Chapter 55: A Night of Villains and Hanky Panky
"It's fucking RAW!"
The unfortunate line chef ducked as the undercooked chicken went rocketing past his head and into the garbage bin at the other end of the kitchen. Everyone else went out of their way to keep their heads down and not try to draw the attention of their new head chef.
And neither Eijirou nor Mezou could blame any of them.
After the former head chef had come down with the same illness that had left the kitchen short-staffed, Katsuki stepped in to take control of the situation. Even though the sous chef was supposed to take over, the poor man didn't have the courage to tell the new explosive cook to simply get back to work and let the grownups handle things.
It also didn't help that Katsuki was pretty competent at the job. Which more or less was making sure that no one else was slacking off.
"AND THE REST OF YOU!" Katsuki whirled around. "You wanna explain how you let this dipshit think it was okay to take that food out? You wanna fucking be the ones responsible for food poisoning all those rich snobs and heroes?!"
"NO CHEF!"
"Damn right you don't. Now hurry the fuck up. All Might's about to give his speech, then all those people are gonna want to have plates of food brought up to their lazy asses!" Katsuki paused, then his hand shot up, pointing at two people that had some idea what they were dealing with. "SHITTY HAIR! OCTOPUS! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL IN HERE?!"
Katsuki's eyes narrowed when he saw Eijirou had his phone out.
Again.
"Shitty hair, if you're taking more pictures, I'm throwing you off this fucking tower."
Katsuki had caught Eijirou taking pictures of him when he had taken control of the situation and had put on the old head chef's large toque blanche. Apparently, he found Katsuki wearing the large chef hat funny and wanted to share. Eijirou had to leave the kitchen for a little while to clean the explosion residue off his face.
"Not taking pictures! Ashido just sent this out to the whole class." Ejirou bit his lip to keep himself from laughing. "You'll want to see this."
Katsuki glared at Eijirou, then shifted his look up towards Mezou. While the mask covering his lower face made it tricky to tell what his taller classmate was thinking, the fact that his other arms all had snickering mouths made it pretty clear he found whatever Mina had sent out pretty hilarious.
"Fucking hell, what the fuck did Racoon Eyes send everyone?" Reaching into his pocket, Katsuki fished out his phone and begrudgingly opened up the 1-A chat room. The first few pictures were of her, Momo, and Kyouka all showing off their dresses. Then of some of the other classmates in their suits. Some blonde girl he didn't know. Normal boring bullshit. Then he stopped at the last picture and the description that was sent along with it. "What… the fuck?"
It was a picture of Ochako and Izuku, posing happily. In their dress and suit. Katsuki scowled, his eyes returning to read the message Mina had sent with it, explaining the reason behind the unique fashion choices. Katsuki promptly saved the photo, before pocketing his phone, wondering if there was any place nearby or back home he might be able to order a banner made of it.
"Okay dude, that look on your face is terrifying." Eijirou shuddered.
Katsuki ignored him. "Whatever. You two go grab some hors d'oeuvres trays and make yourselves useful. I gotta get these dipshits in shape before—"
Warning!
Warning!
Warning!
This is an announcement by the I-Island security system. We have received a report from the security system that an explosive device was placed in the I-Expo area. I-Island will now be in high alert mode. Residents and tourists should return to their homes or lodgings. Anyone still outside ten minutes from now may be arrested without warning. Please refrain from going outdoors. In addition, most of the main buildings will be sealed off by the security system.
Everyone in the kitchen stopped what they were doing and looked up at the sudden alarm. Their startled silence was quickly replaced with yelps and confused sputters as panic began to set in.
"There's a bomb?!"
"That can't be right!"
"How could there be a bomb?!"
"It must be a mistake! This is I-island!"
"EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Katsuki roared over the kitchen staff. "You guys got shit to take care of, and panicking while you're holding fucking knives or working over fucking fire and oil will get you killed before any fucking bomb. Calm the fuck down."
Ejirou blinked. That wasn't exactly how he'd try to calm everyone down, but instead of pointing out that Katsuki really needed to work on how he 'helped' people, he just rolled with it. "…Yeah… Remember, there are probably a hundred heroes on the island. Plus All Might! If there's any trouble I'm sure they'll be able to handle it!"
The staff took a second to let their words sink in before they all nodded. The sous chef cleared his throat. "Well… let's just focus on our cooking, people. Whatever this is, I'm sure people will still want to eat afterward. Best not to serve everyone burnt food after this episode."
Katsuki scoffed. "Finally, you're not talking out of your ass. Keep working while…" Katsuki paused when he noticed that Mezou was looking at the door that led to the reception room, where the party was. His arms were outstretched, and the ends were now tipped with multiple ears, each listened intently. With a free hand, he discreetly motioned for Eijirou and Katsuki to come over. "…While I figure out what the hell is happening."
While the staff kept working, the three grouped up near the door. "Octopus, what've you got?"
Mezou was tense, and Katsuki could see that his jaw was set, even behind his mask. "Trouble."
Ejirou frowned. "Trouble?" He made to open the door. "What kin—"
Mezou quickly pushed Eijirou away from the door, and put a finger in front of his mouth. "Shhh, keep your voice down and don't open the door."
"Dude? What's going on?" Ejirou asked in a hushed whisper.
Mezou glanced back at the staff, making sure they were doing what they could to focus on their cooking and not on them. "There are villains in the hall. A leader and… a lot of people with guns by the sound of it. They say that…" Mezou's ears twitched as he kept listening. "They've taken control of I-Isand's security system, and all the security robots, and are using the threat of that to hold the residents as hostages."
Ejirou's eyes went wide. "Wait? Really? No way, how could that happen? What about the heroes?"
"They're all been captured."
"Holy crap! But… No, All Might's in there. There's no way…"
Katsuki was eyeing the door. "If they got the freaking whole island under threat, no way any hero is making a move. All Might's definitely letting this play out."
"Then what should we do?"
Katsuki clicked his tongue in annoyance. He knew what he wanted to do, but the hostages made things tricky. "Fuck."
"We aren't just going to do nothing?"
"Shitty hair, fucking think. None of the heroes in there are probably actually captured. They're letting this play out. So…" Oh, Katsuki hated this. "We're doing the same. Until there's an opening, we wait."
Ejirou looked at Katsuki, impressed. "Wow, that's surprisingly level-headed."
"I'll fucking kill you," Katsuki growled out. Any other choice words stopped when he noticed that Mezou was still listening. "What?"
"The villain, the leader, has taken two people away. It sounds like they want something that's being stored here. They went after researchers," Mezou reported, then stopped. "…huh?"
"What?"
Mezou looked confused. "It's… All Might. He's… well, it sounds like he's talking to someone, but in a really hushed voice. He asked, 'Can you hear me,' and is now explaining the situation and… telling someone to get away as fast as possible."
"That… huh? Why would he be doing—"
"Ears," Katsuki said with certainty. "He's talking to fucking Ears."
"Ears… Jirou!" Eijirou's eyes lit up. "That must mean that their group wasn't in the main hall when the attack went down!"
Mezou's ears twitched as he kept listening. "I think… I might have heard her, and some of the others too, but I think they went further into the building. I can't hear them now."
Katsuki was thinking, trying to recall who could be with her. "Ears was with…Rich Girl, Racoon Eyes, Four Eyes, Half and Half, Round Face and Deku."
The three stood there, thinking about the fact that this was the group that All Might was telling to escape. Fat chance of that.
"Wasn't there someone else in those photos too…" Ejirou scratched his chin.
"Melissa, All Might's niece. We met her yesterday before we moved to this job. She's apparently a mechanical genius."
Katsuki crossed his arms. "Yeah, you did mention her… If she's one of those crazy tech freaks… then I know exactly what that nerd is about to do. And," Katsuki grit his teeth, "we're just going to have to sit tight and wait for an opening."
After receiving All Might's message, Izuku and company retreated back into the tower's hallway, where they now stood and began planning their next move. Though at the moment it was clear that not everyone agreed on the next steps.
Tenya crossed his arms, a serious look on his face. "I suggest that we follow the directions of our teacher All Might and escape from this place."
That brought a few frowns from members of the group. Shouto crossed his arms while Mina shifted from one foot to the other. Momo could see their unease. "It's distasteful, but I think Iida is correct in this matter. I understand your desire to help, but we are still students. Without hero licenses, we cannot fight against villains."
Kyouka nodded. "Then our goal should be to get outside and try to flag down a hero. Tell them the situation."
Shouto recalled the way the windows and doors had sealed shut after the alarm went off. "With the way the building locked down, escape may be harder than confronting the villains. I've heard the security here is on par with Tartarus."
Mina's heel tapped the ground at a quickening pace. "Then what? We just wait around?"
If escaping and flagging down a hero had been distasteful for the group, then the idea of just sitting around and doing nothing was stomach-turning.
"We are trying to become heroes," Shouto said while looking down at his hand.
Tenya shook his head. "Yes, but we… have a responsibility as students to follow the rules the heroes and teachers have laid out for us." Tenya could still recall what happened the last time he had chosen to disregard those rules. "Even if we feel it's right."
Shouto didn't look convinced at all. "Does that mean it's all right for us to not do anything?"
While the group spoke amongst themselves, Izuku, Ochako and Melissa were having their own private talk.
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Ochako asked in a hushed whisper as she and Izuku stayed close to Melissa while the rest of their friends were each trying to come up with something they might be able to do to help. Their overlapping voices helped to keep her voice unheard except by Izuku and Melissa. "I mean, you're America's number one hero."
Melissa shook her head. "Not here, no. If I can get to the main control room in the tower, I can get control of the security. That'll take care of the bots and the security system. So no more hostages. That way Uncle Might and all the other heroes will be able to act."
"Okay." Ochako was thinking fast. "Deku and I will say we're taking you somewhere safe and then coming right back to help come up with a plan," Ochako said with a nod as she came up with a plan. "That way, you transform and get up there without anyone being the wiser."
Melissa frowned, fidgeting and letting her eyes cast around. Izuku noticed this immediately. "Melissa?"
"Okay. We'll go with that. I'll—"
"Melissa, what is it?" Izuku cut in. He could see it on her face. Mixed up with her training helping her deal with the sudden attack, her eyes just looked so sad. "What's wrong?"
Melissa frowned, rubbed her arm and then sighed. "It's nothing. Just something I knew was going to happen sooner or later." Izuku and Ochako shared confused looks. "Central Tower… is probably one of the most monitored buildings on all of I-Island, considering all the work going on. Inside and out. There are cameras everywhere."
Izuku's eyes went wide. "Your identity."
Melissa nodded. "Yeah, there's not really any place I can change in here and not risk it getting caught on camera. Once that happens… That's kinda it for being an inventor. Part of my deal with the government. But it's okay. I knew sooner or later… I wasn't going to get to be Melissa anymore."
"Oh Melissa…" Ochako sympathized.
Izuku though started muttering to himself. "Wait… you need to get to the control room… which is probably guarded by the villains and those hijacked security bots." The wheels were spinning now. "Going as Star and Stripe could risk you getting exposed… but what if we escorted you?"
"Huh?"
Melissa blinked while Izuku turned to the rest of his friends. "Everyone, I have an idea."
The group turned to look at him, though Tenya had a deep frown. "Midoriya, I understand your desire to help, but we can not attack the villains."
"Yeah, we don't want a repeat of the USJ," Mina said with a shudder.
"Or Hosu," added Shouto.
Izuku shook his head. "No, it's not that. It's true I want to help everyone, but I don't think a direct attack is the way to do it." That got the group's attention. "I was just talking with Melissa, and she told me that I-Islands security systems are on the top of this tower. I think that should be our goal. Melissa, tell them."
Melissa was initially startled but recovered quickly, now starting to understand Izuku's idea. "If the villains have taken over the system, it means that the authentication locks and passwords must have been turned off. If that's the case, then we should be able to restart the system."
"If we can restart the system, it'll free the heroes. With the tables turned, then everyone will be saved."
Momo thought about it. "Going about things this way… we would be avoiding a direct confrontation with the villains."
"It's the best plan." Ochako stepped up. "None of us want to just sit around and wait. This way, we'll be taking action but also not breaking the rules."
"But none of us know how the system works," Mina said with some worry. "I don't think we can restart it just by pressing buttons randomly."
Melissa motioned to herself. "I'll be able to work it. I'm a student of I-Island Academy. This kind of thing is my speciality."
"It would be our responsibility to make sure Melissa gets up to the top of the tower," Izuku filled in.
Shouto looked at her carefully. "You're a civilian in this situation. We may be students but we have real-world experience with villains." He turned to Izuku. "Are we comfortable bringing her with us?" He quickly added, "I'm not questioning your abilities with the security system. I'm simply stating a fact that we shouldn't ignore."
Melissa smiled, not offended at all. In fact, the point was completely valid. One she'd probably make if she was acting as Star and Stripes. "I understand your concern. But, you should know that I plan on making my way to the top of the tower regardless of what you all decide." That got a few startled looks. "All Might's my uncle. I'm sure I got some of this recklessness from him."
"If she's going, I think it makes it clear what we have to do," Izuku said with a determined nod.
Quickly, everyone in the group agreed, committing to the plan. Finally, only Tenya was left. He thought about everything, before looking at Izuku and Melissa. "As the class representative, it's my responsibility as the elected leader to ensure the well-being of my classmates. If at any point I decide that we can not advance any further, I will turn us back. All of us." He made sure to look Melissa in the eye. "If you're okay with that, then we can begin this mission."
With everyone in agreement, there was only one last thing to do. As stealthily as they could, Izuku and Melissa made their way back to the balcony that oversaw the main reception hall. There, they were able to get All Might's attention, as he was still bound up on the center stage.
At first, he was startled to see them, having expected them to have made their escape. Then he saw the looks in Izuku and Melissa's eyes. The deep frown on his face made it clear he could tell they were about to do something, and he didn't like it.
But as he looked at their faces, he could see their determination. See that nothing was going to dissuade them. He didn't like it, but he had to respect it. So he offered them a smile, showing his blessing and trust. As they turned and ran out of view, All Might was left with his own thoughts.
Melissa must be trying to act in a way to preserve her identity. Poor child, this is the worst possible situation for her… and yet she's still trying to act.
Then there's Young Mirodiya. As his teacher, I should probably scold his reckless actions… All of them in fact. I doubt just Young Midoriya and Melissa are acting alone. But, if you do nothing in a situation like this, you don't deserve to be called a Hero. Do you? Very well, I will hold the line and trust in you youths to get us out of this situation.
I just hope my body will hold out in time.
All Might didn't want to think about it, but he could already start to feel the strain of holding his bulked up form.
"We'll want to stick to the stairwell. Opening doors now will trigger the security system and the villains will know exactly where we are."
With that warning, the group began hurrying up the stairs. Mina glanced over her shoulder as they passed the next floor. "Hey, you said the security room was at the top of the tower. What floor is that?"
"Two hundred."
Everyone groaned audibly at that. Tenya looked back at the group. "I encouraged everyone to join me during my jogs during free training at school. If more of you had—"
When Kyoka glowered at him, Tenya wisely shut his mouth. Clearly now was not the time to point out his classmates' failures. Seeing Tenya get the business brought a soft chuckle to Ochako and Izuku, both nudging each other as they laughed.
"Can you imagine if he tried to say that if Toga was here?"
"She'd have stabbed him immediately."
Kyouka looked ready to gag. "Are you two actually flirting?" Neither answered her, too engrossed in their little laugh. Kyouka rubbed her brow. "Oh god, this is the new normal isn't it?"
More and more flights of stairs were covered, and everyone, even with their training, were starting to feel it. Trying to take his mind off the burning in his legs, Izuku hung back to run beside Melissa. "Do you have any idea what the villains could want?"
"No. Central Tower is where hundreds of different projects are worked on. All of which could be worth a fortune on the black market. Or to other companies."
Izuku blinked. "Wait, do companies hire villains to do this kind of stuff?"
The sly, knowing look on Melissa's face was a little concerning. "Corporations aren't this loud when their muscle does a little corporate sabotage."
Momo huffed. "I would hope not. That sort of thing should be done with class…" When everyone gave her some weird looks, she coughed into her hand. "At least that's what father says… when he's telling jokes to his friends from work."
"Smooth," Mina chuckled.
"People with money are scary," Kyouka whispered. Momo gasped at that.
"What about weapons?" Ochako asked, deciding not to think about what sketchy stuff Momo's family might be up to. "I'd imagine a place like this has to have some scary stuff."
"Weapons… not really. Ever since Tiamat was developed, I-Island has avoided working on things that can only be used to destroy…" Melissa realized she was getting some looks. "Oh… um… please forget I said that. That's… not something people should know about. Ha ha ha… haaa." More strange looks. "I hear things sometimes."
Melissa just about kicked herself. Oh great job. Yeah, let's just tell everyone about the army's brand-new hypersonic intercontinental thermonuclear cruise missiles.
The group climbed and climbed, and despite the strain of going up so many stairs, they knew that this was the best option for them. However, Tenya, when he turned the corner to begin the next flight, came to a sudden stop. Izuku, who had been right behind him, hissed, "Oh no."
When the last of the group turned the corner and came face to face with a wall of metal, sealing the stairwell shut and cutting off their progress, after they'd climbed eighty stories, someone couldn't hold in their frustration.
"Motherfucker!"
Several in the group jolted at the sudden curse. Tenya's arm was hurriedly chopping at the air. "A setback does not mean we should let ourselves devolve into using foul language! We are escorting All Might's niece! We should be doing our best to set an example even in these trying times."
One by one, heads all turned to look towards the back where the yell had come from. Mina was about to turn too, but behind her, Ochako had a hand over her mouth, looking at her aghast. "I know it's bad Ashido, but we gotta keep our cool!"
Mina blinked, pointed at herself numbly, then her slack-jawed face snapped into a scowl. "Oh no you—"
"Uraraka's right, Ashido," Izuku said as he tried to calm her nerves. "We gotta keep our heads. We'll think of something."
After he was sure Mina had calmed down, he turned back to see if there was anything to do about the giant steel wall blocking their path. Out of earshot, Melissa leaned over. "I cannot believe that worked."
Kyouka tried not to laugh, while Momo shook her head. Mina grumbled, "I'm getting you back for that."
"We're even after you blasted my picture on the freaking class chat room!" Ochako hissed through a forced smile.
Shouto examined the metal shutter. "So what should we do? Break it?"
Melissa shook her head. "No. If we do that, then the security system will react. Meaning the villains will notice us for sure."
Kyouka didn't like the sound of that. As she looked around she saw that there was a door that led out of the stairwell. "Hey, what about the door? We could see if we could find another stairwell that isn't blocked off."
"The doors are all monitored. If we open it, it'll trigger the system too."
Tenya crossed his arms. "So either option would get the villain's attention."
Ochako tsk'd in annoyance, recalling Tenya's warning of what would happen if they couldn't advance. "So we ran all this way up here for nothing?"
Tenya was aware that several eyes were now on him. Izuku looked from the door, to the metal shutter. "We should take the door, and look for another way up."
Tenya looked down at his friend. "Midoriya…"
Izuku pointed at the shutter. "If we break through that, the villains will know we're at the very least hostile. But if we go through the door, they might just think we're a bunch of kids running around scared." Izuku looked at everyone. "They might just ignore us."
Momo frowned. "Even if they do decide to intercept us… they've shown that they would rather use the security robots instead of their own forces."
Ochako nodded. "There weren't that many in the main hall, and if they have people up in the security room… It makes sense they'd rather not split up their forces any more than they'd need to."
Melissa could see where the other's thoughts were starting to lead to. "The security robots may not be lethal, but they aren't pushovers. They're designed to neutralize threats. So if they do send the bots after us, it's going to be a fight."
"Sounds like, if we're gonna keep going, then our best option is the door," Mina concluded.
"If we're still going to keep going?" Kyouka asked.
Click
The soft metallic click of the door latch being pulled startled the group as they all turned to see Tenya opening the door. "We haven't reached the point where we have to turn back."
"What did you say?" Wolfram frowned as he was given an update.
"We just had a security breach on the eightieth floor. There's a bunch of kids running around up here."
"How were they missed during the initial lockdown?" Wolfram wasn't overly concerned, but with the mission going to plan, this sudden deviation had him on edge. That and apparently there was no sign of Star and Stripe. The team in the control room said they had no sighting of her anywhere on the island.
"They were apparently in the stairwell. That part of the building isn't monitored as it's an emergency escape route. Looks like they hit the shutters at the floor and ran out into the hall."
"Hmm, kids at that age are always getting up to no good."
"They're probably panicking with the building locked down."
It made sense. And it wasn't like they were at risk of getting in his way all the way in the middle of the building. But it was that part that kept Wolfram from completely disregarding this bit of news. "What the hell are those kids doing all the way up there?"
"No idea."
"If they were trying to flee, they'd be running down. If they hit the shutter… that means they were going up."
"… I suppose so. Maybe they hit the ground floor and after seeing it was locked, panicked and decided to run up? They're not near either of our groups, so I don't think there's much of a problem."
Wolfram sat, idly tapping his fingers on a table. "Send security bots to detain them."
"We got plenty to spare, but do you think that's necessary?"
"Just do it."
"If we follow this hallway, it'll lead us to the stairwell on the other side of the building," Melissa called out as the group sprinted down the hall. They knew they were now on borrowed time.
"We need to hurry. We must cover as much distance as we can in case the villains decide to—" Momo was cut off as up ahead a wall of security bots assembled to block their path.
"Oh… crap." Skidding to a stop, Kyouka hissed. "That's… a lot."
"Umm, guys!" Mina yelled as she backed up into her friends. "They're behind us too!"
Izuku pulled at his tie, loosening it from his neck. "So much for them ignoring us."
"It was a gamble either way, Deku," Ochako reassured him. "We'll just have to get through them."
"Miss Shield!" Tenya called back to Melissa. "It looks like we're going to have to fight. Unless you have a way to deactivate these security robots?"
Melissa shook her head. "No, I don't have a way to do that here. The only way is to get to the control room and reset everything at once."
Tenya nodded that he understood. "Then, while I regret having to ask this, are you able to defend yourself with your Quirk?"
Melissa flinched, the real meaning behind that move known only to Izuku and Ochako. "I… don't have one." Both teens could hear the strain in her voice having to say that, especially given the situation. However, to everyone else, it just seemed like she was stressed.
And if she was Quirkless, that made total sense.
The group looked back at her in shock.
Kyouka looked floored. "You're Quirkless? Holy crap, so you won't be able to…" She trailed off, not wanting to outright say she was defenseless. But that general feeling was shared by everyone else. It was also made abundantly clear to Melissa when everyone shifted their positions in the huddle and she suddenly found herself smack dab in the center of a protective wall.
"Everyone, form up around Miss Shield immediately," Tenya instructed, even though everyone had already done so. Izuku and Ochako had followed suit, but much slower than the rest, since they knew Melissa could defend herself if she wanted to. "We need to push through the security robots and reach the stairwell. Without Miss Shield our plan to restore control to the island will not work."
Acid was dripping from Mina's fingers, hissing as it dribbled onto the floor. "So we're playing 'protect the VIP,' then." Everyone called out they understood.
Izuku could see this was eating away at Melissa, and could see that she was weighing her options given everything. Maybe it was his imagination, but he swore he saw some steam start to waft around her body.
"It's okay. We got this," Izuku said with confidence.
"He's right, we'll get you up to the control room, no problem. We've fought real villains after all," Ochako made a confident flex, "so we can handle a few robots."
Melissa frowned. She appreciated what Izuku and Ochako were doing for her. She did, more than words could say. She selfishly wanted more than anything to hold onto the last bit of her time as her Quirkless self. To take her dream of being like her father as far as she could go.
But at the same time, she wasn't a hero student like everyone else, she was a full-fledged professional hero. She was Star and Stripe, and that came with a whole host of responsibilities that, as much as it hurt, were more important than her own individual dreams.
"Please," Izuku asked. "All Might trusts us to get the job done. Let us show you that kind of faith isn't misplaced."
Well damn, if you're just going to name-drop Uncle Might.Melissa relaxed. Or at least as much as one could when a bunch of robots were bearing down on your position. "Okay."
Ochako smacked her fist into her palm. "Then let's clear a path!"
The hallway suddenly became something close to a war zone. A wall of ice and acid slammed into one group of robots, halting their advancement from behind while Tenya and Ochako charged head first into the group at the front. Momo covered their initial charge by tossing a chaff grenade into the group, the explosion confusing the robot's sensors momentarily. Tenya's engines roared, shredding and burning away his pants around the calves as he started kicking and crushing the robots in front. Ochako was quick to follow up, tapping many of the bots with her hands, removing their weight and tossing them into the air. Leaving them as easy targets for Izuku. The bots glowed green as he grabbed them and sent them hurtling into the other bots.
Immediately though, the kids noticed that unlike the times when they'd dealt with the training bots at U.A., these ones were not bursting apart into scrap. Melissa hadn't been kidding, these things were not pushovers.
"Uraraka, look out!" Ochako gasped as Izuku leapt over towards her, sparks flying as he grabbed a wire that one of the bots had shot at her, intent on tying her up. Yanking the wire tight, Izuku pulled the bot over towards him, and once it was close enough, the green lighting dancing over Izuku's body vanished, replaced with a blinding green light as he opened his mouth and hissed out a jet of fire into the robot's 'face.'
"You know Deku." Ochako grunted as she picked up one of the security robots, and swung it around into another. "Now that we're dating, you can use my first name."
Izuku, who had just finished burning a hole through the one bot while telepathically lifting two more into the air for Tenya to kick, started stuttering, his eyes wide as he turned his full attention towards Ochako. "Y-y-your first name?!"
Ochako drop-kicked the floating robot into the group advancing towards them, making a sound almost like a bowling ball getting a strike as it smashed through the pins. "Yeah. Come on, call me Ochako from now on."
"Are—are you sure it's alright, Urakako?" Izuku's excitement and embarrassment twisted Ochako's name on his tongue, getting her first and last names mixed up.
Ochako blinked before laughing. "Try again, Deku."
"ARE YOU TWO REALLY FLIRTING RIGHT NOW?!" Kyouka screamed as she jammed her jacks into a bot to try to vibrate it apart.
Wolfram almost crushed his phone in his hand. "What did you just say?"
"Those kids are fighting the security bots!"
"This place has top-of-the-line security, how are some kids able to fight them off?"
"I don't know, they're using their Quirks like they're… trained…" Wolfram could hear the hacker on the other end typing away furiously. "I just scanned those kids and got matches on their IDs… Shit."
"What?"
"They're students from U.A. High School. It's a top-ranked—"
"I know what it is… So a bunch of hero students are trying to cause trouble." Wolfram frowned. That explained why the group was acting strangely. But it didn't answer all his questions. These kids should be heading towards the main hall then. It's where he and the hostages were.
"There's um, something else, sir. One of them isn't from U.A. She's a student from the I-Island Academy here… She's… Melissa Shield."
"Shield?!" Oh, now things suddenly made sense. That girl was just like her father. "Damn it, they're headed for the control room. Those kids are escorting her to regain control of security."
"She… OH!"
"Seal off that hallway now. Lock it down." Wolfram then motioned to two of his men. "You two, get up there now and capture them. Move!"
As the two men immediately ran for the nearest elevator, All Might watched them go, still bound on the floor. Be careful everyone.
Suddenly, Kyouka's head snapped up, her eyes wide as she whipped around. "What was that?!"
Momo, in the middle of trying to jam her bo staff into one of the security bot's tri lens 'eye', turned to look back at her. "Jirou? What's wrong?"
Kyouka was scanning over the battle. The group had been able to make some progress, but Melissa had been truthful when she had warned the group of the trouble these bots would cause them. Not only were they tough, able to take multiple hits from Izuku, Tenya, and Ochako, they were also shrugging off all but some of the most concentrated acids from Mina, and working themselves out of the ice Shouto was freezing them in faster than he could make more. It was getting to the point that Izuku was doing more work keeping the bot's capture cables away from the group with his Quirk than actually fighting the bots themselves.
"Something loud just happened," Kyouka answered, her eyes narrowing as she tried to look as far down the hallway as she could. Then her head snapped around, looking in the other direction. "That way too!"
Mina huffed, shaking her hands and hissing at the slight burning sensation at the ends of her fingers, a sure sign that her natural resistance to her own Quirk was starting to fail her after producing some really strong acids to melt through the bots. "Everything is loud."
"This isn't the robots. This sounded like… back when the alarms first went off…" Kyouka felt her stomach drop. "Oh… Shield!"
Melissa turned. "Huh?"
"Do these hallways have shutters too?" Kyouks asked, really hoping she was wrong.
Everyone froze at that question and glanced at Melissa as she also realized what Kyouka was hearing. "They're sealing the hallway!"
By that point, the sounds of giant metal shutters could be heard by the rest. Izuku looked around, eyes scanning the long hallway for any escape route. "Look! There's a door over there!"
"But don't we need to keep to the hallway to reach the other stairs?" Mina questioned.
"It's better than nothing!" Ochako countered. By now the closing shutters were almost on them. In fact, the one between them and the door was already starting to close. "Oh no! Todoroki!"
Shouto acted immediately, creating an ice pillar that jammed the shutter open. Tenya hopped through the opening and with his engines roaring, kicked open the door, shattering the whole frame out of the wall. "This way, hurry!"
Momo grabbed Kyouka and Melissa's hands and ran for it, pulling them past bots as she ejected small chaff grenades from her upper body to confuse their sensors and give them an opening. Ochako ran with Izuku blowing out a wall of fire to cover their retreat. Behind him, Shouto and Mina brought up the rear.
Mina took time to try and melt a few more bots that she ran past while Shouto tried to make more ice to slow the bots down. He was about to use his fire to melt the ice pillar and close the shutter, but paused when he saw the shutters behind it open and more security bots start to push through into the hall.
Mina saw this too. "Oh…" She then glanced at the hole Tenya had made for them to escape the hallway. "Crap."
"You should go," Shouto said simply.
"Oh, just freeze the hole shut already," Mina grumbled with a good natured smile. "Looks like this is where we get to make a big heroic stand." Shouto looked at her questioningly but Mina shrugged. "Hey, my acid is the only thing actually doing anything to these things. They've been melting your ice. We need someone here that can actually destroy the things."
Izuku stood in the hole in the wall and looked at the two. "Guys?"
Ochako reached back and grabbed his shoulder. "Deku, we gotta go." Ochako had taken one look and guessed what her friends were up to. Everyone had. There wasn't any other reason for them to be staying in the hall after all.
Izuku frowned, but nodded all the same. "…Okay, Ochaka."
Ochako ignored that last bit and flashed the pair a thumbs up. "You two look out for each other. We'll be right back to get you!"
Mina waved, a huge grin on her face, while Shouto kept his back to the group, but raised a fist in solidarity. Then, a wall of ice sealed the hole shut, cutting them off from the rest of the group.
No one in the group was happy with the sudden turn of events, but they knew they didn't have time to sit around. They still had a job to do, after all.
Running into the giant room, even in a hurry the group was taken aback by the place they were in. The room was huge, the area seemingly taking up a whole floor of the tower. Plants of all different kinds covered the ground, walls and ceilings. From grass and flowers to bushes and even giant palm and pine trees. The area looked more like a greenhouse or park than something you'd find inside a highrise tower.
"Okay… the building has a forest. Now I've seen everything…" Ochako muttered under her breath, stopping only to do a quick double-take when she saw waterfalls coming down from the ceiling. "What even is all this for?"
"They study how Quirks affect plants here," Melissa answered simply.
Ochako looked at her blankly. That response both answered her question but also did not answer it at all. Still, there were way more important things to take care of at the moment. "So what's the plan now? Both stairwells are blocked now, aren't they?"
Melissa nodded as she rubbed her chin, thinking about the problem they were in. "That's true."
"Why don't we just have Iida and Midoriya bust through them?" Kyouka asked. "He just kicked through that door back there, and Midoriya's Psychokinesis is crazy strong. He can either just crush it with his mind or pump up his body and break through."
Melissa shook her head. "Remember, the security here is on par with Tartarus. The unsecured doors, I'm sure both of them could smash through with ease, but the rest… they would be smashing bomb shelter types of defenses. Even if they could get through a shutter… they'd have to get through hundreds… no, thousands of them as we try to get to the top floor."
Izuku looked down at his hand, a deep frown forming on his face. "I've… done some pretty destructive things before. If I was the one to…"
Ochako's head snapped around, at the same time as Tenya looked at Izuku in alarm, both having flashbacks to that dark, chaotic, night in Hosu City and the destroyed alleyway caused when Izuku's had unleashed hell on Stain. They both also remembered the state Izuku was left in.
"Deku." Ochako growled out a warning, "Think before you say anything else."
Izuku blinked. "But…"
"Midoriya, considering the unknown obstacles we may face besides the locked down hallways, putting ourselves into situations where we may not be able to react to these situations is ill-advised. Let's try to figure out something that won't put us at a disadvantage."
Kyouka then chimed in, "Or piss off your new girlfriend." She could see Ochako did not like where Izuku's mind had been going. "And I speak for everyone after seeing you all messed up after the USJ, I don't wanna see you all messed up."
"I agree. We must make sure we tackle the problems ahead of us rationally," Momo added.
Izuku nodded, but still seemed to be hanging onto his previous bad idea. Ochako felt her brow twitch. "Deku, come up with another idea now, or I'm not kissing you for like a week after we get out of—"
"Elevator!" Izuku screamed. "We could try the elevator! Don't they have emergency ladders or something!" Izuku looked at Ochako, almost pleadingly. "That's better. Right, Urarachako?"
Ochako took the opportunity to pat Izuku on the head. "Much better."
"…Really? How are you two flirting right now?" Kyouka groaned in disgust.
"Well, when you're as backed up as both of us, after holding it in for so long, it's gonna come out no matter what," Izuku explained while leaning into Ochako's head pats. He blinked at the strange awkward silence that followed. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"Nope!" Ochako quickly said, blushing like mad.
"Not at all." Tenya followed suit, trying not to look at the pair now.
"Makes total sense," Kyouka said as she decided not to fall on that grenade.
"Toga is going to be disappointed she missed that," Momo said while trying to look dignified.
"Huh?"
Almost hating to break up the little hole Izuku was digging for himself and Ochako, Melissa had to be the bearer of bad news. "We can't use the elevators." She motioned towards the large shaft that ran from the floor to the ceiling. "Once everything was locked down, that included the elevators too. And even if they were running, we'd need to have authorized clearance to get up to the control room floor. That's not even bringing up the issue that the control room could just cut the power when we all got on. We'd be trapped."
"Dang it." Ochako snapped her fingers in annoyance.
"Wait, don't elevator shafts have things like emergency ladders?" Izuku asked. "If we can't ride the elevator itself, maybe we could still use the system to keep going up."
Everyone turned back to Melissa, but their shoulders slumped when she shook her head. "The shafts are just as protected as the hallways."
Kyouka blinked, her ears picking up something again. "So… the elevators can't be used at all, right?"
"Right."
"Then why does it look like that one is running?" Kyouka pointed at the elevator, and everyone looked at the floor display screen showing where the elevator was. The floor number was going up. Getting closer and closer to their floor.
Ochako hissed. "We can't use them, but with the villains in the control room…"
"They can," Izuku finished. "Quick, everyone hide!"
The group made a mad dash for some nearby bushes and dived behind them, just in time. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. A short chubby man grumbled as he exited and walked out into the giant plantarium, pulling his mask off. "Can't breathe through this thing."
Another man, a lanky, strange-looking man with pale yellow skin and a face almost like a goat's and topped with sickly green hair, also removed his own mask. "Hard to see, too… and I thought the damn robes and masks that blue nutjob made us wear all the time were bad."
"Hmph, speak for yourself Nobu. I'd rather wear all that shit than get 'honored' to go into that damned testing chamber." The short man shuddered. "You see what happened to the last batch once that gas got pumped in?"
"Daigo, I really try not to. You know some of those fucks actually did volunteer? Fucking nutjobs the lot of them… Still, better to be on the side that won't have that damned thing pointed at them." Nobu clicked his tongue. "If I'm lucky, those creepy twins will be with the next group of honored volunteers. They freak me the fuck out."
"Anyway." Daigo turned his attention back to the giant room. "Those kids are supposed to be out here, right?"
"They came into an annoying place. Too many places for them to hide." Nobu clicked his tongue, annoyed. "OI! You damn kids! We know you're in here. You've caused enough trouble for us already. We know who you are, and we know you got some tech brat with you!"
In the bushes, the group flinched.
"Trying to play hero, at best you're just going to get yourselves hurt, and at worst, you're dragging that poor girl down with you. Don't they teach you brats anything at that damned school of yours?!" Nobu's narrow eyes scanned the greenery as he spoke. "We know you're aiming for the control room. Your little stunt is done. Give up now, and you'll be secured and left alone like everyone else.
"Resist," the villain's right hand expanded into a large webbed finger claw. Taking a wild swing, there was a rush of air that shot out and slammed into a line of trees. The trunks of the trees splintered, and where the air hit it seemed to rip a hole clean through. The trees slammed into the ground with a crash, and once the noise had settled down, the villain finished, "and you're dead."
Izuku felt his mouth go dry. His stomach twisted into knots. These guys were clearly not messing around. They might not have the same aura like Stain, the menace that the Nomu had, or the strange insanity that Izuku recalled seeing in Shigaraki's eyes all the way back at the USJ. But that didn't make them any less of a threat.
Kyouka shook, trying not to show that she was afraid. Momo reached out and took her hand and held it between hers, trying to help calm her down. "Well, what are our options?"
"They're aren't any options, he's lying. They'll kill us the moment we step out," Melissa stated immediately. Her eyes had hardened and her voice carried a strange certainty and experience to it that no one aside from Izuku and Ochako could understand. That wasn't Melissa telling them this, it was Star and Stripe. But even if the others didn't know why, that didn't mean that they didn't agree. They could all feel the killing intent coming from the pair.
Izuku glanced around in a hurry, trying to find a way they could use to get out of the situation. His eyes went up. Cross-crossing overhead were many different walkways. The room was multiple stories high, with each pathway leading to a giant door like the one they had busted down to get in. They most definitely would all lead to different hallways too.
But more than likely, any hallway directly linked to this room had been locked down like the one they had escaped through. They needed a way out that wasn't a main entrance or exit. But where would…
Izuku then noticed something. Along the ceiling, just above the uppermost walkway that hugged the inner wall of the room, was a small square hatch.
"Melissa… what's that?" Izuku was careful as he pointed up, directing Melissa's eyes to where he was looking. Everyone turned, following Izuku's finger. It took a few seconds, but soon everyone was looking at the same thing.
"That's…" Melissa squinted as she looked up. "That's a maintenance hatch for the room's sunlight system."
"If we can get up there, would we be able to use that room to get out of here?"
Melissa nodded. "Yes." She could see what Izuku was thinking. "Assuming that they haven't closed off the hallways beyond the floors connected directly to this room. That would be our best bet to escape."
Momo looked from the hatch, following the path from it down each layer of overlapping walkways. "That may be our best escape path, but how are we going to make our way up? I could make a grapple system… but the distance is…"
"I could lift everyone up with my Quirk from one walkway to the next," Izuku said with certainty.
Ochako looked at the gaps between the three layers they would have to go. Each one had a gap that was at least over a hundred feet. Ochako had no doubt Izuku could lift everyone up each of those gaps, but it wouldn't exactly be fast. He'd have to concentrate while doing it, and the people getting picked up would need to be pretty still since any movement from them could risk breaking Izuku's psychic hold, so they would be vulnerable too. If this plan was going to work, and right now it was the best and pretty much only option they had, then they would need to somehow make sure the villains didn't interfere.
As Ochako turned away from the hatch, her eyes met Tenya's. She saw the way his jaw was set. The determination in his eyes. It wasn't like how he looked all those months ago, but there was still an intensity behind it.
"So much for not breaking the law, huh?" Ochako joked under her breath.
"The villains have come for us. By the very virtue of the law, we are allowed to defend ourselves."
Ochako rolled her head, cracking her neck lazily. "Welp, wanna go defend ourselves, then?" She smirked at Tenya's surprised look. "Oh, come on. Two on one? That's not very fair."
Tenya nodded. "Then it seems like it's decided then."
"Yup," Ochako agreed. "Deku. Sounds like you know what you gotta do. Iida and I will make sure you've got the time to do it." She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then she stood up along with Tenya.
"Ocharaka?" Izuku looked alarmed, along with the rest of everyone as Ochako and Tenya walked out into the clearing, facing the two villains.
Ochako, despite having the villain's full attention on them, sighed and waved Izuku on. "We need to get Melissa up the tower. Ashido and Todoroki are holding off all those robots. Now, it's just our turn to hold the line."
Tenya nodded. "We can not afford to waste time. Uraraka and I will deal with these villains. You four go on ahead. Yaoyorozu, as 1-A's Vice Representative, I leave the rest of the mission in your capable hands."
Momo nodded, and—while still looking uncertain given the situation, given the fact their group to escort Melissa had shrunk so much—being reminded of her leadership role helped get her ready to keep moving forward. Daunting, but it's what she had to accept when she took the role. So she was not looking forward to what she was going to have to do next.
Reaching out, she moved to put a hand on Izuku's shoulder. She had the responsibility to now urge him to turn his back on Ochako and leave her behind. Given their current and newly budded relationship, she imagined this was going to be a very stressful and hard thing to—
"Once we're done, we'll come right back so we can all celebrate, alright?" Izuku called out to Ochako while he turned around, ready to get back to running. He looked up at Momo, seeing her look a little startled. "Let's go."
"Um?! Yes, we should hurry."
The four took their chance and sprinted away from the bushes.
Melissa was impressed. Izuku hadn't needed to be convinced or forced to leave Ochako behind and, glancing back towards Ochako as she and Tenya began advancing towards the approaching villains, she seemed dead focused on the threat coming her way. They were both handling the situation surprisingly well. Even professionals might struggle with this kind of situation. She supposed, it just went to show the trust the two had in each other.
"Hey! Where do you kids think you're goi—!" Nobu's yell was cut off as Tenya's engines roared.
"You're dealing with us first, villain!" Tenya then reached back, taking Ochako's hand. "Which one, Uraraka?"
Ochako looked between the two before settling. "Humpty Dumpty." Ochako tapped her fingers against herself, floating just as Tenya kicked off the ground. As he roared forward, he pivoted and, taking advantage of the villain's initial shock that they were getting attacked, twisted and launched Ochako right towards the shorter, pudgy man.
The two tumbled off into the distance, Ochako wailing on him as they took their fight in another direction. Nobu, who had had his head turned at the sudden turn of events, watching the two go, didn't see Tenya running at him. Or see him kick off and twist, so he could dropkick him in the side.
"GAH!" Nobu tumbled across the ground while Tenya chased after him, his engines rumbling as he was propelled forward. As he closed the distance, he got ready to swing out a kick. At the same time, Nobu's giant claws dug into the concrete floor, leaving deep gashes as he stopped himself and then launched himself forward.
Tenya's eyes went wide as the villain dashed under his kick. Tenya was just able to sail over Nobu's claws as he took a swipe at him. Recalling what they had done to the trees earlier, he knew he didn't want to get touched by them.
"Damned brat!"
He's fast!
Tenya was not prepared to take on another speedster, however that didn't mean he was just going to give up. Shifting his engines up, Tenya took off with Nobu right beside him. The two rocketed around towards the perimeter of the large room. As they ran, Nobu continued to take swipes at Tenya while the boy tried to kick him in turn.
Nobu growled in annoyance as his claws missed again before he changed tactics. Instead of swiping at Tenya, he started swiping ahead of them. Soon, chunks of concrete, dirt and trees started falling into Tenya's path.
I see, it's some kind of displacement Quirk! Tenya was forced to dodge and leap out of the way, avoiding either getting crushed or tripped up, either case mostly likely ending in his gruesome death.
After leaping over one large chunk of concrete, Nobu twisted around to swipe at him, but this turned out to be a costly mistake. While he and Tenya were both speedsters, how they moved was entirely different. Tenya was propelled by the engines in his legs, so even in the air, they could move him forward. So when Nobu turned to attack, he slowed down. Tenya on the other hand, had his engines screaming as he spun around and drove his foot into the chunk of concrete he was jumping over, kicking it like an oversized and overweight soccer ball, right into Nobu's stomach.
Nobu collapsed to his knees, clutching his stomach as he coughed and hacked in pain. He only realized he was a sitting duck the moment before Tenya came back around and drove a spin kick into the side of his head, sending him tumbling into the bushes.
Tenya sighed, catching his breath before he started walking over towards the bushes where the villain had landed. "I'd advise you to surrender. Your crimes are serious enough as it stands. Any further actions will only add more time to your prison sentence."
When the villain made no sound, or no move to come out of the bushes, Tenya frowned. …Perhaps my kick knocked him out?
Tenya took a step forward, then something in the back of his mind screamed to get away. A primal fear making him retreat backwards. That feeling you get when, walking out late at night to throw away trash into the dumpster, you start walking just a bit faster. A feeling he must have learned from his folly of trying to find Stain and feeling the horror that man gave off. The instant Tenya stepped away, the ground from the bushes, all the way out to the wall was suddenly gone. Like someone had punched out a straight line, creating a hollow in the ground and a hole in the wall.
Shocked, Tenya turned just in time to see… something emerge from the bushes, with a syringe sticking out of its shoulder, where its arms had once been.
But Tenya wasn't looking at that, his eyes were drawn to the black void that looked ready to swallow anything in front of it.
Melissa thought Izuku was being incredibly brave. Even as the sounds of the fight escalated, Izuku did not allow himself to look back. His focus was solely on making sure she, Momo and Kyouka were lifted up from one walkway to another quickly and safely before he followed suit.
Melissa recalled her early intuitions when she'd watched Izuku lift himself during the game yesterday. Now she had confirmation of a sort, that Izuku used his Quirk differently when used on a person. He concentrated on applying more force through their clothes to keep them each stable as he lifted them up with his Quirk, but also not so much that he damaged their clothing too, only using the barest amount directly on their bodies when it was needed.
However, Melissa didn't exactly feel like the force acting directly on her body was weaker or off. And towards the end, getting lifted up to the last walkway felt incredibly safe and stable, like she was hovering inside a bubble, hardly feeling any difference between the way the Quirk held her or her clothes. Melissa only had to look at Momo and Kyouka to see that they also felt the same way.
Perhaps, Melissa thought, Izuku was just getting used to things. Or, maybe now with One for All, his natural weaknesses were slowly fading away. She had to wonder, how often had Izuku picked up a person since getting All Might's Quirk? She wondered if Izuku himself realized the change, since he clearly felt he had to do things a certain way.
Questions to concern herself with later, she supposed.
Izuku, when he landed on the last walkway, immediately reached out and grabbed the hatch, yanking it open and pulled down the emergency ladder. He flinched a little at the way the gears strained from getting pulled down physically instead of it being done electronically as they were supposed to, but Melissa reassured him that any damage was easily fixed and wouldn't compromise the ladder's integrity.
A loud crash threw up dust and debris into the air, and now, Izuku looked back. His eyes scanned the ground far below. Worry was beginning to etch itself on his face. Instinctually, he took a step away from the ladder and back towards the fight. But only a step. He took a breath, and refocused on the task at hand. "We… we need to get moving. Let's go." He motioned for them to get moving up the ladder.
Yes, Melissa thought. Izuku was acting incredibly brave but at the same time, a little dense. He didn't catch the looks Momo or Melissa gave him, slightly scandalized from one of them and amused by the other. Kyouka rubbed her brow, shaking her head and looking a little exasperated that she was going to have to point this out to the young man. "Midoriya, try to think for a second why you should be the first one up the ladder. Please."
There was a brief pause as Izuku did just that before his face went pink and he immediately started climbing. Kyouka spent a few seconds wondering how in the hell Ochako was going to deal with the damn near bipolar antics of that boy. One moment he was so freaking naive and then the next he was calling her Muscle Mommy. Ochako might actually get driven mad. Then Kyouka shook the thought off and started to climb the ladder. Only to realize that Momo had started going up right after Izuku. So when she looked up…
The squeaking noises that the group heard made them pause, each checking the ladder they were climbing in case something had just come loose.
"ARRRRHHHH!" Daigo roared in rage. As his body expanded, his arms and hands enlarged and his skin turned a pale purple. Transforming himself into an ogre, he attacked widely, fists smashing anything and everything as he tried to crush Ochako, who was doing all she could to avoid the meat tenderizer.
"Holy fuck how are you this fast?!"
Keeping herself floating, Ochako kicked off the trees as she nimbly dodged around, but at the rate things were going, the villain was going to obliterate every tree on this whole floor.
"RAWWWW! Get back here so I can kill you!" Using his large arms, Daigo threw himself at Ochako, crashing through several trees, and sending debris and herself tumbling through the air.
"GAH! Dont you mean 'or'?!" Ochako hissed as shattered tree stumps started hitting her, and she was pretty sure she heard something tear. Even in the middle of a fight, she hoped it was the dress. Landing and pressing her fingers together, she gave herself a quick pat-down and confirmed that the side of the horrid yellow thing was torn open. "Ha ha!"
"I know what I said, you little bitch!"
"Oi!" Ochako picked up one of the larger broken tree stumps and swung it at the villain as he came crashing down, knocking him back, but not doing nearly as much damage as she would like. "Watch it!"
Twisting in the air, Daigo just came right back down. Ochako gasped, and dove out of the way, but she was still caught up in the crater the villain made and sent spiraling out of the little patch of trees and into the open walkways. She skid across the concrete path, until she hit a pillar holding up one of the overhead walkways. Hissing, Ochako shook her head, and winced at some of the road rash she had picked up. "Ow ow… fuck."
Shaking her head, Ochako could hear the villain chasing after her, crashing through the trees and tearing up anything between himself and her.
"Guy took a tree to the face… Need something with a bit more…" Ochako glanced up at the pillar, "oomph." She grinned wickedly.
Daigo burst through the last of the trees, and landed with a crash. Huffing and snarling, he looked around, trying to find the little bitch he was going to rip in half.
"Hey! Fat ass!" He turned to see Ochako waving him over. "If you can transform yourself, don't you think you could have done something about that beer gut you have? You look like an out of work single dad who spends all night watching his stolen cable pretending his life isn't as pathetic as it seems. And," Ochako motioned to all of him, "you're purple. And not even a nice shade of purple."
"ARHHHHHHH!" Daigo screamed as he slammed his fists into the ground and launched himself at Ochako.
Floating herself, Ochako kicked off the ground and soared upward, just as Daigo obliterated the spot where she had once been, destroying the base of the pillar and ripping it free of the walkway. As it tumbled, Ochako released the effect of her Quirk on herself, then reached out to grab the pillar, floating it. As she came down, she held the pillar over her head, and with a shit eating smirk, swung it down on the unsuspecting villain, smashing him and the whole floor in.
Above, the walkway quaked and with its support pillar destroyed, it quickly collapsed. Ochako was able to tumble out of the way, but obviously the villain was not so lucky. Soon, the spot where Ocahko had smashed him was covered in a small pile of metal and concrete, with a dust cloud settling around it.
Ochako put the mostly destroyed pillar down and huffed. "Holy crap. For a little fat guy he sure packed a—"
Metal groaned and concrete cracked, but that wasn't the sound that sent a shiver up Ochako's back. It was an inhuman, growling squeal. Rage and hate twisted the sound into something demonic, and Ochako started taking steps backwards.
With a crash, the debris was suddenly flung away, and while Ochako couldn't see exactly what had sprung free, she did see two giant fists, each easily the size of her whole body, raise up into the air, then slam back down, shattering the ground underneath them, until it caved in and Ochako tumbled down into the dark.
Swordkil ran his fingers through his desaturated pink hair while he tried not to let his agitation show. Which he was failing at. With a growl, he slammed his fist against a wall. "What the hell is taking those two so long to update us? Wolfram is going to want a report sooner or later."
The hacker waved him off. "The kids are trapped inside that huge room. I sealed off everything around it. More than likely those kids went into hiding the moment Nobu and Daigo got there."
Swordkil frowned. "We thought they'd roll over when we sent those security bots after them and look how that went. And what do you mean more than likely? Aren't you watching everything?"
"I have to keep track of more than just one room. I have a whole tower I have to make sure is still locked down, on top of the whole island. We sent two of ours to handle those kids. Calm down. U.A. trains those little shits by making them fight robots, so of course they wouldn't be scared of the security here. But against actual people, they'd panic and do what any kids do when they get scared. Run and hide. Unfortunately for those two, that fucking room is huge."
Swordkil hoped that was what the delay was. He did not want to have to tell Wolfram that things hadn't been handled.
"What's the situation?"
Swordkil just about swore before he tapped the comm link in his ear. "We locked down the area when Nobu and Daigo reached the floor."
"…And? Are those children secured?"
"They haven't reported back yet, but I'm sure—"
"I want an update, now."
The tone in Wolfram's voice as it came over the comms made both men shudder. Quickly, the hacker began bringing up the room onto his screen so Swordkil could give their boss the update he wanted. "Yes sir. They kids are… what the fuck?!" Swordkil's eyes went wide as he watched the screen, and the two fights that were playing out.
"What? What's going on?"
"The kids…" Swordkil gulped. "The kids are fighting back? Both Nobu and Daigo have been engaged and—"
"Wait, I only see two kids," the hacker cut in, fingers typing away quickly as he changed to different cameras and brought up different views of the fights. Sure enough, every screen only showed Ochako and Tenya fighting. The rest were nowhere to be seen. "Oh crap."
If the hacker had been quick before, he was now furiously pounding away at the security computer's keyboard, pulling up multiple cameras as he began looking through the floors, trying desperately to find the kids. "Where…where…"
Swordkil felt his stomach drop as the hacker started at floor eighty, then started searching the higher floors. Once he was past the hundredth Swordkil thought he was going to be sick. "They can't be that high, right? Just lock down the stairwell like you did the hallways."
"Grrr, that won't do us any good if they're already past the last stair shutter. Those don't have the same security as the hallways." The hacker made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. "Shit, found them."
"Are there any security measures you can use?"
"No, they blew past the last shutter location for that stairwell."
The comms were quiet for several long seconds. Finally Wolfram gave them new orders. "Lock the building down, keep them funneled in that stairwell and send in more security robots. Swordkil, take the men you have up there and cut them off. Do not let them get past you."
"Sir!" Swordkil motioned to the other armed men in the room and they all rushed for the door.
"What's the situation with Shield's weapon?"
"He's working right now. It shouldn't be much longer."
Down in the reception hall, Wolfram motioned for his men to stay put as he walked away. "Fine. I'm heading up now. I'm going to personally make sure we get the weapon and complete our mission."
All Might, grunted, trying not to focus on the way his body was starting to strain while holding his form. Weapon? Just what is going on here David?
After making it to the stairwell, the four remaining of the group had booked it up the flights, Melissa warning them that they needed to try and make it past the last shutter in the stairwell before the villains realized they had split up.
They had just made it past that point, and had almost celebrated, when they ran straight into another group of security robots. Fortunately, the narrow stairwell meant that the bots couldn't overwhelm them like they had in the hall, and with them all grouped up, it made it easier for Momo to discombobulate them with her chaff grenades, leaving them open to some vibration attacks from Kyouka, and some punches from Izuku.
Discarding his suit's jacket, Izuku had the Full Gauntlet activated and ready to use. With a grunt, Izuku slammed his fist into the side of a security bot, rocketing it down the hall and into the remaining bots coming around the corner. The collision sent the whole set flying through the air like an exaggerated bowling strike. Izuku took a moment to admire his work while clenching and unclenching his hand. If he had to guess, that had been around twent—
Suddenly, a gruff, autotuned voice, cracked out from Izuku's pocket, startling everyone. "Living dead girl…"
"Toga?" Izuku blinked and, despite the current situation, reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Kyouka looked like she wanted to jam a jack into his ear.
Maybe answering his phone wasn't the most practical thing to do during a villain assault, but past experience had taught him that it was never a good idea to let her go to voicemail. Melissa, had to stifle a giggle as he answered as casually as he could, "Hello, Midori—"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!"
Izuku yanked the phone away from his ear. Hissing, Izuku held the phone away and put it on speaker. "So I guess the news has reached Japan, then."
"YEAH! WHAT THE FUCK IS—Oi! Hold on!" There was a struggle as it sounded like the phone was getting taken away.
"Midoriya?"
"Oh, Tsu. Hey."
"Are you okay? We saw that villains had attacked the island. Are you all somewhere safe? We tried calling Uraraka too, but she didn't answer. No one's answering."
Without missing a beat Izuku nonchalantly replied, "Well, that's probably because everyone's fighting villains while all the heroes are held captive, and Jirou, Yaoyorozu and myself are trying to get Melissa up to the top of the tower so she can get control of the island back."
"…"
"…"
Izuku jerked. "Oh right, you might not know who that is. Melissa is a friend me and Ochaka made while visiting. And she's All Might's niece. Say hello Melissa."
"Hello Melissa." Melissa even waved.
"…kero the fuck?"
While this was going on, Momo looked down the hall, and gasped. Her eyes went wide as men in tactical gear stormed around the corner, stepped over the downed bots, and leveled their assault rifles at them. "Midoriya! GUNS!"
Fortunately her scream carried over Tsuyu's swear, sparing Izuku the shock of hearing such a thing. Izuku gasped. "Sorry! Got to go! Call you guys back!"
He reached out with his free hand, creating a wall of green energy just as the hallway was filled with the sound of automatic gunfire. The bullets bounced off the green barrier and clattered to the floor. After several long, loud, seconds, the guns clicked as their ammo was used up. There was a brief pause as both sides registered that the gunmen were out. Izuku dropped his barrier at the same time he heard Kyouka yell something towards Momo.
Kicking off the ground, Izuku closed the distance between himself and the men. Green sparks crackling, Izuku drilled one of the men with a punch that put him into the stairs. With a flick of his wrist, Izuku swapped from One for All to Psykokinesis and lifted up a second man, launching him up into the ceiling before driving him down into the floor.
The third man was quickly trying to pull his sidearm out of its holster, intent on putting a bullet into Izuku's head. Unfortunately he had taken his eyes off the rest of the group and Kyouka made him pay for it. Hands gripping a freshly created baseball bat, Kyouka put her non-existent hips into her swing and smashed the bat into the man's head. His headgear and mask were the only thing preventing his head from getting caved in. But the hollow echo of the aluminum bat coupled with the nasty crunch was still the perfect soundtrack for Kyouka knocking the man the fuck out.
Izuku looked down at the unfortunate man and winced, taking a small step away from Kyouka. "Scary."
Kyouka pointed behind him. "You put a guy into concrete stairs Midoriya!"
"But you hit him really hard with that bat."
"And a bat is worse than a Quirk?"
"In your hands it is." Izuku took another careful step back.
"Stop walking away from me! I'm not scary!"
"At least you only used a bat this time, and not that machete from the USJ."
"Both are totally alright ways to stop people from trying to shoot us, you know."
Izuku took another step back. "Scary."
"Seriously! What about Toga?! I swear, if you say I'm scarier tha—"
"Look out!" Kyouka and Izuku's little back and forth was cut short, as Momo dived forward, a bo staff in her hands as she put it and herself between a sudden attack that would have ended up cutting the pair themselves short. A large sword came down where Kyouka's head had been, hitting Momo's bo staff and sending sparks falling to the ground.
Momo pivoted her staff while Swordkil pushed in, working to overpower her. Her dress kept her legs pulled close together and by a small miracle she didn't fall as she let Swordkil's own momentum carry him past her. The result ended with the two trading places, circling around. Momo used her momentum to hook Izuku and Kyouka and pull them back. So now they, along with Melissa were closer to the stair leading up than Swordkil was.
"Damned brats!" As Swordkil extended his other arm, a cone of metal surrounded it, enveloping his forearm and hand into a second blade. "We don't need you little shits getting in our business!"
Momo frowned, hands gripping her staff tightly. "I'll keep this one busy, he seems more competent than the others. Please go on ahead."
Izuku shifted, looking at the robots and men on the ground. While they had gotten the ones so far, Izuku wasn't sure they wouldn't send more. They didn't know exactly how many villains there were. Kyouka waved him on all the same. "I'll stay and make sure no one gets the jump on us."