Chapter 8 - Infected Perfected
"I am... Kovik."
"Oh come on, I have enough to worry about, and now you're here," Shigaraki continued to scratch away at his neck at Kovik's presence, clearly he wasn't happy to have back-up despite them being on the same team. "If my Master didn't want you alive I'd turn you to dust myself! Combined with the fact that All Might isn't weak at all, he's the same as he's always been!"
"What's the matter, not attacking me?" All Might challenged but he knew it was a large bluff, he had run out of time, but he had to stall for the other Pros, one more attack and he'll revert back. "I thought you said you were going to clear this level earlier? Well, come and get me if you dare!" He dared with a piercing stare, shaking the villains bar Kovik who hadn't moved since speaking, his eyes solely on Yuki
"Come on Midoriya, we should regroup with the other guys!" Kirishima called but Izuku was stuck gawking at All Might, he knew it, his time was up so all they had to do was chose to attack, and the new villain, he could easily win right now but his gaze never once left them, Yuki in particular
"Yuki's shaking, it was like the other day... was he the one she encountered?" His eyes widened. "Did he break in just to find her?" Izuku gripped Yuki closer, seeing her head tilt up at him. "Don't worry, I won't let him near you, everything will be okay." "But All Might can't hold them off either, its a bluff if we leave he'll be attacked on all sides."
Izuku's brow twitched nervously, he had to choose. Protect All Might if it comes down to it or protect Yuki from Kovik.
"What's wrong, are you scared?" All Might dared, seeing them back up further, leaving Shigaraki to claw away at his skin, angrily hissing under his breath
"If only Nomu was here, he'd rush you right now, pound you into the ground without giving it a second thought!" His constant mutters were put on hold by whatever Kurogiri told him, just as they realized the other thugs were getting up from the beatdown by Mr. Aizawa and Yuki
"Man, these guys just don't stay down!" Kirishima scoffed, looking over his shoulder to the duo. "Hey, Midoriya!" He flinched, prying his eyes from the fight, there he saw Kirishima's confident smile with a thumbs-up. "You look after Yuki, we can handle these guys!"
"I will..." Izuku looked to Yuki, seeing her still staring off toward Kovik, but she hugged herself closer to Izuku's chest, that sensation of her body pressed to his only aided in clearing his doubts, so he sat her down on her knees, wrapping his arm around her waist. "We're the only ones who know, there's no way he can move faster than Kurogiri now if these villains toy with him, he's done." Izuku clenched his fist, lowering his head to Yuki. "We need to stop them, but I can't do it without you."
Her head jolted back, looking between him, the cluster still residing on his chest, and Kovik, who watched and made no motion other than breathing. Izuku took off the cluster, pressing it into her hands. "Take it and use it to charge yourself up, I know you've done so much, and all I could do was watch you injure yourself for me... I'm not strong enough," Izuku lowered his head, while Yuki's eyes curved sadly, but he kept his resolve strong, facing ahead of them. "But when I'm beside you, I don't feel as scared or doubtful, I just want to act, so let's save All Might."
Her arm moved, wrapping around his waist tightly with a decisive nod, blue turning to scarlet once more to his emerald.
"Consider this revenge for what you did to Nomu!" Shigaraki lunged for All Might, and the man didn't move, he was shaking, trying to maintain his form the best he could, but the gap was closing and he had nowhere to run or hide
The three boys turned around, hearing a large stomp behind them as they watched Yuki sit on her back, legs overclocked with red lightning again, pressed to her soles was Izuku, the powerful lunge sending him flying toward the two villains, while Kovik watched silently. Izuku grit his teeth, arm brought back to intercept the villains.
"These brats again!?" Shigaraki sneered angrily, all while red lines burned onto his arm, heat rising from his fist
"I made it, Yuki put all of her strength into that last move for me to save him, I can do this!" Without concern for his next injury, Izuku barreled down on the villains. "Graaaaah! Don't you touch All Might, you stupid villai-!"
Kurogiri opened a gate, and Shigaraki's hand bridged the gap, laughing hysterically as his fingertips drew closer to Izuku's face. "I won't fall for the same trick twice."
"...Did I just... kill Izuku...?" Yuki's thoughts finally spoke clearly, and it was the last phase she wished to hear
"Time's up." Kovik spoke up
*Bang!*
Izuku fell to the dirt, seeing the blood hit the ground next to him as Shigaraki reeled back, a bullet tore through his hand from afar. Several large explosions soon followed, and to everyone's delight, the Pros had arrived, alongside the Class Rep.
"Great, the Pros are here, now it's over for real." Shigaraki backed up, while Izuku stood up to stand between them and All Might. Both his and the villain's eyes locked into a stalemate. "This is all yours and that girl's fault, I swear, I'll get you for this you - gah!"
He was struck in the shoulder and both thighs, and if not for Kurogiri, he'd be dead. "Are you coming?" His eyes floated to Kovik, who withdrew a small remote, steadily walking toward the warp gate set before him
"A parting gift, we will have what was stolen," He flicked the switch. "Die."
The villains quickly vanished without a trace. Even while Thirteen attempted to suck Kurogiri away, Shigaraki glared back at All Might. "I may have failed to kill you this time, but your days are numbered. All Might, Symbol of Peace, I am going to kill you!"
And with them gone, the battle had ended almost as quickly as it began, they had been given a taste of the hell heroes face every day, and by some miracle, they had come out on top. They had won, but Izuku was still exhausted and had only escaped with breaking two fingers, but at the cost, his best friend was nearly on death's door and All Might nearly followed her, Mr. Aizawa is in need of dire care, and who knows how many more.
"I barely broke my body and yet I did nothing to help, I couldn't even keep my promise." He bowed his head in shame, unable to face either of them
"That's absolutely not true," From the smoke and steam, All Might, half muscular and half skeleton, stood proudly at his student, despite feeling like total crap he continued to smile proudly. "You bought me a few vital seconds, both of you, if not for that I'd be dead now," Between them, student and mentor, they stood as equals once more. "Young Midoriya, you have saved me once again."
Izuku couldn't contain his tears any longer as he let them fall but held a smile brightly between them. "Thank you, All Might, I'm just so glad you're okay!"
"Midoriya, hey!" Kirishima waved, running over to see if they were okay. All Might sighed happily at that
"Good to see Kirishima looking out for his frien - Oh crap! If he comes over here he's going to learn my secret!" All Might was sweating profusely now, alongside Midoriya who waved his hands for him not to come over, his head snapping between the two people
"Kirishima, wait-" A wall came up between the two boys, blinking, the two turned to see Cementoss standing between the wall
"For your safety, please leave the injured to us and head for the exit with the rest," He asked, making Izuku and All Might sigh with relief
"Oh, alright we'll - wait, Yuki?" That drew the duo's attention. Izuku jogged up and around the wall to find Kirishima standing there looking shocked. "Yuki!"
A few feet away, said girl was on her knees, clutching her right arm as she writhed in pain, fire tore through her nerves while a bright, ultramarine color infected the right side of her mask, tainting the brighter blue shade. Her vision kept widening and shrinking, static filled her actual eyes while SIVA went haywire. Before either boy could approach her, she sat up, right arm producing white claws that coated her entire arm in clean, white metal, her once normal red nanomachines had turned white and blue, while Izuku could see it, tears streaming down her neck from the agony she couldn't begin to vocalize.
Her shoulder released a few blue wires that stuck to her chest and neck, pulsating while she shook her head, clutching her temples in a fit of torment. Izuku ran forward, but Kirishima grabbed him, holding him back as Kacchan and Todoroki stood by and watched it all unfold, clearly disturbed by their classmate's sudden spasms against her own will.
"Let me go, Kirishima!" Izuku tried to pry himself free but his hardening proved to be too much. "Yuki!"
"I want to help her too but I'm getting a bad feeling from this!" Kirishima warned him, just as he blinked, said girl was now standing before them. "Wha- Ack!" Both boys were sent flying into the constructed wall, coughing from the force applied to the punch. "Hey, what's with the punch?"
Yuki never made any notion of caring, the two could see it, the glow of her eyes was deeper, while the lights remained tiny pins within her sockets, her right arm seemed to move on its own accord, lurching the rest of her body into tearing through the stone the two once sat against, her fist ripping apart the wall while reaching out to grab them if not for a wall colliding with her body face first.
She reached up, sinking her claws into the wall while bounding over the concrete, a light blue sphere condensed in her fingers, without hesitating she watched it sail over the boys, striking a wall between Cementoss. "Both of you stand back!"
"But, sir-" Izuku pulled Kirishima away from the wall, Yuki's body crashing into the ground, uprooting stone once more while her head craned to leer back at the hero.
"Midoriya, what's happening to her? Did her Quirk go rampant?"
"I think so..." "Kovik, he pressed some kind of controller, did that do something to SIVA?" Izuku's eyes widened, having found his face driven into the ground, while planted with a pained gasp, Yuki pushed up with her hand, kicking Kirishima away while launching another two energy blasts from her feet. "Yuki! Yuki, listen to me!?"
"Die!" A blast divided the two, this successive hit was followed by Kacchan launching another blast against Yuki's chest, sending her sprawling across the ground. He was grinning devilishly, flexing his fingers. "An excuse to kick your ass sounds fine to me! Let's go!"
She didn't so much as wait, countering Kacchan's wall of explosions with several blasts of her own, the two chemicals imploding into a cloud of smoke and fire. From within the cloud ruptured a wall of ice, ensnaring Yuki's right leg while she lifted the rest off the ground the second it manifested. Todoroki held out his arm, flicking his wrist to draw the ice up along her body.
"We won't hurt her, but that doesn't mean we'll let her get away unscathed," He answered, looking to Izuku for a split second. "Midoriya, what's happening? You know her so start spilling."
He bit his lip, eyes shaking. "I don't know, whatever that villain did before he left caused her Quirk to act this way, look!" He pointed to Yuki who pried herself from the ice, her leg snapping back in place without even the 'crack' or 'tear' of muscle. Under her chin, tears continued to fall. "She can't control it." Izuku felt powerless, but he didn't care, he had to try something to save her. "Todoroki..."
"We need to immobilize her somehow if you have a plan do it." He answered bitterly, creating a sharp array of spikes that the girl tore through in seconds, claws looming over them both. The second she landed she slapped his hand away, redirecting his counter of ice that nearly sheered Izuku. Her claws prodded forward, grazing Todoroki's nose as the hand trembled
She had grabbed her right in her left, pulling her forearm away from him while whimpering, closing her eyes as the LEDs flickered between light and dark blue, even scarlet in a desperate attempt to regain control. She wanted to stop, but her arm was moving on its own, controlling her body as she struggled to maintain a sense of dominance over an itching desire to maim and consume everything around her.
A note flew from her costume, and both of them could clearly make out the words that flew by, even Kirishima and Kacchan caught the bold, black letters thrown onto the page while Yuki pulled her arm back, hand against her head while she hunched over, trying to stop herself from moving. 'STOP ME'
*Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang*
Her arm recoiled, snapping through the air for a split second, held between her fingers were a number of bullets, all of which were consumed into her fingers. Turning around aimlessly, her eyes retracted again, lurching forward with a blast into the earth, sending forth a plume of dust. Todoroki slammed a sheet of ice between him and Izuku, only for a boot to crack against his jaw, followed by a hand locking his behind his back.
Izuku charged through, tackling Todoroki as Yuki placed her hand on Todoroki's shoulder, allowing them to collide before slashing Izuku's back once, throwing them out of the dust, this smokescreen flew away with a single blast from Kacchan, where Kirishima bound over his head, arm hardened as it clashed with Yuki's, her left trying to pull the right one back, but it shoved it away, parrying Kirishima's arm and latching its claws around his hardened throat, but the cracks began to form.
"That's enough!" Todoroki slammed his hand down, coating the area in ice as the rest struggled to stand still, his eyes widened, seeing the blade attached to her soles, with a twirl her shin collided with his forearms, but he froze the leg, pulling it down to lock it against the ground, followed by conjuring a wall of ice to seal the right arm in place, now unable to move. "It won't hold!"
"That's fine, I just need a clear shot of her face!" Kacchan grinned
"Woah, we're trying to save her not kill her!" Kirishima nervously reminded him, but Izuku ran past them, teeth clenched while he pushed her up against the wall of ice, seeing her eyes remain the same pinprick marine. With a sigh he slammed his fist against her face, causing her spasms to slow.
"Get out of the way, you damned Nerd!" Bakugo roared
"Just shut up!" Izuku blurted out, locking his hands against her shoulders. "Yuki, look at me!" He punched her again, seeing her eyes flicker. "I know you can hear me, so come back, SIVA is yours, you control it, no one else!" Her left hand grabbed his throat in an attempt to silence him but he blocked with his wrist. "No one can control you or your Quirk, it's your power not someone else's," He pulled back, wishing he didn't have to do this, but it was all he could think of. "Snap out of it, and take control!"
His fist was caught in the right, the ice crumbling around them as he cried out, her hand pushing down on the broken fingers while she twisted his arm, forcing him to kneel, but with only one eye closed, the other didn't waver, instead, he reached forward and grabbed the scarf and pulled her closer.
"Raaaah!" This inhuman, glitchy, metallic voice ruptured from the mask, the left hand withdrawing a black knife from Yuki's belt as Izuku watched with terrified eyes as her hand plunged down on the right, impaling her hand into the ground while blood spurted from the reticular vein in her palm, with it locked, she reached around the back of her neck, fingers digging into her skin as she held her breath, pulling back with bloodied fingers, much to everyone's disgust
"No way!" Kirishima gaped
"What the hell!?" Kacchan muttered while Izuku looked to her with horror at the blood leaking from her hand and nape, eyes reverted to normal
Her arm finally ceased its automatic motions, Yuki prying the knife from her hand while dropping a small, triangular device before them, white with a blue line down the middle. With a silent cry, she stomped down on the chip that had somehow been implanted by Kovik when they met, and finally, her arm went limp. The metal crumbled and fell apart, the blue wires following suit as her bare arm hung low, half caked in blood as Yuki let out her labored breaths, head held to the sky.
"Y-Yuki!" Izuku reached out to her, despite her blurry vision
"What...?" Her thoughts echoed faintly
She heard voices here and there, blinking once she found some of the teachers looking down at her. Another long blink and she faced Kirishima, Jiro, Ocha too, why were they so worried looking? It confused her, but again she blinked, voices muffled and incoherent. The last thing she was was the bright blue sky, and a pair of worried emerald eyes looking down at her.
Her body relaxed. "Am I... dying?" If so, she couldn't have felt more peaceful
"Why?" The question rolled off his tongue again, Izuku's eyes were dull and staring at only her. Yuki looked pale, her hair was messy and clung to parts of her mask, now damaged with a flickering left eye. Her body was bandaged and healed but she never stirred, breathing heavily while sweat trickled down her body. She looked as though she had come down with the flu
That villain, Kovik, did this to her, using some device she tore from her own body to manipulate the nanomachines inside her. She looked so scared when she fought, was she still in control partially or did she have to watch from her own eyes as she attacked her friends? It hurt him more knowing that he couldn't even do much to save her, say punching her senses back, and yelling like Kacchan, he was a little thankful for that actually.
All Might winced at Izuku's tone, feeling just as guilty for not stopping that villain from using the device, he couldn't see the fight but it made him so angry that he couldn't be there like last time, the thoughts and memories of her losing control before flooding his thoughts with guilt and regret. He looked from Izuku's saddened gaze, then to Yuki, her trembling form still made no sound.
"The poor dear pushed herself too far this time," Recovery Girl looked to All Might, clearly exhausted. "I thought I told you to ensure this never happened, this will only impede her recovery."
"Her recovery?" Izuku's voice trailed between them, not understanding what she meant but neither of them spoke up, say for All Might
"It's not my place to say, Young Midoriya, it's hers." And once more, without a word his eyes traced along Yuki's body and back to her mask, wanting nothing more than to hold her, this strange feeling still overcoming his rational thoughts, so much so his cheeks turned pink at the thought, but he shook it off
Recovery Girl moved closer to Yuki, pressing her lips to her arm as a pink aura traveled over her body. "She's been through so much for a girl her age that it can be seen as unfair, do try your best to take care of her, both of you." They nodded, and the second the field of energy vanished, Yuki's eyes lit up and she sat upright, arm raised with her claws at the ready, head pointed in all directions as though someone would jump her
"Yuki, it's okay," Izuku calmly ushered her back, almost terrified by how quick her reaction was, her hands slowly lowered as her head remained fixated on Izuku, himself smiling at her perfect recovery, he moved closer on his chair, reaching over to touch her hand, but she jerked it away. "Huh?"
Her whole body was still shaking, shuffling away from them with petrified eyes. Without a second for them to process the situation, Yuki shot off the bed, pressing her back to the wall, although that too made her jump, even small sounds had her shiver with fright, all while Recovery Girl spun in her seat to face her.
"Now-now, try to take this slowly, you're perfectly fine but healing you has used up alot of stamina remember." Recovery Girl explained, but Yuki shook her head, hands pressed against her chest while scooting away from them, head still shaking. "Poor dear is frightened, what on earth happened, All Might?"
He didn't answer, instead, shifting to look at his young student who didn't budge from where she was. "Youn- Yuki, its over, the villains are gone now so you'll be-" Dozens of notes flew out from her hands, eyes jagged and angry
'STOP SAYING THAT!' 'I'M NOT OKAY!' 'I'M NOT OKAY!' 'I'M NOT OKAY!' 'I'M NOT OKAY!'
The notes repeated themselves over and over, Izuku felt heartbroken by the sight of the strongest, fiercest person he knew now too scared to even stand near them, whatever that virus did to her it brought back painful memories. He wanted to know what happened when she lost control before if this reminded her of that moment THEN she wasn't going to listen to anything they said.
"Yuki, calm down, you are safe, I'm sorry I said that but you need to understand you're - h-hey!" All Might was stunned as Yuki sprinted past them in a hurry to leave, throwing the door open despite his plea, Izuku turned too, running after her as All Might tried to call out but ended up spurting blood again
"I have to leave! I can't hurt them! I don't want this! I-I want to leave!" She shook her head and continued running at full speed, even as she heard Izuku call her name desperately, her heart sunk and fear took hold, pressing her feet to move faster, to run far away as so no one could catch her. "I'm sorry I became your friend, I'm so sorry!"
"Come back, Yuki!" The vacant hallways of UA carried his voice, his dying plea for her to stop running but no matter how hard he tried his voice never reached her, his hand still couldn't catch up to her despite his efforts. Even now, he couldn't hold back a stray tear at the sight of her own dotting the hallway she escaped to
All that was left was his hand reaching out toward nothing, a sorrowful frown on his lips while his eyes remained glued to the hallway, eyes cast in the sunset's glow. "I'll find you... I promise I will."
To Be Continued...
I am a horrible person, a bit of PTSD to really nail the fact I did some horrible things to this OC, hehehe. Moving on, I hope you enjoyed this alternate addition to the end of the USJ, but there's still more to come, seeya in the next chapter, Plus Ultra!
Next Chapter: The Perfect Support
Yuki is missing and Izuku can't find her alone, so he begs his class to aid him in one last mission before their eventful day is through, to find their missing friend and bring her back safely.
