"I thought Twice could only clone clothing and quirks?!" Izuku murmured harshly, throwing his gas mask to the side and kneeling next to the injured woman on the ground. The nurse's white uniform had a steadily growing red stain on her right shoulder, but Izuku couldn't assess the wound without taking the clothing out of the way first.
"The gun wasn't cloned." Shoto remarked gravely. His left hand was somehow melting some of the ice he'd used against Mustard's copy, and a revolver was visibly poking out from the frozen wall.
"They armed the clones?" Izuku said bitterly. He wasn't all that surprised, but he wanted to kick himself for not having foreseen that possibility. Had the League ever done this before or was this a one-time thing? Had Shigaraki told Mustard to hurt civilians if he so desired?
Izuku gritted his teeth. He'd been careless. He'd allowed everything to be ruined, hadn't he?
Stop it. Stain can call you an idiot later. Izuku shook his head, forcing himself to focus. The sound of the alarm around them was impossibly loud and he already knew he'd have a headache later.
"Toga, can you help me?" Izuku asked, carefully turning the nurse so that she was resting on her uninjured side. But there was no response from the girl behind him.
"Toga?" He asked again, giving her a questioning glance. Toga was a good ten feet away, looking fidgety and pale. Her eyes were wide and her breathing shallow and she was staring at Izuku with a conflicted expression.
No. She wasn't looking at him, Izuku realized. He followed her gaze downwards and was met with wide green eyes. The nurse, whose name tag read 'Shimizu', was conscious and very clearly terrified of them. Izuku struggled to not look as surprised as he felt.
"Hey… Don't worry, ok? We'll help you." Izuku held his hands up and smiled, but only received a scared look in return. "You got shot. I just wanna make sure that you're ok, alright? I'm not gonna hurt you."
The nurse whimpered slightly, too afraid to give a verbal response. Her eyes did look down at her shoulder though, and the fear seemed to give way to understanding. Izuku reached down slowly, extending the fabric on the front of her uniform to take a better look at what he could see at first glance.
The fabric was still mostly white and there seemed to be no tear.
"I don't think the bullet came out," He murmured, shifting his gaze towards the woman's back. "It's probably still in there. That's not good, is it?"
He said that last part without noticing and he started backtracking as soon as the words left his mouth. The nurse had surely heard him say that.
"I, uh, I mean! It's not bleeding much, so you should be fine! I'm sure it's ok! I'm going to apply some pressure, ok?" He asked her. When she nodded, he looked around to see if he could find anything to cover the wound. He didn't exactly have any extra clothing and it seemed like Shoto didn't either. He turned back towards Toga who was still looking at the nurse with dilated pupils.
"Toga?" Nothing. He tried a little louder. "Toga!"
The blonde snapped into attention, a heavy blush on her face.
"Can I borrow your ribbon?" He asked her slowly. Toga nodded quickly and, though a long moment passed before she actually moved, she shakily struggled to untie the red fabric around her collar. She offered it cautiously and it wasn't until Izuku extended his hand to take it that he fully grasped the situation.
Toga dropped the ribbon and stepped back, her wide eyes now focused on Izuku's bloodstained hand. She seemed to be struggling heavily and Izuku quickly picked up the red fabric and turned, using his body to hide the bloody mess from Toga.
Of course it had to be blood, Izuku thought. He remembered the conversation from the night prior and he was suddenly even more worried than before. If Toga lost control right now, he might be forced to do something radical.
He pressed the folded fabric on the nurse's shoulder under her uniform, feeling something poking out of the skin and earning a pained hiss from the wounded woman.
"Sorry! I think the bullet's right here." He said, still not confident enough to take a look under the woman's shirt to make sure if he was right. The nurse nodded briefly and Izuku helped her into a sitting position. He was just about to speak when the crack of ice breaking filled the air around them, and Izuku swallowed.
"They're catching up." Shoto said, his left side still producing the slightest amount of steam as he unfroze his right side. Almost as if on cue, someone's voice came through their com devices telling them that more and more heroes were arriving.
Izuku looked at the nurse and, without hesitation, put her uninjured arm around his shoulder while keeping the pressure on the wound.
"Is there any other doctor on this floor?" He asked her, his voice as gentle as he could manage. The woman shook her head, her arm pitifully pressed against her chest.
"I don't know…" She said.
"Where are you instructed to go in case of an emergency?"
"We're…" The woman hesitated, biting her lip with a concerned look. She gave Izuku an intense look that he hadn't been expecting and he had to fight the urge to lean back.
"Are you going to hurt the staff?" She asked him and Izuku's heart broke. He felt just as disappointed in himself as Stain would probably feel once he found out about this. Did he even have the right to apologize to this poor woman that had suffered because of him? What was he supposed to say? Would talking work at all?
The wall of ice cracked again and Izuku frowned.
"We… I didn't want anyone to get hurt. Us three are the only ones inside the building and the only one with a gun is gone. I just don't want to leave you unattended."
"You're with the League of Villains, aren't you?" She asked him. If he hadn't been so nervous, he might have been surprised at how defiant the woman next to him sounded. "Is this just one of your public attacks?"
"No, it isn't. We're…" Izuku struggled, catching the warning look that Shoto sent his way. His ice wouldn't last much longer. "We're here to get someone and that's it. I swear."
"We have to go. Now." Shoto said, helping Izuku with the woman in his arms so they could move faster. But the woman between them refused to cooperate, even pushing Izuku away weakly. Izuku started to panic, unsure of what to do.
"Midoriya," Shoto called, sounding just as conflicted as he felt.
Izuku looked at her, sensing the fear and the anger on those green eyes. He sighed.
"Shoto, take Toga and go find Stain," He instructed. "I'll get her somewhere safe and meet you later."
"What?" Toga asked loudly, already looking like she wanted to argue.
"We don't have time for this. If they move Stain out of the hospital then all of this is for nothing. Go get him and let everyone know over the com once you find him."
"Midoriya…" Shoto murmured, a weird look in his eyes. The cracking noise behind them was getting louder and louder.
"Absolutely no!" Toga barked, her previous hesitation now long gone. She took out one of her knives and glared at the ice wall. "We're not leaving you."
"We don't have time for th-"
"I don't care!" She interrupted him. He'd never heard such a firm tone in her voice and he was momentarily silenced.
"Keep adding ice behind us." Toga told Shoto, pushing past Izuku to come face to face with the nurse. Regardless of her intention, Toga looked very intimidating and the nurse shivered against Izuku.
"Toga…" Izuku tried, but the blonde thoroughly ignored him. She had her eyes locked with the other woman's.
"Where were you told to evacuate? We're taking you there right now before some other idiot clone can hurt you again. The League won't hesitate in killing you if they find you." Toga sounded demanding and she dangerously narrowed her eyes when the older woman refused to answer.
"I thought you were with the League." The nurse half snapped, though the bravado she'd displayed with Izuku was gone. She even allowed Izuku to drag her along as they walked, Shoto desperately adding more and more ice to the hallway behind them.
"I'm with him," Toga said, nodding towards Izuku. "And he's definitely not with the League. We're in a rush, so let us help you so we can get this done and we can kill the League later."
As Toga opened up the doors to random rooms, half of them empty and the other half locked, Izuku pulled the woman along with him. He had absolutely no idea how much time they had but he did know that it wasn't much. He looked at Toga in surprise, unsure as to what had just happened.
The nurse by his side remained quiet until they reached the corner of the hall and she weakly pointed towards what looked like a broom closet.
"There."
Once Izuku took the woman there, she used a hidden fingerprint scanner to unlock the door. It swung outwards slowly, the thick metal of the reinforced door surprising Izuku. Inside the room there were at least another ten people, all wearing robes and white clothing and sporting terrified expressions.
"We'll be fine here." The woman murmured. Without another word, the nurse let go of Izuku and pulled the door closed behind herself, the sound of the lock echoing somewhere within the wall.
Izuku just stood there like an idiot for a good five seconds before the sound of ice crumbling away snapped him back to reality, and he took off running with his two companions. The west wing of the hospital was big, but thankfully all the rooms were clearly numbered.
Room 348 took both no time to appear and all the time in the world. Izuku hurriedly tried the door but found it locked, and the teen actually cursed under his breath. He was getting anxious.
"Move." Shoto instructed and, without a moment of hesitation, he used his ice quirk to all but rip the door from its hinges. He used the other side of his quirk to quickly melt away the ice and as soon as Izuku could fit through the gap, he squeezed his way into the tiny room.
He stumbled inside and looked around; his face fell almost immediately. Inside the room there was no one except himself, the bed empty and the window pointedly broken. Izuku all but ran towards the window, miraculously not cutting himself with the glass as he looked outside desperately.
Both the fire and the smoke from his companions' quirks were mostly gone by now and from this height, he had no idea if Dabi and Mustard's clones were even still down there. Only the Nomus were still visibly fighting, most attention on top of them. He could hear Toga speaking into her earpiece, informing a very insistent Compress that Stain was apparently gone and that they might need backup from the B team.
"Shigaraki is calling for a retreat." He heard Compress say, and Izuku ripped the little earpiece out and threw it on the ground. The voices were making him dizzy.
Of course Shigaraki would want to retreat. Why would he risk his League any further than he already had for a man he didn't even like?
Izuku felt the beginning of a panic attack fogging his mind. Stain wasn't here. Stain had been moved probably as soon as the attack started and now there was no way they would find him in time before he was out of their reach. What if they didn't even bother in keeping him alive? What if some other patients killed him?
Odd thoughts started forming in his head and he had to grip the window sill to keep himself from passing out. He couldn't focus on anything or anyone, and even Shoto's hand on his shoulder went by unnoticed. Was he crying? Was he even breathing?
They'd failed. They'd taken too long and now Stain was gone forever and Izuku would never be able to see his mentor again. He would never even be able to explain why he joined the League or what he was going to do afterward and the Hero Killer's legacy would be left in the dust. No one would ever understand, no one would ever see what they were trying to do.
Toga's voice attempted to break through his panic, something about Spinner and Dabi not answering their own coms, but it felt like he was underwater. He couldn't really understand most of the words she was saying.
That was until Shoto used his ice quirk on him. It was only a thin layer of frost, but the coldness suddenly covering his back was sharp enough to snap him back to reality. Toga was holding his shoulders, her face the epitome of panic, and even Shoto looked concerned.
Izuku took in air like he'd been drowning and he felt sudden tears streaming down his face.
"Izuku, we have to go." Toga told him, but he shook his head.
"Stain's gone." He said brokenly.
"He might have escaped on his own, you don-"
"They took him the moment we appeared. To the public, Stain is with the League. Of course they knew we'd come for him." Izuku cried, cutting off Shoto. He sounded utterly defeated and he was unable to stop the cries that escaped his mouth. Shoto himself looked completely destroyed at the prospect of his brother being captured by now, but said nothing.
Toga attempted to comfort him as best as she could, her own earpiece forgotten so that she could focus solely on him, but he wasn't listening at all. Shoto was half listening to the two of them and half trying to make out whatever he was being told through his earpiece, but he was mostly failing at both things.
Izuku leaned out the broken window, trying to take in as much oxygen as he could. He felt like the world was wrapping around him. He was so out of it that he missed the knock from where the door used to be. The sound caught Toga and Shoto off guard and that brief moment of distraction was enough to leave an opening.
Through the opening in the window, what seemed like branches flooded the room. Izuku was unceremoniously pulled out the window along with Toga and Shoto. All three teens were pulled all the way up to the roof, where they came face to face with Wood Kamui and another two pros that Izuku didn't recognize.
"Expecting someone else?" One of the heroes, a woman with white hair, told them in an almost mocking fashion. Izuku couldn't reach for the knife at his waist, but he felt so empty that he didn't have the strength to fight against his wooden restraints.
He heard Toga insult the heroes below her, he heard her call out to Izuku as he was forcefully pulled away from the other teens to be thoroughly examined by the heroes.
"Perhaps you can tell us where your teacher is, little Disciple." The white-haired hero told him, but Izuku could make absolutely no sense of those words.
He was trapped in his own mind in a way that he hadn't been in a long, long time. He felt small and afraid, and he could almost hear the heroes call him 'Deku' as they spoke to him.
He'd gotten everyone captured. At least the people he cared about were all most likely arrested by now. Spinner and Dabi might even be dead for all he knew. The League had all retreated by now, and Shigaraki probably didn't care about the fact that Izuku and Stain were going to spend the rest of their lives in Tartarus.
All hope drained from his body.
They'd all been right in the end. He'd done nothing other than get others in trouble or hurt. He'd royally fucked up absolutely everything. If he'd never met Stain then the Hero Killer would still be out there doing his job. Stain would be free and his message would be completely clean.
Toga and Shoto wouldn't be suspended in mid-air and Dabi and Spinner would be safe somewhere else.
Maybe the three he'd met at the League would have found their way to Stain eventually and they would have certainly made better companions than Izuku ever did. They wouldn't have slowed Stain down, for starters.
They wouldn't have hesitated as much as he did, they wouldn't have gotten Stain fucking captured.
Everything would have just been better if he'd listened to Kachhan and taken that damned swan dive off the roof. They'd been right, they'd all been right. All of the-
Izuku couldn't make it out through his tears, but the light that exploded next to him was bright enough to blind him momentarily. He felt a sudden blast of heat and the wooden bindings around his chest came undone. He landed on the ground painfully, blinking away his tears to try and figure out what in the world had just happened.
He half wondered if the building was falling apart like in his dream, but the ground below him stayed where it was.
Toga was also free now and she was currently stumbling towards Izuku with a wide smile on her face.
"I didn't know he was so much fun." She told him and Izuku followed her gaze to his right.
Standing tall and proud was Todoroki Shoto, the left side of his body set ablaze in a grandiose show of light. All of the parts of wood that had been part of the pro hero Kamui were now burnt down to a crisp around them, and Izuku was almost sure that he could hear screaming beyond the hellish flames surrounding them.
As fast as the supernova unleashed, it disappeared. The flames were replaced by a ridiculous ice structure, the frozen construct so big that it extended far beyond the roof of the building and threatened to fall over at any given second. Trapped within the ice were the three pro heroes that had, just seconds prior, had the upper hand in this whole thing. This was nothing like what he'd seen before. This was grand and majestic and it took your breath away.
Izuku stared at Shoto in pure amazement. He'd known the teen was strong but this went above and beyond anything he could have expected. There had been no sign of his fire quirk during the sports festival or the attack on Hosu, and it was on par with Endeavor's own strength.
"Come on." Toga said, trying to pull Izuku up even when the teen didn't find any strength on his legs.
"But…" Izuku choked. "Stain is…"
Shoto stepped closer and offered his hand, a determined look on his face.
"They said they don't know where he is, so he probably made it out on his own. I'm not leaving without Touya, so let's go find him and Stain and get out of here." Those words sounded like music to Izuku and he had to fight back even more tears as he stood with the help offered to him.
Almost nonchalantly, Shoto took the half-melted earpiece out of his ear and threw it away, the slightest hint of a burn on his left ear due to the plastic.
"Where do you think they are?" Izuku asked worriedly. He could see the nomus still fighting Hawks and some other heroes, and the sight made him think that maybe Dabi was still okay. The nomus answered to him, after all. There were other heroes heading towards the park and others towards the back of the hospital. Izuku could see patients running in all directions in an attempt to escape, and that lifted his spirits even more. Stain could be down there.
Toga still had her earpiece miraculously hanging from her neck and she placed it back in her ear.
"Spinner? Dabi?" She called out but there was no response. Someone else seemed to pick up, but Toga took the earpiece off without even listening.
"Tomura wants us back even without them." She said, and Izuku gritted his teeth. He now perfectly understood why Stain had wanted to kill Shigaraki the moment they met.
Shoto walked towards the edge of the roof and looked down, frowning.
"The heroes in the back are just evacuating doctors. I don't think they're down there."
"Then that leaves the park. There's a good amount of trees on fire and that might be Dabi right now." Izuku reasoned. A small blue light coming from between the foliage told him that he was most likely correct.
"How do we get down from here?" Toga asked, peering over the edge of the roof. They were at least six stories above ground level and jumping didn't seem like the best idea. Izuku was just about to suggest something when an ice slide appeared out of nowhere, Shoto going down without a word.
Toga raised an eyebrow, giving Izuku a smile as they both followed behind the other teen. While Shoto slid down while standing gracefully, Izuku and Toga had to go down while sitting, both teens barreling into one another once they reached the bottom and even knocking down Shoto in the process.
Had they not been under such stressing circumstances, someone might have found the sight amusing. Maybe even endearing. Three kids all piled up on top of one another after riding a slide, the three of them embarrassed and fumbling to untangle from one another.
But there was no time to appreciate the moment of innocence, and in a heartbeat, they were all on their feet and rushing towards the park.
Izuku dodged wrecked cars and debris, jumped over the craters that had been left on the sidewalk by the fight, and pushed himself to run like he'd never run before.
If Stain was smart (which he was) then he was out there somewhere. Maybe not at the park, but somewhere. The heroes had wanted Izuku to tell them where Stain was and that told him that they didn't have him.
They could've been lying, Izuku's mind reasoned, but he pushed the thought away. He'd already faltered once and that had almost gotten them all arrested.
He refused to make the same mistake twice.
The destroyed street gave way to the entrance of Hotaru Park, the gate that once welcomed visitors now torn to shreds. The metal was bent sideways as if it had been made of paper when struck and they had to jump over one of the broken metal bars to get through.
The park, tranquil and beautiful just hours before, was now just as broken as the streets surrounding it. Trees had been uprooted all over, paths had been obliterated and benches had been ripped from their hinges. There were no Mustard clones around, but a few people were still unconscious on the ground.
Just as they were passing the once beautiful pond, which was now an empty crater with a hole in the bottom, the blue glow they were chasing grew brighter.
Shoto gave Izuku the briefest of glances before using his quirk to move faster, the teen leaving a frosted path in his wake. Izuku wasn't comfortable with the idea of separating right now, but he'd be lying if he said that he wouldn't do the same for Stain.
Izuku started to hear a commotion up ahead and he instinctively reached for the knife at his waist. Toga did the same, a glint in her eyes that Izuku missed while they ran.
Toga and he followed the ice all the way to the playground area, where things were just as chaotic as Izuku expected them to be.
There were multiple bodies on the ground, a few of them still smoking. Some of them had been charred in awkward positions and the place, in general, had an awful feeling about it.
Four pro heroes could be seen on their feet, all of them surrounding Dabi and Shoto as they stood back to back. A fifth and still alive hero was completely buried in ice and it didn't seem like he'd be able to make it out any time soon.
Time froze for half a second. As soon as Izuku and Toga stepped out, two of the pro heroes had their eyes on them. A four on four battle didn't sound terrible, but these were professionals with a vendetta. This would be anything but easy.
Toga and Izuku jumped in different directions, Toga landing a knife throw and Izuku avoiding what looked like a bolt of electricity. Time regained its speed and soon they were all doing their best to not die. Shoto and Dabi worked together as if they had been doing this for years, the fire and ice attacks used to block and separate the pro heroes.
Toga bounced off trees like a frog, her small stabs not doing much damage on their own but adding up before long. Izuku hadn't had a real fight in a really long time and he found himself struggling far more than he cared to admit.
He landed a solid stab on a hero's shoulder but got thrown to the side violently for all his troubles. Shoto's ice caught him, guiding him towards the two brothers so that they could regroup. Toga landed right next to them a second later and for a moment no one moved.
"Where's Spinner?" Izuku asked breathlessly.
"Lizard ran off. I thought he'd be with you." Dabi responded. His monotone was laced with a thick layer of exhaustion and Izuku knew they wouldn't last too long like this. All four teammates stood back to back, all of them waiting for the inevitable attacks that would soon hit.
The four heroes, though hurt and tired, held up their ground without much issue. They were used to this type of commotion and they had probably all worked together prior to this.
The first one to go down was Dabi since he got hit right on the stomach with a rock. Shoto had tried to protect him, but the attack was so powerful that it shattered the ice shield. Izuku wondered how badly Dabi would have been hurt if it wasn't for his brother's quick reflexes.
With Dabi down, Shoto lost focus and he too was buried under a mountain of rocks and stones. Before he could use his quirk again, the hero that had first attacked Izuku electrocuted the teen, leaving the fire and ice user in a dazed state that left him out of commission.
Dabi, before being electrocuted himself, managed to kill one of the four heroes they were fighting but that was all he managed to do before he was taken out.
Between Toga and Izuku they managed to get one of the other heroes in the neck with a knife, but there was no time to celebrate. Toga was unceremoniously thrown against a tree a good twenty feet away, all of the air getting knocked out of her as she fell limply in the ground. The sight reminded Izuku of how he'd looked back in Hosu and he flinched at the impact.
Two versus one. He wasn't getting out of this one.
He put up as much of a fight as he could, but he was trapped under a hero's boot in a matter of seconds. Izuku trashed like a wild animal, earning him a solid stomp on the chest that threatened to knock him out. Colors and light faded in and out of existence, but he did his best to glare at the man stepping on him.
"Stop struggling, kid." The hero told him and Izuku actually growled in response. He'd lost his knife, his allies, his strength. Everything. But the spark was still alive inside his chest and he refused to simply bow down and accept defeat.
"Stain is gonna get every single one of you." Izuku bit, poison dripping from his lips.
The hero added pressure on the teen's chest. The other hero still standing was currently checking that Toga was down for good.
"Your mentor is nothing but a murderer who deserves to rot in Tartarus for the rest of his life. You being his student is a disgraceful waste of your life. So just stay d-"
He never got to finish that sentence. The choked scream of the hero behind him cut him off, the sound panicked and shrill. What used to be the hero's leg had now been reduced to the equivalent of minced meat beneath Spinner's assortment of blades, the mutant grinning wickedly as the hit met its target.
The hero on top of Izuku only managed to turn his head slightly before that very same head was sliced clean off his shoulders. It tumbled to the ground with a soft thump, the grass becoming red in a matter of seconds. The rest of the body fell to the side, the pressure on Izuku's chest disappearing.
But even still, Izuku couldn't breathe. His lungs wouldn't take in any air and all his mind managed to do was produce tears as he stared at the new man standing over him, sword in hand.
"Don't fucking touch him, you sham." Stain hissed at the dead body, his eyes red shining with bloodlust.