Chapter Text
Mineta screeched like a little girl.
"Wait, what's happenin'?"
Jabber was just as laid back as always as he nudged Zanka. He seemed intrigued in what was going on compared to how inattentive he was when Thirteen and Aizawa were explaining this training exercise.
"The whatever the fuck's getting attacked."
Zanka already forgot what this place was gone. Regardless, he caught the memo— they should probably get out of here.
As much as Zanka hated avoiding fights, he was a rule follower as well. Aizawa had told Thirteen to evacuate the students, so that's what they were gonna do.
Zanka didn't wait for Thirteen to give them directions. He grabbed Jabber by the sleeve and ran towards the only exit of the USJ.
A thick cloud of black and purple mist immediately swallowed them whole before either could react. Do monolog, no nothing.
One moment, they had been with the rest of the class. The next?
They were in a mock-city that was on fire.
Zanka froze for a moment before panicking.
Lovely was made out of wood, and they were surrounded by fire. The first thing Zanka did was pull Lovely out of her holster on his back and activated her— that way she'd be safe.
"...What the fuck was that?!"
Jabber exclaimed, coughing and squinting against all the smoke. Zanka hadn't exactly expected these would be useful— Zanka hadn't discarded his masks. He still had his custom made mask as well as a spare one that all Cleaners were expected to carry as a backup.
Zanka reached into his bag, pulling out the two masks and tossing the spare to Jabber.
"I doubt we're alone. Those guys at the entrance probably weren't the only people."
Zanka spoke while strapping his mask to his face with a familiar click. Jabber nodded slowly as he did the same. He never liked wearing masks, but carbon dioxide poisoning wasn't something he wanted to mess with. It wasn't even fun— just made you feel sleepy until you suffocated without a single ounce of pain.
Jabber glanced around before locking onto the men slinking out of the burning alleys.
"Yeah, yer right— we've got company."
Jabber huffed as he held his hands out. A small thrum of anima coursed through him as he activate Mankira— her silver rings turning into long claws.
"Ya not allowed to kill them, by the way."
Zanka figured this was a good time to state this. He's noticed how heroes didn't kill their opponents— it was dumb considering their opponents actively tried killing them.
They already got in enough trouble for their last fiasco.
While most Cleaners held the firm belief that killing was wrong, others held more flexible beliefs. For Zanka, if someone who actually posed a threat to him tried killing him— he'd fight with everything he had, regardless of if it ended in his opponent's death.
Yes, he had fully been trying to kill Jabber as well during the trash beast. In his defense, it was JABBER, and he was also fighting for his life.
Jabber whined at the restriction, although he didn't really think about disobeying it.
Jabber was used to following orders— Zodyl always told Jabber what he needed from him. Maybe he missed the boss? Nah— Zanka was fun too, not to mention bossy enough to fill that void.
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Zanka stood over the body of a man crumpled in on himself. The dude was maybe in his late twenties, and he had a quirk that made his saliva combustible.
The guy couldn't handle one blow from Lovely— although Zanka was pretty sure he might've punctured his organs on accident. Zanka didn't fight humans— he fought trash beasts, and you fought to kill those.
He crouched down, grabbing the man by the neck and forcing him to look at him.
"What're you doing here?"
Zanka asked bluntly, staring down at the man with cold navy eyes that stood out against the burning city.
"W-we were here to.. to kill All Might."
The man mumbled weakly. Zanka released him with a scoff.
Here to kill All Might? These guys who ambushed them were weak— that meant they must have something else up their sleeve if they were confident enough to break into UA.
"Jabber! Lets head out. The other's might need help."
Zanka huffed, glancing over his shoulder at Jabber.
"Why the hell do we gotta help? They'll be fine— these dudes were weak anyway."
Jabber grumbled, rolling his eyes as he walked over to Zanka.
"Because they're fifteen year olds who've never been in a life or death situation ever. They're gonna die."
"Thats not our problem."
Jabber was being stubborn. He didn't really care for their classmates— most of them were just kids way over their heads. He didn't like them much either. Well, maybe Mina— she was nice.
Jabber paused. He almost forgot to mention what he found on one of those dudes.
"Oh— do you know how to use a gun?"
It was a sudden, odd question that came out of the blue. Zanka paused.
The answer was yes— he knew how to use a gun. It was a brief part of training in the Hell's Guard academy, but he trained religiously for everything, and that included gunmanship. He didn't like using weapons aside from Lovely. It was like a direct insult to her.
".. yeah, I know how to use a gun— why?"
Zanka was pretty sure he already knew the answer to that.
"I found one, obviously."
Of course he did.
"Hey, if ya do something real cool with it, I'll agree to helping out some snotty brats. But let's get out of here— the fire's got my ass all sweaty."
Jabber remarked, grinning up a storm.
Zanka didn't have time to respond until Jabber tossed him a loose pistol with zero regard.
Zanka proceeded to yell Jabber's ear off about gun safety as they made their way out of the burning city.
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"I still think we ditch em. Seriously, what's stopping us from just leaving? Most of this building's glass anyway."
Jabber was complaining the entire time. He really didn't know why Zanka wanted to help these brats so much. They slinked out of the enclosed area within the USJ meant to simulate a burning city, entering into the main area.
Jabber immediately froze upon seeing something.
Whatever he saw, it seemed to scare him straight. He grabbed Zanka and ducked into the bushes with him.
"Okay, I'm being so serious— let's just get the hell out of here, alright? There's a big black thing, and it's giving me a bad vibe.."
Jabber sounded slightly on edge as he grabbed onto Zanka's shoulders, not even noticing that Mankira was still active.
"A big black thing? That's gotta be—"
"Shh! Just look at it! I get theres a lot of people around here who don't really look human, but that thing ain't human at all."
Zanka was hesitant for a few moments before looking over to where Jabber kept glancing at.
He immediately froze at the grotesque sight.