MHA: Dark Matter

Following the others, I mentally reviewed my options. The corpses of the board of directors and their hero bodyguards completely changed the risk assessment for our group. What had I known before? There was a group of villains who had taken the entire island's population hostage but had not issued any demands. Among the hostages, they had taken some prominent scientists, not the rich moneybags from whom they could extort more money. Of course, that meant nothing; they could do that later.

These villains either had an incredibly competent and cunning leader who had pulled off this whole scheme unnoticed, while also taking All Might himself hostage, and most likely no one outside the tower even suspected what was happening. Or they had received help from a presumed traitor within I Island's administration. I thought both options were plausible.

And what could be their goal for taking such a risky, almost insane, coup?

The first thing that came to mind were the words of the Englishman Joseph Dunning:

"…at three hundred percent profit, there is no crime he would not risk, even under threat of the gallows…"

Profit from stolen technologies and developments could be a worthy reward for such a risk. Those who act for profit prefer to act rationally. Unprofitable deaths and even stronger public hatred are not in their interest. In that case, everything that was happening could be described as a one time operation to obtain research, kidnap some scientists, and give a little slap on the wrist to the figures responsible for I Island.

The brutal, public murder of the board of directors?

That was effectively declaring war on all the corporations and countries that had invested funds and efforts into I Island. That was madness, similar to the League of Villains' attempt to kill All Might. Those who would go that far no longer cared about public opinion, the pursuit of intelligence services or heroes, the deaths of civilians or heroes. They were either complete madmen, or… or they were those who had set out to change the world itself.

And I could not decide what to do. Tell our suicide squad "time out" and wait out the storm? They would not agree, not after what they had seen. Idealists, future damn heroes, representatives of the Light Side of the Force. And it was not certain that the villains themselves would leave us alone after we had been discovered.

Break away from the squad and use my Quirk to reach the control center, slaughtering every villain in my path before rebooting the security system?

First of all, I wasn't exactly a hacker. I'd probably destroy the entire system instead of fixing it.

Second, doing that would basically be me screaming to everyone involved: "Look! A mysterious third party was here! Admire his unmatched brilliance!"

And they would look. Then they'd compare the evidence with the list of suspects, a list that would definitely include me, considering I'd already joined this suicidal "save everyone" squad as an honorary member.

Sooner or later, someone would probably come knocking and politely ask, "And who exactly are you, sir?"

So what was I supposed to do? Abandon everyone just to avoid exposing my abilities… or worse, revealing my identity as Ticci Micc?

** "…I'm glad I have a friend like you."

The green haired boy said, smiling brightly.

"Hehe. I didn't even expect to have such a loyal fan as you. Your enthusiasm even scared my daughter. She's cute, isn't she?"

The blond man grinned foolishly, showing a picture on his phone of him and a little girl trying to push her father's face away from her, embarrassed.

"My name is Melissa, as you already figured out. I really did not want to talk to those guys. You probably aren't very happy about being pulled away from the exhibition, are you?"

The blonde girl in glasses asked, guiltily shrugging her shoulders. **

No.

That left only going with the flow, hoping for "Plus Ultra" and the "Power of Friendship". Of course, there was a high probability that the villains would be too high level, and I would have to carry the raid myself, since there were no extra lives here. The game developers were all about hardcore. And after such exposure, our "rat dog bear mouse principal" would sooner hang himself from a perch with threads from a sewing kit than ignore someone as handsome as me. He would take an interest in me anyway, since I was an honorary member of the "save everyone" suicide squad. Damn.

"Guys, the server room is ahead. We cannot break anything in there, otherwise we will not be able to reboot the security system."

Melissa shouted, pointing at the doors ahead. I saturated a knife I had picked up from one of the dead heroes with Dark Matter for "Hardening," preparing for a possible fight. Just as I was about to run through the doorway into the room where massive, two meter tall black servers stood against the walls, I noticed some strange movement of either energy or a mechanism with my passive "Gaze." Sometimes I myself did not understand what I was sensing with my Quirk.

The next moment, the doorway was blocked by a DAMN DEFLECTOR SHIELD FROM STAR WARS, which almost cut me in half. I struck the blue, transparent field in front of me with my knife. A ring wave spread across it, like a pebble thrown into water. That was it. Great. But seriously?

How could such a breakthrough invention be used against those who wanted to save its creators? I was itching to beat up I Island's head of security, who had screwed up so badly.

"Damn it."

I turned my head and watched Jiro try to pierce the field with her earphone jacks. Next to her, Melissa was starting to panic. On the other side of the shield, the Class 1A students were looking tensely at the security robots that were appearing and at the doorway, which was blocked by another deflector shield.

"Guys, step back. Detroit Smash at forty percent."

A wave passed through the trembling blue field, and then everything returned to normal. Midoriya stepped back, grimacing in pain, and judging by the gleam in his eyes, he was about to strike "until his bones crunched." But the approaching "nightstand" robots decided to remind the successor of All Might of their presence by attempting to play some BDSM with him using black capture cables.

"Horse, you closed the trap too early."

"Who cares. The boss ordered us to catch Shield's daughter. These two kids won't get in our way."

"Can't argue with that. Hey, kids, you heard everything. So, no sudden moves."

Two mercenaries appeared behind us, aiming their assault rifles at us. The noise of the battle behind the deflector shield continued to grow. I glanced out of the corner of my eye at the frightened Melissa and the gloomy Jiro.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

I raised my hands.

"I surrender!"

---

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[Melissa Shield's Pov]

"I surrender!"

Ken said loudly, throwing his knife to the floor and raising his hands. Looking at the weapons aimed at them, the girl did not blame him. Shield felt regret and guilt for giving her new friends hope by saying they could reboot the security system, for agreeing to this venture that could get them killed.

"You, kid, have some sense. Girls, learn from this guy. He understands that going against men with assault rifles is sheer stupidity."

One of the mercenaries said. Midoriya's classmate standing nearby clenched her fists in frustration.

"I agree, the members of my suicide squad have no survival instincts, no logic, and no common sense at all."

At Ken's sudden words, the young Shield lost her ability to speak. Somewhere inside, resentment and sadness began to appear. Jiro, standing next to her, stared gloomily at the black-haired boy who had started walking toward the wall.

"Exactly, kid. They have no sense of self preservation at all."

One of the mercenaries said cheerfully, following Ken's figure with his rifle. The second mercenary continued to watch them.

"Kami, how tired I am of these idiots today. They have no brakes at all, constantly shouting 'Save everyone.'"

The black haired boy continued to speak, slowly gesticulating. Melissa lowered her head. The sound of teeth grinding came from beside her.

"Stop right there."

The second mercenary said sharply, still not taking his eyes off them. Hoshino obediently stopped but continued to speak.

"I was especially annoyed by their class representative, who looks like a cheap cosplay of a Star Wars character and constantly lectures me about manners, etiquette, and heroic truths. And her!"

He suddenly pointed at Jiro. The girl, slowly boiling with anger, shouted at the sudden accusation.

"YOU!"

A shot rang out.

For Melissa, everything blurred into fragmented frames, as if part of the film had been cut. Here was the barrel of an assault rifle, previously aimed at them, now pointing to the side, and a mercenary cried out in pain. Ken, who had been standing as if he were about to lie down on the floor, was now charging at the second mercenary.

Another shot.

The mercenary who had cried out in pain fell to the floor with a dull thud, while the mercenary aiming at Ken doubled over and fell to his knees. The assault rifle, previously held firmly in his hands, fell to the floor.

"E-e-e-e-e-e!"

Wiping blood from his cheek, Ken kicked the kneeling, groaning mercenary.

"That is, of course, unsportsmanlike and a very dirty blow. But men who unhesitatingly aim their guns at beautiful women do not really need their genitals."

Hoshino said, looking at the frozen girls. Shield could not take her eyes off his slightly smiling face. Kyoka did not have that problem.

"So, what were you saying about me?"

Hoshino sighed.

[End Pov Melissa Shield]

****A/N****

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