Chapter 26

With the advantage of surprise lost and Izuku discovering the maintenance shafts, they advanced much faster. But soon enough, they were forced to separate again and only Melissa, Izuku, Uraraka and her continued on the way up.

Then Melissa explained her plan for them to reach the top using Uraraka's quirk.

It was brilliant, of course.

Melissa and her both grabbed onto Izuku and Uraraka used her power on them. But just when they had almost reached the shaft, security bots found them. Or more precisely, they found Uraraka.

"Release the quirk and flee!" shouted Melissa.

"No way, we won't reach the top ever if I do that!" opposed Uraraka getting into a fighting stance.

But before the robots were even close to reaching her, a wall of ice sprung up between them.

Todoroki, Kirishima and Bakugo had reached them.

With their help, the three teens managed to reach the top of the tower only to be immediately attacked by a villain.

Yumi noticed it almost too late and the blade sliced the flesh of her arm before she managed to roll away from the man. He then turned his attention to Izuku and almost threw him off the tower, but Melissa launched herself at him fearlessly.

When the villain threw her off him and Yumi saw her cousin's blood, she saw red.

For the first time in years, she wished she had a more physical quirk so she could return the hit. Instead, all she could do was deliver a kick to his leg that made him lose balance and almost threw him to the floor.

In the last moment, though, the villain grabbed onto her shoulders and stamped her against the wall. Yumi felt a couple of her ribs crack and the back of her head start to bleed.

But he'd made a mistake, for he was now looking straight into her eyes. She smirked at him at the same time as his eyes widened and he froze. Almost as if they had rehearsed it, Izuku's fist collided with the side of his head and pushed him off her.

As Izuku helped Melissa up and bandaged the small wound she'd acquired, Yumi pushed away from the wall and coughed a little, wincing when it brought pain to her chest.

"Are you okay?" asked Izuku.

Yumi nodded, not trusting herself to speak yet.

With Izuku going ahead and clearing the way for them, the teens advanced.

And then they saw the last person they'd thought would be there: Uncle David.

Their theory of him being just one more hostage was thrown out the window with the man's next words.

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"Dad?"

Yumi remained behind the door. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, but the pain in her chest told her that it was very much real.

"What do you mean Sam paid them? Don't tell me this hostage situation was orchestrated by you. You did it to get that device? Why won't you answer me, dad?"

Melissa's voice sounded somehow far away and Yumi could barely hear what she was saying. The pain in her chest was growing and her legs were shaking, the wall being the only thing keeping her upright.

Shaking her head to clear it of the confusion starting to creep in, she took a deep breath and focused on what was going on in the room, but she didn't step in.

To hear that her uncle who she admired was doing something like this for her father… so that he could continue being the hero he used to be…

She had thought it couldn't hurt anymore, but it hurt, oh, it hurt so much.

"They risked their lives! They risked their lives to save the hostages!" replied Melissa, her voice sharp as a whip. "Yumi got hurt defending me! Deku and his classmates suffered a lot just so we could get here!"

"But I don't get it, the villains are only actors. They were only acting…"

"Of course we were acting, but only as villains softer than we really are." Replied another unknown voice.

She heard a metallic clang and Melissa's voice ring out.

"Deku!"

With a deep breath, Yumi pushed off the wall and crept closer to the door as she heard Sam give his reasons for betraying her uncle.

The fact that the man had really thought everything was an act didn't suddenly make it all better, but it did assuage her fears enough that she felt like she could move again.

She saw the villain shoot Sam in cold blood and then her uncle get in the way of the second shot. Before Melissa could run to him, though, Yumi walked in.

She did it casually, hands crossed behind her head like she'd seen Hawks do multiple times.

The villain turned his gun to her, but to point at her he had to look at her.

She didn't smile this time as she activated her quirk.

And the villain froze again.

His two sidekicks were confused, but Izuku freeing himself distracted them and he soon had them both unconscious on the floor. Melissa run to her father.

"I'm sorry, Melissa, I'm so sorry…"

"Melissa," called Yumi hating to interrupt them. "we need to restore the system."

The blonde girl nodded, showing that she understood and slipped out the door in seconds.

"Yumi…"

But Yumi pressed her lips together and ignored the man she called uncle.

"Deku, help me tie them up."

Izuku nodded and they set to work, tying the three villains up and then turning to the remaining two men to see if he could do anything to staunch the bleeding of their wounds.

Just as she was ready to slump over in tiredness, Eijiro, Shoto and Katsuki caught up to them.

"Oh, good, you're here." She whispered. "Mind giving me a hand, Shoto?"

The teen silently slid her arm over his shoulder and helped her walk towards the professor.

"Yumi, I'm sorry…"

"I don't want to hear it, not right now." She said. "Now stay put. Shoto, if you please…"

"Are you sure? Yumi, you seem…"

"I'm sure."

The boy looked her in the eyes searchingly and then nodded. He brought his left hand to hers and a flame engulfed them, turning blue and pleasantly warm. She directed her hand to David's shoulder and felt the draw on her life force.

It was stronger than she expected, probably because she was tired already.

Soon enough, the wound closed without a trace and she slumped in Shoto's hold.

"Yumi-hime?"

"I'm… fine…" she forced the words out, between her clenched teeth.

"Do you think you can heal Sam too?" asked Izuku from where he was pressing the man's jacket to his arm.

"Is it something he'll die from?"

"No…"

"Then leave it."

Izuku gulped but nodded nonetheless. He could see how tired she was and it made her look small as he'd never seen her, especially wrapped in Todoroki's arms as she was.

"You know, Shoto-kun, you smell pretty nice…" her voice sounded slurred to her own ears. "And you have such a nice smile… you should smile more often."

"Yumi!"

And then darkness.

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When she woke up next, she was still in Shoto's arms. The boy seemed relieved to see her eyes open.

"Yumi!" exclaimed Melissa throwing herself at her.

Or at least she thought that blonde blob was Melissa, but she couldn't be sure because her eyes had trouble focusing.

"Ow." Complained the girl.

"Sorry, sorry."

"It's fine. What happened?"

"Dad says you have a concussion. You fainted a few minutes ago." Explained Melissa.

"Oh. What about the villains?"

"Everything is under control. The Pro Heroes arrived soon after you fell unconscious." Replied quietly Shoto and she looked at him to find him looking anywhere but at her.

Was that a faint blush on his cheeks? No, it must be the concussion. She had hit her head pretty hard on the wall.

She looked around carefully and saw All Might a few meters away, talking with some Pros and throwing concerned looks her way every once in a while.

She knew the only reason he was not glued to her side was that it would reveal her identity as his daughter instead of his student.

"It's over then?"

"It's over."

"Good."

And she laid back on Shoto's chest.

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A hero with a healing quirk took care of her broken ribs and her concussion soon enough and she was able to be with her classmates when they gave their versions of what happened to the authorities.

Sam corroborated Uncle Dave's version and the latter was cleared of all charges, though he'd be watched for a while.

She ended up patching up the relationship with him too, eventually. Well, after a few days of giving him the cold shoulder, more like.

The quirk-enhancing device had been destroyed too. There was no risk of a villain getting their hands on it. David had protested, but when her father explained to him why he couldn't even use it, he understood.

Melissa and Yumi had their girls' day and they enjoyed the rest of the week in leisure with their friends.

But when they were getting ready to leave the island, All Might received a call. He seemed more grave than usual as he spoke on the phone.

"Are you sure? Yes, I understand. Thank you for the information, officer."

"What is it?"

"The villain you captured, the one that led the attack…"

"Yes?"

"He escaped on the way to Tartarus."

"What? How?"

"Apparently he had multiple quirks."

The three of them knew what that meant.