Ruby Red and Caramel
Chapter 9: Juice Pack

AN: Warning: blood and violence, but nothing too detailed.


She doesn't listen to the horrified screams around her, or the crumbling of concrete under her feet. She doesn't listen to the thrum of pure adrenaline coursing through her blood. She doesn't listen to the small, rational voice in her head that tells her to be absolutely terrified about what's happening.

There is no time for hesitation.

Before she truly understands what she's doing, she steps back and blocks the creature's attack with a ballistic shield she creates out of the flesh of her arms. Through torn sleeves, she grits her teeth and pushes the creature back and away from Katsuki, Kyoka, and Kirishima, who are frozen where they stand.

"Kirishima!" she yells. In the next second, the redhead snaps out of it and hardens himself. One of the monster's limbs armed with a rammer soars down, hitting Kirishima's hardened body before it crushes him down to the concrete.

The sound of metal against flesh rings loud and painful in the air. Kirishima cries in pain and parts of his hardened skin starts to bleed. Still, he grits his teeth and holds against the strike. This gives Momo a small window to create another object over the skin of her belly. She flings the bottle and shuts her eyes, screams for everyone to stand down.

The Molotov hits the monster straight in the face, giving it hardly a moment before being blinded by fire and noise.

"Holy shit!" Katsuki shouts within the screams and flare-despite the situation, he looks at her with mouth agape in awe and admiration.

The monster flinches and screeches, but even as parts of its skin burn, its strikes are relentless against her shield and Kirishima's hardened body. In fact, the assault seems to have made it angrier and stronger, and with each strike Momo felt her arms weakening, only able to hold on when Kyoka steps next to her to keep her hand on the handle steady.

"What-ow-does it want from us?!" Kirishima says from a steady series of hits from a hammer-clad limb. Momo moves her hand to create another bomb from her body, but stops when she feels a burning-hot calloused hand over hers.

Katsuki grits his teeth, eyes on the monster in front of him. "Fuck if we know, but I ain't sittin' pretty here until we find out!"

Before any of them can stop him, he's already flying mid-air with residue of his blasts trailing behind him, hands glowing with potent explosives aimed right at the monster's face. They gasp when the monster stops its assault on their shields and turns to Katsuki, arms raised as if to snatch him from mid-air.

It's only a few moments, but that's all that Momo's brain needs to make alarming conclusions-that the monster is sent here with a target, and its target is Katsuki. And Katsuki is gravitating towards its open arms, about to be captured, unless Momo does something in the next second-

"No!"

A weapon that she barely thinks about materializes in her hands. Without thinking any further, she leaps on the outer surface of the shield, away from Kyoka's attempt to hold her back. The weapon in her hand-a 14-foot spear made of iron, coated in tungsten-zooms from her hand to the creature's flank.

The spear impales the hardened skin for a few centimeters before it snaps neatly into two. At the same time, its head is buried in explosions from Katsuki's hands, the noise of it barely masking the pterodactyl like screams of pain escaping its mouth. Its vision compromised by light and pain, it misses grabbing its target, allowing him to land unsteadily on the pavement.

"Momo, get the fuck out of here!" he shouts through a grimace of pain, eyes glinting dangerously as the beast thrashes about and just misses hitting him with a chainsaw. "It's after you!"

"No, you run! It's after you!" Momo shouts. Hearing her voice, the monster turns its blind swings at her head. She dodges and sees cut strands of her hair fly in front of her.

"Jesus, Ponytail, this ain't the time to be stubborn! Do you wanna get fuckin' killed?!" At the sound of his voice and the explosives in his hands, the monster also swings at his direction again. Katsuki sends a blast against its arm, which only holds it back for a stuttered moment.

"Katsuki, please don't argue, just leave!"

"As if! You leave, I'll fuckin' kill this thing on my own!"

"Stop arguing, it's obviously after the two of you!" Kyoka screams in frustration. The monster hears her and jumps in her direction. Katsuki and Momo assault it with bombs and explosives, managing to distract it to come after them instead.

"I might be wrong, but it might be after all of us!" Kirishima yells. His skin softens, showing bruised and bleeding skin. The way he staggers, punch-drunk and in obvious pain, makes Momo alarmed. When a mallet swings in his direction, he still manages to harden his arm and shoulder and parries against it quite effectively. "So, I dunno, mmmmmaybe we should get the hell out of here while we still can?!"

Katsuki glares at him, but much to his frustration, Kirishima has a point. His hands glow, and Momo watches in dismay as he ignores everything they say anyway, positions himself to attack the monster head on. "Jirou, are there more of these fuckers around!?"

The monster shrieks against a blast aimed at its chest. Momo throws half of her spear against an arm aimed at his head, giving the explosive blonde enough time to roll out of its way. She glares at Katsuki, who glares right back at her for standing her ground.

Kyoka whimpers. "Y… yeah-"

"How many?"

Momo notices the police officers from before, fighting their own monster. The younger one with the tail is barely able to hold on fighting it using martial arts, while the older one shoots with a rifle that only slows the monster down very minimally. At the very least, they distract it enough for the evacuating civilians around them to make a run for it.

Still, if there's another one of these strong beasts hiding in the shadows, people just might die around them-

Pale and shaking, Kyoka whispers, "Ten… no, twelve… fifteen-"

As if on cue, the ground shakes beneath them once more, one strong enough to almost throw the four of them off their feet. When it's done, another gaping maw forms from the concrete, giving way for more of those dark-skinned creatures to crawl out. Their dull eyes look around, see the entrance of the hospital, and walk there, barely cognizant of the cacophony and chaos around them.

"Oh my god..." The hospital. They're going to destroy the hospital. All the workers, the staff, the sick, the infirm...

"Mina-" Kirishima chokes, and before any of them can stop him, he's dashing towards the direction of the entrance. The chainsaw monster preoccupied with their group sees him and the glint of his blood on the pavement and moves to attack him.

"Kirishima! Fuck-" Katsuki yells, hands exploding too far away from the monster to stop him. A grenade is forming in Momo's hand too, and even as it hangs mid-air, she knows that it'll be too late, the monster's going to get Kirishima before either of them are able to stop it-

A spark of electricity sparks through the monster once. It freezes and shrieks and seizes when it's covered in bright yellow bolts moments later. When the shock stops, it falls to its knees, gasping and lost, dead eyes going in all directions.

The four of them turn to the source of the electricity. A certain blonde man has his hands poised like a gun, and he seems to be struggling to keep his dulling eyes bright as he gives them a victorious grin. "Whey! I mean, yo! You guys need help?"

"Kaminari!" Kyoka cries in shock. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Kaminari Denki shakes himself to his senses and ducks next to Kyoka as the monster shrieks itself back to life. "Oh, you know, patrolling with my boss and then kinda getting lost when all the monsters came out and now I kinda need to find her before things get a little more fucked up, and..."

"What?! I'm your fucking boss, pikashit!" Katsuki yells, sending another blast towards the monster before it makes a full recovery.

"You ain't my only boss! I'm a part-timer, remember?!" Kaminari yells back, before yelling "Watch out!" and forcing Kyoka down as the force of the blast comes down on them. Momo feels the force and takes the opportunity to hold Kirishima down before he tries to run over the unsafe battle grounds again.

"K-Kaminari-san, do you mean to say that you're working for a pro-hero?" Momo struggles out, as she forms another shield for her and Kirishima. It's getting harder and harder to focus, as more and more fights between monsters and hapless civilians go around them. If the pros are on the way here, they might have a fighting chance.

"Yeah, Dr. Momo!" the blonde says brightly in spite of the situation. "You might have heard of us? The underground hero Emily and her crew, the Polterguys?"

"That wasn't in your fuckin' resume!" Katsuki growls, rolling out of the way of another attempt at a grab. Momo assaults the monster with more Molotovs, but it seems to be recovering from the blasts faster and faster as the attacks keep coming. "And fuck if I see any shitty pro-hero fightin' here! Where the hell are they? People are gonna fuckin' die if-"

Momo screams as a limb almost hits Katsuki again. The monster's fist crushes the concrete next to him like it was made of peanut brittle. The blonde coughs as he rolls out of a dust cloud and shields himself behind a tower of debris.

"That's right-Kaminari, where are they?! Shouldn't they be here by now?!" Jirou asks, her ear-jacks stabbing the concrete underneath them.

"Reiko-chan-I mean, Emily picked up the distress signal after the first explosion was reported! I'm guessing the pros and police in the Hosu, Naruhata, and Kiyashi areas got 'em too, but there's Nomu's sprouting up everywhere else, and we barely have enough manpower rounding up civilians, much less fighting back-"

"Nomus?! These are fuckin' Nomus?!" Katsuki grits out, as the monster blindly stumbles through the dust clouds in search of his targets.

Momo struggles to remember what little information the police have on Nomus-mutated reanimated creatures created by the League of Villains, with multiple quirks and a resistance against damage that surpasses the sturdiest pro-heroes. The few, but increasing sightings on them so far led experts to conclude that they are not intelligent enough to do anything but wreak havoc, but that their actions seem to be goal-directed at the very least.

"Yeah," Kaminari says, sending another surge of energy towards the chainsaw Nomu, which stuns it for a good second. "This guy with us looks weaker than the other ones we've seen so far, so we just gotta keep fighting this one, just a little more..."

"Right," Kyoka says weakly, "But… you said there's lots of them coming here…"

Coming for them, Momo thinks, as she wills a rifle to form from the flesh of her back. She keeps one hand on Kirishima's collar, even though she knows that he's too stunned to move then.

Kaminari nods. "About a hundred, we think."

Momo's jaw drops. Next to her, Kirishima pales and looks despairingly at the entrance, where monsters of various mutations are in the process of smashing through an improvised barricade made of debris and vines. Shiozaki-san must have been responsible for that.

"Kirishima," she mumbles to the redhead next to her, bleeding and terrified, "Look at me, okay? Ashido-san's strong, she can stand against the monsters-and she isn't alone, Shiozaki-san's doing a good job of holding the fort, and I know Todoroki-san is there too, with his fire and ice… Kendo-san and Tetsutetsu-san are there to help, and you know how strong they are, right?"

He looks at her as if forcing himself to believe in the inane things that she's saying. "Y… yeah, they can… they can protect everyone there…"

"Yes, they can. And we can protect everyone else here."

Kirishima stammers as she pulls out the M16 from her back and aims it at the monster, who is staggering towards where Kyoka and Kaminari are huddled. A little more, Kaminari-san says they only need to push a little more. She shuts one eye and peers behind the scope, taking a deep breath.

"Duck!" she screams.

The monster shrieks, and so does everyone else in the vicinity. Momo doesn't flinch, even as the monster sees her and stumbles in her direction, even as the recoil threatens to throw her off her feet. She doesn't stop shooting, doesn't keep her eyes off the Nomu, as terrifying as it is to stare at its flesh ripping apart and regenerating limitlessly.

A little more, she thinks. We have to kill this thing, just a little more-

The Nomu is closing in on her, the rifle getting lighter as the bullets run out-

The empty click of her next shot rings far too loudly within the noise. The monster is weakened, but is still standing strong at an arm's length away from her. She sees a desperate Katsuki leap from his hiding spot, throwing explosives at the undistracted Nomu's back but too far away from where they are. As the monster descends, all she can do is close her eyes as an arm moves to swipe at her neck.

"DETROIT SMASH!"

A strong gust of wind hits her instead of a solid arm, throwing her off her feet and making her stumble into Kirishima's arms. She hears him gasp as rapid, machine gun sounds flood the air in front of them.

When she manages to open her eyes, she doesn't understand what she's seeing at first. The monster is surrounded by a blur in red, white, blue, and gold, swirling around it and through it, its body jerking in many consecutive directions with each strike. In a matter of seconds, the beast falls, its body battered and destroyed, steaming from the heat of all the punches delivered. The blur of striking colors stops and takes on the form of a blonde man with striking blue eyes, built and strong and barely scratched after its assault.

"That's..." Momo whispers in awe, as the man looks ahead at all the chaos.

"I am HERE!" The underground hero Lemillion shouts, strong arms out to the side, a big smile as blinding as the sun. The sound of his declaration seems to bring everyone to a standstill around them, before a great noise erupts all around.

Out of nowhere, various costumed pro heroes in varying degrees of disarray make it to the entrance of the hospital to fight against the Nomu. The colours of spandex, as nauseating as they are, are a vision that fills everyone with hope. Momo could almost collapse with relief.

Lemillion turns to them and gives them a thumbs up. "You guys did great holding the fort! But the fight's not over yet! You guys should prioritize evacuating now that the pros are here!"

They make noises of affirmation as Lemillion leaps off to fight another nearby Nomu. "We should get going," Kyoka says urgently, earjacks pointing to an alley close to them. "I can use my ears to avoid the Nomus."

"You should go ahead," Kaminari says, only glancing at them briefly as he makes his way to the fray. "I gotta find Reiko-chan, and… save Ojiro-"

"What the fuck, Kaminari, don't be stupid!" Kyoka screams. "You might die out there, you know! You can't jump in there, just because your boyfriend is-"

"He's right there, Jirou!" he says in desperation, looking to where the policeman with the tail is struggling with a Nomu while two pros try to help him out. No-one has the heart to tell him off with the look in his eyes. "I… I'm a sidekick too, you know, even if it's just part-time! Someone has to help!"

He's off before anyone can stop him. Katsuki curses him as he does, but as the earth shakes around them with all the fights going on, they know the place is getting more and more unsafe and they can't just stand there and wait for the ground to collapse around them.

But Momo feels a little too sick to move. Maybe it's from the colors flying all around, or all the energy she spent creating those bombs and shields. Or the fact that she nearly just died at the hands of the Nomu while pretending to be a hero. When she wobbles with her movement, Kirishima holds her steady. She sees Katsuki zooming towards her, crimson eyes close to hers in the next moment, shining with worry.

"Momo, you did good," he says gruffly and tenderly, putting strong, protective arms around her. "Just a little more, okay? Gotta get to a safe place."

She nods, not trusting her mouth to make anything other than sounds of weakness. She feels herself lifted off her feet by the two men next to her and begin to move, sees all the blinding colors swirling around her, the screams, the flashes of light, the heat-

"Look! Up in the sky!" Someone screams from somewhere far away, and Momo feels Katsuki and Kirishima halt next to her.

At first, it feels like they're watching a star explode. There's fire, green and blue at the center and a blinding orange at the edges, stretching twenty meters in all four directions across the sky above them, high above the Hosu skyline. Squinting, Momo is barely able to make out two figures at the center where the heat is most intense-a familiar figure in blue and orange, flames sprouting from his face, fighting a sneering creature black from head to toe.

"Endeavor! The number one is here!" People start cheering all around them. "We're saved!"

"Damn, that flame is something else," Kirishima whispers in wonder. Kyoka glances at them and gestures for them to keep moving against the maddening crowd around them.

Momo can't keep her eyes away from the star in the sky, though. She sees the blue and green flicker around Endeavor, sees him take one hit after another. Something glints in the mass of black, something white and sharp and fast that darts towards Endeavor's head.

"NO!"

It happens very quickly: one moment the sky is filled with fire, and next it isn't. The silence is deafening as the man drops like a dying comet from the sky, crashing against the side of a sixty-story office building.

"No…!"

Everyone-heroes, civilians-hold a collective breath when the fire stutters from the crash site, and stops. The monster with various blades sticking out of its skin, sticks to the side of the building, climbing its side like a mountain.

"Endeavor-san!" A flurry of wings breaks the unbearable silence. A blur of red, who must be the number 2 hero Hawks, followed closely by the unmistakable red, white and blue of Lemillion leave the ground and go straight for the monster. Soon the fight reaches the ground, away from the steaming mass of melted steel and glass of where Endeavor lay without any signs of movement.

"Momo," Katsuki whispers beside her, eyes dark and tense. "Did you see what I see?"

She bites her lip to the point of bleeding. "Endeavor is…"

Did she see it right? The blood-stained blade from the monster's flesh? The spurt of blood within the flame? The way Endeavor's hand flies to the side of his neck, the instant snuffing of the flame around him?

The lifeless way he crashes against the glass?

"Guys, we should move," Kyoka begs as chaos erupts around them. "I can't hear anything anymore, there's too much going on..."

Kirishima nudges Momo, his face paler than ever. "C'mon, Jirou says we gotta go-"

Ignoring the two of them, Katsuki presses on. "I'm not sure, but it looks like a clean shot to his carotid. The left one." His hand on her tightens, strong and burning, tense in a way that makes her believe he's making choices in his head. He doesn't take his eyes off hers.

Momo nods. "If… if you're right… he won't have a lot of time," she tells him, voice shaking.

"Bakugou!" Kyoka's voice comes out as a half-scream, half-sob. Around them, people are shoving each other, screaming helplessly within the mess. "Please, if we don't leave now-"

Katsuki shouts over Kyoka's pleas, fright in his eyes shifting into a piercing determination. "He doesn't have a lot of time. No-one here can help him. But if the two of us went to him, we can-"

"What are you talking about?!" Kirishima protests loudly in her other ear. "There are pros, Bakugou, they can help Endeavor out, we shouldn't meddle and make things worse!"

"The pros can't do shit, Kirishima! Do you see any of them try to go up there while fuckin' Hawks and Lemillion are keeping that strong-as-fuck Nomu away from everyone else?!" He growls through gritted teeth. True enough, the pros are either too preoccupied fighting the Nomus littering the streets, or evacuating the panicking hordes, or panicking themselves. "I'm not going to sit around, waiting until they figure shit out, not when the number one pro hero is up there fucking dying!"

Kirishima and Kyoka freeze at the last word that hangs in the air. Dying-people all around them are at the risk of dying, and the one closest to that is the number one hero. The new symbol of hope, the strongest man in the country. Hasn't this happened before years and years ago? The reality of it sets in and sinks in their guts like lead, making the world spin around them.

Within that, Momo hears all of the unsaid words in Katsuki's rant: Not again. Never again. Not while I'm here.

It's so that her next decision comes to her easily, clearly. There is no doubt in her mind when she nods at Katsuki and answers, "I'm with you."

They turn to her in silence-Kirishima and Kyoka stunned, speechless. Katsuki, with burning determination. He nods and takes her hand, extracts her from Kirishima's grip and without another word runs in the opposite direction of where Kyoka is leading them to safety.

"Bakugou-"

"Ears, get going! Shitty hair, follow her and make sure neither of you fuckin' die!"

They don't call for them a second time. Kyoka curses; Kirishima shouts "Don't die on us either, Baku-bro! Dr. Momo!" before taking the smaller girl by the arm and leading her to safety.

The nausea Momo feels in her gut swirls, but she pushes it down to the edges and forces it from her consciousness. Her grip on Katsuki's hand is strong and sure, her steps falling hard to the ground. When they reach the edge of the building, with its occupants streaming out and all around them in panic, they look into each other's eyes.

The building is on the edge of collapse. Getting up where Endeavor has crashed is unsafe and foolhardy. They might actually die doing this and accomplish exactly nothing, but...

"I suppose we'd have to fly," she tells him, shrugging off her doctor's coat.

She sees the slight tremor in his hands, and the widening of his eyes. He takes a deep breath and releases it. Adrenaline rushes quick in his pulse in a thrum that she feels from where she stands.

"Damn right. You know how to hold on tight, right, Princess?"

There is no time for hesitation.

She nods after a deep inhale of her own. He bends over so she can cling to his back, arms securely wrapped around his shoulders and legs around his waist. He straightens up as much as he can and looks up at the gaping hole at the side of the building.

She inhales the sweet scent of nitroglycerin in one breath. Exhales. And then they're off the ground.

Their rise to the sky and the side of the building is unsteady, frighteningly so. The blasts from Katsuki's hands propels them at odd angles. He grunts with the difficulty of balancing himself and her added weight, dangerously careening towards the glass and twisted steel beams sticking out of the edges. She feels the wind rushing past her ears and cutting through the skin peeking out of her tattered clothing, her ponytail going in all directions.

The burn from his hands become more unstable as they fly higher and higher. Yet she feels Katsuki's even breathing as she clings onto him for dear life. It seems impossible they'll make it, but having him so close to her, she knows that they will.

They somehow reach the crash site. With a grunt of effort, Katsuki lands at the edge of it, keeping him and Momo steady as a beam gives a little with their weight. He grips her arms with searing hot hands protectively as they peer over the edge of the abyss.

It's dark and eerie, the crevice spanning multiple floors. The cold air blasting through makes her teeth chatter, makes the absence of Endeavor's flame apparent.

Are they too late? "Katsuki, do you see him?"

He squints at the darkness. "We gotta get closer," he says, leaping carefully at the edges of the jagged rings of broken floors. Their landings are hardly stable, but miraculously they manage to keep upright without letting the structure collapse further. Katsuki is nimble on his feet as they descend through the pit, passing by wreckage of concrete and steel and plastic. There are immobile bodies at some floors, and the couple that they can approach safely are pulseless. The touch of cold skin under her fingers makes the bile in Momo's guts rise and the tears spill over in her cheeks.

"Momo." Katsuki doesn't allow himself to linger over the dead. He takes her and leaps down. His eyes glint in the dark, but he keeps them forward. Momo forces herself to do the same.

It's probably ten floors down when Katsuki pauses at the edge. "There," he murmurs, pointing to an orange flicker in the darkness.

Gingerly stepping over the debris, the two of them find a clearing, where a large, unmoving body clad in torn spandex lies on his back. The flames come from bits of charred wood and paper and not from the flames of his face, as they had expected. Momo makes a flashlight out of the flesh of her arm and shines a light over him.

"Oh god…"

Katsuki immediately kneels next to him and does a quick assessment. Endeavor is pale and gasping, can barely make a sound as they check his pulses. The pro's hand is weakly pressing on the wound of his neck when Katsuki moves it and sees the blood ooze. "Shit, the cut's deep. We can't wait. We gotta stitch him up quick."

Momo nods and crouches down next to him, immediately forming things from her flesh as she does so. "I can do the carotid repair, just give me a minute to create-"

"No. I'll do it."

She stares at him, mouth agape. "Katsuki, you haven't done this in a while. And your hands… you just blasted your way up here-"

He scowls and snatches a pair of sterile gloves forming on her lap. "It'll take too long for you to create and do the repair. Besides, you're shaking more than I am."

She looks down at her hands and sees that he's right. They're thinner than they were this morning, and so is the rest of her. All the stress of creating has her body protesting.

There's no time to waste. Grimly, she nods at Katsuki. "Okay. I'll assist you."

"Good." He takes a deep breath and asks for a light.

The air around them shifts as Katsuki dons the protective gear and rushes to prepare the site. Momo has never seen him with laser-like focus, eyes fierce and silent as his hands set to work swiftly over the wound. There are no excessive movements nor excessive words as needle and thread go through tissue, sealing the wound shut. Momo concentrates as she never had before, forming tools as much as holding them apart, hanging onto Katsuki's every word as he performs the emergency surgery.

His hands immaculately steady, Katsuki eventually performs the last stitch and exhales. Cleaning the wound and covering it up, he says, "We need to get fluids in him. Can you make some with your quirk?"

She shakes her head. "I can't make that out of lipids."

And even if she can in theory, she doubts that she can make anything out of her body at that rate without her sacrificing her marrow. The strips of clothing hanging on her body are now loose, the fat over her limbs and trunk almost completely depleted. Her head spins from the rapid loss of body mass.

"Shit," she hears Katsuki curse next to her, and in the next moment his arms are around her, keeping her steady. She struggles to look up at his face through the spots in her vision. "It's fine, Momo, you did great. Hold on, all right? We'll get you outta this fuckin' place."

"Mm," she says, blinking herself back into consciousness, as hard as it is as the seconds pass by. "Endeavor-san first… Katsuki, you have to save him…"

"Momo, don't fuckin' pass out on me now-stay with me, stay here, right here-"

I am, I swear, she wants to say, but her mouth can't move. Damn, they might have been too reckless-what's the use of attempting to rescue Endeavor when they can't even make it out of there by themselves? She tries to keep her head up, tries to be strong, but her vision dims and she isn't sure that the sounds she's hearing at the edges of her consciousness is real-

"RELEASE! Found them! Bakugou! Dr. Yaomomo!"

"Momo! Hold on!"

Two voices, male and female, come from her right. If she concentrated, she could have sworn that they were voices that she knew. She tries to turn her head to the sounds of the voices, but Katsuki moves above her, keeping her still.

"Half-and-half? Roundface? Headband fucker?!"

"Shut up," Yosetsu's sharp voice, so unmistakably his, comes from Momo's left. "Hey, Momo, you okay? Bakugou, what the fuck, why did you let her end up like this-"

"You shut up," Katsuki snaps. "This guy's neck was cut right open, and we did what we had to do to, all right? Momo saved this bastard's life with her quirk!"

Momo wants to shove their heads together for arguing at such a dire time, but thankfully someone else steps in to do that for her. "The two of you shut up and let me do my job!" Uraraka-san snaps in between them. "Come on, Yaomomo's about to crash, we gotta get this glucose solution in her, stat!"

A needle pierces through her skin, but she hardly flinches at the sensation. When the cool fluid pushes through her veins, the spots in her vision dissipate, and she feels her mind step out of the haze. She blinks and focuses her vision on Katsuki, Yosetsu, and Uraraka, who are staring at her warily. It is only then that she sees that Uraraka is in full nursing regalia, eyes and cheeks glowing in determination, and Yosetsu is in his scrub suit, with bottles of IV fluids and other medical supplies fused to his bare skin.

"Momo. Say something," Katsuki murmurs gently in her ear.

She nods weakly at them. "I'm okay… I'm awake now," she stammers. Her voice is wobblier than she'd like, but at least she's able to speak at all. "W-we did a carotid artery repair on his left… Endeavor-san, we have to-"

"We're on it," Uraraka says, standing up with one of the bottles from Yosetsu's body and rushing to Endeavor's side. "Shouto, here."

She wouldn't have known that her associate was there if Uraraka didn't call him by his name. Todoroki is deathly silent-he has just placed a line through Endeavor's arm with a bag of blood dripping through it and is now attempting to get vital signs. Next to him, a serious-faced Uraraka places another line at the other arm, murmuring numbers to the dual-toned doctor.

"He's in shock," Todoroki says, voice oddly blank. "Awase, we need those..."

"Got it," Yosetsu says, un-fusing another bag of medicine from his body. When Momo moves to help, he un-fuses a juice pouch from himself and shoves this in her hands and stops her with a stern glare. Shifting his gaze to Katsuki, he says, "Make sure she doesn't collapse, shit-face."

"As if I would, Welder-fucker," Katsuki grumbles with a tch. Yosetsu glares at him again, but sets to work with Todoroki and Uraraka in the next moment, stabilizing the fallen pro. Momo watches in worry as Todoroki adjusts all the fluids, his face frighteningly free of any emotions. As Katsuki watches with her, body tense and eyes unmoving, he doesn't let her go.

He's frightened, she realizes. Even though Todoroki Shouto is the most frightened of them all to lose this man, everyone is fighting off the cold chill of fear of losing the number one hero on their watch.

"We did all we could," she murmurs to Katsuki, as they keep their eyes on the sutures he placed over Endeavor's neck.

"... yeah," Katsuki agrees. "We did."

It feels like an eternity of waiting when Uraraka tells them that it's probably safe to move Endeavor now. After regulating the temperature with his quirk, Todoroki nods at Uraraka, who nods back and touches Endeavor with all her fingers.

"Can you float all of us with your quirk without killing us with the drop, Roundface?"

She glares at him, but nods. "Not like I have a choice, Explodey-face."

Not like any of them have a choice, really. Uraraka touches all of them with her hands-first Todoroki, then Yosetsu, then Katsuki who chooses to carry Momo in his arms, and then herself. She holds on to Endeavor's sleeve with one hand and hooks the other around Todoroki, in a small gesture to keep him grounded.

"Okay, let's go."

Without further ado, the group floats through the crevice, their ascent more stable than it was when Katsuki used his quirk. They're able to make it out of the building when Uraraka holds her breath, puts all ten fingers together, and whispers "release" like a prayer.

The loss of gravity jolts all of them like a gunshot, and there's a moment where they feel themselves free falling for a few heart-stopping seconds. But Uraraka grits her teeth and controls the pressure on her fingertips, keeping her eyes level and her face free from any trace of green. Miraculously their descent slows down halfway, slow enough that it feels like they're riding an elevator in the open air.

The ground zooms in closer to them. The people see them and point in both awe and horror at the sight of the number one hero unconscious and flameless.

Momo, as weakened as she is, grips onto Katsuki a little tighter.

"He'll make it," Katsuki tells her, loud enough that Todoroki hears and looks at him with those unreadable eyes. "Bastard is tough as shit."

She hopes he's right.

When they land, Uraraka keeps Endeavor afloat until a stretcher is pushed their way by Shinsou and, to Momo's surprise, Kirishima. Both of them are equally bruised and battered, but they're able to work steadily as if they aren't.

"What the fuck are you still doin' here, Shitty Hair?!" Katsuki growls when gravity is completely back in their systems. "I thought I told you to get your ass the fuck out of here!"

Kirishima doesn't look up from his work. "Yeah, but we couldn't leave the hero work to you guys! It wasn't manly to just up and leave! I wouldn't have been able to live with myself! Jirou too! She went back looking for the cops to help the evacuation efforts-"

"But the Nomus-"

"Mostly managed by the pros, and thankfully none of concern anymore," Shinsou interrupts curtly as he draws blood from Endeavor. "Now we can focus on the Code Orange. Todoroki, Uraraka, we got this, Iida's preparing the ICU, so-"

"Thank you," Todoroki answers. The sickly grey pallor sticks on his skin as he watches Endeavor wheeled in the hospital. "We'll help in the code."

Shinsou pauses. "You sure? I heard you and Uraraka almost died fighting a Nomu on your own, before that guy-"

"We can do it, Shinsou-kun," Uraraka interrupts, face still filled with determination. "We need to help everyone who's hurt."

"Very good. We need all the help we can get."

They all turn in unison to the dignified voice coming from behind them. Dr. Hakamata, despite having his doctor's coat and trademark denim suit frayed at the edges, ambles behind them with a harried-looking Amajiki-senpai walking close behind. It appears they've been in a scuffle themselves, but both look ready to get to work.

"We already have a number of cases lined up in Neurosurgery-head traumas and the like. I'll need all available neurosurgeons up in the suite now. All four residents should go up as soon as you're able."

"Four of-" Yosetsu stammers, looking at Momo incredulously. "B-but Jeanist, Momo-I mean, Yaoyorozu can't, she's just recovering from overusing her quirk, and-"

"I'll do it."

At the sound of her voice without the unsteadiness in it moments ago, all eyes turn to her in various degrees of disbelief.

"Yaoyorozu… you sure? You're really… thin," Shinsou says bluntly.

She shakes her head. "I'm still standing. My hands aren't shaking anymore. As long as I don't use my quirk any further, I can help out."

Amajiki is miraculously able to look at her and Dr. Hakamata in the face as he says, "Sir, we should give her some time to recover, at least. She wouldn't last in the OR by herself like this."

"Fucking elf-shit! What bullshit is this!" Katsuki growls, stunning everyone into silence again with how wide with anger his eyes are. "Stop fuckin' doubting what Momo can or can't do! She says she can do it, and this Denim Bastard thinks she can too, so why the fuck are you shitheads so adamant to keep the most brilliant doctor outta all of you from helping?! As if you shitheads have the luxury of standing here while the fuckin' code orange is still going on-"

"Katsuki, it's all right," Momo says, but he isn't done.

"Besides! She won't be alone!" Staring at Dr. Hakamata right in the face, he points a thumb to himself, nostrils flaring. "I'm going too. I'm the first assistant for all the surgeries you'll throw her way."

Everyone gasps, except for Dr. Hakamata, whose eyes remain unfazed as Katsuki assaults him with that glare. "Really? I thought you didn't want anything to do with hospitals anymore, Bakugou-kun," he replies coolly.

Katsuki grits his teeth. "Really? You're gonna be a smug bastard about this now?!"

Despite the suffocating tension around them, Dr. Hakamata laughs, and pats him on the shoulder. "Not at all. Glad to have you back on board, Dr. Bakugou." He looks at the stunned staff in front of him and taps his fingers against the fabric covering his chin. "I suppose it goes without saying that because he is not affiliated with our institution, I answer to all his medical decisions while working with us."

The look on his face leaves no room for argument.

Soon, all of them rush back to the hospital, its hallways congested with stretchers and patients, and make their way up the suites. Honenuki is already operating on his own patient when they arrive there, assisted by Mina. Todoroki and Uraraka get the next patient on deck, while Amajiki and the neurology chief resident Hadou-san take the next one. Momo takes the short waiting time on the OR floor, eating a rice ball and finishing Yosetsu's juice pack, while Katsuki drops next to her with even more food and drinks for her to consume.

"I might actually choke if you think I'll finish all those in ten minutes," she says in the lightest tone she can muster at that point. Her limbs are still thin, but thankfully without tremors as she takes in the next bite.

Katsuki smirks. "Eat this all or I'll kill ya, Princess."

"Really… you and your threats to keep me alive," she says with a laugh. Her tone falls in the next moment though, when the gravity of the situation catches up on them.

People are dying around them, in massive numbers. If she doesn't operate, they just might die. If she makes a mistake, they might die faster.

She wasn't good enough to operate on her own before all this happened.

She… hasn't operated on anyone with such high stakes before.

"Hey," Katsuki's voice snaps her back to reality. She meets his ruby eyes, uncharacteristically soft and warm and tender within the mess of her mind. "Don't give me that weak look. You can fuckin' do this, all right?"

She tries her hand at a weak smile. "I wonder if I'm strong enough for this, Katsuki."

He makes a small frustrated sound in his throat. "The woman who was ready to kill a fuckin' Nomu with a machine gun she made from the fat of her back thinks she ain't strong enough for this?" he says with a hint of incredulousness that makes her laugh. "Oi, I'm serious. If you think you ain't good enough to do this, then nobody else is. I didn't just swallow my pride in front of Best Fuckin' Jeanist if I thought you're bad at this."

A harried nurse calls for Dr. Yaoyorozu and Dr. Bakugou, telling them that the next patient is being wheeled in as they speak. Katsuki helps her to her feet with one strong hand before he holds on to her with both, eyes looking straight into hers in that intense way that awakens her to her senses.

"Listen. Momo. You got this."

She smiles, genuinely this time, and squeezes his arms in affirmation. She nods.

Without further ado, they rush into the operating room, ready to save lives.


AN: Hi. Sorry this took so long;; but... yeayyy, almost done? Hehe.

I hope this wasn't too laborious to read! Action scenes are such a bicth to write. scenes with more than three characters even more so. and nomus, frackin nomus ughhdfkjsafd

a bit of explanation for kaminari's sidekick status-idk if it's really legal to have a civilian as a sidekick who uses quirks? but in vigilantes, iida tensei tries to hire koichi, who isn't a licensed hero in any way, as part of his team with the intention of taking advantage of his mobility quirk. so i'm thinking there are special conditions that will allow for that set-up... which is really important to the other stories im planning to add to this AU hahahaha

and im willing to bet that in situations like this, civilians are allowed to use their quirks in public, if it means surviving!

also, thank you Chumunga64 for help in editing ^_^