Stone Free & Weather Report vs Surface

All Might was laying on the floor, looking for all the world like he was resting, but the bed he slept in was made of blood. Or something like that, Jolyne never was good at poetry. She could tell by the movement of his chest that he was still alive, but a closer examination proved his breathing to be ragged and oddly paced. The blood pooled about him in every direction, but it wasn't gushing out. At some point, it had slowed to a trickle.

"Weather. Hit those two. Buy me some time."

He didn't question it, just sent a powerful gust of wind into the villains gathered before them. Jolyne rushed to All Might's side, and brought out Stone Free. His wounds were so extensive she had to sacrifice a rib to make all the stitching required. If Pucci found out she'd opted for such obvious Judeo-Christian symbolism, she'd die of embarrassment. That priest would be insufferably smug.

Jolyne wasn't a doctor, but even she could tell the wounds weren't from a sharp or blunt object. There were no cuts, no bruises. It was as though his skin had simply vanished. Was it a Stand, or a Quirk? Either way, one of their enemies was able to land what looked like it could be a fatal blow on the world's greatest hero. They would have to be really damn careful.

Her stitching was unimpressive, to say the least. Sue her, she'd already admitted she was no doctor. It would hold for now though. She focused her breathing, and a golden glow spread throughout her body. It travelled out from her lungs, through her arms, down her fingers, and into All Might's wounds, tracing the path of the stitches she'd made. Those stitches were still a part of her, after all, and could conduct the ripple she possessed due to her family's Quirk.

All Might's wounds were healing, but she had no way to replenish all of the blood he'd lost. He had a chance now, however, and would just have to hold out until the battle was finished.

"Why… are you… helping me… Kujo?"

"Even a villain has to admire the number one hero." She bit back a cynical laugh.

All her life, she'd known her father was the world's third greatest hero. Star Platinum was a legend in his own right. But in her childish daydreams, she'd still defeated the evil villains while wearing a cape and shouting 'watashi ga kita'. Her father may have been Japanese, but that wasn't why she tried to learn the language so long ago. It was just the excuse she used, so no one had a reason to say, 'look, another try-hard All Might fan'. Deep down, she guessed all kids were the same.

Now she was the evil villain. The prison escapee. At some point in her life, she'd stopped trying to be All Might, and became an unsanctioned vigilante instead. Perhaps she was just being maudlin. There had been perfectly good reasons for her to flaunt the law, and those reasons were just as valid now as they were when she'd first begun her fight against Pucci.

She rose to her feet, and walked towards the pair of villains who were currently trying to keep a distance from Weather Report. Kurogiri, whom she'd seen at the entrance, and some freak covered in hands. Ugh.

"You know, I'm fine being a 'villain', but if I ever start dressing like that, I hope some meddling do-gooder will take me down."

Stone Free appeared beside her, and both of the villains in front of her went on guard.

"Damn, and here I was hoping Mister Mist was the only Stand user here. Ah well." She grinned. "Guess I'll just have to kill you both, huh?"

She turned her arm into string from the elbow down, and whipped it towards the creep with the hands. The string wrapped around his ankle, and she jerked her arm back, yanking him off of his feet.

This guy had to be the one to attack All Might. Kyo had already told her about Kurogiri's abilities, and neither matched up to All Might's wounds. Which meant she'd have to try and finish him quick. She used her Quirk, and sent the ripple down the string and into the gross villain's foot, twisting his ankle so he wouldn't be able to put any weight on it.

He reached down towards the restraints around his ankle, palm outstretched. She willed the string to unravel, and pulled it back into her before he could touch it. If he was the one who defeated All Might, she had to be cautious. Judging by his movements, his ability had something to with touch. That might explain the freaky hand thing he had going on as well. It was pretty clear: under no circumstances could she allow him to touch her.

"So, what do I call you? 'The Amazing Freak'? 'The Handy Man'? Or just 'Ugly'?"

"Kurogiri, shut her up."

"As you wish, Shigaraki."

"Shigaraki? The fuck kinda villain name is-" Her mouth stopped moving. She tried to open it or close it, but it stayed in the same position it had froze in. Damn, this was Kurogiri's Surface, wasn't it?

Weather shot her a glance, and frowned. Holding his gaze, she glanced towards Kurogiri, and then back to him. Evidently, he picked up on her message, because the wind started whipping hard through the plaza. Her hair was getting blown out of place. Ugh, didn't Weather realise how long it took her to make those buns and the braid?

Either way, Kurogiri's fog was starting to dissipate, blown away by the winds. It was streaming off of him as fast as he could make it. Underneath it all, she could start to make out the silhouettes of two bodies. One male and one female. Kurogiri and Surface.

Her arm turned back into string. If she could trap Kurogiri with it, she could use the ripple on him. She'd have to get him in the head with it to knock him unconscious, but that was pretty much the only path she saw towards disabling his Stand.

The string crept out through the air towards him. She wasn't able to swing her arms, so she couldn't pitch it towards him, but she was still able to move it to an extent with her will. Surface only targeted her natural body, so when it was changed as a result of Stone Free's interference, those changes couldn't be effected in the same way. This was shown by Surface's form, being steadily uncovered from the fog by Weather's wind. The doppelganger's arm was still shaped like Jolyne's normal arm; it hadn't turned to string at all.

The string still wasn't going fast enough though. Shigaraki was limping over towards them. Or maybe crawling was a better word for it. He was on one foot and one knee, and his hands were propping him up while he stumbled closer. Wherever his open palms touched, the ground crumbled to dust. Was that his Stand?

While she knew he had a Stand from his reaction to Stone Free, she had yet to observe it, and this ability he was displaying seemed more like a Quirk. Maybe his Stand was very close range, or maybe it was entirely situational. No, that didn't make sense. These villains were gaining their Stands from Pucci. He wouldn't give them a Stand with too narrow a use, especially if they were supposed to fight All Might. Especially not when Shigaraki seemed like the one ordering Kurogiri around.

He was close to her string now, which was starting to sway wildly from the wind. His hand was outstretched, ready to sever the cord, and her arm with it. She couldn't let him do that, but without the full control of her body, she wouldn't be able to yank her arm away. Luckily, Weather had her back. The wind switched directions and became more focused, nailing Shigaraki in the face. On one foot, and having reached out to the string, thus no longer propping himself up with his hands, he was blown over onto his back. The new gust of wind had an unexpected result however, blowing her string arm directly into Shigaraki.

She used the opportunity to send more of the ripple into him, causing him to twist and writhe on the ground from the warping energy going through him.

"Dammit, Kurogiri, stop her breathing. Surface can do that, right? Make yourself more useful, already!"

Her breathing pattern became disrupted. From her vantage point, she could see her mirror image sucking in long breaths and holding them before slowly exhaling, then switching it up and hyperventilating. She had a way around it though. Her ribs all turned to string, and then coiled around her lungs. The string massaged the organs, pushing them together, and then tugged on them, pulling them apart. Her breathing was back on the right path now.

The ripple flowed back through her arm, and just in time. Shigaraki had sat back up, and gripped her arm string in between a few of his fingers. Before he was able to add his pinky and disintegrate the string, his fingers began twisting from the ripple. They bent backwards and to the side.

She was sure now. His disintegration ability was a Quirk, one that required him to lay all five fingers on his target. Dealing with that was simple. She just had to fuck up his hands. One down, one more to go.

She reeled her arm string back in. The attempt to get it on Kurogiri was a failure. She'd have to come up with something new. But Kurogiri and Shigaraki didn't seem to have any way of attacking them either. They appeared to be at somewhat of an impasse.

She looked at Weather, doing her best to beseech him with her eyes. Wasn't there something he could do apart from blow some wind around?

He sidled over to her, and leaned down to mumble in her ear. "I've manifested a powerful hailstorm, but it'll be sometime before it breaks through the roof."

Damn. Once the ceiling was opened, he could just target their enemies with lightning or something. He'd have so many more options for attacking. But how long could they maintain this holding pattern? She'd just have to keep delaying.

Then the lights cut out. Somewhere in the distance, a bright golden glow was casting light throughout the building, but it was much harder to see now. Especially since the new light source was so far away.

"Well, I see Red Hot Chilli Pepper has decided to get serious." Kurogiri said.

Wasn't that the mountain zone? Where Foo was supposed to be… Jolyne hoped her friend wasn't in over her head.

"But that's no concern for us. Maybe I can just kill you like this..."

Her arms rose, bringing her hands up to her throat, where they started to squeeze. Oh, come on, he had to know that wouldn't work. Her wrists turned to string, causing her hands to fall limp by her collarbone. She looked at Kurogiri and raised an eyebrow, putting as much disdain into her gaze as possible.

The golden glow in the distance went out, and just like that they were almost totally bathed in darkness. She couldn't see her opponents anymore. Even Weather, who was right next to her was almost lost in the shadows. She strained to make out any shapes in the dim. An attack at this point was almost a certainty.

Wait, right in front of her! Something was moving… a hand! A hand was reaching out towards her, open palmed, right around chest height. Shit, Shigaraki. She still wasn't able to move due to Surface's interference. Underneath her shirt. she turned her chest into string, and arranged it so that there was a hole right where Shigaraki's hand was about to touch. He made contact, and dissolved a patch in her shirt, letting his hand slip in. He was only a few inches away from touching her heart.

"Huh? No flesh?" Came a murmur from in front of her. He was close to realising it.

The string shifted, and tightened around his wrist. She willed each side to pull to the opposite end. His hand twisted as the string cut into his wrist, and she could feel his fingers frantically grasping, hoping to catch and destroy some part of the makeshift guillotine. But his hand was caught, and it wasn't able to turn and grasp the strings holding it in place. Blood was sliding across her strings now, and dripping down from them onto her stomach. Shigaraki grunted with exertion. He was yanking his arm back, no longer trying to grab any of the strings, but instead to untangle his one good hand. He was pretty close to succeeding too. Since he was able to move his whole body, he had more force to pull with than her.

The string around her lungs continued to keep her breathing rhythmic, and she sent the ripple through the string around her opponent, warping Shigaraki's hand so that it was pulled back into her chest. The string had started to cut him even deeper. Rather than biting into the flesh, it was now grating against the bone, fracturing the sides and sawing off splinters.

Shigaraki was no longer just breathing heavy, he had started to scream. The ripple twisted his hand even further, and his wrist shook under the strain of the strings. Shigaraki let out a screech as the strings suddenly went lax. The severed hand fell down Jolyne's shirt, bouncing off of her stomach and onto the floor with a splat. She was going to need a long shower. And some sort of cleaner that would get the blood out of her clothes.

The maimed villain fell backwards, and the lights came back on.

"Ah… that makes things… complicated." Kurogiri said, eyes focused on his compatriot's severed limb.

Jolyne pulled in a large breath. Her string being moved quickly by Weather's wind earlier had given her an idea. A part of her right lung turned into string, opening up a small hole. She forced a breath through it, made stronger and more direct by the small hole, which acted as a nozzle. The air pushed the string formed from her chest out to cover Shigaraki like a net before he could move out of the way. She willed the string to pull tight as it ensnared him. He was caught in a web of her making now.

She returned the hole in her lung to normal, and regulated her breathing again. The ripple flowed out through her string, and into Shigaraki. In a few seconds, he had become so warped he couldn't stand or even crawl. His limbs jutted out at odd angles: knees bending backwards, arms twisted into a pretzel, feet turned on their side.

She let go, and brought the string back into her body. They'd need someone to interrogate, after all.

A commotion came around to the side. She wasn't able to turn her head to look, but she heard a voice she recognised either way.

"Hey, Jolyne!" Annasui shouted in English. "We killed that Stand user we were sent to, and we came back with a couple of brats-"

"All Might!" Cried some boy's voice. A blond kid with gaudy grenade gauntlets rushed past her, and over to the wounded hero. "Are you alright? How the hell were you wounded?"

"Immobilised… by a Stand. Couldn't protect myself. Listen to me…"

"I'll go find a medic." The boy turned to look her in the eye, baring his teeth. "You the leader of this merry fuckin' bunch? If you kill the villains, fine. But don't let anyone touch a hair on his head. I'll hold you personally fuckin' responsible if he dies while I'm gone."

"No." All Might whispered. "I need to talk to you."

"Tell me later."

"Bakugou." The hero had reached out, grasping the student's collar, and pulling him down, to whisper in his ear.

"Well… touching as this is, I believe we'll be making our exit now." Kurogiri said. A portal appeared behind Shigaraki. "Come one, just roll over into it. One for- ah, I'll get you fixed up, but I can't fight four Stand users on my own. Let's g-"

A ball of ice crashed into the ground, right in front of Kurogiri.

"What on earth?"

Jolyne did her best to look upwards- no easy feat with her neck still frozen by Surface. Black spots danced in her vision, her eyes almost rolled so far up they almost rolled back into her head, but she was still able to make out a hole in the ceiling. Then another, and another, as more hail began finally breaking through the roof.

A bright light filled the room, followed by a loud rumbling from the sky. Kurogiri leapt backwards, careful to keep his obscuring mist around him. In the ground, near where he'd been standing, was a black scorch mark, sizzling while the concrete around it had turned to glass in a veiny pattern.

Another bolt of lightning came down, crashing in between Shigaraki and the portal behind him. He groaned, blinking his eyes to get rid of the afterimages left by the flash. Hermes and Annasui used the time to position themselves between the mutilated villain and the portal, preventing his escape.

A third bolt came down, driving straight into the midst of Kurogiri's fog.

Smoke began drifting up, almost indistinguishable from the black mist, but for how it rose into the air rather than coalescing about the villain. A red light flickered in the dark fog. Fire, Jolyne, realised. Something was burning, and since Kurogiri wasn't dead or unconscious, there was only one thing it could be.

She took a step forward, relishing her newfound freedom of movement. As she made her way to Kurogiri, a flaming wooden dummy fell forward out of the mist, crashing into the ground. It must have been Surface's true form. A bound type Stand. Kurogiri was effectively Standless now, but his Quirk would let him escape. He couldn't be taken prisoner, by them at least.

She turned her hand into string, and whipped her arm forward, whipping the cord through the fog until it hit something solid.

"Weather, lemme see what I've got a hold of, alright?" Jolyne said in English.

The wind picked up, aided by the pressure Weather created outside. With the new ventilation in the ceiling, the gust he sent forward was much stronger than before, and it blew away the fog obscuring their enemy. Her string was wrapped around his shoulder. Well, that was close, but not quite what she wanted. She alternated between inching the string up towards the metal plate covering what she assumed to be his neck and head, and sending ripple through her string and into him whenever he tried to open a portal near himself. That way, she kept him from fleeing.

Finally, the cord reached a space in between the metal plates, and slipped in to constrict around his neck. She began to pull on it.

A white and red haired boy rushed over to her. "Wait. I know Bakugou said it's fine to kill them, but he isn't thinking right now. He's too shocked by All Might's condition. Look, w-what if that villain has information? We need to keep him alive, right?"

"Oh, kid, there's no 'what if' about it. He definitely has information. But that warp Quirk would let him escape whenever he wanted. And with his Stand, which helped wound All Might, he could be a serious threat later on." Across from them, the villain in question was gurgling, the string cutting into his throat. Red was seeping out through the gaps in the armour.

"But why can't you just use Quirk restraints on him? You're a hero, right?"

Jolyne turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised. "Who on earth told you that?"

She pulled the string even tighter, and a cracking sound echoed from within the armour. Kurogiri's body went limp. The boy who'd been trying to dissuade her made a gagging sound and backed away from her.

"Hermes, Annasui, their ride is gone. Grab that one and let's-"

"All Might!" The blond boy who'd spoken to her earlier was shouting something. Turning to look, Jolyne saw All Might on his back, staring at the ceiling. The boy was shaking him frantically. His chest wasn't moving.

"Shit!" She rushed over to the hero, and bent down. A couple of fingers on his throat showed her he had no pulse to speak of. "Annasui! Get your ass over here!"

"What the fuck can I do?"

"Send Diver Down into his chest, get his heart pumping again! You can do that, right?"

"I dunno if that'll-"

"Just fucking do it, okay?"

He jogged over to them, and summoned his Stand. It went into the hero, and pretty soon Jolyne felt a pulse. But All Might's eyes kept staring into the sky.

"Shit, his lungs too! Make him breath!"

"Jolyne, I can't do that many organs at onc-"

"Fine, I'll do it!"

She turned her hand into string, and sent it into All Might's mouth and down his his throat. She had to turn around after going down the wrong pipe and hitting the stomach, but she was able to put the string into his lungs. She moved it around, expanding his lungs outwards and pulling them back in some semblance of breathing.

But his eyes still didn't move. From behind her, she heard footsteps, but she didn't turn around to look. A hand closed around her shoulder.

"Heya Jolyne. Sorry I'm late."

"Foo! Can you-"

"Yeah, I'll send a few plankton into him, figure out what's wrong." True to her words, some tiny grey organisms began to drop down onto All Might's wounds, and slither through into his body.

Finally. They'd be able to fix whatever was wrong. They just needed a diagnostic.

"Jolyne… he..."

"What? Just tell me, so I can fix it."

"He's lost too much blood. There's barely any left. Not enough to keep him alive for a second, even with you two aiding his bodily functions."

"We can just do a blood transfusion or something, right?"

"No, Jolyne, you can't. He's dead."

A cackling came from behind them.

"Finally… the symbol of peace… I've succeeded, master… won't you be proud?"

Jolyne turned around, and glared at Shigaraki. "Your master is going to be every bit as dead, I fucking promise you. And so will you."

He shifted, craning his neck to look at her, since he couldn't position himself properly with his misshapen limbs.

"And how are you going to accomplish that, I wonder?"

"Are you as stupid as you are hideous? Look at the state of you. You can't run. And I broke your teleporter's neck. You're ours."

"Yeah… it was tough to reach it, what with these messed up arms. But I managed. I pressed the button. We had a backup plan, you see. Couldn't risk it all on Kurogiri."

"What button? The fuck are you talking about?"

"The panic button in my pocket. At this point, Whitesnake has already gotten my distress signal. Any second now, he'll-"

A bright light surrounded Shigaraki, and when it faded, he was gone. Across from her, Weather Report stirred, surprised.

"Another warp Quirk? But, that looked exactly like-"

A loud bang sounded, and behind her, Foo shouted out in shock.

"We're taking fire!" She shouted, just in time. Hearing another bang, and then a whizzing sound behind her, Jolyne turned a portion of her shoulder into string. The bullet passed harmlessly through it. She turned to get a good look.

Standing a ways away, but still in sight of the central plaza, the teachers of UA were assembled in the doorway.

"Weather! Get us the fuck outta here!" She yelled.

Weather Report activated his Quirk, and a bright light surrounded them. When it faded, they were back at their home base, Emporio and the old man looking at them.

"Well, certainly took you long enough. I was this close to going over there myself."

Emporio's attention was grabbed by something else. "Jolyne! You're covered in blood… and FF, you look like you're injured too!"

The plankton colony waved it off. "Just a bullet wound. And the guy was aiming to disable, not kill. It's nothing I can't handle."

The old man looked Jolyne up and down. "And if I'm not mistaken, that isn't Jolyne's blood, but someone else's. She lacks any sort of wounds. Tell me, how did my maps work?"

Annasui crossed his arms and looked of to the side, but Hermes kicked him in the shin. He sighed, and turned back towards them all. "They worked perfectly. We found all of our targets, and you were right about them being their in the first place."

The old guy chuckled, rubbing at his beard. "Well of course. Hermit Purple doesn't make any mistakes… well, usually. And what about All Might? Did you prevent-"

"No." Jolyne sighed, and raised an arm to drag her hand through her hair. It was easier than usual. Weather's wind had completely blown her hair out of it's styling, and it was hanging loose around her head. She could barely think, her head was still spinning. The greatest hero in the world had died literally minutes ago.

"I figured as much. I told the man he wouldn't last much longer; me and that 'Sir Nighteye' assistant of his. But that Italian kid puts a few new organs in him and he gets the idea in his head that he's invincible. Idiot." Joseph shook his head, frowning. "What's done is done. Did you get any information on Whitesnake's whereabouts? Or that healing Stand your contact mentioned, before he went dark? That could be the key to fixing Holly."

"No." She paused. She'd almost forgotten, what with everything that had occurred. "There was something weird though. Do you remember Yoshikage?"

"Of course I remember my grandson. What kind of question is that?" Joseph frowned, looking at her closely. "Has something happened?"

"I'm not sure. There was this kid there, who looked oddly similar to him. His last name was Kujo, though. He said he was dad's brother. Kyo was there too, she confirmed it. Could you try and find out more information about him with Hermit Purple?"

"I was going to try and locate the villains we're after, but sure, this seems like something we need to look into as well."