Twice launched first, giving absolutely no warning in his attack aimed right for Bakugou.
Bakugou dodged as the quick, tape-like weapon shot in between the gap of their heads. As Bakugou blasted himself away, Niwa went straight for the attack on the black and white clothed villain.
Niwa ducked low, Bakugou's redirecting explosion threw the tape off course but Twice snapped it back like a fucking whip and shot it straight back out. She closed the distance quickly, twisting around the tape weapon and rolling smoothly from her shoulder back onto her hands and feet. Niwa burst off the ground with enough force to propel her the remaining distance and shove her heel into her opponent's quickly raised guard.
Her strength was too much for the villain. Her heel followed down its intended path and shattered the villain's guard before swinging her shin into Twice's ribcage and sending the villain flying back out of the immediate fight.
This single interaction only lasted three seconds.
Niwa bounced back as a knife whistled through the air and sailed right past the place where she had been standing. Toga had thrown that, no doubt. Niwa spotted Bakugou propel himself into a Backflip over the Masked villain. Compress was the one who could capture them the easiest. A single touch and it was game over for them.
Toga rushed her, knife slashing about through the air as Niwa dipped and twisted around the attacks. As perfectly insane as Niwa considered herself in that moment, the feelings in her heart made Niwa wonder if she had really jumped into the deep end of the insanity pool.
She didn't want to hurt Toga.
She was a crazy-ass villain and a mass murderer.
They were similar in a lot of ways. Niwa had killed too…
She swings a fucking knife around!
But she's aiming for non-lethal areas, though a knife probably won't do much damage while Niwa was this tense.
She wanted to stab Explodo-pants! Multiple times!
She's starved for that simple normalcy. For a friend…
Remember those shitty fucken chains she made you feel!
But… was that even Toga's fault in the first place? She stirred up some old memories, so what?
She gets turned on by blood!
Niwa enjoyed beating the crap out of a good opponent.
Niwa booted the flat side of Himiko's blade, sending it spinning off into the night. With a quick tackle and a pin, Niwa looked down as Himiko struggled with a snarl.
Really, they were too much alike…
"I don't wanna fight you, Himiko," Niwa pleaded.
In her head were a multitude of emotions. Frustration, self-hatred, sympathy, reluctance, and a sense of kinship with the wide-eyed girl staring up at her.
She really, truly, didn't want to fight this girl who genuinely called her friend. But…
"But I have to protect that guy… I need to be with him." Having said her part, Niwa released the mentally unstable girl and rushed back into the fight.
If Niwa couldn't make a decision, then she'd leave it in the hands of Himiko.
Twice was stumbling to his feet a few meters away and clutching at his ribs. Niwa had distracted two of the six and Bakugou was deftly maneuvering around attacks and dodging around the four remaining villains.
As Twice charged back into the fight, Niwa clicked her teeth in annoyance and lept with more force than before. The villain had good reactions. Within a few split-seconds, he had sensed the attack, raised another guard and recentered his body.
But again, Niwa was too physically strong for him and she sent the villain tumbling away once again with a heavy spin kick against the guard. "Stay down!"
Niwa analyzed the situation as she rushed over to Bakugou. The four villains, sunglasses, compress, Stein-cosplay, and Shigaraki had her explosive friend boxed in. Everything was happening at such a high-speed pace, there was almost no time to think about what she could do. There was only enough time to move.
Two of the villains moved, tightening the box around Bakugou and moving in for the attack that coupled as a distraction for Compress behind him.
"Bakugou, behind!" Niwa shouted even though it gave away her element of surprise. Sunglasses slipped centimeters away from her kick and stumbled back a bit and Niwa landed within the smoke.
Bakugou had propelled himself in the air. Glints of metal catching the moonlight caught Niwa's eye as the smoke faded a little.
Himiko's knives forced Bakugou to redirect his trajectory mid-air to dodge the non-fatally aimed blades. Niwa ignored all thought, she didn't have time to think as she jumped up into the air to avoid Compress's hands.
Boom!
Her head turned just a little before Bakugou grabbed her wrist and blasted them away from being boxed in. Himiko's knives sailing over their heads forcing them to the ground. Bakugou stumbled a little in his landing and Niwa skidded to a stop with Bakugou using her as an anchor.
Twice flicked his tape weapon at them again and Niwa frowned as she dipped away to one side and Bakugou popped away again. Niwa dodged several knives, a kick from Shigaraki, and another hand that reached out to contain her. Dodge after dodge as all six villains teamed up against the two students.
All this time, All Might was trying to combat the monster villain.
Niwa saw Bakugou take explosive-flight again and finally managed to land a counter-attack against the sunglasses guy. Punching people really wasn't her preference, but when her fist sunk into the man's gut and had the villain skidding away while hunched over in pain…
It sure felt real fucking nice to finally shove her negatively driven fist into the body of a breathing person.
It felt way too good…
But while she was here, preoccupied, All Might was trying desperately to get past that monster to save them. He couldn't go max power, otherwise she and Bakugou would get caught up in the mess.
They needed to get the fuck outta here as soon as possible.
Niwa stiffened and threw her hands up to guard against the attack aimed for her head, Twice's kick was crude by means of martial arts, but it sure packed a hell of a punch. Niwa flowed with the momentum as it pushed her within arm's reach of Bakugou.
"That felt good! It hurts!" Twice buckled with pain.
Bastard probably put his all into that kick too.
"You good?" Niwa panted lightly, she was so damn hungry. Fighting injured on an empty stomach sucked.
"Worry about yourself," Bakugou grunted.
"Not my style," Niwa glanced around. Once again, they were boxed in with a villain at each possible escape. They sure as hell weren't making this easy for them.
A wall off to the side of a half toppled building exploded. Not Bakugou bomb kind of explosion, but rather a collision of pure force. A massive cliff of ice formed from thin air and the chill it gave off filled Niwa with a sense of pride, relief, and worry for the idiots who had just revealed themselves.
Iida, Midoriya, and Kirishima slid up the ice like it was some kind of ramp and took to the air, sailing overhead and capturing the attention of all. How those idiots even got there, it was a damn mystery to her. But regardless, their plan clicked in her head the moment Kirishima reached out.
"Come!" Kirishima yelled from the top of his voice.
This was their opportunity.
Shigaraki moved forward, destroying hand reaching out desperately.
"Jump." Bakugou muttered and like a trained dog, Niwa's body pushed her into the air without question.
She watched the moment with eyes trained to the boy. His palms glowed with the charged up power of a massive blast, and suddenly the ground was pushed further and further away. Heat licked at her back and the explosion propelled her air-borne body through the sky.
She didn't have the opportunity to look back, not when she was fast approaching a still standing apartment building. Niwa tucked herself into a ball and protected her head as best she could. Her body met solid the concrete wall and pain exploded across her skin as she rolled across the floor. Groaning, Niwa uncurled from the protective ball and sprawled across the ground of what she now realized was an office floor.
How far, how high did Bakugou's blast send her?
Was she far enough away from the villains?
Niwa picked herself with a struggle and a sharp hiss at all the lacerations covering her skin. Nothing as bad as her leg, and she could even stand on it, so Niwa diagnosed herself as fine.
Right now, top priority was getting as far away from here as possible. Best way to do that was up. Niwa found the emergency exit stairs without much trouble. Even though the entire area was out of power, the green little exit sign glowed brightly in the dark building.
Niwa got up three floors before she said fuck it to the stairs and vaulted herself up with the railing. Aerobics was always fun. Parkour was also something she enjoyed and had actually managed to level up a bit during her internships with Mirko and this time, Niwa didn't need to worry about bending or breaking the poor poles on her way up.
She reached the rooftop in no time and was granted a perfect view of almost everything. Niwa had the best view of All Might slamming his fist into that monster villain's face. The shock impact from the punch had the building shaking beneath her and Niwa quickly scrambled away from the edge.
Being this close to a fight between their power level… Niwa was way too close. She needed to get further away. In the distance, Niwa could see glowing lights among the rubble. Heroes at rescue and evacuation…
That direction was no good. Her head turned off to her right. Bakugou and the others went that way, but following after them meant crossing the battlefield below. She rather swan dive from the roof of this building than cross paths with that monster again.
That left behind as the only direction she could go.
The shake in her body crept back just a little but Niwa ignored it as she took off across the rooftop in a dead sprint. Springing her body through the air, Niwa rolled with her landing before carrying on. Rooftop by rooftop until finally, she had no choice but to break through windows of the evacuated buildings and steadily make her way down into lively streets.
People stared at her as she passed by. Whispered voices mingling together and becoming one unrecognizable sound she couldn't even bother to untangle.
Niwa glanced around and approached the nearest person who was staring at her wide-eyed.
"Excuse me," Niwa saw the middle-aged man's body jolt from her voice.
"Y-Yes!?"
Why the hell was this guy so jumpy?
"Do you have a phone I can borrow?" She asked.
The man stared at her blankly for a moment before coming back to reality, "Of course!"
While the businessman dug through his pockets for his phone, a lady approached hesitantly. "Miss, are you alright?" The woman asked.
"Yes?" Niwa voiced her confusion with a tilt at her head and accepted the phone from the man.
"B-But… You're bleeding all over and you're trembling so much…" The woman asked in worry before slipping off her coat and placing it around Niwa's shoulders.
Niwa looked at the lady. Short brown hair, pale green eyes that blinked with a second eyelid. In other words, a pretty average-looking middle-aged lady.
"You don't have to. I'll get it dirty…" Niwa looked down.
Small scratches dotted about her skin all over her body and small rivets of blood trailed down in thin lines. She was covered in dirt and hadn't showered in over three days…
Gross…
"No, no, dear. Please keep it on. If only to ease a lady's worry." The woman really did look like the textbook definition of worry. Even though she was a complete stranger who Niwa had never met before…
"You're very kind." Niwa gave the lady a small smile and dialed the only number she knew from memory.
The dial tone rang once before she was connected.
"Please state your emergency and condition immediately." The operator on the other side of the phone stated instantly after answering the phone.
It was a bit snappier and unrefined than she had come to expect from the three-number emergency line, but well, they were currently in a crisis.
"My name is Niwa. Student of U.A Class 1-A and recent escapee of the League of Villains." Niwa pretended to not see the heavy flinch from the people lingering around her. "I need someone to come get me. If you could call my teacher-"
"Please just wait a moment!" The operator spoke hastily, Niwa was put on hold for all of a second, "Can you hear me? Are you still there?"
"Yes," Niwa affirmed.
"Please give me your location and condition!" The lady's voice rang through the phone with a hasty tone.
"Uhh…" Niwa turned to the businessman who stood nearby, "Where am I?"
As Niwa relayed the businessman's words to the operator Niwa felt the shaking in her body settle in a little stronger and she pulled the jacket closer to her body.
"The officers are already on their way! Until then, please stay on the phone with me."
While she stood waiting for the officers and even long after they arrived, Niwa stood in that crowd feeling more alone than she ever had before. Watching All Might fight on the massive screen displayed across the side of a building.
Her chest felt tight, and it was hard to breathe but she swallowed hard and endured.
Her eyes stung while she watched the fight. While the crowd cried out in support. While everyone flinched and wailed when things started looking like an entirely new level of desperation. While All Might landed that final strike that blew away the film crew in the helicopter.
Her eyes stung when All Might spoke those words.
"Next is… Next, it's your turn."
He had won. She was safe. Bakugou was probably safe too. She had no reason to cry, so she wouldn't. She refused to.
But still, something about those words… Just seemed so… sad.
As she climbed into the back of the police car, Niwa's breath grew a little quicker and her body quivered a bit more.
Everything just felt like… too much…