Chapter 59: out of control

"I'm almost there!" Izuku yelled, stretching his arm further. Just a bit, just a tiny bit closer-

Fire. He braced himself, shielded his face with his arm and sailed through the burning wall, unable to stop in time. His iron soles hit the ground with a clank, he slid across the street until tripping rather ungracefully on the curb. The villain he had chased on the other hand managed to stop in time, only to be surrounded by walls of fire. Towering in the middle of the street, Endeavour crossed his arms and warned his foe, "Give up. Your body can only withstand this much heat for around two minutes before you'll pass out."

There he went again. Izuku pushed himself up, trying his best to not let the disappointment show. Shouto landed not too far away, steam rose from his left leg. He couldn't see Kacchan but heard him bark somewhere to the right. They had been so close. If only he was a tiny bit faster, they would have caught the villain before the number one!

"Deku, put the fire out."

What was he, Endeavour's personal fire extinguisher? Was the pro going to use him to clean up after all his fights from now on? Nevertheless, Izuku confirmed and went to work. The freckled teen focussed, clenched his fist, and the fire was gone. He was getting fairly good at this.

They waited for the police to show up, Endeavour exchanged a few words with them, nodded at the press but ignored them otherwise. As soon as he turned his back on them, the interns knew it was time to continue patrol. Endeavour strode past them, not even halting when whatever message was displayed on his phone caused him to frown.

"What is it?" Shouto asked but got no answer. He glared at his father who simply tucked the device back into his belt pocket. The three interns exchanged a glance. Before Shouto could speak up again, they all saw it; Far to the east, halfway across the city, a dark mass ascended into the air, swirled around almost beautifully, before it gathered into sharp spikes and dashed down, disappearing between the buildings. A horrible thought crossed Izuku's mind, rendering him unable to breathe. It couldn't be. The shadowmen…?

"Nightmare," Endeavour corrected him unknowingly.

Nightmare? The Nightmare? Tokoyami-kun mentioned he had run into the villain just last week during his internship time, but that had been multiple cities across the country. What was the villain doing here?

Someone screamed, windows crashed, a car was being hauled up in the air.

"He must be using an enhancement drug! His attacks aren't meant to be that strong!" One of the heroes screamed while forcing a tree to grow large enough to block the flying car. How could there be a dozen of heroes, including the number one, and there was still so much chaos?

Izuku's brain did what it was best at: Analysing the situation. They were up against Nightmare, a villain with a quirk called Sand of Fear. He could read people's deepest and darkest fears and turn his sand into that shape. By why was it acting that randomly? Could it be that he lost control? And more importantly, why and how?

Izuku jumped up in the air where he let flames burst out of his right arm, it sent him flying to the left, dodging an incoming wave. He landed on a small balcony, knocking over two flowerpots. His eyes wandered across the scene. Most civilians were luckily already out of the area, but there were still figures stumbling across on the pavement. Endeavour had sent them to evacuate anyone left, blockades had already been set up. The teen got ready to drop himself back down to the ground, but a familiar face stared back up at him. Wasn't that Glitch? Wasn't she supposed to be training with Hikari?

The woman, not even wearing her hero costume but her workout clothes, hectically waved her hands into one direction. Her words didn't reach him over the wailing of the sirens, so he leaned over the railing, eyes narrowed, trying to make out whatever she was pointing at without success. The ground was littered with holes, debris lay everywhere. It wasn't until more sand spikes flew his way and he lowered himself to the next balcony below that his eyes found a dark figure not too far away, barely avoiding one of the attacks. Glitch's behaviour suddenly made sense.

"Hikari!" he screamed over the chaos. She didn't hear him. Praying that nothing too bad had happened since they split up, Izuku took a leap, then another one. His landing was slippery, but he eventually reached his friend. She was on the floor, struggling to get back up. Aware of the next attack closing in Izuku wrapped his arm around her torso and grabbed her legs, he barely pushed himself off before sand spikes perforated the space they had just occupied. After missing the target, the sand changed direction and soared towards them once more, leaving Izuku no choice but to flick a finger, using air pressure to repel the blue dust. The force of his own move tossed them back and sent him crashing into a concrete wall. All air was knocked from his lungs. He slid down, luckily not from high up, but the weight of two people still made it quite painful. Black dots danced across his vision and he missed the next attack. All he heard was a strained whimper before thinking he had gone blind for a second. He forced his eyes back open, finding a golden shield in front of them.

"It's alright, you can let go! I'll melt the sand with my fire!" he cried over the noise. If Endeavour could do that, so could he. Izuku wasn't exactly sure Hikari had heard him but nevertheless shielded her face with one hand while raising the other and started counting down. As soon as he hit one, he activated burst, not a millisecond too early. Heat blasted into his face, causing his eyes to water until he had to close them. He heard a bubbling sound and soon felt the onslaught cease. That was it! If they melted all of Nightmare's sand, he had no means of attack!

"I-Izuku…" Hikari coughed in his arms. After making sure there was no sand in close proximity, he placed the girl against her wall. Blood was running down her face from a laceration across her hairline, more dropped out of her nose. Purple handprints littered her face and neck.

"What happened? You're hurt-"

"N-not hurt," she said, despite the blood, "just m-my head… N-Nightmare… He was in my h-head…"

His mind went into overdrive. "Nightmare? Did he do this to you?"

The girl flinched. "He, Coldhands… Tomomo…"

It couldn't be. No, not again. "Dragon…?"

"He took s-some quirk e-enhancing drug, so he w-would be able to g-get i-into my head, but h-his quirk went wild..." Hikari stammered. That explained a lot. Izuku clenched his teeth.

"Don't worry about it, the pros are taking care of it. I'll bring you to the medics and then tell them what you said, okay?"

She looked all but happy but Izuku didn't leave her a chance to disagree. He couldn't bear to see her hurt like this, again, it cost him so much control not to freak out. He turned around and came to his knees. "Can you get on my back? It's easier to move like that."


"Useless bastards," Endo Tomomo huffed, hiding among the crowd. The spider bitch had knocked out Coldhands and he didn't doubt for a second that the heroes had already taken him into custody, thanks to that other woman. Nightmare's quirk had gone berserk all of a sudden, almost killing all of them, including himself, it was only a matter of time until the heroes got to him. But Tomomo couldn't let this happen. He couldn't afford to return empty handed. Nightmare had the info they needed, so all he had to do was to get that idiot back. He glared at the strange bullet on his palm.

One shot.

But who to hit? Which one would please Dragon most? Which one would leave the biggest mark? He wanted to play with his old friend a while longer, so she was out of question, but there were other options. The number one was here, but he wasn't suicidal enough to try that. His son maybe? Or one of the other kids?

Of course. How could he forget? Dragon wouldn't approve, he would be furious. But Tomomo knew how to make it look like an accident. A self-satisfactory grin plastered on his face, the villainous teen pulled the gun from his belt and loaded the bullet. No one spared him a glance as he walked towards the battlefield in all this chaos.


It was unbearably hot, even for the fire quirk user. It was everywhere. The sharp dark glass melted with the background, creating dangerous traps. Izuku's costume was torn, his gloves had taken the most damage. Through the battlefield he finally spotted the blue blinking of the sirens. Relief washed over him. He squeezed the arm wrapped around his neck, reassuring both Hikari and himself, "We're almost there. Nothing's going to-"

When he heard the shot, it was too late. The student whirled around, staring directly into a steaming muzzle less than ten meters away. Endo Tomomo stared at him, eyes wide in surprise.

He shot me.

Izuku slapped his hand to his chest, felt something stuck there and pulled until it flung to the ground with a high clink. He tapped his own chest, not feeling any pain, not finding any sign of an entrance wound, despite a small trail of blood running down his suit. What…?

A sudden loss of weight on his back caused him to lose his balance, he felt a push and staggered. Izuku whirled around as soon as he gained back his footing. What was Hikari doing? She was in no condition to walk-

"Oh, sorry 'bout that! This one was meant for you. But whatever, spares me an awkward talk with your dad."

Izuku didn't even look at Tomomo. He took a step forward.

"Hikari?"

"Stay back!" The girl cried out, terror on her face. What…? Something cracked underneath his foot. He turned to the ground and found a small vial, half filled with a neon orange liquid, and a needle attached to its front. A few drops of blood surrounded the cylindrical object. The gears started turning.

"Hi-"

"DON'T COME CLOSER!" The girl cried and backed up further. No. This couldn't be happening. Izuku wanted to follow, but an arm wrapped around his middle.

"Don't be stupid!" Glitch hissed, anchoring him in place, not caring that he struggled.

"But-!"

"She only got part of the dose, right?" He couldn't think, but he nodded. The heroine turned to the front, "Did you hear that, little spider?"

Hikari had brought even more distance between them. Something seemed to click. Her desperate expression turned into something more determined, she tore at the belt holding her glove in place hard enough it looked like she was trying to squeeze off her own arm. She is trying to stop the drug from spreading further, Izuku realized.

"You're doing great!" Glitch encouraged her, before turning back to him, "Deku, take that bullet and bring it to Endeavour!"

"What?!"

"There's nothing you can do here, go do your job! I'm taking care of this!"

"I can't leave!"

"GO!" This time, the order came from Hikari. Her face was twisted, she clenched her teeth, already feeling the effects of the drug. "Izuku, please…!"

Dread slowly creeped up his body, his limbs felt cold. It didn't feel real. Izuku closed his eyes and shook his head. Only after Glitch urged him once again, he broke out of the heroine's grip and picked the bullet up. He needed to focus.

As a hero, you can't let your personal feelings get in the way of your work, Aizawa-sensei's words rang in his head. It hurt so much, tears stung in his eyes. One last time he dared to turn to his friend and screamed, "Hang in there! I'll be right back!"


Hikari could feel the drug wander from her lower arm up to her shoulder and down to the tips of her fingers. Opposing to the burning feeling Trade had left, this one seemed to freeze her from the inside, pushing everything to the outside.

"The police set up a blockade!" Glitch was still there, standing far enough she had to shout for her words to reach. "Move down the road, if you can, there shouldn't be any people left! Don't worry about Nightmare!"

She was going to explode. Glitch knew that, so the pro sent her away, somewhere where no one could get hurt. Hikari heard herself sob, the aching in her head was unbearable, she had to close her eyes, but she moved. Somehow, she managed to stumble further away from the raging battle.

"Don't worry, I won't leave you," Glitch encouraged her. She was following in safe distance.

Hikari heard something pop. Her glove ripped and she could feel the particles leak out, pushed by the icing feeling. The girl pressed on. Two of her spider legs unwillingly burst out of her back, twitching uncontrollably. Exhaustion set back in.

One more step. A bigger part of her glove tore. This time, she felt the pain at her skin ripping. More particles flowed, and with them, every bit of life seemed to drain from her arm, leaving back nothing but a cold, empty shell. Hikari whimpered, her knees shook. Another spider leg followed, but she dragged herself further and further, not hearing Glitch's calls anymore. She moved, her right arm already hanging limply from her side, not even realizing how the swirling of the particles around her grew more violent.

Recovery Girl had always warned her about overusing her quirk, fearing too much exhaustion could cause her organs to shut down. It didn't matter that she only got half of the dose, did it? The state her body was in… She was probably going to die anyway.

Hikari halted. What sense was there in holding it back? She couldn't control it, couldn't prevent it from happening. Glitch should know that. Did that mean… Did Glitch send Izuku away so he didn't have to see her dying?

There was no way out. She didn't register part of her upper arm exploding, snapping the belt in half, letting the remains of the drug spread through the rest of her body. The sudden lack of energy forced her down to her knees. She was really going to die, wasn't she? Hikari expected to be okay with that. She had never had any issues with dying. Back on that roof at Seishin she even thought about taking that leap, but now… Why was she so desperate? Why did she struggle?

They were going to be sad. She didn't want to worry her friends, or Aizawa-sensei or the rest of the teachers. Endeavour and the agency would probably get in trouble, too. Didn't she already cause enough problems? Would somebody tell Neko? Hikari didn't want them to be sad. She didn't want to make Tsuyu cry again. She had promised Mina to help her study for the upcoming math exam, and she never broke any promises. She still hadn't mastered that piece Kyouka taught her on that stupid Ukulele. Also, Satou hadn't shown her how to make cupcakes yet. She hadn't finished the book Tokoyami lent her, she owed Bakugou another rematch and Momo some money for all the snacks she bought but never got the chance to eat…. Sudden awareness hit her.

Hikari didn't want to die. For the first time, she wanted to live. She wanted to experience what it meant passing her first year at U.A., she wanted her protection program to end so she could go out and have fun with her friends, she wanted to plant those flowers with Eri-chan and Hagakure, she wanted another match with Shinsou, she wanted to experience what it meant growing up. How could she help other people like her if she was dead?

There was so much pain. Hikari squirmed, she screamed. Her insides were frozen, dead, while the rest of her life seemed to be pushed to the outside.

She didn't want to die. She didn't want to leave the people she learnt to love, despite never being taught what it meant to love herself. It was ironic, really. She remembered how she had practically begged Izuku not to leave her back at the infirmary after her brother had been arrested, and now she was the one leaving him behind. If only she could have at least…


He put out two more fires along the way, not even caring about the shocked outcry at them turning green. Izuku found a little boy crying behind a car, forced a smile onto his quivering lips and picked him up, told him everything was going to be fine and carried him over to the other side of the blockade. The boy called him a hero.

Soon he was in the middle of the battlefield again. Shouto spotted him and called out, clearly worried about his disappearance, but Izuku couldn't answer. He helped keep the sand at bay which had grown significantly lesser. Endeavour shot off another wave of flames hot enough, most of the heroes had to run for cover. At this rate, Izuku wouldn't make it to him until the battle ended.

A gust of wind blew over them. The current holder of One for All barely managed to shield his eyes before tiny shards of midnight blue glass rained down on them. They were followed by larger splinters forcing the heroes back. Shouto created a dome of ice, protecting as many people as possible. Where did that come from?

"Some of the melted sand has been released! Prepare for another attack!"

And it came. Something dark tore through Shouto's ice like it was nothing, it didn't even look like Nightmare's previous attacks. Izuku wasn't left any time to ponder. Blue sand was everywhere, it swirled around, quickly gaining strength, he had to cover his eyes and pulled his mouth guard up, until…

Nothing.

One second, a dust tornado ripped at his clothes, the next, sand lifelessly trickled down, covering the street in a palm deep layer and slipping into the smallest of openings in their suits. The heroes stood there, confused, until one of them dared to speak up, "Where is he?"

Nightmare was gone. So many heroes were present, but the villain had disappeared in front of their eyes. They almost had him. If his sand hadn't been freed, if they hadn't been distracted by that surprise attack…

Realisation hit him. Izuku knew why the black stuff hadn't looked like it came from Nightmare. His stomach turned.

The heroes went into motion, splitting up into multiple search parties. He heard Burnin call the interns, but he couldn't react. When he finally managed to turn his head to them and saw the concern on their faces, his body moved on its own, away from them. He kept running, until his steps turned into jumps. He was supposed to meet Endeavour, but he couldn't. Not now that the numbness of the shock slowly but surely faded and was replaced by the hot, painful stabs of reality. Right now, he didn't even care that Nightmare had escaped.

She had taken the bullet for him. Hikari had been shot with Overload. Just like Nokobiri. The thought alone made him sick, the belt pouch the bullet was in seemed to be filled with stones so heavy, they threatened to tear him down to his knees. Nokobiri's image from this morning was still clear in front of his inner eye, it had been painful to look at, and he was the only person known to have survived the drug.

Izuku couldn't breathe. Hikari. He quickened his pace. Abstract forms, some flat and wide, others almost as tall as the buildings around graced the streets like postmodern statues. Some were made of ice, others of dark, obsidian like glass, all leftovers of the battle. The further he got, the more had been neatly cut apart. Izuku only knew one quirk that could cut through everything like butter.

Glitch's distinctive shock of hair was impossible to miss. Izuku landed and closed the last bit of distance by running. The heroine was kneeling on the ground. She raised her head. Her body was littered with cuts despite her quirk enabling her to phase through things. How could something even get her in such a state? It was a question he shouldn't have asked. Tearing his gaze from the woman he dared to move his eyes to the hectic movement in front. All he saw was a group of busy paramedics doing their job, he couldn't even get a look at the girl, he had no idea what state she was in – his eyes landed on another figure hurrying towards the group, a rectangular box in their hands.

Nothing felt real anymore. Izuku didn't even notice how Glitch reached for his forearm and squeezed it.

"Oi, NERD! The fuck you think you're doing running away like that!" Bakugou barked. Izuku, still in denial, turned around, finding his childhood friend, Shouto and Burnin standing in the reception. They all only seemed to have scratches. Behind them, Endeavour was animatedly talking, or rather screaming, at a few of his sidekicks.

"Midoriya…" Shouto sounded worried, his eyes were wide. It wasn't until Izuku looked down on himself, finding the previously red, now dried and brown trail running down his suit, that he realized why that was.

"It's… Not mine," was all he could say. Glitch squeezed his shoulder.

"The bullet."

The bullet. He hadn't even been able to do that. The freckled teen passed his friends, his weird behaviour alerting them. He didn't stop until he stood right in front of the number one hero who had no other choice than to glare down at him. Izuku wordlessly collected the bullet from his belt pouch and held it up. The glass had a crack, but nothing seemed to have leaked.

"What is that?"

"Overload."

The whole agency seemed to freeze. Endeavour narrowed his eyes. Glitch caught up to them, slightly limping thanks to a deep cut in her tight, and confirmed, "He's telling the truth."

The number one took the bullet from Izuku's palm and inspected it.

"It's only half a dose but we need to get it analysed as fast as possible," Glitch urged. Endeavour's steel blue eyes examined her, then Izuku. He straightened his back and announced, already turning on his heels, "I'll take care of it. See to the rest."

Was that all he was going to say? He didn't even ask…

"Midoriya," Shouto spoke his name again, dread underlining his tone. So, he figured. "Where is Shikogane?"

He couldn't breathe again. He had tried so hard to keep it together, but his walls came crumbling apart. He couldn't move, couldn't look up, couldn't turn to his friends. He left her. How could he? He shouldn't have given in, he should have stayed, he hadn't been able to help the heroes anyway…

"That's it for you, boys. Go get yourself checked out. I'll organise you a ride back to U.A." Glitch pushed him towards the hallway until Bakugou grabbed him by the collar to dragged him down to the locker rooms. As soon as the door closed behind them, Izuku broke down.


A/N: The longer I work on this chapter, the worse it gets, so I decided to post it anyway before I sink into another hole orz.
Sidenote: Tomomo is very jealous because Dragon still cares so much about his son, even though Izuku is a hero and trying to stop him. That was his subconscious motivation to choose Izuku as a target despite having to face Dragon's wrath afterwards.

Ryu: I'm going to say it again… Thanks for the review! I was aiming for more of a "facepalm" situation where things were obvious enough, you'd get mad at the character for being so stupid, but it seems I need to work harder next time.
PS: It's an honour and a pleasure!
PPS: I'm sorry, but there's no stopping in sight. Thanks will be given where thanks are needed.