Chapter Text
Izuku thanked every god there ever was for Gran Torino.
It was strange, that the only thing he could think of is the absolute fucktard of a gremlin when he's soaring above the dusty roofs of Hosu City, One For All crackling with shimmering tendrils like exo-veins against his dark skin. He didn't think about the nomu, the clay-like monsters with visible minds and sharp beaks and empty eyes, who terrorized the city below him. He didn't think about Iida, who he just moments ago felt nauseous thinking about, as he could be in grave danger.
No, the only thing Izuku could think was thank god for Gran Torino .
It was also one of the main thoughts occupying his mind when he pressed the "Send location" button on his phone, when Stain, the Hero Killer, stared him down in a dark alley with his raspy cat-like tongue flicking, the bandanas and scarves twisting around his form as if rustled by winds or tugged on by the ghosts of his victims. Izuku thought of Gran Torino when he threw his five percent punch aimed at the killer, with Iida pleading for Izuku to please, leave behind him.
Thank god for Gran Torino and Full Cowling, or Iida Tenya would have turned to specks of blood and heaps of metal in a dark and chilly alley. Rusty metal and a forgotten spirit as Stain's name would cover every sheet of paper at seven am the next morning. Izuku would not let that happen. That's what he told himself, and he made an attempt to grin at the killer, to tell him I am here, I will save my friend. It was wobbly and fragile at the very best, but Stain grinned back, all of his disgusting teeth showing and parting for the even more disgusting tongue to slip out.
The tip of the killer's tongue kissed the blade he was holding.
All of Izuku's muscles locked in place and he couldn't move at all. His limbs trembled as his skin and muscles fought against themselves, in a desperate attempt to get out of the invisible wiring keeping his body in place.
The killer smiled and stalked away from Izuku, back towards Iida, who at that point was crying his fear and pain onto the dirty asphalt underneath. The killer said, "you're worth sparing" and Izuku's heart was going under, was going over, was going beyond beating, because he didn't want to watch his best friend be turned to blood. He screamed stop, stop it! but the killer didn't hesitate, didn't waver for even a step. He raised his sword, and Izuku's voice cut through his throat as he imagined Stain's sword would cut through Iida's armour; choppy and harsh, painful. Stop it!
The alley was suddenly engulfed in burning fire, raging flames spinning in a missile-like formation, aimed at Stain. The missile died out, but the source - wonderful, warm, a determined but neutral tug on his face - stands at the very end of the valley. With flames that climb up his left side, with dangerous eyes and a calm voice, is Todoroki Shouto, and Izuku was ready to break down any second now.
Izuku barely registered what happened, but before he knew it, Todoroki was standing in front of him instead of Stain.
"I will not let you kill these people," said Todoroki, and he was so unnaturally relaxed that Izuku felt a singe of fear, and concern, for his friend.
"Don't let him take your blood," said Izuku to Todoroki, who nodded when Izuku explained why. Izuku was about to check up on Iida, when he heard a knife cutting the air, and then slice open Todoroki's cheek, a small graze that cried only a few droplets of blood. The killer pounced forward, and his tongue was only inches away before Todoroki burned him back a few meters.
Izuku's fingers twitched with fear and all he wanted was to stand up, to carry Iida out of the alley on his shoulder, to take Todoroki by the hand and lead him out of the nightmare alley, the nightmare alley and its inhabitant. But neither Iida nor Izuku could move, and yet again, Izuku's fingers twitched as he could do nothing when Todoroki did his all to stand his ground.
His fingers twitched.
His fingers clenched and stretched and twitched .
Full Cowling roared in his skin, and as he boosted off the ground he saw a knife embedding itself deep into Todoroki's forearm. Izuku almost fainted, right there, but he swallowed his consciousness, swallowed any nausea, and directed his focus to Stain, and punched the fucker right in the face, right by his ugly, ugly mouth and the ugly, ugly teeth, and the ugly, ugly tongue.
"Time limit!" screamed Izuku and threw himself out of the way when shards of ice grew from nothing. Now, he, Todoroki, Iida, and pro-hero Native where gathered close as a group. Two were standing. Better odds than a minute ago, at least.
As they figured out the killer's quirk, the killer in question smiled and studied them, and Izuku stood up, determined. We will protect these two.
"We will protect them."
And something snapped.
Izuku bolted forwards, going in for closer combat while Todoroki stayed put with the others. And Stain - he let go. He was out for slaughter.
A slice to Izuku's calf, and he was down again. The killer sliced a stripe across Izuku's chest, for good measure, and Izuku was left gasping as he bled, before his vision was filled with Todoroki's flames and his ears filled with his friends screaming his name.
Izuku watched in horror as Stain rushed towards Todoroki, and Stain was maybe one inch and a third of a second away from cutting off Todoroki's whole arm, when the roaring of engines interrupted the killer in the shape of a furious Iida Tenya, with tears blooming like spring buds from his eyes, and Iida Tenya kicked the sword in the killer's grip, splitting it into two unusable parts.
"I will not allow you two to bleed for me," said Iida and urged both Izuku and Todoroki to leave . Hah! As if.
The next minute passed in a daze. Izuku, ever the analyst, scanned the surroundings in a desperate attempt of coming up with a plan. He heard Iida talk loudly to Todoroki, in a tone of voice that suggested he had a plan himself.
The killer charged and the blade hit Iida's arm instead of Todoroki's neck.
Izuku could only open his mouth and watch. Iida's name fell from his tongue, and Izuku's body fell forward. He could move again.
Izuku didn't have to look at Iida to understand his plan. He simply followed it. He charged up Full Cowling and with the little energy he had left, he poured it all into his fist, and together, Iida and Izuku beat the killer to the ground.
Stain laid still, hoisted up into the air by Todoroki's ice. The three of them stared at the killer, looked for any sign of movement - there was none, except for the slow - obviously unconscious - rise and fall of the killer's chest.
"Shit," Izuku choked out. "Did we... Did we just kill a guy?" Todoroki and Iida turned to look at him, both looking very ashen and pale. Todoroki was the first to answer, his voice trembling but clear as day.
"I don't... I don't think so," he said. "He's breathing, right?" He got no response except for a tiny nod from Iida. "We, uh. We should tie him up. Get him and ourselves out of here." Izuku, who was too overwhelmed to form any verbal sounds whatsoever, pointed to the killer's weapons and signed "take" with his hands. Todoroki seemed to get it when Izuku moved to pick up the weapons on the ground, as Todoroki melted the hill of ice to bring Stain closer to them.
Izuku offered a hand to Iida, who had been staring on nothing. Iida was snapped out of his shocked state and Izuku saw how he trembled. It's okay, he signed. Iida shook his head and Izuku pulled Iida up from the ground, and leaned his head against his chest for a second, before moving out of the half-embrace. Let's get out of here, he signed.
Izuku had to tie up Stain, as both Todoroki and Iida had less-than-functional arms. His hands continued to tremble and he tapped his own collarbones when he got to his legs and readied himself to stumble out of the alley, and to hopefully never ever return.
"You hurt your legs, right?" said Native, who finally was able to move. "I'll carry you." Izuku nodded and Native squatted down for Izuku to climb up on his back.
The others made small talk as they trudged out of the alley, but Izuku could only focus on the on the tied-up killed who they were dragging with them. What if he was faking it? What if he waited for the right moment to stand up and slice them all into neat little pieces.
"Hey, kid," said Native with a soft tone. "You okay?" Izuku nodded as a response, and signed overwhelmed with his hand that was hanging over Native's shoulder. Iida translated for him.
"He is non-verbal at the moment," said Iida and Izuku smiled weakly at his friend. "He's overwhelmed but he says he's okay." Native acknowledged that answer with a brief nod, opened his mouth to say something about the police, before they were interrupted by the voice of Gran Torino, with a tone full of shock and annoyance that covered up his concern.
"What the-," Gran Torino breathed out. "What are you doing here?" Izuku barely managed to raise his head before the absolute gremlin of a man was hovering in front of him, slapping Izuku lightly over the head. "I told you to stay put on the bullet train!" Ah. Okay, Izuku probably deserved that, then.
Sorry, he signed and Iida, yet again, translated. Gran Torino scoffed and looked ready to scold him more, but they were again interrupted by a noise; this time one of running feet slapping across pavement. Pro-Heroes. Interest spiked in Izuku's head, but he unwillingly dazed off as the conversation became more hysterical and the newly-arrived heroes fussed over the group's wounds.
"Is that... the hero killer?" asked one of the heroes, who wore a suit and had, what looked like, piano keys on his head instead of a face. A nervous attempt of calm chaos made Izuku fold into himself again, doing his best to block out his surroundings. Someone called an ambulance. Another one called the police.
Native gently dropped Izuku off to the ground after making sure he could stand by himself. Izuku leaned against Todoroki for support, his fingers gripping the strange material of Todoroki's costume. The evening was chilly and Todoroki seemed to notice, because he regulated his temperature on his left side, which Izuku was leaning against, to a pleasant warmth. Like cocoa in front of an open fire on a winter's day.
It was the voice of Iida that brought Izuku back to the present. Iida, who bowed deep and apologized for his actions, expressing his remorse and guilt over Izuku and Todoroki that had gotten hurt on his behalf. He was crying.
Izuku didn't know what else to do, so he stepped forward despite the twinging in the injured leg he had to put weight on. He placed his hands on Iida's shoulders, and pulled him up and in for a hug. Iida's head rested on Izuku's shoulder, and they gripped each other as they both wept.
Todoroki stared at them from the side for the longer part of the embrace, but eventually moved closed to pat Iida on the back. Izuku didn't have enough energy to care about personal space, so he lifted the arm that wasn't weighed down by the sobbing Iida, and hooked that arm around Todoroki's neck. Todoroki startled and he seemed surprised, but then his eyes began to glisten and he lowered his head to Iida's shoulder, and the three of them stood there together, for a long, long time.
That was, until Gran Torino shouted "Get down!" and the three of them raised their heads in confusion. Izuku didn't have time to move before pain encircled his chest and ribs, and he was hoisted up in the air by gigantic talons with waxy skin. A screech made it past Izuku's lips, but was cut short by the nomu's responding shriek and it's claws digging down deep underneath Izuku's skin, snapping a rib or two in the process. The taste of copper and the sight of wine spilled out of his mouth, dribbling down his chin and falling, as rain did, to explode on the ground below. In his peripheral vision, Izuku saw a speeding yellow attempting to keep up with the nomu.
And then, the nomu's muscles locked.
The wings stopped beating, and it shrieked in unison with Izuku, who screamed in agony as the claws clenched around his ribcage and punctured wounds in skin and shit why was it so hard to breathe, so painful to breathe, so difficult to breathe, fuck, shit, damn it, he was going to die
Before Izuku was crushed by the impact of falling on his face from a height of maybe sixty - eighty feet, he and the nomu was tackled by a solid weight. Fear, along with the blood from his insides, bubbled up in his throat. Stain. The killer stabbed the nomu, Izuku kept his eyes open even as blood from the nomu tainted his vision red and barely seeable.
The nomu fell quiet and Izuku's eyes welled up with tears. I never got to say goodbye to mom.
The killer smiled with madness twitching at the corners of his mouth, and he spoke words Izuku didn't register. Pressure on his back, that brought his lungs to a wheezing and his sight to a blur of colours and shapeless blobs. It didn't take long until the pressure was gone, and Izuku heard the killer's footsteps as he creeped towards the audience gathered - Iida, Todoroki, Gran Torino, the pro-heroes.
Izuku heard the clinking of steel against stone, and he saw the killer standing frozen where he had moments ago been moving.
Was it over?
Izuku heard his heart drum in his ears, felt every convulsion through his muscles. He heard running footsteps and he felt hands on his shoulders, fingers checking for a pulse.
It was there. Izuku could hear it himself.
But in the next moment, he couldn't.