The robots all turned to him and raced forward, enclosing him in a circle and shooting him with restraining cables. He managed to dodge several, before one snagged his leg and prevented him from dodging another. Within moments, he had several cables restraining him despite his great physical strength. "Shit, they got me." He looked at the cables, which were still connected to the bots, "Wait, they got me." He grinned, and the bots started to spark as electricity raced from them into him, draining them entirely. Kaminari started sparking even brighter as his grin went full slasher. The drain reversed, with much more powerful electricity flowing back to the bots and frying all of their systems. The cables were already slackening, but he grabbed at them and roared, lifting the heavy machines off their legs, and starting to bash them into the other bots. Once more, lightning started crackling and thundering… all the while Led Zeppelin continued playing.
"Is he fucking serious?" Setsuna goggled at him. She really should have been paying better attention, but even the Villains seemed taken aback.
"That's our Kaminari." Mina cackled.
"No one likes a showoff!" Setsuna quipped, grinning herself.
"Unless what they're showing off is dope as fuck!" Mina cackled as another Security bot flew across the gardens when Kaminari pulverized it with his club.
"Fuck, that's true! Kinoko would be going wi-" Her head split apart.
Mina blurred into action, dodging three more arrows with some acrobatic jumps, and ending with a full butterfly kick to dodge the last. "Hey, we're talking here!" Mina taunted, trying to piss off Beros.
It was definitely working, "You kids aren't taking anything seriously!" She snarled, "These disgusting Quirks you idolize are poison! They will lead this world to ruin!" She shot another arrow at Mina.
Mina aimed at Beros and used Melissa's support equipment for the first time. Pressure built up, before what looked like a jet of water erupted from the nozzle just above her fist. The jet cut apart the arrow and disintegrated what was left as it traveled. Beros's eyes bulged as she dodged out of the way, rolling away from the liquid attack. She thought it was water, but she couldn't have been more wrong. Mina's acid hit the ground and erupted into a not-so-fine mist of acid that rained on Beros. "Holy shit!" Mina beamed, "I could kiss Minerva for this!" She was practically sparkling as she took in the damage of her new Acid Shot.
The woman screamed in pain as her skin started to blister. She rolled on the ground, trying both to rub the acid off and get away from the particles still in the air. "You- Don't you see?!" Beros yelled madly, "Fifteen-year-old girls with such power! Soon these abominations will become uncontrollable!"
"You guys are such fucking hypocrites!" Setsuna taunted back, her entire body disassembled into nearly a hundred pieces, "You have Quirks too! Does your grand plan involve killing yourselves once you're done? As long as you're alive, Quirks will still exist, you know?"
"If I must!" Beros yelled, stopping both girls cold with the reply, "I must atone for this curse!" She pulled out a device and jabbed it into her neck, "FOR FLECT TURN-SAMA!" She cried out in pain as the drug entered her bloodstream.
"Is that Trigger?!" Setsuna yelped in shock.
"Man, these guys ARE nuts!" Mina started to say, before she squeaked and dodged out of the way.
Beros's arm had warped. It still looked like a bow, but not a longbow. No, it looked more like a crossbow now, complete with arrows being produced directly from her body. She started firing them rapidly at the girls. And these were firing FAR faster. Despite dodging, Mina actually got a cut on her cheek and had a small tuft of her hair fall off.
"Amina!" Setsuna only barely managed to use her Hero name. Not that it made much difference. Her body split dozens of times and started whirling around in a tornado of limbs, trying to punch and kick at Beros and distract her. Beros snarled under the effects of the drug, moving faster than she had before and managing to escape the dervish. She took aim and fired another near-supersonic arrow.
"Shit!" Mina snarled, and was no longer content with dodging. With Beros's ability to direct her arrows, that would just put her friends in danger! AND THIS BITCH RUINED HER HAIR! Mina turned up the viscosity of her acid to the highest it would go. She was so glad all of her friends were super smart and great with Quirks. She probably would have come up with it, but probably not until far later in her career. "Acidman!" The veil of acid surrounding her formed into a viscous shell. The ground beneath her feet began to sizzle from the high power of her acid. And then she started skating forwards at their foe.
"Die!" Beros glared at her, shooting her strongest arrow yet.
Mina trusted in her Quirk, and continued skating forward. She was rewarded as the arrow completely melted the instant it pierced her Acidman.
Beros's eyes widened, and she tried to jump back to put some more distance between them. She definitely needed to break out her explosive arrows! But she couldn't move! "What?!" She gasped, looking down.
Setsuna had clamped one of her Crush Gaunts onto her ankle, and the only reason Beros's bones weren't powder now was the armored boots she wore. But it definitely meant Beros couldn't escape. "Bye, bye!" Her disembodied mouth whispered in Beros's ear, making the woman whip to the left.
And then Setsuna's boot crashed into her stomach, driving the air from her lungs and spittle from her mouth with a grunt of pain. She doubled over from the shock to her diaphragm, but Setsuna was having none of it. Her other hand grabbed onto Beros's hair and yanked, making her face forward.
Acidman was gone, but that didn't mean this would be any less painful. Mina's fist crashed square into the Villain's face. Her mouth and nose erupted in a spray of blood as Mina skated by her. She wobbled for a moment before falling over, defeated.
The pinkette let out a sigh as her girlfriend reassembled, "Thanks for the help, Set."
"Of course! You okay?" She brushed her finger under Mina's cut.
"Owie!" Mina whined, flinching, "Oooh, I hope that doesn't scar!"
"Zuzu will fix you right up." Setsuna promised, not a doubt in her mind that their boyfriend and girlfriend would succeed.
Mina smiled, "You know it!" She looked back over at the other fights, "This isn't over. Let's go!"
…
As soon as Nejire had shot her beam at the main Villain, Itsuka, Camie, and Nirengeki sprang into action as well, racing towards Leviathan.
"I got this, Fam!" Camie said, and her costume came alive. The mask Melissa had slapdashed together for the trial version of her costume grew via her Nanotech and covered her mouth and nose. It connected to the small hoses and compressors on her arms, and she took aim. Breathing deeply in, she exhaled loudly. The tubes fed them down to the compressors and she started spraying the gas out at a much longer distance than she ever had before. The gas rapidly expanded and raced to engulf the beast. Leviathan growled and his crystal-like fingers started to spin like little drills. The drills churned the air, blowing the gas away from him. "Oh, come on! Fucking hacker!" She cursed, minimizing the mask again. The Villain's Helical Scythes shot forward again, ready and eager to pierce her. "Shit!" The back of her costume transformed, the nanotech growing the jump-pack and launching her into the air. She breathed deeply again and exhaled. The Villain's scythes proved to be even more deadly, and shot off at angles to chase her.
Camie's body was pierced multiple times, before she faded away and revealed nothing. Itsuka let out a sigh of relief as she sprang into action, her hands growing big. With a roar of exertion, she chopped the tendril. Leviathan let out a snarl of pain as his scythes shattered from the blow, but Itsuka didn't come off clean. "Shit, it's like Kaibara-san's Quirk!" She shook her hand out, feeling the heat from the drills skidding on her skin.
Nirengeki thankfully had somewhat armored gloves, so he was able to punch three of the scythes in quick succession with no pain. "Come on, you dumb brute!" He hissed, and grinned when the scythes retracted back to his hands. "Jackpot!" His Quirk activated, and the impacts he'd dealt the brute's Quirk reactivated. Leviathan's left hand jerked as if hit by invisible punches. He'd been rearing his hand back for another attack, so the surprise impacts jerked his hand to the right directly into the muscles of his left pectoral near his armpit.
Leviathan roared in agony as his Helical Scythes carved into the flesh of his arm, making Nirengeki himself turn green as blood spewed in a spray from the wounds. Camie herself was barely any better as she landed on his back and breathed out, covering his head in her Glamour cloud. Then her gauntlets lit up in electricity as she jabbed the metal cat claws into his flesh, pumping him full of electricity. Leviathan howled and spasmed, the Triggerhe'd already taken and his own body resisting the electricity.
He managed to wrench his Quirk out of his own body and proved either a quick healer or able to ignore pain. He reached up to grab Camie, and she quickly made herself scarce, jumping off of his back. He tracked her with fury and shot his scythes at her once more, spearing through her while she was still falling. And yet again, she vanished, this time in complete control of his senses. Leviathan nearly choked as his unwitting target was hit.
Flect Turn glared at him as his second Arachne focuser shattered from one of his tendrils, with three others grinding ineffectually into his chest. The energy behind him rebounded quickly, crashing into Leviathan, and nearly knocking him over. He staggered, falling to his hands and knees before getting up.
And then Itsuka hit him like a train, a brutal right cross shattering half of his teeth. He roared in rage and speared Itsuka with his drilling tendrils, only for the girl to melt away rather than being disemboweled. A second brutal hit from a giant fist in his gut had him doubling over, vomiting out a bunch of stomach acid. A third hit – an uppercut – had the behemoth rising into the air.
"GET AWAY!" Kaminari yelled at Itsuka. He had finished taking care of all the bots on his side, and that meant he had his second set of orders to follow. His club was raised over his head, his falling body being chased by crackling electricity. Itsuka's hands shrunk as she back-handsprung away from the Villain. "EAT THIS!" He swung his club, striking the falling Leviathan squarely in the stomach with an explosion of electricity.
The ground shattered as they impacted the ground, throwing up a huge plume of dirt, crackles of lightning racing across the cracks in the ground and burning them in. Kaminari stood before the defeated Villain, his body shrunken, bruised, and slightly mangled. Even his skin color was back to normal. Kaminari hefted his club over his shoulder, smirking, "Two down."
Itsuka punched her other hand, "One to go." A wide smirk covered her face as they prepared to join the fight against Humarise's big boss.
Nejire grimaced as she crashed next to them, sliding on the ground in a somewhat suggestive pose. "I can't ever say I've said this before, but I think I hate that Quirk." She glared at Flect Turn, "Good job guys." She praised both of the finished groups.
"We got a plan?" Honenuki had also finished, "Honestly, his Quirk seems like a cheat. Can't lie."
"Every Quirk has a weakness." Nejire said resolutely, "We just have to find it." She took a deep breath and wiped her brow of sweat, "Mudman, Battle Fist, Double Tap, Automata; go reinforce the other group." She ordered, "I don't think close range is going to be of much help here with his ability to just reflect it. Amina Acid, Discordia, Conduit; see if indirect attacks or Glamour work."
"Got it!" They yelled as Nejire flew back into the air. Setsuna split, grabbing her three classmates, and flying upwards to the catwalks and the hole Izuku had created. The other three prepared themselves for the hardest leg of their fight so far.
-]|[-
"Stop!" Melissa said, placing her hand on Momo's shoulder. The heiress was panting slightly because the bots just kept coming. Momo stopped firing as she continued, "We're getting nowhere with this, Izanami!"
"You're right." Momo breathed harshly, "How many of these things ARE there?!"
"Too many." Izuku said, glaring as the robots continued to race into the room.
"Hn." Yui looked annoyed as she knelt again, "Stop." The wave of metal sprang forward, turning into a solid wall of steel ahead of them. The wave crashed into the robots and carried them back, crushing them into the wall and forming a solid barrier even those robots couldn't get through.
"Your Quirk is so awesome, Rule!" Izuku squeaked finally. His hands reached for a notebook that wasn't there. "I thought you could only grow and shrink things? And I thought you had to touch them?"
Yui pinked at the compliment, and offered him a smile, "I did." She smirked, "I made the leading ground bigger and the trailing ground smaller. Ergo… wave." She brushed her hair back, "And I do need to touch it. But I never said I had to directly touch it."
"Geek later!" Melissa shook herself, looking excited too. That Quirk had SO many awesome possibilities! "We're trapped in here now!"
"Right." Izuku shook his head, crossing his legs under him and beginning to float. This was going to be irritating. There were no minds for him to find. His telepathy didn't work on machines. But they were all pretty identical, so after he got a feel for the ones currently trying to cut their way into the room using torches, he spread his awareness out to the rest of the tower. A bead of sweat dripped down his face as he concentrated. Finally, he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, "Okay, we've got hundreds of them activated, but only on the surrounding floors."
Momo had a lightbulb go off over her head, "Mel-Minerva, is there any reason we shouldn't just fly outside and up the rest of the way?"
Melissa grimaced, "That would make things easier, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, the tower has aerial defenses as well, and they're much worse than the regular defenses. If we can get up to the level with the turbines, we can skip at least a dozen floors since the firing arcs aren't great due to the turbines. But if we try before that, we'll have drones chasing us and flak cannons to worry about."
"Then if we can't go back, and we can't go forward…" Kinoko said, turning her head up and revealing her really cool eyes. She pointed up, "Only one thing left, right?"
"Should have done it from the start." Yui grumbled, glaring at the wall of metal which was starting to form a heat haze from the bots trying to burn their way in. She reinforced it with another wave.
Izuku grimaced, "We could have, but I was really worried about hitting something important and cutting through a vital wire. If the power goes off, can we even regain control? The security bots are automated."
Melissa opened her OMNI Tool's keyboard and started typing, "God, I'm so glad papa is papa." She muttered, before the keyboard vanished, and she pointed her fist. Again, the hologram of the tower appeared, though this time there were glowing yellow lines covering it. "Hmmm…" She glanced at it, "Izanami, can you make me another hologram projector? The strongest one you can." Momo quickly did so, and Melissa connected to it via her OMNI Tool. "YES!" She cheered as the hologram lit up the ceiling, "You were right to be worried, Eon. Especially in this room." Glowing tubes appeared above them, which split and branched off to every individual server rack, "As long as we don't hit any of these, we should be good." She projected the smaller hologram again, "The next couple floors only have minimal vital wiring. They should be easy to avoid. This one only has so many vital power cables because of the servers."
"Good work, Minerva!" Izuku said, before he started to float, his back to the floor. He floated beneath one of the areas that had zero glow from power cabling. The space around his hand started to roil once more, 'Okay Izuku, you don't want to damage anything. You need a clean cut!' The warping spread, focusing on his fingers more than his entire hand. "Psycho Twister!" he thrust his clawed hand forward with a twisting motion. The wind screamed and actually blew the hair of the girls down below a little bit. The sharpened Force Pushes hit the ceiling and carved right through it. It was by no means a perfect circle, but the gouged-out bit of ceiling started to slide, and then collapsed downwards. It was engulfed with emerald as Izuku caught the heavy mass of slabs, compacted ducting, and steel with his power and tossed it to the side. Four more fell, shattering and being far less neat than the first one, but not a bit of detritus touched the girls.
"Hn, and he says my Quirk is cool." Yui snarked, getting an elbow and a grin from Kinoko. The brunette even waggled her eyebrows. They were engulfed and flew up the hole. "Wait." Yui said, touching the ground. The floor beneath them wobbled, and then the hole on the floor they landed on crashed closed. It was obviously not fixed, but no one would trip over it at least.
"Good work, you two!" Momo praised them, "Let's move!"
They continued on, racing up the steps and destroying every camera they could spot. Melissa had activated her HUD visor, and Izuku had mind-melded with her. Every camera was glowing bright white, and he blasted them as soon as they saw one. It was on the 160th floor that they ran into their next roadblock. "OPEN FIRE!"
Melissa threw herself in front, activating her Sentinel Shield to protect her friends. Dozens of Wolfram's thugs had filled the hall with their machine guns and assault rifles. A virtual wall of gunfire aiming to chop them into bits rained onto Melissa's shield. It even forced her to take a step back as the individual hard light hexagonal plates flickered and wavered, "I can't hold this!" She yelled in fear.
"GRENADES!" Momo screamed, seeing the bouncing weapons of death approaching them.
Izuku sprang into action, rapidly locating each one and engulfing them in glowing green bubbles of power. Each of them exploded, causing flashes and loud pops from the bubbles.
Yui's heart was racing from their near brush with death as she slapped her hand on the wall. She was glaring furiously at the evil men keeping them from their goal. The tower began to rumble as Yui began her furious assault on the gunmen. Various blocks of the wall grew and shrunk under her command. Steel crashed into the leader's right arm, knocking him off his feet and crushing him against the other wall. The block shrunk, leaving his pulverized body to fall to the floor. Yet more of the very architecture of the tower attacked, crushing another's testicles and one of their faces. A bit of the ceiling fell down before it rose right back up after having knocked out another Villain. Within moments, every single gunman was unconscious at best.
They all stared at her in shock. "No one hurts my friends." She had a steely look in her eyes.
Momo let out a nervous giggle, "How do you feel about 1-A?"
"No poaching!" Kinoko wagged her tongue, though her face was pasty white from all the gunfire, "Monoma would die."
"Hn." Yui had a small but smug smirk on her face.
"Okay, let's go!" Momo was a little shaky too, but regained her cool quickly.
They passed by the downed Villains, and Izuku didn't hesitate to use his flame to heal the first one Yui had crushed. He looked pretty bad. As in, 'he might die' bad. Izuku stabilized him, and he let out a groan and opened his eyes. "Hi!" Izuku chirped, a smile on his face. And then the Villains eyes bulged, and he tried to sit up. He didn't even get an inch before Izuku's flaming hand crashed into his jaw and knocked him right out.
Kinoko giggled as they ran, "Okay, I'm not the only one who thought that was hilarious, right?"
Momo was smiling, but was worried, "Isn't it stamina based, Eon? You're not getting tired, are you?"
Izuku shook his head, "I can keep going." He smiled, clenching, and unclenching his flaming hand, "I do have a limited pool of power, but every time I've overused it like at the USJ, my reservoir has gotten bigger post-recovery. Plus, keeping my arm active has been great training too."
"Oh." Momo nodded at the explanation, "I'm…assuming that was the biggest jump."
He nodded, and then they ripped through a blast door, and they were outside. "Great!" Melissa cheered, "We can skip about twenty floors here!" She pointed somewhere far above them, "If we try to climb the tower, we're going to run into another big crunch of security bots. But Izuku can just fly us up there past the turbin…es?" She trailed off, looking at Kinoko who was trembling like a leaf.
"Is this a bad time to say I'm actually terrified of flying and had my face buried in Kendō's tits the entire flight here?" Kinoko looked like she was going to pass out just looking up.
"You know I wouldn't-" Izuku started to say.
"I know!" She yelled, before flinching, "I know." She said in a quieter tone, "But I-"
Alarms started going off, and shutters opened up and started spewing drones from them. Yui reacted quickly, dropping down and touching the ground. Another wave of her Quirk crushed all of the shutters closed, preventing any more drones from launching. But dozens had gotten into the air already.
"Careful! They have guns!" Melissa called out as she activated her shield.
Izuku readied his sword and started swiping, sending Psycho Slashes with every swing, and cutting through them one at a time. Momo started to crackle and vanished, appearing in the air on top of one of the drones and punching it straight into another.
She beamed as she flipped through the air and landed on another drone, spearing it with her legs, "Melissa, this costume is amazing!" She went all the way to 15%, flicking her middle finger and causing a shockwave that tore apart another ten of them.
"Glad you like it!" Melissa leapt as well, blocking the gunfire as she soared and landed on a drone of her own. In her right hand, a spear of white hard light formed, and she plunged it down into the machine, knocking it out of the sky. She jumped off it and landed unevenly, "Need practice…" She mumbled.
"That's what school is for!" Izuku called back to her.
"Eon-kun, shields on everyone and churn the air for me!" Kinoko called out, having grabbed her trusty spray bottles for the first time. Green engulfed the rest of the crew as her spray bottles and spores misted the entire area, before all of the drones started POP POP POPPING with mushrooms, gumming up their flight controls and surfaces all at once and sending them plummeting down, fried.
"Awesome work, Shemage!" Momo landed next to them with a huge grin, "Now-"
Every door on that level opened up and hundreds more of the security bots started piling onto the platform.
Yui grew the ground in a shield around them, completely blocking off the security bots, "Go!" She said, looking at Izuku urgently. "There's too many! We need to deactivate them all NOW! GO!"
"We'll catch up." Momo said, "That's a promise. Now take Melissa and go!"
Izuku bit his lip, but took Melissa's hand. She rushed into his arms with a worried look, and the two erupted upwards, clearing the turbines and landing on the catwalk above. The two took off running to the door.
Momo looked to Yui, "Let's do this." She pressed a button on her OMNI Tool, and her costume changed. Much of the open skin closed up as Melissa's Nanotech activated. Her set of fingerless gloves became enclosed in a second Full Gauntlet, and her boots turned into a full set of greaves and cuisses. Her chest also got enclosed as did her upper arms. These were nowhere near the effectiveness of the Full Gauntlet and required a lot more design before it was fully ready, but now she was at least protected fully. 'Creation Mode Deactivated. Full Armaments Engaged!' A robotic voice sounded in her ear as the Nanotech covered her head and face. The eyes lit up an emerald green as she was revealed.
Yui began to drool.
"Stay safe!" Momo commanded, before bending her knees and erupting upwards at speed. Yui focused immediately, touching the wall, and pushing. The tube they were surrounded in pulsed and then moved outwards, rippling through the roof they stood on and ramming into the bots. Dozens of them went down at once, while Momo zipped around like a lightning bolt, crunching through metal like it was plastic. 'Fifteen percent!' She yelled in her hand, before punching a mass of the bots. A shockwave erupted, blowing a line off the machines clear off the roof and down to the main plaza below. She landed as the machines sent everything they had at her, including taser wires with lethal voltages running through them. They all scratched at the armor, but none penetrated deep enough to actually run the voltage through her. She swiped her arm, generating another small windstorm that spun the machines around. She hurried to chamber another punch, but a large wall of metal raced into the bots and continued onwards, crushing them into the wall and compacting their sturdy bodies like tin cans. She smiled behind her mask, 'We're doing well. We can do this!'
…
Izuku and Melissa raced up the stairs, with Izuku taking the lead. He was fully anticipating that there would still be resistance the further they got up.
Unfortunately, he was not anticipating what that resistance actually entailed. He turned a corner to continue to go up another set of steps, and a metallic click sounded. Time seemed to slow as a spinning metal disk popped up in front of him. Izuku engulfed himself with a barrier as quickly as he could, but it was too late.
Melissa let out a surprised shriek, nearly falling back down the stairs as a massive blast rocked the stairwell. "IZUKU!" She yelled, completely forgetting their 'Hero Name only' restriction. Izuku had been blasted back against the wall of the stairwell with crushing force, bouncing his head off the wall before falling forward and onto his face. A cut on the back of his skull was weeping blood and his flaming arm had vanished. His remaining limbs were locked up and trembling slightly. "IZUKU!" She yelled again, scrambling up the steps and running to him. "God, please no! Please be alri-"
She cut off and whipped her left arm to the side, her Sentinel Shield activating and stopping two conical-shaped blades from killing both of them. "You DAMN kids!" Swordkil hissed in fury, "All this effort for some damned brats!"
"Get away from him!" Melissa shoved him back, thanking every star in the sky that she had designed this Hero suit for herself. She and Izuku both would likely be dead now if she hadn't.
Swordkil grunted as he was forced back, and Melissa got back on her feet. He canceled his transformation and grabbed the gun at his side. Melissa raised her shield to block the gunfire, but he surprised her by aiming at her feet. She screamed as the bullet penetrated her costume and agony lanced up her leg and into her brain. She crumbled, preventing the other shots from hitting her. Blood immediately started pumping out from her foot.
Swordkil aimed his gun at the now undefended Izuku, and Melissa let out a roar, "NO!" She deactivated her shield and activated her hologram instead, blasting the light directly into the Villain's eyes.
"FUCK!" He dropped his gun as the searing light and heat nearly blinded him instantly. He howled in pain, pressing his palms to his eyes as he threw himself away from the light. "I'll skewer you for that, girl." He could barely see anything but her blur as he turned both arms into blades.
Melissa activated her Vanguard Spear as she stood on very unsteady legs. Just putting pressure on her wounded foot made it feel like it was falling off. She fought through the pain as she took a step forward, swinging her spear down. She had overclocked it far beyond its power limits. Something she would no doubt feel awful about when this was all over. Swordkil crossed his arms to blade catch it, but there was no catching this attack. She sliced and burned clean through his arms, cutting the tips off and just barely missing out on doing more than cutting his combat vest off. Swordkil howled as the tips of his blades flew through the air, the edges smoldering with heat.
Melissa's Vanguard Spear fizzled out, as just that had drained her power by more than a third. It wasn't a lightsaber, but it was as close as anyone had ever gotten. She roared as she put all her weight on her uninjured foot and threw herself forward, activating her Sentinel Shield for the last time. She crashed into the man and crushed him into the wall, knocking the air out of him and sending him cold to the floor.
She tried to get to her feet, but the pain in her left foot was too great. She crawled over to Izuku, "Izuku. Izuku!" She called, shaking him lightly, before grunting and rolling him over. She cradled his head, trying to keep his neck steady, "God, please be alright. Please wake up. Please!" She put her head on his chest, and was relieved to hear his heart beating okay. Izuku let out a groan, and his eyes opened. "You're awake!" She almost sobbed in relief.
But he looked unfocused. Lost. "Wha…" he mumbled, "Who? Whr…" It was like a fog was in his brain.
Melissa's stomach dropped. He was concussed. Very badly. "Izuku, you're okay." She said, trying to project calm onto him, "You were protecting me, and you got hurt."
"N-Nthn new thr." He slurred sadly, "No Quirk."
Fuck. Fuck. "You do have a Quirk, Izuku." She said, "You're in class 1-A at U.A. You're one of their best students! I need you to remember."
Izuku shook his head in disbelief. This was just another prank. He couldn't remember anything about- He grimaced, scrunching his face as faces flashed in his head.
"You're the Cosmic Hero, Eon!" Melissa said, staring at him intensely as she rubbed his face gently. "You-" She couldn't hold back the scream as her foot throbbed.
"You're hurt!" Izuku said, his vision clearing up. Even with the fuzz in his head, he still automatically reached out and unconsciously ignited his healing flames. Melissa moaned in relief as pleasure replaced pain. Her foot was bathed in his healing flames, and it was as if the bullet inside never existed. Her bones and skin healed, leaving no trace behind. Well, other than the hole in her suit.
"Thank you, Izuku." She sighed softly before grabbing his hand and placing it on his own head. "I'm making you a helmet. One that doesn't just look cool like that other one" She muttered. What a way to find out her super powerful friend was still mortal underneath.
Izuku froze, before his head ignited in blue flames. Once it cleared, his eyes did as well. "T-Thanks, Melissa."
"I was so scared!" Melissa threw herself at him, hugging him tight, "There was so much blood."
"You saved me." He murmured as he hugged her back. They pulled back and oh no, they were most definitely having a 'gazing into each other's eyes' moment. "I told you that you would be a great Hero."
Her heart clenched as her thoughts turned very traitorous. They both inched forward, before Melissa seemed to shock herself. She stood abruptly and turned to hide her burning face. "C-Come on. We still need to finish this!"
Izuku stood, blushing as he realized where his own thoughts had turned, "Yeah." He put his game face back up, "Let's go save everyone!"
"Yeah!" They raced up the steps, picking up the pace for the lost time. They made quick work of the remaining Villains with guns, racing through the halls and stairwells with Izuku's psychic barrier at full strength this time. More mines had hit them, but the barrier was too strong for them. Finally, they reached the top floor of the building. "We're close to the control room." She whispered to him.
"Someone's there." Izuku said, peeking around the corner with her. Their eyes widened.
"Papa!" Melissa whisper-screamed when she saw him. "Where are the Villains? Why are he and Sam alone?"
"There's no one else there." Izuku said, before his face closed up. "…Damn it…" He closed his eyes, "Sam was the mole, Melissa. I just ripped it out of his head."
"No!" She protested, "Sam is-!" Her words died as Sam yelled something at David as he hefted a suitcase, and revealed a gun. "NO!" She leapt, racing toward the two.
"Melissa!" Izuku had also abandoned her Hero Name after what happened earlier.
"What?!" The portly man yelped and turned around, "M-Melis-"
Melissa reached him far faster than anyone could have expected due to her enhanced suit. "Traitor!" She yelled, bashing him with her shield and knocking him to the ground with a grunt of pain. "We trusted you!" She yelled at Sam as the briefcase clattered, "We-"
"Melissa!" David gasped, rushing forward, "What? Are you okay?" He hugged his daughter tight, "W-What are you wearing?"
Melissa ignored him and stomped forward, "Do you have any idea what we've been through to get here?! The danger we had to fight through!?"
Sam spat out a little blood as he struggled to get up. "What danger?" He groaned as he tried to sit up, "The Villains were fakes! Actors!"
"Fake-" She choked, before she snarled, "FAKE?! WAS THE BULLET IZUKU HAD TO REMOVE FROM MY FOOT FAKE?!"
"WHAT?!" David gasped, looking down and seeing the circular hole in her costume. "SAMUEL YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
Before he could advance forward, the briefcase rattled and shot at the doorway as loud BANGS erupted behind them. Izuku whirled around instantly and began blocking shots with his tie as Melissa got in front of her father and shielded him. Samuel wasn't so lucky. He jerked and twitched as little spurts of blood erupted from his front. He let out one last horrified gurgle before expiring.
Izuku growled as the briefcase landed in Wolfram's outstretched hand, "You children have been an annoyance." The redhead growled, "But with the power of this machine, all that will go away." He raised his hand and all of the loose metal bits in the room ripped themselves free, attacking the other occupants.
Izuku glowed as he fought against the metal control, keeping them from getting to Melissa and David. All the while he kept deflecting the bullets. Finally, the rain of lead ended, and Izuku unleashed two rapid Psycho Slashes. The two gunmen next to Wolfram screamed as their guns were cut apart.
Wolfram raised his arm and then threw it down. A huge metal pillar from the ceiling came crashing down, which Izuku stopped with his own psychic power. Wolfram's eye twitched, "I will not be outdone by some fifteen-year-old BRAT!" He snarled, raising both arms and crossing them in a swipe. Two more giant pillars lanced forwards, before more and more started coming. Izuku crossed his own arms and surrounded himself with a circular shield. The metal crashed into it, and his barrier flashed with each impact. More and more crushed metal 'fists' impacted the barrier, until it was completely blocked off by metal.
"Boss! We need to go!" The blonde with the goggles yelled, "The helicopter is here!"
"Not yet!" Wolfram glared at David, "We still need to collect our final piece! The genius capable of mass producing this little wonder!"
"I WON'T LET YOU!" Izuku disintegrated the surrounding prison with a roar of rage, before flinging a hand forward and blasting Wolfram with his power.
Wolfram's eyes widened as he raised a metal wall from the floor, but Izuku's Force Push was so strong it physically ripped the metal wall from the ground and sent it careening towards the Villains. Wolfram's eyes bulged as his metal control was overwhelmed and the hard steel crashed into them.
"Melissa!" Izuku yelled, "Get the systems back up and running!"
"Right! Stay safe, papa!" Melissa replied as she took off running. Izuku kept in front of her as she ran out of the room and then to the left towards the control room. She ignored David calling after her.
"Boss!" Wolfram groaned as his underling shook him, "We're not going to be able to get out with the professor if the security system is back on! We have what we need!"
"No!" Wolfram snarled as he fiddled with the suitcase, "We're not leaving without BOTH of our prizes!" He opened it as he turned his Quirk to the max. Massive pillars of metal flung themselves not only at the defending Izuku, but also blindly at Melissa. Izuku grabbed him with his power and threw him into a wall. Wolfram looked stunned as Izuku jerked his hand left and he broke free and raced into the other side of the wall, his eyes looking white as he crashed into it. But he wasn't unconscious. His Quirk sparked and metal tore from the surroundings, engulfing him and breaking Izuku's hold on him. Izuku tried to yank the briefcase towards him, but it was grabbed by more metal from underneath and dragged into the humanoid-looking mass surrounding Wolfram.
…
Melissa ducked and weaved with every attack, dodging them all and not breaking step. "Get out of my WAY!" She yelled as she activated her shield, running through the gunfire from the last remaining thugs inside the control room. As soon as their guns ran dry, she dropped the shield and leapt, kicking one so hard his jaw broke. She turned to the other who was pulling out a handgun, and activated her shield one last time while punching. The shield extended her reach and threw the man into the wall. He slumped with a groan while sliding down. He didn't move again. Melissa threw herself into the chair and started to type.
She rapidly rebooted the system and got total control of it back from the Villains. "YES!" She cheered as she disabled all of the drones and bots and freed all the Heroes around the island, "We're back in business!"
-]|[-
Yui and Kinoko were panting heavily by now. This was insane. They must have destroyed hundreds of the damn things by this point. Yui had used her Quirk to form a sort of awning above them, not to shield them from the sky or anything, but rather so she could use her Quirk to rapidly grow sections of the ground above them to crush any enemies that approached. Kinoko was completely matted with sweat as well, and was starting to strain to use her Quirk. Despite Yui's defenses, the offensive weapons on the damn machines had tagged them a few times. Rubber balls might not be as deadly as real bullets, but that didn't mean they didn't hurt. And even a rubber bullet could kill someone if it hit them in the wrong spot. Both girls were littered with bruises from the weapons, Kinoko more so than Yui. She bruised like a banana.
Momo was still zipping around utilizing her new prototype suit, but was visibly lagging. Fighting at such high intensity was not something she was even remotely used to. The inside of her suit was completely drenched. One For All was amazing, but even Melissa's creations couldn't keep her going indefinitely.
Finally, she made a mistake. A missed bot had a wire wrapping around her ankle, and she went straight to the ground. Immediately the bots surrounded her, grabbing both legs and arms with their cables as she let out a pained cry. The bots swarmed, all of them firing their rubber bullets at the downed girl. The armor protected her, but it was taking a beating. Hundreds of balls ricocheted off of her as she fought to find some leverage and get back to her feet.
"Izanami!" Kinoko cried out, before shrieking as a trio of rubber bullets struck her in the thigh, wrist, and boob. She went down, clutching her chest in pain.
"Come on!" Yui had emoted more in the past hour than she had in the past month. She furiously grabbed a handful of the rubbed bullets and threw them, enlarging them to the size of box trucks. Each of them barreled over a bunch of the robots, knocking dozens of them back. But there was still no end to them, and Yui took a painful shot right in her belly button for her trouble. She grimaced in pain and took another in the chest, the robots having targeted the same spot that had knocked Kinoko down.
Yui had more pain tolerance than the brunette, but another three strikes had her faltering as well, pain evident on her face as she went down!
"GET AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS!" A new voice screamed as a flying ballistic fist came screaming onto the platform, punching directly through the bots that were targeting her girlfriend. Sparks erupted from loose wires before the bots exploded, and Momo was able to finally regain some stability and whip the other bots holding her around.
Itsuka landed in front of a relieved Kinoko and Yui, her enlarged and hardened fists blocking the shots. Her hands would be stinging later, but they were way tougher than their squishy bodies. "Hiyaa!" She yelled as she charged forward, cutting one of them in half with a karate chop and kicking another square into one more. Both shattered from the strength of her blows before she picked one more up and threw it clear across the roof like a fastball. It pinballed off another five and knocked all six out of the fight.
The ground turned to mud as the attack bots lost their traction, Honenuki erupting into the scene and dragging one below the roof. More and more tried to escape but were pulled under as he swam. In her pained relief, Kinoko swore she heard the Jaws theme.
Nirengeki landed there as well, punching, and kicking every which way, knocking robots into other robots. He activated his Quirk, making them ricochet into other robots and demolishing them like they were bowling pins. He performed a three-hit-combo on one, before kicking it away. It hit another swarm and ricocheted multiple times in different directions, scattering them.
Setsuna's limbs were whipping around like a tornado of death. Her Crush Gauntlets were shattering metal and disabling enemies with every strike, and her kicks weren't doing half bad either, denting metal with every kick.
But it wasn't enough. There were just too damn many of them, even with Momo back in action. Kinoko was still down, and Yui was too busy protecting her to go on the offensive. They were going to get overwhelmed. Someone was going to get seriously injured.
And then the angry red bots all stopped as one, the red leeching from their shells as they turned blue once more. "Huh?" Kinoko asked, cluelessly, once she stopped shielding herself in fear and took a peek. "W-Wha?"
It was Yui who let out the sigh of relief, "They did it." She said simply, finally letting out an exhausted smile.
"Momo!" Setsuna yelped, reassembling fast and catching her girlfriend as she sank to her knees. The protective armor Momo was wearing disassembled, returning her costume to its Creation Mode. Momo was panting heavily as she clutched onto Setsuna. "Are you okay, babe?" She asked in concern.
"God, One For All is exhausting. How does All Might do it?" Momo managed to get out, whispering so only Setsuna could hear. "I'm going to be so sore tomorrow." She whined.
"That's what she said." Setsuna blurted before she could stop herself.
Momo let out a little giggle at that, pressing her lips to Setsuna's jawline, "Thanks Set. I think I needed that." Setsuna returned the favor, pressing her lips to Momo's in a sweet kiss. Momo managed to stand and stretched, twisting both of her arms and legs in circular motions as she tried to work the kinks out. "We should be able to get up the res-"
BOOM!
All of them cried out and clapped their hands to their ears. They all looked up, eyes bulging as metal moved like it was alive. A massive humanoid figure made entirely of metal had burst out from the top floor of the tower. It was massive and was consuming more and more metal to grow even larger. A loud roar reached even them, before the behemoth threw a double-hammer fist down at the roof.
Another excruciatingly loud noise hit them along with a shockwave, nearly blowing them over. Momo watched as something got sent twenty floors from the top, hitting the floor, and smashing through it each time, judging from the warps and vibrations she could see. Even some of the windows shattered outwards from the pressure waves.
"…Fuck." Itsuka grimaced as she said what they all were thinking.
This wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.
-]|[-
The Gardens no longer bore any resemblance to their namesake. At least half of the grass was nothing more than charred dirt, carved trenches, and littered remains of annihilated robots. No more were coming. Or at least not immediately. All of them had been torn apart, including the ones that had focused on Flect Turn and started blasting at him with rubber bullets. It looked like a historical warzone, its beauty utterly tarnished.
The kids were all pretty tired already, having been fighting the mad leader of Humarise for over ten minutes since the defeat of his two underlings. At the very least, neither group had the home field advantage. Flect Turn's Quirk may have been extremely potent, but the lack of his turrets was starting to infuriate him. He no longer had the upper hand with just his Reflect, and his Arachne had been withered down to only two remaining arms.
Camie had used her glamour beautifully. Flect Turn still had to breathe, so he couldn't avoid her gas no matter what his Quirk happened to do. She'd been unable to do much to beat him. She couldn't even get close, because as her aching leg showed, he could reflect physical attacks just as easily as he could reflect long range attacks from the others. Still, that didn't mean she had been useless. Flect Turn had not been able to precisely hit any of them because of her illusions, and she had kept the others as safe as possible. That had allowed them to get some meager licks of their own.
Inasa had cut one Arachne arm off with a vacuum blade technique, inspired by his best friend's Psycho Slashes. It had taken quite a few attempts before he managed to aim it perfectly, and the missed attempts had all been reflected back at them. Flect Turn had ceased to be a target once he realized they were targeting his equipment, and had actually started moving around. Something that quite clearly was pissing him off. Mina sniping another of the glittering crystals with her Acid Snipe seemed to make him snap.
"Don't you see?!" He asked them, controlling the rebound as best he could and aiming the energy at Mina. "A hundred years ago, these curses could barely do anything! They were quaint little abilities that helped you cook, or travel, or occasionally save lives! Now first year school children are throwing around tornados and icebergs. Each of you can destroy and destroy and destroy to your heart's content!" He snapped at them, aiming the crystals on his Arachne, and firing lasers at them, "And they do not compare to mine! You can't touch me! Nothing can touch me, even if I want it to!"
The lasers carved into the ground, and Shōto grunted as Inasa barreled into him and knocked him away. The two of them tumbled on the destroyed ground, before sliding to a stop roughly. Shōto was covered in frost and was finding it hard to even move. "T-Thanks." Shōto finally admitted that he needed help. He likely would have had a fancy new hole in his chest if the boisterous user of wind hadn't helped him out of the way.
"You're welcome…" Inasa groaned, "But are you seriously still doing this?" He sat up, "Do you seriously want to keep sounding like this asshole?"
Shōto grunted as he rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up, staring at the man. The snipe hit a little close to home. Was this what he sounded like to others? As much as he hated to admit it, the madman's rhetoric and self-pity over his Quirk's abilities sounded uncomfortably similar to his own rage over his father.
All of them, even Flect Turn himself, startled and looked up. An extremely loud bang had come from the upper floors, followed by an uncomfortable rumble. The whole tower seemed to shake minutely. "Damn it!" Inasa growled out, "What's going on up there? They better still be safe!" He offered Shōto his hand, "Come on man, we gotta finish this."
Shōto let out a frigid breath as he was helped to his feet, "…Is that really what I sound like to you?"
Inasa let out a breath, "Todoroki… I don't know what your problem with him is, but all you've done is tell us that you want to become a top Hero without his fire. If you really wanted to spite your father, you'd become a hermit and never use your Quirk at all. As it is, he gets what he wants regardless of whether you use your full Quirk or not." He asked, making Shōto's eyes widen, "So damn it man, do you want to be a Hero or not?" The words made Shōto remember things he'd long forgotten.
As they spoke, the other students continued to fire their abilities. Mina was punching the air as fast as she could, firing snipe after snipe of her acid at the man's remaining Arachne. Flect was keeping them moving, changing their position, and Mina had rapidly dialed her aim in. More than one snipe had hit him directly, and they all were rebuffed. It simply charged the writhing energy behind him.
But they weren't letting up. Every time he tried to retaliate, he stopped and had to allow his Arachne to work. He couldn't hit a thing due to Camie's illusions making him think they were where they weren't even close to. Even mass firing wildly didn't work. He hadn't touched one of them a single time. But to fire at all, his mirrors had to stop and focus, and that was when they struck. Kaminari was grinning madly as a bolt of lightning hit the focusing crystal, and electrocuted his system. The Arachne spazzed out from the electricity, and Nejire perfectly aimed one of her own snipes to take out the last mirror.
That seemed to break Flect Turn, not only because his means of actually attacking them via his own intent were broken, but because the shock had actually traveled to him too. For the first time in his life, Flect Turn felt pain. He screamed and fell out of the sky to his knees, before glaring at all of them with bloodshot eyes. "RARGGGGGHH!" He roared, and the collected energy exploded around him, blasting out in a sphere towards all of them.
"Shit!" Kaminari and Mina screamed as they were hit. Camie used her jetpack to try to catch Mina, but that just got her thrown back as well. They flew, impacting the walls hard. They crumbled to the floor in pain as they huffed, trying to get air back into their lungs. "S-Sorry Camie!" Mina gasped out, holding her chest.
"My tits!" Camie managed to wheeze out, curling into her girlfriend's back.
Nejire also yelped as she was knocked out of the sky, and Inasa was forced to rocket up and catch her. "Owie!" Nejire rubbed her forehead, wiping away some blood as she winced and got out of his arms and back on the ground, "Darn it, he has to have a weakness! All Quirks do!"
Todoroki walked up, "Yeah…" He looked at his left hand, "They do." He raised it, and the students' faces lit up as his arm ignited on fire. The heat felt wonderful. The ice on his body evaporated away and his energy returned. He felt like he could move again. "I have an idea!" He yelled, "Everyone, surround him! Hit him from everywhere at once!"
"YOU GOT IT!" Nejire and Inasa yelled as they took off into the air. Shōto himself took off running.
"What is this!?" Flect Turn yelled, "Fire AND Ice?! The day of doom must be closer than I predicted!" He turned to Shōto, "It's a miracle that you can control even that much! How many more generations will pass before such abilities become completely uncontrollable?! How many before children are covering continents in ice sheets or igniting the very atmosphere itself?! I will not allow it! I will save this world and return it to the peace it was meant to have!"
"You talk too much." Shōto shot back, unphased by the madman's words. "Blast Burn!" He yelled, thrusting his left arm forward. A giant flamethrower aimed directly for Flect Turn sped forward. The man tried to move out of the way, anticipating more pain from the heat if nothing else.
But he was hit in the back by a jet of acid, forcing him forward into the flames. The two attacks sandwiched him in the middle. He still absorbed the energy, but he screamedas the heat burned his skin, nonetheless.
"TWINADOES!" Inasa yelled from the sky, rotating wind visible around his fists. He punched forward, sending the spiraling tornados down at their enemy. The fire threw off his aim, but Inasa had already had experience fighting in those conditions. He never would… never could forget Burning-chan. He compensated for the rise, and his tornadoes struck Flect Turn directly in the side.
The writhing masses of black energy were still surrounding him, but something happened that the man had never experienced in his life. He'd been forced back. The impacts of Inasa's wind had knocked him to the ground and sent him sliding through the dirt in pain. "Wha-" He gasped out as it happened before his eyes nearly popped out of his skull.
Nejire came down like a fist from god. Nothing more than a yellow flash was visible before she crashed knee-first into his stomach, her energy spiraling around her. Spittle flew from his mouth as he hacked in agony, every bit of air in his body driven from his lungs. Once more, the energy around him exploded, forcing Nejire back and nearly sending her flying into the ceiling. She tumbled and tumbled before just barely managing to catch herself in midair. Her costume was wrecked and torn in various locations. Thankfully her modesty was still safe, but the blast really had been a bit too close for comfort.
Flect Turn clenched his stomach in agony as he coughed and gasped to try to get air into his lungs. His skin was visibly flashing between the neon blue they all knew, and a 'regular' skin color, "Wh-What's this?!" He managed to force out, "What have you DONE TO ME?! My- My Quirk! WHY DID IT NOT WORK?!"
"We overwhelmed it! Just like every Quirk can be!" Nejire said, panting, "No Emitter Quirk is permanently active. They all take energy to use! To control! They have to be trained and refined! Something you never did! You gave up on your Quirk! You never bothered to learn everything there was to know about it! You gained it and didn't like what it did, so you threw yourself a pity party because of it! You never tried to overcome its weaknesses! You just gave up! You allowed IT to control YOU, and used your own fear to stoke the fear in others! You peddled an unproven theory as fact to feel better about yourself!"
"No." Flect Turn got to his feet, "NO! I WON'T ACCEPT IT!" He pulled out a red vial attached to a syringe from his pocket.
And it immediately melted in his hand. "NOT THIS TIME!" Mina yelled, smirking at him as his Trigger was rendered useless. Her other arm fired a continuous stream of acid at him.
"NO!" Flect Turn yelled, before he was blasted by another wave of fire from Shōto. He cried out in pain as he tried to shield himself. The energy writhing opposite the oncoming fire was noticeably less chaotic. "I… AM THIS WORLD'S… SAVIOR!"
"Fam, you can't even save yourself!" Camie shot at him, a smirk on her face. A few feet away, Kaminari had a slasher smile on his face. They'd all been knocked near an electrical panel, and the broken metal plate from the impact had gotten their attention when it started sparking. Kaminari revealed two electrical clamps from his costume's jacket. The wires were connected to him, and he was now draining megawatts of power from the I-Island control tower. "Zap Cannon!" He held his hands in front of him, which crackled with lightning between them. A beam of electricity shot forward, impacting him, and continuously trying to electrocute him.
"Nejire FLOOD!" Nejire called, sending a tight, spiraling wave of her power at 100% down at him, impacting him from an angle from above. Fire, Nejire's Wave Motion, and Kaminari's lightning converged. Mina's acid was quickly added to the mix. Only Camie had nothing to throw in.
"URSUS SHOCK!" Inasa's attack was the straw that broke the camel's back.
A massive explosion ripped through the remains of the Garden. This one was unlike the previous ones. The writhing black tornados of energy that had constantly surrounded Flect Turn with every impact they dealt him shattered. A massive cloud of smoke and dirt blew into the air, and the shockwave knocked all of them back and to the ground. Nejire and Inasa both cried out in pain as they landed roughly. When the smoke cleared, Flect Turn was revealed. His body was a solid mass of bruises, and he was clearly unconscious. His Quirk was also noticeably off, due to his skin being completely normal once more.
They had won!
"We did it…" Mina wobbled tiredly as she tried to get up, and instead fell onto Camie. "I can't feel my arms…"
"Oof!" Camie exhaled, before helping Mina to take off her gauntlets. Mina's hands were shaking from all the acid she'd forced through them. Melissa's gear had been a godsend, but it was SO tiring to use. She'd never forced that much quantity in that little amount of time out from such small areas before. She snuggled with her pink girlfriend.
Nejire struggled to her feet, "G-Good job." She managed to get up, "We-We still have to help Zuzu! This isn't over yet." She took a step and stumbled to her hands and knees again.
"YES IT IS!" All Might landed near them.
"All Might!" They all yelled, smiling widely.
"Forgive me, students! You're all hurt because I couldn't stop this!" All Might clenched his fist, "I was too slow for the second time. You all did wonderfully. The other group managed to bring the security back online, and you clearly fought a tough battle yourselves. Rest now. Your role in this is done. I will handle the rest!" He launched himself into the air and through the holes in the ceiling.
Nejire finally allowed herself to relax, relinquishing her Quirk. Mina and Camie had managed to amble their way over, and they pulled her into their arms, "They'll be alright." Mina said.
"Yeah fam, they have Yaomomo and Zuku." Camie confirmed her words, "And now All Might too. This will be over before we know it."
Nejire clenched her fist, "I know… but we all could have been together now. I still have a long way to go!"
"Senpai, it was because of your leadership that we got this far, and we were able to win. Don't beat yourself up." Inasa plopped down next to them.
"Yeah." Todoroki winced as he sat as well, "And thank you all… for getting through my thick head." He stared at his left hand wistfully.
"Are you kids alright?!" Ingenium skidded to a stop near them.
"Exhausted." Kaminari had the shakes from all the electricity he'd pumped through himself. "But we're cool." He looked up, "I just hope the rest of the group can say the same."
-]|[-
Izuku and Melissa only had a scant few moments to celebrate before everything went straight to hell. All of a sudden it was like an electric current was running through the air, and then the entire building started to shift around them. Every single metallic thing in the vicinity was being violently ripped away and consolidating on the writhing mass of metal before Izuku. Thick power cables snaked through like veins while the metal plates formed defensive shields. "Ahahahaha!" Wolfram's voice rang through, before he became visible in the core of the massive mechanical monster. Izuku's stomach dropped when he noticed the device with glowing tips securely on his head. "What a wonderful device! I can feel my Quirk being revitalized!" He looked past Izuku, "The underworld will pay a fortune for this, but I quite like this one." Izuku realized what was about to happen a moment before it did, and he was too late to react, "You'll be making them for the rest of your LIFE!"
Izuku whirled around to grab the professor and get him out of there, but David let out a cry of fear as more cables broke through the floor and ensnared him. "Professor!"
"Get out of the way, you impudent BRAT!" A MASSIVE steel pillar shot out of the ceiling. No, it was more than that. It was as if the roof of the entire building along with every wall around them was being peeled away, and compacted into that one mass. It shot down at him so fast that a sonic boom ripped through the roof. Izuku's eyes widened as he flared up just in time.
What was for all intents and purposes a giant metallic fist smashed down on his psychic bubble and drove it clean through the floor. A screech rang through the building as metal groaned and broke, and Izuku was driven down through it to the next floor. But Wolfram didn't stop there. The tons and tons of steel kept driving downward, breaking through the next floor as well, and then the next, and then the next, each time with an accompanying crash.
"EON!" Melissa cried out in horror as her friend was seemingly defeated. Her eyes widened even more, "PAPA!" She yelled, watching as her father was drawn into the mass of metal. She grit her teeth and dove for one of the downed Villains. This was the last thing she wanted to do, but she knew she needed to do it. She HAD to break that device! She grabbed the Villain's assault rifle and aimed as quickly as she could, her visor snapping to life over her face and providing instant data. She fired.
The bullet raced unerringly toward the Villain's head. She was aiming for the device. If she could at least break one of the arms connecting it to his head, it would be disabled! And if she missed? Well, she'd deal with the nightmares later.
Wolfram's head was engulfed with metal, forming a thick helmet around himself. "Ahahaha!" he laughed, "My, my! What a ruthless response! I suppose you really are Americans!" He sneered down at David, "What a willful daughter you have, professor. Unfortunately, I can't have my slave having any distractions."
"NO!" David yelled out, straining but unable to do anything as the evil man shot another big pillar of metal at Melissa! "Melissa!"
The floor before Melissa bulged upwards and erupted, revealing Izuku who was glowing so brightly you could hardly see his skin. His hair was whipping about, and his eyes were pure pools of emerald, no anything resembling actual eyes visible. He swung his sword, unleashing a monstrous Psycho Slash. The attack visibly warped the air, peeling apart and practically disintegrating the attack. His slash continued on, carving clean into the behemoth's right arm, and cutting it off. Hundreds of tons started crashing to the floor before they froze in midair and rose back into position.
"YOU!" Wolfram roared, snarling in fury, "How many times do we have to kill you, you fucking brat?!"
"You're not getting away!" Izuku rose into the air, "Why?" he readied his sword, "BECAUSE I AM HERE!" And then he surprised Wolfram by instead reaching with his other hand.
Wolfram instantly started to struggle as Izuku attacked his body directly, trying to rip him through the metal shell if necessary. "NO! NOT TO SOME BRAT!" He roared, focusing his empowered Quirk. The electromagnetism around him spiked even harder, and the two forces interfered with one another. He was encased in more and more metal inside the shell he'd created around himself. Of course, this blinded him to everything other than what was directly in front of him, but he needed to do it otherwise Izuku would beat him no matter how powerful his Quirk grew.
Izuku tried to reach inside and feel out David's mind, but there was just too much interference. He could feel exactly where the man was inside the mass, but could not do anything beyond that. Behind him, Melissa stood firmly but looking tired, "I didn't sign up for a giant robot fight tonight." She grumbled, dropping the gun to the floor.
Izuku let out a snort, quirking a weak grin, "We need to get your dad out of there."
"Where is he?" She asked back, her visor still displaying data.
"Wolfram is moving him around." Izuku grunted, looking annoyed. His eyes lit up as he saw a red blur rise up from behind the behemoth. He immediately reached out to Momo, who was once again encased in her full armor (Geek later!), and connected with her mentally. 'Momo! Professor Shield is inside that thing! He's trapped by the Villain!' He shared senses with Momo, allowing her to see where David was.
'Got it!' Momo replied back, 'Can you peel away at least the layers in front so I can grab him?'
'Do it now!' Izuku yelled back at her, before the front of the metallic Villain glowed green as he reached forward and clenched his fists. Izuku wrenched both of his arms back, and the front of the mass's 'stomach' exploded outwards, revealing David tied up in very few remaining cables and wires.
"Nice try!" Wolfram called out, already commanding more metal to shift to cover David once more.
"THANK YOU!" Momo cried out from behind him, impacting the massive humanoid-shaped heap of metal from behind with a gigantic shockwave from her usage of One For All at 25%. She damn near cut the whole thing in half. She zipped past David, grabbing him, and tearing him from the rest of the cables. The mass sank down with loud screeching as the rest of the torso crashed into and started reconnecting to the bottom mass.
David looked like he was going to throw up as she skidded to a halt near Izuku and Melissa, "You'd think I'd be used to that after all that time with Toshi." David was green as he muttered, before being assaulted by a ballistic Melissa.
"PAPA!" She cried joyously.
"GIVE. HIM. BAAAAAACK!" Wolfram roared in a mad rage. These damned BRATS were all going to die! Cables and wires from every inch of the building he could reach with his Quirk snaked out of the floors and whipped towards them.
The three Heroes immediately sprang into action. Izuku lifted a huge platform straight out of the ground and into the air, while he, Melissa, and Momo sprang around like little buzz-saws. Izuku used his sword, Melissa her spear, and Momo a freshly created naginata. The cables and wires kept coming, but they were effortlessly sliced and diced by the three.
And then they got even more help. Honenuki stepped out of the (somehow still functioning) elevator with the rest of their classmates and liquified the ground. All of a sudden, every single cable, wire, and metallic plate that was still in some way connected to the ground turned liquid and Wolfram completely lost control of them, preventing him from manipulating them further. The floating items, Itsuka and Setsuna bashed into with giant fists and Crush Gaunts. Honenuki didn't have as much distance as he would have liked with his Quirk, but he had a Yui.
She put her hands into the mud, and it began to surge, turning into a tsunami wave of the stuff which crashed into Wolfram's massive suit of armor and forced it back. As the man roared in anger, Izuku and Momo both slashed their weapons, unleashing twin air blades that cut the behemoth's arms off. Metal crashed down to the room and into the mud, sinking down with twin splashes.
Wolfram seemed to snap, "FINE THEN!" All of the metal that had been floating around the tower started smashing into one another, forming a titanic cube of metal that measured around 250 meters in length on every side. Kinoko in particular looked utterly terrified as she sank to her knees, though most of them weren't much better. The metal looked so compacted it may as well have been a solid cube. If he could throw that with ANY real sort of speed? "I'LL JUST DESTROY THIS ENTIRE ISLAND, AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WITH IT!"
The cube shot forward so fast the air started heating up its surface. One of the most massive sonic booms anyone alive had ever heard ripped through the air.
And then the cube stopped completely short. The silence was audible as the cube turned emerald as Izuku walked forward with one arm outstretched, looking almost like he was glitching from the output of his psychic power.
"It's…" Wolfram sounded like he couldn't believe his eyes, "It's not possible!"
"I've had ENOUGH of you threatening my friends!" Izuku forced the cube back completely, blowing it clear off of the island and into the ocean over a mile away.
'I hope nothing important was in that.' David couldn't help but think dumbly.
"RARGH!" Wolfram roared, going for broke and stripping even his armor away to form more attack pillars to fling at them. ANYTHING to kill these damn children who had foiled his plans at every turn!
Izuku and Momo both were engulfed in their respective colors, and they sprang forward. "AND STAY DOWN!" They yelled together, punching through Wolfram's titan together and straight into his gut. Their combined powers blew the entire giant apart, sending metallic rain all over the place. Izuku was able to land them gently amongst the growing pile of refuse, before the both of them collapsed against each other in exhaustion.
"IZUKU! MOMO!" Setsuna and Melissa both had been unable to do much during the final stage of the fight, but they damn well could make sure they were alright. "Are you okay?" Melissa asked, fretting over Izuku and Momo.
"God, what a night. Could have been tired because we were dancing all fucking night, but noOoOoOo." Setsuna griped, snuggling into Momo, who let out an exhausted giggle.
"We're fine." Momo said, smiling lightly, "Tired, but fine."
"Such an amazing Quirk in the hands of a Villain…" Izuku grumbled, "That really just p-"
"RARGH!" Wolfram burst from a pile of refuse, the device still on his head. Melissa and Setsuna jumped to their feet to defend Izuku and Momo. Wolfram seemed to have had a psychotic breakdown, because he was just seemingly screaming into the void. The device was sparking as his musculature seemed to balloon. His skin started to glow from within and even the black mark on his face seemed to evaporate away.
"Wait! That's not his Quirk!" Melissa gasped, watching with wide eyes as the man started to steam.
No one got a chance to respond, because Wolfram shot forward like a bullet, aiming directly for Izuku and ready to wring his head from his neck. And then he crashed into a wall, falling back. It seemed to shake him awake, and he snarled. "ALL MIGHT!"
All Might's face was shadowed, and he was definitely not smiling as he took a single step forward. Wolfram raised his hand, sparking to life as metal reacted. And then All Might's meaty fist was buried in his gut, forcing bloody spittle from his mouth. All Might grabbed the device off his head and crushed it like a tin can. "My students told you to stay down." He said coldly, and Wolfram hacked once more before falling silent. His skin turned back to normal… and then went even further into abnormal. He deflated, his previously healthy and well-trained muscles shriveling until he was a shell of his former self. "You kids alright?" All Might turned, beaming a smile at them.
"You're late." Setsuna sniped, though she was grinning and nuzzling Momo.
"That I am." He bowed his head, "I'm glad everyone is okay. Everyone made it out just fine! Words can't describe how proud I am of all of you." he raised his head, beaming at them again, "When the time comes, I can retire knowing the future is secure!"
"All Might!" They all teared up, smiling up at him.
Melissa looked up at him and her father and bit her lip. Resolve blossomed inside of her as she looked at them resolutely, "Papa… Uncle Might… I want to do it." She said, causing Izuku, Momo, and Setsuna to smile. "I want to do it!"
David looked clueless, "Do what?"
"I want to be a hero!" She declared, stunning her father.
All Might chuckled, "I thought that might be the case." He stared warmly at her, before patting her on the head, "You already are." Melissa teared up, before she beamed at him.
"W-Well now, this is a surprise." David mumbled, before smiling at his daughter, "Melissa, after what I saw tonight, I have no doubt in my mind either, and I'll support your choice every step of the way."
"Wahahaha!" All Might laughed again, "It's rather late in the year for a transfer, but I'm sure I can work something out with the principal, if that's what you want."
"We do have an empty spot in our class," Momo mused to herself, tapping her chin with a finger, "And no offense, but she would probably have too much to catch up on to join the upper years. It works out rather nicely, doesn't it?"
Melissa looked overwhelmed with the knowledge, and had started to sway, both from it and from the sheer exhaustion of the night. Something All Might noticed immediately, "Yes, I suppose it does. If this were an end of year exam, I believe you all would have passed with flying colors. Test or not, I'm sure that'll count for something with Nezu. But I can see you're all exhausted, so now it's time to rest." He said, "Let us useless adults handle the rest." The self-depreciation got a few chuckles out of them, and a hurried hug out of Melissa. "Oh, but before I go, let me warn you." His tone was dark, making the students stiffen, "Prepare for your first lesson, Melissa-chan… Tomorrow… you'll all have to undergo a debrief!" He smiled cheesily, almost making them fall down. He left, immediately putting cuffs on Wolfram, and hauling him away. He hurried away with David, seeing as he could feel his limit fast approaching.
"He's SUCH a dork…" Setsuna chuckled to herself. She had slumped, leaning on Izuku.
"Wouldn't be All Might if he wasn't." He gazed at the rising sun.
"Were we really fighting for that long?" Setsuna gaped as she realized what he was looking at.
She would have gone on, but both Melissa and Momo broke out into massive yawns. "Ugh, my apartment is so far away…" Melissa mumbled, her head bobbing before she shook it.
"Nah girl, you're rooming with us." Setsuna threw her arm around her shoulder.
Melissa blushed, "I wouldn't want to impose." She mumbled, cheeks red as she snuck a glance at Izuku.
Something both of his girlfriends noticed, "Nah, fuck that. You're definitely with us." Setsuna grinned. "We got plenty of room."
"Not to mention," Momo interrupted herself to yawn again, "I think we should all be with friends tonight. It was…" She struggled to find something to say, "certainly not the pleasant night we all envisioned." She giggled lightly, "I think I may even have preferred that…fancy dinner I was fearing." They all started to laugh at that. Melissa decided not to argue, and they tiredly made their way down the tower to join up with the rest of their friends.
"Oh, by the way." Setsuna started as they vanished down the stairwell, "What happened to your foot, Melissa-chan? Your costume looked damaged."
"Well…" The door clanged shut behind them, cutting off the blonde's voice.