Iida and Midoriya got down with the help of Todoroki as you finally heaved a sigh of relief.
You manage to return Midoriya's color and as soon as the two get down, they turn to you. In an instant, all three boys rush over to your side, Midoriya being first as he gently holds your face in his hands and tilts it to the side to see your ear, "W-What the-?! Midoriya?!"
"[Last Name], we need to treat it immediately." You hear Todoroki speak up at your other side, in a dead serious voice, making you freeze in surprise.
"Guys, it's fine! I can't even feel the pain-"
It's true, though.
Your ear is still bleeding and frankly, you can't hear anything unless it's someone shouting but the fatigue of making the illusion, and the adrenaline really is helping you feel no pain.
"It's not fine!" You are taken aback by Iida's outburst, a pained look on his face, "It's not fine, [Last Name]-kun... Your-Your ear... it's literally amputated! How is that fine?!" Native decides to give you all some space to address each other as Midoriya finally decides to be the voice of reason.
"Just sit down for a little, and give us the first aid kit. You can't clean your wound like this, we'll do it for you."
You can't help but sigh, as you comply to their request. You hand the greenette the first aid kit and seat yourself on the ground, making the three boys look at each other then at the first aid kit, thinking about who needs to do what right now.
"Iida-kun, there's some rope in the trash collection area, can you use that to tie up Stain?" The armoured male nods, not meeting your gaze as he leaves, making Midoriya and Todoroki share a look.
"Midoriya, you should sit down too. Your legs were cut, you can't stand for too long like this." The greenette hesitantly gives Todoroki the first aid kit and almost instantly, he begins to open it to reveal the contents.
"Iris!!" You all stop in your tracks when you hear a familiar voice yell your hero name, making you turn in its direction, "Flashgate?" She looks ahead at Iida who's tying the Hero Killer with a rope, and her eyes drift back to you, who has dried blood stuck to your side.
"Y-You... What happened?!" She rushes over to your side, carefully inspecting you and her actions remind you of a worried mother.
"The fight's ended already. We're just tying him up so he can't get away when he wakes up." You explain to her and she shakes her head as she looks even more worried, "Not that!! What happened to you?! Why do you have so much blood-wait... Where the fuck is your left ear?!"
You wince at her loud volume. Just because your ear got cut off doesn't mean you're deaf now...
"He managed to cut my ear off, but I can't really feel any pain right now so don't worry, uh... You should go check on Edgeshot and the other heroes... They were fighting a Nomu."
You watch as she grows conflicted. On one hand, she does not want to leave you alone again, even if you might have your friends with you. But at the same time, it's her duty to join battle as soon as this one is confirmed to have ended.
"I-I... I can't just leave you like this! I'll call for Dyson-"
"Flashgate, I'm fine... Don't worry, besides my friend's gonna start patching me up anyways, so don't bother. I'm sure Dyson's busy because he must have been dispatched to the fight scene." She still seems hesitant so you flash her a nonchalant smile to seal the deal. Seeing you smile with such ease calms her down and she finally nods.
Seeing her worry is really weird. It seems really unlike her usually cold and apathetic personality.
"Fine... But treat yourself first, okay?" You nod in promise and she finally leave, which leaves you and your friends alone again.
You watch Todoroki slowly cleaning your blood, very, very carefully. It's almost annoying how slowly he's cleaning it, "Is everything okay, Todoroki?" You ask him and he grimaces.
"I don't like bloody wounds." Ah... Yeah, you should have known.
"Yeah, I remember. You were pretty grossed out when we had to dissect that frog back in mid-Ow! Watch it, asshole!" You know he's somewhat embarrassed about that incident, because this asshole applied a little too much pressure while cleaning the wound.
"Sorry." He doesn't even sound like he's even the slightest bit guilty!!
"You don't sound very apologetic."
"Because I'm not, you deserved that." This little...
You can feel your eyes twitch in anger at his words but just barely hold yourself back from hitting his nose with your head.
You also realise he's especially using his right hand to cool the cut-off area, because your wound feels warm. It's due to the white blood cells that are fighting germs or bacteria and in return, releasing heat.
Maybe it's the fatigue that gets you, or maybe it's because it's really comfy with Todoroki's cool arm against your face that you opt to close your eyes to ease up.
"Don't sleep." He mutters and you scrunch up your face in annoyance while cracking your eyes open, "I'm not sleeping."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not. I just closed my eyes because I'm tired."
"Closed your eyes to sleep, you mean? Because you're tired." Alright, this guy is getting on your last nerves right now!!
"Don't sass me, damn it. Or else, I'll throw a dead frog at you..." You grumble and Native can only sweatdrop as he watches you two banter. As expected, Todoroki is definitely bantering a lot more playfully than you, who seems to be getting more and more annoyed by the boy's quips.
He takes the antibiotic in your kit and was about to put it when you stopped him, "Don't! Amputated areas shouldn't have antibiotics applied to them!" He looks at you in confusion, "Then, what should I put?"
"Well... Petroleum jelly is mostly used, but since we don't have that right now, just dampen a piece of gauze and place it there. Use some medical tape to fix it in place." He nods quietly and follows your instructions, making sure to follow whatever you say because you clearly know more about this than he does.
"It's honestly amazing how you've got small bits of knowledge from every field, [Last Name]-san!" You hear Midoriya praise you, and you feel your cheeks turning red already, "N-Nah, it's just random knowledge! I just read a lot on the internet..."
"That's even more admirable!" It doesn't seem like he's gonna relent until the greenette has finally given you a compliment so you decided to spare yourself the embarrassment, and just thank him quietly.
Unbeknownst to you, Midoriya is doing everything he can to keep his mind off of the fact that you got hurt while protecting him.
The guilt of you getting severly hurt just to save him and Todoroki was eating him away on the inside and the only way the frustration was exhibited was through the tears that were beginning to pool in his eyes, no matter how many times he tried to wipe them away.
"Okay, done." You heard the dual haired male at your side mutter and you quietly thank him too, before finally reclaiming your first aid kit.
"Midoriya, Iida, Todoroki. Get over here, I'll patch you all up too so you guys don't get an infection."
"[Last Name]-kun, it's fine. You're the only one that was severely injured out of us-" Iida stopped midway when he caught sight of the terrifying glare you were giving him, making him immediately shut up and lower his head quietly.
You had Todoroki make you some more clean water by melting his ice and used that to clean the blood off of their wounds, before using the antibiotic in your kit (you just recently started carrying it in your first aid kit after the USJ incident).
First off, was Midoriya. His legs had quite a few slashes and the last thing you wanted was for it to get infected. You cleaned it up, nice and gently and the greenette was trying his hardest to not squeak in pain everytime you brushed his injuries.
Next, Todoroki's arm. He took the cleaning of his wounds like a champ, and you were almost concerned how well he was taking it, "Todoroki, are you sure it doesn't hurt? Are the bandages too tight?" He shook his head with a monotone look, "It doesn't hurt that much. My father hits harder." Your eyes widened in shock and your mouth was agape over what he just said.
O... kay!!
Moving on!!
Thank God, finally you're done with Todoroki and his trauma-dumping self to move onto Iida. The boy still hadn't met your gaze as he kept his eyes lowered in shame, occasionally glancing over to the dried blood on your face's side and the bloody gash on your arm, from one of Stain's knives.
"Iida-san, are you okay?" You asked him as he subtly nodded, making you heave a sigh as you didn't know what else to say to him.
Finally, all of you were treated and you ultimately began to walk towards the main area of the fight, dragging along Stain, who is still tied and unconscious.
Iida was the one who was pulling him along as you keep on checking your phone for any updates on the status of the fight, either from Dyson or Flashgate. You're not sure if Box Fist or Silver Bullet were even in the area, but you just hoped for the heroes to have defeated the Nomu already.
You made sure to secure your gun back into its custom holster, while Native carried Midoriya since his legs still ached. Just as you all were about to walk away from the alley, you were met with the frail old man again, who seemed shocked to see you all.
Rightfully so, he was even more shocked to find out you guys had already defeated the Hero Killer, and he even went as far as to kick Midoriya in the face, making you cringe.
Seeing Midoriya's mentor reminds you of your own mentor, whom you had just left in mid-battle, completely neglecting his orders. Well, not completely... You did call for backup, it's not your fault they were gonna be so late that your friends would have potentially died.
Even Flashgate, who's the fastest in the agency after Edgeshot, came in whole minute late after the fight had ended.
You couldn't help but sigh in worry, praying that Edgeshot isn't too disappointed with you.
Like clockwork, another round of sidekicks (this time, Endeavor's) rush over to you guys, only to be shocked by the fact that the Hero Killer had already been captured.
"Everyone... I really am sorry... for my unheroic actions... I was blinded by my anger, and that caused me to not just put my own life on the line, but also endanger the lives of you three, too... I know an apology won't make the cut, but I truly am thankful for you guys..." Iida spoke up, his head hung low in shame as Todoroki turned to him with a small frown, "Pull yourself together. You're the class president, things like this are unavoidable. No one blames you for feeling this way, so don't even bother apologizing."
You're rather impressed by Todoroki and his consoling skill, or the lack, thereof.
But before you can agree with the dual haired male's statement, you hear the old man yelling at you all to duck, and your reflexes act faster than your mind, because you are already bent down.
A winged Nomu flies atop of you all and suddenly... Midoriya is gone from your side.
"Midoriya-san!!" You yell out, fear pulsing through your veins for the safety of your friend as the winged creature tries to carry him away.
Gran Torino prepares to kick the creature, and Todoroki prepares to light it on fire. Meanwhile, you pull out your gun take aim to shoot straight into the creature's head, but before any of you can attack, you watch how the Nomu stops flying and acts as if it's been paralyzed.
It doesn't take you even a second to connect the dots, but Stain is faster as he rushes ahead of you all and jumps at the creature, stabbing its brain and killing it, while saving Midoriya.
Stain stands up and looks back at you all and despite being heavily injured, states that the 'fake' pro heroes and the pathetic criminals in society are the targets for his purge, saying that everything he is doing is for a fair world.
By now, Endeavor and Edgeshot, along with Flashgate, Silver Bullet, and Dyson have also arrived and just when Endeavor's about to attack the Hero Killer, Gran Torino stops him.
You can feel the chills run down your spine as Stain's mask falls off, revealing the lack of his nose. He proceeds to step forward and state that the fake heroes must be rectified and the word hero must be restored. He urges the 'pretenders' to try and stop him.
As he continues walking forward, Stain declares that the only one who is allowed to kill him is All Might.
By now, he is releasing such a terrifying blood lust that one of Endeavor's sidekicks falls to the ground, and your two friends at your side, Todoroki and Iida also fall to their knees. You, on the other hand, can feel the hair on your body rising as your fight-or-flight response kicks in, and you want nothing more than to run away from that maleficent aura.
But you can't. You're absolutely frozen in utter fear, so much so that you can't even feel your own body shaking fervently. Even Endeavor and Edgeshot are taken aback.
As the Hero Killer takes another step forward, the effects of the sedative and his injuries that he had been neglecting for so long, finally kick in and he finally falls unconscious... yet he doesn't ever fall down.
He passed out while standing.
Everyone just stands there for a good minute, still trying to process what just happened. The first one to move is obviously Endeavor as he cautiously walks over to the passed out Stain.
"He's knocked out, get the restraints." Endeavor speaks in a gruff voice as he orders his sidekicks, the latter immediately scurrying over to provide the said restraints.
"W-What... just happened?" Midoriya mutters as Gran Torino rushes to help him up, you are still in a state of fear, shaking like a leaf as both your classmates are also still on their knees.
"Get up, Shoto." You hear Endeavor order as the boy finally breaks out of his shock, "Huh? What...?"
By now, Edgeshot and the rest of his sidekicks have also broken out of their stupor, and immediately the ninja hero's gaze is on you.
"Iris..." He mutters, making you gulp nervously as you can finally the strength in you to stop shaking. At your side, Shoto is helping Iida up.
The masked hero walks up to and tilts his head, gingerly grabbing you from the chin and tilting your head to see your ear, now fully covered by the bandage that Todoroki had put for you.
"Your ear... what happened?" His voice is completely and utterly calm, almost chillingly calm. He isn't even angry that you fought against the Hero Killer when he had told you to stay put, he is just... calm.
And that's all the more scary.
"Mr. Edgeshot, I can explain-"
"What happened to your ear?" He cuts you off and your heart drops in fear, "S-Stain... he cut if off..."
You hear him hum before he turns to Flashgate, "You were meant to reach there as reinforcement... Where were you?" This time, you hear a slight edge to his tone. And it terrifies you.
You don't want him to take his anger out on anyone else!! It's no one else's fault but your own!!
"I'm sorry, sir... I could only flash 10 minutes away from where they were..." Your heart is crumbling away, but fear is still clogging your throat. You can't bring yourself to utter another word and only when you feel Iida's hands hold onto yours, do you stop shaking.
"For now, we need to take everyone to the hospital. We will talk later." Your mentor declares and your heart almost stops when he turns over to you.
"I will see you tomorrow, Iris."
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Me, when I said I would take a break to study but end up writing this chapter: Haha! Sike ;)