Chapter 35: Mall Incident, pt. 2
Shouta is firmly ensconced in his sleeping bag when his phone on the desk vibrates. Hizashi's phone chimes at the same time, so it must be a hero alert. Too lazy to move, he makes an enquiring noise once Hizashi pulls out his phone and checks the message.
"An attack at Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall." Hizashi says and puts away his phone.
A reasonable reaction, given that the situation will likely be under control before they can reach the mall.
Then a thought crosses Shouta's mind and he sits up in alarm. "Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall is where the kids went."
"Kids?" Hizashi asks in concern.
"My class. They left-" He checks the time. "Thirty minutes ago. Which means they're probably in the middle of it."
Hizashi pulls his phone out and types a quick message as Shouta sheds his sleeping bag hastily. "I let Nedzu know."
The speaker system crackles to life. "All hero teachers, this is not a drill, report to Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. Students are present and a villain attack is ongoing."
Hizashi checks for his keys and stands up. "I'll drive." He pauses when his phone buzzes and checks it again. "Ah, Nedzu wants us to wait for him."
Shouta sighs through his nose as he grabs his phone off his desk. "He can meet us on the way."
They're almost to the door when it slams open. Nemuri rushes in and over to her desk where her whip is stored. She calls over her shoulder, "Take me too, 'Zashi."
"Sure thing, Nem." Hizashi replies, but keeps walking anyway, leaving her to hurry after them.
They meet Vlad, with Snipe and Ectoplasm hot on his heels, in the hallway. "Can you take Snipe with you? I'll bring Cementoss and Recovery Girl."
"What about All Might?" Nemuri asks.
"He went ahead." Snipe replies.
"Ah, forgot he could do that." She acknowledges. "Where's Thirteen?"
"Off campus." Shouta tells her shortly. "And in the wrong direction."
"Yeah, I can take Snipe, but that's my last seat." Hizashi warns. "We're picking up Nedzu on the way."
"Then the other teachers can take the school van." Vlad says firmly. Which, honestly, is probably what the second and third year teachers are planning to do anyways.
Nedzu isn't waiting for them, but they only pause a few seconds before they hear the patter of tiny shoes in the vents and Nedzu drops out of a vent and somehow lands neatly on Shouta's shoulder. Though, granted, that's why he was standing under the vent.
"Thanks for waiting. I'm afraid we may need to deal with the media on behalf of the class." Nedzu says a bit breathlessly as they rush for the parking lot.
"Wait, a whole class? Which class?" Snipe asks.
"My class." Shouta answers flatly. The fact that he doesn't wait for Hizashi to explain is a clear sign of his stress levels, but Snipe declines to comment on that.
"Well, damn. Your class sure is going through it this year." Snipe says as Hizashi unlocks the car doors.
That's one way to put it.
~
Fumi is arguing with Dark Shadow over the color of a sleeping bag when he hears screams of terror and a shriek of pain. So, of course, he puts the sleeping bag back on the shelf and rushes towards the screams. He almost collides with Uraraka, Todoroki and Shouji as they all try to exit the door at the same time. Stepping back, he lets Shouji and Uraraka go first. Should it be an accident of something having fallen on someone, they are the muscle to deal with it. Todoroki and he are more long range fighters.
As it turns out, it is not structural damage or anything of the sort.
Instead, it is a man in a straightjacket, with teeth? extending from his mouth and gouging a chunk out of a woman's leg nearly ten feet from him, while she shrieks in pain and horror. The villain turns as they emerge and his teeth retract, bringing a chunk of leg with them. He eats it with obvious enjoyment, even as the woman takes the chance to scramble away.
"Bird boy. I'm supposed to take you in." The villain says when he's done scarfing the flesh. Which is concerning. Both the attention and the flesh eating, that is. "Nothing was said about the others, though. Flesh! Give me flesh!"
His teeth go after the woman again, but Todoroki stomps a wall of ice that intercepts them and separates the villain and civilian. Incidentally, it separates the villain from anyone else in that direction, hindering him a bit.
"I'm no help against that kind of quirk." Uraraka admits and starts walking behind the wall of ice. "I'll go help civilians."
"Me either." Kouda confesses and follows her.
"I'll try to knock him out." Shouji volunteers and runs towards the villain.
"I can help pen him in, but I can't stop his quirk without killing him." Todoroki says in his monotone voice. He walks a few feet forwards and stomps an intersecting wall of ice in front of the stores behind them. "You probably have the best chance of beating him."
"Yeah, Fumi, we should go!" Yes, they should. Fumi walks to the end of the second ice wall and walks around it.
Just as Shouji lets out a cry and retreats, missing one of his secondary arms at the elbow. Dark Shadow smashes the teeth aimed at his back. Another ice wall goes up, leaving a gap at either end.
The villain seems to have lost sight of his goal, because he slavers, "Flesh!"
Dark Shadow breaks the teeth again and smacks him hard, but it's full daylight and the glass ceiling lets in too much light for him to be at full strength, with the ice walls only amplifying the light, so the blow only rocks him.
It definitely doesn't deter the villain from trying again, while giggling manically. What follows is a battle of endurance. Occasionally the villain gets bored of him and tries to go through the ice. But Dark Shadow thwarts those attempts too.
At some point, he sees a fourth wall of ice surge into being behind the villain, intersecting the first and third walls, leaving only the small gap behind and to the right of him. He assumes his classmates are helping the civilians get clear of the fight, but he's honestly too busy to think about it. Time seems to drag out forever, although he's aware that only a few minutes have passed.
~
Shouto finishes his ice walls and then goes into the nearby stores and lets them know it's safe to escape and dangerous to stay. After that, he prowls around the ice walls, occasionally reinforcing spots that are cracking, presumably from teeth being driven into the ice.
Ochako manages to deal with the lady's injured leg as best she can with the supplies on hand, which is whatever the nearest stores are carrying. Then she carries her to the nearest exit, with civilians crowding around her.
Shouji gets his arm to stop bleeding surprisingly quickly and explains that his extra limbs can regenerate. Then he stands near the nearest store with an outside exit, directing civilians into there.
Kouda does the same on the other side of the battle.
Honestly, he doesn't know where all the civilians keep coming from. Maybe there's more villains attacking too? It doesn't really make sense that they wouldn't attack in the same place, but villains aren't known for logic.
"I AM HERE." A booming and very recognizable voice comes from Kouda's direction.
Finally.
He hurries around the ice walls to intercept All Might. "All Might! The villain has a teeth quirk and eats human flesh. He took off one of Shouji's arms and part of a woman's leg."
"Don't worry, my boy. I'll handle it." All Might says reassuringly, though if he wasn't All Might Shouto wouldn't find that anything but arrogant, and walks through the one gap left in the ice.
~
Fumi thinks he hears All Might's voice, but that can't be. He must be getting tired faster than he thought he was if he's hearing things.
Then All Might walks in through the narrow gap, barely wide enough for the huge man, with a grim look on his face.
"Fumi, dodge!" Dark Shadow says in alarm.
Oh dear, he got distracted.
Even as he belatedly dodges, though, he's snatched aside and deposited outside the ice cage. "I'll take over now, young Tokoyami and Dark Shadow. You did well."
Then All Might spins and smashes an incoming attack of teeth.
"You're going to have to knock him out to stop him." Dark Shadow volunteers.
All Might doesn't react, but a few seconds later uses one of his more powerful smashes, throwing the villain backwards into the ice that shatters from the impact. Terrifyingly, even that doesn't knock the villain out. Instead he starts giggling about tasty flesh from where he ragdolls among shards of ice. But All Might moves faster than Fumi's eyes can track and punches him again, point blank.
Silence falls.
"I'm sorry it took me so long. I came the instant I heard students were involved. All of you did well." All Might confesses.
"You came as fast as you could." Todoroki says in his monotone voice. "Do you know why civilians kept coming this way?"
"I believe that there was more than one attack. The front entrance was blocked with some sort of gas, so I had come around to the nearest side entrance. It was easy to spot due to young Kouda's efforts in evacuating the civilians." All Might says. "I'm afraid that one requires a gas mask to deal with."
"Wait, Fumi! Remember that article? If the villain with the gas quirk is here, these must be the escaped villains from that one prison." Dark Shadow says excitedly. "Which means the other ones probably are here too!"
All Might frowns. "You're right. Mustard and Moonfish. The others were…? I'm afraid I don't remember."
"Muscular, Cupid and Locomotion." Todoroki informs them.
The big man looks blank for a moment, then says in English, "FUCK." Then he explains, "Locomotion and Cupid are pests at best, but I don't think any of you students can handle Muscular and the civilians certainly can't."
"Go ahead." Todoroki says calmly. "I'll get Shouji to stand over Moonfish and knock him out again if he wakes up."
"Thanks, young Todoroki." All Might says in relief and takes off towards the far end of the mall.
"I liked it better when he called me 'my boy'." Todoroki complains, voice still bland as unseasoned porridge.
~
Katsuki is trying to talk Shitty Hair out of a horrid tie dyed suitcase and ignoring Sparkles cooing over a sequined suitcase (who the hell thought that was a good idea?) when they hear shouts of fright and the sound of running feet and gasping coughs.
The five of them exchange quick glances, then leave the suitcases behind to see what's happening. Only to see a gas cloud billowing their way. Clearly poisonous if the way a civilian caught in the edge of it stumbles and falls and doesn't move again.
Soy Sauce Face grabs the arm of the clerk, who has come up behind them in curiosity. "We need to run. And don't breathe that smoke."
Gas. But not really the time to argue.
They all take the advice and run until the gas cloud stops chasing them. Along the way, Sparkles and Shitty Hair scoop up a child apiece and Tail picks up an elderly woman. All of them are panting by the time they stop.
"Sparkles. You and me, we can't use our quirks near that. Chances are it'll go up like a bomb." Katsuki says seriously.
"Oui. I understand." Sparkles replies, sounding sober.
Then a fucking nightmare walks out of the cloud, wearing a gas mask. "Fuck. Sparkles, get as many civilians out of here as you can. The rest of you, you're with me. Just let it get far enough from the gas that I can use my quirk."
"Yes!" Tail replies.
"Aye, aye." Soy sauce face says with a mock salute, which Katsuki generously ignores.
"Got it." Shitty hair says.
"Oui." Sparkles acknowledges and starts getting the civilians moving again. "Come, come. We must move. That is a villain."
Katsuki backs up slowly, eyes not leaving the monstrously muscled creature. It's a little shorter than the one at USJ, the one that broke and almost killed Hobo sensei before All Might rescued him. Not by a lot, though. It's still stupidly tall. It probably has another quirk besides disgusting muscles, too.
~
Kiriko and Mustard hang back wearing gas masks, out of sight in the gas cloud, letting the nomu go ahead. At least they know they found one of their targets.
Unfortunately, the vaguely rabid one. This one won't listen to anything if there's a fight in front of him.
They'll just have to wait until there's a chance to take him out without one of his friends interfering. Convincing him can come later.
~
Eijiro feels awful as they run past the food court, where civilians are fleeing, but not fast enough. When he takes a step towards them to help, though, Bakubro jerks him back.
"We can't help anyone if we're unconscious, Shitty Hair." Bakubro says sharply, even though there's a hint of regret on his face.
So instead, he picks up one of the kids struggling to run alongside their mom, who is carrying a baby in her arms. It's not much, but it helps his guilty conscience.
By the time the gas cloud stops chasing them, everyone except Sero and Bakubro is out of breath. Possibly because they didn't try carrying anyone. They're all grateful for the respite but keep a wary eye on the looming fog of gas. It's just as well, because out of it comes a monster too similar to the one he's had nightmares of. Aizawa sensei dead, Tsu's face disintegrated, Midoriya broken, Bakubro broken, no help arriving, the hand villain cackling in glee, All Might failing to beat the monster.
He wants nothing more than to keep running, but he doesn't do that anymore.
"Fuck." Bakubro swears. "Sparkles, get as many civilians out of here as you can. The rest of you, you're with me. Just let it get far enough from the gas that I can use my quirk."
It makes sense, so they all agree without protest, Aoyama prompting the civilians to keep moving and asking if they know of a store with outside access.
Bakubro makes the first move and it's good he lunged ahead of them, because lingering gas around the nomu goes up in a puff of flame, making it squeal in pain. Even Bakubro backs off for a bit after that, until it decides to come to him.
This time they all go at it. Sero shooting tape in an attempt to trap its arms. Eijiro with a hardened punch, Bakubro with an explosion and Ojiro following up with a thwack of his tail.
Sero's tape tears easily, which is a bad sign. His punch left some slight cuts, but it doesn't seem phased by that either, nor by Ojiro's blow. The only thing it reacts to is Bakubro's explosion, flinching away. Maybe it has a shock absorption quirk, or maybe all that muscle just acts as padding, basically nullifying the force of their blows. The explosions probably bother it because they're bright and loud, or maybe because they burn. It doesn't really matter. But they can't back off and leave it to Bakubro. That would be cowardly and it's fast enough that they can at least act as distraction to keep it from hitting Bakubro.
So they do. Eijiro takes most of the blows, pushing the others aside to protect them if needed. He can take it. They can't.
Sero gets better at aiming his tape to hinder, although it doesn't do much other than slow it a few seconds. That's okay. A few seconds is enough.
Slowly, but surely, they are making progress against it. Then it gets a lucky hit in and sends Bakubro tumbling into the gas cloud, hiding him from sight.
~
Kiriko smiles when their target gets punted into the gas fog. Surprisingly, he rolls to his feet, with his shirt pulled up to cover his face. Smart, but-
Casually, she hits him over the head with the baseball bat she's carrying, careful to keep it to nonlethal levels. She'd practiced with dummies, okay?
He sways, then collapses.
She hands her bat to the Mustard kid and bends down to pick the kid up. Kami, he's heavy for his size. Hefting him to her shoulder, she nods to Mustard and they start retreating. With any luck, no one will notice them missing until they're long gone and untraceable.
~
"Finally, some damn good footage." Sekiro, filming on his phone mutters, from his presumed place of safety. This is going up on all his accounts later.
All hell is breaking loose around him. Other mallgoers are running around like headless chickens. The gas is still far enough away for him not to worry. Nothing will break his focus.
"Hey," A fleeing mallgoer comes into his view, shouting in his face, "Snap out of it, the villains are coming this way!"
Shaking his head, Sekiro steps around his fellow mallgoer, and keeps filming.
A vague silhouette of a figure holding a baseball bat appears in the cloud of gas. Sekiro sees one of the young heroes crumple as the bat hits them over his head.
"Social Media fame, here I come."
A second later, he feels himself being dragged by his collar.
"Come on!" Shouts the mallgoer who'd interrupted him.
With some effort, Sekiro keeps his phone pointed at the scene, in spite of being made to run away. Damned busybody.
~
At first, Eijiro expects Bakubro to come storming out of the gas, untouchable even by something like that. But it quickly becomes apparent that he is not returning, that the gas has claimed another victim.
It also becomes apparent that they're in trouble without Bakubro's explosions doing damage that their blows really can't. The thing starts heading towards the civilians, who- Are there more of them? How? Why? No, not the time. Focus, Eijiro.
The nomu sends Ojiro sprawling and grabs Sero's tape, dragging him closer until Eijiro cuts the tape with a swipe of his hardened arm. Immediately after, he blocks a blow aimed at him and skids backwards. This thing is strong.
"Thanks, man." Sero says. "I thought I was a goner."
Eijiro just grunts. Then he gets a bright idea. "You should aim for the legs. Ojiro too."
"That's against dojo rules." Ojiro objects, having picked himself up.
"Ojiro, I say this with the utmost respect, but screw the rules." Sero says bluntly. "This isn't the dojo. We're trying to keep people alive here."
The tailed boy winces. "You're right. I'm sorry, I'll aim for the legs. And dodge better. That hurt."
That's nice, but they have more important things to worry about. Like the damned thing being attracted to the movement of the civilians and heading towards them more determinedly. Eijiro puts himself between them and it, glad when it lets itself be distracted and starts hammering him with blows again.
Sero tangles its legs with tape and wonder of wonders it stumbles a moment before reaching down and ripping the tape off. Ojiro takes the opportunity to aim for its knees. It sways just a little in response. It's not much, but they'll take it.
~
Eijiro isn't sure how long they've been fighting, but he's starting to feel his hardening weakening and he knows the fight has moved a lot. Then he catches a glimpse of Midoriya slamming his foot into another villain's thigh, the air crackling green around him.
Oh, that's where the civilians came from, he has time to think before he has to duck a fist aimed at his head. He's getting tired and that's not good. They all are. Sure, they're keeping the nomu stumbling a bit, but that's all they're really doing to it.
"I think I might run out of tape soon." Sero pants out, sounding grim.
"I hurt all over." Ojiro sounds equally grim. Which makes sense. Sero has managed not to get hit, but Ojiro definitely hasn't been that lucky, despite Eijiro doing his best to intercept blows.
"I don't think I can keep up Hardening much longer." Eijiro confesses.
"Think we're far enough from the gas that Aoyama can help?" Sero asks.
"Probably." Ojiro says, falling back and looking around. "I think he might've stayed with the civilians, though."
Eijiro grunts and attacks the nomu again. He's too slow to dodge the return blow, but fortunately his Hardening is keeping up. For now.
~
Izuku takes one last look at Muscular and decides to risk it. The few civilians running their way have joined the last bit of the crowd Hagakure and Tsu have been ushering into a large store. Jogging towards his classmates, he notices that the nomu doesn't seem to have much in the way of damage. It also has musculature that puts Muscular to shame when his quirk isn't active. And Ojiro and Sero are aiming for its legs, which either means they're fighting smart or that blows against the main body aren't working well or both.
Which means that he's going to have to use similar tactics to what worked on Muscular. And find a way to knock it out, because Kaminari definitely isn't going to be up for a repeat performance for a while.
~
Masarao almost has a heart attack when a ball of green lightning comes streaking past him. At first, he thinks it's another villain and that they're done for, but then it slams into the nomu and it staggers more than from anything he and Sero have been doing and a second later, he recognizes Midoriya. Since when could he do that? Is it some magic effect? Midoriya's quirk confuses him, at this moment more than ever, but he's not dumb enough to get distracted, so he delivers a follow up blow to the thing's legs, even though his tail is practically on fire by now.
"Weren't you fighting another villain?" Kirishima asks, breathing heavily. None of them are doing well at this point. Even Midoriya looks a bit rough.
"Kaminari took him out and I made sure he's staying down." Midoriya answers. "Where's Kacchan?"
"There was a gas attack. This thing punched him into it and he didn't come back out again." Sero answers.
"Fuck." Midoriya curses, startling them all. Then again, he did grow up with Bakugou. "Let's put this thing out of its misery. Heroes should be arriving soon. They should have someone with gas masks. Or if not them, the police."
"How do we do that? Only you and Bakubro have done anything to make it react." Kirishima says, wheezing a little as he blocks another hit. "It's fast, too."
"Depends. Has it shown signs of a second quirk?" Midoriya asks.
"No." Sero sighs. "Unless you count the fact that hitting it anywhere but its legs does basically nothing."
"Then-" Midoriya pauses to yank Masarao out of the way of a fist. "I'm going to kick it in the crotch and see if it's got a shock absorption quirk like the one at USJ or if it's just tanking blows due to all that muscle."
They all wince in automatic sympathy.
"Hopefully." Midoriya adds cryptically, then backs off.
A moment later, he realizes it was to build up momentum. Midoriya jumps off air at the last second (How?) and kicks the thing in the thigh. What? That's not the crotch.
The thing sways.
"Shit." Midoriya curses.
"Dude, how bad is your aim?" Sero asks.
"Good news, it reacts, so there's not an absorption quirk." Midoriya chirps. "Bad news, my aim with my feet is kinda shit. Time to try again."
He backs off again and repeats the attempt. This time he hits it in the hip.
It staggers with a cry and swipes at him.
"Good shot." Masarao compliments, even though he knows it's a miss.
"I'm going to try something different." Midoriya says, already backing up. He doesn't go as far this time, just a long step. Then he moves forward and again steps off air and kicks up. Surprisingly, he does seem to hit his target this time, and Masarao recognizes it as a modification of one of the kickboxing moves they'd been taught. He hits the nomu in the chin, knocking off its gas mask.
Ew. Chins and faces are not meant to have that much muscle.
It does stagger back, but it also grabs Midoriya's leg, yanks him off his feet and swings him in an arc, taking down Kirishima and Sero, before flinging him into a wall.
Masarao doesn't stop to watch the impact. Instead he darts forwards and slams his tail into its legs. It totters dangerously, but in the end regains its balance. At least it gives Sero and Kirishima time to pick themselves back up. A quick glance Midoriya's way reveals him picking himself up despite the him-shaped hole high on the wall and running a hand through his hair to dislodge a shower of plaster. Well, at least they haven't lost their damage dealer again. They just need to distract the thing until he can rejoin them.
He decides that his tail is so bruised that he's hurting himself more than the nomu at this point and decides to target its hip with hand chops and fists.
It lets out a sound of discomfort and knocks him sprawling.
Okay, that worked. Sort of. He's still picking himself up when he sees Midoriya just. Stride past him, step off of air and nail the thing in the balls. Apparently he's worked out his problem with aim?
The wail of pain it lets out is beautiful and it doubles over, clutching itself.
Midoriya punches it in the face.
The nomu straightens a little and swipes at him. Only to get kicked in the chin with a green crackling foot. The force of the blow forces it upright again. Just in time to get kicked in the crotch again. It gets another punch to the face and kick to the chin. Midoriya repeats this twice more before the thing totters sideways and falls over, shaking the floor as it hits.
It doesn't move.
His classmate kicks it in the jaw one more time, but it doesn't react.
They actually beat it. They actually beat it!
Masarao almost collapses in relief.
Midoriya on the other hand, turns and looks back at where he'd come from. They all follow his gaze to see Death Arms walking over to where someone is laying on the floor. His green classmate lets out a sound of disgust. "Of course it would be him. Prepared to get scolded for saving lives."
"You sound like you have experience?" Kirishima asks, sounding tired.
"Yeah. Slime villain back in middle school. Attacked me. Got saved by All Might. Villain escaped. Attacked Kacchan. The heroes stood around whining that they didn't have the right quirk while watching him drown. I attacked the villain and got him off of Kacchan for a moment and All Might saved us both. Lots of praise and offers of making him their sidekick to Kacchan. Just scolding for me, because I only have a 'weak' information quirk." Midoriya sounds very unimpressed by it all. Masarao doesn't blame him at all. That's shitty behavior to get from heroes. Heroes are supposed to do their damned jobs, not blame other people for doing it when they won't.
"That's not manly at all." Kirishima agrees. "I just lost a lot of respect for him."
Midoriya shrugs. "At least he should be able to put Muscular back down if he gets up again."
They look at the unresponsive nomu once again and then trail over to where the hero is standing, gawking at the villain on the floor.
Death Arms looks up as they approach, narrowing in on Midoriya. "Oh, it's you. Didn't learn your lesson from last time?"
"You're welcome for doing your job again." Midoriya snaps back, then kind of looks like he regrets it.
"Why you little-!"
"Problem Child. What happened here?" Aizawa sensei's voice calls.
The hero jerks around and they all look, to find Aizawa sensei, Mic sensei, Nedzu and Recovery Girl emerging from a store. Why are they here? Isn't this out of UA's jurisdiction?
"Aizawa sensei, Nedzu sensei, Yamada sensei." Midoriya sounds as vastly relieved as Masharao feels.
"What's UA doing here? Aren't you a little late?" Death Arms asks.
Aizawa sensei fixes the man with a look that makes him take a step back. "My students are here. Why wouldn't we come? Also, don't act like you didn't just get here yourself. Or are you claiming that you're the one who took down a B ranked villain?"
"He didn't!" A civilian, who is standing next to the entrance of the store with a phone in hand, pointed at them, calls out. What the fuck? Did he just stand there filming the entire time? Shouldn't he have some self-preservation or something?
Death Arms looks uncomfortable. "No. He was down when I got here and the kids were fighting the other one. Which they shouldn't have been doing. What if they got killed?"
"Other one?" Mic sensei asks.
"There's a nomu, too, sensei." Sero volunteers.
"Kaminari and Izuku took him down." Tsu says, one hand on a spaced out looking Kaminari's arm. "Then Izuku helped the others take down the nomu. Death Arms didn't even try to help."
"Seeing as this is Muscular, a B ranked villain known for murdering people for fun, including the Water Hose couple and the other is a scientific monstrosity, I'd say that they very much should have been doing what they did." Nedzu chirps, all fake cheer. "If they hadn't, people would've died. Does anyone know where the rest of my students are?"
Death Arms looks angry and crosses his arms, but doesn't say anything in reply. At least he knows when he's totally outclassed by a better hero.
A blue screen pops up in mid-air.
Shinso, Jiro, Yaoyorozu, Iida, Mineta, Ashido, and Sato are at the east end of the mall.
Tokoyami and Dark Shadow, Todoroki, Shoji, Kouda, and Uraraka are at the south side of the mall.
Bakugou was last seen at the west end of the mall.
Aoyama is helping civilians evacuate a bit west of here.
All Might is currently at the east end of the mall and moving this direction.
"I see." Nedzu hms. "Am I right in thinking this an attack by the League of Villains?"
I believe so, given two nomu were involved.
"Do we know which villains were involved?"
Footage shows two nomu, Muscular, Moonfish, Locomotion, Cupid and two unidentified villains in gas masks. One's height matches that of Mustard. The other is a female with a baseball bat.
"Young man, are you hurt?" A female voice demands.
Masarao jerks his attention to her. It's Recovery Girl. "Yeah, but I'll pass out if you heal me. Probably the same for the others. Midoriya's bleeding, though. Or he was."
She pats his arm, making him wince. "Midoriya, let me look at your wounds."
Another blue pane pops up, this one in front of Recovery Girl.
Do not heal him. His stamina is too low.
"Noted. I'll stick to bandages." She acknowledges.
"Um. It's just bruises. I'm fine." Midoriya tries.
"Young man, I can see dried blood from here." She scolds.
"Uh. Oh. From my nose? I think it's stopped bleeding." Midoriya touches the still tacky blood that covers his lips and chin. His nose looks like it's been broken.
"Oh, that too. But that's not what I'm talking about. Where did you get those cuts?" She demands.
Midoriya looks down and apparently sees for the first time, the bleeding cuts on his arm and bloody spots on his shirt. "Oh. Uh, I got thrown through a glass window? And then into a wall?"
"Then we're going to see if there's any glass or other debris in those cuts and bandage them. Understood?" Recovery Girl looks exasperated.
"Yes." Midoriya agrees, drooping in resignation.
~
Izuku resigns himself to Recovery Girl fussing over her and is startled when a green pane pops up.
Notice:
+100 STR is no longer active.
+100 VIT is no longer active.
+100 DEX is no longer active.
He just stares for a moment. Then head-swimming exhaustion hits him and he sits abruptly before he falls and then leans forward as the world goes dark.
"Is he okay?" Someone asks in alarm.
"I think the adrenaline just wore off, but help m-" He hears before everything goes blank and still.
Chapter 36: Aftermath
Friday…
Izuku wakes to the sensation of a belt across his waist and another over his lap and scrunches his brows in confusion. He can hear the sounds of traffic, so he's…in a car? So the belt at his waist is a seat belt? But what's across his lap?
He forces leaden eyelids to open a crack and looks down. It's…hands? People are holding hands across his lap? Why?
"Awake finally, sleepyhead?" Hitoshi's voice teases.
Turning his head slowly, he finds that yes, that's Hitoshi.
"How are you doing, Izuku?" Momo?
He turns his head the other way and yes, that's Momo. Then his brain makes a connection and his eyes open a little further. "Why-?" His voice rasps and he stops and coughs to clear it. "Why are you two holding hands?"
"What? Jealous?" Hitoshi teases.
"Yes." He says, then turns red. "No, sorry."
Momo makes a tiny laugh. "Don't worry, we know you're not awake yet. We got hit with a cupid quirk in an attempt to distract us from fighting the villains. It should wear off in a few hours. Mic sensei put you between us to 'keep you from flopping around funny and hurting yourself'."
"I still say it's because he doesn't trust us to not start tearing each other's clothes off." Hitoshi says, sounding amused.
"Why can't it be both, listener?" Yamada sensei's voice comes from the front of the car.
"See? I knew it!" Hitoshi crows.
Izuku huffs a laugh. Then remembers what happened. And realizes what Momo said. "Wait. You got attacked too?"
"All of us did." Hitoshi explains. "There were four attacks, scattered over the mall. The senseis think it was to make sure they could target all of us. Apparently they wanted Tokoyami, Bakugou and me to join them." He sounds grim.
There's a short silence, then a sigh from up front. "Problem Child, Bakugou was kidnapped. We don't know where he was taken yet."
"He what!?" Izuku's eyes shoot wide open. He's definitely awake now. "No, no, no-"
"Problem Child." Aizawa sensei says. "Midoriya! Calm down. We'll find him. We'll get him back, okay?"
"Deep breaths." Hitoshi instructs, letting go of Momo to lift Izuku's hand to his chest. "Follow my breathing, okay? In for four, out for five."
It takes a moment, but focusing on Hitoshi's breathing does calm his panic to manageable levels. "How did they take him?"
"We don't have footage of it, but we think he was knocked out by the gas attack and taken then." Aizawa sensei explains.
Blue screens pop up in front of him and Aizawa sensei. On it starts playing footage of Kacchan, Sero, Kirishima and Ojiro fighting the nomu. Until Kacchan is suddenly punched away and the camera follows him. In the thinning fog of gas, they see movement after a moment, Kacchan standing up. Then movement from behind him and what looks like a bat is brought down on his head. He crumples. The other figure turns to a third, shorter figure and hands the implement over, then stoops and hefts Kacchan to their shoulder before disappearing into the gas.
Footage taken from a cell phone.
I accessed it earlier, but Izuku's stamina was too low to continue.
"Damn. At least we know he didn't go willingly." Hitoshi comments.
"Kacchan would never!" He defends. "Can you trace them?"
It will have to wait a couple hours until your stamina has recovered more. Otherwise it could be potentially damaging to your recovery.
"I don't care."
Well I DO care.
Izuku huffs but realizes that he's not going to win this argument. "Fine, be that way."
Thank you. I WILL.
Aizawa sensei huffs a laugh. "Problem Child, sacrificing your health will help no one. You can't save anyone if you're in too poor of shape to help. Right now, your stamina is so low that Recovery Girl couldn't risk healing you today. You have a broken nose, cuts on all four limbs and your torso and face, and heavy to moderate bruising on over 50% of your body. Be good and rest up so you can help later."
For some reason, that makes Yamada sensei cackle.
"Oh shut up." Aizawa sensei grouses.
"I'm going to re~mem~ber this!" Yamada sensei singsongs.
"You're illogical." Aizawa sensei grumbles.
Quest accomplished
Quest rewards
+37566 Exp.
+1 StP
+4 StP
Optional quest failed
No rewards.
Quest accomplished
Quest rewards
+37566 Exp.
+1 StP
+4 StP
Optional quest failed
No rewards
Izuku Midoriya
Level 12 ͢ 15
Exp. 12074/25000 +75132 = 87206/25000 = 62206/26000 = 36206/27000 = 9206/28000
STR: 57
VIT: 185 +10 = 195
DEX: 87
INT: 137
WIS: 155
HP: 487/1110 ͢ 487/1170
MP: ∞/∞
STA: 21/242 ͢ 21/252
StP: 0 +10 ͢ -10 = 0
Available spell points: 35200 +25000 +26000 +27000 = 113200
Spell prices:
Spell points based on player's previous level's Exp.
Level 1 – 5 spell points (sp) ea
Level 2 – 25sp ea
Level 3 – 625sp ea
Level 4 – 390,625sp per ea
Level 5 – 244,140,625sp per one
Spell modification, very minor – 390,625sp per ea
Spell modification, secondary, minor – 244,140,625sp per ea
"Hizashi, watch the road!" Aizawa sensei barks.
"Aww, but I want to see too." Yamada sensei whines, eyes thankfully back on the road.
"And we want to not end up dead in a traffic accident. Ask Midoriya to show you later." Aizawa sensei retorts.
"Um. I can show you later, Yamada sensei." Izuku iterates.
"Looking forward to it, listener!" Yamada sensei chirps.
"Now that my life has flashed before my eyes…" Hitoshi says sardonically. "So you spend 5 points every time you try a new spell? Or are you on level 2 spells already?"
"Oh. Um. I bought all the level 1 spells at once. But I have to use them correctly 100 times to master them and I have to master all of them before I can move to level 2 spells." Izuku explains.
"How many level 1 spells are there?" Momo asks curiously.
25.
"How many have you mastered?" Hitoshi wants to know.
"Um. None yet, but I'm getting close on a couple of them." Izuku admits.
Hitoshi pats his hand, then puts it back on his lap and reaches for Momo's hand again.
"Well, we have been busy." Momo excuses him. "You even more than the rest of us."
"Both of you more than the rest of us." Hitoshi corrects.
"That's true." Momo agrees. "It's for a good cause, though."
Hitoshi nods. "Our pocketbooks thank you."
"Oh, you." Momo says in amusement.
Izuku feels content sitting between them as they playfully argue.
"About that." Aizawa sensei interjects. "You should reflect your costume changes in the figurines."
"Oh, that's a good idea!" Momo replies. "I'll talk to my business manager, er, managers about changing them for the next run. Should we update yours too?"
Aizawa sensei shrugs. "I'm not sure there will be any visible changes other than adding the club, but sure."
"Should I update my costume?" Yamada sensei asks, sounding puzzled.
"Not unless you're going dungeon diving with us. If you are, then absolutely yes." Aizawa sensei tells him.
"Dungeon diving? Wait. DUNGEONS!?" Yamada sensei squawks. "Why did I not know about this?"
"You never asked." Aizawa sensei says in a dull tone, eyes flashing red as he turns his gaze on Yamada sensei.
"How would I know to ask that!?" Yamada sensei asks in outrage.
"I'm not responsible for your lack of ability to ask appropriate questions." Aizawa sensei sounds entirely disinterested, even though it's clear that he's teasing.
Yamada sensei sputters.
"Sorry, Yamada sensei." Izuku says. "We were keeping it to a 'need to know' basis. I don't mind you knowing, though."
"Thanks, listener. I take it that the other two listeners already knew?" Yamada sensei surmises.
"Well, yeah. They're my best friends and part of the dungeon party." Izuku admits.
"Okay, that makes sense. Also, cute." Yamada sensei says with a grin.
Izuku blushes. "Yamada sensei!"
"What? It is. Maybe I made a mistake putting you between them." He teases.
"Mic sensei!" Momo exclaims, turning red too.
Hitoshi snorts. "You don't really think that. Quit teasing him. Though I admit, it's fun to see him turn red."
Izuku covers his face in mortification. Why are they like this?
~
Friday…
"So we agree? Three weeks of community service for breaking the law in this instance." Nedzu confirms.
The police chief looks tired. "Yeah. We're going to face lash back if they don't get punished, but we might face more lash back if we give them anything worse than that for saving multiple lives. It's thanks to them that no one died."
"So far." Nedzu corrects grimly. Twenty three people are in the ER for gas exposure. They're lucky it isn't more, given how close to the food court the attack started.
"Yes, so far. Fortunately, Mustard's gas is only mildly poisonous, so it doesn't have the same prognosis as if it were, say, prolonged exposure to real mustard gas." The chief sighs. "Let's pray that it remains that way."
"Yes." Nedzu agrees. "I must agree with that. Particularly given that our students were clearly targeted in this attack. Any news on how tracking their car is going?"
The police chief checks his phone. "Unfortunately, they've lost it." He looks Nedzu in the eye. "I'll be honest. Finding the trail again will probably take time that your student doesn't have to spare."
Nedzu is quiet for a moment, thinking of other ways to track them. His ears perk as he has a thought. "I may have an alternate way to find him. I'll get back to you on that."
"I wish you luck on that." The chief says, shaking his head slightly.
~
Friday…
Momo looks at Hitoshi, who has Izuku's head in his lap, the green boy having passed out again after they got to Aizawa sensei's apartment, where he could keep an eye on them. "So, when he said he was jealous, who do you think he meant?"
Hitoshi gives her an intense look, then shrugs and schools his expression to indifference. "Odds are that he's straight and meant you, but he also could have just meant jealous of being able to hold hands with someone."
"Oh." She looks down at her green friend contemplatively.
"Would you mind if he did mean you?" Hitoshi presses.
"I-I don't know. I'm not sure I could choose." She replies, then flushes. While she does like both Izuku and Hitoshi, they are her friends and that shouldn't even cross her mind. She most definitely did not mean to say that.
Hitoshi eyes her for a moment longer, then squeezes her hand. "Understandable."
It is!? No wait. She shouldn't assume that he means the same thing. And yes, she's too afraid of the answer to actually ask.
~
Friday afternoon…
Katsuki wakes up with a hellish headache.
"Oh, you're awake. Do you want water?" A woman's voice comments.
He tries to move and finds he's sitting in a chair, bound in ropes. His hands are bound palm to palm. "The hell? I want out of these ropes! And the fucking lights dimmer. And you to shut up."
There's silence in response.
"Yes, I want water." He admits, because his throat is so dry that his voice keeps cracking and dehydration is the most common source of headaches for him. "Where the fuck am I?"
"I thought you wanted silence?" The woman sounds amused.
"I do. My head hurts like hell. Who are you?" He demands.
"Ah, a headache. I'll be right back." She says. A good two minutes later she finally returns with a glass of water and something in her other hand. "Open up."
"Why?" He asks suspiciously.
"Headache medicine and water. It's not like you can use your hands." She explains easily.
Reluctantly he opens his mouth and lets her pop the pills onto his tongue and press the glass against his lips. He drinks greedily. When the glass is empty, he says, "You never did say who the fuck you are."
"My bad. I'm Vapor. The new leader of the League of Villains. I have an offer for you. Join us and be allowed to use your quirk however you like." She says like it's a done deal.
"I'm not a fucking villain." He retorts.
"But you could be!" Another female voice says cheerfully. He squints and finds a woman in a pink dress with a white toga and a cringy golden arrow pattern worked through both of them. Next to her is a man in copper and silver with a weird barred v-shaped hat who looks extremely bored with the proceedings. "It's fun! The looks of fear are great."
"The hell? What's wrong with you?" Katsuki demands.
"Lots." The man intones.
The woman next to him ruffles his hair and walks away, saying, "Well, I'll leave you to think it over. Let me know when you change your mind and I'll get you some food."
He's speechless at the backhanded threat. Are they planning to starve him into submission? Well, it won't work! He's the fucking best; he's not going to be a shitty villain!
~
Friday…
KittyStan – Holy shit, this is the funniest fight I've ever seen! Attached clip: [Video follows the second nomu fight, zooming in on the kids running past it and into walls and people dodging out of the way when they run the other direction, then following a short purple kid running frantically from it until it's stuck to the floor and then moves to two kids with blunt weapons trying and failing to hit two villains who are dodging easily and laughing at them. Then a third kid runs up and fails to stop, sliding between the other two kids and the two villains to impact the wall face first. Then the villains run away. The camera moves back to the nomu that is now snoring on the floor, still stuck in place.]
Fighterplane – @KittyStan You were there? Are you alright? And you're not kidding. That's hilarious!KittyStan – @Fighterplane Oh, I'm 100% fine. Had a close call with that monster at the beginning, but once those kids saw what was going on they jumped in between us civilians and the villains.Fighterplane – @KittyStan Glad to hear it. Those kids are going to be true heroes once they get their licenses.KittyStan – @Fighterplane Going to be? They already are!EmCee – You mean vigilantes. They're going to be in a lot of legal trouble for that stunt. @KittyStan, @FighterplaneKarmaAtItsFinest – That's what you think. I'm paying my lawyer to help UA get them out of charges. @EmCeeEmCee – People like you are why the legal system is fucked. @KarmaAtItsFinestCivilExplanations – OMG! That is the craziest villain fight I've seen in years. Were all those bloopers because of a quirk? @KittyStanKittyStan – @CivilExplanations Yes. It was the male villain's quirk.This post has 6379 replies. Click to expand.~
Friday…
Evening News…
"Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall will be closed for the next two weeks for professional decontamination and repairs.
"A bit of an update on that situation. Forty seven people were hospitalized after the event, but several have been released to go home and it's been reported that all of those in critical condition still have been stabilized and are no longer in danger of dying. There have been no deaths from this frankly terrifying incident.
"Unfortunately, there have been no updates on how goes the search for the missing UA student.
"Speaking of UA students, we have a few clips of the fights that took place as UA students stopped the villains in their tracks."
[A clip, clearly from a mall camera, showing Moonfish with his teeth dug into a woman's leg, several kids emerging from a shop and assessing the situation as Moonfish draws the chunk of flesh into his mouth. Followed by the woman scrambling away, crying. A kid with red and white hair using his quirk to put an ice wall between her and a second attack from Moonfish, the kids exchanging a few words and the girl of the group going around to help the injured woman while a kid with six arms charges at Moonfish.]
[A clip of an approaching wall of gas or smoke that suddenly stops expanding and a monster with its brain showing emerging. A group of kids looking at it and talking quickly, then one boy separates and starts urging the scared civilians away while the other kids stand their ground as it approaches. Then one spiky blond kid attacks it with explosion and it screeches as fire flares around it, but does nothing to try to put it out. The fire is out in a moment and the kids wait until it comes at them to attack again. It doesn't even flinch from most of the blows. Just the explosions.]
[A clip of a monster with its brain on the outside, clearly different than the last one, being followed by a man and a woman in costumes. A tall blue haired kid runs at the monster only to keep running past it until he slams into a wall. A pink skinned girl also runs at it and impacts the wall a few feet away. The man in the costume that's vaguely railroad themed, copper with silver tracks up his side and silver circles attached to the lines, seemingly meant to be representing wheels, and a cattle guard shaped hat on his head, laughing at them.
A tall, purple haired boy approaching the man and woman and talking to them before the man shakes the woman roughly. A dark haired girl holding a staff comes up beside the purple boy, who continues to talk. The man shakes the woman, who is in a dark pink dress covered with a white toga, with little golden arrows embroidered on all of it, again and she says something before pointing at the two kids and getting visibly upset when nothing happens.]
[A clip of a green haired kid back flipping off of Muscular's thigh, the force of it swaying Muscular slightly, and a blond kid with a lightning bolt in his hair darting forward and electrifying Muscular, who seizes and then topples over backwards with a thud.]
[A clip of the green haired kid being used as a weapon by the first monster, knocking two other kids down before he's flung away and a kid with a tail darting in to swipe at its legs to distract it. The monster totters dangerously.]
"As you can see, their bravery is simply amazing. Makes you wonder what UA is feeding these kids.
"Now we have the weather report with Mr. Ishiyama."
~
Friday…
CavernsAncient – Is this you and Chargebolt, Novell? Attached clip: [A short compilation of a blond boy zapping Muscular full force, a green haired kid kicking Muscular in the jaw while he's down, a green haired kid kicking the first nomu in the crotch, then punching it in the face and kicking it in the jaw with green crackling limbs and the nomu staggering sideways and falling and not getting up again.] Talk about brutal. @Novell
CavernsAncient – To be clear, that's admiration. Those monsters totally deserved it. I just didn't know you had it in you. @NovellPikachoochoo – @CavernsAncient You're advocating violence now? Shame on you! Villains are people too.WideAngel5 – Seriously? Muscular murders people for fun. And it's been released that the nomu are not sapient. They're literally made out of corpses. They aren't 'people' any longer. Shame on you for being a victim blamer. @PikachoochooAdmin74 – @WideAngel5 I would like to discuss with you your sources, because that is NOT released information and you shouldn't be spreading rumors.WideAngel5 – I don't nark on my sources. Ban me if you like.SYSTEMNOTICE – WideAngel5 has been banned for 48hrs.Pikachoochoo – @WideAngel5 I'm not a victim blamer…CavernsAncient – You kind of are, man. @PikachoochooServalServise – You definitely are @Pikachoochoo Those kids were fighting to save lives, not for glory.Admin74 – @Pikachoochoo Please don't instigate fights when you know no one will agree with you. You're like my personal headache.Pikachoochoo – @Admin74 Hey! You're supposed to be neutral! I'm not starting fights. They are.ServalServise – Hey, @Pikachoochoo How does it feel to suck so bad that even the admins are sick of you?InertNeutron – You realize that they probably had zero choice in the matter if they didn't want to die? These are first years and Muscular is a B ranked murderer who has killed Pro Heroes. Not to mention that…person? Thing? It was going after civilians every time those kids backed off at all and nothing else was taking it down. @PikachoochooThis post had 7492 replies. Click to expand.~
Friday evening…
Izuku stares groggily at Nedzu and wonders why he's here and not doing something else.
Nedzu smiles briefly. "I have a question for Find-san."
"Okay." He agrees after a moment.
Yes?
"What are the odds that the nomu and/or All for One are at the same location as the computer you found that information on?"
? … Oh. High, I suppose. At least for the nomu.
I've sent the location to your phone.
"Thank you. That was all I needed." Nedzu says sincerely and it's hard to tell but he looks almost as tired as Izuku feels. "Oh, before I go, I do have another question. Can you only open dimension doors in Izuku's vicinity?"
No. I can open one in the vicinity of any member of a dungeon party.
"Can you open one where Bakugou is?" Nedzu asks.
Izuku gasps in excitement at the possibility.
… No. But if you find his location, I can send him an invite. If he accepts it, then I could. I doubt he would, though.
"Ah, that's a shame." Nedzu acknowledges. "I suppose that would've been too easy."
Izuku sags. He really just wants Kacchan to be safe now.