Kirishima Eijiro cracked his knuckles, then his neck, both ways. Behind him stood the bomb. To his left was the frog girl, Asui. In front of him was the one door into this room. The timer had just begun; Sero and Kagamine would be on their way.
"Asui-san, I'm not much in the way of plans. You cookin' up any fancy stuff behind that vacant stare of yours?"
"I think we should both stay in this room, ribbit."
Eijiro stopped. He'd just been stepping toward the door, and now he slightly slouched with disappointment. "I want to go meet them in battle! What's manly about standing around and waiting?"
"I'm not a man. You asked if I had a plan, and it's this. Every villain team so far has split up, ribbit. One goes scouting while the other stands guard. So that's probably what they'll expect us to do."
"Well… yea! What's wrong with playing into their hands a little? We're both at a physical advantage, I reckon. Kagamine can zap around but he's got no strength enhancements. And Sero…"
"Sero-chan is who I'm worried about. If me or you go out there, he can capture us with that tape. And then we'll be split up permanently while the others will have to guard the room by themselves. Once Lenny sees the bomb, it's all over, ribbit."
Eijiro ground his sharp teeth together. Lenny, huh? "Well, that makes sense to me. Howabouts I go into the hallway, but keep my back to the door. Priority is keeping Kagamine from getting through. You can handle Sero if he sneaks past me, right?" He was pretty sure Asui's Quirk enhanced her strength a bit, and she was no slouch in the agility department. Being a man is great, but you gotta respect female power too! Even if we're the villains here.
Asui nodded. "I should be able to, ribbit."
Eijiro cracked a smile, and then smashed his fists together, hardening them and sending out sparks. "Let's do this!"
***
"Difficult to predict what they'll do," Sero muttered as the two of them crept into the entrance of the building.
Len raised his eyebrows. "How's that?"
"If it were me against the two of us, I'd hang back and defend. First of all, you've got some of the highest speed in the class; you manage to get around the back of someone and it's all over. They're gonna want to keep themselves between you and the bomb as long as possible."
"But every villain team so far has split into a scout and a guard," Len pointed out, feeling kinda useless next to his more strategically-minded partner.
"Right, but me and you have crowd control on lock. We could capture a scout easily while they're split up, and then the guard is left alone. Surely they've thought of this. However…" Sero clicked his teeth. "Based on how Kirishima has acted in response to the other fights, he may just ignore common sense."
"Right," Len nodded. "If they do decide to split up, I'd say it would likely be Kirishima as the scout, and Tsu as the guard."
"Tsu?" Sero raised an eyebrow.
"Uhh, Asui-san. She asked that we… me and Mina and Hagakure, I mean… call her that. Yeah."
"First name basis with Ashido too, huh?" Sero huffed out of his nostrils.
Len felt heat rushing to his face. What the hell? " Whoa, I mean… it's nothing like that! Hey, what's your problem anyway?"
"I don't! I d-don't have a problem," Sero suddenly waved his arms defensively. "Sorry. It's just… you seem a lot more comfortable around girls. Some of us guys kinda formed a group at lunch, and none of us have really spoken to you… just an observation I made."
Len was still kinda irritated, but he suddenly took a pause. Am I? More comfortable around girls? Is that a thing? He thought about talking to Mina or Hagakure. Warm, comfortable, easy. Versus talking to this guy, or someone like Iida or Bakugo. Frantic. Panic. Feeling of inadequacy. Gah! It is true! His face had gone cold, and he felt a drop of sweat go down his neck.
"You good, Kagamine? I'm sorry, man, I shouldn't have brought it up. I don't want there to be any hard feelings or anything, especially when we're about to fight."
"I'm fine. Everything's great. Good. Yes. No hard feelings, of course." Is it because of my sister? Is this some weird complex that's never occurred to me? But he'd HAD guy friends in middle school. He'd had female friends too, of course, but…
Suddenly he was trying to count. Did it skew horribly towards the female side without him realising? What was he doing, anyway?
The yellow was stewing up inside him, threatening to froth about his throat. It was rising and rising and rising and…
Focus, Len thought, closing his eyes, trying to get the golden energy to settle again. It wasn't working all that well. He was about to go into this fight high-strung to shit, and it was about some silly distraction!
And I talked to Shoji at lunch, so really this is all some big joke. I can make guy friends if I want. I can make friends with you right now, Sero!
"Hey, shouldn't we have found them by now?" Len asked out loud. His voice sounded funny in his own ears. He had to swallow saliva to keep from drooling when he opened his mouth. His nerves were all tingly.
Sero turned and gave him a funny look. "You're not okay, man. You have a haze around you. It's the same color as when you teleport, I think. Is your Quirk going wild?"
"Very possibly," Len squeaked, keeping his eyes toward the ground. He had to close his mouth quickly before it felt like he was going to puke.
"Okay, well… focus that shit on our enemies. I think we're…" they turned a corner, and there was Kirishima.
"Asui! They've arrived!" The spiky red-haired boy stood in a fighting stance at the end of the hallway. Beyond was a door. "Hell yeah! I'm pumped up!" Kirishima swung a fist at the air, and Len saw that he was hardened all over. "Come at me, heroes! Let's brawl!"
"Keep him distracted," Sero muttered to his partner, and then sprang into action, shooting two lengths of tape down the hallway. Kirishima dashed forward, and the tape attached itself to him. Absurdly, battle music began to play in Len's head. He tried to flash forward and whiffed, falling sideways against the wall, trembling for a moment. The yellow wouldn't stop brewing!
Kirishima tried to tear the tape off, gave up with a resigned grin, and then yanked his arms back, pulling Sero towards him. The tape user let out a surprised yelp, skidding along the ground, and then Kirishima swung a hardened fist at his face. Sero's helmet took the main force of the blow, partially shattering, and the boy danced lightly out of the way of Kirishima's second swing, shaking his head as if dazed.
Len had never been in a true Quirk fight before. He'd trained a bit at the underground lessons, of course, but this was different. None of those Quirks had been as strong as Kirishima's, and they'd been in an open ring, where Len could maneuver a bit. This hallway was too tight.
Kirishima swung at Sero with both his fists as the taller, longer-armed boy circled him, trying to increase the range between them. He was too lean and lanky for close range in a tight hallway, and kept running into the walls, taking glancing blows to the shoulder and elbows. He shot out a feathery flicker-like punch with his right, but it only bounced off of Kirishima's hardened skin harmlessly. With a frustrated yelp he blocked the next hit with his forearm, and then shot a short strand of tape backwards out of his elbow… right at Kirishima's face. Briefly blinded, the other boy staggered back, clawing at the tape, and Sero slid under his wild swing and bounced towards the bomb room.
Kirishima tore the tape from his face and lunged toward Sero, getting ready to bodily tackle him with Hardening to keep him out of the room… but then Len was there in a bright yellow flash.
Who cares about the energy going wild? Use it to your advantage! Len thought as he flashed in, getting right up in Kirishima's face and slamming into him. Hitting the hardened boy's body hurt like mad, but his momentum was enough to knock his opponent back against the wall. Sero scrambled away into the bomb room, leaving them to it.
"I can't let you go in there!" Kirishima yelled, springing back off the wall and throwing himself between Len and the entrance. Panicked, Len flashed back, avoiding a deadly hardened right hook.
Say something cool, do it do it do it! "Fine," Len replied in an otherworldly growl, crouching forward like some beast, seeing yellow dance around the edge of his vision. "Then I'll just go through you."