Chapter 20: Misfortune Never Comes Alone
Several minutes earlier.
"Kyoka-chan, I've found you."
Ochaco Uraraka, with several scrapped cars floating around her, grinned down at Kyoka Jiro, who was climbing out from her hiding spot.
"Oh man, I can't believe you still found me," Jiro said, rubbing her head with a laugh. "Bakugo passed by here several times. He even stood on top of one of the cars. I really thought he was going to spot me..."
"I don't think he's the type to bend down and check underneath every single car, do you?" Uraraka said with a smile.
Kyoka Jiro had been hiding underneath a pile of crushed cars. If Uraraka hadn't been so thorough as to get on the ground and look, she never would have seen her.
"Hello, hello, can you all hear me? I repeat, can you hear me?" The voice suddenly crackled through the loudspeakers.
"What's going on?" Uraraka's smile vanished. As she listened to the man on the speaker carry on a one-sided conversation with Midoriya, her face had already turned ashen.
"Midoriya-kun... what on earth is happening!?"
According to the speaker, he had captured Kaminari. At first, she was skeptical, but after hearing Kaminari's pained scream, there was no longer any room for doubt. This enemy was telling the truth.
"—Release." Uraraka opened her hands. The cars floating in the sky lost their lift and came crashing down under the force of gravity. She paid no mind to the shower of falling parts, turning anxiously to Kyoka Jiro. "Jiro-chan, your Quirk should be able to find Midoriya's location, right? He's in danger! I have to go find him right now!"
Jiro was also extremely worried, but she frowned. "Uraraka, calm down. It's too noisy here. My Quirk can't pick up Midoriya's voice."
"We heard this broadcast, so everyone else must have heard it too. If Midoriya is really in danger, Mr. Aizawa and the others will definitely go rescue him!"
"AAAAAHHH—! Run! It's dangerous!"
Just as Jiro finished speaking, a panicked scream grew from a distant cry to a nearby shout in an instant. The two of them spun around to see Iida's white hero costume approaching at the speed of a motorcycle.
The one screaming was Minoru Mineta. His feet dangled in the air, his yellow cape fluttering wildly as he clung for dear life to the sticky balls on Iida's back, terrified that the slightest mistake would send him flying off.
"Jiro! Uraraka! Run! There's a monster behind us!!" Seeing the two of them still frozen in place, Iida accelerated, leaping over the wreckage of the cars like a hurdler and tackling them both to the ground the moment he reached them.
The next second—BOOM!
A violent gale swept over them, roaring as it devoured everything in its path, clearing all the debris from the area around them.
"What in the world was that...?" Uraraka asked, her eyes wide with fear as she looked up.
The blast had sent all the smaller debris flying, but the combined mass of several junked cars was too much for it to move. Although a couple of car doors had been torn off and sent flying, the remaining vehicles formed a solid, meter-high defensive line, protecting them. The gale passed, leaving the group relatively unharmed.
Iida released the arms he had protectively held over them, pushed himself up, and turned his head, his expression grim. "It's a remnant... of the League of Villains."
The area, which had been a junkyard moments before, was now completely empty. Several layers of the ground had been stripped away, leaving a large crater.
A figure stood there. He slowly walked forward, stopping in the middle of the crater. He surveyed the group, his gaze landing on Iida. "Good speed, but you're still not perceptive enough." As he spoke, he casually lifted the object in his right hand.
"That's—Todoroki-kun!" Uraraka stared in disbelief. The cool, impossibly strong boy was being held up by his belt like a shoulder bag, completely unconscious.
"Todoroki-san..." Iida grit his teeth, a wave of regret washing over him.
Earlier, while searching for the hiders with Mineta, he had come to the area they thought was a prime hiding spot. He had expected to find a survivor. But as he was searching, the loudspeakers had crackled to life with a stranger's voice.
While they were paused and listening, a loud crash came from another building. A wall was blasted to pieces, and to their horror, an unfamiliar enemy emerged from the smoke.
The man hadn't bothered them, instead looking up at the sky with a soft sigh. "Finally. I've been waiting for a long time..."
Iida had made an instant decision. He grabbed Mineta and ran. Luckily, the enemy wasn't fast, just walking with steady, deliberate steps.
Just as he was breathing a sigh of relief, he heard Mineta's terrified scream: "Iida! That guy... I think he's charging up an attack!"
Iida risked a quick glance back. The man was in a low stance, his left hand pulled back to his waist, as if preparing a long-range attack.
When he looked forward again, he saw Uraraka and Jiro. Without a second thought, he tackled them to the ground.
Iida had done all of this in a rush, without taking a closer look at what the enemy was holding. He hadn't realized that Shoto Todoroki had already been taken hostage.
There was only one enemy, but he was incredibly powerful. No, wait, he thought, if you count the voice on the speaker, there's more than one. And Kaminari-kun has been taken hostage too!
"You bastard! I don't care who you are! Let him go!"
Katsuki Bakugo had appeared from nowhere, dropping down from above the enemy and twisting his body to swing a powerful right hook at the man's face.
"...Is that all you've got?" Although the man was holding Todoroki with one hand, he effortlessly blocked Bakugo's punch with his other massive arm, laughing mockingly.
"It's not over yet!" Bakugo roared. An explosion erupted from his palm, blasting the man directly in the face.
"Ugh! You damn brat!" The man was caught off guard, and his mask was scorched by the blast, but he seemed otherwise unharmed. He reached out to grab Bakugo, but Bakugo, instead of retreating, grabbed his outstretched arm, kicked off his stomach, and used the recoil to leap back to a safe distance.
"You're not so tough, old man!" Bakugo landed in front of Iida, facing the man down. After taunting his opponent, he yelled at Iida, "What are you standing around for!? I'm enough to handle this! Deku's in trouble, isn't he? The rest of you, go find him!"
"Are you all alone? We're here too, you know."
A solid cannonball flew in a high arc and slammed down toward the man. He reacted with incredible speed and dodged it. The shell exploded right beside him. Before he could even feel relieved, a blue laser beam instantly shot toward his landing spot, aimed at his feet.
However—at that exact moment, the man's foot suddenly slipped, causing him to stumble and narrowly avoid the beam.
"That was close, that was close..." The man breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the shattered shell of the cannonball on the ground. A slippery liquid had soaked the area. If it hadn't been for that slick fluid, he might have been hit...
"Now let me guess... who could that be...?" The man looked up towards the high ground outside the crater.
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