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A week. Less even.
That is what it took for the HPSC to plunge Japan in civil war after their attempt to kidnap the Copper-9 drones from U.A proved to be the final nail needed for the WHA to take action against the Japanese HPSC. The fact that the team chosen and sent by the WHA were assassinated within minutes of entering Japan was the first sign that things were about to go very wrong, something proven true when the HPSC, now allied with the Meta Liberation Army, stormed the National Diet Building and imprisoned, or killed, most of the government officials there.
Within forty-eight hours of their attempt on the drones, the HPSC had overthrown the government. What they hadn’t expected was for any remaining members of the Japanese government to rally behind the emperor, who took command of what remained and rallied the military and any heroes not blindly loyal to the HPSC behind him and within less than a day of the HPSC’s attack on the Diet, the first first fight of the war had begun.
Alas, the story of the war is for another time for this is about one battle in particular. One that took place towards the war’s end…
XXXXX
Nezu knew this day would come. The HPSC had made their views on the Copper-9 drones clear more than once. They didn’t like him much either. Now, several HPSC ‘heroes’ and MLA thugs were bearing down on U.A. Most of the students had been evacuated to the bunkers on site but those that hadn’t, Nezu could not be more proud of the students that were willing to stand and fight. Hopefully the numbers they, and U.A’s teachers would have to fight would be far less than what was approaching, the defensive barriers and the many combat-capable robots U.A had would be the first obstacle that the attackers would be facing after all.
“Nezu, we have a problem!” Power Loader suddenly declared from his computer in the control room, the support course teacher one of four people in said room. “Someone’s just shut down the defences from a remote location. I can’t override!”
“What!” Yagi Toshinori, the former number one hero exclaimed even as Nezu rushed over to Power Loader’s computer. “That shouldn’t be possible, the only ones who can do that are-”
“U.A’s staff.” Nezu finished as he looked at the monitor and felt a deep stab of betrayal as he realised what had happened before opening communications to Snipe and Hound Dog. “Find Eraserhead. Now.” Before he could give any more instructions however, the sound of an explosion tore through the air.
“That came from inside.” Power Loader said. “The cameras to Bunker Delta are down.”
“He wouldn’t.” The last person in the command room gasped, his green eyes wide with horror. “Someone please tell me he wouldn’t…”
XXXXX
Cowards and villains. The lot of them. They had not only chosen to oppose the heroes, which made them all villains, but every one of them chose to cower and hide rather than fight. It had grated on him to keep his head down and pretend that he had sided with the traitors but destroying that coward-hole, killing everyone inside, had been satisfying in a way he had never felt before. Such pleasure had made keeping his head down worth the effort.
But now that his cover was blown, there was one person he wanted to kill more than any other. One who deserved to die for refusing to accept his place.
No. One who deserved to suffer. And to do that, Katsuki Bakugou knew who to go after. Who to kill first. And if he was right, he knew just where that little horn-headed bitch would be…
XXXXX
It was logical really. If the HPSC controlled Japan, then anyone who opposed them opposed Japan. Opposed heroics. The rat was an idiot for thinking otherwise. Simple as that. Nothing to do with revenge at all.
That’s exactly what this is about and you know it. A voice in Aizawa’s head said, one that sounded too much like Oboro for him to be comfortable with. Aizawa scoffed at the thought. He had helped this school produce several heroes over the past few years. Many of which had risen to the top hundred since their graduation. His methods worked.
And the fact they only did so after attending therapy or undergoing additional training, if not both, never crossed your mind? The voice asked. Aizawa was about to mentally argue with himself when a second-year student caught sight of him. Without hesitating, Aizawa activated his quirk on the student before binding him with his capture weapon. For a moment the student looked betrayed right before Aizawa used his weapon to break the student's neck. Aizawa then recognised the student as one of the 2-B students. “I told Nezu I should be charge of all the hero students.” The man told himself before looking for somewhere to ambush passersby.
Right. Because you would have expelled anyone who didn’t meet your standards. Or rather, you would have expelled them all so you can sleep when you should be working like you tried last year. The voice whispers in his ear.
“They all lacked potential.” Aizawa muttered to himself. “None of them had what it took.”
Sure. Because not being a loner is grounds for expulsion. Because being privately trained or being highly recommended by high-ranking heroes, of which some of what should have been your class last year were related to, means nothing to someone who can’t be bothered to do his job and read files that he’s required to. What was the term Nezu used? ‘Political shitstorm’ wasn’t it?
Aizawa shook his head. Whatever his subconscious was trying to tell him, it was wasting its time. He knew better than Nezu. He knew what it took to be a hero. Not the rat. Not that glorified media puppet and especially not that blob of flesh.
So that’s it? You can’t stand the fact that Nori’s done a better job than you ever did. Despite all the times you tried to overrule her, the times you sabotaged her, she still did a better job in a few months than you have in years. This really is about revenge. Because regardless of how easy it is to do, you can’t stand that Nezu and Nori know better than you.
This time, Aizawa deliberately smacked himself on the head. He was not going to have an argument with himself. There was nothing wrong with his methods, nothing wrong with him. Before he could further convince himself of that, Aizawa saw two more students passing by his new hiding spot, one of which he identified as a 1-A student, Mashirao Ojiro.
Pathetic boy really. ‘Tail?’ What good was a quirk that only gave its user an extra limb? The boy should have been expelled within the first week, if not day, yet the rat had refused to listen to reason and let him cut the chaff. There was simply no reason to let the boy continue on in the hero course.
Drawing a knife, Aizawa prepared to correct that…
XXXXX
“Breach! We have a breach!” Itsuka Kendo shouted as a group of MLA soldiers broke past the pointer robots that were trying to shore up the inactive defences. Most of the soldiers scattered to attack other targets but three moved to attack Itsuka and the half-dozen students with her.
The gathered 1-B students that had volunteered to help defend U.A and those taking refuge prepared for the upcoming fight, Itsuka preparing to give orders and just as she opened her mouth, she heard Kamakiri give a cry of shock before Shiozaki fell forward, out cold. “What the hell?” Itsuka cried before something struck her and sent her rolling across the ground. Recovering quickly, Itsuka saw most of her group engaging the hostiles while simultaneously trying to protect Shiozaki and a struggling to recover Kamakiri with the sole exception strolling towards her. “Monoma?”
“All this time.” Neito Monoma called out. “All this time, I’ve tried to bring our class the rightful glory it deserves. To show that we are superior to the 1-A filth.” The student held his arms out, as if showboating to a crowd. “Yet all my efforts were opposed and 1-A always got the attention, always got the glory and in the past few days, I had a realisation.” Monoma sneered as he stared at class 1-B’s representative. “You never cared about the glory. You and rest were content to wade in the filth with the other nameless heroes. Content to be forgotten in the shadows of those who do not deserve their fame.”
“A-are you out of your mind Monoma!?” Itsuka cried out as she hesitantly took a combative stance. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her classmates holding their own against the trio of villains that had attacked them but other MLA thugs were breaching the gap even with other robots and some maintenance drones moving in to stop them.
“On the contrary my dear.” Neito sneered, even as his face showed an expression that went against his claims. “I finally realised the only thing I should have been looking out for in this school was myself. The HPSC will soon control Japan and from there, they will go on to take control of the planet. The HPSC will have power over the whole Earth and it starts here. With me. The HPSC will owe their victory to me! NEITO MONO-”
A yellow blade of light passed through the copy-quirk user from head to crotch, silencing him before he fell apart, each half falling to either side to reveal a familiar black-clad drone, her hair tied up in her signature pigtails. “Idiot enjoyed hearing his own voice.” J said before looking at Itsuka who looked on in shock. J rolled her eyes before walking up to the girl and clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Mourn the idiot later if you have to but right now, you have a job to do.”
Itsuka processed this before steeling herself and nodding. J was right, there was work to be done. She could process Monoma’s betrayal later. Itsuka then rushed past J, striking a villain that had tried to reinforce the ones already engaging her classmates. J looked on for a moment before seeing more MLA soldiers making their way through the breach in the defences. Deploying her claws, J smiled as the familiar ‘murder drone X’ as some of the students had taken to calling it appeared on her face. Spreading her wings, J rushed into battle once again, Neito Monoma’s cooling remains laying on the ground, already forgotten.
XXXXX
“Do you have any idea how pathetic you are?”
“What the!? What are you doing here!?” That was all the person that responded got out before falling under Shinso Hitoshi’s control, much to his amusement. “They never learn.” He sneered before another student sight of them. “Kill her then yourself.” Shinso spat at his victim, the brainwashed student immediately turning and firing an excessive amount of electricity at the girl, who Shinso recognised as a former classmate of his just in time for her to scream as she was electrocuted to death, her body smouldering as it hit the floor.
A moment later, the brainwashed student, Kama-something, reached up and broke his own neck, collapsing a second later as his life left his body. “Pathetic.” Shinso sneered at the corpses he had just made, far from the first since his return to the school.
It’s what they deserved really. Those in the hero course with their flashy ‘heroic’ quirks and those who for some stupid, asinine reason thought heroics didn’t matter. And then there was that stupid green-haired bastard. He didn’t even have a quirk and yet somehow, he got a place in the hero class!
The idea of a throwback getting his place was simply unforgivable. Shinso knew it, Eraserhead knew it and even the head of the HPSC knew it. U.A were the ones in the wrong and Shinso fully intended to prove it.
Hearing a voice nearby, Shinso smirked. More victims for him to deal with. More people to prove his quirk was better than theirs. Because in the end, that was what defined a person.
“Is it your quirk that people call villainous, or is it just you?”
Shinso growled at the memory. The scrap metal slut would be shown her place soon enough. He was no villain and he’d prove that. Once he’d added these people to the list of those that he’d killed today in the name of heroism…
XXXXX
Trust.
It was a major part of heroics. Knowing who to trust, who would have your back when you were in trouble. And right now, a member of 1-A felt a deep betrayal, her, and classes trust broken by one of their own. “Why?” Ochako Uraraka growled at her now former classmate.
“Heroics is absolute! By opposing the HPSC, U.A has opposed heroics itself and by siding with U.A you have chosen a path of villainy. There is no in between!” Tenya Iida declared before charging forward in another attack, swinging an armoured leg round in a kick propelled by his quirk. Ochako barely dodged the attack but Tenya’s leg smashed through part of a nearby wall, indicating just how much lethal force had been put behind the attack.
“You, you cannot possibly be this blind!” Ochako shouted at the armoured teen as she uses her own quirk to hurl a large piece of debris at Tenya, cancelling out her quirk at the last second with Tenya barely avoiding the projectile. “The HPSC has killed people! They tried to kidnap Uzi and the others!”
“They are not people Uraraka!” Tenya shouted as he rushed forward, changing direction at the last second to throw her off before leaping off a wall and punching the girl square in the head, Ochako’s head wear breaking under the force of the impact. If that had hit directly, I’d be dead now. A part of Ochako’s mind shouted at her as she fell to the ground, Tenya standing over her.
“Those drones are not people and should not be treated as such. They are not even alive. I do not understand why you, nor the rest of class 1-A cannot understand this.” Tenya said, venom lacing his words before kicking Ochako over when she tried to get up. “Do not resist villain. Surrender or I will use lethal force.”
“You- you stupid bastard.” Ochako snarled out as she held her chest where Tenya had kicked her. Definitely broke a rib. The girl thought. “After everything that’s happened. After everything at the USJ, at Kamino. After Izuku and V saved your life at Hosu because of the choices you made. After you were the only one in our class to fail the provisional license exam because you couldn’t think for yourself for one damned second.” Ochako gave a gasp as she felt a spike of pain from her broken rib. “I honestly can’t believe you’re still so damned black and white on everything”
Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, Ochako smiled. “And you’re still too focused on what’s in front of you for your own good.” Too late, Tenya realised that there was someone else nearby and long before he could react, a purple symbol appeared out of thin air and slammed into him before ramming Tenya into the wall with enough force to smash him through it.
While this wasn’t enough to knock Tenya out cold outright, it did daze him long enough for his attacker to bind his arms and legs, Tenya catching sight of the newcomer in the process. “Y-you?!”
“Your family must be so proud of you.” Uzi snapped sarcastically. “Oh wait, your father’s one of the heroes opposing the HPSC. So, I guess he’ll be ashamed of you. I bet he won’t be the only one.”
Unable to counter, or even believe Uzi, Tenya sputtered before a punch from the teenage maintenance drone finally knocked him out.
XXXXX
Eri squeezed Khan’s waist as the sounds of battle echoed in the drone maintenance area. One of the most fortified non-bunker locations on U.A, the site had become a refuge for a number of non-combat students, most of which were helping to repair maintenance drones that had withdrawn from combat due to damage.
Including one certain disassembly drone that also needed repair following her battle alongside the 1-B students. “There, I can’t promise the repairs will hold if you take damage to them before your nanites finish up, but your legs should stay attached.” Thad told J, the taller drone already off the table and standing.
“Ugh, thanks.” J said reluctantly before heading over to the nearest window and jumping out, spreading her wings before flying off. There was silence for a moment before Thad cried out in joy. “She thanked me! She never thanked me before!”
“Good for you.” Lizzy said as she stood guard by the main entrance. She was aware that there were guards outside, they could be seen on the security cameras that were connected to a monitor in the room, but that didn’t stop her from keeping guard with Uzi’s rail cannon as a second line of defence. “Maybe you can marry her when this is over.” Lizzy nearly turned away before she saw the excited look on Thad’s face. “My god, you’re actually considering it.”
Before anyone else could say anything, an explosion caused the room to shake, the metal doors distorting as the camera feed cut out. “What was that?” One of the adult drones cried out as Lizzy took position to fire on whatever hostile was on the other side. Don’t think about what happened to the guys keeping guard outside. Lizzy thought to herself as she stared down the rail cannon’s sights.
Before she could do anything else, another explosion ripped the doors apart, the blast throwing Lizzy back, dropping her gun as she bounced off a work bench. Before she could recover, Katsuki Bakugou walked through the now ruined entrance before casting his glare from one side of the room to the other. One of the worker drones recovered first and rushed Katsuki only for the berserker to hit him with an explosion so powerful it obliterated most of the drone’s upper torso along with his head.
Looking round again, Katsuki sneered as he caught sight of his target. “There you are.” He said venomously as Khan turned to put himself in between Eri and Katsuki, even as the latter prepared to unleash an explosion powerful enough to level the room…
And at the last second, something grabbed Katsuki and threw him backwards with enough force to remove him from the room. As the newcomer turned to face Katsuki, she called out to Khan.
“Get everyone to safety. This asshole has this coming.” V said as she extended her wings again and flew out of sight, the sounds of battle reaching the maintenance room a moment later.
“You heard the murder drone.” Khan called out to everyone. “Let’s move!” As the group moved to leave the room, Lizzy recovering the rail cannon as other drones armed themselves, Khan looked at Eri to reassure her. “Don’t worry kid, I’ll keep you safe.”
“I’m not worried Mr Khan.” Eri replied with a smile. “Mama’s here to stop the bad man and I know Papa’s working to keep all of us safe. We’ll all be okay.”
Despite everything the child had been through, Khan couldn’t help but be touched at her positiveness. “Know what kid, I think you’re right.”
XXXXX
Katsuki didn’t even have time to recover from his mis-fired attack before V had grabbed him a second time and hurled him into the air, the blonde using more explosions to change the direction of his impromptu flight just in time to avoid machine gun fire from the same drone responsible for his current predicament. A couple more explosions later and Katsuki was back on the ground in a more open area, V landing herself a moment later. “You know, Izuku really hoped that you’d change.” V said as she deployed an arm blade. “Quite frankly, I wish I could say I’m surprised.”
“Who gives a fuck about Deku?” The more psychopathic of the two snarled. “He’s a worthless pebble who deserves to suffer for what he did.” Katsuki fired a string of explosions at V, the murder drone leaping to the side before firing several rounds from her gun arm, Katsuki himself avoiding the shots. “That bastard should’ve killed himself when I told him to! He should never have come to this school and ruin my origin story!”
“Are you really that delusional?” V said as she took flight to avoid another attack, swinging her body round in midair to kick Katsuki square in the head, the berserker bouncing twice before righting himself. “This isn’t a comic book, and you are not the centre of the universe.”
“YES I FUCKING AM!” Katsuki screamed as he charged forward, ready to clamp a hand on V’s head. The drone sidestepped the attack easily enough, but Katsuki used his other hand to generate an explosion to change direction and go after her. V pulled back just in time to keep her opponent from grabbing her, but Katsuki simply opted to blast her in the chest instead, shredding the front of her jacket and forcing V to put distance between the two of them.
“All my life, everyone has told me I’m destined for greatness. That my quirk is perfect for heroics. That I’m the strongest. And every single person who said that was right.” Katsuki sneered. “I am the strongest. There is no-one better than me. Not you. Not All Might. And certainly not Deku.” Katsuki then fired an explosion off at V and when she moved to dodge, he fired more explosions off with his other hand, V barely having time to raise her arms in defence before they struck, throwing her backwards and breaking off the blade that V had deployed, the drone rolling on the floor before another explosion struck her, causing V to cry out as a warning flashed on her HUD, indicating her casing was compromised.
The explosions letting up, V got to her feet and saw Katsuki sneering at her, the berserker chuckling when he laid eyes on the crack his attack had put in V’s torso. “Now you’re starting to look like the piece of shit that you are.”
“Funny.” V said. “Didn’t realise I had a mirror attached to me.” The drone then rushed forward, Katsuki snarling before firing off another attack, but V ducked down before Katsuki unleashed more attacks, V then darting to the side, stabbing her tail into the ground to change direction almost immediately before deploying her claws right as she got into melee range.
Unleashing a point-blank explosion at the ground was the only thing that kept V from killing Katsuki there and then as the blast forced them apart, V whipping her tail round in an attempt to strike Katsuki, the boy’s eyes going wide as the tip whipped just past his face. As the two recovered from the blast, Katsuki snarled as he prepared to make his next move. “Do you have any idea how much I hate you and that worthless bastard?”
V remained silent. If Katsuki was going to flap his gums like he was some sort of anime character, she was going to let him give her nanites chance to repair what damage they could. “Graduating from U.A was supposed to be the end of my origin story. The start of my greatness. Instead, everyone’s been putting that bastard on a pedestal. Treating him as if he had any worth. Then there’s you and the rest of your robot freaks. You aren’t heroes. You’re not even villains. You’re just piles of shitty junk.”
Katsuki let a few explosions pop in his hand as he walked round V. “And because of you fuckers, I couldn’t put Deku in his place. No-one respects me like they should and that rat bastard kicked me out of the hero course. ME!” With that shout, Katsuki fired another attack off, V taking to the air before firing another volley of gunfire at Katsuki who avoided the shots with ease only to find V charging at him.
V slammed into Katsuki, her claws barely grazing him thanks to Katsuki managing to dodge just enough to avoid fatal damage. V then wrapped her tail round Katsuki’s leg and whipped him round to throw him several feet before deploying guns in both hands to finish him off…
Only for a MLA thug to leap in out of nowhere and strike V, throwing off her aim. “You ass!” The silver haired drone shouted before she deployed her remaining blade, but just before she could make the kill, an explosion hit the no-name thug in the back. “I don’t need anyone’s help. I DON’T NEED ANY HELP!”
Even as V pulled back, Katsuki fired more explosions at the thug who cried out as his body was ripped apart by the explosions. By the time Katsuki was finished, the MLA thug had been reduced to a smear of gore across the ground. “See how strong I am bitch?” Katsuki growled as he turned to V. “I’m the strongest there is. Not Deku. I’m the greatest hero. Everyone will worship me.”
“You’re freaking nuts is what you are.” V said as she carefully walked at a steady pace in a circle, Katsuki doing the same as the two of them waited for the other to make the next move. “What the hell makes you think anyone will see you as a hero after this?”
“Because you’re fighting the real heroes and that makes you the villains.” Katsuki said. “Every single bastard that hid here is a villain. And heroes beat villains. Villains like you!” With that final exclamation, the berserker fired two explosions at once, a small one at V and a larger one to propel him forward.
V dodged the first blast, along with two closer ones that Katsuki fired in his charge forward before the blonde closed to melee range and moved to blast one of V’s arms off only for her to dodge backwards as she deployed both her machine guns.
Only for Katsuki to launch a flash bang attack, causing her sensors to fritz out due to the intense light and sound. Too late, V found out that Katsuki had closed his eyes before the blast when she felt something grab her forearms.
Boom.
V cried out as her HUD flashed several alarms at her before a powerful kick had her stagger back. Her audio and optical sensors choice that moment to recover from the flash bang and V barely reacted in time to avoid another blast. Quickly surveying the damage, V saw that her left hand was simply gone, too much of that arm damaged to use her weapons while her other arm, while still having an intact hand, was badly cracked due to more widespread and the nanites in that limb were prioritising repair, leaving her weapons in that limb off-line.
Must have grabbed me further up my right arm than the left or I’d have lost both hands. V thought before she heard Katsuki laughing. “You see? You fucking see! I knew I was stronger than you robot bastards! Stronger than all of you! And when the world see’s how strong I am, they’ll start worshipping me! JUST LIKE THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO!”
Katsuki spread his arms to the side as he spun round, the sounds of battle echoing through the air. “The strongest rule, they’re the ones who get worshipped, the ones who win. And that’s me. Katsuki Bakugou. The strongest there is. The strongest that will ever be!”
“You’re deluded.” V growled, Katsuki giving a bark of laughter in response. “No, the bastards have just stood in my way too long. They’ve opposed me at every step. They’re the real villains. And I’m going to enjoy making sure they suffer like villains should. Especially Deku.”
V’s eye visibly narrowed, her one intact hand clenching into a fist as she heard that. “I’m going to destroy everything he ever cared about. I’m going to hurt him and then, once he’s watched me kill that little horn-headed whore of his, then I’ll-”
“Don’t.”
“HAH?!”
“Don’t you ever talk about Eri that way.” V snapped, the drone now visibly angry.
Katsuki just sneered. “Bitch. Slut. Cunt. I’ll call that freak whatever I want and no-one can tell me otherwise. Not Deku. Not the rat.” Katsuki then let a couple more firecracker sized explosions erupt from his hand. “And not YOU!” The bastard then charged once more, V extending her wings to jump over him towards a specific spot on the battlefield, even as Katsuki turned to face her, firing off an explosion to try and hit her, one that she blocked with her wing, damaging it in the process.
With a roar, Katsuki charged forward again, both hands primed to unleash powerful explosions. “DIE!” Had he been not so caught up in his delusions, Katsuki might have realised why V jumped to this specific spot.
Twisting round, V took the broken blade she had picked up with her good hand and rammed it into Katsuki’s chest. “You first.” The murder drone said with quiet fury before hitting the end with her palm, not only pushing Katsuki back but forcing the blade in deeper. Katsuki looked stunned for a moment before his face twisted in anger. “You-you bitch. This won’t-” Katsuki coughed up blood. “This won’t stop me!”
The blonde then lifted an arm, V fully expecting another attack before Katsuki coughed again. “F-fuck you, youuuu-” Katsuki Bakugou’s voice cut off as his strength, and life, finally left him and he collapsed to the floor. With a deep sigh, V quickly ran a check for damage. Her nanites were almost done repairing her casing damage on her torso, her wing was damaged but still functional while her right-arm weapons were still offline with her left arm still damaged to the point she needed to go to mainten-ERI.
The girl had still been in the compromised maintenance area. Unwilling to wait, V quickly started flying back to maintenance, keeping all of her visual sensors fully active to scan the area. Before she was even halfway, V found herself letting go of a breath she didn’t know she was hiding when she detected a familiar group in a safe zone she almost passed by. Landing with an impact, V couldn’t help but smile when she heard a little voice cry out. “Mommy!”
“Hey kiddo.” V said with no small amount of relief as she grabbed Eri in a hug. “Glad to see you’re okay.” A muffled shout caught V’s attention and she looked towards the bound teen on the floor. “Do I want to know?” V asked the drone keeping guard over said bound teen.
“Idiot decided that everything we’ve been through and all the respect and trust we’d built up meant nothing and he turned on us.” Uzi said with no small amount of distain towards Tenya Iida. “He was told that stupid-ass black-and-white view he had would get him into trouble.” Uzi them focused on V as Eri let go, allowing Uzi to see the damage V had taken. “Tell me that idiot’s dead.”
Realising Uzi had been told about why the drones from maintenance were here, V nodded. “He’s not getting back up.”
“Can’t say he didn’t have that coming.” Uzi said as she approached V, Lizzy taking her place at guarding Tenya. “Come on, let’s get you fixed up.” As Uzi led V over to a table where some of the equipment taken from maintenance was, the silver-haired drone silently hoped Izuku was doing okay.
XXXXX
It was sheer luck Aizawa and Shinso ran into each other, the latter proudly declaring to his teacher that he’s managed to kill three 1-A students. Good. Aizawa thought. That’ll show the rat he was in the wrong not letting me expel those brats. If they can’t survive something like this, then then never deserved to be heroes to begin with.
Now the two were on their way to the control room where the defence of U.A was being coordinated really. Such a thing was unneeded as far as Aizawa was concerned. Heroes should be able to operate without someone supporting them. Shouldn’t need someone giving them orders. Not only that, but Aizawa knew that there would likely be one person in that room that couldn’t put up any kind of resistance. The one human Aizawa had wanted gone from the start.
As Aizawa and Shinso approached the control room, they saw on how the place looked unguarded. Silently, Aizawa approached and used his key card to release the lock before motioning Shinso to enter, the purple haired ex-student going through the entrance to see Power Loader standing at a computer, several monitors showing images of battle. Briefly wondering where the Null was, Shinso thought that this was going to be too easy.
There was a reason for that.
At the same time Shinso felt something clap around his wrist, a robotic foot slammed into Aizawa’s back before the man was dragged backwards. Shinso turned round in time for Izuku Midoriya to punch him square in the face, causing Shinso to fall into the floor. “You okay Midoriya?” Power Loader asked, not even looking from the monitors.
“I’m fine,” Izuku said. “He’s got this coming.”
“Oh really?” Shinso sneered as he got back up. “Pray tell, just what are you going to do to me Null?”
Izuku smiled before replying. “More than you think.”
Shinso couldn’t believe how easily the freak had allowed himself to be put under the effect of his quirk before his eyes widened. “What’s wrong Hitoshi?” Izuku asked before Shinso whipped up the arm he had felt something being attached to earlier, the ex-student unable to hide the shock when he saw both halves of quirk-suppression cuffs attached to his arm. Shinso then looked at the null to see an expression of anger on his face.
“Denki Kaminari. Hanta Sero. Eijiro Kirishima.” Izuku said with no small amount of fury as he approached Shinso who in turn was backing up to the door, only to find it shut. “They were friends of mine. They were good people. And you murdered them.”
“They deserved it!” Shinso snapped. “Thinking they were top of the world with their flashy quirks! They betrayed heroics! They deserved to die!”
“None of 1-A lorded their quirks over anyone, never tried to claim they were better than everyone else.” Izuku said as Shinso desperately tried to force his quirk to work. “Anyone with a working brain can tell you that the HPSC’s actions are a disgrace to everything they claim to represent. Assassinations, attempted kidnappings, allying with terrorists. Does any of that sound heroic to you?”
Izuku continued to approach Shinso who was trying to put space in between the two of them. “And who are you to claim that they deserved to die? Heroes are not judge, jury or executioner. We serve the public. We protect and save lives. That is something the HPSC forgot a long time ago.” Izuku continued his approach, Shinso looking on in horror as his quirk still failed to work even as he found himself backed into a literal corner.
“Stay away from me!” Shinso cried out, his many attempts to force his quirk to work through the cuffs having failed. “Why?” Izuku retorted. “Surely you’re more capable of fighting than a null right?” Shinso couldn’t help the anger that rose up. How dare the quirkless freak say he could fight better than he could.
Without thinking, Shinso clenched a fist and threw it as hard as he could at Izuku who easily side-stepped the attack before throwing his own punch with far more speed and force than Shinso had thrown his, Izuku’s fist hitting Shinso’s face with a meaty thump before the purplette collapsed to the ground.
Izuku was silent for a moment as Shinso gasped in pain from the punch, struggling to recover from the single strike. “There’s so much I want to say to you. So many things I could point out is wrong with your views on ‘heroic and villainous quirks’, but after everything you’ve done,” Izuku paused for a moment as he looked at Shinso. “All I can think is just how hypocritical you are.”
Shinso looked as if he was trying to murder Izuku just by staring at him, not even trying to get up as Izuku stood over him. “Heroes make the effort to do their duty, yet you chose not to put in the slightest effort, to give up at the first sign of difficulty. You chose to discriminate against other people after you thought you got discriminated against for your quirk. You chose to betray others for your own benefit. And you chose to use your quirk to hurt, to kill people and you haven’t shown the slightest bit of regret in doing so.”
Izuku didn’t even try to hide the contempt he had for the boy in front of him as Shinso struggled to his feet. “What the fuck do you know null?” Shinso snarled. “You’re just a freak who should have died years ago. You don’t deserve to be a hero. YOU DON’T DESERVE TO BE ALIVE!”
Izuku clenched his fists as he stared at Shinso. “I’ll say this about you Hitoshi. You’re not a villain.” Izuku paused for a moment as he waited for his enemy to take those words in.
“You’re worse.”
Faster than Shinso could act, Izuku punched him one more time, finally laying the brainwasher out before Izuku reapplied the cuffs onto both of Shinso’s wrists. A moment later, the doors to the control room opened and Aizawa was dumped in, quirk-suppressant cuffs around his wrists and what remained of his capture weapon around his legs. “We good?” Izuku asked the one who had thrown Aizawa into the room.
“Yeah.” N said. “We’re good.”
XXXXX Minutes earlier XXXXX
Aizawa skidded along the ground before hitting a wall, the underground hero quickly getting to his feet and showing no small amount of displeasure at the one responsible. “Move, robot.” Aizawa ordered.
“You know, I’m pretty sure you don’t have the authority to order anyone around anymore.” N said as he stared down the scruffy hero. “What did the HPSC pay you? Had to be something good for you to betray your colleagues, your friends.” N left students unsaid, the man had made it clear that he didn’t care about U.A’s students.
“Why does it matter to you?” Aizawa said as he took a combative stance, knife in hand. One that N was quick to notice had not been properly cleaned of blood, telltale red smears along the blade. “But if you must know, they didn’t pay me a thing.”
N’s digital eyes widened on his visor before he frowned. “So you betrayed everyone you’ve worked with for what? Revenge? A grudge? Because you were being mistreated? You’ve enabled every death that’s happened here.”
“If these students can’t handle this then they never belonged in U.A.” Aizawa snapped back. “For years, I’ve done this job. Several students went on to become pro heroes because of me and yet Nezu constantly fought me, opposed my methods when I have shown time and again that they work!”
Rather than make a verbal response, N extended his wings and rushed Aizawa. By instinct, Aizawa activated his quirk, throwing his capture weapon forward as well, a part of his expecting N’s wings to fail him and leave him vulnerable to capture.
Too late for it to help him, Aizawa remembered that as a disassembly drone, N didn’t have a quirk. Spinning around, N used a claw to slice Aizawa’s capture weapon before grabbing him with his free hand and forcing Aizawa backwards, slamming him into a wall. Aizawa tried to bring his knife up to stab N in the neck but couldn’t get his stunned body to respond fast enough. Slamming Aizawa to the floor, N pulled out a pair of quirk-suppressant cuffs he had in his coat, clapping them over Aizawa’s wrists. “You know, I thought teachers were supposed to look after their students.” N said. “Yet you decided to be the exception.”
“They shouldn’t need teaching.” Aizawa barely got out, now struggling to stay awake thanks to the impact of both slams having. “They should be learning to be heroes on their own, if they need help, they shouldn’t be trying to be heroes.”
“And what about those outside the hero course? What about those who sought refuge here? What about those who trusted you with their lives?” N snapped back, any trace of the cheery, friendly drone nowhere to be found before N dragged Aizawa up.
Yes, what about them? The voice in Aizawa’s head asked before Aizawa lost the battle to stay awake and darkness fell over him…
XXXXX
The battle for U.A did not end with a final climatic clash between defenders and attackers. It would be more accurate to say that the offending force wound up running out of steam towards the end. While the MLA soldiers and most of the less-noble ‘heroes’ fought to the end, the more intelligent ones surrendered once they realised the battle was lost. The battle was won, but the price was high.
Three hundred and fifty-two dead. Three hundred and fifty-two who had been betrayed by those entrusted with their lives. The sole reason that number was in the triple digits to begin with was because of the shelter that had been destroyed, collapsing on everyone within it. The majority of the rest of the dead were students that had fought to protect the school and everyone in it but they themselves had been betrayed, many students (far too many as far as Nezu was concerned) had chosen to betray the people they were protecting and turned on their fellow students once the defences were breached. Defences that were comprised thanks to a betrayal that in hindsight, Nezu knew he should have expected.
And Nezu knew that once the dust was settled, it was a betrayal that was going to have consequences. He had promised protection to those who wanted sanctuary from the war and he had failed to deliver.
Nezu rubbed his eyes before he looked over to three of the people in the control room with him. Two of said people were actually taking a break right now and as Izuku Midoriya held his adoptive daughter to his side, and a freshly repaired V held her own arms around her boyfriend’s shoulders, Nezu couldn’t help but smile.
Right now, consequences could wait. For now, he could smile at the realisation that no matter what the future held, there would always be good people. The HPSC would lose the war, Nezu was certain of that. And whatever became of professional heroics as a whole, Izuku, V and all those who stood alongside them would be remembered as those who stood for what was right.
They would be remembered as true heroes.
END