To be totally, and perfectly blunt, the last minute or so ended up being nothing but an immense blur for Izuku, with nothing in particular standing out in a very short time frame.
Tire, exhaustion, his brain blanking out to try to focus on the pain that was encroaching his entire body, or his own sheer weakness in the moment, he didn't know why the last ninety seconds of his life seemed to merge into one giant, messy reel in such a way that part of Izuku struggled to even accept that it existed. It felt like half of it had happened before his brain had even caught up with the fact that it was happening.
One second, he had turned his head around in sheer confusion as to the sudden knocking of what was apparently a pizza delivery.
The next – The walls were broken down, the Villains all tied up by wood, Dabi and Kurogiri both unconscious, and the Heroes and armed police were there. To him, it was like they had just shown up out of nowhere, and it took him a couple of moments to realize that this wasn't a hallucination. A rescue force, dispatched to save both him and Bakugou. Pro Heroes. Tip Heroes, Heroes that Izuku recognized. Kamui Woods, Gran Torino, Edgeshot, the only one that he hadn't had some sort of interaction with. Izuku never thought in his entire life he'd be happy to see a group of people armed with assault rifles…. And…
"A… All Might!…" He could already feel tears running down his cheeks. Never, in his entire life, had he been more overjoyed to see a Hero. To see All Might, of all Heroes…He could have sworn that he made a comment on the state Izuku was in, on his bones and how much pain he looked to be in, but it just didn't register with Izuku.
He could have broken down and cried right then and there.
The world's top Hero looked towards both his protégé, and towards Bakugou. That legendary smile that he always wore when he was saving someone, that reassuring, confident grin that made those around him feel at ease… It was the first time Izuku could honestly say, without question, that he understood the full effect of that smile. Why his Hero wore it, in the face of fear and danger himself. This was what it was like to feel assured… To feel safe, minutes after being in such a terrifying situation… "It must have been scary … I apologize for taking so long… But you're both okay now!"
"Sca… Scary?!" Bakugou let out his normal yelling voice again, which he never turned off even for those Heroes who held his admiration in the utmost. "You're joking! I had them right where I wanted them!"
From what little Izuku managed to glimpse, he could have sworn he saw the Explosion Quirk user's eye twitch, and his lip quiver. All Might just gave a big thumbs up in response. It almost made Izuku smile.
But he had his own assurances he needed before he could even think about smiling. "A-All Might! I-.." He grabbed the attention of the Pro Hero, who looked at him, still with that radiating smile. This wasn't the time, and he absolutely knew this, but it had been driving him crazy ever since the forest attack, and he just needed to know, right now. "M… Mina… Is – Is she alright?!"
There was no way to tell just how long he'd been gone, but in that entire time, he'd been worried sick about Mina. Worried about the injury that she'd sustained during the attack. He'd been anxious about where she was, and if she was okay. After all, he had no real way of knowing if the Villains had totally left, or if they'd gone back to try and kill some of the students, or attempt to kidnap some more. He didn't know if she was doing okay emotionally, if she had broken down, or if she was okay. This wasn't the time, he knew that.
Yet he needed to know. He needed to know if she was okay, more than anything right now. He just….
He needed to know.
More than anyone, All Might understood this fact. How Izuku had approached him a long time ago, when he still struggled with his new power, asking for his permission to inform his new girlfriend about the truth behind his Quirk just because he didn't want to lie. He'd seen Izuku talk tirelessly about this girl, and seen him form a Hero Team, or at least try to form a Hero Team, even though they weren't as viable a sustainable income as they once were. He'd seen Izuku do everything in his power to try to help his girlfriend. He could see, more clearly than even some of their classmates, just how much his pupil cared for Mina.
And that made him more than happy to give him the same thumbs up that he gave to Bakugou, and widen his smile just that little bit extra. "You needn't worry about Ashido, my boy. Her injuries have been treated, and she's almost certainly resting at home as we speak. She's safe, and she'll be informed the second you're taken to hospital."
Any strength Izuku had left finally left him. His legs gave out, and he slumped onto his knees, tears now flowing freely from his eyes. He couldn't bring himself to even speak, but the smile that made its way onto his lips said more than words were ever going to. Everything was caught in his throat. He was silently sobbing, not even making a single sound, all out of sheer relief.
Just… All he could even think to do was just thank everything he'd ever known.
For the first time in he didn't know how long, he actually felt some form of bliss. Just kind, sweet bliss that he couldn't even begin to describe. The outside world just blacked out to him for a moment, as he just relished in that glorious news.
Realistically, he should have been more concerned about himself right now, and again, he was very aware of this. His arms were probably infected, and they were going to need to operate on him at this point, even if they had Recovery Girl waiting already. He could already hear a thousand voices calling him a lunatic for being more concerned about Mina than himself in his battered state. The pain that was beginning to spread only seemed to be speeding up now that he'd actually been even just slightly active, but he wasn't even paying it any real attention. Right now, he couldn't bring himself to care. To even consider himself…
Mina was okay… Words would just not even begin to express just how much relief that brought him…
He wanted to see her…
"I hate you..."
When he finally looked back up, he quickly found himself wondering how long he'd been wrapped in his own little world. To him, it only felt like two or three seconds, from the second his knees hit the ground, but that couldn't be the case. People were in different positions, and the mood seemed to have changed. Worst of all, Shigaraki seemed to have lost utterly any sort of composure, and was having some sort of mental breakdown. The world was starting to turn for Izuku again.
In the worse way possible.
"I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU!"
Almost as if to punctuate that very child-like scream at All Might, out of absolutely nowhere whatsoever, at either side of Shigaraki, two transportation portals, no doubt from some kind of Quirk, opened up, opened up, spewing a bizarre, black liquid from seemingly the very thin air. Izuku recognized what was being transported immediately, and it made his very heart freeze.
"Nomu!" The artificial Human weapons manufactured by the League Of Villains themselves.
Shigaraki himself looked just as confused as any of the Pro Heroes did, looking to his sides in sheer bewilderment. More and more of these transportation gates seemed to open up, filling the room with more and more Nomu, like an entire attack squad had just been lifted straight into the thick of battle. While keeping hold of so many hostages, the Heroes could hardly even move around. From the shouting and the yelling between the Pro's, Izuku heard that this couldn't be the work of Kurogiri. He was unconscious. So this was from another Warping type Quirk…
He already knew exactly who was responsible for this.
But how could All For One have known? How had he predicted that this would happen, right down to this very second?!
What the hell was he?! His mere presence terrified Izuku, but this, this ability to somehow predict the future down to this level…! Was he even Human anymore?!
And yet somehow, things got so, so much worse.
"Kaumi Woods! Do not let them go!" With the situation unfolding, All Might was in his Hero mentality, trying to prevent things from somehow getting worse than they already where. He was handing out orders, trying to take control and help minimize the damage. He turned his back for just one split second. That was when it happened.
Lurching forward like he was about to vomit, the same back liquid suddenly erupted from Bakugou's mouth, to his own horror as well as those surrounding him. "Gah! What the hell?! What is this?!"
"Kacchan!" Izuku felt himself try to move his arm to reach out, to grab hold of him, forgetting for the briefest of moments that they were broken beyond all measure. All he found himself able to do was kneel up and watch.
Watch as, despite the best efforts of All Might, of the Pro's around him Bakugou was reduced to little more than a pile of black goo, whisked away someplace else in an instant. The only sign he was ever there, the rotten smelling liquid that splashed onto the ground where he'd been standing.
Not one to let up for a second though, more and more Nomu poured into the area before anyone had even the slightest second to react to the sudden disappearance of Bakugou. This time, the streets, the police force, and the Heroes outside, were under attack, ambushed by an unseen force that they had absolutely no power to stop. Yelling, orders, even a few gunshots for all Izuku knew, just loud sounds of battle in general could be heard past the broken wall, as they were forced to unleash fire on the artificial monsters that now threatened them.
With a wobble, all Izuku could to was try to get onto his feet. Injured or not, a battle was going on right now. He needed to be ready to help, to fight, search for Bakugou, or just get out of the way if need be. Whatever the case was, he couldn't just be sitting here anymore. "I… I gotta…"
"No you don't, kid!"
Before he'd even gotten halfway onto his feet, he felt his shoulder being pushed down on by a sudden hand grasping onto it, forcing him back down to the ground. The quickest glance revealed it to be the hand of Gran Torino, glaring right at his former intern.
"You're staying out of this one!" He ordered like a Drill Sergeant, making it clear this wasn't up for even the slightest debate. Despite knowing him only for a week, the old man knew the young boy far, far too well to know what he was doing. "You're far too injured to be of any – "
"Gaaaakk!"
Next, the Villains fell victim to the same black liquid that Bakugou had done, seeming to vomit up this strange substance, before being totally surrounded by it, and being whisked away to who knew where. Robbed from right under the Villains noses.
Spinner. Compress. Twice. Magne, Dabi, Kurogiri.
Shigaraki. All transported somewhere else without even a word of warning. From having the entire league in chains, they were freed in less than a second by an unforeseeable Quirk.
"Damn it!" All Might could be heard cursing above it all. Kamaui Woods apologizing…
The sudden feeling of sickness...
And then, the kicker.
"U-Uuuu- Gaak!"
That strangle liquid suddenly erupted from Izuku's mouth.
Rotten, stenching, disgusting liquid that made him feel like he actually did want to vomit ejected from inside his own mouth, past his teeth, and outside his body, and then encase his own head, almost like a tidal wave that was coming out of his own body through no will of his own. He could do nothing to resist it in any way.
Whatever was going on, he was being stolen along too.
"A-All Might!" Was all he could think to call out, before he felt himself being teleported elsewhere. The last image he saw before he was taken, his mentor being ganged up on by four separate Nomu.
"Midoriya!"
Then, blackness.
Mina couldn't move.
None of them could move.
Every instinct that every single one of them had was screaming at them, telling them to run, to get the ever-loving hell away from this place as quickly as they could, and to never, ever look back.
If they had any value on their lives, they would run. They would put as many blocks, miles, cities, and preferably continents between themselves and this place for the rest of their lives.
None of them could move.
None of them could even think to blink.
Her heart was the only sound she could hear, smashing against her ribcage, like it was trying to escape and make a run for it on its own.
Never, in her entire life, had she been this straight up petrified.
Everything had happened so quickly.
No sooner had Kirishima called out the existence of the Nomu in the warehouse, had the Pro Heroes suddenly arrived on the scene. Mt. Lady, Best Jeanist, Tiger, Gang Orca, and about a dozen armed police destroyed the front wall of the building, thanks to Mt. Lady's gigantification Quirk, and apprehended all the artificial Humans. It hadn't even taken them a full sixty seconds to complete their objective, apprehending every single one of them without delay. The force of the gust had been so large, most of the groups disguises, including her glasses and hat – Which had been fastened around her freaking horns – Kirishima's fake horns, Todoroki's wig, and everything even vaguely similar, had been blown clean off.
For a full sixty seconds, Mina felt relaxed. The Pros were here. They had done their job, and there was no need for them to even be here. She'd even go as far as to call her own worry that the Pro's couldn't do anything silly, irrational. Of course the Heroes would act quicker than students. It was their job. And of course they'd bring the best in for the job. People who knew what they were doing, who were trained for this. People who had dedicated themselves to protecting and rescuing people. And with a school like Yuuei being the reason they were here in the first place, of course they'd bring in the best of the best. It almost disappointed her how little faith she'd actually had in the Heroes.
And then, he'd shown up.
And then, an entire block had been eradicated, in an instant.
And then, the horror set in.
Her body froze.
Everyone's did.
For a second, it looked like Best Jeanist, whom had managed to save his comrades from certain death by throwing them aside, was going to carry on the fight. Even in the face of this monster of a man, whom had apparently been inside the building when the wall had been kicked in, who had destroyed a city block, only afterwards calming requesting that they stayed out of his way, he planned to fight back.
Two seconds later though, the same attack, but on a smaller scale, slammed into his stomach. It was impossible to tell if he'd just been killed or not. But it was without question.
If he was alive, it was because this monster had chosen to leave him alive. Nothing more, and nothing less.
Hell, from the angle they were at, maybe just seven meters away from this monster, they were lucky they hadn't been ripped to pieces in his attack.
None of them could move.
Not Todoroki. Not Kirishima. Not Iida. Not Uraraka. Not Tsuyu. Not Yaoyorozu.
Not Mina.
Each of them was gripped with this horrifying fear. Fear that just wouldn't even let them move.
She wanted to be sick. Her and nearly half the group wanted to be sick. The other half wanted to cry. A few of them wanted to do both.
What the hell had they gotten themselves into?
What had they been expecting?
It was taking everything they had to even remember how breathing worked. In and out. In and out.
They couldn't stay here. None of them wanted to stay here.
But –
"Gaaah! What the fuck was that?!"
A sound that could only be described as liquid-like, followed by the foul-mouthed speech of a voice everyone recognized, was the only thing that broke the group out of their state of total paralysis.
It wasn't much. It just made several of them flinch, and make them able to move their heads. But it was something.
Bakugou.
Mina saw Kirishima's eyes widen, and his teeth grit together so hard they looked like they were about to rip one another into a thousand pieces. Iida and Uraraka's heads both moved in response slightly. Todoroki's eyes moved. It was move movement that they had made in the last eternity that had been the previous sixty seconds. The only thing they could do now though, was listen.
"My apologies… Bakugou."
"Huh?!"
More sounds, like the one that had signals Bakugou's arrival came, one after another, eight in total, each coupled with a thud, and a groan from each individual that had been transported.
"Koff… Wha - How'd I even end up here?!"
"Toga?! Where the hell have you been for the last two days?!"
Himiko Toga was here too? They sounded surprised to see her… Had she remade contact with the Villains? If Bakugou was here at all, that suggested not…
The only thing Mina could think was that somehow, this beast knew where that girl was, and brought her along when he called upon the rest of the league. Any kind of Warping Quirk meant that the user needed to know where they wanted things to be and where things were before they could do anything, right?
How he knew where she was… That was another question.
"You've failed again, Tomura."
Shigaraki. He was here too?
"But you cannot lose heart. More opportunities will be presented to you. That is why I have brought along your group. And these boys, because you deemed them to be of value to you, for one reason or the other. So ty again"
Boys?
"That's what I'm here to help you do. It's all… For you."
Finally, another sound.
This one accompanied by cries of pain once the person landed. "Aaaaaargh!... My arms!..."
Mina's eyes shot wide open. She knew exactly whose voice that was. Even mixed in through grunts of pain, she knew exactly who had just been transported here.
"The fuck - Deku?"
It was Izuku.
Her breathing suddenly increased. Drastically. He was here.
He was right here!
She couldn't see him, but she had heard him! He was close! So close! The wall blocked her vision, and she didn't dare poke her head out in case that gave away where the group was, but not seeing this was driving her completely insane. What could she do? "R-Right, m-my Quirk!..." She muttered to herself underneath her breath. In all the fear, she'd actually forgotten that she even had one. Gently as possible, she jabbed her elbow against the wall. Secreting a small amount of Acid at the point of contact, the concrete quickly melted away, leaving just the smallest of holes, which Mina was able to peek through. It took all her strength not to throw up as she moved.
And there he was.
Broken. Battered. Barely even able to get onto his own two feet without Bakugou grabbing him and pulling him upright. How he was even awake anymore was a miraculous feat beyond miracles. His arms were shattered, and he didn't know that she was here. But there he was.
Izuku was right there. Hurt, but alive. It was almost enough to make Mina burst into tears right then and there. "I-I-Its…. I-I-I-It's… It's th-them!" She could only quietly hiss towards everyone else. As the only person with visual confirmation, she just felt the need to inform her comrades of this.
He was right there…
Next to that monster. Next to those villains…
And… They couldn't do a single thing.
From fear, their bodies would barely even move. From law, they were prevented from using their Quirks. From common sense, they knew that running into this mess would be nothing short of suicide.
He was right there! They were right there!...
And they couldn't do a single damn thing!...
This was her fault.
Everything that had happened, everything bad that had happened to Izuku. It was her fault. Her fault that he'd broken his arms. Her fault he'd run off when injured. Her fault that he'd gotten kidnapped. Her actions, her weakness, her inactions… Everything added up to this. She was the one who had caused all of this, no matter which way she thought to look at it. This was her fault. All of it. And it was her responsibility to fix things. To try to, in some way, fix everything that had gone wrong. No matter what.
Her hands balled up into fists. Weak, shaky fists, but fists nonetheless.
She had to do something.
But she couldn't even move. Even crouching down just to poke her eye through a hole had been enough to make her nearly puke, never mind charging out there and running to try and grab him.
She was so scared that moving felt like death itself had come calling.
But she couldn't just do nothing.
She had to do something!
But she couldn't!
She had to!
A hand firmly gripped onto her shoulder. When Mina managed to turn her head, she saw it belonged to Uraraka.
The browned eyed girl was just as terrified as she was. Tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes, and her lips were shaking. Her hand, firm a grip as it was, was trembling, and her nails felt like they were digging into the pink girl's skin, like she was trying to dislocate her shoulder by sheer grip strength. Terror was evident, but she'd forced herself to move.
Because she knew her friend was having the same internal struggle she was. Words wouldn't come. So Uraraka did all that she could - She shook her head. No. don't. If you go out there, you will die.
Around her, Mina could see the rest of her group. It was the first time she'd taken a proper moment to actually look at them since they had all found themselves paralyzed, having been more focused on herself, and the sudden arrival of Izuku. She could see Iida grabbing hold of Kirishima and Todoroki both with a hand each, like he was pre-emptively trying to stop them from doing anything rash. Though she looked like she was barely keeping herself from throwing up, Yaoyorozu had grabbed hold of Kirishima's other arm. It wasn't possible to tell whom had grabbed hold of the Hardening Quirk user first, and in the Creation Quirk user's case, it was impossible to tell who it was for the benefit of.
Tsuyu was holding her own, though she looked as horrified as the rest of them. A rare sight for her to lose her composure, but that was to be expected when faced with the sheer ferocious, vehement power that was this Villain. Todoroki and Kirishima both looked mortified, but with the sudden appearance of their friends here, they were willing to act. To at least try to act.
The group was in shambled right now. Everyone wanted to do something now that they knew who was here. They all wanted to step in, do something.
But what could they do without just getting killed?
"Ah. There you are."
For a second, Mina felt her blood freeze. Everything in her entire body felt like it had just been changed into nothing but ice. That Villain – He hadn't noticed them, had he?
There was no way, right?
Blood turned to ice.
There was no way…
The answer came just a second later.
Mina wasn't sure what it was that registered with her first – The loud, sudden sound of colliding fists filled with nothing but raw power, or the shockwave said strikes created, blasting out enormous blasts of immense wind in every single direction. Blasts of wind so powerful that the rescue squad had to duck behind the wall to avoid being thrown away haphazardly by the sudden gale force against them. Debris hurtled towards them all, threatening to smack them square in their faces if they didn't get the hell out of the way.
"You're going to give it all back, All For One!"
"Come to kill me again, All Might?"
Whistling, crashing, cracking and overall just noise of two goliaths clashing against one another threatened to tear apart eardrums. Hearing anything that was said between the suddenly arrived All Might, and the tremendously terrifyingly strong Villain – All For One – was nearly impossible.
Hits and strikes traded place with one another, the sounds of battle that none of them could even dare to look at if they liked keeping their eyes intact. Even a stray speck of dust flying from these two's fight threatened to blind them if they weren't careful. All Might and All For One apparently had no idea that the rescue group was there – something they had to count their blessing about when it came to the Villain in question. This did directly translate though, to All Might not trying to move the fight away from this particular spot, at least not right now. Izuku and Bakugou were there, sure, but he didn't need to worry about them.
After going through hell these last few days, he suspected that they could at least hold their own. And it wasn't like they had much choice anyway.
The league was still there. And they were still acting.
Earth shattering shockwaves blasted in a massive radius around the battlefield as All Might ended up being hurtled through a series of buildings thanks to the build-up of the many, many Quirks that he had accumulated over the years. An intensive multiplication of all the individual powers rolled up into one devastating blow. How many people had he robbed of their Quirks to perform something so insanely powerful? And All Might had already defeated this guy once before?
Izuku couldn't help but question – How in the living fuck had he done that?! Who could stand up to this sheer, cataclysmic power?!
All Might. That was who. That was what he did. That was why he was the number one Hero. And yet, here he was now, getting flung around the place like he was just a stone being thrown about by a child at a lake. The lake in this case being who knew how many buildings.
He could hear Bakugou calling out the Professional Heroes name at he finally stopped flying through concrete and actually came to a stop, and could hear something about such an attack not even coming close to killing All Might. It certainly wasn't. That wasn't what was on his mind right now. The thoughts that were running through his brain were assessing the situation, trying to figure out the best course of action. Getting away seemed like the best one, but how? Which way could they go? He knew that he could run with Full Cowl, but they were surrounded. Worst case scenario, he could use 100% to leap out of here. He'd break his legs, for certain, but at this point he was more than happy to make that sacrifice if that was what it was going to take. But Bakugou didn't have that luxury. Even if he propelled himself away, he wouldn't pick up enough speed. The Villain's might be able to catch up to him.
And if they couldn't, All For One certainly would be able to.
Abandoning him wasn't an option he even briefly considered, but with his arms the way that they were, he couldn't grad him and save him either. He could have Bakugou grab onto him and then leap away, but he knew that Bakugou's pride would never let him do something like that.
"Grab the pawn. Rip the other to shreds for all I care."
Small explosions set off in Bakugou's palms as his combat ready smile came out again. "Bastards…" He quickly assessed the situation that he was in, taking a couple of steps backwards to try and get some distance between him and them.
Bakugou had been right about Izuku beforehand though. His legs were injured. But he could still use them. They weren't even close to the level of sheer mincemeat that his arms were.
His flexibility, his ability to move freely, and even his attacks would be hindered. That was true…
Full Cowl quickly covered him.
…But that didn't mean that he couldn't fight using only his legs.
They Villains came at the two of them in a mad rush, the battle surrounding them making them just as panicked as everyone else was. They weren't going to try to convince Bakugou to come along anymore – They were just going to take him by force. People who were panicking were generally better opponents to be fighting against though. People who were panicking could – and would – make mistakes. Twice was using some sort of measuring tape like a lashing whip, while Spinner seemed to be trying to circle around, to huddle Bakugou into the same spot while he tried to use his Quirk to launch himself away from the grabbing and clawing attempts to get hold of him. Without restriction or any sort of hesitation, he unleashed retaliatory explosions, blasting at any one of the Villains who dared to step too close to him.
At this point, no one cared about Izuku. He was just in the way, and the situation was bad enough without having to worry about one more kid who wasn't essential. Orders to kill him or not, the Villain couldn't bring themselves to care all that much about following that command. It didn't matter. What did matter was grabbing their essential target and getting the hell out of here. Attempts to get past Izuku were vicious, as he skimmed back, trying to keep near the Explosion Quirk user. He could see Magne trying to get around him, and launch a strike towards him with murderous intent, but Izuku quickly managed to scuttle out of the way, before launching a counter-kick into the Villains stomach. It was slow, slower than he would be using his fists. He wasn't used to utilizing his feet like this for combat, but it was a solid kick that gained him some ground away from the Magnetism Quirk using Villain.
"Deku! Right side!"
Bakugou suddenly skidded past Izuku, getting in front of him. A second later, his left arm flung wide, striking Mr. Compress, whom Izuku hadn't even been able to see, and unleashing a powerful detonation. Compress's Quirk required physical contact – Something Izuku's Quirk made him vulnerable to. While it wasn't much safer for him, Bakugou's Explosions gave him some range, so he was able to attack the masked Villain with much less risk of capture. His priority had shifted, and he was now focusing primarily on attacking Compress, and just avoiding the others. He was the biggest danger to Bakugou. Once captured, he would be powerless.
A knife in the back would be easier for him to deal with. Capture was just game over.
Few of the Villains would openly go near Izuku, instead trying to rely on range. His Quirk made him dangerous, even if his arms were busted. Strength Enhancement Quirks were good like that. No matter what the situation, so long as he had limbs, he could be a danger to anyone who tried to get in close. He was a personal issue for Shigaraki. None of the Villains were particularly bothered about scrapping with someone who shared All Might's power for what was a grudge, even for their leader. Still, he was in the way, and they needed him out of the way to get to Bakugou.
Either way though, no matter how well they were able to hold out, the reality of the situation was that they were still looking at a two versus six situation. All Might couldn't help either. He was too busy dealing with All For One.
They had to hold out on their own. Find a way to escape on their own.
Because All Might simply wasn't able to go all out while he was worried about two of his students being caught in the crossfire. And All For One wasn't going to let him interfere.
Several vicious attacks against the Pro Hero served to remind him of that.
Fatigue was rapidly creeping up on Izuku, as was pain. He wasn't in the freezing cold anymore. He wasn't just sitting still, and hardly moving. Now he was in what was comparable warmth, even if it was in the middle of the night. What he was doing right now would be exhausting even if he had managed to get some sort of sleep over the last few days.
His whole body was throbbing in pain. His arms felt like they were on fire. And all the while, he still had to try his best to avoid the Villains.
There was nowhere to go, and he didn't have the strength to punch through the Villains lines and make a run for it.
To put it bluntly, if he didn't get out of this right now, now only was he going to slow Bakugou down, he was going to get both of them killed.
And he couldn't think of any way to get out of this. He had no clue how they were going to get out of this.
How much longer did he have, anyway? Another five minutes of this? The entire world was already beginning to blur into a black colour. He wasn't going to last longer. The more and more he fought, the more and more five minutes was looking to be a generous estimate.
He'd be lucky if he managed another two. He didn't know – "COME ON!"
Two minutes earlier, Mina had been screaming. Not out of fear, or invigoration, for All Might's victory, or for Izuku and Bakugou to approach them. In fact, she hadn't even been vocally screaming whatsoever. With all the sounds of combat, the yelling and the swearing, the explosions Bakugou was setting off in his palms, and everything else, she wouldn't have been heard anyway.
She was screaming at herself, in her own head, rattling her brain, trying to come up with something.
Anything.
Something that she could do. Something that she could do to rescue Izuku. Something that she could do to try to signal to him that they were there. Something that they could do to just… To just do something!
Mina had been in her fair share of danger in her life. The giant Villain she'd faced in middle school. The USJ. Overgrow. The Sports Lodge. None of it even began to compare to this though. Next to this, everything else seemed like a complete joke. Like it had been a bunch of four year-olds playing around with their new Quirks for the first time. Like Mina had done when her Acid had first manifested in the form of a non-corrosive slime. Next to this – This brawl that, within literal seconds, had torn entire multi-story buildings down – The fights that she'd been in up to this point were laughable. Barely even fights.
It was this kind of battle that was why Quirks were restricted. Why Heroes were the only ones who were legally allowed to use their powers. It was partly why Mina had wanted to be a Hero. To show off a little. But this battle… this was the kind of battle that Heroes were needed for. To stop this. And that's what she was. What she was training to be. A Hero.
And yet she wasn't allowed. Not by Iida. Not by Yaoyorozu. Not by Tsuyu.
Not by the laws themselves. Even in this horrendous hell scape, the world's number one Hero trading blows with what could quite easily be the single most evil man on the face of the Earth, with her boyfriend and a classmate stuck in the middle, fighting for their lives against other Villains… Even in this situation, she wasn't allowed to act. Because she didn't have a license. Because she wasn't a Hero.
And because… what the hell could she do?
Brute force would never work in this kind of situation. They'd never be able to fight their way through this. They needed to come up with a plan, a plan that would actually get them out of this mess. A plan that would let them escape, and let them grab Izuku and Bakugou, without using their Quirks to fight….
How the hell were they ever going to do that?!
Izuku would know.
That was the worst part. Mina knew for a fact, if she were in Izuku's place, and he were in hers, he'd know what to do. He'd come up with a plan that worked. He would somehow be able to do it.
Because he was smart. That was why she was screaming at herself inside her head. Why her hands were grabbing hold of large chunks of her hair and pulling at it so hard she could feel individual threads getting ripped out of her scalp. Why her head was against the wall, pushed so hard against her horns they felt like they were going to snap. Why her fingernails were digging into the palm of her hands so it felt like they were going to pierce the skin. Why her teeth bit down heavily against one another, and why her jaw was so tightly shut that she thought it might just snap.
She wasn't smart. She didn't have that intelligence that made Izuku the Hero that he was. He was resourceful. Inventive. And he knew what he was doing.
Izuku was right there! And she couldn't do anything!...
She stopped. She took a deep breath. And she forced herself to calm down. She was panicking. She was afraid. She wasn't thinking clearly. That needed to stop.
A quick glance towards the rest of the group, each of them just as frustrated and horrified as she was. She wasn't alone in this. She needed to remember that. What did she have to work with?
Acid, Hardening, Engine, Frog-Form, Half-Cold-Half-Hot, Creation, and Zero Gravity. Counting Izuku and Bakugou, that added One For All and Explosion into the mix. She had the most experienced, the smartest, and the best that her class had to offer, right here, all worked up, all desperate to save their friends.
What would Izuku do? How would he put these people together? How would he utilize their powers? Which ones were essential?
How would he attack, without attacking?
For a moment, for one brief, genuine moment, as he saw three figures that looked like Kirishima, Uraraka and Iida soaring through the sky, Izuku thought he was dead.
It only lasted a split second that he thought like that, but the sheer shock of what was happening had caught him off guard so much, the only logical explanation that his damaged, tired brain was capable of thinking up was that he had dropped dead when he hadn't realized it, and that he was having some kind of relapse within his own brain. For a few seconds, the only thing that he could think to do, or that any of the Villains thought to do, was to just stare. Just watch as whatever the hell was happening right now happened.
The call was to Bakugou, from Kirishima, with a single instruction and an outreached hand, the Hardening Quirk user yelled out at the top of his lungs for his friend to reach out, to grab hold of his hand and be whisked away to safety. Were it anyone else calling out to Bakugou, it probably wouldn't have worked. It was the exact thing that he would have done.
Thought he had no way of knowing that the plan was Mina's.
In honesty, she hadn't even been sure that it would work, and convincing the others to go along with it had been a challenge, but she'd somehow managed to do it. Uraraka and Kirishima were on board from the start, so it was possible that they had some part in convincing Iida to go along based on mutual faith, though he did have some belief in the plan. He had just been hesitant due to it being Mina at the head of it, she guessed, not that she blamed him for being apprehensive. Mina had been there when Izuku had come up with the idea of using Shoji as a flying Trojan horse, as had Uraraka and Tsuyu. Maybe that was where she had come up with the idea, since the two were more or less exactly the same in principle, only they had different objectives to complete.
Kirishima was the first piece of the puzzle, something that he readily volunteered for. His faith in Mina, and his desire to see this mission through both being factors at play in this eagerness. Kirishima would be used as the surface, the person who held everything together. His Quirk didn't need to be active, since he was just going to be flying through the air. Iida would be responsible for keeping their speed up. His Recipro Burst would blast everyone out of the sky when they had actually gotten hold of Bakugou, and get them to safety, away from the Villains, before they could do anything to counter. Uraraka was the next key part. She needed to make Iida and Kirishima both weightless, as well as lowering her own bodyweight as much as possible. If she could get away with making herself weightless, then all the better, but this part was less essential. She would need to make sure her hands remained close together, wrapped around Kirishima's neck, so she could release them all once they needed to fall back to the earth.
Tsuyu had then used her tongue to fling them overhead, once Bakugou had been given a foot or two of space from the enemies. The shock and height would make countering impossible for the Villains, and even if they had someone with range, then it wouldn't matter. Iida's sudden speed boost would get them out of there. Bakugou then have to use his own Quirk to blast himself upwards, to gain the height, and grab onto Kirishima's hand while he held it out. This worked because Kirishima and Bakugou had built one another up as equals since the very first day of Yuuei. They had gotten along for the most part. Being rescued by someone on the same page as Bakugou wouldn't feel like an insult to him.
It was the only way that getting Bakugou out of the line of fire was going to work.
But it certainly wasn't the end of Mina's plan.
She wasn't a strategist, but she had to take a guess – When Kirishima's call came out, and Iida's Recipro Burst rang out, there would be confusion. There would be shock, and most, if not all eyes would be on them. That was half of their purpose in the first place. To get as many of the Villains paying attention to them as possible. Keep eyes away from Izuku.
So Tsuyu could use her tongue to wrap it around Izuku, and pull him towards the group. Todoroki would then use his ice to generate a massive, sturdy wall of ice to protect them as they ran like hell down the way they came, back onto the main streets, and away from this fight. They couldn't leave any indication that there was a phase two to the plan, which was why no one told Izuku where to go, what to do, or even acknowledged him. If they showed a single sign that the green haired boy was going to be scooped up by the rest of the hiding team, a counter would be set up immediately.
Shigaraki had no reason to want to leave Izuku alive. If he thought that he might get away, he would kill him in a second. So Izuku couldn't know anything.
Phase one went off as a complete and total success. Bakugou got the message loud and clear, and must have figured out that there would no doubt be a plan to grab hold of Izuku. He followed the pan exactly as hoped, blasting himself into the air and grabbing hold of Kirishima's hand. Iida's Recipro Burst was then activated, and they were off like a rocket. It wasn't without pursuit though. Magne, Spinner, Twice and Compress all made individual efforts to shoot themselves at the escaping party by utilizing Magne's Magnetism Quirk, but using herself as a shield, Mt. Lady suddenly blocked the incoming attack, activating her Quirk in an effort to buy the escapees some time.
Next, was phase two. The one Mina was hoping, beyond anything, would be the most successful.
Tsuyu shot her tongue out the second that she saw that Kirishima had grabbed hold of Bakugou, headed towards Izuku with speed that couldn't be understated. This was probably one of the riskiest parts of this entire operation, and if they were going to get caught, it was going to be in this moment. Izuku hadn't even turned around or caught even a glimpse of the incoming muscular organ.
It could have worked.
"Oh, no you don't! Hang on!"
"What are you – Wait!!"
Before anyone could react, the Magnetism Quirk user had suddenly changed their target – For what reason, no one could tell. Maybe it was because they had seen what was happening, and thought that stopping Izuku from being recaptured by the Heroes would quieten Shigaraki's inevitable tantrum now that Bakugou had escaped. Perhaps they'd acted reflexively, moving to stop this before they even fully knew what they were doing themselves. Or maybe they just thought that this might be an easier fight. Whatever the reason was, Magne had seen.
Magnetism was a Quirk that was able to polarly magnetize people – Women charged north, men charged south, and it worked within a four-and-a-half-meter radius. And the only other person of the same gender that Tsuyu was who was nearby was Toga Himiko.
Whom Magne grabbed, and then used as a repelling force against Tsuyu.
Since Tsuyu's tongue counted as being part of her person, this allowed both girls to be magnetized, so they repelled one another. Shoving Toga towards Tsuyu's extended organ, this had the effect of repelling Tsuyu's tongue far away from Izuku, whom only noticed the attempt to grab him because of Magne's attempt to stop him from being grabbed. The Frog girls tongue was flung away against her control, pushed so hard that it almost felt like it was going to be ripped right out from her mouth. This had the effect of also repelling Toga from Magne's person, and behind them, though she had to skid to a halt. She could have been heard swearing something at her comrade if someone had bothered to listen to her.
"Oww!" Was the only sound that Tsuyu made, along with a croak from the back of her throat that sounded full of pain. She pulled back her tongue quickly into her mouth. Blood could be seen on her lips.
"Tsuyu! Are you okay?!" Yaoyorozu called out.
"I… I think I caught my tongue on my teeth." She weakly croaked again, and covered her mouth with her hands. "I don't think I can carry Midoriya with an injury like this…"
Mina couldn't help herself. Before she could even stop herself, she called out, to little effect, "Izuku!" He didn't hear her.
The red-haired Villain prepared to strike against the green haired student with their fist. It wouldn't take much to knock him out at all. A single strike, and he would be out cold, and then Shigaraki could do to the brat whatever he wanted. That would at least be some kind of silver lining to losing the swearing kid, wouldn't it? And at this angle, like this, the kid wouldn't even be able to react fast enough.
Magne swung. "Lights ou – Urk!"
Everything happened in a flash for Izuku, so quickly that his eyes hadn't even been able to follow that had happened. One second, he could see Magne's incoming fist, and was bracing himself to feel the impact, and then suddenly he was watching the Magnetism Quirk user lurch backwards, their jaw slung aside, and falling backwards onto the ground. In less than a second, his opponent was out cold. He could feel a sudden gust of wind fly past him, but it wasn't anything to do from the fight between All Might and All For One. This was much closer.
A yellow blur bounced around the Villains nearby, and suddenly they were all unconscious too, knocked out cold by single strikes to the jaw. Izuku recognized the fighting style. He recognized the Quirk, but he didn't say anything until the user had finally slowed down for a couple of seconds, solely to address him.
"Gran Torino!..." There wasn't a whole lot of energy in his voice, but he was glad to see the elderly man, jumping around and utilizing his Quirk to knock the Villains out with ease. At this point, he would have been glad to see any Pro. All might needed all the help that he could to see Gran Torino, one of the most capable Heroes he'd ever met… Reassurance wasn't the right word. Gratitude fit better.
"Get outta here, kid! You're gonna get in All Might's way!" The elderly man ordered, taking in another gulp of air, before blasting off to help All Might out again. He was working on rounding up all the Villains scattered around while former student focused on taking on All For One. Another clash sent shockwaves over Izuku's body and ruffled straight through his hair, and he could feet bits of debris and dust sticking in between the individual threads.
The old Hero was right. He needed to get out of here.
But where? Which way should he go? What was the fastest way out of here?
"RUUUUUUN!"
Izuku turned.
And for just a signal second, his entire body froze.
It wasn't anything to do with the pain in his body, or the fatigue.
In the brief moment that Magne had been fighting something away from him, Izuku could have sworn that he saw some sort of pink rope, or something along those lines. He hadn't been able to focus in on it, or even figure out where it was that it had come from. Everything happened so quickly, and with the more immediate threat, both things combined had stopped him from being able to track its location. He hadn't known what to make of it in the slightest. He truly didn't know.
Not until he looked over at the source of the voice. That was when his body froze. Just for a second.
With no other options, no other ideas in her head, no back-up escape plans, no nothing anything else that didn't involve actually getting involved in the fight, Mina had decided that she'd had enough of sneaking around. Of hiding away. Izuku didn't know where they were. He just needed one single guiding word.
So she climbed up onto the wall before anyone could stop her. Her skin and hair contrasted against the grey and near blackness of everything that surrounded her, so she stood out. And at the top of her lungs, she screamed a single word. She yelled for him to run. To get over here. To come towards her. So they could rescue him. So they could get the hell out of here.
It was the sight of Mina that made Izuku freeze.
Just for that one second. Though it felt like an hour to him. The entire world seemed to slow down as Izuku's eyes widened. He already felt his heart going over a couple of beats, and for a moment he wasn't sure if he could quite believe what his eyes were showing him.
To be frank, he had no idea what he was thinking when he saw her. It was like his entire mind froze in it's entirety, like everything that was around him had come to a complete and total standstill. Every other thought, the thought of his pain, of the fight, of his broken bones, of being kidnapped in the first place. His mind just went completely blank. Like there were only two things in the universe in that one second.
Him, and her.
Suddenly, he was snapped straight back into reality a powerful blast of wind hitting him in the back, nearly knocking him over, and the shockwaves going straight through his body. Another clash between All Might and All For One, no question, was the origin of it. And suddenly, he was aware.
While his brain was trying to figure out what, why, and how the hell Mina was even here, his survival instinct had kicked in long before he'd had any chance to even think twice. Without any further hesitation, he put one foot in front of the other. And then another, until he was running towards the girl as quickly as he could. One For All wasn't an option right now. He felt too exhausted to activate it right now. In his state, he was half convinced that if he did activate it, he wouldn't be able to stop until he slammed into a wall.
An exhausted, battered smile made its way onto his face. Has she come to rescue him? That seemed like the only reason that she'd be here…. And it would explain the sudden appearance of Kirishima, Iida and Uraraka. A mission to save the pair of them?
He could almost laugh. It sounded exactly like something he would do.
"You wouldn't dare go all out when your precious students are nearby, would you, All Might?"
The figure of the horrifying man in the suit suddenly dropped down from above, dropping to the ground with what could almost be described as grace, not even a single foot away from Mina's face. The rest of the group was hidden, or at least shielded from the sheer horror that was All For One's intimidating aura by the wall. Mina was the only one who had abandoned that cover to call to Izuku.
It was that call that had grabbed the attention of the Quirk Stealing Villain. An unintended side effect from getting Izuku's attention.
A Villain like All For One, hiding behind students so he could get the upper hand on All Might – That seemed like something that the most evil Villain out there would do. In fact, compared to everything else that this man was responsible for, this was probably one of the least violent and disgusting one of his crimes.
Mina felt herself lean back, and freeze. The worst part was, thanks to the alleyway being so narrow, she couldn't even fall off the wall and into the alley. Her back ended up reaching the other building before gravity could take her down. She put on the braves face she could – A scowl, with her eyebrows buried deep, even though she was horrified by this man's mere presence. The intimidation that he radiated was enough to make her, and everyone else still here, sick.
The Villain didn't actually have any intention to harm any of the students. He would gain nothing from wasting his time attacking them, or stealing their Quirks. It would be nothing but a waste of time, it would do nothing to help in his current battle, and doing so would only serve to distract him from the current battle at hand. They were just convenient tools to keep the Symbol of Peace at bay. They wouldn't dare to attack him. And for a moment, it worked. All Might hesitated. If the students had any sense, they wouldn't be stupid enough to even dare –
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!"
Izuku hadn't even realized that he was in the air when he threw himself towards the single strongest Villain in the world. He hadn't even thought about what he was doing, or what his plan was. He didn't know if he was going to get in the way, if he was making the worst choice of his life, or even if he was making choices of his own volition. He was just on automatic.
Full Cowl felt like it activated on its own, and then the next second, 100% of One For All was swimming straight into Izuku's right leg, and swinging with a roundhouse kick aimed straight at the Villains head. Fear was gone. Intimidation was gone.
None of it mattered. From Izuku's perspective, All For One planned to hurt Mina. Use her as a shield. Steal her Quirk maybe. Whatever. What he was doing didn't matter.
Maybe what he was doing was single handedly the stupidest thing he'd ever done in his life – But he couldn't give even the smallest fuck. Mina was in danger. He didn't know where she'd come from, or how she'd gotten here, but she was in danger.
He refused to do nothing.
It clearly caught the masked Villain by surprise. For just a moment, his composure dropped as his head rotated reflexively to look towards the rapidly approaching boy. It went against his calculations. And the reason for this simply was because he had been ignorant to Izuku's feelings for Mina. In the list of things that Shigaraki had told him, that fact had been left out, due to its irrelevance. Had it been taken into consideration, All For One would have had a different plan put into place.
His attacker didn't come close to hitting him though.
"Out of the way."
With a single swipe of his right hand, All For One generated the same shockwave – The one he used to send All Might flying through buildings – On Izuku.
Not to the same degree of power that he used on All Might. In fact, the amount of energy used against Izuku wouldn't even be enough to blast a hole in concrete. There was no need to waste more energy than that. Even if the boy was All Might's successor, he didn't have even the slightest grasp of the power in his body. Even if he did, it made no difference anyway. All Might was here. There was simply no point in wasting more energy when he knew he was going to need every single ounce that he could get against his opponent.
Still it was more than enough to stop him dead in his tracks. And send him flying at high speeds. The collision with a wall on the other side of the ruins of what was a building came a second later.
"Izuku!" All Mina had been able to do was watch this go down – Everything had gone too quick for her to even consider doing anything in retaliation. It happened before her eyes even registered it happening.
With a single hand outstretched, as if swatting a fly away, All For One had unwittingly left his guard open for invasion, and it wasn't an opportunity that All Might missed. As quickly as possible with his Quirk, he grabbed hold of the mastermind's wrist, preventing him from moving it into any pose that could threaten anyone. His fist came slamming down, but was then blocked by All For One's free hand grabbing hold of it. The collision was loud, but it restrained All For One. If he was preoccupied with All Might, he wasn't able to harm the students.
Forcing himself to maintain that smile that he was legendary for, All Might turned to look at his students. While his smile was that of the reassuring Hero everyone knew and looked up to, his voice was one that was filled with a certain amount of desperation and anxiety. He hadn't expected these students to be here. And he had to prioritize them. "Quickly, get to safety!"
"Protecting your students, eh, All Might? Are you sure you've got that luxury?"
"Go!"
It wasn't a command that needed heeding twice. In part thanks to the destruction caused by All For One when he first appeared and blew away all the Pro's sent to raid the warehouse, following the path of his destruction would lead the students back to a main street. One by one, they all ran like hell over to it. There wasn't anything else that they could do. They had done everything in their power, and had managed to rescue Bakugou. But there wasn't anything that they could do for Izuku.
Not that Mina let that stop her.
Initially, she went along with the rest of the group, quickly running close behind Todoroki, and glancing back over her shoulder to see what almost looked like a wrestling match between the two of them. Neither of them was able to throw any punches, or use their Quirks in any particular way. Neither could move without giving the other ground, which would eventually be used against them. So instead they fought to hold onto the ground that they had. Mina could swear that All Might could have utilized One For All to gain some ground. But he wasn't using it.
Either he was getting weaker, or there was a reason that he wasn't using it to the maximum. It seemed like he was holding back, just making sure that All For One couldn't move or attack.
Wasn't he going to…
About ten meters from the curve off point, Mina suddenly changed direction, making a sharp left and making a mad rush for the area she thought she saw Izuku get blasted off in. She couldn't be certain that he was here, and God knew what state he was going to be in, but she couldn't leave. Not now.
Not after coming this far. Not after everything.
"Ashido, what're you doing?!"
"Get back over here, Ashido!"
She could hear their calls, telling her to return. She didn't listen to a single one of them though. She couldn't.
She was certain of it – All Might was trying to buy her some time.
With The League of Villains gone – Zapped away by some combination of Quirks while she'd been focused on Izuku, All For One was the only threat that was still nearby, and yet he had the power to level an entire city if he wanted to. If the fight carried on while Mina was looking for Izuku, it was quite possible that she'd end up in the crossfire. Crushed by debris, thrown into a pile of shattered building, and who knew what else. Even just behind here, surrounded by what used to be tall, proud constructions, she felt uneasy. Unsafe. Like at any moment, something could fall and send her to an early grave.
She wasn't leaving without Izuku though. Not a chance in Hell. "Izuku?!" She called out, hoping for some indication on where he'd ended up.
Nothing came in response, so she made her way deeper into the graveyard of buildings.
How long would she have? A couple of minutes, tops? Then All Might would have no choice but to go all out. Mina had to be out of here when he was done. As it stood, she and Izuku were both in the way. That was why All Might had decided to hold out for her. So she could get them both out of the line of fire. Even if he wasn't trying to buy her some time, Mina would have come anyway.
Because she wasn't leaving him behind. She had gone through far, far too much to even think about doing that now. She'd moped, cried, moaned and blamed herself for everything that had happened. She'd been pathetic and nothing but a stupid cry-baby the entire time Izuku had been taken from her.
That stopped the second she decided she was sick of it all, and that above everything else, she just wanted Izuku back.
To her, that was worth dying over.
Another scan of the place didn't reveal anything else. All the ruins and destroyed buildings looked the exact same. She could have walked in a circle seven times over and she still wouldn't be able to recognise the area she was in. Nothing stood out. She couldn't see any signs of Izuku anywhere.
Was he buried underneath all of this rubble? She shuddered to think so. What were his chances if he – No, she had to focus. He couldn't have. This entire area had collapsed long before he had been thrown over here. If he was underneath it all, there would be some sort of indication that it had been moved, wouldn't there?
All she could do was press on. She only needed to turn another corner.
There he was.
Slouched against a wall that hadn't been battered and broken down. His head was sloped downwards, towards the ground, while his arms hung pathetically at either side. He was sat down, his back leaning against the wall, while his legs were randomly sprawled in front of him. Luckily, they didn't seem broken.
"Izuku!" Mina ran towards him as fast as her legs would carry him, reaching him in a matter of seconds, and kneeling beside him.
He didn't move at all, for a few seconds. Like he wasn't going to move every again. That was how still he was, and it almost made Mina fear the worst. For a couple of seconds, that very real, terrifying possibility struck her heart.
Not now. Not after all of this. He couldn't be.
There was no way.
"M… Mina?..."
That voice. It sent electricity running through the pink girl's entire body. Oh, how she'd missed it. How she'd missed the genuine Izuku's voice. The tears were already on their way.
Slowly, he rose his head to look up at her face. Until she'd seen his face, she hadn't quite fully understood the true extent of the damage. Of course, he was bound to be in unspeakable pain. His arms had been like this for days, and who even knew what else had happened to him while they'd been apart. The battered marks and bruised cuts all over his body spoke leaps and bounds about the time he'd been having. Some were going to scar. His body was going to be far more battered and broken than it already had been beforehand.
But his face…
Bruises and more cuts covered it, and there were dark bags under his eyes that almost looked like they were hanging off. The white in his eye was mostly pink with some darker red areas at the sides. She got the distinct feeling sleep had been something he'd been lacking, just like her. A busted lip, and a steady streak of blood from it was now rolling down his chin, dripping once it collected at the bottom. Another cut was somewhere along his forehead, and running over his right eye. His left cheek was swollen, and he couldn't even keep his left eye open all the way. In fact, it could barely open at all. Instead, it remained half shut, even when his right eye was able to open far more.
Somehow, he smiled. "Mina… You…. You look pale."
And she could have laughed. She really could have. "Y-You're sitting here looking like you just went sixty rounds with All Might, and you're saying I look pale?" Tears were managing to flow freely now from her, though her smile couldn't be erased. He was okay! They were together again!...
Granted, Izuku was going to need to spend a very long time in a hospital…. But he was here!...
"Are… Are you okay, Mina?... You're crying…"
"You're worried about me?! You…" She choked. How the hell was he this….. Was he even Human? Did he have a single shred of self-preservation? A single iota of selfishness? "Don't – Don't worry about me, you dork." She told him, wiping away her tears. "We – We need to get you out of here."
"Right… Okay…"
The Acid Quirk user positioned herself in front of Izuku, tucking her hands underneath his arms, and bending her legs. Once she straightened them out, she'd be able to pull Izuku onto his feet. He didn't seem to be in any state for walking on his own, so she would pull his arm over and around her neck. The armpit would have to go against her neck – It was the only way this would work without injuring his already battered arm. She could then use her other hand to support him from the front, letting him lean on her when he had to.
Getting away would take a while, but she suspected that she wouldn't be able to carry him. He was heavier than she was, thanks to all that muscle. So, he was going to need to try to help.
She hissed silently, and looked towards her beaten boyfriend, and tried to offer a smile of reassurance. It rang hollow when her next words followed. "I'm uh…. I'm not gonna lie, Izu – This is probably gonna freaking hurt."
He nodded and smiled himself. "You couldn't have lied just a little?"
This did actually make Mina laugh, just the smallest bit. When did he develop a sense of humour like this? Was it just a brave face, or was he slightly delirious? Or both?
Pulling Izuku up was indeed painful for him. There wasn't any denying that. His grunts and bitten-back screams of agony were testament to that enough as it was. Mina initially tried to be as gentle as she could, but it simply wasn't viable. He was too heavy, and some of his clothes were caught on the rocks. After a couple of tries, she just opted to do it as quick as she could, like ripping off a Band-Aid. That option worked, and while Izuku did let out much louder cries of pain, he bit them back.
It hadn't been necessary to. But he did it anyway.
As soon as he was on his feet, and was securely around Mina's neck, the feeling of a shockwave blasted over the pair of them, the sudden just of air that the collision of fists, no doubted caused by All Might and All for One's battle stirring up again, generated, sent Mina and Izuku's hair both into wild frenzies
They needed to go. "Do you think you can walk?"
"I uh…. It hurts to… But I think that I can."