Damn, everyone. Your reviews… They're amazing. Truly, you guys are amazing T-T
Thank you for all the support, I love reading the emails of your reviews. I see the notification, prep a cup of tea just to sit down and bask in your amazing thoughts. I'm lost for words… But here are some other words you're more interested in, hehe.
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Se-Sensei?
That was a joke… right?
There was no way that this guy wasn't-
"You ain't the boss around here, bastard?" Bakugou said viciously but Niwa could hear the tones of nervousness in the undertone of his voice. "That's not even funny."
"Kurogiri, Compress, make them go to sleep," Shigaraki ordered the warp guy and the villain she'd attacked back in the forest.
"I can't believe he's such a bad listener. I'm almost impressed." The masked villain stepped forward, "He should have been a little more quiet, like the girl's been since-"
"If you want me to listen then get on your knees and die!" Bakugou shifted into a lower stance and prepped for the fight.
With each step the masked villain took, a thought flowed in and out of her head.
What would Bakugou do?
How could she support him best?
Would he go for the Masked-bastard or the warp? The Warp guy was probably their biggest threat.
If that were the case, the warp needed to be taken care of first. So she should go for the other villain?
No. The others would have acted by then, dividing and taking them out with their larger numbers. She needed to stick with Bakugou.
She'd move when he did, leaving the decision up to him. Bakugou had a good head on his shoulder for these things.
They wanted him alive, even if her fate was probably still on the line, they wouldn't go after Bakugou with the intent to kill. All she needed to do was step in between the ones that interfered and let Bakugou blast his way along.
It would take a damn miracle for this to work out, but she was prepared. Niwa would protect Bakugou and try her damn best to give him the freedom to do whatever the hell he needed to do. In this, she was Resolute.
Knock knock.
"Hello, this is Pizza-La, Camino store!"
No way in hell did these guys order a fucking pizza…
Everyone stared at the door in confusion and with her attention flipped on its head, Niwa could hear the rapid beat of her own heart.
The next few seconds happened in what felt like slow-motion but her brain just couldn't comprehend that it was actually happening.
All Might had burst through the wall, taking out the Stain cosplayer with it.
In swung the Wood hero, Kamui Woods, who bound up all the villains in his Quirk.
Some short old villain with a yellow theme shot in like a bullet and knocked out Dabi who was about to set the binding wood aflame.
And in slipped Edgeshot, the ninja hero.
"You can't run anymore, League of Villains," All Might stood proudly with a ferocious glare in his bright blue eyes, "Because we are here!"
All Might turned to face where Niwa and Bakugou stood, "I'm sure you were scared… You did good bearing it."
The praise and utter relief had Niwa's mouth quivering, eyes burning and her body shaking.
"I'm sorry. It's fine now, young ones!" Her heart suddenly felt heavy and her shoulders slumped from all the built-up tension.
"I-I wasn't scared!" Bakugou yelled, "I wasn't even close to scared!"
Her chest trembled in a silent, breathless chuckle. He stuttered…
"Kurogiri!" Shigaraki lost any ounce of patience, "Bring as many as you can over!"
Niwa's body stilled once more as fear seeped back into her veins.
"Nomus, is it?!" All Might yelled, half in question and half as a warning.
.
.
But nothing happened.
"Whats wrong, Kurogiri?" Shigaraki snarled.
"I am sorry, Shigaraki Tomura." The warp replied, "The Nomus that were supposed to be in a fixed location… They're not there."
All Might walked over to the students. All Might took one strong hand around her forearm lifted Niwa from the ground and pulled her closer to Bakugou as the number one hero stood close by.
"You're still green, Shigaraki." All Might wrapped a large arm around Bakugou's shoulder, "League of Villains, you underestimated everything too much. The soul of a young man. The heart of a young woman. The diligent investigation of the police. And… Our anger!"
"That's enough, your childish pranks end here. This is the end, Shigaraki Tomura!" All Might declared.
"The end, you say? Don't be ridiculous, I've only just begun." Shigaraki mumbled as he struggled to his feet in the wood bindings, "Justice… Peace… I'll destroy this garbage heap that you put a lid on with such vague ideas! It was for that purpose that I set All Might aside and started gathering people to my cause."
Even in this situation, where the odds were finally in their favor, Niwa remembered that chilling voice. That Shigaraki Tomura had a Sensei. A mentor. Someone who had guided the handsy-bastard down this path.
Someone who pulled the strings from afar.
"Don't be ridiculous. This is the beginning…" Shigaraki glared, "Kurogiri!"
A thin red line shot straight across the room and pierced right through the warp villain.
Niwa watched with wide eyes, trying to figure out if Edgeshot had just killed Kurogiri.
"No stop! I didn't see anything!" Sunglass trashed in the bindings, "What, did you kill him?!"
"I played around with his insides a little and made him unconscious." Edgeshot spoke through the twisting thread his body had become and his head materialized at the end of the thread, "I didn't kill him."
Played with his insides!?
"Didn't I tell you earlier that it'd be in your best interests to stay put? Hikiishi Kenji, Sako Atsuhiro, Igushi Shuichi, Toga Himiko, Bubaigawara Jin. With little information and time, the police officers worked through the night to determine your identities." Hero-Gramps scolded, "Do you understand? There's nowhere left for you to run."
Gramps turned to the grey-haired villain, "So, Shigaraki, can I ask where your boss is?"
Shigaraki watched with wide, insane eyes that peered through the hand on his face.
"This is… unsatisfying… Don't be ridiculous. Don't be ridiculous…"
"Where is that guy right now?" All Might interrogated.
"Piss off… Disappear…!"
"Shigaraki!"
"I hate you!"
In multiple explosions of what looked to be ink or something, the disgusting faces of the Nomu appeared and the creatures climbed out. Niwa's trembling body stilled the moment she saw the new threat and her muscles all tensed. She didn't have a clue why her body had been shaking as it did, but that didn't matter at the moment.
Her enemy once again posed a dire threat. And she was ready to punch something. Hard.
At first, it was like a tingling at the back of her throat, then came the sudden urge to vomit but before she actually could, something else came out of her mouth.
It was bitter and revolting, like dirty water mixed with the vile taste of ash and garbage. That silky black liquid the Nomus appeared from poured from her mouth and covered her entire body. Before she knew it, she was completely surrounded by the feeling of floating through a thick and cold space. Like she was submerged in liquid metal.
The feeling disappeared quickly enough and suddenly her knees collided with the ground as she hacked up her lungs of the liquid.
She wasn't alone.
Bakugou was in a similar position, standing hunched over as he hacked and spat between his swearing.
Niwa looked up. Her breathing heaved deeply and all thoughts of anything but the monster that stood in front of her vanished for a moment.
She could tell with a single warped glance. She could feel it in the pit of her gut and in her very being.
This guy was bad news. A top predator.
"Sorry about that, Bakugou. And also Niwa."
This voice! The chill that seeped through her body did nothing but confirm what she already suspected. This was Shigaraki's master. The string-puller. The mastermind behind Shigaraki's villainy.
Several more blasts of ink-looking liquid burst from thin air. She could tell by the sound and a glimpse of one at the corner of her eye. But she dared not look away from the… The monster in front of her.
The voices and complaints of those now-familiar villains reached her ears. They were all here, they were completely surrounded and utterly fucked once again.
"Sensei…"
"You failed again, huh, Tomura?" The monster spoke with a deep voice. The sound was distorted by the tubes around his neck. This guy even looked like a monster, with pipes embedded in his thick neck and an industrial mask that was missing several defining features. Did this guy have no nose!?
A single step from the monster was all it took to send her blood cold and electrified at the same time. She staggered to her feet and forced her body to move a step closer to Bakugou even though it felt like her limbs had locked in place from fear.
"But do not be discouraged. Just try again. I have brought all your associates here as well. Even these children." The monster didn't even glance in their direction as he passed by, "Because you judged that they were important pieces."
The monster reached out a hand for the kneeling Shigaraki, "Do it over as many times as you need to. That is why I am here. It's all for you…"
The tension she felt in the air grew, as did her fear and hopelessness. It really, really felt like this was the end for them here. It felt like there was nothing more she could do. Like everything would simply go as the monster said it would.
Niwa noticed it immediately. It dragged her from the deep dark hole she just kept sinking into and gave her back the courage to move. To do anything she needed to.
It was just one simple thing that caught her full attention away from the monster.
Bakugou was shaking.
She didn't know what from. But in this situation, there were few things that could make someone like Bakugou tremble.
Niwa quietly, carefully placed one foot to her right and followed through with the left and her right again, until her upper arm and shoulder found the crevice between his side and back.
It was just a light yet solid touch, but the result of it settled her fear a little and grounded her to the moment. They would make it out of here. Bakugou would make it out, even if she had to die.
No.
She wouldn't die.
She still needed to keep an eye on Explodo-pants.
Bakugou's trembling stilled slowly and she could feel how his body expanded with a quiet, deep breath.
"You're here, after all, aren't you?" The monster said.
Niwa had a moment to be confused before All Might dived in from the sky and collided with the villain.
Niwa grabbed Bakugou's arm right before the shockwave hit and they were sent spinning through the air and crashing to the torn-up pavement of what had once been a lively street. The area had been completely flattened now and Niwa landed harshly against a jutted-out piece of concrete. She could feel the stinging pain and warmth oozing from her outer thigh. The wound was shallow but it had still gotten through a bit of muscle. If it weren't for her body being as it was, it would have probably been broken… or worse.
Her eyes darted over to Bakugou. Thankfully he had a better landing than she had.
Niwa quickly ripped her tee-shirt off her body, leaving her in only a singlet, a casual skirt, and her now bloodied tights.
Why couldn't they have worn their hero suits for the stupid test of courage!?
Her attention was stolen for a moment as All Might charged in for an attack, only to be blown away by a horizontal tornado of wind and force that toppled massive apartment buildings in its path.
Her body tensed to move but the burning pain in her thigh reminded her of what she needed to do first.
Niwa coughed at the polluted air and quickly ripped her shirt down the back and tied the cloth around her leg. With all the dust and debris in the area, she didn't need the fucking thing getting rocks or something in it. And crudely bandaging it like this would help stop the blood trailing through her tights.
"Your injured?" Bakugou rasped. Red eyes wide at the destruction around them and even through it all, he had still checked on her.
Stupid-ass stomach and its stupid-ass butterflies. NOW WAS REALLY NOT THE TIME!
"It isn't bad." She said through grit teeth.
When the dust cleared enough to see properly, her eyes focused on the long cloud of destruction and at the end of it was probably…
"All Might!" Bakugou rasped loudly.
"Even without your worry, he won't die from something like that." The monster addressed Bakugou directly before turning to his student, "So run away from here, Tomura, and take the children with you."
Thorny vines that glowed black and red shot from the monster's fingers and plunged into the unconscious warp villain. "Kurogiri, get everyone away from here." He ordered and Kurogiri convulsed on the ground before a black vortex opened.
Niwa ignored the other villains and the monster as best as she could while they discussed the technicalities of the Quirks this guy had. Her brain was still reeling over that.
Not one, or two, or even fucking three. She had seen at least five of them so far and Niwa had a feeling that wasn't all the monster had.
All Might returned in another powerful and sudden clash, regaining the monster's attention.
Niwa stood with a slight stumble. Man, she thought, this fight's gonna suck.
"Let's go, Shigaraki!" The masked guy – Compress wasn't it? – called over the torrents of wind kicked up by the powerful attack, "While that pipe mask is holding All Might back. Get your pieces!"
Pieces…
That one word had probably saved her life.
A single word from Shigaraki Tomura had saved her life…
Disgusting.
Niwa glanced around and moved back-to-back with Bakugou as the villains – minus Dabi and Kurogiri – all refocused their intent on the students.
"Such a pain!" Bakugou complained aggressively.
Niwa cracked at her knuckles and growled like the feral animal she felt within her.
That same starved feeling that had been lingering in her body intensified.
…And it was time to settle the craving.