Chapter 7 – The Hacker

—Cole POV—

As the siren started sounding, signaling the beginning of the test, I turned my attention toward the overview map of the area. I already knew what each kid's Quirk was so I wasn't really concerned with that. Since I had seen anything wrong in this world up till now, I suspected maybe something here might be out of wack. Watching the Training Bots start lighting up on the map, I expected them to prioritize the closest participant but that wasn't what happened. As soon as applicants got in range, alarms started going off in the Control Room.

"What's going on?", Midnight asked Power Loader.

"Something isn't right…the safety measures are being disabled.", Power Loader said quickly getting into a nearby control terminal.

While he tried to diagnose the issue, I watched hundreds of robots come online on the map. As the machines started crashing through buildings, many of the applicants froze up in fear. Throwing debris at them, the kids were diving for cover while a few of them attempted to fight back. Knowing that only a few had actual combat experience, they were sitting ducks without any aid.

"Figure out what the hell is going on, I am going!", I told them as I zipped into a nearby socket.

Arriving on the scene a moment later, I shot myself out of a street light and launched a barrage of rockets at the incoming projectiles. Blasting them to pieces, I told the kids to get to safety immediately as this wasn't part of the test. Complying with my orders, most of the kids ran to cover while a few stayed behind.

"What's the big deal, this is what the test should have been!!", Bakugo shouted as he ran towards the approaching robots.

As he got close to one of them, I sensed that its power system started going into a meltdown. Dashing forward, I tackled him and burst through a glass window for cover. Shielding him with my body, he started to yell at me till the robot exploded sending shrapnel everywhere. Seeing a nearby building collapse from the blast, he realized that he might have died.

"What the hell was that!?", he spat.

"Someone hacked the school's systems, get going before more of them blow!", I ordered, "Follow the others and get to safety! Now isn't the time for you to be playing Hero, kid!"

Running back outside, I saw Shoto attempting to freeze several robots in place. Shouting at him to get out of there as several rockets were launched at him, he immediately created a wall of ice likely hoping it would protect him. Reducing his shield to dust, he and the others nearby were sent sailing into a brick wall. Hitting the wall hard, the applicants were left dazed and confused for a few moments.

Getting between the robots and the kids, I created several magnetic fields that disrupted the trajectory of the following missiles. Returning their attacks back at them, the robots were blown to pieces though more quickly came from other parts of the city.

"Kessler, I can't take control of the robots, and the emergency shutdown command isn't working. Some of the teachers are enroute to help you, get the kids out of there!", Power Loader said over the PA system, "There should be an emergency shelter a few blocks east of you."

"That's easier said than done!", I replied launching another barrage of missiles at the robots, "Is the whole system compromised or just the robots?"

"Right now it's just the robots, I have a few of my students trying to fight whoever is in our system.", he answered, "Right now we are barely managing to keep the comms up."

"Nezu, I assume destroying all the robots isn't an issue?", I inquired, "I don't need a bill from UA for destroying your equipment."

"The safety of the children outways the equipment, do what you need to do.", Nezu answered.

With permission to take the gloves off, I cracked a smile as lightning started to dance around me. As I was building up a charge, I turned back to Shoto and the others.

"All of you grab on to something, and hold on as if your life depends on it!", I told them.

"What are you going to do?", Izuku asked.

"Clean up this mess!", I said as the charge-up was completed.

Gathering the energy between my forearms, I spun around once and let it all go at once.

—3rd Person POV—

Feeling the air suddenly start trying to pull them away, the applicants nearby grabbed on to anything they could. Hearing a loud roar, almost as loud as a freight train, Izuku looked over his shoulder and saw a massive tornado barreling down the street.

"What the hell!?", Bakugo shouted barely audible over the wind, "He can summon tornados!?"

"That's not a normal tornado!!", Ida remarked, "Tornados don't give off-"

Watching a bolt of lightning shot out of the whirlwind, everything it touched was reduced to nothing. Glancing over at the Hero who had shown up out of nowhere, he seemed to have perfect control over the lightning tornado.

"What in the world!?", Mei said with excitement watching the live feed, "I haven't heard of someone doing that before!!"

"It is indeed rather amazing.", Nezu agreed watching the robots get sucked into the tornado and torn apart, "He is far stronger than I imagined, All Might and Eraserhead are you seeing this?"

Only a few blocks from the fighting now, the Pro Heroes were watching the destruction Kessler was causing. Having never seen him in action before, all of them were relieved he wasn't a villain as he could seriously hurt a lot of people with that power.

"Haha, I expected nothing less from Lightning Jack's grandson!", All Might laughed.

Arriving on the scene a few minutes later, the tornado was starting to dissipate leaving behind a trail of destruction. Not only had the storm destroyed the robots, but it had also destroyed nearly three city blocks of buildings. Watching electricity start shooting out of the power lines, all of them watched Kessler absorb the energy like a sponge.

"The kids are over here.", Kessler said pointing at the terrified children, "There is also one in that building over there, but you can probably leave him."

"I heard that you bastard!!", Bakugo shouted as he jumped out the broken window.

"Meh, you seem sure of yourself enough so why should I be worried?", Kessler teased him.

"Fuck you!!", Bakugo roared in anger.

Confirming that everyone was alright, Present Mic and Eraserhead went to retrieve the other applicants. Turning back to them, Kessler gave the Pro Heroes a firm nod signaling that it was done.

"Could you maybe do a little less destruction next time? Some of us have to repair the damage.", Cementoss requested of Kessler.

"I will see what I can do.", Kessler chuckled, "I don't get to cut loose that often so it's relaxing to do it every once in a while."

With the robots destroyed, the last thing to worry about was catching the perp responsible for this. As they were about to discuss how to proceed next, an angry voice came over the PA System.

"Damn it!! What sort of cheat Quirk do you have!?", a distorted voice howled.

Seeing a tall, fat man appear on screens all over the school, everyone turned their attention to him. The man looked like he had never seen the Sun, never exercised, and never left his mother's basement. He appeared to reflect what everyone would consider a deadbeat manchild.

"Because of you, I am going to lose out on a big payday!", the man seethed in anger, "Why did you have to bring that bastard here!?"

"I have seen your face before, you are on the Hero Association's Most Wanted List.", Shoto said remembering his poster in his father's agency.

"Technomaster, No.7 on the list.", Kessler stated, "What's a guy like you doing here? Your thing is stealing government documents and military intelligence. I haven't heard of you attacking schools before."

"You are right, my genius is wasted on attacking shitty dumps like this. Unfortunately for you, I had a very wealthy client ask me to cause a bit of death and chaos here.", Technomaster laughed, "Ten million juicy American dollars to kill a couple of brats and cause the school to close. All of that would have been mine, but you got in my fucking way!! Weren't you supposed to not want to be a Hero!?"

Giving him a smirk, Kessler acknowledged that was the case.

"I have never been one for Heroing because there are far too many fakes out there. Not only that coming from a dynastic line of Heroes means I had no say in the matter, it was always expected of me to be a Hero regardless of whether or not I wanted to be. In most situations I would do the bare minimum needed, but…", Kessler said merged into the television.

Backing away in horror, Technomaster was in disbelief that Kessler could enter the screen like him. Turning to flee he attempted to run away, but Kessler appeared right in front of him. Grabbing him by the face, Kessler stared at him like he was a piece of garbage. A brief crackle of red lightning flickered from Kessler's arm before he through Technomaster out of the monitor.

Flying out of the monitor in the Control Room, Technomaster crashed into the back wall gasping for air. Calmly walking out of the monitor, Kessler put his hands in his pockets as he approached. Squealing like a stuck pig, the villain pleaded for mercy from Kessler.

"If it were anyone else they'd probably show you mercy.", Kessler told him, "Unfortunately for you, I don't have mercy for child killers."

Vanishing from sight, Kessler slammed his left knee square into the villain's face. A split second later dozens of impacts hit Technomaster as he passed out from the pain. Having broken nearly every bone in his body, he wouldn't be in any condition to move around for months. Splashing some water on his face to wake him back up, Kessler threatened him to stay in prison.

"Don't you dare ever think of escaping prison, it's the only place I won't go looking for you…", Kessler said in a cold, uncaring tone.

"Y..yes sir!!", the villain shrieked in fear as his face turned paler.

Leaving him be, Kessler turned back to Nezu and the others who were in shock.

—Cole POV—

"Is that really necessary?", Nezu questioned.

"He was more than willing to kill a bunch of kids, don't lecture me on excessive use of force.", I remarked looking at Power Loader, "Did you find out how he got into the system? I assume you have special Firewalls to block people like him from gaining access to the school systems."

"R..right", Power Loader said getting back to the matter at hand, "There are no signs of him accessing the school from the outside, that means he had help getting in. I have no way of knowing how long he's been in the system as everything is a mess right now. This is going to take days to rebuild…"

Knowing who likely got him into the system, I opted not to say anything as I had no solid proof. If he was smart, he would have destroyed the evidence in the chaos. That said, I wasn't about to let him off the hook so easily for that. Thanks to making a copy of Technomaster's Quirk, I should be able to bug his cell phone without him knowing.

'I am going to have to learn how to use it first, once I have the hang of it I can have him lead me to All For One.', I thought, 'It will also get me access to the Hero Association's Quirk Database too.'