Eraser Head garbled out a scream as the girl went from crawling on the ground in front of him to tackling the villain halfway across the square in less than an instant. Tomura's head hit the floor and he fell flat on his back, wailing like a child on a tantrum. The Nomu stood like a Terminator; one of the weapons littered on the ground bouncing off it harmlessly. Then, it picked up the unconscious girl by her already mangled leg. Aizawa could hear her bones crack. Then, it tossed her in the lake like a spent cigar.
"Damn troublesome brat." Tomura got back to his feet, holding his head, "Nearly broke my arms. Might've made a hell of a hero."
One theatrical Texas Smash later, All Might stood in the villain's place, furious and shaken. Eraser Head cursed him for being late until he too had fallen unconscious.
Elsewhere, Juniper's classmates were acting fast.
Asui and Todoroki pulled her out of the water and onto the opposite shore. The rest surrounded her, trying to keep their panic quiet.
"Is she breathing?"
"Oh god, did that thing kill her?"
"Give her some space!" Bakugo snapped, kneeling beside her. He put two fingers to her neck, then abruptly elbowed her in the stomach.
"What the hell?!" He was pulled back, but right then Juniper coughed up water and breathed, very thin breaths, but breaths nonetheless.
"She's alive." Todoroki said, "Barely."
The funniest thing woke me up. I was annoyed at this constant beeping. I thought, if I was going to get up and ready for class, then this beeping had to stop. Was it an expired fire alarm? One of my classmates' morning alarm making it through the walls? Had Moe noticed it too? I liked waking up to music, not this.
I went to take a deep, reluctant breath, when I realized there was something on my face. I tried to touch it but my arms felt like they were made of lead. No, my whole body felt like it was pinned under a mountain. All I could manage was to open my eyes.
Bright, white lights.
Why wasn't I in my room? Where was Moe?
A difficult shift of my head revealed the aggressor: a heart rate monitor. Oh. Something had happened and I was in the hospital. I numbly wondered if Ms. Joke still had Moe, wondered if they even knew I was here.
I tried again to move my arm. Ugh, no way. Too heavy.
What had happened to me? Did my classmates know I was here? Did Mr…
The beeping sped up.
"She's awake!" Someone said as I tried again to move. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
"Try not to panic, you're safe now." A nurse told me, resting a hand on my shoulder, "Let's give her something to help her relax."
"No." I tried to rasp out, fogging up the mask on my nose and mouth, "Where…" But unconsciousness took me immediately.
The next time around was much more pleasant.
Already in a seated position, the doctors pulled me back. They explained where I was, promised that the villains had been dealt with and, most importantly, there had been no deaths.
My left leg, however, had been completely shattered. My ribs had cracked, I'd gotten a concussion even a rookie could catch, and they'd had to patch up a nasty cut across my collarbone that I didn't even remember getting. Other than that, I was just bruised to hell and back. When my strength had come up enough for me to half-wake before, they'd invited Recovery Girl to come take a look. She'd made it possible for my healing to accelerate. Now, my ribs were fine, concussion nearly gone, and my leg... well, she'd be back again later today to give it another go. But the doctors had had to put a metal bar in there just so the pieces would have somewhere to go.
Also, my hair hadn't been washed in days and I felt gross.
"You have a lot of visitors waiting." The doctor said finally, winded from the long list of injuries he'd just listed, "It's lucky we have systems in place for this kind of thing, or they would have burst past us days ago. Should I open the floodgates?"
"Not yet." Chided the nurse, rolling her eyes, "Let's fix her up a bit first."
"Yes please." I pleaded. She helped me take a shower, brush my teeth, and soon I was back on the bed, leg wrapped like a mummy, still battered and bruised, but looking vaguely human again.
"Alright," I said, "Open the floodgates, doc."
My classmates rushed in like bulls. If I wasn't so dazed, I might have laughed. The doctor had a stretching quirk that allowed him to keep any of them from pouncing on my battered frame.
"JUNIPER!" Asui was in tears, "I'm so glad you're okay."
"I'm told you're one of the ones that pulled me out of certain doom, so I think you have yourself to thank." I craned my sore neck until I saw Todoroki standing in the back, "You too, Todoroki. I'd be fish food if it weren't for you guys." He gave a small nod of acknowledgement.
Bakugo was toward the front but had his arms crossed, looking away.
"I hear you're the one responsible for the bruise on my stomach." I chided.
"YOU'RE WELCOME!" I laughed and it hurt, but I laughed anyway.
"I'm joking. Thanks for bringing me back to the land of the living." He scoffed arrogantly.
"Forget that. Thank me for dealing with your pain in the neck." Before I could ask what he meant, someone else interjected.
"We brought you this!" Uraraka dragged a big gift basket in. It had balloons, cards, candy, the works. "Class hasn't been the same without you and Mr. Aizawa!"
I frowned. Someone elbowed her.
"Ow! What?"
"…how is he?" I asked tentatively, "Is he really going to be okay?"
"Yes." Ida stepped up this time, "I insisted to see him, as class president, and was allowed in. He was bandaged and in a fouler mood than usual, but seemed to be on his way to a full recovery."
"Thank god." Ida unexpectedly took my hand in both of his. I blinked. He seemed pale.
"I am similarly relieved to see you well."
"What would you do without your right hand, prez?" I asked cheekily, "I'll be on my feet in no time. Recovery Girl will be back this afternoon." That made a few of them exchange looks. Right. Needing multiple visits from her was far from a good sign.
Ida cleared his throat, letting me go.
"Good. Yes, you seem in sufficient strengths. This shouldn't impact your academics any further. I've kept meticulous notes in your absence, though."
"Well now I'm definitely at ease." I told him, "If you leave them here or at my dorm room, I can take a look once I'm out."
"Alright, then." With nod, he left.
"Hey!" Called a voice in the back, "Give us the room, kids. You see her all the time."
"Ms. Joke!"
"Oh wow! I didn't know she taught at UA!"
"Did you see her save last week?"
"Out!" Ms. Joke said, "Before this one rips my arm off." Everyone said their goodbyes and cleared out. Ms. Joke entered the room in all her glory. Except, well, she was holding Moe's hand. This in itself wouldn't be strange, but there seemed to be a sort of leather cord around her forearm, wrist, and palm. Moe seemed to be doing his damndest to get out of her grip. I was honestly surprised he hadn't pulled it off yet.
"Hey." I greeted, smiling, making him struggle harder, "I knew he'd be safe with you."
"Man, I had no idea how well he was behaving in class!" The teacher let out a boisterous laugh, getting a glare from Moe, "The minute I hear from Mike that you'd been hurt, it was like a switch was flipped. Nearly lost him four times!" She laughed again, "Toughest kid I've had to wrangle by far! Slippery, isn't he?"
"I'm impressed." I agreed, "His old teachers used to call him Houdini."
"Ah, well, I had to ask a friend of mine to get me some of his sticky leather, a support item. Sorry, buddy." She ruffled his hair and Moe looked ready to bite. "Now, if I let you go, are you gonna go tackle your sister and break her very fragile bones?"
His attitude changed instantly and he shook his head vigorously.
"Promise?" He nodded. "And did we learn patience today?"
Moe gave her a dirty look. With another laugh, Ms. Joke released him. Like the shadow of a bullet, he streaked across the room and climbed onto my cot. I scooted to make room for him. He didn't move for a moment though, eyes welling with tears.
"None of that." I chastised, "My ribs are healed, so tackling is allowed. Come on, my bones can take it."
He clung to me like he himself was made of sticky leather, shaking and sniffling.
"Sorry I scared you, hon." I stroked his hair, "I'm okay. It's all okay now."
Even Ms. Joke sobered for a moment.
"I heard what you did."
I glanced up. It was unnerving, seeing her face so serious. I didn't answer, only met her gaze.
"I won't be the last person to chew you out for it." She continued, "Count on that. It was really stupid. You put the fear of god into a lot of people. You would have saved us all a lot of trouble if you had just gotten out when you could."
"I know."
She walked over and ruffled my hair like she'd ruffled Moe's.
"…thanks for looking out for the big grouch."
I smiled.
"Yes, ma'am."
.
Half a dozen doctors couldn't pry Moe off of me, so he was 'allowed' to stay. Recovery Girl arrived and I waved with a weary smile.
"Thanks for coming all the way here." I said.
"I see we have a stowaway."
"Ah, don't mind him. I only kind of need to breathe."
"Let's take a look at that leg."
"Have you visited Eraser Head?" I asked. She looked at me.
"Yes. He's back on his feet. His elbow got the worst of it and he'll have a scar under his eye, but he should be okay otherwise."
"I'm glad." I glanced down at Moe, "You, sir, keep those eyes closed, okay?" He nodded into my shirt. "Okay. We're ready."
Many bandages were removed and I grimaced at the sight.
Big bruises in different stages of healing made my leg look like someone had spilled tie-dye on me. I could also see the long scar of where they'd cut open my shin and shoved a titanium bar in. It was nastier the lower you looked. My foot still wasn't quite pointing in the right direction. And this was after surgery and a hit from Recovery Girl. I could only imagine what it had looked like originally; probably a squashed tomato. The Nomu had clearly done a number on me after I'd passed out, because this was more than a broken ankle.
"Yowch." I observed, "Thank you, pain meds."
"I'll say. I'll do my best, but you have to go easy on this leg for a few days at least. You should get full range of motion back, but I can't guarantee there won't be leftover pain."
"Anything you can do for me is appreciated." I told her, honestly astonished by the amount of damage that I hadn't completely lost the leg, "I promise to follow your rules."
"Okay, this will probably wear you out but you can go home once you wake up."
"Aye, aye."
She gave me a kiss on the knee and I felt some of the tension disappear. My foot shifted back in place, the skin turned back a normal color. The scar when from angry red to pink. I glanced down and saw the one on may collarbone just about gone.
"Thank you." I murmured as I drifted off.
.
Once I was able to bend and move my leg, we were told we could go. I had to check back in with Recovery Girl once a week, but other than that, free.
Everyone was really nice when I got to the dorm, making sure I could walk okay, bringing me water, carrying my gifts.
I found Ida's notes sitting tidily on my desk in my room, making me wonder how Mr. Rules had broken in. Neither bed was slept in and I wondered how Ms. Joke had managed Moe for the days I'd been out of commission.
"Hey, I'll trade you my arm for this." I said, holding up his Hawks plush. Moe considered briefly, then took the plush, walking over and sitting on his bed, leering.
"Don't look at me like that." I said, hugging my panda plush and sitting opposite him, on my own bed. "This is the part when you say 'Wow, Juniper! That sure was cool! You fought a real villain!' No?"
He continued to sulk. He looked tired, poor thing.
"What if I show you my sick scar?" I asked, "But only if you plant one here." I tapped my cheek expectantly.
Wordlessly, he walked over, dragging his plush behind him, and planted a kiss on my cheek.
"Thank you." I said, lifting my pant leg, "Now look at this."
The scar extended from my knee all the way down until it disappeared under my sock.
"Now I'm a real hero, because I have a tragic backstory." I told him, "As if the orphanage wasn't enough." I cleared my throat and narrated dramatically, "Oh yes, this year's number one hero shares her sordid past. Raised in an orphanage, bamboozled by her little brother into joining the renowned UA High School, she battled a league of villains before she'd even spent a month as a hero trainee. Oh, the humanity! That distinctive scar we all know is from a fearsome battle! Let's give it up for…. Insert hero name here." I laughed and looked at Moe, "Oh, was that a smile? I think your mouth twitched. You can't sulk and laugh, no sir!"