Chapter 68: The Final Countdown
"Shimmy your knees just like this," Peter demonstrates, placing his knees together and shimmying them from side to side. Todoroki takes notes. "This will be the base of many of your solo dance-offs. It's simple, easy to transition into a variety of dances, and makes yourself smaller just in case you're getting shot at."
"Many of your lessons involve how to avoid gunfire."
"It's a common occurrence on the job. Speaking of that," he begins to slowly make his way closer to Todoroki, still dancing, "if you think you'll need more time, you can just," he snaps his arm up, stopping himself just short of hitting Todoroki in between the legs, "punch them right in the balls. You'd be surprised how many guys don't see it coming."
Todoroki shrugs, writing it down. "Simple and dirty, but effective I suppose."
"Trust me, kid." Peter straightens and stretches his arms over his head. "You get in enough scraps to the death, what's clean or dirty in a fight starts to matter a heck of a lot less. C'mon, you're late for lunch." He pats the teen's shoulder, leading him out of the area they had been in. Luckily, they weren't far from where everyone was meeting.
"Once I'm done making a full list of the materials we need, I'll hand it over to Rocket to get what we need to make you a set of elemental guns. Hopefully that Yaoyorozu girl can help out," Peter lets him know. Todoroki hums. "Until then, how about after lunch, we strap some rockets to your legs to see how you handle them?"
"Will I be learning to dance in them as well?"
"No, you-" Peter stops, a grin slowly spreading over his face. "Dance-offs in the air! That's genius! Why didn't I ever think of that?"
Todoroki shrugs, letting the next few minutes pass in comfortable silence before bringing up a question he's had for a while. "What rank are you?" Peter tilts his head, eyebrows scrunching up in a questioning look. "I mean to say, what hero ranking do you or your team have?"
"Ohhhhh," Peter nods in realization. "Right, I always forget that's a thing. Well, not to brag or anything, but as easily as I could become number one, we don't pay attention to that sorta stuff."
"You don't?"
"Nah." Peter puts his hands behind his head. "We prefer to focus on the more important things. Like saving whoever needs to be saved, liberating planets," he gives Todoroki a tiny bump, "and getting a nice payday for it."
"But you still save people even if they don't have money, yeah?"
"Well, yeah!" Peter answers, sounding offended. "What do you take us for? Even if we aren't paid, we make sure every single person is safe and sound."
"That's good-"
"And then we steal their stuff."
"What?"
"Nothing," Peter chuckles. "Point is, we don't care about where we rank on anybody's list."
"I see…" Todoroki lets go of the other thing Peter had said… for now. "And what do you expect of me?" The Guardian, again, gives him a curious head tilt, prompting him to keep going. "With the specialized training you've been giving me, not to mention the practice with your own gear, I assume you have some expectations for me to reach."
To the teen's shock, Peter laughs. Hard. "Expectations? For you? Kid, the only thing I want for you is to enjoy life. And if I can help ya use your quirk a bit easier, then that's all the better."
"So, that's it?" Todoroki stops right before they reach their destination, forcing Peter to stop and turn as well. "You're not expecting me to be number one, even number two? Top ten?"
Peter shrugs. "To be honest, kid, you could decide in three years the hero gig isn't for you, and I'd be fine with that. Keep the stuff I gave you." He covers one side of his mouth. "Go vigilante, less rules, more fun," he whispers with a smirk. "Or if you want even fewer rules, call me, and we can see if our team has any open spots." Todoroki's eyes widen. "Yeah, we can pretty much do anything. Now go eat with your friends."
The teen hesitates a moment, before nodding. "Thank you for answering my questions." Peter waves him off, before turning around to find Logan standing apart from the kids, watching them.
"I don't think they sent those kids here so you could encourage them to be outlaws, bub," Logan comments in between puffs of his cigar.
Peter snickers, moving to stand next to him, the pair watching the kids get their trays of food and sit together, joking and laughing. "Kinda hypocritical coming from the guy who spent over half his life running from the law."
"You say that like I had a fucking choice." Logan shakes his head. "Least we didn't run around with such a pretentious name."
"Please, you named yourself Wolverine. It sounds like you came up with your edgy hero name when you were twelve and never changed it."
Logan chuckles. "Big talk coming from the guy whose birth certificate is an apology from the condom manufacturer."
Peter snorts in return. "Huh, now that I think about it, the kids can't hear us." He smirks at the opportunity to make his insults cruder. "So, Wolverine, if you want my comeback, you'll have to scrape it off your mom's teeth."
"Is that right?" Logan looks over. "Better than your mom having to shit you out when you were born since her cunt was too busy."
The Guardian gasps, laughing so hard he can't breathe as he leans on Logan for support, who is trying very hard not to show his own enjoyment, choosing instead to shove him off. "Alright, alright, that was good, I'll give this one to you!" Peter barely gets out in between his chuckles.
"Star-Lord!" The men look to the side, Peter attempting to stifle his laughter as quick as he can, finding a Xandarian soldier jogging to them. "I have some forms for you to sign. It's approval for new guard patrol routes." Peter rolls his eyes, quickly taking the papers and scribbling on them, before the soldier takes back the stack way too fast.
"Ow!" He shakes his hand, sucking on his thumb. "Paper cut! Really bad paper cut!"
"Enough of this! I-" Admiral Dran jumps when the alarm button next to her and Compress goes off, alerting their security team that they were in danger. What happened? She didn't activate the alarm.
Without missing a beat, Taskmaster has his blaster at the head of the tech who had first alerted them to Scavenger One's re-emerging. "Shut it off. Now!"
The tech immediately complies, putting his hands up briefly before typing a code on the computer, turning off the alarm. He rears his blaster back on Dran. "You're making my work day harder. I don't appreciate my work day being made harder."
The comm system beeps. "Admiral Dran! We're headed to your position! Is everything alright?"
"Tell them you're fine and to back off," Taskmaster orders, keeping his blaster on Dran.
"No," she replies with a smirk.
Taskmaster growls in annoyance, grabbing the tech next to him and shoving him in front of the computer. "Finish what I was doing." He stalks over to Dran, placing the blaster against her head. "Call your security off or I light up your head."
"For Xandar," Dran simply says, closing her eyes, perfectly content to die for her people.
"Have it your way." Taskmaster shoves the blaster roughly against her forehead, finger wrapping around the trigger and-
He surprises the Admiral when he takes the weapon away from her head. What is he- a scream rips its way out of her throat as Taskmaster suddenly plunges a large knife into her shoulder. She can feel the serrated edges tearing the inside of her arm up as he twists the knife, slower than he needed to, eliciting both another scream from her and more blood to pour out of her body.
"Heh." Taskmaster rips the blade out of her without much concern, wiping it off on the pilot jumpsuit he wears. "You should've just called them off." He walks away, leaving Dran to crumple to the ground with a whimper, her blood pooling on the ground beneath her as she clutches her arm, willing the tears prickling at her eyes to not fall. "Toga, use her blood to transform into her and call off security," Taskmaster commands, moving back to his original position at the terminal.
"I don't take orders from you!" Toga responds stubbornly. "Besides, as much as the thought of tasting alien blood excites me," the teen girl states with a little pant in her voice. "I'm not too sure if my quirk works with someone who isn't human."
"That is… a fair point," Compress agrees. "Without knowing the full effects, we could be endangering her life and in turn, disobeying Shigaraki's order of all of us returning to Earth safely. I suppose, then, it is up to her."
The rest of the League turns to Shiragaki, who had been watching the interaction silently, which is fine to Dran and her throbbing arm. They can take all the time they need as far as she's concerned. Every second they waste is a second closer to their security team getting there and freeing her.
"They have a point, kid," Nagant shrugs.
Shigaraki thinks for a moment more, before snapping her fingers. "Maybe your quirk doesn't work with aliens. But how about we test that?"
As the group gives her quizzical looks, Compress gestures down at Dran. "Shigaraki, may I? She may still be of some use." The Xandarian is confused as Shigaraki nods, becoming even more so as Compress kneels down and expands one of his marbles to reveal a box of medical supplies, which he used to start dressing her wound.
"…Why?" Dran's not sure why her voice comes out in a breathy whisper.
"I have experience in taking care of stab wounds," is all Compress will say.
"Twice." A masked man goes from looking down the barrel of a blaster to tripping over himself back to standing all in a matter of seconds as Shigaraki calls for him. "We need to see if Toga's quirk can handle non-humans. Clone her."
Peter sucks on his thumb before wiping the blood off, annoyed at the slight throb on his thumb. Logan and him distract themselves by watching the kids interact as they eat lunch, already benefiting from the bonding exercises they had been subject to. Whether it was several of the kids throwing food at one another, or Kitty giggling as she used her powers to trap Sero halfway through one of the tables, or Mirio standing next to her, looking absolutely peeved as she demonstrates the flexibility of her powers.
Midoriya grabs his tray and sprints through the tables, taking extra care to turn invisible when passing Yaoyorozu's table, and arrives at his table just as his usual group of friends plus a few others do the same, with Aizawa surprisingly standing by. Probably keeping an eye on his local trickster. As usual, one of Peter's songs plays overhead on the speakers.
"Can we just talk about what Star-Lord told us this morning?!" Mina squeals as everyone begins to eat. "Santa Claus is real! First aliens, now Santa?! What's next?!"
"I still think he's messing with us. Midoriya probably put him up to it." The pink girl gives Shinso a scandalous look, but he just shrugs. "I'm just saying, I was up almost every Christmas night growing up and never saw him."
"You just lack the Christmas spirit!" Mina accuses.
"I couldn't be any jollier if I tried." Shinso's voice also couldn't be any more deadpan if he tried.
"Well if Christmas doesn't make you smile, then what does?!"
Shinso holds his cup out to her. "Coffee makes me grimace slightly less."
"I'd just give it up now, Mina!" Denki calls over. "I've been trying for weeks and dude just doesn't laugh."
"Maybe you're just not funny." Izuku snickers, taking a sip from his Josta soda, before choking as Denki puts him in a headlock from behind, lifting him from the table.
"Say I'm not funny again! I dare you! I double dare you!"
"But…I didn't say I'm not funny…" Izuku chokes out. "I said you're not funny- urk!"
"Kaminari, stop choking him!" Tokage chastises him. "You're not Uraraka, he won't like that coming from you."
"Tokage!!"
Mina snickers, looking back at Shinso, who hadn't even cracked a smile. "Oh, c'mon! That didn't make you laugh either?! Fine!" She slams her hands on the table, standing. "Mina Ashido refuses to back down from any challenge!"
"I wasn't challenging you-"
"I will find what makes you laugh if it's the last thing I do!"
Shinso scoffs, taking another sip of his coffee. "You've got a better chance of making me sleep."
"Alright then! We'll start simple!" Mina plops back in her chair, crossing her arms. "We'll start by making you smile. What makes you happy?"
"Not having conversations."
"Try again."
Shinso makes a sound that clearly conveys his annoyance but Mina doesn't budge, causing him to sigh. "Cats. Cats make me happy."
"Great!" She whips out her phone, unlocking it and handing it to him. "This is Jonesy." At the sight of Mina's cat, Shinso's features immediately relax, looking in much better spirits than he was moments ago. "I knew it! It's already working!"
"No!" He slides the phone back to her, but Mina grins, sliding it back. "I have more pictures of him…you know, if you want."
Shinso blinks. "This doesn't prove anything," he says before snatching the phone back up to slide through the pictures.
Mina giggles. "I knew it. But back to the Santa thing! What do you think about all of this, Sensei?" They all look to Aizawa, curious to hear an adult's opinion on Santa being real.
To their disappointment, he just hums. "I tend to only believe things I see." As his students begin to seem disheartened, he adds, "but I suppose my beliefs have been challenged a great deal lately. And if that is the case, it wasn't as bad as I thought when you had that Santa actor come visit Eri last year, Midoriya." One by one, everyone at the table turns to Izuku as he decidedly does not say anything, choosing to continue sipping on his soda instead.
"Midoriya?" Tsu questions.
Aizawa grows suspicious, his gaze darkening. "Problem child…"
Izuku still won't look at anyone. "I asked Nezu first…and I didn't expect him to actually show up…"
Silence. And then-
"That was the real Santa Claus, wasn't it?" Aizawa doesn't sound mad, just accepting what he knows is coming.
"…Yeah." Izuku's head finally snaps up to his teacher. "But like I said, I didn't think he'd actually come or bring all of those throwing knives for Eri!" Aizawa's eye twitches. "I just told him some of what she had been through in my letter, which I didn't think he'd even look at since I've been on the naughty list for so long-"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Ochako stops him, waving her hands in front of her. "You're on the naughty list?!"
"I'm not surprised." Denki leans back in his chair.
"Me neither," Tenko agrees.
"Same," Shinso does as well.
"Me too!" Sero lands on the table briefly before swinging away, still chasing Kitty.
Tsu taps her mouth. "It is a bit surprising. While you do pull a lot of pranks, people rarely get hurt." She ribbits in thought. "And you are kind to a fault. So why would-"
"I stabbed him."
Silence again.
"What?! I was five!" Izuku defends himself. "I was really taking to my dad's lessons about knives and I thought he was a home invader!"
"…Ribbit. I can't even say I'm surprised."
Tsu's words break the stupor, causing everyone at the table to laugh. Izuku looks relieved, while Aizawa bravely fights off his mental breakdown once again, buying himself at least another day.
"That guy still owes me a pony," Toru grumbles, her sleeves indicating she's crossing her arms in a pout, making everyone laugh more.
"Sorry," Izuku giggles. "He can't do animals, it's one of the rules."
"Santa has rules?" Kendo questions, making her way over as Tokage makes room for her. "Is it stuff about not being seen and having to eat the cookies and milk? Also, do you know if any of the rest of us are on the naughty list? I might have gotten into a few fights growing up…"
"I'm actually curious if adults are also tracked for the list," Todoroki speaks up.
"I'm not sure about the list but I do have the rules!" Izuku conjures a scroll and tosses it at Iida. "You'll like these, Iida, why don't you read them?"
"I can't exactly disagree with your assessment," Iida responds, standing while unraveling the scroll. "As it's comforting to know that a being powerful enough to traverse the entire world in one night at least has his own set of guidelines to keep him in check."
"And good thing too!" Kitty phases through the ground, plopping herself right in an empty seat by Mina. "Because I'm not sure who could stop him! Trying to fight him would be like ten of us level ones trying to fight like a challenge rating thirty-five monster!"
Tenko nods. "That makes sense; I appreciate when someone makes it simple."
"I can understand every language and I don't even know what she just said." Denki twists a finger in his ear.
After finishing taking another bite of his food, Todoroki simply says, "she means we would die quickly to Santa without much effort on his part."
Iida clears his throat. "If I may continue with the original path of our conversation?" No one interrupts. "Very well. Now, according to this, rule number one is that it is forbidden to transport live animals or eggs due to children not having the proper housing for them."
"But the pony could've slept in my room and we had a big backyard!" Toru cries as Mina pats her back.
"Rule number two, large weapons are forbidden."
"But what if someone needs them?" Mina cuts in. "Like a hero? What are they supposed-"
"-to use then? Harsh words?" Kitty finishes.
Mina's neck creaks over to the older girl. "Y-you just finished my Alien quote…"
"The line is from the sequel, Aliens, actually-" Kitty covers her mouth. "Sorry! That was rude! Sometimes I can't stop my geeky self from just butting in and-"
"You. Are. Awesome!" Mina doesn't let her finish, shaking the member of the X-Men almost violently, but Kitty laughs anyway, seemingly relieved. "And of course I knew that line was from Aliens! I was just so stunned that-"
Iida clears his throat again, getting sheepish grins from the pair. "Rule three, magical items are not to be gifted to children who cannot safely use them."
"Oh, thank gods," Aizawa says before he can stop himself, thanking whoever is listening. "But he is okay with gifting Eri more knives?" he asks, to which Izuku helpfully tells him that the knives weren't magic. "…Wonderful."
"Rules for Saint Nicholas?" Tokoyami questions, stopping as he and Yanagi walk by.
"Oh, OH!" Dark Shadow pops out. "Can we send our letters to him now? I know exactly what I want!"
"Rule number four, drugs, dangerous chemicals, and radioactive substances are not to be gifted under any circumstances."
"…Nevermind."
Tokoyami rubs his quirk on the back, walking away as Yanagi speaks quietly to him. "While I always understood why my peers were attracted to the warmth and light that Father Christmas brought, I was always more fascinated by the tales of Krampus."
"The punisher of bad children," Tokoyami nods. "I, too, was always more interested in his myths as well. Would you like to, perhaps, discuss the different accounts we may have been told about him?" Yanagi hums positively, leading him to another table. Behind him, Dark Shadow slowly lifts her hand to Tokoyami for a fist bump. He responds by shoving his snickering quirk away and walking in the other direction.
"Rule five, Santa cannot make any parties 'like' or fall in love with one another." Iida tilts his head. "And there is another section that says 'bother Cupid for that' but it has been crossed out." Izuku and Denki wince.
"And-" Iida pauses. "Midoriya, why is there an addendum labeled Loki and Lokison?"
Everyone turns to the demigod who smiles innocently. "Me and my dad figured since we were already on the naughty list, we'd try to figure out what we could get away with asking for?"
"This oughta be good." Tokage laughs, firing one of her black strands back to the food line and grabbing a huge Turkey leg and bringing it back for Venom to scarf down on.
"How could you have such good aim?" Sero laments, slowly lowering himself down from the ceiling by his tape.
"Maybe because we have me, and aren't some shameless copycat of the original Spider-Man," Venom snarls, finishing his food and staring down Tokage until she rolls her eyes and gets him more.
"Not this again!" Sero yells, agitated. "I'm not trying to be like him! And I thought you hated him anyway!"
"We came to an understanding later in his life," Venom replies simply, still eating. "Causing me to hate him slightly less."
"That's not what your memories say," Venom growls at her and she smirks at him. "Sorry but I'm getting better at this two-way street thing with our mind."
The symbiote exhales heavily, gazing back at Sero. "I haven't had a proper fight with a spider in a long time, so get better with your powers quickly. We will not be going as easy the next time we fight."
"You put my head through a wall!"
"And you!" Venom whirls back on Tokage. "You shut your mouth before I tell the little Asgardian about some of the chemicals your brain was releasing on the maglev. I counted Endorphins, Oxytocin, Dopamine… all, coincidentally, are the same chemicals activated when you humans wish to mate-"
Tokage tackles Venom, covering its mouth and wrestling it into the table. "Dude…" Kendo whispers from next to her. "Was that the scientific way of saying you were horny-"
"Shut it or die!"
Iida's eyes scan over the scroll, unaware of what had just happened. "This addendum is interesting. "Why did you ask to borrow Excalibur, Midoriya?"
"To see if it could cut Mjolnir!"
"I see. And your reason for wanting Captain America's shield?"
"Eri needed a sled!"
"And you were going to give her a piece of history?" Aizawa raises an eyebrow.
"…She said she needed a fast sled?"
"Midoriya! How could you possibly even think about desecrating a priceless artifact like that?!" Iida asks, aghast.
"Uncle Thor said, and I quote, 'it would've made Steve laugh.'"
Iida shakes his head in disbelief. "Back to the rules. The next one says he cannot bestow luck or good fortune on business deals."
"So, that's why I never got what I asked for." Uraraka turns a bit red as everyone stares at her, maybe not realizing she had said that out loud.
"O-oh…well, as some of you know, my parents didn't run the most successful construction company growing up, and they always seemed to worry about money the most during the holidays, so I always asked Santa to get them a good contract. That way, they wouldn't have to worry anymore…" Without a word, Midoriya stands, and heads to the door. "Wait, Deku, where are you going?"
"North Pole. I'm gonna stab Santa again. On purpose this time."
"Izuku, no!"
"Izuku, yes!"
Back with Logan and Peter, the two had long calmed themselves down from their earlier taunts, standing in silence as they watch the kids. "You have a very buddy approach to teaching," Logan eventually says.
"Just my style." Peter crosses his arms. "Kids listen more when they see you more as a peer than an authority figure. Source: Me. I didn't do shit anyone who thought they were above me told me to do growing up."
"So, you become friends with them?"
"If the kids want me to be." He takes a deep breath, slowly exhaling. "They're young with their whole lives ahead of them, might as well help them avoid some of the mistakes I made. You know, be something for them to lean on when figuring things out, since god knows we didn't have that." Logan snorts quietly, not disagreeing. "Yeah, they'll probably figure out eventually they don't wanna hang out with an old head, but when they leave-"
"They need to be free to make their own mistakes too," Logan finishes where Peter was going. "Just gotta make sure you're there when and if the shit stains come back for more advice." Peter gives him an appraising look. "Don't look at me like that. I've been running Charles' school for centuries now. You pick up a thing or two."
"Pretty sure it's your school by this point."
"Shut it."
"Uh, I have a question!" The pair looks down to find Kitty crawling out from the ground with an ecstatic Izuku, who was writing at a blistering pace in his notebook about having just experienced phasing. It seems she had helped him get away. "Can adults really be that freaking dumb?!"
"She gets that from you, I assume?" Peter laughs at Wolverine.
"Unfortunately, yes."
"No, seriously!" Kitty interrupts them. "You both are here talking about always being there for us kids, but hello, but who's there for you when you need it?!"
"That's easy." Logan plucks his cigar from his mouth. "This." He presents the cigar to her.
Peter shrugs. "I just stick to using humor as a defense mechanism."
"Wait, really? Me too!" Izuku runs up to the Guardian.
"I knew I liked you!" Peter high-fives him.
Meanwhile, Kitty couldn't be facepalming harder. "Grown-ups can be so stupid I swear to-" She grabs Izuku, "we gotta get back, but this conversation isn't over!" She stares each man down before running back with her new green-haired friend.
"Sir." The Xandarian soldier grabs his attention again, having sorted the files Peter had signed. "Your assistance is also required at the cell blocks."
He nods, looking toward Logan who grunts. "I'll make sure they all get back to their sites. Go."
"The security team has returned to being on standby." The tech hits another button. "And all code protocols have been shut down." He swallows nervously, turning around in his chair to Shigaraki. "The control room is yours."
"Thank you. See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" she questions. Behind her, Compress leads Dran to a chair, her arm now bandaged up, and gingerly ties her to it. "Now, layer every camera feed with their exact coordinates."
"This is still pointless," Dran tries. "This room doesn't give you anywhere near control of the entire station, and you expect to just walk everywhere you want to go? They'd see you coming from a klick away! The moment you open those doors, you'll be spotted and gunned down. And even if you make it past my men, you'll never get away from the Guardians. You, girl with the white cape." Shigaraki turns around, raising an eyebrow. "You're the one in charge, aren't you? Don't get your people killed; surrender while you still can."
"Threats haven't worked so she's trying to appeal to your humanity." Nagant doesn't look away from the camera feeds, studying them. "It's not the worst attempt I've ever heard."
"No, I guess it wasn't. And she is right about a couple of things. Firstly, the Guardians will be a problem." Shigaraki picks up a tablet and types on it for a moment before handing it to the tech. "Show us where they are. You mentioned something about the cell blocks, Admiral? That gave me an idea."
Ochako ducks Izuku's kick just in time, rolling away as the demigod is forced to parry an attack from Iida, their dark swords creating a brief spark as they scratch against one another. She uses the distraction as an opportunity, firing several of her rings at Izuku, but he knocks them all aside with the dagger in his other hand, before flipping through the air and kicking Iida back toward her.
"Is that the best you got?" Izuku taunts. "All that time I spent helping you two, and you can barely touch me!" The many water pipes around the trio whistle every now and then, pulling their attention.
"Uraraka…" Iida pants from his place next to her. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't out of breath too. "I believe Midoriya means to bait us into attacking him blindly again. And while I am not usually one to be tempted by such obvious provocations, I believe I still owe our friend for trading me to Yaoyorozu's team without my consent."
"That was a joke!!"
"You had her draw up paperwork later!"
"It was all part of the bit!"
"It was laminated!"
Ochako twists her arm, forming a whip with her rings that she fires at Izuku, but much to her frustration, he leans back, dodging her surprise attack again. "You're getting predictable, Ochako! Don't you have anything new?" He slashes one of the water pipes near him with his sword, spraying water everywhere momentarily, before freezing it and spraying Ochako with dozens of tiny shards.
While spinning her rings around her creates a shield that easily blocks the ice, it allows Izuku to flip toward Iida once again, the pair exchanging a couple of blows with their swords. And while it's obvious that Iida is improving greatly, he still isn't a match for Izuku. And that's before the trickster uses his magic during the fight, turning invisible and creating a circle of clones around the helpless blue-haired boy to confuse him while attacking from random angles.
But Iida isn't as helpless as Izuku thinks, slamming his sword into the ground and creating a blast around him that forces the greenette to reappear and off his feet. With his concentration disrupted, and the ice pelting her gone, Ochako quickly taps herself, removing her gravity, and jumps toward her sparring partner.
"Iida!" She slaps him and he understands immediately, his engines roaring as with his own gravity removed, he practically teleports to Izuku as he's still trying to regain his footing, kneeing the son of Loki in the gut. Hard.
He lets out a pained gasp, dropping both of his weapons in the process as he slams into the wall. Ochako cancels her quirk and runs over, attempting to land a solid punch to his face, but even in his pained state, Izuku still blocks her fist.
But that's what she wanted. The ring on her forearm expands before traveling over and shrinking down over Izuku's wrist, clamping down tightly and forcing his arm against the wall. "Wha-" he can't finish before three more rings trap his other limbs against the wall in the same way.
"How's that for new?" Ochako turns the taunting on her boyfriend as he desperately tries to pull his arms free but can't. "What? Did you not see that coming?" He gives her an admittedly adorable glare. "You're not the only one learning new tricks."
Izuku tries again to free himself but no dice. "Not bad. But sorry, I'm going to have to-"
"Iida, Izuku is going to try and turn into an animal to free himself, blast him if he does." Ochako smirks as the demigod's mouth drops. "Who's predictable again?"
"…You look very pretty when you're winning a fight?"
Ochako ignores her quickening heart and steaming face to keep staring down Izuku. She knows he's trying to distract her to have time to escape, which, Ochako is ashamed to admit may have worked once or twice in the past… but she doesn't let it get to her so easily this time! Instead, she replies, "then I must look beautiful right now."
She will not go into the satisfaction she feels with how red his face gets.
But they're both saved by Iida's chopping hands. "Cease your flirtatious squabble of words immediately! There is no place for that in a fight!"
"Actually, there is!" The three students look over as Rocket approaches them with Groot at his side and a Xandarian soldier behind them. "It's a great distraction technique for the morons who think with their dick first. Do you know how many times I've seen some chick kick Quill's ass because he-"
"I am Groot."
"What? They're not that young!"
"I am Groot."
"Fine! How about this?" He turns back to the kids. "It's a great distraction technique for when your cognition is tainted by sexual arousal." He looks back at Groot. "That's as good as it's gonna get, you sensitive tree."
"I. Am. Groot," Izuku says, causing the Guardian to snicker.
"Woah!" Rocket backs up a step. "You can't yell at me for cussing around the kids and then laugh when he says something like that!" He groans, rubbing his eyes. "Just watch your mouth, Greenie. Anyway, are you three good to get back to lunch without me or Groot? Apparently, we just have to get to the cell blocks 'cause there's no one else in this entire station that can handle whatever's going on."
"We will be safe and on our best behavior, Sensei!" Iida chops.
"I doubt it, but as long as you don't die, I don't care." Rocket shrugs, letting the soldier lead him and Groot away, leaving the trio alone once more.
"Now that that's done…" Izuku turns his palms as they begin to glow. "You said something about our new powers, Ochako?" He asks, charging up twin energy blasts. She responds by igniting her rings, their power increasing exponentially as Iida does the same with the Ebony Blade.
They failed at being safe impressively fast.
Nagant lowers her hand from her ear. "The Guardians are off the board."
Hirona nods, cupping her face with her hand. "What was that other problem you mentioned again?" She asks Dran. "Oh, right. We can't leave this room without being killed. Well, no worries there!" She cheers a little too happily as coordinates begin to pop up on all of the security feeds with Kurogiri forming beside her, creating a portal. "We figured out a way around that too."
She walks through with Nagant, Toga, and Dabi behind her, appearing at the top of a conglomerate of buildings in the center of the station, a giant dome-like structure near them. A Xandarian soldier waits for them. "Did you get what we needed?" Hirona questions, walking briskly up.
The clone of Taskmaster removes his helmet. "Yeah." He holds up a stack of papers, a small knife in between them dripping with blood, Star-Lord's blood. "And Toga's clone is leading the Guardians on a good chase at the cells." He flips the handle around for Toga, staring down at the blade momentarily before tasting the blood and transforming into the hero.
She looks over at Hirona, who urges her to move so she does, placing Peter's palm against the hand reader and opening up a pair of sliding doors, a blast of warm air treating the villains.
Hirona strides in right after, looking up, taken aback. It is one thing to read about something on some schematics, but to see the tree that is powering most of Knowhere in person is something else. It's bigger than she could have ever imagined, its green vibrancy reflecting in her dark brown eyes as it seemingly glows brighter, as if it knows what they're there to do and is giving one last protest.
She will never admit it, although her hesitation may be enough for her fellow villains, but something inside her feels wrong to tamper with something that felt more alive than any person she had met.
And more innocent.
But that's the world - no she's in space - that's the universe they live in. No matter how innocent anything may seem, the universe is cruel. It twists and bends whatever it wants, pushing and pushing until… until whatever it touches can't recognize itself anymore.
"Dabi."
That's all the scarred man needs before he's torching the tree in blue flames. Hirona swears she can hear a scream as she turns around, walking back outside. Lights and power all around the station immediately begin to falter, trying desperately to stay on.
But the flames behind her grow by the second, a raging inferno of blue, whose smoke is slowly smothering the light of Knowhere as alarms start to screech all around them. A beacon to all the heroes. They are here.
Workers cry out in terror as they try to dodge fireballs being hurled by what can only be described as a living tornado made of flames, forcing all of the hangar's crew to the exits.
Which makes them easy prey for Kraven's traps as the hunter ensnares, knocks out, or skewers everyone before they can leave. From the top of the room, Mustard stares down at the carnage, wearing green and gold armor complete with a purple cape. A fish bowl helmet is tucked under his arm as he checks his wrist screen, directing the drones that had created his illusion.
"This is Mustard," he says over their comms. "The hangar is ours. No ships are coming in or out."
"Daken here." The last Xandarian soldier slides off his bone claw, landing with a tiny squench as they hit the ground, blood pooling everywhere. "The Continuum Cortex is secure. The hero kids won't be teleporting out of here anytime soon."
Next to him, one of the Nomu they had brought roars.
Hirona walks up to the edge, putting a hand to her ear. "You can launch the fighters now," she tells their ship, enjoying as nearly all of Knowhere goes dark ahead of her.
Toga and Compress watch the blue fireball from a distance. The streets around them are chaotic as residents of the station ignore them, running for cover or shelters as more screams begin to litter the fastly darkening station.
The sound of screeching distracts the pair as starships begin to make strafing runs around the station, targeting centers that house soldiers before they can get organized. A few attempt to activate defensive turrets but as they do, a new type of screeching fills their ears. The soldiers scream, firing desperately as a winged Nomu descends upon them, picking the soldiers up one by one and flying them into the darkness, never to be seen again.
"This," Compress says, explosions and fire surround them. "This is why we're here."
Peter moves to the side, dodging the blaster bolts from the escaped prisoner's stolen gun before shooting him. He uses his rocket boots to fire himself into the air at the next prisoner, tackling the humanoid to the ground and knocking him out while rolling to his feet.
"What the hell is happening?" he shouts to Gamora over Knowhere's alarm system. One second they're chasing a few escaped prisoners and the next, the entire cell block system is locked down, trapping them with every prisoner and their cells deactivated.
"I have no idea!" She slashes her sword upward on one man before twisting around and kicking the next in the face. "And none of these guys seem too talkative!"
Peter uses his gun to block a blade aimed for his head. "It's as if they resent being imprisoned!"
Shota whips around, the door to their security office sealing itself off, the station's loud alarms blaring directly into his ear, as each blast makes him think of a different student and what might be happening to them right now.
"I-I-I had n-nothing to do with this, I swear!" Aoyama cries.
"I know…" Even with a voice modulator, Comsmo's worry is palpable as she checks the slowly failing cameras, watching as every one of Knowhere's life support systems slowly drain.
The sounds of battle and destruction join the alarms in filling the station. The only light, the only warmth, now coming from the blaze of blue fire behind Hirona, whipping her cape wildly.
"The plan worked." Nagant walks up beside her. "And this seems to be going better than your first attack at the USJ already. Not bad I'd say."
The compliment helps strengthen Hirona's convictions. "You know how sequels are usually worse than the originals?" Nagant hums, looking down at Hirona, who hadn't stopped staring out at the station. "I'm hoping to change that."