Aizawa is worried. Miruko is worried. Everyone is worried. Izuku witnesses some things he probably shouldn't. Himiko, Shoto, Tenya, and Ochako fight for their lives. And Izuku learns a disturbing truth.
Aizawa cursed under his breath. Himiko had run off the moment her phone pinged and he hadn't noticed, too busy trying to grab the victims of the flying Nomu. By the time he'd caught them and gotten them to safety, the blonde student was gone. And now Miruko was telling him she hadn't seen Uraraka either, and he could hear the young hero Pyre calling Shoto's name.
He had no idea what had happened, but he received a text from Shinso asking for an update, which had him confused. Shinso was the student who he'd spent the most time one on one with, since he'd expressed an interest in learning his capture scarf technique, so it wasn't unusual for the two of them to talk…but it was unusual for him to expect something from Aizawa.
"Update on what, Shinso?" Aizawa growled into his phone, in a rush.
"On why Izuku sent his location information? Didn't Himiko tell you?" the confused teen replied.
"No, she ran off while I was helping someone. What happened exactly?" Aizawa urged, ignoring Miruko who had come up next to him and was listening carefully.
"It's in our group chat. Momo said Izuku ran off because his sense pinged that Tenya was in extreme danger, more than the rest of us. A few minutes later, he sent his location info into the chat. It's some back alley in Hosu. Himiko, Shoto, and Ochako all said they were heading there and have been silent since."
"A back alley…no, he wouldn't have," Aizawa muttered to himself. He felt his shoulder being shaken by the bunny hero, turning to meet her red-eyed glare.
"The fuck's going on, Eraser?" she demanded.
"...I think the students found the Hero Killer," Aizawa said. He grabbed his phone. "Send me that location ping now, Shinso!" The phone call ended as the ping was sent, the hero immediately throwing his scarf up and gripping the edge of the building to launch himself up. As he bolted across the rooftop, he heard a loud thump next to him as Miruko landed beside him. The two heroes ran side by side, leaping from building to building.
"I'm coming with you," she remarked at his glance.
"The Nomu-" he began, but she cut him off.
"If Endeavor and all the others out there can't deal with them we're all fucked. I took responsibility for Uraraka, I'm going to make sure she gets back to your class. Just lead the way already!"
Aizawa nodded. "I'm sending a message to Chronos, Pyre, and Hawks. They need to know what's going on too. Hawks might be able to get there faster."
"Then hurry the fuck up!"
"Ugh…my head," Himiko groaned, slowly crawling to her feet. She felt something trickling down her hand, glancing down to see one of her knives had cut her palm, her hand locked around the blade. She glanced down at it, fearful, confused, having to fight to force her hand open to drop the knife.
"Himi? Himi, are you okay?" Ochako asked, the brunette appearing next to her with a worried expression. As Himiko looked up at her, her eyes went wide. She leapt to her feet, grabbing Ochako by the cheeks and brushing off the tears still visible.
"'Chako, oh my gods what happened to you?" she asked, horrified at the bloody streaks trickling down from her mouth.
"I think I bit my cheek," Ochako admitted, her speech slightly slurred and pained.
"The hells going on?" Himiko asked. She tried to remember what was going on…she'd gotten a notice from…"Izuku?!"
"He's not moving," Shoto said as she spun about, seeing the split-haired boy kneeling at Izuku's side. The greenette was collapsed on his side on the ground, jaw slack, eyes wide and pure white. The drops of rain slid down his face, obscuring him within the falling water, his head barely tilted far enough to avoid being drowned by it. Himiko's eyes, better in the dark than most, noticed the silvery mist that had been surrounding them all was still there, but was slowly being drawn towards Izuku, seeping into his skin as if he was…
"He's absorbing the mist," Himiko said in a horrified whisper.
"Not just the mist," Tenya replied, his voice rough as he leaned heavily against the wall, wincing in pain. "Do you remember anything from the past few minutes?"
"I-" she began, before freezing as the memories slammed into her with the force of a freight train. The hurt, the pain, the fuzzy thoughts, the desperate desire for blood, to drink, to spill, to become, the fear and loneliness and everything wrapped up in one giant terrifying…"Nightmare," she breathed out.
"He…he did what?" Ochako gasped.
"I believe…he took our nightmares," Tenya replied, grunting in pain. "I…I saw it, for a moment after I woke. He was smiling, he was fine, I-I could remember what I'd seen. And then…he fell. He's stopping the illusions by absorbing them."
"We have to get him out of them!" Himiko said, dropping to her knees next to Izuku and reaching out for him. As her hand touched his shoulder, she quickly retracted her hand as her fingers burned, the flare of green light appearing where she'd touched.
"His Quirk is keeping us from touching him, somehow," Shoto said quietly. "I have already tried twice. I cannot get past the barrier that appears."
"Would have been nice to know before I burned myself," Himiko muttered.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha," the halting voice called once more, the four teens immediately shifting into battle positions. This time, no misty illusion hiding it, nothing trapping them in their minds, they could see it. At the end of the alleyway, between them and the street, the piles of trash and refuse lifting, growing, piecing themselves together into a single, unified, scarecrow like being. A small light hanging off one dangling tendril, bits of metal and wood and cloth hanging off it, falling and being ever-replaced. The rain, falling in frigid sheets, was making it's shape more indistinct, more unnatural.
"What about Izuku?" Ochako asked, her eyes flitting back and forth between the creature and her boyfriend.
"We have to stop it, before we can help him. I don't think it'll let us leave if we tried…" Shoto said quietly.
"I'll stand guard over Izuku. You three have the better ranged attacks, we cannot let it get close," Tenya replied, glancing at his own marred shoulder.
Himiko pulled out a pair of knives, spinning them for a moment and ignoring the blood on her hand as she glared at the creature, the figure standing stock still, like a statue. "Just…be careful, please. All of you."
Ochako grit her teeth, shaking off the horrific pain in her abdomen, the taste of blood in her mouth. "I'll crush this fucking thing if it hurts anyone else, I don't care if I get in trouble."
"I am fairly certain we will all get in trouble regardless, as we have abandoned our mentors. But I do not care. We'll keep him safe, and each other," Shoto said quietly. Flames flickered upon his face, steam hissing up from him as the raindrops impacted the flares. His breath came out in small, wispy clouds, the air about him shimmering from the shifting temperatures.
"Keep him safe, keep him safe, keep him safe," the Hero Killer replied, it's form slowly, creakily, starting to walk towards them.
Ochako planted her hands on the ground, the air shimmering as her fingers suddenly clenched, the concrete breaking beneath her grip as she lifted large pieces of rubble up, floating them a few inches from her hands.
Shoto glanced back at her, getting a nod from the brunette. Himiko was off to the side and slightly behind, knowing that getting in front of Shoto would be a bad idea. The split-haired teen took in a deep breath, focusing hard…too much ice would make maneuverability difficult, especially when combined with the rain that was intensifying. Their vision was becoming blocked by the sheer deluge of water falling from the sky, the rain falling in sheets as lightning crackled in the skies above Hosu.
The Hero Killer stopped in place, a few meters away from the gathered teenagers. Standing unnaturally still, one of its shadowy tendrils stretched out to the side, contorting, cracking, running with a thick, viscous fluid as it melted and stretched and changed…a grasping claw, made of rusted nails and broken pieces of glass. A wooden pole, curved and bent. A rusted blade, shaped in a broken crescent, the edges of it dripping with a substance that dripped like blood but smelt of rot and decay. A scythe, one made for rending flesh and reaping lives…and then the Hero Killer fell into the floor.
"Watch out below!" Tenya shouted, his engines revving as the Hero Killer's shadowy tendrils launched out from the floor beneath the trio. Ochako leapt up into the air, hovering in place as she sent some of the pieces of rubble careening down towards its now visible body. Shoto managed to dodge away, a wall of ice blocking the tendrils rocketing towards him, but the ice began to rot and decay the second the tips touched it. Himiko ran up the side of the wall, her jagged boots giving her grip as one clawed hand gripped onto the wall meters up. She flung one of her knives at a tendril, the knife carving clean through the tendril to her shock.
"Only the end of it does the rot thing! I can damage the actual appendage!" Himiko shouted. The Hero Killer cackled once more, its body falling into the ground and vanishing.
"Damn it, how do we fight something that can just merge with the ground like that?" Tenya growled, his head swiveling back and forth.
"I do not believe it is doing that. I think it is leaping from one point to another in some fashion," Shoto murmured.
"Why?" Ochako asked, her body quivering in midair as she floated, still and waiting for another strike.
"It avoids the light from my flames, and ducks away when the lightning appears. I suspect it relies on shadows to move," Shoto dutifully replied. The other four were surprised he'd picked up on that within the few times he'd pulled out his fire, but didn't let it distract them.
"So it's like Dark Shadow, can't stand light?" Himiko asked.
"Not exactly. It did not seem weaker, just that it avoided the light. That is why I believe it is moving through shadows," Shoto replied once more, his left side flaring up hotter, casting them all into stark contrast even as the rain hissed and steamed about him.
"It's got me, it's got me!" The creature's voice rang out as the scythe came screaming out of the wall next to Himiko, the dripping blade level with her head. The blonde dropped off the wall and fell backwards, landing on her feet and then instantly bolting to the left as the scythe changed direction rapidly, slamming into the ground where she had landed.
Shoto's fist burned white-hot, the flames roaring as he sent a gout of fire at the Hero Killer, the creature tumbling to the ground in a pile of broken metal and wood. It screamed loudly, their ears pained, as Himiko sent another two knives at it, both impacting into the center of its body…but doing nothing.
Ochako came rocketing out of the sky with a cry, her foot wrapped in her gravitational force. In a mirror to one of her mentor's signature techniques, she slammed her heel down on top of it, the creature being smashed into the ground and scattering into pieces. Eyes wide, the teens wondered if it was over, only for the pieces to coalesce into a black mass of diseased blackness and vanish into the ground once more.
"Shit!" Ochako cursed. "What the hell is it going to take to kill this thing?!"
"...I see Miruko really did rub off on 'Chako," Himiko muttered, looking at her girlfriend sideways.
"Language like that is uncalled for, Uraraka!" Tenya added, his hand chopping in the arm.
"Not the time Himi! And Ida, my parents are construction workers, you ain't heard nothing yet!" the brunette replied, rising back up off the ground and swiveling about to look for its next attack location.
"That should have harmed it, and yet it did not. I don't believe it has a true body," Shoto remarked.
"What?" Himiko asked, confused.
"You may have been more correct than you realized when you compared it to Dark Shadow. I don't think it's a person…I think it's a Quirk. That, or the Quirk used is some sort of possession Quirk, but if it was, it should have harmed it somehow…but it didn't."
"Well how do we kill a Quirk?!" Ochako asked, her gaze snapping to the prone form of her boyfriend, still as a statue, the only evidence of life being the gentle rise and fall of his chest…but the glowing white eyes hadn't vanished.
"I do not know…but we must try."
Himiko bit her lip. Looking at Izuku, she begged under her breath "C'mon Izu, wake up baby, we need you up so we can go!"
"Get up! You think you can beat All Might laying on the floor whining?" the flames shouted, snarling at him. He couldn't think, couldn't move, his side was burnt and bruised, his arm hurt, his legs hurt, everything hurt. He just wanted a break, a small moment to himself…but he felt the heat, the pressure, the overwhelming firepower above him, demanding he move.
"I am disappointed in you. You have brought shame to our family." He gaped. He'd…he'd done everything asked! He'd worked hard, he was just trying to be like his brother, he could be, but…but why wouldn't they believe in him?
"Demon child! Get out! Get out of my house you monster!" She begged, cried, screamed, but no one would hear her, no one would listen. She just wanted someone to love her!
She pushed the plate away, smiling at her mom, reassuring her she was fine, she'd eaten plenty, couldn't take another bite. And the pain in her abdomen reminded her, kept her focused, kept her driven. Her parents needed to eat, she'd be fine. She could skip a meal or ten. She'd be fine.
He was thrust out into the cold, alone, dishonored, hated and reviled. He took on the name and lost it, lost everything. He'd disappointed his brother for the last time.
She bit her wrist, begging for something to stop the pain, the hunger, the thirst, even knowing it would make it worse as she cried.
She felt faint, woozy, her vision blurred for a moment, but she was fine. She had to be fine. Couldn't show them, couldn't let them see, her parents couldn't worry. She'd be fine, she had to be fine.
PAIN! The side of his face, shrieking agony, burning, freezing, feeling his eye almost boil from the heat and flame and fires.
She shivered in the dark, in the cold, frozen in the alleyway.
He vomited on the floor, thrown to it from another blow struck.
He saw the blow coming, the strike that would end his life and take him from his family.
She dug in the trash, seeking something to satiate her hunger for just one moment, one second.
"Izuku! Izuku, this isn't real! IZUKU!" The voice shattered the fear, the pain, the agony boiling his blood as he felt himself gasping for air, laying upon a cold, stone floor. The green-haired boy shook, the phantom pains making his body twitch and seize. He felt a pair of gentle hands cradling his head, glancing up to see a massive, fiery figure holding him softly in place as a gloved hand gently carded through his hair.
"Izuku? Are you back with us?" Yoichi asked. Izuku looked up, seeing the green eyes of the First, staring down at him with worry evident in his gaze.
He swallowed, feeling his entire body shake, his throat feeling jagged, raw, like he'd been screaming for hours. "I-I…Wha…"
Nana's soothing voice called to him, her hand still carding through his hair. "You absorbed their nightmares."
"Like an idiot," Third remarked, eyes narrowed as he looked down at the boy laying upon the ground before him.
"Those…those were…" he tried to speak, his own fears and pain intermingled with theirs, twisting him up a thousand thousand times, disjointed memories and fears all coalesced into his chest in one massive, tangled briar of thorns and blood.
"Nightmares, Izuku. Some of those were likely memories, or exaggerated versions of them, but some were simply their fears. Everyone has those. That creature is enhancing them somehow, forcing people to see what they fear most," En said, kneeling on Izuku's left side.
Izuku grimaced, placing his hands down as if he intended on trying to get up, but a forceful grip from Toshinori's vestige kept him in place.
"You're in no shape to move right now," Hikage said. "That nightmare energy you took has not converted properly. Not yet. It's still being processed." With a wave, Hikage gestured out over the ledge of the platform, Izuku (with great effort) turning his head to look…only to see the lake of his power, the sea, literally boiling, black oil-like slicks oozing across the surface of it. Slowly, he could see it shrinking, being consumed, being drawn down and converted, but as it was, he could still feel the terror of his friends and loves in his mind and heart.
But he ignored that in favor of looking up above him, looking for the markers of the others…the comet, the singularity, the star, the quasar, all of them still surrounded by the dark, the danger that he knew the Hero Killer was. Grimacing, he struggled to sit up, at first against the pressure of Toshinori's vestige, but as it was clear he was not going to listen, the fiery figure helped him with a silent sigh.
"Izuku, you must be patient," Hikage scolded.
"Yeah, you can't do a lot right now. You gotta chill and wait," Daigoro added.
"I c-can't!" Izuku protested, hissing in pain. "T-they need me. They are in d-danger!"
"And you're a liability. Right now, you are the reason they can't just run," Second replied bluntly.
"Me?" Izuku asked, eyes wide as he looked at the Second wielder.
"Yes, you, dipshit. You're stuck on the ground and your fucking Quirk won't let them touch you as a defense mechanism. But since it can't protect you from that shadow tendril bullshit, they have to keep you safe, and trust me, it ain't going well. So sit down, shut up, and then wake the fuck up once you're ready. Else you'll make it worse."
"Not the way I would have put it, Second," Yoichi replied with a sad smile. "But somewhat accurate. You are currently absorbing the illusion mist, which is helping them, but that converts near instantly. It is only the nightmare energy that is not. But it will finish soon."
"...fine," Izuku muttered, realizing he had little to no choice. He pursed his lips. "You said, what I saw…some of it was a nightmare, not a memory, right?"
"Yes," En replied, tilting his head to the side in confusion.
"So the rest wasn't?"
There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment, as most of the vestiges turned to look at Yoichi (although Second and Third simply looked away). Yoichi finally replied. "That seems likely, yes."
"You can tell the difference?" Izuku asked.
"Different substance on the water," Daigoro replied, jerking his thumb towards a patch of oil slick that shone iridescently and did not seem to boil, as much as the other one he had noticed before.
"So which one was which?" Izuku demanded, his eyes narrowed at the vestiges.
"Izuku," Nana began softly, but he cut her off.
"Don't start Nana. Just…please. Tell me what was real and what wasn't. Please?"
"Are you sure you want to know? I doubt your friends would be pleased at you having looked into their memories," Hikage replied instead of answering, narrowing his eyes at the greenette still seated on the stone floor.
"Meddling where you don't need to is the essence of being a hero," Izuku replied softly, able to feel the paternal pride mixed with exasperation coming from the vestige holding him up.
"Tenya's were fears, built on the pressure he feels to uphold his family's legacy," En said with a deep sigh.
"Ochako's was…mostly true. The dumpster one was not, it was something she once considered and it stuck in her head that she'd gotten that bad about not eating," Nana added.
"Himiko's memories of her time alone weren't clear enough to know if they were memories or nightmares. But her interactions with her parents and in her room were true," came the low growl of Second's voice.
"...As far as we could tell, Shoto's were all memories," Yoichi said gently.
Izuku nodded absently. "All right. Thank you." He paused, looking over the lake, seeing the last traces of black beginning to vanish beneath the waves. "Can I go back now?" he asked plaintively.
The vestiges shared a glance, before Yoichi nodded. "Once you're back, don't stop taking on the mist. It will keep it from using its illusions, and that is converting without harm. But as far as we can see, the body is just trash it's built around it. We think it's a Quirk of some kind. Perhaps…multiple."
"Like the Nomu," Izuku murmured.
"Less put together, less stable, but similar concept, yes."
"You still won't tell me what's up with that, will you?" Izuku asked.
Yoichi shook his head in negation. "Toshinori needs to explain that. Just make sure he does when you see him next time, alright?"
"...fine. I'm…I'm gonna go now. I need to help!"
"Go, Izuku. We'll be here. We've got your back," Daigoro replied with a wide grin. Izuku nodded, feeling his consciousness being pulled from the vestige realm…and into chaos.
When he came to, laying on the ground, cold, wet, aching, he heard the sounds of flames, of screaming, of crashes and violent motion. He blinked his eyes rapidly, clearing them of the water that had fallen into them, struggling to his feet only to be halted by a hand.
"Izuku!" Tenya shouted, on one knee next to him, a grimace of pain on his face. Izuku glanced up, seeing the black on Tenya's shoulder had spread further, his chestplate ripped off to reveal the dark, corroded flesh underneath his shirt.
"Shit, Tenya, what the hell?" Izuku gasped, reaching for it.
Tenya jolted back. "No, don't touch it, I fear it may-"
"-Spread, yeah, but I can absorb it. I can see its energy. I'll be fine, one moment." Not giving Tenya a chance to stop him, Izuku shot out a tendril of Blackwhip, wrapping about Tenya's arm and allowing him to feel the corrosive energy. With an annoyed hiss, he pulled, yanking the effect away from Tenya and into himself, feeling it being smothered beneath the lake within.
"Thank you, Izuku!" Tenya exclaimed. Wide-eyed, he grabbed at Izuku's arm. "Wait, did that harm you?"
"Nah. Energy absorbs fine. It was something…else, that got me," Izuku managed to get out, not willing to get into it right now.
Tenya nodded. "Well, we could really use some assistance, this creature is frustrating!"
Izuku leapt to his feet at that, scanning about, able to witness what was going on. He could see the Hero Killer now, its energy signature leaping from shadow to shadow, looking like a strange conglomeration of sickening colors that made him want to vomit just from how wrong it felt.
Ochako was hovering above, a dozen pieces of broken rubble surrounding her, her eyes scanning for a target. Himiko was behind her, one hand clinging to the wall, the other holding a pair of knives ready to be thrown. Shoto's side was ablaze, one hand curled, ready to call upon his flames at a moment's notice. His right foot was tilted, just barely ready to slam down and send another wave of ice in a direction. The split-haired boy's body was partly obscured by steam, the rain that continued to fall dissipating the moment it neared him.
"Izuku? Are you okay?" Himiko asked, worry in her voice.
"I'm fine. Just took a moment to take on that…stuff," Izuku said quietly. "I have an idea to deal with it, but I need your help. We'll have one shot at this."
"Whatever you need Izu. We've got your back," Ochako replied.
"Himi, Tenya, run distractions. We need it to jump out. I can see where it is, but until it leaves the shadows I can't grab it. I hate to ask this of you, but your the two least likely to get caught-"
"Say no more. I shall be the best bait in the history of bait!" Tenya said with a hint of pride in his voice.
Izuku wanted to facepalm, but was afraid to lose his lock on the Hero Killer. "Ochako, don't let the tendrils hit any of us." Ochako nodded firmly. "Shoto, when I say, turn your fire up to the max. We need to make sure there are no shadows for it to hide in. Turn this alleyway into a fucking solar flare if you have to."
"Alright. The rest of you, cover your eyes when Izuku calls for that, then. Else you may be blinded," Shoto replied calmly.
"And what're you doing?" Ochako asked quietly.
"I have a way to grab it, so long as no shadows are near. Then-."
"It's behind me, it's behind me!" the voice called out once more, the raspy echo causing the mist to flare once more. This time, Izuku was ready, his power forcibly grasping at the energy of the mist and pulling it towards him. And with that, the Hero Killer moved, darting out of the shadows behind them.
"Behind you!" Izuku shouted, Tenya immediately activating his engines and bolting away from the tendrils that smashed into the ground behind him. As he did, Himiko dropped down next to the Hero Killer and ran the other direction, forcing it to turn and begin shambling after her rapidly.
A half dozen tendrils rocketed out, three to Himiko and three to Tenya, but with a cry of exertion, Ochako sent each piece of rubble flying out, slamming into the tendrils and bursting into clouds of dust as the rot consumed them, but deflecting them from their targets nonetheless.
"Now, Shoto!" Izuku yelled. The other teens turned away swiftly, as Shoto followed his instructions. His hand burned, going from yellow and orange and red to white and blue, the light flaring up in the alleyway, a massive towering inferno being shot into the sky. The Hero Killer screamed as the light blew away the shadows, and at that moment, Izuku activated Blackwhip and moved.
A dozen energy tendrils shot from him, green lightning crackling about it as they wrapped the creature up entirely, nothing of its body visible. Izuku kept running energy through the tendrils, making it shimmer and shine, giving it no shadows as it was trapped in a glowing green-black sphere. Izuku bit at his lip, growling softly. "You want to see nightmares? Then see these!" he roared, grasping at the blackened energy he still could feel residing in his core and sending it rocketing down the tendrils, through Blackwhip and straight into the creature.
The pressure within the sphere was painful, as it clawed and ripped and tried to escape the burning light, the pressure of the energy, its raspy, broken voice screaming, a thousand thousand voices all roaring and crying at once. Izuku grit his teeth, refusing to let go, even as he felt his skin begin to rip and tear as energy tried to find its way out of his veins, out of his body, the force of how much he was pouring out seeking other outlets.
But then the sphere fell silent, the tendrils of Blackwhip crushing inward with one final, desperate squeal, a loud crunch noise echoing throughout the alleyway as whatever kept the sphere in place seemed to just…give in. A slight hiss was the only other sound that escaped, a faint trail of screams and cries vanishing into the dark.
Izuku fell to his knees, gasping for air, as Shoto's flames flickered and died, the other boy stumbling into the wall. The tendrils of Blackwhip slid back to Izuku's side, the only remnants of the Hero Killer being broken, battered, crushed pieces of cloth and wood and metal.
"Is…is it over?" Tenya asked, his engines sputtering to a stop as he slid up next to Shoto, reaching out to help the other teen.
"I…I think so. I can't see its Quirk signature anymore," Izuku replied. He let out a grunt as he felt an impact, Himiko launching herself into his arms, Ochako a moment later. With a tired smile, he let his arms fall onto them, pulling them close. "I'm okay, girls. Are you okay?"
"Not a scratch!" Himiko proclaimed, a bitter smile on her face.
Ochako tried for a smile, but it was clearly not working as her expression fell once more. "I'm fine, Izuku."
"Shoto? Tenya?"
"I will be fine. I may have overused my fire, but I am only winded," Shoto replied softly.
"I'm well. What about the hero I originally found? Is he still here?" Tenya said, his head swirling around to look for him.
Izuku glanced around, flicking his Vision back on to look for a Quirk…there. "Over there. He's still alive. I guess the Hero Killer got distracted with us. I can take the night-"
"Don't you dare, Izuku," Ochako's voice was firm and unyielding. He turned to glare at his girlfriend, but the glare he was receiving in return was echoed by the other three teens with him. "Whatever you did before hurt you. Not again."
"I'm fine, 'Chako. I can handle it now, I know how it-"
"Nope. No excuses, no reasoning. Let the medical professionals deal with him. C'mon, we need to get out of here."
Izuku rolled his eyes as he slowly climbed to his feet. "Yes ma'am."
"Glad you know who wears the pants in this relationship," Ochako replied with a half-smirk.
"But you mostly wear skirts?" Shoto asked, tilting his head to the side.
"It is a common colloquialism referring to who is in 'charge' of the relationship," Tenya explained.
"Pants are the deciding factor?"
"No, it's merely a phrase."
"But why pants?" Shoto asked.
"We'll explain when you're older," Izuku said, for the second time.
"We're the same age!" Shoto protested, looking the most animated he had since the entire thing had started.
"Well, that's a bit disappointing," Slice remarked. She was sitting atop a skyscraper, one leg dangling off the edge, the other pulled up for her arm to rest upon as she looked down upon the chaos unfolding in the city.
"Oh I don't know, casualties are in the hundreds by now, and at least a few heroes got bumped off," Mummy replied calmly as he scrolled through his phone nonchalantly.
"We got what we wanted. They know we have more, they know we can appear wherever we want, and they know what they will suffer going forward. It's a taste of what is to come," Nine stated, arms folded behind his back as he stood next to Slice, looking down.
"Tch. Waste of our time if you ask me. Endeavor got the big one without much effort. Weak. Why hasn't the doctor made more of the ones like the one we used at the USJ?" Chimera growled, taking another draft from his cigar, the smoke vanishing into the rain.
"He's working on it, Chimera. It's fine. I may not like him much, but he does his job well. These are pawns regardless, nothing to worry about losing."
"Why do we even put up with him and Shigaraki anyways? You know he's using us, right?" Slice asked, arching an eyebrow at Nine.
"Of course. As we are using him, as he is well aware. It's a mutually beneficial relationship, but believe me, there is no trust."
"Aren't you worried about what he'll do when we're no longer useful?" Mummy asked.
"Oh I know what he'll try to do. He'll try to take our Quirks. The one thing I've realized about him is he is incapable of giving up on a good Quirk. He wants my Weather Manipulation, that I know for sure. However, I have plans for that. I am not concerned," Nine said softly, his eyes softly glowing in the darkness.
"And what about the special Nomu?" Slice asked.
"Oh, it should be just about time for the final fireworks to begin. I cannot wait to see how this goes…"
"Shit, do you see that?" Miruko said, pointing towards a massive gout of blue flame firing into the air in the distance.
"Yes. Pyre is behind us, and Endeavor was handling the larger Nomu, so that can only be Shoto," Aizawa said calmly as he swung to another building.
"The fuck makes him use that big a blast, and why into the air?" she asked.
"Good questions, and that worries me…but I'll take it as a good thing he's using his flame, because it means he's alive."
"What about birdbrain? Did he get there yet?"
"On his way supposedly. Even with how fast he moves, he was on the other side of the city."
Miruko swore under her breath. "Of course the fucking kids find the bloody Hero Killer! If any of them are dead I swear I'll fucking murder that bastard."
Aizawa didn't bother replying, his only focus was on reaching them as quickly as possible. Running every scenario through his mind, trying not to focus on the ones his fear and worry were creating, he could only pray that between all of them, they could escape somehow. The Hero Killer was known for killing one hero at a time, so maybe, just maybe, they could get out…maybe. Either way, they were in so much trouble the moment he found them!
Izuku's tired smile was not fake as he continued bickering with the ever-more confused Shoto, the two of them being supported by the other three as well as they could as they tried to get out of the alleyway. They reached the street, finally to safety, and Izuku took a single, happy breath as he saw Mirio approaching, Momo behind him from down the street. He raised his hand to call out to them, taking a step away from his girlfriends, when Danger Sense went off in his mind.
His exhausted state prevented him from responding much, the only thing he could do was roughly shove the others away as a pair of claws rammed into his shoulders, his body ripped from the ground and beginning to ascend into the air. The others screamed, Ochako quickly tapping herself and launching herself up towards him.
Izuku glanced up as he hissed in pain, seeing a winged Nomu carrying him off. With wide eyes, he tried to twist in its grip but found it was too solid, the talons piercing into his shoulders. With an annoyed grunt, he called upon Blackwhip once more, the tendrils whipping out and around the Nomu's wings, pinning them to its sides. The Nomu let out a screech, falling from the sky, its talons releasing Izuku as Ochako reached him and caught him before he fell further, holding him bridal style to his slight embarrassment.
"Nice catch," he breathed tiredly at his girlfriend.
She glared at him. "Can you stop being a magnet for trouble for thirty seconds?!"
"I didn't do anything, it grabbed me!" he protested, the duo lowering to the ground as Izuku kept the creature bound within Blackwhip, the Nomu squirming and squealing to escape.
"Trouble…Magnet…" she repeated as they landed, their friends surrounding him. She released him to stand on his own, letting him take a deep, bracing breath as he felt the pain in his shoulders, blood slowly oozing from it.
"Izuku! Are you alright?" Tenya asked hurriedly, the others surrounding him in concern.
"Oh my gods you're all so hurt!" Momo exclaimed, her hair falling into her eyes. With an annoyed flick, she shoved it out of the way, the water flowing from her hands as she quickly reached to her side, creating a large umbrella she quickly put over top of them all. Handing it off to Mirio, she began to reach for first aid supplies.
"What in the worlds happened?" Mirio demanded, hands on his hips as he stared down the five students before him, as well as the unconscious pro hero lying on the ground.
"It's a long story," Izuku said tiredly. He rubbed at his temples, feeling the pulsing of a headache continuing to press against it, especially with the emotions flooding around him right now. Worry, fear, relief, exhaustion, guilt, and…pain? Who was in pain? Something told him to turn around.
He shook his head to clear it, turning around to look at the bound Nomu. It had managed to twist slightly in its bindings, its creepy eyes locked onto Izuku. Almost as if by instinct, his Vision flickered on, letting him see the now familiar oozing mass of Quirk's within its chest…except one Quirk was…weirdly familiar.
He blinked rapidly. A red glow, slowly trailing back to its wings, the very wings that were glowing a bright, crimson red, even though the color of its skin was a sallow yellow. He heard his friends' voices, asking what he was doing, where he was going, but something was compelling him to look closer, to dig further into his memories. As if in a fog, he stepped closer to the creature. Why…why did he know this Quirk? It was red before he identified it was what gave him the wings.
Unbidden, something Nezu had mentioned before came to mind. He'd informed Izuku that Nomu appeared to be made from deceased bodies. Which would have a Quirk, right? A body still had its Quirk factor even after death. Wings…a wing Quirk he knew…
Izuku's entire body lit up with green energy, horror echoing within him as he saw it, knew it. His friends leapt back from him at the sudden surge, the tendrils of Blackwhip beginning to roil and ripple at his reaction. Emerald energy began to drip off his body, his hands, like the falling rain was, leaking from him in rivulets of green.
"Izu? Izuku, what's wrong?" Ochako asked gently, trying to get closer but finding the very air around the greenette almost crackling with electricity.
"...Tsubasa?" Izuku whispered, eyes wide and unseeing. As if the name itself was a trigger, the Nomu's struggles ceased, the eyes that were focused on him just…blinked. A sound came from it, a whimper, a plea if Izuku ever heard one. One talon, the only one visible beneath the wrappings of Blackwhip, began to move, to twist, and with a start, Izuku recognized it…sign language. Something he learned for Katsuki's sake, something Tsubasa had been learning too.
His command over Blackwhip recognized his next demand, releasing the two taloned hands enough that they could move. He watched as they fruitlessly began to spell out a name…his name.
"Tsubasa? I-Is that you?" he whispered again, Ochako and Himiko letting out gasps of horror. He heard them hurriedly whispering to the others to be silent, that they'd explain later, but it was all dismissed from his mind as he tried to reconcile this. And the hands continued to move.
'Was…Now…This…Run…Escape…Go…' they spelled, one letter by one letter.
"What…what happened to you?" Izuku asked, begging, stepping closer but halting as the hands spelled out 'stop.' The talon pointed at its chest.
'Can't…Control…Bomb…Here…Grandfather…Did…This. Go…Away…Bomb… Will…Go…Soon.'
His mind whirled, but the word bomb had him seeing it…in the morass of Quirks in its chest, a deep orange glow swirled, its color slowly turning from orange to red. He could see the bomb arming, beginning its own countdown. He could see it, feel it, and knew, he knew, it was dangerous, exceedingly so.
"We can stop it, Tsubasa! Just hold on! Maybe we can undo this! We just need-" But Izuku was cut off once more, able to see the talons moving as the orange glow shifted further to red.
'No…Time…Already…Dead…Hurts…Please…Stop…Hurt…Help…Please…' as the talons spelled those words, Izuku could see it in the eyes…desperation, pain, and worst of all, hope…hope that the pain would be over soon.
That was it. He'd been asked for help. He couldn't do anything but help. He couldn't fix this, couldn't undo it, not in time, not when he could see the bomb Quirk activating in front of him. He was racking his brain for answers, but he could feel the resignation from the Vestiges in his mind…they knew a lost cause when they saw it. He felt Yoichi's hand on his shoulder once more, an attempt at comfort, at solace, but nothing registered.
He felt numb, like everything within him had simply…vanished. He no longer felt the cold rain falling upon his skin, no longer felt the pain in his limbs or the ache in his chest, the pressure in his skull. No more anger, or sadness, or hope, it all was masked, faded, suppressed, held down by sheer willpower and the inability to process…but he knew what he had to do.
With but a thought, Gear Shift applied to the Nomu that was made from his old classmate's body. He rose from the ground, the Nomu rising him with, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned around, blank eyes staring into the brown eyes of Ochako, now floating off the ground behind him.
"Izuku, what are you doing?" she whispered to him, but even with the falling rain, with the explosions and cries of battle in the distance, everyone nearby heard her.
"There is a bomb in his chest. I have to take it up, away from the city," he replied, every ounce and trace of emotion drained from his voice.
"Izuku-" she began, but he cut her off.
"I will not be hurt. I can hold him up there, away from me. I can put up a barrier. But he can't stay down here. He can't. Ochako…please. I have to do this," the tiniest trace of emotion had filtered back in, his own desperation evident as he looked at her. She didn't break her gaze with him, but nodded slowly, her hand releasing his shoulder.
"Come back safely," she said quietly, slowly floating down to the ground once more. He nodded to her, to the others, even as Mirio went to protest Ochako just held up her hand to stop him. His thoughts once more empty, he rose into the air rapidly, as fast as he could go, seeing the red glow in Tsubasa's chest glowing brighter and brighter and brighter. Up, up, up above the city, into the crackling, cloudy, storming skies above. He felt the static electricity in the air, felt the rain pelting him as it came down, each droplet a charge in an ocean, each drop feeling like another admonishment for failure.
Once as high as he could go, he turned back to the Nomu before him. As gently as he could, he rotated the winged body upright, forming a disc beneath it and setting it upon it. He floated only a few meters away, keeping it contained with Blackwhip as he knew that Tsubasa did not have control over the body fully. He saw the talons spelling once more.
'You…Leave…'
He shook his head no, hating the rain, and hating it more that what water was on his face was not just the rain. "I'm not leaving you alone. I'm not. I'm staying here, okay? Right here. I'll be here."
'Not…Safe…'
In response, Izuku let a barrier blossom around him, a green glowing orb surrounding him, seeping from his hands. "I'm not leaving," he said firmly, though his voice cracked on the last word.
'I…Sorry…'
"Don't say that. Don't…don't apologize, okay?" Izuku bit his lip, seeing the red glow enhancing further, turning from red to white, a brilliant, blinding, painful beam of sheer brightness that hurt to look upon…but he refused to look away.
'Tell…Katsuki…Sorry…'
Izuku's face twisted for a moment. He struggled with the feelings within him. So many emotions, so much there, some of them not his he was certain…he hadn't been very close to Tsubasa, but he had known him his whole life, and he could feel it…the pain, the sheer unadulterated pain…but most of all that hope, that relaxed relief he expected. Mixing in with the despair, the hurt, the pain he felt in his own chest, the sheer guilt.
"I'll…yeah. I'll tell Kacchan whatever you want, okay?" Izuku tried to smile, an attempt at a reassuring smile like All Might would give whenever facing something terrible. The fear behind the smile, he said, except this time it wasn't fear, it was just…broken lives and broken memories.
'Thank…You…'
Izuku saw it, the white getting brighter and brighter. As if in slow motion, cracks began to streak out from the center of the Nomu's chest, a single shining line, a second, a third, ten, twenty, more and more and more, the eruption of power and pressure beginning. The light was blinding, burning, Izuku knew he should look away but he couldn't, he wouldn't. He had to witness, had to watch, had to know. Just in time to see the talons spell one last word.
'Goodbye…'
The Battle of Hosu, as it would come to be called in the future, was one of the worst acts of mass villainy in decades. Hundreds of civilians died in the chaos and fires, dozens of heroes were injured or slain. And though the Nomu were brought down, though the news would break that the Hero Killer was slain, it would all be eclipsed by one singular event. At 11:37 PM, as the broken corpse of a young man, taken before his time and twisted into a weapon, erupted in a blinding burst of light and force that echoed through the streets, shattering windows, cracking concrete, and disrupting a storm that did not belong.
At 11:37 PM, the citizens of Hosu bore witness to a second sunrise. And hidden within the explosion, a single young man's scream of anguish, of failure, of being unable to save someone echoed across the stormy night sky.
Well there it is, the second half of the Battle of Hosu! I've been waiting for this since it helps set up further plot going forward. Next chapter: the aftermath. Izuku has something he has to tell Katsuki...and he can't hand this responsibility off to anyone else.