Stand Your Ground

After fixing the destruction that the fight had caused using Overhaul, Aurdel ran back from downtown and to the campus where his class was waiting for him. Only about twenty five minutes had passed in between him leaving his class and coming back, which meant that he still had enough time to teach his class. “Alright Eraserhead, I can take back things from here"

“Right…” Aizawa walked away, somewhat stunned with disbelief

“Now, back to what-“

“How can you come back so nonchalantly?!” The class shouted at him.

He raised an eyebrow behind his helmet, “What do you want me to do? I’m a professional. It’s my job to teach you guys, so that's what I’m trying to do.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Kaminari shouted, “You got called out in the middle of class, left for a few minutes and then next thing we know you’re sprinting halfway across the city and defeating ten Nomu who were completely flooring the police and Heroes!”

“What’s your point?”

“What do you mean? Does nothing about that seem crazy?!”

“What did you expect me to do, give an over the top reaction? Say some one liner about that fight? I’m a soldier that was trained from a young age to fight against insurmountable odds without thinking twice about them, and I spent years in the field fighting against things far stronger than we were ever trained to fight against. So no, this did not seem crazy. I was just doing my job.” He looked around, “Any other questions or comments?”

It was quiet for a moment. “Mr. Aurdel, sir,” Midoriya said, raising a hand. “Is there any advice that you think you can give us based off of the fight you were just in?””

Straight to business. “Rule of thumb is to show, not tell. But I suppose that I can give a few General pointers. When in a fight, always stay on the move. If you’re standing still then it gives the enemy a good opportunity to attack and try to put you down, and every opportunity that the enemy gets is a big disadvantage for you since you’re the only one in the fight that has any qualms about killing. Another important rule you should remember is to use anything and everything to your advantage. If you see an unoccupied car, use it to take cover against a powerful attack. If there’s large amounts of debris strewn around the battlefield, use it to create a hail of projectiles. And if you see something like downed electrical lines, push your opponent towards them to cut off as many avenues of escape as possible. But one of the most important rules is this, minimize the amount of your needed to take down your opponent. The longer you spend fighting, the more openings you provide to your opponent. You want to take down your opponent in the shortest amount of time possible, especially if you’re facing off against multiple of them. Do those answers satisfy you?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. Because in that case, we’re going back to what this class was supposed to be about.” He cleared his throat, “So I know that we’ve gone over some basics before, but there’s no issue with re-treading ground to make sure all topics are covered. So, which of you have any experience with a form of martial arts?” Uraraka, Yaoyorozu and Ojiro raised their hands. “Good, then that means you’re going to be ahead of the curve. However, that does not mean you’re going to know everything that I will teach you. The martial arts that you learned were most likely those taught for self defense or for the purpose of sports This will be neither.”

“Is it… much more dangerous?”

“For you? No. But for the people you are expected to use it against, it is very much so. What I will teach is essentially a combination of every close quarters fighting style known to man, with no emphasis on any one specific move. You will learn to fight unarmed and with weapons, you will learn to fight against those stronger than you, faster than you and more deadly than you. You will be brutal, swift and efficacious.”

“Did it have a really manly name?” Kirishima asked.

“No, we just referred to it as CQC. We never viewed it as something separate from our other skills. Rather, it was something that we integrated fully into our personal styles of battle.”

“Can you demonstrate it for us?” Yaoyorozu asked, a hand raised. “I think that if we see it in practice before we learn it, it should give us some idea of what we should strive to work towards.”

“Of course. I’ve already prepared a dummy to demonstrate on since it would be too dangerous to do so against one of you or another teacher.” Aurdel then pulled out the dummy, one that was custom made to be suitable for his purposes. It stood at roughly his own height, with only a few inches of difference between them. As for what it was made of, the dummy’s skeleton was built out of reinforced rebar, the ‘flesh’ was several layers of hyper dense ballistic gel, with several layers of thick paper were grafted on top in order to simulate skin. It also wore a set of clothes, all normal aside from the kevlar vest he’d placed on top. Something like this may seem excessive for a practice dummy, but the precaution was necessary in order to properly demonstrate the moves. Anything weaker would have him decapitating the dummy and punching off limbs, something the students wouldn’t be doing. “I’m going to show you a simple takedown, watch carefully.” He took a few steps away from the dummy, then shifted into a combat stance. Immediately after he attacked. He jabbed his right hand like a knife into its throat, eyes and the gut. For most people that would be enough to leave them in serious pain, disabling them at least temporarily. However, that was not a guarantee. What he was about to do was. With a hand on the dummy’s throat he swept one leg under its feet, forcing it to fall backwards and onto his knee where he drove it in with full force. The dummy folded like a lawn chair, though realistically if it had been an actual person then he would have, at the very least, paralyzed them permanently by snapping their spine in half. He gave it one last blow by hammering his fist up the dummy’s chin, before dropping it to the ground. He did this all in less than four seconds.

The class stood in shock. “That… Isn’t that excessive force?!,” Uraraka exclaimed.

“It’s not excessive force, it’s precisely the amount of force that he needs to make sure they’re no longer a threat that can hit you when you’re not looking,” Bakugo grumbled, “Doing that is the only way of getting by as a Hero nowadays. Being as strong as possible, and ending fights as soon as possible.”

“I don’t know man, it seems kinda brutal,” Kirishima commented, uncomfortable.

“Brutal is the only way we can do things. If people were willing to fight All Might even though they knew they would lose, why do you think they would give up against us? Especially if those Nomu things are becoming more common, like they seem to be.”

“Becoming more common? What do you mean?”

“I mean look,” Bakugo said, a little frustrated, “You can’t tell me there haven’t been more and more of these guys running around. First there was the one that attacked us at the USJ, then there were those three in Hosu, the dozen that those Villains showed up with before and after the camp and now ten more with one of them being much stronger than the rest.”

“And if eyewitness reports are to be trusted,” Aurdel interrupted, “There are even more across the country, wreaking havoc but managing to stay out of sight and uncaptured. I’d go and hunt them down myself but I’m trying to juggle multiple jobs at once right now, so going across the country is somewhat difficult. At the very least you’ll have the skills necessary to do something when you encounter them.”

“When? Mr. Aurdel,” Ida questioned, “You don’t really think that-?”

“I don’t think you will eventually run into them, I know that you will run into them. The Villains have it out for this school, its teachers and most if not all of its students. And they won’t stop until all of it comes crashing down. They’ll send whatever they have, and that means you need to be ready. Now, I want all of you to pick one classmate that you trust and get along with. Then once you’re in a group spread out from the others.” They were initially confused by the request, but eventually they broke up into groups like he asked. Yaoyorozu and Todoroki, Midoriya and Uraraka, Kirishima and Ashido, Ojiro and Hagakure, Kaminari and Jirou, Shoji and Mineta, Ida and Asui, Sato and Koda, Tokoyami and Aoyama, with the final group being Sero and- Aurdel put a hand on Sero’s shoulder, stopping him from making the comment that he was about to make for his own personal safety. “The reason I’ve had you choose these groups is partially out of conditioning, as they will be the ones you practice and train your moves on.” He was immediately met with protest, which he quickly quieted. “It’s a necessary step as part of your training. From what I know you’ve already encountered one Villain that can disguise themselves as someone else, and I have also heard that some of you are too naive when it comes to handling opponents and can be easily tricked through a simple show of emotions. That cannot happen. If you face a powerful foe and they do something that triggers a reflexive inability to attack, you may as well be dead. Disguising themselves as children, pretending to be weak and surrendering, taking hostages. They will do anything it takes.”

“...How are we even to begin training for such a thing?” Ida asked aloud, “Not only is what you plan to teach us taxing on the body, but if we’re preparing ourselves for what you say then it will be taxing on our minds too.”

“Then take a minute or two to remind yourselves that this is only part of your training, and not how you actually feel towards whoever you’re training with. It is not to desensitize you, it is to mentally prepare yourself for what you might face. After that, you can begin.” He watched as they quickly went to talk to each other, almost all nervous. Seeing as they were all classmates it made sense that they didn’t necessarily want to hurt each other, or at least being made to do it so abruptly. He shut his eyes, thinking back to his time on Reach with the others.

Two minutes passed, “Mr. Aurdel, we’re ready to begin.”

“Very well, now do like I said and spread out. First, you’re going to be practicing your form.” Each of them spread out. “The most basic move you can perform is a punch, but many of you don’t know how to do it properly. So you’ll first want to move into a basic combat stance. Spread your feet out at about shoulder width, bend your knees slightly, angle the shoulder you’re not using to punch towards your opponent.” He walked them through every step, “Have both hands ready in front of you, one to protect yourself and one ready to strike. Then when you’re going to strike, bring your fist out and twist your hips towards them to bring out as much power as possible. But don’t overextend or underextend or you won’t be able to do it correctly.” He demonstrated the punch just as he said, striking the air. He did it quick enough that there was a solid crack even though he hadn’t struck anything.

The class mimicked the move, “Do it again, over and over. I’m going to walk around and examine your form and tell you what you’re missing.” And so he did just that. Those who had previous martial arts training were able to punch nearly perfectly, using the proper posture and movement in order to strike. Ashido, Kirishima and Bakugo also performed near perfectly, each for their own reasons. “Midoriya, you’re dropping your free hand as you’re punching. Doing that leaves you unable to block against any attacks your opponent may throw, especially if your own punch misses. And you’re overextending your punching arm, doing that threatens throwing you off your balance. I understand that doing both those things are instinctual, but you need to build up the habit of proper form.”

“Y-yes sir!” Midoriya stiffened as Aurdel gave his criticism, before adjusting and beginning to practice his punches again. This time they were in the proper form, so Aurdel gave a nod of affirmation before moving on.

“Mineta! Don’t think that just because there’s a massive difference between your height and mine I won’t notice if you’re not doing anything.”

“Why do I even need to be practicing this? It’s not like I”m going to be running in and punching bad guys. If I'm lucky I’ll be able to become a sidekick, and then I can attack Villains from a distance.”

“Is that what you want to do? Become a sidekick? Because the last time I checked this was supposed to be a school that trains the future generation of Heroes, not sidekicks for those Heroes. Anyone can become a sidekick, but if you’re going to be out on the frontlines you need to have some courage.”

“Of course I’m trying to be a Hero! But I’m not gonna do it like this, I gotta take things the way they were dealt to me. I’m-” Aurdel took a deep breath, sharpening his eyes behind his helmet.

“Quit with the bullshit,” he pointed at Mineta, “If you only take things the way that they’re dealt to you, then it means that you’re not cut out to be a Hero. Because you’re not supposed to take things the way they’re dealt. You’re supposed to make something of them, and act in spite of any disadvantages. If someone was building a house and it collapsed halfway through making it, what should they do? Should they curse God for this bad luck? For making you unable to build a house? No, they should pick up the pieces and start again. And when they do finally build up that house, it will be twice as strong as it was before because of that tribulation.” Then Aurdel pointed at his own cybernetic leg, “When I was put through the process of augmentation for the first time, I was sent through excruciating pain. I almost died and my right leg was practically twisted a hundred eighty degrees around with other injuries marring the rest of my body. No one would have blamed me if I took a desk job from there, but I knew that I needed to fight. So do you know what I did? I cut it off.” They almost all looked at him with a mix of horror, awe and amazement. “I cut off my leg and told them that no matter what, I would fight. And so I did.. So don’t tell me that you can’t do this, can’t become a proper Hero. And if any of you feel that you can’t,” he looked around, “Then I implore you to leave now, because you’re not what people are looking for. People want someone who can go out there and do things, things that they think they can’t themselves do. Otherwise there would be no such thing as a professional Hero. Understand?” He looked around at the class, and there was complete silence following his words. “I’ll take that as a yes. Get back to your form with punches, once you’ve practiced those enough we’ll move onto elbows. I want to have all the basics drilled into you by the end of the day.”

Follow Up

After classes ended, Aurdel was doing something different than usual. “How is she holding up?” He asked Nighteye. Currently the girl they’d rescued from Overhaul, Eri, was being kept at a Hero-run hospital.

“Her fever is gone, but the doctors still aren’t sure what caused her to become sick so suddenly. It’s possible that it may have come from suddenly using her quirk and with the immense amount of power that she released. But until there is a way to reliably allow her to practice using her power, there is no way to be certain.” Aurdel looked down the hall, armed officers were guarding the entrance. Probably here as part of witness protection, after all they didn’t want any reprisals by the Yakuza given that Eri had her testimony taken for the case against Overhaul. They didn’t give either of them any bother though, the officers knew who they were.

“Her power, she can’t use it on inanimate objects?”

“No, which is a good thing. It’s allowed the doctors to safely assist her via a robotic drone in the case that her powers flare up again. Eraserhead can’t be here all the time after all” He stopped, “I’ve already seen her a few times, and so has Midoriya and Mirio. But you haven’t come in at all.”

“You know how busy I’ve been recently. If I could have, I would have visited as soon as she got here.”

“It doesn’t matter now. You’re here after all, and she has been asking about you. Wondering who you were.”

“Then maybe I can ease her mind and show her,” he walked forward, knocking on the door before opening it and stepping in. Eri lay on her bed, looking forward. She was changed out of the rags that Overhaul kept her in, and sat instead in some normal clothing. But there were fresh bandages around her arms and legs, likely there to cover the still present wounds. Seeing that hurt him a little. “Hi Eri, remember me?” She looked up at him, there was a bit of a fearful twinge in her eyes. Given that she was no longer in shock from the events of the raid, it was understandable that she would be afraid of a towering man completely covered in armor. He crouched down, reducing his profile to give her some piece of mind. It didn’t seem to work too well though.

“I do… I remember you. You came with Lemillion and Deku to save me,” she stopped. “And I know it is you, but there’s something different. You remind me of… Him.” Him…? She must have meant Chisaki. Then he realized something. He’d taken Overhaul’s quirk from him, and quirks had imprints left behind from those who’d previously owned them. It was no wonder that she might be afraid of him if she could recognize some of Overhaul in him. Quietly, he lowered his head. He needed to gain her trust, and there was only one way to prove that he wasn’t like Chisaki..

“I’m not like him, I wouldn’t hurt a little girl. That’s why I came to save you.” Still crouched down, he placed both hands on his helmet. With a quick twist he was able to release the airtight, then lifted the helmet off of his head to reveal his face. After placing it at his feet she was able to get a good look at him. Carefully she stared, looking at him and examining him. Having only just gotten out of her imprisonment had left her somewhat cautious. But eventually she was able to accept him.

“I’m sorry for saying that you were like him,” she said, softly.

“You don’t have to say sorry, after everything that you’ve been through you have more than enough of a right to be careful,” he put a hand on her leg, “But just know that as long as I’m here, and as long as they’re here, you’re going to be safe. Okay?” She nodded silently, “I brought you something. I was told that they’re your favorite.” He pulled out a small bag that he was carrying with him, placing it on the bed and revealing its contents. Half a dozen juicy red apples ready to eat. Her mood seemed to improve a little seeing them, so he gave them over to her. Quickly she grabbed one and took a big bite, savoring the sweetness. That too, made her a little bit more happy. It made him happy too. “It must be boring to stay cooped up here all day, don’t they let you go out at all.”

She shook her head, “They said that my body is too weak. If I go outside, I might end up catching another fever. I don’t want to cause anyone any trouble with my powers.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, you’re not causing anyone any trouble. Personally I think they’re being overcautious. You should be going out and seeing things, having fun.”

“Things like what?”

“Well, have you ever been to a festival?”

“I haven’t.”

“Then why don’t you go to one? UA is holding a festival soon, in a few weeks. You can come and see everything it has to offer. Plus,” he stood up, “I’m sure that they’ll have things even sweeter than apples.”

“Even sweeter?” She seemed happier at the prospect.

“Yep. Candy apples, cotton candy, ice cream. There will be plenty of other things there for you to try.”

“Are you sure that they’ll let me go there? If I get sick and can’t control my powers, then-“

He crouched back down, taking her hand to reaffirm her. She was taken off guard by the gesture. “Don’t you worry, I’ll be able to convince them to let you go there. And even if something does go wrong we’ll be there with you and help you.” She was comforted by his words, and relaxed again. “Have they given you anything to play with, draw or read?”

“Not really, they said that they didn’t have it right now. But they said that they would have it soon.”

“People always say ‘soon,’ but I don’t think that they really mean it. I’ll be sure to get you something as soon as I leave. Now,” he sat down next to her, “Why don’t we fix your hair? I’m sure that it hasn’t been brushed for a while.” Nearby on a nightstand was a hair brush that one of the staff had given to Eri, though it hadn’t seen very much use. Eri turned her head as he picked up the brush and began to run it through her hair, brushing gently so it wouldn’t get caught in any stuck together strands. Within a few minutes her previously messy and unkempt hair transformed into something that was much more straight and tidy. “There we go, much better. It even looks like it's longer than it was before. Do you mind if I braid your hair?” She nodded. Before beginning he pulled off the armor gauntlets from his hands, not wanting it to get caught on her hair. Then he began working carefully again, straightening her hair before beginning to braid it

“Looks like you two are having fun,” a voice said by the door.

“There’s not a lot to do for her here in the hospital, so I wanted to do what I could to change things up. I have a lot of personal experience staying in hospitals, and any time I went I was always bored out of my mind. Besides, it's really the least that I can do. If I had more time on my hands and could come more often, then I would…. go…” He stopped fooling around as his brain had finally properly processed the person who’d spoken. He looked up towards the door, his mind still focused on the meticulous french braid that he was making.

“After that big stunt you pulled downtown I figured that it was time to get an answer. But when I asked around and found out that people didn’t know where you were, I figured that I’d go with the assumption that the big, brooding Hero was the kind of guy to be a complete softy. Guess I figured you out pretty well.”

He gave a small sigh, “Waging war against good people is bad for the soul, and ignoring those same people is about as bad as going to war with them. Mirko, what do you want?”

“Well, after the last time we met I figured that you’d get yourself roped up into another massive fight. And as sure as the moon as the sky you did. In fact, I was on my way to that fight. I only just managed to miss it.”

“Sorry for depriving you of the thrill.”

“That’s whatever now, I came here because I needed a straight answer

“And I said that I would give it some thought, not that I was guaranteed to accept the offer” He finished the braid, “From your own admissions you don’t like to work in teams, and most of the time you do things alone. Meanwhile, even though I’ve been working alone recently I can work in a team. It just matters more to me whether or not the people I’m paired up with are on the same wavelength .”

“Sure we are,” Mirko said, leaning on the doorway, “You beat up bad guys, I beat up bad guys, and I’m a lot softer on the inside than I show for.” He looked up at her, some disbelief visible. “Don’t give me that. Anyways, are you in or what?”

“I can’t say that it would be a match made in heaven.”

“Well, I could always sweeten the pot ”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She had a cheeky grin, “Well, I could tell people about how you really are. Though, that really wouldn’t help either of us.” He looked to the side for a moment, in mild annoyance. He decided to give this one check before he said anything.

He looked to Eri, “Do you think I should team up with her?”

Eri then looked at Mirko, the concentrated expression on her face making it visible that she was sizing her up. Then she gave her answer. “I think you should team up with her.”

He looked back up towards Mirko, “Alright then, it looks like we’re going to be partners.”

Garaki furiously paced back and forth, he’d been doing such for quite some time now. It had begun when he had first seen that his master, All For One, had left his facility. Then, when he’d heard of his capture things had only gotten worse. At the time he thought that he would be able to quickly change over to the plans that his master had given to him beforehand, to help groom the young boy Shigaraki into the new symbol of evil and eventually break him out of the prison facility known as Tartarus. But when he found out that the boy was killed during that same fight by one of those “Heroes,” he was left unsure of what to do. His only option at the time seemed to be continuing to work on his Nomus, attempting to perfect the High Ends. And while successful in making them much stronger than before, he’d lost one of his prized High Ends already to the same Hero as it was gathering test data. Were it not for the fact that he was bald, he would be pulling his hair out due to the sheer stress of the situation.

The rest of the League as it stood was currently missing, out of contact. The only surviving and non-imprisoned members were Dabi, Twice, Toga and Kurogiri with Giran who had acted as an intermediary. Of them, only Kurogiri was dedicated to his master’s cause. But the lack of contact made it very likely that he would be overruled, overpowered and used by the rest of the League. The very thought disgusted him, one of his proudest achievements being used by common thugs as a tool. No, even worse. They were common thugs with ideas of their own breed of ‘Heroism,’ loosely following the ideology of their idol Stain. It was very likely that they would soon attempt to break their idol out of the prison and let him loose on Japan once more, but with a much heavier ferocity and increased numbers to support his actions. He knows the reasons why, even if he doesn’t particularly want to dwell on them. Due to the actions of that Hero, public opinion has been slowly swinging towards the ideas that Stain held. It all now seemed to be more approachable, with the symbol of a man who at least appeared more reasonable. That radical line of thinking threatened to destroy his master’s plan, building up a society of Heroes who would act viciously and could not be brought down regardless of the force applied. There was very much little else for him to do in his situation, besides waiting.

One such thing was an outside contract he’d put out, one for a tool that would very much help him and his master. A quirk amplification device, a mechanical one at that. It was one that they had attempted to retrieve in the past but failed to do so as a result of failures from the men they’d hired to steal it from I-island. That would not happen again, in fact he waited on its very arrival now. But he also had to wait as the Nomus formed and grew in their strength, to allow the formation of an army of High Ends for his master and put down any threat that came to oppose them. He- He stopped pacing. Johnny stopped shortly behind him, looking at his creator with anticipation. He knew what he’d forgotten now. That man. He rushed over to another section of the lab, where a large recovery tube sat. Yes, that man. The man who had come to him, seeking power and a cure for his ailments. Yes, he remembered him. He stopped in front of the recovery tube, staring at the unconscious individual inside. The procedure was not yet complete, but he could accelerate it without issue by using samples from his Nomu. A grin stretched across his face as he pieces fit together in his mind.

He would serve his needs perfectly. The man in front of him had only introduced himself with a name of one word, Nine. He had a quirk that allowed himself to manipulate the weather greatly, causing storms or tornadoes in his wake whenever he did so choose. It was a quirk that Garaki had copied and placed into storage for later use. But with the additions he’d made to his body over the months of treatment and experimentation, this man would be able to do what he could not. He would ravage Japan with the pursuit of his goals of power, and it would take attention away from the places that mattered. Then with his army of Nomus he would free his master from Tartarus. And after that all things would go back to as they had planned.