Chapter 12: They're here already! You're next! YOU'RE NEXT!
"Real villains…!?"
While the students around Midoriya were quietly panicking, save for a few, Midoriya forced the bile that threatened to rise up from his throat down, and brought up his command screen. The suit was fully operational in spite of the jamming signal, thankfully, but unfortunately he was unable to send out anything more than very short range communications, and only to the drones he had on him. Regardless, Midoriya summoned a few of them, commanding them to be cloaked and to get over to the villains.
"Problem Child…" Aizawa growled quietly.
.:Just gathering information, Aizawa-sensei.:. Midoriya assured his homeroom teacher. .:It looks like most of these villains are Quirk Users with Emitter and Transformation Quirks being the most common, with only a scattering of Heteromorphic types and X-gene type Mutants. with almost no support items beyond basic aiming tools and melee weapons. All of the ones I can find in my suit's database have charges ranging from theft to murder, but aren't highly ranked, C-levels at the worst. However, my suit isn't able to identify the four in the back.:. Midoriya quickly reiterated what his drones were telling him to his teacher, who gave the boy a grateful nod.
"Thank you for the information, Midoriya… but for now stay back." Aizawa put his goggles on, then turned to his fellow teachers. "Baymaxima, Thirteen, stay here and protect the students. See if you can find a way to contact Nezu." Seeing their nods, Aizawa turned to Kaminari and Midoriya. "Midoriya, Kaminari, see if you can use your quirk and support items to break through the jammer. I'll handle the villains."
"Yessir!" the electric boy said, pulling down his earcom and adjusting it.
.:But Aizawa-sensei, your quirk won't work on all of them! And your fighting style is more suited to hit and run tactics or ambushes, not a prolonged battle like this!:. Midoriya protested, while the other students looked at their homeroom teacher with shock and concern.
"It's like I told you, Midorya… no hero can rely on one method alone." Aizawa calmly refuted, and without another word, the man leapt into battle. Naturally, the villains closest to him raised their hands, but out of them only one was able to use their power, a Mutant who fired an orb of metal at Aizawa.
Aizawa wrapped his scarf around his arm, the orb hitting it and simply losing momentum upon impact, falling lamely, while Aizawa tackled the Mutant.
"What's going on?! Why aren't I shooting-AGH!" a thug's questioning was interrupted by the Homeroom teacher launching a right hook into the man's jaw.
"You idiot! That's the Underground Hero, Eraserhead! He can erase our Quirks just by looking at us!" another shouted, running forward with a sword. Aizawa dodged, grabbed the blade in his scarf coated hand, and struck the man in his throat, sending him sprawling to the ground, gasping for air.
"Yeah, but I doubt he can stop a Heteromorph like me!" A villain with four extra arms charged forward, ready to pummel the pro hero, who quietly tossed out his scarf, the material wrapping around the villain's head. "I can't see, hel-!!" his protests were cut off by Aizawa pulling himself in and kneeing him in the face.
This pattern continued, the villains and thugs trying to fight Aizawa, but each one being quickly taken down, whether it was due to their Quirk failing them at an inopportune moment, or their own hubris combined with inexperience.
"Urgh… it sucks when the heroes live up to their reputation." the man with the severed hands on his body muttered.
"Tell me about it." the blood-covered villain muttered, his voice surprisingly young. He couldn't have been older than the students they were attacking.
"Are you going to step in, Blood_Spider?" the man asked, scratching at his neck in annoyance.
"...nah. I'll let the help weaken the heroes, then make my move." 'Blood_Spider' admitted. "Your sensei won't be upset by that, will he, Tomura-kun?"
"These are just trash mobs. We're the only real elites in this group." the hand man, Tomura, dismissed. "Still, it took a lot of convincing to get sensei to let me bring you in… I wanna see if you are a pro or just a newb talking big."
"Trust me… I'm worth it." Blood_Spider insisted. "I'm just saving my strength for the real boss, once he shows up."
"Yeah… why the hell isn't All Might here?!" Tomura complained, scratching at his neck. "All this grinding and party building, and he doesn't even have the courtesy to show up!"
"Then we're just gonna have to grab his attention." Blood_Spider turned to the students up on the staircase. "Hey Kurogiri, how about you send a couple of the Hero students to some of the people we've got waiting, make 'em earn their money's worth?" Kurogiri turned to Tomura, who nodded.
"Do as he says." Tomura commanded the portal creator.
"Very well, Master Shigaraki." Kurogiri nodded, and opened up a portal for himself.
Thirteen looked contemplative for a moment, before turning to Baymaxima. "We need to send a message out to the school, help me get to the doors-"
"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow anyone to leave just yet."
The way was blocked by the cloud of miasma that had initially brought the villains there, and the Quirk user, his face shrouded within the substance, turned to the students. "We are the league of Villains. I apologize for this intrusion, but I was under the impression that All Might was supposed to be here. Was there a change in the schedule?"
"Stay back, students!" Baymaxima threw her arms out, and with a shout of "{ARMOR OF HERO, ACTIVATE!}" in English, her red and purple backpack shifted. Quick as lightning, her delicate, inflated plastic-skin fell limp as several plates of purple and red metal formed over her and her suit, secured in place by dozens of small, black robots. Upon her right arm was a pair of cannons, hooked up to tubes that led into the android's body. The right hand was massive, made of those same black micro-robots forming an almost cephalopodic appendage. Clutched tightly in her smaller, normal left hand was a katana hilt, from which shined a blade made of blue plasma that hummed like a lightsaber. Sculpted upon her stomach was a three-eyed monster face, mouth turned down in a snarl. Her boots expanded out, a pair of yellow wheels forming upon the ankles, the edges thin enough to cut into the concrete upon the ground. Lastly, a purple helmet with antennae-like ears clamped over her head, a bulletproof visor protecting her face.
A suit, designed by her, to invoke the lineage from which she came, and to honor the original team's powers though technological recreations. The whole transformation, despite being incredibly detailed, took only a few seconds to complete.
"BAYMAXIMA HERO 6, READY TO PROTECT!" she shouted triumphantly, raising her fist to the heavens.
"How needlessly dramatic." the Warp Villain muttered, clearly unimpressed. "But we are not the riff-raff that's constantly bested by the likes of you. We are here to kill the symbol of peace."
"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!"
Baymaxima looked up in shock, seeing two of her students leap forward. "Bakugo, Kirishima, STOP!!"
"When a villain's right in front of us? NO WAY!" Kirishima grinned and, his skin becoming hard and jagged, attacked the cloud. The air was filled with explosions as Bakugo repeatedly fired his quirk at the cloud, who hadn't moved from his position.
Biting his lip, Midoriya knew better than to charge in and join the two in attacking the villain, but he could at least help his classmates do some real damage. So, activating his suit's scanners, Midoriya checked the readings he got.
Tsuburaya had instructed him in fighting all kinds of enemies. And the one before him reminded Midoriya of two different Spider-Man villains, both of whom had very malleable, nearly indestructible bodies… but they held a similar weakness: a centralized point storing their true selves.
.:Aim for the neck! There's something solid there!:. He called out to his teammates.
"Don't tell me what to do, Deku!" Bakugo shouted, but he aimed higher, just under the eyes, and was rewarded with Kurogiri shouting in pain. The clouds parted just enough to show that the spot struck was some kind of metal neck brace, possibly the only physical part of the villain.
"A technology user…. Damn." Kurogiri turned to Midoriya. "We can't have that." Beneath Midoriya, a portal formed beneath him, and Midoriya nearly fell through, had it not been for his classmates.
"I've got you, Midoriya!" Ochako assured him, but only seconds later, she fell through her own portal, as did several other students, including Bakugo and Kirishima.
"Oh crap!" Kaminari's voice was the last thing Midoriya heard before he fell into the inky blackness.
"NO!" Thirteen cried out in despair, too late to save the students from the now shutting rifts.
"You will pay for this!" Baymaxima shouted, dashing forward, katana out.
Midoriya tumbled through the darkness. He couldn't tell which way was up, and no light shined through the fog surrounding it. He did his best to analyze the situation, but his panic made it difficult.
'Okay, this isn't going to be easy, but I need to focus… Mysterio's never encountered something like this, and Tsuburaya never trained me for this scenario… still, I could draw some comparisons to another villain Beck was friends with: Jonathan Ohnn, villain name the Spot, a D-lister villain and Altered who could create portals from the black spots adorning his body. Spider-man often defeated him by using his spider-sense to locate the portal closest to Ohnn, so theoretically…!'
.:Suit! Scan the environment! Locate the energy signature of… Kaminari!:. Midoriya commanded, at the same time reaching behind his back for his combat drone, activating it. Curling up like an acrobat, Midoriya placed his boots atop the drone, and stood up. The drone stabilized Midoriya, allowing him to finally get his bearings in the inky void. And just in time, since his suit located Kaminari immediately.
.:He's not far, good! Sonar, activate! Cloaking, activate!:. Midoriya commanded, his suit's speaker immediately shutting off. According to the sonar, the environment around him was… strange. It almost seemed like he was in some kind of bubble, but with nothing solid. Navigating through it was… difficult, but not impossible, and Midoriya quickly emerged in some city ruins.
Beneath him, he saw several villains converging on Kaminari and Jiro, the two using their support gadgets effectively to blast back the tough looking thugs, though it was clear they were getting overwhelmed by the superior numbers.
'Hm… looks like these people haven't detected me. I can use this chance to pick up my friends… but first I'll need a distraction.'
Trying to think of a distraction, Midoriya spotted a ruined billboard for a travel company. The image had a plane taking off, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Midoriya remembered an incident in his childhood, where to win at a game of Quirk Dodgeball, Maro had used his Quirk, Wind Cannon, to kick up a small dust storm to blind the opposing team, much to the younger Bakugo's anger. That memory made Midoriya smile. Even if he wasn't allowed to participate, he had enjoyed watching the Quirks on display, especially since the after school game was one of the few times they could use it so openly without consequences.
But more importantly, it gave Midoriya an idea.
"Keep going, lightning dolt!" Jirio panted heavily. The minute she and Kaminari showed up, they were attacked by several villains in hiding. Thankfully, despite their fierce demeanor, it was clear that their attackers had little, if any, training in combat, instead letting their quirks do most of the work.
Kaminari would have been having the time of his life had it not been for the very real danger. Still, he couldn't help but feel some level of pride as he tossed out lightning bolt after lightning bolt at any villain who approached.
Unfortunately that pride cost him, a villain vomiting out a paste-like substance that trapped the electric boy. Worse still, the glue seemed to resist his electricity.
"Kaminari!" Jirio cried out in distress, her distraction opening her up to an attack from a Bull-type Heteromorph, who approached the fallen hero students, pulling out equally massive knuckledusters, his hair whipping about in the wind.
Wait… they were indoors, how could there be…?
"Guys, dust storm!"
The entire group looked to the right, and indeed, a massive cloud of dust and dirt was rapidly approaching.
Jiro covered her eyes and grabbed Kaminari's hand, the dust cloud quickly passing over the two. When it cleared away, the two students had vanished.
"Where'd the brats go?!" a man with very long legs asked everyone.
"How should I know??" responded the bull angrily. "You're our lookout! Why didn't you warn us about that dust cloud sooner?!"
"Hey, all I saw was a giant cloud of dust that appeared out of nowhere!" the long legged man shot back grumpily.
"Must've been one of those kids' quirks!" a woman with squid tentacles piped up.
"Everyone, shut up and spread out! They can't have gotten far!" the apparent leader, a man with fly features muttered, taking off into the air. The others grunted, but spread out to search for the missing students.
From the ruins of a nearby minimart, Jirio listened intently to the retreating footsteps, sighing in relief when she heard them leave. Nearby, Midoriya, his helmet clear, was freeing Kaminari from the paste with a yellow-tinted smoke sprayed from his eye clasps.
.:And here I thought Tsuburaya was just being paranoid when he insisted upon the adhesive dissolving spray.:. Midoriya muttered to himself.
"Well, I'm not complaining!" Kaminari admitted with a smile, pulling free from the glue. "I hope this stuff comes out in the wash…"
"That's not our biggest concern." Jirio muttered in disdain. "I can hear about six villains in this place, looking for us."
"Hey Midoriya, can't you just create an illusion or something to take them out?" Kaminari asked, only for Midoriya to shake his head.
.:Not without a LOT more drones. I have maybe a few dozen on me, but most of them are just SFX and Scenery-types, and maybe two Combat-types. With them I could maybe take out two of the villains, but then they'd be discovered, smashed, and we'd be exposed.:. Midoriya explained. .:I've got more than enough combat capable ones outside the USJ, but with the jamming signal still going there's no way for me to command them to help. I could try to contact my friends through the drones I do have, but that doesn't change the fact that there are still villains outside, and it would take time for our friends to get here, and that's assuming that they aren't dealing with their own villains.:.
"Then we need to find a way to take all the villains outside down quickly and fast." Jirio muttered. "Kaminari, do you think you could take them all out at once?"
Kaminari raised his hand in a so-so gesture. "If they were tightly grouped around us, then maybe, yeah. If my Quirk's too spread out it won't do any real damage. But that paste guy's Quirk resists my own, and fly-guy's been keeping his distance ever since I started throwing bolts."
.:So we need to gather them in one spot…:. Midoriya bit his lip, a hand upon his chin. Or, well, the underside of the dome. After a few moments, he flipped open the left gauntlet, and typed in a command to the drones. .:Okay, I think I have an idea, but I'll need some help from you both.:.
"What do you need?" Kaminari asked.
.:How good are your acting skills?:. Midoriya asked, pulling out a studio makeup kit from his backpack.
"I… did a play in elementary school where I was a tengu!" Kaminari offered.
"I'm used to being on stage, but I don't actually have acting experience. Why?" Jirio looked at Midoriya, who opened up the case, selecting a guide booklet labeled HORROR .
.:I know the Obon festival isn't until August… but I think we can still get some scares.:. Midoriya said, holding up some latex patches and smirking.
Toshinori sat in the Principal's office, nursing a mug of tea as the strange mammalian chimera observed him with a deceptively friendly smile.
"Your, uh, fur looks… extra glossy today, sir." Toshinori tried.
"Thank you. The secret is keratin." Nezu happily supplied. "But flattery will not get you out of our discussion."
"I know…" Toshinori sighed in defeat.
"You are a teacher now, Toshinori." Nezu said, visibly calm but with a forceful air usually reserved for disobedient students and self entitled parents. "You have responsibilities to your students, especially your chosen successor."
"I know… but there were villains attacking-" Toshinori began.
"All of whom were being handled by several, equally capable heroes." Nezu sighed. "It was like my mentor Rocket Raccoon said, 'this isn't just about yourself anymore, but the ones under your charge. You need to think about the effects your actions will have in the soon, not just the now, or else you'll only become a hindrance.'"
"I suppose…" Toshinori muttered, but paused. "Wait, how do you know-"
Nezu and All Might's discussion was interrupted by their phones simultaneously going off. Toshinori pulled his own out and, seeing the caller, answered. "Tsuburaya, what's-"
"Midoriya's signal is offline!" Tsuburaya interrupted, panic clear in his voice.
"Signal? What signal?" Toshinori asked.
"Midoriya's suit emits a GPS tracking signal that I can detect in case he needs more drones at his location, but right now it's been cut off!" Tsuburaya hurriedly explained.
"Perhaps he simply shut it off?" Nezu suggested, but nonetheless brought out his tablet to try and contact the teachers for confirmation.
"Not likely! He only keeps it off if he needs to remain completely hidden from anyone with extrasensory abilities!" Tsuburaya explained.
"And Midoriya's class is just doing rescue missions…!" Toshinori muttered, his eyes widening. Nezu was about to speak, only to frown when he saw there was no connection to Aizawa, Thirteen, or Baymaxima's teaching tablets, nor could he directly contact the android herself.
"Once is bad luck, twice is happenstance, three times is enemy action, and four is a pressing matter." Nezu stood up, sending out a priority alert to the teachers. "This is Principle Nezu. I need all available faculty members to report to the Bus Storage Facility. We have reason to believe our students are in danger."
"Principle, I…" Toshinori began.
"Go. Save your students." Nezu said with calm, but fierce acceptance.
"Is this really wise? I saw the news, All Might has used up most of his allotted time for the day. I calculate that he won't be able to hold his massive form for more than a few minutes, and that's if he doesn't do anything serious." Tsuburaya muttered as the man left, inflating to his massive size with visible effort.
"Tsuburaya… right now there is an attack on UA's teachers and students, one of whom is the boy Toshinori has grown to care for personally." Nezu looked at his phone, unshaken faith radiating even through the small device to the AI. "Minutes are all he'll need."
The villains fled into the alleyway, chased by something they had never thought would happen.
It had started out so easy, the group heard screams of terror and immediately they all converged to the source, a collapsed office building. The two brats they had been fighting stumbled out, the electric kid grabbing his bleeding arm, blood leaking down his face as he looked at the villains desperately.
"PLEASE, HELP US!" the earlobe girl begged, dirt and tears covering her face.
"You gotta get us out of here!" the electric boy added, gagging and coughing.
"Save you? You know we're villains right?" a woman with kangaroo-like legs and tail sneered, rubbing her nose. "We're here to kill brats like you."
"PLEASE!! Something's happening, some kind of villain with some kind of biology altering Quirk, and-" the electric kid's speech suddenly stopped, a red foam pouring out of his mouth, his skin turning a sickly gray, and his eyes a sickly shade of white. *Hrrrrrkk…!*
"The fuck's up with-" the Long-legged man's words were cut off when the boy tackled Jiro, who screamed and struggled against her classmate.
"You assholes, save m- AGH!" The Ear girl's words cut off into a wet scream, the undead electric boy biting into her neck, blood spraying everywhere. Before any of the villains could speak, a series of snarls and groans caught their attention. A massive crowd, drawn by the noise and made from a mix of the students and villains that hand guy had brought, but all of them had white eyes, gray skin, and missing chunks of flesh. The group, zombies the villains realized in horror, shuffled forward. A few broke off, swarming the earlobe girl, and a wet, tearing sound gave the villains all they needed to hear before they took off, followed by more zombies.
"Fucking Zombies?!" Bull man shouted, panting.
"This can't be real, this can't be real!" The paste villain muttered, rubbing his irritated nose.
The Long legged villain, unfortunately, found himself tripping and falling. Before he could get up, he was tackled by the zombies, his body pinned down. They didn't even hear his scream when the sounds of tearing and crunching filled the air, compelling the five to run faster. Unfortunately, they quickly found themselves surrounded, several of their fellow villains and thugs, now shuffling zombies, approaching from the other end, leaving the only available spot to hide being an alley that turned out to be a dead end.
"Nuts to this, I'm out!" the fly villain muttered, taking off to the air.
"Get back here you cowardly bug!" the woman with squid arms shouted to him as the zombies swarmed the remaining four. The fly looked down, horrified at the sight straight out of a Zach Snyder film, when a voice cut through the growls.
"INDISCRIMINATE SHOCK! TWO MILLION VOLTS!"
A loud *BZZ-ZAP!* of electricity erupted from the alleyway, blinding the Fly Heteromorph. Before his vision could readjust, he heard a muffled gunshot and found himself pinned to the alley wall by a massive web.
"I seriously can't believe that worked."
The fly-man looked down, his jaw dropping as the horde of zombies, now still as statues, vanished in a cloud of pixels, the only two remaining being the electric kid and the earlobe girl, both of them covered in blood but unharmed. Nearby, the villains he had been assigned to laid on the ground, twitching in pain. So confused and angry, the fly villain could only shout "What the fuck?!"
.:Put simply, you were played, bug man.:.
The fly looked up, and hovering down was a young man in a scaly green suit with gold armor, a purple cape, and a silvery blue dome helmet. He turned toward Kaminari, his voice cheerful, as if he wasn't standing before a pissed off villain who had been trying to kill his classmates a short while ago. .:How'd your live performance debut work out?:.
"It was awesome!" Kaminari said, his mouth stained red. "That "blood foam capsule" thing worked like a charm! And when the holograms popped up, I slipped over here without issue!"
"Yeah, the bite pack was neat, too!" Jirio admitted, peeling off a hidden fluid sprayer attached to her neck and mouth. "It was actually almost fun. What was that sound effect though? The one where I was being bitten."
.:Just celery being twisted combined with bell peppers getting crushed, with an overlay of wet gravel being grinded in my hands. Oh, and the bloodier noises were actually just wet grapefruits being squished.:. Midoriya explained, smirking through his now clear helmet. .:I spend like, two hours a day just breaking, tapping, scrapping, hitting, and squishing stuff to make the sound effects I need. It's tedious, but necessary:.
Kaminari snorted in laughter. "Dude, you used celery to make some villains wet themselves! That's awesome!"
"Wait, what about the zombies?" Jirio asked, securing the villains with some cable ties. "How'd you make so many, and so quickly?"
.:My drones scan everyone they meet so I can create holograms of them, and I have a program that can alter them as needed.:. Midoriya explained, demonstrating with a hologram of himself that he turned into a zombie, a punk rocker with a mohawk, a cyborg, a Spider-man variant, a goblin, an old man, an anthro rabbit with green fur, a blue-skilled alien, a young woman, and a demon. .:That being said, it doesn't really work as well without the suggestibility gas to nullify the uncanny valley effect and it's less effective the closer they get to someone, which is why I put the makeup on you.:.
"I don't know what that is… wait, why'd you bring a makeup kit to a class on rescue missions?" Kaminari asked, wiping the fake blood off his face and arm with a wet wipe.
Before Midoriya could speak, he was interrupted by an indignant "Let me out of here, you little shits!"
Midoriya looked up at the wall, dismissing the hologram. .:Ah, right… you.:. Midoriya floated up and over to the trapped villain, Kaminari and Jirio joining him on a nearby fire escape. .:Listen, Stockman, we just wanna know who your leaders are and what they're planning.:.
"I ain't sayin' nuthin, punk!" the villain spat on his helmet, the glob sizzling lightly without damage.
Midoriya blinked, a cloth hanky appearing in his hand as he calmly wiped away the villain's goop. With a calm, serious expression, Midoriya's helmet turned opaque once again as he spoke gravely. .:Then you leave me no choice.:.
Midoriya made a series of twitches and gestures with his left hand, raising it up to the Fly heteromorph, the eye on the palm lighting up in purple and green.
"You… you're not gonna hurt me! You're a hero!" the Fly muttered, but he didn't seem so sure.
"Mid- Mysterio…" Jirio said, her tone concerned. Midoriya said nothing, but twitched his hand… and a small puff of mist sprayed out, inciting the fly villain to start coughing and hacking. Jirio was about to protest when she caught the scent of the mist. "...Peppermint?"
.:It's a strong smell that I use to hide myself from people with heightened senses… and it just so happens that flies HATE the stuff. It won't hurt him, but he'll feel miserable.:. Midoriya calmly explained. .:Now…. Are you going to talk?:.
"It'll take- *cough!* *hack!* more than that get me to talk!" the fly muttered between bouts of coughing. "That punk… *cough!* *cough!* with the hands is scarier *cough!* than you!"
Midoriya calmly sprayed more peppermint oil into the Fly-heteromorph's face, making him cough and hack. .:I made a believable zombie apocalypse happen with only five minutes of prep time and you idiots searching for us.:. Midoriya calmly typed a new command into his gauntlet, keeping the glowing eye in the villain's view. .:I can get scarier if I have to. I can even make you see what you fear the most.:.
"I *cough!* seriously doubt-" The fly man's speech was interrupted by the Mysterio helmet bursting apart, bits of glass falling to the ground as, growing out of the now limp costume, was a massive Venus fly trap monster with a dripping maw. Behind the student, Kaminari and Jirio had also morphed into plant monsters, a yellow trumpet and a cape sundew respectively, hungrily slithering over to the flytrap. The Midoriya-plant monster reared back, its jaws wide open, corpses of other insects and humans within the void of its mouth, and lunged forward. "WE'RE HERE TO KILL ALL MIGHT!" the fly man cried out, the massive plant monster stopping just short of chomping down.
.:What do you mean?:. The flytrap monster asked in Midoriya's voice, moving back only by a meter.
"That guy with the hands, Shigaraki! He's got some plan to kill the Symbol of Peace! He spread a ton of cash around and hired a bunch of us to act as muscle!" the fly man elaborated, visibly sweating. He was certain it was an illusion, but every time he looked at the plant monsters, he couldn't help but get a feeling of fear. A primal one that had stuck with him ever since he had watched Jumanji in his youth.
"But All Might's the toughest hero around! How's a bunch of dumb thugs supposed to take him out?" The pale pitcher plant asked in the electric boy's voice.
"That muscly guy he's with, Nomu! He kept bragging about it being "mini maxed" or some shit to handle All Might!" the Fly explained. "The guy kept using video game terms, so I didn't really get what he was saying beyond that!"
"What about the other two with him?" The sundew monster spoke in the girl's voice, two barbed vines slithering over and pointing at the Fly threateningly. "The portal guy and the blood guy?"
"I don't know! I hadn't seen them before I met Shigaraki! I just know that they go by Kurogiri and Blood_Spider!" the Fly explained.
.:You don't know anything else?:. Midoriya asked, another plant monster, this one looking like a demonic red spider lily, slithering towards the fly man, sap dripping like drool from its teeth-like stamens.
The Fly racked his brain for anything that might have been helpful. "No, just, uh… Oh wait, that Nomu thing! He said it was engineered somehow! Gamma radiation and extra quirks 'n crap!"
"What about the Quirks of your comrades?" the female plant monster asked.
"I'll… I'll tell you what I know."
Ochako dodged the blades thrown by the villains. For five minutes she'd been in the mountain zone, and from the moment she arrived she had encountered peril and danger. Thankfully she wasn't alone, but since it was Mineta with her, she wasn't too sure about how she felt.
"This sucks! I'm with one of our class' beauties and I can't enjoy it!" the boy whined, throwing his balls at a mole-like villain that popped out of the ground a short distance away. The cluster hit the man in the face and sent him down, immobilized.
"I'm starting to wonder if you even want to be a hero." Ochako muttered, lobbing a boulder at the villain that tried to attack with blades. The boulder shattered on impact and knocked him out, but there was still a good number of the thugs around.
"Of course I do! But I don't wanna fight bad guys this soon! Only a crazy person would want to fight villains a few weeks into hero school!" Mineta shot back.
In the Fire hazard zone, Bakugo sneezed.
"You okay, Baku-bro?" Kirishima asked his classmate, throwing aside a man with molten yellow skin.
"'Course I'm fine!" Bakugo shot back, taking out a chameleon-like villain who tried to sneak attack him. "If all it took was a sneeze to weaken me, then I would have no place as a hero! So don't even insinuate that I'm that weak, got it Shitty Hair??"
"So Manly…!" Kirishima smiled, his sharp teeth a manic grin. "Hell yeah, man! Heroes need to be tough and able to overcome any obstacles that get in their way!"
"Yeah, I just said that, dumbass." Bakugo muttered flatly, but Kirishima just laughed.
"I think that's the last of them." Ochako muttered, panting heavily. Her stomach felt like it was a balloon animal, but the villains around them had all fallen, either immobilized or knocked out by thrown objects. Ochako was really glad Midoriya had suggested adding ginger pills to her costume's storage pieces, since they helped with the feeling in her stomach.
Before she could suggest they try to find their way back to the plaza, the ground exploded behind her, and a man wearing a skull-shaped helmet popped out and grabbed her arm.
"Try anything and the girl fries, runt!" the villain, Tesla, spat at Mineta, his other hand sparking with electricity.
"Let go of me!" Ochako tried to grab him, but a zap from his hands sent her to her knees, not that the weight impaired the villain much.
"It'd be so easy to kill you all, but in case things go south, it's good to have some insurance." The villain sneered, looking at the diminutive boy, "'course, I only need one hostage, so if either of you try anything again-"
The man was interrupted by a large rock hitting him in the back of his head. The rock, which seemed to have been hovering, was raised again, but a blast from Tesla's hands shot out and hit the invisible girl carrying it, the light warping around her for a brief moment.
"Toru!" Ochako tried to get up, but her muscles were still spasming from the electricity.
"Oh, you're dead-" Tesla's insult was cut off by a smaller rock beaning him on the head.
"EAT MY BALLS YOU FUCK!" Mineta ran forward, clutching a circle made of his balls like a shield, his forehead leaking blood into his eyes. Whether that was the cause of his tears, or just the situation in general, Mineta was crying hard as he ran forward. The villain shot out a stream of electricity, but the orbs, rubbery by nature, protected the diminutive boy, who tackled the man shield first. "Go to hell you sick bastard and rot there you sick fuck!!" Mineta was ripping off his balls and pressing them all over the villain's body, his arms, his helmet, doing everything to keep him from moving. "Fuck you fuck you fuck you-"
"Mineta! He's down." Toru grabbed the boy's arm. "Dang, I didn't think you had it in you."
"He's a villain! I couldn't hold back!" Mineta, panting and sobbing, looked up at Toru. "And you couldn't have appeared sooner when all those villains were attacking us?!"
"I don't have any combat experience! I was going to be an underground hero!" the invisible girl shot back. Thankfully, her outfit was apparently lined with something like rubber that protected her from the worst of the electricity. Unfortunately, her costume now had a burn mark that rendered her suit partially visible.
"Guys, enough!" Ochako shakily stood up, her hand still twitching, but her face set. "We need to get back to the plaza and see if we can get help. But first… remove that guy's helmet." Mineta looked at her like she was crazy, but Toru had no such objections and obeyed. Before the villain could do more than open his mouth, Ochako stomped on his face, knocking him out. "Okay, let's go."
"....why are there so many scary people in my class..?" Mineta whimpered, following behind them. At the exit to the mountain zone, a beep caught their attention. Hovering over, one of Midoriya's Scenery drones decloaked. "Oh great, now Midoriya's going to kill us."
"He does not intend to, nor will I." a calm, American-accented voice spoke through the drone.
"Who're you??" Toru asked, but Ochako stepped forward.
"You're Tsuburaya, Midoriya's trainer, yes?"
"That is correct. And I've come here to gather you all to the exit. Save for you, Miss Uraraka. Midoriya needs your help with something."
Three minutes prior
Midoriya left the alleyway with his classmates. The hypnosis glove had worked like a charm, and the suggestibility gas enhanced the effects of the hologram. He wasn't sure if the Fly man would have reacted to the sight of carnivorous plants, but his gamble had thankfully paid off. Once he had gotten what he wanted from the Fly man, he sprayed him with knockout gas, and used his web net gun to secure the other villains.
.:Okay, so this Shigaraki guy has disintegration powers and speaks in gaming terminology… the Nomu is super strong and can tank hits… Kurogiri has to know the GPS location to open a portal at a spot… and Blood_Spider-:.
"I can't believe that guy insists on an underscore in his name." Kaminari interrupted.
"Tell me about it." Jirio muttered, before pointing ahead. "Oh, Midoriya, what do you wanna do about that guy?"
Spotting the knocked out long legged man, pinned down by a massive web, Midoriya approached him with some extra strong cable ties. Quickly binding him, he turned to speak with his classmates, but then his suit flashed a notification to him. Checking it, Midoriya couldn't help but let out a whoop of joy, his helmet even turning clear to show his joy.
"What? Are we saved??" Kaminari asked.
.:Not yet, but whatever's been jamming the signals is gone, and a friend's contacted me!:. Midoriya immediately responded, putting the suit on speaker.
"Midoriya, there you are! What's going on?!"Tsuburaya's voice was panicked, a surprise for the usually stoic AI.
.:Tsuburaya, call for help! Villains have infiltrated the USJ! Aizawa is fending off most of them, but one of them had a warp Quirk and he separated me from most of my class!:. Midoriya hurriedly explained. .:I don't know where most of them are!:.
"All Might is still about five minutes away, but the other teachers are on their way now." Tsuburaya assured the trio, who allowed a sigh of relief to escape. At least, until Midoriya remembered what the fly villain had told him.
.:Wait, Tsuburaya, you've got to stop All Might! The villains have some kind of monster made to kill All Might! I'm sending over the information I've gathered now!:. Midoriya quickly explained, typing in the command.
"That's not good… but shoot, the man left his phone behind, so I can't call him, and I doubt he'd stop until he got there." Tsuburaya muttered, analyzing the data. "You'll have to stop this monster on your own somehow."
"What?!" Kaminari yelped. "If that thing was made to… to kill All Might, what good are we going to do?!"
"Yeah, let the teachers handle this!" Jirio chimed in. Midoriya was about to agree with them, but then a thought struck him.
'They don't know about All Might's limit… if he comes here, pushing himself, that could have devastating long term effects on his quirk and body! I need to stop the Nomu before All Might shows up, but what can I do to convince them…?' Midoriya quietly mused, before getting an idea. .: Guys, if there's one thing I've learned from training as Mysterio's successor, it's that brawn is not everything. If it's made to fight All Might, that means it's most likely been specialized to deal with someone like him, but not people who fight differently from All Might.:.
"That's not going to help much if it crushes us before we can take it out." Jirio pointed out.
.:He's not going to crush us because you two are going to hang back.:. Midoriya explained. .:I'll handle the Nomu… but I need you guys to remove any students or teachers that have passed out just in case.:.
"Are you insane?! That thing will crush you!" Kaminari looked at Midoriya like he was crazy.
.:He can't crush me if he can't see me.:. Midoriya reminded him. .:Look, every minute we spend arguing is another chance for our classmates to die! We need to at least buy enough time for help to get here! We're here to be superheroes, right?? Well the only difference between a superhero and a normal hero is just how far they're willing to go to face down unfair odds, and I'm going to fight, with or without you!:.
Jirio and Kaminari looked at the boy before them. When they first laid eyes on him, they thought he was just a quiet, odd boy with a habit for quiet muttering and a fondness for drones. The battle trial showed that he was a devious, creative young man with a showman's streak and a willingness to play dirty, even when he claimed that he wanted to be a hero.
But now they saw a fiery passion in his eyes, a glare that showed he was completely serious about being a hero. And what's more, he believed that he could pull it off, no, that he knew that he could do it.
It was so strong that, for a moment, they also believed it.
"Okay… what's the plan?" Jirio asked.
.:First… we're going to need some help from our classmates, especially you, Jiro.:.
Baymaxima dashed towards the portal user, Kurogiri, he had called himself, her energy katana slashing the air in front of her with a distinct hum. The villain dodged, opening up another portal for the blade to go through so it would damage its wielder. But Baymaxima knew better than that and shut off the blade the moment she perceived the portal appearing. She turned towards the villain, flames spewing from the monster face on her torso. The Portal Villain warped away before he could be hurt, but was visibly annoyed.
"So you live up to your lineage, robot." Kurogiri muttered.
"I am an android!" Baymaxima retorted, the nanites surrounding her hand extending out into several tendrils that shot forward. Even when Kurogiri tried to redirect it, the nanites simply went around the portal and jabbed him in the neck brace. The villain screamed in pain, the attack dazing him for a moment. Thirteen took this chance to step in, the caps on her fingers opening up to suck the villain in.
Retracting her nanites and letting her systems cool down from the unending assault, the android hero looked down at the plaza, where her friend and coworker was still fighting the horde of villains. Many of the villains had already been taken out, but Baymaxima was still worried, because Aizawa was starting to tire out. She could tell even from the top of the stairs. The time between each one of Aizawa's Quirk's Tell was shortened. At first it had been by mere quarter seconds, but then it became half seconds. Full seconds. Three seconds.
Then all of a sudden, the villain beside the man covered in hands moved forward, tendrils of blood emerging from the suit. Aizawa turned to glare, but a spray of blood to the eyes blinded the Pro-hero, and the tendrils dug into Aizawa's chest, before growing bigger and retracting.
Baymaxima wanted to help, but the momentary distraction allowed Kurogiri to damage Thirteen with her own Quirk. She wanted more than anything to help Aizawa, but she couldn't leave her students alone with this villain either.
Down below, Blood_Spider used his tendrils to lift Aizawa off the ground, the man pale and tired-looking from the sudden blood loss.
"Mind if I kill this guy?" Blood_Spider turned to Shigaraki. "I could use more ammo."
"Go ahead. That scarf would make for some great loot, if the rumors about it are true." Shigaraki said with a smirk.
*SHATTER!*
But before Aizawa could go to the great cat cafe in the sky, the glass ceiling burst open, and from it, a massive figure leaped down, laughing.
"Have no fear, students, for I AM HERE!"shouted All Might, wearing his teacher's uniform, a massive smile on his face.
"It's about time….!" Blood_Spider muttered, dropping the Class 1-A Homeroom teacher, who fell to the ground with a grunt.
Shigaraki laughed. "Finally the raid boss appears! Nomu, kill All Might!"
The Nomu… to say it dashed forward would have been too slow. It was closer to teleportation with how fast it appeared and punched All Might. The hero was sent backwards, but recovered enough to get his bearings and unleash a volley of punches. Shigaraki wasn't concerned, however, in fact, he felt quite cocky.
"Don't bother trying to fight, Symbol of Peace, " the young man spat out the title like it was an insult. "Nomu has been minmaxed specifically to deal with you, and his creator even got some DLC installed just to be even tougher!"
"SO WHAT?? I WON'T LET THIS VILLAIN BRING HARM TO MY STUDENTS, EVEN IF YOU MAXED OUT ITS STATS!" All Might proclaimed, dashing forward and socking the monster in the jaw, who barely reacted. "What?! My punch did nothing?!"
"Of course not! Nomu has Shock Absorption!" Shigaraki bragged.
All Might ran forward, landing blow after blow upon the monster, who barely reacted to them. The monster returned the hits, but All Might, the mountain of a man, didn't even flinch in response, and kept moving around, not staying in one place for more than a second. One blow did manage to knock the monster's leg out of place and twisted it almost backwards, sending it to its knees, but that leg quickly snapped back into place.
"How..?! I thought you said that its Quirk was Shock Absorption?!" All Might shouted, aghast at the sight.
"I did… but who said that was its ONLY quirk??" Shigaraki laughed, spreading its arms out. "It's the bioengineered anti-symbol of peace, made solely to kill you! And it's also got Super Regeneration, so even if you COULD damage it, it'll just heal right back up in an instant! Nothing you can do can harm it! Even your strongest blows aren't enough to stagger it!!"
Blood_Spider laughed. Things were going just like his friend had predicted! All Might was fighting the Nomu, the heroes were down, the students were spread out among the villains in waiting, and their hypocritical, favoritism spewing school was going to suffer dearly for- wait…
Blood_Spider's eyes narrowed. All Might was moving fast, kicking up dust, but something was off. The way the dust moved, it looked off. It wasn't sticking to the Symbol of Peace, but why…?
Blood_Spider gathered a ball of blood in his hand and, with a swipe, threw it towards the two giants fighting. The blood splattered harmlessly on Nomu…. But it passed right through All Might like he wasn't there! Instead it splattered onto something, or rather someone, invisible.
"Oh crap…" the fake All Might muttered.
"The fuck is this?!" Shigaraki yelled. "Nomu, clear the air!"
Obediently, the monster smacked its hands together. The dust around them shot out, coating several hovering drones, hidden by holograms like the one from the fake All Might, who promptly vanished in a cloud of pixels. At the same time, the invisible person appeared in a cloud of smoke, and….
You had GOT to be fucking kidding.
"Who the fuck is this griefing hacker?!" Shigaraki screamed in anger, scratching at his neck.
"Whoever they are, they've got a fetish for Mysterio." Blood_Spider muttered, Shigaraki looking over incredulously.
"Wait, that nobody American villain who attacked Tokyo?? And someone in the hero course is using their costume?" Shigaraki almost laughed, but the sheer idea of it made him want to gag. Like when a game remake locked content the original had behind a paywall, or added loot boxes.
.:Well, it seems my farce has indeed been uncovered.:. The hero student suddenly spoke up, before he bowed low in a flamboyant manner, his drones hovering over to join him. .:I am indeed Mysterio, and I intend to redeem the name from that of a vile villain to that of a hero who heralds hope! But for now I'll settle with clearing out some low tier villains from my school.:.
"Low tier?!" Shigaraki snarled, turning back to the student. "No one else has broken into USJ! No one else managed a successful stealth mission to get info about the teaching schedule for All Might!"
Mysterio simply shrugged. .:Perhaps… and yet, All Might chose not to show up. I suppose he had something more important to do than play with a noob manchild and his one decent unit.:.
Shigaraki screamed in anger. "Then let's raise my level by killing a few- What?!"
Blood_Spider followed Shigaraki's gaze. Behind them, the area had been cleared of villains and heroes. Even Aizawa, who had been little more than a meter away from the blood user, was gone!
.:Oh dear… it looks like the NPCs' loot table has a limited time for collection before expiring. Oh well.:. Mysterio said with a shrug.
"NOMU! KILL THAT MODDER!" Shigaraki screamed. Nomu immediately charged forward, punching Mysterio in his stupid helmet, but the figure shattered like glass, and the cracks spread far beyond the fake villain, spreading past Nomu, cutting him off from the two villains. The cracks continued to surround the two, the chunks of air falling out of place like shards of glass, revealing a dark void filled with purple smoke behind it, the ground now platform suspended over nothing. "What the fuck is this?!" Blood_Spider didn't respond, instead just gathering blood around his hands and back to form claws.
.:This is MY world…!:. Mysterio rose up from the void, easily twice the size of Mt. Lady at full height, hovering atop a cloud of green smoke. .:And here, I'm in God mode.:.
"It's just an illusion, Tomura-kun! His powers are about as dangerous as a cartoon!" Blood_Spider tried to assure his friend, but a massive fist appeared from a runic circle and punched him to the ground. The fist vanished into green smoke, but the impact had been real and had driven the blood manipulator to the ground. Shaking, Blood_Spider rose, supported by four tentacles of blood sprouting from his back.
.:Tell me, little spider… did THAT feel like a cartoon?:. The giant Mysterio growled. Smoke rose up from his feet and formed new figures. Several smaller copies of Mysterio stepped forward, some wielding laser pistols, others had scimitars, and some were creating circles with arcane runes within them.
Not far away from the villains, Midoriya, wearing only the Sleeper Hit, took several deep breaths. He was glad that he had sent out the Blockbuster on its own with Tsuburaya piloting it, in case his hastily crafted illusion was found out. It had only taken four minutes for that, but Midoriya was still able to glean plenty of information from the battle with Nomu.
For example, he had already obtained a copy of Shigaraki's voice and added it to his mimicry program to try and take control of the Nomu. However, it seemed that whoever made it considered this a possibility, and the Nomu had ignored his words. Midoriya wasn't sure how it knew he was a fake, but either way, that left the simplest option unavailable to him.
Another one was that, unless it interfered with an order, the Nomu was content to ignore anything that hit it. While sending the All Might illusion after it, he had commanded his drones to attack with lightning, lasers, air cannons, and even ramming themselves, which temporarily took out a leg. But the monster gave no indication that it felt anything, just staring ahead with its blank, unseeing eyes. Problematic, but it also meant that Midoriya could set up for his plan without interference from the Nomu.
However, he wasn't focused on that at the moment, but rather, some words his classmate had said only a short while ago:
"If my Quirk's too spread out it won't do any real damage."
When Kaminari had said it, he was referring to his own power being used externally. But, as he was applying the fake wounds to the electric boy and Jirio, Midoriya realized that the same philosophy could apply to his own quirk. Though he had to use a… different analogy to help with visualizing it.
'Imagine the taiyaki spread out evenly in the microwave…' Midoriya thought to himself like a mantra. It was a strange sensation, trying to call up little more than five percent of his power… but by letting it flow constantly throughout his body all at once, he felt the power stabilizing within himself without damage. He opened his eyes, now glowing bright behind his goggles, green lightning flashed across his body without harming his electronics or costume. The sensation... It felt like he was covered in a cloak and a cowl… so it only made sense to give it one name.
'One for All: FULL COWLING!'
Midoriya wanted to run forward, enact the next part of his plan immediately, but instead he moved slowly, carefully. Despite the ongoing crisis, he couldn't move fast, not yet. This power just appeared, and Midoriya couldn't risk hurting himself, not at this point.
"Oh my…"
Midoriya looked over. Nearby, Jirio stood with Ochako and Momo, the latter staring at the lightning emanating from his form in awe.
"I had… a revelation about my power." Midoriya said simply. "With it, and your guys' help, we can make things easier for the heroes when they arrive."
"Jirio said that.. thing was made to kill All Might, though…" Momo muttered, nervous.
"Which is exactly why we need to take it out of play." Midoriya said firmly, but gently. "I'm under no impression that we can kill it, but maybe we can get rid of it."
"What do you need?" Jirio asked, adjusting her gauntlets to their highest settings.
"First… Momo, I'm going to need a lot more web formula." Midoriya said, pulling out his Web Net Gun and handing her the casings for the ammo. "And you'll need your own gun."
Things weren't going well for Baymaxima.
In fairness, she wasn't specialized for combat, but rather rescue and disaster, so a prolonged battle like this was going to wear her down fast no matter what. At least now her backup drive was reconnected, and she could tell that the pro heroes were on their way, but it was going to take time for them to get here.
Not helping matters was that the Portal Villain wasn't afraid to attack the students to distract her, as Sero found out while trying to patch up Thirteen's costume with his tape. Sato was able to keep him safe, thankfully, but it showed that the android heroine couldn't let up in her attack even once.
However, the one comfort she could take away from this was that even if she was wearing down, the Portal Villain was unable to aid the villains. She had initially been ecstatic upon hearing All Might's booming voice, but a quick scan told her that it was just a swarm of combat drones, and that Midoriya was trying to fight the villains on his own.
If she wasn't angry at how reckless it was, she would have been in awe of his bravery.
As it was, she decided to at least make things easier for him by keeping Kurogiri away from the leader. Shoji and Sato had taken to trying to pry the doors open for the students to escape through, and they were close to succeeding.
But a single slip-up in her attention sent her torso-first into a portal, which Kurogiri immediately cut off with a loud *CRUNCH!*
"BAYMAXIMA-SAMA!" Tenya screamed as her legs fell to the ground.
Baymaxima's top half fell to the ground nearby, sparks, nanobots, and oil spilling out of her torso. "I-I'm a-a-alive..!" she stuttered out, her systems glitching, before her body fell limp.
"No! Sensei!!" Tenya shouted, sobbing.
"Finally." Kurogiri focused on the students, ready to warp them away to the rest of the villains in waiting.
"DIRECTED SHOCK! TWO MILLION VOLTS!"
Kurogiri spun around in time to see a massive bolt of electricity hit him in the neck brace, sending him to the ground, a good chunk of his smoke-covered form vanishing as a result. Before he could get up, he was pinned down by the muscular boy, Sato, who grabbed some tape from his classmate and started binding the warp villain's hands together. Close by, Kaminari appeared, resetting his costume's circuit breaker, walking beside a drone shaped like an upside down Eye of Providence and a... hovering burn mark carrying Eraserhead?
"Toru! Kaminari! Thank god! Where are the others??" Sero asked from beside Thirteen, his classmate Tenya standing by Baymaxima's upper torso protectively. Shoji took Aizawa off Toru's hands, supporting their passed out teacher with several extra limbs and carefully laying him beside Thirteen.
"Midoriya, Jirio, and I were in the Urban ruins zone, and I encountered Tsu and Momo leaving the Water Rescue. Ochako, Mineta, and Toru were leaving the mountainous regions." Kaminari paused and took out a small tablet marked with Mysterio's eye, tapping it before continuing. "According to Midoriya's drones, Bakugo and Kirishima are in the Fire Zone having the time of their life, Mina and Tokoyami are in the Downpour Zone- oof, that's gotta hurt… but they're fine, though I think Tokoyami's in a bad mood."
"And Todoroki is… pretty much handling the entirety of the landslide zone by himself, but Ojiro and Koda are near him, unharmed." he finished up, much to the relief of the group.
"What about Aoyama?" Shoji asked, prompting Kaminari to check, but it took him several seconds to locate him.
"...huh, he's hiding out in the Ruins." Kaminari muttered. "Poor guy's probably scared out of his mind."
"Hold on! Why haven't Midoriya, Jiro, Momo, and Ochako joined us up here?" Tenya asked. "We need to all escape from here and alert the teachers!"
"No worries, they're already aware and on their way."Tsuburaya spoke up from the drone beside Kaminari. "So you're Ingenium's younger brother? Hm. I hope he likes those zero friction soles I designed for him."
"Who is this???" Tenya asked, chopping his arms and glaring at the drone in suspicion.
"...my god, Midoriya wasn't exaggerating about how stiff you were." Tsuburaya muttered. " I'm Tsuburaya, Izuku Midoriya's mentor, and I'm here to help."Hovering over to the door, a thick laser shot out of the drone's 'pupil,' slowly melting through the door's locks. "The heroes are on their way, but in the meantime, I imagine you'd all prefer to get to safety. Oh, and don't worry about Baymaxima. The jamming signal is gone, so she's reconnected to her backup drive and waiting to undergo transference to a new body."
"But our classmates-" Tenya protested.
"They'll be fine. I'm keeping an eye on them and making sure the villains don't hurt them." Tsuburaya calmly interrupted. "Midoriya has a plan to weaken the head villains, so right now- Wait, GRAB THE PORTAL USER!"
Sato turned to the villain he had been guarding, but it was too late. He had vanished into a portal, the tape binding him cut with a shard of metal obtained from his fight with Baymaxima.
Shigaraki was about ready to ragequit.
It seemed like there was no end to the waves of Bots being summoned by that surprise boss! Every time he disintegrated one, two more would appear, and sometimes they weren't even real! A decoy so that a camper could strike a blow!
Of course, he and Blood_Spider were more than sure that they were just in an illusion, not actually suspended over a void, so naturally they tried leaving, but every single time they approached the edge of the platform, that hax spammer's massive hand would appear to backhand them back inside! It was like an invisible wall, but more mocking!
It was clear this Griefer was just kiting for this team, but that didn't make it any less annoying! He would have been scratching at his neck, but it was already red and raw, too close to bleeding from the day's annoyances.
He's tried calling for the Nomu repeatedly, but for some reason his Tank wasn't accepting his summons! Thankfully, a different party member showed up.
"Tomura Shigaraki, I apologize for the delay." Kurogiri formed beside them, but Shigaraki wasn't in the mood to hear his apology.
"Finally! Just get us out of this stupid illusion!"
Hearing his friend, Blood_Spider, swaying slightly, ran over and leaped through the portal, Tomura beside him. They emerged right outside a pixelated dome, surrounded by drones shaped like upside-down pyramids with eyes on them, which was evidently the source of the illusions.
Tomura wasn't focused on that, but rather the small party of hero students attacking his Nomu!
A girl in a red outfit was firing a riot gun that shot what looked like webs all over Nomu's body, cocooning it, and reloading with more ammo that formed from her body. On the other side, a girl with elongated earlobes was pummeling the Nomu with concentrated sound blasts from her gauntlets, aided by several more drones. He didn't see why she was bothering, since Shock Absorption would nullify it, but the fact that she even tried was an insult to him!
Behind the girl was-
"Him…!"
Shigaraki looked over. He was surprised at the sheer venom in his friend's voice. Whoever that Green Haired boy was, Blood_Spider HATED him. Without another word, the blood controller ran forward, claws out.
The green haired boy looked over, gasped, and fell to the ground like a Matrix character. Blood_Spider flew past him, but upon landing, he stood right back up. The earphone girl looked over with concern, but the green boy shouted to her "No, keep going!"
That voice… why'd it sound familiar?
"Kurogiri, free Nomu!" Shigaraki ran forward, but found himself knocked down. Before them, a swarm of drones decloaked, and Mysterio reappeared.
"Midoriya, over here!" a new voice, American accented, spoke from the suit, flying over to the green haired boy, who must have been Midoriya. While more drones kept Blood_Spider busy, Midoriya pulled off the suit's helmet and- wait.
Where was that griefing fucker with the hax?!
Midoriya, without stopping, quickly climbed into the suit, pulling it over like it was a set of one piece pajamas, snapping the helmet back into place.
Oh… that motherfucker.
"You don't deserve to be here!" Blood_Spider screeched, slashing at the faux-super villain, who deflected the blow with a swipe of his arm, and punched him in the gut, sending Shigaraki's friend flying back by nearly a dozen meters. If it hadn't been for the cushion of blood on his torso, it might have been five times that distance.
.:Ooooh.. That is so much better.:. Midoriya… no, Mysterio sighed in relief. He turned back to the villains. .:Ready for the REAL boss fight, noob?:.
Forget killing the Symbol of Peace, Shigaraki would be satisfied if he just killed this cocky Griefer!
"Nomu! Tear his limbs off! But keep him alive so that I can kill him!" he shouted, scratching at his neck.
Nomu, finally close enough to hear his commands, roared, and shifted within its cocoon. Whatever those webs were made of was strong. Stronger than steel cable, but slowly, surely, Nomu shifted forward. The girl in red, panting tiredly, fell to her knees, her riot gun supporting her. She looked thinner than a few minutes ago, and it looked as though she was finally out of ammunition.
"Midoriya, I don't think those webs are gonna hold much longer!" the earlobe girl shouted, her arms shaking in fear even as she continued doing scratch damage against the party's tank.
.:That's fine! I think I can handle the rest!:. The boy shouted. Handle what? Nomu was unstoppable! .:Keep Kurogiri from interfering!:. The girl nodded and turned to Kurogiri, shooting soundwaves at him alongside the drones already griefing the portal creator.
Nomu finally managed to break free, charging at Mysterio, who wasn't fast enough and was punched in the face. The webs slowed its arm down enough that the blow wasn't lethal, but it did shatter part of the helmet, his green hair sticking out of the hole created. Undeterred by the battle damage, Mysterio threw himself forward, lightning forming around his body, he threw blow after blow against Nomu, each one not doing anything… at first.
But very quickly, Nomu started reacting to each blow, until it was actually stumbling back!
"How…!?" Blood_Spider, weak from blood loss, gasped from his spot. Without relenting, Mysterio responded.
.:You said his power was Shock Absorption , not Nullification ! Meaning that all it took was enough repeated impacts to overload Nomu's power, leaving him open to my REAL plan! NOW URARAKA!:.
From above, hanging from a drone that had cloaked itself and its passenger, a girl in a pink and black suit smacked the brain of Nomu. Without wasting a second, the drone pulled her away while Mysterio ran forward, grabbing Shigaraki's tank, his MVP, by its ankle and flipped him onto the ground as if it was made of cardboard! But he wasn't done! No, next he chose to use a super move, spinning himself around, dragging Nomu along the ground, lightning shooting off his body! Shigaraki ran forward, trying to stop the cheater, but another drone blasted him back, and he could only watch helplessly as Mysterio sped up until, when the two of them were a blur, Mysterio belted one final one liner before releasing Nomu.
.:NOMU, CONSIDER YOURSELF BANNED FROM THE SERVER!:.
Nomu flew through the air, out the top of the dome and out of sight in mere moments. Mysterio stood there, swaying from the spinning and panting heavily, sweat clinging to his hair, visible through the broken helmet.
Shigaraki just stared, his legs close to giving out beneath him. It was impossible. It wasn't fair! He maxed out Nomu's stats to take on the Symbol of Peace! A man who could leap tall buildings in a single bound and defeat any foe with one punch! How could a nobody hero student, wearing the costume of an ancient Quirkless D-lister loser, defeat his Nomu?!
"You…. YOU!!!" Shigaraki screamed, incapable of clear thought, instead charging with his arm outstretched towards the boy, who turned, ready to face the oncoming threat. Before he could grab ahold of him, the doors to the USJ exploded inwards and a gush of wind followed behind it.
"DO NOT BE AFRAID STUDENTS! BECAUSE I AM HERE!"
That phrase was followed by a sound like a thunderclap, and suddenly All Might… the real one, knocked Shigaraki away with a punch. The man, the super boss he had risked so much for, grinded for so long to kill, was finally here, and he was helpless to face him.
.:All Might, be careful, he can disintegrate anything through touch.:. Mysterio warned the Symbol of Peace, like an annoying tutorial guide. The Symbol of Peace just nodded, glaring at Shigaraki, for once not smiling, but instead scowling in cold fury. But before Shigaraki could attack, or All Might could strike, a cord of red liquid latched onto Shigaraki's shoulder and pulled him back.
Blood_Spider, panting and sweating, grabbed his friend and fled towards Kurogiri, stumbling as he did so. "We're leaving, NOW!"
Without protest, the portal user created an exit for the young man, before vanishing himself.
The next ten minutes were a blur for All Might. He wasn't sure what he was going to find when he got to the USJ, but thankfully, the students were largely alright, though understandably shaken.
Behind him, he could hear the teachers run in. Each one quickly went to the zones, clearing out the villains who, upon realizing their boss' plan had failed, quickly surrendered. Tsuburaya helped with his drones where he could, administering medical supplies and helping escort the students out. Baymaxima's bisected body was a startling sight, but she contacted Nezu to assure her students that she was alright in her backup server, and was awaiting approval to transfer over to her spare body.
All Might could feel himself being drained by keeping his hero form active, but he had to reassure the students, and pushing it a few extra minutes without doing anything strenuous wouldn't hurt too badly.
However, watching his successor speak with Detective Tsukauchi, he couldn't help but feel conflicted.
He was proud that the boy was able to overcome sheer adversity. He had demonstrated bravery, quick thinking, leadership skills, adaptability, and strategic prowess worthy of both of the legacies he had inherited…
But that didn't change the fact that he had actively sought out the four most dangerous members of a group of killers for a fight. Even if he thought it was for a good reason, it was a foolish, reckless thing…
But All Might couldn't help but feel that, if he was in a similar situation, he would have done the same thing.
'Thor All Mighty, is being a mentor supposed to be this hard?!'
Blood_Spider stumbled through the portal into a well lit bar, dropping his friend on the ground before collapsing into a nearby booth. Kurogiri wasted no time, using his portals to summon several blood packs and a transfer kit for the villain, who jabbed the needle into his wrist, sighing in relief as it flowed through him.
.:I take it things didn't go well?:.
Blood_Spider looked at the TV screen. Upon it was no image, only static, but words spoke through it nonetheless. The voice belonged to a man that Shigaraki had only referred to as his Sensei. Blood_spider, still exhausted from overusing his power, said nothing, and seeing as Shigaraki was taking out his anger on his third bar stool, Kurogiri chose to spoke up in his steed.
"Blood_Spider performed admirably in the circumstances, and is the reason Tomura Shigaraki is not behind bars, but the mission was a failure. Our forces were arrested, the Nomu is gone, and All Might lives."
"And Nomu didn't even get to face him in battle!" Shigaraki whined, reaching for his fifth stool. "Some nobody with a Mysterio avatar appeared and sent him out of the building, like an admin banning a player!"
"His name's Izuku Midoriya."
Shigaraki and Kurogiri looked over at Blood_Spider, now looking like he could sit up straight. "I once went to the same middle school he did, Aldera in Mustafu."
"You knew that griefer?!" Shigaraki hissed, only for his friend to shake his head.
"Not personally. He was a year below me… but he was the only Quirkless kid in school, and the school's resident hotshot liked pickin' on him."
.:...you said he was Quirkless?:. Sensei asked, his voice sounding contemplative.
"Yeah, but now he's got lightning and super strength or something… although... it might've been one of his illusions, but it felt pretty real…" Blood_Spider muttered.
.:Awfully late for a quirk to appear…:. A second voice muttered from the TV. The Doctor, if he remembered right.
.:Agreed…:. Sensei sounded… not quite happy, but eager, as if he had finally figured out the answer of a puzzle.
"Well I want that deku destroyed, and I'll do anything to get it done!" Blood_Spider stood up, ripping off his mask. "A Quirkless little shit like him shouldn't have gotten into Shinketsu's hero course, let alone the best Hero School in the world!"
.:....hm…:. The Doctor's voice was contemplative, considering. .:It just so happens that a contact in the States recently offered a batch of DNA samples of some Pre-Quirk era heroes. They weren't of much use to us, so I turned it down, but… well… what better way to stop a Mysterio, than with a Spider-Man?:.
.:Excellent idea, Doctor! In the meantime… perhaps our little… investment at the school can make himself useful to us and plant a few seeds of discord against the boy.:. Sensei suggested, and Shigaraki could practically hear the evil smile in his words.
At home, Midoriya was looked over by his mom, who was alternating between holding her baby boy in relief and shaking him in rage over his actions.
Midoriya was halfway through an explanation of what exactly he had done when Tsuburaya's house drone activated.
"Midoriya, turn on the TV to the news, NOW!"
Shocked by the urgency in his voice, Inko grabbed the remote and obeyed. When she saw what was displayed, her anger and worry was replaced by fear, for the news was depicting a picture of Midoriya, in his battle damaged Mysterio outfit being tended to by a paramedic, with his hair poking out, with a caption beneath it.
UA HIGHSCHOOL ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO BE VILLAINS?