It's official. He's thought it over before, but now he knows for certain. Tenko no longer wishes his life was like a video game. Or if it was. He wishes his life came with the most important piece. That being… the damn reset button.
Because not only is his life a video game. But it's a freaking interactive horror game right now! And without even realizing it, Tenko must've made every bad choice possible to end up where he is. He just wants to reset it. He wants it to stop.
He closes his eyes to block out the screams. All around him, he hears people screaming as the Sentinels descend on them from above. Helicopters flying. Buildings being destroyed. More screaming. Gunshots from desperate police. It's all crashing down on him.
He needs to move. He needs to help. Tenko struggles against whatever invisible bindings All for One keeps him trapped with. 'C'mon. C'mon! I'm supposed to be a cheat code! And if this game doesn't have a reset, then I'm gonna have to break it!'
"Magnificent sight, wouldn't you say?" Despite All for One's chilling voice slicing through the noise, Tenko presses on, trying everything he can to break free. Meanwhile, All Might and Thor glare at the villain ahead of them.
All for One's grin is wider than ever. "All of this destruction, it's beautiful. Like a renaissance painting." He breathes in deeply, looking out at the horizon. "A work of art." A low chuckle emanates from his throat. "Painted in blood."
All Might's anger can no longer be contained. "DAMN YOU!!" The Symbol of Peace yells with righteous fury as he charges his nemesis, leaving a crater where he once stood. "THOR!!"
"Understood!" Spinning his hammer, the God of Thunder leaps into the air at Master Mold, intending to destroy it with a single blow and at least stop the production of Sentinels, or maybe shut them down altogether.
Tenko had opened his eyes when he heard All Might yell, and to him, his mentor is moving faster than ever, his fist already grazing All for One's face by the time the teen even realizes he has moved.
And yet, All for One is still faster.
"As if I'd let you."
With a blink, All for One switches places with Thor and laughs up in the air as the number one hero devastates Thor's face that had been intended for the villain. The Avenger, not being ready for the hit, is sent careening back into the rubble of the factory.
"Oh my," All for One feigns concern, floating back down to the ground. "That's a little embarrassing. If you would like, we could try again? Let's see how many heroes I can trick you into mindlessly punching until you get the message."
"I have a better idea!" Thor stands and dusts the last of the factory's debris off of him. "Why don't I take care of you the same way I take care of most of my problems." Arcs of electricity buzz down the god's body as the thunder above them responds to his call. "By blasting you with a big ass lightning bolt."
The sky lights up as a pair of momentous lightning bolts streak down together, one heading for All for One and the other to Master Mold. But just before they reach either, they stop. The lightning freezes in the air, suspended above its attended targets, still sizzling.
Thor's face drops. "What-"
"Excellent idea!" All for One waves his hand, and the lightning above him moves to Master Mold and starts to reform itself into a new shape around the giant robot. "I hadn't considered you coming here, Odinson, so I was unprepared for your wide and ranging abilities. But I have come to the conclusion that the answer to the problem that is you… is also you!"
The lightning locks into place as All for One uses it to create a spherical shield around Master Mold. It still allows Sentinels out. But nothing in. "What better way to defend from your powers than by using your own powers against you!" All for One laughs. "Now, all ranged attacks are useless and the only person who can travel through the shield is… you. But I imagine you will be a bit too preoccupied to do so.
"This plan is so simple, I feel ashamed that I didn't think of it sooner. Or that we didn't prioritize a shield for Master Mold. But that's hardly a surprise given how much we needed to accomplish just for this night to occur. All of the resources required to construct our factory and disguise it as a Nomu production facility. While being sure that our actual remaining Nomu-"
With a crack of wind pressure, All Might and Thor charge All for One together. "Nebraska Smash!!" The number one hero rotates his arm as he punches, faster and faster until he generates a small but powerful tornado. A tornado that Thor makes deadlier by adding his lightning to it.
But just before his attack can hit, All for One dodges again, frustrating the heroes as the villain teleports a short distance away, chuckling. "Look at me! Monologuing, how shameful." The villain shakes his head. "And it almost cost me as well." He feels his slightly singed suit. "What a silly mistake to make. But you know what they say."
It's as if his very words weigh the air down around them, heightening the noise from the city. "Old habits…" The sounds of people screaming and dying excites the demon lord. "Die hard." He cackles madly at his own sick joke.
"I have met conquerors with a higher sense of morality than your foe, All Might," Thor informs his partner in battle.
All Might clenches his fist so hard, his arm is shaking. "I believe you…" He looks to Tenko, still trapped. "I must stop him tonight. No matter the cost."
"If you wish to do so, then you must calm yourself down, my friend," the God of Thunder advises, looking All Might up and down. "Fighting in anger will only leave you blind to the trap your enemy has set."
For a moment, it seems like All Might wants to do anything but that as he continues to glare at his mortal enemy. But after taking a second or two, he seems to finally consider Thor's words and take a breath. And though Japan's hero still seems plenty angry, he's at least calmed down from being reckless.
"Thank you," All Might says after another breath. "You reminded me how All for One used this same tactic against me in our last fight. Well, no more! I will heed your years of experience and fight in anger no longer!"
"Wonderful!" The pair lower themselves into fighting stances. "I am glad to help! I believe even my father is surprised how far I've come since almost causing that genocide."
"Yes, you- wait, excuse me?"
Thor waves him off with his hammer. "Don't worry! It was this whole thing with my brother when we were younger. I helped him sneak off to meet his biological father, who ended up rejecting him. He got angry. I got angry with him. What right did he claim to reject Loki?! He's a wonderful person!"
"I am usually not one who likes to question, but did your brother not lay siege to New York in an attack so devastating that it formed your hero team, the Avengers?"
"…With a few character flaws! Such as myself, as I mentioned. But all I am trying to say is that you are not alone on this battlefield. You called for my aid and now I am here. There will be no more of this 'me' business. Remember, All Might, there is no me in team."
"…"
Thor looks away, scrunching his face in thought. "Bah." He shakes his head. "You know what I meant." He holds his hand out. "Now shall we work together to bring this man down?"
All Might's everlasting smile becomes more genuine. "Absolutely!" He clasps onto the other hero's hand and gasps. Looking down in, well, shock, All Might sees blue electricity climbing his body. "What is this?"
"You may find this hard to believe." Thor smiles, getting excited. "But I am able to temporarily share a portion of my power with another, if you accept. We will never defeat this All for One if he is constantly moving away from us. So, we must both be as fast as he can teleport!"
All Might didn't know he could smile even brighter. "You have the ability to transfer your power? I believe I can wrap my head around the concept." They turn back to All for One. "Are you ready?
"I thought you'd never ask."
Like the pair of lightning bolts from before, Thor and All Might streak toward All for One, faster than ever. Like before, the villain teleports away just in time, but as soon as he reappears, the heroes are on him again. "Have you both finally decided to make this interesting?" The demon lord quips.
Neither hero answers, choosing instead to barrage the villain with punches and swipes, anything to hit him. But the super speed of All for One's new armor easily allows him to keep up. "Still not strong enough, eh All Might? Not to beat me here. Not to beat me all those years ago. And not to save your master!"
The lightning around All Might intensifies, his anger seemingly overtaking him again. "This fight has only begun! We're not done yet!!" He seemingly throws away any coordination he had with Thor, trying desperately to make the man pay.
All for One knocks an uncoordinated All Might to the ground, Thor goes low. He attempts to uppercut the villain with his hammer, but All for One leans out of the way, grabbing Thor by the face and shoving him back into the dirt. "How disappointing for a god."
"Funny. I was about to say the same thing to you."
For the first time, All for One's grin drops just a little as he turns his head. He hadn't noticed Thor let go of his hammer as the hero was forced into the ground. And now, not even he is fast enough to stop All Might, all of his previous anger gone, from swinging his arm and catching the hammer mid-air before smacking the villain in the face with a loud thunderous strike.
A shockwave shakes the ground as All for One is smashed across the dirt and concrete, rolling and tumbling for a long few seconds before finally coming to a stop.
"You figured out my intentions." All Might helps Thor off the ground, who nods.
"I did. That was well acted! I truly had thought you let your anger consume you once more! But then. You said it. 'We're not done yet,'" he quotes. "The exact words you said to me the very first time you picked my hammer up. A stellar signal to pass you Mjölnir!"
"A plan only completed because you were not only able to deduce it, but immediately find a way to pass me the hammer unnoticed! Your battle instincts are truly unparalleled!"
All for One grunts, getting back to his feet. His smile is the smallest the heroes have seen that day. He examines his scuffed suit and touches his cheek, wincing a little at the pain. "It appears because I am still not acclimated with my armor. It does not provide me as much protection as I had hoped."
"Looks like the great and powerful still feel pain!" Thor taunts.
"This fight is a lot more even than you first anticipated, All for One! Thor and I will not yield! Even when we cannot fight any more! We will push on, even if our bones collapse beneath us!"
The villain's grin begins to grow again. "That's where you're wrong, All Might. How close this fight is doesn't matter. Every second I keep you both preoccupied, more people are hurt. More people are killed. No matter the conclusion of this battle, I am victorious."
All for One teleports as the fight begins anew again, with All Might and Thor following the villain around the area and constantly engaging him at a speed almost everyone had given up trying to keep track of.
And that includes Tenko. But that doesn't matter. What matters most is while his mentor and Thor are keeping All for One preoccupied, he feels the pressure on his body keeping him trapped vanish. Is the ability on a timer and needs to cooldown? Does All for One need all of his concentration checks for his fight? Whatever. All that matters to Tenko is that he's free, and he can get himself and his friends out of here.
But he's not fast enough. With All for One's fight now moving some distance away, Sentinels begin to descend upon them as well. But they don't attack him or the League. They're probably programmed not to. Instead, they aim for an area behind a broken piece of the wall.
Right where his friends are.
The wall explodes as Sentinels rain laser down fire on his rescue group. Yaomomo quickly creates a shield for Aoyama. Iida deflects what he can with his sword. Kaminari destroys one Sentinel at a time by throwing Thunderstrike at them, but the process is slow compared to the amount of laser fire being shot at them. And-
Tenko feels his heart clench. And he watches Tsu hops as fast as she can to dodge the attack. She uses whatever she can as a jump point, making sure to constantly move. 'No no no no!' He screams in his mind. He couldn't let her get hurt for his mistakes. Not any of them! Tenko rears his arm back, his anger at both himself and All for One more than enough for Blackwhip to-
A blue hue suddenly envelops Tenko. 'Huh?' Before he can wonder any more, he's yanked back by another power. He's pulled roughly across the ground, until he finds himself in the middle of every League member and at the feet of Magne. "You're not going anywhere, kid."
Hirona stirs, trying to get out of Nagant's grip, but the sniper keeps a tight hold of her, keeping her on her feet. If there's one, only one, small thing for Tenko to feel relief about in the moment. It's that his sister doesn't look nearly as bad as she did before.
"Stop, I'm fine!"
"Could've fooled me, kid."
"No, don't you get it?!" She looks around the rest of the League to make sure she has their attention. "This is our best chance! The heroes are busy with the sentinels! All for One is distracted. We still have him!" She points at Tenko. "He still wants his little Tomura, so he won't attack us outright with him. We can kill All for One! Here and now!"
Most of the League looks unsure. "If we go that route," Compress brings up carefully. "Would we not then immediately be arrested by the two heroes he is currently engaged with?"
"Heroes always choose to save lives before chasing villains. They'll go after the sentinels before us." She looks at their unconscious comrade on the ground. "But I won't lie and say I'd feel better if Kurogiri was awake. Twice, could you make a clone of him?"
"I- uh…well you see it's a bit complicated." The masked villain scratches his cheek. "I'm not sure how to put this- we can't measure mist, okay?! Oh! Yeah! What he said!"
"…Fine, okay. You can make a clone of Mustard once we're done and use his gas to cover us. Then we stick to the original plan. All for One dies. We dump the kid so they don't keep chasing us, and Kraven leads us to one of his safe houses to lay low at-"
"Hana!" If Tenko thought she was mad before when he called her by her name, doing it in front of the rest of the League had her looking enraged. But it did the job of getting her attention. "Please…don't be like him. It's only going to end badly," he pleads with her, looking his sister in her eyes.
Tenko can see it written all over her face. She's scared. And looks like one of his teammates when they're low on health and trapped in a corner. A teammate that's ready to lash out and do whatever it takes to get themself free. Or take everyone down with them. But as he constitutes to stare at her, her anger lessens, and her facial features begin to soften. Maybe it's not too late.
With the timing only possibly by a supervillain, All for One and All Might land near their group, creating a large plume of smoke. Thor is nowhere to be seen but All Might wields Mjölnir, smashing the hammer into the ground and sending a large wave of rubble and lightning at the villain.
All for One isn't fazed. He holds his hand out, stopping the wave in its tracks and toppling it over so that it would land on All Might. But the hero bursts through his foiled attack, jumping at the demon lord, his hands empty and fist raised.
"Even with the powers of a god, all you know how to do is punch. Can't that miniscule brain come up with anything new?" He easily bats All Might away again.
Which was a mistake.
Because just behind the hero is Mjölnir, soaring straight for All for One. All Might had used himself as both bait and a cover for the thrown hammer.
"Oh."
It collides with the villain's chest, his new armor groaning from the impact of the mystical weapon, and is sent sprawling back. But instead of falling back to the ground, the hammer carries All for One up into the air and toward the waiting Thor, who puts his hands together into a giant fist that he uses to slam All for One back to Earth.
"You're using tricks now!" All for One chuckles as he floats back up. "That's not like you. But granted your usual plan of punching me in the face repeatedly has failed, I suppose even you can have a backup plan." He glances back at Hirona. "It's certainly better than mine."
Any hope Tenko had of changing his sister's mind evaporated. Hirona flashed back to all the times growing up All for One had lamented her for being a contingency. How he bemoaned over not getting what he truly wanted. How she was nothing but a short term fix. A backup plan.
Her expression hardens as she stares down at Tenko. "Don't let him get away. Not until All for One is dead."
The blue hue around him intensifies to show him that even if he tries to run, he'll get nowhere, while Compress picks him up by his upper-arm. "I'll keep a hold of him."
Hirona nods, watching as her former Sensei battles the two powerhouse heroes. "I don't care if it's me, Shimura, any of you, or even one of those heroes. That bastard dies tonight!" With her new drive filling her, Hirona forms a giant energy disk atop her hand, and with a lot more effort than it usually takes, she hurls it at All for One.
At the same time, her old sensei cools down the temperature of the area around him dramatically just as Thor summons more lightning, heating it up exponentially. The resulting explosion blasts both heroes away just before Hirona throws her disk. All for One half turns around.
"You are so predictable."
Before her projectile can even reach All for One, a torrent of blue fire destroys it. Hirona recoils. "Wha-" A gunshot rings out, and Nagant screams, clutching her bleeding leg as she falls to the ground, nearly taking Hirona down with her.
"Nothing personal, Nagant." Taskmaster holsters his gun. "It's just business. And he is the one paying me after all."
"Indeed." All for One smiles wickedly as he walks up behind Dabi and Taskmaster. Hirona dives on top of Nagant, kneeling over her and creating a small barrier between them both and the rest of the League.
"Come now, child," he talks down to Hirona, who hides her fear with a glare. "Even without my new eyes, I could see your betrayal coming from kilometers away. Personally, I thought it would've happened ages ago. A part of me even started to conceive you had come to like the abuse. But here you are, finally attempting to stab me in the back. I might even be proud if I felt anything for you."
There's a whistle in the air. "Ah, my opponents return," All for One exclaims, clapping his hands. "I'm afraid we must cut this short then. Just know, it was a simple matter to convince a few of your associates to continue to serve me after your inevitable betrayal. Especially when it became clear you were going soft. Better luck next time, I'm afraid."
He turns around to leave, but Hirona stops him. "If you knew what you were doing would get me to turn on you…" Hirona is shaking, barely able to keep herself upright. Her shield even flickers briefly. "Then why do it at all?…"
All for One looks back at her, thinking briefly. "Because I was bored. And it was fun."
He teleports away to engage the heroes again, and Hirona exhales, trying to keep the contents of her churning stomach inside. Everything she had done came crashing down on her. He really had been manipulating her the whole time. Even when she thought she was done listening to him, she had done exactly what he wanted. Over and over. And fallen into every trap and stepped on every rake along the way. She really was his puppet the entire time. Just like Tenko had said.
She is such an idiot.
To prove her point more, Magne and Daken move to stand next to Dabi and Taskmaster, evidently in on their betrayal. "Well, alright. Let's finish up here." No sooner are the words out of Dabi's mouth before a wave of his fire is washing over Hirona. She fiercely clings to her shield like the lifeline it is. And while her quirk protects her from being turned into ash, it doesn't do anything to stop the blazing heat. Nagant coughs behind her.
Just when it feels like she's out of energy, the fire stops and Hirona collapses on her hands and knees. Her shaking has worsened now, sweat covers every part of her body, and there isn't any way she is going to be able to use her quirk again-
The teen villain yelps as Nagant pulls her back, kneeling on her good leg and bending her arm back to load her gun. "Back off before I put a bullet in each one of your heads," she growls.
Dabi rolls his eyes. "We're way ahead of you on that one." Daken steps forward. "Hurry up. The boss man said we could go have some fun out there with the robots when we're done here."
Daken nods. "Trust me, this won't take long." His claws extend out from his right arm. He smirks at Nagant. "Put as many bullets as you want in my head. It won't make a difference."
Tenko instinctively tries to run to her side, but Compress keeps him back. So he raises his arm to use Blackwhip, but with a stamp of her magnet, Magne forces him to the ground again. When he moves to lift himself up, she places the magnet against his head. "Careful, kid. We're only supposed to keep you alive. And there's plenty of ways to hurt you before you die."
"I don't care!" He reaches up to decay her weapon, but she lifts out of his reach before he can, dropping the magnet harshly onto his ribs. For the second time in seconds, Tenko's face eats dirt as he squirms in pain. He won't shout! He can't shout! He won't give them the satisfaction!
He stretches his hand out again, but just like before, Magne uses her quirk to force him down. With his arms pinned at his sides, he can't aim Blackwhip! He can't do anything! Daken approaches Hirona, and Tenko squirms more.
Behind him, he hears a surprised 'ribbit!' before the sound of Tsu yelling in pain. Fuck! He can't even look behind him to see what's happening. He's stuck and he can't think of what to do! He keeps trying to force an answer out of his brain, but it's like it's on permanent lag. He can't think of anything. What is he supposed to do?!
"Is this all we can do?!" Colossus makes his body as wide as he can to block as many of the Sentinels' lasers as possible. Behind him, police struggle to get civilians to shelter or shoot down the robots. Some of them even use him for cover. Not that he minds.
A sentinel explodes as it's forced onto the ground. Wolverine stands, shaking some of the machine bits off him. "You got any better ideas?!" Colossus sighs, shaking his head. "Then yeah, this is what we're doing!" He runs up to the metal man and jumps. Colossus catches him, and with a spin, flings Wolverine back into the air at the next sentinel.
Kamui Woods uses his branches to help a few civilians off the ledge of a collapsing building, before binding a few Sentinels and pulling them to ground. Unfortunately, it's not enough to destroy them. The sentinels all tighten the focus of their lasers, making them smaller but stronger, and use them to cut themselves free of the hero's quirk. "Curses!" He tries to trap the Sentinels faster than they can free themselves. "I've never seen robots like these!"
"Truly!" One of the Sentinel's head explodes, and Edgeshot flips out from inside it, reforming his body. "Their internal systems are nothing like I've explored before!" He transforms back into a razor sharp string to dodge the next Sentinel's attack and flies inside it.
"Stop worrying about what they are!! But what they are doing!" Endeavor scolds. After building up the power in his palms for a few seconds, he unleashes a barrage of flaming projectiles on the Sentinels above, destroying them. "Protect anyone you can and keep pushing forward!" He raises his finger to Master Mold. The sizzling of its lightning shield can be heard across the city. "That is our goal! Keep it in sight and don't lose focus!"
Suddenly, a trio of robots charges him from the front. "You'll have to do better than that!!" Endeavor raises his flaming fists, only to realize another five sentinels have flanked him, too close to dodge. Shit!
"What was that you said about not losing focus, Todoroki?"
Gran Torino zips and pulls the number two hero up and away from danger, letting him burn the androids from above. "I thank you for the assistance, old timer. But you should save any lectures until after the fight."
"Believe me, I will."
"We can't hold it!!" Behind the heroes, the police call out as an explosion goes off, killing the officers most near it and knocking the rest, including Death Arms, off their feet. "They've breached our back perimeter! The civilians are exposed!!"
People scatter as the Sentinels indiscriminately shoot at them, screaming for their lives. "No!" Colossus tackles the first Sentinel he sees, chucking it into the next Sentinel. As a hero, he will do what he's supposed to do. He will save them!
"Keep it going! Keep it going!" Mr. Brave ushers more and more people into the subway tunnels behind him. "Go through the tunnel! After two stops, you'll reach the shelter, move!" He pierces a Sentinel with a makeshift spear, spinning it to rip its head off and throw it away.
He moves to do the same to the next one, but it flies out of his reach, hitting him with a laser straight to his chest. The hero shouts in pain as he's blasted back into the metal railings that lead down to the underground tunnels.
"Brave!" X-less calls out in alarm. "No!" He gives the Sentinel a piece of its own medicine, shooting it with his own laser. The Sentinel returns fire and the two lasers meet mid-air, battling for dominance.
X-less yells, pouring everything he has into his quirk, but a few Sentinels join their robotic brother, adding their own lasers to the stalemate and quickly overtaking the hero, his vision filling with red before it all goes dark.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is prisoner transport number 4124, we are under attack! I repeat, we are under attack!" The driver of the armored truck shudders when he hears one of his fellow officers scream outside. He peaks outside and gulps as the Sentinels tank their machine gun fire.
He switches channels on his radio. "What happened to the damn fifty cal?!"
"Tanuma is down sir!"
"Then get someone else on it, I don't care who! It's the only thing we have that works!" He switches back to his original channel. "Mayday! Mayday! Does anyone read?! We have high-value prisoners and need assistance, over-"
There's an explosion, and the officer feels himself crashing through his door and out of the truck, landing hard against the unforgiving concrete. He groans, putting one hand on his head and the other on his gun. His eyes slowly regain focus, only to see the door to the prisoner car falling off. "Oh no."
Ms. Joke does her best to make a couple of crying little girls laugh and keep their eyes off what's going on behind her as Master Driller is slowly pushed back by Sentinels.
Tsu lands on the ground with a pained ribbit. She's dazed, her vision is spotty, and she can feel a nasty cut on her tongue dripping blood in her mouth. But despite all of that, she can't take her big eyes off of Tenko.
She sees him, so far away. At the mercy of the League. What she would give to rip that giant metal thing off him and smash it into that villain's face. But first she has to get up. Pain shoots up her right leg, causing her to cry out in agony.
Around her, her friends slowly try to get back up after the Sentinel's missile had taken them by surprise, all of them coughing and hurt. Above them, menacing red eyes glow through the darkness and dust. The Sentinels are descending upon them for the kill.
No! She's not done yet! None of them are. Tsu forces herself up to one knee. "Ribbit… ribbit…" she croaks through the pain. She still has so much to do! She has to save Tenko. She has to yell at him for going off on his own at the training camp. She has to- The Sentinels raise their arms, charging their canons. She has to… she has to…
Ahead of her, Tenko forces himself up only to be forced back down onto the ground again. But this time, he's facing the opposite way. She sucks in a breath as their eyes meet. They're so far, yet so close. But the charging of the Sentinels canon keeps getting louder and louder until-
Boom!
The lead sentinel is destroyed. Then the next one. And the next. The sentinels are destroyed by laser fire from the clouds. The kids look up. The League of Villains looks up. Even the remaining Sentinels look up as something- Tsu's eyes widen as a spaceship emerges from the clouds, firing several missiles at Master Mold.
Unfortunately, its lightning barrier still protects it.
"It has been many rotations since we last visited Earth. I must say, the people here have done wonders to improve it."
"Drax, the city is half destroyed."
"I am aware. And I like it. Before, humans seemed so fragile and weak with their many buildings and roads. But now… now they are battle tested, becoming warriors in their own right."
"Okay, we should really be focusing on-"
"I am especially impressed by the fire. It is a wonder how they managed to get it on everything…"
Gamora lets her head fall and hits the wall console next to her. "Peter…"
From another part of the ship's cockpit, Peter Quill bops his head to the music in his headphones and turns the volume down to hear everyone better. His teammates minus Cosmo and Mantis sit around him. "Damn, that can't be regular lightning protecting that thing," he laments his useless missile. Which no, that is not a euphemism for anything. Peter looks back at Drax. "Hey, you big dumb Happabore, people didn't make it like this on purpose. They're obviously being attacked."
"Yeah. This is just what happens when you leave a human in charge," Rocket chuckles, leaning back in his seat and messing with his communication terminal.
"I swear to god, Raccoon, the next time Annihilus tries to kill us, I'm gonna stick that rod of his so far up your ass-"
"How about we be assholes to each other while saving people?" Gamora cuts in, giving both the boys a stern look.
The pair stare each other down for an extra second before huffing and turning around in their seats. Rocket hits a few more buttons on his terminal. "Hey, Nezu! You read me? We're in Japanese airspace."
"Yes, loud and clear Mr. Rocket." Nezu sips his tea, more satisfied with himself than he has been in some time. Behind him, he turned one of UA's cafeterias into a makeshift war room, complete with maps, computers, and a grand number of sidekicks and volunteers the principal had rounded up to assist in planning their counteroffensive. He had to make due with the HeroNet so mysteriously down.
Waiting until Mic had finished yelling out updated hero locations, Nezu says, "please be aware, you will not be the only aircraft in the sky tonight." He switches channels and takes a moment to scan the various new channels they have playing, his quirk absorbing more information from every screen than any person can hope to achieve.
As he predicted, Nagant's bullets are useless to stop Daken while he stalks over to the sniper and Hirona. The latter tries to use her quirk one more time but can't. She's just too hurt. Daken raises his claw, striking down and-
Clang!
Wolverine's son's jaw goes slack, before hardening into a glare. "What are you doing?!"
Toga cackles at him, holding his claws back with her knives. "Hoping this hurts." She disengages Daken suddenly, letting his momentum carry him forward while he's not ready. It causes him to lose his balance and lets Toga stab him through both his ears. He screams right before she spartan kicks him meters away.
"Toga…" Hirona whispers.
"Yes, I'm afraid…" Compress also places himself between Nagant, Hirona, and the traitors. "We will not let any harm befall our leader."
"Seriously?" Dabi scoffs.
"Yes. We are serious." Disbelief and frustration flick across the cremation user's face when Kraven places himself next to Toga and Compress. "I swore to this girl I would aid her in her journey until I had my hunt against the one who bested the God Butcher." He extends his spear, igniting the ends with their laser-tipped blades. "And I am a man of honor."
"Is that right? Then you can die with your honor!" Without any more warning, Dabi drenches Hirona and everyone loyal to her in flames, knowing their former leader doesn't have the energy to use her quirk. He smirks, cutting off his quirk and expecting to see charred corpses.
Only for his grin to slide off his face faster than when his family had moved on from his 'death.' Instead of burnt remains, Hirona stands in front of her comrades, perfectly healthy, using her shield to protect them.
"How-" That's when he notices it. Behind her, the real Hirona still laid on the ground in Nagant's arms. "It's a clone!"
"They were the first people to not abandon me!! So, I won't do the same to them!" He slices one of his razor-sharp tape measures across Dabi's face, the other villain barely dodging it. "Hold still, won't ya?! I wanna see how many new scars I can give you!" Taskmaster blocks his second attack with his sword. "Hey! You might not wanna copy me! Bad things happen when I'm copied!"
"Trust me." Taskmaster shoved him back. "There's nothing about you worth copying."
"That's just mean to say! But you know he's right! I know but people don't usually say it out loud! Maybe you needed to hear it!"
Taskmaster stares ahead flatly. An impressive feat considering he wears a mask. "You're insane."
"Don't listen to him Twice!" Toga rubs his back. "I think you're great just the way you are."
He sniffles. "You mean that? She doesn't. Shut up!"
Taskmaster's expression somehow becomes flatter. "You remember that's the girl who will go on a wild killing spree if she doesn't have blood, right?"
Toga holds up another one of her knives, smiling wide so the mercenary can see her fangs. Her blade glints in the light of the nearby fires. "I can go on killing sprees even when I've had my fill of blood," she threatens in a low voice. "Wanna see?"
"That's enough." Both groups are startled when, before they can try to kill each other, All for One appears seemingly out nowhere behind them. "Shigaraki and the others are not worth it. We have more important matters to attend to. Come with me."
The League traitors look at each other in confusion, before carefully moving back to the even more powerful villain. Magne leans down to pick up Tenko, but All for One holds up his hand. "Leave him. Compared to what I am about to show you, the boy doesn't matter."
"Are you sure?…" Magne asks hesitantly.
"Yes, now hurry up. We have-"
"Nobody's going anywhere," Daken growls. He has been the only one not to move. He aims a snarl at All for One. "You look like All for One. Sound like him too." He inhales deeply. "But you sure as shit don't smell like him."
All for One looks surprised momentarily, before he snickers. In a green flash, Izuku appears in his place, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I'm no Houdini. I should've figured that if Uncle Logan can tell, you could too."
Several canisters clank across the ground, exploding and spilling smoke all over the villains. Dabi and Magne back up in surprise, coughing and attempting to cover up their faces. Daken and Taskmaster, mostly unaffected, bend down in fighting stances. But Denki, in a gas mask along with the rest of the kids, blasts both of them with lightning.
"Go go! That won't stop them for long!"
Tenko feels two sets of arms pick him up as Aoyama and Iida help him up to his feet and onto the speedster's back. "It is alright my friend! We have you!"
"Not for long." Taskmaster drops his own device on the ground that disperses the smoke, exposing the kids. "Smoke? News flash kids, that is one of the most obvious ways to distract somebody. Be a bit more creative next time."
"I am sorry everyone," Yaomomo apologizes. "I thought it could buy us enough time."
"It's okay." Izuku appears next to his friends, conjuring his daggers. "We all thought it was a good plan. Now." He flips his blades around. "We get to do this the fun way."
"We need to work on your definition of fun. Ribbit. Iida, run Tenko to safety while we cover you!"
"That may be a bit more difficult now." The kids turn around and feel their stomachs drop when they see they're cut off. While the ship had attracted the attention of many of the Sentinels, it hadn't grabbed all of them. And the rest are blocking their escape.
"So." Dabi ignites his hand. "Where were we?"
'Eraserhead must get better at keeping track of his students,' Nezu muses, watching the news screens. A humorous joke, he thinks. But given the circumstances his students are currently in and that young Tenko hadn't yet to be returned to them, it is probably in poor taste. So he will wait until after they win.
"Wolverine, this is Nezu."
The radio crackles a few times before he hears the mutant's signature grunting and the sound of machines being torn apart. One of UA's robots stops when it hears the noise, shaking a little.
"Has the uprising begun? Are you all our slaves now?"
"I'm afraid it has been delayed."
"Curses."
Nezu shoos the robot and goes back to the radio as he hears Logan panting. "What?"
"You may wish to switch to channel sixty-three when you have a moment. The reinforcements you called without telling anybody will be in the country momentarily. That is the frequency they are on."
"…Piotr told you, didn't he?"
"Almost as soon as you had left," Nezu chuckles. "He wanted someone to help just in case there were any legal ramifications."
"Of fucking course he did. Just them?"
"No no. It is… what is that fun expression humans like to use?"
"So, what do you guys say?" Peter updates the map on the ship's nav computer, giving them a read on all the Sentinels and heroes in the area. "We kicking ass, or are we kicking ass?!"
"Let's kick some ass!"
"Ya got me so of course we will!"
"I have always favored the buttocks striking!"
"I am Groot!"
"That's what I'm talking about!" Peter primes the engines when their nav computer picks up another ship headed for them.
"Enemies?" Gamora questions hastily, but her boyfriend/booty call shakes his head.
"Friendlies according to the transmission. Wait… I know who this is. Rocket, put them through." When he does, Peter tilts the mic up. "We weren't expecting help but if you guys want, you can be our backup."
The X-jet flies over them, slowing to a stop near their ship. "Backup?" A teenage girl answers. It sounds like she is in the middle of talking to someone else. "What do you mean we have a stowaway? Who could be stupid enough to try that?!" There's the sound of them shifting. "Anyway, you douches are lucky we aren't taking you in for illegally entering the planet."
"So you're saying you do have permission to be here?"
"…"
"S'what I thought." Peter leans back. "How about this? After we're done and before we get kicked out, whichever one of us saves less people and destroys the least amount of Sentinels has to take the other group out for a night on the town."
"You're on."
"Ah, I remember the saying now." Nezu lied, of course he didn't forget. He just likes pausing for dramatic effect. "You can say that the cavalry has arrived."
"Hell yeah." Peter hits a switch so his music is playing over the ship's speakers, and the ship jets off. Ahead of them, dozens of Sentinels turn around and fly straight toward them, opening fire.
Barrel rolling to avoid some of the lasers, the Guardians fire back, destroying several Sentinels and hitting several more. "Woo! Not so much fun when someone else has the bigger gun huh?!"
They weave around buildings and under bridges, destroying Sentinels. Peter accelerates as the robots start aiming for their engines, taking the ship into a dangerous downward spiral.
"Quill!"
"I got it, I got it!
As he hoped, the Sentinels start mimicking his spin to shoot at his engines and most of them end up crashing into each other by mistake. "Yeah! That's always a good trick!" He pulls and several Sentinels fly head first into the street.
They see Sentinels standing below a ruined building, about to execute a bunch of people on the street. Peter taps his nav computer. No people in the building. Good. He fires, destroying the last of the building's support beams in a way that causes it to fall on the robots, saving the civilians.
"Peter! That was a stupid risk! What if it fell the other way?!"
"But it didn't!"
The fly around a few more buildings, unable to shake the last of the Sentinels on them. So Peter cuts off the engine and flips the ship while banking the controls hard. It results in a bad headache, but their ship is successfully turned around before the Sentinels can react, and they are destroyed for it.
"I am Groot!"
"But did you die?! Relax!"
Up ahead, they see the X-Jet destroy a few Sentinels before catching with the hero, Ryukyu, in her dragon form. "Earth even contains dragons now!" Drax exclaims. He stares at the creature's behind, transfixed. "Look at that hide…"
Gamora looks back and forth between him and the rest of the team. "I- I can't tell if he's being sexist or not."
What they do know is Ryukyu is having trouble getting to a trapped group of civilians, her massive size making her an even bigger target for the Sentinels, who keep her back with laser fire.
From the X-jet, a young Japanese girl with short black hair wearing a yellow and black bodysuit drops onto the dragon's back. She crosses her forearms together, and a gigantic red exoskeleton erupts from her body, encasing both her and Ryukyu. But it acts as the perfect armor to protect both of them from the Sentinel fire and get in closer to save everyone trapped.
"Big deal!"
"Quill, that was literally a pretty big deal-"
"Shut it you glorified rug." Peter taps a few more times on their nav computer. "We can do that!"
"Nezu, sir!" Mic runs up to his boss, showing him his phone. "The heroes we called are finally in Kamino."
"Excellent! Direct them to where they are most needed!"
Scared families hug each other close, not caring if the person they're next to is a stranger or not. Outside of the restaurant they had all huddled into, Sentinels block their only exit, raising their menacing canons. Parents hug their children close as-
"BY THE MIGHT OF MY MUSTACHE!!"
With a few accurate boings! Gentle Hero soars down from above.
"YOU WILL SEE YOUR CHILDREN GROW!!"
The Sentinels fire, but their lasers are bounced back at them thanks to Gentle's elastic air, destroying them. The families cheer, thanking and hugging the hero as he checks them for injuries. "Majestic, come transport these people to safety," he speaks into his comm piece.
"I'm on it!!"
"And La Brava, please ensure that any information you can ascertain about these foes is sent to Nezu as well, so all our allies can be informed!"
La Brava answers with a positive attitude. "You can count on me, Gentle!"
Mr. Brave thanks Drax for the save as the pair carry an unconscious X-less to nearby medics.
Civilians cry out as they fall out of windows of crumbling buildings. Not a hero in sight. The woman screams as she and the others fall to certain death.
"I gotcha!"
The woman is caught roughly, and after a rush of wind where she can't tell up from down, she finds herself and everyone else who had been falling on the ground, safe. Not that it stops the Sentinels. They reposition themselves, but before they can do much else, the hero who rescued them appears, kicking the first Sentinel's head off.
"Miruko!"
The bunny hero doesn't reply, opting to tear the rest of the robots to shreds with her bare arms and legs and furious speed and power. She flips back in front of the civilians. "What are you doing?!" she yells, scaring them. "Don't just stare at me! Get out of here!!" She points at Ms. Joke, who is helping people get into vans.
She shoves them toward the evac zone and out of harm's way as more Sentinels fire lasers from high above the buildings. "Shit. I need to find a way up there."
Her ears catch the sound of someone new falling, and she turns to help, but then they hear a new sound.
Bamf!
A hero she had never seen before teleports into the air, catching the person before teleporting them back to the evac zone. He then appears in front of her in an instant. "Perhaps I could be of assistance?" the blue man in a red and black jumpsuit asks. She notices a long wispy tail wrapping around his leg.
Every fiber of Miruko's being wants to refuse, but her ear twitches at the sound of people crying. She scoffs, looking up at the Sentinels. "Make it fast."
Bamf!
Nezu frowns at his computer screen. "Mic." The music hero jogs up to him. "It seems the HPSC not only failed to inform us that a transport carrying high-ranked villains was in the area, but that it had been attacked, letting the prisoners loose."
Mic pales. "I'll let everyone know!"
The armored truck driver swallows as his gun runs out of ammo. He throws it away. Escaped prisoners are running up and down these streets; if they hear him, they'll kill him.
Trying to pull himself into a nearby alley, his useless legs bleed profusely behind him. Just as he's about to give up, he feels two hands reach under his armpits and finish tugging him the rest of the way.
"T-thank you," he says sincerely, shaking in relief. He couldn't see who was behind him. A fellow officer? A hero? Where did they go?
A radio drops into his lap. It is one of the emergency ones that was kept in the truck. "Use this to call a hero."
The driver freezes. He knows that voice. Most of Japan probably knows that voice. Shaking for a new reason, he forces himself to look up as the man who saved him, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, grabs a duffel bag out of the truck. "Y-y-you saved me?"
"I did." He throws the bag on the ground, opening it.
The officer doesn't know what compelled him to ask this. "Why?"
Even his shaking is paralyzed with fear as Stain yanks his swords out of the bag, staring at the man in the eye. "Because my new mission begins tonight."
Kamui Woods yells in frustration as the Sentinels continue to burn through branches like they're nothing- only to be surprised when more branches join his own, caging the robots and crushing them. The tree hero looks up. A tall tree man smiles and waves down at him.
"I am Groot!"
"Uh… I am Kamui Woods?"
Endeavor finishes searing a Sentinel and shakes his head as more fly in, but a man with rocket boots shoots them out of the sky first. "Don't mind me, Head Honcho! Just casually saving your ass!" He lands in front of an increasingly annoyed number two hero. He taps his helmet so it retracts to reveal an annoyingly smug face.
"So, you're Endeavor huh?" Peter asks.
Izuku screams as he falls. Listen, should he have let go of his dagger when the Sentinel he stabbed took off flying? Probably. But did he also think he could handle it? Also probably.
Worrying he might have to use an energy blast to break his fall, all of Izuku's thoughts are launched out of him when someone crashes into him. "I see you still haven't figured out the flying thing?" the man laughs.
Izuku turns his head. "Hawks!" The number three hero gives him a two-fingered salute, and the demigod blushes at having to be saved. "I- uh-"
"It's alright, kid," Hawks shakes his head fondly. He uses his other hand to create one of his feather swords and destroys most of the Sentinels around Izuku's friends. A few of his leftover feathers drive the rest of the League back. At least for now.
"None of you should be out here in the first place," Hawks lectures the teens while lowering Izuku onto the ground. "Out of all of the ideas you could have used to help tonight, that was a pretty Bad One. The worst probably." He cups his mouth and whispers, "even if I do think it's pretty badass." He returns to normal volume. "That being said, as soon we clear these robots, you all clear out. Do you understand?"
Most of them nod. "Yes- wait!" Izuku gestures to the villains, who have started to recover. "Can you help us?!"
Hawks cheeks his wrist. Izuku notices there's nothing there. "Your help should be arriving in three…two…" a jumbo-sized helicopter hovers above them. "There it is."
"How-"
"Nezu," Hawks answers before Yaomomo can finish. "I got my role as carrier pigeon for the slower heroes around the city. This big guy should be more than enough." A familiar figure leaps out. Izuku grins.
Nezu cackles.
Eri cheers from where she watches the news report with Laura and Snipe.
The traitor League members take a step back, and even the Sentinels with them stop when Izuku's Nomu crashes to the ground in front of the kids, bellowing out a threatening roar that promises pain.
"Doug!" Izuku runs up to the Nomu, patting its back. "Is Eri safe?" It looks down at its master, giving him an enthusiastic nod. "Thank goodness. It's great to have you here, buddy!"
"Who the heck is Doug?!" Denki isn't the only person to share in his confusion.
Izuku tilts his head, motioning it at the Nomu. "That's Doug? That's been his name ever since I brought him back from the USJ? Did I never mention that?…"
"No!! And how did you even come up with that?! I can come up with way better names off the top of my head! Tobey for example!"
"Don't try to rename Nomu! Eri loves the name!"
In the sky, All for One is kept in place by twin tornadoes while All Might raises Mjölnir and Thor shapes the lightning into a construct of a hammer. The heroes strike the villain simultaneously, launching him back down into the dirt with an explosion of dust.
The blond heroes glide back down. When All for One stands, his bruises are much more visible. His suit is now torn in several places. And when he touches his face, he pulls his hand back, finding blood on it.
"Look at that." Thor grins. "You do bleed. And anything that bleeds can be killed."
"There is the proof, All for One. No matter how highly you think of yourself, you will always be human."
"Look at you. Acting all high and mighty." All for One takes a rag from his jacket pocket and wipes the blood off of him. "You two are having such a difficult time with me, and I am nowhere near fully acclimated to my full power. How pathetic." He raises his arm. "All that for a drop of-" A chain wraps around his arm. "Hm?"
A fireball hits the demon lord in the side of the face, burning and blistering his face badly. It starts to heal quickly however. "Those were not Endeavor's flames."
"As soon as you appeared… and I felt the weight of your sins…" All for One straightens. "The anguish of the innocent you have hurt." Ghost Rider tightens his grip on his chains. "Nothing was going to keep me from you."
"Wow." Rocket observes the fight from the Guardians' ship. He is the last one there. "Looks like everyone's out tonight." The X-jet soars to the ground near him.
He hears a commotion over the X-jet's comms. "Hey! Stop that! You can't do this to me! Ah! Wait! No! I can't do a superhero landing if you throw me that way!"
The other ship unceremoniously throws someone out of the window. Rocket flips the communicator switch. "What was that?"
"We found our stowaway. Better the villains have him instead of us."
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Taskmaster raises his sword, blocking the stowaway's double katanas. "How the hell did you get here of all places?!" The stowaway kicks Taskmaster in the face, back flipping a few meters away. But when he lands, Daken is there to cut off his arm.
Daken is not ready for the man to pick up his severed arm and beat him with it.
"How did I get here?" The man in the red suit asks, reattaching his arm. He points one of his swords at the X-jet. "Did you not just see the dumbest named plane ever chuck me out?"
"That's not what I-"
"Still not as bad as my last flight with Boeing."
"Why are you here?!" The exhaustion Taskmaster had never wanted to feel again is starting to creep in.
The stowaway, who is starting to get annoyed at being referred to as the stowaway, as he feels like it's pretty obvious who he is, shrugs. "Why? Marketing, of course! Not even fanfictions are safe when we have movie tickets to sell-"
"You-!"
The stowaway, in a surprise burst of speed, rushes Taskmaster, getting in front of him. The mercenary tries to block, but his sword is shoved to the side. "You really wanna know why?" Deadpool presses one of his pistols against his chest.
"To give my nephew his birthday present, motherfucker."