Chapter 14: My Hero: Izuku Midoriya
"Fuck off and DIE!"
Katsuki released an explosion directly to a fish-headed villain's chest at point blank range.
The fish-headed villain slammed back against the wall of the damaged building, driving the air out of her lungs, spewing pink mist from her mouth.
Katsuki coughed, trying to clear the mist away with his hand.
"Katsuki!"
Turning, Katsuki saw Uraraka walking through the mist, towards him.
Katsuki growled, falling into a fighting stance.
"W-What's wrong, Katsuki?"
Propelling himself forwards, Katsuki delivered a double-footed kick to Uraraka's chest before she could react.
Uraraka was thrown back, tumbling over and over until she came to a halt.
"Urgh, I guess you saw right through it." A haze passed over Uraraka, revealing the fish-headed villain in her place.
A large concrete pillar swung through the mist, clearing it and slamming into the fish-headed villain, crushing her against the wall.
"Home Run!"
Uraraka removed the pillar, its weight cancelled by her quirk, allowing the fish-headed villain to slump to the floor, out cold.
"How did ya know it wasn't me, Kacchan?" Uraraka looked to Bakugo, tilting her head, the pillar resting on her shoulder.
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Tch, you've picked up that stupid, fucking nickname from the nerd."
"What do you mean, Kacchan?"
One of Katsuki's eyes twitched. "Exactly that!"
"You should be paying more attention, kid!"
A barrage of rubble, covered in silver energy, fired at Katsuki's back.
Throwing his arm behind himself, Katsuki released a large explosion, blasting the rubble back at the telekinetic villain with increased speed.
A blur blew past Katsuki, the air pressure forcing him to take a step back to regain his balance.
The rubble smashed into the far wall, the space the telekinetic villain had been occupying now empty.
"Eh?" Katsuki looked at the fallen rubble in confusion.
A body slammed into Katsuki's side, sending him flying through the air, forcing him to use his explosions to stabilise himself and land.
Looking around himself, Katsuki tried to see where the attack had come from, only seeing Uraraka fighting a villain with some kind of high-pressure air breath.
Was that the villain that had attacked him?
With Katsuki's eyes still on the breath villain, he felt the air behind him beginning to stir.
Firing an explosion from his left palm, Katsuki flipped into the air, dodging the blur, watching it as it suddenly slowed down, revealing an orange-haired villain, a man in his late forties, slightly out of shape.
Landing, Katsuki released a series of explosions, carrying himself into the air, over Uraraka.
"Round Face, use your quirk on me!"
Uraraka dodged a blast of air, turning to look at Katsuki above her, before nodding and slapping her hand on Katsuki's bare shoulder as he flew by.
With his gravity gone, Katsuki's travel speed with his quirk increased massively, kicking off the wall and at the blur villain, delivering a kick to the man's chest.
The orange-haired man stumbled back, before blurring away, coming to a halt at the other side of the room, next to the telekinetic villain.
Using his quirk to force his weightless body to land, Katsuki watched as the telekinetic villain fired more rubble at him. Igniting explosions in his palms, Katsuki rocketed forwards with immense speed, twisting and turning to dodge the rubble attack, slamming his shoulder into the telekinetic villain's stomach.
The villain wheezed and dropped to his knees, gasping desperately for air.
Wrapping his hand around the villain's face, Katsuki fired a small explosion, slamming the telekinetic villain's head into the wall, taking him out of the fight.
Turning to facing the blur villain, Katsuki watched as the man cursed and yelled, urging his quirk to work.
"So, your quirk has a recharge time, great, I can use that." Katsuki grinned, becoming a blur of explosions and rage.
The air whistled around Katsuki as he kicked the orange-haired villain in the face, before twisting and delivering an explosion-powered open palm strike to the chest.
Groaning, the orange-haired villain flopped to the floor, trying and failing to move.
Growling, Katsuki looked around for his next fight, quickly catching sight of three more villains entering the room, one with red hair, one holding a chainsaw and the last dressed in what looked like a bargain-store ninja costume.
Nearby, Uraraka held her concrete pillar in front of her, shielding herself from another blast of wind from the villain's mouth.
As the wind died down Uraraka pivoted on one foot, spinning and slamming the concrete pillar into the villain's side, sending him to join his comrades in unconsciousness.
Three more villains took his place, one nondescript, clean-shaven with short, brown hair, another with a visor over the top half of his face and the last with some kind of gold, metal helmet as a mutation.
The visor villain looked to Uraraka, firing twin energy beams from his eyes, forcing her to use her concrete pillar as a shield.
"Damn." Uraraka sighed, the end of the pillar had shattered, the pieces floating in the air. "But I can use this!"
Using her now much shorter pillar, Uraraka slammed it into the floating rubble, knocking it at the three villains, releasing her hold on it the moment before impact.
The counterattack didn't faze them, the brown-haired villain, who had grown three wooden claws from between his knuckles, slashed through the rubble, while the visor villain blasted any that came close.
Finally, the helmeted villain headbutted away any concrete that got into his range.
"You'll have to try harder than that, girly!" The visor villain sneered at the brown-haired girl.
"How about this?!"
Uraraka threw the remaining half of her pillar at the visor villain. At the same, she discreetly grabbed a lump of concrete from the ground and negated its gravity, before hurling it after the pillar.
The visor villain fired his energy beams, blasting the pillar apart, the shattered pieces floating in the air. The lump of concrete shot through the suspended rubble, disturbing it.
"Release!"
Uraraka placed the fingerpads of both her hands against each other.
At the last second the rubble projectile's gravity returned, slamming into the villain's face, smashing his visor into fragments of plastic and glass, breaking his nose in the process.
Seeing Uraraka's release of her quirk, Katsuki shifted his body as his gravity returned, using it to deliver a downwards kick to the red-haired villain.
Landing, Katsuki turned to face the chainsaw guy and the knockoff ninja, the red-haired villain collapsing against the wall, small locks of purple flame and smoke escaping his mouth.
Katsuki sneered at the fallen villain. "Stay down there, Puff the Magic Dragon."
The red-haired villain coughed. "What the f-fuck are you talking about-"
Katsuki released another explosion, weaker than normal, directly in the red-haired villain's face.
A shout made Katsuki turn, bringing up his left gauntlet to block a swing of the villain's chainsaw. The blades chewed through the metal alloy, stopping just before it hit flesh.
"No way outta this one." The chainsaw villain smirked, his eyes burning with rage and disgust as he used his free hand to clamp down on Katsuki's right arm.
An acrid smell had filled the air, the sweat collection tank had been ruptured, liquid dripping from where the chainsaw pierced the gauntlet.
The knockoff ninja charged at the restrained Katsuki, twin blades drawn.
Katsuki grinned. "Still not good enough."
Swinging his free right arm, Katsuki fired an explosion into the chainsaw villain's gut, forcing him to release his grip on Katsuki's arm and his own chainsaw.
Unclasping his left gauntlet, the chainsaw still lodged in it, Katsuki span on the spot, the force of the rotation sent the gauntlet flying off his arm, at the two villains.
Steadying himself, Katsuki pulled back the handle of his remaining gauntlet and removed the pin.
A massive fireball issued from the gauntlet, engulfing both the villains and the damaged gauntlet.
The ruptured tank of the gauntlet flying through the air ignited, turning the gauntlet into a grenade, shrapnel peppering the two villains, before the chainsaw exploded as well.
Katsuki stood, watching carefully as the smoke began to clear. The unconscious form of the knockoff ninja was revealed first, followed by the twisted remains of Bakugo's brace and the villain's chainsaw.
The now chainsaw-less villain still stood, shrapnel dug into his skin on his left side.
He didn't look deterred, if anything, Katsuki noted, he looked angrier.
A man after his own heart then.
Reaching down, the villain picked up the melted remains of Bakugo's gauntlet, a red glow surrounding it, before it transformed into an exact copy of the villain's destroyed chainsaw.
"So that's your quirk, then?" Katsuki sneered at the villain. "I've seen better."
Katsuki and villain charged at each other, the former dropping to his knees to dodge under the swing of the latter's chainsaw.
Uraraka released a shout as she fired concrete chunk after concrete chunk at the wooden claw and gold-helmeted villains.
The helmet villain dodged and weaved, smashing any blocks of concrete he couldn't avoid with his protected head. Next to him, the wooden-clawed villain hacked and slashed at the projectiles, but Uraraka could see his claws beginning to wear and splinter.
"I'm too slow, I need to send them faster." Uraraka paused. "That's it!"
Uraraka made her plan, and enacted it.
Picking up concrete chunks, Uraraka removed the gravity of each one, until she had around forty concrete blocks floating in the air.
Touching the fingertips of both hands to a nearby pillar, Uraraka cancelled the weight of as much of it as possible. Taking a step back, Uraraka shoulder-charged the pillar, its cancelled gravity meaning it tore free easily, small fragments of rubble floating in the air around the areas of breakage.
Turning, Uraraka charged towards the villains, the pillar held over her shoulder, ready to swing it.
"Improvised Super Move, HOME RUN COMET!"
Swinging the pillar at the smashed rubble she'd suspended in the air before, Uraraka watched as forty concrete projectiles shot at the helmet and wooden-clawed villains, holding her fingerpads together to release her quirk at the last second.
Neither of the villains could withstand the force of the assault, the wooden claws trying to protect the villain's body snapped and failed, leaving him defenceless against the rubble. The helmeted villain hadn't fared any better, his golden helmet had a crack running down it, his body covered in red marks where the concrete projectiles had impacted.
"DIE!"
Uraraka turned to see Katsuki deliver an explosion to the chainsaw villain's chest, slamming him back against the far wall, unconscious.
"Is this fucking all of them?" Katsuki wheeled around, looking for more villains to fight, his breathing slowly returning to normal. "They're so goddamn weak!"
"That's okay, Kacchan." Uraraka shot Katsuku a peace sign. "That just means we can go help the others even faster, right? Everyone else is probably still in the USJ if we are."
"Tch, you can go if you want." Katsuki cracked his knuckles. "I'm gunning for that warp gate bastard."
Uraraka shook her head. "You can't, it's 'cause you charged at that guy that Thirteen couldn't use their quirk on him to suck him up!"
Katsuki growled, grinding his teeth together. "Thirteen's was pretty much useless in that situation, their quirk's slow to start up, and the warp clown would've just opened a portal up to reflect the attack back on them."
"W-What?!" Uraraka exclaimed. "Thirteen's quirk is super strong, they-"
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Stop being such a Thirteen stan, they're a rescue hero, so they're unaccustomed to combat, plus they've never had to improve their quirk reaction time."
"You got all that for analysing Thirteen?" Uraraka questioned.
"No, well, I figured out some of it myself." Katsuki paused. "The rest I got from listening to the nerd's analysis of Thirteen's quirk."
"I thought you hated Deki?"
Katsuki sighed, muttering under his breath. "So did I."
Uraraka leaned forward. "What was that?"
"Nothing." Katsuki answered quickly. "Anyway, I'm going at the warp gate, he's these clowns' escape strategy, I cut it off, they're up shit fucking creek and there ain't no paddle in sight."
"All this chit-chat has left you open!"
Katsuki turned, wrapping his hand around the chameleon villain's head and firing off an explosion, dazing the villain, his camouflage fading away.
"His reaction time, so fast." Moaned the chameleon villain, his head gently smoking.
Tossing the villain aside, Katsuki looked to Uraraka.
"Besides, if this is the kind of shit tier they're sending after us, everyone else will be pretty much fine."
Uraraka tilted her head. "Ya know, you're kinda cute when you're not shouting, I didn't realise you could be so calm and rational."
Katsuki wheeled around, his eyes flaming. "What?!"
The gravity girl's cheeks set aflame, realising she had said that particular thought aloud. "I mean, I guess-"
"I am not cute!" Katsuki snapped. "And I'm always calm and rational, pink cheeks!"
Uraraka's embarrassment faded, before being replaced by laughter.
"Don't fucking laugh at me!"
This only made Uraraka giggle even harder, her hand shakily pointing at Katsuki. "You, you looked so funny when you said you're not cute, it was even cuter than before."
Katsuki sucked air in through his nostrils, turning to leave. "Fine, I'm done, go help those extras if you want to."
"Wait, wait!" Uraraka waved her hands in front of herself. "Taking out the villains' getaway is a pretty good idea, I'll come with you!"
"Tch, whatever." Katsuki set off out of the building, Uraraka falling in step beside him.
A silence fell over the two heroes-in-training.
"So, what's the deal with you and Deki?" Uraraka looked to Katsuki as the two went down the stairs to the ground floor of the building.
"None of your fucking business is what it is." Katsuki snapped in reply.
"He said you used to be friends, before you got your quirks."
Katsuki replied. "Before I got my quirk."
"Huh." Uraraka placed a finger on her chin. "What about Deki? He said he used to think his quirk was just strength."
Katsuki snorted. "Then he fucking lied to you, the nerd's been hiding that broken ass quirk since he got it. He's still lying about part of it now."
Uraraka frowned, displaying clear confusion as they walked out into the street. "He was hiding his quirk? Maybe he was just worried people would be scared of it?"
"If you've got half a brain you should be scared of the nerd's quirk." Katsuki paused. "We're lucky he's such a All Might fanboy, with a quirk like his, if he wanted to he could rule this fucking country, hell, he probably could without it as well."
"What?!"
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Deku's, the nerd's, quirk can take other q-"
A golden cord of energy wrapped around Katsuki's neck, cutting off his sentence, and lifting him into the air.
"Kacchan!"
Uraraka lurched forwards, reaching out with her hand, towards the golden cord.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Uraraka paused.
A tall woman with snow white hair walked out from behind the corner of the building, the other end of the golden cord in one of her hands.
"Unless you want to be sent into your worst memories."
The woman smiled, but her eyes remained cold.
Uraraka turned and raced at the woman, pressing the fingerpads of one hand to the opposite upper arm, cancelling her own gravity. Activating the springs in her heels, Uraraka soared into the air, flying at the woman.
"Release!"
Her gravity restored, Uraraka dropped towards the white-haired woman.
Flicking her free hand, another golden cord materialised, shooting out and wrapping around Uraraka's waist, trapping her hands and holding her in the air.
"Too slow, little girl." The woman sneered, watching as the brown-haired girl struggled to free herself, all in vain.
"DIE!"
Katsuki released an explosion, his palm wrapped around a section of the golden cord, around a foot before it reached his neck.
A cloud of grey smoke obscured Katsuki, before dissipating to reveal he was still trapped, the cord having tightened around his neck, choking him slightly.
"Fuckin bitch." Katsuki wheezed, his face slowly turning red.
"You've got some fire in you, haven't you, cutey."
"Don't call me that, you hag!" Katsuki exploded, swinging and kicking with all his might.
It didn't work.
"Let me go and I'll beat the shit out of you!"
"So tetchy, there's definitely some high-quality trauma in that lovely head of yours." The woman smiled, before looking at Uraraka. "But I'll start with the plain one first."
Uraraka looked mildly offended.
"Like you can talk, that old woman hair is the only notable thing about you!" Katsuki roared, his eyes alight. "That, and your thing for tying up teenagers."
The golden cord around Katsuki's neck extended, snaking up and across his mouth, gagging him.
"Shush, shush, you'll get your turn next." The woman laughed. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, introduction. You may have heard of me, my father named me Nigata, but the media much preferred Lady Trauma."
Uraraka frowned. "Who?"
One of Nigata's eyes twitched.
"I'm a supervillain, emphasis on the super."
The blond-haired boy burst out laughing, slightly muffled by his gag.
Nigata's eye twitched again, mentally commanding the cord to cease gagging Katsuki.
Katsuki slowly stopped laughing. "Fuck, you're old."
"You little shit-"
"Lady Trauma is a fucking relic, she vanished like thirty years ago. No recorded death, no recorded capture, just gone, poof!" Katsuki grinned, his eyes darkening. "So either you're some pretender, a copycat, or you're looking pretty good for a granny."
Nigata sucked air in through her nose, making her cord silence Katsuki once again.
Yet it did nothing to diminish his smug smile, aggravating her further.
"My quirk allows me to force those caught by my cord to relieve their greatest trauma, regardless of whether they were on the receiving end or the delivering end." Nigata's eyes hardened. "I won't lie, this is going to be fun. For me, of course, for you, not so much."
Nigata closed her eyes.
A pulse of light travelled down one of the cords, to Uraraka, the brown-haired girl's eyes rolling back into her head as her body glowed faintly gold.
"Hmm, a bit of trauma, your parents are poor, boo fucking hoo. What else, no, no, no, god no."
Nigata opened her eyes, looking at Uraraka.
"You are so boring, you know that right?" Nigata flicked her wrist, the cord around Uraraka tightening and restraining her feet, before gagging her. "Sit tight while I deal with your friend."
The cord disconnected, dropping Uraraka to the ground, unable to move or speak.
"Now, smart mouth, let's see what tasty trauma you've got hiding in there."
A pulse shot down the cord to Katsuki, his eyes constantly twitching while the air around his body lit up with blinding golden light.
Images and memories flew through Katsuki's mind faster than he could recognise them, a pounding in his head worsening with every second the mental assault continued.
"Oh wow, I've struck gold." Nigata smiled. "No, I found the whole damn mine."
Another pulse shot down the cord, before Katsuki suddenly found himself in a white void, unrestrained and free.
"What the fuck?"
"Hello, Katsuki Bakugo." Nigata flickered into sight in front of the explosive teen. "Or do you prefer Kacchan? Or Ground Zero? Or maybe Lord Explosion Murder?"
Katsuki ground his teeth and lurched forwards, swinging his arm, explosions dancing on his palm.
Stumbling, Katsuki passed through Nigata harmlessly, almost falling, thrown off-balance by the lack of expected resistance.
"Nice try, but I'm in control here." Nigata smirked. "So I'll be taking that away."
The explosion in Katsuki's palm cut off.
"No, no, no!" Katsuki raged, trying to get his quirk to work.
"In this place, your mind, I rule it now, and I say you don't have a quirk." Nigata held up her hand, releasing an explosion from it. "In fact, I have your quirk."
"Give it back, you bitch!" Katsuki charged at Nigata again.
And again he passed straight through her.
"That's not very nice, is it now, Kacchan."
A growl slipped from Katsuki's lips, but he stopped himself from attacking her again.
It was useless anyway.
Nigata giggled, the very sound disturbing Katsuki. "In fact, I'm doing you a favour, I'm letting you see from little Deku's point of view. All those times you mocked him, putting him down, told him he was useless, you're just the same now."
"That nerd was never quirkless."
"You knew, and yet you never told anyone, not even poor little Izuku. All he wanted to be was your friend, he idolised you."
Katsuki didn't reply.
"You made sure everyone saw how much you hated him, but that was all a lie wasn't it?"
Still no response.
Nigata smiled. "A pretense, a front, to hide just how much you envied him. You were jealous of Izuku Midoriya, in fact, you still are."
"Shut the hell up, Granny Hair!"
"Now, now, I'm helping you here, aren't I? Maybe I should charge?" Nigata snapped her fingers, the same couch from Hound Dog's office appearing. "You can lie on it if you really want."
"Fuck. You."
"So childish, never mind." The couch vanished with a wave of the white-haired villain's hand. "Now, which memory should we start with? Hm, how about this one."
Katsuki blinked.
He was at Deku's seventh birthday party.
"What the-"
"Katsuki Bakugo, how dare you do that?" Mitsuki Bakugo stalked towards her seven-year old son.
Katsuki frowned, turning to look at a young boy, his lower arms and scalp covered in small rocks, wiping away tears.
Right, the nerd's seventh birthday party, the one where he'd knocked Rock Hair over with his quirk and made the little shit cry.
Or, at least, pretend to cry, Rock Hair had always been a little shit.
So that meant this was-
Oh, crap.
Mitsuki grabbed Katsuki by the wrist, her grip tight, dragging her son away to the edge of the party, out of hearing range of any of the other guests.
"You're not even sorry, are you?" Mitsuki glowered at her young son.
"So what if I'm not, old hag?" Katsuki felt the words leaving his mouth without even thinking them, it was the same thing he'd said back then.
SMACK!
Mitsuki backhanded her son.
Katsuki failed to hold back tears, feeling them run down the stinging red handprint on his left cheek.
"M-Mom, I'm s-sorry-"
SMACK!
Another handprint joined the last, this one on his right cheek, making a matching pair.
"Don't you dare speak back to me like that, you little shit!" Mitsuki hissed, before muttering to herself. "This is why I said we should have sent you a no-Quirk school, you're such a fucking brat with everyone telling you how great your stupid fucking quirk is."
Katsuki still heard.
Katsuki cried harder.
"Look at Izuku."
Turning his head, Katsuki watched the nerd running to Inko, who scooped him up into a hug.
"Why can't you be well-behaved? Like him?" Mitsuki sighed. "Instead you go round hitting other kids and swearing all the fucking time."
"Mom-"
"You don't deserve that quirk of yours, a perfect hero quirk. All I see when I look at you is a villain-in-waiting."
Katsuki's tears intensified.
"Izuku has the heart of a hero, the mind too, and he doesn't even have a quirk." Mitsuki paused. "He deserves that quirk of yours, not you."
Katsuki was practically howling now, his face covered in a mixture of tears and snot.
"Now, you're going to stay here and watch everyone else having fun until I decide you can rejoin the other kids." Mitsuki started to walk away. "Oh, and start thinking about how you're going to apologise to the poor boy you knocked over."
Katsuki was left alone, trying and failing to stop the great, heaving sobs that wracked his body.
He hated her, he hated the old hag. When he was the Number 1 Hero he'd lock her up with all the villains. In Tartarus.
He hated them all, he hated the smug grin Rock Hair was shooting him.
Most of all, he hated Izuku Midoriya.
The weak little boy with no quirk, who always got back up.
Except that was a lie, the nerd had a quirk.
Katsuki remembered that day at the playground, where the two had pledged to be a hero duo.
Izuku beamed. "We're gonna be great heroes!"
"Course we are, Ground Zero and Detroit, we'll be unstoppable!"
The green-haired boy opened his mouth, breathing red flames.
"That's almost as cool as my quirk." Katsuki pointed a thumb at his chest.
"Wait, wait, watch this." Izuku reached out with one hand, wrapping in around Katsuki's forearm.
Izuku held up his other hand, explosions dancing in his palm.
That was the day Izuku Midoriya stole his quirk.
The nerd had cried about it at first, telling him he'd used the wrong quirk by accident, before returning the quirk after a few minutes of trying and failing.
Katsuki had run off as soon as he got it back, almost smacking into the nerd's old man in his hurry.
After that day, the nerd pretended it had never happened, feigning no memory of it when Katsuki had asked. At first, it hadn't bothered Katsuki all that much, he could understand why the nerd might want to hide a quirk like that, the stigma that came with a quirk like that.
And the little shit had gone and got himself diagnosed as quirkless.
He was taunting Katsuki.
'I could take your quirk anytime I wanted to and there's nothing you could do to stop me.'
Katsuki's eyes flicked to Izuku again, watching the seven-year old boy smile from his mother's arms, while she talked to Katsuki's old hag.
The nerd suddenly pointed at Katsuki, before climbing down and running over to the blond-haired boy.
"Come on, Kacchan." The nerd beamed, bouncing up and down with nervous energy. "It's my birthday, I told your mom I wouldn't be able to enjoy it with you here, so you're free!"
"Tch, get lost, Deku!" Katsuki snapped. "Why would I want anything to do with someone as worthless as you, not even showing a damn quirk."
The nerd's face fell, before tearing up as he ran away, back to his mother.
Katsuki watched the green-haired boy tackle Inko's leg, holding on tight.
"That wasn't very nice, was it?"
Looking up, Katsuki saw the nerd's father standing next to him, a frightening intensity in his eyes.
"It still scares you, even now? When Izu took away your quirk."
Katsuki froze.
"I'm sorry, I should have taken that quirk away from him, my mistake." Hisashi Midoriya smiled, placing a reassuring hand of the blond-haired boy's shoulder. "I also should have erased that memory back then, it's taken such a long time to get another chance, I'm sorry you had to remember that, Katsuki. For a child that young, well, it isn't a pleasant experience."
Hisashi's hand glowed red for a few seconds, before it faded away.
Katsuki Bakugo forgot all about Izuku taking his quirk that day at the playground.
But feelings still lingered. The distrust, the fear, the hatred.
And most of all, the jealousy.
Katsuki forgot, but the feelings lived on.
It almost worked.
If only Hisashi hadn't overlooked the fact that Katsuki might have written down the events of that day at the playground.
A writing that seven-year Katsuki found just over a week later, along with a warning that his memories had been changed.
That, Katsuki never forgot.
Katsuki gasped, sucking in air. He was back in his properly-aged body, on his knees, in the white void again.
"Fascinating, you fear little Izu, don't you?" Nigata smiled. "You fear that one day he'll take your quirk, just like he did back then."
"That memory, the nerd's father altered it." Katsuki's breathing began to slow as he calmed.
"Not really, that quirk he used altered your perception of that memory."
"His quirk was Fire Breath." Katsuki looked up. "He didn't have some kind of mind-fuck quirk."
Nigata laughed. "Where do you think little Izu copied that quirk he used to take yours?"
Katsuki's eyes widened.
A quirk that took quirks, the power of an urban legend.
An urban legend that was Izuku Midoriya's father.
"It's true."
Katsuki looked up, Nigata was gone, in her place stood the nerd.
"You can't trick me like that, you old hag."
The nerd quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not an illusion, Kacchan."
"Don't call me that!"
The nerd laughed. "I'm a figment of your unconscious, you know that, right? I'm saying what you think the real Midoriya would say, and a little bit of what you want him to say."
"Fuck off, Deku!"
Midoriya sighed, a chair materialising next to him, before he sat on it. "I scare you, don't I? But you envy me even more."
Katsuki didn't reply.
"Not because of my quirk though." Midoriya looked to Katsuki. "You're jealous of me because you're scared I'll be a better hero than you."
"What am I if I fail as a hero?" Katsuki looked down. "I have the perfect hero quirk and I feel like a failure, I don't feel like a hero."
Midoriya said nothing, allowing Katsuki to continue.
"Ever since my quirk appeared all everyone told me was that I was destined to be a hero, except them." Katsuki paused. "The hag and my old man, after my quirk manifested, they changed, they built these expectations I could never reach, they still do now."
"All I ever wanted was their praise, for them to be proud of me. All they ever did was compare me to the nerd, to you. How you never gave up, even without a quirk. That you had the heart of a hero, and I had the heart of a villain."
"I hated you for it, I thought that if I made you give up on being a hero my parents would be proud of me instead. I think I knew at the time that would never work, my parents will never be proud of me, but admitting that to myself would have been giving up."
Katsuki's shoulder sagged, his eyes losing their fire.
"You don't get to give up now!" Midoriya's burnt with Katsuki's lost fire.
Midoriya jumped to his feet, his chair toppling over with a bang.
"You're Katsuki fucking Bakugo, get up and fight!"
Katsuki looked up.
Midoriya was gone. Nigata was back.
"Impressive." Nigata cooed. "Your subconscious actually managed to fight back for a moment then, very uncommon for someone as damaged as you. I wonder, how did you do it?"
Katsuki grinned, the fire reigniting in his eyes.
"I'm Katsuki fucking Bakugo, that's how!"
Surging to his feet, Katsuki threw his hands back and fired twin explosions, accelerating his body at Nigata, feet first.
"Really?" Nigata rolled her eyes as the double footed kick rocketed towards her. "I control your mind now, you can't hurt-"
"UP YOURS!"
Katsuki's kick landed, sending Nigata flying.
Rolling over, Katsuki used the momentum to get back on his feet, in a combat stance.
"This is my mind, I'm in control." Katsuki growled. "You can't fucking keep me down, you two-bit, forgotten relic. I'm gonna be a hero, and you're certainly not going to stop me!"
Katsuki fired more explosions, shooting himself at Nigata again.
Nigata looked panicked, before snapping her fingers.
Katsuki blinked, he was back in the real world, his neck once again wrapped by the golden cord, his mouth gagged.
"That mind of yours, it's a hellscape." Nigata glared at the blond-haired boy.
Katsuki snorted, biting down on the cord, tearing through it.
"You get used to it after a while."
Glancing over at Uraraka, Katsuki watched her worming her way out of the golden cord Nigata had bound her with.
I need to keep this relic's attention, buy Round Face time.
Reaching out, Katsuki grabbed the cord, wrapping it around his hand and beginning to pull.
"Let go of that." Nigata looked worried.
"Make me."
Katsuki ignited his left palm, jumping into the air, overshooting Nigata, using the trailing cord to wrap around the woman's ankles, binding them.
Uraraka burst in from the side, placing her hand on first Nigata and then Katsuki.
"You fucked up, you underestimated me, you unestimated us both." Katsuki watched as Nigata tried and failed to free herself. "And now, you're going to feel the consequences."
Uraraka grabbed hold of Katsuki's waist and pushed, sending him into the air.
"Improvised Super Move."
Katsuki ignited one of his palms, the other holding the other end of the golden cord.
"G-Force Tornado!"
Katsuki spun in the air, round and round, spinning Nigata as well, pulled by the cord attached to her ankles, the speed increasing with every rotation.
"NOW!"
"Release!"
Aiming his palm, Katsuki swung his arm, cord gripped in his hand, sending Nigata flying. The cord twisted around the horizontal top bar of a lampost as Katsuki landed on the street, Nigata suspended by the cord, upside down.
"Fuck you, you brat!"
Nigata flicked her wrist, aiming another cord at Katsuki. Her shot went wide, her aim disrupted by her dizziness, or it would have, if Katsuki hadn't moved the end of the original cord into its path.
The second cord wrapped around the first, pulsing with the golden glow of Nigata's quirk.
"You reap what you sow." Katsuki tied the two cords together, and then to the next lamppost over.
Nigata twitched and convulsed as she hung from the lamppost, trapped in her own worst memories, unable to shut off her own quirk.
"Yeah, enjoy that!"
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "She can't hear you, she's trapped."
Uraraka nodded her head. "Then, let's go get that warpy guy!"
"Fine." Katsuki set off for the main plaza. "Come on, Uraraka."
Uraraka beamed, before running after Katsuki.
"What's the plan?"
"I'll distract him." Katsuki replied as they left the Ruins Zone, heading straight on. "You get close and use your quirk on him, send him into the fucking stratosphere, like you did with the ball in Goggles's test."
"Right." Uraraka nodded her head, before pointing. "Look, it's Deki!"
Izuku stood in the main plaza, looking worse for wear, his gym outfit ripped and torn, smeared with blood. The white monster, covered in bark-like armor, towered over him, while the navy-black monster stood beside the pale man.
"Shit, the nerd's going to get squished!" Katsuki accelerated, sprinting at full speed.
Izuku said something Katsuki couldn't hear, before his left arm began to glow every colour of the rainbow.
"DETROIT SMASH!"
Izuku punched the monster, a massive tornado of wind shooting upwards from the point of contact, the force of it knocking everyone, even Katsuki and Uraraka, off their feet.
The wind tore through the facility, ripping part of the USJ's roof away, shattering every last pane of glass. The white monster, its bark armor cracked and exploded, soared out of the cloud, landing somewhere in the Landslide Zone.
"I didn't know Deki had that kind of power." Uraraka pushed herself to her feet, as the wind and dust began to clear.
Katsuki brushed himself off. "He didn't, he must have taken, no, copied it."
Uraraka's eyes widened. "Oh, crap."
Katsuki looked up, and his stomach turned.
The nerd stood tall, his left arm still raised from the punch.
At least what was left of it. Everything from just above the elbow had been blown clean off, the blood and bone covered the nerd's front and the ground around him.
And yet, he was still smiling.
I was horrible to you, I made your life hell, and you never once gave up.
In truth, Izuku Midoriya, you were my hero.
You still are.
Chapter 15: Courage Is Not The Absence
Thirteen called out. "Bakugo, get back!"
Kurogiri laughed, before swelling in size.
"Begone, hero brats."
The purple mist engulfed the students, swallowing them up.
Izuku raised his arm, ready to flick his finger, with all of One For All's power behind it.
Before he could something slammed into Izuku's back, sending him crashing into Sato, both of them rolling clear of the villain's mist.
"Writhe in torment, until you breathe your last."
Izuku pushed himself onto his knees, he looked up to see most of the class was gone.
Only Sato, Kirishima, Sero, Ashido, Shoji and himself remained.
Thirteen stood in front of them, separating the hero students from Kurogiri with their body.
His hand brushed something.
Izuku reached out, picking it up. It was Aizawa's phone, the screen was cracked, Mikumo must have dropped it when the portal swallowed him up.
Pressing the power button, the screen lit up, confirming it still worked. Izuku started at Aizawa's lock screen, an image of the dark-haired man and Present Mic, both in civilian clothes, a white cat sat on the former's shoulder.
Aizawa looked happy, they both did.
So this is the world Aizawa fights to protect. His world.
"Midoriya!"
Turning the screen off, Izuku looked up, seeing Sato towering over him.
"R-Right."
Izuku accepted Sato's outstretched hand, standing. "Shoji, the others, are they still in the USJ? Are they safe?"
Shoji's arms stretched out, ears forming on the end of each.
"They're all still in the facility, but scattered." Shoji retracted his arms. "They're fighting."
Izuku nodded. "Good, our first priority should be to regroup, they've split us up to weaken us."
"We'll have to take this guy out first." Sato said. "Otherwise he'll just warp us apart again."
Sero sighed. "Physical attacks won't work on him, he'll just warp himself away before they can reach him."
"Then we need a plan." Izuku mused.
"No."
Izuku's head shot up, seeing Thirteen looking back over their shoulder at him.
"Class Representative." Thirteen raised their arm, the finger-caps of their gloves popping open. "Your job, you need to pick someone here to run back to the school. You won't have long, I'm not sure how effective my quirk will be on him."
"But-"
"This is our best bet, whoever is blocking communication is well-hidden, too well-hidden. If we don't get reinforcements soon we'll all be squashed like a bug with a flick of his finger." Thirteen activated their quirk, purple energy starting to swirl. "Now. It has to be now."
Looking at each of his classmates still on the platform, Izuku made his decision.
"Sero, you're the runner. Sato, you get the door. You two need to blow past him." Izuku opened his hand, activating Explosion. "It's on the rest of us to run interference. Ashido, aim for his collar, Shoji, use your quirk to maintain three hundred and six degree vision, tell us where this guy goes when he warps. And Kirishima."
Kirishima turned his head to Izuku.
"You're the tank."
Kirishima grinned, hardening his arms and upper body, flashing the green-haired boy a wink, a conspiratorial grin on his face.
Kurogiri chuckled. "What kind of fools discuss strategy in front of the enemy?"
Izuku stepped forwards, standing alongside Thirteen. "Ones who aren't discussing the real plan."
"What-"
Raising his arm, Izuku pressed his middle finger and thumb against each other, glowing with red energy, as he called on the confidence that came with Bakugo's quirk.
I can't afford to sacrifice my arm right now, even if we get past this guy, there might be more. Imagine the egg not exploding!
"DELAWARE SMASH!"
A gust of wind and massive shockwave shot from Izuku's finger, tearing through Kurogiri, blowing the mist away from his body.
Izuku held his broken finger with his other hand.
It didn't work, I still broke it. I can think about that later, now...
"Sero. Sato. Go now!"
Sero shot strand after strand of his tape, pulling himself towards the door, while Sato used his sugar-enhanced strength to lengthen his strides.
Kurogiri began to reform. "You cannot be allowed to escape."
Sero made it to the door first, trying and failing to open it.
"I could really use your strength right now, Sato. Hurry."
Sato accelerated, burning through his sugar stores faster, increasing his strength, reaching Sero faster.
Kurogiri swooped down, soaring towards Sero and Sato.
Thirteen activated their quirk, aimed at the mist-covered man. "You can't stop us!"
Izuku's eyes widened as Black Hole began to pull at Kurogiri's mist.
"Sensei, don't use your quirk on him, he's going to-"
A portal opened up between Thirteen and Kurogiri, connected to one behind the space-themed hero's back.
Thirteen screamed as the back of their costume was ripped apart, followed by their skin.
In all the times Izuku had been put down, discarded, told to kill himself for being quirkless, he had never got mad, he had just let it wash over him.
But now, Izuku was angry, he could hear the blood pounding in his veins.
Here, this villain was killing a hero, a hero that dedicated themselves to rescuing people in need.
Why?
Because they were in his way, because they were trying to protect children.
Izuku released a howl of rage.
Activating Slingshot, Izuku pulled on the remains of Thirteen's costume, pulling both it and its wearer out of Black Hole's area of effect.
"Sato, get that door open, now!" Izuku glared at Kurogiri as the purple cloud dove at him.
Izuku made his selection, opening his mouth and calling on one of his newest quirks.
A hail of tiny seeds shot from the green-haired boy's mouth, most of them passing through the mist harmlessly, the rest bouncing off the villain's metal collar.
That told Izuku everything he needed to know.
Closing his mouth, Izuku switched to Slingshot again, and applied a strand of its power to Kurogiri's collar.
Planting his feet, Izuku added the rest of strands to the collar and began to spin.
Kurogiri was spinning too, the speed increasing with every rotation.
"Faster, I need to be faster." Izuku gritted his teeth, his passive Speed quirk was already boosting his velocity, but he needed more.
I have to go beyond, like All Might did with the sludge villain.
I have to break my limits.
Inside his quirkspace, the Speed quirk lit up as Izuku supercharged it with One For All's energy.
He would only have a few seconds before Speed reached quirk exhaustion, overtaxed by One For All's power.
Izuku's velocity increased, practically becoming a blur as he reached his new top speed.
He wouldn't be able to hold it long, Speed was dangerously close to depleted already.
"Release!"
Izuku let go of both Slingshot and One For All, watching as Kurogiri was thrown the full diameter of the USJ.
"Woah!" Kirishima exclaimed, watching the villain's trajectory.
Rushing over to the prone form of Thirteen, Izuku dropped down to his knees, resisting the urge to vomit as the sight of the hero's injuries.
"C-Class Representative, you must go." Thirteen coughed. "You all need to go."
Izuku shook his head, removing one of his gloves. "Not a chance."
Placing his hand on Thirteen's back, allowing only his fingerpads to make contact, Izuku called on Heal, using One For All to power it in place of Thirteen's stamina.
A shout grabbed Izuku's attention, making the green-haired teen look up.
Sato was holding the door open.
Outside there were more villains, around fifteen or so, waiting for any escapees.
They needed to maximise their chances of one of them making it back to campus.
Izuku made his decision, raising his free arm, aiming directly at Sato, his other classmates forming a rough line between them.
His eyes met Sato's.
Sato nodded, grunting as he pushed the door open wider.
Izuku placed his ring finger to his thumb, next to his shattered middle finger.
One For All thrummed through Izuku's veins, into his arm and down to his finger, red lines criss-crossing his skin.
Izuku flicked his finger, releasing another shockwave, sweeping Shoji, Ashido and Kirishima off their feet and blowing them towards the door, colliding with Sero and Sato.
The door closed, with Izuku's classmates on the other side.
Izuku was alone.
Thirteen was out cold, but their back healed, the strain on them had been too much to remain conscious.
"That was impressive."
Izuku flinched at the sudden reappearance of Kurogiri, his hand slipped, making physical contact with Thirteen's exposed back.
Black Hole bloomed into existence inside Izuku's quirkspace.
But Izuku didn't have time to think about that.
Izuku stood, watching as Kurogiri walked up the stairs, flanked by three villains. One wore a metal mask, some kind of breathing apparatus.
Another's entire head was covered in a thick layer of burns, followed by bandages on top. The last was wearing a straightjacket, his head vaguely reminding Izuku of pig.
Taking a defensive stance, Izuku stood with fists clenched despite two broken fingers, using his body to shield Thirteen.
"It doesn't matter." Kurogiri paused. "Our companions outside of the facility will deal with the escapees post-haste."
Izuku gritted his teeth. "They won't just rise to meet what you throw at them, they'll beat it. All across the USJ we're fighting back."
Kurogiri said nothing.
"You know why?" Izuku paused. "Everyone here today wants to be a hero, and heroes never give up. Never give in."
"A touching speech." Kurogiri clapped his misty hands in what was clearly a sarcastic manner. "But it won't work, a speech won't save you. Go."
The three villains charged at Izuku.
Izuku ducked the swing of the masked villain's fist, before using Slingshot to pull himself out of the way of a cloud of boiling steam, emitted from the bandaged villain's hands.
The straightjacket villain charged at Izuku with a pig-like scream, head down. Holding up his arms in an x-block, Izuku hardened his arms, bracing himself as the pig-like villain slammed into him.
"Stupid child, stupid child, stupid child!" The villain suddenly let out a squeal.
"Re-Strain, keep your head in the game!" The bandaged villain called as he charged at Izuku's back.
Pivoting on one foot, Izuku moved to the side, allowing Re-Strain to barrel forwards, straight into the bandaged villain.
"Damn it, Re-Strain, Azubaz, pull yourself together!" The masked villain snapped at his compatriots.
Azubaz groaned. "Don't tell me what to do, Masque."
While the two villains untangled themselves, Izuku focused on the masked villain, listening and watching intently.
Masque took a deep breath in, his mask hissing, Izuku watched as his muscles tightened, swelling and gaining further definition.
His mask is feeding him some kind of gas to increase his strength. Trigger? Or part of the villain's quirk?
Izuku used Slingshot to half-step, lining his right arm up with Masque. Activating Kirishima's quirk, Izuku hardened his right arm, past the elbow, driving it deep into the masked villain's gut.
Masque gasped as the air was driven out of his lungs, his muscles returning to normal as he did.
So whatever he breathed in only enhanced his strength while he kept it in his lungs, it has to be his quirk, Trigger wouldn't work like that.
Izuku released the hardening on his arm and spread his palm flat against Masque's chest. Calling on Wave Motion, Izuku felt his vitality dropping as a small blast of light blue energy, in the shape of a swirl, was emitted from his palm, bumping the villain slightly.
Masque had regained his breath, laughing as he towered over Izuku. "Is that all you can do?"
Izuku looked up, reaching out and connecting Wave Motion's energy drain to One For All's stockpile.
"That was me just warming up."
Izuku fired another blast wave, far larger than the last, sending the villain flying backwards, flipping over in the air and landing on his front. Taking a step forward, Izuku opened his mouth and released a hail of seeds, peppering Masque with them.
"What are these things?" Masque picked one of the seeds up from where he lay, examining it.
The seed burst open, a vine growing out of it, snaking around his wrist.
"Hey, get off!" Masque shook his arm, trying and failing to remove the vine, unaware the rest of the seeds had also produced vines, wrapping up his body. "Wait, no, help-"
The vines grew up Masque's neck and into his mask, cracking it, the sound of a hiss revealing whatever gas the villain had been breathing in was dissipating uselessly.
Yet the vines continued to grow, covering Masque in a cocoon of green, muffling his shouts.
"This kid has multiple quirks!" Azubaz turned his head to look at Kurogiri. "You said you were going to send the one with the copying quirk to Sangata."
Kurogiri's eyes changed shape. "Hm, I thought I had, this child, he looks very similar to the one I sent."
Izuku fell into a combat stance, watching the remaining villains.
They must have sent Mikumo instead.
"No matter, Sangata will copy whatever quirk he has regardless." Kurogiri's eyes returned to normal.
Izuku chuckled before he could stop himself, slapping a hand over his mouth as quickly as he could.
Azubaz rounded on Izuku. "What's so funny, brat?"
"You sent Mikumo to fight your comrade."
"And?"
Izuku smiled. "Mikumo is quirkless."
"Kurogiri, you are a moron!" Azubaz charged at Kurogiri, steam billowing from his body.
"Tomura made a mistake hiring you." Kurogiri's mist swelled. "I tire of you."
Kurogiri opened a portal, below Azubaz, connected to a hundred feet in the air.
The villain screamed in terror as he plummeted towards the unforgiving concrete.
I have to save him, even if he is a villain.
Izuku shot into the air, using Slingshot to push against the concrete below him, his hand outstretched towards the bandaged villain. His hand made contact, all five of his fingerpads touching Azubaz's skin.
Azubaz froze in place, suspended in the air.
Reaching out with Slingshot, Izuku hooked two strands to the roof and two to the floor, holding him in place.
"What have you done to me?" Azubaz's eyes were wide with panic.
Izuku looked down at the hand that had made contact with Azubaz, at the round pads of the tips of his fingers.
"I get it, this is Slingshot's second power."
Reaching out, Izuku pushed against Azubaz's chest, barely able to move him. The tension pulling Azubaz was like a rubber band.
Like a slingshot.
That's it!
Glancing over his shoulder at the Shipwreck Zone, Izuku made the calculations. Releasing one of the strands attached to the roof, Izuku bonded it to the bandages wrapped around Azubaz's chest and applied the required force.
"You're going to land in the water, so be prepared." Izuku decreased the power in the strands below himself, slowly lowering to the platform. "You can swim, right?"
Azubaz's eyes widened. "What-"
Izuku released the slingshot, Azubaz flew through the air, towards the water of the Shipwreck Zone.
"You're a diiiccckkkk…"
Izuku's sneakers touched the ground as Azubaz's yell faded away, followed by a faint splash.
Kurogiri chuckled. "You really are a wannabe hero."
Izuku glared at the mist man. "So?"
Kurogiri shrugged. "I can't see why anyone would want to be a dog of the government, that's all heroes are."
"Heroes aren't dogs, I mean, Hound Dog kinda is, but that's besides the point!"
"So bright eyed, so optimistic." Kurogiri said. "I wonder if I was similar at the age you are now?"
Re-Strain charged at Izuku, with a loud squeal.
Izuku grabbed the villain's straightjacket with his telekinesis, throwing Re-Stain against the railings with all four of his strands.
"Impressive." Kurogiri clapped. "Sangata was supposed to recruit you, but seeing you here I can tell that won't happen."
"Why?"
Kurogiri's eyes showed his frown. "Hm?"
Izuku looked Kurogiri dead in the eyes. "Why, with a quirk like that, would you choose to be a villain?! Think of all the people you could save with your quirk!"
Kurogiri shrugged. "I guess you could say, this is what I was made to do."
That had been the wrong thing for Kurogiri to say.
Izuku burst into action, Bakugo's explosions in his palms, propelling him forwards.
"Using your quirk for evil isn't a choice!" Izuku roared, dispelling the explosion in one of his palms, his body curving around Kurogiri at speed.
Using Slingshot, Izuku grabbed ahold of Kurogiri's collar with a strand, his momentum from his explosions allowing him to swing the villain around and slamming him back down onto the ground.
Izuku landed, placing his hand on the collar, holding the villain down. "It's cowardice!"
"How dare you!" Kurogiri began to swell.
A jolt of panic ran through Izuku.
This villain is going to open a portal to who knows where, I can't let him! What would All Might do? No, what would Kacchan do?
Izuku released a series of explosions from his palm, pressed against the metal collar. "Do that, and I-I'll blow you sky high. Die?"
Kurogiri sighed, not stopping. "You won't, you're a purehearted fool."
Izuku released a supercharged explosion, the boost from One For All rattling the bones of his left arm, he could feel the bruises and aching muscles already, as well as a sharp scratch.
Kurogiri was out cold, but it was too late, the portal was already open.
Both hero-in-training and villain fell through the portal, into the Shipwreck Zone, above the water. As Izuku fell towards the water, Kurogiri's unconscious body floated away, going higher with every second.
Holding out his arms, Izuku prepared to call on Slingshot to push against the water and stop his fall, until something wrapped around his waist and pulled.
Izuku landed on the deck of the boat with a roll, coming to a halt against the outside wall of a cabin. Opening his eyes, Izuku looked up, seeing both Tsuyu and a panicking Mineta looking back down at him.
"Is he dead? Does he have brain damage? Oh, no, no, no-"
Mineta's rambling was cut off by a slap of Tsuyu's tongue.
"Midori? Are you okay, kero?"
Izuku groaned, rolling over and pushing himself to his feet. "I'm fine."
"You have two broken fingers! How can that be okay?!" Mineta exclaimed, eyes wide with fear.
Tsuyu tilted her head. "Mineta's right, are you sure you're okay?"
Izuku nodded his head. "I-It's okay, at least I haven't broken anything major."
Mineta made a funny choking noise. "Anything major?! That's it, we're all going to die, if they have something that can kill All Might like you said Asui then we're doomed!"
"Call me Tsu."
Mineta wasn't listening, continuing to ramble loudly as he spiralled towards a panic attack. "I'm too young to die, I've never even kissed a girl!"
The small purple teen was sobbing now.
Tsuyu's tongue slapped Mineta again, harder this time, enough to leave a noticeable welt across his cheek.
Mineta calmed, a hand slowly rising to touch his cheek. "I hope this doesn't awaken something in me."
Izuku frowned at the small teen.
And people say I'm weird.
Putting that bizarre can of worms to one side, Izuku thought back to what Mineta had said.
"A way of killing All Might?" Izuku mused, a finger on his chin as he sank into deep thought. "Possibly, these villains have countered the heroes fairly well, Thirteen by sending Kurogiri against them and Aizawa by sheer luck his fighting style was unsuited to battles against large numbers."
"But when it come us students, they only seem prepared for some of our quirks, Kurogiri said they'd planned for my quirk, then they probably did the same for Todoroki as the son of the Number Two Hero, as well as Kacchan as he came first place in the entrance exam. Maybe Kirishima, since he came second place, and Momo, she is the other recommendation student after all. But they can't know about them all, otherwise they wouldn't have send someone with a quirk like Asui's-"
"Tsu."
"-Tsu's to the Shipwreck Zone, logically, the Conflagration Zone would have been the best for them to send her to, assuming Tsuyu's quirk also gives her susceptibility to high temperatures, which is likely. Then, Mineta should-"
Izuku was brought back to reality by a violent lurch of the boat.
"What's going on?"
"One of the villains, he's broken the boat in two with his quirk, kero. We're sinking."
True to Tsuyu's word the boat was snapped clean in two and sinking at a rapid rate.
Izuku moved to the railings, looking out at the villains in the water, he counted sixteen, eight on each side of the boat, more could be hiding under the surface.
"Huh, I hadn't even seen them there."
"Hadn't seen them!" Mineta's voice reached almost supersonic levels, his panic returning in full force. "How can you not have seen them?!"
Izuku ignored Mineta, staring out at the villains.
"If they have a way of killing All Might, then we need to stop these villains, here, and lighten the load for him."
"Lighten the load?! That's ridiculous!" Mineta was crying. "We've not even finished our first week at U.A. yet. We should wait for the U.A. heroes to save us!"
"If we do nothing we could all be dead by the time they get here." Izuku paused, looking down at his hand.
"Young Midoriya, this is your hero academia!"
"It doesn't matter if we've barely started." Izuku raised his head, channeling the confidence from Bakugo's quirk. "Someone once told me that most heroes have a story from their youth, when their feet moved before they could think."
"That doesn't matter, we're going to die!" Mineta rushed to the edge, throwing multiple spheres at the villains, as tears continued to stream down his face.
Tsuyu's tongue shot out, binding Mineta and pulling him away from the railing, ceasing his barrage, as Izuku fell back, joining his two classmates.
Izuku spoke. "We can't let them figure out what our quirks are, for you two at least. The boat's going to sink in less than a minute, once we're in the water, it's over. They'll win."
Mineta shook like a leaf. "T-That's true.."
Tsuyu turned her head to look at the small teen. "Mineta, did you really come to U.A. to become a hero?"
Mineta flushed red. "Shut up! You have to be weirdo like Midoriya to not be scared right now!"
"I'm terrified." Izuku said, getting Mineta's attention. "I pretty sure if I wasn't using my quirk to boost my confidence right now I'd be unable to even think straight."
"So you're still just as afraid as me then! You're not courageous at all."
Tsuyu shook her head. "'Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the ability to act in the presence of fear', kero."
Izuku stood from the crouch he was in. "The moment the enemy thinks that they have definitely won, it represents your best chance to strike."
"All Might said that, right?" Tsuyu questioned.
With a nod, Izuku stepped towards the railings, his fists tightened. He ignored the pain in his two broken fingers.
He looked down at the villains, two of them were talking about, something. It was too far away for Izuku to hear them.
Note to self, find a hearing enhancement quirk at some point, one would be pretty useful right now.
One of the villains, bald with pure white skin and high, metal collar was gathering water around his hand, increasing it in size with every second.
Some form of Hydrokinesis, too powerful to be a minor variant, so he might be able to manipulate the temperature of the water. In conclusion, he's probably the most powerful, and considering his body language, the leader.
"We have to act."
Izuku called on Explosion, sparks dancing in the palms of his hands, putting one foot on the railing.
"DIE!"
Mineta's eyes widened. "Y-You can't be serious?!"
Act like Kacchan.
Before either Tsuyu or Mineta could stop him, Izuku leapt the railing, his arms behind him, explosions slowing his descent towards the water, releasing a roar as he did.
The villains were taken aback at the sudden change in the actions of their 'prey'.
Good, that's put them off balance.
The leader recovered first, preparing to send his clawed fist of water at Izuku. "I guess he's just a kid after all."
Another villain chipped in. "The second he hits the water, we'll gut him."
From the boat, Mineta stared at the green-haired boy, tears streaming from his eyes.
"Midoriya's just as scared as I am, he said so himself! How did he keep going? Giving it his all?"
Izuku stopped his explosions, stretching his right arm out, aimed towards the water.
Just like with the mist guy, I can't afford to lose the use of my entire arm, and even then I can't hit them all at once if they form a circle, so, I'll aim for the water!
With his middle and ring finger already broken, Izuku placed his index finger against his equally broken thumb, calling on One For All's power and Kirishima's Hardening in both digits.
Don't break the egg. Don't break the egg. Don't break the egg.
"DELAWARE SMASH!"
Izuku flicked his hardened finger, a deafening crack echoing through the Shipwreck Zone.
The force of his attack slammed into the water's surface, creating a whirlpool.
Shouts and cries came from the villains as they were sucked towards the vortex of the whirlpool.
"Tsu! Mineta!"
"Kero!"
Tsuyu's tongue wrapped around Izuku's middle, pulling him up and away from the water's surface, the frog-like girl's jump dragging him along after her, Mineta under her arm.
Izuku dared to look down at his hand, his index finger was still hardened and unbroken, however large patches of his toughed skin had been blown off, revealing the muscle underneath. His thumb had fared slightly better, with only a few deep cracks in his skin.
Mineta clenched his fists. "What the heck, Midoriya?! First the Battle Trial, now this?! Why are you acting so cool?"
Reaching up to his scalp, Mineta grabbed at his spheres, throwing them at the villains one after another.
"Even I, even I can do something!" Blood poured down the sides of Mineta's head, the vortex in the water ensuring the thrown spheres stuck to their targets.
And then stuck their targets together.
The whirlpool closed, dragging the villains under the water before suddenly firing them back into the sky at high velocity.
Reaching out with his left hand, Izuku attached a Slingshot strand to four of Mineta's spheres, stuck deep inside the pile of villains, and supercharged the quirk with One For All's power.
Izuku's temporarily increased weight limit allowed him to change the villain pile's trajectory, slamming them into the side of the slide, the spheres sticking them in place.
"It rounded them all up at once." Tsuyu looked back over her shoulder. "Looks like we've cleared the first hurdle."
Mineta, Midori, you're both amazing.
Izuku turned his head. "Tsu, aim for the water near the main plaza!"
"Sure, kero."
They landed with a splash, Tsuyu and Mineta first, then Izuku, who used Slingshot to slow his descent.
Mineta thrashed wildly, struggling to keep his head above the water.
Tsuyu stood, placing her feet on the bottom of the shallow water, grabbing Mineta by his cape and holding him above the water.
Mineta ejected a lungful of water. "Thanks, Asui."
"Call me Tsu."
Izuku took the lead, the three of them setting off towards the main plaza.
Mineta looked back to the Shipwreck Zone. "Good thing I took a nice clean dump this morning, those villains will be stuck-"
Tsuyu interrupted him. "Finish that sentence and I drop you, kero."
Izuku started up at the roof of the facility as they trudged on through the thigh deep water.
I can't assume Sato and the others have managed to beat those villains and make it back to campus yet, I need to come up with a backup method.
Izuku mentally cycled through each of his quirks, trying to find one he could use to somehow contact or signal for help.
Variable Mist, that could work, but I'd need the formula, Momo might know it, but I don't know where she is.
Picturing the moment that Kurogiri had swallowed them up with the mist, Izuku tried to work out who it was likely for Momo to be with.
Kaminari. He and Jiro were standing right next to her.
Pulling Aizawa's phone out of his pocket, Izuku opened the call app and keyed in the number for Kaminari's transceiver.
I just hope whichever quirk is blocking communication isn't stopping internal signals.
"Hello? Hello? Kaminari, can you hear me?"
Izuku heard faint cracking and a few whispered words.
"Izuku."
A smile graced the green-haired teen's lips. "Momo, it's great to hear your voice."
Mineta groaned and rolled his eyes. "We get it Midoriya, you're a chick magnet."
Izuku didn't hear, continuing to talk to Momo over the phone, asking her a question about some chemical formula.
"I don't think he heard you, kero."
Mineta shrugged. "They never do."
Tsuyu looked back at Mineta.
"The perverted thing, it's an act, or at least an exaggeration, isn't it?" Tsuyu tilted her head. "You want to be seen, don't you?"
The short boy recoiled in shock.
Tsuyu gave a half-smile. "Mineta, I see you."
Mineta's face crumpled as he fought back tears.
"I get why you want to be a hero now." Tsuyu moved Mineta, allowing him to cling to her back, instead of trailing in the water. "Touch anything and I drown you, kero."
Mineta nodded, brushing aside tears.
Izuku's arm shot out, stopping Tsuyu and Mineta in their tracks.
They had reached the edge of the water, before them was the main plaza, the pale man stood back, two out of the three monsters he'd brought with him as his side.
Aizawa was still fighting the horde of villains, only five remained, the rest either unconscious or on the floor, moaning in pain.
"Remember, Midoriya, we're just here to see how things are going, okay." Mineta said as he climbed down from Tsuyu's back, the water was shallower, only going to his waist, for Izuku and Tsuyu, their knees.
Izuku nodded, drips of water flicking from his damp hair. "Right, the second it seems like we're in danger, we leave."
The three teens crept up to the edge, slowly raising their heads to peek out at the plaza.
Aizawa soared into the air with a pull of his scarf, before slamming down, a foot in the guts of the two remaining villains, taking them out of the fight.
Pounding footsteps signaled that the pale man had made his move, running at Aizawa with his arms stretched out.
Aizawa stood from his half-crouch. "So you're their boss."
An end of Aizawa's scarf shot at Shigaraki, moving to bind him, but the blue-haired man caught it before it could, holding it tight so its owner couldn't recall it.
The two men sprinted towards each other, at the last second Aizawa pulled on his scarf, throwing Shigaraki off balance and slamming his elbow into the villain's gut.
The trap was sprung.
Shigaraki sank into the attack, gripping Aizawa's arm and holding it in place, stopping the Pro Hero from pulling back for another attack.
Aizawa's hair felt limp, forced to blink.
Shigaraki's quirk returned.
He laughed. "You know, it's hard to see when you keep moving around, but that moment when you hair falls, that's when your quirk stops."
Aizawa swore, unable to move as the material of his costume over his elbow turned grey and crumbled away.
Just like the U.A. Barrier.
Shigaraki continued to talk. "As you've gone on the time you can keep your quirk active has gotten shorter and shorter, and the downtime has gotten longer and longer."
Izuku watched in horror as the skin on Aizawa's elbow crumbled away, revealing the raw muscle below.
Aizawa took a half-step back, pulling Shigaraki off balance before driving his knee into the pale man's groin. Shigaraki grunted, stumbling back as Aizawa made some distance between the two of them, blinking rapidly in an attempt to moisten his eyes, his elbow was still falling apart, even without contact.
Three of the villains had got back up again.
Aizawa ducked under the swing of a woman's gorilla-like arm, before spinning to avoid another villain's metal claws. Blinking one final time, Aizawa activated his quirk, erasing the quirks of the three villains and their boss, stopping the decay spreading up his arm.
Shigaraki had recovered. "That quirk of yours isn't suited to fights like this, multiple enemies, drawn out, is it? If you're the underground hero you look to be, then you rely on stealth against large numbers, right?"
Aizawa's chest heaved, forcing his eyelids not to close.
"And yet you leapt right in, into a fight you know you have no chance of winning, all to put your students at ease."
Aizawa blinked.
The villains pounced.
Aizawa dodged the clawed villain again, wrapping him up in his scarf and swinging him into the last villain, a man generating chains from his wrists, a mace attached to the end. The two villains tangled in the chains, leaving them struggling on the floor.
Turning to face the pale man, Aizawa reactivated Erasure.
"Man, you're cool." Shigaraki threw his arms wide. "But, by the way, I'm not the final obstacle."
Aizawa turned, the black monster towered over him, its eyes wild and unfocused.
"He is."
The monster moved with speed that was unnatural for a being of its size, grabbing Aizawa in one hand and lifting him into the air.
Shigaraki laughed. "Say hello to the Anti-Symbol of Peace, a bio-engineered being, Nomu."