Chapter 13: True Colors Part 3
The bird-faced brute looked up to this big furnace that sat on him with confused eyes. You could say that it was still trying to wrap his head around what happened to the plant and where this new opponent came from.
Kurogiri, from his position in the clutches of Ashido, was in a similar position.
Shigaraki, on the other hand, was more level headed… if anything.
"Oh, it seems like our friend here has a few aces up his sleeve." he eyed down the new transformation. "Multi-classing is quite rare though…"
The figure, however, refused to reply… refused to even look at him. His eyes, or whatever else he had now, were on his target.
"I let this go on for long enough..." Ben said, clearly trying to be more measured with his tone now that he was in this form.
But, with the fingers on his one hand continuing to constrict the creature's face and even slightly crawling over to its eye, his friends could see the rage consuming him from the inside.
His hands quickly started to turn red and steam rose up from Ben's body.
"Let's end this already…" he said with a heavy hearted tone. "With no one else getting hur-"
Not letting him finish his sentence, Nomu roared, grabbed Ben's arm and lifted the big metal hand off from his face.
"RAAAAAAA!" He then lifted his upper body back up and with his other hand making a fist, punched Tennyson's new form off himself!
Ben thankfully landed on his feet but struggled to find his balance at first. "Whoa..."
And then, he saw the Nomu quickly approach for another one. The monster raised his arm high and brought it down with full force!
"Not this time!" Ben instinctively blocked the hit and then went for a punch of his own.
To zero effect...
"Grrr..." He heated up his fists and then took a swing at the monster's jaw with his right!
And then with his left!
Right!
Left!
Right!
He gave his all to every punch, but Nomu didn't even flinch.
"Wait a minute..." He thought. "Didn't he-"
However, Nomu wasn't about to give him that minute. As soon as Ben took a small pause, he countered the next strike, knocked the armored Tennyson to the ground and started to beat the life out of him.
Punches, palm strikes, even smashes with both hands. He was absolutely just wailing on Ben like a rabid animal!
He even tried to stick his hands into the slits and bend them open!
"Tennyson!" Ashido cried out.
Shigaraki scoffed. "Hmph, like I thought, all bark and no bite-"
Suddenly, without warning, an energy beam hit Nomu right in the face, making the beast and his master stop in his tracks.
Ben, like he had gritted his teeth for this, said: "Get. off. Me!"
Following the initial blast, a whole stream of orange energy suddenly shot out of the three slits on Ben's face and washed over Nomu's upper body!
"ARGH! aAaAAaHH!"
"Nomu?.." Shigaraki muttered in his usual cold tone as his minion screeched…
The black skin of the Nomu started to get scorched and pieces of it broke off like a meteor entering the atmosphere.
"Final warning!" The intensity of the blast doubled in size.
Nomu tried punching him even harder to get Ben to stop, however the hero in question wasn't even budging and the blast, consequently, didn't decrease even one bit.
He wasn't reeling back with pain, not letting out any screams, not crying for help...
All he did… was lying there, completely still and firing his blast that made Nomu's skin and muscles deteriorate.
The monster, in response, tried to open a hand and lower it down at Ben's head.
However, it wasn't to attempt to crush or hit his head.
It was to cover the slits.
And with one last push...
"hAAAAAAAAA hAAAAAAA!" Nomu squealed as he got what he wanted and his super-regeneration kicked in to repair the damage.
What he did not realize though, was how slow it had become.
But it didn't care.
Now that he had a hand on top of those accursed blasts, the monster couldn't help but have a field day with continuing to wail on the head-piece of the armor-
"That… was a mistake."
Nomu looked down as soon as the muffled voice reached him but immediately, he found the blast going through his now melted hand, with double the intensity!
The monster had no choice but to step off from the furnace... and get some distance.
Ben ceased the blast and panted. "Ha ha..."
He rolled over, put his hands to the ground and stood up.
"Now that..." he mutters, putting his hand over his chest. "Might have been a bit much..."
His heart was absolutely racing from that sudden output, his breathing had gotten faster and steam had unintentionally started to rise from his suit.
"Okay, that was effective..." he thought to himself. Unlike everything else they had tried, his radiation beam had actually opened up some wounds on Nomu's skin, despite them getting recovered.
"I need to get him close…" he panted. "...and use it as much as I can. Overpower his regeneration..."
He tried to relax his nerves… but unfortunately, the effects on his body weren't just the result of being nervous.
His gaze slowly wandered off. Both towards the mountain zone and to the entrance.
Especially at the entrance…
He shook his head. "Not now Tennyson, you just made your first big move. Keep it together..."
"Tennyson!" Ashido yells. "Are you okay?!"
Ben turned to retort. "Yep! I'm fine!"
She was clearly taken aback. "You… You sure!?"
This slightly irked Ben on the inside. He was supposed to save them and be their hero...
And a hero doesn't make people worry...
"Please." NRG cracked a fake smile under the armor and gave a bit of a fake cheer to his voice.
Just like All Might.
"Nothing will crack this egg, Ashido. Now..."
As his opponent slowly recovered, he made both his hands into fists, slowly took something akin to a boxing stance and charged up another blast.
"I'll admit, you have quite the first punch..."
He then hits his hands together and heat radiates around them.
"But can you back it up?! Huh?!"
"HaAaAaAAA!" Nomu roared.
"Bring it!"
Then, in the blink of an eye, Nomu vanished and, with a gong sound, landed the first blow!
However, Ben had dug his feet into the ground.
The two clashed fiercely, throwing punches at their max speeds and not even taking a second to reel back!
"ARRRRRRRRR!" Nomu continued to wail on him, so much so that some of his hits weren't even fists anymore!
However, with one of his attacks, Ben caught on and blocked it.
He had found his chance.
Spending no time, he turned his two armed block into a grab and fired away at him from the slits.
"Too predictable!"
However, the monster then reached out and pushed NRG's head, effectively dodging the blast and getting away.
"Argh! He's playing it safe."
He took a step back and took a better stance. "Super speed as well... What happened you guys? Shock absorption, regeneration and strength wasn't enough?"
Granted, power wouldn't mean anything if you couldn't deliver it to your opponent, but this really wasn't the time to give the villain's credit.
He heated up his fists and upheld his guard...
"Strategy is the same though, Tennyson. Wait for him to come in close, trap him and then rain hellfire. Also, waste as little as possible, easy enough-"
He said before immediately getting hit in the back of the neck and losing his balance!
As he fell face first he fired a blast pushing him back up.
"Petty, so that's his..."
He reeled his fist back but immediately got met with another punch, in the face this time!
"THAT is his strat this time!"
Two more impacts came at him, this time from his sides and messed up his stance further.
He took a knee and bunkered down for the following hits. "Let's see if we can even out the playing field..."
NRG fired his beams, melting areas of concrete around him in an instant.
"Come on big guy..."
He looked at the sizzling puddles.
"Come on..."
He looked at the dodgy path, created in between of them.
"Take the bait, you stupid-"
The lava puddle split.
"There! NUCLEAR... BURST!"
He looked up to the wild face of his opponent and just let out the largest energy wave, completely enveloping his enemy's body and even devastating the ground they're standing on!
"Now you got what's coming to you..."
He watched the monster's shadow as it grew more and more skinny every second. "...you son of a bitch..."
He looked at the burning concrete and stone that wasn't overwhelmed by his light.
"The injuries you gave to my friends and teachers…"
"The trauma that you left the rest of them with…"
It reminded him about his own encounters with Vilgax.
"Don't expect to come out alive."
The blast widened in scope and Nomu tried to power through it like before.
He managed to lay a finger on Ben's armor, but that was it…
Whatever bone structure, nervous system, muscle fibers he had, were all turning to soot.
And, with the effects of concentrated radiation, his DNA was getting irreparably damaged, shutting down his super-regeneration.
If NRG stopped now, and if every medical supply under the sun were in the area, maybe there could have been a chance of him surviving this…
Despite him being a monster, there was a chance…
A chance towards mercy.
And the giant block of armor didn't take it...
The beam got even brighter and it pierced through the nomu, melting everything in its way.
As the blast died down, all that was left from the monster was a puddle of lava.
"Such power..."Ashido looked down at the remains. There were still a few cells forming muscles on the remaining body, so the pink's student's breathing was steady.
After all, Tennyson hadn't killed him.
He couldn't have.
"He took the super-regeneration in mind… right?"
In that moment, almost sequentially, the cells stopped.
The remaining muscles relaxed and the body stopped twitching.
Ashido was mortified. "Tennyson, what did you do..."
"Now..." NRG creaked and turned his head.
"Was that it?"
The master of decay was unable to digest what was playing out right before his eyes."What's going on..."
"He defeated a lot of our underlings and now my master's perfect creation, Nomu…
"This…" he raised his hands. "...wasn't how it's supposed to go."
He lifted his hands.
"HE… the number 1, was supposed to show up."
"WE… were supposed to fight!"
"THIS… IS... ALL WRONG!"
The young villain touched the sides of his face. And the inside of his nails slowly filled with dead skin…
"Nomu! would fight him!.."
"Kurogiri! would split him in two!.."
"And I! Would disintegrate his head!"
...blood shot out towards his palms.
He squeezed his hands.
"I WOULD be the predator of this hero society!"
He screamed that last part out, almost like it was for the whole world to hear.
"If only he didn't interfere..."
His flaming gaze turned to the hero in bright, shining armor, watching as his little pet with a tail approached him.
"Tennyson… You didn't-" started Ojiro.
"Tennyson…" So that was the name.
"I did..."the bastard in the armor interrupted his ally. "I did… what I thought was right..."
He put his hand on his head and looked down on the ground, conflicted in his own thoughts.
"But, that's..."Ojiro, interjected, despite struggling to find the right words. "It wasn't right… We should have left it to the police and the pro-heroes."
He regained a bit of composure. "You needed to have taken him down, not out."
NRG's head suddenly jolted up. "Really? And then what, waste my energy AGAIN on a second round?"
The martial artist was caught off guard.
"Like it's not enough that I'm not getting anymore in here... You would have me spend more of it on pointless exercise?!"
He looked at the dumbfounded expression of his classmate.
"Sorry..."NRG backed down. "I'm sorry..."
"Are you okay?"
"No." the armored alien said. "I really need… to feast."
"What does that mean?"
Without warning, his transformed friend shot down at the ground and dug a hole. In the bottom, laid six black cables.
"Perfect… A quick snack before I finish this."
Ojiro had seen enough. Tennyson clearly wasn't thinking straight. It was probably because of the form he was in, but regardless, he-
A figure suddenly blitzed onto the scene.
"You better… STOP IGNORING ME!"
He shoved Ojiro aside, jumped right onto NRG and cried out: "THIS IS REVENGE FOR NOMU!"
All five fingers then, without hesitation, lowered down to the hero's head.
"Wait don't!-"
The armor lit up with white energy and almost smacked his hand off, but he held on.
"I will make you hurt for what you did!"
The shade of green that the armor had started to desaturate and cracks appeared as the villain pressed his hand.
The once indestructible armor was crumbling…
"Stop, you need to get off!" NRG spoke up and tried to reach him but the armor just wasn't built for that!
"He he HA HA HA!" Shigaraki laughed with anticipation.
He was doing it. The pest that got in his way, the pest that took away everything from him, he was paying in kind.
HE was making HIM suffer.
And, the feeling of something like metal, becoming more and more like sand in his presence, just made everything so much sweeter.
Soon, a small piece of the infamous armor fell out of its place, turning to dust. And with that, most of the armor followed… starting from that accursed helmet.
"I have to give you credit, hero." Shigaraki said. "That little show you put on with my henchmen, the final act against my Nomu, made you look so invincible."
"It had actually made me doubt myself, even if it was just for a second."
The cracks continued on down and reached the shoulders as an orange light illuminated the fog coming from the inside.
"But, now I know. If you need to get something done, you have to do it yourself."
"Thank you for the final proof."
The parts attaching the arms to the rest of the armor gave out and with a clang sound, the transforming hero that promised to save everyone, was effectively disarmed.
Shigaraki looked at his hands.
The itch that irritated him all this time, that had got on his nerves and made him angry… had decreased ever so slightly.
And it gave him indescribable joy.
He was ready to bask in his own personal glory. But then...
"At... last."
The master villain's instincts kicked in with that response and immediately he chose to leap off from that armor.
A red-orange comet then soared into the air from within it and… started to speak.
"At last!" it cried out. "No longer bound by the shackles of that armor!"
"What's going on?!"Shigaraki demanded an answer but the new challenger was far from taking him seriously.
He was instead fixated on an old target of his. The cables.
"Finally, after all that fighting, I can get rid of this… This hunger, this craving."
A tingle goes up his body as his mouth waters.
"This emptiness will finally be satisfied."
He acts to fly towards his target, but a rock phases through his body.
NRG looks down and sees Shigaraki.
"Where do you think you're looking?" The villain tried to sound intimidating. He couldn't use his decay unless the hero came down to face him. "We aren't done here."
The flying comet, on the other hand, couldn't disagree more.
"We aren't done?" He muttered and descended down.
He still kept his distance in case of the radiation, but other than that, the two figures were standing face to face.
"I don't think you understand- This is your last chance." his fists glowed. "Give. Up."
Shigaraki was still disobedient. "You think I'll play along with?-"
A swift, stray blast fired and drilled into the ground. The blast hadn't scratched him or anything, but it was close.
"Try that again." NRG said with a chilling tone and steam coming out of his finger.
He felt like keeping that up more, to show the villain that he really was outmatched and to get this over quickly.
But the piercing feeling of others' gaze, truly made him regret that.
Regret taking that shortcut.
"Okay..." He made his hand into a fist and lowered it. "Let's try that again."
"The battle is over." NRG made it clear. "Your henchmen are down. "
"Your monster is… defeated."
"Your plan to turn us against one another failed."
"And your escape portal is closed for service!" a higher pitched voice yelled.
NRG turned and saw Ashido.
"Sorry!" she mumbled back. "I'm just really stressed right now."
"Point is..." he turns but, without warning, both of his eyes twitch and his fists glow again. "There is no place you can hide."
"You are finished. Surrender."
"NEVER!"
He held out his hand. "Kurogiri!"
"Yes master!" The purple/black fog's ears perked up.
"What do you say?" Shigaraki then put his hand on his earpiece. "You think your substitute got finished with his task?"
"Substitute?"
"I-I'm not really sure!" Kurogiri yells out before Ashido can shut him up.
"Well..." Shigaraki shrugged. "Let's find out."
NRG shook his head and readied up a blast. Whatever this man was planning, he wasn't waiting to find out.
But a twinge, like nails were piercing all over his body, stopped him in his tracks.
It was confusing at first. After all, he didn't see anything in the air and NRG's energy body was already supposed to be intangible against most attacks.
"What's wrong?"
Ben first looked back up to Shigaraki and after seeing his smile, looked at the ground he was standing on.
Without knowing, he had instinctively moved further away.
"Looks to me like we found you a suitable boss fight..."
From the entrance behind Shigaraki, sporadic and pointy pillars of ice rose up and covered the entire entrance in one fell swoop.
The hero, then sensing the change in the air, anticipated a second wave and blasted right through, before it ever reached him.
"Maybe not entirely..." Shigaraki shrugged.
Tennyson observed the pieces in front of him. This color, this glow it gave off under this light, the sudden breeze it gave off…
He knew what they were.
"Hasn't this fight scene gone on long enough…"
He put his hand on one of the pillars to make sure and pulled it back right away. The same pain had struck. Almost like this… this frost... was literally biting into his being.
"And this one actively saps my energy! Fantastic! Couldn't he shoot fire instead!"
NRG then changed his gaze to the entrance, where the attack came from.
And on the top of a descending pillar, found the person responsible for it.
Walking towards him with the scar and ice on the right, the xenocite on the left and the chilling breeze following his every step, Todoroki finally took center stage... as an ally to the villains.
"Well, I'm sure he wanted this fight one way or another..." Ben tried to justify it. "Bring it."
"Don't let me down." Shigaraki patted his 'friend' on the back and walked away towards Ashido once again. "Give me back my warp gate."
"I won't let you!"
Ojiro tried to take a defensive stance and get in between the two of them. But immediately found out that his legs were frozen in place.
"No!" He tried to punch the ice and free himself.
Ashido then attempted to act and throw a ball of acid in Ojiro's way, but with Todoroki tapping his foot one time to the ground, she also found herself to be immobilized.
NRG raised his hand to fire a beam, a beam that would melt the ice on both of them and solve the issue.
But he hesitated. "I can't let them get hit..."
The more he thought about it, the more that his hand shook, making it even riskier to fire. So Ben refused.
He then caught onto Todoroki's attempt at blindsiding him with another wave of ice, so he chose to redirect his hand to clash with the ice instead, similar to a beam struggle.
In the meantime, Kurogiri teleported to his master's side.
"Took you long enough."
"I'm sorry, young master." Kurogiri narrowed his eyes. "I won't let myself be caught off guard like that, not again."
"You better not."
"What is our next move?" Kurogiri asks.
Shigaraki doesn't miss a beat. "We keep fighting.
He especially stares at NRG. "We finish off whatever's left of their little resistance."
"I..." the warp gate says. "Understood."
Shigaraki noticed the little hesitation and looked over from the side of his eye.
Kurogiri was reluctant to answer. After all, unless it was THE master talking, Shigaraki wasn't usually open to suggestions.
But he had to do what he believed would be right for him.
"I… do not believe that it would be in our best interest to continue the attack."
Shigaraki had fully turned to him, ignoring the kids stuck in ice and ignoring the beam clash. His eyes were on his henchmen.
"Explain."
Kurogiri, as much as he is intimidated by the prospect of denying his master's request, pushes through.
"Right now, we have the hero fighting his classmate, who clearly holds a disadvantage against his friend, both emotionally and physically. Two others are frozen and none of the other teachers have arrived here yet."
He makes eye contact with the young master. "We have a chance to escape now and I believe attempting to fight further, will make us risk losing that chance."
Shigaraki, on the other hand, had already waved it apart. Just even hearing the word 'escape' didn't settle well with him.
"I'm not going anywhere," he says. "I'll make him pay for ruining our plans."
"I'll make him pay for getting in the way."
"He was an unexpected obstacle and he prevented us from getting what we want, I agree." the warp gate says. "But, and my ambition isn't trying to overstep, I believe that's what the master would want as well. Fail and live to try again."
"Live to learn from this experience."
"The master would want us to win!" Shigaraki tries to retort, but his henchman doesn't waver.
He doesn't say anything, he doesn't move, he just looks on with concern, waiting and probably hoping for his master to come around.
Shigaraki was still hesitant. To be honest, he wasn't exactly sure on what to do entirely.
Part of him still wanted to fight, wreak havoc and completely ruin these heroes for all their worth.
But, with Kurogiri's words, he tried to picture what his master would really say if he was here.
And what his mind came up... wasn't far off from what his warp gate said.
It wouldn't be worth it to risk everything here...
"Alright… Let's go home, Kurogiri-"
Suddenly a figure, moving so fast that he only looks like a red streak of light, launches forward right towards the corrupted Todoroki.
Shigaraki manages to catch a glimpse. A glimpse of a green haired kid.
With a fist reeled back and his gaze determined, he shouts: "SMASH!"
Throughout this battle, while all of this conflict was going on, one student had stayed unresponsive.
His ears could still hear the battle, his skin could still feel the change in temperature, his nose could still smell the burnt concrete…
But his eyes showed him a completely different site.
A site with a pitch black sky and a barren wasteland of a ground.
"Where… am I?"
Midoriya raised his head and looked up. Shrouded inside a pitch black dome, standing on a gray and roughed up platform… stood several empty thrones.
Some of them were knocked down sideways, some had the splat broken off, and some were quite alright besides some scratch marks. But they were still together and had circled him.
"What happened here?" he thought to himself and tried to take a closer look. Maybe the thrones could be a clue.
But he found himself unable to take a step…
"I… can't… move!"
His glance made its way down to his body… and saw it engulfed in some kind of green and black shadow!
"AHHHHHH! W-WHAT HAPPENED?!"
He instinctively tried to raise his hands and look at them, maybe his body was only covered but nope, there was none to speak of. It was all smoke and shadows.
"Okay, calm down…" Midoriya tried to reassure himself. "Just keep an open mind, try to analyze, figure out the situation…"
The throne right in front of him, the one that looked the oldest and most roughed up, started to shake.
Midoriya's pupils shrunk and his heart sank. "Why… Why does it… feel so familiar?"
He didn't know why but, something about that throne and what was happening to it, made him so nervous and distressed.
The throne shook from right to left, left to right…
"Stop it…"
The throne continued to swing.
"Stop…"
He tried accessing One for All, disregarding all the risks that came with it.
The smoke on top of where his hand should have been, turned static like a noise detector. But it, just as quickly, faded away.
"Come on… Come on…" He tried to force the power out again, but nothing was happening.
Or rather… nothing was happening to him.
Because something on the splat of the throne was starting to glow red.
"Why… Why am I feeling even weaker?.."
With the top of the throne starting to crumble, it couldn't help but fall on it's side, giving Midoriya just a glimpse of a glowing and growing, magenta-colored squid.
"You."
The little squid, realizing that he has been noticed, hissed to his face and got on the move from his original position, managing to dig and crack through stone each time it stepped forward.
Midoriya didn't lose any time in taking notice and paid more and more attention.
The vein-like paths of energy lighting up his small body…
The hint of red that sparked every other second from his magenta color…
By the time it had completely gotten to the top of the rubble, Midoriya had already gotten the memo.
"Is it… siphoning One for All?"
But there was no way for that to happen, right? I mean, after what All Might told him about–
It clicked inside his head. If this creature had gotten to his DNA…
Midoriya looked at the squid and could only watch as it grew in size, completely exceeding everything that he had seen.
Then, with the new found size, it grabbed its prey by the limbs and fixated the sole red pupil onto him.
As Midoriya felt the chill coming from the cold, slimy appendage, the idea that he was trapped with no way out, sunk even deeper.
"I don't know… if I can get out of this." He looked at the vein-like magenta trails on the creature and, still feeling a bit surreal, murmured.
"It has your power All Might… What can I– AHHHHH!"
The Xenocite, not respecting his prey one bit, started to squeeze down his opponent, already perhaps breaking some of his bones.
"I'm sorry All Might…" He cracked.
"I'm sorry that I failed… to be the hero–"
The sudden sharp pain of it threw him off.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't live up to your power–"
Right as he said that, right as he made some amends…
… something manifested from the smoke that hovered around him.
The shadows continued to obstruct his view, but the light of two bright green eyes continued to shine down upon him.
Slowly hovering in front of him, the smoke says…
"Live up… to his power…"
It sounded hopeful and filled with incentive, despite the tamed and muffled down tone.
Suddenly he felt a rush…
A rush that went all over his body, to every fiber of his being…
The squid's grip… started to weaken.
No, he looked down to himself.
It wasn't the squid, was it? It was his body!..
Not only did it feel healed, but stronger than ever before.
He looked up.
He could take him. He knew he could!
So, Midoriya gritted his teeth and shouted:
"Get. Off!"
He fought back against the Xenocite's grip, and made some headway.
"I won't let you win!" he yelled. "I won't give up against anyone that's trying to hurt me or any others!"
The claustrophobic tomb of the monster started to unravel.
So much so that he found an opportunity to break out!
But he didn't…
Because the squeeze from the monster suddenly… stopped.
Midoriya raised his head and looked the grimy monster in the eye and saw fear.
It wasn't shrieking and wasn't growing…
It was actually taken aback by the resistance.
"Did it understand me?" Midoriya thought, also taking a pause himself.
"Does it… actually have cognitive thought?"
The xenocite narrowed its eye on the struggling and yet winning creature in its grasp.
And after a brief pause, made its move.
It didn't make the tentacle that encompassed Midoriya didn't tighten around… but rather instead, lifted the tip of the appendage to the greenette's ear.
Midoriya spoke with an unfaltering tone: "Whatever you're doing, it won't work.", making small green sparks of electricity come out of his eyes.
"What did they do…"
"Huh?"
"Tennyson watch out!"
"Who…" He let his thoughts slip. This time it was a feminine voice, one that he recognized. "Ashido?.."
"I'm not gonna give in. NOW WITHER–"
"Kacchan?.."
Not only that, but other sounds were coming as well.
The heavily distraught screams coming from his friends, the sound of Kirishima's hardening, the sound of rocks lifting up from explosions, the sounds of punches being thrown, the deep, howling sound of… something he couldn't describe.
The cold and daunting realization dawned on him.
He wasn't the only one struggling with these creatures, was he?
"I remember…" he muttered and looked at the creature in a different way. "Right before I was caught, Asui had pulled me aside…"
"And she was…"
He couldn't say it.
"Right before I was…"
He interrupted himself.
The Xenocite observed the quiet little prey and thought that finally, it had cornered him.
Like the predator it was, he squeezed in from all fronts and went in for the kill.
But…
Unbeknownst to it, electricity has started to crackle around the area…
The instincts of this foreign and alien creature… were wrong.
"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!" In a blinding flash of light and force, Midoriya ripped through the flesh and burst forth from the Xenocite's grasp!
The anger he had bubbling up inside, had now risen to the surface with full force.
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU…"
Xenocite tried and amplified the screams of his friends, but it was no use.
"All Might gave me this power so that I could finally help people." Midoriya said to the struggling creature. "Just like I always dreamed."
He squeezed his fists tightly and pressed his foot to the ground.
"He risked it all because I told him that I would work hard!"
"I promised that I would take this power, make it my own, and help all those that need it!"
Midoriya looked the shaken monster in the face. "And I'm not going to go back on that."
Red trails of energy went up his hands.
"I will make sure to keep everyone safe… I'll make sure…"He recalled the screams that came to his ear.
"...THAT YOU NEVER HURT ANYONE EVER AGAIN!"
Midoriya ran straight in against the giant monster. He dodged right under the unbroken appendages and started to lay out everything he had.
Punches, kicks, even flicks of air in between. Without regard for any kind of risk or consequences, he continued to go ham on his opponent using everything he had learned.
All Might, Tennyson, Kacchan, and every other person with a quirk he ever observed… It was almost like Midoriya had brought all the people into battle alongside him.
The monster tried to fight back but with every hit, Midoriya could straight up rip chunks off from him and unlike someone else, he wasn't exactly a slow and big target. His size, as the battle went on, also started to shrink back down.
Midoriya dodged one more hit by doing a backflip and got some distance.
He riled back his fist. For a brief moment, his shoulders started to feel heavier, almost like there were the hands of others pressing against him, but it went away just as fast as it came…
For the first time since he arrived at this dark void, he was feeling powerful.
The monster on the other hand, considering the barely held size advantage and how little it had left in the tank, went for one final assault.
"YOU'RE FINISHED!"
Midoriya threw the punch and–!
*BOOM!*
In a flash of light, the squid that looked like it was growing redder by the second, exploded off from the greenette's forehead, making him open his eyes.
He felt a headache that could make any living person feel nauseous and his vision was slightly blurry, but that wasn't important. Where was he?
Midoriya exhaustedly rubbed his eyes and when he opened them, just for a second, he saw the world red, like it was on fire.
"What?" Midoriya rubbed them again and wiped something off with his hand.
"Oh, blood…" he sighed in relief and touched his eyes and then face again.
He felt the warm blood trickling down from his forehead, right over his right eye. "I must have hit my head…"
He raises his eyebrows with that last statement and completely touches his face.
Aside from a few cuts and bruises, Midoriya was… himself.
He got up from where he laid.
"Then where is…"
He didn't need to finish that sentence. Because the squid was also lying in the distance, blasted into several different parts, squished beyond recognition and a yellow slime left to ooze out of it.
"Guess… I scared him out of his skin…"
He tried quipping just like Tennyson would but, right now, all it did was make him feel just a tad bit more guilty, despite all the pain the creature made him feel.
"In any case, I should move forward–"
A strong light dazzled his eyes.
"Ah…" he raised his hand to block the light. "What did I miss?"
The greenette tried to look over as long as he possibly could and managed to see the clash of ice and fire… as well as another squid that took up residence on one of the strongest classmates he knew.
Midoriya raised himself up. "I… must help him."
"If I saved myself…"
He interrupted himself since the man in the jet black fog in his vision came to mind.
But the greenette didn't want to focus on that. Who he was, where he came from, how and why was in his mind.
"No…" He brushed all that aside. As the opportunity given to him here and now, pressed harder than any question.
He planted his feet firmly to the ground and took one more leap.
In the blink of an eye and a red streak of light, he found his fist firmly planted on the Xenocite, blowing Todoroki away and firmly knocking him unconscious.
With his ice cold adversary down, Ben, still transformed to NRG, collapsed to the ground but was still conscious.
He tried to lift his body and once that happened, all Ben could see was his arms shaking like a newcomer to the gym that did 100 push-ups.
"Please let it end…" he thought. "Let me stop… wasting my precious… energy…"
He looked up and saw Midoriya's also panting body.
"Hey…" Midoriya attempted to raise his arm to wave, but flinched once the pain of the broken arm surged through him.
"Hey…" Ben replied.
"So, was this the form you were talking about Tennyson?"
"More or less…" Ben looked over and saw that with the impact from Midoriya, the ice around Ojiro and Ashido had also crumbled.
Noticing this as well, the tailed martial artist broke out with a hail mary move, using the last of his energy.
He then tended to Ashido who had made some additional headway by using her acid.
"Cold cold cold cold!" Ashido said, still shivering in place and rubbing her hands to her arms. "Thank you!"
Ojiro couldn't help but smile. "Don't mention it."
"Where do you think you're going?!"
With that shout from NRG, Ojiro and Ashido turned, facing the villain with a purple portal behind him.
Shigaraki turns and looks, initially not intending to bother with a response and just heading on his own way.
The heroes, in the meantime, had no option… but to let him.
Ashido and Ojiro weren't equipped for it.
NRG barely had the energy to lift himself off the ground while Midoriya had the energy but not the body, as his right leg and right arm had broken with the leap.
"Can you move?"
Ben isn't sure. "If he makes a move on us, then sure I can whip up something. But…"
His glance makes way to the exposed power cables.
"...Need the power… I need it… the energy."
Shigaraki, in the meantime, had his eyes on the shriveled up energy body as well as the greenette who managed to resist his orders minutes earlier.
Both could have been fascinating in their own ways. If only he could keep his spite from bleed into his thoughts.
"Note that you two..." he spoke with one foot in the portal, and then pointed to the two heroes with green. "...just made it to my list, next to All Might."
"If you are found standing in my way again…"
"I will show no mercy."
The portal closed behind him, leaving only the battered bodies of the extras from before, one beaten up lady with alien tech and a whole bunch of classmates with face-hugging squids.
NRG caught Ojiro helping up Midoriya and saw Ashido walking over to him.
"No, stay away…" he said. "I can get up on my own."
The acid girl was more melancholic. "You did so much fighting for us Tennyson, let me–"
"NO!" he held out his hand, startling her. "I'm fine!"
Ben got back to his feet and looked down to his shaking hands.
"This isn't good…"
He shakily walked over, but someone got in his way, despite standing a bit further back.
"Midoriya?"
"What are you doing?" the greenette asked, a little skeptical.
"I need… to recharge." Ben replied.
"In the bus–"
NRG sensed the speech coming up. "I don't have time for this Midoriya!"
"In the bus!-" Midoriya started over. "You told us that this form was dangerous and it messed with your head, making you go a bit extreme. Am I right about that?"
Ben nods frustratedly.
"We want to make sure this isn't one of those things."
"After all, even with all those injuries,you are kind of the strongest in the class,the only thing that seemed to hurt you was
ourenergyactingasthermalenergytowarmuptheareacausingunnecessarywastemaybetherecouldbeanotherwaytorestoreyoutofullpowerbesidesthecablesand…"
While the greenette went off on his usual tangent, Ojiro felt pressured to talk. "We just want to look out for you."
"And that's appreciated!" Ben said with a burst. "But I'll only take what I need… Promise…"
His orange legs merged into one and even though it was more like hovering, NRG took flight, picking up what's left of his armor…
"Make sure to check up on everyone!"
…and landed over at the cables, starting to absorb power without a second thought.
"Yeeeeeeees, sweet pure energy."
He absolutely loved this. The lights of the whole compound flickered but it didn't matter to him. After all that hard work, after all that waste from before, he could finally take his time and enjoy it.
Even his withered body seemingly shared the same sentiment as it grew and grew, back to its original size while also becoming more refined.
Ben opened his eyes. "That should be just enough."
It was time to go back in the armor.
He took one of his hands off the cable and the lights went back to normal. But, his other hand wasn't as willing.
Despite it being lesser than before, he could still feel the energy pouring into him.
The joy that came from it, the satisfaction, the exhilaration, the pleasure…
How could someone just… get away from this?
Why would they get away from it?
Ben looked down to his arm and was just plain hesitant in his decision.
Maybe just a little more wouldn't hurt…
He turned to the cable and started to absorb more.
The lights spazzed out even harder.
He instinctively gripped the cable with both arms.
"YES!" he got to scream before–
"Threat level has reverted to standard levels."
"Hmm?" Ben raised his eyebrow and looked down at the symbol on him. "Omnitrix?"
"Shutting down crisis protocols."
He reflexively took his hands off from the crackling, supercharged power source and in a blinding flash of green, found himself in his human form.
Ben immediately rolled back his sleeve.
"Transformation regression completed— Error. Severe widespread genetic damage detected."
"Genetic damage?" Ben pondered out loud right before it hit him. "Oh no…"
He crawled right out of the hole and ran towards the battleground where his friends laid.
"Why didn't I see that before! Those squids are an alien threat."
And worst of all, it was one that he hadn't seen before.
Ben bit his lip. He should have known something was up from the extra time he grandpa used to warn him, warn him about playing hero before anything else…
"Omnitrix!" He held out his hand like he was trying to use a smart watch's voice recognition system. "Is there a way to heal them? You know, undo the damage?"
The dial of the Omnitrix glowed but suddenly went back to normal again.
"Error, operation failed due to distance from subjects."
Ben was surprised. "How about that…"
For the first time, the Omnitrix had "talked" to him.
The answer it gave was a bit annoying, but now it at least gave him a chance to undo all of this.
"Tennyson!" He heard a brand new voice and raised his head. "We are assembled over here!"
To his surprise, standing alongside Midoriya, Ojiro and Ashido in a huddle, were Iida, Kaminari and Mineta.
"Oh good… Looks like they came out unscathed."
He shook Iida's hand. "How are you doing class rep? I hope the entrance situation didn't get too out of hand while I was gone."
"It did." Iida said and squeezed his fist. "After you were gone, Thirteen was badly hurt."
"We tried to take our chance and send me out to call for help…"
"Yeah, you should have seen us!" Mineta yelled. "When Kaminari paralized the villain, Uraraka suddenly sent it flying and I then stuck him to the wall!"
"Sounds like an adventure." Ben replies.
"I was close to opening the door, but then Todoroki showed up and froze all of us."
Mineta crossed his arms. "Never liked him, for the record."
"I was really confused as to why our friend from this esteemed school would do such a thing."
The speedster points to the squid on Todoroki's face. "Now I know."
Ben nods. Yeah, without his own special set of circumstances from the past, he could see how off putting this all must have felt.
"So, what happened afterwards?"
Iida opens his mouth to speak–
"Perhaps the riskiest plan that you have ever seen! " Kaminari interjects, grabbing Ben's attention.
"After a while, I don't know if it was boredom or something, the purple misty guy called Todoroki back and left us alone."
Ben nodded.
"So we asked Aoyama to try to use his Naval Laser and he did drill through it, but it wasn't really enough for us to get out."
Iida joins back in.
"However, we did manage, as the laser was instead able to reach Thirteen and weaken the ice just enough for her to use her quirk. And as we broke free, we thought to tend to our other classmates who might have still been struggling with villains…"
Kaminari visibly tensed up with that sentence and it didn't go under Ben's radar.
"What happened?" He asked with a more strict tone and Kaminari, without his usual energetic self, just stepped out of the way and let Ben take it in for himself.
Next to Bakugo and the infected classmates, laid a badly hurt Yaoyorozu, Sero and an infected Jiro…
Ben immediately crouched next to them.
Kaminari spoke. "We found them battling in the mountain zone."
The shapeshifter didn't know what to say.
"Tell me you jumped in to help straight away."
"We did." Iida takes over. "But it seemed like the struggle had been going on for a long time already as they collapsed as soon as we were done."
"We moved them here in case those villains would try to pick another fight! You mess with one of us! You mess with all of us!" Mineta yelled, clearly a bit jumpy from the whole thing and it did make people smile.
But they weren't ready to laugh just yet.
"Alright, was that all? Where's Uraraka, Sato and Aoyama?"
"Clearing up the entrance." Kaminari said. "I radioed ahead and thought maybe the front door should be wide open once help arrives."
"Good thinking." Ben said and then stood back up.
"One, two…" He internally counted all the classmates assembled."Alright, yeah that should make 20. All the infected are here."
He rolled back his sleeve and looked at the Omnitrix's dial.
Like it was psychic, the dial in that moment glowed green.
"What are you thinking?" Midoriya asked from where he was sitting.
"Oh, um…" Right, he almost forgot about the secret identity thing.
"I think…" Ben starts. "I was thinking rather… About what happened to the rest of our friends."
He points to himself. "Before, I tried pulling them out with Wildvine."
"You had no luck, I'm guessing?" Kaminari joined and Ben nodded.
"I tried using my electricity. I thought maybe it would knock the little gremlin's off…"
Ashido nodded and crouched. "We tried acid as well but these things are all just so stubborn–!"
She tried touching one as she said that but it suddenly moved which made her immediately pull her hand back.
"Well, I might just have an idea." He shows them the Omnitrix dial. "All of you are familiar with my quirk?"
Kaminari answers first. "Yeah man, you can transform into 10 different forms 10 minutes at a time. All of us know this."
"Right, but it goes a bit more in-depth than that…Umm…"
Damn, it was going to be difficult to give a spin on this… If only Gwen were here to help out.
"When I first got my quirk.." he starts. "The doctor… said that my style of transformation was a bit different than the other kids around my age."
The student's looked intrigued and that only made Ben sweat even harder than he already did.
"Turns out… When I transform…"
Ben struggled to put this into words.
"It's not like putting on a costume and gaining new abilities, like Kirishima's hardening or Ashido's acid-tolerant skin."
"Instead, it is more like… I emit… some kind of energy that affects my DNA on the base level, forcing my body to adapt and change form."
And it turns out each has a different kind of energy signature."
"And is that why you have 10 different forms? Is the energy different each time you change?" Midoriya intervenes and Ben immediately takes his chance.
"Exactly! Exactly like that!" He snaps in his direction.
"That sounds more like an emitter quirk to me now…" Iida says.
Ben turns to him. "That's because it is."
"Heh, I just like thinking about it as a more mouthful version of saying I have 11 costumes stashed in one body."
"Yeah, but how will this definition help us turn everyone back to normal?!" Mineta didn't stop panicking.
Ben pointed to the dial.
"With all this kind of DNA changing energy in my body, it's impossible to concentrate on picking one and rolling with it. So, this kind of just does it for me…
"…and it got me thinking."
Midoriya raises an eyebrow.
"If it can manage my usual DNA, why not do a maintenance check on all the others? Can't we cleanse their DNA from whatever these squids are?"
"Like a gene cleanser?" Ojiro asks.
"Exactly like a gene cleanser!"
"That sounds good, but how do we know that the squids are connected to them on a DNA level?"
Ben's expression changes to surprise. The one who asked that question was Midoriya.
"Just a hunch?" he replied. To be honest, he was kind of out of responses after edging around his previous story for the Omnitrix.
"I'd say we try it."
"I don't know…" Ojiro says.
"But there is no reason to not try it, right?" Ashido retorts. "We technically are all out of options."
"No reason?! He says it messes with DNA! What if they all turn to a copy of Tennyson instead?! How can I live with half the girls of the class as–"
Ashido, with one swift kick, tosses Mineta away.
"Please tell me someone has a better argument."
"I would honestly place my vote on waiting for help." Iida says. "To me, it has less risk since doctors and nurses at the hospital can handle an issue like this better than us."
"I agree, Iida."
The class rep sees Midoriya sitting on the ground,
Midoriya isn't so calm about the situation though.
He takes a deep breath. "I would normally agree with you, but I… I'm sorry."
The greenette looks down. "I can't let them suffer from these things." the greenette shook his head. "If we have a chance to save them earlier, even if it's risky, I would like to take it."
Iida wanted to argue against that kind of brash logic, but from the looks of it, it was clear that Midoriya didn't want to argue on this.
He looked sorrowful for all of his friends, like he could relate to their pain.
And so the greenette seemed settled, no matter what.
Ben turned to the only able bodied person left in the huddle.
"Kaminari? What do you say? Go or no go?"
The electric boy was conflicted. Honestly, he kind of preferred to stay out of these bigger decisions if he could.
Buuuuuuut, it looked like he was the tie-breaker here.
"I mean…" Ben added. "I would ask the construction crew but I'd rather not waste anymore time than I already did."
"I…" he said and nervously tried to find a place to… direct his gaze to, for the lack of a better word.
"It's not going to be original you guys, but I don't know either."
He kept looking around, first to the ceiling, then to the floor, after that to the faces of his standing friends…
Kaminari briefly circles around and lands his gaze one the face of one of his infected friends…
He put his hands at his hip.
He murmured. "I know YOU would make fun of it…"
Kaminari shook his head but couldn't shake his thoughts.
"But, maybe a reckless move is what we can use right now."
Kaminari raised his head and tapped Tennyson with the back of his fist.
"Go for it buddy."
Ben nodded and then held up the watch close to all the knocked out and infected bodies on the ground.
The Omnitrix's green glow started increasing by the second.
"Well, here goes everything…"
In the clear empty road between the current melting pot of USJ and the prestigious UA High School, two cameras on light poles that are on opposite sides have a conversation.
"Do you see him?" the robot camera asked.
"Nope." the other camera deadpans.
And then a blur went right past them.
"Did you see him?!"
The camera however states the same. "Nope."
All Might, with a giant dust cloud following after him, speeds along the road, cutting corners like a mad man, all to arrive at the USJ as soon as possible.
"I'm making decent time…" He gazes at the scenery he's passing by. "But I have to admit… I really am slowing down."
*Cough!* *Cough!* He looks at the small sprinkles of blood on his hands.
"Not to mention cutting it close to my time. If there are any stragglers, it should still be easy for me to take care of them, but…"
He thinks about what his class could have gone through.
"Dammit… I should have been there with them."
He knits his eyebrows.
"The injuries of my juniors, the warp gate and decay villains, students fighting students…"
He squeezes his fists.
"I could have prevented all of it! IF I WAS THERE!"
Small craters start to form wherever he steps.
"Now… they're telling me almost half the class got those squid things stuck on their faces."
"After that, how will I look their parents in the face?! How will I tell them that I wasn't there to protect their children when I should have been?!"
All Might looks ahead and sees that the door of the USJ is extremely close now.
He plants his shoes to the ground as he breaks to stop. As soon as he does, he riles back his fist.
And in one strike, the doors of the compound barge right open.
"I RECEIVED THE CALL!" the number 1 hero yells and walks forth.
"All Might!" Uraraka immediately greets him with tears still in her eyes, but she's too late to be the first thing that takes the hero's attention.
The number 1 hero crouches down and inspects the bodies of his two colleagues at this teacher job.
"Eraser Head… Thirteen…"
Seeing the broken bones on the homeroom teacher and the laceration of the rescue trainer broke his heart. To think they had to fight this hard without him...
"Rest easy now. I'll take over."
He rises up to meet his student.
"NO NEED TO FRET ANYMORE YOUNG URARAKA. I AM HERE!" He tries to instill some reassurance. "NOW, HOW CAN I HELP?"
"Umm…" she wipes away her tears. "I-I think our teachers took care of most of the villains… A-and our classmates held their own against the ones they faced."
Her voice still couldn't help but shake ever so slightly.
"I SEE…" All Might said. "I'LL GO CHECK!"
Uraraka tilts her head. "I'm sorry, but go check wha–?"
Suddenly, disappearing into a yellow streak, All Might dashes off to the Downpour Zone, then Shipwreck Zone, after that the Conflagration Zone!
He just speeds between all zones, only staying for, at most, seconds at a time and Uraraka's eyes can barely keep up with the streak.
He then returns in front of Uraraka, while protecting her from the sudden strong wind he had caused.
"THAT SHOULD BE ALL OF THEM!"
"What?!" she exclaimed. "How many villains did you just take out?!"
"OH, I CAN'T TAKE TOO MUCH OF THE CREDIT." he said. "I ONLY CLEANED UP WHATEVER WAS LEFT IN THE RUINS AND LANDSLIDE ZONES… AND DEALT WITH EVERYONE IN THE CONFLAGRATION ZONE."
Uraraka couldn't help but be amazed. She knew it was All Might she was talking about but still! Seeing him in action was something else.
"HOWEVER, I DO HAVE A QUESTION."
Sato also walks over to the two's conversation.
"ON THE RADIO, YOUNG KAMINARI MENTIONED A WARP GATE VILLAIN ALONG WITH ANOTHER THAT HAD SEVERAL DISSEVERED HANDS." he said. "I CHECKED ALL THE KNOCKED OUT BODIES BUT HAVEN'T COME ACROSS ANYONE LIKE THAT."
"Oh, that…" Uraraka says.
"Yeah, the warp gate one attacked us All Might. Here at the entrance." Sato joins in. "But after a while, it just left."
"W-we were guessing that it's to fight in the center." Uraraka takes the word back.
"I SEE…" says All Might with a hand on his chin.
"After bringing Eraser Head here, we have mostly been at this spot. Clearing the path for heroes, police…" Uraraka continues.
The group then suddenly hears sirens coming from the distance. "Speaking of which…"
Police cars, along with ambulances and personal vehicles of the other teachers start arriving on the scene one by one.
"You should probably check in with the crew down there." Sato says. "They would know much more than us about those villains."
All Might nodded.
"THANK YOU. I'M SORRY I COULDN'T DO MORE FOR YOU."
Uraraka nervously waves her hands. "No no no, it's fine."
Sato crosses his arms. "We're just happy that you're here now."
He puts his hand behind his neck. "...And to be honest, I'm still trying to take in the fact that you're here as a teacher as well as a hero."
"IT HAS BEEN… A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE." All Might nods. "WELL, I'M OFF TO CHECK ON THEM."
Uraraka and Sato wave after him as All Might jumps into the air, making sure to not hit the ceiling.
And then slowly lands, with his power and landing spot in check, at the center.
He sees the rest of the students helping each other up.
"HELLO THERE!"
"All Might?!" Midoriya, Ashido and Mineta's eyes immediately light up. So much so that Ashido accidentally lets go of Kirishima's hand and drops him. "Oops, sorry!"
"I ARRIVED AS SOON AS I HEARD. CAN SOMEONE CATCH ME UP ON WHAT HAPPENED?"
"Yeah… Guys, can you help him? I just…"
Midoriya answers first. "Sure, Tennyson."
Ben is a bit stunned from getting interrupted but still nods and turns away from the group.
After stepping away a little bit, he rolls back his sleeve.
"Program complete. All genetic damage has been repaired."
"Perfect." he thinks to himself and takes a deep breath. "I averted at least one crisis today."
Ben looks off into the distance…
"If they are really after you again, we can't let them find out that we know. You must act casual and go to school. In the meantime, I'll do some investigation…"
"Look how that turned out." He thinks of his grandpa's words and looks at Rojo's body, still fainted from the scuffle before.
"I should have known that they would come after me with all that they got, grandpa…"
He crosses his arms.
"Yet I still acted passive…"
"Left all the heavy lifting to you and Gwen, even though you weren't here and didn't see the threat…"
Ben doesn't say anything after that.
He just looks into the distance, contemplating on what he will do from now on.
And then sees something moving with the corner of his eye…
Crawling away, with his head down to the ground, was a Xenocite.
Ben's eyes widened. He turns around and yells: "Don't let a single one of them get away!"
As those words escaped from his lips, a thin layer of ice covered the floor they were standing on.
"Don't worry…" said Todoroki, with cold air coming from his right leg and standing up on his own. "I have no intention to do so."
All Might is surprised. Both at one of his downed students raising to his feet instantaneously and… seeing the squid twitching and screeching with his own two eyes.
"INCREDIBLE…" He looks at the thing from above.
The police at this point, starts to show up in greater and greater numbers, and one familiar figure to All Might finally shows his face.
"Is that what I think it is?" he says, pressing the button of his pen.
"OH, TSUKAUCHI." All Might turns his signature grin to him. "YEP, THAT'S ONE OF THE SQUIDS."
"I see..." he says and attempts to get closer as any detective would with some nitrile gloves in hand, but is shortly stopped by the other students.
So, he starts making a rough sketch of it from afar instead.
"Sansa!"
An officer, with a head that looked like a cat, ran forth and stood in ready position… with a barrel in his hand.
Tsukauchi looks him in the eye.
"I thought that we should start collecting the evidence sir! For further inspection at the lab!" he says frantically.
Tsukauchi narrows his eyes, and then says: "Make sure photos are taken beforehand, I don't want a single detail to be missed."
"Yes, sir!" he runs back to where he came from to get a camera.
As he's getting close to finishing it, paramedics also arrive and student's start helping them lift their injured friends onto the stretchers.
Tsukauchi then begins his exploration of the scene of crime and All Might follows right after him.
"WHAT ARE YOU MAKING OF THIS?"
The detective continues to distractedly look around. "I'm… making out that your students are still green… and that they are clearly not taking this well."
He puts a yellow marker with the number 1 next to a large smoking charred body.
"YOU CAN'T BLAME THEM." All Might replies. "THEY'VE ONLY BEEN ENROLLED FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS."
"Yeah well, I hope that the school has a plan about that, because I wouldn't be surprised if all parents right now suddenly decided to consider their backup schools."
All Might thinks before answering.
Tsukauchi puts another yellow marker with the number 2 down at the crater Rojo created as other officers take her away.
"I BELIEVE THAT THE SCHOOL WON'T LET THIS GO…" All Might then follows up. "WE WILL ENSURE TO INCREASE OUR SECURITY… AND AS MEMBERS OF THE STAFF, MAKE SURE TO AID AND SHOULDER WHATEVER OUR STUDENTS HAVE FELT FROM THIS EXPERIENCE."
Meanwhile, Tsukauchi also asked for another secure box for… a gauntlet that fell out of her gear?
"HOW IS THE SITUATION?" All Might asks.
Tsukauchi paused… and rubbed his eyebrows. "Came here with 13 different scenarios, considering and leaving with neither of them right now."
He exhales out loud.
"There are too many perspectives, too many variables, and if I want a clear picture, I'm going to have to listen to most of them."
"WILL IT… TAKE LONG?"
The detective shrugs. "Depends on what they tell me…"
"Because the evidence here seems demanding to say the least…"
All Might nods. "I GET WHAT YOU MEAN. IF I DIDN'T HEAR THE PANIC IN THEIR VOICE, I WOULD HAVE A HARD TIME BELIEVING AS WELL…"
The detective then pointed to some of the zones to nearby officers and then made his way towards the stairs.
"I wish we could have met up again in more opportune times, All Might." The two start going up the steps. "Maybe at a bar for a drink, those are always nice."
"HEH…" All Might doesn't waver in his smile. "YOU AND ME BOTH, TSUKAUCHI. BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT I CAN'T DRINK."
"Oh right, I'm sorry about that." Tsukachi says.
"IT'S FINE. YOU HAVE SEVERAL CASES COMING IN EVERY DAY–"
"No no, I really gotta start paying more attention like you said." he admits.
Tsukauchi bears a faint smile after that.
Then, reaching the top, the detective gets to see the kids again, reassuring the ones just starting to come back to their senses from the infection or from their injuries.
Without waiting, he steps forth and starts to speak and get the attention of a select few of individuals…
"Tennyson Ben, if I presume?"
Ben, who had distanced himself from the crowd, turns around to face him. "Yeah?"
"I am Detective Tsukauchi." he lends his hand forward and Ben shakes it.
To explain what's going on, All Might cuts in. "FROM WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TOLD, YOU HAVE BEEN QUITE CLOSE TO THE ACTION."
But Tsukauchi follows up and takes the word right back.
"And since the cameras were apparently disabled during the event, we would like you to shed a bit of light onto things for the sake of our investigation."
Ben, despite seemingly pausing for a second, nods. "Sure, always happy to help the local police."
And after that, Iida, Ojiro, Ashido and Kaminari follow suit, in that order.
"Thank you for your cooperation."
He puts the notepad away and gestures to them to come with him to the school, all the while having his right hand man, Sansa, manage the place in his absence.
As the students leave, Uraraka decides to look back, still reflecting on all they just went through.
And as a result she gets to see the commanding officer pick up the xenocytes and stuff them into barrels filled with green slime.
"Must be coming out of those squids…Ew." she exclaimed before turning back again and leaving.
She was just glad that the assault on USJ… had finally come to a close.