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The chaotic echoes of the USJ reverberated through the dome as Class 1-A's rescue training turned into a living nightmare. The sudden arrival of Kurogiri and the horde of villains had thrown the students into disarray. As Eraserhead handled dismantling the villains by drawing their attention to his side, Thirteen prioritized evacuating the students to safety.
"We are almost there, don't stop for anything!" Thirteen urged, her mechanical voice calm but firm as she motioned for the students to keep running. The heavy metal of her suit clanked against the tiled floor as they neared the central exit. Her gaze flicked behind her, heart heavy at the sight of their terrified faces.
There had never been a villain attack like this; not in UA's history, not in any hero academy.
So why now?
"Sensei! B-but what about Mr. Aizawa?! We can't just leave him," Yaoyorozu cried out, her voice cracking, eyes darting back toward the battle raging behind them.
"He'll be fine," Thirteen responded, though the reassurance rang hollow in her own ears. "Eraserhead is a seasoned pro. All you need to focus on is escaping safely!"
"I'm afraid… that won't be possible." Came a low, disembodied voice that slithered through the air like a slow fog. The temperature in the air seemed to drop a degree. A distortion of space shimmered into form ahead of them; like the air was tearing apart itself in slow, methodical swirls. A single dark mist coalesced into shape.
Kurogiri emerged from the blooming cloud of black mist, his metal collar glinting faintly in the artificial light of the USJ.
Gasps burst from the students.
"A villain—!"
"No… that's the thing that brought them here," Ochaco whispered.
"What the hell is it made of?" Kaminari said, trying to sound brave, but his voice shook.
Thirteen stepped forward protectively in front of the class, arms spread defensively yet her body tense. "How did you—How did you get past Eraserhead?!"
Kurogiri tilted his misty head. "An admirable defense, but misguided. Your question is irrelevant." he said, voice smooth as silk, his foggy form rippling unnaturally. "Instead, I urge you to assess your current dilemma more logically."
"Greetings, we represent the League of Villains." Kurogiri bowed ever so slightly, a mockery of politeness. He raised his head. A void of mist and that unshakable calm.
That name struck the group like a slap. It echoed in the high ceiling of the dome.
"The League… of Villains?" Kirishima repeated.
"We have taken it upon ourselves to enter your so-called secure U.A. facility for one purpose," Kurogiri continued, as if reciting a script. "To kill All Might, the Symbol of Peace. That is why we are here today."
For a moment, no one spoke.
"Wait, what?" Sero blinked. "Kill… All Might?"
"Hah!" Kaminari half-laughed. "Yeah, right. Did you hit your fog-head or something?"
"That's impossible," Momo said firmly, though her hands trembled. "No villain would dare."
"You must be delusional," Shoto said coldly, already preparing to attack with his quirk if needed. "Do you even realize who you're talking about?"
"You guys are out of your damn minds," Katsuki growled, cracking his knuckles. "All Might isn't some low-level hero you can sneak up on."
"Delusional or not…" Kurogiri replied smoothly, "You will not be leaving here today. Whether or not All Might arrives is irrelevant for now. What matters… is thinning the herd."
Thirteen stepped forward, finger hovering over her black hole trigger. "You're outnumbered. Stand down."
Kurogiri's yellow eyes narrowed. "Outnumbered? Perhaps. But outmatched?" His mist expanded, blotting out the exit. "Let's test that theory."
The mist around him thickened, spiraling outward like a vortex. However, whatever he planned didn't resonate well with everyone as Kirishima; already leaping into action; hardened his fists. "Back off, fog-face!"
Kurogiri's golden eyes glinted. "Rude. And here I thought heroes valued manners."
Joining the action too, Katsuki lunged, palms crackling and tracked on Kurogiri. "EAT SHIT—!"
"No!" Thirteen yelled, "Get back—!"
The warning fell on deaf ears as a resounding boom echoed around the balcony. Katsuki and Kirishima watched their handiwork, believing their coordinated attack worked.
"Did we get him?" Kirishima asked. The explosive quirk user had his eyes trailed on the smoke rising in the air from his explosion.
"Looks like it." Katsuki replied back.
Any hopes of the students were instantly shut down as a familiar mist surged. "Oh dear, that was a close one." The mist said as it reformed itself back to Kurogiri, metal brace collar glistening and eyes narrowed in anger. "UA does indeed produce fine golden eggs. But still, do you truly believe you can win?" He directed the question to his two attackers that were currently shifting back from him.
Behind Thirteen, the other students clustered instinctively, their resolve cracking beneath the weight of those words. Kurogiri straightened himself. The air around him pulsed ominously. "I must have underestimate your potentials, but not again. My job is to scatter all of you and slowly torture you to death!"
Thirteen tightened her stance. "Stay behind me. I'll hold him off."
"Please do try," Kurogiri replied, and with a pulse of void-light, the ground beneath their feet began to shimmer; warping till they were all encased in a dome-like figure.
"They're trying to trap us," Todoroki murmured under his breath, frost encasing his shoulders as he tried to shoot at the swirling dome portal only for the ice to be sucked in itself.
"We're surrounded," Tokoyami said gravely, Dark Shadow hissing.
"MOVE!" Thirteen shouted. But it was already too late. Darkness swallowed them whole, the space around the students erupted in warping portals, pulling them apart and dragging them in every direction like a living black hole.
Only a handful of students were able to escape the trap. Sero used his tape arms to pull himself along with Mina and Ochaco to a nearby pole while Shoji used his multiple arms to ram through the vortex, dragging Sato and Shinso along with him. In total apart from Thirteen herself, only 6 students made it out.
Thirteen stood at the edge of the collapsed balcony, trembling slightly under her helmet. "No…" That was all that could escape her lips as she looked back in horror as the mist dome had dissipated in a dozen directions, with nobody present at all within the empty space. They were all gone.
Kurogiri has successfully scattered them like chess pieces flung across a board, satisfied with his work, he emerged from a thin slit in space like a reaper gliding through curtains.
The rescue pro hero raised a shaking hand towards Kurogiri. "Wh-What did you do to them? Where are my students?!" She yelled out in both fear and unbridled anger. He couldn't have possibly killed them, could he? No, that can't be right.
Kurogiri did not answer at first, opting to remain silent as he watched the remaining student who managed to evade his warp gate form a defensive half circle. He was aiming to warp all the students apart from the pro hero herself, but no matter. It's just a slight setback.
"Thirteen-sensei, I can sense our classmates still in the facility." Shoji said, using his tentacles to echolocate them.
"The boy is correct, they are where they are meant to be. However, I don't think they would be too pleased with their experience." Kurogiri voice slithered with grim amusement.
"You, however, should not concern yourself with their survival. Your concern…" He raised his head, "…should be for yourself."
Thirteen's finger hovered over her quirk trigger. "You—you're after All Might. You said so yourself."
"We are," Kurogiri replied. "But we are also… curious. The Black Hole Hero, after all, poses an inconvenient erasure method. One that could prove troublesome in the long term…or useful depending on the circumstances."
"…what are you saying?" her voice barely masked the tension.
Kurogiri's metal brace glinted. "Killing All Might is our symbolic goal. But you? You're a tactical liability."
There was no more time for talk.
"Class, GET BACK!" Thirteen shouted, and activated her quirk—space itself bending inward as the black hole surged toward Kurogiri.
But he was already on the move with his own attack.
The mist spiraled upward instead of toward her; wrapping around the ceiling supports; and with a hard twist of his form, Kurogiri sent a piece of falling steel slamming toward the group.
Sero launched a tape line to catch it, but it snapped mid-flight. "MOVE!" Shoji shouted, shielding Mina and Ochaco from the debris. The impact rocked the ledge.
Unrelenting, Thirteen's black hole spiraled again, sucking several smaller beams and even concrete dust toward it. Kurogiri dipped and swirled, his form thinning, resisting the pull.
"You were trained to protect children…" he said. "But not to survive us."
Thirteen's vents hissed, her eyes narrowed underneath her suit as she added more power to her quirk. "I'm not here to survive. I'm here to make sure they do."
She surged forward.
____________________
Meanwhile around the USJ…
Shipwreck Zone
A purple warp gate swirled at the top of the water's surroundings, and out came Katsuki as he landed with a splash. Freezing cold water soaked him immediately, his boots skidding across a slippery, tilted deck of an old rusting ferry that bobbed unevenly on dark waves. The air stank of salt and mildew. Cold wind lashed his face.
"…You've gotta be KIDDING ME." Katsuki grunted as he struggled to place his bearings in the water, careful not to sink in deep. Another plop echoed across the waters, heavier this time. The ash blonde whipped his head around.
"KIRISHIMA?!" He asked dumbfounded.
The redhead sputtered to the surface, his body half-submerged, coughing violently. "Wh—what the hell? Water?!"
"Yeah, no shit!" Bakugo snapped, already climbing a rusting ladder to get back onto the ferry's tilted deck. "Get your ass up here, this ain't a pool!"
Kirishima swam toward the ferry's edge, straining as his combat boots and heavy uniform weighed him down. He tried to harden his arms to get better grip; but his quirk flickered, partially activating, then failing as he nearly sank again.
He grabbed onto a chain hanging off the side of the shipwreck, breath heaving. "My hardening's off… the water's too cold, it's messing with my focus—!"
A guggling sound interrupted Kirishima, making the two teens look at where the noise was coming from, emerging from the water was Mineta, the short teen nearly engulfed by the water due to his height. "Gah-! Help me!" Kirishima picked up the ball haired teen by the scruff of his yellow cape and placed him on the ladder railing.
Katsuki blinked in confusion. "…The hell. Grape balls is here too?!" Katsuki barked as his eyes scanning the shadows. "There's no way…we could have been dropped here by accident…"
Kirishima quirked his eyebrows as he too climbed on board the ladder. "What are you talking about Bakugo?"
Suddenly, muffled chuckles echoed from nearby lifeboats, jagged steel catwalks and the water itself. "Well, well, well… what do we have here? A bunch of lost stowaways?" a voice drawled, slinking out of the shipwreck shadows.
Several villains emerged in coordinated fashion; some on the decks, others swimming below, visible only by air bubbles rising up.
"The reports paid off. The kids are out of their comfort zone!"
The ash blonde's red eyes narrowed. "Reports? Comfort zone?" He muttered to himself in confusion. It took him only a second to realize what kind of zone he'd been dropped in.
Water.
Surrounded by it…soaked in it.
Katsuki gritted his teeth already piecing it together. "We've been set up."
Metal creaked above the three students; two villains in scuba gear dropped down from broken railings, water dripping from their suits.
"Look them. Like fish out of water."
Another villain surfaced behind Kirishima, teeth jagged, skin translucent and jellyfish-like. "Let's drown the meat first. He looks heavy."
"Let's see how explosive you really are… when your hands are soaked." A heteromorph villain who had a fish head barked out in sickened amusement.
"Tch. You think I need dry hands to kick your asses?!" Bakugo snarled, trying to spark a blast, only to get a wet fizz and a puff of steam.
…
"Shit." He could barely detonate a spark.
Kirishima's eyes darted to him. "We've gotta move together. You can't blast, and I can't harden! We're sitting ducks—!"
A villain launched a harpoon towards their direction. Katsuki dragged Kirishima and Mineta further up the ladder in the nick of time.
The harpoon pierced the rusted hull behind them with a shriek of tearing metal.
The trio managed to reach the top of the ship's deck, watching as more villains surrounded the bottom of the wrecked ship. "…They split us up on purpose," Kirishima panted, teeth chattering. "We're not supposed to win here."
"Good," Katsuki growled lowly, trembling with fury. "That just means we'll hit back harder when we do."
Fire Zone
Elsewhere, Tokoyami landed hard in a scorched canyon, artificial fire and lava bubbled through narrow cracks in the earth. The heat was unbearable. Sulfur filled his lungs.
Dark Shadow hissed the moment it emerged.
"It burns, it hurts!" the shadow creature recoiled, curling back inside his cloak.
Tokoyami's eyes widened in horror. "No… no, stay with me—Dark Shadow!"
Farther across the disaster site, another warp gate belched a fiery glow before spewing out Tsuyu Asui, who flailed mid-air before landing with a squelch in scorched mud. Steam hissed from cracks around her.
Her tongue lashed out instinctively, trying to grab the rock nearby to stabilize.
"Ribbit—! Too hot… too dry—!" Before she could catch her breath, Koda tumbled down beside her, landing hard on his shoulder and groaning. Tokoyami was nearby, fists up, struggling against the intense heat and the absence of Dark Shadow.
Tsuyu pushed to her feet, wiping flickers of ash from her eyes. "Tokoyami!" she called out, tongue hanging weakly.
"You shouldn't be here," Tokoyami said, jaw clenched, cape singed at the edges. "This place—this heat…it's weakening us both."
Koda trembled as flames exploded from a ledge above. Villains wearing flame-resistant suits stood along the edges of lava fields, one of them smirking behind mirrored goggles.
"We heard you shine best in the dark," one of them mocked. "So how about blinding light and searing heat?"
A villain pointed at Tsuyu with a smirk. "Froggy here's gonna croak quick." Tokoyami stood between them, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.
"The darkness inside me cannot protect us now," he murmured bitterly. "But my resolve remains. If the shadows retreat… I shall fight with my fists."
The three of them; Tokoyami, Tsuyu and Koda stood back-to-back as the ring of fire closed in.
Windstorm Zone
The wind screamed across a mountainous gorge as warp gates tore open near a fractured suspension bridge. Kaminari was the first to fall through; his descent uncontrolled, hair blown upward by the violent gales. He slammed into the steel railing with a grunt.
"Ow—hell! That wind—!" He looked up just as Jiro crashed into a steel beam beside him, groaning and clutching her ribs.
"Denki?! Are you—" Jiro's words were ripped away by another sudden blast of wind. Dust and debris swirled violently, stinging their eyes. A third figure shot down from above. Iida hit the bridge hard, struggling to rise as the wind howled in his ears. His glasses almost shattered upon impact.
"Visibility… zero…!" The blue haired teen growled, trying to activate his engines…but they sputtered violently against the turbulence. Iida grimaced at his predicament, he turned his attention to Jiro. "Jiro, can you use your quirk to pinpoint where we are exactly?"
Jiro nodded, sticking her earlobes jack phone to the floor. However the wind and violent noises flunctuated her concentration making her cover her ears, earlobes twitching. "I can't hear anything clearly—the wind's screwing with my echolocation!"
Kaminari looked around, panic rising. "This wasn't how I planned to start my day!" He cried out to nobody.
From the gusty clouds above, cable-thin wires whipped down. Villains in wind-adapted flight suits hovered silently, using the air currents to glide effortlessly.
"This is our sky," one of them said, metallic voice cold. "You're just falling through it."
Another flew straight past Iida, slicing into his shoulder with a blade. Blood sprayed across the railing. "Damn you—!!" Iida shouted, arm trembling, but the wind was too strong to chase.
Kaminari grabbed the railing, trying to hit one of the flying silhouettes with a bolt of electricity, his vision obscured by the violent wind. "I can't charge without a target—I'll zap us all if I misfire!"
Iida clutched his bleeding hand, glaring at the villains that were soaring the sky and the ones making their way from out of the shadows. "We can't use our quirks like this…! We need a plan!"
Jiro narrowed her eyes. "Then we make our own rhythm. Screw the wind—they'll hear my heartbeat before I let them win."
Mountain Zone
Ever since he got here, Ojiro moved low to the ground, cautious, tail extended for balance. His gi is dusted, torn at the shoulder. One of the earlier quakes caught him by surprise and nearly flung him over a ledge.
"I'm all alone here." The blonde teen whispered to himself as he mapped the terrain. He pauses by a sharp turn, listening. All he hears is the howl of wind through jagged stone. He pressed his hand against a rock wall, moving carefully. His grip slips slightly on gravel.
"Tch!"
He lands in a crouch position to avoid toppling over. His tail instinctively lashes, anchoring him from falling completely. But he knows it's too loud.
From behind him, there's a subtle sound, a pebble displaced. A rustle. Then silence.
"...Someone's following me." Ojiro said in a low voice. He ducked into a low overhang, pressing his back against the stone. He breathes through his nose, quiet and steady. His martial training kicks in on autopilot.
A shadow passes overhead. A villain in a tattered cloak steps into view, scanning the cliffside. They don't see him, yet. But they're close.
"...Stupid kids. Always think the high ground helps. Where the hell is the damn brat." A bulky man wearing a skull mask said to himself as he was searching round for where Ojiro last went.
Ojiro inches forward. His hand trembles slightly, but he locks it still. One strike. One clean move. Timing was the key.
His foot nudged a rock. It tumbled off the ledge, falling into the abyss. Alerting the bulky villain. "What the—?!"
Wasting no time, Ojiro exploded from the shadows, delivering a roundhouse kick with his tail, slamming the villain into the rock wall. "HYA!!"
The villain staggered but doesn't fall, instead he grabbed hold of Ojiro's tail mid-swing. He grinned in victory as he reacted on time. "Gotcha now!"
"Not—yet!" Ojiro said straining. He twisted his torso, letting himself fall partially off the ledge; but used the momentum to slam the villain over the edge instead.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!! DAMN YOU!!" The villain's long scream faded into the valley.
Ojiro breathed hard, tail gripping the rock for support as he looked at where the villain fell down. "...Still alive. Still got it." He climbed back onto the path, drenched in sweat and adrenaline. But the look in his eyes is changing.
"I may not have a flashy quirk... but I know how to fight. And I'm not dying here." He said to himself quietly, resolution evident in his voice.
"I heard screaming!" A gruff voice called out from beneath Ojiro.
"This way! Kid's must be close."
Ojiro made his way back into hiding, more villains were coming.
Landslide Zone
Far below, in a forested valley, Shoto landed with a crunch of broken rock and pine needles. His breath formed vapor in the air; half of the landscape frozen from his initial reaction.
Moments later, Momo caught herself mid-stumble into a boulder, one boot nearly slipping on a loosened rock. Shoto walked several feet ahead, seemingly unfazed by the unstable terrain.
"Todoroki?!" Momo called out, trying to balance her footing on her heel boots.
Shoto analyzed his surroundings. Crumbled concrete. Jagged boulders. Every step displaces pebbles that clatter and echo into chasms below. The air is dusty and dry. The rumble of falling debris is constant.
The dual haired teen turned his head back to Momo, calmly. "They dropped us in a loose terrain zone…perfect for one to lose balance."
A sudden crack split the ground. The earth shifting its course.
"Ah!" Momo flailed as her foot slipped. Shoto grabbed her arm instantly, pulling her toward more stable ground.
"Focus. The terrain isn't stable. You can't waste energy panicking." Shoto said sternly.
"You say that like it's simple..." Momo said quietly as she knelt down, creating a lightweight riot shield and rod. She pulled out her next creation; small, ground-spike caltrops, sprinkling them behind as she and Shoto moved slowly across the unstable terrain.
Shoto and Momo dispersed a small squad of villains that tried to ambush them; either getting stunned, frozen, or immobilized. But they kept coming in waves until they were all eventually defeated.
"I—think that's all of them in this wave..." Momo panted out as she leaned forward, hands on her knees. Her arms tremble from overexertion. Beside her, Shoto's breath clouds the air, his right side glistened with frost. His body looked relaxed, but his eyes were darting around for any sign of ambush. But none came.
"...No. Something's wrong." Shoto said in a stoic voice.
The ground vibrates subtly, The land above shuddering as well. Deep, slow groans echo like a beast breathing beneath the rocks…like a warning pulse. Then—
BOOM.
A thunderous crack and a distant explosion thundered from above. The cliffs fracture, and suddenly; boulders, metal beams, uprooted tree trunks; began to pour from above like a tidal wave of death.
Momo's eyes widened. "Todoroki—!"
"Down! Now!" Shoto shouted as he raised his right hand and slams it into the earth. Ice explodes upward, forming a jagged, uneven dome shield over both of them. Above, the avalanche crashes. The shield groans and cracks as massive debris slams into it like cannonballs. Another explosion and resounding earthquake rumbled through the ground, another set of controlled avalanche came rolling down the landslide where the ice shield was up.
"Yaoyorozu, I need reinforcement!" Shoto gritted out as he pumped in more power to the ice shield he's holding up. Momo nodded, breath trembling from the cold around her. From her arm, she created steel support rods, planting them against the ice from inside. With each creation, her breathing grows more ragged.
Shoto arrowed his eyes in frustration and anger. "Tch. Smart bastards." He gritted under his breath. "They planned this from the start. Waited until we were surrounded. They using the terrain against us. They're not idiots."
He looked back at a tiring Momo who was trying her best to create more weapons. He can't use too much power; she might get caught in the crossfire…and the unrelenting avalanches weren't helping!
CRACK.
A beam of ice snaps from the weight. Then another. A massive piece of debris punches through the side wall, where Momo was.
"Ah!"
Shoto barely shoves her away in time as the debris smashes the ground behind her. This barrier wasn't going to hold much longer. "We move. Now!"
They broke from the ice shield just as it collapsed, swallowed by the avalanche. Dust and icicles choked the air.
Another piece of earth breaks off beneath them. A deep crevice begins opening to their left. Momo was the first to spot it. "Todoroki-san!" She yelled as she pointed towards the opening.
Momo fabricated a compressed carbon pole with sharp ends from her body. She slammed one end into the earth and throws herself forward; vaulting onto the ledge just ahead. She rolls to safety.
"Come on!"
Not wasting any time himself. Todoroki ran and created a frozen bridge under his feet, skating up just as the ground collapsed where he stood seconds ago. He makes it beside her, landing with a grunt. Both froze, processing what the hell just happened. Listening for any incoming attack. And then silence.
"They tried to bury us alive." Momo whispered in horror.
"Not tried. They're adapting. They're watching us from above. If we don't get to the top, we would end up compressed eventually." Shoto corrected, breathing hard. Whatever they were planning, it was like they were aiming to wear them out. He hates to say it, but it was working. Unless he unleashes his full power, it will be game over for them.
The two heroes in training crouched behind a natural outcropping. Momo leans against the stone, sweat trickling down her face, hands trembling over her chest. This got Shoto's immediate attention as he watched his partner's sudden fatigue.
"Yaoyorozu. Are you okay?" He asked, traces of concern etched in his voice despite it sounding monotone.
"I—I'm starting to run low on lipids." Momo admitted quietly. "I can feel the drain. If they keep coming like this…"
Shoto stood up, glancing upward where the rubbles were coming from. High above them, villains with camouflage like quirks moved across the ridge with seismic devices, causing deliberate tremors. Shoto's mismatched eyes narrowed. "They're manipulating the land. Figures."
He turned back to the tired Momo. She's too fatigued, any more push past her limit won't do her any good. If they keep sitting back here it would just give those villains the upper advantage. That's it, no more holding back.
"Replenish your energy. I'll take it from here." Shoto said as he made his way back to the landslide. However, a hand held on tightly to his sleeve that dragged him back. He looked back only to see Momom's face changed to a grim expression. "I'm going with you." Momo said defiantly.
"No Yaoyorozu. They're still up there. Watching."
"All the more reason why you can't go on your own. We need to come up with a strategy, not just charge at the situation head on." Momo shot back.
Shoto's eyes narrowed, both teens staring down at each other, refusing to back down. After some tense seconds, the dual haired teen closed his eyes and released a sigh of resignment. Girls are really stubborn.
"I suppose you have a plan then?" Shoto quipped out to which Momo nodded her head. "I was thinking. What if-"
A deep growl echoed, interrupting their discussion. The source revealing itself to be a boulder-sized villain with an earth-based quirk lumbered down toward them, mud and stone swirling at his feet.
"Hope you're good at digging graves," he rumbled, lifting a rock easily above his head. Shoto raised one arm, ice forming beneath his feet; his eyes narrowed with a dangerous edge.
"Guess we'll have to find out." Shoto said with voice laced with suppressed venom.
Above the landslide, hidden behind shattered ridges and broken machinery, a cloaked villain crouched near the edge, his charred cloak fluttering in the dry wind, the left side of his jaw disfigured in a swirl of burn scars that reached to the edge of his eye. He adjusted the frequency dial on his comm-link with calloused fingers, his narrowed eyes watching the chaos unfold below through a rusted monocular scope.
A faint crackle preceded a familiar voice in his ear; garbled and scratchy.
"Report?"
"Landslide zone update. Avalanche hit target, but the two students survived." He responded flatly, barely blinking. The girl is nearly tapped out. The boy however... he's adapting faster than expected. Cold precision yet a burning fire in his eyes. Just like him." The brat had managed to successfully encase Juggernaut in ice, but the guy was tougher than he looked as he broke out of the ice. Slamming a fist down where the teen once stood as he successfully rolled out of the way.
A long silence hummed on the other end, followed by a frustrated groan. "Whatever, do what you must. Let them push forward. Let's see how long they last. This is Endeavour's brat you are dealing with after all, if worse comes to worse. You know what to do."
The scout's gloved hand instinctively touched the small capsule in his belt pouch. A translucent vial, pulsing with an unstable, orange-red liquid.
Trigger.
"Roger" He said as he caught the call immediately.
The cloaked villain stared at it with bitter reverence; like holding a loaded gun with his own vengeance written across it. He remembered the searing pain. The agonized screams. Endeavor's flaming silhouette standing over a younger version of himself. And the heat. Gods, the heat—
"…That bastard torched my face just to catch a fucking arms dealer," he muttered through clenched teeth, voice low and shaking with rage. "I wasn't even part of the fight."
Behind him, a deep chuckle rumbled. A rather large, identically cloaked figure, lounging on a crate like a caged lion, cracked his knuckles with audible snaps.
"Heh. You gonna monologue all day, or are we actually fighting soon?" They muttered, tossing their hood back. Their smile behind their mask was too casual for the tension in the air. "All this sneaky avalanche crap's boring. I thought we were supposed to crack skulls."
The scout didn't even turn. "You're not even part of this op. Why the hell are you tagging along…Rappa?"
Rappa shrugged, broad shoulders rolling like a tank's treads. "Got bored. Only reason I'm here is 'cause Hotshot promised me fists would be flying before sundown…But if this turns into another 'watch-and-wait' gig, I'm makin' my own fun." He spat the nickname like a challenge, but there was an odd fondness buried beneath the bravado. "That or I just enjoy cliffside brawls."
The scout's fingers tightened around the trigger vial. His knuckles whitened beneath the glove. "If I didn't need you, I'd shove you off this ridge myself."
"Try," Rappa chuckled, cracking his neck.
The scout snarled, moving his attention elsewhere but Rappa. "Moving to Phase Three. Plant second wave charges." He signaled to the goons planting seismic charges along the ridge. "Double the explosives. Widen the collapse radius. We bury them, or I'll burn the mountain down myself."
As the goons scrambled, the villain scout stared out over the cliff, eyes locked on a distant speck of blue frost carving up the terrain.
"Let's see if Endeavor's legacy breaks… or burns."
____________________
The comm-link in Shigaraki's ear crackled with static before falling silent. He lowered his hand, fingers twitching against his neck as he turned to Void; the monstrous figure pinning Aizawa into the cracked concrete with one massive hand.
"Well?" Shigaraki rasped, scratching at his jaw. "You heard?"
Void's glowing green eyes flickered, the only sign he'd received the report. Beneath him, Aizawa strained, blood trickling from his temple, his voice a ragged snarl. The hero's face is pressed into the concrete, one arm twisted behind his back.
Eraserhead's goggles were shattered, his hair matted with blood, yet his Quirk still activated. Eyes glowing crimson, fixed on Void's face.
Void barely reacted at all; he didn't flinch even as he felt his quirks being negated again. What's the point when his physical stats were also biological factors? The sentient nomu's glowing green eyes just stared down, cold and empty, as if Aizawa were a bug under glass.
Useless.
"What… did you do… to my students?" Aizawa rasped out, having heard bits of pieces of the conversation over the comm.link placed in Void's ear too. Void tilted his head, the faint hum of his mouthguard distorting his reply into something mechanical, cold.
"They're meeting their demise."
Aizawa's eyes widened, breath hitched like he has lost the air in his lungs. Then he snarled, thrashing against Void's grip as his dread turned to anger.
Void only looked on at the struggling hero who could barely move an inch. "Save your strength Eraserhead. You can't even save yourself." That was all Void said as his other fist snapped down, cracking against the hero's temple.
The plaza fell silent. Dust settled.
Aizawa went limp, his Erasure flickering out like a dying bulb before he was rendered unconscious.
Shigaraki clicked his tongue in mild distaste. "Tch. You didn't even let him beg." He said as he kicked a pebble, watching it skittered across the plaza's pavement. He made his way towards Void's position and nudged Aizawa's unconscious form with his boot. "You didn't kill him, did you?"
Void straightened, his massive frame casting a shadow over the fallen hero. "No. But as for now…Everything," he murmured, "is going according to plan."
Chapter 16 + Off screen Fight scene between Void and Aizawa already available on Patreon.com/Weeb Fanthom.