Chapter 33
Aizawa groaned as he crawled into bed, not even bothering to remove his hero costume. Today had been one of those days that made him feel like he was being torn at the seams.
The day had started on a bad note. Normally, in order to stay virgulate, the man had a system of taking small cat naps throughout the day. Twenty minutes here, twenty minutes there. Sometimes more and sometimes less. It allowed him to be more active both day and night while keeping himself not only mentally sharp but also ensuring his body was not overly exhausted. It also meant that when there was an emergency, he would be able to act quickly enough. Yet today was one of those days when he had to break this pattern. It wasn't because of a villain attack or some crisis, but instead due to the actions of the students of U.A.
When Aizawa had first watched the events of the joint class training exercise, he had been angry. He was angry at Toga, whom he did not fully trust, even after learning about the circumstances behind her actions. And seeing her leave one of his students to run around the training ground naked didn't help much. Then there was Midoriya, who had concocted the entire plan, from having a dummy base to trap his students to setting up ambushes to take down members of 1-A, down to even setting up a scenario with that house in the middle of the woods! Sure, he knew that the boy had been asked to think like a villain, but the teen had gone way too 'Plus Ultra' in that department and instead became a villainous mastermind. He just had to hide a bomb in the forest, not destroy the careers of all the heroes in the process!
But the anger he felt towards his own students far outweighed any feelings he had towards Vlad's problem children. After the teachers had finished finalising the grades, while that feeling continued to simmer, Nezu had called this a wonderful learning opportunity. One that he hoped all students could learn something from. Well, it was up to Aizawa to ensure that they did with remedial lessons during the entire weekend.
Ok, maybe the reason he was so angry with them was because it was mixed with frustration. Normally, by the time the Sports Festival had ended, he would have cut several students from the program. This year, well, he had believed that his class was showing far more potential. Enough that he wanted to at least see this through to the end of the year. But after that one exercise made him reconsider his opinion on them. Simply put, they had let him down. If they had just made simple mistakes that any rookie would have made, that would have been understandable. It would have irritated him, but he could have understood. Instead, they had ignored good suggestions, taken the exercise too lightly, gone off on their own, let their egos take the reins, and showed caused more harm than good. In short, it had been a disaster.
So, it was up to him to fix this with remedial lessons. Hence why he had his class showing up bright and early Saturday morning, so he could spend the day drilling into their heads the mistakes they had made so that there wouldn't be a repeat the next time this happened. And yes, there would be a next time. All Might had apparently liked the idea of pitting the two classes against each other, believing that it would foster some friendly competition and cooperation. After the Friday lesson, he was already going through some ideas like redoing his 'bomb' lesson with either having one class be the heroes while the other was the villains or putting a member of each class on a team.
Those lessons had been a trying time for him. While most of the students understood just how badly things stood, there were those who failed to grasp the concept. Todoroki was still sulking like a child. While he hadn't voiced this, Aizawa knew that the boy blamed Yaoyorozu and the others for falling for Toga's trick. It was in every sharp glare he gave them before looking away. Like there was some sort of rage he just couldn't, or wouldn't, let go of. Speaking of anger, there was Bakugo. His explosive student took every criticism with gritted teeth and broken pencils. More than once, Aizawa thought he might need to restrain him. And then there was Mineta. He could recite all the laws he had broken both in the field and in the locker room. But the teen's tone indicated that he had done this before and was bored with repeating himself.
The only problematic student that Aizawa was going easy on was Ida. His behaviour was clearly off during the exercise, and when he had been captured by the 'villains', the teen had lost it. Then, during the remedial lesson, his normally loud and uptight student seemed to just sit there, zoning out from time to time. None of that was surprising to Aizawa, given what had happened to his brother. Clearly, he was working through his grief and anger. Still, he knew this couldn't continue. Once the internships had concluded, he would speak to the pro hero Ida would be under to get a more detailed account of how he acted. If he was still lost in his grief, then Aizawa would have to act.
Once remedial lessons were done for the day and his students sent home, Aizawa went out on patrol. No naps, just straight to work in order to get his mind off this disaster. Unfortunately, the night proved to be just as annoying. He had thought he had gotten a good lead on the League of Villains. One that seemed so promising that he had spent six hours following. However, what he had found wasn't a dead end. No, it was much worse than that. The information he had gotten was fake, leading him on a wild goose chase. The only good thing was that only a few people at U.A. had been informed of this.
Now, here he was in bed with one of his cats rubbing up against him. With his eyes closing, ready to end this horrible day before leading into the next, Aizawa prepared to drift off to sleep.
Only for his bloodshot eyes to shoot back open when he heard his phone ring!
After picking up the phone, Aizawa could hear other voices on the line. Present Mic was yawning loudly before asking what was going on. He could also hear Midnight, panting but also questioning why she had been called. He could hear Snipe, Thirteen, Hound Dog, and even the new nurse. All of them were in the dark as to what was going on.
"To all faculty members hearing this," came Nezu's voice, louder and cutting through all other noise. "We have an emergency. Please turn on your televisions. It doesn't matter what channel."
A bead of dread washed over Aizawa when he heard this. Had there been another attack by the League of Villains? Had someone found out that All Might was deflating like a balloon? Was there some scandal involving a member of the staff? With those thoughts racing through his head, Aizawa moved to his living room with his phone next to his ear.
When he found the remote, Aizawa turned on the television to see a sight that caused his eyes to widen.
"These images are coming to us live from I-Island where the I-Island Expo is occurring," came a female announcer's voice, panic barely hidden as she spoke off scene. Instead, Aizawa saw a massive creature made of stone standing near the damaged central tower of the island. "We still do not have full details at this moment. What we do know is that, several hours ago, all communications with the island ceased and attempts to contact anyone from I-Island were met with failure. Then, suddenly, we began to receive this live footage. World leaders have yet to comment."
"All Might has yet to respond," came Nezu's voice, Aizawa's grip on the phone tightening.
"What of my students?" came Vlad King's voice. "Do we have any information on their safety?"
"None, I'm afraid," replied Nezu with a heavy sigh. "Given the fact that things have escalated to such a degree, I fear the worst. It is possible that the League of Villains is behind this attack. As such, I am calling all teachers to action. I have already prepared a private jet to take us to the island."
"What of security?" asked Thirteen.
"We will deal with that when the time comes," responded Nezu. "Vlad King, please contact the families of all your students on the island and inform them that we are working right now to ensure their safety. Eraserhead, I believe that All Might took Young Kirishima to I-Island as well. Please contact his family as well. Lunch Rush, send me a detailed list of all the ingredients you will need so we can set up a proper emergency kitchen should it be needed. I will have everything you need waiting in the jet. Cementoss, I will leave it to you to construct emergency shelters. Twilight Saint, can we count on you to aid in healing the injured?"
"Of course," came the voice of Asia Hyoudou. "I have family on that island as well."
As the heroes of U.A. were not the only ones to watch this. News that I-Island, the most secure location on the planet, was being attacked by an unknown villain spread like wildfire. Every second that passed, more and more people around the world tuned in to see what was happening. Some turned on their television while others watched the crisis via their phones or computers.
This included the members of 1-B. Tetsutetsu, who had been digging through piles of scrap in the early hours of the morning, stopped when he heard the news and went to watch on his phone with Hatsume looking over his shoulder. Setsuna, who had been shaken awake by her parents so vigorously that her head fell off, rushed to the giant family T.V. when she was told why she had been woken up. Awase swore up a storm as his phone wasn't fully charged due to a faulty wire and had to fiddle with the cord in order to keep watching. Shishida sat before his computer, hoping that his friends would be safe. Shiozaki began to pray before the T.V., causing a bright light to shine down upon her, causing her neighbours to wonder what was going on there.
Even Shinso watched the ongoings at I-Island with trembling hands.
As for 1-A, they also watched the events unfolding. Yaoyorozu was witnessing the events from a massive screen that would put those belonging to a movie theatre to shame, hoping that Kendo was ok. Mineta trembled in fear while being glad he wasn't there to fight such a scary-looking monster. Even Bakugo and Todoroki awoke to watch what was happening.
-x-
Meanwhile, unaware that the entire world was watching the events play out, All Might raced up the tower. He ploughed through every security measure that was still in place, even the blast doors that were opening up for them as fast as they could. The stairway crumpled behind him as the pro hero raced up due to the amount of force he was using before running through a nearby door to search the floor. All Might knew his actions were destructive, but he didn't care. There were only two things on his mind: his students and his friend.
The words of Midoriya haunted the man ever since he had first heard them. He denied it, of course. There was no way Divid, his first sidekick and friend, would ever team up with evil doers. Not after everything they had seen and been through together. But while he openly denied it, whispers of doubt could be heard in his mind. He recalled some of the looks that he had seen David giving him when he first showed up. How the man seemed off. At the time, All Might had chalked it all up to David being worried about Melissa and her renewed desire to be a hero. But if that wasn't the case, could it mean that…
All Might didn't finish that thought. Instead, he focused on the lives of his students. Hence why he was searching each floor. In the end, he found some students, but only one was his, along with a few villains.
And a dead body.
The dead child was found after locating an unconscious villain in the hallway leading up to it, alone and lying in the middle of what used to be a nature area within the tower. Now that area looked like a war zone with all of the earth having been torn out of the ground and left as rubble, with this poor young soul left to rest in the middle with a large gaping hole in their chest. Seeing this, All Might lost his composure as he fell to his knees. A few sobs escaped the man as he lowered his head. He was no fool; he knew that there were people all over the world calling out for help. Specifically for him to come and save them. But, he knew he couldn't be everywhere and save everyone, leaving their cries to go unheard. Yet this? He had been in the building. If he had just not gotten caught, had he been strong enough to break free and take those criminals out, then this life wouldn't have been lost.
Then the moment passed. With gritted teeth and a determination to see these evil doers pay, All Might picked up the student's body before racing back down to the ground floor. Once there, he found a bench where he could lay the victim of this villain's attack. Then, he searched for something to cover the body with. He knew he was wasting his time, but he wanted to do this. In the end, he managed to find a lab coat, which he then placed on the body before taking off again.
As for the villain, All Might just wrapped him up with some steel beams he pulled from the wall.
Shortly after that, All Might found two more students along with three villains. The students were both from Detroit Mercy, limping away from the villains whom they had managed to knock out. More guilt flooded the hero at seeing these young heroes in training having to step up due to the folly of the adults. But he pushed all that down as he collected all of them in one go. Before they knew what had happened, All Might had placed the two injured boys on uncomfortable seats in the main lobby while wrapping steel beams around the villains.
The next group he found was closer to the top of the tower. This time he found Toga, blood covering the lower section of her face as she pried the hand of a defeated villain off her leg. Along with her was a girl with a scorpion tail coming out of the back of her head, doing her best to help while another child lay on the ground. Thankfully, a quick check showed that the child was ok and that the blood on Toga's face was from a nosebleed. Like with the last group, All Might brought them down to the ground floor in the blink of an eye before shooting back up.
Then, finally, the pro hero made his way to the top of the tower. There, he found the villain Wolfram, unconscious and covered in bruises. No doubt caused by Kendo, who was helping a grey-skinned girl with slime hair drag Sam away from the edge. No doubt they were planning on securing them now that the tower was a wreck. The mix of fear and relief in his student's eyes said it all, causing the man to clench his fists so tightly that he broke his own skin. He was still missing two students: Tsunotori and Midoriya. So seeing that look on his student's face told him everything he needed to know. They were hurt or in danger, and she believed he could solve everything right away.
That's when All Might noticed David. Their eyes met and, in that moment, All Might knew that his friend had been behind everything. He couldn't hide the look of shame in them, seeing the pro hero standing there with steam rising from his body. A sign that his time in this form was almost up. At best, he only had a few minutes left.
"All Might, I," began David, but paused as the hero looked down at the man whom he had once thought he could trust with his life. That look alone was enough to cause Dr. Shield to begin crying
"Well, well, well," came a new voice, which caused All Might to lift his head. Standing next to the tower was a multiarmed golem with a young man's upper body sticking out of the construct's forehead like a pimple. "Look who finally showed up. The former greatest hero in the world. But that title now belongs to me: Rockback, the world's greatest hero! Now DIE!"
With surprising speed for something that massive and heavy, one of the golem's arms crashed through the upper part of the tower! However, it was not fast enough to get the drop on All Might! With great speed, he ruffly grabbed the villains while gently picking up the students, before leaping down to the ground below. There was a grunt as he made contact, the muscles in his legs screaming in pain due to the fall. But he managed, doing his best to stand up as though this had been effortless while letting go of all the people he had been carrying.
"Keep an eye on them," said All Might to the students, while doing his best not to look at David Shield. "The danger shall pass soon. Why? Because I, All Might, am here!" With that declaration, All Might bent his legs before leaping upwards towards the villain.
…Only to have one of the rock hands grab him before balling into a tight fist.
For a heartbeat, All Might was trapped as the rocky hand pressed on him from all sides. But he wasn't the Number One Hero for nothing! Using his incredible strength, All Might pushed with his arms and legs, causing the bonds that held him in place to shatter! Before gravity could pull him back down to the ground, the man used more of his might to send a punch right into the stump of an arm that was so close to him while yelling 'SMASH' from the bottom of his heart. The blow caused the entire arm to shatter, sending millions of tiny pieces flying away from the man.
However, this villain wasn't done yet. As All Might began to fall downwards, a massive rock fist was swung at him. Seeing this, the blonde hero spread his arms wide before clapping them together to create a powerful air blast that shot him back. Because of this, the attack missed him completely. Yet the air pressure from the arm that had been swung caught up with not just him, but everything behind the man. Windows shattered, and anything that wasn't bolted to the ground was flung backwards.
Thankfully, All Might knew how to deal with this. Spinning around so his back was facing the ground below, he punched the air in front of him at full force, sending him rocketing towards the streets. While the pro hero landed in a crash that sent a massive cloud of dust moving in all directions, it didn't stop him. No, the hero leapt out of the dust with another great heroic leap towards the teen's golem body.
The villain swung another fist at All Might, who used his own punches to manoeuvre in the air once more. But right after that was a second one that came from up above. Unable to turn his body in time, the rock fist connected with his back with enough force that he was sent crashing to the ground below.
Now half embedded into the concrete street, All Might began to push himself off the ground…only to be stopped as a massive foot stepped on him. Now, All Might was struggling, feeling hundreds of tons pressing down on him with such force that, if he wavered for only a moment, he would die. What's more, he could feel the embers of his quirk running lower by the moment as blood shot from his mouth. But he didn't give up. He needed to stop this monster. He needed to save the people of I-Island. Because he was the Symbol of Peace! Because his students needed him to win!
With a herculean effort, All Might managed to push upwards suddenly and with all for force he could muster. The villain seemed to stumble backwards, giving the hero time to not only get out from the shadow of that foot but also to leap back into the air. One of the massive rock arms reached out for him, but All Might used his full power to punch back, turning it into dust…just before two pairs of massive rock hands came barreling towards him on both sides, swatting him like he was a fly. Blood spewed from the hero's mouth, his head the only thing now exposed as the duel grip tightened more and more while steam continued to pour out of him. His time limit it was beyond clear; he had gone past it and was paying the price
"Sorry, you old oriental fossil," sneered the young man as he moved the large rock hands towards his real face. "Looks like you're not on my level." Now that he was closer, All Might recognised the young villain. It was the same vile young man who had been kicking Robstone and Pack Master, causing a scene. Only now, he looked more deranged. On his head was some sort of device, no doubt something he took from the Vault. Whatever it was, the device was causing multiple veins to appear around his forehead and his eyes to appear bloodshot. All Might didn't know if this was a side effect of the device, the young man pushing his quirk to this degree, or even a mix of both. All he knew was that this young man was not well.
Movement then caught his eye. All Might strained his head to look, barely able to see that the rocks and dust created when he destroyed the golem's arms were reconnecting and reforming. It was slow, but you could clearly see what was happening.
"This is incredible," laughed Rockback. "It's like this thing found a way to make my amazing quirk a thousand times better. Now, no one will be able to dispute that I am a great and powerful hero!"
"It's not the quirk that makes you-" began All Might, only to stop and cry out in pain as he felt the hands around him tighten.
"Don't give me that goodie, goodie bullshit that losers talk about," sneered Rockback as new veins appeared on his forehead. "I am so fucking sick of hearing it! Especially from fuckers like you who don't mean it!"
"What?" replied All Might as he tried to struggle out of his bonds, more steam rising from his body and blood threatening to escape his mouth.
"Because being a hero has nothing to do with being a good person!" spat Rockback. "Deep down, everyone knows it. Knows that we all have a pecking order that was decided the moment we are born. People like me, people with powerful quirks used to beat the ever-living shit out of others, get to be heroes! To be given everything: women, fame, money. We put on display what we can do to fucking losers so they give us everything we want just to make sure we don't do the same to them! That's what being a hero means! And you should know this better than anyone else. After all, you're the one who started all of this!"
When All Might heard that, his struggling ceased. In fact, he nearly deflated back to his true form. All he could do was stare back into the face of the young man, wondering how he could have come to such a conclusion.
"So spare me your PR talk about being a good person," continued Rockback, his pupils going tiny while showing off all his teeth. "There's no one else here for you to lie to! But if you want to make believe, then be my guest. It won't matter. Once I kill you, the world will give me everything I want just to stay on my good side, just like they did with you! Because I'm the strongest. They'll cheer as I kill the villains who wronged me. People like Robstone, who kicked me out of that damned school. Or the asshole who set me up and then used me as his bitch! I kill them all, proving I'm the greatest hero alive! And you know what? I'll kill everyone who dares spout that nonsense shit about needing to be a 'good person'. Just like how I killed that fucking loser Andrew. NOW DIE!"
With that, Rockback began to squeeze harder.
-x-
"Hey! Hey! Are you ok? Make some noise if you can!"
Melissa groaned as she heard the voice, her mind slowly slipping back to the waking world. For a moment, darkness greeted her eyes when she opened them. Then images appeared on her visor. Another groan escaped her as Papa (she needed to rename her A.I. now and give it a new voice) displayed her condition while also cancelling the request for emergency assistance. The good news was that she was physically fine as all the safety systems she had put in place protected her like they were supposed to. It was just that the force of the crash landing had knocked her out for a moment.
Speaking of the crash…
"Papa, where are we?" she asked.
"We are currently on the first floor of the Overlooked Motel, the cheapest and most run-down motel on I-Island," supplied Papa. "Specifically in room 119. You crashed through both the roof and room 219 before finally stopping. After connecting with the motel's computer, I was able to determine that this room was being rented out to an individual from Aybsswell Insurance named Hisashi Midoriya. Thankfully, both this room and the one on the second floor were unoccupied at the time of impact. No doubt due to the party and hostage situation."
Melissa began to blush in embarrassment when she heard the name. A part of her hoped that this Midoriya was not related to her new friend, since, if they were related, it would make meeting him super awkward.
Thankfully, she was able to push those thoughts away as she instead focused on the real issues before her: getting out of this rubble and stopping that villain. "Papa, I'm going to need a complete scan of everything in front of me. Please guide me in the best course for getting out of here."
Instantly, her visor shifted images as several scans happened at once. Things like thermal scanning and X-ray scanning in order to get a complete layout of everything that was on top of her. Once it was finished, Melissa was shown all the objects on top of her one by one before they were slid over to the side of her visor. Not just what they were, but she was given a full breakdown on each of them, which the blonde skimmed through. Papa wasn't lying about the quality of the hotel. The plaster was ancient, probably still the same since the island was formed. The building material was not even third-rate, making her wonder how much longer it would have taken before it collapsed on its own. The television? It was a large, bulky thing from the 1990's making it well over two hundred years old. How it was still functioning was a mystery that would now never be solved.
As for life forms, it was mostly rats and creepy crawlies. Her scans indicated a number of dead rodents that were too large to be normal mice, unmoving, with their body heat dropping. At the same time, basement centipedes moved about through everything. And, finally, there was one other heat signature. A human one, most likely the same person who had been calling out to her. According to her scans, he was digging through the rubble to get to her.
Once all this information was presented to her, Melissa began to move. While she had found that she was on her back, with rubble seemingly pinning her arms and legs down, the weight of it all was the only real issue. Papa sent more power to key systems in her suit, allowing her to move her limbs while breaking apart the material covering her with the greatest of ease. Not that it was hard, as it was already half crumbled. So, before she could hear the person shouting again, one of her metallic fists broke free of her confinement. This no doubt scared her potential rescuer, as evident by the cry she heard, but Melissa could only mentally apologise for this as the rest of her body emerged into the open air.
"Whoa," she heard a familiar voice say. Turning to the source of the sound, Melissa found Kirishima, his ass on the ground, looking like he had fallen over in surprise.
"Sorry about that," she said while moving through the remains of the hotel, the debris her armour connected with shattering as she did so. Then, when she was close enough, she extended a hand towards Kirishima.
"H-Hey, no worries," said the U.A. student as he accepted her hand. "I'm just glad you're ok."
"Thanks, I," began Melissa before she stopped. "Wait, what are you doing all the way out here? Shouldn't you have been at the party?"
At that, Kirishima looked away while scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, funny story," he began. "I, ah, sort of got lost and kept circling back to the hotel."
Hearing that, Melissa blinked. Then she turned her head slightly to the side, the Tower clearly visible in the distance as well as the giant golem. She blinked some more before turning to look at Kirishima, who was now looking at her with an awkward smile.
"How the," she began before shaking her head. "Never mind. When this is over, I'm going to make you a wrist-mounted GPS device. Papa, what's our status?"
"Currently, all systems are operating at acceptable levels," came Papa's reply, surprising Kirishima. "Your left leg unit as well as your left arm unit have received minor damage due to the strike you took. Because of that, they are operating at 15% lower efficiency, which will not hinder further battle or rescue operations. Warning: multiple strikes towards those arms will cause significant damage and will be deemed unable to repair."
"And the cannon?" asked Melissa. As if in answer to her question, the rubble exploded behind her. When she turned around, she saw that her cannon was back in its jet form hovering in the air before flying towards her.
"It has received only minor damage," replied Papa. "Current data indicates that it will function normally."
"Whoa, what is all this?" asked Kirishima, with wonder in his eyes as he looked at everything before him. Then, a crashing sound could be heard behind them, drawing the two teens' attention towards the golem armour and its fight with All Might. "And what's going on?"
"I'll tell you on the way," replied Melissa before commanding her armour to go back into travel mode, her suit and cannon becoming one. "But, for right now, all you need to know is we're getting back into the fight."
-x-
'I'm sorry but what is going on here?!' screamed Midoriya internally as he stood there, looking down at himself while Lady Nagant clung to his back.
Again, I am very sorry about all of this, came the musical voice inside Izuku's head. To be honest, I never suspected that this would happen. I was planning on just hitching a ride on your body until we were close enough to Will so I could slide down his throat and suffocate him nice and slowly. Imagine my surprise to find out that your power doesn't come from a quirk!
Hey, no hitching a ride on my partner! came Albion's voice. Our souls are bonded, and I am not looking for a roommate! My partner has enough thoughts running through his head, so the last thing he needs is another voice inside his head!
"Hey, Midoriya. Is everything ok?" asked Tsutsumi. "Because you've just been standing here for like the last minute or so."
"I-It's fine," stammered Izuku as the reality of the situation fell upon him. Here he was, hands on a girl's barely covered ass while she pressed onto his back. Oh God, he hoped she didn't think he was a pervert who was savouring the moment or something like that. "I just think I felt something. Ah, you know. Ah-"
"Yeah, I heard something," replied Tsutsumi as she held onto him a little tighter. An act that caused Izuku to blush. Even more so when she went to whisper in his ear. "You think that there was some lab animal in here?"
"Y-Yeah," lied Izuku. "I think it ran up my leg, but I can't feel it anymore. So I'm sort of debating whether or not we should be flying. If something goes wrong-"
"Then we could both die," interrupted Tsutsumi as she pulled away from his ear. "Whatever it was might have only brushed up against you, but failure to confirm might result in mission failure. And just standing around is just wasting time. Try moving around a bit while I confirm things from my end."
"O-Oh, ok," replied Izuku, slightly surprised by how, for lack of a better term, professional Tsutsumi sounded. But it also felt strange, like it was something that had been drilled into her head. Still, she was right; they were wasting time. So Izuku began walking around while Tsutsumi offered her own help by pressing the palms of her hands against his back. No doubt trying to find anything out of the ordinary.
'Ok, we got a moment,' thought Izuku, focusing his mind towards Angel in the same manner he did when he was speaking to Albion. 'Now who are you, ah, miss?'
Technically, my kind does not have a sex as we reproduce asexually, replied Angel. Though I do identify myself as female. As for what I am, well, that should have been made clear when we bonded slightly. I am an alien, part of a symbiotic race.
An alien? Albion's words came off more as a scoff than anything else, and the teen could practically feel the ancient dragon rolling his eyes. I find that honestly hard to believe.
And I find it hard to believe that there is an ancient dragon who was defeated by three armies of the divine now living inside a mere human teen, replied Angel. Yet I am accepting it.
'Ok, let's focus you two,' said Izuku as he could feel Albion getting ready to argue. While he did find it rather far-fetched that aliens existed and were living on earth, Angel had a point that the souls of two ancient dragons were inside people, becoming Sacred Gears to give people power. 'Just, please, tell us what is going on, Angel.'
Oh, I can do that, replied Angel. Here's what you need to know. My race, we have great power but lack the ability to draw it out completely on our own. Hence, we need a host. Someone who can guide our abilities to their fullest. I came to this world in the middle of nowhere, searching for the one to be my host. Only, small problem, your race is completely nuts. It's genetics are a mess! It's like some mad scientist just started throwing genes in a blender to see what would happen! On top of that, I can't bond with anyone who has a quirk. Then I found Andrew. A quirkless kid, disowned by his parents.
As Tsutsumi's hands began feeling Izuku's chest, the teen gulped. Not just because of the touch, but because of the implications. But before he could dwell on it for long, Angel continued.
For the record, I was not using Andrew. I wanted to help him before I found out he was quirkless. Nor did I pressure him. We made what is called a permanent bond. Neither of us can survive without the other for more than two hours. Which is why I want my last act to be killing that self, over-glorified bully before my time runs out!
'Wait, you're going to die?!' screamed Izuku internally, stopping in midstep as he did and nearly tumbling into the water. But he righted himself before turning to look through the hole. Looking at the monster Will had become. 'Isn't there something-'
There is, replied Angel, cutting off Izuku while letting out a sad sigh. I need to form a new, permanent bond. But I'm not going to do that. My…only real friend on this planet is gone.Just then, a new image appeared in Izuku's head. He saw a young boy, Andrew, standing in a park with the sun setting. From the side of his neck, there was a long, white tentacle-like appendage with a red V-shape visor near the tip, looking back. Two stands came out from the tentacle's sides, and Izuku watched as the pair clumsily shook. But, while it was awkward, there was a look of fire in their eyes.
"We should get going," said Izuku aloud, understanding that nothing he said would convince Angel to change her mind. At least, not in this moment. There was just so much going on, and he needed to focus on the biggest crisis. Maybe after they were finished, he could talk to Angel and see if there was any way he could convince her to keep living.
On his back, Tsutsumi, who was oblivious to the conversation that was going through Izuku's head, nodded.
Good, replied Angel. Now, I've already started on healing you. You have a few internal injuries, but nothing I can't patch up while making a few teeny, tiny adjustments. Nothing too major since I'm only temporarily bonding with you. But it should be enough. As for everything else, you're going to have to learn on the fly.
"Ready," said Tsutsumi.
Hearing that, Izuku took off. He flew out of the room in a streak of blue light, his insides feeling like something was coating them. It was an odd feeling. He pushed that to the side to instead focus on the sight before him, flying around the giant golem.
And what he saw shocked him! All Might was in Will's grasp, being crushed while Will laughed. He was laughing while trying to kill the Symbol of Peace!
"Midoriya, I've got my target in sight," said Lady Nagant as she extended her arm. "Just fly in the direction you want me to shoot and stay on target." With that, Tsutsumi's arm opened up, revealing her organic rifle. As the barrel went past the teen's head, Izuku could feel tendrils coming from the rifle onto his shoulder to keep it in place. It was almost enough to make him squeal in joy.
No, none of that, growled Albion.
Stay focused! And aim for Will's neck! Hearing that from Angel caused Izuku to shudder, which made him glad he didn't have more voices in his head. He could only imagine what it would be like to have various dead people speaking to him during a fight. Two was already more than he could handle.
As he felt Tsutsumi shifting above him, curling some of her hair and shaping it into a bullet, he picked his target: the golem's wrist. Angel let out a growl at that, which Izuku did his best to ignore. He was worried that, if they did do something to Will directly, then he would crush All Might or something worse. Getting the pro hero free now so he could help them just made more sense.
Tsutsumi didn't voice any complaint as she loaded her first shot and fired! The first shot caused Izuku to jerk in the air, surprised by the recoil force, but he could quickly adjust for the future. As for the shot itself, it struck true as the bullet collided with the centre of the golem's wrist. Midoriya watched as massive spider cracks appeared on the rocky surface before large chunks fell from it. Seeing this, Izuku didn't pull away. Instead,he changed his position in the air so that he was now flying feet first towards the target. Picking up speed, he soon collided with the wrist with enough impact to plough right through the first and into the second. That seemed to be enough, though, as All Might was released from his bonds before falling to the ground.
"He'll be up soon," said Izuku while being unable to hold back a smile.
Unless what Dr. Shield said was true, commented Albion as his words dropped cold water onto Izuku's joy. Just stay focused right now. Don't let your guard down.
"How DARE you?" bellowed Rockback, swinging an arm with a quickly reforming hand towards Izuku. However, Izuku was able to turn around and fly away from the attack with the greatest of ease. "Do you know who you are dealing with? I'm the world's greatest hero!"
He keeps using that word. I don't think it means what he thinks it means. For a moment, Izuku could feel Albion's surprise.
You like The Princess Bride? asked Albion.
Yeah. Me and Adrew read the book and watched the movie,replied Angel. We had a list of things we wanted to quote when fighting villains. That line was one of them.
…It's a good line from a good movie, Albion said in agreement. Izuku, however…
'That's from a movie?' he asked, causing both the alien and ancient dragon within him to freeze. 'Can't be a very good movie if I've never heard of it before.' The moment he thought that, both Albion and Angel lost it. The two began screaming at him, telling him he knew nothing. Angel began looking through his mind, scoffing at the number of All Might movies he had seen, while Albion said it was well past time they corrected this failure. Who knew they were big into movies?
As the two continued, Izuku pressed on in the real world as he turned around to fly straight towards the giant golem. However, while he had missed Rockback's swipe, the air pressure that was created was strong enough that it sent Izuku spiralling back. Rolling through the air, Midoriya felt Tsutsumi's legs tightening their hold around his waist as he fought to right himself. Which he did soon enough, flying towards the giant of stone with Lady Nagant firing another shot. And then another and another. Each of her specially made bullets found their mark,s causing visible damage as well as proof that she had not lost her touch in the time she had been in prison. When the Rockback raised one of his hands to grab them, it suddenly lost two fingers from her attack. More bullets struck its sides, parts of its arms, and even the chest. Each attack caused large cracks to form as well as chunks to fall to the ground. But it wasn't enough. Those areas that lost parts were soon filled with replacements from the ocean, and the cracks seemed to do little to slow him down.
"This isn't working," said Tsutsumi after firing another round from a distance.
"Should we try the legs?" asked Izuku, a plan forming in his head while remembering a lesson he had sat in on with Mr. Kendo. If they destroy the support holding the whole thing up, then maybe the rest of the body would shatter when impacting the ground.
"Normally, that would be a good idea for this situation," said Tsutsumi as she fired another shot. "However, I am unsure if any of my shots will be able to do enough damage to break them before he repairs them."
Izuku nodded at that. While he didn't know the specifics of Will's quirk, quirks weren't magical. Meaning, while he was creating this golem body, there had to be a part of his mind that had to account for the amount of weight and stress that the body would accumulate before proceeding accordingly. Meaning those legs would be the toughest part of its body. While Tsutsumi's shots were powerful, they were nowhere near as strong as they could be.
Before Izuku could ask what she thought their next best target would be, chaos erupted on the streets. Glancing down, both teens were shocked to see that the villains that had been sent into the streets were fighting with the newly freed heroes. The fight looked like it had just started, with the villains using the vehicles they had stolen from I-Island security as a makeshift barrier. Which was not doing much as Endeavor raced towards them, avoiding the bullets before sending a burst of his Hellfire with enough force that it sent the SWAT vehicle skidding back. At the same time, Kamen America was in the air firing off star-shaped lightning attacks while Kamen Comet launched multiple fireballs. The other heroes were helping as well, moving to flank the villains.
And it wasn't just Izuku who noticed all this.
"HAHA! This day just gets better and better!" came Rockback's voice as he turned to look at the fighting below. Though somehow, Izuku knew he was looking at the villains. "I never forget it when someone screws me over. Now I can stomp you shits out and show the world how a real hero deals with trash!"
The villains stopped firing on the heroes when they heard this, turning around in time to see a massive foot over their heads! Seeing this, the villains screamed with many of them turning their guns towards the oncoming foot as if thinking that if they shower it enough bullets then it would vanish. Others tried to run. Howeve,r neither option would save their lives. The foot was too massive to be taken down with their firepower or to flee from. As for the heroes, they were trying to flee as well, with most already out. But not all.
Then…
"UNBREAKABLE 100%" came the voice of Kirishima! Izuku looked to see the redheaded teen leaping off of Melissa's suit in its travel form, his skin hardening to the point where he looked more like a jagged rock monster. At the same time, those red veins of energy flowed through his entire body as landed on the ground and caught the legs with his bare hands. Kirishima grunted, the ground shattering around his as he seemed to use all his might to keep the foot from splattering all of the people below.
At the same time, Melissa acted. "Armor Mode!" she yelled, her suit forming around her body once again with the second jet becoming her cannon. A cannon that she pointed right in the middle of the leg. She said nothing else, just firing a large beam of red energy that flew through the air in an instant before connecting and going through the leg! The whole she made in the leg was impressive, large enough for All Might himself to walk through it without needing to lower his head. But not big enough to break the leg! Seeing this, Izuku turned towards it with Tsutsumi firing several more shots.
"This isn't going to work!" yelled Tsutsumi, and Izuku had to agree. Kirishima was still holding the leg back, but for how much longer? And when he could no longer do so, what would happen to him?
I might be able to help now that your internal injuries are fixed…for the most part, came Angel's musical voice. This will be unstable, and I'll only be able to keep it up for a few minutes. But it should give you the power you need. Just, ah, start thinking of an excuse.
"Ah, what?" began Izuku aloud, but stopped when Angel went to work. The symbiote's body began pouring out through Izuku's pores rapidly as he felt a strange tingle in the back of his mind.
"Midoriya, what the," began Tsutsumi as she noticed the alien's body covering the teen. At first, Izuku thought he would end up looking like Bleak. However, that wasn't what happened. His body grew, became larger and more buff with well-defined muscles that would put a quirkless bodybuilder's to shame. His hands now looked like they were covered by large, white gauntlets with the fingers tipped with claws. His feet looked more draconic, each with three clawed toes and an additional claw behind his heel. From his ass grew a long, whip-like tail. As for his face, that was the only part of him that looked like Bleak. He had the same face plate covering his mouth as well as a red visor with compound eyes. But he also had two large horns sticking out of his head.
Without thinking, Izuku extended his arms, watching them become longer and more blade-like. He then flew through the whole that Melissa had made, cutting through the rock that surrounded him with ease. By the time he came out the other side, his hands were back to their original shape, and the golem was hopping away from its severed leg! Meanwhile, Kirishima seemed to have realised what had happened as he tossed the foot away. However, after that, the 1-A student just stood there as his body returned to normal, arms hanging limply at his sides as he panted.
"Midoriya, what the hell?!" demanded Tsutsumi. "Were you holding out on me? Did you think this was some sort of game?"
"What? No!" shouted Izuku, his voice now distorted like Bleak's had been. "This has never happened before, I swear! I…I think this has something to do with what was in the lab."
Really? That's your best excuse? Angel then let out a huff of annoyance, which didn't help Izuku much as he was trying to get used to seeing the world via compound eyes.
'It's the best I could come up with on such sort notice!' he mentally yelled. 'Why di I look like this? Not that I'm complaining, but I thought that I would-'
This is the form your heroic ideal took, interrupted Angel, though her musical voice sounded strained like she was pushing herself. But Izuku didn't have time to ponder on that as he noticed Rockbak's arms grabbing various buildings to help steady himself. On hand was grabbing the Tower with another was placed on the roof of a nearby building. Everyone has this image of what they idealize for power, intimidation, inspiration, and so forth. Since there are two of you, I sort of merged them together to form this suit. Now, enough questions. Find Will's real body beat him within an inch of his life before I crush his head like a watermelon!
Izuku ignored that last part as he flew upwards as fast as he could while the symbiote wrapped tendrils around Tsutsumi's body to help keep in in place at this greater speed. A good thing too as Rckback used one of his free hands to throw a punch at the teen. When he saw it, Izuku seemed to fly right towards in at fist only to dodge over to the side while forming curved blades on his wrists which cut into the rock as he flew upwards as if to give it a scar.
A few seconds later, Izuku was near the golem's head where Rockback was sticking out of. In that moment, he saw a number of emotions running through Will's face. Anger that Izuku was still fighting. Shock that he was so close. Fear at what he could do to the villainous teen. And then back to anger that had him foaming at the mouth.
"That white shit," he spat. "What the hell is that? I killed that loser. I killed him!"
Izuku was about to fly towards Will, ready to finish this before anyone else got hurt. Tsustumi had been right; what they had been doing wasn't working. Chipping off pieces of this thing's body had proven to just slow Rockback down. Now, doing this could be draining Will of his stamina or whatever he used to make his quirk work, but it was likely that the device he was wearing was mitigating the downside to a point where only a large amount of damage would drain him. Something they sadly lacked at the time. They also didn't know how much longer they would have to fight him before he ran out of steam as well as how much destruction he would cause in the meantime. So, that left Izuku with one option: attack his original body.
So Izuku flew towards him. Like this, Will was helpless. His limbs were embedded in the rock, no doubt something he had to do in order to control it. If he got close enough, Izuku could punch and kick this villain until he lost consciousness.
Then, a massive crack was heard, followed by the shattering of thousands of windows. Pausing in midflight, Izuku turned to see that part of the Tower had been ripped off and was now being flung at them. It was coming at both himself and Tsutsumi so quickly and so massive that it might as well have been a meteor. Izuku tried to focus on his new compound sight, looking for the best way out of this mess before settling on flying back down. And he flew fast, faster than he had ever been willing to go before, just to avoid this attack because he knew that, if it connected, it would lead to their doom.
Thankfully, by the skin of his symbiote suit, he made it. The Tower, however, continued to move and was flung into the surrounding buildings, where it continued to roll and crush everything in its path. Izuku could see that many of the attractions, many of the wonders that were still on display, had been destroyed. Fires had started while people began screaming for help.
Hands suddenly appeared from both sides of Izuku. Giant, golem hands that were about to swat him as if he were a fly. So he went upwards, shooting like a blue streak…only to then fall within the grasp of a third hand. Swearing to himself, Izuku tried to form weapons to slash their way out, but suddenly, they had become wobbly.
I…thought…I…had…more…time, came Angel's voice, strained even more with her sounding like she was panting heavily between each word. These words shocked Izuku, panic and worry flooding him. Not so much with Tsutsumi, who, unlike Izuku, was not aware of Angel's limited time. Seeing Izuku freeze and the bounds keeping her close to him loosening, she made a quick decision: she ran. Pushing herself off his back, Tsutsumi flew down while firing her rifle without loading it. Because of the power air pressure, she was able to adjust her trajectory enough so that she went crashing towards one of the windows of the Tower that still remained.
And, as Tsutsumi broke through the glass, the hand of the golem wrapped itself around Izuku.
"Divide," grunted Izuku as he felt himself being lifted upwards. The teen braced himself for the pain, knowing there had to be a lot of energy within this creature to be able to move it like it was. Only there wasn't? Izuku's mind whirled through the pain, trying his best to make sense of this. The power he had stolen was so…average. But there was also something else with it he couldn't place. Was it because he had Angel right now?
No, came Albion's voice while Angel continued to pant in his head. I suspect it's that device on the fool's head. It's not giving him more power, but refines and strengthens it!
This was proven as, by this time, the hand had brought Izuku up to eye level with Rockback. The American teen was now panting, with new veins running from his temples all the way down to his neck. Sweat dripped from his nose and chin before dropping two hundred stories down to the ground. As for the eyes, they looked even more unhinged.
"You…You think a pathetic piece of shit like you can stop me from becoming a hero?!" he bellowed as explosions erupted from below. Izuku squirmed in his bonds, getting a brief glance to see that all the heroes were now focused on the golem. Endeavor was using his flames to both fly and melt the side of the monster, his overheating already becoming apparent from the act. In the air were the Kamen Corps. Kamen America flew around the massive body, condensing the electricity she created into lightning bolt-shaped blades that she threw into the golem's body. Each one pieced its hide before causing an explosion. Kamen Comet created six fireballs that circled around her as she flew alongside her teammate before firing them one after another at Rockback's creation. Kamen Ramen meanwhile, was taking control of the water from the fountain, compressing it to create a high-pressure blast. At the same time, Kamen Victory was sporting blades that came out of her, which she used to slash at the side of the golem.
It wasn't just them, but well over a dozen heroes were all fighting tooth and nail to chip away at the golem.
"How dare all of you? You dare strike the world's greatest hero?! That makes you all villains!" raged Rockback, looking like he was going further insane.
"You," began Izuku as he looked right at Will's face, a small smirk appearing on his face. "You keep using that word: hero. I don't think it means what you think it means." As he said that, Izuku could feel Angel's gratitude as she seemed to be clinging to life…and failing. Each moment that passed, her strength lessened and the black veins on his costume began to turn grey.
And the look on Will's face at that moment was priceless to her.
"You think you're funny? Think you're clever? I'll shut you up for good, you stupid-"
"IZUKU!" came a sudden cry, interrupting the mad teen. And when Izuku saw who it was, his eyes widened.
-x-
Hisashi Midoriya was out of his depths as fires and explosions reigned supreme, and everyone fought for their lives.
Just a few minutes ago, he had left Fuyumi and Natsuo in an emergency shelter, which led underground and whose entrance was, thankfully, on the other side of the Tower. From there, he and the heroes had moved to deal with the giant creature of stone, only to then be met with a number of villains. Thinking that they were all on the same side, the heroes moved to deal with the small fry first. Bullets flew through the air, striking a number of heroes, but none were fatally wounded. Most received shots to their arms, legs, or sides.
Upon seeing this, Hisashi's sidekick training kicked in. Without being told, he helped move the wounded herself out of the way with the help of a hero who called herself Kamen Victory. The woman used her blades to help remove the bullets, which Hisashi cauterised the wounds with his quirk. It wasn't the prettiest job, but it was something he could do to help the heroes in the fight.
But that's when he saw it. His son, flying through the air to fight that giant. Doing things that Hisashi knew he could never do. His heart beamed with pride upon seeing this, along with a pain of regret. Pride at knowing his son was fulfilling his dream and regret in the fact that they had no real relationship.
Then, things got worse. As it turns out, the rock monster and the villains were not on the same team as the largest villain tried to step on the others. Heart pounding, Hisashi watched, fearing the nightmares that would come at seeing so many people being turned into strains underneath the monster's foot. This, thankfully, was prevented by another teen who showed up at the last minute, becoming a mini rock monster himself before the leg was removed. After that, the severed foot was tossed away, with the teen who had saved the villains looking like he was on his last leg.
From there, it was chaos, especially after the main villain had flung a piece of the Tower at them. Several of the weaker heroes who didn't have quirks suited to fighting this monster were looking for any survivors caused by the destruction caused by the Tower rolling on the nearby building. Meanwhile, the other heroes and remaining villains were united in stopping the rock monster. Heroes used their quirks while the villains fired their guns. And Hisashi? What could he do at this point? His fire breath was no good against this villain and was not helpful in searching for survivors. The only thing he could do was provide support for the heroes who found survivors, doing his best to tend to their injuries so that the people with real skills could find more.
So, as he waited, the man looked up only to find something that caused his heart to stop. He couldn't see the blue light streaking through the air that signalled his son's flight like he had before. The man looked around, feeling new sweat forming on his face while his heart thumped even faster than ever. He couldn't see his son, and that monster had one of its hands in a fist, raising it upwards. Did that mean that…
Hisashi didn't hesitate, instead moving with every bit of energy he had in him. He had made himself miserable for over ten years in order to protect his son from his curse. Ten years of barely eating, living in a rat-infested apartment while working at a job he despised. All to keep Izuku and Inko safe. And while he knew that in hero work there was a chance that his son might get seriously hurt or worse. It was what he had known since he heard Izuku got accepted into the hero course of U.A. But right now, when he was so close to his son? He didn't care if he got in trouble. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure his son came out of this alive!
The man didn't head towards the other heroes. No, they were too busy, and there was no chance in hell any of them would help him. So, he went with the most reckless option he had.
"Kid, do you think you can throw me up there?" asked/demanded Hisashi as he called out the he teen who could turn his skin into stone. Said kid looked at him for a moment, his arms still hanging from his sides with various purple spots appearing on his arms.
"What?" began the kid, but stopped when Hisahsi took hold of his shoulders.
"Please, I need you to throw me up there," said Hisashi quickly. "My son. I need to get to him. I think that monster has him!" There was no time to explain, no time to think. Hisashi just stared in the teen's eyes with all the determination he had, ready to continue yelling at him until he complied.
"So manly," whispered the redhead before his body took on the appearance of stone. "Alright, one last time." With a smirk, he took hold of Hisashi and, as red veins appeared all over his body, he flung Hisashi into the air towards the head.