With my arms out in front of me, I turn my hands into tiger paws. The hero killer dodges an ice blast from Todoroki, as I get ready to charge towards him. Todoroki shoots a stream of fire yet Stain dodges once again as a native American looking hero I didn't notice, Iida, and Midoriya slide down a slab of Todoroki's ice.
"I won't let you kill these guys, Hero Killer."
Todoroki says as fire burns on his left arm. Midoriya warns us as I give a fanged growl at Stain.
"Todoroki, Oritsu, don't let this guy see your blood! I think he controls his opponent's actions by ingesting their blood orally. That's how he got all of us!"
"Enough stalling! Let's just keep our distance and get this over with!"
I shout as two blades suddenly fly through the air, and I barely duck in time. One cuts Todoroki's cheek, and the other slices my forehead, right above my right eyebrow. Crying out in pain, blood starts to flow from the cut and drips over my right eye as the hero killer tries to attack Todoroki, but is blocked by an ice shield. Stain's sword twirls in the air as I watch it spin like an idiot. Stain launches towards me and yanks on the collar of my jacket, pulling me towards him as his long and slimy tongue reaches for my bleeding forehead. A large spew of fire blasts Stain away from me as my eyes widen and I almost fall backward. Another blast of ice blocks Stain as he slices through the ice with his sword.
I'm not just going to stand still! Do something already!
Leaping into the air, Stain is surprised yet tries to attack with his sword. I kick his sword out of his hands and grab onto his face with my left hand, digging my claws into his flesh. Harshly jerking my torso around, I aim to throw him but he stabs a knife into my left leg. Thankfully, the extra padding in my boot protected my leg, but I bite my tongue hard as the tip scrapes against my skin. The pain causes my grip to loosen, and he wriggles from my grasp. Landing on my feet, I stumble a little as I yank out the knife, blood dripping from the silver blade. I throw the knife behind me, hoping that Stain won't find it. Glaring intensely, Todoroki blasts more fire towards the hero killer as I ignore Iida's pleas for us to stop. I dodge a towering ice wall from Todoroki as the hero killer jumps nimbly from the ice spikes. Stain suddenly cuts through the ice effortlessly.
"To block your view against an opponent faster than you. What a foolish plan."
Todoroki glares at Stain as he prepares another fire attack, but two knives stab into his arm. My eyes widen at the sight of blood dripping down his arm, and I don't hesitate to run towards Stain as he tries to get another knife in Todoroki. I try to attack but Midoriya suddenly rockets through the air and punches Stain right in the gut as green electricity sparks and twitches around him.
Stain likes to stay in the air, so I'll have to stay in the air as well!
My tiger paws disappear as wings sprout on my back. I follow Midoriya and Stain into the air as brown feathers fall gently in the air. Stain lands as Midoriya gets out of the way in time for Todoroki to hit Stain with a wave of ice. Landing behind Stain, I glare at him as Todoroki and Midoriya stand in front of him, ready to attack at a moment's notice. I realize how fast my heart is beating as blood starts clouding the vision in my right eye. Using my jacket sleeve, I try to soak it up as I breathe heavily, and keeping a close eye on Stain. A confusing blur of green, fire, and ice surrounds me as I try dodging the flames and cold coming from Todoroki, and the incredibly fast movements from Midoriya. The heat from the fire and chill from the cold mess with my head as they each increase and decrease randomly, confusing me a bit as I try to focus.
I've hardly done a single thing this whole damn time! Why am I being such a deadweight?! Todoroki and Midoriya are fighting with their lives and all I'm doing is getting hurt! If I don't do something, they're gonna end up dead!
Very frustrated, I don't think before I fly into the air and carelessly dive towards Stain. My eyes suddenly widen as I realize how close his sword is to Todoroki's torso, and how close he is to slicing him right in half. Suddenly, Iida rushes to Todoroki's aid and stops the blade with his recipro burst, snapping the sword.
DAMN IT!
I can't stop myself before I tumble to the ground, blood from my forehead dripping onto the concrete. Another raging blast of fire from Todoroki blocks Stain, and I get up, trying to wipe away the blood once more, but to no avail. Stretching out my wings, I prepare to fly again, but I have nowhere to go with Todoroki taking up most of the alleyway with his fire and ice. A sudden knife shoots towards Todoroki, but Iida blocks it as a second one thunders towards me instead. I launch myself into the air to avoid it, but Stain is waiting for me. He jumps at me, pulling on my wing around as I shout in anger. He grabs a third knife and stabs it into my wing before I can block it. I hold in a shout of pain as he kicks me harshly against the alleyway wall. Falling to the ground, I groan as I feel bruises forming. I try to lift myself up, but my body suddenly freezes. He managed to lick my blood off the knife he stabbed me with, and now I'm even more defenseless. Cursing loudly, I struggle to keep my composure as the wound slowly oozes blood onto the floor and my clothes. With blood clouding my right eye, and my heart racing like there's no tomorrow, I can't lift my head up to look at the others. All I see is hard concrete and pooling blood as fire flickers out of the corner of my eye.
This can't be happening! Why did I allow myself to let this happen?! Now I can't move, I can't help Todoroki, and I might as well die right here! Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it all!
I try to close my eyes and just listen as the battle rages on without me. A sudden chill runs up my spine as everything goes silent.
"H-he's probably knocked out after all of that...right?"
Midoroya asks, his voice shaking. My body releases and I can move again as I immediately stand up and get a good look at a motionless Stain, laying over a pillar of ice. The bleeding from my forehead finally stops as I rub away the blood, allowing me to see out of my right eye again. I'm sure I look like a wreck as I walk towards them.
"I-I think he's dead, Midoriya. Despite his prowess, that should've killed him."
I say, holding in as much pain as I can. Even though the only thing I want to do right now is pass out and wake up magically healed, I have to look strong. Rolling my shoulders backward, Todoroki sighs in relief.
"Either way, let's restrain him and get out onto the street. Is there anything to tie him up with?"
Todoroki asks as he glances at Midoriya.
"Just in case, let's take all his weapons off him."
"Sounds good. But I'm pretty sure we should hurry the hell up. We don't want anyone else to lose any more blood. I'm looking at you Iida."
I point to Iida who's bleeding against the ice pillar as Midoriya stares with wide and worried eyes at me.
"S-speak for yourself! A-are you sure you're alright?"
Todoroki turns to me as his eyes widen too.
"I'll be fine, we just have to hurry this up."
Todoroki watches me with a careful eye as he melts the ice pillar, and Midoriya waits. My mind starts to wander as the two start taking Stain's weapons, and Native offers to carry MIdoriya seeing as he hurt his legs.
God everything hurts...and I feel so tired...Why can't the pro heroes get their asses over here quicker? Was there a communication error? Well, I guess I have to be patient but I'm anything but that at the moment.
Todoroki finishes binding Stain in ropes as we all start walking out of the alleyway. My wing aches as I walk, trying not to move them too much and praying they can be healed properly.
"Now, let's quickly get him to the police-"
Native starts to say before an old and short hero across the street interrupts.
"What-? Why are you here?"
"Gran Torino!"
Midoriya exclaims as the old hero unexpectedly jumps into the air and kicks MIdoriya in the face before landing in front of him, fuming.
"I thought I told you to stay seated on the bullet train!"
"Who's that?"
Todoroki asks.
"The hero I'm interning with, Gran Torino. But why?"
"I was told to come here all of a sudden. Well, I don't really know what's going on but I'm glad you're okay."
I clench my fists as I walk up to the old man.
"You want to know what happened? We just barely survived getting our asses kicked by the Hero Killer: Stain, that's what happened!"
A sudden small group of what looks like sidekicks run towards us.
"It's over here!"
"Endeavor told us there was a request for help here, but-"
A strange-looking sidekick asks. I glare and growl at them.
"We don't need help anymore since everyone took their sweet time getting here!"
Midoriya glances worriedly at me.
"O-Oritsu, b-be more respectful these are sidekicks-"
"Like I don't know that, idiot!"
The sidekicks look at us confused.
"Children?"
"Those injuries look serious! I'll call an ambulance right away!"
"H-hey, this is-"
A sidekick wearing a funny looking mask stutters as they all gasp when they notice Stain.
"Don't tell me...It's the hero killer?"
"What?"
"Call the police too!"
Their cluster of voices merge together as a female sidekick with a bandana around her neck walks up to me.
"Are you alright? How serious are your injuries?"
I shrug and roll my eyes, forgetting to keep my sarcasm at a low level.
"Oh I don't know, why don't you tell me?"
Iida then walks up to me, Midoriya, and Todoroki then bows to us. I turn to face him.
"You three...You were injured because of me. I am truly sorry. I couldn't...see anything...through my anger…"
I've been there before...
"I'm sorry too. Even though you were feeling so concerned, I didn't notice at all. Even though we're friends..."
Todoroki looks at Iida with a sympathetic gaze as I try and figure out what to say in response to Iida's apology.
"Pull yourself together. You're the class rep, right?"
Todoroki says as Iida rubs his face against his arm then looks at us.
"Yeah."
A moment of silence passes as I sigh, breathing in the cool nighttime air. Suddenly, Gran Torino shouts as a winged figure comes flying towards us.
"Get down!"
"A villain?!"
I protect my head with my arms, thinking only of myself at the moment. Wind rips through the air as I look up and realize the winged figure was a nomu with wings. And it's carrying Midoriya. As suddenly as it happened, it stops flying and starts to fall as Stain bursts from his ropes and dashes towards the nomu. With a swift stab in the head, the nomu comes crashing down with Stain and Midoriya. We all stand frozen in fear as my arms fall to my sides. My ears start ringing from the wind as I feel vibrations coming through the ground. Cupping my ears, I try to stop the ringing as I lock my eyes on Endeavor, who just appeared on the scene. Stain's mask slowly falls from his face as I feel my muscles tense up, and my eyes widen. A quick glance around, I notice everyone looks far more terrified than I am. The ringing in my ears stops as a bloody pocket knife slips from Stain's hand. He stands motionless with his jaw hanging and eyes white. I steady myself as I shake my head and try to look away. I notice Todoroki and Iida have lost their balance and sit on the ground, shaken by Stain's appearance. I sigh as I look up at the sky, tired and begging for a break from this rollercoaster of a day.
I wake up in a hospital bed at Hosu General Hospital, with my head throbbing and my back aching, with my wings missing.
They must've healed my wing yesterday and I put them away in my sleep...
Sitting up, I rub my temples with my fingers as I look around. The blinds are open and sunlight pours through the wide windows and my phone sits on a small mobile table next to me. Looking down, I remember that I'm wearing a dull blue pair of matching hospital pajamas, with casual pants and a robe-like top that ties around the waist. I groan as I pull the hospital sheets away and stand up. I can hardly feel any pain in my leg, and the only things that hurt is my head. When I reach up to feel it, there's a thick bandage covering the wound, and my hair is still in a ponytail, albeit a little messy. I decide to go find Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki to check in on how they're feeling after the Stain incident. After a quick thought, I grab my phone and put it into my pocket and stretch for a minute before heading towards the door. I don't bother to put on slippers as I walk bare-footed out of the room and into a hallway. Scanning the room numbers, I hear a familiar voice coming from one of them and I decide to open the door. Todoroki, Iida, and Midoriya stare at me as Midoriya smiles.
"Oh, you're awake!"
I groan a little as I lean against the doorway.
"Yeah. Looks like you three are awake as well. How are the injuries? My head has been feeling just wonderful lately."
I say sarcastically as Todoroki grins a little.
"We're alright. Glad to see you are as well."
Two people walk up behind me as I get out of the way, and I realize it's Gran Torino accompanied by a hero with a fish-looking helmet.
"Oh, you wounded kids are awake?"
Midoriya smiles as Gran Torino walks towards him.
"Gran Torino!"
"Kid, I've got a lot of complaints for you."
Midoriya frowns worriedly as Gran Torino scowls.
"Oh! S-sorr-"
"But before that, you've got a visitor."
I raise an eyebrow as everyone's attention turns to a well-dressed and tall figure that walks through the door. Making room for it, I walk away from the entrance and towards Todoroki as I turn back to the figure.
"Hosu's chief of police, Kenji Tsuragamae."
The dog-headed figure stares at us calmly as Iida and Todoroki stand up, probably to pay respect.
"Oh, you can stay seated. You four must be the U.A students who brought down the hero killer right?"
We nod as I silently panic for a moment in my head, seeing as I haven't been all that friendly with the police in recent years...
"Regarding the hero killer we arrested, he had fairly serious injuries with burns and broken bones, and is receiving treatment under strict guard. Since you are U.A students, I'm sure you already know that when superpowers were still becoming the norm, the police attached high importance to leadership and standards and made sure quirk's were not used as weapons. And then, the profession of hero emerged to fill that gap. For an individual's use of force and power that can easily kill others, actions that normally would be appropriate to denounce-the be accepted officially-is thanks to early heroes who followed the ethics and rules of the profession."
I cross my arms as I try not to get annoyed at this rambling speech.
"Even up against the hero killer, for uncertified individuals to cause injury with their quirks, without specific instruction from their guardians or supervisors is a clear violation of the rules. The four of you, and the pro heroes Endeavor, Manual, and Gran Torino must receive strict punishment."
What?! What kind of bullshit is that?!
"Wait a minute, if Iida hadn't done anything Native would've been killed."
Todoroki says angrily. I join in and clench my fists at my sides.
"And if Midoriya, Todoroki, and I hadn't shown up after that, Iida and Native would be dead."
"No one realized that the hero killer had appeared. Are you saying we should've followed the rules and watch people get killed?"
"W-w-wait, you two-"
"It doesn't matter that we were the ones to save them, anyone would've done something in that situation whether they're a coward or not!"
I glare at the chief, Todoroki, and I both pissed.
"Are you saying that as long as it turns out all right, it's okay to bend the rules?"
"Isn't it a hero's goddamn job to save people?!"
I shout as Todoroki grumbles under his breath.
"That is why you are not a full-fledged hero yet. Goodness, what are you two being taught by U.A and Endeavor?"
"You dog!"
My eyes widened at the insult that Todoroki just spat at the chief. Todoroki slowly marches towards him as Iida tries to coax him out of it. My hand twitches for a fight as Gran Torino stops Todoroki.
"Hang on a minute. Hear him out until the end."
Todoroki reluctantly stops in his tracks as I roll my eyes at Gran Torino.
"That was the official opinion of the police. And the punishment and such would only happen if this were all made public. If this were made public, you would probably be applauded by them, but you would not be able to escape punishment. On the other hand-this is a bit underhanded,-but if it was not made public, the burn scars would support Endeavor being the hero to save the day, and it would end there. Thankfully, there were very few witnesses. This violation could be crushed here. But this would also mean no one would know about your good judgment or achievements. Which do you prefer?"
Looking up, I glare at the chief.
"Personally, I don't want to be the one to find a fault with promising young ones because of one big mistake."
Manual smiles in relief.
"Either way, we will need to take responsibility for being negligent in our supervisory duties."
Iida walks towards Manual and bows, apologizing. I saunter up to Todoroki and lean close to him so I can whisper into his ear.
"I think this is bullshit, but I say we take the second option. We may not get the credit we deserve, but at least we're not gonna get punished for it."
Todoroki nods as we both bow. Although I do it rather reluctantly.
"Please take care of it."
Todoroki says, still partially glaring at the chief. I stand up straight as the chief continues.
"Because of the unfairness of adults, you will not receive the praise you would have gotten, but at least as someone who also protects the peace,"
The chief bows to us, which almost surprises me.
"-I can say thank you."
Todoroki mumbles.
"Please start with that next time."
Sitting on my hospital bed, I grimace as a nurse tends to the cut on my forehead.
"You are healing very well. Quicker than we thought if I'm being honest."
I stay silent as she dabs a cotton pad with disinfectant onto the cut. I bite my tongue from the sting as she pulls out a thick bandage and sticks it onto my forehead with gentle hands. She smiles as she tosses away the cotton pad.
"Feel better?"
I nod as she hums and walks out. Sighing, I glance at my phone. Picking it up, I notice that I got a text from an unknown number. I'm confused, but I check it anyway.
Unknown number
Hey smart ass
Don't you dare fcking ignore me
It's from Bakugo? And he sent it last night? Why would he text me? More importantly, how did he get my number...?
I lazily write up a response as he starts typing rather quickly. But instead, my phone starts ringing and vibrating in my hand. Confused, I answer it nonetheless.
"Hello?"
"It took you long enough, dumbass."
Sighing, I roll my eyes as I respond with attitude.
"The hell do you want? And how'd you get my number?"
"Your aunt. My witch of a mother met her on the train and decided it was a good idea to get me your number."
"Well, that was a stupid ass decision."
"Tell me about it."
I realize this is the perfect time to ask him about the yearbooks, that I had in fact forgotten about until now. I had also forgotten that it wouldn't have made a difference either way and that it was pointless.
"It's a weird coincidence, but recently my aunt found my old yearbooks from junior high and I saw you in one of them. This is an odd question, but I want to know if you remember me. The cover said, 'Aldera Junior High'. Ring any bells in that empty head of yours?"
He pauses.
"Why the hell would I remember you? I've been trying to forget that place of rejects ever since UA started."
"I'm just asking, dumbass."
"Don't call me a dumbass you shitty wannabe."
"Whoops, looks like I'm losing connection. I'm getting disconnected. Goodbye, goldie locks. Fucking jackass..."
Bakugo shouts angrily at me for calling him "Goldie locks" from the other end as I pull my phone away from my ear. I laugh to myself as I hang up. Turning off my phone, I put it back and stare out the window. Birds sit on telephone lines, cars speed by on the road, and pedestrians walk on the sidewalks. The clouds slowly crawl their way across the sky as the sun peaks through like a stream running through sand. It has a strangely calm feeling about it.
Why do I get the feeling that he was lying? And if he was, why? It doesn't make sense to me... But then again, he's got his own stupid reasons for everything...