Chapter 78: The Demon Lord Appears

The heroes have at last, made thier move, and the students have located where the villains are holding Ragdoll and Midoriya, but they won't just be able to take this victory and leave, not when a force in the dark makes its move.

Watching the clip from the press conference was a surprise for the group, but it was one that they perhaps should have seen coming. Hearing their teacher's unshaking faith in Midoriya only galvanised them to save him, to bring him back from these villains. With the crowd's attention firmly on the media's attempt to rage bait U.A., they slipped away, following the tracker signal.

It took them away from the lights and voices of the nightlife to what seemed like a dual-use area, part warehouses and closed businesses, part residential, as they could make out lights in windows in what had to be apartments. None were open, and they couldn't make out anyone looking through them, but they kept an eye out all the same, just in case one was a lookout.

A couple of blocks down, Yaoyorozu waved for them to slow down, so they pressed themselves against a wall and slowly made their way to the corner. Momo looked out towards an old building, the sort a small business would have used for storage.

“This is it? Their hideout?" Tetsutetsu asked, pocking out the corner along with Yaoyorozu.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I can only see the signal from inside that building and haven't moved for the past day." Yaoyorozu explained that, in fact, the signal hadn't seemed to have moved since she created the first tracker for the police and heroes.

Komori frowned, peaking out as well. “Do those Nomu things even need to eat or sleep? Shigaraki called them living weapons.”

Monoma hummed as he recalled seeing what the first Nomu looked like after Midoriya steam-boiled it and then Hosu. “So, it could have been told to just stand in the corner, and until told otherwise, it remained there."

"That's…a little spooky," Komori whined, her legs shaking, but she refused to turn or step back.

“Still, it tells us that the Nomu Yaoyorozu and Awase tagged is in there, but I don’t see any lights on, so it could be alone in there. Midoriya and Ragdoll could be somewhere else.” Kendo stated that she wasn't an expert on villains, but this didn't seem like the type of place you'd store captives. Still, she could be wrong, as the Nomu were standing watch over them for all she knew.

“If the whole point is hiding, then maybe they don’t turn on the lights, or the place has an underground area.” Todoroki theorised, before glancing towards his fellow recommendations student. “Can the tracker pick that up?”

Sadly, Momo shook her head. “Apologies, I didn’t design it to be that sophisticated.” When she made it, she had been concussed and hardly capable of complex thought; thanks to all her training, she could make a tracker without thinking about it.

This would be a good time for more info, so Monoma tapped Pony's shoulder. “Tsunotori, you and I can scout the place from the air.”

"You might need to be pretty high-eyed, just in case they spot you," Kirishima pointed out, reaching into his jacket for something, but Tetsutetsu beat him to it.

“You can borrow this.” Tetsutetsu handed Monoma a set of headphones attached via wire to a hand-held satellite dish. The build only took the group moments to put two and two together.

“Hold on, is that a listening device, like in the movies?”  Tsunotori asked, to which Tetsutetsu shook his head.

“Well, no, it’s built for bird watching so you can hear them without getting too close. I figured it’ll be useful, so we’ll need a way to hear what’s happening before we burst in.” He explained, which grew some concern from Tsunotori, who recalled an aunt whose hobby was bird watching, and how much money she sank into it.

“Those couldn’t have been cheap.” She pointed out, but Tetsutetsu again shook his head.

“I don’t care, we can’t mess this up,” He declared, his grip on them tightening as he looked towards the building, which could be housing their friend, could have their summer camp teacher in who knew what conditions. “We get just the one chance here.”

The rest could feel his determination and how it matched theirs, so they prepared for the recon. Monoma would take the listening device, while Tsunotori would take a pair of night vision binoculars that Kirishima had bought for the mission, saving Yaoyorozu the effort of making them.

Monoma copied Tsunotori’s quirk, finding that it largely remained the same for him, with no energy in it.

"I can't copy stored energy in quirks, just the quirk." He explained, which those in class A made a note of for later. However, they could appreciate that Monoma could take the situation seriously enough that he would share such info.

Once fitted, he and Tsunotori jumped onto their horns. “All right, let’s go.” Rising slowly, they looked for anyone who could have seen them, spotting people walking by, but none saw them. Once high enough, they moved to 'stand' above the building. Tsunotori looked around the property while Monoma listened in for any activity.

“Anything?” Kendo's voice came through the earpieces Yaoyorozu made for them.

“Nothing, the grass outside looks untouched, so they probably enter and leave via warp gate.” Tsunotori frowned, as she really hated that the League had a member with such a broken quirk. It was a minor miracle they hadn’t used it to set up base somewhere far, but maybe villains also liked local take-out?

“Smart play, people can’t report suspicious people if they never go out, " Todoroki said, Monoma frowning as he kept on listening to the sounds occurring within the building, which, even with the listening device, came off as soft, almost like background noise.

"I'm trying to find out if anyone is inside, but all I hear is machines and stuff. No voices, no talking," Monoma relayed, which was a little unsettling.

“But the signal is coming from here, so maybe this is just a Nomu storage place, or maybe they just aren’t in tonight," Komori suggested, as it wasn't like the villains were expecting an attack, but still seemed like the pros were prepping for a raid if the broadcast was to be believed.

Back on the ground, Kendo crossed her arms, tapping her forearm in thought. "I don't like this; it seems empty, but that could easily be a trap."

“Hey!” She jumped and nearly swung an enlarged fist at the person behind her, an instinct she was glad she could suppress as they saw it was just a couple of drunk-looking salary men. “You looking for a real man, darling? Ditch these losers and come hang out with us.” The two eyed up Kendo, Yaoyorozu, and Komori. The latter let out a peep before going silent, while Kendo and Yaoyorozu were left red as Kirishima's hair.

“We’re good!” Kendo yelped, leaving Tetsutetsu and Kirishima to 'protect their girls' from the intruders. Kendo wanted to just groan as she felt dirty, but couldn't fault them for the two. They probably thought they were all legal adults out on the town.

Pony’s snickering over their lines only made Kendo want to get out of this outfit faster.

"Pony, I will get you out of this," Kendo whispered through the line as Todoroki stepped up and, with the other two boys, chased off the drunks.

“I didn’t choose the outfit, so I can laugh about it," Tsunotori replied, still snickering all the while.

Line Break

A few minutes later, the recon team returned, having stayed to try to get as thorough a view of things as they could. “It’s not crowded, but there are people.” Todoroki pointed out that the area wasn't some deserted factory district.

Yaoyorozu frowned, as that was known, but seeing the traffic in the area pick up for some reason only further complicated things. "So we can't risk getting them involved, and the villains could target them, so we need to move fast and keep them distracted. We can call it in and vanish before the pros arrive, and when things clear up, if we have Midoriya and Ragdoll, we take them to the hospital."

"I didn't see anything, so maybe we can keep looking?" Monoma suggested. With no reason to suspect someone…well, sentient and awake... was on sight, they could afford to get closer.

"Good idea. We know there are machines in there, so there must be power. Maybe a generator. You wouldn't run that unless you needed to, could be powering whatever cage they have them in." Kendo theorised that the villains locked them in a room or tied the two up after all that.

No, they wanted Midoriya from the start, and maybe Ragdoll as well, considering they didn't try to take any of the other teachers, so they had to have some way to keep them from giving them problems.

"It would need to be high-tech and almost fireproof, else Midoriya would have broken out by now," Tetsutetsu remarked, as he had seen how destructive Midoriya could be when he wanted. They all had, and those like Todoroki had experienced it firsthand.

"They could have placed him with Ragdoll. If the cell is small enough, then his quirk could harm her before it could break them out." Tsunotori hated that she didn't disagree with Todoroki's statement, as it was a possibility, just one she didn't want to think about, as that could mess with your head.

Crossing the street was easy enough; no one was around to see them do it, but it was what came next that was the issue. "This is so narrow, we might get stuck," Yaoyorozu complained, which, if they were rude, someone would have made a joke as to why, but even Komori was struggling. At the same time, Kirishima and Tetsutetsu, some of the broader-chested guys in class, had similar issues. Still, they managed to get deeper into the space before they spotted a window above.

“I’ll check it out; Kirishima's night vision will help with the darkness," Tsunotori suggested, getting a nod as she shot off another pair of horns. Still, instead of riding them, she hooked them under her armpits and raised herself to the window. As she expected, the place was dark, with no lights inside. There was something towards the back, far from the door and windows.

“Anything?” Kendo whispered to her as Tsunotori raised the binoculars and started scanning the interior.

“I’m not seeing anyone, the place is a total dump-holy shit on a stick!” Tsunotori whispered, screaming, saved from falling only by her horns as she flinched back hard from the window.

“Keep your voice down!” Yaoyorozu whispered, yelled back.

“What is it?” Kendo asked, as she didn’t like how Tsunotori reacted to that.

“G-guys, you might want to see this for yourselves…” Kendo's bad feelings grew at the statement, as they wondered what she could have seen in a room that was supposed to be vacant of people who could spook her like that.

Monoma was the one who would head up. Climbing onto Tetsutetsu, his classmate supported him as he used he wall to help keep balance till he reached Tsunotori’s level. Copying her quirk, he followed her example and used his newly regrown horns to carry him via his armpits.

Peering inside, he couldn’t see much through the dark but couldn’t see much. “The back left, the corner, Monoma…” Tsunotori gulped as she handed him the night vision binoculars, her hands shaking so much she nearly dropped them.

Feeling something form in his gut, he used the binoculars to peer inside again. He saw rubble and trash strewn about, but they didn't seem recent. So, as much as he felt he shouldn't, he turned to the source of the light and nearly dropped the binoculars in terror.

"Crap… we were right. This is a Nomu storage site, and there's more than one in there.” He reported for the sake of the rest, his eyes never leaving the crude, box bath-like things the Nomu were placed in. Each filled up to the top, exposing only their brains while tubes and wires went in and out of the glowing fluid the monsters were stored in.

“Can you count how many?” Kendo cut to the chase, already wondering how fast it would take for them to get out into the street and ensure civilians weren’t anywhere close.

"I can see the vats for at least 10 of them," Monoma replied.

“That many?” Tetsutetsu asked. The one from the USJ was hard enough; Hosu was one hell of a battle. Where was the League getting them that they just had 10 plus laying around in Kamino?

“Just a few of them could rampage through Hosu, but 10 or more…” Yaoyorozu didn’t have pleasant memories of the monsters, as the lone encounter she had with them, she and Awase nearly died, only surviving through luck.

"What about Midoriya? Can you see him in there?" Kirishima asked, as they could freak out about monsters later, but they didn’t come here for that. If all went well, they probably would fight them.

Monoma took a steady breath as he scanned the portion of the building. Pony was doing the same, only with her naked eyes. The glow wasn't so bad that they hurt with the binoculars, but they could study the place with more scrutiny, which was how Pony made the sighting. "I see what looks like Ragdoll, and I think Midoriya is there. They're both in vats as well, unconscious."

Monoma saw her as well; the pro was unconscious or at least asleep in a vat, which was different from the rest. She was stripped to her underwear, with a breathing mask fitted to her face as she floated in the fluid.

“You think?” Tetsutetsu asked.

"Bad angle, but Midoriya's container seems…different from Ragdoll's. I can't see the entire thing, but he's connected to a lot more stuff." Monoma replied, as he and Pony could see a larger vat. It was frosted over, so they couldn't even make out its occupant. With its design being similar to Ragdoll's, it could only belong to Midoriya, and it seemed like he was being kept on ice.

Line break

"Master, what were your plans with the brat?" Shigaraki asked, looking towards the TV to the side.

“Patience, Tomura. I understand you wish to end him, but it would serve you better if he obeyed you.” The voice replied, the rest of the gathered League having grown somewhat used to the whole deal with this mysterious backer of their boss.

“How’d that happen? Sure, the media calls him crazy, but I'm pretty sure we're the best group to judge that crazy doesn't mean villain material." Magne asked. The kid was strong, and no one would deny that, but just because he had some pyromaniac tendencies didn't mean all that much. Their number 2 was a pro who walked around cloaked in flames, for crying out loud.

"Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence, big sis! She lies, all villains are sick in the head!” Twice gave the woman a big thumbs up.

The voice seemed amused by their banter, but answered Magne’s question. “Hmm, well, he'll be something similar to an old bodyguard of mine, though it will take time for his…morality to be adjusted.”

The one who had captured Midoriya looked towards the TV, a little annoyed. “You’re making him into one of those mindless beasts?” Well, he was expecting more, but well, that was how the cookie crumbled.

“Hardly, Bucky. He has too much potential for such a role.” The voice replied, an aura of anticipation and glee in his voice, though they all got the impression he wouldn’t say what his plans were for the kid.

"Well, that sounds like it would be pretty damn fun. I just hope you don't make him too weak to obey me. I hate it when former boss enemies can be recruited but have shit for stats." Shigaraki grumbled.

The voice chuckled. “Have no fear, when we’re done with him, he’ll be something akin to a walking calamity. An embodiment of hell and all its flames.”

“Great, he just better not turn those ‘hellflames’ on us," Dabi noted, frowning as she mentioned hellflames, a look of fury passing through her typically blasé eyes.

“What-” Spinner was going to ask something of their benefactor as well, only for a knock on the door to silence the room. Immediately, they were all on edge as Spinner reached for his sword, Dabi’s hands sparked, Toga pulled a knife, and Magna reached for her magnet. Bucky placed a finger in his drink, cooling it into ice, which he shaped into a dagger.

“Pizza delivery.” A voice came through the door, ignorant of the room of villains and killers waiting and ready to add whoever poor sap got the delivery order wrong to their list of crimes. “Hey, this is Kamino amashitachō 5-chōme 18-3, right?” The delivery boy asked again, but no one replied.

Kurogiri was immediately suspicious. Not only had none of them ordered food, but did pizza places deliver this late? It was well past 10PM? Some might have b33n 24-hour chain stores, but they were the only occupants of the building, so how could this delivery boy get the destination so off mark?

The voice on the other side groaned, knocking on the door again. "Come one, I heard voices. I know someone's in there. Just confirm if it's the right place or not. My boss will kill me if I take too long on this delivery."

Seeing that he wouldn't be leaving any time soon, and knowing that attacking him wasn't the best move, Magne stepped up to handle this. She was one of the more normal-looking ones after all. “I’ll handle it.”

She hadn’t even taken 2 steps away from her magnet when the wall facing the street exploded.

“Smash!” All Might declared, having punched through brick and mortar like it was paper and glue.

“What?!” Spinner was closest to it and thus had been thrown further into the bar, hitting his head on it, dazed. Compress was the one who got a word in.

“Kurogiri, gate!” Shigaraki yelled. All Might's presence here was not good. They were too low-level, didn't have the right gear or buffs, and would be crushed if they tried to fight him. They needed to escape.

They wouldn't get the chance as Kamui Woods swung in, one arm pulled back. “Preemptive binding,” the pro's arms sprouted branches that shot into the bar, aimed for each villain, and quickly wrapped around them, restraining them. “Lacquered Chain Prison!”

Dabi looked unimpressed with him as her body started to light. “Really, wood?” she grunted. The wood was thick, but it wouldn't take more than a pulse of her quirk to be little more than charred twigs.

“Not so fast!” Gran Torino shot in the room, jets of air coming out the soles of his boots as he propelled himself into Dabi, boot first, knocking the flame user out cold. “No foolish moves from you lot, you’re in enough trouble as is.”

“Just what I would expect from a competent new hero,” All Might complimented, though Kamui Woods, for as giddy as he was to receive such praise, didn’t falter in his task. "And a seasoned veteran who moves faster than the eye can see." Gran Torino used his quirk to move away from the downed arsonist to land next to the rest of the pros as All Might turned his glare onto Shigaraki, his smile on his face.

“You can’t run anymore, League of Villains, understand?” All Might asked him. “Because we are here!”

Compress tried to move or use his quirk on himself to escape, but he was restrained in a way that kept his hands from touching the rest of his body. “Right after the press conference? Was that just a ruse from the start?” He asked, as no way they could have planned and carried this assault in the time since.

“Bucky, do something?” Toga complained, as this sucked. She couldn’t move or escape or do anything like this!

"A little tied up at the moment, not a lot I can do like this," Bucky told him, as his quirk might be good, but it wasn't as if he could just make ice whenever he damn well pleased.

“One tends to neglect defence when they’re on the offense, but we didn’t come alone, as the entire building is surrounded by police with more pros, led by Endeavour outside.” Edgeshot literally slid in through the space between the door and its frame, his body regaining its normal shape as he reached for the door, opening it to allow in a group of half a dozen cops in riot gear.

Outside, true to his words, the building was surrounded, the civilians kept back, and Endeavour was standing next to the detective, none too pleased he was stuck with him.

“Tsukauchi, why am I out here while Edgeshot can rush in with the rest?” Endeavour demanded.

"Because if someone slips out, we'll need you to capture them," Tsukauchi replied, which didn't please Endeavour in the slightest, but he didn't push back on it. Figures, they call him in and make him work with All Might, and he's placed as a glorified backup and police baby sister. The detective could frame it as well as he liked; it wasn't like either he nor Endeavour believed anyone could slip past All Might.

"All Might, I have them all secured, but no hostages," Kamui Woods explained, to which the other three pros nodded. The space wasn't too big, but there were no signs that the two hostages had been brought here. If they had, they'd long cleaned it up.

“That isn’t good, but we’ll handle one problem at a time.” All Might didn’t let that get to him, even if that meant that the two could be with…him. “Now, Shigaraki, tell us,” He walked up to Shigaraki, the villain shaking in rage as All Might squatted to eye level with him.

"Where are Ragdoll and young Midoriya?" He didn't ask but demanded, as he wouldn't rest until they were safe, and this monster of the past was resigned to him.

Most would be terrified to be given All Might's undivided attention like this; they'll perhaps try and look away, or put up some fake bravado to save face.

Shigaraki didn’t do that, as he was just furious that All Might was here, and his entire crew had been taken out before they could even fight back. It would be funny if his blood wasn’t boiling. "After all the trouble to prepare, the final boss spawns at my doorstep."

“Kurogiri, warp over as many as you can!” Shigaraki yelled out, but All Might only continued to smile at him—no, he smiled wider. What the hell did he know that Shigaraki didn't?

"Sorry, Shigaraki, but you'll find that your Nomu won't be coming to help tonight."

Line Break

The students didn't know what had just happened. One minute, Tsunotori was calling out giant leg, and the next, the building was attacked, and they were knocked down. Tsunotori and Monama, having rough landings on their friends, were just glad their horns hadn't gotten in the way.

No one wanted to explain why they had Pony's horn stabbed into them to the doctors, and no doubt the police afterwards.

“What the? Did the building just collapse?” Tetsutetsu asked, getting up with a groan.

“No, it's the heroes; they busted in," Monoma said, scrambling back up with the help of his copied quirk. Tsunotori did the same as they looked through the window. The building now lacked a whole wall as the pros had poured in.

“I’m seeing Mt. Lady, Gang Orca, Ryukyu, even Best Jeanist!” Monoma listed off, as they had brought some serious muscle for this.

"And Tiger as well," Pony called out, spotting their summer instructor towards the back, the man rushing when he spotted where Ragdoll was to extract her from her confinement, calling for a blanket as he did so to cover her up.

“Damn, they move fast. I thought they would still be handling the investigation.” Kirishima called out, to which Kendo snapped her fingers.

"The broadcast, was it a diversion for the villains? Yaoyorozu did hand over the tracker yesterday, so they've known about the location a lot longer than we did." Kendo sighed, feeling silly about this entire thing.

On the other side, in the building and ignorant to the fact that the students were present, Jeanist stood with his quirk active, strands of his suit having shot out all around the room. He restrained several Nomu while the other pros dealt with the rest, Lady holding on in her hand like it was a doll. "We have control; the Nomu are neutralised," the denim-themed pro announced.

“If all’s going well, the Bar team should have secured their site as well.” Ryukyu, who held a couple of Nomu herself, stated.

“Gross, are these gross dudes really alive?” the lady complained, as the Nomu thing was all clammy and slimy. It didn't even flinch or make a sound when she grabbed it. “I thought we'd be in for a fight, but this was super easy. Maybe we should have left this to the police and gone with All Might."

Ryukyu didn’t see it like that. “Things went as fast as they did because we were here, Mt Lady. As for the Nomu, I'm told they're alive in the loosest sense, but they're not sentient creatures. The best way you could describe them is living robots." She explained, her eyes looking over the room, trying to spot someone in the wreckage, as they had been careful not to damage anything important or cause injuries with that entrance.

"Our task here was just as important as All Might's unit, rookie." Best Jeanist replied, turning towards the riot police present. “Riot squad, get the transports ready. Be on your guard!”

“Yes, sir!” The police rushed off, while Tiger held Ragoll in his arms, trying to get a response from the woman.

"Come on, Rag doll, speak to me!" He cried, but she didn’t make a sound as Gang Orca approached.

“Is that your teammate? She’s breathing, that’s good.” He noted that, as her chest rose and fell at a steady rate, and despite the condition of her abduction site, she didn't have any visible wounds or injuries to be concerned about.

"Yes, but, well, look at her," Tiger called, the man holding back tears as Ragdoll, the explosively expressive, upbeat, and talkative woman he had known for years, was silent. Her eyes were open, but not their typical wide and clear, but hazed and half-lidded. He wasn't even sure she was awake or if she had just been given some cocktail of drugs. “What have they done to you, my friend?”

Further in, near where Ragdoll had been recovered, Hado floated half a meter off the ground due to her quirk. “Jeanist, I found Midoriya!” She called attention to the largest vat tank there, the thing closed off with a heavy-looking lid atop it. When she had wiped a hand over its frosted glass, she spotted her junior within.

“What’s he doing in there?”Mt Lady asked. The tank looked like it was built for a pro; if anything, Ragdoll should have been in it.

“No doubt a means to suppress his quirk, why haven’t you released him?” Gang Orca replied, as he could feel the chill off the thing as he approached it, his gaze on Hado, who he had assumed would have rushed to free her fellow U.A. student.

Nejire-Chan frowned but didn't let the question get to her as she cleared more of the frost from the surface, revealing more of Izuku's body and that he didn't just have an oxygen mask. Still, several tubes connected to his body, three of which connected to his spine along his neck via what looked like needles. "The machines he's connected to seem complicated. I didn't want to just unplug him without knowing what they all do."

Gang Orca hummed before he turned towards Tiger. “Was Ragdoll the same, Tiger?”

The sole conscious member of the WWP present shook his head. “No, she just had the breathing mask on her.”

Ryukyu didn't like that answer. He looked over the tank that housed the boy, and his eyes closed as he slept through all this. "So why the difference? It couldn't just be me to suppress him, could it?"

"Bring the medics over. They'll understand this better than any of us. They'll be able to extract the boy with minimal harm." Jeanist called out. The police nodded, and one rushed off to do just that.

On the other side, Kendo breathed a sigh of relief. "I can't believe it, of course, the pros were on top of this way before us."

"Kinda sucks I didn't get to save my friend or Ragdoll, but I'm not complaining. They managed to handle those Nomu like it was nothing." Tetsutetsu smiled as well, as he would just be happy his friend would be back. Maybe it was pointless to come, but he wouldn't have been him if he hadn't at least attempted such.

“Goes to show you the difference in us first years and seasoned pros.” Monoma sighed, as at least things had been wrapped up, and from the sound of it, it seemed like All Might led the charge on where the League had been lying low, so now those guys wouldn't bother them again anytime soon.

“Well, we should leave the area, unless we want to explain why we’re here. Looks like you aren't completely lying, Komori. We just need to find something to do, preferably in another city, and we can all say we were just…out on the town." Yaoyorozu joked as she and the rest turned to walk off. Komori nodded at the joke as she didn't like to dress like this, but with the tension gone, she couldn't say it hadn't started to grow on her.

"The new looks might help; we can say we wanted to experiment, " Tsunotori said as she followed the rest out of the small alley. She paused as she looked back to where the pros were, having a bad feeling in her horns. It wasn't something she had felt before, but…it was almost like they were reacting to something rotten.

Line Break

 On the other side of the wall, the heroes all stopped when they heard something, something which shouldn’t be there, their recon hadn’t detected.

Footsteps. Calm, steady, and to those in the top, then, dangerous footsteps.

From the shadows, a voice spoke up. "My apologies, Tiger, but Ragdoll had such a useful quirk that I couldn't help but take it."

“Are you with the League?” Gang Orca asked, already in alert mode.

“Someone get us a light!” Tiger called. None of them could see who was talking or where they were, as their footsteps echoed from every shadow, even their own.

The voice continued, ignoring the question and focusing more on its previous statement. “Since my body was mostly destroyed, I haven’t had the time to stock up on new abilities.”

Ryukyu narrowed her gaze, recalling what they had heard from the police before they left, the details about the League's possible backer. Immediately, she stepped back, using her transformed bulk to shield the rest and Midoriya's pod. "Not another step. This is an active crime scene. Surrender now for questioning, or we'll treat you as a threat."

“Only if I refuse?” The voice seemed amused by that as, at last, a man walked into view. Jeanist didn't hesitate, raising his hand, clenching it slightly, sending his fibres towards the unknown and quickly subduing him, turning his own suit against him.

“Hey, wait, he could be a bystander!” Mt. Lady called him out, but he didn't relax; if anything, he tightened the bindings, but found he was meeting resistance, and it was growing.

"Think about the situation; a moment's move could decide the fight, but we can't let these villains try anything!" He called out as he turned to tell the rest to move and ask Ryukyu to grab Tiger, Ragdoll, and Midoriya's entire pod and get out of there.

“Too true, Jeanist. But sadly, it wouldn't be enough." All for One stated as his body’s muscles ballooned, tearing through Jeanist’s fibres. The villain raised a hand towards them, his limb swelling like a balloon as pressure built up in it before he let loose.

Line break

Jeanist barely saw it, but it happened. One second, they had encountered the unknown, the man he was sure to be the League's true boss, and he moved to restrain him, trying to buy the rest time.

The next, the entire building and the building across the street were levelled, leaving a large curved ditch where all of that used to be. He and the rest of the heroes lay in it, most barely able to move from injuries. Jeanist was the worst off, as one arm was shredded, and he was sure an ankle had been twisted something fierce.

Glancing to the side, he saw the pod with Midoriya within it in the same spot, the only thing which seemed untouched by…was it an attack? It was still registering that something like that could be an attack, as he hadn't seen power like that outside anyone but All Might. Not even that foreign pro, Captain Celebrity, could hope to pull something even a fraction as powerful as that out.

Over the silence, he could hear clapping. Slow, polite, and mocking. Looking up, he saw the unknown, the one known as All for One, floating above them with all the arrogance of a mad king.

“I can see why you’re the 4th-ranked hero, Best Jeanist." All for One complimented him. "That blast should have done in the lot of you, but you managed to take control of everyone's clothes and get them out of immediate danger. Of course, you couldn't move yourself, could you?"

‘It wasn’t meant to go like this, but it doesn’t matter,’ Jeanist thought, but he didn't let his failure, fear, or injuries slow him down. Using his quirk, he forced his body to rise to get ot his feet. “A true hero doesn’t believe in excuses!” His threads shot out like dozens of snakes towards All for One. He might not be able to stop him, but if he could slow him down, then he-

All for One, with little effort, raised his hand again and sent a small, yet still devastating air cannon blast right at Jeanist, the pressurized air slamming into Jeanist’s gut like a real cannonball, tearing up his innards and cratering the ground beneath him.

The number 4 hero lost consciousness before his limp hand hit the ground, lying in a pool of his own blood. 

“J-Jeanist…!” Ryukyu called out, having seen the entire thing as she tried to stand, having used her body to shield Nejire and the medics who had been working to try and free Midoriya, a boy whose rescue would prove harder as All for One remained in place, watching over them as if picking out who he’ll take out next.

“Hmm, I see. Your strength comes from practical knowledge and experience; I don’t need your quirk. It wouldn’t pair well with Tomura’s deposition.” All for One concluded, his attention shifting off Jeanist as he slowly lowered himself, till he came to stand right next to Midoriya’s pod, daring them to try and take it when he could so easily annihilate them.

There lay only a wall between the students and this fight, one flimsy wall that kept the villain from noticing them, but they hadn't missed him. They had all seen it, and now they couldn't stop seeing it, replaying in their minds on loop. Who is this guy? What's just happened? Todoroki thought he knew fear and had conquered it, but this…he didn't know what he was, proved him so very wrong.

‘He…took them all out, in an instant.’ Kirishima shivered; his legs felt like they were made from water and sticks, and he was barely able to keep himself propped up.

‘We…we don’t stand a chance; he’ll slaughter us like flies.’ Monoma had always felt an urge to copy quirks, to see what they could do in his hands. Still, now his body was screaming that whoever that was, wasn't someone he wanted to copy their abilities, for that meant getting close, that meant certain death.

'We need to run, I know, but…' Komori was openly crying in terror. Yet, she didn't dare let out a single sound, every survival instinct she had, refined over millions of years through countless species of mammal before her, banging at her brain that if she was noticed, she would die.

'I…I came along to keep them safe, so I should grab them all and run as fast as I can, but dammit…' Kendo was shivering, she was scared, no, petrified, so much so she had to fight just to keep breathing.

‘My body won’t move.’ Pony's horns itched harder. It was like they were driving a spike into her mind, the rotten feeling she felt moments prior only growing in intensity until she was standing next to a landfill of decay set ablaze. He…that was the source, and her newly awakened quirk was telling her that that was a beast that would tear her apart.

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We're back with a new chapter, and this one will have some well-earned payback from the pros, and the students are also on route to saving their friend, great…right? I mean, sure, the media isn't making things easy for the aftermath, bringing up Izuku's mental…I don't want to call them issues, as they aren't really problems, so let's call them deviances. So all they need to worry about is getting him out, and if they find Ragdoll, her to…hopefully things go to plan.

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I admit, I had more planned, that being All Might's arrival and the change in the flow of the fight since All Might would only be dealing with his fading One for All, not his health. How would Midoriya's condition impact things as he's still in his pod? AFO was careful not to damage it, so it's not like the students can call out to him. He'll fly towards them…right?

Am I trolling? A little bit, but the point is, the next chapter will be the long-awaited (even if only for me) fight between the two former kings of light and darkness. All Might vs All for One, all while the pros and students try to give their Symbol of Peace a helping hand, even as things get a lot more complicated.