Chapter Text
A week had passed since the battle trial, and the foreboding feeling had not left in the slightest; if anything, it had only heightened to a worrying degree. The day after the training and the situation with the media was wrapped up, Aizawa informed the entire class of a trip on Friday and to be prepared for it.
The whole week was rather uneventful, more focused on getting accustomed to the new schedule and the classes, they were painfully boring as she had learned most of this before, especially the hero historical records class, not to be arrogant but she was willing to be she had a page or two dedicated to her in the textbook, on what not to do, maybe she should do a project on herself as a joke.
However, the day of the USJ arrived without much preamble, with it only being a week away, the time flew by, and before she knew it, the class was boarding the bus that would take them to the on-campus facility.
She thought it was a testimony of UA's immense size that they required a bus to get to another location of the massive campus, but she didn’t voice these opinions. Regardless, she had more pressing things to worry about, such as the anxiety crawling its way up her throat, choking her lightly, which made her slightly lightheaded as her hand went to her stomach in a futile attempt to calm her nerves. Breathing slowly, though every breath felt laborious. This was unlike her, since even before she snapped, everything was dull, with no sense of fulfillment or dread to be found in life. Just an eerie nothingness that she had grown used to. As dreary as it sounded, it was a comfortable normality.
She was snapped out of her thoughts just as they were about to board the bus. Iida started yelling for whatever reason about the seating order. She sighed, shooting him a glare, then said with a resigned huff.
“Iida, it is eight in the morning. I highly doubt it matters where we sit. We're only driving for like five minutes anyway.”
She turned away before she could hear his reaction. She liked the kid, but she could only take so much, especially at such an early hour; she was a sniper for godsake, which made her a night owl by proxy. Or maybe that was her lack of socialization due to years away from humanity, either or, really.
Boarding the bus quickly, she went straight to the back, slouching in her seat, hoping to whatever god that was out there this awful feeling of anxiety would subside. She should probably be more worried, but after all the shit she’s seen, almost nothing in terms of danger could really affect her anymore. Short of All for One himself boarding the bus, she doubted she’d be truly afraid. Even in that scenario, she wouldn't really be afraid, just annoyed the damn nutsack face won't leave her alone; he really is like a cockroach.
The world went quiet for a moment, the chatter of her classmates fading to the background as she heard a voice coming from behind her, which logically should have been impossible considering her back was to the window, her muscles tensed for a fight that would doubtlessly never come, ready to kick up the percentage to the highest output she could reasonably take.
“Ninth, be careful, we have reason to believe something bad may occur on this trip of yours.”
It was the Second Wielder. Stifling the urge to sarcastically respond that yes, she knows shes been having anxiety about it since she found out there WAS a trip. Quickly realizing she had kicked up the power, she rushed to lower the percentage, noting with careful consideration that when she pushed the percentage up, she was able to hear him more clearly. It could be useful for later— she nodded slowly being forcefully dragged to the present by Uraraka's hand on her shoulder as she looked worriedly at her.
“Hey, are you okay?”
She turned to her, exhaling slowly through her nose and smiling weakly, “Yeah, I’m fine, just nervous.”
It was terrifying that this girl could read her so well the more logical part of her brain was petrified by that knowledge being all too aware that she could easily use it against her to quickly hide behind a mask so that nobody could get to her cold dead heart and extinguish the only thing left of her but the part that was growing bigger by the day waved away these fears trusting Uraraka she wondered belatedly when she had began to trust this not so naive girl.
“Hopefully, the trip will make you feel better!” She grinned at her, poking her shoulder playfully.
Kaina hummed softly, nodding, but doubt began to crawl its way up her spine, remembering the vague words of the Second, she would keep her guard up just in case, she had been burned one too many times, not too.
She did not notice the bus had arrived at the USJ until she saw the rest of her classmates filing out snapped out of her reverie she stood up, and followed them outside.
Upon exiting the bus, she saw Aizawa and a hero she did not recognize waiting for them at the entrance. She had presumed All Might would be joining them, but perhaps he overdid it again; it would not surprise her.
“Oh my goodness, that’s one of my favorite heroes!” Uraraka said, grabbing Kaina's arm and shaking it in a nervous manner, she couldn’t relate that her hero worship was thoroughly dead. The closest she had come in recent years was her reluctant admiration of Midoriya. What could she say? The kid had a heart of gold; that’s why she had to make sure she stayed safe. So that Midoriya could regain his life, she hopes he's giving her the same courtesy.
The other hero, who introduced herself as Thirteen led them into the place now known to her as the USJ, the place was huge, with five zones. It was an impressive piece of modern technology, which would definitely well train many up-and-coming rescue heroes and perhaps even inspire people to choose that path from the exercise. Rescue had always been Kainas weakness as she was a long-range fighter, and her skill set was more suited to combat. It’s hard to rescue people with a sniper rifle.
Before the teachers could tell them what they would be doing first a purple mist appeared at the center of the building near what she presumed to be a fountain, Kaina immediately recognized this was not a part of the exercise as it was unlikely they would do something outside of the controlled zones.
Inhaling slowly she used One for All on her eyes increasing her vision she noted people flooding out of the mist, acknowledging it was likely a warp quirk.
However, the ones that stood out to her were the guy with the hands and something that looked vaguely familiar. She vaguely recognized the guy with the hands noting to have seen him when she was broken out of Tartarus though he only had a single hand on his face at the time, his hair was also a different color, and the large bird creature was similar she remembered seeing several of them during the breakout.
This could only mean one thing, they were working for All for One, and they were attacking a class of high schoolers. There was no reason for someone as powerful as All for One to send his lackeys to such an establishment, except if he served to gain something from it. They were almost certainly here for All Might.
Her mind went into overdrive as she vaguely noted Aizawa running ahead, she had to get the children out of there it was a battle they had no place in, however, this was her first opportunity to figure out just what had happened, the key was getting to All for One and the direct link to All for One was that hand guy.
However, she didn’t have long to plan as the mist erupted around the large group, as he said ominously, “Greetings, we are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity but today we’ve come here to UA high school this Bastion of Heroism to end the life of All Might the Symbol of Peace.”
Just as she had suspected, they were here to kill All Might, and if she had to give a guess that was the job of the weird bird creature she had seen.
Before she could stop him Bakugo and Kirishima rushed at the mist villain her eyes widened and quickly realized what a foolish idea that was, since the mist is what warps people going closer to it was a terrible idea because it would allow him to warp them anywhere even the middle of the ocean it was better to deal with someone like that at long range.
Being proven right the mist encompassed them all she increased the percentage of One for All much higher just as she felt herself begin to fall, she quickly activated Float and noted that she was above the shipwreck zone.
Landing softly on the ship she peaked over the edge seeing Tsu climbing up the edge while carrying Mineta, she realized that the order in which they chose the zones must have been randomized, because why else would they send someone who could fly and someone who had an advantage in water to this zone.
This meant the advantage was actually on their side because they likely believed float was her quirk, they wouldn’t suspect her use of One for All. Additionally, they most likely did not know what their quirks wer,e which put them at an advantage because she can assume that most of the villains would be suited to fighting in water.
It would be wise to disable all of the enemies so they can’t do any harm later but her only choice was to go down there and deal with them. Moments like this she cursed that she could not use Rifle. There wouldn’t have even been a fight it would’ve already been over.
They would need to bait all of the enemies to a single point to make them easier to deal with, then Mineta could use his quirk to stick them all together, and while he was doing that she could jump into the water and activate One for All so that the lightning was potent and electrocute them all.
She looked over to see Mineta freaking out and Tsu looking at her quizzically.
“You have a plan don't you Midoriya?”
She nodded while Mineta interrupted screaming, “You want to fight these guys? They said they were gonna kill us.”
A dark look came to her eye, “then we’ll just kill them first.”
Then she smiled awkwardly, noticing they looked rather repulsed by her sentiments, “Well I do have a plan, listen up, Tsu I know I’m asking a lot but I promise I won’t let any harm befall you. The plan is simple I need you to go down there and lure them all to a single point then I will plunge into the water and use my quirk to electrocute the water you have to get out of the water before I do that so as I’m diving down use your tongue to grab onto my hand and I will wrench you back onto the boat. Then once you're there Mineta starts throwing your balls into the place she lured them. Due to me shocking the water they won’t realize until it’s far too late.”
They both looked nervous and she realized she had to say something encouraging which was never Kaina's strong suit considering she could probably win an award for one of the most cynical people alive, but she had to try it was what Midoriya would want, “Hey look, I know it’s scary but we’re going to be pro hero’s so we’re gonna have to face situations like this all the time.”
Noticing that they seemed slightly more reassured she began to float above the boat watching as Tsu jumped into the water swimming fast, immediately they took notice of her swarming her in grooves she waited momentarily until they all seemed piled upon each other then she slowly began her descent.
Seeing Tsu's tongue, she grabbed it, yanking her up using the momentum to propel herself downward as she used a small bit of One for All to increase her speed.
Slowly feeling just as she touched down in the water she pushed out all of the built-up energy she had accumulated from using One for All as hard and as fast as she could hoping that she had immunity to the lightning when it struck the water, it surged outward the villains immediately getting electrocuted as Mineta's balls landed in the water she let herself sink to the bottom activating One for All at the highest percentage she could handle currently and surged into the air activating Float at the point of the apex.
Looking down, she noticed it worked and they were out of it. She slowly floated down, grabbing one of the villains and dragging them to the shore so that they wouldn’t drown, and so that when the heroes showed up they could quickly detain them.
Jumping in the air with One for All and propelling herself back over to Mineta and Tsu, she checked them over quickly for injuries, then picked them up and flew them to the shore, landing softly.
“Alright we’re safe for the time being, you guys should get to the main entrance.”
Tsu turned her head towards her looking suspicious and slightly worried, “What about you?”
“I’m going to help Aizawa,” what she did say was that she was going to try and get answers but nobody could be around to hear or her cover would be blown. Also, it just wasn’t safe for high schoolers to fight, she regretted asking Tsu to do that earlier but she didn’t see another option the logical part of her mind told her that it was the only way and that she was fine in the end so it didn’t matter but the larger part of it felt guilty because she was just a child and following that part of her brain led her to commit irreversible acts.
“Are you insane? You’ll get killed. They said they had a way to kill All Might! What are you going to do against it!” Mineta accused scathingly looking rather mad.
She shook her head, sighing, “It’s not safe for you guys and Aizawa can’t fight all those villains himself, it’s the right thing to do.”
“How are you not scared? We were just middle school kids a couple of months ago!”
A sad look crossed her face how does she even begin to explain how this scenario is nothing in the grand scheme of things to her she’s been in far worse situations, she’s talked to the devil himself and bargained with him without fear hell she even cracked a joke and even then she just didn’t care because Kaina doesn’t think she has it in her soul to be truly scared it’s too worn down and jaded. Her darkness was the only thing she truly feared because she knew she could do so much damage to other people, she wasn’t like Uraraka someone who is a bright light but the most she could do was maintain that light for as long as possible so they don’t have to be like her.
“Because there are far scarier things in this world, and I have to be the one to maintain the light.”
She thinks that’s what Midoriya would have said and what she would have said back when she was a hero, but they said it for different reasons. Now, she says it because she’s hit rock bottom, and she doesn’t want anyone to have to experience the horrors she has.
However, before she could say more she saw a hand rush at Tsu's face, a horrified expression crossing her face she had gotten distracted and it would cost her fatally, Tsu would die if she didn’t do something, this asshole was her only lead to figuring out what the hell happened but if she did nothing Tsu would undoubtedly die a horrible death. She was just a kid how could she falter she could only see her past self standing there looking terrified as death rushed towards her headlong turning to her and begging for a hero, Kaina wasn’t anybody’s hero, but even so she just couldn’t ignore when somebody needed help, she thinks if Midoriya was standing here now he’d be proud, because in the end Tsutsumi Kaina can’t ignore those in need of help.
It was with that realization that the choice came easy. She pushed One for All to one hundred percent in her arm, channeling all of the excess power rushing through her body, everything beyond even the perceived limit, into her arm, into one punch. She used around five percent in the rest of her body to build up momentum, the momentum to have the best impact.
In that short moment that lasted barely a second, she aimed to kill, not even just to kill, to annihilate, to wipe someone off the face of the earth so that they would disappear and nothing but blood be left, and beyond that, only the ghosts in Lady Nagant's mind, because that’s what she was good at. Nagant is a killer, and she knows that in her deepest instincts is the reaction to aim for the head; the hero commission assured that much.
Before she even realized, the bird creature jumped in front of the punch, going to the defense of its master, but it wouldn’t be spared. The Nomu was built to withstand All Might at his weakest, but someone who went beyond Prime All Might's capabilities by the way One for All worked. It did not stand a chance. While it did not work when Midoriya Izuku did it he subconsciously held back; Lady Nagant has no such qualms. Unlike Midoriya, Nagant has used her quirk on other people she may not be proud of; however, it does not erase the fact that it happened. Combined with Erasure, causing the Nomu's Shock Absorption to be nullified, the Nomu was absolutely eradicated.
One second later, she felt unspeakable pain in her right arm, though it was all drowned out when she felt blood splatter over her face and arm her caught in her throat and she slowly looked at her hands, and sure enough, more blood coated the entire length of her arms. Nausea built in her gut, her heart was pounding so loudly it drowned out the world, her hand went to her chest and she smeared more blood over it, wrenching her hand back she clenched her other fist which was clammy with sweat.
Kaina looked up and she was stepping out of an office the metallic stench of blood clear in her nose, her bare arms shivering in the cold, she slid down the wall pulling her legs against her chest, wrapping her arms around them, maybe it would help with the cold. From the corner of her eye she could see blood steadily leaking out of the office. It was coming closer, it was going to claim her. She was horrible she had killed so many people that night, but the chairman did say it was the correct thing to do they were going to bomb the Commission headquarters so it was better to thwart them before they could. If they went through with it hundreds of people would die in HQ alone, never mind the heroes that would have to stop saving lives in order to assist, the twenty or so people that she just slaughtered were an acceptable trade off for the hundreds of lives they could have killed, so why does she feel like everything is falling apart.
Before, when she had agreed to the mission it had made perfect sense and she even concurred twenty or so lives for the hundreds it could save, but now in the aftermath of her own souls damnation she wasn’t so certain after seeing the light drain from their eyes she didnt think she could ever recover from that, they had families and lives wouldn’t it have been better to just bring them in for questioning?
Hell Kaina wasnt even officially a hero yet, she had only been training for four years, while that was the usual amount of time, most people trained, she was only sixteen so legally they could only grant her a provisional license, albeit they already sent her out on solo missions.
Glancing up she sees several people in suits entering the building most of them going straight to the office, she couldnt quite focus on their faces, she noted they appeared rather blurry, or maybe those were just the tears in her eyes. One of them came up to her a woman by the looks of it.
“Is this your first time kiddo?”
Snifflingly lightly she nodded resting her chin on her knees.
The woman sighed crouching down, “The first times are always the hardest. I can't say it’ll ever be easy, but you’ll grow accustomed to it.”
“Was it the right thing to do?” She said softly blinking tears out of her eyes.
“I don’t know but somebody has to do it.” she paused placing a hand on her shoulder, “We do this so the public can be happy and at ease.”
Kaina looked up and in that moment her face became clear, it wasnt sympathy on her face, but pity, “I’m not sure I’m strong enough.”
“You’ll have to be Lady Nagant,” she said, “It was what you were trained for.”
Tomura Shigaraki knew this whole situation was going to be a disaster as soon as he saw that All Might was not present, but he didn’t think some heroic brat would have the power to blow away his Nomu. He had to be cheating; that was surely it. Not even All Might was supposed to be able to beat the Nomu. So how did some random kid have enough power to punch so hard that nothing remained? That was All Might’s signature move! It was so powerful in fact, he had almost gotten blown away by it. Only All Might was supposed to have that much power, some random brat having more than even him? Cheating surely.
Now, the kid had the nerve to act shocked and horrified. It made him so mad, unlike he had ever been before. Not even All Might pissed him off this much. He rushed at the kid full speed, ready to decay his face off. When your party members cant take out the enemy, usually the party leader could. The kid was so out of it, it should be easy. If he wanted to cheat, then he just would have to play dirty.
But when he touched the kid nothing happened. He turned his head to see Eraserhead barely able to sit up, eyes glowing, he was the only person he liked in this damn building except Kurogiri but he didn’t think he counted.
“Eraserhead, your so cool, but even so..”
Tomura could feel his anger building even more, he was sick of playing around, deciding to just go for it he punched the kid in the face, and he fell straight to the ground how weak was this kid. Must be pretty absent minded too, didn't even startle from a punch to the face. Someone like him doesn't deserve power like that.
He was clearly out of it which would make this an easy victory he grabbed him by the front of his shirt shaking him hard he wanted him lucid for what he was going to do to him for what he had done to his Nomu, he didn’t care that there were hero brats right over there; he deserved the humiliation of it anyway.
Suddenly a loud bang sounded from the other side of the building he reluctantly dropped the kid as he saw All Might show up, how utterly pointless he felt no joy in seeing him as his Nomu was gone so he would have no way to end him.
It just served to enrage him further, he let out a guttural scream the brat ruined everything if he hadn’t killed Nomu then he would’ve been able to kill All Might, he thinks he hates this kid more than All Might himself if he can’t win then he’ll just have to do everything in his power to make sure this kid doesn’t leave here alive before All Might can get over here Eraserhead has to blink eventually he reached for the kids neck squeezing as hard as possible.
Before he could even comprehend it All Might was there flinging him with ease, he hit his head slipping into unconsciousness and all he could feel was his hate.
Kurogiri realized this situation was unwinnable as soon as he saw the Nomu get splattered though, perhaps fortunately, Shigaraki Tomura still attempted to salvage the situation such was his nature. Sensei would not be pleased if either of them didn’t make it back so a swift retreat was in order.
He quickly rushed over to his side but before he could make it All Might had Shigaraki in his grasp and sent him flying with a quick punch he quickly realized it would be nigh impossible All Might would do everything in his power to keep the master's successor here, especially with All Might at full power and the Nomu gone. Weighing the loss he warped back to the hideout and was sure All for One would find a way to retrieve his successor at a more convenient and Kurogiri would be forced to face the brunt of his wrath, as it usually went. But he knew if he pushed the situation he would risk capture which would make it far more difficult to rescue Tomura.
When Toshinori heard that his students were in danger he felt anger at himself because he knew this was his own fault, when he saw his successors state that anger immediately flared into a rage as his protective instinct skyrocketed. He remembered his master's corpse and all he could think was how could he let the same thing happen to his protege who was not even his age when he lost his master. Hell it was the kids first week he shouldn’t be covered in blood like that! It was wrong.
He had to make this right, the villain who caused this would face justice no matter what because he was HERE. Launching at the villain who had Young Midoriya in his grasp he grabbed him with one hand and used his other to launch the villain away from him so he was no longer in harms way, slowly placing him on the ground he turned around and before the purple mist could retrieve the villain and potentially escape he punched it with a Detroit smash, the air current from the force sending it flying nearly to the other side of the building, preparing to continue the attack he paused as the villain disappeared which meant it was probably a warp quirk, which explained how they got into the building in the first place.
Assessing the situation it appears the students handled the villains on their own, he was so damn proud of them, but they didn’t have to worry any longer because he would deal with the rest of them, looking back at Young Midoriya he noticed two other students who seemed to be in distress.
“It’s alright now.. Why? Because I am here!”