Chapter 35: And I Brought You Myrrh...Mur-DER!

The fight was intense. It was four on one, and they were barely winning.

It seemed that no matter how hard they hit the thing, it just came right back and hit them harder. Even so, none of them were going to accept defeat. Not when there were still so many civilians around them that they had to protect.

But they wouldn't be able to keep on going forever, eventually they were going to get tired and then it would all be over.

They had to come up with a plan, but what?

Ugh! Come on Izuku! Think-Think…

"Mirko!" Izuku and the pro had just evaded yet another powerful punch from the bird-thing and jumped back to put some distant between them.

"What's up kid?"

"Have you been noticing that that thing's healing has been slowing down?"

"Not really."

"Well-it doesn't matter. The point is that it has limits just like everything else. All we have to do it exploit those limits before it exploits ours."

"You got it!"

Mirko raced back in and jumped in the air to land a series of fast kicks that bounced off of the creature's face. She landed and jumped out of the way as one of the other pros hit the thing with their quirk over and over again until they then let the other pro have their turn.

It wasn't long until the four of them overwhelmed the monster and one of the pros took it out for good with a knife to the brain. The thing went down and didn't get back up.

Izuku breathed heavily as he looked at the thing they just fought. Was that like what Eraser faced during the attack at the USJ? If so, then what was it doing here? Was that why Stain seemed pissed, because he knew that the League was somehow involved?

Crap! Stain-

"Uh, it was cool fighting with you guys, but I gotta go. See ya-" He took off but turned back when Mirko called out to him.

"Hey-kid!" She smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up, "I look forward to fighting with you in the future."

Izuku nodded and felt a blush rise to his cheeks that were thankfully covered by his mask, before he started running again.

He had to find Stain. He couldn't believe that he left him alone in the place where he knew his next target was. He would just have to find him and hope that it wasn't too late.

It didn't take him long to find him. Luckily for Izuku, he had grown accustomed to seeking the guy out, unfortunately for him when he did find him, he was standing over a body covered in white armor with another unmoving body slouched a few feet away.

"Stain!"

The hero killer halted in his lifting of his katana. "Serpentine…"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I was hoping that you would be distracted for a bit longer. Long enough for me to cull these two false heroes, or should I say hero and fledgling." He seethed at the person below him who gave no response.

"We talked about this! You can't just go around killing people because you want to!"

"But they deserve it!"

"I don't care, killing is wrong."

"I have no time or interest in debating this with you right now. Leave if you do not wish to witness or shut up and let me do what I need to do." He went back to his katana and rose it above his head in preparation to bring it down into the helpless body below him.

"If you won't listen then I guess I'm going to have to stop you myself." Izuku crouched down and unsheathed his twin blades.

Stain paused and turned his head to look at Izuku incredulously. "I admire your determination young one, but make no mistake, if you choose to go against me tonight then I will not hold back."

"I'd be disappointed if you did."

"Very well then."

Stain turned fully towards Izuku and readied himself to fight.

"It was a privilege Serpentine."

"Don't count me out so easily hero killer, you didn't teach me everything I know."

Stain's mouth turned up into a smile as his eyes flashed with anticipation. "Let us be done with this." And then he lunged forward.

It was difficult. Probably one of the most difficult fights of Izuku's life.

He was almost always a mere second away from death and the only thing that kept him alive was his training with the one trying to cull him. Not that he'd be down for too long, but probably long enough for Stain to kill the two on the ground and Izuku refused to allow that to happen.

As he was dodging all of Stain's advances the one in the white armor began to plead with him to stop.

"This is my fight! Please do not get involved!"

Was this guy serious? Not only did he seem like extremely young to be targeted by the hero killer, but he was asking Izuku to leave and let him be killed just as he would've been had he not shown up.

"It's Serpentine right? Leave and allow me to do this on my own!"

"Are you being serious right now? Last I checked I was the one fighting and you were the one helpless on the ground."

"Please! Leave now and-"

"Oh my god can you shut up?!"

He had only known the guy for like two minutes and already he was getting on his last nerve. Not that that was necessarily a difficult feat but seriously, he was literally fighting to keep him alive, and he was complaining? Ungrateful little-

Izuku launched himself backward as Stain's blade slashed above him and he rolled away. "Careful Serpentine, you're getting distracted."

"Shut up."

"I thought I taught you better than this?"

"I said shut up!"

Izuku lunched forward and slashed at Stain with both of his blades. Something that the hero killer just barely evaded with some of his scarf being sliced in between his swords.

"Very good…"

The two of them took a second before they started back at each other.

Izuku wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. He was surprised that he had made it this long honestly. He couldn't do this on his own, but what could he do?

All of the pros were dealing with whatever was going down in the city and Eraser was back in Musutafu. He didn't know anyone in-

Wait-

Shoto!

Izuku evaded yet another one of Stain's swings as he jumped farther away so that he could quickly pull out his phone and send a message to his friend. He wasn't sure how much good that was going to do, but it was his only chance.

"Are you texting in the middle of our battle? Perhaps you aren't taking this as seriously as you should. Very well, I will come at you genuinely."

He what!? He wasn't fighting him for real before??

Ohhhh Izuku was so screwed…

If he thought that earlier was bad…this was ten times worse. It was all that he could do to not get filleted by Stain. He wasn't kidding about holding back earlier.

"I must say Serpentine, I am very impressed. No one has been able to evade me for so long before. You should be proud."

"Say that to me when you're not trying to kill me."

This caused a low laugh to leave the man's throat before he almost gutted Izuku as he twisted away from him.

Sh*sh*sh*sh*sh*-

Izuku was not doing good. He was already worn from the fight with that creature, and he didn't have the strength or energy to continue to keep up with Stain.

A string of curses that Eraser would've grounded Izuku for a year for left his mouth as he ducked under a swing from Stain that was almost too slow. He was preparing to jump back from another swing as he lost his footing and panic flashed all across him.

It kinda felt like his body took a snapshot as he began to go down and stared into the crazed eyes of the hero killer who was approaching quickly in order to take advantage of his mistake. That was until a wall of fire separated the two of them forcing Stain to jump away from Izuku in order to not get barbequed.

Izuku's body hit the cement as he let out another string of curses that were immediately rebuked by the kid still helpless on the ground a few feet from him.

"Fire-?" He turned his head to see a very distinct head of hair standing at the mouth of the alleyway and let out a quick breath of relief.

"Um…I must have the wrong place. Forgive me-"

"Shoto!" The boy turned back as Izuku called out to him. "Thank God you got my text! Thanks for the save by the way," He gestured to the wall of fire that was still keeping Stain at bay.

It wasn't until his friend looked at him with the most confused expression that Izuku remembered that he was dressed as Serpentine right now and that Shoto didn't know that he was a vigilante.

"Fuc-"

"Do I know you?"

"Uh," Izuku debated whether or not it was even worth it to try to keep his identity a secret in favor of not dying in this alleyway and just decided screw it. "Right. I'm going to need you to not freak out until we're out of this mess, okay?"

"Freak out? But why would I-"

Izuku lowered his mask and looked frantically at his now gaping friend. "Look, I know that it's a lot, but I don't really have time to explain everything right now. Help me take the hero killer down and I promise I'll tell you everything." He pleaded as he pulled his mask back up.

It took Shoto a minute to regain his bearings, but once he did his face hardened into one of complete focus and determination. "Right."

"More interruptions…you're all starting to really piss me off." Stain jumped through the wall of fire with seemingly no regard for the burns that Izuku could see on him from where he was.

"Cry me a river old man, I told you that killing was wrong!"

"I don't have to listen to the convictions of some child off the street!"

"YOU'RE ALSO SOME CHILD OFF THE STREET! Or did you forget, Stendhal?"

This caused the man to halt, before a curious smirk spread across his face. "You sure do your research, don't you Serpentine? I'm surprised that you know my former name, not many do."

"I make a point to know who I'm around. And I know a lot more than that."

"Impressive. But I'm afraid that knowledge will do you no good in this fight."

"We'll see about that," Izuku readied his blades and glanced towards Shoto. "You ready?" He asked under his breath to which his friend simply nodded.

Plans after plans were forming in Izuku's head as he recalled every single weakness that he had picked up on in the time that he had spent with Stain. He just hoped that they would be enough with Shoto there to back him up.

"Alright…Shoto, ice!"

"You got it."

Izuku jumped aside as Shoto sent a stream of ice towards the hero killer and succeeded in encasing him, but only for a moment as the man sliced his way out of the ice and launched himself forward.

"Fire!"

Another wall of fire separated Izuku and the hero killer as he moved to the side so that Stain wouldn't be able to reach him when he jumped through the fire.

He came through and Izuku got the jump on him. He got up behind him and got a double slash across the man's back causing the man to grunt and fall to the ground before he rolled away from Izuku and to his feet.

Izuku didn't give him the chance to recover as he came at him again with everything he had and trusting his friend to back him up.

"No, please! Please this does not concern you-either of you!"

"Iida!?"

"You know that guy?"

"He's in my class."

"Oh, that's awkward-" Izuku tried his best to not laugh at the irony of the entire situation. "Can you tell him to shut up? I've been trying, but he doesn't seem to get it."

"Iida, shut up."

"Todoroki!"

"If you're so concerned with us getting out of here, then do something about it! Cause doing nothing but yelling at us from the ground is just pissing everybody off."

"No, you don't understand! This is all my fault! I made the mistake of letting resentment and rage consume me and now you two are here risking your lives for me-"

"Oh, shut up! It's not like you're special or anything. I'd risk my life or any idiot that got tangled up with this guy." Izuku yelled out as he was still going at it with Stain, the two of them now on more equal footing with his injury.

"One cannot simply change their ways so easily! No matter what lies leave your mouth, you're still deserving of culling!"

"He's right-"

"Shut the f* up Stain! I'm tired of hearing your stupid voice!" Izuku yelled out as he sent a punch straight across the guy's face. It would've been great if Izuku hadn't gotten nicked on his arm by one of the hero killer's many attacks and the guy took the opportunity of his arm being so close by sticking his disgustingly long tongue out to lick the blood that was dripping from his cut.

Izuku's body immediately locked up just as it had before and the string of words that left his mouth as he went down would've resulted in a thorough cleaning if his mother were still here to hear them.

Shoto let out his own curse as he sent another wall of fire to separate Stain from standing over him and he rushed to drag him back towards the other two that were down for the count.

"Crap! Shoto I'm so sorry-"

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault."

"What are you going to do now little hero? Think you can take me on all by yourself?"

"No, Shoto don't-" But the boy was already fired up and ready to fight for his friend's lives.

It was painful to watch his friend go up against the hero killer. Every hit, every close call made Izuku flinch and want to turn his gaze away even though he knew that he couldn't.

Actually, Shoto lasted longer than he thought he would, but he supposed that was to be expected from the number two hero's son and probably one of the top students at UA. But even he went down and then it was just the hero killer and his expanding bloodlust filling the alley.

"Stain, please don't. You've got to listen to-"

"I'm through with listening to you Serpentine." He slowly walked towards Izuku until the hero killer was standing over him. He gazed down at him with an unreadable expression, until he readied his katana and plunged it deep into the boy's shoulder as he let out a small scream. One that he could've sworn resulted in a look of remorse that flashed across his expression before he looked away and unsheathed another blade in order to kill his next victim.

Stain took a step forward but was cut off by yet another wall of fire, this one noticeably less in intensity, probably due to it being so close to Izuku. "I'm beginning to get frustrated with you son of Endeavor. Your father is number one on my list of those in need of culling and if you continue to stand in my way, you will not be too far behind."

He threw a small knife at Shoto that landed in the boy's thigh causing him to lose hold of his quirk and yell out in pain.

The hero killer continued in his steps towards the kid that was apparently named Iida before a blur of white and blue flashed across Izuku's vision and landed a hit on Stain who was forced to take a few steps back.

"Iida? You can move again?"

"I suppose so! I am truly sorry you two. I'm sorry that you were forced to get involved, but I will make sure to correct my mistake!"

"Big talk for someone so selfish and short-sighted."

"Your words mean nothing to me hero killer! I will not let the comments of a murder get to me!"

"Don't forget, you were almost a killer too. Sometimes the intent is all that is needed."

"Silence! I am going to take you down and then turn you in as retribution for my brother!"

"You're referring to Ingenium? That hero was lucky to get away with the few injuries he had. It is very rare that those I go after escape my blade. Regardless, you little fledgling hero…I'd like to see you try-" The man was cut off as a knife was thrown at him, just grazing his face as he turned away.

"Do you two ever just shut up?!" Izuku was on his feet now and dropped the bloody katana to the ground as he ignored the pain in his shoulder. He didn't know how or why, but he wasn't about to question whatever miracle he had been blessed with.

He wasted no time as he ran at the hero killer, he pulled the thick metal pipe he kept on his person from his belt and readied to smack a bi* with everything that he had as he watched Iida circle the alley in preparation to give Stain the kick of his life.

The killer had no time to counter as another wave of fire came at him while ice tethered him to the ground and all Izuku saw was the look in his eyes before his and Iida's attacks took him down.

It was a look that told Izuku that he was…proud of him. Even in the face of defeat.

"Is-is it over?" Shoto called from where he was starting to be able to move. The other guy in the alley as well, he slowly got to his feet as he gaped at the mess he had just witnessed.

"Yeah, I think it's over."

"Oh, thank God-"

The two boys let out laughs of relief as everyone tried to calm themselves from all of what just happened. Izuku pulled out some zip ties he always kept on him and bound Stain's hands behind his back and his feet together as the other two boys went to removing all of his weapons from his person.

Honestly, Izuku wasn't at all surprised by the shear ridiculous amount they found and even a few that they probably missed.

Shoto limped over to Izuku and examined his shoulder with a frown. "Your shoulder-"

"Your leg."

"I'm used to injuries."

"You think I'm not?"

"Fair enough."

"Let's just get out of here. I'm sick of this freaking alleyway."

Iida and the pro hero that was also attacked, Native, picked up the hero killer and followed Izuku and Shoto as they left the horror scene and made their way down the sidewalk.

That was when they heard the approach of a bunch of different pros.

Apparently Shoto had told his father to send pros to the location Izuku sent him when they were done because there was 'something wrong'. Each of them was confused as they came up to the group and that confusion turned to shock as they took in what they saw.

"Is that…the hero killer??"

"No way!"

"What's going on here??"

Shoto and Izuku sent each other a tired look before turning back in preparation to give whatever bs explanation they would be able to come up with. That was until the sound of the flap of wings along with another one of those gut-wrenching screams was heard and someone yelled out, "GET DOWN!"

"Huh?"

Usually Izuku's instincts were on point, but as he was plucked from the ground by whatever was sinking its claws into his shoulder that wasn't injured, he cured himself for being an oblivious idiot. He blamed it on the shock from fighting Stain.

"No!" Shoto yelled out as he tried to do something to bring Izuku back down but was unable to.

"You son of a-"

Izuku was cut off by a presence appearing behind him, stabbing the creature trying to carry him away in the brain and ripping him from its claws. He cried out and turned his head to look at a crazed Stain holding him in his arms as they began to fall back to the ground.

Well, at least they were…

That was before some sort of purple blob suddenly opened up beneath them in midair and swallowed them both before closing into nothingness once more.