'Damn it, Iida!' Izuku growled with effort as he launched himself off a rooftop. The drop to the street below barely registered as he streaked above it, an arc of crackling green against the evening sky. 'Of all the times to go rogue, you do it during a crisis? REALLY?'

Izuku desperately scanned the roads below as he leapt between buildings. As he flashed between the rooftops, he took special care to inspect alleyways that fit Stain's usual hunting grounds. He hoped that the league's presence, and Stain's possible association with them, didn't completely invalidate what little information he had. Leaping another street, Izuku nearly missed the flash of people as he passed. He only stopped when he heard the sound of voices calling for help, just barely audible over the distant din of combat and wailing sirens.

To his shame, he hesitated for a second. While he wasn't a pro and thus not normally qualified to help, he'd already gotten the HeroNet update that Disaster Protocols were in effect. Technically, he was authorized to use his Quirk to help himself and others evacuate. At the same time, he needed to find Iida, hopefully before his wayward friend found the Hero Killer or a Nomu.

As Izuku wavered, his vision flicked to the building behind the crowd and assessed its condition. A large hole had been smashed through the front, the damage making the structure above it sag. As his eyes trailed upward, Izuku saw that a swath of the roof seemed to be missing. Decision easily made, Izuku leapt from his perch. While Iida was certainly something to worry about, there was also no guarantee he was in trouble. His friend could have been similarly waylaid by disaster relief, or could still be wandering the city looking to fulfill his vendetta. There was no guarantee he'd succeed in his hunt for a serial killer that even the police hadn't been able to properly track despite months of effort. Here, however, Izuku was certain that the danger was very much immediate. The building didn't look like it would last much longer, and he couldn't live with himself if he just ignored these people to chase his anxious hunch.

Izuku's first leap ended as he slammed feet first into a wall. He sank into a deep crouch, then immediately kicked off into a low arc that took him safely to the ground. Shards of broken brick and concrete ground under his boots as he skidded to a stop in front of the surprisingly well dressed group, though he found many were speckled with grime and bits of debris. At their front, a younger man in a suit rushed forward to meet Izuku, concern clear on his face.

"Some kind of hulking black monstrosity smashed through the building earlier, and it's falling apart!" The man shouted before Izuku could even speak. "We took a head count, and we think the Soras, the Aikawas, and Doctor Kinenkō might still be inside. Please, you need to get them out!"

Izuku nodded, relieved at their initiative. "Description, floors, and apartment numbers?"

"Kinenkō's an older man in apartment 1, ground floor on the far left. The Soras are an elderly couple in apartment 8 on the 3rd floor, in the middle. The Aikawas are a mother and daughter in apartment 13 on the top floor. Please, hurry, part of the upper floors gave out a few minutes ago and I don't know how much longer it'll stay st-"

Izuku didn't hear the last of the man's words, already gone in a streak of green energy. He dashed through the front doorway and found himself in a main foyer that would have looked like the peak of upscale luxury if it wasn't half collapsed and covered in dust. The groan of the building echoed ominously, which spurred him towards the stairs. 'The upper floors are likely the most dangerous. Hopefully the bottom floor retains its integrity, it's supposed to be the safest in a collapse scenario.'

As he leaped from landing to landing, Izuku nearly bowled over an elderly couple struggling to make their way down from the 3rd floor. A white haired man who looked to be in his 90s weakley leaned on an equally old woman, their skin wrinkled and glistening with sweat. "Are you the Soras?" Izuku asked, quickly checking them over. The man seemed to be favoring his right leg and had a bruise on the side of his head, but otherwise both looked ok.

"Yes!" Mrs. Sora gasped, relief all but shining from her eyes. "He fell when the building started shaking! We've been trying to get down the stairs as fast as we can, but with his leg and my knees… OH!"

Carefully taking Mr. Sora's weight, Izuku hefted him over his shoulder so the injured leg hung out of harm's way, then did the same with Mrs. Sora. "Sorry, we have to move fast! I'll be as gentle as I can."

Gentleness would have to be something he worked on, from the groans his passengers made during his descent. Hopefully some discomfort would be acceptable in the face of surviving the ordeal. He quickly deposited them among their neighbors, then returned to the stairs and resumed his frantic ascent. Opening the doorway to the 5th floor, Izuku rushed out and spun towards the left side of the building before he screeched to a dead stop. From the front, the building hadn't looked anywhere near as bad as it did from his new perspective. Viewed from within, the back of the building seemed to have just… fallen away. Through a collapsed wall, Izuku could see the remains of a once lavish apartment that came to an abrupt end as the floor gave way to complete ruin.

"Hello? Is anyone there? I'm here to get you out!"

Izuku waited, hardly breathing as he strained to hear anything. Had they fallen in the collapse? Were they buried somewhere beneath him? How would he find them if they were? Shigaraki had crashed the USJ disaster training, so most of his rescue knowledge was purely theoretical. How should he-

"We're down here!" A voice called from below him. Izuku scrambled to the edge with as much care as he could afford and hung his head over the lip. He swept his gaze the barely-there room one floor down, frantic eyes taking in the ruins below. There he saw a tall woman and a little girl with skin he could barely tell was blue beneath the layer of dust and debris that covered them. They were both crammed onto a small island of flooring in the corner of the former room, barely enough space for them to stand pressed to the wall. Izuku's eyes focused on the little girl pressed tightly into the corner. Tear tracks cut through the grime on her terrified face.

"Don't worry. I'll get you out of here." Izuku called, voice sounding far more confident than he felt. "Just hang tight, I'll figure something out."

A relieved sob broke from the child, an emotion he could see reflected in her mother as the woman almost sagged at the sight of someone, anyone, arriving to help. He was still looking into their eyes, a hopefully reassuring smile plastered on his face while he desperately planned a rescue, when the boards under them finally gave way. The world seemed to slow as they dropped, their startled screams a knife through his soul.

Izuku didn't hesitate. He flipped himself around to plant his feet at the edge of his platform, kicked off with all his strength, and hurtled downward after the falling family. He slammed into them, wrapped both in his arms, and spun to aim his feet towards the ground. The ground which was approaching fast. Extremely fast. Too fast for Full Cowling to fully absorb the impact, much less to protect the people in his arms. 'Crap Crap CRAP! What should I do? What should I-'

Just before Izuku struck, he flared One for All for just a moment and let the power surge up to around 7%. The rush of pure power made his entire body tingle, but brought with it a stinging wave of pain. Fortunately, it was just barely enough. His feet crashed into the rubble beneath, sinking nearly to the knees amidst the grinding crack of breaking masonry. Within, he felt the familiar twinge of muscles strained and bones a hair's breadth from being snapped under the pressure. Even so, he'd managed to absorb the impact, having brought the people in his harms to a safe, if likely bruising, stop.

With a grimace, Izuku released Full Cowling, the growing agony receding in favor of the garden variety pain of having pushed his body to the brink yet again. A quick mental inventory of his limbs informed him that the landing had probably dislocated something in his feet, along with a serious ach in his shoulder from catching the mother. Both injuries seemed to be from the impact of landing, rather than his use of increased power for the short time he'd channeled it.

'Ok, good to know. I can handle a brief jump to higher percentages.' Izuku thought absently as he wincingly set his passengers down, all three of them shaking from the adrenaline rush. 'Hell of a way to find out. Better than blowing up my limbs though, so I'd call it a win.'

"Both of you, head outside. I still need to find-" At the bottom of the pile of rubble they stood atop, something moved, and Izuku's eyes snapped to it. For a moment, as he locked gazes with gold-ringed brown eyes set in an old face, Izuku thought things might have taken a turn for the better. Then, his eyes traveled downwards to the bloody hands pulled tight to the man's chest, and below them, to his torso.

What was left of it, at least.

His hips and everything below them disappeared underneath a slab of concrete. A spray of blood fanned out from the puddle around it, crimson illuminated by the dying light outside. The rough material had visible tracks of blood scrabbled across the surface, grim evidence of his failed attempts to escape.

'Oh…' Izuku swallowed down the acid taste of bile as he pulled his legs free. 'Oh no.' He gingerly clambered down the rubble and further into the building. The scent of blood grew heavy in the air as he got closer. With a poorly controlled stumble, he came to a stop next to the man. He knelt at his side and looked over him again in the desperate hope that it wouldn't look as bad up close.

It looked worse, if anything. How the man was still alive was nothing short of a miracle, unless he had some kind of survival Quirk. Going by the glittering flecks of gold that swirled in the blood, Izuku suspected it was the latter.

"H-Hello, sir. Are you D-Doctor Kinenkō?" Izuku forced out. He desperately sifted through his memory of first aid and rescue training, hoping there was something he could do for the man. When the man nodded, Izuku continued, trying to project some degree of confidence through the swirling panic and horror as he pulled out his phone. "I'm Deku. I'll call for an ambulance, and they'll get you taken c-care of. Don't worry. E-everything will-"

Izuku's words came to an abrupt stop as a bloody hand fell on his shoulder, lifted from what Izuku could now see was a shard of wood lodged in his lower right side. "Deku." Kinenkō grit out, voice ragged with an underlying bubbling sound Izuku distantly recognized as very bad . "Kid, I'm a surgeon. I know when someone is beyond saving. As a hero, even a new one, you should too."

The words struck Izuku like a hammerblow. He knew the realities of heroics, but casualties had always been something abstract, to varying degrees. Casualty reports on TV, lectures from Mr. Aizawa, the grim look in the teacher's eyes when they returned from a particularly nasty confrontation with a villain. But coming face to face with someone he couldn't save… it didn't feel real, somehow. Like if he just looked at it from another angle the obvious facts of the situation would change. "I… I'll lift the slab. Maybe it's not as bad as you think, and I can get you to a medical team?"

Kinenkō rolled his eyes. "Kid, if my legs are even attached anymore, I'll eat-" the old man's eyes flew wide, and he unleashed a violent cough. In a flash of red, Izuku felt something wet splatter across his face, a salty-metallic tang on his tongue. Spluttering, he lurched backwards as he wiped at his face, hands coming back smeared with red and gold.

'Oh… oh hell, it's in… don't throw up. Don't.'

"Sorry." Kinenkō grimaced as he turned his head to spit bloody phlegm to the side. "I told you, I'm done for. Can't get out of this. I'd die even if I did. That damn thing keeping pressure on the mess is the only reason Boon can keep up." Kinenkō stopped for a moment, recovered his breath, then continued. "You hurt yourself in that landing, I saw it on your face. My Quirk lets me give others a vitality boost that helps the body survive and heal. Let me use it on you, so you can go help the people who still can be saved."

Part of Izuku's scattered mind was deeply curious about the specifics of that Quirk, but even that was drowned out by the waves of horror, frustration, and despair, uselessness. 'Get it together Izuku. You knew you'd face this some day. Just because it came so much sooner than expected doesn't mean you can let it stop you. You still need to find Iida.'

Sucking in a breath, Izuku forced himself to focus, taking the overwhelming tide of emotions and cramming them down. He'd face it all later. For now, he needed to be as close to a hero as he could be. A sharp groan of tortured architecture made Izuku tense. He glanced up, and Izuku saw the dust drifting down. He looked back down and nodded sharply, resigned and resolved at once. "It was an honor to meet you, Kinenkō. I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you."

The ghost of a smile flickered across the old man's face, and he reached up to press a bloodied finger against Izuku's forehead. He felt a wave of something flow into him at the contact, something that energized his body and eased the ache in his limbs. As Izuku watched, the golden ring in the old surgeon's eyes faded, leaving behind only warm brown. "You'll be an amazing hero, Deku…"

Kinenkō's voice trailed off as his eyes locked with Izuku's, as look of what Izuku could swear was awe broke across his face. Suddenly, the influx of warmth grew brighter, the waves of foreign energy beginning to churn and grow. It was like the time he'd downed Kaminari's All Night Energy concoction before their English exam, except a dozen times stronger and escalating by the second.

Kinenkō wheezed a breath as his hand dropped away, suddenly limp. Panicked, Izuku grasped it, fingers wrapped around the wrist automatically but found… nothing. No pulse. Kinenkō's eyes had lost focus, and just stared blankly up at him. '...He's dead. Why is he dead? He was… just a second ago he was talking. Why was it so sudden? What happened?'

Izuku's head snapped up as he heard a gasp above him. His eyes locked onto the Aikawas where they still stood atop the rubble, having ignored his instructions to escape through the gaping hole in the wall next to them. Both looked stricken, but Izuku's focus was on the dust drifting from the ceiling between them.

Right. Building on the brink of collapse.

Full Cowling flared to life around him as he leapt to his feet, only a small ach remaining from his previous overextension. Izuku dashed forward, swept both into his arms, then flung all three of them from the building. Moments later, another section of the upper floors crashed into the room where they'd just been, a blast of dust and debris roaring out to follow them.

Izuku didn't stop his sprint as he shot from the cloud. He skidded around a corner, then hurtled down an alleyway a few buildings away. As he emerged onto the main road, he saw the group who'd flagged him down. Relief washed through him when he saw police officers talking with them. 'Good, people who actually know where evacuation points are.'

Before he could approach the group, Izuku heard it. It was distant, but no less distinctive for it.

Iida's engines roared.

Izuku set his passengers down, quickly made sure they were steady on their feet, then backed away. "Go to the officers, they can help get you to safety!" Izuku instructed, waiting just long enough to see a nod from the mother before spun and ran back the way he'd come.

Izuku leapt towards the side of a building, then launched himself from wall to wall with frantic speed as energy thrummed just beneath his skin. He barely touched the first rooftop as he shot off like a bullet in the direction he'd heard his friend. The sound of voices gradually grew louder, until he could clearly hear Iida's as it rang out from a narrow gap between two buildings.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU SAY NOW! YOU'RE STILL THE CRIMINAL WHO HURT MY BROTHER!"

Izuku leapt down into the alleyway and spun to plant his feet against the opposite wall. Mid flip, he saw a figure he could only assume to be Stain standing over Iida, blade beginning to fall. Izuku flared Full Cowling back to 7% for the barest moment as he pushed off. It sent him streaking downward far faster than he'd expected, but still barely fast enough. He only just managed to bring his fist around to slam crackling green knuckles into the side of Stain's head. The man was violently flung in a backwards arc, a streak of blood trailing his mouth.

Crouched from his landing, Izuku didn't let himself hope as he watched Stain's involuntary flight. Solid as the hit was, there was no way that the Hero Killer hadn't taken worse. A split second later, Izuku was proven right when Stain planted a hand, arced his body into a backwards somersault, and landed on his feet. Sparks flew as the metal of his boots scraped against the ground. Even as he skidded to a stop, his eyes never left Izuku as he examined him. Izuku examined Stain right back.

The black-haired man looked rough and cobbled together, standing hunched. Around his neck he sported a ragged red scarf, with a similarly worn gray cloth mask pulled across an angular face. Both draped behind him, begging to be grabbed in a fight so blatantly that Izuku wondered if it was some kind of trap. He wore roughshod body armor over dingy clothes, multiple knives sheathed at his ribs. His arms and upper thighs were unarmored, though he wore armored boots with spiked metal added to the toes.

The man looked at Izuku with indignant annoyance as he rubbed his jaw, as though Izuku had interrupted his lunch instead of an attempted murder. Stain absently wiped blood from his mouth, glanced at it with a bemused smirk, then returned his gaze to Izuku.

"Midoriya?" Iida asked from the ground behind him, voice uneven. "What are you doing here?"

"From what happened to your brother, how you were acting, and where you went for your Internship, it was pretty obvious you were gunning for the Hero Killer once it all came together." Izuku remained guarded, eyes never leaving his foe. "From what I remember from the news, about 60% of Stains victims were found in isolated areas. I searched the city for anywhere that fit his MO, but was helping with an evacuation when I heard your engines. Finding you was easy after that."

Izuku desperately hoped Stain didn't notice the way he was holding an arm behind his back now. The last thing he needed was to be stabbed before he could send out the distress beacon. He wasn't sure if his hand jittered with the stress of the situation or the way this unfamiliar energy surged through him. Either way, it was NOT making things any easier.

"Can you move?" Izuku continued. "We need to get out to the main street. The pros are stuck dealing with Nomu, but someone might be able to help us."

"I can't." Iida grunted, still trying desperately to fight off his paralysis. "Ever since I was stabbed, my body's been locked up. It must be his Quirk." Iida paused. "Wait, did you say NOMU?"

"Yeah, I guessed as much. And yes, kind of like the one from USJ, but I don't think they're as strong. The heroes are struggling, but nowhere near that badly." Izuku muttered absently, mind racing. 'So is the Quirk activated by being stabbed, or probably just wounded? From what I remember with some of the previous victims, there were signs of combat on the scene, so it's unlikely it's instantaneous… " As Izuku's eyes swept the alleyway, they settled on another slumped figure against a wall further behind Stain- Pro Hero Native. 'Shit, that makes this way more complicated. I can't just abandon him with Stain, but I also can't get to him without leaving Iida open. I'd have to push Stain back past him, but can I really pull that off?'

Izuku grimaced, prepared to try. He didn't have another choice that he could live with.

"Midoriya, don't interfere." Iida grit out, voice ragged. "THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!"

"What are you talking about, Iida?" Izuku almost, ALMOST made the mistake of taking his eyes off the serial killer in front of him so he could gape at his apparent idiot of a friend. The only thing that stopped him was the sight of Stain as the man shifted his stance, the simple movement nonetheless radiating danger .

"A friend dropping from the sky, declaring 'I came to save you.' That's a classic line." Stain's smirk dropped to a frown. "But it's my duty to kill these false heroes, to expunge their corruption from the name of Heroism. And if we're forced to fight, then naturally…"

Stain's glare sent a shock of raw fear through Izuku as every hair on his body stood on end.

"The weaker of us will be culled."

Somehow, it was the matter-of-fact way Stain said it that was the most terrifying part. The sun would set, the winter would come, and Stain would slaughter anyone who interfered with his crusade. The man was clearly insane, but it was far different from the villains at USJ. Shigaraki's mania couldn't hope to compare to the indifferent malice Stain radiated in that moment. Murderer though he was, murder wasn't his goal. It was just a means to an end, something he did without a moment's hesitation or enjoyment.

"Now then." Stain's voice was like ice water poured down Izuku's back. "What will you do?"

Even face to face with Stain, there was only one thing Izuku could do. He slipped his phone into a pocket, SOS hopefully sent, and raised his fists.

This did not go over well with Iida. "No! I told you to run! This has nothing to do with you, Midoriya!"

"And what kind of hero would it make me if I abandoned you just because I'm in danger too?" Izuku shot back. "There's a LOT I need to say to you after this, but that's for later. For now, it's like All Might said."

Izuku tried to smile, but it probably came across as more of a grimace.

"Giving help that's not asked for is what makes a true hero."

The new expression on Stain's face was somehow more horrifying than his glare had been. Izuku never wanted a mass murderer to look at him with gleeful approval ever again. 'I feel like I need a shower.'

Shaking off the disquiet, Izuku launched himself towards Stain. He watched as the man's jagged blade swept forward, trying to gauge its speed. Definitely slower than Gran Torino, but Izuku didn't trust it. He ducked down as the blade passed overhead, slid between Stain's legs, then immediately flung himself into an upwards arc. Beneath him, he could hear the flutter of Stain's mask and scarf as he whirled, followed by the humm of steel ripping through the air again, far faster than his first swing.

Izuku twisted in the air in an amalgamation of Bakugo's and Gran Torino's styles, hesitated for a fraction of a second, then committed. He amped Full Cowling to 7% for a third time, then completed his swing. The Detroit Smash descending like an emerald meteor, swift and decisive. It cracked solidly into Stain's head, driving the man down to a knee with a grunt of pain and effort. Izuku continued his twist in the air, but as he landed on all fours, his arm gave way under him and he dropped to the ground. 'Crap' he fumed, the arch of pulled muscles and possibly fractured bones familiar but still biting. 'I got greedy and held 7% for too long! I'll need to practice the timing-'

In Izuku's peripheral, Stain licked a knife Izuku hadn't even seen him draw. A flash of red and gold, briefly visible on the killer's horrifying tongue, vanished into his mouth. In that instant, Izuku's body locked up. Still just at the edge of Izuku's vision, Stain's face scrunched up. The Hero Killer smacked his lips and worked his jaw before he spat something onto the ground. "Gold?" the murderer wondered aloud, before he glanced at Izuku with a curse.

'What? I can't move! When did he even cut me? I don't feel anything… but he licked the blade, and I saw blood. It didn't look like he cut himself, so much as the blood was from the knife…'

"It's blood!" Izuku hissed aloud. "Consuming blood is what freezes people!"

Stain chuckled, a gritty sound, as he adjusted his askew mask. "I'll admit to being impressed. You tracked my movements, exploited my blind spot, and followed a well considered plan on how to take me down. You even landed a pretty damn solid hit. But you just couldn't keep up the pressure."

Footsteps approached from the side, lighting Izuku's nerves on fire as he desperately tried to find a way out of his situation. But his body was completely unable to move. All he could do was watch as Stain walked past him, radiating grim purpose.

"So many fools out there are nothing but talk, but you… are worth keeping alive."

Stain stopped before Iida. The tip of his jagged katana skittered along the ground behind him before it came to rest before Iida's terrified eye.

"Unlike these others."

The blade pulled back, like a snake about to strike.

Fire roared even as ice crackled, the two opposites flooding through the alleyway in an explosive surge that forced Stain to abort his killing blow. He leapt backwards and away, kicking off a wall to avoid a spike of ice. "Another interruption." He growled as his leap carried him back over Izuku. "And Endeavor's spawn at that."

"Midoriya." Todoroki deadpanned from the back of the alley. "Learn to write specific instructions. I was almost too late."

"Todoroki, you too?" Iida's voice did not sound particularly pleased to see another classmate inject themself into his fight. Even if, yet again, it had saved him from being stabbed.

Izuku, on the other hand, would have sagged in relief if his body were capable of it. "You got my message? And you're using your fire!"

"Yes, and begrudgingly yes." Todoroki responded flatly as he stomped his foot. Another wave of ice crashed out to scoop up the bichromat's paralyzed allies, angled to slide them backwards and behind its creator. "It took me a few seconds to figure out why you were sending your location without anything else. It seemed out of character. When I noticed it was in Hosu, I realized you were probably in need of help, though I can't say I expected Stain." He unleashed another blast of fire, which forced Stain to leap away yet again. "In just a few minutes, the Pros will be here. You're not killing these guys today, Hero Killer."

"Don't let him draw blood!" Izuku called as his eyes strained to watch everything at once. "I'm pretty sure he paralyzes people by ingesting it!"

Todoroki grunted in acknowledgement, but even that tiny distraction was enough to nearly end the fight. In a flash, a knife shot towards his face. Todoroki lurched to the side, an instinctive motion that likely saved his life. Even so, the blade still drew a line in blood across his cheek before it embedded itself in the wall behind them. Stain, having capitalized on the moment of distraction, rushed in a breath behind it. Izuku was forced to watch as Todoroki barely kept up with the murderer, Stain's attacks masterfully woven together into a deadly net, pulled tighter by the second. Suddenly, the Hero Killer's katana was spinning up into the air, and Izuku's head tilted back to watch it.

It took a moment to process that fact, but the second it clicked, Izuku sprung into action. He kicked from the ground at an angle, then launched himself again from a wall to shoot past the Hero Killer. He saw Stain's eyes widen as he passed, and thought he heard a growled "God fucking DAMN blood Quirks-" before he wrapped his hands in the man's scarf. Bringing all the force and momentum he could to bear, Izuku planted a foot and swung Stain into the opposing wall like a wrecking ball. There was a sharp crack at the impact, though Izuku wasn't sure if it came from the wall or the man.

A sharp pain in his hands alerted him to the fact that he'd been right earlier. The scarf was definitely a trap. Stain yanked on it from the ground, which dragged the material mostly out of Izuku's grasp. The razor wire woven into it, having already slashed his gloves, cut into his hands as it was pulled through his fingers. Blood beaded up from the scratches, oddly seeming to shimmer in the flickering light of Todoroki's flame. Another tug wrenched the scarf free entirely, but before the bloodied end could reach its owner, a surge of ice crashed into Stain's location. Izuku caught a brief glimpse of the killer as Stain flung himself backwards, but the abandoned scarf was mostly trapped within the miniature glacier. Izuku stared into the ice in an attempt to spot any movement on the other side.

"Both of you, just stop this!" Iida yelled, and Izuku startled at the loud sound. "I've inherited my brother's name. This is my responsibility!"

"You inherited his name? Odd…" Todoroki responded, and glanced at Iida for the barest of seconds. "I remember an Ingenium that never made faces like that. But I guess your family's also got a dark side to it, then."

It was at that moment that Stain struck. He hacked the glacier to splintered chunks in a flash. Shards of ice scattered as the structure collapsed, and a fine frozen mist floated into the air.

As Izuku kept watch, an odd feeling washed over him. It almost felt like a headache, though one that had come from nowhere. Unconsciously, Izuku shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind.

That moment was all Stain needed. Izuku noticed the knives that flew through the falling ice too late to stop them, and heard the awful sound of metal piercing flesh behind him. Izuku spun, fearing the worst. Todoroki's arm bled badly from the blades now buried in his forearm, but at least it wasn't immediately lethal. 'Shit, he needs a way to stop the- wait, it's obvious!'

"Todoroki, dry the blood out with your fi-!"

ATTACK BACK DANGER NOW

Pain lanced through Izuku's head again, far more intense, and he desperately lurched away from the… whatever the hell it was. A split second later, Stain's blade punched forward from the shadowed remains of the ice wall, barely passing between his left arm and ribs. Unfortunately, a dingy back alleyway littered with scattered chunks of ice wasn't the optimal environment for lurching. With a startled shriek, Izuku's foot slipped out from under him on a slick patch, and he fell in a tangle of limbs.

ATTACK DANGER

Another spike of pain behind his eyes, a feeling of something coming for his arm. He jerked it to the side, but didn't have the grounding to do much. This time, Stain's blade carved a line up his forearm, blood flying from the wound. In a surreal moment as the world seemed to slow, Izuku watched as his blood glittered with gold moutes on the edge of the blade, and saw a brief reflection of gold and green eyes on its surface.

Stain's tongue swept out, and the oppressive feeling of his paralysis returned. Yet again, Izuku's body was nothing more than a statue caught mid-fall.

'God damn it, I just can't keep up!' Izuku fumed. Twice now, Stain had taken him down with virtually no effort. The sheer degree to which they were outclassed here was horrifying, and now Shoto was once again the last man standing. 'I need to be better than this! I can't have all this power and still be useless-'

A spiked boot slammed down next to Izuku's head, cutting off his train of thought like a guillotine. A moment later, he was hauled into the air by his hood. One of Stain's knives found his throat, cold metal pressed roughly to the skin. "A dark side?" Stain snarled towards Todoroki as his head poked into Izuku's vision, just over his shoulder. The malice seemed to physically radiate from the man, palpable to Izuku's senses as clearly as light or sound. "Your bastard father is a shadow over the entire fucking hero industry."

"Yes." Todoroki responded immediately.

Stain faltered slightly, a moment of confusion visible on his face. Then, his eyes narrowed. "So eager to stab your own family in the back, just to try to live. Sickening."

Todoroki's eyes narrowed right back, and his mouth opened to dispute that radically incorrect assumption, but was cut off by an unsteady voice at his feet.

"Unhand Midoriya. Todoroki and he are only here because of me." Iida said, face a rictus of horror, eyes locked on Izuku as he dangled in Stain's Grasp. "Neither of them deserve to die because of me. Just please, stop this!"

"None of us are leaving before this fight is over, Iida. Asking nicely isn't going to end it, either." Todoroki snarled. "If you want to stop this, then stand up and do something about it! Never let yourself forget what you want to become!"

DANGE-

Stain moved before the spike in Izuku's head could even fully register.

Izuku was flung at Todoroki like a sack of potatoes. With a startled yelp, he slammed into the boy's left side and sent him stumbling. Todoroki had automatically moved to catch Izuku, unthinkingly occupying his left hand, and thus limited his most adept use of flames. At the same time, he was still in a stumble from the impact, which compromised his footing, and as a result inhibited his usual method of conjuring ice.

Todoroki's eyes had only tracked Izuku for a second, but that second was enough for Stain to have approached in Izuku's shadow. By the time Todoroki's brief lapse of attention was corrected, the Hero Killer's katana had already stabbed towards his chest, far too close for him to do anything about without incinerating Izuku. Stain had maneuvered him masterfully, and he was too slow to recover.

Iida wasn't.

Izuku, still paralyzed and slumped in Todoroki's arms, heard the roar of engines, the sound of footsteps, and felt the lurch as both he and Todoroki were flung aside.

As they fell, Izuku had a clear view of his friend. Blue light illuminated the alleyway from behind him, glowing from the flames that erupted from his engines. Countless shadows danced before him, each step sending them coruscating across the narrow space. Iida's face was set in grim resolve, turned towards the oncoming villain. His eyes, however, remained locked to his companions, and spoke volumes. Determination. Pride. Acceptance. Fear.

The scrape of metal on metal would echo in Izuku's memory for years, the sound burned into his mind along with the scene that unfolded before him. The Hero Killer's katana pierced Iida's armor at the sternum, the thin metal doing little to stop the blade as it was pressed deeper by Iida's momentum and Stain's strength. The blade burst from his friend's back, a spray of blood flung free as the sword was buried to the hilt.

"IIDA!"