Chapter Text
"Himi, grab the girl. If I'm right about how teleportation Quirks interact with each other, if you Blink when they try to teleport her away, it'll interfere with it," Izuku said softly. "'Chako, take out Overhaul and his friend. I'll handle this Nomu."
"...Izuku," Ochako began, a warning tone in her voice, before being cut off by Izuku.
"You're the best at range, 'Chako, better than me. And you have area of effect capability, along with Erasure. And only Himi can stop that teleportation Quirk, if I'm right about how they work."
"And if you're not?" Himiko shot back, narrowing her eyes at the Nomu before them that was still studying them intently.
"Then come back and help me or 'Chako, whichever one needs it more. But getting the girl to safety is our number one priority."
Himiko pursed her lips, sharing a glance with Ochako, but…she knew Izuku had a point. Leaving her loved ones behind to face monsters was not something she liked, but…that little girl needed to be safe, and she was the best for it. Silently, she vowed she'd figure out who had that stupid fucking teleportation Quirk and take them out as soon as possible, but for now… "Okay. You two promise me you'll be careful though," she said quietly, already looking past the Nomu towards the swiftly retreating Overhaul.
"I'll be safe. But soon as I put those two down, I'm coming back Izu," Ochako replied as quietly as Himiko did, red bands of power snapping into place around her as her eyes glowed.
"I know. I'll be okay," Izuku reassured, still holding steady, staring down the Nomu that was strangely silent the entire time…but not for long, it seemed.
Its mouth opened once more, its deep, rumbling voice echoing slightly. "A-are you d-done? I w-want to fight the s-strongest. Are you the strongest?"
Izuku smirked. "Your fight is with me, big guy. I'm more than strong enough for you." Izuku was able to fake it pretty well, but Ochako and Himiko could still sense the consternation within them at acting so cocky. Himiko and Ochako both edged slightly sideways, watching the Nomu for any response, but it seemed content to stare down Izuku.
"W-what is your n-name?" it asked, tilting its head to the side.
"Trinity. Yours?" Izuku was fine keeping it distracted with conversation, Danger Sense still ringing heavily in their head at its very presence.
"D-doctor called me H-Hood. He s-said I can fight the strongest h-here. I wish to fight. I w-wish to see who is stronger!"
Ochako wasn't bothering to wait anymore, the bastard was getting too far away, so she decided to risk it. She bolted to the left, taking a wide curve around Hood, as Himiko, following her lead, Blinked away instantly. Hood watched them go, but didn't follow, fine with staring Izuku down.
Izuku decided to risk more conversation, hoping for some information they could use. "What's the Doctor even want? Why did he send all of you here?"
"I wished to fight, so he let me. I-I think. The others d-do not think. The o-others are a trade. To the birdman. D-Doctor wants something from him."
"Any chance you know what he wants?" Izuku tried.
"I d-do not care. I want to fight. We must fight. Fight!" It seemed Hood's patience was expended, as Danger Sense blared in Izuku's head. Hood's two arms shot forward like cannons, Izuku having to launch themselves up into the air as quickly as possible, eyes going wide as they noticed the two arms impale a half dozen Nomu that were well over ten meters away, nearly striking some of the heroes fighting them and only narrowly avoiding killing people. Izuku realized, then and there, that they had to get Hood away from everyone else…which it seemed like it might be easier than they thought, since Hood's back split open, white light spilling out from it as Hood launched itself into the sky towards Izuku.
Izuku kicked off the air as fast as they could, activating Float and trying to speed away from Hood, pulling it further away from the main fighting. Unfortunately, they had to change course immediately, as Hood was apparently faster, one of its massive arms swinging out in a wide sweep. Izuku barely managed to duck beneath it, the hand smashing into a nearby office building and taking off its top floor. Thankfully Izuku's sensitive hearing didn't hear anyone in the building, making them feel slightly better about it, but dammit, they needed to move this fight away. With a deep breath, they sent Blackwhip back towards Hood, eyes narrowed, as they tried to interfere with its movements as best they could. They hoped 'Chako finished quickly, because it did seem like they would need help sooner rather than later.
Because this damned creature was making them angry.
Himiko hated how smart her partner was sometimes, because it left her with the job she wanted the least. Snatching the girl out of Overhaul's hands was surprisingly easy, especially when Ochako suddenly kicked him in the face…a very satisfying sight, if she was being honest. But Izuku had called it…seconds after she'd yanked the girl out of Overhaul's arms, the black goop began to spill from her mouth, and so Himiko Blinked.
And it fucking hurt! Her training had mitigated the numbness that would spill into her muscles from use of Blink, but this was a brand new pain. It was like her entire body felt torn and ripped apart for a brief second, the two teleportation Quirks vying for control before hers took effect, and from the cut off cry and quake from the girl in her arms, she had to assume she felt the same pain.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it'll be okay, just hold on," she muttered to her, curling around her as much as she could while relying on her enhanced hearing and smell to navigate her through the battlefield. If she couldn't find the teleporter, she had to get out of its range somehow, or at least, she hoped it had a max range. Unfortunately, that wasn't working well, the black goop continuing to ooze from the girl periodically, forcing her to cancel it with Blink.
There did seem to be a cooldown period, as far as she could tell, because there were gaps between attempts at using the Quirk. About twenty seconds at her very quick count, but…was that because the Quirk had a cooldown, or something else? God her partner was rubbing off on her, here she was trying to puzzle out the mechanics while fleeing for a little girls life. Time to test.
At seventeen seconds, she activated Blink, just a short hop that wouldn't use much stamina or cause too much numbness, and counted the last three, and…nothing. She bit her lip, focusing forward, the girl now much quieter since her normal Blink wasn't causing harm. So she counted again…at sixteen, she Blinked. Eighteen. Seventeen again. And not once did the ooze appear. She was starting to get it…it wasn't that it had a cooldown, it was that her Blink was interfering with whatever 'lock' they were using, and that meant as long as she Blinked before they could lock on, they couldn't get the girl!
It wasn't sustainable though, that much she knew. Even short Blink's still burned her stamina, and the numb pain was still seeping in. Izuku's theory had been that Himiko was discorporating herself when she did it, and the numbness was the slight delay of her blood flow when she did it, or something. She hadn't quite understood the full mumbled explanation, but she got the gist.
She'd always been prone to anemia, she knew that much. Her Quirk requiring consumption of blood was the cause, because her body would cannibalize its own blood stores to make up for the loss (not that she knew that until the staff at UA had told her, once her tests came back). So of course the backlash of her special little power from One For All would cause her anemia to worsen. Although now she wondered…
One hand to her pouch at her waist, she flicked open one of the vials of blood she kept to recharge herself just in case. Pretty sure it was Ochako's, she mused, as she downed it as quickly as possible, and yes! The numbness faded slightly a scant few seconds later! Okay, so long as she rationed what blood she had, and kept to not fighting, she could keep this up!...for maybe another five minutes. Internally, she prayed that her partners would finish this quickly, and get to safety…she didn't want to play keep away forever while they were in danger. 'Please be safe,' she begged silently, hitting count sixteen and Blinking once more.
…but something about that damned Overhaul bastard seemed so familiar, and between that and the stupid Nomu attack and the warping Quirk…she was getting angry..
Getting the white-hooded one out of the way was pretty easy, Ochako mused to herself. It was kinda funny how the dumbest things could be used for her Quirk. Case in point, the chapstick she kept in her pocket, a quick tap of her Quirk on it and flinging it at Overhaul's minion and wham, one bad guy smashed into the ground unable to move. He tried to use his Quirk, or at least, she assumed the weird hair arrow that came out of him was his Quirk, but not only did Danger Sense make dodging it easy, she'd been practicing flicking her Time Dilation on for brief instants, giving herself more time to plan before she moved, and that was more than enough.
Which left the big bad Overhaul and…okay, she kinda saw Togata's point. She couldn't get fucking close to the bastard! The only thing keeping her safe at the moment was the fact she could fly and he couldn't, but unfortunately for her, he had no problems targeting innocent civilians and running indoors, which took away her ability to navigate in three dimensions. She'd managed to keep every nearby civilian safe, but she'd been forced to pursue him underground, following through a dizzying number of tunnels and holes he was boring through walls with his Quirk.
He tried to slow her down by closing them behind him, but while she couldn't use as much of One For All as Izuku, she still had access to thirty percent of the stockpile, and that was more than enough to smash through every pitiful wall he put before her. Not that she enjoyed doing it…without the nice gloves that were part of her new costume, her fists were getting pretty bruised up, but still, she didn't trust that they could leave him to his own devices. That little girl would be in danger if he escaped!
But for some reason, he stopped, in a large underground warehouse of some kind. It was massive for something as deep underground as it was, with tanks and tubes and all sorts of machinery she couldn't possibly figure out scattered about. Most of it was broken, the glass shattered, the various remains of desks and tables broken and crushed, but it clearly had been some type of lab. Her eyes zeroed in on a strangely small chair…it looked like the sort doctors had in their office, but this one was very small, and had…metal cuffs on the arms and legs?
She narrowed her eyes. Scattered pieces of old, discarded bandages were strewn about the floor, speckles of rust-red covering them, the color of old, dried blood. Her senses were much more attuned than before her transformation, able to smell the iron tang of old blood. Her eyes, adjusted to the low light, narrowed to slits, able to spot white-silver hair dotting the chair, and her blood ran cold as she realized why the chair was so small.
Overhaul didn't even look phased at the baleful look she gave him, his eyes simply meeting hers as he stood tall, one hand placed upon a twisted slab of metal she saw was once some sort of safe, which he'd clearly remodeled to give him access to what was inside. It looked like…small, red darts, and what looked like a modified dart gun in his hand. Not hard to figure out he'd loaded it with whatever those darts were, but if he thought he could land a shot on her, with her powers? He was an idiot.
"Do you realize how much you've set us back today?" he asked, his tone almost casual as he stared at Ochako.
Her tail fluffed behind her, ears flat, she hissed, her teeth bared and visible. "Sorry if I don' like seein' little girls get hurt by some assholes!"
"You heroes, always unwilling to understand the progress of science," he sighed. "You have no idea what value Eri has, what she can do, what she's worth. And now you interfered with my deal with the Doctor. This is such a mess."
"What deal are you talkin' about, huh? You his little errand boy, makin' those Nomu critters for him?"
"We've gone in on a…joint business venture, you could say," Overhaul replied, shrugging casually. "You know, perhaps you'll be more amenable if you understand what we're after. Then again, you seem unusually heavily infected, so perhaps not."
She tilted her head, confused. "Infected? With what?"
Overhaul had the audacity to roll his eyes. "Quirks are a disease! Haven't you heard of the Quirk Singularity Theory? You yourself are a prime example! Quirks are growing out of control, ruining the world, ruining humanity's progress! We need to return to the world of natural humanity, to a world where one's uniqueness is solely derived from what you do, not from what you're born with! You can't possibly see that as bad, can you?"
Izuku had spoken of the theory before, when discussing how ridiculous One For All was, especially fused with Transform. On one level, she could kinda see it. One For All was absolutely insane, and it was hard to control. And she couldn't deny that the world they lived in had issues, considering what Himiko and Izuku had gone through. But…
"You say that like there weren' jackasses and prejudiced jerks back before Quirks. Some people always been assholes to others, Quirks ain't got nothing to do with it," she replied, taking a careful step forward.
He shrugged. "True, prejudice and hate are a constant in human history. But our division now is more extreme, and with the infection spreading as much as it has, it's gotten far, far too overgrown to be handled. Eventually, Quirks will kill us all; I'm just returning us to balance."
She rolled her eyes. "That theory ain't proven."
"And you'd stake the world on the off chance it's wrong? I've run the numbers myself, it is very clear we will soon lose control."
She pursed her lips. "So, your solution is to get rid of Quirks? And how you gonna do that, huh?"
He spread his hands wide, eyes crinkling in such a way she knew he was smiling beneath the mask. "Why, that's where Eri comes in! You see, these little darts contain a drug that attacks the very Quirk factor! This version is still unfinished, so it's only temporary, but with Eri, I can finish my research and create a serum that permanently destroys Quirks!"
"And how do you use Eri to do that?" she asked quietly, taking another step forward.
Overhaul waved dismissively. "Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in the name of science. Eri understands that. Her Quirk is essential to the drug, you see. I simply needed to extract samples from her, and once she was exhausted, we just did a little reset is all." His hand tapped the safe he'd pulled the darts from, and she watched as the twisted slab of metal reformed itself back into a simple, perfectly pristine safe, and knew. She knew.
He was just like that Doctor. Toshi had kept them abreast of the investigations into the Nomu, the reveal they were once people, either twisted or resurrected from the dead to make mindless, broken puppets stuffed full of Quirks, bioweapons made in a sick lab. And now he confirmed what he'd been doing to that little girl…he'd been using her, hurting her, and somehow, someway, Ochako could even see it, see the tiny child, this Eri, frozen in fear and crying while strapped to that damned chair next to Overhaul.
She felt angry.
Himiko's anger was rising, bubbling and boiling, and the snippets, the visions that were flitting into her mind across the bond weren't helping. She'd never seen this before, never felt it, but somehow, someway, she knew this was true. This little girl (Eri, her mind whispered), what she'd gone through, what she'd felt, what she'd suffered…in her arms, Eri quaked, her voice a squeak as tears soaked Himiko's shirt. For the first time, she didn't just feel Ochako and Izuku's emotions, she could feel, faintly and distantly, Eri's fear, her pain, her despair and hopelessness, even wrapped in Himiko's arms she didn't think they could win.
Distant other feelings were noticed…a general panic from civilians nearby, mindless, zombified rage in the Nomu, determination and fierce protectiveness in the heroes. She could see the battlefield, see what Izuku and Ochako saw, and all this death, all this destruction…she wanted to kill those responsible, rip and tear until they were beaten and bloody…
With a roar of rage, Izuku threw off Hood's arms once more, Full Cowling sparked up to as high as they could take it, every punch and sweeping kick creating shockwaves that shattered glass and sent the air screaming from them. All they could feel was anger, frustration, terror, as they needed to stop this monster so they could help Himiko and Ochako, so they could help all the innocent people fleeing, so they could bring down all the other monsters, but Hood was just too damned quick to regenerate! Nothing they did was working!
They were matched in strength and speed, but Izuku couldn't regenerate their wounds. Blackwhip was countered by Hood's ability to twist and contort its body in such ways that Izuku couldn't get a firm grip on them, and Telekinesis wasn't strong enough yet. Danger Sense meant they were able to dodge most blows, but it was just a stalemate, one in which their girlfriends were in danger, the innocent people were in danger, everyone was in danger danger danger, and this stupid fucking monster needed to go down!
Ochako could feel it. She felt every ounce of emotion from her partners, and through them, she could feel all of the swirling emotions up above. Even in front of her, sick and twisted, a disgusting taste in the back of her throat, Overhaul's calm barely hiding a veneer of gleeful desire for knowledge and his own personal disgust, all a vile mass of hatred that she instinctively refuted.
She felt Himiko's bloodlust and rage in her chest. Izuku's righteous fury and fierce desire to protect. Swirling, boiling, twisting within her breast, entwining with her own burning anger at the bastard before her, this monster, this twisted aberration upon humankind. Her thoughts and emotions mixed together with theirs, a single, solitary strand of rope braided by their rage and determination, protectiveness and love for one another…all snapped taut, three threads now one, their thoughts and feelings now one and the same resonating together as one.
She lifted her right hand (feeling Izuku and Himiko lifting theirs with hers), the air wavering around her, the world itself slowing around her as she growled, her accent slipping. "You think you're some sort of god, demandin' others sacrifice themselves for you, twisting and hurtin' a little girl who did nothin' wrong, decidin' you get to decide what's right for everyone! Actin' like yer some sort of divine bein', making the rules as you see fit." As she focused, her power filled her veins, the ground quaking beneath her feet, a fundamental force of the very universe itself bowing at her feet, coming to her call. "Let me show you what a god really looks like…" She clenched her fist, her Quirk taking hold, the pressure increasing on him a thousandfold, dragging him down as her eyes flared with light, her voice rising to a roar as she screamed "KNEEL!"
Shouta Aizawa was not a man who was often surprised. Even in the most chaotic moments on the battlefield, he went out of his way to focus and push down his emotions, to control himself so he could fight at his best. This attack was stretching his ability to remain calm, even with the now dozens of heroes arriving to try and contain this outbreak of what felt like a hundred Nomu, they were still having so much trouble.
Most of the Nomu weren't actually that dangerous, it seemed. Ryukyu was easily dropping them left and right, he could disable a lot of them with ease, and even most lower ranked heroes were able to double or triple team a single one and take it out. It helped that they didn't have to worry about holding back, since the HPSC had designated them all as pure bioweapons and from what Shouta knew, killing them was more merciful than anything else at this point.
But the problem wasn't the Nomu themselves…it was keeping people safe from them. The creatures were going out of their way to not only attack civilians, but to destabilize buildings and streets, sending them crashing into one another, or setting them aflame, the fires spreading. It was like Hosu, only worse since there were even more!
Not to mention his missing students, a plague upon the three of them. He cursed internally when Lemillion had reported what the Problem Children had done, and they'd be lucky if all they got was detention from this stunt! He steadfastly refused to consider any possibility but them making it out safely, no matter where his mind kept going when he heard about what Overhaul could do, he would not believe it. They were going to be fine, and he was going to spend an hour lecturing them, and then turn them over to Yagi for a lecture, and then make sure their parents were contacted and-
His thoughts were cut off by a sudden strange thrumming in the air. A pressure, a strange presence, he couldn't really word it but he noticed it…and so did everyone around him. Every hero, every civilian, even the Nomu paused for one brief, single second in time, and then time itself paused.
He didn't know what happened. One second, he was in the middle of a fight, and the second, a scream echoed across the battlefield, a single word…Kneel. And kneel…everyone did. He didn't remember when it happened, but suddenly, he was on the ground, pressed to it, unable to move beyond breathing and looking about, wide-eyed.
Every hero, every civilian, every single person around him, all frozen in space and time, no Quirks, no nothing, silent as a tomb. Even the buildings that had been collapsing were stopped, just a snapshot in time, the flames now just splashes of paint upon the air, no movement, no sound, no…wait, no.
A gentle footstep sounded to his left, his eyes twisting, able to see Himiko walking towards him, her eyes golden as the sun. No white, no black, no nothing but sheer, shining gold, her body wreathed in energy. On one arm, the girl he'd heard of was curled up, shaking, quivering, clutching her chest as Himiko walked calmly through the frozen tableau. She stepped up next to Shouta and looked down at him, and the pressure was immense, his breath stolen from the intensity of her gaze.
She knelt down, gently touching her hand to his shoulder, and he felt all the pressure lift. He could shakily get to his feet, able to move, wanting to speak to her, but she'd already begun to walk off, reaching the prone form of a hero he vaguely knew but couldn't place. She mirrored what she'd done to him, gently touching the other hero, letting him stand, continuing on as if she'd never stopped.
A flare of green in the distance was noticeable, and he couldn't help it, he began to move towards it, past fallen Nomu and people, only to finally see Izuku, the green-haired teenager now also on the ground, Blackwhip arching off their back as they went. Strands of it were snapping into Nomu, one by one, twisting their necks with silent cracks, as their hands gently helped lift other heroes and civilians to their feet. With a flat smile, they gently ushered people on, no words spoken, just a gentle shove to safety, eyes as empty green as Himiko's.
The building to the south didn't collapse so much as vanish, utterly gone as if it had never existed, Ochako slowly floating up, her eyes glowing black pits. One hand dragged Overhaul behind her, the man unconscious and floating behind her, trapped in wires, the other glowing pink and resting at her side.
Shouta…wasn't sure what to do, if he was being honest. Something in him, some instinct, told him not to interrupt them, the three of them moving slowly, methodically, unspeaking, not even looking at one another yet somehow seeming to know exactly where the others were. Ochako simply…dropped Overhaul at Shouta's feet, not meeting his eyes as she walked on absently, lifting others up as Izuku had been, the same pattern of helping civilians to move on.
Himiko walked past, still holding the girl, towards one of the collapsing buildings that was somehow not collapsing, and began to clamber into it one handed. He watched as one by one, trapped people began to flee, startled and confused, and yet…it was now he realized all sound was still gone. He couldn't speak, no one could, no sound could be made or heard, the only sound the crackling of energy from the trio and their footsteps on the broken concrete beneath them.
Izuku walked by, Blackwhip carrying an injured woman, setting her down gently near Fat Gum, the large hero staring blankly for a moment before jumping into action, pulling out his first aid kit and moving down to help her. It was…disturbing, and none of the heroes really knew how to react. A few took some initiative, tying up the people who had been fighting them, or quickly trying to end the Nomu (albeit many of them seemed squeamish about doing it while they were stuck unmoving), but the majority of people just watched silently, lost and confused, as Izuku, Ochako, and Himiko methodically rescued every civilian, released every hero from the frozen effect, and killed every Nomu they passed by.
As one, the three of them met in the middle of the street, standing there in silence for a brief moment before turning around. Izuku lifted their hands, green lightning flickering about their hands, a thrum in the air, as dust and dirt coalesced above the various fires, large clouds of it. They brought their hands down, smothering the flames beneath it with a simple gesture. Ochako spun about and lifted her hands, the collapsing buildings finally moving, slowly settling down into heaps of stable rubble. Himiko spun to the final direction, her eyes flaring as she flickered in place. A split second in time, a single flash, and Shouta barely saw it, but he would never forget it…Himiko seemed to appear in a hundred places at once, all in the same motion, a knife in hand driving down into whatever Nomu remained, cleanly severing the spine and then vanished, faded into the wind. A single flickering image appeared before him, and suddenly his arms were full of an unconscious child, her breaths rapid and halting, the image before him gone as quickly as it came. The trio turned back around to look at one another, blank faces, glowing pits for eyes…and collapsed.
Sound came rushing back, a million noises at once making Shouta wince in pain, the sounds of emergency vehicles rushing to them, the heroes suddenly shouting in shock, the civilians now screaming or crying or just confused, and as the chaos erupted around him, Shouta could only look at the three teenagers, now unconscious on the ground, and go "...what?"