~~~
Kira, Kirishima and Todoroki practically punch their way further and further up. Kirishima cracks the next ceiling and Kira finishes it off, but just as Kirishima's about to leap through the hole, she grips onto the back of his jacket, her finger on her lips. There's no mistaking that familiar blaring of the robot's sirens. They grow louder and louder - they must have heard the ceiling caving in.
"Get back!" Kira whisper-shouts and the three of them leap off from Todoroki's ice tower, using their Quirk's to cushion their fall. "We're gonna have to find another way up there."
"Yeah." Todoroki nods, brushing ice from his shirt sleeve. "We can't run head on into those robots. We have to assume that the higher up we go, the better their defences are going to be."
"Agreed." Kira returns the nod, before pointing to a door across the room. "Let's take this door and try to find some stairs."
Without further discussion, Kira blasts the door open with her twin beams, a small hole incinerating the middle of the closed door. They each step through, looking left and right down the hall for the stairs.
"I'll go this way," Todoroki says, racing off to the right.
"Todoroki-"
"There's no time," he cuts her off, ice swirling around his hand.
Kira grumbles to herself before taking off to the left with Kirishima, him right by her side. "What's with people always running off by themselves?"
"I'm sure we'll meet up with him in a minute," Kirishima ensures.
"That's if he doesn't get cornered by a bunch of those robots," she argues, racing around a corner. "I mean, he just said that they're gonna have better defences as we get further up the building."
"Todoroki can handle himself."
"I just wanna hurry up and find the others," she mumbles.
Kira and Kirishima finally come across a section of stairs, but there's no evidence that Todoroki came this way.
"Should we wait for him?" Kirishima wonders.
She looks at her classmate as he gazes back down the corridor. "It's like he said - there's no time."
They take the stairs two at a time to the next floor, listening intently for the robot's wheels on the ground or their annoying sirens. It's quiet. That unnerved her - she heard them not too long ago. Kira approaches the door, stealing a peek around, noticing some of her classmates bound by the robot's wires in the middle of the room.
Kira's about to call out for them, to let them know they've come to save them, when Kirishima's hand wraps around her mouth, silencing her. She frowns back at him, noticing the sincerity in his eyes. Kira nods slowly and Kirishima slowly lowers his hand.
"It's gotta be a trap," he says bluntly.
Kira stares at her classmates tied together in a circle. "I know that," she says, mostly to herself. "Of course, I know that."
"What's the plan?" Kirishima asks, hardening his arms in preparation.
Kira hums to herself as she examines the room - no sign of the robot's though she's certain she heard a couple dozen of them, at least.
"I don't see where they could be hiding," she mutters out loud. "I don't even hear them. How the hell can these robots be planning an ambush like this? It's annoying."
Suddenly, a faint click echoes around the large room, metallic sounding, like a grate opening, or a metal pipe groaning.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Kira deadpans, staring at the other side of the room.
"What?"
"Look there," Kira says, stepping back to allow Kirishima to view the room for himself. "In the far back corner."
Kirishima chuckles loudly and Kira has to shush him, despite finding the scene particularly humourous herself. She takes another peek, the vent swinging open and occasionally smacking against the wall as Todoroki clambers out, using his ice to stick him to the side of the wall. Kira covers her hand over her mouth, completely bewildered by the fact that her classmate chose to climb through that tiny vent to get to the next floor.
"How the hell did he even fit in there?" Kira snorts. "Oh wait - he's... he's waving. He's actually waving now." Kira returns the gesture, giving him a single wave. "Yeah, we see you, Todoroki."
"What now?"
"Hold on."
Kira narrows her eyes at Todoroki, frowning as he offers more hand gestures. First, he points to her classmates, tied up in the middle, then he seems to be gesturing pulling a rope with his hands. Her frown increases and she shakes her head slowly, not getting what he's trying to say. When he realises his message isn't getting through, he puts two fingers up to his eyes and then aims them somewhere behind one of the servers.
"I think he's found where the robot's are," she tells Kirishima.
"Good, then let's go destroy them." He punches his knuckles together.
"Wait." She places the back of her hand on his chest, stopping him in his tracks. "I'm following Todoroki's lead on this one. The robots are gonna be expecting us to come through this door, hence their hiding place."
Kira nods at Todoroki, signalling her and Kirishima's eagerness to save their classmates. He inches around on the wall, his ice crackling loudly with every step he takes. It must be pretty daunting walking sideways for so long - Kira's impressed.
"If Todoroki gets this right, he should be able to take care of the robots in one move," Kira says, waiting for that telltale crackle of Todoroki's icy Quirk.
Two of her classmates had just spotted Todoroki get into position. A huge ice wall erupts, dangerous spikes aimed up towards the ceiling, only narrowly missing the servers scattered around.
"Todoroki?" Momo calls out, twisting in her restraints. "There's more!"
She had managed to utter her warning just a second too late after Todoroki's attack.
"Dammit!" Kira curses, running out from cover as a barrage of robots make themselves known, blaring loudly.
They all aim straight for Todoroki, their middle sections opening and their restraints lashing out. He dodges them with ease, using his ice Quirk to loop over them and scale the walls.
Kira makes a beeline for the students - she needs the extra hands to fight them. "Kirishima! Cover me!" She hollers.
Kira approaches the closest person, burning through Iida's binds, before moving onto the next, a very dumb-looking Kaminari.
"What the hell happened to you?" She frowns, sizzling the restraints.
"He wasted his Quirk on the very first group of robots we came across," Kyoka informs her, tilting her head as Kaminari pokes his thumbs up at Kira.
She releases the others and they all stagger on the spot, their Quirk's spent. They really look like they've been through the wringer. Not any less that what her, Kirishima, Todoroki and Bakugou have been through, she can only assume.
"We gotta finish off these damn things!" Kira yells, turning her back to her classmates as Todoroki comes flying around the room, leaning back smoothly to avoid the restraints.
"Where's Midoriya?" Kirishima questions.
"He went ahead!" Momo tells them, squeezing out some explosions from her bosom. "He took Melissa and Ochaco with him."
"Where's Bakugou?" Kyoka wonders, looking around. "Wasn't he with you guys?"
"The idiot went ahead too," Kira says. "He wanted to find the leader behind all this."
"He's just gonna get himself killed," Momo adds, sweat dripping down her face.
"Probably." Kira shrugs. "There's nothing we can do about it now. First, we gotta get rid of these robots."
Todoroki aims an ice wall at a group of robots that are all bunched together, pinning them inside their asylum. The others come for Kira and she fires her light, obliterating one after the other. But like back in the greenery, they won't stop coming.
"You guys gotta go," Kyoka says, firing a booming noise at the robots.
"But we just found you," Kira replies, gritting her teeth, fighting the exhaustion.
"You saved us, but Jiro's right. Midoriya and the other pro heroes at the gala need your help more than us," Iida adds.
Kirishima leaps back from an oncoming robot, landing beside Kira. "I think they're right."
"Like hell they are!" She snaps. "I'm not leaving anyone behind."
"You don't have a choice!" Kyoka barks back. "Get outta here already!"
"Dammit!" Kira fires a few more rounds into the crowd of robots, as Kirishima has to pull her away.
Todoroki swoops down, riding a wave of ice, firing single shards at a few more robots along the way.
"Akira!" Kyoka yells over the blaring robots, her earphone jack's plunged into the concrete. "Bakugou's only a few floors up. Just behind Midoriya."
Kira nods at her classmate, before they're surrounded by robots on all sides, their restraints lashing out to capture them all again. Before they wrap around her friends, restraining them once again, Kira is dragged down the corridor and out of sight by no one other than Kirishima.
"I'm gonna kill whoever's in charge of all this," Kira says darkly, staring at Kirishima's hand on her wrist as they continue down the hallway.
Kirishima glances back at Kira uncertainly, before finally releasing her arm so she can run on her own. They fly up another few flights of stairs and this time Kira doesn't even feel the strain. She keeps up the pace, bursting through another set of doors, revealing some kind of wind power generation system, as Ochaco sends Midoriya into the air with Melissa's arms around him.
"Ochaco!" She calls out and her classmate spins round to her, relief flooding her features.
However, another door opens across the room, more robots spilling out, lights blinking. Kira's relieved smile vanishes in a heartbeat at the sight of the red annoyances and she charges instinctively, her Quirk brightening up her arms.
"You're pissing me off now!" She cries out, leaping into the air and aiming a catastrophic, double light beam at the crowd.
Kirishima and Todoroki stay beside Ochaco as Kira wipes out the wave of robots, her light shimmering under her skin.
Kira double-checks the collapsed robots before turning back to the others. "Where are you sending them?"
They all look up at Midoriya and Melissa ascending with the help of Ochaco's Quirk.
"An emergency exit up there." Ochaco points and Kira uses her arms to shield her vision, despite there being no sun or flare to worry about. "They're going to get to the security system from up there."
"And how long is that gonna take?" Kira asks.
Ochaco looks back at Kira, ready to answer, when instead, she calls out a warning, as another set of double doors open, revealing more of those pesky robots. Kira barely has time to turn around as four of them leap for her, their lights glaring at her like malicious eyes.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Bakugou appears from the side, exploding the incoming robots with so much force that they fly to the other side of the room before collapsing in a smoking heap.
"Bakugou!" Kirishima calls out from behind Kira.
She can't help but smile at the sight of her classmates sudden reappearance, but it drops instantly when she remembers that he left them in the first place.
"Where the hell have you been?" She bellows, aiming a beam at another robot. "We really could have used your help back there when the robots captured our friends!"
"Your friends!" He retorts, using his Quirk to send himself towards a dozen more robots. "If they got caught, then that's their own damn fault. They must be too weak for all of this!"
Kira grits her teeth irritably, using her Quirk in her feet and legs to meet him at his level. "You selfish bastard!" She blurts. "Did you even find the villain behind all of this?"
"If I did, then I wouldn't be here would I, you idiot?" He responds, exploding another robot with a huge attack that singes the ends of her hair.
"Oh no!" Ochaco cries out, as a sudden gush of wind pushes Midoriya and Melissa away from the exit. "They're blowing away!"
"Bakugou!" Todoroki shouts, blasting a few robots. "Aim the propeller at Midoriya! Quick!"
"I told you not to give me orders!" Bakugou roars, but proceeds to aim an explosion at the propeller anyway.
Todoroki doesn't even hesitate - despite him being so reluctant at the Sports Festival, he uses his left side to create a wave of fire at the propeller, the hot wind blasting Midoriya and Melissa back on track towards the control room.
"That did it!" Ochaco exclaims, her hands ready to cancel her Quirk.
As Todoroki uses his flames to focus on Midoriya and Melissa, Kira decides to assist him, lunging over to protect him from any incoming robots. As one robot after another tries to put a stop to Todoroki, she fires a powerful beam of light, rendering them useless within seconds.
Behind her, Kira hears a huge explosion, glancing over her shoulder for a moment to spot Midoriya and Melissa vanishing through a hole in the wall.
"They're in!" Ochaco presses her fingertips together. "Release."
"Good job," Todoroki praises, lowering his now naked arm. "Now we can all stop these things!"
He turns sharply, facing the rest of the robots with an icy glare.
"Who died and made you boss!?" Bakugou bellows as he flips over another few robots.
"Oh, come on, man!" Kirishima says, as he slices through robots left and right. "We're a good team."
"Dream on!"
"Let's just get rid of them and then go help Midoriya and Melissa," Kira yells amongst the carnage. "There's probably a whole bunch of villains in the control room."
"Die!!" Bakugou roars from in the air, shooting explosion after explosion at the robots.
Another double door opens and more robots wheel down the ramp or spring into the air after them and Kira allows her Quirk to heat up her arms and to her shoulders. Her legs and feet heat up too, ready to dodge any incoming projectiles should they come her way.
They swarm the five of them immediately, their lights blinking and their sirens blaring.
But, they're not giving up.
~~~