14 Chapter 14 - Villain Attack

"Real villains?" Said Kirishima. "No way! How did so many of 'em get into a UA facility this secure?"

"Yeah, Thirteen," said Yaoyarozu. "Why aren't the alarms going off?"

"Good question," said Thirteen, looking around. "I'm not sure."

"I'm not able to connect to the Batcomputer," said Izuku.

"What are you talking about, Midoriya?" Asked Iida.

"My cowl and gauntlet computer connect wirelessly via satellite to a computer in a secure location," Izuku explained. "This allows me to access various tools and databases, as well as enables my detective vision. But I'm not able to connect to it. This means something must be jamming the signal."

"That would make sense," said Todoroki. "If the alarm sensors aren't being triggered, then one of these villains must have a quirk that's masking their presence here. And if you aren't able to get a signal out, then that quirk is probably blocking all communication as well."

"Exactly," said Izuku. "They carefully chose this isolated facility as an entry point at a time when a class was being taught. They've obviously thought this out."

"Whatever their plan," said Todoroki. "They must have a concrete objective in mind."

"Thirteen, get them out of here," said Aizawa. "And alert the main campus."

"You can't fight them on your own!" Izuku objected. "There's too many of them, even if you can nullify their quirks, your fighting styles' not suited for this. Your powers work best in stealth and one-on-one fights, it can't be much help in a group."

"Funny coming from the student of Batman," said Aizawa. "He must have taught you that you can't be a pro if you only have one trick." Aizawa leaped into the air and flew down the steps leading to the USJ entrance. His speed and grace could have rivaled Bruce's. Several villains advanced forward towards him as he descended.

"Shooting squad!" Shouted one of them. "Take your aim!"

"Let's gun him down!" Shouted another. They lifted their various appendages to fire, but nothing happened. "My quirk!" shouted the leader, looking at his gun-like fingers. "Where's my bullets?!"

Aizawa descended on them quickly, launching the wrappings around his shoulders towards the villains. With blinding speed, they wrapped around them, rising and twisting them around in the air. With a mighty heave, Aizawa brought them crashing towards each other, their heads smashing together with a sickening crack. The other villains stepped back in surprise.

"Idiots!" Shouted a villain. "That's Eraserhead, the Pro! He can erase your quirks by just looking at you!"

"Cancellation?" Shouted a masked villain with four rock-like arms. "Bet you can't erase a heteromorphic-type like me!" He rushed Aizawa, throwing powerful punches towards him, who deftly avoided each blow with ease.

"Yeah, you're right," said Aizawa, landing a powerful punch square in the villain's face. The villain lurched backwards from the force of the strike, and Aizawa seized his chance and wrapped his bindings around the villain. "But a villain like you is only dangerous if you can reach me, and I have taken measures to make sure that never happens." A large villain attempted sneak attack from Aizawa's flank, but the Pro was two steps ahead. Aizawa ducked under the villain's extended fist and, twisting on his heel, delivered an ax-kick into the villain's torso, throwing him back against two other villains. As the three villains struggled to get to their feet, Aizawa brought the rock-villain crashing down on top of them.

"Which one of you gutter punks is next?" He growled.

"There he goes trying to intimidate us," said Tomura Shigaraki, the Hand Villain, scratching his neck absently. "He is strong, and since he's hiding behind those goggles you can't tell who's quirk he's erasing."

He watched Aizawa take down each villain that tried to approach him with impressive speed and precision. He couldn't help but be impressed. "He's making it hard for us to work together and rely on each other's powers." His scratching intensified. "How annoying. The worst thing about dealing with pros is when they live up to all their hype."

Behind him, two yellow eyes appeared from the wall of energy. It had not been watching the Pro Hero's performance. Instead, his gaze wandered to the entrance of the facility, where the group of students led by the hero Thirteen attempted to make their escape.

They certainly couldn't have that.

The students all ran for the exit, with Izuku lingering behind. He's holding them off, he thought to himself. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated him. He quickly ran to rejoin his classmates. Despite all that Bruce had done to prepare him for this day, he couldn't help but feel afraid. His mind wandered to his encounter with the sludge villain, the terror he felt as his world began to fade into darkness. He thought of Kacchan, and how scared he must have felt at the end -

Izuku shook his head. No. Now was not the time for that. He would have to be brave. Brave like Kacchan.

Thirteen and the students stopped abruptly. Another black-purple portal appeared on the floor in front of them. This time, it grew into a large swirling pillar before them. "There is no escape for you," said the pillar, two large yellow eyes staring down on them. "It's a pleasure to meet you. We are the League of Villains. I know it's impolite, but we have decided to invite ourselves into this haven of justice to say hello. And besides, isn't this a fitting place for All Might, the Symbol of Peace to take his last breath?"

So this is their endgame , Izuku thought angrily. They want All Might. All of this for All Might. We're all in danger because of him, and the bastard's not even here.

His fear forgotten, Izuku was overcome with a burst of hot anger. Leaping above his class, Izuku threw three batarangs, each one exploding upon reaching the shadow. "You think we would just stand around and let you tear the place apart?!" Izuku shouted, landing in front of the Thirteen and the class. Kirishima and Tokoyami quickly joined him at his side, ready for battle.

"You live up to your school's reputation," said the voice of the Shadow behind the smoke. As the air cleared, the shadow reformed itself, flowing around what appeared to be a metal collar. "But you should be more careful, children. Otherwise, someone might get hurt."

"You three, get out of the way, right now!" Shouted Thirteen, removing the cap on one of his fingers. But the Shadow was too quick. The purple-black mist swirled around the students, enveloping them. "I'll scatter you across this facility," it said. "To meet my comrades, and your deaths!"

Izuku shielded himself from the swirling mist around him. He felt his feet leave the ground. He tried to steady himself, but felt himself tumbling head over heels through the black fog for what felt like an eternity.

He fell.

Opening his eyes, Izuku's stomach lurched to his throat as he plummeted head-first out of the portal into the water below him. Instinctively, he straightened his body and gracefully entered into the water. His mask helped serve as a short-term respirator for these kinds of situations, so he wasn't worried about drowning. Repositioning himself in the water, he began to swim to the surface.

A warping quirk, Izuku thought. Makes sense how they got here.

Izuku felt the water around him shift. Someone else was in the water with him. Looking around, he saw something approaching his position with alarming speed: it had the body of a man, but the head of a mutated shark. It had to be a villain. It was nearly upon him, opening it's maw wide--

A green blur came into Izuku's field of vision. It was Asui, dragging Mineta along behind her, moving quickly through the water and slamming her flippered feet into the villain's jaw, knocking it aloft.

"Hey, Midoriya!" She said, surprisingly well considering they were underwater. She extended a long pink tongue from her mouth, wrapping it around Midoriya, carrying both Mineta and him towards the ship floating in the water ahead of them. Breaking to the surface, she lifted Izuku and dropped him on the deck of the ship. Close behind him, she dropped Mineta as well. Once the two of them were safe, she began to climb up the side of the ship.

"Thank you, Asui," Said Midoriya. "You saved me."

"I told you to call me 'Tsu,'" She said.

"Sorry."

"This is turning out to be a terrible day of class," said Tsu.

"Yeah," Izuku agreed. "They knew our schedule and who would be here. They must have gotten into the school files during the break-in. With the students were panicking and the teachers were dealing with reporters outside, it would have been the perfect time."

"Hey, hold on a second," said Mineta. "It's not like these guys could really kill All Might. Once he shows up he'll pound those villains until there's nothing left!"

Izuku wasn't so optimistic. The villains had gotten the drop on them, giving them the advantage, as well as had a plethora of potential hostages with all the students there. Not only that, but as indicated by Thirteen, All Might had already used up a significant amount of his power, so even if he did show up he may be in no condition to help at all.

"Think about it though," said Tsu, as if reading his mind. "If the villains spent so much time planning this attack they probably have figured out a way to kill him. Besides, didn't you hear what the smoke guy said? Maybe we should worry more about not getting tortured to death. Otherwise we might not survive long enough to see All Might again." Izuku was impressed. Along with her prowess with her quirk, she was also very intelligent. Not only did she save them both, but she was able to determine the villain's intentions and able to assess the situation logically, all the while keeping her mind cool.

The same could not be said for Mineta. The reality of Tsu's words must have sunk into him pretty hard, as he suddenly became very pale beneath his mask and began to shake profusely. "No, the pros are gonna save us, right?" He asked Izuku imploringly. Before he could answer, the sound of several loud splashes in the water around them interrupted their conversation. The fish villain was back, and this time he had back-up. Within moments, their boat was surrounded by at least a dozen aquatic villains.

"Bad guys!" Mineta shrieked. Seeing Mineta in a state of panic, Izuku could feel the fear he felt at the entrance of the USJ creep back into his mind. Maybe Asui is right, he thought. If they're here for All Might, they may have a way to defeat him. Worse, they may know about his time-limit. One thing that bothered Izuku, however, was why him out of all the heroes? Was it because his very existence discourages villains and evil? It would make sense. If the Symbol of Peace were to fall in battle, the aftershock of such an event would be pure chaos. If there was someone out there stronger than All Might, an evil that he couldn't defeat, then there would be nothing standing between that evil and the innocents of society.

Even for Izuku, that thought was terrifying.

Images began to flash through his head. All Might on the rooftop, suffocating in the Sludge Villain, the day he learned Kacchan had died, the regret and guilt he felt knowing that it was his fault, and Bruce. . .

A memory flashed through his mind of the night he met the Batman. The last words he said to him. You, Izuku Midoriya, will become a hero. That I promise you.

Izuku's resolve strengthened. It didn't matter right now what the reason for the villain attack was. It didn't matter right now what brought them here. It didn't even matter right now that All Might may not be able to save them. They were heroes in training, he was the Protege of the Dark Knight himself, and if he was going to die that day, he would die a hero's death: fighting till the end.

They had to face this evil head on.

"It's up to us then," said Izuku. Asui and Mineta looked towards him, puzzled. "We have to work together to keep each other safe, and to keep All Might safe. No one at UA knows this is happening. We're on our own. So let's do what we were born to do. Let's be heroes."

"Shoji, anything?" Iida asked, not taking his eyes off the Warping Villain. "Where is everyone?"

Shoji contorted several of his tentacle-like arms into different appendages: a couple of eyes, a few ears, etc. They were all working hard, scanning the vast expanse of the USJ facility. "They've been scattered across the facility," He said. "But our classmates are still here." The students remaining with Thirteen all sighed in relief.

"But what do we do?" Asked Sero. "The guy's not affected by physical attacks, and can apparently teleport stuff."

"Class rep, I've got a job for you," said Thirteen suddenly. "Run to the school and tell the faculty what's going on here. The alarms aren't sounding, and our phones and radios aren't working right now. We're sealed off from the rest of the world. It'll be faster for you to run than for us to find whoever is jamming everything."

"Yes, but it would be disgraceful for me to leave you all behind!" Said Iida indignantly.

"Go Iida," Said Sato, stepping forward in front of Iida. "There are lots of alarms outside. That's why they're keeping us all trapped inside the USJ."

"As long as you can get outside, they won't follow," agreed Sero, joining Sato. "So blow this bastard's mist away with those engine legs!"

"Use your quirk to save others," Said Thirteen. "Be a real hero."

Iida was frightened. He didn't want to leave his friends and comrades behind, but he knew they were right. They were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. It was their only shot.

"Even if it is your only option," said the Warp Villain, launching his dark energy towards them. "Are you really foolish enough to strategize in front of your enemy?!"

"It won't matter if you know what we're planning or not when I'm done with you!" Thirteen shot back, activating his quirk. The black and purple energy swirled towards the opening at the end of Thirteen's finger, absorbing it before it could reach them.

Swallowing hard, Iida activated his engines and prepared to run. It was time to fight back.

"What do you mean fight?!" Screamed Mineta. "Are you crazy?! Those guys might be able to kill All Might and you think that we can take them? Did you hit your head when we got warped here?!"

Mineta was near hysterics. Izuku couldn't blame him. But now was no time to panic. Izuku and Asui were already observing their opposition in the water. There were over a dozen of them, simply floating in the water, waiting.

"Those villains down there clearly have an advantage in the water, and assume that's where we'll fight," said Izuku.

"Are you even listening?!" Said Mineta

"If that's the case," said Asui, ignoring Mineta. "They must've known what was inside the USJ before they warped in."

"Yeah," Izuku agreed. But something wasn't adding up. "But for a group with such careful planning, something really sticks out to me: they sent you here, Asui -"

"Ribbit!"

"-Tsu," Izuku corrected himself. "They warped you to the shipwreck zone."

"What does that matter?" Said Mineta.

"It means the villains probably have no idea who has what quirk," said Izuku.

"You've got a point there," said Asui. "If they knew I was a frog, they would have sent me to the fire zone."

"They separated us so they could overpower us in smaller groups," said Izuku. "Classic divide and conquer. But we can use that to our advantage. For all they know, the three of us could be super powerful, and that's why none of them are trying to climb into the boat. But that means they're not going to underestimate us either." Izuku reached into his utility belt, pulling out a small, round device. "I think I have a plan, but I need to know everything about your quirks."

"Well," said Asui. "I can pretty much do anything a frog can do: jump high, cling to pretty much any wall, and can stick my tongue out about twenty meters. I can also secrete a toxic mucus, but it only stings a bit."

"Interesting," said Izuku. "Pretty useful. What about you Mineta?"

Mineta reached up and plucked one of the round spheres of his head. "I've got these sticky balls," he said, placing it on the wall of the boat. "Their strength varies. Depending on how I'm feeling they might stick to something for a whole day. They grow back as fast as I can pull them off. The only thing they don't stick to is me."

"Hmmm," said Izuku. "That might be just what we need here. We don't have much time, so here's what we're going to do." He held up the small device. "This is an ice grenade. It'll encapsulate anyone caught in its range within ice in seconds."

"Where did you get that?" Asked Asui curiously.

"Borrowed tech from one of Batman's long-time villains," said Izuku. "It should create a big enough distraction for us to make our escape. Tsu, how far would you be able to jump to the shore with the two of us?"

"Not as far as it would be by myself," she said. "Probably twenty to thirty meters."

"That should be enough," said Izuku, taking out his grapple gun. "If you can get us within range of the shore line, I can use this to take us the rest of the way."

"But what if your ice grenade doesn't trap them all?" Said Mineta nervously.

"That's where you come in," said Izuku. "While Tsu leaps away with us, you need to throw as many of those sticky balls as you can at them. With luck, they'll get stuck together or at least it will restrict their swimming."

"Sounds like -"

Without warning, there was a large explosion near the aft of the ship, and it rocked violently in the water. Izuku steadied himself, and looked back towards the noise. To his horror, half the ship was sinking. One of the villains must have got tired of waiting and decided to try and force them into the water. They would be submerged in a matter of seconds.

Mineta began to panic. "We're fish food!" He screamed.

Asui was still surprisingly calm. "Mineta, are you sure this hero thing is really right for you?"

"Shut up!" Snapped Mineta. "It's weirder not to be scared right now! We just got out of Junior High and I didn't think I'd be facing death so soon after Joining UA-"

Izuku slapped Mineta across the face with a loud "SMACK"! Mineta stared at him, dumbstruck and clutching his cheek. "You have to stay calm," said Izuku. "I know you're scared. I'm scared too. But if we're going to survive this, it's now or never. Now be the hero I know you can be and fight!"

Mineta nodded. "Ok, I'm ready."

"Me too," said Asui.

Izuku positioned himself on the side of the ship. "Good, now let's get the hell off this boat!" And with that, he leaped off the side of the boat and into the air.

Time to make Kacchan proud.

"Stupid move kid!" Said an Aquatic Villain. Izuku had jumped off the boat and towards the villains. They hadn't noticed the device in his hand. They all prepared for their attack as soon as Izuku hit the water. In a flash, Izuku threw the ice grenade, which hit the water with a small splash.

"What was that?" Said the Fish Villain.

"I don't know," Said another villain. "Where did it go?"

There was a large flash, and the villains found themselves quickly being encased in ice.

"What the hell?!" Shouted a villain.

"Wha- ice?"

"How did he - AAAAAAUUUGH!!"

The ice stopped, trapping nearly ten villains in its wake. The trap extended at least twenty meters, and those villains that weren't trapped quickly swam away to get out of its way. Now was their chance to escape.

"Tsu, Mineta, now!" Izuku shouted.

Asui leaped from the ship with Mineta in tow. Izuku felt Asui's tongue wrap around his torso and pull him closer towards them. The other villains began to realize what they were doing and attempted to follow them. This time, Mineta was ready, throwing sticky ball after sticky ball in their direction. The villains began to falter, some sticking to each other, and others sticking to themselves, no longer able to swim.

"Not too shabby," said Asui. "You guys are amazing."

"I guess we passed the shipwreck zone," said Izuku, launching his grappler gun to the shoreline. "Now let's get back to the others."

In the landslide zone, Todoroki was using his own ice powers to subdue the villains he was facing. "So the plan was to scatter us, and then kill us," he said, casually strolling up to the frozen villains. "You were woefully unprepared. In fact, it looks to me as though you've had no training. You haven't the slightest idea how to use your quirks."

The villains all stared in terror as Todoroki walked past them. He had given them no chance to attack. The moment they warped there, they were overwhelmed at the sheer power of his quirk. Two more villains attempted to get the jump on him, but were easily encased in ice themselves. These villains seemed to him to be just pawns, not as threatening as they first appeared. More like street thugs than actual supervillains. From what he could tell, there seemed to be only a few dangerous people here: the Warping villain, the Hand villain, and that large bird creature. What they needed was more information. They needed to know who their attackers were and what they could do.

"Listen well," He said to the villains. "If you stay frozen, your cells will slowly die as your body succumbs to frostbite and hypothermia." He heard several of the villains whimpering in fear. "Luckily for you, I want to be a hero, so I'd like to avoid any unnecessary cruelty." He walked towards one of the frozen villains, placing his hand an inch away from his face, frost flowing freely from his hand towards the villain, who began to cry.

"But," said Todoroki. "I can only do that if you tell me how you plan to kill All Might."

"Ah, Black Hole," Said the Warp Villain. "A quirk that sucks up matter and turns it to dust. Such an astounding power."

There seemed to be no end to the black energy that this villain was putting out. Thirteen had been sucking up the power for at least a minute, trying to buy Iida enough time for him to escape. If he couldn't open a window wide enough for him, there would be no hope for them to warn the others of the danger they were in.

"You're a rescue hero, Thirteen," The Warp villain continued. "Skilled at saving people from disasters." The villain began to form another warp portal. "Consequently, that means that you have little fighting experience or battlefield awareness." A huge warp gate appeared behind Thirteen, taking the hero by surprise. With a sickening crunching sound, Thirteen's back completely ripped open as the force of his own quirk began to tear him to shreds.

"How unfortunate," said the Warp Villain mockingly. "You've turned yourself into dust."

Thirteen collapsed in a heap. "I'm sorry," he said. "He got me."

"Thirteen!" Shouted Mina.

"Iida, get out of here now!" Said Sato. Iida wasted no time. With an eruption from his calf engines, he sped around the Warp Villain at lightning speed.

But the villain was fast as well.

"A sheep trying to escape from the wolves," said the villain. "We can't have that." A warp gate opened above Iida. The villain was attempting to warp in front of him and stop him in his tracks. But the students were ready. Shoji leaped and wrapped his arms around the villain, rolling him out of Iida's way. "Run!" He shouted. "I've got him!"

Iida made a break for it. He was close to the doors. He had to make it outside. He couldn't let anything stop him from saving his friends.

"Impertinent child!" Shouted the Warp Villain. He shook Shoji loose and was gaining on Iida. "I have no time for this! Be gone!" Iida was enveloped in the black mist. Iida closed his eyes as the mist encased him. He had failed.

But the mist began to dissipate. Iida opened his eyes and looked back to see the villain floating away. Uraraka was grabbing hold of the metal collar that the villain was emanating from. "He's wearing some kind of weird armor!" She said. "He must have a body somewhere in there!" She threw the collar high into the air, and the villain went with it. "Run, Iida!!"

As the villain flew into the air, he tried to rally and fly towards Iida, who was prying the doors of the USJ open. A large line of tape was shot from Sero's arm and attached to the back of his armor. Sato seized the tape, and began to swing the villain around through the air with his immense strength, finally launching him inward towards the USJ, away from Iida.

Iida was outside. In a flash of light and a roar of an engine, he was gone. The villain was helpless but to watch as Iida ran off into the distance. He was going to call for backup. The pros would be upon them soon. The villain knew that they had failed.

Izuku hoisted himself onto the shoreline, reattaching his grappling hook to his belt. They had made it away from the shipwreck and the water villains. Now they had to quickly find the teachers and their classmates. If they worked together, they might be able to push back the villains and alert the main campus.

Izuku saw Aizawa in the distance. He was still fighting off the surrounding villains, but his movements were slower. He was getting tired. The Hand Villain seemed to have gotten tired of waiting and advanced on him. Aizawa launched his binding towards the villain, who deftly caught it in his hand and continued charging. Aizawa lunged himself towards the villain, striking him in the torso with his elbow. But on closer inspection, Izuku saw that the villain had caught it in his hand.

Aizawa's elbow turned an ashen grey in the villain's grip. His shirt sleeve began to crumble as if made of paper. His skin cracked and broke, falling off and turning to dust, exposing the red muscle underneath. Aizawa leaped backward, his elbow destroyed. The villains seized their chance and advanced on him. Though one arm was useless, he continued to hold the villains off, but his attacks were slower, weaker.

"That annoying quirk of yours isn't suited for drawn-out fights against big groups, is it?" Izuku heard the Hand villain say. "Don't you think you're a little out of your element here, Eraserhead? But despite knowing that, you didn't hesitate to jump into the middle of this fight. To put your students at ease." More villains attacked Aizawa, who evaded them, trapped them in binding, and threw them into each other. He faced the Hand villain, breathing heavily, bindings in hand.

"And look at you," said the Hand villain. "You're still standing! You really are so cool. Oh, by the way, hero. I'm not the end boss." Aizawa looked up as a large shadow loomed over him. The large bird creature was standing over him.

Izuku watched in horror as the creature began to beat his teacher mercilessly.

"You can erase people's powers," said the Hand man. "That's irritating, but it's nothing impressive. When faced with true, devastating power, you might as well be a quirkless child." The creature snapped Aizawa's arm like a twig, causing him to cry out in pain. It smashed his head into the ground, his blood spattering across the floor.

Izuku couldn't take it anymore.

"LET HIM GO!!"

The Hand man turned towards the noise. Izuku was charging at full speed towards him, batarangs at the ready. No one was going to die today, not while he was here. Leaping into the air, he threw his batarangs towards the villain.

"Nomu," said the villain lazily.

With blinding speed, the bird creature jumped in front of the Hand villain, shielding him. The batarangs collided with his skin, but dropped to the ground as if their razor edges were made from tinfoil. Asui seized her chance, using her tongue to move Aizawa away from danger.

"Fall, you bastard!! " Izuku screamed, throwing every explosive he had at the creature: batarangs, grenades, everything. Smoke billowed and villains were thrown backwards in the blast. After his supply was exhausted, Izuku stopped.

The monster was unharmed.

No, Izuku thought, horrified. That's not possible. Then it dawned on him. This was the ace up their sleeve. This was what they were going to use to kill All Might. Being so close to it, and witnessing its power, he was afraid it really could.

"That was pretty close," said the Hand Man, picking up one of the discarded batarangs. "But you're not using a quirk. How interesting."

Suddenly, the Warp Villain appeared beside the Hand man. "Tomura Shigaraki," he said.

"Kurogiri," the Hand man, Shigaraki, said back. "Did you kill Thirteen?"

"The hero is out of commission," said Kurogiri. "But I was unable to scatter all of the students and one of them got out of the facility."

"What?!" Shigaraki said angrily. He began to scratch agitatedly at his neck. "Kurogiri, you fool. If you weren't our warp gate I'd tear apart every last atom in your body." He scratched harder, growling and twitching like a rabid dog.

"There's no way we can win if dozens of pros show up to stop us," he said, finally calming himself. "Its game over. Let's go home." Izuku was taken aback. This was their game over? If this creature really was strong enough to beat All Might, why would they run now?

Shigaraki turned to face Izuku. "But before we go," he said. "Let's make sure the Symbol of Peace is broken." He ran towards Izuku with surprising speed, thrusting his hand towards Izuku's face. Izuku winced, preparing himself for what came next. He underestimated Shigaraki, not expecting him to move so quickly. He didn't have time to get out of the way, and now he was upon him. He felt Shigaraki's fingertips touch his face.

But nothing happened.

Shigaraki grunted impatiently, turning to the broken Aizawa being supported by Mineta and Asui. He was using his quirk. "You really are so cool," said Shigaraki.

Izuku acted instinctively. He grabbed the batarang Shigaraki was holding and stabbed it into the villain's hand, deep enough that it sliced through and stuck out the other side. Shigaraki roared in pain and anger, kicking Izuku in the torso, sending him backwards. Izuku rolled and sprang to his feet and reached for more batarangs, but he was out.

"You little brat," snarled Shigaraki, ripping the batarang out of his hand. "You cheating little bastard. I'm done with you. Nomu!" He ordered, turning to the creature. It launched itself with speed that would rival Iida's, grabbing hold of Izuku. He struggled to free himself from its grip, but it was too strong. The creature wrapped its hand around Izuku's head. It would only take a small amount of pressure for this creature to crush his head like a grape. Mineta reached for the sticky balls on his head, and Tsu launched her tongue towards Izuku to grab him, but it was a futile effort. There was no more time. He was out of time. It was over. He braced himself for the inevitable.

I'm sorry, Bruce, thought Izuku. Forgive me, Kacchan.

A large explosion shook the foundations of the facility. Izuku opened his eyes and looked towards the source. The front doors of the USJ were blown right of their hinges, dust and debris billowed from the open entryway. As the dust settled, a single figure stood among the wreckage.

"There is no need to fear, students," said All Might. "I am here."