Chapter 14: Now There Are Two of Them Part 1
A portal opens to a dark, and messy room. Machines line the walls with cords and tubes sprawled throughout the floor. The only light is a green gleam that comes from numerous screens at the far end where a man sits. Two Nomus stand by either wall.
From the portal, two figures enter the space before Kurogiri reforms himself. "The attack on the USJ will begin momentarily. Would either of you require refreshments?"
Loki turns to his alien companion. "Drink? I assure you, Kurogiri can make a wide variety." He smirks. "I'm sure we can find one to eliminate some of those wrinkles."
The grey-skinned alien scowls. "That will not be necessary. Let us begin as soon as possible."
Loki sighs in disappointment before turning back to Kurogiri. "I apologize on the behalf of my uncivilized partner. I'll just have some tea."
"What kind?"
The Asgardian takes a second to think before waving his hand absentmindedly. "Surprise me. I trust your judgment." The portal user nods before disappearing.
"You waste our time." His partner, or what should be called his babysitter, grows more irritated by the second.
"Good manners are never a waste." Loki happily informs him, which only seems to worsen the other's mood.
The two carefully make their way over to the man who sits on the other side of the room.
"Loki," The man says without turning around. His voice speaks with authority and confidence heard by few others. It's a bit satisfying when the alien beside him straightens up at the sound. "The self-proclaimed God of Mischief."
The trickster can't help but smile. He always loves their little games. "All for One. The Quasi-Symbol of Evil. It's been a long time."
The man finally turns, allowing Loki to see the scarred upper half of his face. "Yes, it has. When was the last time we met in person?"
He knows when it was. The human is just testing him to see if he'll accidentally reveal one of the times he was spying on him. Should he be insulted? Instead, Loki matches his casual tone. "About a decade I believe." Oh, how he wishes he could help himself with what he's about to say…not really. "Although, I think it has been a while since you've been able to, see, anything, yes?"
The air seems to still and grow heavy, but it only lasts a moment before All for One grins, relieving any tension. "I never considered this, but it is actually…refreshing to have someone speak to me that way. Not that I tire of the graveling of my subjects, of course."
Loki crosses his arms behind his back. "Well, what can I say? Gods fear no man."
That elicits a chuckle from All for One. "You misunderstand. It is refreshing because most cower to my presence alone. To actually be presented with a challenge is exciting in a way. And besides…" The air grows even heavier than before. "Whoever said I was a mere man?"
The Mischief God can barely contain his excitement. "Throughout mankind's history, men have always kneeled to gods. You will learn this lesson too."
The two continue to stare each other down, matching grins on their faces, before the third person in the room clears his throat. "Ah," Loki acknowledges. "Forgot you were there." He steps back and waves his hand at his companion. "Introductions are in order."
The alien steps forward and puts his hand forward. Loki can't stop his eyes from rolling. 'Here we go.'
"Hear me and rejoice, Terran. For today, you have the opportunity to be a part in the saving of the universe. For there is nothing better than the privilege you have obtained, to serve the Great Titan. I, am Ebony Maw. General Commander of the Chitauri, Outrider, and Dark Elf forces. Leader of the Black Order. And child of-"
"I would like to apologize to you, Loki." All for One interrupts, the sneer never more present on his face.
Maw gapes at the intrusion and Loki puts a fist over his mouth to cover his snort. It doesn't work. "And…"Loki swallows to control himself. "And what would that be for?"
"When we first met," All for One reminisces, "I thought you pretentious as you spoke of being 'burdened with glorious purpose.' Now, however," he looks at Maw. "I realize how much worse it could have been, so I apologize."
The Maw snarls. "After we-"
Loki puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Now, now. We are all friends here. No need to squabble amongst ourselves, lest our enemies use that to our advantage."
Kurogiri reappears, holding his drink. "Your tea, Loki."
"Kurogiri, your timing is impeccable as always!" Loki takes the cup and takes a sip, smacking his lips. "Hmmm. I'm getting…spiced apple chai, sour apple, and…" he raises an eyebrow. "Candy apple?" He takes another sip. "And you have accented it with cinnamon chips, well done."
He faces Kurogiri who just stares at him for a few seconds before shaking his misty head. "Thank you. And please, never hesitate to stop by the bar for tea anytime. I have many different blends for you to try and that we could discuss-"
All for One chuckles again. "Enough, Kurogiri. Isn't it time for the attack to begin?"
The nomu clears his…throat? So many questions, before saying, "my apologies, master. We will begin at once." And with that, he's gone.
The two off-worlders stand behind All for One waiting for the feed to the USJ to begin, but their host turns to him before it could. "Interesting news I heard this morning. Greece has officially pulled out of the WHA. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
Loki feigns sorrow. "Is that so? Too bad. I can't say I'm surprised though. Why, apparently their heroes have gone rogue and begun murdering random people in broad daylight, in full view of large crowds."
He twirls a bloody dagger in between his fingers. "It's strange. All the heroes claim innocence despite the many witnesses and for some reason," he vanishes the dagger. "They can never find the murder weapons."
"How odd," All for One acts ignorant alongside him. "Greece, among the others. How truly strange."
The screens in front of them flicker before changing to several different angles of the USJ. Kurogiri's warp appears to bring in the league for the assault.
"Little Hana does well?" Loki asks as the girl in question walks through the portal last.
"She is acceptable for the time being," All for One states with no inflection in his voice. "And the girl once known as Hana Shimura is gone. Only Hirona Shigaraki remains." Loki nods before continuing to watch the screen.
"So this is why you wanted a Dark Elf," Maw observes, putting his hand up to his chin.
"A little insurance can go a long way." Loki eyes the Nomus that watch them. "Does the girl know?"
All for One hums. "I have elected to keep your involvement on a need-to-know basis. And at this time, she does not. As far as Hirona is aware, he is another street thug, same as the rest."
The self-named demon lord shifts in his chair a bit. "I will admit, you surprised me, Loki." He says nothing so the other man will continue. "Most would request for a no-kill order to be placed on their kin, but you asked for no such thing for your son."
Loki scoffs. "And insult Izuku's abilities that way? What kind of father do you take me for?"
"I am Izuku Lokison. Prince of Mischief." Loki's eyes snap back to the screen after hearing his son's voice. Watching Izuku declare his name and stand tall against his enemies, pride envelops him.
"And I am burdened with glorious purpose."
The God of Mischief cannot escape the wide grin that crosses his face. Lightning shoots through his veins while the adrenaline and exhilaration almost overwhelm him at hearing his son say those words.
'That's my boy.'
It's silent. A little too silent with so many people if you were to ask Izuku. Huh, maybe his little display worked better than he-
"Asgardian!"
Or maybe not.
Izuku drops to his knees as the Dark Elf raises his gun, quickly switching one of his daggers for a throwing knife, he whisks it at the creature's gun, knocking it out of his hands before he can fire. And like that, the spell is broken.
With a thunderous yell, the villains surrounding him charge. Izuku quickly takes stock and notices a shirtless man with holes at his fingertips, charging up bolts of electricity to fire at him.
A female villain with silvery wispy hair nears him first. He jumps in front of her as the shirtless man fires… only for his quirk to go through his decoy and hit the woman dead on, knocking her out.
"Wha-" Is all the man can say before he screams as Izuku stabs him through his hand.
"Mind if I borrow you for a second?" Izuku smiles before using his dagger still in the man's hand to aim. A villain spinning a bola runs at them. With a twitch of the blade, the man screams and involuntarily activates his quirk, firing and hitting the other villain.
"Oh, good," Izuku tells the glaring man. "Between you and me, I wasn't sure if that was gonna work."
"You little-" he is interrupted again by Izuku twisting his hand and firing on another villain.
After taking down a third villain, a putty-like substance hits the villain he's borrowing, clogging up the holes in his fingers. The henchman responsible jumps at them both, hardening the same substance around his hands.
"Thank you!" Izuku says sincerely before grabbing the shirtless man's wrist and flipping him over his shoulder right onto the other villain's head, laying them both out.
Pulling his blade free, Izuku goes invisible and dodges right as a man who looks like a life-size origami paper fires some razor-sharp paper at him.
Several Izuku's appear around the plaza, dodging and twisting around villains. The origami villain has no time to react before the real Izuku materializes next to him and kicks him into the plaza's fountain, causing him to shrivel up.
"Quirks are weird…" Izuku squeals as the elephant-headed man grabs him from behind with his trunk and squeezes hard.
"You got jokes, huh kid?! What do ya have to say now?!" The elephant man keeps the pressure tightly around him.
Izuku tries to wheeze his answer.
"What was that?! I couldn't hear you over your dying?!"
"I-I said…" he wheezes more. "H-harder."
"W-what?!" The elephant man ironically squeaks like a mouse.
Fun fact, distracting opponents is a lot easier than most people make it seem. Exhibit A, saying something completely out of left field to not only keep their attention on you, but also keep them standing in the same spot.
Double fun fact, a Bull Man is charging after an Izuku who changed his costume's color scheme to red. Their path is on a direct collision course with them. And he has yet to notice.
In his momentary lapse of thought, the elephant man loosens his grip, and Izuku wiggles out, vanishing his red decoy at the same time. He jumps off the elephant villain's head just in time for both he and the Bull to notice each other…and promptly collide, sending each other sprawling into the water fountain.
Back flipping onto the ground, Izuku changes into a light green Bullfighter outfit and swings a large red cape around his head. "¡Olé!"
Giving the appearance that you're not taking a fight seriously works wonders. It can cause enemies to constantly underestimate you, and in turn, lure them into traps.
Like the poor female villain who jumps at him from behind with her hands spinning rapidly, only for Izuku to dodge her while at the same moment, wrapping the red cape around her head and throwing her at another villain.
Changing back into his hero costume, Izuku rolls his shoulder before throwing a knife behind him without looking. The scream tells him he successfully impaled the camouflaged villain trying to sneak up on him in the shoulder.
Izuku turns around and groans. "How many of you are there?!" He whines to another large group of villains gathering.
Instead of answering (rude), the villains charge him, a bigger man completely covered by a large green coat wearing a black helmet with horns leads the ensemble.
Switching his daggers to reverse grip, and unknowingly having a grin that matches his father's current one, Izuku runs forward to meet them head-on.
The green coat villain laughs. "You crazy, kid?!"
"Possibly!" He can't see the man's face but he likes to imagine the look of surprise on it when all of his clones appear next to him.
Izuku and the man he was talking to meet first. Right before they reach each other, Izuku stops and jumps into a backflip. In a flash of green light, he turns into a kangaroo. All the villain has the time to do is gasp before Izuku kicks him with his new powerful legs, firing him back into the line of enemies behind him and taking a few more out.
The shapeshifter completes his backflip, turning back into a human before landing on the ground. He runs in behind his clones who have already started to cause chaos.
A large villain in overalls turns a stick in his hand into a giant mallet and tries to bring it down on his head. Too slow. Using his momentum, Izuku slides in between his legs, slicing both of his ankles as he does so. The man roars but the little hero kicks him in the back, easily sending him to the ground.
He has no time to celebrate though, already having to duck under the arm of a villain with spikes protruding from it.
"Woah!" Izuku exclaims, dodging another swing. "Can you do that on both arms? Do they hurt every time they come out? What are they made of? Oh, can you make them projectiles? Do you have some sort of healing factor to heal your arm after? Because I have an uncle who-"
"Shut up!" The man yells for some reason. What's got him so annoyed?
The villain swings his arm erratically while Izuku dodges. "Not cool, bub!" He spins to get behind his opponent and stabs him in the back of the shoulder. With practiced ease, Izuku kicks the back of his leg bringing the man down to his knees before thumping him solidly in the head with the handle of his other dagger.
Izuku barely has enough time to pull his weapon and raise the blade to block two hand sickles coming down on top of him. The villain laughs in a high-pitched voice. It seems to match his pointed nose, teeth, and ears.
It also seems to match the features of his twin brother, who chooses then to attack Izuku, also with two hand sickles. The greenette drops himself to the ground and rolls out from beneath the two before the attack can land.
Bolting back up onto his feet, Izuku raises his dagger at the ready. The two villains laugh and attack, one of them going high and the other low.
Unfortunately for them, they're aiming for someone Izuku sized, so when he turns into a bunny and jumps between their blades, they're not ready. Quickly shifting back into himself, Izuku kicks the brother who's lower to the ground in the face, momentarily blinding him, and that's all he needs.
In a flash, Izuku turns himself into one of the brothers, complete with weapons, while making the one he didn't kick look like him. The sickle villain on the ground stands up and rubs his face before looking at Izuku and then his brother, who have switched places.
"C'mon! Let's get him!" The villain yells at Izuku. He charges his brother, who steps back in confusion before looking down at himself.
"Wait! No no-" Izuku doesn't give him time to explain, attacking with his new temporary ally. They quickly overpower him, with Izuku slicing him in his leg and elbowing him in the face to put him down.
Making sure to keep the other villain looking like him even as he falls or the ground, Izuku raises his hand to his 'brother.' "We got him! High five!" The man smiles and goes to reciprocate, only for Izuku to punch him in the face.
Dropping his new form, the trickster leans slightly to the left, moving out of the way of a giant fist that was about to collide with the back of his head. "Missed me!" Izuku grabs the tree trunk of an arm and pulls down on it hard over his shoulder.
The man behind him howls in pain when the arm makes a very audible snap.
"Little bastard!" A villain with horns on his head and red claws for hands rushes him from the front.
'Oh, perfect!'
Izuku shoves himself away from the giant man behind him and jumps at the horned villain, who grunts when he plants his feet on his shoulders. Using the shorter villain as a launch pad, Izuku jumps to the top of the taller villain.
He spins around the man's shoulders before wrapping his legs around the man's neck and letting himself fall. Using gravity and a little extra force, Izuku flips the massive villain onto the smaller one, who screams as his companion lands on top of him in a heavy thud.
Starting to pant a little while kneeling on the ground because even his slightly enhanced stamina is starting to feel it, Izuku rolls under another villain, slicing her thigh as he does so. The verdant pays her no mind while he throws two knives at another villain's legs, sending him tumbling onto the ground.
Finally, the green-haired boy flips himself back up, kicking the woman he sliced as he did so.
"Izuku!" Two runs up to him. "We got them going nuts for now but some of them are starting to catch on, and I swear!" He points an accusatory finger at him. "If you let me die here, I will kill you!"
Despite everything, Izuku can't help but giggle while gesturing to the next group of villains approaching them. "Evidently, there will be a line."
The first villain to reach them, a muscular man in a tight green shirt and bandana, tries to swallow him in a bear hug but Izuku the Kangaroo jumps high up into the air before he can.
The man looks up. "Oh, you've got to be sh-" is all he can get out before Izuku the Alligator lands on his face.
Tenko looks up from the villain he just clotheslined, Yaoyorozu and Jiro stand back to back fighting thugs off, with a few villains running at them with weapons. Well not if he can help it.
Pulling back his sleeve a little, he pushes a button on the screen attached to his arm and holds his gloves out. His hands shudder and at the same time, so do the weapons the villains hold.
He almost laughs at the look of bewilderment on the NPC's faces when the magnet in his gloves activates, ripping their weapons from their hands. At the same time, Tenko flexes his fingers.
With a mechanized whirl, the gloves unravel letting his fingertips loose and he catches the various weapons, decaying them all to dust as he does so. After his hands are safely covered again, he bends forward and his modified shoes activate.
With a burst of power, the repulsors in his feet blast him toward the villains in almost an instant; he knees the first villain while they all lag.
'They've all got minor mutation quirks. Nothing good for PvP, that's why they had to rely on weapons. Makes sense. They probably kept the higher levels in the plaza and sent the weaker villains after us.'
To prove his point, one of the villains tries to punch him head-on, Tenko easily avoids it by rolling away and leaving a present behind. "Huh?" The thug stupidly says before the little explosive goes off, blasting him away.
'Awesome. Just like Samus.' Tenko congratulates himself, his HUD keeping track of all the equipment he has left, how many charges of each weapon his gloves have, and how much power his shoes have left before he would have to stop and let them recharge.
'Three enemies left for me. Should go for AoE.' Tenko thrusts his hand forward and in a brief white flash, all of the men are blinded. His HUD lenses automatically darkened to protect his eyes.
He marks all of the villains as targets in his HUD before tossing a small triangular object in between them. It beeps before three black cords whip out from the device, ensnaring all the villains and dragging them all together. A brief shot of electricity later and they're all knocked out.
Just then, his HUD goes red with an arrow pointing left, causing Tenko to jump right, barely avoiding the metal pipe being brought down on him. His software calls it Hyper-Velocity Impact. Kind of a pretentious name if you ask him, they're just sensors for danger.
Tenko ducks under the man's next swing and drives his fist into his gut, and after channeling just the smallest amount of repulsor force from his shoes into his hand, the man is blown away.
Using his grappling hook to drag a villain off Jiro, he finally rejoins the girls. It's so much work every time he has to use the grapple, should he attach it to his wrist or arm? Thought for later.
"I think I can make something to help, but I need time!" Yaoyorozu yells, bashing a villain with her shield.
He doesn't wait, Tenko throws down a pellet from his belt, creating a large smokescreen around them. With his HUD allowing him to see through it, he grabs the two girls and leads them away to regroup.
All Might wasn't kidding when he said he would help him become a hero no matter what. Gran told him he had to use a lot of money and pull a ton of strings to get this stuff for him from some American company.
What was it called again? Stark? Stank Industries? Whatever, he'll thank them later.
Can snakes laugh? Izuku isn't too sure but if they could, he certainly would be. How could he not while, as a snake, he's got his body wrapped partly wrapped around a villain's neck while the other part wraps around his wrist and he makes the man punch himself in the face over and over.
'Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself. Darn, I wish I could talk as an animal!'
Finally, much to his disappointment, the man knocks himself out. The greenette gets up, transforming back into himself, and is about to go find his next villain when he hears it.
"Asgardian." A voice hisses from his side. If he could talk like a snake, it'd probably sound like that. Izuku faces the Dark Elf who, despite the mask, he knows is glaring at him. Actually, he just realized the elf isn't speaking Japanese, but Shiväisith. Thank god Asgardians have Allspeak.
"What's wrong?" Izuku responds in the creature's natural tongue. "To much light and hope in the universe for your liking?"
The elf draws one of his two swords from his back, a light sheen emitting from the blade. "Hypocrite! Odin built his empire on the blood and tears of the innocent!"
Izuku has no time to respond, not that he had any, before the elf slashes at him. Izuku jumps over the attack and uses the elf's shoulders to vault behind him, grabbing his other sword as he does so.
Izuku lands on the ground and whirls around, holding the sword like his daggers with a reverse grip. The Dark Elf is on him in an instant, growling in frustration.
The elf thrusts right but Izuku parry's, the blades sparking when they clash, before countering with his own slash, causing the creature to jump back.
His opponent tries stabbing at his head but Izuku blocks before going to cut at his stomach. The elf backs up but Izuku, still spinning after his last attack, drops to his knees and tries to cut his opponent's kneecaps out from under him. Again, the elf backs up more.
Izuku stands and lunges forward, trying a diagonal overhead slash but the elf ducks, unknowingly taking a step forward which lets Izuku elbow him in the chest hard.
He tries to press his attack, slicing again, which is avoided, before the elf ducks his next attack and tries a counter of his own aimed at Izuku's chest. The green-haired boy blocks the stab and uses his free hand to jab the elf in the face.
Yelling in frustrating, the Dark Elf lets loose a wild swing. Izuku twirls around the attack, gashing the creature's leg. The elf cries out in pain, before letting out an even harsher cry when Izuku kicks the wound he just made, causing the Dark Elf to drop his weapon and fall to his knees. Izuku finishes the twirl with the sword resting by the elf's neck.
"Admit you are beaten," Izuku commands.
The Dark Elf gasps for air for a few seconds before responding. "Never." He leans more toward the sword. "Make your ancestors proud."
Izuku eyes the sword, unaware of his father leaning very close to a screen right now. "I can't change the past, but I can work toward a better future." Izuku removes the sword from his neck and backhands the elf, leaving him to groan on the ground.
Slow clapping catches his attention. It's Shigaraki, walking slowly up to him. "I'm not gonna lie, you are entertaining as hell to watch. Watching you thrash these idiots around, I thought you kids were just going to crap your pants the whole time."
Letting the smirk back onto his face, Izuku says, "thanks. How about you fight me and I give you a real show."
She sucks in a breath. "That is so tempting but I'm kinda waiting for someone else right now. Maybe if you're still alive once I'm done with him? Though I doubt it…" She smiles wickedly. "Nomu."
Izuku can't even blink before something appears behind him, grabbing his ankle in a crushing grip and lifting him upside down off the ground. He yelps in pain dropping the sword.
She laughs, holding up her hand and putting two fingers close together. "Sorry, kid. But you're gonna feel a slight pressure. Oh, Nomu…"
There's no time to think before the Nomu slams him down onto the ground, creating a small crater. Izuku can't even let out a full groan before the Nomu swings him again by his ankle, beating him on the ground two more times before letting go.
Ok, wow. That hurts. At least when he got stabbed, the pain was in a single area but this. There wasn't a part of his body not screaming at him right now. He tries to turn his head or move his leg but whimpers when both actions shoot pure agony through him.
He vaguely hears the Dark Elf laughing nearby. "Puny god."
It doesn't last too long, however. Already, he can feel the worse parts of his body getting colder, dulling the aches a little. A sign his scantly enhanced regeneration was working.
"He's still alive? Nomu, pick him up." The regen takes a while to work so unfortunately, he still can't move and is helpless when the Nomu picks him up by the ankle again. "He is! Bring him to me."
With his vision still hazy, Izuku can barely make out Shigaraki in front of him after the Nomu stomps over to her. The blood dripping down his forehead probably doesn't help either. "How?"
Izuku tries to laugh but it turns into a cough instead. "Ligh-lightly…enhanced…d-durability." He coughs more. "Y-you mad…uh…sorry. My head hurts a lot. Wha-what's the girl version of bro?"
She stares at him before breaking out into a laugh. "I hope watching you die is just as much fun as watching you fight."
Izuku wheezes. "I-I don't know…I can probably double whatever you're paying Diet Hulk here."
"Nice try." Shigaraki taunts. "Nomu here is engineered to listen to me and only me."
Her smile vanishes at Izuku's toothy grin. "That's all I needed to know." He disappears in a green light.
"It has to be you!"
Mina looks up from Thirteen's crumpled body, tears in her eyes. "B-but I can't-"
Uraraka puts her hands on her shoulders, pinkies up. "It's like Thirteen said! Use your quirk to help people! You're the only one fast enough! Please!"
Shaking her head and getting every thought telling her not to out of her head, Mina bursts forward sliding on her acid. "I'm sorry! And I'll be back!"
"As if I'll let you!"
Mina screams but is still able to use her acid to change direction and avoid the portal that opens in front of her, continuing onto the doors.
"It will not be that easy!" Her eyes widen as the black mist descends on her from above. She can't avoid it! Did she already fail?
The mist man grunts and suddenly, he's lifted up. Mina glances behind her to see Uraraka throwing something metal into the air. "Go, Mina!" Shoji and Sato jump in the air after the object and with great heaves, they punch it at the same time, sending the villain flying.
Mina gets to the doors and uses her acid to help get her fingers in between the gap before prying them open and skating through.
'Just hang on everyone! I won't let you down!'
Shigaraki stares dumbly at…herself, being held by the Nomu. Izuku waves at her cheerfully. "Nomu, put me down, carefully," she says in Shigaraki's voice.
The villain's face turns to horror as the Nomu complies. "Wha-"
Izuku points at her, copying Shigaraki's wicked smile from when she called the Nomu originally. "Nomu…get her."
The monster blurs until it's in front of its former master, raising its fist. All Shigaraki can do is raise her hands as Nomu brings his fist down. Izuku has to close her eyes to the explosion of debris, not being able to see what happens. The injuries from before still keep her from moving.
Once the dust clears, Izuku sees Shigaraki in her own crater in the ground. She's got some scrapes but doesn't look bad at all. "Keep going, Nomu!" Izuku yells, enjoying her new toy a little too much.
The Nomu roars, bringing both of its fists down on the villain leader, who only jumps out of the way just in time. "Nomu, stop!" The creature halts immediately at her command. "That was cute kid but-"
"Nomu, go!"
Shigaraki loses all dignity and 'eeps' raising her hands as the Nomu attacks again, causing another explosion. Izuku can feel her legs starts to twitch and her arms almost feel good enough to push up on.
Looking up, Izuku can finally see how Shigaraki has been blocking the attacks. Kneeling in another crater, a light blue barrier surrounds the villain, where the Nomu's fist makes contact against the shield, it turns red.
"Stupid creature!" She snarls before a pulse of energy from the shield blows the Nomu back. "Now sto-"
"Attack, Nomu!"
"No, stop!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"N-" Shigaraki stops to dodge a throwing knife. Unfortunately, she didn't finish her command. The Nomu tries to bring both of his fists down on her again. "ENOUGH!"
The barrier around Shigaraki splits into two shields, both beginning to spin deadly fast. She launches the two discs at the Nomu and Izuku can only watch as they cut through the Nomu's arms like they're nothing, slicing them clean off.
The monster roars before Shigaraki waves her hands and the discs change direction mid-air and slice off its legs, the Nomu howls as the stump it has now become falls to the ground. "There. That'll buy us a couple of seconds."
Izuku shapeshifts back into normal and staggers back onto his feet just in time. Shigaraki squeezes her hand and the two shield discs break apart into a bunch of smaller pieces, all of which she launches at him.
He barely gets his daggers out in time, ducking and dodging discs while bating others away with his blades. He feels one cut his leg. Another his arm. 'I can't do this forever!' He sees the Nomu almost fully regenerated already. 'And I shouldn't have to!'
Shigaraki follows his line of sight as Kurogiri reappears. "I apologize but-"
"I don't care! Get that kid outta here now!" She roars.
Izuku backsteps a few discs before he sees a portal overtake him and everything goes dark again.
Hirona puts her hands on her knees, sucking up as much air as she can. "Nomu…stay…still…" the mindless thing stands and does nothing. Finally.
"Will you be alright?" Kurogiri asks her.
"Why?" She snaps, standing up straight. "So you can tell Sensei and he have something else to hold over me?"
"Apologies, but I am tasked with your protection," the portal user replies.
"Whatever. You!" She points at the limping villain coming up to them, Sensei called him an elf. "You can understand me, right?" He nods. "I was told I could rely on you. Go where Kurogiri sent that kid and make sure he doesn't come back. He can't come back, understood?"
The elf gives a more energetic nod. "Good, and Kurogiri." She turns back to her second in command. "After you tell him where you sent the kid, you are gonna do what you should've done in the first place. Find him and bring him to me."
When Izuku falls out of the portal, he expects light to hurt his eyes, but he's confused when it's still dark. He becomes much less confused when he's almost immediately soaked.
Pushing himself up to his hands and knees, he looks around the dark urban city while rain drenches everything. The downpour zone?
"Hey! There's a new one!" Can't he catch a break? Izuku sees a purple villain with sharp teeth rushing him from a nearby alley. Slowly getting to his feet, Izuku readies his dagger to defend himself and-
But before he can do anything, something crashes into the villain, knocking him back into the alley. Izuku squints his eyes and immediately his brain gives him 'Mjöllnir!' But that isn't right.
Sure it was silver with a leathery handle, but it was smaller. One side of it was blunt and flat like a hammer while the other was more like a wedge. But like Uncle Thor's hammer, it floats in the air after hitting its target. Izuku tracks the weapon as it flies back to where it came from…
As it flies back into Kaminari's outstretched hand.
'No way…'
"Midoriya!" He cries, attaching his weapon to his side and running up to him. "Don't worry, I gotcha buddy!"
"I-you!-"
Kaminari puts his arm around his shoulder and starts leading him away. "Hold on a sec, let's get out of the rain."
"Uhhhh…"
"Here we go." Kaminari brings him inside one of the buildings into a room that looks like it had been designed to be some sort of office break room, complete with a fridge, cooking appliances, and tables. One of which has an unconscious Koda laying on it.
His classmate gently places him in one of the chairs before going to check the window. "I was studying this map to look for an exit," he taps a paper on the table next to him, "when I saw your portal open up. Can you walk?"
Izuku nods. "Yea-yeah. I just need a minute. Is Koda alright?"
"Oh, yeah." Kaminari scratches the back of his head. "He was using himself as bait so I could mess up some bad guys but one of them got past me and…well he's just got a bump on the head so I think he'll be alright…"
"Good, good…" Izuku can't stop himself. "Where'd you get that?" He points at Kaminari's weapon.
"Oh, this?" He lifts it up. "Like it? It's called Thunderstrike. And it's nothing big, just something my dad gave me."
"Really?" Izuku stands, using the table for support. "Must be some good tech. The way it was flying around…" he narrows his eyes. "It's almost like it was magic."
Kaminari gives him a very forced laugh. "W-what? Magic? C'mon man, be serious." He is taking great care to look at anything that isn't Izuku.
'So we're both terrible liars, good to know.'
Izuku shakes his head, his vision still not completely clear. "Ok, we don't have time for this." He waves his hand, creating an illusion of Thor next to him. "Is this your dad?"
Kaminari's blue eyes look back and forth between him and the decoy over and over until finally…he nods.
"So just to clarify." He points at Thor. "This is your dad?"
A nod.
"THIS person here, is definitely your dad?"
Another nod
"Uncle Thor is your dad?!" You would've thought Izuku finally learned how to turn into a bird with how he screeched.
"Yes!" Kaminari finally found his voice. "Yes, that's my-wait! Wait wait wait…UNCLE?!" Oh good, Kaminari has completed his transition to bird too.
"Yes, uncle!" Izuku creates an illusion of Loki next to Thor. "Do you know who that is?!"
"Uncle Loki?!"
Izuku rubs his head. "Hearing him called that is so weird…but yes! Loki! That's MY dad!"
Kaminari points at the decoy of his dad. "That's your dad?!"
Izuku nods.
"That guy in green, you're sure he's your dad?!"
Izuku nods again.
"And you're positive-"
"WE JUST DID THIS KAMINARI!"
At this point, both boys are rubbing their heads. "Y-you've seen me use my magic," Izuku starts, "how did you not realize I was related to Loki?!"
"I've never actually met him!" Kaminari defends. "I haven't even been to Asgard yet!"
"How have you not been yet?!" At this point, his voice may never be quiet again.
"I only met dad like, a year ago!" Kaminari's hands are waving in random directions now while he talks. "And you know, most of that time was-was everyone getting used to each other, and then training once we did!" He points a finger at Izuku. "How did YOU not know?! You've clearly met my dad, how did you not recognize it during the battle trial?!"
Izuku's traitorous mind gives him an image of Uraraka in her hero costume, causing him to go red and look down. "T-that's n-not important…"
Both boys stand in silence for almost a full minute before Kaminari breaks it. "So…uh. So-well-" Izuku tilts his head. "Uh, well, my mom is human. Like, fully human. Is your mom…"
"O-oh." Izuku nods rapidly. "Y-yeah, she is…"
"G-good to know." Kaminari claps his hands before the two fall back into another silence.
Eventually, he blurts out, "are we aliens?"
"W-what?" If Izuku wasn't asking if he was dreaming before…
Kaminari waves his hands in front of himself frantically. "S-sorry! I was always too scared to ask dad and-oh man, is alien an offensive term for us? Oh geez I'm such an idiot-"
"No!" Izuku stops him. "N-no you're fine, I promise." When Kaminari relaxes, he continues. "As for aliens…technically, yes? It's more based on location? Like here on Earth we're aliens, but on Asgard, we wouldn't be."
"Thanks, that makes sense…" In spite of himself, a small smile breaks out on Kaminari's face. "Ashido can never find out about us."
Izuku snorts, hiccups, and then snorts again before both boys look at each other and burst out laughing. "Ok ok," Izuku says trying to control himself while holding his stomach. "We uh, we need to talk about this more but…" he looks at Koda. "It's not exactly the best time…"
Kaminari walks up beside him. "Yeah…we'll talk more when we get out of here." Izuku nods in agreement. "But you know…" the blonde starts hesitantly. "Your dad is my dad's brother and vice versa so… that makes us cousins, doesn't it?"
"Y-yeah?" Was Kaminari upset? Did he not want to be related to him? He'd understand if-
"I-um." His newly discovered cousin was staring very intently at Koda. "I've never really had any family outside my mom…a-and now dad so to get a cousin? It-it's pretty cool…"
Izuku scratches his nose, also making a point to not look at the other boy. "I h-haven't had much family either…and they weren't around a lot…s-so to get a cousin is pretty cool to me too…"
Taking a deep breath, Izuku can feel his body is mostly healed. Enough to move around and fight moderately well at least. "Okay…" he looks at Kaminari who stares back. "The villains have some sort of monster but I can control it. If we can get out of here and I can get to that thing, I think I can use it to drive them out of here."
Kaminari laughs a little. "Better than any plan I had…which was none. So how do you-"
"Asgardian!"
Thor's son furrows his brow. "That…wasn't Japanese…was it?"
Izuku shakes his head. "No, stay here!" Without waiting for an answer, he jogs out into the street, becoming soaked again immediately, to find the Dark Elf waiting for him.
Walking out onto the street and facing him, Izuku calls out, "didn't I already beat you?!"
It doesn't move. "This time…will be different."
Shaking himself a bit, Izuku answers, "yeah, it will! 'Cuz after, I'm gonna drag you back to Asgard myself!" The elf elects to say nothing, just tilting his head.
"Midoriya!" Izuku sighs. What did he say?!
"It's just one villain Kaminari, I got him," Izuku tells the other boy who's running up to him with Thunderstrike already in hand.
"He's not from around here, is he?" The blonde questions.
"Dark Elf, ancient enemy of Asgardians." Izuku summarizes as quickly as he can.
"Oh, yes!" Izuku jolts as the elf practically purrs at them. "Now there are two of them. More blood for me to spill."
Izuku's quip dies on his tongue as the elf takes something out from his belt.
He loses the ability to breathe.
The Dark Elf was holding a black stone with red etchings on it.
"No!" Izuku flings two knives at his hand hoping to knock away the rock but it was too late.
The Dark Elf laughs and crushes the rock in his hand, the two knives bouncing off his body like they're nothing. Immediately, the creature is covered in lines of what could be described as lava, as it literally melts its old body away. Black smoke expunges from its body while the elf cries out in pain, falling to its hands and knees.
"M-Midoriya!" Kaminari takes a step back. "What's going on?!"
"I-i-i-i-i"
"Midoriya!"
"It's a Kurse!" Izuku finally gets out, unable to take his eyes off the horrible sight in front of him. "Dark Elf super soldier!"
"O-ok. But you beat him before right? And there's two of us now!" Kaminari tries.
"Kaminari!" Izuku grabs his friends and points at the Kurse. "That thing is physically stronger than Uncle Thor and can take hits from Mjöllnir like their nothing! Our two dads, our two god dads, barely beat one of those things centuries ago! And it's only because they got really lucky!"
A roar rips through the air. Not one that would belong to any living creature, not even a monster, but a roar that would sound at home coming from a demon.
Izuku's hand drops when the Kurse stands up, little wisps of black smoke still leaking from it. The former Dark Elf had gotten bigger in every way. It was taller, muscles now barely contained by armor that had layered itself and expanded to cover the greater area. Several spikes jut out from various points on its body to complete the look.
"W-what do we do?" Kaminari looks back and forth between him and the Kurse.
He's not sure about a lot of things right now, but there is one thing he knows. "We can't let that thing get to our classmates…"
Kaminari understands immediately, taking a deep breath at the same time as him. "So it's up to us?" His voice is almost monotone. It sounds strange coming from him.
"I guess so…" Izuku conjures his daggers. "You know, my dad always said he and Uncle Thor make a great team."
"Heh, my dad said the same thing." Kaminari spun his mace a few times. "Guess it's time to see for ourselves."
Izuku lowers himself into a combat stance while Kaminari mirrors him. "You ready for this, Prince of Thunder?"
Kaminari laughs under his breath. "How long have you had that one?"
"About two seconds after you caught Thunderstrike."
"Well…" Kaminari lets some lightning travel up and down his body. "Hope I can live up to the name."
Izuku flips his daggers around. "Let's make our dads proud!"
Tenko rubs his head. What the hell happened? One second, Yaoyorozu, Jiro, and he were beating the crap out of some villain who tried to sneak up on them from the ground, which his HUD warned him about, and now he's…
He looks around. A broken fountain? So he's in the central plaza? When did he-
"Finally." Tenko looks up to see the Shigaraki girl peering down at him. Why is she looking at him like he's some rare item she's been searching forever for? "Shimura."
He flinches at the name but pushes it aside to hoist himself up while using his HUD to check over his inventory and make sure all of his stuff is working. "Do I know you?"
If he thought she looked a little unhinged before, it's nothing compared to now.
All for One leans forward in his seat, clasping his hands together. His teeth are showing in a malevolent smile. "The two of them, together at last."