Chapter 19: Breaking Point: Ch 3
-Rain of Sins-
-Breaking Point: Ch 3-
Rain fell from the heavens like a heavy sheet.
Lighting crashed as if it were an instrument of holy rage.
And Izuku ran as if his life depended on it, because in light of recent developments…
...it quite possibly could.
Izuku heaved as he tore his way down the ruined back alleyways of the broken city, his feet pounding on the slick concrete and splashing in the many puddles. He knocked over trash cans, and dragged himself over flooded dumpsters & wet rubble, without a care for the noise he made or his own health, often cutting his hands and clothes on the sharp rocks and jagged metal.
That thing had seen him.
It was only for a split second, as the scientist was sneaking away from the fighting. But right before he slipped behind the last corner and completely out of sight, he had sent one last glance over his shoulder and saw that those blazing yellow eyes had locked directly onto him.
And he immediately took off in a dead sprint.
Finding Nomu took second priority to staying alive, so he had to get out of here, out of the USJ. Back to the lab where things were safe and made sense.
In order to make that happen, he had to escape the downpour zone first.
But as he rounded yet another corner in the sprawling maze of the city, following the occasional exit arrow as best he could, what awaited him wasn't the same dull grays and long shadows that he'd grown accustomed to. It was a blazing blueish white light.
Only the combination of his serum induced leg strength, his abnormally quick mind, and his already on edge senses, saved him.
Hurling himself to the side so hard that he cracked the wall he impacted, Izuku watched in awed horror as the beam shot right through where he'd just been standing before cutting through the concrete wall behind him like a knife through hot butter, melting it almost instantly.
"Plasma…" he whispered as the downpour of rain evaporated as it touched the light, giving it a ghostly haze as the steam lifted into the air around it.
Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, which can be generated by either heating a neutral gas or subjecting it to a strong electromagnetic field. Despite it being a buzzword in science fiction, plasma isn't an end-all be-all for science, but depending on temperature and density, it's properties can vary immensely. With plasma on the lower end of the scale being used for neon signs and commercial TVs, while plasma on the higher end being found in lightning… or the sun.
'I could have died…' He watched as the beam slowly fizzled away. 'That would have melted me alive…'
Tracing the death ray from the direction it came from, he was met with a terrifying sight.
At the end of the alleyway and blocking his way to the exit, was a man standing tall in a set of full plate armor, with a black cape flowing out behind him. Due to the rain and poor lighting, shadows obscured most of his face, but Izuku was able to make out an arrogant smirk.
"Hiding? Oh please, I was doing no such thing!" The man answered a question no one asked. "I was simply waiting in ambush!" He laughed and struck a pose, with one hand over his chest and the other pointing at Izuku accusingly. "Waiting to ambush vile villains like you!"
Izuku stared at the man in shock and naked terror. This- This Hero had almost killed him, and had been waiting in ambush to kill him.
He was going to die in this dark back alley, alone in the cold rain.
Forcing himself to take deep breaths to calm down, the scientist adopted a rudimentary fighting stance, and briefly closed his eyes as his mind fell into the "thinking mode" that he so often did. But what once was a joyous thing, fretting over the childish wonder of quirks, had become full of dangerously cold logic under Ujiko's tutelage.
When he opened his eyes after a half second, the scientist was no longer staring at a man in front of him, but at an object blocking his path. His eyes were still full of the burning fire that had defined them for so long, but it was different, tempered into a steel resolve.
He would not die here. He would not allow himself to die here.
And this man would not write the end of his story.
…
It was a shame that so much of Izuku's previous childish wonder, and unabashed faith in humanity, had been stripped away.
If he had bothered to look just a little bit closer, or if the rain was not as obstructive as it was, he would have been able to tell that the man in front of him was not actually a man at all, but just a boy. That his black cape wasn't black at all, but purple, soaked to a darker shade in the rain. That his arrogant smirk was obviously forced, and that despite his words, he was shaking in fear.
And what made it truly a shame, was that this event, one so easily resolved through non-violence, was the last chance to turn back, to go live a better life, a positive life.
Instead it was the first domino that would become the point of no return.
-Rain of Sins-
Koda Koji cried quietly to himself in a hidden corner of the landslide zone.
After Bakugo and Momo's failed attack on the mist Villain, things had quickly gone from bad to worse. Thirteen had been taken down when the Villain routed her own quirk against her, and the team that followed Thirteen's plan to escape and get help while she caused a distraction, had been apprehended.
Ida was fast, but the monster's quirk was faster. Toru would have made it out, but had gone the long way around and had been moving slowly in order to avoid notice, so she hadn't gotten far enough and got swept up in the Villain's mass teleportation.
And so Koda cried.
Villains were attacking, had them outnumbered, and had bested both of their pro-Hero instructors.
And no one was coming to save them.
He leaned his head back onto a tree as tears silently fell down his face, and gripped his shirt in anger.
They had all worn their Hero outfits to the USJ, because that was what they were gonna be doing. Hero work. They would be learning and practicing to save people, like real Heroes!
But sitting here, hiding in fear and crying like a child, he hated wearing this outfit! It made him feel like a fraud!
A squawk caused him to open his eyes, and drew his attention to a large eagle staring down at him from the tree he was under. It tilted it's head at him as if to ask 'What are you doing?'. And he had to agree with the question.
What was he doing?
His gaze drifted past the eagle, and to the large windows of the USJ dome. Glass windows.
He blinked the tears away from his eyes as the gears in his brain began to turn.
Using his quirk to call the eagle down to him, he raised his arm for it to perch on, before quickly turning his head to survey his surroundings.
Nearby were the remnants of a house that had been 'destroyed' by the landslide. There was a lot of rubble, and strewn among it was a couch, fragments of a TV, and an overturned desk.
A desk with pens and paper strewn about it.
Glancing from the pens & paper, back to the eagle, and then to the glass windows, Koda steeled his resolve. He stood up and brushed himself off with his free hand before wiping away the last of his tears.
This wasn't the time to cry, he was wearing the outfit of a Hero, so it was about time he started acting like one!
-Rain of Sins-
"Ahh!" Aoyama cried as Izuku landed a solid punch to his face, before having to drop to the ground to avoid another lethal beam.
The fight had only been actually in progress for a short while, but the quick and brutal nature of the fighting made it seem much longer. Izuku had managed to keep ahead, but that was something that could very quickly change if one of those beams managed to hit him.
The scientist went for a followup attack, but was forced to roll to the side to avoid another gout of plasma, jumping behind a dumpster to avoid yet another one. A decision that was very quickly proven to be a bad idea as the beam punched through the metal like tinfoil, right above Izuku's head.
Izuku squeezed his eyes shut and hissed as he leaned away, just the proximity of the beam was enough to give him light burns on the top of his head.
With how willing the guy was to shoot those things, he obviously didn't have any sort of limit- or at least one he was in any danger of reaching soon, which meant that as long as he could hold Izuku at range, he was practically guaranteed to win.
Which was something Izuku couldn't allow.
Bracing himself between the dumpster and the building, with his back pressed against the wall, Izuku planted both his feet on the dumpster and shoved with everything he had. The green box of metal screeched against the concrete as it flew forward on the slippery ground.
Aoyama yelped in surprise, before clenching his gut and shooting a particularly strong beam, blasting the dumpster apart. Glaring up at the Villain, the blond squinted in confusion when he saw that his cloaked enemy was nowhere to be seen.
"Where…" But his question was answered before he could even finish it, when something heavy impacted him from behind, and an arm looped around his neck before pressing down and cutting off his air.
Izuku held on for dear life, as the man bucked and trashed to get him off, but as he reached his other arm up to help pull down on the first, a steel plated elbow impacted his temple. The impact knocked him back, and caused his vision to go white.
Blinking the stars out of his vision, he found himself on the cold ground, with the sound of metal footsteps approaching behind him, his opponent coughing as they regained their breath.
"Is- * cough * Is that all you've got, y-you fiend!?"
The sound of metal clacking against concrete grew closer, as Izuku dragged himself a short distance towards some rubble of a building, and reached his hands forward. Before freezing as the distinctive sound that he'd come to know as a plasma beam charging up, echoed from right behind him. Familiar terror filled his gut, but something strange accompanied it.
A cruel smirk appeared on the scientist's face, his eyes obscured by wet bangs, the unending downpour of water soaking his hair closer to a black than it's usual green green.
Whirling around his left arm flew forward and threw a glob at the armored Hero, who cried in pain as the mixture of mud, gravel, and concrete pebbles hit his face and got in his eyes. The underhanded trick worked, and as he leased the plasma beam, it missed, causing Izuku's smirk to widen into a twisted grin as the deadly light passed not even a foot to his left. The proximity charred the left side of his lab coat, and the only reason it didn't burn outright was because of the constant rain.
Lifting himself up, Izuku brought his other hand forward, and hurled a fist sized chunk of concrete at the plasma user's unarmored head, where it impacted with a loud crunch .
The Hero screamed in pain as he turned and toppled backward, firing off another gout of plasma in panic, the beam cutting through buildings as it did. Rushing forward, Izuku reached out and grabbed the blond's hair, before yanking back and slamming the Hero's head into a nearby wall.
The scientist peeled his head back, off the wall, and slammed it back down again.
And again.
And again.
And again .
Hauling Aoyama's bleeding and bloodied head backwards, he hooked his arm around the Hero's throat in a chokehold, and pressed down.
Dazed, wounded, and in pain, his enemy was unable to resist as he had the first time, and his already weakened struggles slowly subsided into nothing.
And all was still in the alley.
Izuku breathed heavily, panting as he regained his bearings. But as his gaze fell to his arms, still clamped tight in a chokehold, he blinked as if registering something. And his eyes opened wide as he reeled back in shock, dropping his opponent, either dead or unconscious, to the hard ground, like a puppet with its strings cut.
The boy stared at the man, sprawled out on the concrete, in open horror.
"I-I-I, n-n-no I-" Izuku choked as he began to hyperventilate. "H-He tried to k-kill me! He shot first! I-I didn't-"
One step backwards turned into two, and two turned into a full blown sprint down the dark alleys, as he desperately tried to get away. But he had only barely managed to get back onto a main street, before he slipped on the wet stone, and tumbled to the ground, his legs giving out from under him.
Hissing in pain as he landed, he briefly attempted to push himself up, but collapsed as his hand slipped, unable to find purchase on the slick concrete and cutting his palm open.
Izuku let out a choked sigh, and allowed the tension to leave his limbs, as he surrendered to gravity.
He stared at the gray city around him, before allowing his eyes to drift shut.
The cold stone beneath him, the frigid, unending rain falling on his back, the crashing thunder in the distance, the pain of his many injuries, the soreness in his muscles.
It was… refreshing.
The storm in the background was unwavering, inevitable, calming.
The dull pain kept him awake, it gave him focus.
Calm…
Focus…
...the perfect conditions…
...for the mind…
…
A terrible noise cut through the street, interrupting Izuku's meditation. A guttural sound, similar to a knife scraping against stone.
The scientist merely sighed, already knowing exactly what he'd find if he opened his eyes, so he didn't even bother. Instead he pushed himself up, and climbed to his feet, the wind billowing around him. Once he was properly situated, he took a moment to brush off his coat, before opening his eyes.
Enormous yellow eyes, consumed with blind fury, stared into dark green gems filled with nothing but apathy and complete disdain.
The dark monster reared back and roared to the sky in challenge, its shadows writhing and churning as the rain bashed against its fluid form.
The scientist merely stared at the creature with a cold expression, as the heavens themselves roared for him. Lightning, thunder, and rain crashing in a symphony of terrifying beauty. His coat surged as the wind ripped around him. It was closer to the black of the beast's shadows than its original pure white, charred, stained, and smudged by the broken city.
Lightning flashed, bathing the street in white.
The beast charged forward.
-Rain of Sins-
Tsuyu crept forward, with her self proclaimed 'partner' in tow.
She had been deposited near the edge of the flood zone, and had used her natural advantage in the water to take out a handful of Villains that were nearby.
Once that was taken care of and her immediate area was secure, she hopped out of the lake, and slowly began making her way through the waterlogged trees, and back towards the central hub. Mr Aizawa was a pro, and she had no doubt he could hold his own, but he'd been in pretty bad shape when they'd been whisked away, and while she doubted she could provide a lot of help, she still wanted to give as much as she could.
But as she was making her way through the flooded forest, the branches above her shook, and something fell at her from the trees. At first she thought it was a villain attack, but she quickly realized it was much worse.
Out of everyone and everything she could have run into.
It was Mineta.
Fucking Mineta.
…
She was honestly tempted to just stick him back in the tree, but as he sobbed, and cried, she realized that he would make a great meat shield, in a worst case scenario.
So it actually was slightly better than a villain attack… but still not by much.
And so the two continued with Tsu's plan of sneaking back to the main area.
Which led them to now.
"Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap!" Mineta whisper-yelled as he stared at the scene in front of them in horror.
And for once in her life, Tsu had to agree with the pervert.
They were hiding behind a large rock at the south end of the hub, and in front of them lay a virtual graveyard of unconscious bodies strewn about. Almost all of the Villains they had seen when they first attacked had been knocked out, but the problem was that over in the middle, Aizawa was among them.
Battered, beaten, and bruised black and blue, the Hero looked half dead, propped up against a piece of rubble with blood soaking most of his uniform. The only reason Tsu could even tell he was even alive, was the one open red eye that he used to glare at the world around him, with as much hate as he could muster.
Two thugs held down either of his arms, while the white haired leader, the one covered in hands, paced back and forth in front of the defeated Hero, swinging his arms around wildly and ranting about something Tsu couldn't hear.
Ducking back behind her rock, Tsu squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath.
She was a Hero, and her teacher was in extreme danger.
It was her job to save him! She would save him!
Opening her eyes, now full of determination, she grabbed Mineta, and with a leap befitting her quirk's name.
The Hero Froppy jumped into combat for the first time.
-Rain of Sins-
Izuku's legs thundered down the road, the beast screeching in fury behind him.
The shadow monster wanted a fight, and Izuku was going to give it one, just not the one it wanted. There was no way in Hell that he could ever beat the thing in a straight fight, it was way stronger than him. But the beast was just that, a beast. Izuku might not be stronger than it, but he was most certainly smarter. Unfortunately, with physical strength comes speed, and even despite his serum's boosts to his legs, the creature was gaining ground on him.
A fact proven, when a tendril of shade, almost a foot thick, whipped forward and crashed into the ground where Izuku had been standing, the scientist having to jump to avoid being struck. But as he was momentarily suspended in the air, a second tendril shot forward and crashed into his back, sending him flying forward with a pained yelp.
He tumbled through the air before crashing back down onto the street, skipping along the concrete before crashing into a wall. Izuku hissed in pain as he clutched his side, but his grimace turned into a pained smirk as he saw the building he'd been thrown into. It was a thin but tall, five story parking garage, made entirely of concrete and metal.
Perfect.
Pulling himself up with a wince, he sent a glance over his shoulder, at the fast approaching shadow demon, before opening the iron fire exit door, and slipping inside.
The monster wasn't as considerate, breaking down most of the wall as it charged through in pursuit of its prey. Briefly shaking its head from the impact, it looked up and found its prey leaning with it's back against a thick concrete pillar.
Izuku smiled and made a 'come here' gesture with his finger.
And 'come here', the monster did, rushing forward with a roar that shook the building.
Izuku stood still.
The monster's loud foot crashes reverberated around the room, and it extended claws of shade.
Izuku didn't move.
The monster leapt forward, its maw opening wide to reveal ethereal fangs.
Izuku narrowed his eyes, and at the last possible second, he threw himself to the side and out of the creature's path. Leaving it to impact the pillar with its full force, snapping the reinforced concrete like a toothpick.
The monster screeched in fury, shaking its head to dislodge the dust, and darted its eyes around wildly in search for its infuriating target.
Izuku stood in the street outside, smirking cruelly at the creature through the large hole in the wall.
The beast roared and charged back the way it had come, but before it could even get halfway to the exit, the damaged building, now without its main support beam, groaned and collapsed down on top of it.
The greenette raised his arms to his face to protect himself from the dust, but the fierce rain caught most of it before it even reached him.
The rubble shook as the creature thrashed, desperately trying to free itself, but only succeeding in uncovering its head.
"Pathetic." The scientist spat as he stared down at the raging beast. "Absolutely pathetic!"
The creature of shadows roared in fury, practically shaking in anger, but the scientist stalked forward without fear.
" This is the future protectors of society? You are nothing more than a beast ! An animal charged to police humans. This mindless, unadulterated rage would sooner kill people, than save them!" Izuku hissed at the beast before grimacing as an old 'friend' flashed through his mind.
"And to think, I used to want to be like you ! To have all this power, and not have to think !"
The creature roared again, but Izuku just sneered at it, before turning and marching away.
But with his back turned to the creature, he didn't see it shift the rubble enough to free one of its arms, nor did he see the truck-sized appendage streaking towards his unguarded back.
-Rain of Sins-
"Toshinori…"
"NO, Nezu!" Toshinori flung the stack of papers he'd been holding down onto the desk, as if they were toxic.
"Nana entrusted One for All to me! I will NOT let you pick my successor without my input!"
"Please, just listen," The small mouse/bear held up his hands in an attempt to defuse the situation, "I've compiled all the information, and all the data points t-"
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STATISTICS !" All Might boomed as he reflexively transformed into his hero form just from how angry he was. " AND I DON'T CARE HOW MANY STUDENT FILES AND SPREADSHEETS YOU SHOW ME, I WILL CHOOSE MY SUCCESSOR, NOT YOUR DATA!"
"Look, I, um…" Nezu clenched his teeth and tried to formulate the right words, before giving up and turning to the third person in the room for assistance "N-Nighteye-" Only to be immediately rebuffed as the Time Hero turned away.
But before the situation could devolve any further, and the principal dig his grave any deeper, their meeting was cut short by three loud plinks on the window. Looking over revealed a large eagle sitting on the window ledge.
Taking the opportunity for a tactical withdrawal, Nezu hopped out of his seat and made his way to the window, before undoing the lock and opening it. Once the window was open, the bird chirped happily and flew in, dropping something from its claws onto the principal's desk, and taking a perch on AllMight's head.
Dealing with weirder things on a daily basis for his job, the number one Hero was unfazed by the bird on his head, and instead focused his attention on what the bird had dropped- a folded up piece of paper.
Reaching forward, he picked the note up and carefully unfolded it. The paper looked comical in between his giant hands, but as he read it, AllMight's expression, previously one of anger, turned apocalyptic.
-End Chapter-
Ok, so technically I was talking about two characters in the last AN, but it wasn't worded very well, and I can see the confusion. The guy who the guess was for was different from who'd fight Izuku.
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
But a lot of people got it anyway! It was Koda Koji (or Koji Koda?) who came off the sidelines to be useful for the first time ever. (Ok but unironically though, when has he actually ever been important to the plot?)
Aoyama on the other hand does occasionally do things, but I've always felt he was being underutilised- a view that I feel has weight behind it considering the guy who wrote MHA has admitted that he doesn't "understand the character".
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
Like, he shoots fucking plasma beams for crying out loud, he can be useful besides just plot reasons!
And yes, it's plasma! The wiki and series reference it as a "sparkling laser cannon", and as a "beam of light". But it can cut through solid steel and concrete, so that thing ain't just light, it's got physical power to it! And it's not just 'energy', because energy is electricity, and we see how electricity beams work with the pikachu wannabe guy. (I can't remember his name right now).
And it's gotta be something, and plasma is the closest thing we've got.
Sure I could write it off as more quirk magic BS, and maybe I would have normally, but dammit this is a SCIENCE fic, so we're gonna have some SCIENCE explanations!
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
Now, I'm a man of my word, and as I promised.
To all the people who guessed it'd be Kota.
Ah-hem.
A solid shoutout to!
-Santiagoabelcampos-
-TheGreatBubbaJ-
-Nickiel-
-DominatorK12-
-AinzNamikazeD-
and
-Chumpatrol2-
For figuring it out.
The final chapter of Breaking Point is around the corner, and I am PUMPED!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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