Chapter 48 - Plus Ultra

The room was silent as the screens turned to black.

You stared at the television, eyes unseeing, barely breathing. A mist of tears clouded your vision as your hands began to shake.

This can't be happening. It's too soon. We don't have enough devices. I haven't planned enough. I can't...

The room erupted into terrified screams, incoherent rambling, prayers. Your other classmates came crashing down the stairs all with the same otherworldly expression on their faces. Fear. Nothing but fear.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Bakugou's aggressive voice snapped you from your shock. You stared up. He had jumped onto the table without you noticing. The room quieted and all eyes turned to the explosive blond.

"WE'RE GONNA GET THROUGH THIS." You could just make out the tentative vibration in his commanding tone. He was just as scared as everyone else, but he'd pushed it down to lead. You admired that about him. You were thankful he would be taking char-

"[Y/N] GET UP HERE AND TELL EVERYONE YOUR PLAN."

My plan?

He gripped your wrist and pulled you on top of the table. You glanced around bewildered at your frantic classmates.

"I don't have a plan! I have maybe a sketch of an idea. I could never ask them to follow something so-" you were whisper shouting at your boyfriend, hissing through your teeth. Your hands trembled and your breathing was ragged. You were panicking. Strong hands grabbed your shoulders.

"I would follow you through hell if you asked. You are brilliant. No one knows this case better than you. It's not a sketch of an idea and you know it. Now tell them your plan Cinder." Bakugou's words cut through your shock. He'd never lied to you and he wasn't now. You could see it written in his eyes. He believed in you, in whatever plan you came up with. And he'd called you Cinder. He called you a hero.

You shakily exhaled and nodded. He released your shoulders and you closed your eyes, steeling yourself.

You are the Smoke Hero Cinder and you can save lives tonight.

"OKAY! EVERYONE, TAKE OUT YOUR PHONES!" Your voice held more command than ever before. Eyes widened at your tone.

"Our phones?" Kaminari asked, now beside Jirou who was still curled on the floor.

"DO WHAT THE FUCK SHE SAYS!" Bakugou gave you a definitive nod, urging you to go on. You saw all your friends take their phones from their pockets.

"Put them on airplane mode. The Hacker can clearly access the devices. We need to cut off as many signals as possible." Fingers swiped across screens following your instructions. "And Shouto-" The heterochromatic boy looked up. You pointed at the box to his left at the base of the stairs- "start handing out those devices to everyone.

"These devices contain a file for a sound capable of breaking the stone. Save the file to your phones." Heads snapped back to your elevated form as you spoke, realization dawning at how you'd been saved.

"CARRY EARPLUGS 'CAUSE IT'S A BITCH." You dared to form the smallest smile at Bakugou.

"Ground Zero," Bakugou looked at you, stiffening at his hero name, "Red Riot, Shouto, Chargebolt, Creati, you're with me." You pointed to each of your friends in turn.

"Only them?" Sero's brow furrowed at being left out.

"The rest of you take to the streets. There are going to be a lot of frozen heroes and first responders out there. Use the file to break them out of it before villains can..." Your voice caught as the image of the officer being destroyed with a bat flashed before your eyes. You regained your composure and went on.

"The more people you free, the more will fight with us. Take as many devices as you can to pass out to officers and heroes." Your friends dug their hands into the box of flash drives.

"And don't forget to rip out their coms and smash their walkie talkies. That asshole might try for a second wave." Bakugou crossed his arms over his chest, staring down as heads nodded around him.

"Which is why once we leave this room there will be no more communication. We can't risk using coms or our phones. You will be on your own acting as heroes." Nervous glances passed between your friends. You were asking so much from them, but you couldn't worry about that now.

"Iida-" The blue-haired boy stood straight as an arrow at your call, the light in the common room shining off his glasses- "take a handful of devices and check the campus. See if you can recruit any faculty. It's a Sunday so the chances are low, but..."

"I'm on it." Iida dutifully shoved his hand into the box and grabbed a dozen flash drives.

"Kyouka, can you fight?" You bent to inspect your friend on the ground. Kaminari's arms were around her waist as she leaned back into his chest. There was dried blood in her ears, but her eyes looked clear.

"I'll be okay. What do you need?"

"I need you to be our back line. Plug in and blast the shattering sound as loud and long as possible." She nodded, a determined look in her eye. You mouthed a thank you.

"What are we doing then?" Kirishima spoke for the first time, still standing frozen next to the window.

"It's a leap of faith but I think I know where the Hacker will be."

"We're going to the broadcasting tower, aren't we?" Yaoyorozu said, still clutching her towel. You glanced at the dark-haired girl. Sometimes you forgot how smart she was. She must have been putting the pieces together since the moment you started talking.

"Exactly. I believe he and his team will be guarding the station. It must be where they sent out the signal and they don't want us overturning it. We need..." You glanced down at your fingers and took a deep breath.

Organizing and planning were so much different from executing. You could run through every situation in your head a million times and still come up with unknowns. You feared the unknowns and there would be so many. What exactly was the Hacker's quirk? What other villains would he have with him? What if you couldn't make it to the command center with only a handful of student heroes?

Bakugou's warm hand found yours. He squeezed tight.

'A plan is all you need...Just execute your plan.'

You picked up your head and cleared your throat. "We need to break in, subdue any villain in our path and detain the Hacker, then play the shatter sound and save the city."

"That's it?" Kirishima pounded his fists together, a brave smile on his face. You couldn't help but huff out a breathy laugh.

"That's it."

Bakugou squeezed your hand again. "NOW GET IN YOUR HERO GEAR AND LET'S KICK SOME ASS!"

***

The streets outside campus were in complete anarchy.

Storefronts were broken, electrical lines were down, police cars had crashed into buildings, their occupants turned to stone. The usually sleepy town was literally on fire. You steeled yourself and sucked in smoke as you passed at a sprint, your fellow classmates handling the immediate damage. You had to get to the broadcast tower.

The tower was five kilometers away, an easy run but made so much more difficult with the uneven ground, constant rubble and the myriad of villains parading around in hunt of statues. Bakugou and Todoroki cleared much of the way as you, Kaminari, Kirishima and Yaoyorozu blasted the shatter sound through your phone speakers whenever you passed a first responder.

From behind you, the sound ricocheted off the buildings. Jirou had plugged in and the noise pounded down the streets, shattering nearby windows and sending birds out of the city. It would have to be enough.

"Left!" Yaoyorozu yelled as you came to a fork in the road. You pivoted as Bakugou shot three aggressive blasts behind you. Glancing over your shoulder you could see a line of half a dozen men on the ground, pushed back from the explosion.

Are there really this many people that hate the heroes? Are there this many people who would side with the villains?

***

Thirty minutes later your eyes landed on the broadcast tower. Looking back toward campus you saw smoke and fire pouring out from houses and businesses, offices and restaurants, illuminating the night sky. With your sprint and the amount of fire rippling in the air you almost couldn't feel the chill in the November night. You tried not to worry about your friends.

They're all heroes. They can handle it.

Todoroki waved your troupe closer to the building. You peered out from behind a brick wall and began counting the guards. Four on the door, ten more patrolling the perimeter.

"What now boss?" Kaminari asked you.

"Don't call me that. We're all equal." You couldn't handle the pressure of leading right now, but the look on everyone's faces said you would be doing just that. "There's fourteen guards on the exterior that I can see. This place is a minefield as it is, so I don't think we'll have to worry about being subtle."

"Great. So, I'll blast 'em. Icyhot, you take the left. I'll take the right." Bakugou was itching for the fight.

"Hold up GZ." He snarled at the name. "We don't know their quirks. Chargebolt, can I get one of your shooter targets?" The sparky blond pulled a target from the launcher on his wrist. You gestured with your right hand toward a small shop with a green and white awning. "Red Riot, I need you to run to that hot pot restaurant over there. Place this in line with the tower's sidewalk, chest height." Kirishima took the target in his hands and ran toward the restaurant, making sure to stay out of the line of site of the guards.

"Chargebolt, you're gonna zap the whole line of them." The boy's eyes lit up at the plan. "Anyone left standing, we all take down." Your eyes met Bakugou's. He was already wearing his dangerously cocky grin, his nerves seemingly nonexistent.

Kirishima trotted back to the group a moment later sporting a thumbs up.

"Okay. Chargebolt, you're up." You pushed Kaminari out to line up with his target, hoping the range wouldn't be too far. Everyone else remained crouched and ready to pounce.

"[y/n]?" Your head snapped toward the source of your name. Bakugou's gauntlets were up by his face, poised like immense boxing gloves. A momentary softness touched his eyes. You were both about to run into immense danger. He was worried about you. "You ready?"

"I'm ready," you said, but your tone conveyed what he needed to hear. 'I love you. I'll be safe.'

Your eyes shifted back to the building. You nodded to Kaminari. Before you could even blink, a flash of white snaked across the sidewalk, striking eight guards who fell to the ground in a heap.

Wild yelling emanated from the remaining guards as they tried to discern what happened, but it didn't matter. You were on them in a matter of moments. True to Bakugou's suggestion Todoroki sent out a wave of ice, capturing three guards who ran from the left side of the building toward the main doors. Bakugou flew to the right, propelled by his explosions before knocking out two more villains. Kirishima ran out in front of you before you could even release your tendrils and drove a terrifyingly strong punch into the stomach of the last remaining guard. The sea of bodies lay scattered around the entrance.

Guess it didn't matter what their quirks were.

"Creati, tie them up," you ordered and Yaoyorozu began producing a long length of rope. Kirishima and Bakugou crudely dragged the unconscious thugs into one massive pile to the side of the building.

"It's locked," Kaminari's voice rang out from in front of the tall glass doors. You were just relieved that he hadn't short circuited from his release.

"Should we break it down?" Todoroki asked, already prepared to send a wall of ice into the glass.

"That's got Cinder's name on it," Bakugou barked as he dropped another villain onto the pile.

"Yeah, I've got it." You pushed Todoroki aside and stood before the doors. "Besides, once we're inside we'll have to be a bit stealthier." You snaked your tendrils from your blackened hands and drove them into the locks below the door handles. They released in a matter of seconds.

"What's the plan when we go in?" Kirishima asked, joining your group in front of the doors. The villains had all been tied up, intricate knots looping their hands and ankles together in a giant spider web.

"Creati, can you make any kind of goggles that would tell us where the villains are?" Todoroki asked.

"This building's made of concrete and steel. It's too thick for infrared for pass through. I don't know the specs for anything that could be used..." She looked a bit defeated, but you patted her on the shoulder.

"Don't worry. We'll just be careful as we find out which floor the control room is on. Based on the height of the tower I'd say at least ten floors. That's where he'll be. And that's also likely where the strongest fighters will be." You exhaled, thinking back to the metal manipulator.

If he was just a goon?

"So it's best if we stay together as long as we can. Shouto, when we enter I need you to freeze anyone in sight. I'll knock down the cameras, take away their eyes. Who knows how much tech this guy has messed with anyway." Everyone nodded.

"Only use the stairs. We can't trust the elevators either," Bakugou said, his eyes wary, clearly trying to puzzle through all the different scenarios too.

"If we get split up, whoever makes it to the control room, it's your job to load the sound into the mainframe. It'll be linked to the emergency broadcast system and blast to all speakers around the city." You pulled your device from your pocket and watched as everyone held up their own. "Shove this into wherever it fits. I don't know how it works. You're not going to know how it works, but I have a sneaking suspicion the Hacker will give away what he doesn't want touched."

"Okay guys. Plus Ultra!" Kirishima yelled out the school motto before slamming his hand down into the middle of your circle. A daring smile quirked on your lips. Everyone joined in.

"Plus Ultra!"