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Forty-eight of the supposed 50 civilians have been rescued from the underground Quirk trafficking ring, Neito finds as he completes his quick headcount and sends the number to the rest of the evacuation team. Yet the battle only continues outside, most of the villains having abandoned their rapidly-collapsing tunnels in favor of holding off the heroes on more stable territory.
Most of the heroes have exited the tunnels as well, save for a few who are currently on their way out.
Although, as Neito conducts a quick headcount, he cannot help but notice that there is one main figure missing: Midoriya Izuku.
The last he’d seen of the 1-A student had been the greenet rushing back into the maze, muttering something about ‘holding them off’–
His eyes widen.
No. Was he planning on doing it alone? He may be ridiculously overpowered, but there’s no way he can face all of the villains by himself. And even if he does… the tunnels’ infrastructure has been severely weakened…
“I have to go back for him,” Neito murmurs to himself.
“No.”
He turns to find Shinsou, who snuck up on him at some point and is now standing beside him.
“What do you mean, no?” Neito demands. “If we leave Midoriya down there, he’s going to die!”
“You think I don’t know that?” Shinsou shoots back. “But we can’t spare the manpower right now— and besides, the tunnels are collapsing—”
“All the more reason to go back for him,” Neito counters, nearly snarling. “If nobody else will do it, I will. I’m going after him, and you can’t stop me.”
Shinsou grabs his wrist before he can take off. “Wait!”
“What? If it’s some stupid attempt to convince me otherwise or it’s not a plan, I’m not listening.”
Something flashes in the other boy’s usually stoic purple eyes, but when he speaks, his voice is somehow steady. “My Quirk is unsuitable against at least one of the villains that I know Midoriya is up against, and you won’t be able to copy her Quirk either. It’s an extremely volatile stockpiling Quirk, and I’ve never heard her speak in all the times I’ve gone undercover.”
“Then we’ll use our other training,” Monoma reasons. “You and I know full well that there’s more to battle than just Quirks—”
“That’s not what I mean!” Shinsou interjects. “She’s incredibly overpowered. There’s no way you can charge in without first copying someone else’s Quirk, at least.”
Neito looks towards his classmates and the Pros locked in battle, searching for someone, anyone , who could be potentially useful. Suddenly, Shinsou draws in a breath.
“Monoma.”
Neito turns back to him. “Spit it out.”
“I want to help Midoriya as much as you do, so I’m not going to stop you,” he starts. “But wait here. I think there’s someone who will help.” And with that, the indigo-haired boy is sprinting towards the battle.
As he waits, Neito anxiously taps his fingers against the watches that hang from his belt. Much as he hates to admit it, Shinsou’s definitely right about the matchup being severely, dangerously skewed against his favor, but even so, he needs to be doing something to save Midoriya.
In only a few moments, though, Shinsou’s back, and he’s not alone, either—he’s accompanied by none other than Todoroki Shouto. Monoma hasn’t interacted much with the dual-haired boy from Class 1-A, but he’s seen him fight at their joint-class exercises. .
“Shouto’s coming with us,” Shinsou announces.
Shouto?
“If Midoriya’s in trouble, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help him,” Todoroki declares.
I suppose Midoriya’s habit of befriending anyone and everyone comes in handy– now, he’s got people who would risk everything to save him.
Monoma clears his throat. “All right, Todoroki, you’d better be good,” he says, as if he hasn’t been
admiring
observing the other’s battle prowess enough to know that he’s definitely a good ally to have.
“Shouto.”
“What?”
“Todoroki is Endeavor’s name,” Todoroki– no, Shouto– answers. “Call me Shouto.”
Monoma almost wants to retort that he’s not getting so buddy-buddy with a member of 1-A, but then again, it seems almost rude. He doesn’t know what Shouto’s relationship with his father is, but it doesn’t seem good.
“Fine. Shouto.”
The dual-haired boy inclines his head, then turns to Shinsou. “What’s the plan?”
Shinsou shrugs. “Improvise. Watch out for the boss, the one with long pink hair and the black hood. Her stockpiling Quirk takes energy from nearly anything, including most attacks.” He shudders.
“Don’t get killed,” Monoma adds. “Get in, get out?”
Shinsou and Shouto nod in agreement.
“Todo– Shouto, can I copy your Quirk?” he asks.
In lieu of a response, the dual-haired boy extends a hand, palm up. Monoma brushes their fingers together briefly, feeling the new Quirk settle within him along with another feeling that he can’t place.
“Thanks.”
“Shinsou?”
The indigo-haired boy grasps Monoma’s wrist, and he feels the tug of another Quirk.
“All right. Let’s do this.”
The tunnels are dank, dark, and vibrating with something dangerous. They feel like they’ll collapse, small rocks (and sometimes big ones) tumbling down with every step Monoma takes, yet he strides on, Shinsou and Shouto at his side, keeping the pace as fast as possible. The sounds of fighting from the world above grow more distant, though every once in a while he thinks he can hear something else.
“How close?” Shouto whispers.
Monoma taps the surface of his wristband to illuminate the glowing green dot and the rapidly shortening path. “Close. Almost there.”
The walls of the tunnel are barely three feet apart, forcing them to walk in two rows instead of one, and they’re only growing narrower. He’s pressed against Shouto’s warm side, and behind him, he can feel Shinsou’s tenseness and his soft breaths on the back of his neck.
Suddenly, there’s a crash that sounds like someone being thrown hard against a wall. Monoma freezes.
“He needs us,” Shinsou murmurs.
“I know,” Shouto responds.
“Come on,” Monoma adds, forcing himself to unfreeze. “Let’s go.”
He breaks into a full run, gathering momentum, although he’s not entirely sure how he’s going to use it. His heart pounds in his ears, his blood boiling.
Midoriya, we’re coming. Hold on.
“Ready to give up now?” a voice mocks. They’re so close, but not yet close enough.
“It doesn’t matter what you do to me,” Midoriya answers, though his voice sounds weaker than Neito’s ever heard it. “Do what you want. They’re gone, and that’s what matters. You won’t get to them!”
The sound of a deafening slap rings out.
And that’s when Monoma bursts out into the cavern, followed immediately by Shinsou and Shouto.
“Get away from him, you menace!” Shinsou spits at the blue-robed villain.
“Back!” Shouto yells simultaneously, and that’s all the warning they receive before a miniature glacier is exploding from the stomp of his foot, crawling towards the two villains at the other side of the small space.
Blue-Robe, who has a nasty bruise on one side of his face, barely dodges, looking worse for wear, while the pink-haired boss that Shinsou had warned them about simply leans to the left, and the glacier travels away from her.
What in the world.
“You… why…” Midoriya croaks out.
“Let’s get you out of here first,” Shinsou says.
Blue-Robe laughs. “You’re not getting out, y’know?”
And then their expression disappears, their gaze dulls, and Shinsou smiles. “Attack your—”
“No,” Neito cuts him off. If they attack, they’ll break out of his brainwashing in an instant. “Make him carry Midoriya out.”
“Carry my friend to safety,” Shinsou corrects, pointing at the barely-conscious greenet slumped against the cave wall. “Don’t let him get hit by any falling rocks. And then turn yourself in. Go!”
The blue-robed villain scoops up Midoriya with surprising gentleness, then takes off for the exit.
“Guess it’s just us and you now,” Neito comments to Pink-Hair. With that, Shouto stomps against the cave floor once more, ice rushing towards her, but as she tries to dodge like before, Neito sends a symmetrical wave of ice rushing in her direction as well. It cages her in, barely curling around her this time.
“Not so fast!” he taunts, dashing at her and aiming a punch at her face, at that stupid mask. But she only grabs his wrist and throws him to the side with more force than should be humanly possible, and her hair seems to glow even brighter.
What could her Quirk be?
He remembers something Shinsou had said before they entered. Her stockpiling Quirk takes energy from anything, including most attacks.
Stockpile.
Energy.
Unstable.
What if it’s like mine? If she needs others present to do things… but she’s not forced to be a side character in her story because all she needs is an attacking enemy?
Shouto and Shinsou are circling Pink-Hair, but the only thing Neito is acutely aware of is the rope and the collapsible shield tucked into the back pocket of his hero costume. The blast-resistant, energy-absorbing shield.
If we can’t use high-energy attacks…
Exhaust her stockpile first, and then restrain her.
“We don’t have much time,” Shinsou calls out quietly. “If the tunnels cave in, we’re stuck down here.”
Well.
In one fluid motion, Neito grabs his weapon, pushing the button so that it springs open, and charges again, slamming Pink-Hair against the wall like she had done to Midoriya. Shouto reacts immediately, pressing his hands against the stone and prompting icy shackles to encase her arms, legs, and torso, while Shinsou wraps his capture weapon around her.
And then it’s over.
But it’s not.
Their small, brief victory is dampened by the realization that they’re still down here and the tunnels are shaking even harder than they had originally been.
“We have to go!” Shouto announces.
“We can’t leave her here, though,” Shinsou says.
“What do we do, then, piggyback a villain?” Neito answers.
Somehow, they nearly make it to the exit of the tunnels, Shinsou carrying Pink-Hair, Shouto using his ice to keep falling rocks out of the way, Neito bringing up the rear, before everything starts going terribly wrong. Something trembles once, twice, and then with impossible speed, a wave of dirt and water is chasing them from behind and gaining on them.
“Go, go, go!” Neito shouts. The light of the aboveground world is in view, they can make it, they’re not going to come so far and then be stopped by some stupid artificial underground avalanche—
Shinsou’s out. Shouto’s out. And Neito—
Neito feels something trap his foot, and he trips… but Shouto gives him a massive tug, and he’s out too.
Of course I had to collapse at the last moment. Of course I needed someone to help me get out all the way.
As he crawls to his feet, he can see Blue-Hair off to one side, handcuffed securely along with the other captured villains, but Midoriya’s nowhere to be found.
“Where is he?” he demands, sprinting for the nearest ambulance. Thankfully, upon a stretcher inside lies Midoriya, beaten up with several bones broken again but alive, and that’s all that matters.
Now he sways unsteadily, the adrenaline disappearing and the feeling of Quirk overuse hitting him instead, along with the pain from an ankle that’s definitely sprained. But someone catches him and leads him over to sit on a foldable chair that’s been set up nearby.
He turns to see Shouto, who promptly leans down to ice Neito’s ankle.
“Wh– I can do it myself!” Neito insists.
“Yes, yes, you’re definitely not already suffering from overusing my Quirk,” Shouto answers. After a moment, he says offhandedly, “You’re actually not as horrible as you seem from a distance.”
“Excuse me—” Neito’s completely caught off guard, but he recovers quickly. “Just because that’s all you 1-A people see doesn’t mean that’s all there is to me, you know!” he exclaims indignantly.
“Hmm.” Shouto makes no other comment, but now it makes Neito feel as if he should say something in return.
I’m going to regret this, won’t I.
“Hmph,” he concedes. “You’re not as horrible as the rest of 1-A either, I suppose.”
Shouto gives him the closest thing he’s ever seen to a smile.
Nope, can’t have that.
“Still bad. Just not horrible.”