My Hero Automata

Summary: Some additional matches and an aside with a bit of foreshadowing...

Chapter 21: Heroics Tournament Day 3 (Continued)

... ... ...

The surprises in the next two matches weren't quite as dramatic as the first had been. But that didn't mean they'd been absent. Tsuburaba and Mineta had put on a surprisingly engaging display, showcasing just how important maneuverability actually was to any engagement. With the various 'terrain' pieces to break up the otherwise flat plane of the match platform, Mineta was able to use his bouncing form of acceleration to great effect. The only thing that kept Tsuburaba in the match for long was that, with his solid air walls and ability to make air platforms to walk on, he was able to respond by both limiting Mineta's own movement and increasing his own. In the end, Mineta had surprised quite a few people by coming out the victor, having laid one too many traps for his opponent to avoid. The entire battle had shown off a calculating, strategic mind that few had expected from him…and which Tsuburaba hadn't been able to match. Even then, it had been close, as Tsuburaba was clearly in better physical shape than his opponent and had nearly outlasted the now-exhausted Mineta.

Bakugo and Momo's match, meanwhile…had been violent. Katsuki had enough of a reputation for aggression already that no one, not even those of Group B, had been surprised to see him go hard. But Izumi had seen quite a few of her fellow students, even a few people from Group A, go goggle-eyed at seeing Momo matching his aggression. Even if Momo could be accidently terrifying at times, most people that hadn't seen her in 'competitive mode' had a few mental gears slip as they watched the match turn into a high-speed, high-violence engagement. Bakugo wasn't stupid enough to give Momo time to plan or create much, forcing her into close engagement right from the start. The result had been a lot of destruction to the environment as Katsuki couldn't put her down…and Momo had trouble dealing with his ability to redirect radically at high speeds.

Her girlfriend certainly had the experience against Izumi to keep up with whatever speed Katsuki could manage…but Izumi normally flowed through combat. Bakugo's much more jarring, abrupt changes in direction had thrown Momo at first, causing both of them to wreck large portions of the combat area as they both combined power and mobility to weave in and out of obstacles while remaining at melee distances. The entire fight had at least seemed to be knife edge the whole way, with only Izumi aware that Momo could likely tank anything short of a fully-powered gauntlet explosion from Bakugo. That was a new thing, relatively, for Momo, so she didn't instinctively fight with the knowledge of her durability. And the difference in familiarity with their power at melee range kept Katsuki in the fight long after Momo should have been able to flatten him.

It was something that Izumi noted they needed to work on, even as Momo finally managed to land a hit that punched Bakugo through a pillar and out of bounds. He was essentially unhurt, his Quirk giving him a stupid amount of resistance to concussive force as protection against his own explosions. But the ring-out gave Momo the win. It had still been a hell of a showing for him, despite his scowl, and Izumi could already see ways to learn from it. She didn't use her telekinesis nearly as much as you'd think, due to the difficulty in controlling it finely enough for more than just brute attacks. But, if she could start using it to force more rapid direction shifts, like Katsuki had been doing with his explosions…

Izumi shook the thought off as the pair rejoined the group. She gave Momo her best hug and a peck on the lips…then squeaked in surprise as Momo picked her up and gave Izumi a much less publicly-appropriate kiss. She nonchalantly set Izumi back down, ignoring her steaming-red face…and simply smirked at the wolf-whistle someone in Group B directed their way.

"Well! That was fun! I hope the rest of my matches are that exciting!"

Momo was in full bouncy mode as she said it, eyes alight with the eagerness of a combat junkie…and suddenly Group B was in full and complete understanding with Group A. Momo was terrifying. A fact that, combined with the intense show of PDA a moment ago causing every straight male nearby to need a bit of awkward shifting, generated a few moments of awkward silence. Thankfully, before that silence could become uncomfortable, an unexpected noise broke said silence, providing a distraction. It came from the small Pod 2B was currently inhabiting, and somehow got the impression across that its inhabitant had discovered something interesting. Mina, always quick to try fixing awkward situations, seized on the distraction 2B's no-doubt-intentional verbalization offered.

"Find something interesting, 2B?"

"Yes. It seems that Hero Killer Stain has struck again. It happened yesterday, but is only being reported now, likely due to a press blackout. He's taken down the hero Native."

Izumi blinked, coming out of her embarrassment at the news and summoning up what she knew about that particular hero. It wasn't much, as the man was a relatively low ranked and unassuming sort. There also hadn't been any particular scandals involving him, which left Izumi a bit confused. Knowing 2B would already have been digging, she decided to ask, hoping 2B wouldn't mention her tendency to dig in…non-public sources…for information.

"Have you figured out why he was targeted? He doesn't match Stain's normal MO."

"My initial thoughts were based on his known temper. I thought he might be a case of the HPSC covering for that sort of thing. But investigation shows that wasn't the case. In fact, while low-ranked, he appears to have been a fairly competent and well-meaning hero. Unfortunately, I did find one other thing that might indicate Stain knows something we don't."

2B clearly had everyone's attention at this point, which made her pause a bit unusual. Realizing quickly what it might mean, Izumi dropped into their mental link, upping her cognition speed.

"You found something on non-public sources?"

"Yes. Should I share it?"

Izumi thought for a half nanosecond, then mentally nodded.

"If it's potentially important, yes. Just claim sources on the Hero Scan Network, since Group A already knows we have agency-level access to that."

There was a mental feeling of acknowledgement, even as Izumi slipped back into normal speed of thought. Just enough time had passed to make a few people curious. But 2B spoke again before anyone could actively question the pause.

"Through some contacts on the Hero Scan Network, I was able to determine that three of the five heroes Stain has recently targeted have all been proponents of Destro's Meta Liberation ideals. Native does not appear to have been as serious about it as the other two, but from what I can see, it looks suspiciously like someone was trying to recruit him. Whereas, with the new data to compare the old casefiles to, I would say that the previous two that fit the pattern both may have been part of the recruiting organization. Certainly, in light of what I found on Native, it retroactively appears they might have been actively concealing membership in some group. Though the evidence is circumstantial, at best."

Quite a few people looked completely blank. Which wasn't all that unexpected. The first MLA uprising was, Izumi rather suspected deliberately, skimmed over in regular history classes. No doubt their History of Heroics course would eventually cover it, but it hadn't yet. This, at least, wasn't as startling a gap in her fellow students' knowledge as some of the other things she'd run into. In fact, it was actually a bit more interesting to note who did seem to be aware of it. One of which, Tokage, spoke up in confused tones a moment later.

"Wait, what? The MLA was defeated a century and a half ago. Why would some group be recruiting based on it now?"

2B could make even a Pod seem remarkably expressive when she wanted to, her current conveyance tilting sideways in such a way that it gave the impression of a head cocked to one side.

"What makes you think there ever stopped being such groups?"

That made more than one person stare at her oddly, so Izumi cleared her throat to clarify…only to be beaten to the punch by a scowling Katsuki.

"Virtually every Quirkist movement cites Destro's work as part of their manifesto, Pieces."

That only made several people look more confused, particularly as they tried to process the new nickname he'd apparently given Tokage. Honestly, it's a less insulting one than usual, but it still threw everyone for a few seconds. Momo steps into the conversational gap before Izumi can, clarifying the clarification.

"It's not just Quirkist Groups. Sanitized versions of Destro's Manifesto have been in continuous publication for over a century. His ideas appeal to those who want Quirks to be less restricted. Which, let's be honest, is a huge chunk of the population. Possibly even an outright majority. If 2B is mentioning it, though, I suspect Native had an original version. Which the government has done its dead level best to ban and destroy."

2B's pod bobbed in place.

"Yes. An original version, with commentary that seems to have been added by someone else, and a few notes from Native himself. He appears to have agreed with much of what the Manifesto said, though only some of the commentary."

Before anyone could add more, Iida spoke up.

"It appears they are nearly finished with the repairs. Shishida and Tsuyu should likely go get ready."

Everyone looked at the screen, where the combat area had been almost restored. Though, interestingly, its configuration had been somewhat shifted. Both of the mentioned students made noises of agreement and quickly disappeared toward the ready-rooms, even as conversation shifted back to the matches yet to take place…

... ...

Jirou ground her teeth in aggravation as her sonic blast caught only a single piece of Tokage's body. That piece was brutally hammered into a pillar, causing Tokage to grunt in agony…but she knew it wouldn't stop the girl. Jirou didn't know the limits of the other girl's regeneration, making her unwilling to outright destroy pieces of the other student's body. Unfortunately, she'd already discovered that holding back to merely broken-bone levels of damage wouldn't keep any one piece of Setsuna out of the fight for more than a minute or two, depending on size.

The two of them had proven to be a frustrating match for each other. Jirou's ability to create a sort of sonic bubble around her using some of her new gear, within which anyone trying to close with her would very rapidly become nauseous, meant that Tokage had been unable to close with enough of her parts to do anything to Jirou. Too few parts and Jirou shot them down or simply rolled with the punches they delivered. Too many and the nausea transferred to the rest of Setsuna's parts, making her too sick to maintain control of her split body.

Meanwhile, Setsuna was fast at moving those parts out of the way of Jirou's sonic blasts. Worse, she'd realized early on that she needed to stay as dispersed and mixed in with the environment as possible to keep Jirou from closing with enough parts to make her bubble effective. The current iteration of Jirou's gear was a huge improvement over what she'd started with…but it was still limited to two functions at a time. One per jack. Izumi and Momo believed she could pull off more than that with a combination of training and careful use of her stored QE, but Jirou hadn't had enough time with the new gear to even consider trying to pull it off. Which, unfortunately, meant she was going to have to take a risk if she wanted to finish this match.

Weighing her options even as she shot down another of Tokage's pieces, Jirou finally nodded. For the next several moments she focused on dodging, not shooting, as she pumped QE into the capacitors of the 'sonic bubble' generator. Really, it was just a far more comprehensive set of speakers than her boots had previously had, directing the soundwaves in a 360-degree fashion through the air as well as into the ground. Thankfully, it could run on its own for at least 15 seconds from the capacitors. Otherwise, what she was about to try would be beyond her current skill level.

The instant her HUD displayed the capacitors as fully charged, she shifted her earjacks. No longer outside her costume, she only had to shift them from one set of input jacks to another, a bare few centimeters apart. She lost use of the sonic canon, save for the two shots she had stored up, as well as the sonic bubble…though it continued to run on the stored QE as she activated the last remaining piece of her new gear. Bass Boost currently required both jacks…but it let her put out compressed soundwaves that gave her a rapid-movement dash ability. She'd crashed into far too many walls training to get even basic control of the new move before the Tournament, but now…

Setsuna yelped as Jirou burst into high-speed movement, her sound bubble traveling with her, aimed for the far corner where the greenette's head was hidden. As if Jirou hadn't known that from the sounds she kept making when hit! The other girl didn't have enough time to react as her eardrums, by far the most vulnerable part of her to the sound bubble's effects, was abruptly right at the heart of it. Setsuna's pieces went nuts as she tried desperately not to vomit…only for her head to get spiked like a volleyball as Jirou closed to point blank range. The sheer disorientation was too much for her to compensate for and her head hit the arena floor, out of bounds. An instant later, she lost her lunch…

In the sheer absurdity of seeing a disembodied head vomiting as it hit the floor, after being spiked like a volleyball, it actually took Midnight-sensei a second or two to declare Jirou's victory…

... ...

As she dodged an entire web of vines, slicing out with Virtuous Contract, Izumi was simultaneously both impressed and disappointed with her opponent. She'd known the basics of Ibara's Quirk, of course. She carefully didn't question how 2B had obtained them, but her partner had long since gotten full copies of the files UA had on each student's Quirk. Unlike with Izumi and Momo, most of the time those files were extremely accurate. Even so, knowing how Vines worked hadn't prepared Izumi for the sheer number of them Ibara could generate and smoothly control. Her fellow greenette had pressed the attack from the crack of the whip, deploying her vines in every direction, even down through the concrete of the platform, in an attempt to entrap Izumi.

With the majority of her possible opponents, the tactic would have been extreme effective. As it was, there was an apparent stalemate between them as Izumi's agility and ability to destroy the attacking vines with casual ease kept them from ever managing to fully enclose her. Unfortunately for Ibara, that stalemate was only an apparent stalemate. One generated by Izumi's Quirk curiosity and her willingness to let her fellow student show her stuff. And, due to Izumi's having satisfied her curiosity, it was about to end. The worst part was that the ending had been determined from the start. Not because of the power imbalance…but because Ibara had fallen into the classic trap of overreliance on her Quirk. She hadn't moved so much as a centimeter from her starting position, making what Izumi did next disappointingly easy. Also slightly funny and an important lesson in actually listening to the costume advice their sensei's gave them, but still disappointingly easy.

With her lips twitching at the corners, Izumi grabbed the shoulder of Ibara's ridiculous toga-thing and yanked it down her arm, not-so-incidentally exposing the girl's sports bra on that side. Ibara squeaked and instinctively reached to cover herself, despite the sport's bra…and Izumi followed up with a pair of rapid swipes of Virtuous Contract that severed the anchoring vines around the girl that had locked her down to the arena floor. An instant later, a far more powerful burst of telekinesis hit Ibara head-on, launching the girl out of the combat area before she could react. To her credit, her reflexes were good enough to catch herself with her vines…but she'd still lost by ring out the instant those vines touched the out-of-combat area to support her. Midnight-sensei's whip cracked as she made the announcement.

"Midoriya wins! And gives a lesson in poor costume design in the process!"

Ouch, Ibara might need a bit of burn cream from the level of disapproval Midnight had managed to pack into that simple sentence…

... ...

Hagakure looked at the despondent pile of steel that was Tetsutetsu even as Midnight declared her win. All she had done was blind him with flashes of light, then lure him to the edge of the arena while yelling 'manly.' His situational awareness clearly needed work, as he hadn't even noticed as she'd baited him into charging right off the platform, after failing to get him to knock himself out on one of the pillars. She hadn't even needed to use anything particularly new! Well, she supposed she couldn't complain…

... ...

Kirishima was incredibly grateful that Midoriya and Yaoyorozu's super-manly training had paid off for him over the last month! Both Bulletproof Mode, where Kirishima doubled down his focus on the density of his hardened body, and Sharp Mode where he instead tried to sharpen the edges of his rock-like hardened form, had proven instrumental in keeping him in this fight.

Despite her happy-go-lucky personality and adorable appearance, Tsunotori was fierce! Those horns of hers might not be as fast as the bullets he'd tested his durability against. But they had a hell of a lot more mass behind them. And she could control them to curve if he dodged! Thankfully, Bulletproof Mode could shrug them off, even if they still hurt a bit. Meanwhile, since the first time he'd closed with her, he'd learned not to take her kicks lightly! Those legs of hers, not to mention the hooves, created a serious amount of power. Enough that he'd decided that discouraging her from hitting him at all with Sharp Mode was honestly better than tanking a barrage of kicks.

Unfortunately, the result of that had been her backing off and staying out of melee range. Apparently, she could fly by holding onto her horns! How was that fair? The match had quickly turned into a game of endurance as Kirishima dodged and tanked hits from Pony's horns. Unfortunately, his regular hardening proved not to be enough when those horns really got moving…and his new Bulletproof Mode took a lot out of him. After a drawn out seventeen-minute fight, he finally collapsed, Pony thankfully curving her horn away from him at the last second when his hardening fell. Dimly, he heard Midnight declaring his opponent's victory.

Oh well. Disappointing as his loss was, his new moves were awesome! He'd just have to work even harder going forward!