Chapter 37: The Monster and the Misfits
The desolate mountain range in the Nagano Prefecture offered no shelter from the howling wind.
Tomura Shigaraki stood at the edge of a massive, jagged cliff, his red eyes locked onto the towering behemoth weeping in the crater below. Gigantomachia. The walking natural disaster was as large as a building, his sheer muscle mass pulsating as he pounded his massive fists into the earth, crying out for his imprisoned master, All For One.
Standing a few yards behind Shigaraki were the battered remnants of the League of Villains: Dabi, Spinner, Toga, and Mr. Compress.
A small, heavily modified radio dropped from the sky, delivered by a small winged Nomu. It clattered to the rocks at Shigaraki's feet.
"You demand my resources, Tomura," the raspy, condescending voice of Dr. Kyudai Garaki hissed through the speaker. "You demand the High-Ends. You demand the Quirk research. But why should I give my life's work to a boy who lost his King and got his teeth kicked in by a flock of vigilante birds?"
Shigaraki didn't flinch. The manic, childish petulance that used to define him was gone, burned away by the humiliation of Kamino and the severing of his safety net.
"Because the King is in a cage, Doctor," Shigaraki rasped calmly. "And I am the only one left on the board."
"Words!" Dr. Garaki spat. "If you want to prove you are worthy of All For One's legacy, then prove it to his most loyal servant. Tame Gigantomachia. Make the monster bow, or die in the dirt!"
Down in the crater, Gigantomachia heard the radio. The behemoth's weeping stopped. He slowly turned his massive head, his eyes locking onto the small, pale man on the cliff.
"You are not the King!" Machia roared, a sound that shook the very foundations of the mountain. "You are too small! Too weak!"
Machia leaped. The sheer kinetic force of his jump shattered the crater, launching the giant directly toward the cliff face. His massive hand reached out, intending to crush Shigaraki and the rest of the League into bloody paste.
"Shigaraki, move!" Spinner yelled, drawing his makeshift sword.
Shigaraki didn't step back. He didn't ask for Kurogiri to warp him away. He didn't wait for his master to save him. He stripped the severed hand of his "father" off his face, letting it fall to the dirt. He looked at the descending mountain of muscle with absolute, cold apathy.
He didn't just want to destroy what annoyed him anymore. He wanted to erase the entire horizon.
Shigaraki slammed all five fingers of his right hand directly into the rocky earth beneath his feet.
The Decay didn't just crumble the rock. Driven by his psychological awakening, the Quirk mutated, violently shedding the subconscious limitations he had placed on it since childhood.
A terrifying, silent shockwave of pure, gray disintegration erupted outward. It didn't just spread; it cascaded like a tidal wave of death. The cliff face vaporized. The boulders turned to dust. The decay leaped through the air, catching the massive, descending fist of Gigantomachia.
Machia roared in sudden, agonizing pain as the outer layers of his hardened skin instantly turned to ash. The behemoth was forced to violently throw his weight backward, crashing hard into the valley below to escape the spreading wave of annihilation.
The decay finally stopped, leaving a massive, perfectly smooth crater of gray dust spanning half a mile.
Shigaraki stood at the edge of the void, his red eyes completely devoid of hesitation. He looked down at the bleeding, panting behemoth.
"I am not the King you remember," Shigaraki whispered into the howling wind, his voice carrying down to the valley. "But I am the one who is going to rot this world to the core. Bow to the Decay."
Gigantomachia stared at the sheer, apocalyptic destruction. The monster slowly pushed himself up onto his knees, bowing his massive head until his forehead touched the gray dust.
The radio crackled. "Fascinating," Dr. Garaki breathed, a dark, fanatic reverence in his voice. "Bring him to Kyoto, Tomura. The laboratory is yours."
Miles away, beneath the neon glow of Musutafu, a very different kind of alliance was taking shape.
The basement of a defunct Commission safehouse had been repurposed by Shota Aizawa. The Underground Student Cell—Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, and Shoto Todoroki—stood in their hero costumes, minus any flashy, identifiable support gear. They wore dark tactical jackets over their suits.
The air was thick with tension.
A silvery-blue tear ripped open the center of the basement. Rin stepped through, her tablet glowing in her hands. Right behind her came Hitoshi Shinso, his purple lightning sparking faintly, and Yuga Aoyama, whose Prismatic Flight cast a dim, golden glow over his uncharacteristically serious face.
Bakugo immediately stepped forward, explosions popping aggressively on his palms. "I still don't trust these rogue bastards, Mr. Aizawa. They lie, they cheat, and they embarrassed us in the woods."
"Careful, Bakugo," Shinso replied smoothly, his metallic voice modulator clicking on. "We didn't embarrass you. We saved you from becoming the League's pet. Try to keep your ego in check before you blow our cover."
"Wanna test that, eyebags?!" Bakugo snarled.
"Enough," Aizawa ordered, his red eyes flashing, instantly erasing Bakugo's explosions. "This is not a school exercise. This is a black-ops extraction. If you bicker, people die."
Midoriya looked at Aoyama. "Aoyama-kun... is this really what you want? Operating in the dark?"
Aoyama offered a soft, genuine smile. "I have never felt more in control of my own light, Midoriya. The Sovereign gave me wings. Tonight, I will use them to help you fly."
Rin tapped her tablet, bringing up a holographic blueprint of a high-security skyscraper.
"The target is a Commission data-hub in central Kyoto," Rin briefed, strictly professional. "They are frantically wiping their servers to destroy evidence of illegal Quirk trafficking and black-market funding before the public can demand an audit. If they delete those drives, the corrupt executives walk free."
"The Sovereign wants the data," Shinso added. "And Eraserhead wants the evidence for the Underground Heroes. Our goals align. Rin will phase us into the server room, but the hard drives are physically locked inside a biometric vault guarded by elite Commission 'Cleaners'."
Todoroki crossed his arms. "So we break the vault and fight our way out."
"No," Rin corrected. "We ghost them. If the Commission knows UA students are raiding their facilities, they will have Aizawa arrested for treason. This requires absolute stealth."
"GateL0ck is ready," a distorted, dual-toned voice echoed from the comms in Shinso's ear. "Vanguard. Students. Execute."
Rin tore the air apart, creating a massive Sanctuary Phasing portal. The six teenagers stepped through, leaving Aizawa behind to monitor the frequencies.
They materialized silently in the shadows of the Kyoto server room. The hum of massive supercomputers filled the air. At the far end of the room was a heavy titanium vault door, flanked by four heavily armed Commission Cleaners.
"Four targets," Todoroki whispered, his breath misting the air. "I can freeze them."
"Ice is too loud, and they'll shoot before the frost sets," Shinso countered softly. "Aoyama, Bakugo. You're up. Precision over power."
Bakugo scowled but nodded. He held up his hands, concentrating entirely on miniaturizing his Quirk. Aoyama stepped beside him, dropping into his Prismatic Flight hover to eliminate the sound of his footsteps.
"On my mark," Shinso whispered, his eyes flaring purple.
Shinso stepped out of the shadows. The Cleaners instantly raised their rifles.
"Hey," Shinso said casually.
"Identify—" the lead guard began.
Snap. Shinso seized the minds of the two guards on the left, instantly networking their processing power into his own physical enhancement.
"Now!" Shinso ordered.
Bakugo moved like a viper. He didn't use a massive explosion; he used Stun Grenade on a microscopic scale. He dashed forward, pressing his palms directly against the visors of the remaining two guards and setting off a blinding, localized flash of light and concussive force that knocked them unconscious instantly without a sound.
Simultaneously, Aoyama glided over the guards, firing two pinpoint, low-heat laser blasts that perfectly melted the internal firing pins of their dropped rifles, rendering them useless.
"Clear," Bakugo grunted, catching one of the unconscious guards before he hit the floor.
Midoriya watched in awe. Bakugo, who usually relied on overwhelming, destructive power, had just executed a flawless, silent takedown alongside a boy who used to be terrified of his own Quirk. The synergy was terrifyingly effective.
"Good work," Shinso nodded, releasing the mind-controlled guards and letting them slump to the floor. "Rin, the vault is yours."
Rin stepped up to the titanium door. She didn't bother hacking the biometric scanner. She simply placed her hands on the metal and used her spatial Quirk to phase the locking mechanism entirely out of reality for a split second. The heavy vault door popped open with a soft hiss.
Inside the vault, rows of blinking hard drives contained the darkest secrets of the Hero Commission.
Midoriya and Todoroki quickly began pulling the drives, loading them into EMP-shielded bags provided by the Swarm.
"We got it," Midoriya whispered, hoisting the heavy bag over his shoulder. He looked at Shinso and Aoyama. "You guys really are a well-oiled machine."
"The shadows require precision, Izuku," Aoyama smiled gently.
Suddenly, the server room's main doors hissed open.
Two more Commission Cleaners stepped inside, holding heavy-duty energy rifles. They saw the open vault, the unconscious guards, and the six teenagers in dark jackets.
"Intruders in the vault! Open fire!"
"Rin, portal!" Shinso yelled.
The Cleaners fired. Two massive bolts of superheated plasma streaked across the server room.
Midoriya didn't hesitate. One For All: Full Cowling - 15%! Green lightning erupted around his body. He lunged forward, grabbing Bakugo by the collar and yanking his rival out of the path of the first plasma bolt.
But the second bolt was aimed directly at Rin, who was mid-motion, her hands raised to open the gateway.
A wall of ice instantly erupted in front of her. Todoroki slammed his right foot down, generating a massive, hyper-dense glacier that absorbed the plasma bolt, the ice instantly flashing into blinding steam.
Using the steam as cover, Shinso dashed forward, his physical strength still enhanced by the residual processing power of the previous guards. He vaulted over the melting ice and delivered a devastating, spinning kick to the first Cleaner's helmet, knocking him out cold.
Bakugo used the distraction to launch himself off the wall, pressing his palm to the second Cleaner's chest plate. "Quiet down!" Bakugo hissed, unleashing a muffled, internal explosion that shattered the man's armor and sent him crashing to the floor.
Rin finished the motion. The silver portal ripped open.
"Everyone, through!" Rin shouted.
Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki dove into the portal with the hard drives. Aoyama and Shinso followed, providing rear cover. Rin stepped in last, the portal snapping shut just as the server room's primary alarms finally began to blare.
Back in Aizawa's basement, the six teenagers tumbled out onto the concrete.
Bakugo was panting, a fierce, adrenaline-fueled grin on his face. He looked at Shinso, holding his hand up. "Not bad, eyebags."
Shinso let out a dry chuckle, returning the high-five. "You aren't so bad yourself, sparky."
Midoriya placed the bag of hard drives on Aizawa's desk. He looked at his classmates, and then at the Swarm operatives. The lines between hero, vigilante, and criminal had completely blurred. But looking at the stolen evidence that would finally bring corrupt bureaucrats to justice, Midoriya knew they had done the right thing.
"The Vanguard and the Cell," Aizawa murmured, looking at the unified group of teenagers. "A terrifying combination."
From the shadows of the basement corner, a slow, methodical clapping echoed.
The Winged Sovereign stepped into the dim light, his silver mask reflecting the glow of Rin's tablet.
"You fought in the dark today, students of UA," Nocturne's distorted voice hummed, carrying a profound, heavy approval. "You protected each other, and you secured the truth. Keep practicing in the shadows. Because the true monsters are waking up."