mourning most of those too much, but killing or maiming a member of 1-B would probably raise questions he'd prefer to be left alone. He was supposed to be getting dragged into therapy sessions afterwards, too – he was still hoping to avoid them.
"Don't you think it's weird, though, that there's so many villains popping up all of a sudden?" Mina said, catching his attention again. She was talking to Kirishima, not Izuku, but it was a fairly open question. Izuku knew that it was probably All For One stretching his wings, testing All Might, but nobody else on the bus should know that.
"Has to be the League of Villains, right?" Izuku said, "They turned up first. They're like a…villain renaissance."
"I don't know if I'd call Shigaraki the Mona Lisa of crime," Yaoyorozu said, "But I think you're right. There's always been villains, but a group like that doing something so bold, and then getting away with it, must make other villains more confident."
"And that's why it's important that you work hard," Aizawa interrupted, his voice like sand smothering the fires of enthusiasm, "You're a Hero class in UA: you'll be expected to be the best of the best when you graduate. Your generation will need to take up the mantle of the one before, so take it seriously."
Aizawa, Izuku thought, had a talent for killing the mood.
"Of course we will, sir!" Iida proclaimed, managing to break the tension by virtue of being himself, "It's our only option, as aspiring Heroes!"
Aizawa gave him a sardonic look.
"Hmm. Well, maybe," he said, before turning back in his seat, "Try not to be so loud. You'll need some of that energy later."
Once Aizawa had turned away Mina turned to Izuku, exaggeratedly wiping her brow.
"That was close," she whispered, "I thought we might have woken him up for a moment!"
"If you'd woken him up I would have gone out the window," Izuku said, "I'll take traffic over a grumpy Aizawa any day."
He said it quietly, though. He wasn't planning on going traffic surfing today, regardless of how cool it would probably look. Mina nodded, patting him on the shoulder.
"That's very brave of you. Speaking of brave, you know, 1-B are definitely up for a Quirkless tournament. I've even got a poster mocked up!"
She held up her phone: over a banner of two crossed fists it said 'Kwirkless Klash'. Izuku squinted at her.
"Really?"
Mina maintained her clueless expression for just a couple of seconds before she started laughing.
"The look on your face," she said, chortling, "You look so offended."
"It doesn't even alliterate properly," Izuku said, offering a weak defence that Mina ignored.
"But yeah, they're in. Monoma was the loudest about it, obviously, but Kendo seemed pretty confident. A little bit of class rivalry's never hurt anyone, right? And they said they'd talk to Mr Kan about it, so we'll have a judge."
Izuku didn't want to sound judgemental, but Kan was probably more likely to be unbiased than Aizawa. At least Kan might only be slightly biased towards 1-B: Aizawa would probably be biased against 1-A just to make a point.
"Hey, it's your show," he said. Mina nodded.
"My show," she said, "But we know that you're the star. You and Ojiro, probably. Uraraka? Hey, so, if Uraraka does well, you think you can get over your terror long enough to fight her?"
Izuku cringed at the thought.
"What if she gets too confident and throws me into orbit?" he whispered. Mina gave him a judgemental look.
"She's not going to throw you into orbit, Midori. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't, anyway – and it's not like she's going to go all grr beatdown on you. Bakugo, maybe. You, probably not."
"It's the probably that worries me," Izuku grumbled, although he was mostly acting. In a more relaxed situation, without anything really at stake, Uraraka was okay. And she'd had, what, a few weeks of Gunhead Martial Arts training? She could have been going back, probably was going back, but that was still only a month or two. Izuku could beat an amateur, regardless of how frightening she was. It wasn't like she was Lady Shiva.
Jason's plan for Lady Shiva had been very simple: scream in terror, run as fast as possible and hope that he could lead her to Bruce and escape while they beat on each other. It had never been tested, but Izuku thought it was probably one of the better plans for escaping Lady Shiva that he'd ever heard of.
"You're paranoid sometimes, you know that?"
"I've been told," Izuku sadly admitted. Was it still paranoia when they really were out to get you? Probably, just more justified. Uraraka, however, probably wasn't out to get him.
Probably. Izuku hadn't forgotten that mention Aizawa had made, of a possible spy in the class. He still thought it was unlikely, because who would choose a First Year when there was the entire rest of UA to choose from, but that didn't mean it was impossible.
The bus rumbled on. Izuku, despite himself, found himself weighing up his classmates and trying to work out which of them might be a plant. He discarded Mina immediately: Shigaraki had nearly killed her at the USJ, and Shigaraki would presumably know who the mole was. Bakugo, too: unless he'd spent the last decade building his attitude as a cover there was no way he was subtle enough to be a spy. Izuku liked to think he'd have noticed strange behaviour from Kirishima or Tsuyu, so he could rule them out as well. Yaoyorozu? Well, she was rich so leverage for All For One might be harder to get. Then again, she was rich – blackmail on her family could be easier to find.
Todoroki, Izuku unhappily admitted, had to be considered. His issues with his father, one of the most popular and powerful Heroes around, would make him a tempting target for a supervillain. Izuku couldn't see him being a spy, but again – any spy worth their salt would be able to hide that. Hagakure was invisible, an obvious Quirk for a spy although Izuku instinctively rebelled against such basic reasoning. Aoyama…hmm. Aoyama's Quirk was strange. Did that rule him out, maybe? Surely All For One, if he'd recruited a Quirkless person as a spy, would have given them an ability that wouldn't stand out. Bennet's had seemed to work fine.
Really, Izuku just didn't know his classmates well enough to pick up on any unusual changes in their patterns, nor did he know All For One's preference in agents well enough to make a guess. All he could do was remain alert, without giving in to crazed paranoia. Easier said than done, that second one.
The bus rumbled on.
There was more singing, this even more out of tune than before. Kaminari defeated everyone at Mario Kart, until Todoroki demonstrated a natural talent that bordered on unnatural. The bus rumbled on.
The bus rumbled on to the point that it was a surprise when it stopped. They turned to the windows, seeing a clear lack of a camp: in fact, they were at the side of a bend in the road, just above a forest. Izuku had a middlingly bad feeling about this.
"Alright, hellions," Aizawa said, "Out and about. No need to take anything with you."
With the wariness of a class that was getting used to Aizawa's shenanigans they trooped out into the air, standing in clusters along the edge of the road. Aizawa walked in front of them, where he was joined by two others: Izuku saw them emerge from a car just in front of the bus. The dramatic posing entrance was a little unexpected, though not as unexpected as the way everyone in the class looked at him.
"What?" he asked. Bakugo rolled his eyes, moving his whole head with the motion.
"You're the Hero dictionary here," he grunted, "So who are they, nerd?"
Well, it was politer than Bakugo used to be. Izuku looked back at the two still posing Heroines, sizing them up.
"The Wild Wild Pussycats," he said, repeating the name they'd already said, "A Hero team specialising in mountain rescue. There's four of them: Pixie-Bob, Mandalay, Ragdoll and Tiger. Those two are, uh, Pixie-Bob and Mandalay. They've been around for a while, they were founded about twelve years – uh?"
Izuku abruptly cut himself off as Pixie-Bob darted towards him, waving her hands. He hopped back, away from a muffling hand in a paw shaped glove.
"Ix-nay on the elve-tway," Pixie-Bob hissed, "I'm eighteen at heart!"
Yikes. Izuku took another step back, just to be sure: it probably said a lot that Mina had moved out of his way before he'd taken the step. Apparently she'd really taken his preference for avoiding some touch to heart.
"Uh, okay. I'm sure you are." Izuku said, which seemed to mollify Pixie-Bob. She stepped away from him, giving him a chance to regain his balance. A bit weird to be so touchy over her age, but maybe it was the branding: Mandalay and Pixie-Bob wore pretty similar Hero costumes, crop-top and skirt and cat-pad gloves and boots and helmets shaped like cat ears, and he supposed that it worked better with a young woman.
Alternately, she was just bizarre. They'd also brought a child along, a small boy with a scowl that seemed to have permanently scoured itself into his face: strange choice, but Izuku wasn't going to question.
"Alright!" Mandalay said, "You see the base of that mountain over there? That's where the camp is, kitties!"
She pointed with one gloved hand – Izuku thought he saw the glint of sharpened nails at the tip. Useful for climbing – Izuku was fairly sure that Mandalay's Quirk was some sort of telepathy.
"It's half past nine now," Mandalay continued, ignoring Uraraka when she asked why they'd stopped here when the camp was so far away, "And lunch is at twelve-thirty!"
The penny dropped. Almost as one, the class took a step back towards the bus. Izuku looked down at his feet, at the close-packed dirt of the ground. Wasn't Pixie-Bob's Quirk…
"Kitties who don't arrive at camp by half twelve don't get any lunch!" Mandalay happily announced, "So you'll have to be quick!"
"Back to the bus!" someone screamed. Izuku wasn't sure who, but the second yell of "Every man for himself!" was definitely Sero. He eyed the distance to the forest floor and sighed, not bothering to run. Pixie-Bob had an elemental control Quirk, he remembered, and he was pretty certain it was to do with earth, so…
And the ground gave way under the clear impact of a Quirk. Izuku, having not run for the bus, was in a slightly better position to ride the landslide down to the forest below, but only slightly: he landed with a thud, bending his knees to absorb some of the impact, and grabbed Mina by the back of her shirt as she lurched past, keeping her from falling. He pulled her upright and swatted at some earth that clung to his prosthetic, frowning.
Alright, this was excessive. Not as excessive as it could be – Jason had once heard of a dimensional Bruce version who'd made his Dick Grayson catch and eat rats in the Batcave as part of Robin training, like a psychopath – but still pretty bad. Really, Izuku should have seen it coming, what with Aizawa's normal training patterns.
"Not the best start to my relaxing holiday," he admitted, getting an incredulous look. He turned around and looked up, past the landslide. Aizawa looked completely uninterested, as always, but Pixie-Bob and Mandalay were both beaming. Again, Izuku had to wonder if there were any psychiatric assessments for Heroes, because taking this much glee from this just wasn't normal. Back in Gotham Bruce would have been along to drag them into Arkham in short order, probably. Hopefully.
"You've got three hours to make it to the camp," Mandalay sang out, "So let's hope you make good time through…THE BEAST'S FOREST!"
"The beast's forest." Izuku repeated, deadpan.
"Good news though," Mandalay continued, "This is all private property, so feel free to use your Quirks to your heart's content!"
"I should have gone vigilante," Izuku said, "Then I could have carried a gun everywhere and shot people who tried to make me do insane things."
"But then you wouldn't have met me!" Mina said, recovered and giving him two thumbs up. Izuku tried to maintain his flat expression but couldn't manage it in the face of her beaming smile.
"Alright," he conceded, smiling back at her, "That makes it worth it. So, the Beast's Forest: that sounds ominous."
He pictured the base of the mountain in his mind, smile fading again as he chewed at his lip. Kirishima and Tsuyu joined them, both looking into the forest.
"Hate to say it, but I don't think we're gonna make it for lunch," Izuku said. Given his estimation of the distance three hours hike wouldn't be out of the question assuming the going wasn't too rough and they didn't get lost. Izuku was not going to assume that the going wouldn't be rough. In fact, he was going to go ahead and assume that there'd be something horrible in the forest that would slow them down.
Something roared in the forest. Probably something horrible. Would Nedzu really be too upset if Izuku shot Aizawa later? In fact, maybe he could grapple back up now – Aizawa might not be expecting it? Izuku looked up again, met Aizawa's eyes, and sadly concluded that his teacher was probably expecting something.
"We're definitely not going to make it for lunch, ribbit."
The class was mostly just staring at the forest, not sure what to do, when the roar sounded again and a…well, a monster came crashing out of the foliage. It was some sort of…Izuku didn't even know what. Some sort of messed up Parademon, gorilla, elephant thing, no eyes and weirdly placed tusks and ridiculously large claws. And, from the look of it, made out of clumped up earth.
"I'm going to kill Pixie-Bob," Izuku said quietly, right before it lunged at them and they all scattered. Izuku bolted towards the nearest tree, instinctively looking for the high ground and a weapon.
That karma from Jason must have been clinging to him still because the creature roared and came after him, a second one plunging out of the forest and charging the rest of the class. There was a crackling rush of sound and a sudden chill in the air as Todoroki engaged it but Izuku barely paid attention to that, mind flashing through options as he ran at a tree with the monster close behind.
Climb? It could climb after him, or even knock down the tree. Try to go around it? He'd be caught eventually. He needed to get back to the others who might actually be able to do something against the beast, which left him with one choice.
"Midori, lead it back to us!" Mina shouted. Izuku didn't spare the breath to answer – that was easier said than done, but he had an idea. At the tree, full speed, the monster just behind and Izuku jumped, prosthetic fingers digging into bark for a moment before he kicked off the tree with both feet. He flipped through the air, twisting, the creature ramming into the tree with earthshaking force and Izuku completed his backflip and twist, landing on the monster already running. Definitely earth and he ran down its' back, jumped the lashing tail and ran again.
"It's Pixie-Bob's Quirk!" he shouted, "They're made of earth!"
An explosion from Bakugo, probably aimed at the second attacker, and the one following Izuku roared and twisted around. He felt the ground shaking as it chased him again, towards where Mina, Kirishima and Tsuyu were waiting.
Izuku hated being the distraction. It always ended badly – usually with a crowbar, actually. At least the creature didn't have a crowbar, although given that it was large enough to smash Izuku to a pulp with one good hit that wasn't the consolation it might have been. Maybe he should have let Hatsume put a plasma cannon in his arm after all.
Izuku almost lost his balance when he realised what he'd thought, taking it back as quickly as he could. No matter how desperate the circumstances, they weren't that desperate. Hell, the apocalypse might not be that desperate. He kept going, sprinting towards Mina and Kirishima: Mina swung her hands, leaving a thick layer of acid on the ground as Kirishima hunched, skin turning rocky. Tsuyu swung into a tree and Izuku saw the plan, putting his head down and dragging all the speed he could out of his sprint. He reached the edge of the acid and jumped over it, left hand reaching out. If the monster had breath he could have felt it on the back of his neck and just before he could imagine it grabbing him Tsuyu's tongue wrapped around his wrist and pulled him on, turning his jump into a snapping launch. Izuku hit the ground behind Kirishima and rolled, braking with his left hand and coming to a halt in the classic three-point pose. The earth monster hit the acid, one leg sinking into the ditch created and breaking, the other front leg sliding and its rush turned into a forwards fall, right towards them. Kirishima launched himself forwards, his skin already turned to rock, fist clenched as the beast fell, head coming down.
"Red Gauntlet!" Kirishima roared, shouting the name of his attack. Rocky fist met earthen jaw and the fist won, shattering the head into clods of earth and fragments of rock, the body of the beast collapsing behind him. Kirishima stood proud as the dirt showered around him, turning with both hands in the air as it fell. Izuku and Mina both high-fived him.
"That's two!" Mina said, holding up two fingers as they rejoined the rest of the class, "This should be easy!"
The responses to that were, predictably, mixed. Izuku looked back at the forest as a chorus of bellows rose in the far-off trees. Those two had gone down easily enough, he supposed, although he would have liked to contribute more. In the back of his mind he started a whole new vengeance list, starting with Pixie-Bob.
"Wish these things would stop happening when I'm unarmed," Izuku said. Karma again – he would have blamed the duffle bag full of heads thing but he just couldn't get past the lingering conviction that, well, they'd deserved it. You sell drugs to kids and commit frequent murder, you can't complain when you get your head cut off. Surely there wasn't that much negative karma in that?
"Midoriya!" Yaoyorozu called. He turned to her just in time to see her throw two items at him: he caught the two Escrima sticks out of the air, whirling them in an automatic replication of a move he'd seen Dick use so many times, testing the weight and balance. He gave her an appreciative nod, getting an inclination of the head in return.
"Alright then," he said, "Through a forest of monsters it is, right?"
"Yes," Yaoyorozu said, "If we're to arrive in time, we'll have to take the shortest route: straight through! Together, 1-A, let's beat this challenge!"
They did not beat the challenge. They didn't even nearly beat it: by Izuku's estimate it was five or six hours later that they shambled into the camp, not six. Mina was making dire threats against 1-B for not being there: if the way Aizawa grinned when Izuku met his eyes was any indication Izuku must have been wearing a murderous expression.
"Oh, sorry!" Mandalay chirped, "Three hours is our usual time!"
The Wild Wild Pussycats, now with their missing two members added, were posing again. Izuku added them to his list. Pixie-Bob was now on The List twice: Izuku couldn't find it in himself to care. The little kid was still around, too, and Izuku wondered why: the scowl on his face was a little more severe than the usual Izuku might have expected to see on a kid unwillingly roped into something he didn't want to do.
"Your time wasn't bad," Aizawa said, "But it wasn't good either. That's what you're here for, I guess, actual training."
"Now," Mandalay said, butting in, "I know we said that kitties who didn't arrive by half twelve wouldn't get any lunch, but it's now dinner time! And we all felt sorry for you, so just for today we'll cook!"
Izuku took Mandalay off The List. After a moment of thought he reluctantly took the other two Pussycats, Tiger and Ragdoll, off The List as well – they hadn't been there when he'd been dumped into the forest and he wasn't feeling that vengeful. Pixie-Bob stayed though. He wasn't sure what karma there would be, but it would get her in the end. Given the way Aizawa was still grinning, Izuku wasn't sure that the man wasn't reading his thoughts.
Later, after they'd all been fed and watered, the class retreated to their bunkrooms in exhaustion. They hadn't seen hide nor hair of 1-B, but Izuku had learned the name of the little kid hanging around: Kota. He seemed to be related to Mandalay, by Izuku's guess: Izuku hadn't learned anything more about him but the kid had blown up at Iida during a speech on heroism that Iida had been giving to the class while coercing them into helping the Pussycats wash up. The sort of anger Kota had displayed wasn't just a tantrum: Izuku knew anger. And that was an anger born of suffering.
Kota was lucky Bruce wasn't around. The old bastard could smell a sad backstory a mile away: Kota would have been added to the flock in short order. And he definitely had a sad backstory, Izuku could tell just from looking at him. But Izuku didn't know the kid: he wasn't about to go up to him and start asking him about potential trauma. If it came up it would come up: otherwise, it was Kota's own business. The other boys in the male bunkroom fell asleep rapidly, filling the log cabin with a cacophony of snores: Izuku, unable to sleep, endured it for thirty minutes or so before he crept out of the doorway.
Unable to sleep and without the familiarity of buildings around him Izuku still obeyed Jason's ingrained habit of looking for the highest point around: he found himself a tree to climb up and wedged himself against the trunk, legs tucked up on the branch. It wasn't as comfortable as a building – he found himself missing the city, ears straining for any noise that shouldn't be in the forest. There was a faint creaking and Izuku glanced from the corner of his eye, saw a lanky shape settle onto another branch.
"Can't sleep, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked, quiet voice harsh against the forest. Izuku shrugged.
"I'm a city boy, sir. Give me an urban hellscape any time."
Aizawa made a noise that was probably a laugh, although Izuku couldn't be certain. He shifted on his branch, his scarf briefly catching the moonlight as it swung around him.
"Is it that, or the paranoia?"
Always the paranoia, Izuku thought. He didn't say anything, but he probably didn't need to.
"I didn't want to ask this around everyone," he said instead, "But what's the deal with the little kid?"
Aizawa made a noise that could have been a soft laugh, or could have been a sigh.
"Figures you'd be the one to ask," he said, "Paranoia, again? He's Mandalay's nephew. Parents were Heroes, they were killed a few years ago in a villain attack. Protecting civilians. He's got nowhere else to go – or maybe Mandalay's hoping that exposure to all of you bright-eyed youngsters will help him get over his hatred of Heroes."
"Get over it?" Izuku asked, scoffing just slightly as his inner cynic reared its' head, "He's six years old. Why would he care about people he didn't and doesn't know? All that matters to him is that one day his parents went out and never came home. He should be in therapy."
Aizawa shifted. It might have been a shrug, was probably a shrug, but Izuku couldn't quite tell in the dark. He glanced over at his teacher: the shadows of the starlit night and the deep bags of tiredness conspired to make Aizawa's eyes dark pits of blackness against his narrow face, a cadaverous look. Izuku looked away again.
"Not sure we should be talking about people needing therapy," Aizawa said dryly, "But you're right. I think he is in therapy, but there's no point in coddling him. Heroes are everywhere. Hating them will get you nowhere in this society."
And wasn't that just messed up? Six years old, traumatised, but you need to get over it because nothing will change. Everybody loves heroes, so you better too – or at least get ready to fake it. Izuku said nothing and Aizawa laughed sourly.
"I can feel your cynicism from here, Midoriya."
Took one to know one, Izuku thought. Aizawa might have read his thoughts, because another dark, rasping laugh came from his shadowed form.
"I guess some people have to be."
Silence settled around them, faint forest noises all that Izuku could hear, until Aizawa eventually spoke again.
"You should get some sleep," he said, "It'll be a long day tomorrow."
Izuku nodded but couldn't help the thought that crossed his mind at that ominous proclamation.
Should have been a vigilante.
Joshua Nash – MLA Member
A tap on his shoulder woke him from his nap. Josh peeled his face from the table where he'd laid it, blinking up at the person who'd woken him. Waltzer, he thought. He tried to remember her name, but couldn't: they'd only been introduced a day ago.
"I'm going for coffee," Waltzer said, "You want some? You look like you need some."
"Oh," Josh said, "Uh, yeah. Please. Black, with sugar."
Waltzer wrinkled her nose at the order but didn't say anything as she wandered out. One of the disadvantages of the Hero Agency being so small: no kitchen in the Agency. Josh sat up in his chair, pressing his hands into his back and stretching extravagantly. God, he was still tired: he'd been working overtime in the last weeks and it was starting to tell. He looked back down at the papers on the table, frowning at them. The OMC.
The OMC. They'd been barely even an MLA cell, a tiny group of lunatics who thought they were so much more important than they were, but they'd started something big. Big enough that Josh had been sent to work with Seabreeze and her Hero Agency: the Hero, four Sidekicks, twenty support staff and now one overworked reporter. Still, it wasn't all bad.
"Sleeping on the job, Josh?" Seabreeze asked as she walked in. She had a cup of coffee in each hand and she set one down in front of him, giving him a broad smile that made his heart beat just a little faster.
"Black, two sugars," she said, "Waltzer couldn't believe it when I knew your order."
"Ah, well," he said, searching for something clever to say, "One of the advantages of refined tastes, you know? You stand out."
Seabreeze, Kaene as she'd told him to call her, laughed. Josh resisted the urge to fist pump and Kaene sat down at his table, right next to him. There was nobody else here: they were meeting to discuss their findings on the OMC, but the other sidekicks weren't there yet. Perfect, so long as he could gather the courage.
"So," he said, trying for casual. Kaene turned sea-foam green eyes on him, a finger curling casually through her hair.
"Yes?"
He swallowed, summoned all of his charm.
"So, uh, when this meeting's over. You want to go get dinner? Just the two of us, I mean."
"Just the two of us, huh?" Kaene asked. Josh nodded, tried a suave smile. It must not have looked too convincing, given the giggle she covered up, but she was smiling.
"Sure," she said, the faintest hint of a blush on her cheeks, "It's a date."
He did fist pump, then, but she was laughing so he hadn't ruined his chance. Buoyed by success he was still beaming when the four sidekicks filed in and sat at the table, setting files before them, although he made an effort to sober up as the meeting began.
"Alright," he said, "No need to stand on ceremony, we're here to try and work out what happened with the OMC and Overhaul. Waltzer, you were putting together a timeline right?"
"Right," Waltzer said. He took off the headpiece of his costume, a pair of visored sunglasses, and laid them on the table.
"The OMC, that's where we start. They were a small-time cell, like a lot of others: they were tapped to work with Overhaul because they were the closest. They were supposed to make contact and set up a supply of Trigger, nothing more. They managed that, but in the process they saw something: the report says that they saw a small child, probably a prisoner, with a Quirk that allowed her to simply erase someone from existence, even unintentionally."
"Right," Kaene agreed, "They reported it, but their leader, Oyama, thought that he could save the girl from Overhaul. He was too confident in himself."
"Or cared too much," Josh supplied, "That was the image I got. Thought he could be a Hero. So all the OMC got together and they were attacked."
"Correct," Waltzer said, picking up the thread again, "By Overhaul. The one witness we could find identified Overhaul and one of his Eight Bullets, by the masks they wore. They broke in. Most of the OMC were killed outright: only two haven't been confirmed as dead. Those two are Mara Bennet and Akatani Mikumo."
"All Might and Sir Nighteye were investigating, weren't they?" Josh asked, "What happened with that? I don't think it's a surprise to say that we don't want them poking their noses into our business, especially All Might."
"They didn't investigate much," Kaene said, "But I think they got distracted. They turned up at the crime scene – Nighteye's been investigating Overhaul. We don't know what happened to Bennet, but as far as Mikumo goes, well…"
"Mikumo was taken by Overhaul. We can't be sure, but the evidence suggests it," Waltzer said, taking over again, "Several hours after he was taken Overhaul's base burst into flame. At least three witnesses report two figures matching the descriptions of Akatani Mikumo and the child prisoner nearby, with reports of Mikumo seeming injured: they were found by the Hero Edgeshot and collected by All Might shortly afterwards, according to the last of the three reports."
"Nighteye has contacts in the hero community, so he might be the reason Edgeshot was in the area. Do we know any more about how Mikumo escaped?"
Waltzer shook her head.
"Our contacts in the Eight Bullets are few and low ranking. All they know is that Mikumo came in, and three hours later he broke out."
That was a decent recap, Josh thought. He'd known most of it, but it was good to get everybody on the same page: details were lacking, but that couldn't be helped.
"What happened after that isn't clear, but we've found out some things," he said, taking over, "Since Mikumo is a student at UA, All Might took him there. We're not sure why – most likely because UA is, functionally, a fortress that puts most Hero Agencies to shame. While most of the UA staff aren't very high profile a lot of them are recognised Heroes, which makes it difficult to mount any attack against…even for Overhaul."
It went unspoken that the same went for them. If the MLA wanted to get Mikumo out of UA, they would need to either infiltrate the place or resign themselves to revealing their true strength. Infiltration wasn't impossible, they already had some people in place, but those were all low level staff: the teachers, who might actually have access to Mikumo, were all much more closely vetted.
"Miss Chitose tried to speak to both All Might and Principal Nedzu. For All Might, she was told that active investigations are classified, not too surprising. For UA, she got the usual stonewall tactics: Mikumo might be there but he's a minor, his guardians are unaccounted for, he will not be discussed. Both responses fit into standard patterns, we don't know if Mikumo is really in witness protection or if his links to us have been revealed."
"If he has been revealed as a member of the OMC, what are we looking at?" Waltzer asked, "Are we concerned that the MLA could be exposed? I know we're supposed to be stronger now, but it's too soon…"
"Mikumo has met Josh and I," Kaene said evenly, "So the two of us would be outed. That's why we haven't had any direct contact with other MLA members since Mikumo was taken. The rest of you would also be in danger, but Neo-MLA cells aren't uncommon: if we're arrested and you can't escape, we were a cell like the OMC, nothing more."
"That said, I doubt it's the case that Mikumo's spilled all the beans under questioning," Josh said, "It's been weeks and nobody's come to knock down the door, so either the Heroes don't know anything or they're trying to play the long game. We'll know which in the end, Nedzu can't keep a student confined forever."
There were a round of nods around the table, grim nods. Josh looked around, seeing no flicker of doubt in them: not that he'd expected it. These were true MLA loyalists, not dregs from the street lured in by the promise of power they could wield freely, men and women who genuinely believed in the freedom of each person to determine the path of their life, with every skill and power at their disposal. They wouldn't betray the cause, not for anything. And speaking of traitors to the cause…
"Mikumo was captured and then, as far as we can tell, escaped," he said, "What about Bennet? Her body wasn't found."
"She hasn't reappeared," Waltzer said, "She might be dead – Overhaul's Quirk is strong. But the others killed by Overhaul at least left smears of blood. Best guess, she might have escaped from the OMC attack and not come in. She might have been taken alongside Mikumo and never gotten away from Overhaul. Or…"
"Or?" Josh prompted, knowing what Waltzer was about to say. Waltzer shook his head, uncomfortable.
"Or she might have been a traitor."
Silence descended upon the table at the words that no-one had wanted to hear. Treachery among the MLA was nigh unheard of. They were, after all, a banned group: if the government heard that the descendants of the people they had brutally put down still remained they would act to make sure that another Destro could not rise. Perhaps there had been traitors who had been stopped before they could make a report to someone who would care, but Josh had never heard of any. Treachery among the MLA was unheard of.
The OMC, for all their ambition, had not been MLA.
"If she was a traitor," said one of the other sidekicks, a woman who called herself Shakedown, "What does that mean? What did she know, who would she be working for? Overhaul?"
"Presumably Overhaul, yes," Josh said. Kaene laughed quietly, a warm tone that sent shivers down Josh's back.
"Overhaul is impressive, but his organisation isn't," she said, a tone of authority in her voice, "The Eight Precepts were a power before All Might. Now? They're a shadow of their former self. If Overhaul has any sense he'll realise that war with us would finish his little gang off. Losing the OMC would be more than worthwhile if we can get Overhaul on board."
"Right," Josh agreed, "Before we cut contact Miss Chitose mentioned that we should try and open communications with Overhaul. His tantrum will end soon enough, and he'll see sense. Until then we just need to sit tight and look like nothing's wrong."
There was another round of nods and then the group broke apart again. Dusk had settled now, darkness on the city streets cut by the harsh glare of street-lights, but Josh didn't leave yet. In the past few days spent at the Agency he'd gotten used to waiting for the others to finish packing up, so he picked up his coffee and wandered across the hall to a breakroom, making his way over to a window. There was a comfortably overstuffed chair nearby, but he chose to stand: he just felt like it. Light footsteps sounded behind him and a welcome voice.
"You haven't left yet?" Kaene asked. Josh smiled as he turned around, instinctively swiping at his hair with his free hand – from her smile she seemed to find it endearing.
"I did promise I'd take you out, didn't I? Know a nice little sushi place, you know – and standin' on the doorstep waiting isn't my style."
"I guess it isn't," she said, stopping next to him. He could smell freshly applied perfume, now that she was out of her Hero costume. It was intoxicating.
"So what is your style?" she asked, "What brought you here?"
He shrugged. He briefly debated making something up, trying to seem cooler than he was, but in the end the truth was better.
"Truth be told I came here to meet Miss Chitose," he said, "She's famous, you know? I've always wanted to be a reporter, and she's one of the best in the business. I came here hoping to learn the tricks of the trade, but you get in a conversation or two, feel out your co-workers, and some things start to make sense."
Kaene waited, those sea-foam green eyes intent, and Josh nodded to himself as he continued.
"It's my belief, you know, that everyone should be free to protect themselves with whatever God-given abilities they have. Back home, you go through the proper registry and you can get a gun, practice with it. No reason a Quirk would be any different."
"Exactly!" Kaene said, "I don't understand how people don't understand that, you know? I mean sure, Destro went about it too quickly but – there's so much wonder in our Quirks, not being able to use them properly is such a waste."
He nodded in silent agreement. Two hundred years of waiting, he thought, all caused by Destro's impatience. Josh respected him for doing the right thing, but he'd done it too quickly and too carelessly, and now it was up to them to correct the mistake.
"Our time might be comin', you know," he said, "Sure, All Might's still around. He made a big hole in the underworld and nobody's filled it yet, for fear of him. Ain't no-one lives forever, though, and once he's retired it'll be a free for all. Readin' between the lines, seems to me like the big bosses are lookin' to exploit that. There'll be a lot of villains, lot of panic. People'll be looking for actual Heroes, heroes who can do what needs to be done. Heroes who'll tell them that they're right to protect themselves."
"Heroes like us," Kaene said. Josh raised his coffee in a salute.
"Heroes like you," he said, getting another blushing smile out of her.
He finished his coffee, glancing out the window, and was wondering what to say next, how to strike while the iron was hot, when there was a crash from below them. They both jumped, going to relaxed to wire-tensed in an instant, and Kaene gave him a quick look.
"That didn't sound like an accident," Kaene said. Josh nodded, putting his cup down.
"What else could it have been?" he asked, although the question sounded weak even to him. Kaene narrowed her eyes.
"Villains, maybe. Villain attacks on Hero Agencies aren't completely unknown. Stay here, I'll go and check it out."
The air moved slightly around her, ruffling her hair. Josh shook his head.
"I'm not about to let you go alone," he said, "Besides, staying here on my own seems like a good way to end up getting ambushed."
Kaene studied him, her blush gone in favour of the hard-eyed professional, and nodded.
"Stay behind me," she said, "And if I tell you to run you run. Understand?"
Josh swallowed hard, nodding.
"Understood," he repeated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pill bottle, taking one: the iron in the pill was consumed by his Quirk and he directed it to his fingernails, each one becoming as hard as steel. A moment of extra focus shifted their shape just a little, all he could manage, to make them into something more like blades. He would have preferred to be properly armed, with a gun, but he didn't have the right licenses and he worked in too public a position to risk carrying illegally. It would have to do.
They made their way into the corridor: there were three rooms on this floor, five below, and a stairway that led down. As they hurried towards the stairway Waltzer came out of a room, his helmet back on and three shining orbs of light spinning around his right hand. Light Cannon: Waltzer's Quirk allowed him to create up to five balls of light and control them within three metres of himself, hitting with the force of a fairly strong punch at the cost of breaking the orb and needing a minute to reconstitute it. Not the strongest Quirk, but it was useful.
"Did you hear that noise?" he asked, face pinched in worry. Kaene nodded.
"I heard it. It could be nothing, but…"
But Overhaul could know who they were. Surely he wouldn't be stupid enough to attack members of the actual MLA, but he might not know that: they could be in very real danger. Josh's heart beat harder, sweat beaded in his hairline, his lips stretched into an adrenaline soaked grin. Well, this was one way to bond with Kaene. The first time he'd been in real action, if there was real action coming up, and it was exhilarating.
As though a malevolent deity had heard his thoughts the lights went out. Josh instinctively huddled closer to Kaene and Waltzer, the dark stifling for a moment before a faint, dull red of emergency lights took over. No accident, then, he really might be about to see some action.
"Where's Shakedown?" Kaene hissed. Waltzer shook his head.
"She was leaving first, wanted to get home," he replied softly, "Copper Cloud is up here, I asked her to round up the staff, and Coaster is downstairs somewhere."
A breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth. His heartbeat, a step faster, fingers curling into claws.
"Which way?" he asked, painfully aware that there were nearly thirty people in the building. The staff were vetted to make sure that they wouldn't betray the MLA, but they weren't combatants like Kaene and her sidekicks. Kaene bit her lip.
"We have to get them out," she said, "The fire exits are along the back of the building. We'll pull the fire alarm and evacuate through there, and hold off anyone we have to."
Josh and Waltzer nodded grimly, both of them readying themselves. Kaene slid over to the wall and flipped up the cover on the fire alarm.
"Ready?" she asked them both. They nodded and she pulled the switch down hard. The alarm wailed through the building, keening blasts that would alert anyone in the building, probably anyone in the street. It went off three times before going silent, an alert sent out to nearby emergency services: it would go off every minute from now on, until it was shut down. As the first series echoed away Copper Cloud came running towards the stairs, the smoky trails that gave him his name trailing around his fingers.
"Seabreeze, what's going on?" he asked, "Are we under attack?"
"We might be," Kaene replied softly, "Stay close, we need to make sure the exits are safe."
Cloud nodded and, together, they hurried down the stairs. There was shouting, men and women hurrying for the exits but there didn't seem to be any panic. They reached the corridor outside the meeting room, five or six of the staff joining them, and peered around in the low light.
"Is it an attack?" Copper Cloud said, sounding uncertain, "It's quiet. I would have expected more…"
"Well," drawled a new voice, deep and confident, "I'd hate to disappoint."
They turned as one, just as a monstrously large man burst out of the shadows. How he'd gotten there Josh couldn't tell, how such a big man could have snuck up on them, but it was too late to question. A crushing backhand hit Waltzer, throwing him into the meeting room, and Copper Cloud leaped forwards.
"Seabreeze, run! Get them out!" he shouted, his fog swirling around his fists as he barraged blows at the attacker. The massive man just roared with laughter, breaking into a run and tackling Copper Cloud from his feet, smashing through three civilians as he carried the sidekick into the meeting room, slamming him into the wall. Waltzer struggled to his feet, his visor broken, and looked at them.
"Kaene, go!" he screamed, "You have to protect them! Make sure they escape!"
Kaene stared for just a heartbeat as Waltzer jumped at the attacker, his kinetic orbs spinning around him, and then she let out a snarl of frustration and grabbed Josh by the wrist.
"Run to the evacuation points!" she shouted, "Stay with me, Josh!"
They ran. It wasn't far through the dimness, the screams of other civilians and the crashing of combat and the terrible, awful laughter of the huge man the background of their flight. Kaene and Josh were at the rear of the group, last to round the corner to the back exit, and so they were the last to run into the cloud of choking purple mist. A gunshot roared and someone screamed, the horrid meaty chop of a bullet hitting flesh and Josh dragged in a breath that caught in his throat, clawed at his lungs. He doubled over and Kaene let go of him.
"Gas," she said, "Poison gas? Damn you!"
The wind rushed around him, her Quirk in action, and Josh looked up through streaming eyes to see her lunge forwards. The gun fired again, a small person in a school uniform and gas mask backing up as his concealing cloud was blown away. Probably a man, a boy, he levelled his gun again and pulled the trigger as Kaene lunged. The wind blew, Josh's hair whipping back, and the gun was forced off line: the bullet struck the wall and Kaene reached the boy. He lunged forwards, swinging the gun clumsily, and her left hand lashed out, knocked his attack away from her, her other hand snaking up and hitting him in the chin, sending him stumbling. A knee to the gut, her blocking hand to the jaw, the boy staggering.
"Josh, run!" she shouted, still closing in, but he was paralysed: he wouldn't leave her. He couldn't.
Kaene spun into a kick, her heel coming around and hitting the masked boy in the jaw, sending him into the wall. She stamped forwards, beautiful in that moment, her clawed hand raised with winds spiralling around it and a hand closed around her forearm as a second assailant entered.
"I'm afraid I can't have you killing my minions," said the new man, and Kaene screamed as a second hand closed around her face. Her skin and muscle and bone flaked around the hands, cracking across her form and her scream faded into an echo among ashes as her body collapsed. Josh pressed himself back against the wall as the man stepped through the empty space that had been a person seconds ago. Lanky, with a ragged coat and hands attached to him: his face was hidden by a gas mask but Josh didn't need to see his face to recognise Tomura Shigaraki. The other man slid down the wall, to the ground, but he was of no consequence now. Hatred for Shigaraki surged in Josh, a desperation to avenge Kaene, but his fear kept him in place.
"You need to do some grinding," he said, tilting his head down towards the fallen villain, "You won't become great without some work."
"I told ya the kid wasn't ready," said a rough voice from behind. Josh whirled, trying to keep both Shigaraki and the man from before in view. The man from before was even more massive than he had been, exposed muscle writhing and rippling over his frame, and in one colossal hand he held Waltzer. Waltzer beat at the man, his screaming muffled by the vast hand wrapped around his head, until the man sighed.
"Kinda shitty fighters," he said, "Pretty disappointing."
The massive hand squeezed once and, with a sickening cracking crunch, Waltzer jerked once and then went still. The body was released, fell to the ground with a tail of thick blood and brain matter behind, and Josh doubled over as his coffee made a reappearance. He hauled himself upright again just as the muscle man advanced: Josh recognised him from numerous police reports: Muscular. The MLA had considered trying to recruit him, but in the end decided that he was too unstable, too violent. Evidently the League of Villains didn't have the same qualms.
"Maybe this'll convince Fireboy that we can attack Hero agencies, though," Muscular continued, "What d'you think, boss?"
"I think you talk too much," Shigaraki said, still in a soft, hoarse tone that was nearly a whisper. Muscular laughed and then, whip quick, he lunged. One hand reached out and Josh screamed, throwing himself back and away, hand slashing out in a clawing motion. His nails tore muscle, raking bloody lines down Muscular's arm, but the man just laughed and Josh screamed again, finding courage in his desperation and he flung himself forwards, reaching his hands towards Muscular's eyes.
The fist that hit his ribs was about the size of a wrecking ball, and struck just as hard. He smashed into the wall, breath bursting from him in a sobbing squeak, courage going with it as he fell. Tears poured from his eyes as he landed on the ground, Muscular raising a boot and Shigaraki lifted his voice, although it sounded even more hoarse than before.
"Wait!"
It could barely be called a shout, but Muscular obeyed: muzzily, Josh remembered that Shigaraki had been hurt by a Hero student during the USJ incident. His vocal cords must not have recovered, but the rasping snarl only added to the menace as Shigaraki approached. Muscular hauled him to his feet, although he stayed hunched over against the wall.
"Wait? Really?"
"Really," Shigaraki said. He took off his gas mask, now that the gas in the air had faded, but his sunken red eyes and pale, dry skin wasn't any less intimidating. He leaned in towards Josh, peering at him.
"Are you crying?" he asked, his voice back down to that paper-soft whisper, voice as rough as his skin looked, "I wonder if they'd cry, if they were here. Eraserhead. Stain. Red Hood. I don't think they would. Sensei said I don't understand what makes someone strong. It's not just power, it's something else. Do you know what it is? What makes someone do what they do?"
Josh shook his head, tears still falling despite his attempts to stop them. Here, with death so close, he couldn't find any defiance in his soul. Shigaraki reached towards his face, but stopped when he spoke.
"I…I don't….please."
"Please?" Shigaraki said, "I don't think it's that. They never said please. Not Eraserhead, when Nomu had him down. Not Red Hood, when I had his arm in my hand. Is it that, that makes someone a Hero? That makes someone strong?"
Josh stared up at him, at those red eyes that seemed so distant, before Shigaraki shook his head and stepped back.
"I guess there's no point asking a minion. Gotta take out a unique enemy to get lore, I guess."
Shigaraki let out a long sigh, his hand hovering in the air still. Still close, but perhaps death was retreating and shameful relief flooded every cell in Josh's body, the relief of knowing that he might not die today. Shigaraki shrugged.
"Got a message, for your boss. Or bosses, I guess. From Sensei, and the Eight Precepts."
"Yes," Josh gabbled, "Yes, yes, a message. A message. I'll, I'll tell them! I'll tell whoever you want me to!"
The red eyes looked back at him, seeing to see him again, and Shigaraki curled a lip in distaste.
"Yeah, I think they'll get the message anyway," he said, and the hand came down.