Midoriya POV
I'm frozen in fear. Looking at that monster slamming Aizawa's battered body into the concrete. I want to do something. Next to me, Tsu and Mineta stand in shock, covering their mouths to suppress the screams we all have the urge to let out. What do we do?
The warping villain appears back next to the head villain with hands all over his body. The darkened mass speaks in a deep voice, "Tomura Shigaraki."
"Kurogiri, did you kill Thirteen?"
"I put Thirteen out of action..." The warping villain confirms. Next to me, Tsu shudders as our fear doubles. If both Aizawa and Thirteen are out of commission... The warping villain adds on, "But there were students that I was unable to disperse, one of them got away." We have a chance. Hopefully, help will arrive soon. I glance at Aizawa's mangled body. Let's hope they arrive in time.
"Huh?" The hand-covered villain starts scratching his neck erratically. For some reason, the action is deeply unsettling. His voice takes on an angry tone, "Kurogiri, you...If you weren't a warp gate, I would've crushed you to pieces."
"I thought I'd also inform you that Himiko Kai is also here. As a UA student."
"Kai?" The villain stops scratching his neck. How do they know Kai? Is she in danger? The villain slowly lowers his hands, his voice growing calmer, "We can't win against dozens of pros. And I—I can't win against her. It's game over." His shoulders slump slightly in defeat, "Let's go home."
"They're going home?" Mineta asks timidly, "Did he say they're going home?"
"That's what I heard..." Tsu mumbles.
Mineta begins crying, "Thank god! We're saved!" I hear a splash followed by the sounds of Mineta drowning, but Tsu calmly speaks.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Midoriya."
"I agree. For them to just retreat after going through all this trouble..." My mind spins.
Don't they want to kill All Might? If they leave now, UA will improve its security. 'Game over'? What's going on? What are they planning?
My thoughts are interrupted by the blue-haired villain speaking up, "Oh yeah, before we leave..." He turns slowly and my body fills with dread. His next words send a chill down my spine, "Let's destroy some of his pride as the Symbol of Peace!" He moves quickly, evil red eyes glinting from behind his hand mask. Images of Aizawa's arm crumbling—of Tsu crumbling to dust in the same way—flash through my mind. I–can't—move—fast—enough—
The villain's hand rests in front of Asui's face, her eyes wide in fear. The villain pauses, glancing over his shoulder, "Damn it. You really are cool...Eraser Head." From behind, Aizawa lifts his head from the pavement. Through tangled hair and blood, his eyes glow red. The muscular creature with the exposed brain slams our teacher back into the pavement, stopping the effects of his quirk. But it buys me just enough time. My body moves before I can think.
Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap! As I fly towards him, fear and adrenaline spike through my body. I've gotta save Asui and run away. A strangled cry that I barely recognize as my own exits my throat, "Let go of her!" I feel my quirk firing up. "...SMASH!" A strong wind gusts through the entire dome, clouding my vision with smoke and dust.
When the dust clears, I come across a shocking discovery.
My arm's not broken?! I was able to control my power, now, of all times. A feeling of ecstasy runs through me. I did it! I was able to get in a good smash—
A shadow hulks over me. Solid muscles, exposed brain, gaping maw pulled into a cruel smile, and soulless eyes. When did he— My fist rests against his stomach, the creature unaffected by my smash.
I remember what Asui said— "Don't you think they wouldn't be trying so hard if they didn't have a way to kill him?"
No way...
Kai POV
I get a bad feeling the moment I sense a surge of power followed by an enormous gust of wind. The energy of whatever attack just happened...it was strong. I grab Kirishima and Bakugou by the arms, "We need to get over there!" I break into a sprint, dragging the two behind me.
As we run, I focus on my aura sensing ability. Everyone's spread out. But the biggest mass of auras comes from the center. Shigaraki, Kurogiri, Midoriya, Asui, Mineta, Aizawa, and something...strange. The foreign, unidentified energy feels wrong—inhuman.
There's another surge in energy followed by a loud noise from across the dome. This energy is unmistakable, it All Might. If their mission was to kill All Might...maybe he shouldn't have come here.
"Kai—we can run by ourselves." Kirishima winces slightly under my grip. I stop in my tracks, releasing him and Bakugou. My breath is unsteady, and I can feel panic gripping my chest.
"I—sorry—" I exhale shakily, "We need—we need to get over there." I can sense Bakugou and Kirishima's uneasiness at my shaky state, but I only turn around and sprint forward. I should be relieved that All Might's here, but I can't shake the feeling that something's going to go terribly wrong.
My quirk is buzzing, sensing my distress and jumping to protect me. The activeness of my quirk improves everything. The energy currents that I use to navigate terrain with my blindness grow easier to sense, it's almost like I can see every little pebble, twig, and crack in the pavement. My aura sensing grows hypersensitive. I can tell where everyone is, and their general physical condition. And more than anything, my Chakra stirs and ebbs through my body, causing my fingertips to heat up, producing thermal energy fuelled by my chakra.
I firmly inform Bakugou and Kirishima of the situation we're running towards, "All Might's here. Aizawa's barely conscious and he's pretty beat up, Thirteen's completely unconscious and in critical condition. All our classmates are currently without any major injuries from what I can tell." I lower my head, "There's a really powerful being here. I don't know if it's a person, but it's strong. If I had to guess...it's probably what they planned to kill All Might with. A battle is about to go down, and we can only hope that All Might wins." I slow my pace as we reach the edge of the Ruins Zone, "While he deals with that, our best bet is to get Kurogiri out of the picture. Without his warping, they won't be able to escape. We can hold the villains here until more help arrives."
I come to a complete stop, not quite ready to enter the unfamiliar area. My hands clench into fists, "I can hold Kurogiri, I want you guys to attack his physical body. It's protected by a neck plate. You'll be able to find it. If you can get him pinned, Bakugou, one good threat to blow his ass skywards will keep him from trying anything. He doesn't have a lot of vulnerable areas, but he wears that neck plate because he's extremely vulnerable on the small part of physical body he has."
I sense another surge of energy as All Might begins to unleash attacks. The dread in my body makes me feel sick. Just on the edge of where the main fight is happening, we take cover behind some rocks. I gag and suddenly, I'm throwing up the small amount of food I've consumed today.
"Whoa—Kai, you okay?" Kirishima asks, gently rubbing my back. After a moment, a pair of hands reaches towards my face before carefully pulling my hair from my face. With Bakugou holding my hair back and Kirishima rubbing my back, I manage to finish throwing up and stand upright.
"I'm f-fine." I shake my head, "It's just my quirk getting overstimulated."
"Have you had any water today?" Kirishima asks sweetly, patting my shoulder.
"Other than the half-cup of tea I had for breakfast this morning? No." I groan, ignoring how light-headed I feel.
"Tch. Idiot. No wonder you feel so shitty." Bakugou scoffs before shoving something into my hands, "Here. I brought this in the extra pocket of my hero suit since we were supposed to be training and I thought I'd need it. There's electrolytes and shit...or whatever." It's a small bottle of some sort of energy drink. I gladly take it, downing the whole bottle. It's strawberry flavored and I feel some of my strength return almost immediately. I didn't even realize I was so dehydrated.
"Thank you." I sense another energy surge that I now recognize as All Might's quirk in action, "We need to get going. Now." Loud sounds of explosion come from the clearing ahead of us, indicating an intense battle.
Reinvigorated by the energy drink, my quirk is ready to go, sensing the mass of energies colliding in battle. I also sense Kurogiri interfering in the battle. If Kurogiri's interfering, than it's not looking good for All Might. I urge myself to run faster, hoping I can stop this before any severe damage is dealt. Oh my god, Kurogiri's gonna try to rip All Might apart.
My feet pound on the concrete, my breath ragged and frenzied. I may not have much in the way of motivation to be a hero, but I know that All Might is essential to the security of our society.
He can't die, not like this.
I sense Kurogiri near us and I put my quirk into action. Midoriya sprints forward, helplessly lurching towards an open warp. Stepping in front of the boy, I stop the dark energy from moving and shout over my shoulder, "Bakugou! NOW!" There's an explosion followed by the sound of metal scraping against pavement as Bakugou pins Kurogiri down. There's another surge of energy as Shoto Todoroki makes his appearance known. I sensed him nearby earlier, so I'd hoped he'd be able to join in the fight.
"All I heard was that you guys were here to kill All Might." Todoroki says plainly in a low voice, sounding almost calm. Yet his voice carries a threatening tone.
"All Might!" Midoriya cries out.
I'm distracted by the sound of Kirishima charging. When I realize who he's attacking, I spin around, "Kirishima, no!" Shigaraki dodges Kirishima's attack, and to my relief, doesn't counter. Kirishima whines about not getting his moment to show off while Bakugou taunts him, telling him to stop acting so stuck-up.
Todoroki says, "The Symbol of Peace cannot be killed by the likes of you." His words hold deep meaning, and it's a fierce challenge to the enemy. But it also makes me think if 'the likes of you' should apply to me. Am I really any better than the likes of Kurogiri and Shigaraki?
Everyone's attention is drawn to Tomura Shigaraki, and even though I can't see him, I can feel his gaze on me. Tomura sighs, "Kurogiri, how could you let this happen? Now we're in a real tight spot."
Bakugou responds almost too gleefully, "You careless bastard. Kai was right, only parts of you can turn into a warp gate. The fog covers your actual body, right?" The boy chuckles, "Back then...if you were completely made out of mist and physical attacks couldn't hurt you, you wouldn't have reacted the way you did." For a moment, Kurogiri struggles until a small explosion goes off, "Don't move. If I feel like you're moving suspiciously, then I'll blow you up."
"That's not very hero-like..." Kirishima mumbles.
Tomura stands there, spectating the whole scene. His aura mixes with frustration and the slightest hint of awe. He speaks in a low voice full of authority, "Nomu." There's a strange scraping and crumbling noise as the creature moves around.
In a mix of horror and awe, Midoriya mumbles, "Even though his body's broken... he's still moving?"
"Get back, everyone!" All Might orders. There's a shattering sound followed by a surge of energy coming from the creature. It almost seems like he's...regenerating. All Might shifts in confusion, "What?! His quirk wasn't shock absorption?" And in that moment, I come to a horrifying realization that explains why this creature has such high amounts of quirk energy and almost no aura or chakra.
Tomura's next words confirm my theory and make my blood run cold, "I didn't say that was all he had...This is his super regeneration. Nomu has been modified to take you at 100%. He's a super-efficient human punching bag."
I clench my fists, "No, you're wrong. He's not human." I turn my head in disgust, "Not anymore."
"Ah. It's so nice to hear your voice, Kai." Tomura speaks warmly, in a way that only torments me, "To think we'd end up standing on opposite sides of the fight. Your betrayal breaks my heart. But it's not too late. Your dear parents miss you."
Todoroki starts, "Kai, what—"
Tomura chuckles, "As much as I'd love to stay and chat, I'm afraid we'll have to catch up some other time." His attention turns away from me, "First, we need our escape route back. Go, Nomu." The moment he utters the order, my quirk springs to life, sensing the sudden energy surge from the horrid creature that Shigaraki calls Nomu. It's heading straight for Bakugou.
My body moves without me thinking.