Chapter Ten

After that first time, it got easier. Tomura had a never-ending list of the corrupt, worthless and twisted heroes that operated within and around the city. Black and white fell away and everything was shades of grey that were simpler to rationalize. If that little voice in the back of his head started to act up, he stubbornly pushed it down and ignored it. Surprisingly they were incredibly successful, hit after hit went flawlessly and they grew lax in their own self-confidence. Both of them should have realized sooner but the hunters had become the hunted.

Tomura and Izuku walked side by side down the deserted city street. They were doing a simple reconnoiter, trying to verify new information. Somewhere on this block, there was supposed to be a base of operations.

Midoriya stopped and shielding his eyes looked up at the endless expanse of brick and broken windows. There was absolute silence, they had left behind the sounds and movement of humanity three blocks ago. "There is nothing here."

"There has to be."

Izuku lowered his hands, turning toward Tomura. "Either we have the wrong place or that information is crap." He gazed around at the darkness, lit only periodically by a still surviving streetlight. "I have a bad feeling about this, let's get back."

Shigaraki pulled out his phone and called up a map, he pointed up ahead. "If we go this way, we can take a shortcut up an alleyway."

They turned down the alleyway, it was narrow and trash filled, one flickering light halfway down throwing most of it into shadows. Behind them a bottle skidded across the concrete and Midoriya jumped, spinning around. "What was that?"

Tomura reached out and pulled him closer. "It's okay. It's probably just a cat. You're starting to make me paranoid, come on."

They turned and took one more step when the voice rang out, clear, strong and unmistakable in the deserted alley. "Shigaraki, it's time to stop. Give yourself up and come along quietly." All Might stepped from the darkness into the weak light, all pomp and splendor.

They both spun, Midoriya unconsciously taking a step protectively in front of Tomura. "Fuck, where the hell did he come from?"

Tomura reached out and pulled Izuku closer. "It's okay, the dumb ass is alone. We can take him."

The worried green eyes looked up into his face. "Are you sure about that?" He turned back as All Might began to slowly walk up the corridor. It had been months since he had seen him. He had always thought they would go after him, not the other way around.

All Might stopped and called out again. "I know what you've been doing. At first it was hard to put the pieces together but lately you've gotten sloppy and over confident. It ends tonight. I don't want to hurt you. Give yourself up."

Tomura's fingers tightened on Izuku's shoulders. Midoriya glanced back at him. He knew he was getting angry and when he got angry he did stupid things. He reached up putting his hand over his. "I'll distract him. You have to get in close. Come in from behind and go for his old stomach wound. If you can open that back up, I think we might have him."

Tomura nodded and they separated, he went to the left and started moving forward, hoping All Might would focus on him. Shigaraki went to the right hugging the wall.

All Might folded his arms. "So, we're going to fight." He turned his attention to Midoriya. "Who did you bring with you? Maybe I can talk some sense into him."

Izuku realized that with the low light behind him and with his hood up, All Might hadn't recognized him yet. He could use that against him. That one moment of surprise might be all they needed. He took a few more steps forward and then stopped, reaching up and pulling down the hood. "He brought me."

It almost worked. All Might faltered and lost that trademark poise. "Midoriya? But why…"

Tomura went for it, sprinting forward and grabbing All Might's side with both hands. The surprise turned to pain as he screamed but there wasn't enough time. He was very fast and very strong and Tomura was no match for him in hand to hand combat. He turned and flung him, sending him flying backwards into the brick wall. The wall cracked and crumbled as he collapsed into a pile on the ground.

"No! Don't you hurt him!" Midoriya stopped thinking logically and just attacked putting far too much power behind one punch. He hit All Might sending him into the opposite wall which caved in covering the hero in a cascade of broken bricks and shards of glass. He grabbed his arm realizing he had just broken every bone in it. "Fuck!" He knew better. He was letting emotion take over.

He ran over to Tomura, falling to his knees and pulling the other boy up. "Are you okay?"

Shigaraki groaned holding his left side. "He broke my ribs." He was also having trouble breathing, taking quick short breathes and grimacing after every one. "And I'm pretty sure I've got a punctured lung, so yeah, not okay."

Midoriya pulled him closer. "We need to get out of here."

"What about him?"

Izuku looked over at the pile of wreckage. "I don't know, I don't think it was enough."

Tomura grabbed his arm. "We need to finish it."

The bricks moved across the way, All Might coughed and pulled himself partially out. He was hurt badly but still very much alive. He was clinging to his side which ran dark with wet blood. "Midoriya, what are you doing? Why are you helping him? We thought you were dead."

Izuku looked around the alleyway for some escape route. They needed to get the fuck out of here now. All three of them were hurt, he was thinking the best you could make of this fight was a draw. If they could just get a little further away and buy some time, then they could get in contact with Kurogiri and he could open a warp gate. He looked back at All Might who was slowly crawling closer. "Shut up. That's a real good story."

"Midoriya, it's the truth. Look at me." Despite himself Izuku did just that, his eyes meeting All Might's. "After the earthquake there was a gas main leak. Your whole block burnt to the ground. The fire was so hot they never found all the bodies. We thought you were gone."

Izuku looked from one of them to the other, holding tighter to Tomura. "And whose fault was that? You never came. None of you did, you let them all die. Where were you All Might? Downtown helping the rich and famous, letting the little people die."

He pulled himself a little closer, leaving a trail of blood behind him. "Midoriya, I told you before. You do what you can, you can't save everyone but you do your best. And why are you clinging to the person who caused that quake in the first place."

Izuku froze. "What?" This was a bad dream. This wasn't happening. He was pretty sure he was starting to go into shock himself.

"Midoriya, he did it. That wasn't a natural earthquake. He was smart about it, he used the natural fault lines but he engineered the whole thing."

Izuku looked down at Tomura. "You didn't?"

Shigaraki grimaced, the one moment he had been dreading had finally arrived. "I did. I always thought Dabi would tell you just to spite me. I never thought that son of a bitch would figure it out."

Izuku pulled away, now he was having a hard time breathing. "How could you? How could you?" The pain suddenly turned to a white-hot rage and he grabbed Tomura's neck with his good hand and squeezed. "You killed them. You killed them all. You killed my mother, you almost killed me."

Tomura didn't move. "I didn't kill anyone. I didn't hold a gun to anyone's head, a knife to anyone's throat. I just orchestrated things. I made them happen." He pointed at All Might. "They could have saved them, they could have saved everyone but they didn't. It's their faults."

Izuku's eyes were filling with tears, he blinked them back trying to see. "No one could have saved my mother, you killed her."

"That was an accident. I'm sorry about that, I never meant for her to die, but Izuku…"

"What?"

Tomura smiled, he was crying now too. "I would do it all over again."

Izuku's fingers tightened on his throat. "You're not fucking helping yourself any."

"I'd do it all over again because it brought you to me. Even if it was only for a few months, it brought you to me and I love you."

The tears were steadily running down his cheeks now. "I love you too but how could you, how could you?" He shook him again. "Fight back damn it."

Tomura shook his head. "Never, I'd never fight you." Sirens came from the distance. Tomura looked over at the fallen form of All Might, he had a radio in his hand. "He called for help. Get out of here. Kill me or leave me but run. Don't let them catch you. I don't trust the other idiots to get you out."

Izuku let go of his throat, the anger was quickly fading away. "I can't kill you. Why would you think that?"

Tomura's eyes drifted close. "Because your mad and honestly it wouldn't take much right now." He opened his eyes again. "Why are you still here? Go, save yourself, you idiot."

All Might shifted again. "Midoriya, just give yourself up, we can fix this. It will be okay."

"Shut the fuck up and die already!" He threw a brick in All Might's direction. Yeah fix this. There was no fixing this mess. He looked from Tomura slowly fading before him to the bleeding All Might. No, he had made his choice a long time ago. There was no going back. It didn't matter how he had gotten here, he was here now. He had flirted with the line, crossed it and then left it far behind in the dust long ago. As bad as it hurt, they could get past this, somehow, he wasn't about to run away now.

He bent and with his good arm pulled Tomura to his feet. "Come on you asshole, and just know that I am still really fucking mad and you aren't forgiven. It's going to take a long time for me to fully forgive you."

"Izuku be smart, you can get further without me."

He pulled him tighter and started to drag him down the alleyway. "I'm not leaving you."

The sirens were getting louder, he went down another alleyway, half dragging, half carrying Tomura. He came to a plain metal door and kicked it open. They would have to hide and try and get a hold of Kurogiri. If they could get him in time, they could still get out of here. They were in a series of abandoned offices, he pulled him down hallway after hallway. They just needed somewhere to hole up for a while. He came to a closed door and opened it, a closet. It would have to do for now.

He slid Tomura to the floor and collapsed next to him, closing the door. "Give me your phone."

Shigaraki dug it out of his pocket and passed it to Midoriya. He opened it and texted Kurogiri.

911 – get us out of here now! Use the GPS and open a gate

Tomura's head dropped to his shoulder. Izuku stared down at the phone hopelessly. "It's taking too long. He's always so on the ball, so ready."

"Something might have happened." Tomura's fingers wrapped around Izuku's and squeezed. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything."

"Not now." He looked over into the red eyes. "Stop crying, it will be okay, he'll come." But he was starting to doubt that, from far away he could hear noises. All Might's backup had arrived, and it wouldn't take them long to find their hiding place. His hand tightened on Shigaraki's. He was scared now, it couldn't end like this.

The noises were getting closer, they had run out of time. He closed his eyes and buried his face in Tomura's neck. "I love you."

Tomura turned his head and their noses bumped together. "I love you."

The door was flung open, light and noise and chaos. He was pulled away from him and someone hit him with a quirk or a weapon. There was a brilliant flash of light, a searing pain and then nothing as he fell into a profound pool of darkness.