Chapter 88: The World Ends With You
"Have you finished?" Dabi asked Skeptic impatiently, looking back and forth between the path ahead that Gigantomachia was charging through, and the man sitting on his back, typing away at his laptop.
"These things usually take more time. Luckily, I am an expert. Feel free to grovel to me later, League psycho." Skeptic rubbed his eyes. "I didn't expect to get any last minute footage like this…but hey. Hero students killing one of us? That'll snap the public for sure."
"True enough," said Compress, softly. "Our dear Twice was a sympathetic character…and the students, in many ways, are the public's last hope in the future of heroes. If they are seen doing a thing like that…"
"Shut...up…" Toga murmured. "Shut up."
"Hmm? Toga? Wha-"
"You heard me. Stop talking about Jin like that. Stop talking about the students like that. Like you're all so...disconnected from it." She lifted her hands, staring with dead eyes at the street before them as the giant charged through it, knocking over buildings and sending up tremors. "It makes me sick."
"Damn, Toga," Dabi commented. "It's almost like those kids you love so much are just as bad as the pros. I fought them myself, and they're horribly indoctrinated. If you try and talk to them now, you'll…"
"You don't know what'll happen," she mumbled. "I must find Ochaco-chan…I've got to…I need to know her answer."
Dabi shrugged. It didn't much matter to him. Just as long as everyone else in the nation shared that same feeling of betrayal that Toga felt…that was the important bit. This broadcast will be the real stinger. Endeavor is my father. Hawks killed Best Jeanist, or at the very least left him to die. And UA students murdered a villain in cold blood. It will be over for them soon.
"Whoa!" Skeptic exclaimed. "There's someone on the sat footage…"
Compress and Spinner gathered around to look. "Is that…?"
"That's one of the UA girls."
Toga whirled, and practically teleported over to the laptop. On the screen was Ochaco Uraraka, directing a middle-aged couple away from Giga's destruction.
"WHERE?!" Toga shrieked, seized with sudden hyperactivity.
"Two blocks ahead and one to the left. But, Toga-"
"I don't care, I don't care, I don't care," she repeated, struggling into her equipment. "I'm hopping off this ride."
"We still have to make it to Shigaraki!" Spinner protested.
Himiko was already preparing to slide off. "I'll meet up with you guys later," she said. "...I promise."
And then she was sliding down off the giant's body, down into the streets, down into the fray.
…
Mashirao Ojiro saw her slide off, clinging to the other leg. She hadn't spotted him. He chose now to detach himself and follow her at a distance, wondering where she could possibly be going.
…
Burnin' and many of Endeavor's sidekicks had arrived at the edge of the battlefield. Endeavor was blood-soaked, bruised, his last remaining fire just a flicker. Ryukyu had returned to human form and was now being pulled away, one of her arms badly mangled, and a huge chunk of her cheek gone.
Burnin' looked back at Aizawa, still standing at the edge, supported by Manual and Rock Lock. "Eraser Head, you can't hold it much longer!" she urged. "Back up, at least…"
"I…can't…" he choked out, his eyes so red it was as if they were filling up with blood. "I still have…people to protect!"
In the middle of the ruin, only the students still held firm.
Midoriya grabbed Shigaraki about the waist with a black whip and yanked him sideways. Shigaraki planted his feet against the ground and used the momentum to spin Midoriya. Bakugo was coming in from behind, and he crashed the two of them into each other.
"Aaargh!" Midoriya crumbled.
"Fuck!" Bakugo swore.
The villain launched toward them, and Mina skated up off a jutting of concrete, slashing acid downward in two separate waves. It scalded his sides, and he faltered, immediately whirling to attack her. Midoriya kicked him in the shoulder, sending him sideways, and Bakugo flipped himself upward with an explosion, and landed it atop Shigaraki's head.
KA-BOOOOOOOOM!
Bakugo didn't let up, launching himself over Shigaraki in an arc, releasing hard blast after blast. "WHY! WON'T! YOU! JUST! DIE!"
He's right, thought Mina, despairing. He's somehow becoming more AGILE, even after everything we're doing!
"Don't let up, Ashido!" Midoriya choked out, hurling himself back into battle. "His transformation wasn't complete! If you can keep hitting him…"
Shigaraki was indeed looking more and more worse for wear, even though his attacks were not slowing. Parts of his skin had sloughed off completely, and did not appear to be regenerating yet. I just have to do it fast! Can't let up!
But Midoriya and Bakugo had to create openings for her first. For all her natural agility, she could not keep up with them, or Shigaraki, even if she wanted to.
Shigaraki released an air cannon blast at Bakugo's chest, causing him to fly backward. Midoriya caught the boy on the backswing with black whip, and then THREW him back toward the villain. Bakugo screamed in rage, preparing another blast…
Shigaraki jumped up out of view, reaching out to crush Bakugo's head. The boy underhanded a blast at the villain's feet, sweeping it up like a wave.
Shigaraki went flying across the field, and Midoriya stopped short, waiting for the villain to reach him, then landing a devastating blow to his head as he passed by, causing him to slam into the ground and skid through it, creating a concrete canyon. Mina was there in time. She shot a concentrated blast of acid directly at his chest.
"ggGGGGGGGAAAAAAH!" Shigaraki screamed…and then he sent out a shockwave.
Mina's eyes widened. Oh, shit.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
It was as if Tomura himself had forgotten he'd had other Quirks to use, because she'd forgotten too. She'd taken a point-blank blast of...whatever energy that had been, enough to make her cheeks flap back from her teeth.
Now she was flying backward through the air at high speed, with no visible way to land…
Someone caught her.
"Don't worry!" promised Mirio Togata, a glint in his eye as he set her down. "We're here now too!"
"Huh?" Mina's head spun, weak. "Who…?"
Above her head, something blue flew past. Heading to the center of the battlefield.
…
Only Izuku had managed to stand firm through the shockwave. Both Kacchan and Ashido had been blown away. It was just him and Tomura Shigaraki, in the middle of a blasted crater.
Shigaraki raised his head. His face was half a skull, his white hair flowing up and away from it. But his scarred, muscular body was regenerating, before Izuku's very eyes. Even Mina had not been enough.
"Now then," Tomura rasped. "Give me…One For All!"
With no preparatory movement, he launched himself at Izuku.
A spiraling golden wave blasted him in the chest.
"WAVE FLOOD!" Nejire screamed, her blue hair sweeping out behind her. Shigaraki went flying back…
"NEJIRE!" Izuku screamed, his heart crying out. "NO!" I can't take it! I can't take the idea of her…!
Shigaraki adjusted himself in mid-air, but did not come flying back toward them. He stayed on his trajectory.
Izuku's eyes widened, and a whole different horror came over him. Shigaraki was headed straight for Aizawa on the edge of the field.
"Time to get rid of you at last," he cackled gleefully, reaching his hand out, intending to crush Eraser's skull…
Nejire gasped, as she realized what she'd done. I chose to save Izuku in that moment, and…! "NO!" she screamed.
Both her and Izuku launched together, but Shigaraki had already closed the distance to Eraser Head. A meter. A yard. A foot.
Ice punctured him from the side. Todoroki had arrived at last.
"SENSEI!" he screamed, and swept up his left arm, raising his firepower immediately. Shoto remembered what Aizawa had told him at Joint Training. If there ever comes a situation in which you must use that much fire, and you DON'T…
I'll save you, Aizawa!
But Shigaraki blew up his ice with some Quirk, and smoke billowed up. Aizawa, Manual, and Rock Lock all went flying back, having been much too close to that blast.
Todoroki shot fire through the smoky ice, clearing it away. Across the field, Bakugo, Ashido, and Togata all looked on in horror. Midoriya and Hado did the same from the field's center.
They all realised it at the same time. Aizawa's gaze had been broken.
At the far end of the ruin, Tomura stood up straight, terrifyingly whole again, completely regenerated. "Maggots showing up one by one, swarming around me…and it all comes to naught. One touch…to finally end this!"
He reached down, and began to decay the ground.
Together, they all prepared themselves for the end. And then…they all felt something wrap around their waists.
Tomura's face fell, as his decay passed over nothing, as a dozen pairs of feet were lifted off the ground in unison. "Huh…?"
Black tendrils fanned out like branches of a frail tree waving in wind. At the end of each one was a life saved. Lemillion. A badly bloodied Kacchan. An even worse-off Endeavor and Ryukyu. Todoroki. Nejire. Aizawa, Manual, and Rock Lock together. Ashido. All being pulled up into the sky, all with awed expressions on their faces as they looked up to see…
Izuku Midoriya in the center of it all, the whips emerging from his wrist as he floated them up to safety, hovering in mid-air.
Gran Torino, half a corpse, let out one last smile. He's using Nana's Quirk, the old man thought. He's using Float.
"That's right!" Izuku roared, his voice coursing with unimaginable power as he sent out one last tendril to pull a shocked Shigaraki up to his level, green lightning erupting around them. "WE ARE ENDING THIS! RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"
…
"That's everyone!" Tenya Iida said, as he raced back toward Koda and Fukidashi.
In the distance, the rumbles were increasing. They were either growing more powerful or just…closer. Blasts of light occasionally erupted from a specific spot a couple of miles away.
"Everyone else went to help, even Burnin'..." Koda muttered.
Tenya caught another flash in the distance. It was unmistakably green. Midoriya! And Todoroki went, too, and both the senpais…even Ashido.
"We must go there," said Iida.
Fukidashi and Koda exchanged an alarmed glance. "What…to the battle?"
"What else have we to do here? Everyone is evacuated now. We must be useful."
"But…Uraraka and Asui haven't gotten back yet. We don't know what happened to them," said Koda.
THIS DOESN'T SEEM LIKE YOU AT ALL, IIDA, Fukidashi's bubble read.
Tenya set his face determinedly. "I will not leave my friends, or my mentor, Manual, to such a fate without my intervention. We may not need to meddle, but if we are heroes, then we must. That is the Ingenium way. But I won't force either of you to come with me-"
"You have bigger problems, I fear!" said a voice.
All three boys whirled. A white-haired gentleman in a coat was bounding up to them on air-trampolines. Accompanying him was a normal-looking family.
"Looks like you missed a spot, comrades," the man said.
"You're Gentle Criminal!" Koda blurted. "You-"
"I am helping you right now," the man said.
"How did you break out of prison?" Tenya demanded.
"I was set free. Me, and all the rest. I am afraid there is not much time to explain, but the long and short of it is…"
Gentle Criminal pointed to where the rumbles were growing louder. The shape began to resolve itself. A massive, looming, hulking form, destroying everything in its path.
"Holy…" Koda blurted.
"We must stop that thing from reaching the main battle!" Gentle Criminal declared. "If it reaches Tomura Shigaraki and backs him up…there will be nothing left to save!"
"Nothing left to save from what?" Tenya asked, frustrated.
"I don't know how to explain it to you. I am sorry. There are others who can, though…please."
More text appeared on Fukidashi's head. I WILL TAKE THE FAMILY THE REST OF THE WAY. GO ON, CLASS A.
Koda and Iida nodded to him, and he escorted them away. A young girl and two woozy parents who seemed barely awake.
"If you really mean what you're about, then…" Iida stared Gentle Criminal down. "Lead the way, sir."
…
Himiko Toga knew someone was following her.
It was a gift she'd picked up from her years on the streets...plus, a side effect of her Quirk was a weird heightened sense of smell. Or maybe she just naturally had a good nose.
In any case, the schmuck was very, very dead if they chose to get any closer. The question was, who? Not one of the League, they all stayed on the giant. Not Ochaco, who was still ahead. Who else could it be?
She felt rather than heard the swish of an attacking blow from behind. Ducking, she brought her knife out in her flourish, and slashed generously. Blood sprayed from a thick appendage as it came around above her head. A tail.
Himiko got to her feet. She was standing two feet apart from the Ojiro boy, here in this Iwate backalley, Gigantomachia leaving them behind off to the left.
"You," she snarled. "You should have given up. I'm not interested in a guy like you."
"I don't want your interest," Ojiro shot back, though he had curled his tail back to himself. Aww, is it sensitive? I'll give it a kiss. A steel one.
"What are your plans with Uraraka?"
"You sound like an overprotective dad." Himiko wrinkled her nose. "Not a good look!"
He used his tail to push himself off the ground, and did a spin-kick through the air at her. She spun outward and pressed herself flush against the wall of the alleyway, twirled, and ducked into the little sunken house that had an open doorway there.
Inside was dark, musty, quickly abandoned. Toga intentionally knocked the toaster off the counter and went and hid in the shadows.
Ojiro entered, looking left and right wildly. "Come out!" he said sharply. "I don't want to hurt you. You're clearly lost and…messed up, somehow. I just wanna talk."
"Messed up? That's ruuuuude," she sang, and leapt out at him, knife brandished.
Ojiro dodged well, for his part. They went hand-to-hand for several instants, grappling, their feet dancing across the floor of the house, outside sunlight and inside shadow passing over them as they moved. She cut him in the cheek, across his hand, across his other hand. He was trying to block and counter with little success. He's fought someone with sharp weapons before, but whoever it was was slower than me! The thought gave her glee.
"Just wanna talk, huh?" She tried a reckless downcut. Ojiro leapt over the counter, putting an obstacle between them. "I'll talk to you then, lonely boy. You can't have Ochaco. You don't know her like I do."
"What kind of a joke is that? I've spent my entire past year in the same class with her. You've seen her, what, a couple of times? And all in fights."
"You're wrong," Himiko breathed. They fought as they talked. "She's been inside me, and I inside her. I have become her, and used Zero Gravity with my own hands. Can you say the same, tail boy? I bet you can't."
"What…are you talking about?"
"Just wanna talk, huh? Your classmates didn't want to talk to Jin. They just killed him. In cold. Blood." She managed to slash him in the side. Ojiro staggered. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!" he screamed, crying now.
What a pathetic loser. He gave it his best shot, I suppose.
"That invisible girl? She died to kill my friend. That's how far they were willing to go. How far are you willing to go for Ochaco?"
Ojiro's eyes widened. Toga hadn't meant for that to be a finishing remark, but all the fight seemed to leak out of him at once. "Invis…Hagakure? She's…she's dead?" he croaked.
Himiko knocked him out with the hilt of her knife. Then, she began to tie him up.
…
Dabi, Compress, Skeptic, and Spinner continued their ride. They were close now. Very close.
A purple-haired woman was firing at them from a rooftop with a gun. A hero? Not one any of them remembered or had seen before. But Giga was closing in on her. He'd crush her like the rest.
Dabi looked back at Skeptic again. "Status report!"
"They're just a few minutes ahead! Shigaraki is fighting UA students, and Endeavor."
"Is that so?" Dabi grinned. "What a party we're gonna crash. I can hardly wait."
Spinner noticed that the scarred man was limping, though, and he hadn't tended to his own wounds received in the first fight against the other students. He's planning something big, and I think he doesn't mean to get out of this one alive. But what exactly it was, Spinner didn't know. And who knew what Compress was thinking behind that mask.
One of the lady's bullets sailed close over Spinner's head, so close he had to duck. She was leaping off toward the next rooftop now, but that surely would only save her for a moment? Spinner didn't understand her logic.
Then, he saw a dark void open beneath her, and his eyes widened. That portal…he knew that portal.
Yellow eyes appeared before Gigantomachia's face.
The giant slid to a stop for the first time, so abruptly that all four men on his back went tumbling forward, crashing into one another.
"Machia," said the one known as Kurogiri, floating in midair before them.
"Kuro!" Compress exclaimed. "You escaped! Just in time! We're…"
Gigantomachia was sniffing Kurogiri's floating form. "You…you are the one that summoned me out of the woods…you protected Master," he boomed.
"That's correct," said Kurogiri. "And now, Machia, I need you to do something for me."
"Hold on," Dabi said. "Hold on, no. We're trying to get to the fight. Shigaraki is there. Kurogiri, don't you have to protect him? We can't focus on anything else. Machia, forward."
Spinner looked back and forth between them. "I'm not sure…" Why did Kurogiri help the woman shooting at us? I think I was the only one who saw it.
"Machia," Kurogiri repeated, still just shimmering there. He somehow sounded…different. Was that a female voice in there, or was Spinner going crazy? "There is a greater threat to Tomura's safety than the heroes. One that you must stop above all else. It is paramount."
Gigantomachia sniffed. "I could…take orders from you…conflicting orders, though…"
"What are you talking about, Kurogiri?" Dabi demanded. "What's the deal with this?"
"Sound…different…" Giga said. "You sound off. I don't like it."
And then, he kept walking forward.
Kurogiri hissed. "NO! Wait! Please!"
"It's fine, my old friend!" Compress said. "Just come with us, instead! We'll go over there and protect Shigaraki together!"
"NO, you don't understand-" Kurogiri pursued them.
"What the fuck?" Dabi exclaimed. He was pointing down at the ground.
Spinner turned and looked down there. He froze.
None other than the Hero Killer Stain himself was standing there in the middle of the street, looking up at them.
"League of Villains," he said hoarsely. "Now you will face my justice."
Stain…! Spinner exulted. What…what do we do now?
…
Uraraka, Kaminari, and Doko had met back up with Tsuyu. Tsuyu, surprisingly, had accepted Kaminari immediately. "I knew it, ribbit," she'd said, tears swimming in her eyes. "Back when we faced each other when you got captured, I knew. You'd change your mind and come back around."
"Thanks for believing in me…Tsu," he'd said. "If it's okay that I…that I still call you that."
Uraraka still seemed apprehensive, and distracted, to boot. The four students were running to meet back up with Gentle, who'd promised to collect whichever classmates of theirs were still left near the evacuation point.
Doko was teleporting across the rooftops above the streets the other three were running on, scouting.
Ugh! He thought, unsure as to what to do. Shigaraki is fighting Midoriya over there, and I think Mina's with them too…
He turned his head as he teleported again, looking to the other side of the city.
…And here comes Gigantomachia with the rest of them! What to do! How can we bring these groups together, and make them listen? Making Uraraka and Tsu listen had been hard enough. And who knows how close the creatures are to getting here…
"There was a woman down that alley!" Uraraka exclaimed. "She looked like she needed help! I'll catch up to you guys!"
Now Uraraka was leaving. Doko's frustration mounted. No point in keeping control now. I've already unleashed everything. He hoped Nezu was getting good data back at UA from his warps. The key is the void itself, somehow. If I can figure out how to harness it against them…
The whole expanse of the city seemed to rotate around him, showing him a great chessboard with all these moving pieces. Pieces that he had to form a united front with. But how, with so much history and tension between all the players? Players with literal world-ending aspirations versus players with world-saving ones? But all powerful. All useful against the void creatures. He had to find a way. It wouldn't be just him. He couldn't pull a Midoriya and stand alone this time.
He looked down to the street at Kaminari and Tsuyu, meaning to ask them for advice…
Tsuyu let out an ungodly shriek, the most he'd ever heard her emote, ever. Kaminari yelped, too, and they both stopped short.
Rising out of the street, like an awful dark sludge, was a void creature. Its orange eyes narrowed at them.
They're here. They're coming from underground. They could seep out of anywhere, anything! Doko's heart sang a frantic tune. He warped downward to the street, and slammed his palms against the pavement. "VOID SHRED!"
The ground underneath the creature ruptured, and it stumbled on its slithering way toward them.
"Tsu, throw Kaminari!" He ordered, warping clear out of the way for them to make the move.
"I-...WHAT, ribbit? What the hell even is tha-"
"JUST DO IT!" Doko nodded at Kaminari, who thankfully understood.
Doko warped in a circle about the creature. It moved fast, too, on those many many legs, following his path with its eyes, circling.
Tsuyu wrapped her tongue around Kaminari's waist and threw him, spinning. The boy went flying over the top of the monster and fired electricity down. ZZZZZZZZZAP!
The monster stopped moving, briefly stunned, giving Doko his opening to seize it.
He warped in and then used his Quirk with both hands, pulling, pulling apart. Webs of purple cracks appeared in the creature's skin, glowing and connecting like a puzzle being deconstructed…
And Doko yanked with his mind, shredding the thing into a thousand bloody pieces. He warped the three of them back away at the last second, avoiding the rainstorm of extradimensional guts that splattered on the pavement.
"EUgh!" Tsu wrinkled her nose.
"That's one down," Kaminari laughed in a high, nervous voice. "So, uhh, like…how many left to go?"
Doko shrugged. "A lot."
"These things…they're…when you warp, you-" Tsu seemed at a complete loss for words.
"That one was pretty easy, don't you think?" Kaminari asked Doko.
"Uhh, I don't know. I think it just depends on the Quirks they're up against. That was a really low-level one. They're probably appearing all over the city now."
"You said they created Quirks, though. And they're still susceptible to them…"
"Well, to say that is disingenuous." Doko continued to stare at the destroyed void-corpse, drums rapidly gaining speed in his head. "They created the gene that started Quirks. But Quirks evolved through us, not through them. All the Quirks today were created by humans, when you really think about it…"
"That IS how I'm gonna choose to think about it, ribbit." Tsu looked queasy. "But…we gotta keep fighting, right?"
"Yeah." Doko looked down the street. "Let's go."
…
High, high into the sky they went, up into the blue.
All the warnings Izuku had received flashed through his mind again. If you destroy your arms many more times, they'll become unusable…
"Fine, you want to go into space?!" Tomura challenged, attached to the other end of Izuku's whip. "I'll blast you out of orbit, Midoriya. But first I'll take that Quirk of yours. After everything I've accomplished, it still stands in my way…" He flew up toward Izuku, slackening the whip between them.
"THAT'S WHAT THIS POWER IS FOR!" Izuku shot like a streak of green energy. I left everyone else down on the ground! I'm the only one left…the ONLY ONE who can do this…I have to completely destroy him now! NO MATTER WHAT…
"TEXAS SMASH!"
...HAPPENS TO ME!
A percussive blast crackled through the sky as Izuku punched through Shigaraki, destroying the villain's arm in a single blow, lightning splaying out…
Pain coursed through Izuku's own body, but he didn't let up. He yanked Shigaraki toward him again. Kicked this time. "ST. LOUIS SMASH!"
"NEVADA SMASH!"
"WYOMING SMASH!"
Blow after blow, again and again.
…
Manual and Rock Lock watched in shock from the ground. After Midoriya had gotten Shigaraki in the air, he'd set the rest of them back down in a group. High above their heads, the battle continued, in these massive, repetitive blasts.
"That's...amazing?!" Manual gushed, wide-eyed at Midoriya's power. "Who is this kid?"
"NO!" Bakugo coughed. Even though he and Endeavor were the worst-looking and most worn of the bunch, he turned to the Flame Hero now. "If he keeps that up, he's gonna get his body destroyed and his Quirk stolen."
Endeavor's eyebrows went up. "We have to…"
"Yeah." Bakugo coughed again, this time blood. "Do you still have gas in the tank? We gotta get up there. Todoroki, get ready to catch us with ice."
Todoroki nodded. "Got it."
Rock Lock protested. "But you're all just kids…"
Bakugo just gave him a dry expression, then looked back up at the battle. "If Shigaraki takes Deku's Quirk, then it's…"
Nejire was standing somewhat back with Mirio and Mina, shaking and previously unable to tear her eyes away from the above battle. But she leveled her expression to the ground now, eyes wide as she heard what Bakugo said. "One For All…?" she croaked.
Endeavor and Todoroki both looked at her strangely. "What even is that?" Endeavor asked in a low voice.
Bakugo's head snapped to Nejire in alarm. "He told y…oh fuck. Of course he did."
Nejire looked back up at the sky, and set her face determinedly.
Bakugo gasped. "Wait, Hado-senpai, don't, at least wait for us to come up with a-"
She was no longer listening. There was only saving Izuku, and saving the world. And those goals were above her.
Nejire flew up to the fight.
…
"Help…" the woman called faintly, from around the corner of the alley. Ochaco followed. I will save every life I can, she'd resolved. Ojiro's encouraging words ran through her like fire. No more revenge. Only saving. No matter how small the life, no matter how inconvenient. She would solve every problem that made its way before her.
She'd been operating at full speed for what felt like hours now, and exhaustion threatened to flag her steps. But she couldn't stop. The giant was still coming. And the things Katayama told her…I can't let them kill anyone else! No matter who it is!
Ochaco turned the corner of the alleyway, and saw the woman standing there at an open doorway to a little shadowy house. "Takeo is inside…" she cried. "Stuck under rubble…"
"Okay!" Ochaco nodded. "I'll help. My Quirk is good for that. Let's hurry!"
"Yes, Ochaco-chan…hurry."
Her eyes widened in horror as the woman melted away before her. Beneath was Himiko Toga, her catlike eyes shining with an almost orgasmic glee. She let out an excited squeal and ducked into the house. "Come along, Ochaco-chan! Come and play with me!"
Ochaco gasped, her heart racing. Her mind seemed to unfold, and she was powerless to stop herself from stepping forward, into that dark house.
She lowered her body to a creep, protecting her vital organs by bending down a bit, and looked around wildly. Shadows and half-formed structures seemed to loom and jump out at her. She spun in a frantic circle, terror striking at her heart.
Where did all my anger go? My aggression? Now there's only this horrible, horrible fear…
"Where are you, Himiko Toga?" Ochaco asked. "I know you won't kill me. At least not immediately. So let's just have a chat, alright?"
"That's funny…" the girl's voice called out a whisper. It seemed to come from all around her…Ochaco couldn't nail down its source. "He said the same thing."
"Who's he?" she demanded. "What did you do this time, Toga? Stabbed up a few more people?"
"No. Not me this time. Your friends did the stabbing. They killed my Jin-kun."
"I…" Ochaco's mouth was going dry. Was she to the left, down that dark hallway where the bedrooms were? Or to the right, where there was a kitchen counter, and beyond, a laundry and living room? "I don't know who you're talking about. Who is Jin?"
"You would know him as Twice. Of course you don't know his name." Her voice was increasing in a dark anger, something Ochaco had never heard from her. "He never meant anything to you, did he? And neither do I."
"Toga. Listen to me. We don't have to fight. I might need your help."
"Why would you want my help, Ochaco?" A little giggle. For some reason, that sound carried differently, and Ochaco's head snapped to the left. Down the hall. She crept to the corner of the wall, and prepared to peer around into the darkness.
"Your friends killed mine. Your bird boy, your invisible girl, the tall boy with all the arms. They killed him. So why should I believe you?"
She's lying, Ochaco told herself, frustration rising to the surface. Tokoyami and Hagakure and Shoji would never do that.
Unless they were ordered to…those three weren't exactly free-spirited, were they? Doubts clouded her mind.
"Listen to me, Toga," she repeated, her mouth going dry. She could feel the blood rising to her head. "There are things coming that are beyond heroes and villains. And if we don't all work together, with all our Quirks…" She peered into the hallway, saw no one there, and fully spun into it, quiet as a mouse, making sure her footsteps made no sound.
"Quirks. Heh." Toga's voice was audibly closer now. "I used yours, you know. I used it to drop dozens of people to their deaths. How does that make you feel about me, Ochaco? What do you want to do with me?"
A pop of rage broke through Ochaco. "What the HELL do you mean?" she demanded. Her breaths came out shaky. I'm going to kill her. No, no I can't. She's lying to me! She's trying to get me riled up!
"I used Zero Gravity. I turned into you and I could fully be you, your power and everything. Isn't that delicious?" Himiko giggled again. The second door ahead of me. It's slightly ajar. Blurry glowing shapes danced in front of Ochaco's eyes.
My own Quirk, used to murder people. No. No, it can't be.
"And deep down, Ochaco…that's really what you are, isn't it? We're the same, you and I. We both love Izuku…"
"I don't. Love him. Anymore." She forced through gritted teeth, trying to calm herself.
"We both want to attack people…you've just suppressed it, deep down…let it go, Ochaco. Attack me. I know you wanna." But there was a hint of sadness in that voice, Ochaco could hear. And in that, her own anger faltered, and she saw her opening.
"HIMIKO!" She declared loudly, standing up straight. "That urge you have to attack! To drink someone's blood and become them. I know why you have it!"
She began to stride confidently down the hallway toward the door.
"It was forced on you against your will by evolution! You were born with it, weren't you?"
"You don't know anything!" Toga shot back, but her voice was shaking now. "This is how I want to live my life. And if you can't accept that, then…"
"You shouldn't accept it either!" Ochaco fired. "You want someone to attack, Himiko? Someone to blame for putting you through this hellish life?"
"You're making stuff up. Stop it."
"I found out who created Quirks, Himiko. I found out who put that thing inside you and ruined your life."
"Shut UP!"
"And they're coming now, Himiko! These things are coming, and if we don't stop them, it'll be the end…of the WORLD!"
She threw the door open, and stopped short in horror.
Ojiro was there, tied up in a chair, gagged, his eyes bugging out frantically. He rocked back and forth, bleeding from a half dozen wounds, and struggled. "MMMH!" he forced out. "MMMH!"
The room was filled with bookshelves and rubble, like a maze. Ochaco gasped and ran forward to untie him, recklessly. "MMMMMMMMH!" he protested, and managed to nod his head over her shoulder.
Ochaco whirled, as Toga came out from behind a bookshelf and leapt at her, knife in hand. The girls crashed to the floor, the point of the knife an inch from Ochaco's face. She held it back with all her might, staring up into the face of her nemesis.
"The end of the world, huh?" Toga breathed. "Well, that's too bad. You ARE my world, Ochaco Uraraka. My world ends with you."
…
"I think you're getting the hang of it, boy!" said Gentle Criminal, creating more barriers to bounce on. Koda was following his path, looking terrified but determined at the same time.
Tenya raced beneath them, only using enough engine power to keep up. He had a bad feeling he'd need to save it for later.
They came out into an intersection between two tall buildings, and suddenly the giant was right ahead of them, and closing.
Tenya saw Kurogiri, the portal villain, trailing behind the giant. A purple speck at this distance, but unmistakable for what he was.
And standing in the street was none other than Stain.
Tenya's heart dropped. He looked up at Gentle. "You tricked us after all," he growled.
Gentle gasped. "No, wait-"
Koda gave him a shove, and pushed himself away, down onto the ground to join Tenya. "It's okay, Iida!" he said. "We'll-" he noticed Stain.
The Hero Killer turned to look at them, and his eyes narrowed. "Ingenium."
Tenya trembled somewhere between rage and disbelief. He didn't know what to do. The world seemed to spin.
Suddenly, down the street to the right, three more people came running. It was Katayama, Tsuyu, and…Kaminari?!
Doko warped forward when he saw the scene. "No, Iida, wait!"
The giant closed in on them all. Stain lifted his sword. Tenya's engines fired.
"Iida-chan, Koda-chan, we can explain, ribbit!"
Gentle bounced up into the air. Gigantomachia was a few hundred yards away. Kurogiri followed him. Four more shapes were visible on the giant's back; the League.
"Are you all traitors, too?" Koda demanded, and suddenly bugs were crawling out of the ground at his feet, under his command.
"If you just let us-" Kaminari didn't finish.
Tenya whirled. A purple-haired woman had come crashing out of the nearby building, swaying and looking woozy. "Holy shit," she breathed, stumbling toward them. "Uhh…hel-"
Something behind her let out a great roar and blasted the side of the building open.
The woman went flying through the air. "NAGANT!" Gentle exclaimed, and bounced up to catch her.
Tenya's heart froze. The thing rearing up out of the shadow of the rubble was nothing he'd ever seen before. His mind immediately jumped to Nomu, but that wasn't even close.
Unconsciously, he backed up in-between Koda and Tsuyu, their former tension dissipating as they all stared at the monster crawling out toward them.
Doko and Kaminari faced the other way down the street, toward Stain and the approaching Gigantomachia.
Gentle set Lady Nagant down, and they looked in the final direction behind the group…where several dozen more void monsters were rising out of the ground, crawling toward them, snarling and howling and hungry.
Look at this buffet! They called.
Heroes and villains alike! Eclectic!
Come one, come all! Face your doom and let your terror leak out!
Tenya spun in a slow circle, in complete shock, all these things unfolding around him and closing in…
"President," Doko said, calmly, his body glowing purple. "There's only one thing left to do."
The five teens closed their circle, putting their backs to each other. Not an ideal group, but strong…
Stain looked at them for a long moment, and then faced the oncoming monsters, standing with them. Tenya couldn't believe it.
Gentle and Lady Nagant prepared from above, balancing atop an air-barrier. "Everywhere!" Lady Nagant called sharply. "What's the plan?"
Doko Katayama looked up toward Gigantomachia, and nodded. The boy's grey hair blew in the wind. His violet eyes glowed with determination. "We fight fire with fire. Prepare for a collision of worlds!"
…
Izuku saw Nejire rising up out of the corner of his eye.
"NO!" he shrieked. "PLEASE, PLEASE STAY AWAY-"
"SECOND SURGE!" Nejire screamed, sweeping both arms upward from beneath.
A wide, spiraling energy blast oscillated up into Shigaraki's chest, blasting him further up into the sky.
The whip connection snapped, disintegrating away. Izuku cursed under his breath and floated higher into the air, propelling himself forward with One for All blasts out of his feet.
Nejire flew up to meet Shigaraki. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" she screamed. "STAY AWAY FROM EVERYONE!"
"You're out of your depth, spiral girl," Tomura rasped. His body was mangled and half-blackened, barely recognizable as human. But he shot toward Nejire like a bullet.
She flipped herself over, her hair flapping across her face, and kicked both legs out. The waves emerging from her feet that let her fly suddenly blasted out in a much more intense surge, and caught Shigaraki as he reached her, slamming him backward.
She used three more leg-blasts to get up and over him, like ascending a staircase. Then, she reached out with her palm and descended her arm, meaning to shoot a blast at the top of his head…
...At the last second, Nejire did something she'd only tried a few times. As her arm curved downward, she closed her fist.
The resulting blast ruptured out in a wide fan, like water bursting from a pipe. It enveloped Shigaraki in glowing yellow light. He ejected blood from his lipless mouth and was suddenly falling, falling like a ragdoll, like paper caught in wind.
Izuku couldn't believe it. Had she been the one to…had she managed to…?
"Nejire!" he called, rushing over to her in the sky. "You shouldn't have come up here! I was the only one who could-"
"You aren't!" she cried out, tears streaming down her face. She grabbed his shoulders and shook them. They spun around each other in the air. "Just because you have One for All doesn't mean you can't do this alone! Once, you stood before me and fought Overhaul, proclaiming you were going to change the future. Well, we'll do it together, Izuku! Together we'll create the future you want to see!"
A future of peace? Izuku took her cheeks in his hands. Is that even possible anymore? One For All was coursing through him. All he could feel was this sense of terrifying duty, at the cost of everything.
And of course it wasn't over. No. Shigaraki was righting himself beneath them, regaining focus, and then he looked up.
Izuku and Nejire looked down together in horror. Those red eyes were still shining, even now.
"TOMURA!" Izuku screamed. "Listen to me! If you keep going, you'll destroy your body! I know better than anyone else!"
"Shut...up…" he growled. "I still need to take your Quirk."
"But why? Why are you doing all this?"
"Because…you all only noticed me when I became like this…you heroes…when I was a lost child on the street, where were you then? I've always had the power…to destroy…" Shigaraki was sinking toward the ground now. Izuku and Nejire rushed to follow him. We have to stop his Decay!
"...But only when I start using that power does everyone care. No attempt to help me when it first emerged. Nothing. Just this awful, random, careless world…unable to control itself anymore. Too many Quirks. Too many people. I'll get rid of it all, and then…I won't feel sick anymore."
He closed the distance to the ground. Izuku reached out with Blackwhip. Nejire clung to him, riding on his back. For some reason, in that moment, he became aware of the scent of her hair.
And then everything fell apart.
Shigaraki never reached the ground. The ground came up to him.
A massive, yawning, gaping thing emerged beneath them, sliding through concrete like a whale might jump out of the ocean.
Thousands of rows of ringed teeth lined its dripping maw. And beyond was pure insanity.
Izuku heard all eight vestiges inside him scream in combined agony, horror. One For All deactivated, and now he was falling. He, Nejire, and Shigaraki together, all falling, falling toward some place behind the mouth, behind the galaxy, behind the universe. A pulsing purple starlight, and then nothing.
He heard the thing cackle with glee. The fated battle at last! Once I take out the lot of you, the Earth will surrender summarily. Come to me, AFO and OFA. Let me feast upon your power.
At the edge of the battlefield, a car pulled up.
…