Progress felt slow. We had branched off from the rest of the search and rescue pairs a while ago, forming some kind of stupid spread out line with each other as we called and listened and searched for survivors until we were far enough away for the slope, dust and rubble to make it impossible to see anyone other than Shitty Hair who always kept me in sight.

Ponytails ear pieces had been a huge help, hearing someone's voice in my ear call out whenever they found someone needing help, listing what injuries they had so Ponytail and Tape Arms could prepare for their arrival or asking for assistance for moving any rubble if needed. From the same ear pieces I had heard that Aizawa was out searching with us now and that Icy Hot had reporting that the lake water had been overflowing into the destroyed rubble and being a threat to anyone who may be trapped close to the water. The dam had been damaged, a large crack forming up its side that icy Hot was trying to hold back with ice, but it had already spilled enough into the smaller lake for it to break its banks. Plenty of survivors had been found so far, but more dead than anything and Shitty Hair had dropped his guts when we came across a bloody one. I had tasted bile but held my stomach as I turned away.

Aside from us, Frog Face and Rock Head were the closest to the shoreline, better suited at dealing with the quickly growing wet area.

Most of the dust had cleared well enough for the lake to be in sight from where we were, light breaking in through the hole in the clouds from the almost full moon and if it wasn't for the destruction around us, it may have even been a nice sight, but not now.

"Bakugo!" called Hair For Brains and I turned away from the water to look to him off to my right. He was pointing excitedly further along, downhill from us and I followed his finger to see a group of survivors staggering our way and we rushed to them. They were wet and cold and one of them carried an unconscious boy.

"Are you alright?" asked Shitty Hair, "anyone injured?"

"The boy has hurt his head" spoke up the one carrying him, their eyes filled with concern.

"I've twisted my ankle, but it's not bad" spoke up a young woman.

"I think my arms broken" added a middle aged man.

While Kirishima fussed over them, I relayed the list of injuries to Ponytail, even though everyone could hear. She confirmed that she would have supplies for them when they arrived, but she was panting from the effort of caring for so many. From what I had heard Four Eyes had stayed with her, carting those who they had cared for already back to our accommodation to be safer and more comfortable until help arrived. The teachers had made the call when shit first hit the fan, but help was still a while away.

"Bakugo, I'll lead them back to Yaoyorozu" Shitty hair told me, and I nodded with a firm look, glad that it wasn't me being pulled away from the search. I didn't want to turn back.

"Oh please," the one holding the kid turned to me, "the young man who saved us, he looked terribly injured" I could see the deep concern on their face.

"What did he look like?" I asked, trying to keep the growl out of my voice.

"He was in a green suit, with green hair" they explained, and I looked to Shitty hair with a determined look.

"You go ahead man, just let me know if you find anything and I'll race back as soon as I can" he told me and turned his attention back to the group, scooping up the young woman with the sore ankle and lead the way back.

I picked up my pace as I headed the way the group had come from. I would have blasted myself over it all to find shitty Deku faster if it wasn't for the fact that I still had to keep an eye and ear out for survivors and check on anyone I came across. But I felt a wave of relief and annoyance to know that he was alive. The annoyance was due to the fact that despite being injured enough to worry strangers, he was out there saving people. I looked forward to finding him, seeing his dumb face light up like it always did when he saw me and then smacking it away with a wallop across the back of his stupid head. It also didn't escape my attention that they didn't mention anyone being with him which meant Sparkles was somewhere else.

I came across an arm protruding from the rubble, stopped to check for a pulse before I bothered trying to dig them out. Nothing. I turned away. I came across three more survivors on my way to find Deku. One who was only pinned down by the weight of some of the rubble but was lucky they weren't terribly injured and could make their own way to the first aid station. The other two were buried under large chunks of rubble below me, but my quirk wasn't suited for reaching them without risking a cave in on them or shrapnel harming them. So I remained there while I called in some back up.

Muscles and Tail were the best suited for the rescue and luckily were the team searching after us from the shoreline, so it didn't take long for Muscle Man to find me and come my way. Tail staying at their original search point. I stayed to help pull the trapped victims out while Muscles lifted the chunk of rubble, and he took them with him. I was determined to push on, knowing that Deku couldn't be far away. If he was hurt enough for strangers to worry about him, then he wasn't in any shape to be bunny hopping from one side of the disaster zone to the next, which would make finding him easier at least.

I heard Shitty Hair through the ear piece, relaying the information that Deku had been sighted somewhere between where he and I had been searching and the shoreline. Frog Face replied back that they would keep an eye out for him and Sparkles, but also reported that the water was still rising, pushing over Icy Hot's wall of ice. From what I had heard last, he and Present Mic were still at the dam wall trying to keep the water from breaking through. I assumed the other teacher had gone along just so Icy Hot wasn't unattended because I couldn't see what use he could be in the situation.

Kirishima was on his way back to me and I provided him with the best grumbled directions I could before pushing on. I wasn't going to sit on my ass and wait for him.

An explosion went off as pipe line or some shit ignited, and I crouched lower as the ground shook. The explosion was higher up the slope from our current area of search and rescue and no one reported in being too close to it to be hurt. I heard Mr. Aizawa say he would check it out while the rest of us continued. Everything really was turning into a shit show.

I gritted my teeth. Everything just felt like a distraction from my goal which was finding Deku. I didn't want to prioritize him, but after the memory of his smiling face had come to mind when this shit show started, my heart hadn't stopped racing. My chest was full of emotion that I was still trying to untangle. Fear, panic, anxiety, I wasn't sure exactly, all I knew was that what had done it was the thought of never seeing his dumb face again and I wanted to punch him for making me feel that way. Hearing that he was at least alive had come as a huge relief that just made me feel anger instead towards the nerd and I wanted to beat him harder when I found him for making me worry for nothing.

Something ahead caught my eye downhill from me in the distance, something shiny and moving and I diverted towards it even going as far as blasting myself into the air to head straight for it. It was as survivor and therefore took priority. Shitty hair could check the space I jumped over. I landed beside the French bastard. He was swaying on is feel slightly and yelped when I came down by him.

"B-Bakugo," he yelped, "glad to see you are alright. Are the rest fine also?" he asked

"Where's Deku?" I hissed back. Obviously I was fine, and the rest were too so I didn't have time to waste on his questions.

"Midoriya?" he leaned back a little from my sneer, "he was here not long ago. I think he went downhill more" he added, and I glanced past him towards the water. I hadn't heard that Frog Girl had found him yet.

"And you?" I asked, looking him up and down. I didn't see any obvious injuries.

"I'm alright" he confirmed but still looked shaky on his feet.

"Shitty Hair will be here soon if you need help getting back," I told him with a grunt, "otherwise get yourself out" I jerked a thumb over my shoulder to indicate the direction and he nodded. I walked past him, arms swaying. I had dropped my gauntlets back where the first aid station had been set up. They would only get in the way here shifting rubble.

I heard cries further downhill and picked up my pace, vaulting myself over a wall of rubble. There was a bloodied body on the other side, but I diverted my gaze, following the sound, sliding down the slope towards the water. I saw a girl and boy ahead of me, water lapping at the knees, and they turned to face me as I reached them. Neither of them looked hurt.

"What are you brats doing here?" I barked to them. The water was rising quickly despite Icy Hot's shitty efforts. I could see from their clothes that they had been deeper in the water not long ago, only moving out to where they are now once it had reached their chests.

"He's stuck" cried the girl to me.

"Who?" I asked with far less bite. The slightly younger boy looked like my early growl before was enough to make him ball.

"Bakugo!" I heard a voice above me, and I turned to look up the slope to see Shitty Hair sliding his way down to us. I felt a tug on my top and turned back to face the teary girl.

"Save him," she pleaded and pointed further into the rising water and my heart almost stopped. Protruding from sheets of rubble was a white gloved hand. I knew in an instant who it belonged to.

"Take them!" I barked to Shitty Hair as he reached us, and I pushed forward into the water to reach the hand. If he spoke up at all, I didn't hear him as I rushed forward.

The first thing I noticed was how limp his hand was. The second was the blood the had pooled out from under the rubble and my breathe caught. All that hope that I had felt minutes ago dropped away leaving a void behind it in my stomach.

"Deku!" I called, but not even a twitch. I didn't waste time checking for a pulse on his wrist like I had others, I just knew I had to get him out. He was sandwiched between two flat slabs of concrete with more rubble on top, covering any hope of glimpsing his face without digging him out first. But the water was rising. Already it was lapping over the top of the slab he was pressed against and within a minute he would be under. If he wasn't dead yet, he would have been if I had wasted even a single minute on anyone else. I tried to push at the slab on top of him, but it was heavy, and it wouldn't budge and I could feel my hands start to shake with panic.

Shitty Hair was beside me in an instant, touching my shoulder lightly for a second then reaching past me to touch the concrete on top of the nerd. I joined him, knowing that he wouldn't have left the brats if he wasn't confident of their safety, and we pushed. It was heavy, neither of us had strength quirks like Deku did so it took both of us and a lot of effort to push the slab back enough to reveal the nerd. Kirishima pushed the rest of the rubble off of him while I leaned in to check he was breathing. The water was high enough to touch his lips.

Most of the bleeding, now washed away, looked to be coming from his head. It was the only large amount of blood I could see on him, coating his hair on his left side, the side that we had just freed, and coating his forehead. I yanked a glove off and held a hand to his face and felt it, the smallest of breaths and the knot inside me relaxed a little. But he wasn't out of danger yet. Kirishima finished freeing his legs from the rubble and looked to me. I nodded, confirming he was alive. The water was high enough now to reach his slightly open mouth, so I slipped a hand under his head to raise it out of the water. If he took in any water, he didn't cough

"Be careful man," spoke up Kirishima, "he could have a damaged neck or spine" he added, and I glared at him, but it lacked its usually fire and he knew it.

"We don't have time to wait for a neck brace or some shit" I replied and as carefully as I could, tried to scoop the limp and unconscious nerd up, but it was impossible to not move his neck or spine. Part of me cringed at the idea of damaging him further, but if we waited, he would be under water before he would be deemed safe to removed. I cradled him in my arms, feeling his hot blood on the left side of his head seep into my clothes as his head rested against my chest. We walked back up the slop and out of the water. The two brats waiting for us and glancing at the nerd in my arms with worry.

"Is he okay?" the boy squeaked

"He's just resting" smiled Kirishima, but his words didn't comfort them as much as he had hoped. They would have seen the blood when they had tried to rouse him themselves before the water pushed them back. They had every right to be concerned.

With my hands full, Kirishima called in that we had found Deku and listed his obvious injuries which as far as we could see was only his head but relayed his concern for his spine and neck. Ponytail chimed in that she could have made braces if we had waited before moving him, which pissed me off. Kirishima was still holding down the button on his ear piece to speak so I leaned in to call back.

"Yeah, and if we had done nothing he would have drowned" I spat back, and she apologized before getting right back to business that she would have first aid equipment ready for him when we returned.

Kirishima scooped up the brats, one in each arm as we hiked up the slope, the steepest one we had come across so far and we annoyingly had to take our time to not slip. Kirishima told the brats to close their eyes as we passed the bloodied body again. He pushed them over the top of the wall of rubble then climbed up himself, leaning down to take Deku from me gently so I could get over too. Once down on the other side he handed the nerd back to me and scooped up the brats again and it was easier walking from there.

With Deku in my arms in the state he was in I wanted to run the entire way back, but with him in my arms and the annoyingly uneven ground, I couldn't, and it was frustrating as hell. It felt like the bleeding on his head had slowed, but his breathes were still shallow which worried me.