Chapter Twenty-One:

I felt like my heart was about to pop. I couldn't stop hyperventilating. Sweat ran down my face and my thoughts ran like a speedster.

I couldn't stop it. It's too much. I can't fight it. It's like I'm a puppet being controlled.

How am I going to stop it? How am I going to win?

How am I going to beat a villain with All Might's quirk?

If Shigaraki gets the quirk and gives it to a villain, or worse, gives it to himself, all of Japan is doomed. Not a single hero could stop him. He'll destroy U.A. He'll destroy Tokyo. He'll destroy All Might. I can't do anything to stop him. It's all my fault.

The thoughts came between breaths, coming rapidly and heavily. Unable to be controlled. As much as I fought back against it…

Wait, what am I talking about? You can't fight back against panic attacks! I should know. I used to have them all the time before I got my quirk. When I got nightmares of everyone as disembodied red eyes. Well, not exactly disembodied. They had bodies; they were just tall slender figures, looking down at me like they had contempt for someone just for being weaker.

When I got a panic attack in the past, I didn't fight back against it. At least eventually I didn't. I just let it wash over me. Like a river over stone. That's what I have to do.

I let the breathing happen, I let the beating of my heart happen. Just have to let it all happen…then clear my mind.

Clear…My…

The door opened.

I jumped.

"Izuku?" Skitter said in the doorway, holding a bag of chips. "Are you ok?"

I blushed. It was only Skitter. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just…nothing. It was just nothing." I couldn't stop my breathing. Trying to fight it would only make it worse.

"Well…I got you some food."

"Isn't my dinner scheduled at eight?"

"It was, but I figured you would be gone by then."

She almost sounded disappointed. But she shook her head.

"Oh. Right."

"I figured you wouldn't be hungry for a whole meal, so I just…Did I scare you that badly?"

"No." I immediately kicked myself in my mind. What was I doing? She gave me an easy out! I should've taken it!

Skitter stared at me. "You were having a panic attack."

What? "How did you know?"

"It's not like you were running a marathon." Skitter said. "I know you were having a panic attack."

She sounded so confident. Why? "Do…do you know someone that had them?"

She scratched her head. "I dealt with them myself."

My eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Yeah, right after I got my power. I…well…It's none of your business" She walked toward me. And opened the bag of chips. "You can eat these without help?"

I chuckled. "Probably not."

She chuckled as well, then coughed. Did she have a bad throat? "Is it ok if I feed them to you?"

What? A girl was feeding me?

What was I talking about? She's a villain!

No, wait, I can't think like that! She's really nice! And she's trying to save people. There's nothing wrong with her.

But that just makes it weird that she's feeding me. Doesn't it?

"Ummmmm…well…"

"All you have to say is no."

"No, it's fine. I can't eat without you. So, it's fine."

Skitter looked at me, her expression unreadable under her mask. "Ok."

She picked some chips and put them in my mouth. I chewed them, swallowed them, and we repeated the whole thing for a minute.

I had to admit. I wanted to know why she had panic attacks. It could be something we could relate to together. But I can't just ask her or force the issue, it'll just make her feel uncomfortable. I have to ease into it naturally.

Then again, maybe I shouldn't pry into her business. I could just leave it alone…

And then when I leave, she won't have any help. She'll go back to hurting people, and I might as well not have even helped her. I have to do something.

But what can I say to help her? What can I say without offending her?

I thought of something. "Do you get nightmares?"

She twitched. Oh-no? Was that too insensitive?

"That's also none of your business."

What? "Ummm…Am I prying?"

"Yes. You are. Don't try to be my friend. I'm not your friend. Just stay there and eat your supper. Hero!"

What? Hero? Why was she saying that? She sounds ridiculous!

I giggled. Should I tell her not to do this? I kinda didn't want to! It was too funny!

I did something else. "Don't get wise, villains!"

Skitter looked to her left. Then looked back. "What?"

I pulled off my best All Might voice. "You think you villain always win because you got lucky! But let me tell you this, ferocious fiend! Heroes always find a way!"

Skitter tried to conceal her laughter. "Really?"

"You were doing it too."

"I was not!" Skitter pushed me a bit. "I mean…I was acting theatrical. But…not like that!"

"Silence, Antagonist! Your words mean as much as all villain's words!"

Skitter snorted. "Really, Antagonist?"

I smiled a cheeky smile. I don't even why comfortable enough to do this with her. I just am.

She looked down. Then looked up. "You're wrong, hero." She walked away. "I won because of my own skills and intelligence. Not because of luck." she looked back. "As long as I'm a villain, The iniquitous Protectorate will never achieve a victory!"

"You deceive yourself, villain! Calling The Protectorate iniquitous. Is your group any better?" I had to keep this as insensitive as possible. "The Protectorate are true heroes! Fighting a never-ending battle! And you can't take that away!"

She whispered something. I heard 'I can't' and nothing else. But she definitely said something else, Then she grabbed the cover from her bed and turned at the same time she flipped her cover in front of her, like a cape. "I don't have to take it away, I just have to tear them down. The Protectorate will suffer! The heroes will wither! And villains will take over this city!"

That line was so corny, I'm surprised she didn't go into an evil laugh at the end.

"We'll see, Skitter. We'll see."

We stared at each other. I was just struggling to keep my laughter In check, then I saw she was trying to conceal her's as well. I think she noticed the same for me.

So we just let it go.

"That…was…so bad." Skitter said in between laughs.

"No, it was great! We could make it to broadway!"

"Shut up," Skitter said while laughing. "What was that never-ending battle line?"

"You like it?"

"You stole it from Superman!"

"No, I took inspiration." I finally stopped laughing. "After all, Superman is one of the best heroes in the world."

"I'm more of a fan of Spider-Man, or Ladybug."

"Because they're both bug heroes?"

"Because they both use their wits to win fights. I find that so cool. It's the reason I like Alexandria so much."

"Yeah, that is cool. But I find being strong cooler. You can beat anyone if your power was the strongest."

"Tell that to Batman."

"Shut up," I said with a laugh.

"You want me to keep feeding you?" She said, walking towards me while holding a chip.

"Yep." I ate it. "By the way, you don't have to answer my question if you don't want to."

She was about to pop another chip into my mouth. But she held off on it. She put her arm down. "I got them after I got my powers."

I stared at her, looking for the right thing to say. I decided the best thing to do was just to nod.

"It got worse after my boss captured Dinah."

It did? "How? Do you care about her that much?"

"Of course. She's just a kid. I…have to help her."

What? "She's…a kid?"

Skitter titled her head. "I didn't tell you?"

"Uhhhhhhh…no."

"Oh."

That's it? She dropped that fact real casually. "You never told me what your boss was doing to her."

"She…has powers…Thinker powers. She…He made Dinah an addict to control her easily."

I gasped. "What!? That's horrible!"

"I know. And I'm probably more sensitive to drugs than you are." She said. "There are three reasons I became a full-time villain. First was to help The Undersiders, my friends. The second was to save Dinah."

"And the third?" I asked.

Skitter looked up. "Oh…Did I say three? I didn't mean three."

I sighed. "Skitter, I can tell you're lying. Remember, you're a bad liar. I can tell when you're lying."

She scratched the back of her head and looked down.

"It's ok," I said. "You don't have to tell me the reason. Just say you don't feel comfortable diving into it. It's your choice. I'm ok with that."

I wasn't sure I true that was. All I wanted was to help her. I couldn't help her if she couldn't tell me. But I couldn't force the issue. If she didn't want to tell me. That's her choice.

"One of my bullies is a Ward."

What? Hold on…What did she say?

"You…were bullied?" I asked.

She looked up from her thoughts; I assume. "That's what you're focusing on?"

"Yeah, 'cause I was bullied too."

She stared for a bit, the only noise in the room being the buzzing of her bugs.

"Re…really?"

"Yes, really. I was friends with this guy named Katsuki Bakugo. I call him Kacchan. After he got his quirk. He started to change. He started thinking he was too good for me. And he bullied me relentlessly."

She stared again, putting one hand on her chest.

"You probably had a different experience than me. So we can't really relate."

"No…The exact same…"

My eyes went wide. "Really?"

"My best friend, Emma, when she went to summer camp and meant someone else. She thought the exact same thing as Katsuki did. Bullying me because she thought she was too good for me."

"Was she the Ward?"

"No, the friend she made on summer camp was. Sophia."

Sophia. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know she was Shadow Stalker. The hero that Clockblocker was complaining about.

"I don't think you should tell me that," I said. "Aren't their laws about that?"

"I know, but you're not exactly one to start telling people secrets."

I couldn't tell her that was false. I had to respect her decision and not shortchange it.

"When did you meet your friend?" She asked.

"When I was four."

"When did he start bullying you?"

"When I was four."

"Well…at least you didn't have that close of a bond to him before he betrayed you."

What? Did she have a close bond with Emma?

She gasped. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to offend you or-"

"What?" I realized what she meant. "Oh! It's ok. I didn't mind! I'm more concerned about you!"

She looked around. "What?"

"You had a close bond with your friend before she betrayed you. That must've hurt so much."

"Yeah…it did."

"Sorry," I said. "When did she do it? Third grade? Fourth grade?"

"Last year."

What? "Really?"

"Yes, why?"

"My bully, uhhh, Kacchan, he started to ignore me after fourth grade. Only coming back to bullying me on rare occasions. Your bully didn't stop."

She shook her head, "She only started a year and a half ago."

I decided to comfort her. "Well, at least you didn't have to deal with it as long."

She gave a small nod. But she looked down. Did I say something wr-

Oh! Oh no!

"Skitter, I'm so sorry! I was trying to comfort you! I didn't realize that what I said-"

"It's ok, Izuku. You didn't know."

I had to admit it. I didn't get what she meant. "Know what?"

She sighed. "Do you know what a Trigger Event is?"

"You mean a Trigger? Yes, I knew. Back when I was Quirkless, I used to go after Bakugo to induce one."

She stared at me. "What?"

"I stopped doing it after a talking to from my mother. But back then, I was so desperate to get a Quirk, to get a power, that I was willing to do anything."

She stared at me for a bit until she eventually nodded. Then said. "You were a very stupid kid."

What the? She had venom in her voice. Did I say something wrong? Again?

"Why do you say that?"

"Because a trigger event is something traumatizing. Something terrifying. To the point that anything would be better."

So it's something traumatizing? Something terrifying? Worse than Kacchan?

And she went through it?

Just imagining what it could have been like…

"I'm…not even going to ask you what it was like."

"You don't have to. I'm going to tell you, anyway."

My eyes widened. "Skitter…"

"I want to tell you, I trust you. It's not like you can figure out my secret identity from it."

I nodded. If she wants to tell me, I'm not going to fight it."

"The Bullying campaign? It stopped. Last year, around November, It was like they got bored. The pranks got tamer, then stopped altogether. The taunts stopped, and so did most of the hate mail. It was like they did decide to ignore me. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it didn't I even made a friend out of one of the bullies."

I nodded.

She continued.

"But the day I came back from the winter break, I knew, instinctually, that they were playing me, that they were waiting before they pulled their next stunt, so it had more impact. I didn't think they'd be so patient about it. I went to my locker, and well, they'd obviously raided the bins from the girls' bathrooms or something, because they'd piled used pads and tampons into my locker. Almost filled it."

I almost ralphed. but kept it in. It would have been rude anyway.

"It was pretty obvious that they had done it before the school closed for Christmas, by the smell alone. I bent over to throw up, right there in a crowded hallway, everyone watching. Before I could recover or stop losing my breakfast, someone grabbed me by the hair, hard enough it hurt, and shoved me into the locker."

Oh-no…that means one of the bullies shoved her in. But which one? It could've been any of them.

She started to breathe. Have to help her. "It's ok. You can stop now."

"I know I can." She said. "They shut the locker and put the lock on it. I was trapped in there, with this rancid smell and puke, barely able to move. It was so full. All I could think was that someone had been willing to get their hands that dirty to fuck with me, but of all the students that had seen me get shoved in the locker, nobody was getting a janitor or teacher to let me out."

She hugged her body; she sounded uncharacteristically spiteful. I know what I have to do.

"I panicked, freaked out. My mind went someplace else, and it found the bugs there, I didn't know what they were though, at that point. I didn't have a sense of proportion, and with all the info my power was giving me then, my brain didn't know how to process it all. As far as I knew, all around me, in the walls of the school, in the corners, and crawling around the filthy interior of the locker, there were thousands of these twitchy, alien, distorted things that were each shoving every tiny detail about their bodies and their fucked up biology into my head.

I could hear the sadness in her voice. This was too hard for her. I had to do it. Just had to make sure I could control it.

"It's hard to explain what it's like, having a new sense open up, but it's impossible to understand…I couldn't…Every sound that they heard bounced back to me at a hundred times the volume, with the pitch and everything else all screwed up as if they wanted to make it as unpleasant and painful to listen to as possible. Y'know how my head hurts from my bugs getting killed? This was just as bad." She exhaled. "And…And…"

I think I figured it out.

I flicked my fingers at 20%, destroying half of my silk casing.

"What the hell are you doing? You can't-

I hugged her. As tight as I possibly could.

"It's ok," I whispered, "Take your time."

She exhaled, her breath shaky. "When someone finally let me out, I came out fighting. Biting, scratching, kicking. Screaming incoherently…Probably putting on a good show for all the kids that had come out of their classrooms to watch." She sounded so bitter. Was this working? "The teachers tried to deal with the situation, paramedics eventually came and I don't remember much after that."

My eyes started to water. I patted her back.

"And the worse part…The bully that pushed me into the locker…Is Sophia…The Ward…"

It's true…Heroes really could be as bad as villains.

She hugged me back. I kept hugging her.

And I wasn't going to let go.

Author Notes: That's right! How's that for a reveal? In case you couldn't figure it out from this chapter. A lot more fiction is canon to this fanfiction. And it all has to do with the big plans I got for this fanfiction. Thank you all for supporting me. A few chapters more and we'll be at the titanic battle between The Wards, Class 1-A, The Undersiders, and The Travelers, Not to mention the League of Villains. It going to pay off everything, so stay tuned!

Also, check out my site. For more of my writing. I'm going to make a web novel of Ultimate, and most likely a fanfiction. So you'll want to check it out.

That's all I had to say. This is Super Ultimate Number One, sighing out. Peace!