MHA: I Chapter 09 (Patreon)

“Today we’re going to be preparing you for different scenarios involving different environments you might come across in your hero work.” The woman wearing an astronaut uniform spoke clearly and I only felt pity for her. Her quirk made her radioactive and she had to wear the suit to protect those around her from becoming sick.

It was a small miracle she was able to become a hero in the first place and if she didn’t I had no doubt her life would have been lived in almost full seclusion from others. She was that type of person, which is why I respected her so much. Somehow she became a hero and not just a normal one but one of the most important when it came to search and rescue or disaster relief.

The ability to absorb fallen debris was a godsend and she saved the country millions of dollars in cleanup from an oil spill her debut as a hero. I could feel it the moment it happened. All the professional heroes, Todoroki and Bakugo also noticed the shift in atmosphere as a large shadowy portal opening depositing dozens if not hundreds of villains.

I didn’t recognize any famous villains which was lucky. I was getting bad vibes from the shadow man, a guy with hands and a giant… Amalgamation type… Thing, with purple skin and an exposed brain. Eraserhead looked at the crowd before speaking. “This isn’t good. All of you, retreat while I buy you time.” I clicked the panic button on my phone that would alert the guards outside that something went wrong.

After what happened with the hero dying I put in place a plan in case I was ever ambushed by another villain and the two bodyguards I had would immediately put the plan into play. One would start calling for help while the other would approach to protect me or rather the people around me while taking the blame if I had to use my quirk.

I couldn’t help but gulp as I looked at how outnumbered we were, I doubt that most have great quirks but that was the thing, they didn’t need to. If any had wild card quirks that could shut down our heavy hitters then we could have casualties. A single dead student could be the end of the entire school system if it were to happen. Changing into my demonic form I fly up just as the ground becomes a portal sucking almost everyone through but Aizawa and me.

I knew he would need help and the only way I could think of was to distract one of the three big villains. Flying above him, I dove down at the purple-skinned behemoth and kicked him in the head. The attack feels wrong like I punched nothing, there was no feedback to the strike. I feel my powers weaken as Azawa looks at me, I don’t drop form but the boost to my strength disappears completely.

I couldn’t hurt him, the grey-haired villain looked in my direction, or he would if he didn’t have a dismembered hand covering his face. He asks in a creepy tone. “Where’s All Might?” I knew I couldn’t do anything to the blackish purple-skinned creature but I was getting even worse feelings from the other guy. I could feel malice and killing intent radiating off of him like he actually thinks he can take down All Might.

I mock him. “He’s probably busy fighting actual villains, not the knockoff villains you brought with you. Just sit back and wait for us to finish with your lackeys then we’ll handle you and your boytoy.” He seemed like a villain who would be easily enraged to make mistakes and as he lunged at me I knew I was right. Pulling all his attention onto myself I kick off the demon man that still hasn’t done anything yet.

He reached for me with his hands outstretched, I got the distinct feeling that him touching me was something I didn’t want to happen. As I flew away and I was about to land on the ground the shadow portal opened which would have sent me somewhere else. I noticed before it happened and flew up as the shadow chased me attempting to swallow me. The grey-haired villain yelled out in rage. “Swat that fly to the ground Nomu.”

My eyes shot wide as I saw his speed. I barely made it out of his range as he jumped up towards me. I felt the same power siphon from before when Eraserhead looked at me, and he showed no signs of weakening from the effect. “He’s baseline that strong don’t use your quirk to weaken him because it won’t. Get the grey-haired guy I’ll keep Lurch distracted.”

I began separating them from each other as the big dumb guy had to be instructed on what to do. He could easily clear fifty feet and as I was dodging the flying purple man and the shadow portals that tried to send me away. They knew that Eraserhead was the real threat as he dealt with the crowd of villains while they tried to remove me from the fight.

As boring as playing keep away was, this was a great stalling tactic. The bodyguard that was supposed to come inside still hadn’t made it in, they must have locked the doors from the outside and although my bodyguards had strength quirks, they couldn’t punch through an iron gate. As I felt a portal open close behind me the Nomu jumped into it and I assumed it would send him away but the shadow man was playing smart.

I felt the gigantic man land on me, the only reason I wasn’t turned to paste was because it was only his weight pushing me down not his full strength. If he grappled me even just the grip strength was enough to pulp my limbs. Shifting into and out of my demonic form caused me to be heavily fatigued but it was the only way I could escape.

I was already puffing and out of breath as the Nomu just kept coming at me mechanically. I was flagging though, the two were slowly wearing me down and I wasn’t sure how long I could stay airborne at this rate. I thought about the wording of what he said as I landed on the ground and saw the shift in his personality. He immediately deactivated which let me catch my breath for a second before the grey haired villain spoke.

“Nomu! Come smash this guy's face into the ground.” Hearing that, I grabbed the Nomu by his head and covered up his eyes. The second I did so he deactivated again as if the sensory input was needed for him to function on the commands. He was a puppet that needed very specific instructions otherwise he wouldn’t work, just stand still waiting for a better command.

I saw Eraserhead land an uppercut on the grey-haired boy, for a moment I think he knocked him out but from the ground, he sputtered. “Nomu… Go wild!” The creature I was holding shrieked loudly as I jumped off just before he smashed down destroying the concrete under his feet. I couldn’t help but gulp at its strength, he was strong enough to seriously hurt me if he landed a blow, definitely strong enough to kill a normal human if he struck them.