Chapter Text
UA treats it like a courtesy when they notify the HPSC about All Might’s new position. They send a letter well before the news goes public, three months before the school’s yearly entrance exams. Principal Nedzu’s missive is polite, concise, and, above all else, final.
Yagi Toshinroi, aka Pro Hero All Might, will be teaching at UA this year. It will severely impact his patrol hours. Plan accordingly.
The news hits the HPSC like a grenade.
Something has changed about the Symbol of Peace, the pillar of hero society and the status quo everyone relies on. But UA will not respond to inquiries about what that change might be, nor will it provide the information the HPSC needs to ‘plan accordingly.’ Reaching out to All Might himself has proven fruitless. Up until this, UA’s fierce independence has been an annoyance but a manageable one. Now it feels like a threat to national security.
Yokumiru Mera still wishes they’d figured out a way of responding that wouldn’t involve risking a nine year running, multi-million yen project. And Mera’s already pitiful sleep schedule.
Hawks stands at attention, wings folded in, dressed in the facility uniform he’s been wearing variations of for nearly a decade now. Madame President herself has come down here to stress the importance of this assignment, along with the top overseers on the Hawks project and the new UA investigative team. There are twelve adults in the room staring down a single teenager.
The absurdity is not lost on Mera.
They all know Hawks will comply. The first time Hawks had even so much as hesitated before saying yes to a commission directive, Mera had been brought in as his new handler to ensure it never happened again. If Mera had been a younger, less disillusioned man, he might have felt a little worse about easing a child into their role as an administrator of state-sanctioned violence. He even might have tried a little harder to be a friend to the poor kid instead of just another handler, but he wasn’t and he didn't.
And he certainly can’t muster up the energy now.
The board room, the long table, arranging the chairs so that Hawks stands alone, it's all pageantry and Mera wonders how much of it is for the commission’s own peace of mind.
Hawks’ covert operations training is excellent, sure, but geared towards stealth recon and target elimination, not undercover work. He’s not prepared to be a deep cover spy. Nevermind the fact that Mera and the staff psychologist were still working on improving the kid’s socialization for regular human interaction before Nedzu’s little bombshell. Apparently raising a child in a box results in a deeply weird, unsettling teen instead of a marketable, crowd-friendly pro hero. Who could have imagined?
Mera can feel a headache taking root. Their remedial social training is being chucked straight in the garbage along with everything else. They’ll have to scrap the original debut plans to deal with their asset becoming prematurely public, figure out a living situation and paper trail that isn't a red flag to the world’s smartest rodent, and somehow ensure no one on UA’s payroll looks too hard at where Hawks came from while he gathers intel for the commission.
Mera doesn’t bother thinking too hard about why concerned teachers might be a problem. He’s under no illusions that, if there is a hell, Mera isn’t going there for his work with Hawks. No one involved in the project ever says the words ‘child soldier’ or ‘quirk trafficking,’ but it doesn’t matter. They all know.
All for the greater good.
It’s safer that UA believes Hawks to be completely independent from the commission for this mission to succeed. Neater for the new debut plans. They need a history that explains everything wrong with him that isn’t ‘unethical government project.’ Mera will figure it out. He has to. He’s got about as much choice in this as the kid.
Ugh.
Surely one dog/mouse/bear creature must have some other exploitable weakness, but Madame President disagrees. They have a more-or-less ready-made mole in their back pocket. They are going to use it.
Hawks, soon to be fifteen-year-old UA hopeful Keigo Takahashi, accepts the assignment.
If they're lucky, no one will ever notice anything amiss.
***
Shinsou is about ninety percent sure his new roommate was grown in a government lab. The other ten percent is betting on ex-yakuza, although how a fifteen year old would manage that remains unclear.
Would explain the knife skills though. And the bizarre moral code.
They both transferred to the Ikegami group home four weeks ago. If they get into UA, they’ll get to stay. If not, it’s off to wherever is closest to whatever high school accepts them. Shinsou has no plans to leave. He’s getting in. He’s staying here. It wouldn’t matter if the Ikegami home was even more of a nightmare than his first placement, he is going to get into UA and he is going to be a hero. The fact that Ikegami-san and the staff here are more or less tolerable is a bonus. The fact that his roommate seems to have imprinted on him like a deranged baby bird is…workable.
He might have come here with no intention of making friends but he can manage one weird guy. He flat out refuses to call him Keigo though.
Shinsou’s not technically an orphan, just a ward of the state whose mother couldn't handle motherhood, but he’s used to the system. He’s used to orphanages full of throwaway kids like him and actual orphans alike. He’s used to giving as good as he gets and was more than prepared to throw down when a conventionally attractive roomie with a flashy, heroic quirk rolled up.
They tend to be both cocky and a pain to deal with. He's dealt with the type before. But Takahashi turns out to be something very different.
Takahashi knows entirely too many different judo holds but has never seen a washing machine in person before. Takahashi doesn’t know how to cook an egg but the communal kitchen knives have never been honed to a finer edge. Takahashi can’t get enough of looking out windows or being outside, like seeing the sky is a commodity that usually gets rationed. Takahashi would give anyone the clothes off his back and never ask why but also knows everyone’s shady business within the week. He mostly uses this knowledge to cheerfully manipulate the other kids and staff into taking better care of themselves and improving the home in countless little ways.
Case in point, Shinsou.
Shinsou himself isn't exactly a pleasure to be around, (the massive chip on his shoulder tends to scare people off, and that’s before they find out about his quirk), but a less-than-stellar personality has done nothing to dissuade his new roommate from deciding that they are besties. Takahashi could have picked anyone else (literally anyone) but the escaped government experiment wants to hang out with Shinsou.
And then do whatever it takes to help Shinsou achieve his life-long goals.
“Would it work if you told someone to do something outside their normal capabilities?”
Takahashi’s midway through his morning routine, which means this conversation is happening around a truly mind-numbing number of pushups while Shinsou reviews his notes for the thousandth time. He needs an extremely high score on the written exam to balance out the practical, especially if his competition for the heroics course are all going to be absolute machines like Takahashi. Shinsou isn’t sure he could lift his arms to join the workout if he tried right now, and he knows he can't move his legs without wincing. He’s never been this sore in his life, and that includes having the shit kicked out of him on multiple occasions. Taking up Takahashi on his offer to train together has been brutal. Rewarding, but brutal.
And now Takahashi’s hitting him with quirk questions. Again.
Shinsou decides to hedge. “How so?”
“Well,” Takahashi breathes in, out, completely unconcerned about responding to Shinsou's questions or comments, “I know my current top flight speed, but what would happen if you prompted me to fly faster than that?”
No one is this excited about Shinsou’s quirk. No one is this excited about Shinsou.
“Dunno. I’ve never tried.”
“Then we should try it! Maybe not the flight thing, sucks not being able to fly anywhere besides the courtyard, but something else could work. Calisthenics maybe? I’d be down to try juggling.”
“If you want?” People don’t volunteer for brainwashing.
Takahashi grins, because he apparently does not count as people, “Absolutely! You need quirk practice too, right? Plus you’ve been putting up with me all month. Least I could do is help.”
Help.
Right.
Takahashi might be pathologically incapable of not helping. Or sitting still. This will be the eighth or ninth time Takahashi’s offered to play guinea pig, and that’s on top of taking Shinsou under his wing (ha) for a crash course in how to train for combat, cleaning their room and the home’s bathrooms and communal kitchen like he's getting paid for it, and being the world’s most dedicated study buddy. Shinsou still hasn’t wrapped his head around it. Or figured out Takahashi’s deal beyond conspiracy theory speculation.
Rather than verbalize any of that, Shinsou just looks back at his notes. “Maybe. But I don’t see how that will help with the practical. Most years it’s robots or rescue scenarios.”
Takahashi actually laughs, the bastard, even if it comes out a bit wheezy. He’s on his third rep after all. “If it’s rescue you’re golden - half the battle there is keeping people from panicking themselves into worse shape. You’re perfect for rescue.”
No one has ever told Shinsou he is perfect for rescue. Nevermind the fact that Takahashi sounds like he somehow has experience working rescue. Shinsou puts another mental point in the ‘government experiment’ column and resolutely ignores the sudden warmth in his chest. Time to redirect this before he does something mortifying like tear up.
“And the robots? Don’t think a month of drills will mean I can punch a robot in half bare handed.”
Takahashi considers this a half a second longer than Shinsou’s last concern, “I could lend you a primary if we can nail down the basics for bladed weapons this week. Should be sharp enough. They said no outside weapons but I’m not an outside weapon, right?”
Shinsou isn’t so sure about that, but says nothing. Takahashi keeps at his pushups and strategizing, “Honestly you could probably just order me to cut a robot in two for you. Would that count? Feels like it should count since it's using your quirk, same as everyone else.”
Takahashi is insane, but at least Shinsou has had a few weeks to come to terms with it. He keeps his eyes on his algebra notes.
“Depends on how the proctors feel about brainwashing as a viable strategy. And you could lose those points.”
“If it gets the job done it’s viable.” Takahashi declares, tone final. “And working as a team is almost always a viable strategy. Which would mean being able to brainwash me to perform beyond my regular capabilities could be helpful against a giant robot."
He sounds especially pleased about that last bit.
Shinsou gives up. “Sure Takahashi. Let's try it then.”
Takahashi cheers.
Turns out it is possible. Sort of. The juggling is a mixed bag, although it is hilarious to see how a brainwashed Takahashi thinks juggling works, but pushing Takahashi past his already impressive pull up limit succeeds. At least Takahashi has a week to recover from the resulting muscle strain before the exams.
Shinsou agrees to call him Keigo after that, although he draws the line at letting the guy call him Hitoshi.
Keigo beams at him regardless.
***
It's pure luck that they end up in the same battle arena.
When the gates open, Shinsou is armed with a wickedly sharp feather and, counter to his entire life experience up until this point, allies. It’s getting harder to keep his expectations realistic (i.e. low).
Keigo says he's more than happy to let Shinsou activate his brainwashing for extra points halfway through the test. He even tries to convince a few other kids to be part of their makeshift team on the bus ride over - hyping up Shinsou’s quirk like he’s a magic bullet for exam jitters. Only one student takes them up on it, another bird heteromorph who claims it would be helpful to have a backup in case “the call of darkness becomes overwhelming.” Fumikage Tokoyami’s quirk is emotion based apparently. And sentient, which Shinsou and Keigo both find fascinating, even if the weird little shadow creature clearly prefers Keigo. Bird thing probably, Shinsou's not pressed about it.
Shinsou’s still stuck on the fact that he’s got people in his corner.
Tokoyami doesn't end up needing Shinsou’s help during the test, but Dark Shadow is a powerful quirk to have on any team. No one else here even thought about working together, which Shinsou finds both typical and, with the benefit of hindsight, stupid as the three of them crush the competition. Keigo can barely hide how delighted he is about their little group, even during the most stressful ten minute exam Shinsou or Tokoyami have ever experienced. Shinsou can’t help but wonder what Keigo’s most stressful exam must have been, because the UA practical sure as hell isn’t it. He laughs his way through, demolishing robots and cheering them all on.
When the time comes, Keigo keeps his word. Shinsou can’t believe it even as it’s happening. With Keigo as a high-damage, insanely fast puppet, Shinsou scrapes together just enough points to beat out some other weird kid with purple hair for the last spot in the heroics course. He won't need to fight his way up through general studies after all.
Tokoyami lands solidly near the top.
Keigo does fine, even after splitting his total with Shinsou, and Shinsou wonders if this is what having actual friends must be like.
They’re in.
Class 1-A.
***
Shouta Aizawa has twenty new students to keep alive.
He skips orientation because it’s pointless, and gets right to evaluating where the children are at. He’s reviewed the exam footage and their school records and there are more than a few red flags that need to be addressed. Expectations that need to be set.
Preferably before anyone dies.
Izuku Midoriya broke three limbs in the exam. Three. Denki Kaminari short circuited himself. Hitoshi Shinsou has a powerful quirk under the right circumstances, but it's too much like Aizawa’s own. If it hadn’t been for some pretty unprecedented extenuating circumstances (and a dicey faculty vote), the kid would have ended up in general studies. Shinsou will need to be unbeatable as a fighter if he wants to make it as a pro, because quirkless combat is all he’ll have when things inevitably come down to a fight.
Aizawa’s aware that Shinsou is already occupying more than his fair share of mental bandwidth, but that awareness doesn't make it any less true. He can’t help it. He drafted a training regimen before the term even started. He’s considering placing an order for a scaled down capture weapon. Yamada is laughing at him. It’s a whole thing.
Luckily, the kid has already picked up a few solid self defense basics along with the rudimentary kendo techniques he demonstrated during the exam. Where a ward of the state got a random smattering of combat training is a mystery Aizawa would be curious about if it wasn’t for Keigo Takahashi, the owner of the feather blade Shinsou used, the other orphanage kid from this year’s crop, and the extenuating circumstance that pushed Minoru Mineta into general studies instead.
Keigo Takahashi might be more proficient in combat than most of the graduating class. Keigo Takahashi has seemingly perfect control of his objectively powerful quirk, a solid foundation in tactics, and works well in a team. He demonstrated both strong instincts to protect others and little ego during the exam. He sacrificed his own ranking to uplift another student whose skills weren’t served well by the practical. He also seemed to realize exactly how well he needed to do in the evaluation to pass, exactly how well Shinsou needed to do, and made sure Tokoyami had more than enough room to prove himself as well.
His written exam alternated between a university level understanding of the subject matter and grade school ignorance. Nedzu had tittered in delight while grading it, because Nedzu loves a good puzzle. Aizawa hates puzzles and knows a headache when he sees one.
This gets confirmed on day one during the physical fitness test.
Shinsou brainwashes Iida into carrying him for the dash. It works perfectly, but after that the other students revolt. Even if it is Shinsou’s quirk and allowed by Aizawa’s rules, Iida sputters indignantly about honor and self sufficiency right up until Bakugo snorts and calls Shinsou a ‘useless leech.’ To the boy’s credit, Iida immediately pivots to sputtering about inappropriate comments and UA’s bullying policy but Shinsou just shrugs, resigned to it in a way that hits Aizawa much harder than he’d like to admit. Aizawa rubs his temples and orders them all to the indoor gym.
Shinsou himself is still given a pretty wide berth as they shuffle in, his classmates more than a little freaked out. The expulsion threat hangs heavy and no one seems keen to stick their necks out for ‘the creepy kid’ (Kaminari’s phrase this time). No one but fellow creepy kid, Tokoyami, who graciously lends Dark Shadow for the grip strength test. Plus Takahashi, who hangs around like a feathery cheerleader.
Shinsou, Dark Shadow, and Tokoyami have a brief conference and decide to test if brainwashing could improve Tokoyami’s original score. Turns out it can. With Shinsou’s help as a failsafe, Tokoyami lets Takahashi turn out the gym lights. Dark Shadow all but destroys the testing equipment but otherwise stays under control.
Aizawa allows Shinsou and Tokoyami to take the higher score. He’s not about to discourage collaboration. Takahashi crows as soon as the scores go up, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Damn Tokoyami! Nice work! Too bad everyone else was too chicken to let Shinsou bump up their performance, huh?”
Bakugo screeches, enraged, but several other students look more than a little thoughtful as they head back out for the baseball test.
When Shinsou takes his spot in the circle on the baseball field, he looks over at his fellow students like a coach picking a starting line. He even smirks.
“Any volunteers?”
The students eye each other nervously, but still stay silent. Tokoyami shrugs - he's already had his turn. Shinsou’s expression fades from cocky back to his baseline tired glare. He still tries again though, “Huh, thought someone would take me up on it. Ah well. Not very heroic, but I get it.”
Takahashi waits one beat, then two. When the silence keeps stretching he grins before raising a hand, “Count me in!”
Shinsou grins back as Takahashi’s eyes go unfocused.
“You’ve been missing flying, right?” Shinsou picks up the ball, “Catch this and fly it as fast and far as you can. Go until you start to get tired, then come back.”
Shinsou tosses the ball straight up. Takahashi snatches the ball out of the air and takes off like a shot, wings kicking up dust. Aizawa’s eyebrows climb along with the speed indicator on the tracker. And the distance.
They wait. They wait some more. Midoriya is mumbling something about Takahashi’s quirk and how it might impact his flight speed and other mutations he must have to be able to function at that pace. Shinsou starts to look nervous. It's been fifteen minutes.
“What's the range on your quirk?” Aizawa asks, keeping his voice as bland as possible. No need to further stress his horde of already-anxious freshmen.
Shinsou looks even more nervous. “Distance? I’m not sure if there is one.”
Alright then. He reaches for his eyedrops.
“And how long does it usually last?”
“Um. Until I drop it. Or they experience a strong enough physical stimulus to break it.”
“Could you drop it now?”
Shinsou swallows, “Yes. I think. I’m honestly not sure if he's too far away or not.”
They wait some more, but nothing seems to change. Aizawa watches the numbers continue to climb. He sighs and activates his quirk, in case that might help. Takahashi eventually starts slowing down, thank goodness. He puts a hand on Shinsou's shoulder. “Everyone take five. I've got to make a call.”
He leans down so only Shinsou can hear what he says next, “If you're still a student once we’re done here, you will meet me in the classroom during the lunch break today. Understand?”
Shinsou pales, which is impressive considering his complexion, but nods.
It ends up taking over an hour for Takahashi to return. Aizawa notifies Nedzu (who notifies Shizuoka air traffic control, just in case). He has the students take their remaining tests until Takahashi finally arrives, covered in sweat and grinning like a maniac. He has both the ball and a plastic sack full of omiyage from Tokyo Station. Tokyo Banana for all. He lands with a flourish, presenting his spoils to the class like a hunting hound with a pheasant.
Unbelievable.
The class bursts into cheers and Shinsou orders Takahashi “to get some water, holy shit, and eat something before you pass out.”
It's not a compulsion, so Takahashi just cackles and collapses onto the grass while Midoriya and Iida run for water and more substantial snacks. The boy is shaking and panting like he just ran a marathon, but clearly thrilled. Apparently today was a new personal best for speed, and he thanks Shinsou for the chance to stretch his wings while Iida threatens him with bottled water.
Personal best. Flying over 300km per hour. For an hour.
Wherever Takahashi came from, he’s been well trained. Too well trained for his spotty school records - you don't learn that kind of control in regular quirk counseling. There’s no chance he’d have ever been allowed to fly like that without some kind of license or supervision. Did he just manage to slip under the radar for ten years?
Aizawa’s never been worried about a student being too prepared for pro hero work before.
He doesn’t much care for it.
He certainly doesn’t care for the fact that, after he restrains Bakugo from openly attacking Midoriya during his go at the baseball test, he catches Takahashi asking Bakugo what on earth he was yelling about with a little too much intent. A little too calculating for the happy camper who'd been enjoying the class despite the expulsion threat, shooting the breeze with Shinsou and Tokoyami in between tests while the other two sweated, and making snack runs to another prefecture.
Midoriya must have triggered that overprotective bleeding heart. Images of robots being decapitated with precision strike feather blades come to mind unbidden.
Aizawa doesn’t care for his later conversation about Midoriya with Toshinori either. There’s something there that he’s missing.
He walks away pensive, brushing off some red feathers that must have gotten stuck to his scarf during one of the tests. Takahashi apparently sheds like a cat whenever he snaps those wings open. He suspects that these are the first of many feathers he’s going to find hitching a ride on his outfit.
Great.
***
Shinsou had a short run.
He made it into the hero course and didn't get expelled in front of his peers after the ‘logical ruse.’ And now it's over.
Keigo waits with him in the hall, pecking away on his travesty of a flip phone. Tokoyami agreed to exchange numbers with both of them during English. It's a good thing, it means Keigo will still have at least one friend in their class once Shinsou gets booted.
Booted by his childhood hero. Damn. At least Aizawa’s kind enough to do this in private.
“He’s not going to expel you,” Keigo murmurs, still pecking away at the keys. “If anything the training disruption was my fault ‘cause I wanted to get cute about it.”
Shinsou snorts. “Dont think that's the case. I'm the one who sent you out without a timer.”
“He said to throw it ‘as far as you could.’ Not your fault.”
“Maybe.” Shinsou doesn't want to keep arguing. It's nice enough that Keigo’s waiting here like some kind of emotional support bird. He’s trying to remember the last time someone cared this much about his feelings and coming up depressingly blank. “Still can't believe you had enough cash on you to pay for all that.”
Keigo laughs. “Been saving up! Didn't have much to spend the weekly allotments on at my last placement. It was pretty isolated.”
Shinsou perks up. Keigo never talks about his old home. Forbidden lore, as Tokoyami might put it.
Before he can ask any of the million follow up questions he has, however, Aizawa’s voice calls out from the classroom.
“Come in, Shinsou.”
Shinsou straightens his shoulders. Time to plead his case and hopefully not burst into ugly tears in front of Eraserhead. If he does, at least it will be over fast once he dies from shame.
He slinks in and takes his place in front of the desk. Aizawa’s already got a stack of paperwork out and ready on it. Expulsion is looking more and more likely and Shinsou can feel his throat getting tight. Aizawa’s reviewing one of the pages, but Shinsou can’t read it from the angle he’s standing at. Aizawa doesn’t even bother to look up before addressing Shinsou.
“Do you want to be a hero?”
“Sir?”
“It’s a simple question. Do you want to be a hero?”
Okay. So they’re doing this.
“Yes.” Shinsou responds, and tries to put every ounce of conviction available in his fifteen year old body into that single word. He takes another breath. “And I’m going to be one.”
Aizawa’s eyes flick up from the paper. “Your quirk isn’t a type that UA favors.”
Like Shinsou doesn’t know that. “Doesn’t matter.”
“If it hadn’t been for Takahashi’s assistance you would have never passed the entrance exam and would have been placed in general studies. There was a debate about whether or not those points should have even counted. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Shinsou grits out. “But I used my quirk, same as everyone else. It might not be a traditionally heroic one, but I’m not a villain. I’ll prove it.”
“Is that so?” Aizawa tilts his head, doesn’t break eye contact, doesn’t blink. “Being able to build a team is important, but you’ll need to be able to stand on your own if you want to survive as a pro.”
“Then I’ll learn to stand! I’m going to be a hero. If not here, then I’ll apply to another school. If they don’t want me, I’ll find the place that does. I’m not giving up.”
Aizawa stares for just a second. Then he grins like an absolute madman. “Good.”
Shinsou feels like he’s missed a step somewhere.
“People like you and me have to be resourceful. If the time comes and we can’t look out for ourselves, we’re as good as dead,” He stacks the papers together on the desk before holding them out, “This is your training schedule. I expect you to meet me at Ground Gamma after school every day for an hour. My number is at the top. If there is ever a reason why you can’t make it, text me in advance.”
Shinsou definitely missed a step somewhere. “Wait - I don’t follow-”
“You have the potential to be a great hero, Shinsou, but you are starting at a disadvantage. I intend to address that as soon as possible. You’ll need to excel at combat and hone your technique for when your brainwashing inevitably fails. You’ll need to figure out strategies to improve your mobility that don’t rely on a fancy quirk. You’ll have to work twice as hard just to keep up with your classmates. I’m willing to put in the effort to train you, but only if you want this enough to work for it. If not, we can start your transfer to general studies tonight.”
Shinsou missed a step so hard that he’s fallen straight into his most stupidly self-indulgent fantasy about being personally trained by Pro Hero Eraserhead. He might be going into shock. He might need to remember to breathe. Wait, no, he’s been quiet too long and oh gosh he needs to say something, anything-
“No! I mean yes! I mean yes, absolutely. Anything you say. I don’t have any obligations after school, I can absolutely do extra training. I will not let you down, I promise!”
Aizawa nods, as if none of that was ever in question.
“I don’t believe you will. I don’t make a habit of wasting my time on hopeless cases.”
Shinsou is going to die of whatever the opposite of shame is, but not right now because Aizawa is still talking.
“I’ll see you tomorrow for your first session.”
“Understood.” Shinsou bows, “Thank you.”
“Thank me by working hard and staying alive,” Aizawa waves a hand, a little shooing gesture, and just like that the conversation is over. “Dismissed.”
Shinsou tries to remember how walking works, clutching the papers in his hands like they are made of gold. He makes it out of the classroom without passing out.
Keigo is unbearably smug about how everything shook out, but at least he’s as happy for Shinsou as Shinsou is for himself.
Shouta Aizawa, Pro Hero Eraserhead, is going to personally train him.
Shinsou’s going to be a hero.
***
Bakugo is going to kill that stupid Deku.
Then he’s going to roast a chicken.
He finally gets a chance to look over the exam footage. Eraserhead might have been surprised when he requested it, but he didn’t say no and even set him up on a library computer at the end of the day. Bakugo always reviews any training footage he can get, he's not turning down the advantage of having UA’s drones filming for him. It’s not like he can’t fit a review in around the dumb homework he’s been assigned. He can crush algebra and have plenty of time for this, no problem. He is going to be the best there’s ever been.
He checks over his performance in Ground Alpha, makes notes on what he could have done better and where his weak points are (for now), then checks the footage from Ground Beta to see what Deku was up to.
A whole lot of nothing apparently. Right up until punching the Zero Pointer out of existence.
What. The. Hell.
Deku broke his stupid arm and both legs, almost went splat, and got 60 rescue points for making sure gravity girl didn’t get stomped to death. Maybe that’s why he never showed his quirk - sure it’s OP but it also turns his bones into powder. His body must be incompatible or something. It happens. Bakugo tries to remember any point where Deku had a suspiciously broken bone in their childhood and realizes that he doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter. He’ll destroy him anyway. Double for lying.
He almost doesn't bother to check the other footage, it’s getting late, but something about the fitness test sits poorly with him even beyond Deku. Might as well scope out the other extras. Everyone seems lame, lame, lame. Maybe better than he expected, which is frustrating, but not good enough to be a problem.
Pity he can’t get a read on the recommendation kids, but that’s fine. He’ll wipe the floor with them anyway. He took the top spot for a reason.
Except it turns out the chicken scored higher than he did.
Not officially, because his points got split with that purple freeloader, but it wasn’t the leech wrecking shop while laughing like this was all a game, and then wrecking even more shop with an eerily blank expression while brainwashed.
If he hadn’t split his total he would have destroyed Bakugo. It wouldn’t even have been close. Birdbrain (cherry edition) scored high enough to get two students accepted. He even did crowd control to make sure Birdbrain (goth edition) had enough canon fodder to work with too. Used his stupid feathers to herd bots their way, even when he was in another section of the training ground and couldn't have even seen them.
Bakugo had thought, based on the scores, that he was just another middle of the pack loser, but now? Now he’s pissed.
Why split his score? What does purple kid have on him? He can see the footage, can see the chicken letting the leech take over his mind like it’s nothing, like it doesn’t matter, like he’s not risking his own placement.
Chicken boy has only said a few words to Bakugo, asking him what he meant about stupid Deku suddenly being able to launch a baseball into the stratosphere. Bakugo thought he was an extra, even if he's fast. His quirk is feathers.
But robot after robot gets decimated in the recording.
Bakugo snarls and shuts it off.
He gets to class early the next day, like always, and the chicken is already there. Perfect, except he’s with his stupid purple parasite. He needs to get the bird alone, away from the freeloader so he can interrogate him. Bakugo seethes as he slams his bag down, glaring at them.
Four Eyes starts making noise about decorum, but tuning out Four Eyes has basically been Bakugo’s second job since classes started. He keeps right on glaring.
What are those idiots even doing? The chicken detaches all the feathers from his wings until only two sad little nubs are left. He looks so stupid without them, like a baby chick. The feathers fly on their own (he can make them into blades, ugh) and pile up neatly on top of the desk. Purple freak is watching this with a dubious expression.
“You sure about this?”
“Eh, it’s fine. Yaoyorozu can barely see the board if I leave them in and it beats sitting on them all day.”
Purple snorts, “You’d think UA could afford the right chairs for their students.”
Goth bird chuckles, but it's pretty humorless, “It would seem their budget goes to other things.”
“I could maybe sit on the floor?” The chicken considers this, flexing his stupid baby wings and looking disappointed when they still get crushed against the chair the second he leans back, “Or just stand to the side?”
The freeloader tilts his head, “Think we could take the back off the chair?”
Chicken looks surprised at the suggestion, but then checks out the chair itself, spinning it sideways, “Um, maybe? There are a couple of screws here at the base.”
Bakugo scowls as one of the mid-size feathers leaves the pile, floating into Takahashi’s hand. It hardens and Birdbrain starts using it like a flathead screwdriver, “Oh, woah! Yeah, this can totally come off.”
Goth bird’s little shadow puppet holds the chairback in place while Keigo Takahashi (stupid chicken making him learn his stupid name) squats down to start disassembling school property. Four Eyes squawks in protest, which is kinda funny considering he’s confronting their class flock of feathered idiots, but less funny because he’s right next to Bakugo's ears, “What is the meaning of this? Sitting on the desks is disrespectful enough, but I cannot and will not condone wanton destruction of school property!”
“You really need to relax,” Freeloader sighs, sliding off his own desk and effectively blocking Four Eyes from getting closer to the bird nerds, “The chair back messes with his wings. We’re taking it apart, not breaking it. You want his limbs to go numb halfway through the day?”
“I. Well.” Four Eyes pauses, “I had not considered this. In which case I suppose, if you are careful, there shouldn’t be - wait, are you using a feather as a tool? That screw clearly requires a phillip’s head!”
And Four Eyes is off again. Bakguo seethes. The bird brains finish their little home improvement project the second Four Eyes runs off in search of ‘the proper equipment.’ As soon as it’s done Bakugo decides he’s waited long enough.
“Oi. Birdbrain.”
Goth Bird, Shadow Puppet, and Takahashi all look up. Freeloader glares at him.
“Red one.” Bakugo clarifies.
Goth Bird and Dark Shadow manage to look deeply offended despite only having beaks to work with, and, in Dark Shadow’s case, few actual facial features. Freeloader looks at Bakugo like he’s contemplating murder.
Takahashi cackles, “Woooow, never been part of a set before. What’s up?”
“Hallway. Now.”
“Sure thing!” The chicken pops up from his squat, feathers reattaching to his back like a time lapse in reverse. It looks effortless, which pisses Bakugo off even more. Goth Bird and Freeloader immediately start arguing with their stupid friend, telling him he doesn't need to go anywhere, but Takahashi cheerily waves them off and follows Bakugo into the hallway.
“What can I do for you?” Chicken boy smiles, and now that Bakugo’s seeing it up close and personal it might be the fakest smile Bakugo has ever seen.
Ugh. He really hates this guy.
“What does that purple bastard have on you?”
Chicken raises his ridiculous eyebrows, “Pardon?”
“He got some dirt on you or something? You owe him money?”
“You’re referring to Shinsou?” The bird tilts his head, gold eyes narrowing. He’s intrigued. Maybe even a little pissed off. Good.
“Freeloader’s been riding your coattails since the beginning. Why are you letting him?”
The bird’s eyes widen, but then he has the gall to laugh again, and it sounds just as fake as the smile, “Are you worried about me? Bakugo, that's surprisingly chivalrous of you!”
Bakugo can feel his teeth grinding. He snags Birdbrain by the lapels. It's not hard to yank him up to eye level - moron’s short and doesn't weigh as much as he could.
“What. Does. He. Have. On. You.”
Takahashi holds up his hands, conciliatory, but makes no attempt to break free, “Nothing! He’s just my roommate. We’re friends. At least I think we are?”
“Then why did you let him brainwash you in the exam? You wrecked your own score and now we’ve got that parasite taking up space in our class!”
“Wrecked my score? What are you talking about?” Takahashi’s still laughing like this is all some joke, “I scored just fine! I’m here, right?”
“You dropped half your points on that loser!”
“My points? Nah, he earned those fair and square. His tactics, his calls. Besides, the points are just arbitrary,” Takahashi waves his hand, dismissive, “The exam favored combat quirks a little too heavily, don’t you think? It’d be a shame for a great candidate to miss their shot just because the metrics were skewed.”
“Skewed?” Bakugo keeps a grip with one hand, pulling the other back so he can let it start sparking without immediately burning a classmate. Takahashi’s utterly unphased by the implicit threat which pisses him off even more. “The hell are you talking about? If it’s not the purple kid putting you up to it, then what are you getting out of this?”
“Everything I wanted going in,” Takahashi’s still smiling, but now there’s a sharper edge to it, “I got a spot, Shinsou got accepted despite the test structure, and I even met Tokoyami, who’s pretty great. I’m happy with how things have turned out.”
He tilts his head, and those gold eyes don't so much as blink as he stares Bakugo down. “But you're not. Why’s that?”
Bakugo stares right back. Narrows his eyes.
“Shinsou shouldn't have passed.”
The smile finally drops, but Takahashi doesn't look annoyed, just contemplative. “Why not? He used his quirk to fight. Same as us.”
“Only because you let him!”
“It's called teamwork, Bakugo,” Takahashi's still hanging from Bakugo’s grip, like it doesn't matter to him. Like none of this matters. “You are familiar with teamwork, right? Better we work together and all that. Everyone wins.”
“What kind of stupid garbage are you spouting?” Bakugo snarls, sparks turning to small explosions, “Do you think you’re better than me, chickenshit?”
Takahashi’s expression immediately shutters. “No.”
Now Bakugo really feels annoyed. Something’s wrong. Off. He shakes his head, trying to buck the feeling. He needs to make his point but the damn bird looks dead inside all the sudden. Lights on, no one home.
“You better not,” he tries, rattling his hold for emphasis, but Takahashi just lets him, eyes empty, “Because I’m going to be the number one hero. Greater than All-Might. So lazy idiots like you should square up and actually give it your all or stay the hell out of my way.”
He raises his free hand higher, power building, but his quirk suddenly cuts out, just like yesterday on the baseball field. Damn. Takahashi’s big red wings shudder and droop next. The kid’s eyes go wide and Bakugo is enraged to see the bird finally look scared but not because of Bakugo. He’s locked on to whatever Is behind him.
“What is going on here?”
Bakugo turns his head to see Aizawa-sensei glaring at them both, eyes red and hair swirling. He immediately releases his hold on Takahashi and is shocked when the bird drops to the floor like a puppet with their strings cut. He might be breathing too fast. And shaking? The hell?
Whatever. Aizawa-sensei first.
Bakugo glares, lowering his hands, “Just talking, Sensei.”
Aizawa narrows his eyes right back. The red glow dims, though, and his hair falls back around his shoulders. “Some conversation.”
Bakugo doesn’t answer. The silence only lasts a second though.
“Sure was!” Takahashi chirps, voice already back to that dumb fake cheer even if he sounds a little breathless. He’s brushing himself off, standing back up like nothing was wrong. Like he didn’t just have some kind of weird freakout. “We were talking about the entrance exam results and debating the metrics.”
Aizawa glares but Takahashi just barrels on, “Would you say that UA’s practical this year was weighted towards combat quirks?”
Aizawa looks to Bakugo, but Bakugo isn't saying shit. Birdbrain’s damage isn't his problem.
Their teacher breaks first.
“Interesting question. What do you think?”
Takahashi just laughs, like Aizawa said something funny, “Well, I thought it seemed a bit biased. Pretty heavily focused on solo work and combat prowess, with no teamwork or clear rescue components. Kind of favored high damage lone wolves and discouraged cooperation. Makes you wonder what kind of heroes UA hopes to create and all. But hey! I’m just a student, right? I’m sure you guys have thought about all that.”
Bakugo looks between his teacher and his new least favorite person (aside from Deku. Stupid lying traitor Deku has that top spot on lock).
“Feedback is always valuable.” Aizawa murmurs, noncommittal, still watching the two of them. “Get to your seats. Class is starting.”
Takahashi nods, bright as ever, “Sure thing, Sensei!”
He beelines back to class. Bakugo glares at the floor. Then the wall. Then Aizawa.
Aizawa glares right back, but that’s just his resting expression so it could mean anything. “Something to say, Bakugo?”
Screw it.
“Birdbrain’s got something wrong with him.”
Aizawa’s eyebrows go up. Whatever he was expecting, concern wasn’t it. Fine. Not Bakugo’s problem. “What do you mean?”
“I dunno. He’s all messed up under that fake shit.”
Aizawa stares.
“Just watch him,” Bakugo shoves his hands in his pockets and stalks back into class, “Do your job or whatever.”
Takahashi’s already seated when he gets back to his spot. Chicken’s pretending to be totally fine, spinning on his new and improved rolling stool and getting a laugh out of Tape Kid, but now Bakugo knows better.
He can feel Shinsou glaring daggers into his back too.
Ugh.
He’ll have to deal with the stupid purple leech next.
At least they have All-Might to look forward to for their heroics class this afternoon.
But then stupid Deku ruins that too. And then there’s Todoroki. And Yaoyorozu. And Bakugo's whole world starts to tilt on its axis.
And then the USJ happens.
***
The point of Hawks is to be fast enough to resolve incidents before they become incidents. Analyze the situation and move. His brain just processes input faster than most.
It’s a bird thing.
“You’re going to be a special kind of hero.”
“Perplexing. According to the schedule we retrieved from UA, All Might should be here as well.”
This situation is a massive security breach. A schedule leak points to another mole. Noted, but not a priority right now. Thirteen is not a combat specialist and Eraserhead is in danger not a high power fighter. Plus nineteen civilians (Keigo’s friends) with heart rates elevated. Scared and angry. No field experience, which could easily turn them all into liabilities.
Targeting All Might would be suicidal unless this ‘League of Villains’ somehow know about his condition. They probably do. They sound very confident and this required an awful lot of planning for a suicide run. He hasn't picked up any other bugs in the teacher's lounge but he can only risk so many feathers and it's a big campus. No way to tail All Might off campus either. Besides, even Nedzu didn’t suspect the feathers. Who knows what other surveillance quirks like his could have snuck in.
“Where is he? I went through the trouble of bringing so many friends who’re eager to meet him!”
Good question.
Almost one hundred combatants on the main plaza, at least one warp quirk, and whatever the hell the brain creature is. All taking orders from the man next to the portal. The hands are interesting. Quirk related? Aesthetic? He’s not sure anyone here has comparable eyesight so no chance to confer but at least the leader’s voice carries and Eraserhead seems fully cognizant of how bad uneven this is.
Hawks kicks off his shoes. He’s not strong enough to not take every advantage right now. His talons flex, dig into the tile.
He has almost all his feathers, which means seventy-four of the larger ones can be spared but he’ll lose flight capabilities. Plus he needs both of his largest primaries available for blades. He starts noting which targets look most likely to struggle in the water, and flares his wings. He’ll need to get closer for the sweep, but bringing the main force down will take pressure off of Eraserhead and give Thirteen more of a chance to clear the way for an evac. He can be flightless for a half a minute in exchange for that.
“They want All Might, the great symbol of peace! I can’t believe he’s not here.”
“You’re going to be a special kind of hero.”
He catches movement on the edge of his field of vision. More combatants have been warped into other locations. Their warp specialist can do multiple portals at once. At least twenty individuals on the mountain terrain (but there’s not really a clear visual from here), plus he’s noting ripples in the water. Aquatic quirks? Well, at least giving them allies to rescue will take up manpower. And if they don’t bother rescuing them that’s still seventy-or-so less to worry about.
“-a special kind of hero.”
There’s likely more in the other locales, so they’ll need-
“Maybe if we kill a few kids he'll come out to play!”
Oh.
Okay.
His classmates are talking behind him with Thirteen, but he’s having difficulty focusing on it. Alarms are down? Yeah, no kidding. Eraserhead calls the evac, Midoriya points out the obvious risks of Eraserhead engaging alone, but Hawks has finished his analysis.
He finished about a microsecond after the League of Villains announced their intention to kill the students.
Yokumiru Mera’s voice whispers in his ear, his hand on heavy on Hawks’s shoulder, “You’re going to be a special kind of hero, Hawks. But still a hero. There are some things that need to be done in the shadows for the greater good, do you understand?”
No, he’s not better than Bakugo. He’s not better than anyone. He’s not even a person.
But he can get the job done.
Fierce red wings snap downwards and Hawks takes flight.
***
Thirteen shouts after Keigo, but he’s already gone, impossibly fast, flying past Aizawa and straight for the small army at the center of the USJ.
Shinsou watches with everyone else, stunned. Thirteen pivots remarkably quickly, screaming at the remainder of them to fall back, to get to the exit, not to engage. She’s clearly terrified they’re all going to run off now. She tells them not to make Eraserhead’s job harder. He’s fighting to get them out of here. Respect that sacrifice and move.
It breaks the spell. Students start sprinting for the exit. Bakugo looks like he’s seriously considering fighting, maybe Todoroki too, but Kirishima grabs Bakugo’s arm and starts pulling. “C’mon dude, don’t be an idiot like that birdbrain and make things worse.”
Shinsou moves towards the fray, but only to follow Kirishima’s example and pull on Midoriya’s shoulder since the kid seems frozen in place. Turns out he’s talking to himself at the top of the stairs while watching the battle, analyzing Eraserhead’s technique. Iida’s just a step behind him, so all three of them have a great view when a huge chunk of the villain force is suddenly swept off their feet and launched towards the water.
Shinsou can see the blur of feathers returning to Keigo’s wings after something like sixty combatants get dropped into the middle of the lake. Keigo himself flies back up just to dive bomb the remainder still in the plaza, flanking on the opposite end from Aizawa. He’s wielding two feathers and apparently his talons, which Shinsou knows are wicked sharp. Keigo wears these stupid little caps over them in their room so he doesn’t tear up the floors.
He’s always seemed pretty embarrassed about his talons but apparently has no problem with them right now. They dig into a woman’s shoulder as he slams into her at diving speed. More feathers fly from his wings and start harrying the people around them, cutting and slicing. Not enough to ground him though - his target screams as launches back up, pulling her with him to swing her around into another combatant. An arc of blood follows her trajectory, but Keigo’s already twisting around in midair with his feather blades and nearly takes another guy’s arm clean off.
Holy shit.
The three of them can hear Aizawa shouting at Keigo to fall back, but Shinsou isn’t sure that’s in his teacher’s best interest, even as he feels bile rising at the back of his throat. Aizawa’s engaged the remainder of the group by now, throwing people around with his capture weapon like nobody’s business, but it’s clear that Keigo is more than capable of holding his own. Midoriya just gapes at the carnage, somewhere between awe and horror.
Iida, unsurprisingly, recovers the fastest. He grabs both of them by their collars before booking it towards the door. “Not the time to analyze, Midoriya! No time to think, just go, go, go!”
And go they do, Iida putting his quirk into it. It’s not fast enough, because they still get stopped with everyone else when the warp guy suddenly materializes in front of the fleeing students like some kind of smoke demon.
Iida slides to a halt, just behind Ashido and Thirteen. The mist man seems impossibly tall up close. When he speaks, his deep voice rumbles over them like a wave, “It is a pleasure to meet you. We are the League of Villains.”
Bakugo and Kirishima both shift their weight, getting ready to leap. Mist man either doesn’t notice, or doesn’t care, continuing to address them all like this is some kind of formal introduction, “I know it’s impolite, but we decided to invite ourselves into this haven of justice to say hello.”
Shinsou speaks before he can think better of it, putting all of the scared child energy he can muster into his voice while keeping behind Iida, just in case they somehow know about his quirk, “Why? What do you want?”
The mist creature pauses, looking down at the kids with those flickering yellow eyes, “We-”
The creature stops. Stills. When the mist quiets down, it reveals a tall figure in a fine suit, mist face framed by a massive metal neck brace.
Midorya’s eyes go wide, “Shinsou got him! He got him!”
Bakguo and Kirishima whip their heads back in tandem. Shinsou could drop to his knees from relief, except something’s not quite right. The brainwash took hold, sure, but he feels like he’s trying to control multiple people at once. It feels like something else is fighting him, trying to wrench control away, but that’s impossible. He opens his mouth to warn everyone but no sound comes out.
The class is erupting around him, but he can't focus, can’t parse the noise. Something’s wrong with the lights, which is strange since a chunk of them went out right before the villains attacked.
“Tell him to leave!” Ashido’s voice, he thinks. She’s shouting in his ear, “Tell him to warp to the moon!”
“Tell him to warp all the villains into the Atlantic!” Kaminari, maybe? “Or the surface of the sun!”
“Screw that!’ Bakugo snarls, “Tell him to teleport his stupid boss straight to jail!”
Shinsou thinks he can hear someone else screaming somewhere. Maybe several someones? No words, just an incoherent chorus of agony. Agony seems about right. He’s never had a migraine come on this fast after using his quirk, he should really sit down-
Thirteen looks between the students, bewildered, “What is going on? What’s happening?”
“It’s Shinsou’s quirk,” Midoriya starts to explain. “He has control over the villain right now! So long as nobody touches the mist guy he can order them to do whatever he wants. Or well, I think that’s how it works-”
It’s not, there’s a limit - only simple tasks so far. Shinsou should say something, explain things, except he’s not sure he can. The words won't come out past the pain in his skull and the feeling that he’s going to vomit. He thinks his legs might be going numb.
Thirteen cuts Midoriya off before he can build up more steam, “That’s enough. This isn’t your responsibility to figure out. Class rep, run and call for help. Go as fast as you can, we still don’t have comms online and the alarms are down. Everyone who is not Shinsou, follow your rep and get to safety. Stay in a group and tell any teacher you see what is happening. I’ll stay here with Shinsou and we’ll decide what to do next.”
Iida straightens up, “Right! Follow me, everyone!”
Shinsou sees the flashing lights from Iida’s exhaust pipes, and then from nowhere, and then doesn’t see anything at all.
The last thing he hears is Thirteen asking him if he’s alright.
***
Shigaraki is unbelievably pissed.
Something’s wrong with Kurogiri. What kind of glitched bots are they dealing with that can mess up Kurogiri? He’s gone unresponsive for over a minute now and more than half the brats have gotten out. Eraserhead’s here too, living up to the hype and cracking skulls despite being at a massive disadvantage. He’s cool, so cool, and it wouldn’t even be a problem except for Kurogiri being down and this OP bird brat that came out of nowhere. The kid opened by launching over half the cannon fodder straight into the lake with a broken AOE move and then started maiming people. Isn’t this supposed to be a hero school? What kind of hero school teaches someone to start hacking off limbs? Why does this kid have ranged, melee, and AOE?
It’s so not fair.
Kurogiri can’t even warp in more NPCs to throw at Eraserhead and Bird Brat from the other locations because he’s still not responding. All the reserve cannon fodder are sitting around like idiots, waiting for the brats to be dropped off from portals that aren’t coming, except for the water-logged ones who are still swimming back to shore.
Screw it. Eraserhead’s wearing down and Shigaraki’s figured out the hair tell. He’s going to focus on him.
“Nomu, get the bird.”
Bird’s fast, but he’s not faster than All Might, which means he’s gonna be useless against Nomu. If the other brats manage to escape then at least they can grab the most annoying one. Maybe hold him as a hostage to stop Eraserhead from taking out more of the fodder and then Shigaraki can triumphantly kill them both once All Might finally arrives. They can still salvage this.
Nomu leaps. Shigaraki starts sprinting towards Eraserhead.
Seventeen seconds.
Game on.
***
Thirteen is a rescue hero. She has more medical training than most of the UA staff. She knows how to handle a seizure.
She isn’t sure how to handle the seizure of someone who is the only thing holding an extremely dangerous villain in place with their quirk, but she figures that the same principles are going to have to apply. She prioritizes making sure Shinsou is safe, helping him onto the ground before he collapses.
Unfortunately that means her hands are full when a few of the kids stick around despite clear instructions not to, the few stragglers who noticed Shinsou going unresponsive and bleeding from the nose before the convulsions started.
At least they aren't in immediate danger. Mist man just stands there in his fancy outfit, stock still. Thirteen asks them for fabric, or anything soft, and Tokoyami whips his cloak off and balls it up, handing it to Thirteen to put under Shinsou’s head.
She gives up on ordering them all out, instead telling Bakugo, Kirishima, and Midoriya to form a square with Tokoyami around her and their incapacitated classmate in case Mist Man suddenly regains control of himself.
Then there’s nothing to do other than worry and focus on what she knows how to do - taking care of the boy, making sure he doesn't injure himself, and counting time. It takes two minutes and twenty three seconds before the convulsions stop. Not an immediate medical emergency, but not great either, especially when she can see the distant figure of Aizawa fighting for his life down in the plaza. Takahashi’s down there somewhere too, an occasional blur of red.
Shinsou finally stops shaking and goes limp, expression dazed and unfocused. Thirteen’s more than stressed right now, but can keep her voice calm and steady for this. “Shinsou-kun, can you hear me?”
It takes a second, but the boy nods. She can hear Tokoyami’s sigh of relief somewhere to her left. “You’ve just had a seizure. We’re going to get you out of here-”
“What did that child do to me?”
Oh.
Mist Man’s back.
“Nothing compared to what I’m about to do, you shitty fog cloud!”
“KACCHAN WAIT-”
***
Final boss.
Aizawa needs to end this fast, more mooks are getting close to the shore. He knows he’s running short on time and even shorter on energy.
Except the hand guy has figured out his tell.
Aizawa has the singular experience of feeling his own elbow disintegrate before he manages to engage Erasure again and gain some distance. His arm burns, he thinks the musculature might be fully exposed.
Hands laughs at him, “That annoying quirk of yours isn't suited for drawn-out fights against big groups, huh?”
Aizawa sucks down air, vision swimming and eyes burning. He tests his injured arm while Hands monologues. It’s all but useless, which will make using his capture weapon infinitely more difficult. Damn.
“Lucky you got help from one of your own students, even though you were willing to risk everything to put them at ease. Man you’re so cool!”
Aizawa is more than happy to let the madman keep yapping, red eyes and slasher smile barely visible behind the preserved hand that covers his face. He needs to buy as much time as he can and if his opponent wants to use precious seconds to gloat then great.
“Too bad I'm not the final boss.”
Something moves past him, faster than he can follow.
Aizawa risks taking his eyes off the hand guy, just in time to see that giant brain monster close a massive hand around the base of Takahashi’s left wing, snatching him straight out of the air. Aizawa activates Erasure but it does nothing - the beast just squeezes, crushing bones with its bare hands.
Takahashi screams.
Feathers explode everywhere, stabbing at the creature in the exposed brain, in the rolling eyes, but it doesn't help. The thing keeps its grip and twists. Takahashi’s scream takes on a terrifying, animal shrillness and the feathers fall, twitching and swirling frantically. He loses his grip on the two he's been using as blades as the creature swings him like a ragdoll.
Aizawa reactivates Erasure the second he sees the wounds on the creature start to heal, but Hands uses the distraction to get in close again. Aizawa has to blink and dodge.
Somewhere in the middle of all this the remaining facility lights go out. There’s still sunlight from the skylights, but it's significantly darker. Did they cut power? No, the water is still flowing-
The psychopath cackles, “What do you think of him? He’s the bio-engineered anti-symbol of peace!”
Aizawa skids, rolls, desperation growing. He manages to dodge another swipe of the guy’s hand but only barely. Takahashi’s going to die, he’s going to die-
“But you can just call him Nomu.”
“Tell it to let the kid go.” Aizawa growls, splitting his attention between keeping out of disintegration range and trying to cancel the quirk of ‘Nomu’ in the thin hope that Takahashi will be able to get away somehow if the thing can't move fast as All Might, if it can't regenerate its eyes. The kid’s still struggling, which means he’s still alive for now.
“Trying to be intimidating again? It won't help. Nomu is more than a match for the two of you.”
Aizawa dances away from the outstretched fingers. As he jumps back he sees several more combatants have reached the shoreline now. They’re getting ready to rejoin the fight, forming a half circle and herding Aizawa towards their leader and this ‘Nomu’ creature.
“But if you really want to save the brat I suppose I could oblige. Nomu, why don’t you help Eraserhead out and put the kid down?”
Nomu slams Takahashi into the ground, and Aizawa can hear the crunch of bone against the tile. Takahashi's uninjured wing flaps frantically, but Nomu just ignores the sharpened feathers beating against his leg, reaching down to grab onto it. Shit, shit, shit, he told him to fall back-
“What do you want?”
The leader of the League of Villains laughs, dry and cold, “What a hero! You really do live up to the-”
He doesn't get to finish his taunt - a writhing mass of black shadow slams into him with a roar that shakes the entire facility. Aizawa hears the sound of Midoriya of all people (that problem child should not still be here, where is Thirteen?) shouting something behind him but it's drowned out by Tokoyami’s quirk flinging Hands something like a hundred feet into the air.
Dark Shadow bellows in rage, another gargantuan claw curling back around towards Nomu, which abandoned trying to tear Takahashi apart the second that Hands got hit. Aizawa activates Erasure again, focusing on the bio-engineered monstrosity. He can't even see Tokoyami in the mess of shadows but at least he can give the kid a fighting chance against the creature.
Nomu is much slower without its quirk, it fails to dodge and gets punted into the mountainside half a facility away. Dark Shadow rises up, triumphant, eyes blazing red and screaming wordlessly to the sky before roiling across the ground towards the crater it just made.
Midoriya skids to a stop next to Aizawa, “Tokoyami’s lost control, we gotta get out of here! Bakugo and Kirishima have the warp guy pinned down but Thirteen-”
Nomu howls, emerging from the rubble. It barrels towards Dark Shadow and Aizawa gets ready to activate erasure. As he does, another bird heteromorph, brown feathers, flies up from the mountainside to snatch his boss out of the air before Hands can fall and get scattered across the terrain.
Time to go.
“Midoriya, grab Takahashi, I’m going to get Tokoyami before he-”
Too late.
Nomu, too far away for Erasure to make much difference, punches Dark Shadow with the force of a Carolina Smash. Tokoyami takes a turn being flung across the facility as Dark Shadow dissipates around him. Midoriya just barely manages to jump thirty feet straight up to catch his classmate. Even more miraculously, he doesn't even break any bones while doing so.
Now Aizawa has only one good arm and two critically injured students to deal with. Okay, new plan-
The ground shudders as Nomu lands not ten yards away.
It just jumped that whole distance. And it looks completely uninjured. The wounds from getting punched into a mountain by Tokoyami’s eldritch abomination of a quirk have already healed.
Aizawa and his charges are surrounded by a ring of thugs closing in. He hears wingbeats and looks up to see their leader and his disintegration quirk rapidly incoming. The bird villain soars by and drops his extremely pissed off boss right back in the middle of things.
Hands lands hard, rolling a bit before getting his feet back under him. He's bloodied and bruised, red eyes blazing with unbridled fury,“I am going to kill the next brat that dares-”
Twin red feathers stab him in the back.
Hands chokes. He stumbles forward before taking a knee, eyes wide.
Aizawa looks over to where Takahashi, blood pouring from his face, one wing twitching uselessly, has managed to peel himself off the ground. His arms are shaking and he’s barely holding his head up, but his eyes are sharp.
Takahashi’s not looking at the man he just stabbed. He’s staring right at Aizawa.
The kid mouths a single word: “Run.”
Nomu screeches like it’s the one that got impaled. It moves, fast as ever, snatching Takahashi up by the neck before bounding over to its master. Hands reaches behind himself, gripping one of the primary feathers. It dissolves into dust and blood starts pouring from the wound. He curses but just reaches for the other one.
Aizawa can’t look away from Takahashi, who’s still staring at him, eyes pleading even as his hands struggle uselessly to break the grip around his windpipe. Run.
The Nomu screeches again, pinprick pupils darting between the remaining UA fighters. It’s covering Hands, waiting for some kind of instruction.
Midoriya’s fully panicking now, glancing between Tokoyami knocked out cold in his arms, Takahashi’s crumpled body hanging limply from a giant hand, the screeching Nomu, and Aizawa. Energy starts to spark along his body, directionless.
Aizawa has to make the worst call of his career.
“Midoriya, we need to get Tokoyami to safety-”
The doors to the facility explode open.
“HAVE NO FEAR STUDENTS. I. AM. HERE.”