From behind him, Gang Orca's subordinates dashed out from the hole in the wall, nimbly navigating over the rubble to reach the first-aid area. A single student rushed out to stop them.
"Get everyone to safety!" Shindo ordered quickly, not faltering in his sprint towards the villains. "Toward the back! Get them as far away from the villains as possible!"
Once he was just far away enough for the H.U.C. members to not get hurt, he slammed his palms down on the ground and activated his quirk. "I'll keep hammering away at them with tremors at one-second intervals!"
The villains flailed in the air as the ground beneath them suddenly split.
"I won't let them get close," Shindo muttered to himself. Suddenly, Gang Orca appeared right before his eyes, flashing a quick hypersonic wave at Shindo.
"Not good enough," Gang Orca tutted as Shindo collapsed on his back, paralyzed by the wave.
"Only a single rear guard when there's this much of a difference in ability? Looks like you were underestimating us. I'm disappointed, are you all actually heroes? " Gang Orca reprimanded, stepping over Shindo's still body.
Eyes widening just a fraction, Gang Orca spun around and directed a hypersonic wave at the ice that formed while he had his back turned. Todoroki was standing there with his foot firmly planted on the floor as he continued his onslaught of ice, also freezing the feet of the other villains after a few moments.
"Todoroki's so fast," marveled Mina, taking advantage of the distraction and rushing in to help with the evacuation along with Ojiro and Tokoyami.
"Indeed, what a mad banquet of darkness," Muttered Tokoyami, his cape billowing behind him as he turned sharply and swerved towards a group of evacuating individuals, accompanied only by one other hero-in-training.
"Hurry!" He urged, sweeping some of them up with Dark Shadow, "The darkness will not be held back for much longer, as blinding as the light may seem."
"An attack like this is nothing!" Declared Gang Orca haughtily, breaking through another wave of ice. Todoroki smirked to himself even as a cold breath of air slipped out around his mouth.
"As expected of the number ten hero," He said approvingly. His smirk turned into a frown when a large gust of wind blew towards him.
"The passion! It's exhilarating! Please allow me to join you in your passionate face-off!" Yoarashi announced, another gust of wind blowing down.
Todoroki gave a displeased look when the wind also broke the ice on the ground, effectively freeing the previously handicapped villains, although they did all go flying back, so maybe it was on purpose? Either way, it doesn't matter. I'm going to beat Gang Orca.
"A villain attack?" Yoarashi continued on, completely oblivious, "You guys have prepared some hot developments!"
A smaller figure behind Yoarashi tapped his shoulders and whispered something into his ear. Yoarashi nodded enthusiastically, and then they were both on the ground. With a startle, Todoroki realized it was that quirkless student from Shiketsu. The one that caused an uproar in the media and was apparently friends with this brute.
He was dressed in a dark outfit, not unlike Aizawa-sensei's, but with a cloak. The most alarming thing Todoroki had noticed was the sheer amount of gadgets nestled on his utility belt. Mido-something, wasn't it? Hmph, as long as he doesn't get in my way, I can tolerate him.
Todoroki warily watched the pair out of the corner of his eye. Mido (as he had taken to nicknaming him for now) was looking down, so Todoroki couldn't see his expression, but he could see lips moving and Yoarashi nodding. Mido seemed assured and stepped back, turning around to get Shindo out of the battlefield.
I forgot he was there. Gritting his teeth, Todoroki shot a blast of fire at Gang Orca the same moment Yoarashi flung a gust of pressurized air. The two collided right in front of Gang Orca, the air blowing out the flames and swerving up.
Todoroki bit down on his tongue.
Whatever. All I have to do is take him down.
---
Yoarashi's eyebrows furrowed together. Working with Endeavor's kid? What was Midoriya thinking? They're the exact same. Those eyes! Those eyes that care for nothing but themselves! I will never work with them.
In a haze of fury, Yoarashi sent another blast of air only for it to be nullified by the Endeavor Spawn's fire.
"Hey, stop messing with my wind! Hot air rises, don't you know? Just stop! I don't need your help!" Roared Yoarashi, body boiling with frustration.
"Well, my ice didn't work earlier, so I can only use my fire now. Sorry if that bothers you." He replied, not even sparing a glance at Yoarashi now.
Yoarashi felt his vision haze over with red for a moment. How dare he, how dare he, how dare he-
"Huh," Gang Orca mused, walking forwards, "How despicable. Heroes shouldn't be arguing in a crisis. In any case, I'll take care of the wind first."
Yoarashi felt his whole body stiffen, and he yelled out in pain as his body dropped from the sky. Blearily, he realized he was parylzed. Endeavor's kid was lying on the ground now, face down after being hit by the hypersonic wave.
The small-fries cheered in the back, continuing their assault on the last of the evacuating H.U.C. members.
Gang Orca backed away from that kid (Todoroki's his name, isn't it?) and began walking towards Yoarashi.
Yoarashi's heart began beating even more rapidly in panic. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. His sweat pooled at the back of his neck.
That's it? It's over? I didn't even manage to do anything. Damn it! Isn't there something I can do?
Midoriya's words echoed in the back of his mind.
"Yoarashi-kun, listen closely. Your wind alone may not be enough to take down Gang Orca. His power is simply too great. However, your best bet will be working with Todoroki. His flames are a good match against Gang Orca. Combined with your wind, I have no doubt that you will be able to do it. Do you understand? You can do it, I believe in you."
Right. Todoroki's fire. Experimentally, Yoarashi called upon his quirk. To his immense relief, he still had some control over it, as shabby as it was at the moment. As much as he disliked it, they would have to work together this time.
Noticing Todoroki's left side was still on fire, Yoarashi swiftly directed a stream of air to Todoroki. As he expected, the wind absorbed some of the fire, and Yoarashi directed it in a circle back to Gang Orca, surrounding him with a wall of fire.
"Todoroki's fire is a great match against your quirk! Surrender, villain! You have been surrounded!"
---
Midoriya tensed up when Gang Orca began laughing.
"Quite impressive! That is a very good idea, trapping an enemy in a prison of wind and fire. A normal villain would give up at this point." Gang Orca praised, dumping a bottle of water on himself. "But what if they didn't? You should always be planning ahead, after all."
Midoriya watched in awe as Gang Orca fired another hypersonic wave into the sky, dissipating the fire and wind.
"Well?" Gang Orca rasped. "What's next?"
Seeing Gang Orca move to Todoroki, Midoriya sprang into action. Kicking off from one of the smaller villains, he pulled out his grappling hook and aimed it Gang Orca's arm that was reaching out for Todoroki.
"Please get away from those two!" Midoriya declared, retracting the grappling hook. In an instant, he pulled out a tranquilizer gun and shooting it at Gang Orca's hand. Gang Orca quickly moved his hand back, turning his head to face Midoriya.
"Midoriya..." Gang Orca growled, deflecting another tranquilizer with the metal on his arms. He turned his head to face Midoriya, preparing to fire a hypersonic wave at point blank range.
Midoriya, noticing that Gang Orca seemed to be looking at him, fired off one last tranquilizer at Gang Orca and jumped back. Shoving his transquilizer gun into his belt aggressively, he pulled out a strange-looking gadget and hurled it at Gang Orca.
Tutting, Gang Orca moved to deflect the device, but four metal sticks suddenly expanded from the gadget, attaching themselves onto Gang Orca's arm. Frowning, Gang Orca tried to throw it off, but it remained attached.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Midoriya launched himself off from his place and lobbed a heavy kick at Gang Orca's other arm that moved to block him. Gritting his teeth, Midoriya noticed how a few small cracks appeared in Gang Orca's arm brace. Looks like his reinforced shoes could only do so much.
He made a mental note to get that fixed.
However, that had given him the perfect opportunity to plant another metal device, identical to the other one on Gang Orca's arm. Currently, they were both still firmly attached.
"Activate: Villain captured!" Midoriya hollered at his contraptions as he landed back on the ground.
"Ha! You can't possibly hope to defeat me by-" Gang Orca cut himself off as the two devices, which he had dismissed as useless gimmicks, whirled to life. A thin, metal rope began to unfold from the two machines and began to stretch across to the other. Within a few moments, they had transformed into sharp handcuffs that swirled from one wrist to the other.
"Villain capture: success!" Midoriya whispered to himself, straightening up now that he no longer saw the need to fight.
"Don't try to break them, they are-"
A loud horn interrupted Midoriya's epic monologue.
"Um, sorry to interrupt your speech, but at this moment, all the H.U.C. who were deployed have been rescued from the danger zone. It may seem arbitrary, but with this, all the provisional licensing exam procedures have been completed. After we tally the scores, we will announce the results here. Those who were injured should go to the infirmary. The rest of you should change and then stand by." Mera's tired voice droned from the speakers.
"It's over..." Midoriya sighed in relief. His anxiety surged now that he was no longer caught up in the heat of battle.
Ohmygosh, I just cuffed Gang Orca! He must hate me now! Argh! Whywhywhywhy-
"No need to worry about that. I came to tell you a job well done, Midoriya." Gang Orca's voice interrupted his thoughts. Spinning around, Midoriya gaped in horror at the hero.
He read my mind. He read my mind. GANG ORCA CAN READ MINDS?!
"Ah, no I didn't read your mind, Midoriya." Gang Orca chuckled, a panic-stricken Midoriya beside him. "You were muttering to yourself."
"Ah, well, thank you very much, Gang Orca sir!" Midoriya bowed, too ashamed of himself to look up. If he did, he would have noticed the amusement briefly flash across Gang Orca's face.
"It was no trouble at all. I will get going now, keep up the good work."
Midoriya stared in awe at Gang Orca's retreating back, completely oblivious to everything else. That included Yoarashi.
I should've tried out more of my gadgets... at least I know the spider cuffs work.
"Midoriya-kun! Midoriya-kun! Midoriya-kun! What has gotten you so passionately worked up? Midoriya-kun? Midoriya-kun! Please answer me! You are scaring me!"
---
"Boss? Are you all right?" A minion questioned.
"... how do you get these things off?"
~~~
Oh my gosh, it's been so long since the last update. I'm really sorry! I'll try to get better at updating! But on the other hand, I think there's only one chapter left? Also, if you spot any grammar mistakes and such, please help point them out for me! I recently installed Grammarly, but there might be a few inconsistencies here and there.