Chapter 10 Cut!
Chapter Text
39…38…37…36… Ainz slowly tapped his finger methodically on the windowsill of the U.A. office block. He had his other hand on his cheek while looking down onto the front gate. Reporters were swarming the area. Early that day he had to help a student or two get through without harming anybody. Right now though he was counting down the seconds until the next 'action scene' started according to Pandora's plan.
He checked his watch one last time, 3…2…1… and that's 12:32. Pandora didn't specify what would happen, just that it would be a distract-...
*KRANG*
He brought his attention to the front gate. Nothing was there. Perhaps a reporter used their quirk to destroy it? Huh, that'd be a lawsuit I would've killed for in my past life. He chuckled inwardly as the other hero teachers quickly defused the situation and pushed back against the rabid interviewers.
Next up on the plan was something along the lines of a group of villains stealing documents from the school, but to not interfere. Ainz recounted the incredibly detailed and complex plan with vague accuracy. All Pandora told me to do was 'Continue being ze teacher to ze kinder! Eventually you'll meet ze opening actors.' Aw shit, I forgot to ask him what he's doing…eh, I'll probably recognize him when he begins.
He moves away from the window, scouting the rest of the room for signs of life. No one else is in the office as they are obviously busy dealing with the situation outside. Any competent teacher would do so. Except for Ainz. The overlord taps the back of his foot against the wall signaling for a shadow demon to arise.
"What did they take?" Commanded Ainz.
The shadow demon's eerie whisper recounts his sightings, "Two villains, one made of purple smoke while the other covered themselves with disembodied hands, infiltrated Shouta Aizawa's office and stole a copy of the itinerary. The purple one teleported the hands man away once they collected the paper, m'lord."
Ainz pinched his chin in a look of deep thought, They stole the itinerary to…stalk some kids? Not the quirk analysis papers, not the teachers information, but a damn schedule?! Why the hell would they do that?! Despite him brushing off the situation, Ainz at least wanted a copy of the paper, "Show me the itinerary."
Already expecting this, a calendar pops out of Ainz's shadow. Ainz begins checking the list for anything of note.
--------------------------------------
Monday: Theoretical Hero Class.
Tuesday: Exercise B Hero Class Test
Wednesday: Nothing of note.
Thursday: Nothing of note.
Friday: Field Trip to USJ
--------------------------------------
Ainz raised an eyebrow at the last entry. Ah. They're planning to attack the kids during a time in which they will be completely cut off from the school. Time, date, and location.
Stuffing the paper into his inventory, Ainz walked out of the offices to at least put on the facade that he was a real teacher. However, the only thought going through his mind wasn't the safety of the students, but instead an excuse he was going to give Eri's teachers when he came to pick her up for Pandora performance.
He…he got it! He got the information that Sensei wanted all without a single one of those hero idiots finding out he was even there. Sure they might be suspicious about him destroying the front gate, but by then it'll be too late. Even with his body covered in hands including his face, Tomura Shigaraki's eyes were glued to the detailed information about a definite location of All Might! He giggled in child-like glee.
The other soul in the room was the bartender simply known by the name Kurogiri. He was cleaning a shot glass for any potential customers. He does this undeterred by the bar being abandoned in the most desolate part of the city.
Kurogiri gave a side glance to his 'boss' in front of him who was looking at a piece of school paper like it was the map to El Dorado. Still cleaning, the bartender sees a subtle flashing red light under the bar.
"Boss, Master wants a word with you."
Shigaraki puts the paper down and directs his attention to a tv screen in the corner of the bar. It flickers to life to show the criminal mastermind All For One on the other side.
"Congratulations on your first field mission, Tomura," A chilling voice spoke from the other side. "Have you gathered up all of the criminals willing to join the operation?"
Tomura shakes off the feeling of awe he has for his Sensei, "Yes Sensei, approximately 80 low-level NPCs are willing to help us in the boss fight."
All For One was used to his disciple's use of video game terms and responded in kind, "Impressive work, however this won't be enough to stop the #1 player in the world. You'll need to recruit as many more fodd-...low-level NPCs to distract them while you go in for the kill. Don't forget to waste his 3-hour 'buff.'"
Kurogiri raised a non-existent eyebrow at his master's speech. Master, hated to use slang terms as it was demeaning to someone of his age, but found amusement in humoring Shigaraki. An added bonus was that Shigaraki always understood what he was explaining without a repeat.
"Yes Sensei! I'll get to work grinding immediately." Tomura exclaimed in idolization.
Sensei disconnected leaving the two in the empty bar with a boosted morale.
"Hear that Kurogiri?! He praised me! He gave me an S rank for my abilities! Gimme a drink. I need to celebr-..."
*KNOCK KNOCK*
Shigaraki paused his celebratories. The bar was supposed to look defunct by the exterior. No one should know it was in use for villains. It could be a hero, or a cop, or a…
"Uh, I heard this is where I could sign up for the, er, how do I put this lightly? The takedown of All Might?" The voice explained bluntly from the other side of the door.
Or just more fodder. Tomura opened the door to find, "Mr. Compress?"
No wait, the mask is blue for this person, not white. Along with that this person looked more dressed as a German officer and less like a gentleman. Is Mr. Compress so popular he's sprouting up impersonators? Where's my impersonators?! Oh, right. No one has seen me yet.
The man threw up two gloved hands, "Oh no no no no! Me and Mr. Compress were close buds during our early robbery days. My quirk is called "Magic Bullets." For demonstration purposes…"
The Mr. Compress lookalike did a finger gun motion, pointing at Shigaraki. He then puts his thumb down.
*BANG*
The movement was too fast for Tomura to notice it. He looked down at himself to find no hole or wound. The wall behind him was not so lucky, now having a fairly obvious bullet hole in it.
The man brings his 'gun' to the lip of his mask. He blows on it dramatically, "You can call me Proscenium."
Checking the time to make sure he was on schedule, Ainz rapped on the elementary school classroom's door. After doing so, he opened it to see Eri sitting with a bunch of other kids.
He quickly sends a [Message] to her, "[What excuse did you give them?]"
Eri looks at him with excitement, "[Oh! I told the teachers that I, uh, needed my teeth to be fixed.]"
Ainz turns to the teacher, "I came to pick up Eri for her dental appointment."
She doesn't even wait for her teacher's permission to leave as she is already skipping to be by Ainz's side.
They leave and immediately [Teleport] to a secluded spot in U.A. school. The overlord casts a few concealment spells on Eri so she doesn't get caught and proceeds to join the rest of his class for the upcoming field trip. The bus ride was mind-numbingly boring for Ainz as his life is so full of work to do. The only thing keeping him from doing something 'accidental' was Eri's immense wonder at having the opportunity to ride a bus even if no one else could see her.
Entering the USJ started another countdown from Ainz, while doing this he told Eri to [Fly] up to the ceiling and find good seating for them to watch everything. She was exhilarated to help Ainz with even the most minute of tasks.
Ainz turned his attention to the hero giving the tour. Her name was Thirteen as well as being a colleague at U.A. 1 45…144…143… Ainz crossed his arms, tapping his finger on them to sync up with his countdown.
"Hello everybody! My name is Thirteen and I will be your host for today. My quirk is black hole allowing myself to suck objects or people. But enough about me. Ahem, welcome class 1-A to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint or USJ for short!" Thirteen said in excitement.
Two voices screamed in unison, "WHAT?! I thought this was Universal Studios Japan!"
Everyone groaned at that statement. Ainz would admit that did garner a chuckle out of him. 52…51…50…
Thirteen continued on, "Today you will be learning how to rescue people in the event of a natural disaster. Your quirks may hinder or help you depending on the disaster you are thrown in. For the best results…"
A slow smile began to inch its way up Ainz's face, 3…2…1…0.
On cue, a black cloud of smoke consumed the center of the stadium. Over a hundred people poured out of it.
"WHERE IS ALL MIGHT?!" One of the villains, covered in hands, yelled out in a raspy voice.
Thirteen and Shouta Aizawa put themselves in front of the kids, "Shit, this isn't part of the simulation! All of you need to run and tell Principal Nezu!"
Another voice made itself known from directly behind the group of kids. This one had a voice similar to a refined gentleman, "Apologies, but I'm afraid I can't allow you to continue with such plans. Please give death my compliments."
The kids were now mixed with unabashed confidence and terror. Ainz allowed the purple fog to consume him, Act one is ready. Time to take my seat.
Izuku had no idea how long he had been fighting in the USJ. First the purple guy teleported everybody around the stadium, then with the help of Asui and Mineta they escaped the shipwreck simulation, now he was up against a monster that the villain covered in hands said 'was created to kill the #1 player.'
The thing was called a Nomu. It was also strong; unbelievably strong. Any punch Izuku throws at it without shattering his arm is absorbed into its purple skin. Izuku looked around at the other students who were fighting with all of their might. He was a fool. He should've been doing the same thing!
This is it! I need to put everything I have into this one punch. Everybody is counting on me! One For All 100%! Izuku reeled his fist back, "Full Cowli-..."
"CUT!"
The voice came from everywhere in the dome. Along with that was the sudden standstill of everyone. As though all of time stopped…sort of. Izuku was still latched onto the Nomu and could think clearly. My heart's beating…my eyes can blink…my mouth can't move…what's going on here?
Silence reverberated across the entire stadium for minutes. The suspense was excruciating. Until, a metronomic tapping sound could be heard from Izuku's ears. Where did it come from and who made the noise?
Hold on a second, the tapping is getting louder? It's not tapping, it's shoes! Someone is coming for me and the nomu! Izuku's eyes struggled to look as far as they could at the strange individual. During this entire time, Nomu's eyes were still furiously twitching in frustration.
Before Izuku could make out any details of the stranger walking towards him, they spoke first, "Greenie, didn't you read the script beforehand?!"
…What? Izuku was confused. I have no idea why they are referring to a script let alone respond to them with my mouth frozen shut. He stopped focusing on the man's words and began noticing the features about his appearance. Being able to only make out half of the man still garnered enough information about him. Round spectacles, black shirt, brown vest, green tie, beret, auburn hair, seems to be of Japanese descent, however has a foreign accent? He also has a buttery voice that seems really piss-...
"Oi, not going to answer me since you think you're such a big shot, hmm? God, why was I given you as the central character? Please don't tell me what you've been doing so far was impromptu?" The man now fully in front of Izuku's face was still waiting for an answer that was impossible to give as he literally couldn't speak!
Despite the clear vocal differences between the two, the stranger ignored the lack of an answer and held out a stack of papers in front of Izuku.
"If your eyes aren't sharing the same botched genes as your mouth does, you can clearly read the lines here!" He flipped the page back to himself before Izuku got a good read on it, but it looks like a movie script with the way it was formatted.
"Ahem, 'Izuku rushes from stage left to the Nomu with a heavy sense of urgency and fear. He rescues his rough-looking teacher Aizawa Shouta,'" An eye twitched in annoyance somewhere in the stadium at that line. "'Upon rescuing his teacher, he brings him back to the sidelines and distracts the Nomu from harming anybody!' Didja miss that part?! You were supposed to kite it, not attack it head-on. The point of the scene is to show how you recognize that the enemy is stronger than you so that you can outwit it. Using your strongest ability on it ruins the theme I was building up to! Hopelessness? Ya'know, the kicker of the film we're making 'ere?!"
The man continued tearing into Izuku's 'acting ability,' which after enough time, strangely started to hurt him.
The man suddenly stops, takes a very loud audible deep breath through the nose, and claps his hands together. "Alright. I can fix this. We aren't scrapping the footage. Just need to fix a key few elements. As the Director this is my job. I'll worry about this later during post-production.
The Director stops his verbal abuse of Izuku and looks towards the Nomu before snapping his fingers.
Wha-? Where did the Nomu go? Faster than the blink of an eye doesn't even begin to cut it. There was no visual or audio cue that even signaled to Izuku that something was wrong. The monster he was fighting so desperately, vanished without a trace. Not even the dust accumulating on it could be seen. A thought sparked through Izuku's mind questioning if it ever existed at all. Of course it was just a thought, he knew far better.
"Wonderful! Now with that out of the way, let's see who can cover for our antagonist." The Director pulled out a book from nowhere and began flipping through pages. "No too difficult, no too intelligent, no too high level, no too arrogant, no too indescribable…"
Izuku tried to catch a glimpse from the book, but the man's back obscured his line of sight. I feel so…so…helpless! I have no idea who this man is, yet he seems to know everything about what is going on. Do I even stand a chance against him if he releases this quirk I'm under? Will he kill me after the Nomu because I am a 'faulty actor?' Argh! I have no idea what is going on!
Izuku winced in his numbness. Even though he was frozen, his body ached from the wind-up stance he was in.
*THUMP*
The hero-in-training's eyes shot back to the Director who just slammed the large book shut.
"Found our replacement! Phew, that could have been a disaster! Thankfully for all of you, the show can still continue and we don't have to scrap this shot!" He paused like he was waiting for something, however nothing happened. "Coulda gotten a bit more praise from the rest of you for saving time, you know? Fine, I'll just grab the cover and we can continue."
Another snap of the fingers, this time with the advent of…
What the hell is that? Izuku dreaded inwardly. If he could move, he'd be trembling in fear. The 'villain,' no…monster that the Director conjured out of thin air was terrifying. This thing made the Nomu from earlier look like a well-dressed gentleman compared to its image alone.
The first word that came to Izuku's mind was…impossible. Reaching a staggering height of 20 feet, this thing was almost a third of the height of the USJ. Its 'legs' all had hands on the ends of them like a twisted quadruped. The long slender limbs held up its bulbous body from barely touching the floor. The stomach was covered in varying geometrical shapes. At that moment, Izuku remembered a line from a science book about how a bee's wings shouldn't be able to carry its body and yet it does. Just like the bee, the monster displays the same ability to defy physics. Where is the head? It-It has to have a head. A weakness of some s-sort.
His pupils flail around the creature's body looking for the head when he sees a sagging object in between the elbows of the front two arms. It looks like a flaccid…sock puppet. And it's so high up!
The Director slapped his hands a few times in satisfaction at his newly-placed 'actor.' It looked like a father beaming with pride at his son's success.
He looks back at Izuku, "This will be your new villain fitting of the feeling of powerlessness! Please make the audience happy as this is a live show after all."
Izuku tries to follow him with his eyes, but he moves out of his view. Nothing happened for a couple minutes before the same loud reverberating voice echoed the building.
*SNAP*
"Take two, Action!"
"Papa, what is that thing? Why does it look…ugly?" Eri asked, crisscrossed in the air. It reminded her of a spider she once saw in her room. Except this thing had four legs and a much smaller head.
Ainz sat down next to her, "Hoh? What did we say about appearances?"
"Don't judge a book by its cover…"
"That's right," Although she would be correct. The Neighbor is one of YGGDRASIL's ugliest creatures. God, what developer had a stroke in the graphics design that day? I made sure that Pandora didn't summon the Sepulcher or Erebus. Didn't want Eri to have nightmares from our stage play. Complementing that, I'm glad [Mass Hold Species] worked on the Nomu. "Your uncle and I spoke about how we would've preferred a more threatening antagonist for the heroes. After a bit of casting, we came up with, well…that."
The little invisible unicorn scratched her head, "What does an 'antagonist' mean?"
"'Antagonist' is somebody who has the opposite way of thinking from the protagonist or hero. In this case the hero would be the broccoli-headed boy we met," Ainz answered at the exact time Pandora left. "Umu, it seems Pandora has finished. We shouldn't talk while Pandora does his work, it'd be rude to interrupt him."
Eri nodded at her father's teachings and looked down at the 'stage' in anticipation.
His body tumbled forward with the added effect of his fist hitting nothing but air. Izuku looked up at the incredibly tall monster, struggling to find its head again. The thing hadn't moved, yet an upside-down grin was plastered on the swinging noggin.
Then it hits him, I can move again! The Director gave up his control. Okay… calm down. Izuku brought himself up while refusing to take his eyes off the monster. It hasn't moved yet…maybe it's waiting for something to happen? I need to reconvene with my friends. Maybe we can find a way to defeat it!
"G-Guys? Are all of you okay?" Izuku shouts to the people around him.
Silence answers him, the wind sharp with dread. Izuku finally looks behind him to see that no one else, villain or hero, has been freed from their paralyzation. It is just him. Him against everything.
" [Playscape] "
Izuku's shocked to hear the half-spider amalgamation speak. Perhaps it could be reasoned with?
"Excuse me, s-sir. I apologize if we were interrupting anything of yours, but maybe we could…?"
He's interrupted by an extremely high-pitched laughter. The laughter was followed by the creature's abdomen spewing dozens of spider strands all over the USJ. The green hero managed to dodge one of them that stuck to the floor behind him. Within seconds, the entire USJ was covered in webbing. The monster finally started to move its hands by grabbing the threads one by one, slowly increasing its altitude.
Izuku was shocked by this environmental change, So it is a spider! I don't need to worry about the head, I just need to crack each of the leg joints collapsing the beast and- is that foam? The young hero looked closer at the 'webs' and realized they weren't made of spider silk. They were made of rubber and foam. Is that why he said the word 'Playscape' before?
Thoughts, strategies, and plans raced through Izuku's mind until a very familiar voice called out for him, "Midoriya!"
The voice came from a panting Tokoyami who was sprinting through the stadium whilst dodging the cords still shooting out of the 'spider's' abdomen.
"Fumi? Wha-? How are you unfrozen?!" Izuku says joyous confusion.
Toko stops right next to him and replies in a panting voice, "No clues were around to give me answers, how are you unfettered from your numbed state?"
"Right…of course. We probably have bigger things to worry about." By now the monstrosity had reached the top of the USJ and positioned itself like a splayed star with its stomach facing down towards the two heroes-in-training.
Izuku looked back at Tokoyami who seemed to be talking to himself, Most likely Dark Shadow . After a minute, he turned his attention to the other hero, "Okay, Midoriya?"
"Yeah?" He responded a bit impolitely.
Tokoyami flicked his gaze to the monster then back to the rabbit-costumed hero, "I have a solution, but you aren't going to find it the most…elegant way of defeating that thing."
"Fumi, I am willing to give up my body to save everyone here. What do you have?"
"I need you to simply-..."
"[Geometrical Dominator]"
Both heroes looked up to the creature once again, voicing their actions. This time, no webs came out. Instead, the shapes on the belly separated from its host and fell down to the floor of the stadium. Five shapes: triangle, square, circle, star, and diamond all fell down mere meters away from Izuku. The tops of them may have looked like colored plastic, but the undersides were a stark contrast showing gorey innards. The innards produced four legs with hands on the end similar to its host? Mother?
Tokoyami yelled to Midoriya, "Try to eradicate them without using one arm! You'll need the other one for the other part of the plan."
Midoriya was shocked at Tokoyami's immediate reaction and even more so when he began to climb the wires. It's okay…he probably is doing his part. I just need to do mine! And mine is… He looked back at the shapes that were beginning to close the gap between them. Figuring out how to take these guys on.
The triangle leaped at him along with the square. Izuku quickly obliterated one of his fingers on his left hand to destroy the triangle, but left him vulnerable to the square. As they had no mouth, they tried to harm Izuku by grabbing at him…to no avail as One For All gave Izuku endurance that was dozens of times higher than the average human. Ow! It still stings like hell though. He defeated the square with another finger, his pinky, leaving only two shapes left. Wait no it's three. Where's the diamond?
As if prompted by the thought, the diamond leapt from behind him and tried to weaken Izuku by pulling at his hair while throwing him off balance. Thinking fast with the impending combo of the other two shapes, Izuku positioned the diamond to be in between him and his foes. Flicking another finger to oblivion along with the diamond.
The diamond shot back towards the other two allowing for Izuku to get one more shape down that being the circle. WIth the star left, Izuku checked his left hand, Shit! I don't have any more fingers. One move from that thing and I'll have to use my right hand…but Fumi said not to do that!
The star leaped at Izuku in his panic. Izuku redirected One For All out of his arms and into his left leg, rocketing it into the path of the star, blowing away the last enemy.
I…I did it! Okay, I just need to figure out what Fumi needs now…
*SNAP*
"IZUKU!! Punch above you, NOW!" Tokoyami screamed louder than ever before abandoning any chuunibyou accent.
Izuku looked up to see the giant grinning monster falling fast towards him. With one usable leg it would be foolish to try to run. All he could do was listen…
"FULL COWLING!"
" [Cease Summon] " Ainz spoke with his hand outstretched at the Neighbor. This was to give the illusion of its death without the needless gore.
Laughter and clapping erupted from beside Ainz. Eri loved it all. Good. It seems that she liked it a lot. I'll have to reward Pandora for his help. I wonder what he would find to be rewarding?
His attention looked over at the exhausted boy with a raven's head clinging tightly to a cord several dozens of feet up in the air. What an ingenious plan. By letting Izuku deal with the Neighbor's children, it's attention was led astray to the real mastermind who was setting up their shadow demons to break off the legs. I didn't even know they could be used like that! New world and new mechanics I suppose.
"I'm glad you loved it, Eri." Ainz looked with a sincere smile.
"I want to see it again!" Eri demanded a bit selfishly.
Ainz shook his head at her half-compliment, "Perhaps another time, but now Pandora has to clean up for his next performance."
She looked up at him with puppy-dog eyes, "Can I see that one, too?"
As an overlord, all forms of charm were useless against him, "No, it's for an older audience." Hell no. I allowed her to watch this one because it was toned down tenfold! No way is she going to watch the next distraction.
Ainz's mind sparked with the notification of a new [Message] from one of his subordinates, "[Your majesty, the Svalbard Seed Vault has been wiped clean. We are heading back to the Ivory City now.]"
Yes! Mission success. It's nice to have a flawless plan run smoothly. And note to self, change the name of our city.
"Hah," Ainz sighed in relief. "It's time to go home, Eri. We can't have you skipping your homework." Like yours truly.
"Aww…okay." Eri said with a minor pout that didn't detract her pleasure from the play.
Before teleporting Ainz remembered something a bit important. Oh right. Ainz waved his hand, " [Cancel Mass Hold Species] "
Izuku opened his eyes with hesitance. He really didn't want to see himself covered with blood, guts, and… yuck. Fortunately, the only thing covering him and the floor around him was large piles of dust and smoke.
Tokoyami's muscles relaxed in relief. Thank goodness it's all over. He started to climb down the webbing.
*CRACK*
The cords are starting to break! The monster was keeping these things up?!
"Dark Shadow, Midoriya, catch me!" Tokoyami screamed out in dismay. The thread became too weak to hold his body.
Midoriya, with two broken arms and a leg, could do nothing but stare in horror as Tokoyami fell with no one to help him. Or so it would be if a large pile of shadows conglomerated under him to cushion his fall. One of the shadows broke away from the pile towards Izuku.
The whisphery voice called out to the young hero with a silent warning, "Shhhhhhhhhh…"
What the heck? Midoriya tried to move closer, but failed miserably in his attempt. He'll need to wait until the rest of the stadium unfroze.
"YOUNG MIDORIYA!" A voice boomed from the entrance of the stadium.
All Might leaped from the entrance to Midoriya's less than prime state. A few other students started to make their way to the center now being free. Izuku first realized that if the students were unfrozen, then the villains that started this were as well! He surveyed the area to no avail. Both the purple cloud teleporter and the man-child infected with eczema departed.
He looked at the very worried All Might with a half-hearted smile, "D-Don't worry about it, The only damage is the ones I gave m-myself, heh."
That didn't really seem to calm down a bit of All Might's concern. Before he got a word in, a very loud mouthed boy had his turn, "What the fuck was that thing Deku?! It looked like a cross between an old hag and a spider I squished under my boot."
"I have no idea. I guess only the man who summoned it knows."
Tsuyu Asui cut into their conversation, "Sorry Midoriya, but I was frozen faced away from the fight. Ribbit, what happened?"
All Might chuckled in a defeated tone preceding to take out an All Might styled phone, "Well that brings me to the next big problem here…"
Problem? For the #1 hero All Might?! Everyone was just hoping this was all over. They really hoped he was magnifying the situation.
The hero pulled up footage of Times Square in New York City. The phone hilariously contrasted his enormous form, "I'm so sorry everyone. Once all of you froze, footage from the USJ was playing live for the entire world."