There's a difference between watching someone you care about be injured while there's nothing you can do about it and watching it happen when your failure is the only thing standing between them and safety. Watching Aizawa be attacked by the villain's monster had felt like a jagged knife stabbed straight into his heart. The pain had been sudden and intense, and even though the monster had stopped slamming Aizawa's face into the pavement it did nothing to stop the ache that Izuku felt knowing that he wouldn't be able to reach out to help his fallen mentor.

That pain, as lasting as it was, hit differently from the pain Izuku felt watching the villain's hand make slow contact with the skin of Kaminari's cheek. There was nothing Izuku could have done to help Aizawa. He was too far away, the monster was too strong, and Izuku knew that Aizawa would have been furious if Izuku had risked his safety on the chance of rescuing him.

Kaminari stood right in front of him though, and the grotesque villain reaching for his friend wasn't some kind of hulking creature. This villain was the normal, human kind of monster that Izuku should have been more than capable of dealing with, considering all of the weapons he currently had at his disposal. The villain's quirk was inconsequential when his focus wasn't on Izuku himself, and yet that didn't stop Izuku from being a moment too slow. Before his own hand had even made contact with his belt, the villain's fingers grazed Kaminari's face and everything spiral further out of control.

Seeing the effects of the villain's quirk from a distance had been bad enough, but it was nothing compared to seeing what it did up close. Kaminari was close enough to Izuku that he could have reached out and grabbed him, and Izuku would always regret that he hadn't realized what Kaminari was going to do soon enough to stop him.

At first, Izuku thought that nothing was going to happen. That Aizawa had somehow found the strength to use his quirk and give Izuku the extra second he needed to get his friend out of harm's way. Izuku could still see his mentor collapsed on the ground behind them, his face hidden by his arms. There would be no last moment reprieve. It was when this thought registered that Kaminari started screaming.

The knife in his chest twisted at the sound, and right before his eyes the skin under the villain's fingers began to flake away. It disintegrated under the villain's touch even as Kaminari fought the pain to shove himself away from the villain, but the grip on his face was too strong. Soon skin was giving way to muscle, and Izuku knew that if he didn't do something the villain would just keep going. His hands finally found the latch on his belt, and he reached inside, a flick of his wrist sending a wonder ball flying at the villain's hand. The ball struck the villain's wrist, exploding in a mass of blue goo.

The impact couldn't have hurt much, but the shock of it was enough that Izuku could use the distraction to yank Kaminari out of his grip. His friend collided with Asui, knocking them both into the ground with a thud. Kaminari cried out again, the impact jostling his injury. Izuku wanted to turn back, to check how badly Kaminari had been affected by the quirk, but he refused to take his eyes off the villain, moving to stand between him and his friends.

The villain looked at the goo on his hand, stunned, before closing his hand on it. Where ever his hand touched, the substance disappeared. All of it was gone in a matter of seconds, Izuku used that precious time to remove his eskrima rods, adjusting his grip so that he would be ready for however the villain reacted to his interference. He could hear Asui mumbling quietly to Kaminari, but he forced himself to tune them out. Izuku couldn't risk being distracted right now.

Aizawa would kill him if they all made it out of this. He knew that with a certainty that left no room for doubt. This villain had arranged this set up, brought in some kind of monster, and beat Aizawa himself all for the purpose of killing All Might, and Izuku was about to stand against him on his own. It was probably the dumbest thing that Izuku had ever done, and yet he didn't think that he had much of a choice. This was different from wanting to stay behind and help Aizawa against the mob of villains. They had been spotted, attacked, and if Izuku didn't do whatever he could to buy them more time it was quite possible that this villain would succeed in killing them.

When the remnants of the wonder ball finally rotted away, the villain looked up at Izuku, a small smile spreading across his face.

"Unusual," the villain said, his hands falling to his sides. Izuku didn't drop his stance, watching as the villain looked him up and down. "You're the quirkless one, aren't you?"

Izuku's grip tightened on the rods, but he didn't respond. Internally, his brain was screaming. Why did this villain know who he was? They clearly hadn't known everyone else's quirks, or they would have been more strategic in where they dropped them in the building. If they had known, Izuku doubted they would have been so lax to drop both Asui and Kaminari in the water region.

"There's a lot of talk about you, if you know where to listen," the villain said with a shrug. "The quirkless hero trying to change the game. You've made a lot of people mad by refusing to play by their rules. It's been…entertaining."

Mind racing, Izuku still didn't respond. The goo had been nice to get Kaminari out of the way, but he doubted that would work twice. He still had a couple flash balls and explosives, but that would be useless of he could get some distance between them. Would Kaminari be able to move? Izuku hadn't been able to see how far the rot had spread under the villain's hand, but from what little he had been able to see Kaminari had to be either in extreme pain or shock. Neither states would be helpful in trying to escape. If he could signal Asui to take Kaminari and run, then he might be able to distract the villain. He seemed like a talker. Maybe Izuku could distract him and find out more about his plan at the same time.

"Oi," the villain said, "Listen to me!"

Bingo.

"I'm sorry," Izuku apologized, putting as much sincerity into the words as he could while when he could still hear Kaminari groaning behind him. "I was just realizing that I didn't know your name."

The villain hummed. "Shigaraki," he said, the word coming out sharply.

"Shigaraki," Izuku repeated. "I have to say that I'm impressed, Shigaraki-san."

"Oh, Midoriya Izuku?" The villain asked, tilting his head to the side, examining Izuku.

"Yes," Izuku agreed, swallowing passed the rush of anxiety that the villain did, in fact, know his name. Footsteps shuffled behind him, but Izuku kept his eyes firmly locked on Shigaraki. "No one has managed to break through Yuuei's security before, and you didn't' just break in. You brought an army with you."

"An army," Shigaraki laughed. "Those idiots are just the prologue."

"Clearly," Izuku said. "That thing is the real ace up your sleeve. What is it? That doesn't look like normal quirk mutations."

"You know a lot about that?"

It was Izuku's turn to shrug. "I did a lot of research before settled on my current path. Pinky joints and all that. I hadn't accepted that I didn't have a quirk yet." There couldn't be any harm in telling him that. If he really knew about Izuku already, then he probably assumed this hadn't been his first choice. People with quirks never did.

"An experiment," Shigaraki said. "I can't take credit for it, but it follows my orders well enough to do its job."

"Its job?" Izuku asked. The rush of adrenaline he felt wasn't enough to keep the tremor out of his voice.

"To kill All Might," Shigaraki said. "Although the sight of all of his precious students injured will probably do half the work for me. He's always been so sentimental. So don't think this little distraction ploy of yours is going to work. I don't care if those two behind you escape or not. They won't get far. This building is locked down until All Might gets here, and by then it will be too late."

"I guess there's no point in putting it off any longer," Izuku said, taking a calming breath before swinging the rod straight at Shigaraki's head.

Aizawa had lost many fights on his journey to becoming a pro hero, but there were none that had resulted in the level of pain he currently found himself drowning in. Only part of that pain was physical, of course, stemming from the mess that remained of his elbow and the repeated beating his head had just received. If he hadn't been in shock, Aizawa doubted the ache would feel as dulled, but that all came secondary to what he was seeing in front of him.

The monster breathed heavily beside him, but it had released his head so Aizawa thought he might be in the clear for the moment. His vision swam as he lifted his head from the ground, and for a moment he was startled to see the world remained blurry in front of him. It shouldn't have been that surprising, in all honesty. He had been pushing his quirk to the limit before that monster had gotten the better of him, and hits to the head couldn't have helped mattered. If he had to fight though-and he doubted he would get the choice in that-then he would be at even more of a disadvantage if he couldn't see clearly. His quirk wouldn't work if he couldn't clearly see the target.

Of course, that was when he recognized the figure standing only a few yards away. Aizawa would recognize that mop of green hair anywhere. Oh, Aizawa was going to kill him if they made it out of here alive. Squinting as he lifted his head, Aizawa could just made out Kaminari and Asui behind Izuku, both of them kneeling on the ground as Izuku acted like a shield between them and the villain. Did Izuku know what that villain could do? Had he touched any of them already?

Aizawa couldn't make it out enough to tell, but he knew he had to get over there, had to stop his idiot pupil from getting himself killed. His body refused to get with the program though. When Aizawa tried to push himself up further, his arms collapsed under him and wouldn't move no matter how much he tried to get to his feet.

He was stuck laying on the ground next to a monster while his-while Izuku faced off with the villain who had left him there. And there was nothing he could do about it.

Shigaraki was ready for Izuku to attack. He reached to grab the eskrima rod mid swing, but Izuku had expected that. The man wasn't like the other villains Aizawa had been fighting. He would be able to anticipate what Izuku was going to do. Which is why Izuku released his grip on the rod, letting Shigaraki's hand pass harmless over his.

Izuku had practiced the movement with Aizawa, but he had never had to put the action into real practice. He fumbled with the catch and almost knocked it away before he managed to get a grip on it again. Shigaraki had recovered from the miss by then though, and Izuku had to back away from his outstretched hand. He stepped to the side, away from where Asui stood shouldering the bulk of Kaminari's weight. Izuku could see the panic on her face, but he didn't have time to do more than wave them away before Shigaraki closed the distance between them. Asui would know to get Kaminari away from the fighting.

With a quick flick of his wrist Izuku batted Shigaraki's hand away from his face, pulling his arm back just as quickly so that Shigaraki couldn't catch him with his other hand. Shigaraki was still grinning. And why shouldn't he? Yes, Aizawa had been outnumbered, but if he hadn't been a problem for Shigaraki, then why would Izuku be any different?

Shigaraki was playing with him. He knew just as well as Izuku how this fight would end if Shigaraki actually tried to kill him. Instead he dodged Izuku's swipes with ease, dancing away from him with a confidence that let Izuku know what Shigaraki thought of his attempts. His own attacks were just fast enough that Izuku struggled to keep ahead of him.

"Midoriya Izuku," Shigaraki said as Izuku almost tripped over his own feet as he ducked from Shigaraki's swing. "I am impressed, but I'm afraid that we have to put this little match to an end. All Might should be here any minute, and I can't waste time on you any longer. Thanks for the entertainment. It was fun while it lasted."

Izuku tried to bat Shigaraki's hand away from him again, but this time Shigaraki was ready. He twisted his wrist under the rod one hand grabbing hold of each rod. Izuku tried to yank them out of Shigaraki's hand, but his grip was ironclad. He grinned at Izuku, his eyes looking from Izuku's face to the rods in his hand. Izuku's eyes tracked the movement, looking down to see the metal of his eskrima rods flaking away. Izuku's eyes widened in panic, and he let go of the rods, scrambling back and landing hard on the ground.

"Now, now, Midoriya Izuku," Shigaraki purred, letting go of the eskrima rods a moment before they exploded.

Izuku closed his eyes as the electricity flashed and Shigaraki screamed. The sound would have been reassuring if Izuku hadn't been holding back his own scream of pain. He had dropped to the ground, but he hadn't thought to cover his face. Izuku had never stuck his face near a fire, but he imagined it must be similar to what he was feeling only this was about a hundred times worse.

"What the hell was that?" Shigaraki croaked, and Izuku opened his eyes to see the villain holding his hand tucked into his chest, blood covering the sleeves of his jacket in dark swatches of red.

Izuku fought the urge to touch his own face to assess the damage. Electrical burns were nasty things. That's why there was supposed to be a failsafe in the rods incase the metal was compromised, and Mei's mother had done everything she could to ensure that the metal would hold under almost anything. None of them had prepared for the possibility of someone's quirk eating straight through those fail safes though. He would have to talk about work arounds for that at some point, because Izuku never wanted to experience this mistake again.

The skin on his face still felt on fire, the smell of burnt flesh almost making him gag. He hoped it was from Shigaraki, but he doubted he would be that lucky. In hindsight, this was all Izuku's fault. He had wanted a bonding experience with Kaminari. Now they might even have matching scars to show for it. It was that thought that pushed Izuku over the edge, and once he started laughing he couldn't seem to make himself stop. This whole situation was ridiculous. Yuuei was supposed to be the safest school in the country. Things like this weren't supposed to happen. Izuku almost expected Nedzu to jump out from somewhere crying, "Logical ruse!"

This was definitely the shock, but knowing that didn't help Izuku get his laughter under control.

"Izuku!" Kaminari's voice called, and Izuku almost groaned. If Shigaraki hadn't still been standing there cradling his injured arm, Izuku would have turned to yell at his friends for not leaving when they could. He couldn't really blame them though. Izuku would have done the same thing.

Shigaraki seemed to have gotten over the surprise of the explosion, because his eyes had focused back on Izuku. Izuku had to hope that his laugh didn't sound quite unhinged as Shigaraki's.

"I don't have time for this," Shigaraki said, voice sounding strained as he stalked towards him. Izuku pushed himself to his feet, wavering for a second before coming fully upright. Eskrima rods out of commission, Izuku would have to come up with another trick if Shigaraki was still set on fighting him. Then his eyes landed on Shigaraki's hands, bloodied and broken from the explosion. It wasn't as bad as it would have been if Shigaraki had still had the rods in his hands, but they were still close enough that he had taken some damage. Could he even use his quirk right now? If his power was in his hands and his hands were injured…

Izuku wouldn't count Shigaraki out yet, but maybe the fight had just gotten a little more even.

"You will not ruin this for me," Shigaraki said, and inclined his head. "Making this messy will work better for me anyway."

In the heat of the moment, Izuku had managed to forget about the monster that Shigaraki had brought with him. The hulking figure lumbered across the open field towards them, and although it wouldn't end well for him Izuku couldn't help but be glad that it was moving away from Aizawa. His mentor hadn't moved from his spot on the ground, but Izuku had to hold out hope that he would be okay.

"You should be proud, Midoriya Izuku," Shigaraki said. "Your death will be one more blow against All Might's legacy."

Izuku would never be more grateful that his moment for a witty one liner was interrupted by the sound of another explosion, this time marking the entrance of the man of the hour.

"Have no fear," All Might said, and Izuku could have collapsed with relief at the sound of the hero's voice. "For I am here."