Chapter Twenty-Five:

I had an itch I couldn't scratch, no, not a real itch, I had to know what was happening in the battlefield. I mean, my nose was itchy, but I couldn't itch it with all this silk.

The pros weren't here yet, if they were, The Undersiders and Travelers would get beaten in a few seconds. I knew this. I saw them in action. The were definitely smart and strong enough. If they didn't save me yet, that means The Wards were here…

Which means Class 1-A was probably here as well…

I couldn't stand this. I couldn't wait here. There was buzzing, and I heard the wails of the damned. This means Skitter was fighting against Class 1-A.

I couldn't let that happen. The thought made me hyperventilate. If I kept thinking about it, I would have another panic attack.

If Skitter died, or Kacchan died…or…

No, no, no, no, don't think, just do! I have to remove this silk, go to the battlefield, and save everyone. Tattletale was out of the room. So I could leave, I had to.

It hurt when I used 20% of One for All on my fingers. But I had no choice. I couldn't get out of here without doing just that. So I fired my finger and broke the silk. I bit on the silk to ease the pain…No…no time for that. I had to get to the battlefield.

I opened the door to the room, hurting my fingers. I walked out of the room and down the stairs. Running into Skitter's minions. She must've ordered her workers in the building.

They all looked at me.

"uhhh…Hi?" I said.

"Hey!" a black-haired girl my age said. "You're not allowed here!"

"I'm here to save my friends!" I said. "Now let me go out there!"

"We can't let that happen," A red-headed girl a little older than me said.

"Damn right we can't."

Oh-no…I know that voice…The rasp…that aggression.

Everyone turned to the man that said that and cleared a path for him.

Shigaraki.

"Hello, Midoriya.\," He said.

I frowned. "Shigaraki. Don't get in my way."

"What's wrong, brat? Wanna save your friend and girlfriend?"

Girlfriend? Was he talking about Ochaco!?

Or s…someone else…

"Everyone leave. This is going to get messy."

They stayed. Glancing back at me and Shigaraki.

"You heard the brat, go out the back."

The people left. Going out the back of the warehouse. Leaving me and Shigaraki alone.

This is actually good, I mean, assuming he still has it.

"I want my hair back," I said.

"It's already gone," Shigaraki said.

I noticed it. "Then why did you put your hand in your pocket?"

Shigaraki scratched himself. Did he have anxiety? "Cute observation. Fine."

He pulled out the hair. It was green. That meant it was mine. "Give it back."

"I don't think so," Shigaraki put my hair back in his pocket. "This hair will help us finally destroy All Might once and for all."

What am I supposed to do? Should I fight him? I have stitches and ten broken fingers. If I fight him, I'm dead. I have to go back, wait for All Might to-

I heard an explosion. Outside.

Kacchan.

"Well?" Shigaraki asked.

I stood my ground and aimed with my finger.

The change was subtle, but Shigaraki's plain face turned into a frown. And he scratched the underside of his jaw with his two fingers. "Ok…"

I powered up…

And then I flicked.

Skitter.

I flew into my base, right into the doors. That explosion wasn't as powerful as the one's back at the PRT headquarters. Was he sweating less?

"THAT WAS A WARNING SHOT! YOUR ONLY ONE!"

So that was the answer. He was holding back.

"I wouldn't call that a warning shot," I said. "It hit me dead on."

"TRUST ME! I COULD'VE KILLED YOU RIGHT THERE IF I WANTED TO!"

So that was it? He thought it was a warning shot because it didn't kill me?

Bakugo gave me all the wrong vibes. He seemed like the worst part of Emma and Sophia. I know Deku liked him. Or at least admired him. But I had nothing but hatred for him. He hurt Deku. he could've traumatized him. He worst the embodiment of everything I hated.

I wish I could've said I didn't want to do this, but I did.

"Skitter!" Grue said. "Give him the kid!"

"What? No. We can't do that," I said.

"Are you insane!?" He said.

"You'll never beat him in a fight!" Tattletale said. She sounded concerned. But she was smiling a few seconds ago. Was she confident that they could break out of the tape until I came along? But I would give them more time…

Maybe she just didn't want me to fight Bakugo. He was a problem before…

I heard something behind me. It sounded like a shockwave. What could've created that?

"Hey, Bakugo!" Regent said. I think he would've waved if he could. "No hard feelings about attacking your friends, right?"

Bakugo sneered in response. "THEY'RE NOT MY FRIENDS!"

"Oh, cool. Then no hard feelings!"

"DON'T GET ME WRONG, I DON'T CARE ABOUT THEM! I JUST WANT TO KILL THE LOSER VILLAINS! I.E. YOU!"

Regent got shifty eyes. "Well, shit."

Imp laughed nervously. "We're already beaten, so you can just spare us, right?"

Bakugo chuckled. "Yeah, right."

"Skitter," Bitch began.

I sighed. "Yes?"

"Kick his ass for me."

"Uhhh…what?"

"I would do it myself if I had my dogs, and I wasn't in between this frozen tape. I want him to bleed. So make him bleed."

I nodded. "I will."

"OH YEAH!? I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!" He skyrocketed towards me.

I pulled out my knife and baton.

And I ran forward.

Shigaraki

I dodged the brat's shockwave, and it hit the door, cracking the door as I ran forward. It must've not been at full power. He's holding back.

Good.

I swiped at him to decay him, but I was too far away, and it gave him time to leap out of the way. But I didn't let up though. I ran forward and grabbed his right shoulder, decaying it. The flesh and blood were showing. He cried out in a yelp that filled me with ecstasy.

He backed away, but I moved forward, and in one swift movement, decayed his right arm. He grits his teeth as his tendons throbbed from the pain. I went to his face, but stopped, and went to his chest instead, only for him to flick my hand away with his power. He jumped a couple dozen feet away as I shake my hand.

"You don't want to kill me," the brat said. Not mocking. Only saying. But still freakin' annoying..

"No," I said. "I do want to kill you. The only reason why I didn't before was that I wanted my minions to achieve success. I could've killed you in the future, anyway. But now?" I stopped myself. "Actually…considering they don't care about what I want…but then it'll anger my Master."

"Your master?" The brat said.

"Secret. Not spilling it," I said. "Not that it matters. You might not survive this anyway."

The brat grit his teeth.

"Now suffer." I ran towards him again.

Cloockblocker

I couldn't see anything in the cloud of bugs.

The second Katsuki went forward. Skitter did the same, but covered both her and Katsuki in bugs. The only proof that Bakugo was even alive was his yelling.

"YOU THINK BUG BITES WILL STOP ME!? DIE!"

Suddenly, an enormous, cone-shaped explosion blew up most of the, like, a sixth or fifth of the bugs. He kept going and eventually nearly killed every single last bug there.

Katsuki looked around, and Skitter was right behind him, ready to stab him.

"KATSUKI, BEHIND YOU!" I said.

Skitter ran towards him.

"DON'T HELP ME!"

Katsuki turned around while blowing up the ground and hit Skitter dead on. She skidded on the ground.

"Damn, he messed you up," Sero quipped.

Skitter glared at him.

"NOT DONE YET!" Katsuki propelled himself towards Skitter.

"Kurogiri, portal!"

Kurogiri sent his mist between Katsuki and Skitter. He tried to wrap him away, but Katsuki pulled his uncontrollable, unpredictable, pinball maneuvers. He couldn't catch him.

"I can't catch him!" Kurogiri said.

"It's not what I meant, anyway." Skitter said.

"Oh, of course."

Suddenly, Kurogiri put his mist nearly completely around Katsuki and Skitter. We heard the muffled sounds from behind the portal.

Sounded like…

Buzzing.

Bugs came out.

Thousand of them.

"Scared yet?" Skitter said.

Katsuki grinned in response.

Shit.

Deku

I attempted flicking my finger, lifting my right arm, and forcing it to move, despite the pain. But when I did, Shigaraki disappeared, and before I could even look for him, my back disintegrated.

It already didn't look pleasant when Aizawa got his elbow disintegrated, but it felt way worse. Like my body was in dry acid. Or like my skin was rotting and burning at the same time. My atoms were being torn apart.

I jumped away, using One for All on my feet and legs, went upside down, and flicked another shockwave, using my fingers at 20%. It hit Shigaraki in the gut. He kneeled over from the pain. I was going to take the opportunity to fire another shockwave, but I had to land, and when I did and turned, Shigaraki was already in my face.

I went for a punch, but his speed was unreal, and he disintegrated my left arm. Despite this, I was able to flick my finger at 20% percent of my power, and hit Shigaraki in the chin. He went flying but landed on his feet.

I saw his face and realized his hand fell at my feet.

"You dare hit FATHER!?" Shigaraki screamed.

"Uhhh…no?"

He ran at me faster than before. I forced my arms to moved and aimed, but he was already in front of me, decaying my right shoulder even more. When I jumped away, he simply moved forward and decayed my chest. My stitches opened, and I bled. He went for my neck next, but I grabbed his arm by using my arm at 20%, and I punched him at five. He went skidding on the ground while standing. And ran forward.

I jumped back and aimed, but he was too fast. He tackled me to the ground. I still fired a shockwave from my hand, but in my panic I fired at a higher percentage than 20%, and I felt a stab of pain. He went to decay me again, but he saw the ceiling crumble and jumped away to avoid it. I jumped towards him and headbutted his stomach. He went away and landing in a three point-landing.

He looked down at his hand, or maybe his…father's hand? He picked it up and put it on his face. "You're losing."

I stared at him. "Heroes don't always win. But that just means I have to try harder with you."

Shigaraki chuckled. "That's why I hate heroes. They think they can always win. That they can save everyone. But how many people have grieved over their family after they were lost in a superhero fight? How many times have news casters called out heroes for damages the area? They're narcissistic bastards that I'll take down."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he interrupted. "But you're different. You don't think that. And that pushes you to try harder, instead of giving up…You're…interesting." He leaned in. "I'll enjoy breaking you."

I grit my teeth.

And I jumped forward.

Skitteri

I swarmed Bakugo with bugs. warrior wasps, tarantula wasps, and bullet ants. All biting and stinging him, I was going to keep doing it until he went down.

"THIS CRAP CAN'T STOP ME!" He started blowing bugs up.

I backed away to avoid the explosions. It wasn't cone-shaped, which actually made it easier. But it didn't matter. Even though I ran literal circles around him, he killed nearly all of my bugs in less than 15 seconds.

The pain from the loss of bugs made it feel like someone pulled out my eys with a fork, or ripped off my ears. The pain wasn't as great as my fight with Deku. This was only an eight. I wasn't crippled by it.

I pulled in more bugs through the portal. Why'd I even bother? He was just going to blow them up.

Unless I actually damaged him…

I pulled out my knife and covered his eyes. I'd sting them, but that seems like overkill. I went to stab him while he was facing the other way, but he turned around, and I had to leap out the way to avoid getting blown up. Did he see me?

No, he turned to the right and started blowing up more bugs. He doesn't know where I am.

I brought in more bugs and went for another stab. But he went into the air, straight up. The explosion hit me and broke my chest plate.

This was impossible. With his explosions and speed. He was like catching a fly that was on fire. I felt some sympathy for Grue fighting Shadow Stalker. I imagine with his and her power it would be similar to this. Hell.

"LET'S SEE YOU COUNTER THIS!"

He began to pull a pin on his grenade gauntlets.

Oh-no…

I ran "Kurogiri! Shrink the portal!"

I jumped through it. Ending up in some South American outback. The portal shrunk, which means it wasn't touching the floor.

I quickly rolled under it, and the explosion went through the portal. Destroying everything. Including the bugs.

The pain made me vomit. Like needles in my nails, if nails were in your skull. I had to take off my mask.

When I got up and put on my mask. a hand pulled me through Kurogiri's portal and threw me. I skidded on the floor.

It was Bakugo. " LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE OUT OF BUGS! AND TIME! iF YOU HAVE kUROGIRI MAKE ANOTHER PORTAL, I'LL KILL YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS!"

He was threatening them? Them?

What could I do? I had almost no bugs and no gun. Even if I had one, Bakugo was too quick with his explosion. It would be basically worthless.

I thought of a plan. He sweats, right? That's where his explosions came from.

So…

He slowly walked toward me. "You were really freakin' annoying. But I got you all the same. You're nothing more than a bug for me to squash."

I rolled my eyes. "Nice pun."

He made a face. "That wasn't a…actually, doesn't matter. I'll still kill you." He raised his right hand and put it in front of me. His glove was still intact. How was it in one piece?

"Die," He said.

Nothing happened.

Bakugo's eyes widened. "Die!"

Still, nothing. "DIE!"

I sliced his hand with my knife. "What's wrong? Running low on sweat?"

He jumped back and glared. "THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME!?"

"You get your explosion from your sweat. So I had my bugs crawl on you. And. Eat. it."

"WHAT!?"

"Face it, you lost."

"NO, I DIDN'T!" He said. "YOU LOST YOUR BUGS! SO I CAN STILL FIGHT!"

I got in a fighting position with my knife and baton.

And we ran towards each other.

Shigaraki

The brat leaped at me, and I sidestepped away from him, raised my hand, and decayed his leg. That would make it harder to pull off any tricky jumps. He settled for firing a shockwave out his finger. I dodged, put my hands out, and ran.

But right before I could decay him, he kicked up some dust in my eyes. I protected my eyes, but then I ran into him.

I grabbed at the floor to slow our rolling down, but that gave the brat a chance to punch me with what felt l like 10% of his power. I flew off him and skidded again. Eventually stopping.

I stood up. "If you want to live, you'll go back to Skitter's room."

"I don't care about myself! I care about s-" He stopped himself. "Saving my friends!"

Was he going to say Skitter before? Was my theory correct? "Don't care about yourself? I bet the people that care about you would hate to hear that."

The brat gave a shocked look. He looked down. Then said. "well…I guess I can't die anyway if I want to save my friends."

"That might be harder than you think," I said.

"What? Why?"

I grabbed the ground behind me and decayed it. "You're not the only one that can use your wits."

I ran forward, and before he could jump back, threw the dust from the decayed floor in his eyes. He covered his eyes, and I tackled him.

I decayed his arms, his legs, his shoulders, and his knees. It was bad enough that you could see bone.

"It's over brat. You lose."

Clockblocker

Skitter and Katsuki ran at each other. Katsuki went with a right hook, but Skitter ducked and swiped at her with her baton. Katsuki blocked it, grabbed her neck, and slammed her face on his knee. She leaned back, but he didn't relent. He jumped and went for a punch, but Skitter held her knife up and Katsuki had to just land instead of attacking. Skitter went for a stab while B, but Katsuki's reflexes were too quick. He leaned back and leaned forwards for a headbutt.

"Kurogi-" Katsuki punched her again.

Shit. if Skitter gets Kurogiri to open another portal…

"Sero, pull Kurogiri towards me!" I said.

Sero looked at me. "Gotcha!"

He taped Kurogiri.

His eyes went wide. "Skitter!"

It was too late. Sero pulled him towards us, wrapping him in tape. I ripped it off and froze him.

The mist disappeared, showing his true body…

And taking care of the mist around Skitter and Katsuki.

"We got him!"

"GODDAMMIT!"

Katsuki was on the ground, clutching his side. It was bleeding.

Fuck. he's been stabbed.

"Face it, Kacchan. You lose," Skitter said. How did she know about Midoriya's nickname for him?

"NOT YET! I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SWEAT, BUT I CAN CONTROL MY SWEAT GLANDS TO AN EXTENT!"

"Won't do you any good if you can't use it," Skitter shot back.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! IF I CAN DO THAT, IT MEANS I CAN DO THIS!"

His arms started to twitch, throb. Skitter leaned back, but it was too late. A gigantic blast, one bigger than all the others except for the one that supposedly came from his gauntlets. Skitter didn't get hit directly, but she went flying regardless. Skidding on the ground, while holding her head, and lifting her mask partially to vomit.

"LOOKS LIKE I WIN!" Katsuki shouted.

"No," I said. Katsuki looked back at me. "We win."

Deku

I heard several explosions since I started my fight with Shigaraki, but the one I just heard was the biggest. What was it?

I am so stupid. I could've run away several times during this fight. But I didn't. Then again, he could've stopped me as easily as I tried. But I didn't even try. I hated him so much I wanted to fight him instead of just running. He wasn't like Skitter. He didn't try to help people, he wanted to hurt them. I couldn't accept that. I had to stop him. Did I even had a choice? After he had my hair, Didn't I have to fight him?

The pain I felt was greater than any other. Except for me breaking my broken finger. My bone was showing. My veins felt like they were on fire. And Shigaraki was standing on top on me.

Not good.

"I guess this is it," Shigaraki said. "I win."

I looked for an answer. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to take you back to Skitter's room, then I'm going to go outside, and then, I'm going to kill everyone there, not on my side."

He was going to kill Kacchan? Iida!? Uraraka!?

I glared at him, looking for something to say. But he said something instead. "Now, are you going to go back? Or am I going to have to carry you?"

I had one option. I know it was a dream, but…

I flicked with my toe at 100%, destroying the front of the warehouse.

As I planned.

Shigaraki looked back, I looked forward, and everyone looked at me.

"Deku?" Skitter said. Quieter than I was hoping.

"I knew it," Shigaraki whispered under his breath.

"Deku!" Uraraka shouted.

I ran at 5% "Urara-"

I was grabbed from behind, and hand took me by the next

Shigaraki.

"Nobody move," He said. "Or the brat dies.

He was threatening Deku? Deku?

Skitter

The Undersiders were out of the tape, Sundancer's sun was back, Both Ballistic and and Genesis were back up from being knocked out, I don't know what happened to Ballistic, but Genesis was killed by Dark Shadow, if we team up we can stop Shigaraki.

Just wasn't sure they wanted to.

"Let. Him. Go," I said.

"Ah, I see," Shigaraki said. "Without your bugs to put your emotion onto, your emotions show. Interesting."

I heard murmurs from The Undersiders and the heroes. I didn't care. I wanted Deku back.

"HA! YOU EXPECT US TO BELIEVE YOU WOULD KILL HIM!" Bakugo said.

"Why wouldn't you?" Shigaraki said. "After all-"

"You want to kill him, but there's a part of you that says if you kill him, there's no way you're making out of this alive. And that part of you won't shut up."

"Are you kidding!? I rather die than have another All Might on the loose.

"You're a child, Shigaraki," Tattletale said.

Shigaraki glared at her. "What?"

I had the same reaction. What was she doing?

"You're mad that I outsmarted you, you mad that you're not the boss of The Undersiders, and you're mad that now you take orders from our boss. You're so desperate to have something go right today that'll you'll kill the kid we wanted alive. Acting like a child lashing out."

Shigaraki scratched. "I never wanted him alive! I wanted dead! Don't piss me off!"

Oh. I see.

"She's right, Shigaraki." I said.

Shigaraki glared at me.

"This was over the moment you became our boss…"

Shigaraki

I scratched the burning itch. What was she saying? Was she so desperate to save her boyfriend that she was willing to ruin the plan to do it? Why would Tattletale start it? Why was sh trying to help her?

Was Skitter the one Tattletale tried to help?

"You don't know anything." I said.

"Don't I?" Skitter said. "You information caused us to lose the supplies, you kidnapping Deku caused the heroes to retaliate. Not to mention, you tried to kill Regent by putting him on the front lines, tried to get Tattletale to kill herself! You're the worst teammate, the worst boss."

"Shut up!"

"Everything you do is wrong!"

"SHUT UP!"

"And you cant tolerate people different to you like a blubbering baby!"

I ran towards her, only to get hit in the left liver. I kneeled over in pain, crying and spitting blood. I looked to my left and saw Ballistic with stones in his eyes.

"What the hell!?"

"Nobody fucks with us." Trickster said.

"That's it." Skitter said. "You lose."

I lose? I lose!? I can't lose again! Not again I had one option…

"NOMU!"

The grey, black, and High-End Nomu crashed through the roof of the warehouse and stared down at them.

"Kill them."

Clockblocker

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. This was bad, the Nomu were hard enough with the whole team. Then again the tram was crippled by Skitter's bugs, but from what I know of the black Nomu. They were powerful. As strong as All Might…

We stood no chance.

The Nomu ran towards us, and I grabbed Sero and Vista's hand and prepared for the worst.

Until I heard the best thing I could've.

"I AM HERE!"

All Might punch away the Nomu at a blitzing speed and beat the Nomu with ease. Sending them flying into the atmosphere.

"WHAT!?" Shigaraki said. "HOW!? You're weaker than before! Your injury!"

"What injury? This one?" He lifted up his shirt to reveal nothing. "I had Panacea heal it, I'm BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!"

Shigaraki looked terrified, and Midoriya cried. We stood there in shock.

I couldn't believe it, Panacea healed him? Does that mean he's back to his peak strength? No timer? Does Midoriya really have All Might's power because All Might gave it to him?

All Might ran over to Midoriya, said something, and picked him up and ran away.

So that was it…

We won…