His first stop was the conflagration zone.
He crashed hard and fast through the outer concrete dome, the oppressive heat of raging fires momentarily stuttering his breath before he was darting through the streets. Any villain he met was quickly driven into unconsciousness with a metal covered fist.
He was pleased to see some of the streets already had unconscious villains collapsed on the ground. Letting Izuku know that not only were his classmates alive, they were fighting back.
It didn't take him long to find Ojiro, bursting from a smoke filled building to crush an unsuspecting villain into the asphalt with his tail before taking off down the street, a trio of villains hot on his trail.
None expected Izuku to blitz from the alley and clothesline the lead villain, bodily throwing the unfortunate man across the street and into the wall, cracking it with the force of the hit.
"Wait-" The next villain tried to surrender, but Izuku's fist had already buried itself deep into his stomach. Sending him rocketing down the open avenue, snuffing a few fires with the overpressure that followed.
The final villain was taken out by Ojrio, who capitalized on her stunned horror to perform a flying roundhouse that had her unconscious before she hit the ground.
"Nice hit." izuku praised.
"Thanks." Ojiro huffed, evening out his breath as he looked around, "take it you took the rest out?"
Izuku nodded, "make your way to the front steps, watch out for the center atrium; the big dogs are there and I don't need you getting bit."
"Aye, aye, captain." Ojiro said, smiling apologetically when Izuku grumbled a bit. "Hagakure made me promise I'd do it."
"Of course she did," he sighed, shaking his head, "stay safe." he ordered, then exploded back into the sky, breaking through the dome and scanning the few zones he could see.
"Looks like Bakugo's got the ruins zone covered," he muttered, noting Todoroki's complete cover of the landslide zone, "and Todoroki got the landslide zone." he hummed as he heard a loud explosion come from the downpour. quickly blitzed down through the dome, the dry heat of the conflagration zone being driven away by the cold chill of the never ending rain soaking through his uniform. He once again launched himself through the streets. Repeating what he had done before until he came to a sliding stop in front of Tokoyami and Koji Koda. "You two alright?" he asked.
"Indeed." Tokoyami murmured as dark shadow hid under his cloak at the bright flash of Izuku's static, Koji nodding furiously alongside him, "they posed no serious threat, though I thank you for lightening our load."
Izuku nodded, pushing his now sodden hair out of his face, "I saw fighting in the mountain zone, can you two make your way back to the stairs?"
Tokoyami nodded, "be swift in helping our friends Midoriya." he droned, "and good luck."
Izuku grinned, "we don't need luck Tokoyami," he reassured as the plasma began to furiously arc off of him. With a slight grunt he was airborne once more, his eyes immediately locking in on the mountain zone, "don't worry guys, I'm on my way.'
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Hagakure sighed in relief as she finally walked around the last iced over villian, "hey!" Hagakure yelled at Todoroki, who jumped a bit in surprise. Whirling around to look about in confusion.
"You almost froze me, you jerk!" Hagakure said as she jogged up to him, "but good job on the villains! They couldn't even do anything!"
"Oh…sorry, I didn't even know you were here." he said, blinking a bit in confusion. "You should stay hidden, there's no telling how many other villains are further down the rockslide."
"Like I'm gonna risk getting frozen." Hagakure deadpanned, looking up to the sky as she heard concrete and steel streaked over them, heading straight for the mountain zone. "Looks like the president's doing what he does best." She said cheerfully.
Todoroki watched for a few moments, "he reminds me a bit of All-Might." Todoroki admitted.
"Right? He's super strong!" Hagakure cheered, yelping when an ice wall suddenly sprang up, cracking under the attacks of multiple villains, "looks like you were right about more villains." she squeaked, skipping behind him as he stomped his foot to encase more villains in ice.
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Izuku was going to ignore the central plaza, he had promised.
But as he punted an electric user away from a brain dead Kaminari, he couldn't help but wonder if he should check on Sensei.
"Good reflex's Midoriya." Momo praised him as their class president checked over Kaminari for a few seconds before turning to them, "if you hadn't arrived when you did, we may have lost Kaminari."
"He really got the drop on us." Jirou agreed, "good job class prez."
"Just making sure we're all safe." izuku told them, his eyes drifting to the center once more, "get to the entrance, I'm going to fly over the plaza, see how Aizawa's doing."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Momo asked.
"Worst case scenario, i Blitz in and scoop Aizawa up and get out before the villains catch wise." he said, "keep an eye on Kaminari." and with that, IZuku was in the air once more, eyes scanning the plaza. A satisfied gleam shining as he saw the majority of the grunts out cold on the ground.
That gleam disappeared as he heard a loud Crack! And the pained screaming of his teacher.
He didn't hesitate. As soon as he zeroed in on the perpetrator-the large, beaked man who had his teacher pinned-he kicked out and launched himself right at the thing, his metal covered fist colliding with the things brain with a satisfying BOOM! Of released power.
The thing barely staggered, letting AIzawa go solely to look about in confusion.
His punch hadn't harmed it, it had barely distracted it. But distract it he had, and with a back flip he was back on the ground and dashing forward, Aizawa in his arms and they were by the stairs before any of the remaining villains could react.
"M-Midoriya-" Aizawa groaned, both arms hanging at his side, one cracked and bleeding at the elbow, the other crushed, "where did-"
"The warp villain separated us at the entrance." Midoriya explained, his eyes watching the blue haired villain as he walked forward, the single red eye peering past the hand-mask he wore glaring at him.
"Well, aren't you a prodigy?" he sneered, "you ruined my fun."
"You got a sick definition of fun." Izuku bit back.
"Oh don't get high and mighty with me, that hit you gave Nomu would've killed any other villain; I guess the only approved violence is state sponsored."
Izuku scoffed as he glanced between the two villains, the beaked monster-Nomu-was staring blankly at him, having not moved since it had recovered from his attack, while his obvious leader didn't seem to concerned with the behemoth's state, "I doubt that low level hit would've done much past a concussion. Your friend there's much tougher than that love tap."
Before the villain could retort, a shadowy mass appeared beside him, sharp yellow eyes appearing from their depths.
"Tomura shigaraki."
"Kurogiri, you're supposed to be watching the entrance, and you missed a child." the man rasped, glaring once more at Izuku, before turning that glare back to Kurogiri, "I told you to scatter them."
"I was able to scatter a good few; many more were faster than I anticipated. Still I was able to incapacitate Thirteen before the children…were able to distract me long enough to get a speedster out, he's most likely almost to the main campus by now."
The man started breathing heavily, scratching violently at his neck, "Kurogiri…" he snarled out, "if you weren't our way out of here, I would turn you to ash!" with a final growl he stopped scratching, his arms falling limply at his side, "we're leaving. We can't handle the entirety of UA's staff."
"That fast?" Izuku muttered under his breath, tensing as the man slowly turned away, as if to walk away from the situation, his initial plans seemingly forgotten in the face of a rapid response from UA, no, that was too easy.
"But first."
Izuku grimaced as his fears were proven right.
"Let's break the Symbol of Peace's spirit, Nomu, kill that brat and his teacher."
Izuku was already in the air before the Nomu had moved, Aizawa clutched tightly in his arms as he moved. And even then the Nomu had barely missed him by a few inches. "Shit." Izuku cursed as he punched out, launching himself to the side and once more out of Nomu's second blitz. The displaced air actually sent him and Aizawa tumbling through the sky as the Nomu overshot and slammed into the roof. Izuku hit the ground and immediately pivoted and jumped towards the flood zone. Once again missing the Nomu by a heartbeat. The ground caving in and cratering under the monster's massive strength.
Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku saw Tsu and Mineta cowering in the shallows, "Tsu catch!" Izuku ordered, throwing Aizawa towards the startled girl before turning back around, barely able to spin around in time to catch Nomu's punch on his guard.
And all he knew was pain.
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Hagakure could feel the tremors from the bottom of the landslide zone, Todoroki had made short work of the remaining villains and had even found out the villains plot-did they seriously think they could defeat All-Might?-and had made it plain that he was going to the center to help stop the villains. What else could she do but follow?
But the closer they got, the more they heard the familiar sounds of powerful attacks being thrown about and the more Hagakure worried for her friends. Had Izuku saved everyone? Was All-Might here and taking care of the villain's supposed big gun? Maybe they'd reach the atrium and the battle would be over!
But Hagakure was disappointed as they finally reached the cracked atrium filled with unconscious villains and found Izuku jumping away from the giant beaked villain with Aizawa in his arms. He was barely able to keep himself out of range of the powerful attacks, "Tsu! Catch!" he shouted, throwing Aizawa towards the other girl who was likewise watching the scene in horror on the other side of the courtyard.
And then Hagakure screamed as she watched Izuku take a direct hit from the monster, sending him crashing through the cruise ship in the flood zone.
"You bastard!" Todoroki roared, stomping his foot and sending a giant iceberg crashing into Nomu.
Hagakure didn't really pay attention as she sprinted across the battlefield, her presence going mostly unnoticed as she reached the shores of the flood zone, staring in despair as the ship began to slowly sink.
The cracking of ice nearby had her flinching away as the Nomu freed itself, roaring into the sky as it whirled towards Todoroki, who wasted no time sending another massive Iceberg at the monster, this one shattering much faster as the Nomu lunged for the boy, who dove to the side, coming up to send spike stabbing into the thing as it screeched in anger.
"More children," Shigaraki chuckled, "oh the kids today…Kill them all Nomu."
A biting backhand broke through the spikes and crashed into Todoroki's side, sending him flying back into the ruins of the landslide zone.
Then it slowly turned its attention to Tsu, trying desperately to drag their injured and half-conscious teacher away.
"No." Hagakure whispered, taking a few unsteady steps towards her friends as Nomu roared once more and leapt, "NO!" she screamed, throwing her hands out as a blinding pain split through her head.
Nomu hit an invisible wall, only feet away from turning her classmates into a smear stain on the concrete, she felt blood gushing out of her nose and through narrowed eyes she watched Nomu stumble back in confusion. Hagakure looked down, surprised for the first time in her life to actually see her arms, pale and twitching with the pain that pulsed in her head, but there. She looked up as she realized what she'd just done, and what she'd have to do to protect her classmates.
"Hagakure?" Tsu gasped as she stumbled to stand in front of the froggy girl., hands falling as she took deep breaths, her eyes staring at the Nomu as it took a few steps back and lunged again; with another scream Hagakure latched on to the memory of the pain and threw her hands up again, and once again the Nomu slammed into an invisible wall, the reverb vibrating back into Hagakure as the pain in her head increased, her hands began to shake as the Nomu slammed it's fists over and over into the intangible obstacle. Each one creating spots in Hagakure's vision, driving her closer and closer to unconsciousness.
With a final scream Hagakure felt the barrier shatter and she fell back into the waiting arms of Tsu as Mineta pulled a ball off his head, ready to throw it as the Nomu lumbered over them, breathing heavily after its onslaught.
And the last thing Hagakure saw before the darkness claimed her, was the flood zone erupting.
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Izuku knew the Nomu was dangerous, he just didn't realize how dangerous until he'd taken a clean hit.
He honestly couldn't tell you how long he'd been unconscious, or even if he was fully awake now as he sank deeper into the flood zone, dim light twinkling above him, dull pain throbbing throughout his body, no beginning and no end to it.
Was this how he died again? Killed trying to save his classmates against villains he had no right going against? Killed before he truly had his second chance?
His mother would be so disappointed…and All Might…he'd let All Might down…
He felt his eyes close..
Is this how my descendants deal with defeat? By wallowing in despair?
Izuku slowly opened his eyes, the dull, shimmering light seeming to get brighter.
Your classmates are fighting for their lives against an enemy only you can defeat; and yet instead of helping them, you're allowing yourself to drown. What a disgrace.
Something sparked within his chest, a different yet oh so familiar burning that seemed to drive the pain from his body, his eyes sharpened. He could feel his hands curling into fists.
You're the Iron Dragon of Mustafu, remind the world just what that means. Now.
With a large exhale of bubbles Izuku kicked off the concrete bottom of the flood zone. Blasting out of the water in a geyser, he forced himself to take several deep breaths as soon as his head broke free, the burn in his chest growing hotter with each intake of oxygen. But he swallowed it down as He heard the Nomu roar and acted on instinct; launching himself out of the air straight for the beast, forcing the power higher and higher, his fist connected with the beasts beak with a resounding CRACK! As his arm shattered along with his gauntlet, the hit managed to turn it's head and send it staggering back further than his first hit had. Izuku leapt back, landing beside Tsu and a girl he'd never seen before,fading in and out of existence, with pale skin and iridescent hair that matched the jumpsuit she wore; only the yellow gloves and plain sneakers gave away her identity.
"Get Hagakure and Aizawa out of here." Izuku said, not looking at her as the Nomu stomped its feet in frustration, now wary of the boy it had thought it killed. Izuku spied a familiar head of multicolored hair behind it, "and get Todoroki out if you can. If you can't, don't worry. Just focus on staying alive."
"But Midoriya-" Tsu tried to start, only to stop as Izuku shot forward, his broken fist connecting with the Nomu's as it tried to attack, the overpressure almost sending both Tsu and Mineta into the water once more.
"Go!" Izuku ordered, fist shaking as he held Nomu at bay, "That's an order damn it!" with a roar he ducked out of the Nomu's retaliatory strike, his fists a blur as he landed five rapid blows into the Nomu's chest, his other gauntlet and fist shattering as he rolled away from the furious swipes of the nomu's large paws, he reappeared above and behind the Nomu, "Machine-gun BLOW!" he snarled, his fists pistoning forward in a devastating series of blows against the things head, causing it to shriek in pain for the first time as it blindly swiped at him, causing him to backflip away, his eyes widened a bit as a familiar coldness overtook him and he found himself directly in front of the Nomu, forced to dive under it's fists and slide through its legs, only for another portal to open and drop him a few meters above the Nomu, but Izuku kicked and launched himself away, hand coming up towards Kurogiri and with a finger flick a devastating blast of concussive force slammed into the villain, he could hear the boss cry out after his supposed escape route, but Izuku was too busy bobbing and weaving between the Nomu's attacks, lashing out when he could and rolling out of it's barrages when he couldn't.
But he was injured, and he was beginning to lag. He needed to do something to end this and fast.
He couldn't muster up more strength, the breaks and fractures he'd suffered in the course of the fight were limiting his strengths, he needed support, he needed another way to attack-
-his thoughts were interrupted as a familiar head of red hair slid in between him and Nomu, "Don't worry Midoriya! I-" Kirishima started, hardening in time to take a direct hit from Nomu, sending him flying back into the stairs with a sickening crunch.
"Kirishima!" Izuku cried out after his classmate, his moment of distraction costing him as Nomu hit him with a back hand, rocketing him into the side of the mountain zone.
Shigaraki laughed uncontrollably as Bakugo appeared, unleashing an explosive barrage against the Nomu, his nimble speed allowing him some respite against the blistering attacks. But each one was a hair's breadth away from connecting, "what a beautiful consolation prize!" he cackled.
Up in the mountain zone, Izuku slowly peeled away from the rock face, collapsing against the shelf of rock a few inches away from a sheer drop, he was spent, both of his arms were shattered lumps, and his legs were creaking and groaning as he forced himself to his knees,
But the burn was still there. And it had gotten hotter, searing the back of his throat as he watched Bakugo do all he could to simply stay alive against the Nomu. he clenched his fists, his lip curling as he felt something niggling at the back of his mind.
"Damn it." he bit out, forcing himself to his feet and swallowing the burn, "who gives a shit how injured you are, people need your help." he chastised himself, "if my arms are useless then i'll use my legs! If they break i'll use my fucking head!" static was building now, the burning was at the back of his throat and with a roar he launched himself from the mountain just as Bakugo blasted himself away from the Nomu, he hit the things chest like a speeding bullet, the power exploding off of his legs driving the Nomu back as Izuku backflipped, landing in a crouch and immediately blitzing the Nomu, jumping up to perform an axle kick that knocked the Nomu's fist down as Bakugo came rocketing in once more, pulling the pin on his grenade, "X-CANNON!" he spat as the explosion tore through the Nomu, managing to rip an arm off as both Bakugo and Izuku charged.
Bakugo was barely able to divert course as Shigaraki was suddenly there, his hand brushing one of his gauntlets as he spun away, the metal corroding and crashing to the ground alongside a splash of his stored up sweat. "Let's not get in the way of the little wannabe living out his dream." Shigaraki sneered.
"Drop dead." bakugo retorted, his hand igniting the puddle of sweat between them and causing a violent explosion that had both leaping back.
Meanwhile Izuku was mostly dodging Nomu's attack, frustrated that he'd let his anger cost him both arms in his opening attacks. He'd turned himself into a liability. And in any other circumstance Bakugo's attack removing an arm from the Nomu would've been a godsend, but the wound had not only healed, but the arm had regrown with Nomu none the worse for wear.
"God damn it!" he roared as he met Nomu's punch with a kick, the force sending both skidding back, izuku winced as he felt his leg finally give in. Nomu roared, smelling his blood in the water and rushed towards him for the kill.
And Izuku felt rage, rage at himself, at Nomu, at the situation in its entirety, at the fact that Kirishima might possibly be dead alongside Todoroki. All of it added to the burn that began to once again climb up his throat like bile, "that's it, you want somethin', come get it!" Izuku hissed. Forcing himself to plant his full weight on his broken leg as he took a deep breath.
And roared.