Fanfiction Commision: Worm x MHA

Yellow Jacket

…

Commissioned by Sivantic

Word Count: 2595

…

I should’ve known the situation was too good to be true. 

Attend a school, become a registered hero, and spend the rest of your life earning the public’s praise and admiration by defeating villains and relocating infestations as a side job. One might assume that a girl can get penance for her past life by doing such a thing. With all the things I’ve done, even with the strict downgrade of my power from my previous life and a new world where even the common thug had some sort of power, I thought that I would actually have an easy time of things. 

I suppose that having a nice, stable family life for 14 years helped. Coming home from school, listening to heroes winning against villains, and learning about how the world triumphed over mass-empowerment of criminals certainly lowered my guard. It was a world that survived in spite of superpowers, while Bet had collapsed from it, and given the lack of Triggers, hereditary nature of powers, and the fact that most of the population chose to simply not use their powers, there were no sign of Entities coming to destroy the whole of the world.

I suppose, as long as I didn’t let my guard down again, I wouldn’t be too disappointed in myself.

“It looks like we’ve been teleported into the Downpour Zone of the Facility, Koda-san.” Tokoyami’s words brought me out of my malaise. Indeed, we were in the portion of hurricane simulation portion of the massive, simulation complex. Though it was a Tinker’s wet dream, and I’d looked forward to putting on a good show in the Rescue trials, I didn’t exactly have time to appreciate it. “And, we seem to have company.”

Indeed, we did. 

Mass Teleportation was a tricky power to overcome, as far as powers went, it was a powerful decider on the battlefield. Sending opponents where they didn’t want to be, while you were exactly where you wished to be, was a power that I wasn’t equipped to overcome, yet. Still, at the very least, that wasn’t our problem at the moment. There wasn’t a point in fussing over a problem that I didn’t have a solution for, when I had another right in front of me. 

Or, to be more exact, my current problem would have to be the dozen thugs at both ends of the alleyway.

In Bet, they’d just be bands of unpowered criminals, mere groups of unpowered individuals wielding guns and other weapons. However, that was not the case here. While there were melee weapons aplenty, chains, bats, and other things in their hands, they lacked firearms. However, that didn’t diminish their danger as usual. No, the thugs, one and all, were individuals that would be called capes in Bet. 

Some had scales and larger bodies, other feathers with slimmer builds, and all manner of animal-like appendages dotted them. Movers and Brutes, with some minor abilities on the side. The normal ones, hanging in the back and unarmed, would probably have Blaster, Shaker, or even Master powers. The last was rare, but I wasn’t about to discount a possible threat, especially after messing up and not preparing for this situation as well as I could. 

I should’ve had a tank filled with insects in my back, but no, I’d had to look good and go with just tubes of my more potent insects. 

Really, I shouldn’t have let myself go this unprepared. 

“Tokoyami, we need to go up. Can your Quirk manage that?” Tokoyami’s Quirk enables him to manipulate his own shadow. From what I remember of our class’s physical examinations, it was a projection that was linked to him, that gave him Mover and Brute ratings, though it was weaker in well-illuminated areas, that shouldn’t be a problem in this hurricane simulation. “We’ll be surrounded to quickly here.”

“Got it, hold on.” I was about to ask what, when a I found myself flung upward, bypassing several fire escapes. The thugs all charged our location, with Blasters bombarding it with a conflagration of differing effects that created a rainbow smoke cloud. They were definitely coordinated, but not coordinated enough, as Tokoyami simply burst through the smoke shrouded in his own shadow, plucking and dragging me to the rooftop without so much as a word. Really, UA certainly had the cream of the crop. “Alright, what now, Kaichou?”

Pulling out my canisters from the depths of my jacket, I took in our current circumstances. Below us were our enemies, above us a solid dome raining down water, and all our classmates scattered throughout the Simulation Facility. Enemies abounded, all petty criminals armed with melee weapons, along with a core group that intended to kill All Might, a Brute that has routinely routed all organized crime in Japan for the last two decades with a smile on his face and a few one-liners. That meant we were bait, that yesterday’s security break-in was an infiltration, and I could presume that all the thugs were meant to endanger us and force a response. 

This was an ambush hidden as a hostage scenario. 

Or, a slaughter. 

At least, I’d seen Iida escape the Teleporter’s ability. Given his level-headedness, I was sure he’d escaped and looked for help. Unfortunately, that silver lining would only prevent the worst case scenario, and not the plan the villains had in mind. 

If the villains had something that could kill All Might, then that thing could certainly kill any other hero that came. 

With all of that information, there was only one course of action that we could reasonably take. 

“We regroup, reassess, and retake the facility.” I needed bodies. Powered, trained bodies. My classmates. My power was limited by hearing range, so I couldn’t take the whole of the facility on my own, even with the few thousand insects I can call upon from the surroundings and the ones I had on hand. My classmates, each one had overcome mechanized foot soldiers during the entrance exam and were capable fighters. I needed to gather them up. “But, first, I’ll make sure we won’t be followed. If you can, stop the rain for a second, Tokoyami-san.”

Tokoyami complied and I set myself to work.

Opening the cap of my canister, I looked into the dozen kaleidoscopic gazes within, and whispered to my audience.

“Attack those below us. Aim for the eyes, throat, and ears. Whether covered or uncovered, sting it. Do not sting a target more than once. After two stings, they can only be bitten.” Utilizing insects relied entirely on being direct, demanding, and being without mercy. Having to say my plans aloud was unpleasant, but I couldn’t deny what I wanted from the critters I had under my control. I’d had Black Widows bite off Lung’s crotch and insects suffocate Alexandria, but both those moments had been with my mind. I’d simply willed them to do it. Here and now, with my Quirk, I had to command all who I wished to control aloud. “If you are about to die, fight to your last breath. Do not return until all in the alley are incapable of fighting.” 

My minions took flight. The Japanese Giant Hornet lives up to its name. It can barely be called an insect, given how it’s body was the size of two fingers side by side, and their wingspan was another half larger than that. Not only were their stings incredibly, immensely painful, but they were also 6.5 mm long. Needless to say, they were more than capable of stinging through light clothing. Their mandibles were also meant to grind down other insects and tear them apart. They weren’t carnivorous, like a few ant species, but they were going to take a fair measure of flesh when they bit. 

They were only forty in number and all I could fit into a single, modified tube for carrying them all. I’d trained them well, spoke to them at length, so they all arranged themselves before me, waiting for additional commands. 

I did not have any.

“Go now.”

The screaming started a moment later, as they descended while covered from the rain. The thugs didn’t notice them as Tokoyami cast a dark shadow and they were finding a way up. A man who’d been determined to scale the building, covered in scales, was the first victim. He found himself stung in the neck by the leading Giant Hornet. He managed a screech of pain, but couldn’t let go of the walls, so the hornet was able to pump it’s venom into him, before he was able to even attempt to swat it away. 

Seconds later, with the second most deadly wasp venom coursing through his veins, the man fell screaming into the alley. 

The same thing repeated again and again for all the thugs, leaving twenty four individuals moaning in pain, batting at their skin, and mewling on the ground. 

“Kaichou, if I may? Please, never use that power on me.” Tokoyami broke the silence between the two of us while I shepherded my smattering of insects into their tube. I’d lost ten in the exchange. A quarter of my forces. At this rate, I’d have to forage for another hive soon, to make sure that I didn’t leech too much off the ones I already had. Indeed, our only course of action now is to regroup. If there’d been a dozen for each of us, it’s completely possible that the same amount has been prepared for everyone else. “I would very much like to never have my nightmares made real.”

“Don’t worry, Tokoyami-san, as long as you’re not a criminal, you’re not going to have worry about me.” I gave my classmate a smile. I suppose the dichotomy between my brightly-colored costume, in all yellows and blacks, with my manner of attack was a bit much. Being just a teen, I couldn’t exactly expect him to not be afraid of my power. Thankfully, for PR stunts, I can become a Disney princess as I could easily sing for animals to come to me. “Now, let’s get down there and make sure no one dies.”

“Dies?!”

“Just in case for allergic reaction. I have epinephrine pens. No need to worry.” 

“Kaichou, the fact that you’re prepared for such a thing is frightening itself.”

“Huh, really?”

…

As far as limitations went, throat volume and hearing range is pretty terrible. Really, what I missed the most of my Passenger was my range, with my ability to look through my insects senses being a close second. Naturally, mind-controlling parahumans and turning them into a massive army doesn’t count. Anyway, limitations barriers to effectiveness, so I naturally did my utmost best to overcome them as swiftly as possible. 

Once upon a time, Panacea had made relays for me to extend my range.

In the modern times, I didn’t need the Shaper to make me relays. 

Dabbling and imagining how to extend my range, I’d learned that I could transmit my Quirk through phones, PA systems, and televisions. Even recordings work. My voice was… a lot like the Simurgh’s, except solely for animals and insects. Needless to say, I was scared shitless of my power. Who wouldn’t be? What civilization on earth didn’t rely on animals and insects? If I sent out a looped message, telling every animal to kill each other, each one would do it in a heartbeat. I could have a whole city swamped with wildlife in a manner of days, just disrupting everything, with a single word through a system available to the public. I could turn cheap phones into area denial weapons by just recording ‘attack everything near here’ and letting all the rats, insects, and everything else in the vicinity do the work for me. 

My limitation was a limitation only if I let it be a limitation.

Again, that terrified me. 

Yet, I couldn’t help but regret only taking a mic and a pair of mini-amplifiers to augment my Quirk. 

All because of a single fight.

All Might and Nomu was utterly devastating. 

Both were Brutes, Movers, and Breakers. Not only did they have amplified physical strength that utterly shattered the ground, but speed that turned them into nothing more than blurs in my vision, and they were beyond merely tough. They withstood damage well beyond their muscular frames should take, and from what I’d overheard, the monster with the exposed brain was capable of Impact Resistance. Their blows generated gale-force winds, throwing aside boys with bodies hardened from years of intensive training, and both showed had the endurance to launch more attacks and withstand those sent their way.

If either wanted to destroy everything in their path, what could I do to stop them? Could a bear maul either? How would a stampede of woodland creatures fare against them? Would insect bites and stings even work? Would choking them to death be the only solution? Was my only option to treat every threat like Alexandria? And, even if I could somehow defeat one, what about another? Surely, without a doubt, there are others with strong Quirks and abilities. Even in my own class, there’s a boy capable of toppling a skyscraper-sized monster with a single punch, a walking explosion, and a girl capable of manufacturing anything in an instant.

I could see in my classmates faces that they didn’t see what I saw.

All they saw was a hero fighting a villain, turning the tide, and remaining the symbol of peace.

I saw what we had to become and match.

Even now, All Might was struggling. He bled and struggled against his foe. It was only a matter of time before he crossed an opponent he couldn’t defeat. And, given how most of the population had Quirks, the day will surely come when one that’s especially strong will come to be. Only sheer luck would make it so someone with such power wouldn’t be a villain or a civilian. 

The more I looked at the situation before me, with the assault upon my class and the battles that ensued, I knew that I’d been wrong. 

This new Earth was better than Bet, but not by much. There were heroes, real heroes that didn’t hide behind guidelines and truly struck against villains, but they had to win every single fight they entered, while one villain in dozens needed to only win once. The odds were stacked against the status quo, to the point where children are being trained by adult heroes, and I’d been foolish enough to ignore that for the last fourteen years. The world might not be ending, but that didn’t mean everyone was safe from destruction.

Even as All Might declared his victory, and reinforcements arrived with Iida, and cheers arose from my classmates, I knew that I had to change, that I couldn’t hold back, and that I’d truly been a fool for thinking I’d entered a world where superpowers weren’t a threat to society. 

I looked around me, at all my classmates, all of who had allied with me without hesitation, routed all our foes, and worked together with ease. Thirty individuals with powers that couldn’t be trifled with and were acknowledged by heroes as the next generation. Thirty people who I met with every day, who I can help train and hone into assets, and who can assist me in the coming years. Thirty classmates instead of five, with whom I’d been able to become the warlord of a whole city. 

Without a doubt, I needed to make them mine.

…