During the time it took for Michaela and Todoroki to close the distance to the Midoriya and the others, things had taken a turn for the worse. Aizawa had finished off the lackeys and run for Shigaraki. After what couldn't have been more than two blows, Aizawa jumped back and Mel saw that something was horribly wrong with their teacher's elbow. It was as if all the skin there was just…missing. Mel skid to a stop next to the group of students. A quick glance showed they were all paralyzed in fear. Even Midoriya, who had been keeping it together moments ago was entirely trapped in his own head. She could practically see the smoke coming out of his ears for how hard he was thinking.

That bird-faced monstrosity—Noumu-lumbered behind Shigaraki and Aizawa. Aizawa, in the poor shape he was in, didn't notice. She couldn't tell if her classmates processed it at all. They were all so strong during practice and in sparring that for them to just stop here, in this crisis, watching while they were in the greatest danger of their lives, it didn't make sense.

Michaela felt as if the world around her had paused and her classmates, and even her teacher, were frozen in place. Not the noumu, who raised a heavy hand to crash down on their teacher. Michaela's fingers deftly pulled a blackened twig from her pouch, weaving and casting witch bolt in one moment. A beam of crackling blue energy lanced from her palm directly into the noumu's face, and stayed there. The noumu groaned in a crackling voice but did no more to react as its hand slammed down on Aizawa-sensei's head and held his arm in the other. The snap of something was audible. The students next to her went even more rigid.

Shigaraki's eyes followed the sustained lightning arc between her and the noumu. The noumu shook his head furiously as if that would cast aside the attack. No, it was a minute long spell, as long as she could keep focus. She didn't think so highly of herself to think she could fight the creature but she sure as hell could distract from the prey it had prone beneath him.

"Would you look at that," Shigaraki said on seeing the party of students gathered. Midoriya, Tokoyami, Asui, Todoroki, and Michaela. "Looks like the NPCs have stopped glitching!"

Michaela's jaw opened in shock despite the terrible situation they'd found themselves in. She'd never been accused of being an NPC in her life! First an Extra, now an NPC, where were these entitled assholes coming from? She burned to throw a firebolt at him but she couldn't lose concentration on witch bolt. "I'll show you 'Playable!'" Michaela yelled through gritted teeth, funneling all her frustration into the lightning arcing at the mutant bird creature, into a secondary blitz of lightning.

The edges of a grin showed from behind the hand on his face." Young heroes, always in such a hurry to die," he said, charging straight at the group of students. They had yet to twitch a muscle, though Midoriya looked like he was popping blood vessels in his brain.

Michaela could see just past Shigaraki's approaching form to the noumu and her teacher. The noumu was using his spare arm to try and bat away the lightning. She needed just another three seconds before it caused damage again, and that was three seconds that their teacher, their only chance of survival, wasn't being ripped limb from limb.

A moment later, she felt the pressure of a hand closing around her face like someone rather aggressive would palm a grapefruit. Up this close she could see wide eyes staring her down beneath a hand, similarly, she supposed, to what he was seeing himself. The hand on his face was close enough she could smell the formaldehyde, she could see the long puffy scratches of irritated skin on his neck. The dryness of the palm pressed across her face, pressing on her nose.

It was four seconds since her last action, she just needed to hold out—any grabbing or writhing she did before then would be ineffectual. She wasn't breaking a grapple either, she'd have to give up her witch bolt. Besides a twitch of her eye, she stayed stony-faced. Judging by the speed Aizawa had taken damage to his elbow, she should be able last long enough for her turn to come, give anyone a chance to pull this in their favor. It wouldn't scar. She hadn't scarred since she'd taken a Class. Commoners were one thing, adventurers' healing was superhuman in comparison. It immediately started to burn on several points of her face, starting as extreme itchiness and skyrocketing into sheer pain.

"You're just going to let me use my quirk on your face? You're a funny girl," the villain said. One second…She felt the skin over her cheekbones and above her eyes scald as the skin started to disintegrate—and pop! the pain was sharp enough, she had underestimated—the lightning fizzled out of her hand. She couldn't see Aizawa beyond Shigaraki and she didn't want to. It'd kill him. It was over.

Then it stopped all at once. At first, she wondered who else's quirk could stop Shigaraki because she thought there was no way it was their teacher. But even through the spaces between Shigaraki's fingers, she could see the horror and shock on the student's faces—it hadn't been them. She registered the disappointment in Shigaraki's eyes but she imagined the look in hers was worse. Shigaraki looked back at Aizawa-sensei in surprise, muttering something she didn't process. Beyond him, she could now see Aizawa was staring intently at Shigaraki, his eyes glowing red beyond the blood pouring down his face, hair standing on end.

She'd lost concentration on her witch bolt. Her best card to play, one she could use as long as she needed to, just because she'd taken a few points of damage. Yes, losing the spell was harder than sinking her glowing dagger into Shigaraki's stomach.

Maybe the villain had expected more panic and less opportunity from the freshman student, but whatever it was, he didn't see it coming. Neither did Aizawa, or the other students. Michaela reached out and held the Shigaraki's lower back firmly with one hand, joining the host of hands already clutching the villain's frame. In her other hand, she pushed the dagger to the hilt into his stomach. The conjured golden blade shattering back into light on being used. She distantly heard the Noumu roar and something slam into the ground—hard.

At the same moment, Shigaraki jerks back just a hair's width away from being hit in the face by a blur of blue—it's Midoriya's punch. Michaela backs up several feet, grateful to have someone interpose. Midoriya's definitely a Fighter, maybe I should keep him around... she starts to think, then the noumu is on Midorya and his punch is completely subverted. The mutation's reaction is akin to if Michaela had tried punching it.

Michaela feels arms gently wrap around her bicep, and try to pull her back. She looks at Asui, who is shaking slightly. "Let's get you back, gero."

Michaela looks at the frog girl for a moment, wondering what she must look like, before shaking her head and firmly pushing Asui away. "My health's fine." It was true, she was above two-thirds of her health. It was the manner in which it happened that was the worst part.

Asui didn't look convinced, but in the end, it wasn't Michaela's job to convince Asui, and certainly not in the middle of a battle. She could see the unconscious heap that was their teacher. "You and Tokoyami need to get Aizawa. Or he doesn't have a chance."

Finally, Todoroki slammed his hand down—always the same hand and foot, as if his quirk only worked on one side of his body—and shot off a dozen ice spikes, encapsulating Noumu's legs and arms. The creature roars as he rips his arm, then another, out of the ice. Asui and Tokoyami went for Aizawa, picking up the unresponsive form between them and sprinting away.

Michaela moved near Todoroki to stay out of his way for the next wave of freeze. The flames of another firebolt flickered at Mel's fingertips. The cold blast surged forward again, barely skirting Midoriya, who didn't even notice them.

Then Todoroki looked at Michaela. "Why do you use fire?"

Michaela's eyebrow quirked as she shot off the firebolt. She'd hoped to hit Shigaraki, but Noumu stepped in front and the attack singed slightly but caused Noumu to roar again. 'Bingo,' as they would say on this plane.

Todoroki pointedly looked at her shoulder. Her sleeve had burned away in the conflagration zone, revealing the edge of uneven, pink skin, which started near the point of her shoulder and continued hidden across her shoulder blade. For a moment, she wished she had anything of a sleeve left to cover it.

"I could tell how much you hate fire in the conflagration zone, I didn't need to see a scar to tell. So why are you using it?"

Michaela paused preparing another firebolt, the magical approximation of the real thing playing at her fingers.

"What do you mean? It clearly hates it so I have to use it. Whether I want to or not isn't important right—" Michaela freezes. Todoroki was the son of Endeavor, he only used one side of his body for the ice, Michaela watches a piece of ice break and melt off his skin, entranced. It's less than an instant but it feels much longer before she says, "If you—you have both fire and ice, being afraid or hating it isn't a good reason. If you're afraid of being burned, harness it to fight back—if you hate it because it hurt your family, control it to protect others. But if it's something other than that…" Michaela paused to reign in her temper. If she pushed him too far, it was a lost cause. "You need to decide what our lives are worth."

Todoroki opened his mouth to respond. He never got there because a shadow appeared over them.

They had both lost focus just a single moment in the heat of their debate and with only Midoriya up close to distract Noumu, it'd taken his chance. The ice shattered completely, the Noumu reaching out, closing the distance between himself and the two fire-users and swatting a giant, warped hand up. In her reaction, Michaela sent up shield, a barrier just in front of her in hopes of stopping the blow. It shattered the barrier, slamming into Mel and Todoroki, sending them flying and rolling fifteen feet away.

Mel felt the sensation of leaving her stomach behind and the side of her head acquainting with a torn-up slab of concrete stopping her momentum completely and leaving her prone. Then she registered the pain of Noumu's punch. Ten bludgeoning damage in one hit. She was barely conscious.

She distantly registered Midoriya was charging over and yelling. Idiot. He was just going to end up like the rest of them unless he had some ace up his sleeve. Still, her turn had come up, and concussed as she might be, she would never in her right mind let a turn pass her by. She looked at Todoroki, sprawled out ten feet away in a heap regretfully, stood up on unsteady feet, and fired another firebolt. Miss. She narrowed her eyes, trying to re-assess. Aim way off.

Midoriya got to her side and Mel shoved his arm away when he tried to steady her.

"Are you alright, Greyfen?"

"I can still fight, I just can't take another hit or I'm out. Don't suppose you have any tricks up your sleeve? Maybe a cleric spell?"

He shook his head, frowning at her. "No, my quirk doesn't work against him."

Michaela resisted the urge to shake him and yell 'THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE?' in his face. From the way the boy balked and stepped slightly back, he saw it on her face.

She redirected her anger to the monster in front of them, keeping her eyes trained on it this time. "I'm out of spells. I only have cantrips left. They won't do a thing against it."

Midoriya nodded bravely at her. She couldn't see Asui and Tokoyami anymore, so they were succeeding in at least giving them a head start, but at this point, it was hard to feel optimistic.

Midoriya's mouth flattened. "I'm going back in."

Michaela had opened her mouth to respond and the Noumu was on them again. That's how outclassed she had been in speed this whole battle. She barely saw the punch coming. But Midoriya's power was already surging through his arm, connecting with the Noumu, then nothing-again.

How Noumu managed to smile with the two brain cells it had to rub together was a wonder to Mel, but ultimately it was nothing compared to what followed.

Far above them, a set of doors slammed open. In the smoke, a towering figure appeared. It was…she felt her knees go weak. It was All Might. He wasn't smiling like in the videos she'd seen of him. His mouth was set in a grimace of determination as he cast aside his yellow pinstripe suit jacket.

"Have no fear, my students, for I AM HERE."

-Michaela, you're not a shounen protagonist, if you try to give long-winded motivational speeches mid-battle, you will get Got.

-With the disintegrate, Michaela took a very cold, calculated decision on trying to keep witch bolt up. She knew her best shot was to keep Aizawa alive. She knew that even if the damage was on her face, it wouldn't be more effective than anywhere else on her. She assumed that it would take at least 3 turns to kill her, with her death saves. She knew that her dagger would be all but a sure hit and probably enough to get Shigaraki off her, she just needed a full round. She was fully in the damage-control mode.

Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think!