Ashido Mina couldn't believe her eyes. One moment, they'd had Kuro-what'shisname surrounded, and then all of a sudden he'd had them surrounded. There were DOZENS of portals, dozens everywhere, but before they could react, they all seemed to close in on…
Lenny.
The portal villain had formed a sort of dome of dark energy around where the boy had been standing, and suddenly it began slashing and spinning around. She could hear grunts and shouts, as if they were fighting in there.
Uraraka looked down at her own hands frantically, realising they were clasped together. "Oh no! I released my Quirk!"
"Hurry!" Sato stepped toward the spinning mass of portals. "We've gotta help him out! Especially before my sugar rush runs out."
Mina blinked, dazed. Everything so far had been so hard to take in. The villains arriving, Aizawa going in to fight, the scattering of the students… and the worst, Thirteen's defeat. Her brain felt like it was sinking, and she couldn't stop trembling. Lenny's in there. Lenny is getting tortured, for all we know.
She held up her hands.
"We've gotta find the neck brace! It's gotta be in there somewhere!" Sero dashed forward. "Come on!"
Uraraka and Shoji broke past Mina. She couldn't bring herself to follow. I could have beat Todoroki, but I held back… because my Quirk is so DEADLY. I mean, I want to be a hero, but I can hurt people so badly with this!
Bad memories flashed through her head, from preschool and beyond.
Mina closed her fist.
Ahead of me is a man who DESERVES to be hurt. And a boy whose life is worth saving. A boy who is WITHIN MY POWER to save.
***
"BOW DOWN TO YOUR QUEEN, STARGATE!" The peppy shout penetrated the depths of the void, and Kurogiri screamed in pain, the yellow eyes suddenly widening where Len could see them. He teleported sideways, then forward, and he was free, the purple soup dissipating, the portals closing one by one around them.
He was back on the platform with the other students and the unconscious Thirteen. The portals continued to disappear, until it was just a single purple pillar with yellow eyes and a metal collar. An arc of acid was being sprayed onto it by Ashido Mina. Kurogiri buckled to the floor, steam rising from his "body." Shoji and Sato jumped forward, holding him down properly this time. Sero quickly leapt forward and trained his elbows onto the villain, ready to shoot. Mina had stopped her attack, but still held her hands up threateningly.
Len looked at her, stunned. She turned her pink face toward him, and gave him the brightest, most authentic smile he'd ever seen. "That's two you owe me, idiot," she said.
Len felt his heart skip a beat. He swallowed, and felt heat rush to his cheeks. She's… she's amazing…
Sero raised an eyebrow at Mina. "STARGATE? Seriously?"
"It was the best I could come up with at the time!"
"Sorry for taking so long, Kagamine," Shoji said, still holding down the struggling villain with most of his arms. "We had to locate the metal brace again amidst all the false portals, and he kept moving around. It must have been hell in there."
"I'm sorry too, Kagamine-kun!" cried Uraraka. "If I hadn't released my Quirk, he would still be floating, and wouldn't have been able to swallow you up like that…"
"It's fine, guys. Really. Thanks for saving me at all, to be honest."
"W-well…" Kurogiri stammered, struggling under the two boys. "This is an unfortunate outcome. I suppose it's time to get Shigaraki and pull out."
"And how do you plan on doing that, huh?" Sato taunted.
Kurogiri stopped struggling so suddenly that all the students froze cold. "Like this, you pathetic children," he snarled. And then… he simply sank, melting into the floor. Gone.
***
"Midoriya, we shouldn't get involved with that, ribbit," Asui told him as they popped up at the edge of the lake.
"I know, it's just…" Izuku gazed ahead. "We'll run away if it seems too dangerous, okay?" But part of me thinks… no, KNOWS that Aizawa-Sensei can't hold out. How could he for much longer? It's been nearly twenty minutes…
The pro hero Eraser Head was currently locked in battle with many villains, bobbing and weaving gracefully between them, spinning his scarf like a thread, capturing them one by one. His hair rose and fell periodically.
Putting aside the question of whether he NEEDS your help, another voice in Izuku's head said, does he even DESERVE it? His ideals run contrary to All Might's, and he meant to shame you during the Quirk assessment. How is this battle a problem of yours, especially when he explicitly told the students to evacuate?
Because if I'm going to become the greatest hero, EVERY problem will become mine.
Izuku's eyes panned to the right, where the blue-haired man in black with the hand-mask was standing, watching. "24 seconds," he heard the man say. Aizawa's hair rose again. He dashed between two more villains, kicking one and punching the other. After a brief moment of battle, he had captured them as well. "21 seconds," the man said.
What is he doing? Izuku wondered… and then, as he recalled all he knew about the pro hero Eraser Head, he realised it… horrifyingly too late.
The hand villain was dashing forward to Aizawa, crouched low to the ground, arms outstretched. "17 seconds," he half-whispered, sounding almost giddy with excitement. Aizawa moved to counterattack, twirling and throwing his scarf around the hand villain with one arm, and driving his other elbow into the villain's stomach.
The villain reached out… and caught Aizawa's elbow. The two of them skidded to a stop, locked together.
"You do well to hide it, but… there's a moment when your hair falls." The villain's grip on their teacher's elbow tightened. Izuku's eyes widened in shock and fear.
"And that's when your Quirk becomes inoperable." Aizawa's hair fall, and he gasped in surprise… and pain, as the villain's touch suddenly began to turn his elbow to dust.
"Ribbit!" Asui exclaimed, and Aoyama submerged himself, whimpering in fright.
"You're tired, hero. The time between hair falls has grown shorter and shorter." The teacher's elbow had worn down to bare red tendon. "Don't push yourself, Eraser Head."
Aizawa pushed the villain away from him, scrambling back frantically, as more villains came at him. He took them out one-handed, but it took him too long, and Izuku could see his chest rising and falling. Oh no. Nononono. What happened to his elbow? What on Earth is that power?
"Long fights like this are beyond you, aren't they?" the villain taunted from a safe distance. "You'd rather attack an opponent by surprise and get rid of them quickly. But today you had to go outside your comfort zone to protect your students. It'd be admirable if it weren't so foolish."
A shadow fell over their exhausted teacher. "Oh my god…" Asui put a hand over her mouth. Izuku gasped, his blood running cold.
The hulking bird monster was bearing down upon Aizawa.
"Earlier you called me the final boss," the hand villain said. "You were wrong, I'm afraid."
Izuku's entire body froze in horror as the monster grabbed Aizawa by the head and slammed him into the floor, blood and debris spurting everywhere.
"The final boss is him. " The villain's voice had slowly been filling with sadistic joy, but it threatened to burst forth now. "He's the symbol of war, of chaos. Built, not born. My glorious Nomu."
The thing opened its beak and squawked, showing sharp teeth. Its exposed brain jiggled. Izuku was vaguely aware of Aoyama puking next to him.
Aizawa's head was slammed into the floor again, and again. He managed to turn and flash his eyes… and the monster broke his arm.
"GAAAAAAH!" Aizawa was crushed toward the floor again, punished for the attempt.
The hand villain began to walk over. "You can erase quirks, hero. Seemingly an overpowered ability in our world, but meaningless… in the face of true natural power."
"Midoriyaaaa…" Asui sounded sick, croaking. "We need to leeeave…"
But Izuku couldn't. He couldn't move. Aizawa-Sensei erased the monster's Quirk, and it still snapped his arm like a twig. It's as strong as All Might.
As strong as All Might…
A purple portal shimmered into reality next to the hand villain. Narrow yellow eyes appeared near the top. "Shigaraki Tomura," the portal said to the hand villain.
"Is Thirteen dead, Kurogiri?" Shigaraki asked.
"Out of action. There were a number of students I did not manage to scatter, however. They fought me into brief submission, and one was able to escape the dome."
Shigaraki turned. "Huuuuh?" He began to scratch his neck, compulsively. "Kurogiri, you…" the scratches went faster and faster. "If you weren't our way out, I'd…" he drew blood from his own skin, scratching so intensely. "I'D CRUSH YOU TO PIECES!"
He relaxed, pausing. "We aren't prepared to fight more pros, not when Eraser Head alone took out most of our troops. It's game over, unfortunately." He sighed and slumped his back, defeated.
Aoyama picked his head up slowly out of the water. "Did… did the monsieur say they were giving up? Are they departing?"
Shigaraki seemed to pick himself up a tad. "It's a shame, too. I really wanted to get rid of All Might for good. But, hey, before we leave…" he began to turn in a new direction, one he hadn't turned once in the past few minutes.
Towards the three students in the lake.
"… let's ruin his pride, and kill some of his students."
And suddenly he was upon them, hands outstretched, distance closing fast, with a rush of wind.
The world seemed to slow down as Izuku's eyes widened in horror, following Shigaraki's hand as its shadow fell upon Asui, bony fingers closing toward her frightened face, the power of disintegration contained within…
Shigaraki grabbed the girl's face, and nothing happened. He made a tsk sound of disappointment. "Damn. That was impressive…" he turned. "… Eraser Head."
Izuku whirled. Aizawa had barely lifted his head up, his gaze sharply focused on Shigaraki through his pained face, his eyes glowing red. Then, the monster slammed him down again.
He bought us time! Go, now! Frantically, Izuku burst out of the water, charging up a smash through his fist, one hundred percent power. He leapt toward Shigaraki.
Save Asui, run away! All in one!
"LET GO OF HER!" he declared, and Shigaraki looked up in surprise at the student bearing down on him.
"SMAAAAAAAAAASH!"
A rush of wind filled the dome, as the power of One for All reverberated over and over. The lights were blown out. The villains were pushed back.
Izuku looked down at his fist. Huh? My arm isn't broken? I managed to control it?
The smoke cleared… to reveal what his punch had actually hit.
It was Nomu. The monster. Standing between him and Shigaraki.
Unhurt.
The symbol of war, of chaos. As strong as All Might.
Asui's words… they've planned all this because they've found a way… they've found a way to kill him…
This was it. The way. This thing.
"A bold move," Shigaraki said. "And you even shouted SMASH, just like the great fool does. How touching." Nomu lurched forward and grabbed Izuku, lifting him up as if he were as light as a feather. "Such a shame," said Shigaraki. Izuku kicked and struggled. Beyond, Shigaraki was reaching for Asui and Aoyama, prepping to tear their faces apart. No! No, it can't end like this! Nooooooo…
The doors of USJ burst open, in a great explosion of smoke and dust.
The villains paused. Izuku let out a "Huh?" of confusion, still hanging in midair, but by Asui's tongue, not Nomu's grip. The monster and Shigaraki had turned to look up the steps.
There he was, imposing and glowing and… furious. "It's fine now," All Might growled, throwing his suit aside. "Because I am here."
Tears swam in Izuku's eyes. "All… Might…"
Shigaraki giggled. "Looks like we're staying for Round Two after all."