19. All Bets are Off

Izuku walked into the woods undaunted by the chaos around him. While students were rushing out to safety, the green haired boy walked calmly into the blue light that had sprung from the surrounding fires. No one had approached him or even really seemed to notice that he was heading into the opposite direction. Izuku couldn't really explain his calm demeanor even to himself, but he knew deep down this is what he had prepared for. He somehow knew that this was going to happen.

He heard a voice in his head for a moment from one of the Wild, Wild Pussycats telling the students that they could use their quirks and to reach safety but the boy still pressed on deeper into the woods. He was planning on using his quirk with or without permission. Izuku didn't clearly know where he was heading but the closer he got to the source of the flames the more confident he became.

…

"He is close," said a blue haired man with hands strapped to various parts of his body. "I can almost feel him." With that Shigaraki reached out his hand like he was grabbing someone's throat. Instead he settled for the base of a tree and it disappeared within seconds.

"Tomura Shigaraki." Tomura jumped back losing his composure for a second. However, who would really blame him. Standing perfectly still right behind the trunk of the tree was a green haired boy with a hard scowl and angry eyes to match.

Everyone nearby turned to the source of the level-sounding voice which didn't seem to match the boy's expression. Dabi was the first to act, out stretching his arm towards the boy. However Shigaraki put his hand up to stop him.

"Izuku Midoriya, you look in good health," his raspy voice responded with a quick chuckle. In fact Izuku looked the opposite of healthy. His eyes were red and had dark rings underneath. His hair seemed matted down like he had just woken up and his face was a little slimmer than normal. However he didn't look unable by any means. His sleeveless shirt was evident of that because every movement flexed his powerful muscles. He was strong, Shigaraki knew that much at least.

Izuku went to walk forward. Getting a collective twitch from the villains gathered. His eyes moved quickly back and forth examining his enemies. Tomura was directly in front of him. There was the fire user with heavy piercings and damaged skin off to his right. A tall man wearing a mask and top hat who was juggling little glass marbles between his fingers stood off to his far left. Behind Tomura were two more figures. One in a black and white full body suit who kept on making strange gestures. The one next to him looked like the biggest threat. The large figure was concealed in a dark long cloak which made his face virtually invisible to Izuku. However Izuku could see one thing clearly. The unconscious body of his favorite blonde was laid limp in the large man's arms.

"What have you done to her?" He spoke calmly, but in a manner that was far from friendly.

"Nothing physically, she should be in perfect health. The only part of her that we messed with was her mind, but it's not like that was 100% intact in the first place," Shigaraki said with his iconic creepy smile.

"Hmm," Izuku shifted his shoulders a bit as he breathed deeply in and out. The villains looked wary. He was pretty close to Shigaraki at this point but Tomura was fairly positive he wouldn't do anything. He hoped.

"We are willing to make a deal with you for the girl, which involves…" Shigaraki began to speak but Izuku didn't really seem to be listening. The boy was stretching???

"Which involves you handing yourself over to us in restraints."

Izuku kept on stretching.

"If you don't take this deal then we cannot guarantee her safety…"

He cracked his back making an obnoxiously loud sound, followed by his knuckles and neck.

Shigaraki was bewildered. He had predicted how his plan would unfold but this was never one of the outcomes.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He demanded.

Izuku looked up with a wry smile from stretching his legs, "Stalling,"

Suddenly everything changed.

The cloaked man began to float and in an instant was sent sailing off into the trees. In his quick panic a large tongue wrapped itself around the unconscious Toga and was able to easily take her from his grasp. Shigaraki had no time to react when a fist collided into his face. Izuku's fist. And it hit hard. The masked man suddenly shouted and threw one of his glass marbles but that too wasn't quick enough. Izuku sent him sprawling into a tree. Behind him Dabi was shocked but unable to do anything because his flames would just burn his comrades too. Well almost unable to do anything. Instead he aimed his fist towards the direction of the tongue. In a quick blast, Tsuyu was forced to drop the blonde to avoid being burned. It all happened in an instant. Toga's limp body fell to the ground with a splat. Her fragile body literally melted into the ground.

…

Before Izuku had reached the heart of the flames he heard two figures approach his location. Jumping in their path to confront them he was quickly assaulted by the two girls.

"Oh Deku!" Uraraka exclaimed after she had thrown his now weightless body up in the air while Tsuyu had restrained him with her tongue. They were an effective pair. And that had given him an idea. The two girls luckily agreed to it and were more than happy to help Midoriya and their new friend Toga, because at least he was smart enough to not handle everything alone. The whole class had silently cursed themselves for not being able to do anything to help him during the past few weeks. This was an opportunity the girls couldn't miss.

…

Shigaraki's head was shaky. That was a solid punch and the hand on his face had fallen off with blood pouring out of his broken nose. Everything had gone wrong. In a split second their most powerful member had vanished over the horizon and their prize had been taken. Or had it? Suddenly she was gone and the green haired boy was at his throat.

"Where… is… she…" he said slowly with great emphasis on each word. He was pissed and distracted by his anger which gave the startled villains time to recover themselves.

"DEAD!" Shigaraki shouted, throwing his hand forward at Izuku's chest. Shigaraki found his body flung back as his hand struck a loose piece of fabric turning it to dust. Izuku was shirtless now, but no less intimidating. Ochako, after managing to catch the huge man off guard and throw him like nothing, was now at Izuku's side with Tsuyu.

"Mr. Compress, Dabi, Twice, I've had enough of these games. I'm sure we can take down All Might without his worthless green bait. Kill these worthless brats," Shigaraki looked like he had finally lost his composure and temper as he spat those words at his comrades. At the same time Izuku began to be less angry and felt more uneasy. He now began to understand a bit more but then faced new confusion. They wanted him as bait to kill All Might which means they found out he was the successor of One for All from Toga. However, where was the real Toga? It would have made sense for them to have used a decoy if that was somehow one of their quirks but everyone seemed surprised that the girl had turned to mush. All except the one in black and white. Twice was his name. He is even hesitating now. Who's side is he really on?

Well Izuku didn't have to wonder for long. As the man moved forward into another goofy stance his face was torn off by his own leader. Snatching the back of his head with his hand, Twice began to disintegrate leaving a perplexed face of agony before he turned into a pile of flakes.

"Mutiny will not be tolerated, but I guess I should have known better than to leave my most valued prisoner in the hands of someone called Twice," Shigaraki spat as the blood ran down his face and mixed in with his own saliva.

That's when he heard it. Footsteps. Quick out from the trees and into the manmade clearing lept a figure. She was fast. Too fast. Her blade rammed into Shigaraki's chest and ended with a twist. Some harsh words flew out of her mouth, but Izuku couldn't quite make it out. Shigaraki fell backwards as the blade left his body. A glass marble was unleashed from Mr. Compress but the girl was quicker. She ducked and instead of hitting its mark, it hit the man who was about to shower them in flames. Mr. Compress in return received a flying blade that hit him squarely on the head. Instead of dying however the hilt would only leave him unconscious.

Izuku's mouth dropped. Not only at the display of skill taking out three highly dangerous villains but also at her beauty. He had missed her so much.

"H-Himiko, you're alive… you…"

"Don't Himiko me!" She said aggressively walking over towards him with a blade still in her hands. However in seconds it fell from her clutches as her body's strength and adrenaline rush left her. Her pain tolerance was extremely high but after her previous fight and walking more than a mile to get there she was in bad shape. She fell into Izuku's arms.

Tears rushed down both of their faces as he held her securely. They both found words unable to express their own feelings. Instead they just stayed there for a while until Izuku bent her over and kissed her on the lips. They stared into each other's eyes.

"Don't ever leave me like that again," he whispered, finally brushing away his tears.

"Only if you'll hold me tight," she replied. They kissed again. It was long and sweet. Saliva and maybe even a little blood dripped away from their mouths as they parted.

Suddenly they were both brought back to their situation by the sound of laughter. It was a painful laughter. Izuku got up supporting Himiko with his arm wrapped around her shoulders in order to look at the dying man. He was in bad shape and besides tearing at the blades of grass with his outstretched hands he wasn't going anywhere. Blood was profusely pouring out of his body but Izuku was more disgusted than surprised. Toga always hit her mark.

"You think you won?! You think you have bested ME!?!" He tried screaming but that only resulted in more pained coughs. "I have power on my hands! POWER! Do you hear me!? He said he would come if I call. No one can beat him!! Not even your precious ALL MIGHT!!" Deku looked down at him with a little pity in his eyes, but Toga seemed slightly concerned. No more than slightly. She was visibly shaking.

"Himiko?!" Izuku said as his concern grew as well, looking over at his darling girlfriend. Uraraka and Tsuyu had gone to get help from the teachers to clean up the mess while Izuku was staying with Himiko who didn't look like she should be moved any more than she had to be. Izuku just wanted this all to be over as quick as possible and thought things couldn't have gone out any better until this began to happen.

"He's coming," she said with her voice a mere quiver and her eyes going wide. Shigaraki was just mumbling to himself at this point as his timeline was racing to a close.

That's when the sky turned black. It was already dark outside but this was different. The sky began to line itself with black circles. Hundreds of them. From them large figures began to fall. No not just people, these were monsters. Nomu. Hundreds of nomu fell from the sky onto the forest and training camp. At this point new pro heroes and the police had arrived to clean up the villains that the teachers and Wild, Wild Pussycats had defeated, but they had no reason to expect that all these new threats would appear. No one was prepared. The worst was still yet to come. Right above Izuku, high in the sky appeared someone else. It would be an understatement to call him human. He was more comparable to a god. Izuku felt almost suffocated by his aura even as he floated at least 100 feet above him in the sky. He seemed to be holding the bartender, Kurogiri on tendril-like spires that flew out of his hand but in a split second they all retracted and the man was tossed aside into the woods downbelow. It looked like the god had used Kurogiri's quirk and then thrown it away with the rest of him just like that.

Not that Izuku really cared. There was only one thing in his mind right now. Fear. All for One had arrived.