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Sero and the others didn’t really expect to be in trouble.
Look, he was being completely honest. They weren’t that important. They were the kids who got ignored in classes. It was Sero, Shoji, Ashido, Ojiro, and Jirou. And don’t get him wrong, Sero actually liked being ignored. He wasn’t in danger half the time like Bakugou, Todoroki, or Midoriya was. He wasn’t in the spotlight like Shinsou was after he had managed to replace the grape boy. And after the grape boy’s room had been thoroughly cleansed. And replaced. And blessed six different times. Shinsou wasn’t even using that room. Currently, they had shoved a bunch of trash cans in it so that no one had to dare sleep in there. They also kept the cleaning supplies there in case they needed to use them again. On his room.
But the point was that when Aizawa took the group to the mall, the only reason he let Sero take the others with him was because he knew they were the most likely ones to be safe.
And now there they were. Trying to fight someone in the mall. It started out with them walking into a store to get some juice boxes and muffins for Momo, since Jirou had been looking through her supply of food and noticed that she had been low on some of the sugar and carb-high foods she liked. So, they were trying to do something nice for them. Then they ended up running into some bad guys who were trying to rob the front store. It looked like it would have been a pretty easy and quick conflict, maybe just some intimidation tactics.
As the fingers around his throat tightened and cut off his air, and as Sero scrabbled at the hand wrapped around his neck and the vice-like grip that just kept getting tighter, Sero mused that this was absolutely not an easy or quick conflict.
Making a strangled noise, he kicked weakly at the person holding him. They were masked, wearing all white. Their eyes narrowed, pushing at the edges of the small domino mask they were wearing as the corners of their eyes squinted a little bit. They were scowling at him. Their eyes flicked between each of his, a burning white color that somehow clashed with their clothes. Choking, Sero kicked again. They squeezed harder. Some of the vertebrae in his neck popped and shifted in their places, letting him know that he had a limited time before this person would be doing some real damage.
Raising his hands, Sero grabbed onto his attacker’s arms and closed his eyes. Focused and started wrapping their hands and arms. If they were going to try and strangle him, then they were going to be stuck with him. Whether he fell unconscious or if…something more serious happened. Someone please get here soon, he begged mentally, sucking in what little air he could get.
Thankfully, he knew they wouldn’t actually be able crush his throat. There was something about it, something about the human body not being able to produce enough force to actually crush someone’s windpipe all the way. Besides that, they didn’t have a strength quirk. They were strong, yes, but that was all muscle. Sero could see it pushing at the edges of their clothes. No, what they could do to him was probably fracture his trachea. A punctured or even a severed trachea wasn’t necessarily fatal as long as someone nearby was a paramedic or a medical professional. They could just do a cricothyrotomy or whatever it was. Just slice through the membrane at the front of his neck, get a tube or something like that in, and he’d be able to breathe that way. It would hurt like hell, but after Midoriya had been snagged and hospitalized Iida’s way of reassuring everyone that he would be fine was letting them know that there was some bruising to his neck but his trachea hadn’t been damaged much more than a bit of a squeeze.
And of course, Sero’s brain locked onto that and he was thinking about Iida and Midoriya and broken throats as the person in front of him squeezed the life out of him. Which, honestly? Not that shocking. But he didn’t feel like dying and the others were occupied with the other robbers, so he was on his own and needed to figure out more ways to get out of this than just falling unconscious.
Sero’s tape had locked him and the robber against one another. His foot collided with a table. Glancing down, Sero spotted it in the corner of his eye even as his vision blackened. The person’s grip eased for just a second. Sucking in a breath, Sero slammed his feet down on the table. Twisted sharply. He felt their weight get shifted. Sure, Sero was skinny, but he wasn’t weak. He was wiry. Like Peter-Man, the spider-themed superhero from New York.
The robber’s weight bore down on his neck. Tears welled in his eyes. Slamming his heel into the back of the table, Sero threw his own weight back. Felt the shift as the table began to fall, bringing the person towards him. Them falling backwards wouldn’t help in this. He would just have way too much weight on his neck. Making them fall forwards, though—that would help. It put their stomach and hips right in range for Sero to kick the shit out of them. So, backwards it was.
His back slammed against the ground, head snapping back to crack against the marble tiles of the mall floor. Grunting, he slammed a foot into the person’s stomach and started kicking at their legs. They struggled, tried to yank their hand free of his throat. Their fingers had slackened. On the bright side, now Sero could breathe. Sort of. The downside was that their knees were on either side of him and since they had their other hand raised to get balance, a chunk of their weight was pressing down on his neck.
Alright, you know how to do this. You got taught self-defense by Uraraka. You gotta get this guy off of you. Sero’s left leg was pressed into the person’s stomach, trapped and bent by their weight. His right leg, though, was sticking out slightly, the way they’d fallen meant he had full range to kick their back. As they pulled back their fist, he glanced around. Spotted a nearby table. Yeah, that’s going to hurt.
So is this, though.
Slamming his knee into their back, Sero twisted again, throwing them to the left and off of him. They slammed into the table, and their punch missed. The next one didn’t though, cracking against his cheek. Gasping in a breath, Sero grabbed the closest weapon—part of the cracked-off leg of a table—with a piece of tape. Then, he slammed it into the person’s face with a jerk of his elbow. Their head snapped to the side. Then, Sero tried his best to pull himself up. Gasped as there was more pulling on the hand around his neck and his own arms.
Then, the person recovered. Grabbing onto him, they flipped him to the side. He saw the floor rushing up to him. His head slammed against the floor again. Gasping, he kicked at them. They lifted him up again, reached over and tore the tape Sero had wrapped around their arm off with their other hand. Another punch found his face. Black spots danced in his vision.
All of a sudden, he was flying through the air. His back slammed into something hard and wooden. Immediately, it splintered around him and cut into his neck and shoulders. He gasped. Dropped off the table. Again, he slammed into the floor. Something in his shoulder popped painfully. Lying down, lying there, he exhaled slowly. Curled on his side.
And then the person was on top of him again.
Their fists were slamming into his face, again and again. Gasping, Sero raised his arms. Tried to defend himself. They grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head into the tiles. Everything went dark for a little while.
The next thing he knew, there were gentle hands on his neck, carding down through his hair and running over his face. They were checking him for fractures, their hand ran down his spine. Cracking his eyes open, Sero tipped his head to the side. Sucked in a breath. Actually, he was having a really hard time breathing suddenly. Something plastic pressed to his face. Oxygen rushed into his lungs and he exhaled slowly. Started inhaling again, vision clearing slowly.
Crouched over him was Iida, eyes darting over him. “Hello, Sero. Are you alright?”
Huffing weakly, Sero blinked. “’m alive. Not too happy bout it.” He sighed. Winced as the movement pulled at his ribs. “Ow. Breathing hurts.”
“Your ribs appear to be broken. I can bring you to the medical station, although it might hurt.”
Swallowing, Sero looked at him. Took a breath. Then, he readied himself and nodded, “Yeah, do it. It’s gonna hurt anyways.”
Nodding, Iida scooped him up and started running.