Chapter Text
Chapter 13 : Colossal Cursed.
Iida was barely containing his anger when he heard the news. His brother, almost murdered in broadlight. Thankfully, his days weren’t endangered anymore but… Unless they managed to get him a robotic throat, he would have trouble speaking, breathing and eating.
His days as a hero were gone for a long time now.
At first, considering the blood, Stain had been the prime suspect but…
“SERIOUSLY GIRL YOU NEED TO CHILL!”
He had an alibi for the crime, as he was apparently busy fighting people that almost crashed the Festival. His group of people, the League of Vigilantes had trademarked their name and issued a public statement about suing the League of Villains for parasitizing their name.
What worried the most Iida was… They could actually win if such a trial happened. He wasn’t an expert in law but he had a basis most people didn’t have.
Then, a deadly projectile was thrown and because he was in the middle of his thought, Iida didn’t manage to dodge.
The head was shot and the projectile was so powerful he fell down from his chair.
In front of the class, Aizawa was playing with some chalk, just like the one he launched at mach 1 on Iida’s forehead.
“Class is in session. Today’s topic. Why Vigilantes are bad and why the League isn’t cool.”
“Even if they did a video of their fight with an epic music?” Jirou asked, interested because the whole video was quite professional.
“Yes.”
“Even with the manly takedown Gentle did on Dabi?” Gentle smashing Dabi in the ground and posing dominantly above him quite helped the motivation all around Japan to fight the killers. They were seen as way less threatening suddenly. Killing was easy, fighting wasn’t.
“YES!” Aizawa said before noticing Mummy, at the windows, being lifted by his costume and his quirk, playing the video.
“Now, that’s a good meme and how you do it to conquer people’s hearts.”
Aizawa briefly calculated they were on the first floor anyway and used his quirk to make the mercenary fall.
Everyone looked at that and Aizawa was now seriously doubting about the next generation of heroes.
He just hoped everything else would be alright, seriously.
—--------
Meanwhile, during an heroic class for second years. All Twenty-six of them after the grand Aizawa filter.
Colossus, with a big smile, was against Chimera who returned his smile. It wasn’t often both of them had an opponent against whom they could train safely without any risk to hurt them… Or rather nothing permanently. Chimera healed quite fast after all and it was useful to show to the student how to do a good throw or how to pin someone. Both adults made sure to not over-rely on quirk, but also to demonstrate how you could use effective tactics to take down heteromorph villains or people with a strong transformation quirk like Colossus.
“See there kid? Since I got too close with my guard up against Colossus, he could throw me before I could hit him.” Chimera said just after Colossus did an Ippon on him. Most people appreciated to see two muscular men fighting in close combat, their bulging muscles one against each other while sweat seemed to shine.
Meanwhile, Midnight was just above with her class. The business class. They all had cameras and Midnight was instructing them.
“Now, kid. As you might have seen recently with the ‘video’, how you capture a fight is essential. Public relationships are a huge part of Heroic. Can someone tell me why?” Midnight asked. Many people saw the business class as the accountant for heroes. It was very untrue and a reason why they were extremely important for any exercise like Civil Warfare.
“For advertising and getting sponsorship?” A student said very enthusiastically, before having Midnight making a gesture from the hand.
“Yes and no. It is a huge part, I agree with you. That money is essential to not bankrupt the government with the reconstruction cost that can follow a fight between a villain and a hero. No, I was waiting for a better reason.”
“To avoid villains controlling the narrative?” A meek girl just said that and Midnight smiled, spinning right next to her, making her blush.
“Exactly, sweet heart! People’s hearts are easily swayed. As an author from just before the Dawn of Quirk said, “The intellect of a mob is equal to the intellect of its smartest member, divided by each individual inside of it.”” Midnight said, before pulling some slides on the side, showing Destro.
“As an example, Destro. Because he was bullied for his quirk when he was younger, he was able to assemble a huge community around him. Because he felt morally justified and people love sobbing story.”
“So… What do we do?”
“That’s why people like you, guys, exist. You are the PR guys. The one who needs to find the arguments against villains with a tragic backstory.”
“... I have one ma’am!” A man said, before using his phone to show something to everyone. One of the meme that survived across the centuries because it was definitely right.
“Cool motive, still murder” Peralta said.
Which made Midnight smiles and she nodded approvingly.
“That’s the spirit. You will need to craft carefully elaborated story thought. Which mean, very often, working with the police to get all the data on the case. You will also need to learn how to investigate, in case the cops missed something.”
Everyone in the room smiled at the idea.
“Hence why Art is still a thing when you are in your second and third year.
After all, we can’t say “undercover investigation and propaganda” on the school curriculum, can we?”
“Also, isn’t that why the HPSC also exists?”
“Oh boy. That’s another can of worms we will get to, later.” Midnight said, having herself not good memories of the organization.
—--------
Soon after that, Aizawa was still groaning as he was painfully reviewing each student's applications. Todoroki was to go with his dad, nothing new under the sun. Midoriya, under All-Might’s secret mentor, who couldn’t be that bad. Tooru got an internship from… Miruko? And she accepted ? Ok,he wasn’t sure how to feel about that one. On one hand, it means the girl would perfect her close combat ability.
On the other, it means having an invisible bloodthirsty girl he couldn’t stop with his quirk.
Then, Aizawa decided he wasn’t paid enough to worry about that. Honestly, if in an alternate timeline, Stain hurt Ingenium and Iida specifically chose a town to get his revenge, he wouldn’t have given a fuck. (For those wondering if it is canon, yes. I have the page saved on my phone. The fact I had to use it more than once on different servers who somehow blamed All-Might for that is worrying.)
Meanwhile, Cementoss was playing Go with Colossus. The Russian was getting better, but as much as a novice could get during a month of friendly play. Not much but fun enough to see his growth as a player.
“So… What do we do during the first year’s internship?”
“Well, generally, we use that time to do some mock midterm exams for the third years and they can come to us to ask for tips on how to improve their quirk. We don’t have many strength type, for once this year, Colossus.” Cementoss said, while drinking his tea politely. Then he smiled slightly and decided to have fun at the expense of his Russian friend.
“I guess it means you will have more time to spend with this girl. You had a wonderful date during the Sport Festival, apparently.”
Midnight and Colossus’s mind broke harder than the controller of a player who was doing a no hit run on Dark Souls, and get hit at the last moment by a random mob. Meanwhile, Hizashi’s smile was equal to the grin on the same mob who ruined such a run.
“Ooooh?” Hizashi arrived near Colossus in a flash, while he was blushing hard. He wanted details, especially as Kayama refused to give them to him. He craved gossip. He lived throught them.
Snipe and Slice meanwhile were observing their shenanigans with some coffee.
“They are always like that?” Slice was amused but a bit surprised.
“They are rather tame actually. More coffee?” Snipe asked her, while taking more coffee himself.
“With pleasure! It’s delicious!” Slice said, happily enjoying the first job where she didn’t have to worry about an incoming air strike first thing in the morning, “However, does Rasputin knows that…” Thankfully, she whispered the last one and Snipe made a gesture from the hand.
“Secret bet on how long it will take before he notices.”
They both laughed together, appreciating the new co-workers. Besides, Snipe actually served a bit in a PSC when he was very young. If he hadn’t met All-Might who brought him to UA, he would have continued to be a mercenary.
So, yes, he was probably the most friendly yet to the mercenaries, but he knew it was only a time matter before they got adopted into the staff.
He wondered where their boss was though.
—----------
In UA’s secret labs.
“I am honestly not surprised.” Nine said as he exited a tube full of green goo. Why was it always green goo?
“Oh? You knew about my secret labs? Damn, I made sure to keep them secret.” Nedzu was worried, who did he forget to kill to keep the secret hidden?
“No. But you are the closest thing beside All For One and a few other people I know to an evil overlord in Japan. Of course you have a secret lab.” Nine pointed out. Every bad guy had a secret lab nowaday. He was pretty sure someone out there was making a ton of money building a hide-out for villains.
“... That’s fair I guess. So… How do you feel?” Nedzu asked, curious as Nine was taking deep breaths and stretched. The mercenary looked at his mask, which he had needed for a few years now and he smiled at Nedzu.
“I am feeling… Great. I need to do some stress tests, of course but…”
“It’s a sign that the therapy is working.” Of course, the cure wasn’t a one time thing. Nine’s crew were hired for three years, until Midoriya finished his studies at UA.
Everyone smiled, as everything was going along their plan.
—-------
Meanwhile, in an abandoned hangar.
“Oh my! This universe is a goddamn gold mine!” Sinister said as he began to compare the DNA of various being he encountered in this strange world. The gene was almost like the X-Gene, but a bit weaker… Or rather, initially weaker. On average, it seemed to be stronger. If only he had a collection of such genes accumulated over time, he could formulate better theories!
“So. I am alone, I don’t have much stuff and I don’t have any money. What was going to be a simple kidnapping is suddenly developing into something… More.” Sinister chuckled as he relaxed a bit. “First step, finding someone with a dimensional quirk. Someone that can affect space. I will need him to create a permanent platform to Krakoa and the base. Hmmm… I wonder if I can grow a gate here?”
Maybe someone who could grow plants could work too? Oh, Sinister, you beautiful bastard. You were onto something. You couldn’t act now, though. The person you used to get here would probably not appreciate it if you tried to interfere with his plan.
You already used a Chimera to get ahead of him and he would be furious enough. Stay hidden in the shadows and wait a bit.
—----------
A week later, during the internship.
On the Moon.
The Watcher arose from his seat.
Something was coming.
Something new.
Change.
Something forgotten in this universe.
—----------
On I-Island
David Shield felt a dread he never knew he could feel before. The thing he was seeing was impossible. Illogical. Beyond his words.
“I WANT A LINE TO NEDZU and his dimensional friend ASAP !”
In front of his screen, new images from his satellites, sent to explore space. One of them went to nearby Uranus and he took the opportunity to get more pictures of the seventh moons of the planet.
David’s hand was trembling when he saw the picture, once again, of the seventh moon, the satellite having crashed on it but managing to take a picture once it went past the atmosphere.
—-----------
On Asgard
Cull, All-Father, felt a tinge he didn’t felt since he was young. His guts were telling him… Something was changing.
“THOR! YOUR KING SUMMMONS YOU!”
—----------
In the Shi’ar Empire
Gladiator awakened in panic. Something was disturbing the universe.
—-----
In Nedzu’s labs.
Colossus was grumbling as Nedzu had called him while he was on a date with Nemuri. They went to see a movie : They went to see A.E. Titan, but the version Don Bluth actually managed to complete. It almost killed Disney in this dimension, forcing the giant to rethink quickly all of its processes.
“Nedzu, I swear you better have a good reason on why you called me here or...”
The fact the rat was actually drinking coffee made Colossus stop what he was saying. Ok, if he remembered what Aizawa said, it was only during a crisis event it ever happened. Nedzu was also cackling maniacally.
“Colossus. I hoped you could, maybe, just maybe, help us see something more clearly.”
Nedzu said, before Uranus appeared on a screen in an hologram in front of both of them.
“Well, Okay but…” Colossu wanted to add something before he noticed something that made him raise an eyebrow. “Wait, Uranus has seven moons in this dimension?”
Nedzu drank even more coffee when he said that. Oh boy. That didn’t bore well.
“Nedzu?”
“We discovered… It was not a moon.”
The hologram swifted. It went closer of the seventh moon, going under the atmosphere hiding the ground.
Except there was no moon underneath. There was… Something.
A colossal entity stood as a monument to unfathomable power and ancient wisdom. Its towering form eclipsed the stars, commanding a presence that sent celestial bodies quivering with awe. When the eyes stopped to see it, a sense of dread, the primordial kind, went into your spine.
But amidst this grandeur, a terrifying sight unfolded—a figure, larger than life itself, with a void carved into its chest. The emptiness seemed to echo with the absence of a once-mighty essence, as if the very heart of this cosmic entity had been ripped asunder.
The wound, a cavernous hole, revealed the depth of a battle fought on a scale beyond mortal comprehension. It marred the celestial being's otherwise awe-inspiring visage, a stark contrast to the cosmic forces that once coursed through its veins.
Energy crackled and danced around the edges of the wound, a somber testament to the vast power that had once surged through the entity's core. What had caused this monumental being, a cosmic force of untold magnitude, to bear such an irreparable injury?
As the entity remained motionless, suspended in the cosmic expanse, the void in its chest seemed to reflect the eternal mystery of existence itself. It whispered of cosmic battles fought in realms beyond mortal comprehension, of forces that shaped the very fabric of reality.
Nedzu had seen Colossus casually speaking of being dead. He saw Colossus describing him with passion, fights between gods.
Nedzu saw Colossus fall on his ass, actually scared.
“WHY IS GALACTUS DEAD?!”
Nedzu swore to raid Aizawa’s secret stash of whisky because it didn’t seem like good news.
At least, it could hardly get worse.
—---------
In front of UA.
A portal opened.
Then, UA’s door exploded.
Someone was walking on UA, with calm and confidence, the kind given by the absolute certitude to be the most powerful being around.