Battle for Survival

Shigaraki was a menace to deal with. Whatever he had done to his body, he now had several quirks and insane physical strength, as well as a healing factor… More Noumu than human. Even with Aizawa erasing his quirks, his physical strength alone was still superior to even the Noumu Enji had fought before. He seemed closer to All Might's power than to Enji's. On top of that Aizawa could only keep his quirk going for so long before he needed to blink. Enji knew it was only a few seconds between Aizawa blinking and then reactivating his quirk, but those seconds felt like an eternity to Enji. An eternity in which Enji was thrown around like a doll.

Aizawa almost exclusively focusing on Shigaraki meant the other League members had free usage over their quirk most of the time. And Enji couldn't deal with them and Shigaraki at once, which left him almost entirely defenseless to Twice and Touya's attacks. At least Spinner, Toga, and Mr. Compress were occupied playing an annoying game of whack-a-mole with Shrinking Girl. Her tactic of keeping them busy was a surprisingly successful method to buy time – sadly it didn't do anything to successfully take any of the villains down, and sooner or later, Enji knew she would run out of steam.

Enji ducked under one of Shigaraki's hands. In a desperate attempt to avoid the decaying quirk, he couldn't defend himself against the villain's elbow against his side. Grunting in pain, Enji heard his ribs creak as he was thrown across the ravaged warehouse.

He was back on his feet immediately, as he felt the searing heat of Touya's flames. Fleeing into the air, the flames missed him almost completely, leaving charred concrete behind. Shigaraki caught him in the air, reaching with his outstretched palm for Enji. With a burst of fire, Enji incinerated the limb.

"ARGH!" Shigaraki screeched more in anger than in pain, as he evaded Enji's next attack. The fact that he wasn't regenerating immediately, meant that Erasure was active.

It was Enji's chance. He knew it would only last for a short while until Eraser Head would blink again. Then Shigaraki would heal in no time, but it was still the only chance Enji had: To use these small windows to injure Shigaraki as badly as possible so he would hopefully either lose consciousness or reach the limits of his healing factor – if there was such a thing.

Enji used a Flash Fire Hell Razor attack to sear through Shigaraki's limbs, but it didn't have the intended effect. Whatever Shigaraki had done to his body, it had given him an inert resistance against physical attacks. The same move that could cut a Noumu's limbs off just a few weeks before, against Shigaraki it only burned through the skin.

Cursing, Enji crossed his arms in front of his chest to collect heat in his chest. His Prominence Burn was a magnificent and powerful attack.

After weeks of training his body to the brink of exhaustion, he finally had access to his old Flashfire skillset again, even though the individual moves were little modified. This Prominence Burn was a more narrow but recognizably hotter attack. Contrary to what this would suggest, it also had a comparatively better effect on his own body. His new method used flame condensation to increase the temperature rather than collecting the heat within his body, meaning while the attack was hotter, his body wouldn't overheat quite as easily.

As the white-hot fire hit him, Shigaraki pulled his arms and legs close to his body, to protect himself. Thankfully, although he had gotten a lot stronger, the villain didn't have enough experience using his new powers, or he might have used a move like Deku's Airforce to evade. With Shigaraki's physical strength, Enji knew that would be possible.

"Endeavor!"

He didn't have time to check what had happened to Shigaraki, as Eraser Head's warning made him turn around mid-air. An army of Twices reached for him from the ground. There were dozens, crowding one over the other – the ones at the bottom crushed by the weight of the ones above them. The one at the top was reaching for him. Enji let out a burst of fire, to destroy the clone just as it grabbed his belt, but there were already more of them.

To get free, Enji set the ground aflame, but just as his orange flames leaped into the air, a wave of blue fire enveloped the Twices and Enji whole. Enji couldn't react in time to block the attack. It hurt, as Touya's flames burned his skin, but his fire resistance was strong enough to avoid serious injury. He had no idea if Twice was among his clones, but if he was, Touya had just incinerated him. The army of Twices was melting apart.

In the inferno of blue fire, Enji lost sight of Shigaraki completely. Instead of wasting time worrying about that, he attacked Touya next. Orange and blue flames mixed into a hellish firestorm.

"Dabi! You almost hit me!" Twice complained as he climbed out of a pile of rubble. "It was a good move. Let's do it again." Worriedly, Enji watched, as Twice called forth his army of clones. He could create them so quickly… It looked like a gigantic mass of bodies climbing out of the earth, growing, and multiplying like a fungus.

"You're just so cool," he heard Shigaraki's voice from a little bit further away. The villain was charging at Eraser Head. His quirks were still erased. One hand was incinerated, his skin was torn and burned all over his body. But he still moved with terrifying agility and speed.

From where Enji was, locked in a fiery battle against Touya, he couldn't stop Shigaraki.

Damnit! He cursed inwardly. Do something!

If they lost Eraser Head that would be it. They wouldn't be able to deal with Shigaraki without Erasure.

But then, just before Shigaraki hit the hero, something flew past Eraser Head and then locked into place. Shigaraki, who hadn't seen it coming, smashed right into it.

It was just a thin metal plate, Enji noted. Hardly bigger than a piece of cardboard. But despite Shigaraki's enormous strength, the flimsy material didn't budge on impact. Rocklock was here! A flurry of movements and somebody else rushed at Shigaraki, hitting him square in the jaw. The powerful attack pushed the villain several steps away, snapping his head back. Brazen stood panting where Shigaraki had been just a moment ago. His fist was still raised.

"Sorry, it took a while." A flurry of feathers. They rushed over their heads and attacked the individual Twice clones, cutting and damaging them, taking them out as fast as they were created.

Enji looked up at Hawks who stood perched on the half-ruined roof of the next-door building.

"Just in time," Enji commented, smirking up at his colleague.

Touya's attack finally ceased, giving Enji a chance to catch his breath. His son didn't seem to care much for Enji though. Instead, his eyes were narrowed at Hawks.

"I knew we couldn't trust you," he said.

Simultaneously, Twice cried: "Hawks! What is the meaning of this?"

"Traitors! The whole lot of you!" Shigaraki exclaimed. He was fisting his hands against empty air. "And you heroes… You come crawling out like vermin." He shook his head, white hair flying. "Die! Die! Die!" Suddenly he leaped for Hawks, who only barely managed to escape. Upon impact with the roof, the whole building fell apart.

Shigaraki didn't even have access to his quirks! That was only his sheer physical strength.

"I don't get it," Twice still seemed in denial. "Why…? Weren't we friends? We talked about this!" He seemed to have eyes for Hawks only.

"Don't be naïve," Touya warned with a dark scowl on his face. "He's a hero. He always was… He's just like the rest of them."

"I'm sorry," Hawks' voice was almost inaudible to Enji.

"But—"

"JIN!" Toga screamed over the noises of the battlefield. Her high pitch hurt in Enji's eyes.

Twice looked surprised, then he suddenly crumbled to the floor as if he was a puppet with its strings cut. As he fell, Enji saw three feathers lodged deep into his back.

Shigaraki's mad roar was deafening. And then suddenly, all hell broke loose around them. The world seemed to fall apart. Enji couldn't do anything, as the warehouse crumbled, as the floor split below his feet. On sheer instinct, he took to the sky and grabbed Shrinking Girl who was closest to him, to take her with him.

Only when he was in the air, could he see what had happened. Nasadaa had decayed to dust in a single attack. Where they had still fought in the remains of the warehouse earlier, now as the dust began to settle, there was only a crater, and nothing left. Only where the villains stood, small pockets had been left undamaged. Twice's body remained intact.

"What was that?" Brazen asked. As the attack hit, he'd grabbed Aizawa and Rocklock next to him and jumped into the air. Three of Hawks' feathers had caught the heroes midair.

"This is insane," Rocklock commented, not quite answering the question. "Hawks said he would be stronger, but this…"

"Stay focused," Enji warned. He was searching the ground for Shigaraki until he found the white-haired leader of the League walking up to Twice's body and crouching down next to him. "It hasn't even started yet."

And wasn't that the most terrifying thought?

There was something else he was worried about. He knew they had evacuated most of Nasadaa already, or Hawks wouldn't be here. Hopefully, the attack wouldn't have caused many casualties. But where was Chargebolt? The boy would have been within range of the attack. Earphone Jack, he hoped, had left the area already. Before the operation, she'd been instructed to leave and help with the evacuation as soon as the battle started… But Chargebolt?

Worried, Enji looked around himself, trying to see as much of the surrounding destruction as possible.

Oh, gods! Where is the kid?

He had to be fine! But the building where he had last seen Chargebolt, was gone now.

"And what's with his strength?" Brazen wondered out loud. "I hit him with almost all I had, and he barely budged."

"He has a strength enhancer quirk." Eraser Head sounded distracted. Like Enji he was probably looking for his student… The boy couldn't fly, and there was no hero with him, who could have saved him. He was supposed to stay safe.

You failed! Again! Your own interns!

And then he saw movement down below and quite a bit away from where the villains were mourning for Twice.

There in the desolate remains of Nasadaa, three figures crouched surrounded by dust and gravel. The dust cloud still hadn't settled completely, but as it slowly faded, he could make the figures out clearly. There was Chargebolt, sitting on the ground rubbing his butt. Next to him, two of his classmates stood. Bakugou still had one hand in Chargebolt's collar, but he didn't look at his friend. Instead, he stood straight, looking right at the heroes levitating in the air. Deku was next to him, first fussing over Chargebolt until he too straightened up and followed Bakugou's gaze.

What were they doing here?

It was evident that they had saved Chargebolt from the Decay wave…But they were supposed to be helping with the evacuation. They had promised that they would stay at their posts, and Enji was certain that Wash wouldn't have sent them here to help. Not two teenagers…

Still, he couldn't be mad. If it weren't for them, Chargebolt would be dead. Thanks to them, he didn't have to add another name to the list of people he had failed.

Not again! He promised himself. He wouldn't allow himself to slip like that again.

They were his interns. He was supposed to keep them away from harm. He was supposed to teach them, not inadvertently lead them to their deaths…

And still, he knew he had little choice in the matter. Deku and Bakugou weren't here on his orders, they weren't here for him. Something else had brought them here. He was certain of it, as their eyes finally met his. There was determination there. And purpose.

Whatever had brought them here… He couldn't stop it. Couldn't change it… He had no influence over that.

He had to turn away from the boy when Shigaraki suddenly leaped into the air.

"How dare you!" he yelled at Hawks.

A stream of blue fire shot up from the ground at Rocklock and Eraser Head, making it impossible for Eraser Head to erase Shigaraki's quirk.

Hawks nimbly evaded, but even as he managed to dodge the punch and stay away from the deadly palms of the villain, a sudden burst of energy exploded in Shigaraki's hands. One of his new quirks. The shock wave hit Hawks and knocked him sideways.

Enji hurried to help his comrade, just as thin knives shot out of Shigaraki's fingers, to impale Hawks. Still knocked off balance mid-flight, Hawks had difficulties dodging. Enji was just in time to break the knives with a sloppy Hell Spider attack, just before Hawks was hit.

Touya suddenly appeared behind Hawks grabbing his wings and slinging an arm around him. The Winged Hero screamed as blue fire engulfed his frame.

Shigaraki had turned on Enji, but Enji evaded and ignored him, as he increased the propelling power of his flames, to get to Hawks in time. Grabbing Touya's wrists, he ripped his son loose and dragged him away from Hawks. Falling with his son, he had a sense of déjà vu. Apparently, Touya had learned from their last encounter, because instead of trying to burn him in close quarters, hoping he could outlast Enji, he tried to free himself from his father.

Touya pushed and struggled against Enji's hold, but Enji wouldn't let go. They were only a bit away from the ground, and he hoped the impact would knock Touya out…

But then, just before they hit the earth, there was an explosion underground. Water! Had the pipes burst? Formed into razor-sharp streams, it shot past Touya at Enji. Shocked, Enji let go of Touya. He managed to avoid the attack just in time.

He knew this quirk. But that was impossible. Raining Man wasn't here. Or was he hiding?

It was a mistake. He shouldn't have let go of Touya. Being hit by the water would've been the better alternative. But he hadn't considered that his vicinity to Touya was the only reason why Shigaraki hadn't attacked yet. The moment he let go of his son, Shigaraki's knee hit him in the back. Insane superhuman strength drilled into his spine. Enji coughed out blood. Then he smashed face-first into the dusty ground.

He couldn't breathe. The attack had stunned him completely. For a second, he couldn't even feel the pain as his mind was catching up to what had happened. Did Shigaraki break his spine? He couldn't move. Helpless to do anything.

A hand fisted into his hair. Eraser Head was deactivating Shigaraki's quirks again, or Enji would be dead already.

He grunted in agony, as his head was pulled high, the knee still digging into his back. Pain shivered from his spine through his entire body. Shigaraki smashed his face against the ground. Ironically it was the soft earth and dust – the only thing remaining after Shigaraki's earlier outburst – that made the ground soft enough that his jaw and skull didn't split on impact.

"Well," Shigaraki said as he removed his knee and hand from Enji. As Enji went to sort his limbs out and push himself up again, a foot was planted between his shoulders pushing him back down. "How did you do it? Like this?" Enji had no idea what he was talking about. He turned his head to see Shigaraki above him, one foot pressing down against the spot between his shoulder blades. "Or was it the other arm?"

He stood, one fist raised into the sky, grinning down at Enji. It was the right arm, Enji realized through the fog in his mind. The same hand Enji had raised after his battle against the Noumu in Fukuoka. Back then, Enji had made it a specific point to use the right arm to differentiate himself from All Might. It had been a vain attempt that fell under the radar of most fans, he knew… Shigaraki was mocking him!

Irate, Enji turned around, smacking Shigaraki's foot away and shooting a surge of flames against Shigaraki, which the young man evaded easily.

At least, now Enji knew that his body was still moving, even if his back pulsed in agony at the mere attempt to stand up. His mind was in a haze. The pain and the delirium canceled each other out in a rather useful way, making him able to continue fighting.

Sweat trickled down his face. It evaporated the moment it dripped onto his collarbone. He was starting to overheat. Even his new method of using his flames only slowed the overheating process down. It didn't prevent it.

This couldn't go on for much longer, he knew. Even with Erasure activated, he was still at a disadvantage against Shigaraki. With Twice either knocked out or – more likely – dead, Rocklock, Shrinking Girl, Brazen, and Hawks would at least stand a chance against the other villains. But even that was iffy. He knew that Brazen had used up most of his strength in his initial attack against Shigaraki followed by having to save Rocklock and Eraser Head from Shigaraki's Decay. Shrinking Girl was already exhausted from the long fight. And Hawks could surely deal with Toga and Spinner. Possibly even Mr. Compress, although they weren't certain of his skillset… But he wouldn't fare well against Touya, and neither would Rocklock. The only one here, who could reasonably fight Touya, was Enji himself… Yet Enji had his hands full with Shigaraki.

It was a no-win situation. He could continue fighting he knew. He would continue fighting! Until the very end. But the way it stood, there would be no victory in the end. There was only one option left…

He didn't need long to come to that conclusion. By the time he had struggled back to his feet, he already knew.

It was their only hope. It bugged him to have to admit that. It wasn't supposed to be like that. It was pathetic that he had to rely on them… And still, there was no alternative.

"You look in pain, Dad," Touya mocked, sauntering up to him. Shigaraki was staring at him with a hatred in his eyes that was only eclipsed by that in his son's.

"Forget about Endeavor," Toga complained. "I want to cut Hawks to pieces! He killed Jin!"

"Patience, Toga," Touya cautioned. "All in due time." He finally came to a stop right in front of Enji, glaring at him. He was just far enough away that Enji couldn't grab him. "Is that how you imagined the fight, Endeavor?" He gestured to the heroes still in the air. "Your colleagues cowardly watching while we kill you in front of their eyes?"

Enji huffed. With the exhale, blood rose into his throat. He couldn't help coughing.

"Is that what you think this is?" he spoke back to them. Talking was difficult. There was blood around his mouth.

He wouldn't explain to Touya that there was no point for the other heroes to rush down here. They'd only get themselves killed. Rocklock and Hawks especially were surely itching to join the battle but getting close to Touya or Shigaraki would be a death sentence for them. Even if it meant that Enji had to face the villains alone for a time, it was still preferable that way. They would wait for an opening and at least they could keep Eraser Head safe… And that was the most important thing.

And he hoped it wouldn't be too long anyway.

"What I'm interested in is, where the Raining Man is hiding," Enji asked curiously. "I recognized his quirk."

"His quirk?" Touya asked curiously. A spark of hateful glee turned his grin especially vile. "Oh, you mean this."

With a waving motion of his arm, the water rose from the floor and crashed down on Enji. Enji who had only just managed to stand back upright was thrown back in the dust. He skidded over soft earth. The water was relentlessly pummeling him, drenching him. Using his quirk, he managed to vaporize it after a few seconds. He huffed heavily. He was overheating.

"You took his quirk?" he realized. Then he shook his head glancing at Shigaraki. "They gave you his quirk?"

Another puddle of water rose from the ground, but this time instead of attacking Enji, it surrounded Touya himself. It created a thin layer over his skin, where it was slowly vaporizing. A cooling mechanism.

"We decided that Raining Man had no use for it anymore. He killed his former colleague… How were we supposed to trust him after that?"

Enji wondered if they had just taken his quirk or also killed him. Had they done the same to Relax? Then again, this sort of musing was hardly important now.

"It explains how you're still going," Enji said tiredly. "With just your own strength, you would've already lost." It was a thinly concealed insult and Touya rightfully read it as such.

"How dare you?" Touya hissed. "This is exactly what you wanted, isn't it? A balancing mechanism! That's why you forced all of us on Mom – why you threw us away when we didn't have the right combination!" He leaped at Enji.

Mom?

The way he spoke of her was almost fondly. Did Touya still care for her? If so, maybe not all was lost.

For now, he knew what he had to do. Getting Touya into close combat was all he wanted. Then, however, Spinner grabbed Touya around the collar and pulled him back before he could reach Enji.

"He's just provoking you!" the mutant villain warned.

"So, let's kill him for it!" Toga cried out. She was getting impatient. Her true target was Hawks who was still flying at a safe distance.

"Yes, let's," Shigaraki agreed. "Do you want the hon—"

"We won't let you! Shigaraki Tomura!"

"What kind of a joke is that, old man? I didn't come to learn from some loser who loses to some shitty villains!"

Before Shigaraki or Touya could move against him, before Shigaraki could even finish the sentence… With a mighty explosion, Bakugou and Deku burst upon the scene.

Enji had waited for them. It was pathetic, really… Having to rely on some teenagers that were supposed to learn from him and not the other way around. But there was no other option. Bakugou and Deku were strong, he knew. He'd trained them for over a month now. Deku's physical strength was almost on par with Shigaraki's, and Bakugou was a menace. These two—

He suddenly felt cool… What? That made no—

Ice.

"You took too long."

Shoto

He tried very hard to keep the kids away...I bet that's frustrating for Enji, but ultimately, I couldn't fight the whole league without Deku, Bakugou, or Shoto getting involved. Especially when it comes to Shigaraki, I can't do it without Deku, even if this fic doesn't at all focus on Deku (or Shigaraki for that matter). It would just be odd to fight Shigaraki without involving Deku. The same goes for Shoto and Touya. In canon I very much expect Toyua to be Shoto's final villain. In this story, however... It's a Endeavor-story, so Shoto will have to take a backseat. But it would still be weird to not even have him there in the first place.

I hope you like the fight so far. With Hawks and Rocklock and Aizawa all there, plus now with the kids and so many villains, it's difficult to keep track. Sometimes I wish, I could just draw the scenes... So to make it easier for you to see what I'm imagining... but then again, I'm a semi-horrible artist... (At some point I even tried drawing the OC (especially sidekicks in hero costumes) but it just wouldn't work out... lol)

In any case, I hope it's somewhat understandable, canon a few scenes happened that I found so cool, that I just had to take them. (Most prominently, Shiggy's fist-raising scene). Also there were a few events that - although I hadn't planned them initially, I thought they fit quite well.

Hawks killing Twice in this version too, is one of them. Hawks motivation in this fight would be very similar if nor identical to canon, so he'd still see Twice as an enormous threat. With the fight already well underway he didn't really have a chance to talk to Twice, but he might have carefully tried to talk to Twice before this scene ^^ So, it's a very pragmatic choice by Hawks, and one he regrets.

Also, they took Raining Man's quirk and gave it to Dabi. It's not such a great balancing power as Shoto's - since it doesn't actually have a cooling factor per se, but what Dabi needs most of all, is something to cool his skin, not so much his inner organs. And that quirk would be useful for that.