Sight Over Battle

Under Attack at the USJ

A/N: I've updated Chapter 1 to include a scene that I felt was important. Go check it out if you've been reading this before this chapter dropped.

The sudden return of light blinded green eyes, and Midoriya had to shield his face with his arms as he felt gravity pull his body down. He landed with an unceremonious thud.

"Finally!" He lifted his head to see an adult dressed in a full black bodysuit and a silver helmet charging at him. "Something to do other than standing around! No offense kid, but it's part of the gig– OOF!"

Midoriya hadn't been idle when the villain was monologuing. He felt his body kick into gear, hands pushing the ground and legs kicking upwards right into the villain's helmet. He heard the headgear shatter with a satisfying crack and the villain crumpled to the ground.

"Guess you had that," the greenette whirled around at the sound of that, only to come face-to-face with a boy at least a head taller than him. Immediately he recognized the mask and white hair. Shoji Mezo. Quirk: Multi-Arms, or something. Hard to miss the literal multiple arms he has. They hadn't interacted much, but Midoriya had tried to remember the names of his classmates.

"You okay?" Midoriya asked, his breathing evening out.

Shoji nodded. One of his hands morphed into a mouth. "Can't say the same for him." It jerked towards the unconscious villain, before letting out a low whistle. "Geez... Remind me to never get on your bad side."

Curious, Midoriya turned his attention away from the weird sight of a mouth on an arm towards the villain he knocked out and cringed. There was a hole in the villain's helmet where he was kicked, giving the two students a good look at the bruising cheek and shattered teeth scattered on the ground.

Midoriya suppressed a shudder and focused on taking in his surroundings. "Anyway, it looks like we're on some kind of roof. Any idea where–"

"Argh!"

Their conversation was cut short by a loud scream. The duo made their way towards the edge of the roof they were on and their sights darted towards a girl running away from a group of villains and dodging their ranged attacks with comical precise reflexes. Midoriya recognized the pink skin.

"Ashido," he gasped. Before he could say anything else, Shoji interrupted him.

"Hey! I hear footsteps coming from the stairs. At least six of them, three flights down."

Midoriya tightened his grip on the railing. Ashido's in trouble, and taking the stairs down is a no-go – not when they have to fight their way through a group of enemies with quirks that they have no knowledge about. That'll only waste time that they do not have.

"We jump," he suggested.

Shoji stared deadpanned at him. "You can't be serious."

"It's not that high."

"We're four storeys above the ground."

"I've done six and didn't have a scratch."

"... Did Bakugo put you up to that?"

"Does it matter?" A pause. "For the record: the answer is not 'no'."

"That is not reassuring."

"We were five that time!"

"Look, I'm durable but I'm not crazy."

"You got a better idea?"

"... Fine."

Midoriya allowed his lips to curl up slightly. "Grab onto me."

"Not necessary." Shoji grunted. "I'm ready when you are."