Perhaps, Izuku wondered in a moment of unfortunately delayed retrospect, shattering approximately eighty percent of the bones in his right arm wasn't such a good idea. Especially not while attempting to escape an underground bunker full of villains eager to make an example of you for the world to see. He took about half a second to think about this, before shrugging with the one functional arm remaining to him and deciding it would be fine. He still had his legs. That meant he could run, kick and, if need be, jump exceptionally high at the cost of a toe or two.
A price he was more than willing to pay. Somehow a devastated arm felt almost familiar, bringing to mind younger and more innocent days of attaining emotional catharsis by doing his level best to beat Todoroki to death in front of thousands so he would stop being such a stubborn moron and use his Quirk. Or the first time he beat Bakugou in that initial combat training session. Or… well, one of the other myriad times he had blown his own arm to smithereens in the name of the greater good.
Toga was attached to his back, arms thrown over his shoulders and holding tight to his chest. With one ankle a swollen, broken mess and the other gone completely, she didn't have many other options. Perhaps a month ago the feeling of her hands on his skin and her bare body pressed against his back would have invoked panic and terror; as it stood, he was smiling. He smiled because he was a hero, and a hero smiled in the face of danger to reassure himself and those around him. He smiled because he was Deku, the Hero Who Can Do It. He smiled because for the first time since that fateful awakening in the hospital, his mind was clear, his conscience utterly unclouded.
He was going to save Toga. He was going to be a hero. And if he happened to beat the tar out of Tomura Shigaraki on the way out, well, that was just good fortune. Perhaps it wouldn't be justice, but it would be a pleasure.
But first… escape the bunker. Get away from the villains. The villains he knew, running down the list in his head. Compress was quick and agile, and could end a fight with a single touch. Primary weaknesses were a lack of physical strength and durability, and a penchant for showmanship. Dabi was a glass cannon; his fire could obliterate Izuku from a range, but he would likely give way under any physical attack. Spinner was relatively unknown, same went for Firefly. Darkstar was fast, deadly, but likely still suffering from a major gut wound. Kurogiri's warp gates would be problematic, but the man was utterly obedient to Shigaraki. Deal with Shigaraki, he decided, and that deals with Kurogiri.
He needed to be careful with all of them. He was effectively fighting with one arm, and with Himiko attached to him he would have that to be wary of as well. He needed to protect her, keep himself mobile, and fend off any of the League that came after them both. No pressure on him, then.
The bunker itself was also unknown. He was underground, he could tell from the vague sense of pressure and the deep, abiding chill in the air, but how far underground he couldn't say. The door to the cell was heavy metal; he'd have to break it down, he reasoned, or wait for somebody to unlock it. With all the noise he'd just made, investigation was likely. So he stayed where he was, Himiko clinging to his back, and waited.
He turned his head to one side, hearing a sound from the hallway outside. Rapid tap-tap-tapping footsteps and steady breathing… Compress, most likely.. The footsteps being the clicking of dress shoes helped, as did the lack of shouting. Dabi would have been breathing differently while Spinner's dagger-club-thing would have been clanking like a kitchen. Twice would have been speaking, and wouldn't have been alone, and Shigaraki… Shigaraki would have been more quiet.
The door swung open, and Izuku swung his right arm around, and the five-pound lump of cement still attached to his wrist by a length of chain came around shortly after and hammered into the side of Compress' head like a flail torn from the medieval ages. The dandily-dressed villain fell to the ground, almost, but caught himself with an outstretched arm snatching the doorframe. His free hand was already coming up, reaching for Izuku, but Izuku didn't feel like giving him the opportunity; he charged and brought one knee up, Full Cowling crackling around him and filling him with inhuman strength.
His knee hammered into Compress' chest, and his momentum carried them both out the door, across the hall and into the wall opposite, where the back of Compress' head cracked against the cement and he let out a single pathetic groan before falling to the ground. Izuku stood over him, bending down to check for a pulse, but one of Himiko's hands reached out and pressed to the side of his neck first.
"Still pumping away." she assured him. "You wanna mess him up a little so he doesn't follow us?"
Izuku considered that for a moment, before nodding.
"Back at the training camp… he was the one who took Kacchan." he said, before raising a foot up and bringing it down, Compress' shinbone snapping like a twig under his heel. The villain didn't even stir. "He won't be going anywhere without his cane."
Izuku picked up said cane from where it had fallen near the door and threw it down the hall a good sixty feet, where it clattered to the ground and possibly broke. In the hallway's dim lighting, it was hard to say for sure, so he shrugged and turned. He heard Himiko murmur an apology to Compress as they walked past his crumpled form.
"Any idea how many others there are?" he asked, and he could hear Himiko chewing her lip right next to his ear before she answered a moment later.
"Dabi didn't come back with them." she declared. "I think he was angry about Izu-kun's babies. He said he didn't want to hurt kids. So… Spinner, Kurogiri, Twice, Darkstar, maybe Firefly? I don't know if he came back. And Shigaraki…"
Izuku could feel her shiver after speaking his name, and he reached up with his functional arm and gave her a pat on the shoulder, as reassuring as he could manage. It was strange to do this, to comfort a former enemy… but she was the person he was here to save.
"I won't let him hurt you again." he declared. "I… I won't let any of them hurt you."
She swallowed back something, he assumed tears, and her arms gripped him a little more tightly. He took a long, bracing breath, and took off down the hall, Full Cowling allowing him to turn what had to have been at least half a kilometer to the stairs out of this section of tunnel into a ten second sprint. He came to screeching halt, however, when he saw the man at the top of the stairs. The silhouette was undeniable, the massive shape slung over one shoulder and the tail whipping at the air behind him…
Spinner stared at Izuku for a long moment, and then stepped to the side, away from the open door at his back, and dropped to one knee.
"Take a left at the end of the corridor beyond, then follow the lights." the lizardine villain instructed, head bowed as if in reverence. "The exit is just beyond, but Shigaraki is there. You have not yet tripped any alarms, and I did not warn him of your escape."
Izuku stared, eyes narrowing with distrust, before taking a single step back, away from the bottom of the stairs.
"Why should I trust you?" he asked.
"I am a disciple of Stain." Spinner declared, head rising. "And you… you are the one he has chosen to succeed All Might. There is no hero worthier of the title Pillar of Peace, he has decreed. What Shigaraki has done here is beyond monstrous, and I cannot rightly support his evil any longer. I sought to break you out myself…"
His eyes tracked along Izuku's form for a moment, particularly the shackles still dangling from his arms, and then he smiled. Or, approximated a smile as best as his reptilian face could manage, tail thumping the ground behind him once.
"I can see you already have that covered." he continued. "You are the next Pillar of Peace. The hope of the next generation. I would as soon fight to stop you as I would fight the coming dawn."
Izuku stared at Spinner for a moment, and wondered. Here was a man who had sworn himself to be a disciple of the same villain Izuku and his friends had fought tooth and nail to bring down, only for the same villain to become an overnight icon with actual, honest to god merchandise and everything. Now he was declaring Izuku to be the next All Might? That hadn't come up in that fateful letter from a few months ago, for some reason… Izuku shook his head. This wasn't the time.
"If you come after us, I won't hesitate." he warned, and Spinner chuckled.
"I will make my own escape." he declared. "I will also endeavour to distract Kurogiri and Twice to give you a fairer chance at escape."
He rose to his feet again, bowed deeply at the waist before turning and walking away. Izuku watched him go, eyes narrowed, and waited until he could no longer hear the heavy sounds of his boots. Only then did he ascend the stairs, slowly and carefully. Sure enough, by the time he reached the top, Spinner was gone. On his back, Himiko sighed.
"I hope he gets out okay." she said, quietly. "He was fun, and he liked Stain too. I think he was a little scared of me…"
She giggled, and now it was Izuku's turn to sigh before taking the advised left. It was, surprise surprise, another long concrete corridor, this one lined with light-strips along the rounded ceiling. Izuku listened for a moment, but heard nothing. It was possible Spinner had been telling the truth then. If it really was just Shigaraki… he'd have to fight his way out. And he wasn't certain he could handle Shigaraki with just one arm and a crippled Himiko attached to his back. He'd have to be clever… or at the very least, he'd have to be fast.
He walked the hallway as quietly as he could manage, the metal plates in the soles of his boots still clanking under him with each step. He did his best to keep his footsteps quiet, at least, but in the dead silence of the hallway each step was like a thunderclap to his ears. After the first twenty feet, he shook his head and bent down a little.
"Hold on." he warned Himiko, feeling her arms tight around him before he exhaled and took off at a sprint again.
The tunnel turned into a blur around him, and he could hear Himiko let out a little yip of delight as they hurtled through the bunker towards the exit. He couldn't really blame her; he had felt much the same when first experiencing the speed and power of Full Cowling. Now, with an easy nine-percent charge rather than the five-percent he had stuck with for so long, he could feel the physical change. He was so much faster, so much stronger, every step propelling him even further forward.
He felt truly alive, and better still, truly like he was in power over his own Quirk.
The door at the end of the hall was ajar and he met it with one boot, slamming it open with a powerful kick. He stepped inside and saw before him Shigaraki, who was scratching wildly at his neck and snarling at the sight of Izuku with Himiko on his back. He had just turned to face them and yet didn't seem at all surprised by their presence. The League of Villain's leader stared at Izuku for a long moment, and then let out a groan of frustration and anger.
"Deku." There was no flair to the name this time, no implications of amusement or malice. It was tired, openly so; tired of him, tired of fighting, tired of the name Deku. "Deku…"
"That's my name." Izuku agreed, nodding once. "Surrender, Shigaraki. You can't hope to beat me. Not like this."
"Not like what?" Shigaraki hissed, stepping closer and bringing his hands up, fingers curling. He had removed the splint from his right pinky finger, the broken digit still swollen around the base. "You've got a ruined arm and a brat hanging off your back. I'm just as strong as I've ever been… no, stronger."
Izuku stared at Shigaraki, who stared right back at Izuku; neither of them blinking, neither of them moving. It was a western-style showdown, Izuku recognized, something Snipe had once called a 'Mexican Standoff'. Neither of them could really make a move without endangering themselves, so they remained still, ready to strike at a moment's notice. They waited and waited for a sign or signal, anything to break the tension and spur them into motion.
Himiko squeezed him a little tighter, head pressed against his left shoulder. Shigaraki's head twitched violently to one side, a sort of spasmodic stutter of the muscles in his neck. Izuku's ruined right arm throbbed with pain. Izuku could see the door, behind Shigaraki, maybe eighty feet distant. The corridor was too narrow to get past him without risking getting grabbed, or worse yet Himiko getting grabbed in his stead. He would have to fight.
"I'm waiting…" Shigaraki hissed, and Izuku moved.
One For All propelled him forward, and Shigaraki reached for his face. Izuku slid to the side, past the outstretched arm, and made to drive his right shin into Shigaraki's stomach. The villain turned and took the blow on the hip instead, hands snatching at Izuku's chest. Izuku switched feet and planted a foot in his chest, shoving him back into the far wall. Shigaraki bounced off and used the momentum to reach for his face again, forcing him to duck low and sweep at the villain's legs with his foot.
The corridor was too narrow. If he had more room to move, if he didn't have Himiko on his back… he dove forwards, catching himself on one hand and both feet before breaking into a hard sprint towards the door. He could hear Shigaraki behind him, running like a predator in pursuit of prey, but then he heard that horrible tearing sound and the world before him turned black and purple. He came to a screeching halt as Kurogiri opened a portal right in front of him, twisting to try and catch Shigaraki before the villain could get a hit in.
He was rapidly running out of options, and if Kurogiri was here it was possible Twice was nearby. That meant he was running out of time as well. Shigaraki alone, that he could possibly handle. Adding Twice and Kurogiri to those odds, however, made them infinitely less favourable for him. He dodged another grab, Shigaraki snarling in frustration, and brought his foot up in another kick this time aimed for his enemy's ribs. Shigaraki dodged away, backstepping before lunging again, arms swinging from the sides. Izuku couldn't risk dodging backwards, so he stepped into the attack and did something unimaginably stupid.
He channeled Full Cowling into his neck and slammed his forehead into Shigaraki's face.
Shigaraki's nose went off like a bomb, blood spurting all over, and the villain staggered backward with a howl of pain and anger. His hands came up to his face, clutching at the ruins of his nose, and Izuku pressed the attack. He aimed a kick for one of those arms, hoping to break a wrist, but Shigaraki managed to duck under it before screaming and bringing his hands up, grasping at Izuku.
Izuku made a call. He was out of position, footwork poor, and had few options to dodge. In his head, he assessed the potential damage, flashing back again to the Sport's Festival. What could he afford to sacrifice? The answer came easily; he twisted his torso and moved the broken remains of his right arm, and Shigaraki latched on with a powerful grip.
Izuku screamed. His arm was already a solid mass of pain from shoulder to fingertips; this was like pouring saltwater over the open wound. The skin disintegrated first, then the flesh beneath, muscle and tendons burning away. Izuku's eyes watered, his body threatened to go catatonic, and somehow he still felt Himiko shift on his back. Her arm came over his shoulder and two fingers jabbed at Shigaraki's eyes, forcing him to let go to shield his face.
Izuku watched in something that wasn't so far from horror as the last of his newly severed arm hit the concrete floor, exploding into dust. The whole limb ended now about four inches from the shoulder, the end a ragged mess that didn't bleed. He stared at it for a moment, before shuddering and dropping to his knees. His stomach heaved and he threw up whatever bile he could manage, the burning in his throat yet another pain signal to add to the pile. He could feel a gentle hand massaging his throat, easing the pain there at least.
"You little shit!" he heard Shigaraki snarl. "Kurogiri, stay the fuck out of this! I'll kill these two myself!"
"Wrong call…" Izuku managed to groan, forcing himself to his feet. He listed to his left a little, the balance of his body all out of whack because his arm was gone, gone forever holy shit. He looked at the pile of dust that had once been his dominant hand, and swallowed back whatever gunk was left in his mouth.
"Himiko…" he groaned. "Lean to the right."
She obeyed the request without a word, and he sighed in relief as some balance returned. Shigaraki was standing there, watching them again. Izuku spared his missing arm one last look, before turning his attention to Shigaraki. Some part of him felt like he was watching all of this from a distance; he wasn't Izuku Midoriya, fighting for his life. He was someone else watching Izuku Midoriya fighting for his life. The arm on the ground wasn't his, the empty stump to his right wasn't his, none of this was happening to him. It was all happening to someone else.
Miss Nyanja had warned him about something like this once. She had called it dissociation, or something to that effect. Izuku, somehow, couldn't quite find it in himself to care all that much if it was dangerous or not. He was already risking his life; who cared if he was detaching from himself a little?
Wait, was he going into shock? He supposed it didn't really matter, so long as he could hold it off until he and Himiko were safe.
"This… this ends now." he declared, and Shigaraki smiled.
"That supposed to be a threat, hero?" he asked, and Izuku just shook his head.
"I already made a promise, Shigaraki." he said, dropping his stance and taking a deep breath. "I'm going to break you. In half, probably."
Shigaraki didn't reply to that; he just charged, ghoulishly stretching his arms out to grab at Izuku and reduce the rest of him to dust, and Izuku closed his eyes for a moment. His timing would have to be perfect, his form flawless. If he messed this up, Shigaraki would be able to grab him and Izuku would be little more than dust. So he opened his eyes again, and ducked low. Shigaraki was overextended, leaning towards him, exposing his stomach.
Izuku's punch would be perfect. The paragon of all sucker punches delivered to the stomach, a true refinement of the artform. Mirio would be proud. Kirisihima would be honoured to behold such a blow being delivered. His fist clenched, each finger tight enough to hold shape but not so tight as to risk breakage on a miss. HIs thumb tucked away perfectly. His entire upper body thrown into the blow, rotating at the waist and pushing up with the shoulder, elbow, even his legs underneath him unbending just to increase the power behind the strike. All of that force, of Izuku's exercise and All Might's training and the power of Full Cowling, pressed into a single point and driven straight into Shigaraki's stomach.
The impact of that single point, Izuku's closed fist, would tear all breath from the villain's lungs, likely throwing him upwards towards the ceiling. Perhaps he would even hit the concrete above, only to drop down to the concrete below like a sack of potatoes. Izuku could see in his mind's eye a gasping, limp Shigaraki straining for breath on the floor, Kurogiri rushing to his side, the door behind him and Himiko free and open at last. Escape. Freedom.
Unfortunately for Shigaraki, however, Izuku's hand was not shaped in a fist.
His fingers were pointing straight upwards, all of them, aligned in a knife-hand. The tips punched right through Shigaraki's black shirt and then the flesh underneath. And then the physical material below that, the organs of the stomach. All the way through, until Izuku felt his arm graze the spine on the way out the back, and he stood upright, screaming with Tomura Shigaraki impaled on his left arm all the way to the elbow.
Shigaraki let out a wet, ragged cough, before Izuku ripped his arm free and let Shigaraki fall to the ground in a rapidly expanding pool of his own blood. The villain's face was locked in a rictus of surprise, shock even, and Izuku took a deep breath and stepped back. Behind him he could feel the portal close, Kurogiri standing at the end of the corridor with those luminescent yellow eyes wide. Izuku stared at him.
"Tell the rest that I'm done." he spoke, voice cold, quiet and wholly undeniable. "No more playing games. If they come after my friends, my family, ever again…"
He pointed a single bloodstained finger towards the dying Shigaraki. And with that last unspoken declaration, he turned and walked away. No portal blocked his path, no retort came down the hall. He walked away, each footstep echoing in a quiet hall, and when he came to the door it opened with a gentle creak into the open air. Himiko held tight to his back, still squeezing him.
"He's dead." she spoke the words as if trying to convince herself of just that, and Izuku nodded.
"He is." he agreed. "He won't hurt you ever again. Or the twins. Or anybody else. Never again."
He looked up at the sky. It was dark, late at night. Izuku staggered down the back alley, leaving a trail of blood behind him, and eventually found himself standing in front of a convenience store. He pushed the door open, the bell ringing. He heard the cashier start, looking up at him and then falling silent. She was a frumpy older woman, wearing a shapeless orange dress with streaks of grey in her brown hair. Izuku raised a hand in greeting, and the cashier stared at him in horror.
"Can I please use a phone?" he asked, and the woman handed over a cell phone without a single sound, staring at him unblinkingly all the while.
Izuku dialled the police dispatch and very calmly asked for Detective Naomasa, naming himself when asked. When the woman on the other end heard his name, she let out a sound of surprise, before shouting something to somebody else. Within moments his call was redirected, and the familiar warm tones of Detective Naomasa came over the line, coloured with a hint of panic.
"Midoriya, are you alright?" he asked, and Izuku took a moment to ponder that before answering.
"I just killed Tomura Shigaraki, my right arm is missing and I can't seem to muster up the feelings to care about either." he replied, voice a quiet deadpan. "So… maybe? I think I might go into shock soon."
Now it was Naomasa's turn to listen silently, and Izuku stood patiently, before realizing he was dripping blood all over the convenience store's tiled floor. He looked apologetically at the cashier, before walking towards the door again. Himiko pushed it open for him, and he stood outside so he could avoid making any more of a mess. Part of him wondered, distant and detached, if perhaps this wasn't something he should be taking with quite so much calm. He tried to ignore that thought for a time; he'd have to come back to it later.
"Midoriya, where are you right now?" Naomasa eventually asked, and Izuku dutifully looked at the address on the building and the nearby street sign, repeating both to him. "Alright, I'm dispatching a team and an ambulance to your location. Death Arms is in the area, he'll be coming to provide support if you need it. Stay on the line. Talk to me. Can you do that?"
He didn't sound panicked. Not quite, anyhow. He sounded concerned, Izuku was well associated with people on the phone with him sounding concerned. More than just concerned, even, downright worried. Maybe he had good reason to be. Izuku was more than aware this was a strange situation to be in. A potentially dangerous one too. And yet… he couldn't muster up any fear, or worry. Only that cool, dispassionate calm that made him wonder whether or not he was actually okay.
"I think so." Izuku replied, nodding. "I'm… I think I want to sit down. But I have to give this phone back to the lady in the convenience store. Or… I don't know, it's kinda bloody. Maybe I should buy her a new one to apologize."
Himiko giggled at that, and he heard Naomasa ask him over the phone who else was present. The question took a few moments to process, and then he nodded.
"Oh, that's just Himiko." he said. "She's just… hanging around."
He chuckled at his own joke, though it was a hollow sound. In the distance he could hear sirens, slowly growing closer. Himiko let her head fall into the crook of his neck, and he shrugged a little to help her nestle in more comfortably without really thinking about it. Naomasa was talking again, but the phone was loose in his hand and he couldn't really hear what he was saying at all.
"I think I'm going to pass out now." he announced, to nobody in particular.
And then he did.