Chapter 12 - Achluophobia

Izuku wandered around his dorm room, trying to find any other possible leads to Scarecrow while the police interrogated Penguin. After his near loss of control a few days ago he decided not to interrogate Cobblepot himself. It has been taking some time to get him to give up Scarecrow but they are close to breaking him. All that Izuku had to do in the mean time was prepare for his next encounter. Little did he know, it would happen sooner than he thought.




At this moment in time, Bakugo was walking through the hallway to Izuku's room. He stopped right outside the door and knocked three times while waiting the arrival of the Dark Knight. Ever since he was brought down a peg by his old friend and reflected on himself, Katsuki has been a lot friendlier to people and had less angry outbursts as of late. He had been spending most of his time with Kirishima lately and some in the class had suspected they had started dating but none had conclusive evidence. Aside from Izuku that was. Speaking of, the door swung open and there he stood.


" Hey Bakugo. How's it going? How's Kirishima?" He asked out of politeness.


"Hey. He's good, thanks for asking. I don't know if he's ready to tell the others yet though."


"In his own time, he'll be comfortable eventually. Anyway, what's up?"


"The zombie said we got USJ training today and that he wants you there to teach us some stuff."


"And by 'zombie' you mean Aizawa?"


"Yep."


"Ok, I'll see you guys there later on. Also, when you go to class today, give Aizawa this will you?" He handed a piece of paper that had a sentence on it:


'Aizawa, I will not be attending regular classes but only hero training ones, still got my detective and crime fighting stuff happening as well. Batman.'




While waiting for the hero training to begin, Izuku headed to the Support Course Labs and Design Studio. He was dressed in his hero costume to prevent anyone discovering his identity. On his way, he began thinking of a plan for combating Scarecrow's gas or injections. He came up with so ideas:


1) Alter his cowl to contain a retractable rebreather / filter


2) Synthesise a less dangerous version of the gas to give Scarecrow a nightmare




When he reached the design studio, he dived away from the door as it exploded off its hinges for the sixth time that day. As the smoke cleared, Batman looked out from behind his cape to see a pink haired girl picking herself up off the floor while coughing.


"Damn it Hatsume, I keep telling you to not exceed the limits of the technology. It can only take so much." Powerloader yelled from the middle of the room while other students looked at her.


"Sorry sir, but limits are made to be broken." She replied while wiping some soot off her face.


"That doesn't apply to limits set in place for safety Ms Hatsume or do you take enjoyment in possibly endangering your class and teacher?" Batman asked, emerging from behind her and walking straight for the workbenches. "Powerloader." He greeted as he passed. Taking off his utility belt, he laid it across the work bench and took out some small tools while taking some spare materials. 


"Ooooooo, you're that Batman guy right? You have some pretty interesting babies there. Lemme see em, I bet I can upgrade a bunch of your stuff." Hatsume yelled as she ran up to touch his gadgets but he stopped her dead when he turned around, looked her straight in the eye and stated firmly:


"Don't touch any of my things."




Powerloader continued to teach his class while Izuku continued to work in silence. He had also borrowed some science equipment to create some of his own fear gas. Progress was slow but it was nearly finished and he had just finished up with the retractable filter / rebreather. So, he decided to quickly go into the supply closet and remove his cowl to integrate it.



(Like the mask on the XE suit from Arkham Origins but he doesn't wear the XE suit)


 He then re-emerged with his upgraded cowl on and looked at the time left on the fear gas alternative he was making. It still had 10 minutes left so Izuku decided to upgrade his gauntlets by adding a bit more of a punch. He needed something that would 'shock' his opponents with his mere punches. Izuku decided to place some small but powerful electrical emitters on the knuckles of the gauntlets and activation buttons in the forearms and an emergency activation on the side of his fist.




Eventually, the fear gas was ready but it was a small amount that would only be able for use on one person. He would only get one shot at Scarecrow with this. Now, to wait for the right time. For the time being however, he had to head to the USJ to help train the students into becoming better heroes. Izuku then took his leave with his equipment and gadgets on his way to the USJ. 




1 hour later


The students of Class 1-A were under attack by the League of Villains who had also been associating with Scarecrow. They had been separated during the attack. Everything goes like normal in the anime except Izuku isn't there yet. All Might had just arrived and saved Eraser Head from the Nomu and saved Tsuyu from Shigaraki.


"Finally, now Nomu can kill All Might. Where is Scarecrow at? He wanted to see this." Shigaraki said to Kurogiri.


"He is terrorising a group of students on the mountain area. Leave him to his fun, he helped recruit some of our members in exchange for funding remember." Kurogiri replied.


"Haha, I suppose you're right. Let's enjoy the show."




At the mountain zone, Jiro, Yaoyorozu and Kaminari were surrounded by a dark green mist that was closing in around them. The mist was emanating from Scarecrow and hew was just cackling to himself.


"You will all face your fears and madness will take you. At the end of fear, is oblivion." He said, inching closer and closer to them. As they were about to inhale the gas, Batman broke through the glass ceiling and landed using his cape to fan the gas away.


"Batman!" Scarecrow yelled.


"Izu." Kyoka whispered to herself. Batman and Scarecrow stared each other down and Scarecrow readied his gas dispenser. The two then ran at each other and Scarecrow slashed at Izuku but he managed to dodge and deliver a knee to Crane's stomach. Then, anticipating what would happen next, Izuku engaged his rebreather / filter mask and grabbed Scarecrow by the collar. He was then sprayed in the face with the fear gas.


"Hahaha, welcome to a world of nightmares Batman. Ahahahahahahaha!" Unfortunately for Scarecrow, Batman just kept looking at him until he stopped giggling.


"Taste of your own medicine doctor?" He said through a more modulated voice as he then sprayed Scarecrow with his gas. Immediately after, he began having a breakdown and frantically looking around. All he sees is total darkness with occasional bats flying directly in front of his face. Unfortunately for Scarecrow though, the gas would take more of an effect now as the he began to see a swarm of bats and a giant demonic flaming Batman. Izuku simply looked him in the eye and asked him a question.


"What's wrong? Scared?" He then knocked him out and tied him up for the police.


"You're a bit late aren't you man?" Kaminari asked.


"Was a bit busy with the suit upgrades to bring Scarecrow in. I had also got a call from the police saying that Penguin knew about this attack so I rushed as quick as possible." He replied.


"Well thank god you got here when you did. Otherwise we may be dead." Yaoyorozu stated.


"I won't let any of you die. Ever." He looked to Kyoka and gave her a quick hug. "All of you wait here, I'm going to deal with the villains." And then in a cloud of smoke, he disappeared.




Back at the centre, All Might is fighting the Nomu and is winning until Kurogiri warps the Nomu behind him and it punches All Might's weak spot. All Might then collapses on the floor in pain and holds his side, some blood on his hand.


"Damn you villain!" He yells as Nomu approached and placed its foot on his chest.


"Finish him Nomu." Shigaraki yelled. Everyone looked on in fear. The students of 1-A were about to see the Symbol of Peace die and Aizawa was about to see a friend die.




Just then, the lights began to shut off. The outer lights shut of and the villains looked around in horror. All Might looked around and realised what was happening. Shigaraki began to get confused and panicked. Finally, the rest of the lights shut off and nobody could see anything. Until, Nomu screeched and blue flashed of light appeared where Batman's fists made contact with it. 


"No, no no! He isn't supposed to be here!" He yelled. Nomu tried a swing at Izuku but he moved out the way, jumped on its back and set of a flash bang in the face. All of a sudden though, the lights came back on and everyone could see the Nomu struggling against Batman. It looked to be going his way until Shigaraki spotted Jiro and the others running towards them to help.




"Kurogiri, get ready. When I say, open a portal in front of the Bat."


"Yes Tomura."


"Nomu, attack the students!" He yelled and Nomu charged straight for the kids. Bakugo shot an explosion toward the Nomu but Shigaraki gave the order and it was redirected to Batman which knocked him back to the others. He hit the floor and rolled until hitting some concrete and stopping. While nobody was looking, he applied some explosive gel to his right gauntlet. But what Shigaraki did see was Kyoka helping him up and tending to him. He had found a weakness. 


"Nomu." He said before pointing at Jiro. The Nomu then lunged towards her as it reared its arm back for a strong punch. Before it could hit her however, Izuku pushed her out the way and took the punch. His armour now heavily damaged and blood coming from his mouth.


"NO!" Kyoka yelled as she fell to her knees and let tears fall down her face. Nomu grabbed and raised Izuku up by one arm while Shigaraki taunted him.


"Did you really think you could beat the Nomu?" He asked.


"No, I knew I couldn't. Not straight up, I just had to buy him some time." Batman replied as Shigaraki turned to All Might who had charged up his power more and readied for a punch. He then looked back to Izuku who punched the Nomu in the face and detonated the explosive gel. The power caused it to fly back towards All Might who delivered a powerful uppercut.


"PLUS ULTRA!!!" He yelled and he punched the Nomu out of orbit. "You're next villains." He said, turning to Shigaraki but when he looked, they had just warped away and escaped.




"Young Midoriya, are you ok?" All Might asked as he came over to help Izuku up with Kyoka. 


"A few broken ribs and other things but I'll be fine. And this doesn't change anything between us Toshinori." He then forced himself up even though it caused him pain and hobbled away to the school. The rest of the teachers were helping arrest the villains captured which included Scarecrow.


"Hey, Jiro." Bakugo shouted to get her attention.


"Yeah?" She responded, walking over to keep the conversation private.


"Have you noticed the tension between those two recently? It's like they're gonna explode at any moment. I should know."


"You mean because you were pissed at Izuku for no reason and he beat the crap out of you?"


" Might have something to do with it." He murmured to himself. "Just keep an eye on him though, we both care about him but you are closer."


"I have been pretty concerned for a while, I'll talk to him later."








Meanwhile at the LOV Bar


"We almost had him Kurogiri. Almost, until Batman showed up. I guess we're gonna have to deal with Scarecrow's friend after all. Maybe it's time to set a bounty on him and see how that goes. Then again, there is one member of the league who just can't wait  to meet him. Hahahaha."




AN - Hey guys thanks for reading this chapter. Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you in the next one. Plus Ultra. And remember: It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.

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