This was bad.
Izuku's eyes widened as his whole body went numb. Katsuki Bakugo soared through the air toward him and emerged from the darkness of the alley with a savage grin on his face. Pins and needles had Izuku's fingers tingling, and his heart beat hard in his chest. This was happening tonight? Then and there? Izuku felt his entire chest tighten and his head become fuzzy as his whole body was flooded with adrenaline. The man who'd assaulted his mother was right in front of him. The man who'd made his life a living hell was right in front of him. Instinct took over. He leapt back from Bakugo and held his covered arm over his face as he hid his uncovered arm behind himself, to protect from the inevitable blast. That blast did indeed arrive barely a second later, and even though Izuku's precaution and fireproof suit protected him from the actual explosion, the concussive shockwave still had him stumbling back across the street.
He fixed his footing and looked back over at his enemy. Bakugo had landed, and he was staring at Izuku with sharp, blood red eyes, the same colour as the ragged scarf that was pulled up over the bottom of his face and which trailed behind him like a crimson tail. Izuku had no trouble recognising the person he hated most in the world, even through that insulting attempt to conceal his identity. He ran at Bakugo and scowled, not even thinking about how only one of them could use their Quirk in close-quarters. Bakugo lashed out with an explosion, a small one probably intended to stun him, but Izuku just threw his covered arm up and ran right through it. He waved the smoke away and used the momentum of the wave to turn it into the backswing of a punch, which he threw and landed on a shocked Bakugo's chin, causing his enemy to stumble back and sit down hard on the ground.
"Huh," Bakugo said calmly, climbing to his feet. "That's new."
Bakugo lunged and threw another explosion. This one was bigger, and Izuku had no hope of powering through it or dodging. The blast ripped up the street in front of Izuku and tossed him backward. He lost his footing and tumbled over the hard ground, but twisted himself into a roll and leapt back up to his feet. Izuku vaguely processed Iida across the street yelling at them, but his heart hammering in his chest blocked out everything but himself and his enemy. He ran at Bakugo and leapt into a roll to dodge another explosion. He pressed Bakugo, dodging and blocking, which forced him into using consecutive blasts, and Izuku knew that put a strain on the blond's arms, meaning the explosions would be weaker. Once one of those weaker explosions tried to catch him, Izuku blocked it and grabbed Bakugo's wrist with his covered hand and punched his opponent right in the stomach. Bakugo's free hand came up and hit him in the face in return, before blasting him right in the chest with a point-blank explosion, which sent Izuku flying through the air.
Izuku collided with something solid, and engines roared below him. Iida had caught him, as he discovered when he opened his eyes. The taller boy put Izuku back down on the ground and stood beside him, glaring at Bakugo with a fierce expression on his face. Izuku checked himself, but wasn't injured other than an ache in his chest that probably meant bruising later. There was a blackened circle right in the middle of his chest where the explosion had hit, with smoke wafting away from it, but the blast hadn't torn through his costume, so he thought it would still hold up. Izuku coughed as some of the smoke got in his face, but ignored it.
"Thank you," Izuku said, panting as he tried to catch his breath.
"What is he doing here?" Iida asked. His whole body was tense, and it looked like he was ready to move at any time. "Don't tell me this is the monster you spoke of earlier." Izuku's silence probably said more than he ever could. "Very well, then. Do we run or do we fight?"
"Running would be smart," Izuku huffed.
"Oh, you're not getting away this time, Deku!" Bakugo yelled, his eye twitching as he watched them strategise. "This is it. Do or die. Win or lose. You got that?"
Izuku chose to stay silent. He gave a look to Iida, which he hoped his friend would understand, and then moved. Running was the tiniest bit painful while he was still recovering from taking an explosion directly to the chest at point-blank range, but he made himself move. Izuku went one way, his path winding around to Bakugo's right, and Iida went the other, arriving at Bakugo's left significantly faster than Izuku. Iida opened with a sweeping kick that Bakugo dodged with a duck, but the blond couldn't dodge the axe kick that Iida followed up with using the same leg, bringing his heavily armoured foot down on Bakugo's head. Bakugo roared and didn't even try to get out of kicking range, simply throwing both his hands up and sending a massive explosion at Iida with a scream. Iida dodged this easily, as the engines in his calves came to life and propelled him to the side out of the way of the blast.
It was like All Might had shown them in class. In the moment that Bakugo fired off that blast, Izuku ran up and swept Bakugo's legs out from under him, forcing him to lose his footing and fall to the ground. Izuku got on top of Bakugo and tried to wrestle his hands into a position where making an explosion would only hurt himself. Bakugo struggled under Izuku and tried to send an explosion at Izuku from right up close again, but he couldn't completely overpower Bakugo, so he had to settle for redirecting the blast to the empty space next to them. The explosion's recoil sent them both tumbling across the street, causing Izuku to let Bakugo out of the grapple. The two of them got to their feet and readied themselves to clash again, but Iida once again raced down the street and tried to land a sweeping kick on Bakugo, blue fire streaming out of his engines. Bakugo had seemed to be ready for it this time, as he had dodged to the side with an explosion and sent another at Iida, who dodge it solely because his momentum was too great to stay in one place for so long as to get hit. He slid to a crouched, ready position and waited for Bakugo's next attack, but Izuku was distracted.
A sound, like metal clinking, pulled Izuku's attention. He had thought that another villain might've come to Bakugo's aid, but it was still just them three on the street. Instead, the sound had been a knife that had clattered to the ground near where Iida had been just a second ago. That was strange. Had someone tried to throw it at Iida? Could it have been … No. That was crazy. Then again, Bakugo attacking him like this in the middle of a normally crowded street during an attack on the city was also crazy.
"Quit your cheating, Deku!" Bakugo yelled. "Fight me one on one like a real man!"
"You wouldn't know the first thing about being a real man! You're just a kid, we all are! The difference between us is that I'm not stuck in a dream land where everything is about me!" Izuku yelled in return.
"Oh, I'm wide awake, Deku. You'll see just how real this is when you and your friend are dead, and I expose you for the fakes you are," Bakugo said, a high and breathy laugh catching Izuku by surprise. Had he just completely lost it after their last fight?
"I'm not going to engage with your messed up worldview. Are we fighting, or what? Or did you realise that you can't beat us without your new friends helping you out?" Izuku said. He was aware that it was a gamble. He didn't know for sure that Bakugo had joined up with real villains, but it was a pretty good guess. It couldn't all be a coincidence.
If Bakugo had been mad before, he was absolutely livid after that little jab. He launched himself forward with an explosion and flew right at Izuku. He used another explosion in the air to spin himself around and laughed as he did so. "I can kick too, you idiots!" Bakugo's spinning transitioned into an explosive mimicry of Iida's axe kick, which came down on Izuku hard. As Bakugo came at Izuku, he restored his other gauntlet and brought them both up over his head in a cross, blocking the kick with the incredible support items, even if he had to crouch to fully absorb the impact of the kick without hurting himself. He heard engines whirring and leapt upwards, pushing Bakugo slightly into the air as he forced the rabid blond away from himself and forced him into Iida's path, who jumped up into the air and used the momentum his Quirk gave him to pull off a leaping kick on Bakugo's side, sending him flailing through the air and landing on the street a dozen metres away.
Izuku ran up to Iida when he landed and they exchanged a nod. This was going surprisingly well. He thought they could beat Bakugo if things kept up like this. Izuku had never once thought himself capable of actually winning in a fight against Bakugo, but with Iida by his side his lack of close-range firepower was negated — or, at least, his unwillingness to use the close-range firepower he had was negated. Iida's Quirk was probably one of the best in the class, since it gave him a good balance of attack power and manoeuvrability. Aside from that, Iida had confidence in himself and he never hesitated before an attack, the way Izuku did. It probably came from being raised around heroes, in contrast to Izuku having to carefully manage his Quirk so that he didn't kill anyone. It was calming, empowering. It made Izuku feel like whatever he could do without his Quirk was enough, since there was no doubt that Iida could do the rest. That was why people had voted for him for class representative, though Yaoyorozu had managed to get the spot. Izuku relaxed slightly, the terror subsiding just a little bit.
A knife flew past Izuku's face and he flinched backwards, taking a few steps away and falling to the ground as something hard and fast crashed into his legs from behind after a series of metallic footsteps. Izuku twisted around and pushed himself up to his hands and knees as he swept his gaze across the street, his senses sharpening in panic as he heard a scream of pain from Iida. Izuku watched as a figure moved across the street like a shadow, metallic footsteps ringing out. They must have tripped Izuku. The figure was on Iida in an instant, pulling the knife that had missed Izuku by an inch out of a gap in Iida's armour at the shoulder. Izuku had thought the knife had been intended for himself and he'd dodged it, but the reality made itself apparent to him, Izuku's heart sank into a bottomless pit in his stomach. A tall, slender man, wrapped in a tan scarf and clothes in deep blacks, greys and reds, stood over Iida, who was completely still on the ground. A variety of weapons designed to slash and stab — swords, knives, spiked boots — hung off of him, and his long, prehensile tongue swept over the bloodied knife he retrieved as he grinned down at his prey. The Hero Killer had come to kill Ingenium a second time.
Izuku leapt to his feet, but the Hero Killer's red glare was even worse than Bakugo's. The cold, hateful stare sent a wave of dread crashing over Izuku, stunning him. Why weren't his feet moving? Was this his Quirk? Izuku begged his legs to push him forward, but they refused to work. His whole body was trembling even worse than when he'd thought Bakugo was going to kill him back during their first battle trial at UA. This was like that, but tenfold. It was made worse when he became painfully aware of Bakugo climbing to his feet and laughing like a maniac, but couldn't get himself to do anything about it.
"It's you," Iida said, his voice shaking terribly. "You're the one, aren't you?"
"Why do you wear that armour?" the Hero Killer asked abruptly.
Iida gaped at the villain standing over him. "I was inspired by a great man, a man you cut down and crippled for life! You can never kill Ingenium, though, not as long as a member of my family is willing to take up the name! I wear this armour for those who can't. Do you understand me, villain? I'll defeat you, Hero Killer, and make you pay for your crimes!"
"Not good enough," the Hero Killer said. "Die."
The Hero Killer raised the knife in his hands above his head. He looked down at Iida with his cold red glare, and brought the blade down forcefully. A wave of cool bluish white surged down the street and suddenly, the Hero Killer was leaping away from Iida and dodging a jagged semicircle of ice that sprang up around Iida, creating a barrier around the frozen boy and encasing him in a protective shield. Izuku's heart started beating again, and he found his whole body relaxing as he recognised that ice. The Hero Killer landed down the street by Bakugo, and they said something to each other, but Izuku didn't care what they had to say. He looked back and his eyes followed the line of ice on the ground to confirm that their saviour was who he thought it was. Shoto Todoroki, in a new hero costume consisting of a blue jumpsuit with white boots and white straps that wrapped around his shoulders, standing with his ice-covered right foot in front of him. Beside him, Izuku gasped as he spotted Ochako next to Todoroki, also in her hero costume — which somehow looked even better on her than it had the last time she'd worn it — and he felt as though he might literally melt into a little puddle on the ground out of sheer relief.
"Sorry for taking so long," Todoroki said, breathing out a puff of cold air.
"Do you two boys want some help?" Ochako asked, a big grin on her face.
"O—Cosmo!" Izuku said, his voice breaking.
"Iz—Breakthrough, are you and Tenya alright?" Ochako asked.
Izuku's attention snapped back to Iida. "Tenya!" He ran and kneeled over Iida, before sagging in relief. "He's okay!"
"Who are they?" Todoroki asked as he melted the ice he'd made.
Ochako forced her breathing to stay consistent as she took stock of the situation. Iida had been stabbed and Izuku's costume — it was cute that the colours had changed to match his hair, but that was irrelevant — was singed, but neither were critically injured, which lessened the tension in her shoulders. She'd been afraid that they would have been too late when they'd seen some of the fighting from down the street, but luckily Todoroki had just enough range to have saved Iida from that guy with the knives. Wait. Was that him, the Hero Killer? It had to be. So, Iida had been in Hosu for revenge. She would have to ask him how he was later. Ochako was not going to let him slip by her notice again. And beside the Hero Killer … Ochako's blood boiled. She had to avoid balling her hands up into fists so that she didn't float away. He wore a scarf that covered the bottom part of his face, but it was definitely Katsuki Bakugo. He'd finally gone full villain, huh? He had a few red welts on his face and arms, and he looked to be breathing hard, so Izuku and Iida had clearly put up a fight, but he was nowhere near going down. That was going to be much more difficult than simply keeping him busy until reinforcements had arrived. And then there was the Hero Killer. It looked like he'd just entered the battle, and that was the worst thing. Ochako wasn't sure that all of them teaming up together could defeat the Hero Killer, much less when Bakugo was around to cause problems. She had to think. What would All Might do here?
"I can't move!" Iida said through bared teeth. "My body won't move!"
"It might be the Hero Killer's Quirk! I was stunned as well, but I was probably just scared. How long have you been frozen?" Izuku said. It made it easier for Ochako to admit that she was scared when Izuku was so willing to, but the fear subsided as she took the Hero Killer's powers into consideration. Paralysis?
"Ever since he took me to the ground," Iida said.
"Right. Some kind of contact must be required. Is it just skin-to-skin, though, or is it something else?" Izuku said. Ochako often got the feeling that Izuku was speaking to himself more than he was to others when he got like this, but she was grateful for any information she could get at that moment. "What else did he do to Tenya and not to me? He licked the blood off the knife. That's gotta be it. He ingests blood to paralyse his victims! Perfect for an ambush predator."
The Hero Killer suddenly smiled, and laughed uproariously. He threw a knife at Izuku and ran after it, not pausing for a second when Izuku somehow managed to catch it in his hand, his furious expression not giving away any of the effort it took to accomplish that feat. Ochako noticed a second later that he had new, shiny gloves, so figured that they were what had allowed him to do that. Then, he pressed a panel on the wrist and the left glove vanished, which allowed him to swap hands with the knife and use his Quirk on it to reduce it to nothing. Stain stopped halfway to them then, pausing and observing how his weapon disintegrated with no effort on Izuku's part. Izuku scowled at the Hero Killer, no fear on his face, and Ochako felt a similar determination fill her. She finally realised what All Might would do. She moved.
Ochako became weightless with a slap to her shoulder, and leapt off the ground. She aimed at the wall of one of the taller buildings and jumped, moving slower than she knew Bakugo could through the air, but fast enough to build up some momentum. She then twisted around and pushed herself off of the wall horizontally, leaping toward the other side of the street, where she landed feet-first and pushed herself back toward the ground. Ochako streaked through the air, faster than she'd ever managed during training with Gran Torino, and came down on the Hero Killer. She kicked, and he blocked with the sword he'd drawn while she'd gathered speed, and Ochako went flying back toward the wall, where she pushed off and gained more speed as she bounced back and forth. She chastised herself for forgetting that her attack would have no follow-through if she was still weightless. She tried again, twice as fast after a few more rebounds, and released her Quirk on herself in the moment before impact so that when she kicked, the Hero Killer's sword took the entirety of her forward momentum and shattered. He went skidding back after her heel dug into his wrist and the spring in her boot transformed all her acceleration into force that surged into him. She landed clumsily, but Izuku and Todoroki quickly arrived to back her up as she pushed the Hero Killer back toward Bakugo.
"Since when can you do that?" Izuku asked as he stared at her with wide eyes and a grin on his face.
"Since yesterday!" Ochako said, returning the grin.
"They're not done," Todoroki shouted, crouching low and sliding his right foot out in front of him as he returned to his fighting stance.
The Hero Killer wasn't quivering in fear by any means, but his posture had changed, and his eyes were narrowed as he glared at all three of the hero students left standing, like he was re-evaluating their strength. Ochako felt a rush at having gotten that reaction out of the famed villain, but she knew that the one trick she had is the one she'd used, so she wouldn't be able to surprise him like that again. She was fine with that. Ochako would have to leave it to Izuku and Todoroki to get in close and fight him in melee. Her attention was pulled by Bakugo, though. He was standing there, crimson scarf fluttering in the faint breeze, and staring at the three of them with narrow eyes and explosions crackling in his hands. Bakugo was trembling, and all of his limbs were shaking so violently that she thought she might hear creaking if she were closer to him. But it wasn't fear. It was as if those red eyes shone with the sheer hate and rage he had to have felt in that moment, as he saw Ochako and Todoroki come to Izuku's rescue. He stood there, seething, and let out a raw animal scream that made Ochako flinch.
"How dare you extras interrupt me?" Bakugo yelled. "This was supposed to be it! The final fight! Do you have any idea how stupid it is to want to help a murderer and his lackey?"
"A murderer? Who are you talking about?" Ochako asked.
"He means me," Izuku said with a grimace. He looked Bakugo right in the eye across the distance. "As if he's one to talk, working with a known serial killer! Seriously, Bakugo, I knew you were delusional, but that's a bit much, don't you think?"
"Enough!" Bakugo said, and launched himself forward with an explosion.
The same moment that Bakugo began surging forward, riding his explosions about as quickly as Ochako could zip around while weightless, the Hero Killer moved as well, dashing forward on his own two legs even faster than Bakugo's explosive speed. The Hero Killer was upon them in an instant, slashing through a barrier of ice that Todoroki erected in the moment prior like it wasn't even there. How was he so strong? Ochako made herself weightless and leapt up and onto a wall, where she began bouncing back and forth like Gran Torino trying to build up speed for another attack. She tried to tag Bakugo as she passed him and he sped by, but he used an explosion to change his trajectory and streak through the air after Izuku, who dodge his initial blast in the opposite direction of Todoroki, who began battling the Hero Killer one on one with his ice. As Ochako figured that she'd built up enough speed to pull off another attack, she took stock as best she could while still bouncing back and forth and gathering speed by the second.
Todoroki kept trying for precision, manifesting spikes of ice that rose from the ground and tried to skewer the Hero Killer unless he dodged, which he always did. In return, the Hero Killer never failed to slash through Todoroki's icy defences and get in close despite the boy's attempts to shield with his ice. Again, how in the world was the Hero Killer so powerful? The Hero Killer used the remnants of a spike to leap up and attempt a leaping slash down at Todoroki, which he didn't quite dodge and received a tiny slash on his right eyebrow for. The Hero Killer surged forward with his tongue out, which made Ochako think that Izuku had been correct about the villain's Quirk, but was repelled by a burst of deep red fire that illuminated the entire street and melted the nearby ice while it forced the Hero Killer to retreat. Meanwhile, Izuku fought Bakugo hand-to-hand, both of his hands covered up so that he couldn't even use his Quirk while dodging and parrying Bakugo's explosions skillfully while stealing glances at the other battle going on while dealing with his own. Ochako knew that Izuku could defend himself, as he had before she had shown up, but she felt the pull to help him. She had to trust that he could make it. Todoroki was focused on keeping the Hero Killer away from himself and Iida, whereas Izuku would have just one thing to focus on.
Ochako steeled herself and pushed off toward the Hero Killer, releasing her Quirk and kicking him between the shoulder blades when he dodged backward from another surge of fire, sending him face-first into a pillar of ice that he had to slice to pieces to avoid. If she could just touch him without a risk of him cutting her, she'd do it, but she had to make sure he was unarmed first. She landed beside Todoroki and Iida, who was still paralysed, and caught her breath from the backlash of using her Quirk so much. She was better than she used to be about dealing with it and powering through, but it would never not be a problem for her. She stared the Hero Killer down as Todoroki melted the ice between them in favour of a clear line of sight. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and nodded, a gesture she returned.
"Let's do this, Todoroki! We're not gonna let him hurt our friends!" Ochako said. Her voice broke, but she didn't have the spare energy to be embarrassed about it.
"Yeah," he replied steadily.
This was fine. It was all fine. Really. Katsuki would've preferred if Deku had tried to do his martyr crap and fight him solo because he didn't want anyone else to get hurt over a personal matter, or whatever the hell he would come up with. It was bad enough that Glasses over there had gotten involved. He didn't have to check to know that he was going to be feeling that for a long time. Stain had put that interfering asshole down, though, even if it was apparently not enough to finish him off. And then Flabby and Scarface had shown up. That was where Katsuki had almost really lost it. It was bad enough that Scarface was there, since that prick's ice was more or less a counter to his Quirk, but Flabby was one of the ones Deku had brainwashed fully and completely. They'd gone to use first names with each other, which made Katsuki sick. Were they …? He wouldn't have manipulated her that hard. He couldn't have? Could he?
Katsuki let the outrage and disgust he felt bubbling in his chest and in his stomach fuel his movements as he went hand-to-hand with Deku. It didn't matter that the tide had turned. It didn't matter that Deku had more numbers on his side than Katsuki did on his. It didn't matter that Scarface turned out to be capable of fire as well, or that he could barely keep track of Flabby's movements when she really got going. None of that mattered to Katsuki. All that mattered was Deku and himself, fighting like they were always meant to, alone as his two brainwashed lackeys tried and tried to protect Glasses as he failed to get up off the ground like a weakling. Stain could handle them, he had killed heroes stronger than them before. He had Deku all to himself, then, and he was going to savour every last bit of this.
Deku ducked under one of his explosions and landed an uppercut on the chin. Katsuki grunted in pain and glared at him, but the nerd seemed to have gotten over the pathetic weakness that had made him flinch at his gaze in the past. So he did have a spine, then. Deku pressed the opening he'd created and threw a punch with his other hand that landed right under Katsuki's ribs on his side, the hard material of his costume digging into him. He would cheat like that and use metal knuckles. Anything to not use his Quirk and maintain the fragile illusion he had built with these weaklings. Katsuki roared and brought his leg up to kick Deku out of melee range, but the bastard just dodged his kick and swept his other leg out from under him, sending him to the ground.
"Just stay down, you idiot!" Deku yelled.
"Never!" Katsuki screamed back.
The moment that Deku shifted his weight to wrestle with him on the ground, Katsuki threw an explosion at him. The nerd blocked it with his fancy metal sleeves and his stupid fireproof costume, but still had to roll with the force of the attack. That's when Katsuki leapt to his feet and jumped up, blowing the smoke away with a swing of his arm, and triggered a chain of explosions in his right hand. The force of those explosions, couple with him being in the air, propelled him into a slow turn and he spun around elbow-first due to the way he held his arm. That elbow slammed into Deku's high cross block, and Katsuki snarled.
"Stop that!"
While he was still held aloft by the block, Katsuki triggered another chain explosion in his left hand, holding his arm the same as his right, and spun around the opposite way so that his left elbow landed solidly in Deku's chest, throwing him back and forcing the air from his lungs. Deku staggered back as Katsuki landed on the ground, his elbows feeling a little sore after putting them through that move. Pain didn't matter, either. He was just thrilled to know that move worked. As Deku spluttered and caught his breath, he looked at Katsuki with shock and recognition all over his face. The nerd had to have realised what had happened, and Katsuki grinned at the thought.
"That move," Deku wheezed.
"That's right, Deku. I went to your house. Your pathetic mother didn't want to do the right thing, so I had to be a little rough with her. Sorry," Katsuki said with a big grin. "At least I got one thing out of that disgusting place. A few new moves and a good idea of how to deal with some of the fake heroes you've brainwashed into being your number one fans! What a reward!"
Deku looked at him, and a little bit of the old fear finally showed through on his face. A heartbeat later it was gone, replaced by burning hot anger as he tapped one of the little black panels on his white arm guards. The thing disappeared again, compressing into the wristband that remained. Katsuki grinned as he noted that it was the left hand Deku had unveiled, and he realised that he could make it match the other one finger for finger, or lack thereof. Deku immediately ran away, speeding toward the double doors of that fool Manual's agency. Katsuki's palms itched, the annoyance and frustration beginning to get to him, but he gave chase, blasting himself up into the air and descending on Deku as he used his uncovered hand to disintegrate one of the poles on the double door out of its place and held it like that chick from the sports festival, the one with the staff. Katsuki halted his downward momentum and landed just outside the improvised weapon's range, scoffing.
"You think that's gonna take me down, Deku? Do you really think I'm so stupid that I'd just fall right into your trap?" Katsuki asked, his hands twitching as they ached to release his Quirk.
"You're right. I think that might be too clever for you," Deku said.
Katsuki went to shoot Deku back with a retort to his insult, but his attention was pulled to the weapon he'd made out of the door handle. Deku was holding the staff with both hands, but his uncovered hand only had two fingers touching the pole at a time, probably for balance purposes. Why was that? Deku could've easily held it with four of his fingers and not triggered his Quirk, so the balancing game was unnecessary. Unless that had changed. It looked like the five-point activation mechanic of the bastard's Quirk had been removed somehow, replaced with a new requirement. That was something to be wary of.
"You won't be calling me stupid when he kills your little buddies and I split your skull on this damn sidewalk, Deku!" Katsuki roared.
Deku took a glance at the others, and Katsuki let him. Their little fight had taken them about twenty or thirty metres down the street, and the other battle had already more or less destroyed a large portion of the road. Stain was handling the three stooges over there, but because of how fast Flabby and Glasses were, and the area over which Scarface could attack, he wasn't doing a lot of damage and was almost purely playing defence, which had Katsuki's heart sinking. The infamous Hero Killer that Katsuki had always heard about would never be stalemated by a bunch of first year hero brats. Scarface had put up pillars of ice for Flabby to bounce around on and gain speed, and boxed Stain in with fire attacks that seemed to be making his left arm a bright, patchy red. Glasses would also use the alleys and side-streets to build up speed for big attacks, which left Stain scrambling to dodge. Katsuki wondered if Stain might lose, but he couldn't think like that if he wanted to beat Deku then and there.
"See? You've abandoned your pals to the Hero Killer. What a hero," Katsuki said, his tone oozing superiority.
"I didn't abandon anyone! Cosmo and Shoto made a choice to help Tenya and I out, because we're all friends, and I'll be grateful for that forever. I guess you don't understand that, though, because you don't care about anyone but yourself!" Deku yelled.
That was enough crap out of that liar's mouth. Katsuki pressed Deku again, launching himself toward the bastard at full speed. Deku tried to swing the pole at him, but Katsuki pushed himself up and over with his Quirk and flipped over him. The bastard got tricky and tried to repurpose the swing of his failed attack and catch him on the other side, but Katsuki stomped down on the pole and pushed himself down on it with an explosion, which bent it so badly that it could no longer be used for the purpose Deku needed it for. Katsuki pushed off with a kick to Deku's chest and landed on the ground as the bastard staggered backward and threw the pole to the ground. Katsuki ran at Deku and prepped a blast in his hand as Deku returned the favour and charged as well. Deku ducked down and pressed his uncovered hand to the ground, which cracked and shattered under the lightest touch. Just seeing those spider web lines sink into the sidewalk sent shivers up Katsuki's spine. He dug up chunks of sidewalk from the patch of ruined ground and threw it at Katsuki, momentarily blocking his view.
Katsuki screamed angrily and threw a blind kick at where he thought Deku's head was. He couldn't afford to lose even a single moment to that bastard. A moment later, the small chunks of debris that Deku had thrown up as a smokescreen fell away from his face and he could see again. Katsuki redoubled his efforts, sending another kick at Deku, powered by an explosion. He could see it in the scum's eyes as his body fought his fight or flight reflex, torn between the two. Ultimately, he could tell from the way the nerd's body tensed that he chose to fight against this particular attack instead of flee. That was good, Katsuki wanted to earn this. He brought his leg down on Deku hard in an axe kick like he'd done earlier. Deku's damn arm brace took the hit as his other hand came up to grab his leg, but they both froze mid-attack. His other hand. The uncovered one. Deku had acted on pure reflex and grabbed his leg with his whole, unrestrained hand.
The leg of his pants was shredded instantly. Lines like geometric patterns crawled up his leg, painless despite the look of it.
Fuck.