Rule #28: If you need help, ask

Not wanting to worry those around her, Toru excused herself to the bathroom so that she could decide what to do in peace. Midoriya always answers right away, what's keeping him? Toru worried as she paced back and forth in the pearl-laden bathroom. Maybe I should call him? What if he's busy? Her finger hovered over the call button as she worried anxiously. Just a quick call—that can't hurt, right? To make sure everything's okay…

Pressing the call button, Toru waited anxiously for the boy on the other end to pick up. When he did, however, her stomach rolled and she felt cold. Sounds of intense fighting and fiery shouting could be heard from the other end of the line. Listening closely, Toru could pick up Midoriya's voice along with Todoroki's and…Iida's?

Two more unfamiliar voices could be heard as well, though one sounded panicked and the other was rather threatening and menacing. Without a second thought, Toru ended the call and shot out the door, following Midoriya's blinking dot as she hoped against hope that she'd get there in time.


Mindless of what she looked like, Toru raced through the streets of Hosu city, navigating the back alleys as if she had lived there her whole life. At some point, she had decided that it was much easier to scale a run down building and free-run across the rooftops to her desired stop.

Upon arriving at her destination, Toru stared down into the dark alley which was littered by glaciers of broken ice and blood splattered up and down the walls. At one end stood the easily identifiable villain garbed in dark clothing, ripped scarves and various blades mounted on his back.

At the other end of the alley, Todoroki stood defiantly in front of Midoriya—who looked to have broken something again— and Iida—who appeared to be in serious pain. The last unknown man turned out to be Native, a Pro hero.

Taking in the two sides who stood, staring each other down, Toru decided instead of declaring herself in some flashy move like so many others would do, she would simply aim to stall the villain until the Pros arrived.

Standing on the edge of the building with her toes hanging over the side (she'd discarded her heels back at the shrine), Toru crouched slightly before slipping down into the alleyway, behind the prone heroes. First, she silently moved to Native who seemed to be the most wounded, jumping from the spotted glaciers to hide her movements and sticking to the shadows as she did so.

Placing a hand over the hero's mouth, Toru pressed a finger to her lips signalling for him to keep quiet before she locked her hands under his armpits and across his chest. Once secure, Toru dragged him out of the way and closer to the mouth of the alley's entrance and set him up against the wall there.

Careful fingers prodded the wound at his side, revealing a large slash that ripped through his costume and bleeding heavily. Heated fingers ripped through the bottom layer of her skirt, peeling off a strip of fabric that she used to bind the wound before she ran back into the fray to retrieve her classmates.

When she returned, she found Todoroki engaging the villain once more and using this advantage came up behind Iida, clamping a hand over his mouth and whispering in his ear as he began to struggle. "Iida! Iida! It's me! It's Toru! I need you to be quiet now, okay?" Without waiting for a reply, Toru repeated the same process that she had with Native, taking an unwilling Iida over to the mouth of the alley and setting him down.

"Hagakure? What are you doing here?" A prone Iida whispered harshly "Why are you all dressed up?"

"I was at a wedding when I got Deku's message" Toru explained quietly, checking him over to see if he too had any wounds she could deal with. Using another strip of her skirt and a nearby pipe, Toru created a makeshift splint for the worst of Iida's legs. "This villain, is he the one that's been all over the news?" She asked Native over her shoulder.

"Yes" Native nodded slowly getting some feeling back in his limbs, "That's Stain: the Hero Killer"

"And let me guess, you thought it would be a great idea to come play with him?" Toru turned back to Iida. "You idiot!" She softly slapped him up the side of the head.

"He killed my brother!" Iida defended.

"He could've killed you" Toru retorted, "You're lucky Deku's such a worrier"

"I could've handled it on my own" Sulked Iida.

"No. You couldn't have. That's why heroes work in teams" Toru replied shortly, before pulling out her phone, "Were there any other heroes nearby when you came this way?"

"Uh, I was patrolling with Manual…"

"Right, and Todoroki was with Endeavour; so they should at least be close by…"

Tapping away on her phone, Toru brought up the internet browser and typed in the URL for Ritsu's new programme.

"What are you doing?" Iida asked, his eyes focused on the bright screen in the dimly lit alley.

"Calling for help" Toru replied, not looking up from her phone. "Ritsu?"

"Hiya Toru!" Chirped the purple-haired A.I. once she had loaded, "What's up?"

"Ritsu, I need you to contact any of the heroes in the vicinity nearest to our location and bring them here"

"Okie dokie!"

She then tucked her phone into Native's outstretched hand as she rose from her crouch, "I'm gonna leave my phone here, if you have any more problems get Ritsu to help you. I need to go help the others now. Try not to hurt yourselves"

With that, Toru melted back into the shadows and crept towards the fight still raging on. Deku had somehow propped himself up against one of the numerous ice shards though one of his legs was bent at an odd angle. Broken, knowing him. Toru acknowledged before her gaze turned to Todoroki who was starting to show how tired he was. Having backed off for a bit, the usually composed boy panted as sweat dripped from his frame and eyes narrowed at the monologuing villain opposite him. He's barely standing—must be exhausted…and Stain knows it.

"…It's where I used to live" Drawled Stain, his cunning eyes locked onto the exhausted teen before him.

"And it's where you're going to die" Retorted Toru finally coming out of the shadows, surprising those present.

"Well, well, what's this? What a pretty little dolly to play with" Stain leered.

"Toru!" Cried Midoriya as Toru shot forth, jumping first onto an upturned rubbish bin before launching herself up onto a fire escape and looked down onto the villain below. As Stain swung at his newest opponent, Toru leapt in the air and came down on him with an axel kick to the shoulder.

When it did nothing but set the man off balance a little, Toru kicked off from his shoulders, flipping away and landing in front of her peers as Stain sized up the prettily dressed teen. "Toru! What are you doing here?!" Todoroki demanded.

"The better question is: why didn't you answer your phone?" Toru shot back, "And you!" She turned to Midoriya, "Stop breaking yourself!…Now what's his deal?"

"That's Stain: the Hero Killer" Midoriya supplied.

"Yes, I got that, thank you" Toru snarked.

"He's got a blood-type Quirk"

"So don't get cut, then?"

"This isn't funny!"

"No, it's not"

"C'me on, dance for me. Dance little doll, dance" Stain interjected as the mechanical extensions on his right hand unloaded. The claw-like fingers on his right hand turned out to be five whip-like swords that extended to lengths far beyond what Toru had expected.

Toru quickly jumped back and out of the way, diving and rolling through the spaces created by the blades sent in her direction, in some cases only just narrowly avoiding the barbed chains. Spinning on her heel and with determination glinting in her eyes, Toru shot forth again, this time jumping through the spaces to get to Stain.

When she was close enough, Toru launched herself forward and using Stain's head as a springboard, pushed the man backwards as hard as she could. This resulted in Stain collapsing backwards into the large ice shard behind him as it in turn, fell on top of him and buried him beneath.

"Ugh!" Toru's success didn't last long however as when she landed, she fell to one knee and grasped onto the injured one.

"Toru!" Midoriya cried, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah" Toru grunted as she gripped onto her injured leg just as Stain burst out from the icy prison, finger blades flying.

"WATCH OUT!"

"MOVE!" Chorused Todoroki and Midoriya as Toru rolled out of the way and behind another shard of ice that littered the alley.

"Aw! Come on out, little dolly, don't you wanna play?" Stain taunted, creeping closer to Toru's poor hiding place.

With Stain preoccupied with being dramatic,Toru used the small window to pull any and all power from their light sources surrounding them.

"Ack!" Midoriya cried, shielding himself from the raining glass.

"Sorry" Toru apologised as she closed her eyes and sucked out as much light as she could. Come on, just like we practised, no emotional switch, let the earthly attachments go.

"Toru?" Todoroki questioned cautiously as he watched the light twist around her form like electricity in a filament. Glowing eyes snapped open and steam floated up from the healing scratch on her leg just as the shard she was hiding behind was breached.

In a quick movement, the now glowing Toru jumped up, using an outstretched pipe as a turning point and launched herself forward towards Stain with eyes blazing. The blades spun at her in a twisting spiral and so, Toru twisted the other way, avoiding the blades as she flew closer and closer to her target. Or so she thought.

Absentmindedly, Toru heard someone agonisingly scream her name as pained ripped through her body and she dropped to the ground. Cuts littered her small body and what had remained of her wedding outfit now fluttered to the ground in little scraps, leaving only the bare bones behind. By this point, her skirt was practically a loincloth and her shirt had transformed into a tattered jacket that fluttered around her, revealing the strapless bra and sheathed green dagger beneath.

But that's not to say Stain didn't sustain injuries either, the blades that did touch her glowing figure. had melted away to little barbed nubs. The breath had been knocked out of Toru as she collapsed harshly on the ground, making her see stars even when Stain crept forth again prise her from the ground.

"Look at you, all broken and ugly. Who'd want to play with you now, little doll?" Stain taunted as he lifted her up the hand locked in her hair. "What's the matter, my little doll doesn't wanna play anymore?"

Toru growled and snarled her frustrations as she tried her hardest to both hit Stain and get away, but with her body hanging limply in his hands, there was not much she could do. It was a miracle that she could feel her limbs at all, actually. Some part of her noted that it was probably due to how hot her blood must be at this point—definitely too hot to handle.

"I'll turn you into a living pendant to adorn my chest—" Snarled Stain, bringing her in close. Toru's eyes searched for a way to escape as the killer continued"—And then I can hear your voice every moment of the day pleading for mercy!"

"RAHH!" Toru cried as she suddenly launched a heavy hand towards the hand holding her upright. When burning flesh met flesh around the villain's wrist, he dropped her to the ground once more, this time letting out his own hiss of pain.

Again, Toru landed harshly on the ground, but when pained eyes met the fearful ones of her classmates as they tried to push their exhausted bodies passed limits and beyond boundaries, she felt determination wash over her. Gotta heal!…gotta heal! Toru grit her teeth as the remaining lights in the area burst, shattering the glass.

From where she lay, Toru could hear the faint sounds of people shouting in surprise as glass rained down on them and the gasps of surprise from her peers as the power within them were sucked over their heads. Twisting and turning in tight streams of boiling power, Toru gratefully absorbed the light, letting it wash over her and casting the environment into a hazy glow as she tried to heal herself—at least enough for her to stop the killer behind her.

Sucking in a deep breath and with power coursing through her veins, Toru rolled over onto her stomach and forcefully pulled her legs underneath her into an awkward crouch.

"Hahaha" Stained laughed as his footsteps neared, sounding thunderous to Toru's ears. When she could practically feel him standing over her, she pushed upwards, aiming a heated hand for his head.

"HIYA!" Toru cried, instead pushing her hand through his chest, making him stumble back in pain at the sudden and unexpected impalement. His own blood dripped from many different wounds that the boys had kindly gifted him in their previous fights, but it was the sight of small dribble sliding from his lips that made Toru snarl back. "Fuck your mercy!" With an almighty heave, Toru pulled both her hand and whatever it had been clenched around as she threw herself away from the man.

"Umpf!" Toru landed with a huff as she rolled across the ground and came to a stop at Midoriya's feet. The fleshy thing that had been grasped in her hands, fell from her grip as she rolled, thrown aside as she went.

"Toru! Are you all right?" The green-haired boy worried, hands hovering over the glowing girl as she sucked in shuddering gasps of air before he had to look away from the bright light emitting from her. "Eurgh! Is that…a heart?! Is-is that Stain's h-heart?!"

"Is…is that it? Is it…over?" Todoroki added, his gaze not leaving the dangerous man in front of them where he now lay with a hand-sized hole in his chest.

In the meantime, steam poured from every open wound and scratch littering Toru's body and the bright light had begun to fade; though it still danced across her skin in more manageable bursts. The hazy glow that had encompassed her vision only moments earlier, had begun to darken at the edges.Whelp, Toru thought, This isn't good.

Though her Quirk had faded a little, each breath that she took rattled around in her chest like a marble in a tin can; coupled with the feeling of her heart jackhammering out of her chest, Toru knew she'd probably overdone it.

'Toshi's gonna kill me…Toru thought a little hysterically as Todoroki and Midoriya finally seemed to pull themselves together. "C'me on Midoriya, we should restrain him and get him to the street" Todoroki took charge.

"R-Right" Midoriya nodded, skirting around the still beating heart, "I'll see if I can find some rope or something"

"And we should probably take all his weapons too" Todoroki added.

"Yeah, good idea" Midoriya agreed.

"Toru, are you all right?" Todoroki crouched next to the tired girl with eyes full of worry. His eyes roved over her form, from the torn and tattered outfit to the various cuts to the gasping breaths and glowing eyes. Unable to verbally reply, Toru just shrugged her shoulders as she panted harshly.

"Can you stand?" Todoroki continued. This time Toru grunted in the negative, knowing with her limbs feeling like jelly that there would be no way she could move.

Giving a quick nod, Todoroki bent over and hauled the injured albino up onto her feet where she practically melted into him; after some quick fumbling, the icy-hot teen wrapped one arm under her legs and another around her back, pulling her to his chest bridal-style.

Despite his calm facade, worry pricked at Todoroki as Toru's head flopped against his shoulder and she continued to suck in gasping breaths as her body had begun to heat up once more as it tried to heal itself, no matter how much she tried to hide it. Glancing down, he noticed that she seemed to be fighting the tiredness that was pulling at her lids like a stubborn child.

After four knives, four knuckledusters, a dagger, the remaining whip knives, a broken katana and his heart were removed from Stain's corpse, the body was then tied up in a piece of discarded rope just in case.

Native—who had previously been propped up against the mouth of the alleyway—had regained the feeling in his limbs and had pulled MIdoriya's battered and bruised body onto his back, where the tired boy hung limply in the hero's grip. In turn, Iida not-so-gently dragged the corpse of his brother's killer behind him as he followed after Todoroki who clasped tightly to Toru's tired figure as the group slowly made their way to the mouth of the alley.

Amidst her pain of rattling breaths and hazy sight, Toru recognised that at some point a group of Pros had shown up and taken ahold of the situation. She also recognised Matchstick's fussing hands that moved enthusiastically above her as he talked—though this time they were full of worry. However, no sooner had they arrived, did the situation to sour once more.

Seemingly out of the blue, a flying Nomu swooped in upon and the group and grabbed Midoriya from where he was propped up between two Pros. Wind rocked the street like a storm and splatters of blood rained down as the creature tried to escape, despite its condition.

"Midoriya!" Cried Gran Torino, the elderly Pro that Midoriya had been interning with.

"It's bleeding!" Cried another, "It must be trying to escape!"

Though Todoroki did his best to shield the two of them from the wind swept aftershock, the two still fell to the ground in a heap. When Toru registered the words coming out the heroes' mouth and the sudden capture of Midoriya by the Nomu, familiar determination flooded through her veins.

With heavy arms laden with exhaustion and lungs sucking in rattling breaths of air, she pushed herself up enough for her to grab the Anti-Sensei dagger tucked away in the sheath at her thigh. Pulling out the green rubber dagger, Toru then—using Todoroki and Matchstick as climbing frames—pulled herself to her knees. She didn't even pause to check, trusting her aim as she fired the green weapon straight for the brainy creature flying away.

No sooner had the weapon left her fingers, did she collapse back into the fiery Pro next to her. Hands patted at her face, trying their best to keep her awake but by then all fight had flown from Toru's weak body.

And with the distant sound of a heavy THUMP! hitting the street not too far away followed by the shocked sounds of the people around them, Toru welcomed the darkness that had been dancing at the edges of her vision. Tired eyes closed on the worried faces crowding above her and Toru knew no more.