Chương 2003: 22
"Midoriya?" Present Mic's voice, much less exuberant than normal, brought him back to the present and Izuku looked over at Mei, who looked like she was about to throw up. How long had they been sitting there? "Are you and the other little listener ok? You went quiet there. And what was that about dust?"
"Uh," Izuku swallowed the bile that was starting to climb up his throat, "The, leader...his quirk...he just killed…it's my fault…"
There was a panicked flurry of noise on the other end of the comm, but the white noise in Izuku's brain was louder. He'd never seen someone die before. If it wasn't for Izuku's interference, would Shigaraki still have killed that guy? Probably not, so it was all Izuku's fault that he was dead.
"Slow down, Young Midoriya." All Might's voice wasn't quite the same as it was when he was in his hero form, but it still brought back enough memories of long hours in front of the computer to be slightly comforting. "Start from the beginning. First off, is Eraserhead all right?"
"W-what?" Izuku looked at the screen helplessly. Even though it seemed like the world had stopped for him, the fight was still going. Eraserhead was still slowly being overwhelmed by the cannon fodder as Shigaraki and Kurogiri watched impassively, as if they hadn't just casually left a body in the middle of the plaza.
"Eraserhead is fine." Mei reported, apparently recovering from the shock a little quicker than Izuku had been able to. "The villain killed one of his own men."
"He killed him because of me, Mei-chan." Izuku's voice cracked. "That man is dead because of me."
Mei looked at him, the emotions in her eyes swirling between pity, helplessness, and something else that Izuku couldn't' name, "I know, but they're gonna kill a lot more people if we do nothing."
Izuku took a deep breath and let it out slowly before addressing the teachers and throwing himself into his analysis. He could deal with... everything later, "The leader's name is Shigaraki. He has a disintegration quirk that seems to spread from wherever he touches. Most likely a five point activation quirk, just like Uraraka's gravity nullification. Unknown whether he can control the speed with which something turns to dust. The warp quirk user's name is Kurogiri and he appears to be the right hand, also more mature than Shigaraki. All other villains are most likely hired muscle."
Izuku still didn't want to use the guns that Nedzu had mentioned, but he went into the defense system and started booting them up anyway. If Shigaraki was willing to kill so easily, Izuku had to be prepared. Mei was right, all he could worry about right now was making sure Shigaraki didn't kill anyone else.
"Mei-chan, you take over the mountain zone." Izuku said. "I need to focus on the plaza."
"Will do, Izu-kun!" Mei turned toward the screen and her eyes widened. "Oh my god!"
"What?" Izuku turned to check what was wrong, only to end up with Mei's hands over his eyes. "Mei-chan! What are you doing? I can't see!"
"What's going on over there?" Powerloader demanded. "Kids!"
"We're fine, Powerloader-sensei!" Mei yelled. "It's just that Izu-kun doesn't need to see that!"
"I literally just saw someone die, Mei-chan." Izuku grumbled. "What's worse than that?"
"Well, it's just that..." Mei-s voice sounded embarrassed, "One of the girls in the mountain zone had a...costume malfunction..."
"I knew that costume was going to be a problem." Izuku grumbled, "Her quirk works through skin-exposure Mei-chan, it's not a big deal. If I promise not to look, can I have my eyes back?"
"Hatsume, please." Present Mic sounded somewhat desperate. "Midoriya needs to help Shouta.."
"Oh!" Mei snatched her hands back as if she'd just been burned, "I...I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking and…"
"Sometimes trauma is like that." Hounddog interrupted patiently. "Experiences like this make the brain want to cling to any sense of normalcy it can get. Honestly, you kids are first years and aren't even in the hero course, you shouldn't be going through any of this..."
"If we weren't involved, you still wouldn't know about the attack." Izuku said resolutely. "We're fine. Crap, Shigaraki's on the move."
Izuku turned up the volume so he could hear Shigaraki's muttering, "...24 seconds, then 20, then 17…"
It took a moment for Izuku to make the connection, and when it did, he couldn't help feeling like he'd somehow gotten caught in Todoroki's ice quirk, "He's figured out Eraserhead's tell."
Eraserhead tensed and jumped away from Shigaraki as he ran forward and Izuku sighed in relief, "I was worried for a second that Eraserhead had been too busy to see Shigaraki's quirk in action, but he's keeping his distance, so he's safe for now."
"Eraserhead prides himself on having good situational awareness." Nedzu said. "He wouldn't be such an effective hero if he was unable to multitask."
"I've gotten almost all of the students out of the disaster zones." Mei reported. "Most of them are heading toward the entrance, but a few are trying to make their way toward the plaza."
"Get in their way, please, Miss Hatsume." Nedzu ordered. "We need to keep the students away from the most dangerous villains as much as possible."
"But…"
"Hatsume…" Powerloader said her name like it was a warning, which it probably was, although Izuku had no idea what the punishment for disobedience would be. Most likely no access to flammable materials for a week.
"Fine, have it your way." Mei huffed and started typing. Izuku glanced over to see Katsuki and Kirishima struggling to keep their feet as a mini-earthquake shook the path they were on. It wouldn't hold them back for long, but he trusted Mei to keep them safe.
Turning back to his own screen, Izuku stopped breathing as he realized that Shigaraki had stopped the cat and mouse game he'd been playing with Eraserhead and was now scratching his neck again. This couldn't be good.
"Stupid cheater." Shigaraki muttered. "If it wasn't for the stupid extra player with the cheat codes, I could have taken Easerhead out easily! His quirk isn't good for long drawn out battles with big groups…"
"No...good hero…" Eraserhead panted and shot his capture weapon toward Shigaraki, "...is a...one trick pony."
Kurogiri appeared beside Shigaraki and the capture weapon disappeared harmlessly into a portal, only to reappear at Eraserhead's ankles. Eraserhead rolled away and his hair started floating. The portals disappeared, cutting the capture weapon neatly in half as they closed. Izuku shivered slightly. If Kurogiri closed one of his portals while someone was halfway through...
"Would you like me to take care of him?" Kurogiri asked.
Shigaraki stopped scratching his neck and grinned widely enough that Izuku could see the expression behind the hand on his face, "No. Eraserhead might be cool, but he doesn't know that I'm not the final boss here! Nomu!"
Izuku didn't know how he'd missed the giant shadow that slammed Eraserhead into the ground, but if he'd thought about it at all, he would have assumed that the bird villain with an exposed brain was just another one of the thugs Shigaraki had hired.
He would have been wrong.
"What even is that thing?" Mei's voice raised in barely concealed panic and Izuku decided he didn't like it when she panicked. That was supposed to be his job.
"I...I don't know." Izuku stalled for a moment, ignoring the teachers barrage of questions on the other end of the comm as he analyzed the villain. "Everyone shut up!"
"Eraserhead is still alive." At least, Izuku hoped he was, but he could have sworn he'd seen the hero moving around a little, even after whatever that thing was had stopped beating him, "But the students are on their own now. He's not going to be able to fight anyone with those injuries. As for what attacked him...well, it doesn't seem human. It has a strength aspect to it's quirk, definitely, but it also seems to have some sort of bird mutation, which should normally come with more fragile bones and diminished physical strength that this villain obviously hasn't shown signs of…"
Izuku trailed off as Shigaraki started speaking again. Bragging, his brain corrected.
"What do you think of him?" Shigaraki said gleefully. "He's the bioengineered anti-symbol of peace, but you can call him Nomu. He's got his own set of cheat codes to beat the big boss!"
"Bioengineered anti-symbol of peace?" Mei repeated, horrified. "That thing was invented? That's somebody's baby?!"
"Their back up is going to be coming soon. Between the student that escaped and that noob with the cheat codes, it's game over." Shigaraki growled, and brought his hand up to start scratching his neck again, only to freeze right before he made contact. "How about we leave the symbol of peace a present to break his pride when he gets here!"
He lunged toward Eraserhead, but Izuku was already ready. He shot every weapon he could think of at the space between Shigaraki and the hero, but apparently Kurogiri was already expecting his attack. Each of the rockets, bullets and other projectiles he's launched were effortlessly redirected upwards, harmlessly exploding near the ceiling. Portions of the dome shattered from the shrapnel and bullets, and the remaining thugs ran for cover as shards started raining down, but even falling glass wasn't enough to stop Shigaraki from grabbing Eraserhead's face just like he had grabbed the blocker earlier. Mei and Izuku both held their breath as all five of Shigaraki's fingers made contact.
Nothing happened.
"You really are so cool, Eraserhead." Shigaraki grinned. At least he seemed to respect Eraserhead as an opponent, not that that would be enough to keep him alive. "Nomu!"
Izuku had already launched another net at the Nomu, hoping to cancel his quirk in time to soften the blow, making sure to shoot a rocket at Kurogiri at the same time in an attempt to distract him. The half-baked plan worked and the net wrapped around the monster, but even with the net canceling his quirk, the Nomu still slammed Eraserheads face into the concrete with an audible crack and the hero finally went completely limp. Shigaraki simply huffed and disintegrated the net like it was nothing before turning his attention back toward the now unconscious Eraserhead.
"How far out are you guys?" Izuku's brain whirled with a million plans as he addressed the heroes.
"About five minutes." Nedzu said. "But All Might could get there in two if…"
"Do it." Izuku ordered. "Power up and get over there. I'll distract them."
"Izu-kun," Mei warned, "don't you dare…"
"Young Midoirya, I really must insist…" All Might's voice overlapped Mei's and the other heroes' as they tried to stop him, but Izuku resolutely ignored them as he connected to the PA system.
Shigaraki froze with his hand only inches away from Eraserhead's face as Izuku's voice, slightly warped from both the technology and the acoustics of the building, echoed around the USJ.
"Hello!" He took a deep breath and forced a shaky smile onto his face in a poor attempt to both assure Mei and to make himself sound more confident, "You seem to be having a little trouble."
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