Chapter Fifteen
Momo nodded at my request for a forty-foot-long rail, only asking "Dimensions?"
"I need it U shaped, iron, one inch sides, two inches across the top," I rattled off, thinking about what I'd need to pull off my idea. The creator got started on it, and Mina looked to me, concerned.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, her worry apparent.
I shrugged, hands shaking a little, "I'm going to go down there and help, but I need to get there fast. And then I'm going to fight someone that's supposed to kill All Might, because if I don't, Aizawa's gonna die."
She paled, and Momo paused, glancing over to me. "You're what?" Hagakure asked, shocked.
"Either the talky guy covered with hands, or the giant fucking monster's," I said, "probably the latter. All Might was supposed to be here, and they knew that. I'll try and grab Eraserhead and run, but I don't think I'm going to have that option. I need that rail now, Momo," I added, the dark haired girl's dismayed expression vanishing under a professional mask, nodding and going back to it, the metal now long enough that she was slowly backing up. "Hopefully someone will see my flare, or they'll get the SOS I've been sending, or maybe someone got out to go get help, so I'll only have to delay them, but I can't rely on that."
Mina was staring at me, then at the dark shapes in the distance. We could barely make out the fighters, but the larger shape of Nomu jumping Aizawa was clearly visible, grabbing him and slamming him into the ground. "Promise me you'll be okay!" she demanded, turning back to me.
"I can't," I replied. "But if I don't, he'll die."
"Promise me you'll survive!" she tried instead.
My smile was weak, and I was still shaking, "I can't. All I can do is try my best."
"I'll go with you!" she cried, and I felt my heart clench at the thought of her fighting that.
"You can't fly, and you can't move like I can in a fight," I disagreed. "We both know I'm the faster one, and I don't think I'm going to be fast enough, but I have to try. Go, Mina, keep those two safe, find the others and protect them while I protect our teacher, and we'll hopefully see each other after this is said and done."
Nomu roared, the sound, a mix of bestial roar and raptor's cry, echoing throughout the structure and chilling my blood, causing me to shake again, not wanting to do this, but not able to stop myself either.
The pink-skinned girl shut her eyes, gave a small headshake, before she reached up, grabbing my head. She pulled me down into a deep kiss, which I returned, hoping it wouldn't be my last. " Come back to me," she whispered.
" I'll do everything I can," I promised her, pushing her away, "Now go, I need to do this before it's too late."
She nodded, turning and speeding away on her acid, grabbing Toru and dragging the invisible girl away. Momo gave me one last look, and I nodded, before she followed after Mina and I rushed over to the rail.
It was heavy, but thin, and I dragged it over to one half-buried building, using lightning legs to easily climb the structure and position it so that it was lined up with my target. I returned to the bottom, half falling, trying to hurry without rushing and making a mistake.
I hadn't changed my opinion, trying new moves in the middle of combat scenarios was dumb, but this entire thing was dumb, so I guessed it fit. I'd used just under a third of my total electricity allotment, any more causing me to fry myself, and I hoped it would be enough.
Turning my hands to lightning, I reached down, grabbing onto the metal, sinking a little into the conductive material. Coaxing the electricity into the iron, I focused on keeping it in the rail, not bleeding out through the two grounding points it had, and I was somewhat successful. I could feel the charge draining, but slowly, though if I let go I instinctively knew it'd return to normal and I'd fail, and I couldn't let that happen.
In theory I'd had practice doing what I was about to try, every day to and from school, and the principle was the same; I was just going to be doing so to an extreme degree. Running my arms up the rail, holding on with insubstantial hands, I split my attention. Changing my feet as well, I stepped forward and added two more points of contact, to double the effectiveness of the complete insanity I was about to attempt.
With the energy current still charging it, creating the proper electromagnetic fields, I formed the construct that'd move me along, aligning all of them down the rail and pushed.
With a crackling boom I was shot along the rail, accelerating so hard the air itself felt like it was battering against me, but I pulled tight and hit the end in an instant, flaring the induction effects right before I finished, kicking me that little bit harder, throwing me hard into the air, the rail pushed away below me, flying high over the ruins, above the dividing wall, and towards my target.
However, having made it without calculating, I was going to fly high over the promenade as well, my arc far too flat.
I can work with this, I thought, furiously scrabbling for an answer, remembering what my father had told me: 'Electricity isn't person shaped, son. So when you change, you don't need to be either.' I'd done that a little, with my dodging, but I could do more.
Letting my feet snap back to normal, I shifted my arms entirely, focusing on spreading them out, like giant wings. I couldn't use them to fly, I wasn't nearly strong enough, but I could use them to glide, or, in this case, use them to fall, with style.
Pushing my 'elbows' down, I started to rise, high above my target, in an enormous loop that brought me so close to the ceiling I had to run along it for a few steps, jumping off as I shot straight down for Shigaraki.
With my course set, I let my limbs snap back, left hand frantically reaching up and grabbing coins from my necklace. It was time for the other move I'd got working, the one I'd made when I thought jumping into this fight was a good idea.
Throwing devil horns down, aimed right for Shigaraki, I charged my right hand. I'd either get him to run, which worked; get him focused on me, which sucked but also worked; or I'd kill him, which was fine by me.
I was halfway down from the ceiling when I stabilized the flow and got my first shot off. Five percent of my maximum, gone in an instant, as the iron projectile accelerated, the kickback slowing me down noticeably.
The coin, a blazing yellow streak, shot down like a thunderbolt, missing my target by a dozen feet, but Shigaraki threw himself to the side anyways, Nomu looking up from breaking Eraserhead's arms.
Movement changes the aim, I realized, having only practiced this when still, shifting the two remaining coins in my left hand to bring another one up to fire. Accounting for the new vector, and aiming for the downed form of Shigaraki, I fired again, on target, only for a black blur to dart over, almost faster than I could see, blocking the shot with its body.
Nomu tanked the shot, which still hurt it, a fist-sized chunk blown out of its chest. Whatever shock absorption Quirk the creature had didn't fully defend it against the concentrated power of a railgun, and it stared up at me, balefully, lidless eye focused, letting out a shriek of anger. Quickly bringing up the third shot, I charged up my hand as it launched itself up at me.
Seeing my impending death, I didn't sight my shot in on Shigaraki, not even able to see him past Nomu, but on the creature itself. I had one shot to make this work as the monster blasted up towards me, and I held my shot, knowing if I missed it was game over.
It pulled a hand back, so strong that telegraphing didn't matter, and, right as it was about to hit me, I jerked my aim up from it's center of mass to its face, firing point blank into its exposed brain.
It still tried to punch me, but with the angle of the shot, I was blown off-course, the top of it's microwave-sized fists an inch away from my chest as I tumbled to the side and my world turned to streaks of repeating colors.
Shifting my legs to lightning as I spun, I extended them out, trying to touch the ground and anchor myself. I felt myself hit something and pushed off, turning my tumble in a controlled twist, which I bled out into a few more steps as I hit the ground, ready to fight.
Behind Shigaraki, Nomu hit the ground as well, limp, missing half its brain, unmoving. No way is it that easy, I thought, and, as if in response to my thoughts, the creature started to twitch.
"A new player enters the game?" the hand-covered Villain commented, tilting his head in interest. "Or just another add?"
I wasn't going to bother monologuing, or at least, not unless I had a reason to. Nomu was already regenerating, so I was on a time limit, and I dashed over to Aizawa who was on the ground, arms bent unnaturally, in a slowly expanding pool of blood.
"We gotta go, Eraserhead," I said, trying to pick him up, only for him to bite out a choked gasp of pain.
"Can't move. Run," my teacher commanded, and I realized, with how hurt he was, I might not be able to move him without hurting him worse, maybe even killing him. We'd barely covered that in Hero class, and Aizawa was hurt that badly.
Shigaraki slowly walked forward, and I could see the minor villains all around us backing off, letting their boss do his thing. If I moved fast enough, I could probably make it past those around me, but I needed to know. "Not without you, Teach," I shot back. "Can I move you, or do I need to defend you. Only choices."
"Run," he gasped, coughing blood. " Leave me."
"You heard your teacher," Shigaraki taunted. "Run away, schoolboy. Maybe you'll even survive."
I was down to the last third of my charge, launching me having taken a good chunk of it. I tried to reach inside my armor for another coin, more than happy to turn Shigaraki into a red mist, but, seeing me move, the Villain charged me, surprisingly fast.
Yanking another coin off, I leapt away from Eraserhead, bringing a hand up and charging it with electricity. However, I needed a moment to mentally configure the flow of energy, and the Villain wasn't going to give me that.
Reaching out, his hand grasping, I shifted the limb he was about to try to disintegrate into lightning right as his fingers closed around my arm, the killer smiling in victory behind his permanent face-palm, only for my power to shut off, the electricity I'd generated to shock him dispersing, my arm shifting to normal, and my legs similarly snapping back.
However, my limb also remained in-tact, though whether that was from my Body Defense, or something else, I wasn't sure for a moment. Shigaraki looked at me, equally confused, before understanding bloomed on his face as I'm sure it did on mine.
"Tsk," he sighed, and we both turned to look at Aizawa, who'd propped himself up, barely, eyes glowing and hair up as if blown by an unearthly wind. "You really are so cool."
I seized the moment, punching Shigaraki in the jaw, but he let go of me, turning with the blow, spinning and jumping away, landing easily half a dozen feet distant. "I get you're trying to help, Eraserhead, but I got this," I told my teacher
"No, you don't. He destroys everything he touches!" the pro bit out, blood leaking from his mouth.
I looked to Shigaraki, who nodded, "Turned to ash," he informed me with a laughing grin.
"Really?" I asked, with a smile of my own. "Does that work on lightning?"
Aizawa's power gave out, and I felt my abilities return, shifting my hands and feet to electricity. Rocketing forward, I slammed a fist into the villain's gut, dropping my feet to normal and shifting my arms as Shigaraki tried to grab them, cycling electricity through the transformed limbs and lighting us both up as I did so.
The mastermind howled in pain before he was launched backwards, spasming as I charged up my hand, grabbing another coin. "That's not fair!" the murderer screamed, trying to get to his feet as I visualized the coils. "That's OP!"
Darkness bloomed to my right, and I rushed the process on my end, trying to get my shot off before the Warp-gater realized what was happening, tossing the coin and firing it at my target even as a vortex of mist started to appear around him.
I let the shot go, the booming crack echoing through the air, but I missed, and that saved my life.
The very shot I'd loosed blew past my head, streaking off to punch a hole in a panel half a mile away. I reacted, jerking away my head long after the hypersonic coin had already missed, spotting the dark gate that had formed behind me.
"Tomura Shigaraki," the shadowy Villain intoned, reappearing next to the disintegrator as he stood up. "You appear to have need of my assistance."
" Kurogiri," Shigaraki hissed. "Cutting it a little close, aren't you? Is Thirteen taken care of, at least?"
I unsheathed my sword as they talked. Any projectile attack I used could be turned against me, which meant it was going to be a melee fight. Luckily for me, I was really good at those.
"The rescue hero is out of commission, but there were students I was unable to disperse, and one of them got outside of the facility," the now named Warp-Gater announced, and I got a sense of Deja Vu. That meant All Might should be here soon. Should. But I couldn't count on what little I remembered, not anymore.
Shigiraki started to scratch at his neck, upset, and seemingly having forgotten my presence. On one hand, waiting the timer out until reinforcements arrived would be nice, but on the other, Nomu was starting to twitch less behind them, which meant I was out of time.
Shifting my legs to lightning, I sprung forward, closing the distance in an instant, sword swinging for Shigaraki and crackling with electricity. Kurogiri moved to block me, but I stepped around him, even as Shigaraki, guessing my dodge, swung for my face with an open hand.
Twisting my legs unnaturally, I pulled myself out of the way even as I drove my blunted blade into him as hard as I could, shocking him and knocking him off his feet. Sparking, Shigaraki slammed into Kurogiri, or at least the vaporous Villain's armored neck, causing them both to cry out as they fell, twitching.
I leapt forward, sword at the ready, still with a fifth of my charge left, and Shigaraki, with a look of blackest hate, ordered, "Nomu! Kill him!"
I twisted, mid-air as I heard the slam of the creature launching itself, far faster than I could move, swinging a fist that'd kill me in an instant. Trying to bring my sword around, knowing it wouldn't be enough, I prepared for the blow.
I felt the impact, and my world turned, but it wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it'd be, and instead of my head aching, it was my side.
Tumbling, I heard the crackling of lightning not my own, and, as I rolled to my feet, standing next to me, was Izuku Midoriya. "You okay?" he asked, breathing hard, I nodded, mind rebooting from my second almost-death in minutes.
"Y-yeah," I stuttered, shaking. Think, what do I do? "Thanks for the save. Eraserhead's too hurt to move, black mist makes warp gates, brain-guy's an evil, regenerating anti-All Might, and Mr. Handjob decays things he touches."
"I. . What?" Izuku asked, and the silence stretched as everyone stared at me. "Mr. Hand-" was as far as he got before Nomu launched himself forward, at a fraction of the speed he'd just used to try to hit me moments before, actually landing before he struck with out with his fist, raised high, coming down on Deku who, arms glowing, moved to meet the creature's blow with a block of his own.
Knowing how bad this was going to go, I threw forward a lightning limb, grabbing Deku's waist, and letting it snap back to drag him out of the line of fire as the monster's fist slammed down hard enough to set off a small explosion of dust, destroying the floor where Midoriya had just stood.
"W-what?" Izuku sputtered, seeing the destruction.
Nomu leapt at us, and I tossed my classmate to one side, launching myself on lightning limbs to the other, dodging another slow, powerful, almost playful blow, the shockwave of which pushed me even further away. " All Might Strength, Deku!" I yelled, "Not full blast, but at least
half! Don't get hit!"
"I. . . okay!" the tiny teen nodded, expression of panic changing to one of determination. "I heard about someone getting out. We just need to hold him off until then. Maybe-,"
" Duck!" Aizawa, who was still conscious, somehow, yelled as Shigaraki tried to close on the distracted Deku.
Izuku complied, the sweeping hand passing over his head, two fingers running through his hair, as the Villain barely missed. Deku turned, starting to punch as I leapt forward, panicked, knowing what was going to happen.
Nomu, moving in defense of his master, blurred forward, fist raised to crush Izuku to paste, but I hit the creature from behind, shocking it, throwing off its aim as its body twitched and it shrieked in pain. I tried to continue shocking it but Nomu twisted around, powerfully, throwing me several dozen feet back with just the wave of its arm
Deku, however, got his punch in, and I could almost feel the crack as Shigaraki's arm broke, sending the Villain flying. Holy shit, are we winning? I thought, and, as the Villain struggled to his feet, I knew I was wrong. "Nomu, kill them both!" Shigaraki screamed. "And do it fast! Don't play with your food!"
Ohfuck
Nomu, still standing beside Izuku, swung down in an instant, Izuku's eyes wide as he leapt away, barely missing the blow. The creature followed, throwing another punch that Izuku, still mid-air, tried to block, arms red with lines of power. The monster hit, Deku being blown away, and I had to hope he was alive.
The monster that was once a man, either knowing the boy dead, or just pursuing the closest target, turned and leapt towards me, fist sweeping in with the hook from hell. It was only my transformed legs that saved me, bending me backwards in a limbo for my life as the blow passed by my nose, and I leapt away from the next punch, which cratered the ground.
Not waiting for it to start to move, I was already dodging as it leapt at me again. I tried to weave around its blows as it just started punching wildly, dodging two before the third caught me in the chest, cracking my armor, and maybe my ribs, sending me blasting backward. I bounced off the ground, lightning limbs scrabbling to right myself as it followed. Leaning away from one punch, I extending my limbs while twisting let me move with an uppercut, which, brushing up against me, still hit like a car crash, sending me flying.
I hit the ground again, only for Nomu to be there striking me once more in the chest, and I felt something crack inside as I was pushed back, my armor starting to come apart. It felt like I was being stabbed when I breathed, and lightning raced across me uncontrollably as I desperately tried to scrabble backwards, narrowly missing a descending punch that would've caught me against the ground, popping me like watermelon.
The monster grabbed my arm, grip tightening to crack my limb, but, reflexively, I shifted it to lightning, pulling it free as I spun around and tried to run, almost blind with panic, getting struck in the back and tossed right towards Shigaraki, who laughed with his hand extended, the other held tight to his body.
I almost laughed, too. I couldn't fight Nomu, but I could fight him.
He reached for my neck, but, arm still transformed, and I slugged the asshole in the face with my unnatural reach, my own hand catching on one of the fake-hands on his reaching arm, ripping it off as I tried to keep moving.
However, I could almost feel Nomu's presence behind me, the creature reaching for me with a large, grasping hand of its own, ready to grab and crush me to paste. " Detroit Smash!" yelled a voice behind it, and Deku, arms hanging limply at his sides, rocketed in, kicking Nomu as hard as he could in the back of the head, the force of the blow creating a shockwave that blew me off my feet, electric limbs stabbing into the concrete and anchoring me as Shigaraki was blown away beside me, hurricane force winds blasting me at nearly point blank range.
Nomu paused, completely unhurt, head maybe an inch more forward than it'd been before.
It turned, hand reaching out like a striking snake, and I jumped for it, my hands brimming with electricity, hoping I could save Deku's life.
Nomu was faster.
Grabbing the kid, he slammed the small teen against the ground with a wet crack, and I hit the creature's back instant later a pulse of lightning released which caused both Nomu, and Izuku, to scream in pain.
Cutting the voltage, Nomu left Deku, who was twitching on the ground, to backhand me. I dodged it, barely, the monster at least predictable, and slammed my palms into its chest, pouring every volt I could into its skin, pulled taut against unnatural muscles.
We both lit up, screaming, me in helpless rage and it in agony, as I felt my limit approaching like a freight train, cutting it off the second before I hit it, a flailing fist catching me in the side of the head and sending me flying as my vision went white with pain.
I hit the ground, tumbling, struggling to my feet, as I more felt than heard a meaty smack and smelled the sizzling of cooked flesh.
Over half of what it'd taken to knock out several dozen villains, all poured into the creature in an instant, and I could already see it starting to twitch, getting control of itself.
Struggling to my feet, my body shifting to electricity uncontrollably as I tried to walk straight, I dragged myself, stumbling drunkenly, over to Izuku.
He didn't look good.
He was breathing, though it were labored, and his eyes were glassy. He hissed at the agony of his aggravated wounds, gaze sharpening as I picked him up, shocking him a little by accident, and started to carry him away, the world slowly righting itself, but still full of pain.
" Denki," he rasped, coughing up blood. "Is it. . ?"
"Down, but regenerating," I told the boy, finding it hard to breathe myself, but pushing through anyways as I made my way to Aizawa. The fight had taken us a good distance away from him, and, if I needed to, it was better to have them together so I could defend them. If I needed to make a last stand.
I was halfway there when I heard Nomu get back up, and the sound, like the ringing of a funeral toll, of it leaping for me. Turning my head, almost resigned, I saw the enormous pitch-black fist heading for my face. Pulling out the last card I had, I slammed my first copied quirk to the most I could handle in an untested move, my entire head transforming to nothing but insubstantial electricity.
I went blind, like my father said I would, but all of a sudden I could see, in the darkness, branching trees of electricity, starting from where I was and unfolding in large patterns, concentrated in odd, intricate networks.
That's its nervous system, some part of me noted. I could feel myself starting to snap back, not ready for doing this yet, but I knew, if I changed back now, I was going to die. I held myself in this form, holding fast against the change, and it felt like I was trying to push back a tide that started as discomfort, then splashed into pain, then cascaded into mind-rending agony, before the limb through my skull was pulled away, and I was in darkness once more.
I let myself snap back, falling, Deku beside me, as I went into spasms, unable to control my own body as my nerves misfired, not ready for the change. I couldn't control myself as Nomu, confused, looked at me, head tilted, and raised another fist to bring down on me.
I tried to shift, to move, to do anything but lay there helplessly as I died, but I couldn't.
Then, like the heavens themselves had heard my prayers, a distant explosion sounded, and I could see one of the enormous doors that led into the USJ go flying past, high above my head.
Nomu stopped, fist half a foot from my chest, as I twitched, trying not to bite off my own tongue. The monster made flesh stood, having forgotten about us completely.
The seizure started to slowly fade as I heard the distant sound of salvation. The words lacked any of their normal joviality, their normal good cheer, their normal mercy. It was the voice of an angry god that declared:
"HAVE NO FEAR, STUDENTS. I AM HERE!"