Mark of a hero

by Sonnie Celanna

The first time he met the black eyed-man, it had nothing to do with his abilities or lack thereof. It had nothing to do with the boy's emotions or fears. It was mere coincidence he came during a moment when his life was in danger. "Izuku Midoriya, aren't you quite the interesting puzzle piece of history." "I am the outsider...and this is my mark."

12. Chapter 12

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Shigaraki was right on top of the three students, mere seconds away from ending Asui's life. Deku could see it happening, see the exact point of contact. The world went red as his friend disappeared in a particle of dust.

Then he snapped back to reality, violently. Shigaraki was still moving towards them yet had not arrived. It was only a matter of a few seconds now and the boy refused to hesitate again!

Energy coursed through his body, the familiar feeling of One for All sparking to life inside him. Before the greenette could even spring into action though, the villain was upon them, hand over Asui's face.

However nothing happened. Everyone stood frozen for a moment at the sudden lack of power. The villains sighed. "You really are so cool….Eraserhead."

The pro was very barely holding his head up, keeping the villain from doing anything but Midoriya knew it wouldn't last at all. He charged at the villain as he saw red. 'This ones clearly not like the rest, I gotta get Asui out of here now!' "Get the hell away from my friend!"

"SMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

From the point of contact of his fist, wind blew violently everywhere like a hurricane. Asui and Mineta were thrown off their feet and the ground beneath them cracked all over. The water that had returned to the shipwrecks zone had violently crashing waves all of a sudden and poles in the ground of the facility came flying out.

He looked down had his eyes widened in shock. His arm didn't have any of the class signs of damage it usually did. 'What? My arms not broken! I can't believe it! After all the training, NOW is when I'm able to get a good smash in? Alright! Wait but with all this damage…'

For the briefest moments, the boy was worried he had gone too far but when the dust cleared…

Whether it was to his relief or to his horror, he saw he hadn't connected with the villain he intended to. Instead, the Nomu had managed to rush in to take the hit and was almost completely unfazed, merely pushed back from where he'd been standing a little. The massive villain glared down at the greenette with its dead eyes.

"Where did you come from!?" Midoriya exclaimed in surprise as he quickly glanced around for his classmates. Asui and Mineta weren't too far away, they had been knocked closer to Aizawa somehow by the blast though. The boy finally registered that Nomu had no scratches on him at all.

'If the villains spent so long planning out this attack then they probably found a way to kill him.'

"No way…"

"Tch…You're pretty powerful! And here I was thinking you were the ones who did that tentacle thing. That smash of yours, by chance are you one of All Might's disciples?" Shigaraki asked as he scratched his neck. "Doesn't matter, you brats are getting on my nerves."

Midoriya barely jumped out the way as Nomo threw a fist at him. However instead of turning around to try again the giant villain rushed beside Asui, who barely grabbed Mineta in her tongue and threw him towards the exit.

"Nomu wait." Shigaraki called out, as he stood over Aizawa. He looked straight at Midoriya with a wicked glint in his eye. The beast was right in front of Asui, who would almost undoubtedly be caught if she made to escape. The blue haired lunatic hovered a hand above Aizawa, who seemed to have finally lost consciousness as Nomu stood ready to attack Asui. "You, green boy. You annoy me. You could have just let me be and I would be gone now, you're the one who didn't let me get my kill. I refuse to leave without at least one kill, but I'll tell you what, YOU can decide WHO dies!"

The psychopath gestured towards Nomu with a slight cackle. "Like I already said, Nomu is bio-genetically engineered to be the anti-All Might. Everything from his body, to his quirks are designed to take on the symbol of peace."

'Wait quirks?! PLURAL?'

"You already saw one of his in action when you so unheroically tried to kill me." Shigaraki's voice started to take on a mocking tone. "Shock absorption, you're pathetic super strength does nothing. And I'm sure even a brat like you is smart enough to realize that if he's designed to go toe to toe with All Might then a pathetic little runt can't do a thing. So this is what's going to happen, I'm going to disintegrate you're pest of a teacher and Nomu is gonna crush your little friends head."

"No!" The boy immediately went to move but Shigaraki merely laughed and got closer to Aizawa.

"Try to save someone if you want brat, but even using you're quirk you can't save them both!"

The villains both got closer to their intended targets as cold sweat trickled down Midoriya's neck. He only had a couple seconds to do something. 'Dammit, what do I do?! Far Reach only comes out as one tentacle and If use One for All I'll break, even if I did I can't move fast enough to-'

A warm crackle of energy in his legs.

A sharp pain, like fire in his left hand.

'That's it!'

Midoriya jumped towards Asui, energy coursing through his legs and in an instant she was in his grasp as they two flew past Nomu. At the exact same instance he got her into his grip he shot out his left hand, Far Reach firing and wrapping around Shigaraki's waist.

Midoriya pulled hard as he flew through the air, yanking Shigaraki far away from the pro. The blue haired villain went rolling across the ground and Asui and the greenette started to fall to the ground as well.

"Listen Tsu, only have a few seconds to explain so listen! Grab Aizawa and run, I'll distract the big villain! If I stop moving when we land I'll be broke but if I keep moving I'll be safe so your own your own from here!" He explained before throwing the frog girl out of his grasp.

The girl followed his instructions without question as she was flying through in the air, tongue grabbing the pro before she turned and ran for the exit. Nomu started to chase after and that's when Midoriya took his opportunity, kicking his feet into the ground at launching towards the massive villain.

'Even after Tsu and Aizawa are safe, I can't stop fighting. If this guy is meant to fight All Might then most of our class will be dead if he roams free and finds them!' The boy thought as his fist collided solidly with the beak of the monstrosity, knocking the villains head to the side. Midoriya landed on the ground and shot towards the sky, on the ceiling in less than a few seconds before launching right back towards the villain and hitting him in the stomach, knocking him back ever so slightly. 'Shigaraki said his quirk was absorption, which means he still has to take in the shock. If I can hit him hard enough or enough times that he can't defend the same amount of strength anymore then All Might will probably be able to take him out!'

The boy felt his feet land on the ground once more and he shot backwards, flipping himself around in the air to see where he was landing. He was heading straight towards the fire zone. His feet touched one of the concrete buildings for just a moment before he was launching right back at Nomu, the building caving in behind him from the force. 'Dammit, the more I jump around like this, the more collateral damage there will be. Gotta be careful, I really hope no one was in there.'

"YOU PEST!" Shigaraki screamed out as he glared at him. "NOMU, KILL HIM!"

The muscular villain rushed forward, to throw a punch right at the teen who was rocketing closer. The boy shot his left hand forward, and Far Reach wrapped around the massive arm. Using it to his advantage Midoriya yanked down hard causing the bird like villain to stagger forward, allowing him to fly over the villain's fist and land a solid kick to the back of the villains head before escaping to the roof once more. 'I've managed to knock him back a few times, just by a little bit. I probably can't beat him really, but I have the same quirk as All Might, amplified, so I can at least hold him off until the pro's arrive. My strength is just a tiny bit above what his quirk can defend against but that's all I need.'

The greenette flew back towards the center of the facility but this time, Nomu leapt into the air, meeting him halfway through the air. The villain brought a knee up that the greenette barely managed to avoid. Far Reach wrapped around the stomach of the villain and Midoriya activated One for All in his arms as he pulled the villain around, above his head before launching him into the ground, causing a crater. 'Dammit, at this distance they're too hard to see. Wait…idiot! You can fix that!'

The world became coated in a sepia tone after the boy blinked and he could see the three villains on the ground. The boy aimed a flick behind him and shot towards the ground from the pressure in the air, landing a solid kick into the stomach of Nomu before catapulting away into the air once more. 'Need to keep an eye on my classmates as well, just in case.'

The boy blinked again and not far away he saw the green silhouettes of his class mates fighting. As the boy did a quick survey of the situation he saw that not all his class mates were doing well. Not too far away, in what he presumed to be a landslide zone, he could see one of his classmates had gotten frozen in a giant ice attack.

Midoriya was brought back to his own reality when Nomu was suddenly upon him. Reacting on instinct he punched the air, putting distance between him and the villain but rocketing him towards to the ground back first. "Crap!"

He barely managed to flip himself in time to land on all fours and leap up into the air once more, similarly to how Asui might. He aimed Far Reach and it wrapped around the foot of Nomu who was falling to the ground.

He pulled himself closer and charged One for All in his leg. He was charging right up at Nomu and his foot connected with the monsters chin, launching both them further into the air before they proceeded to fall again. He aimed Far Reach once more but this time aimed for the ceiling as Nomu fell once more.

'I want to help whoever that was in the landslide zone but there's no way it would be good if I brought this guy.' Midoriya though as he kicked off the roof, destroying some of the only lights left. He hit the ground, and launched towards the giant villain who had taken a moment to return to the other two who…were taking on fighting stances? 'Oh no!'

Purple wispy smoke started to coat the ground beneath the boy, ready to pull him to some other place but just before they could finish forming the boy shot off into the air. 'Oh great, play into their hands why don't you! Think, what do you do now?!'

Shigaraki rushed at him next as the smoke dissipated, trying to disintegrate him. Midoriya threw out his hand, Far Reach firing once more and wrapping around Shigaraki's body. The villain tried to dodge out the way but the tentacle homed in on its target, changing direction to catch him. The boy flicked at the ground, pushing upwards, where Nomu leaped to attack him.

"Perfect. Bird brain! CATCH!" The greenette shouted out as he swung the blue haired villain over his head and right into the massive monsters head, distracting both of them and allowing Midoriya to leap back to safety, right back to above the entrance of the USJ.

"DEKU?!" He heard what was unmistakably Uraraka's voice call out in surprise but he didn't have time to focus on that, he couldn't let Nomu rush him up here where other students were. He could see Mineta and Asui with Aizawa among them.

"IM FINE!" The boy quickly assured them, Dark Vision finally running out as he shot off towards the villains once more. However as he shot forward a gigantic crash drew his attention back to the entrance while he flew through the air.

Smoke covered where the exit was as footsteps rang out, however after just a moment it dissipated to show All Might walking forward, in his buff form.

"HAVE NO FEAR STUDENTS!" The muscular hero almost growled out. "I AM HERE!"

Midoriya felt relief and worry course over him all at once as he noticed one little detail.

"He's here…All Might…"

"…and he's not smiling…"

The boy, aimed a flick in front of him to launch him back towards to the pro.

"-And Midoriya is fighting him right now! You have to help him!" He heard Asui say to the pro as he landed underneath the sign at the front of the stairs, gripping onto the pole and swing backwards and forwards to retain enough momentum. "Midoriya! Ribbit."

"Young Midoriya! Get to recovery girl right away!" The blonde commanded him. "If you continue going like what young Asui told me you could get exhausted and break in the middle of a bunch of villains!"

"Sorry, I can't! There's someone trapped in the landslide zone who needs help, I'm going to get them first." The greenette explained. "Be careful! That bird villain managed to withstand One f-I mean I've hit him multiple times full power and he's only been knocked back a bit, I managed to wear him down a bit though, I think."

"Midoriya wait!" The pro shouted but it was too late, Midoriya landed on the ground and launched into the air. He threw his hand out and used to Far Reach to get closer to the ground, running towards the land slide zone. 'I hope he knows what my smashes being very barely effective means. His smashes can do more damage sure, but Nomu will still power through. I managed to knock him back but…He recovered just fine every time, I didn't even put a dent in him. All Might should be able to do more than me though at least. My quirk is his amplified but, he's still stronger than me, mine is still developing...'

He felt guilty disobeying All Might like that but he couldn't leave whoever had gotten encapsulated in the ice. Using Far Reach to pull him forward it only took a minute or two to be closing on his location.

He activated his Dark Vision once more and saw the person who had been trapped. He jumped into the air and punched into the ice, destroying it completely as it all cracked and shattered.

"Are you alright?!" Midoriya asked concerned as he hoped from one foot to the other and Dark Vision deactivated showing him just who it was. However not from what he could, but rather what he couldn't. Standing up was just a floating pair of boots and gloves. "Hagakure?!"

"M-M-Midoriya?" The girl chattered out. Not too far away, a sudden smoke cloud appeared in the air as well as a loud crash, presumably from All Might causing the boy to almost fall over. "I-i-is t-that y-y-you?"

"Yeah, grab on, I'll get you to the entrance!" The greenette told her getting closer so she could hold onto him. He tried to not to freeze up about the fact a naked girl was currently pressed against him and started to run back to the entrance. 'Don't freeze up now, she's probably got hypothermia or something if she was trapped in their too long.'

He utilized his Far Reach again, rushing back to the entrance. 'Dammit this is taking too long.' "Hold on tight!"

He felt the girls arms tighten around his neck as he leapt into the air with One for All, landing on top the sign from before and jumping down to the others. All Might had rushed off to take care of the villains and the students were carrying the teachers out. There was only one person who didn't have a teacher in their grasp.

"SERO!" Midoriya shouted, getting the whole groups attention, who stood and waited as he rushed up to them. The boy turned on the spot, still hopping from foot to foot. "Take Hagakure! She got caught in an ice attack and probably has frostbite or something. She was completely encased in there."

"Oh crap!" The tape producing student quickly helped the girl off the greenette's back and onto his. "Alright, we'll get her to recovery girl with the others ASAP."

"Thanks! " Midoriya said and once he felt the weight of the girl was gone he ran back to the fight. As he sprinted his vision once more changed to its sepia filtered version and he flinched when he saw his mentor and the massive bird monster in combat as Nomu punched All Might in his wounded stomach. The world then returned to normal, smoke covering his vision quickly as the boy felt a pressure in his eyes. 'Crap! I've got to be careful. I won't use Dark Vision again until absolutely necessary for my eyes sake.'

"MIDORIYA! WAIT! ALL MIGHT CAN HANDLE IT!" Mineta shouted at him, the others making noises of agreement.

"He can if I have anything to say about it!" Was all Midoriya replied as he leaped into the air and landed on the roof, before shooting off and landing in the center, rushing towards where Nomu and All Might had started to clash. 'I didn't do as much damage to Nomu as I wanted to, it's like every time he only needed a second to recover and come back just as strong. I have an idea why, and I really hope I'm wrong. If I'm not…'

'Wait quirks?! PLURAL?'

'U.A.'s Newest Faculty Member: The #1 Hero All Might; Resolves multiple incidents this morning's'

The teachers hadn't told the class why the man hadn't shown up but Midoriya had seen their other teacher Thirteen hold up three fingers to Aizawa.

Three fingers. Three hours. All Might had exceeded his time limit.

'He was absent because he used too much of his power, he shouldn't be using One for All now. Every second he spends fighting here, he pushes himself further than he can handle, I'm the only one here who realizes just what kind of trouble he could be in. I mean, its All Might so he's still more than strong enough to take down Nomu, right?'

All Might's shirt was lifted as the blonde sat against a railing in his skinny form, a massive wound visible on his stomach that had an almost flower like pattern from the stitches. "Pretty gross, right? I got this in a big fight five years back. My respiratory system was completely destroyed, I lost my whole stomach. All the surgeries have completely worn me out and it can't be fixed. Right now I can only do hero work for two to three hours a day. The rest of the time? This is what I look like."

'If he has the quirk I think he does, then maybe all that strength won't matter, especially if All Might's pushing his limits. I can't just rush in to fight, I already did and all I accomplished was imminent broken limbs and angering the villains.'

"I'm the guy who's always smiling right? The symbol of peace. People everywhere have to think I'm never afraid but…honestly kid, I smile to hide the fear inside. It's just a brave face I put on when the pressure is high. This job isn't easy."

'Everyone's rooting for him, but they don't know what kind of trouble he's actually in. I can't take down Nomu but I can help All Might do it and make sure he doesn't get pushed too far! I just have to-ALL MIGHT NO!'

Midoriya arrived at the scene as the smoke began to clear, revealing Nomu had managed to get ahold of the pro. All Might was bent backwards, holding the villain as if he had attempted a suplex on the bird creature, likely in an attempt to bury the villain. However it had backfired, as the smoke of the 'Kurogiri' villain was on the ground beneath them.

Nomu had come out a second smoke portal and grabbed onto the blonde's injury, fingers digging into the wound. Blood was dripping from All Might's mouth and could hear that Shigaraki was chuckling at the sight.

Energy started to build inside Midoriya's body

"Nice. You were trying to bury him in the concrete so he couldn't move. Nomu is as strong as you are, that won't stop him." The psychopath explained. "Nice work Kurogiri, we've got him right were w-WHAT THE?!"

Midoriya wasted no time when he saw the predicament, launching forward and kicking Nomu hard in the face, allowing All Might to get out the way and sending the bird villain flying out of the portal and somehow into Kurogiri's feet, knocking the warp villain over as well.

Shigaraki turned to run after his allies, to help them and put some distance between himself and All Might. The pro turned to Midoriya, who was hopping from foot to foot, with a look almost akin to an irritated glare though surprise was clearly written across his face as well.

"Young Midoriya! What are you doing here?! I appreciate the help but it's too dangerous to stay here! Get to the entrance now." The blonde commanded as he turned to face the villains who had started to recover from the surprise attack.

"No All Might! We both know why you can't stay here alone. I promise I'll try to stay out you're way as much as possible but I already hesitated with Mister Aizawa and now he might be dying because of me. I'm not making that mistake again if you need help!" Midoriya explained, voice filled determination. He refused to be moved on this. "I think that bird villain has some form of regeneration, I've been able to do some damage but it's like he comes back just as strong if he has even a second to breathe."

"Midoriya you shouldn't….Damn it, you're not going to back down on this are you?" All Might asked, voice sounding both irritated and proud at the same time somehow. The pro's blue eyes seemed to be calculating something before he sighed in frustration. The villains had picked themselves up and were beginning to rush at the two. "If you managed to overpower him….Fine. I can't deny I'll need all the help I can get against this guy right now but you had better stay out of the way and ONLY on my cue, smash that bird villain!"

"Yes Sir!" The greenette nodded his head in understanding as he retreated to a safer distance using One for All and watched the fight from afar.

Nomu rushed at All Might, who was much more prepared this time as he disappeared out of the way faster than Midoriya could track with his eyes, appearing once more however this time behind the warp villain who he delivered a swift uppercut to and knocked back.

Shigaraki responded immediately, attempting to disintegrate the blonde however he dodged out of the way and Midoriya realized that Nomu had also been attempting to grab the pro. The blue haired villains hands connected with the massive birds arm causing it to turn grey and Stoney, before it crumbled into the wind.

Shigaraki leapt back in surprise as Nomu shrieked in a horrible bird-like voice, befitting the monstrosity. After just a couple of second though a new arm seemed to take place, slowly coming into being via the flesh and then the skin.

"Guess the kid was right! You CAN regenerate!" All Might exclaimed as he tried to hit the villains face however the monster dodged out the way. "But even with all your quirks, there's no way that didn't hurt! Shock absorption and Regeneration can't do anything against old-fashioned exhaustion I'll bet!"

Midoriya felt a grin start to form on his face watching his mentor fight, even if worry did creep in the back of his mind. However it quickly fell as he noticed the man start to back away to quickly grab a breath, right towards a portal Kurogiri was opening up.

"ALL MIGHT, LOOK OUT!" Midoriya shouted as he used Far Reach to pull him towards the scene and kick off the ground, shooting towards the warp villain to try to force him to dissipate the portal.

"NOMU, GET THE BRAT!" Shigaraki screamed at the bird monster, who rushed after Midoriya, grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him into the air. Midoriya gritted his teeth as he landed a solid punch charged by One for All into the bird villains face however it had an unwanted side effect as the villain threw him through the air, letting him go from the pain and sending him flying through the air.

As he went flying away from the scene, he saw the blonde fall into the portal he had tried to warn him about and get caught half-way through.

He felt himself falling towards the ground and did his best to manage a roll and start to move again, it hurt like hell and he was sure he had just twisted something but he couldn't stop now less things get worse. 'This whole moving keeps the body together thing is really turning out to be as much an annoyance as a help.'

The greenette tried to run back, though it would be more accurate to say he was limping as fast as his could let him and he felt his blood run cold.

The portal All Might was stuck in was starting to squeeze shut.

He couldn't use One for All to catapult himself like this and he was too far for Far Reach to get him close fast. He noticed though the mass of the blonde seemed to be preventing it from closing, likely buying sometime. The pro tried to wriggle free but Nomu grabbed the blonde's lower half through another nearby portal, holding him down. 'Nononono! There's no way I can get close to Kurogiri with Nomu there, they know I'm coming now! This can't be how it ends! There's got to be something I can do dammit!'

The greenette shot his left hand out on instinct the second he was in range, the familiar sensation of energy and pain flaring inside his hand as the tendrils shot out and merge into the massive tentacle that was his Far Reach.

The tentacle landed on the ground near the villain and launched Midoriya through the air. 'Almost there. Dammit! I don't care how strong Nomu's shock absorption is or fast his regeneration is, I swear I will beat those powers before I let him hurt anyone!'

He was right on top of the villains now, arm pulled back for a punch, the familiar warmth of the energy of One for All starting to flow. Nomu would let go of All Might to stop him, Midoriya would flick his fingers to use the wind pressure and dodge and then he'd get the warp villain.

Unfortunately, Midoriya forget to account for one thing. He knew nothing about these villains, any strategy had a lot of assumptions to be made and assumption weren't always right. He could be wrong about any idea he had.

The sudden purple and black wispy smoke before him with its piercing yellow eyes proved as much. Kurogiri had been the one to show up in his path, yellow eyes glaring at him as the boy travelled right towards the smoke that could teleport him anywhere.

He couldn't stop! He was going to be teleported to who knows where and he couldn't do anything about it!