Chapter 45: A Desperate Gamble! Midoriy's Cry and The Forbidden Plan

The taxi driver had slammed on the brakes three blocks back the second he saw the flashes from the explosions, and no amount of begging would get him one meter closer. Izuku ended up paying him double just to get dropped off right there, on a dark corner where the air already carried the sound of the battle.

His legs were burning and his chest was on fire with every step, but the tug inside him kept driving him forward, dragging him toward the noise instead of away from it. Every part of his body was screaming that something terrible was happening at the end of the street, and for the first time in his life he didn't argue with his Quirk.

Perfect, just what I needed after some monster tried to squash me earlier today, he thought while sprinting. Mental note for the future: next time my Quirk whispers in my ear, I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear a thing and stay in bed, all warm and cozy, with Himiko stealing my pillow like a spoiled cat.

He turned the corner and froze.

The highway had turned into a graveyard of twisted metal. The armored truck lay on its side with the doors ripped off, two patrol cars smoked wrecked against the guardrail, and further ahead Kamui Woods was grappling with a mountain of muscle while Snipe emptied his revolvers into a four-eyed thing that flicked every bullet back at him with a wave of its hand. Izuku registered all of that in one glance, though his eyes locked onto a single spot in the carnage.

Aizawa was on the ground, his back against the hood of the van, and a woman with an exposed brain loomed over him with her hand raised and her fingers swollen, ready to blow his head off.

"Wh-what... what's happening here?" he whispered.

His body moved before his brain finished processing what his eyes were seeing.

"AIZAWA-SENSEI!"

Woman snapped her head toward him, and for a split second the hand froze in the air.

That was all he needed.

Izuku activated the enhanced Control he'd gotten from his mother's Quirk, ignited the speed burst in his legs, and concentrated force into his right shoulder all at once. The distance between him and Aizawa vanished in a blink, and by the time Woman realized the scrawny kid from the corner was already inside her reach, he'd rammed his shoulder into her forearm to knock the blow away from the professor's face.

BAM!

The impact tore through his entire body and sent him rolling across the asphalt until he came to a stop a couple of meters away, coughing. Woman's hand missed its target and detonated against the hood of the van.

Izuku pushed himself up with difficulty, one hand pressed against his side. The blow he'd just blocked had taken its toll, and suddenly breathing was a whole lot harder than he'd calculated.

This is really bad, stupid defective Quirk. Why the hell did you drag me here? Even worse, why did I think ramming her would be a good idea? Now that thing's pissed.

He looked up at the creature and studied her from head to toe. A woman with her brain exposed, deformed muscles, and skin that looked all wrong, with a silhouette that was noticeably more feminine than her nightmare companions.

"Midoriya!" Midnight's voice cut through the moment from his left. She was on her knees next to the van's back tire, her suit torn at the shoulder and a trickle of blood running down her head. "What the hell are you doing here? This is no place for students."

Izuku planted himself between her and Woman without taking his eyes off the creature.

"I don't even know what I'm doing here myself, sensei! It just happened, my Quirk's been dragging me around all night without giving me any explanations and... ugh! Trust me, saying it out loud just makes it sound even more ridiculous than it already is."

Midnight looked at him for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"How lovely... just what I needed to wrap up the night on a high note," she said, leaning on the twisted metal to pull herself up as she wiped the blood from her head with her hand. "The second we get out of this mess, you and I are gonna sit down and have a very serious talk about that little game you've got going with your Quirk, young man."

"If we get out of this, sensei, I promise you'll get whatever conversation you want, with tea and cookies included."

"You'd better, because I'm collecting on every scare from tonight, with interest," she warned him. "Now get behind me and don't you dare move. If that thing comes at us, you run and don't look back. Are you listening to me, Midoriya?"

"I'll try, sensei, but my Quirk and I have been having some serious communication issues on the whole running away topic tonight."

Woman tilted her head to the other side and took a step forward, her body deforming in a way that turned Izuku's stomach. The radio on her neck crackled again, and a distorted voice gave an order through the static.

"The dream user is exhausted. Prioritize the boy to distract the heroes."

Great, Izuku thought as a chill ran down his spine. Even the mystery guy on the radio has better plans than I do. I'm starting to think I'm the only one here who showed up without a strategy.

A whip of cloth cut through the air and coiled around Woman's raised arm. Aizawa had gotten back on his feet, one eye squinting from the pain and his capture scarf pulled taut between his hands.

"Midoriya, get out of here right now. This isn't a drill and I don't have time to babysit you."

"Trust me, I'd rather be at ho..."

A crash shook the highway and swallowed the rest of his sentence.

In the distance, a roar of frustration made the air tremble. Izuku caught a glimpse of Mt. Lady in her giant form, staggering with one knee bent while the eyeless Nomu twisted to break free from her grip. The heroine had spent several minutes pounding the creature into the asphalt, and the exhaustion was starting to show in every movement.

"Hey, get back here, you sack of muscles, I'm not done with you yet!" Yu bellowed, hammering it again.

The eyeless Nomu paid her no attention. It slipped out from under her palm, planted both hands on the ground, and shot off toward the overturned van, completely ignoring the giantess who'd had it pinned down for the entire fight.

"Oh no, not on my watch!" Yu launched herself after it with her arm outstretched and her fingers spread, ready to catch it before it got there.

Her fingers brushed one of the Nomu's deformed ankles and even closed around it for an instant, though her exhausted forearm muscles betrayed her at the worst possible moment. The creature yanked with brutal force, slipped out of the loose grip, and kept up its charge without slowing, leaving Yu with an empty hand and one knee planted on the cracked asphalt.

"No! Get back here, you cheater!" she panted, trying to push herself up with her arms trembling from the effort. "I can... I can still take you, gimme a second and you'll see..."

With a growl of pure grit, Yu slammed both hands on the asphalt and forced herself back to her feet. She ripped a chunk of busted pavement free and hurled it at the Nomu's back as it moved away from her.

"Eat this, meathead!"

The block of concrete hit its shoulder and made it stumble, though it didn't stop it or even get it to bother turning around.

"Oh, come on, not even that?" she complained, doubling over with her hands on her knees and her chest heaving. "I've been breaking my back on you all night and you don't have a single scratch on you, this is total BS."

The radio crackled again.

"End this now."

The eyeless Nomu skidded to a stop next to Woman and straightened up at her side, and in that instant they went from being three heroes facing a single creature to three battered bodies facing two nightmares that were now moving in sync.

"Things just got a whole lot worse," Izuku said in a low voice.

"Welcome to my night, sweetheart," Midnight answered, snapping her whip open with a flick of her wrist.

Aizawa turned his gaze toward the newcomer and activated his erasure. The eyeless Nomu shuddered from head to toe, and the cracks Mt. Lady had opened in its skin stopped closing, though that was all he managed.

"I can only keep its regeneration suppressed," he said through gritted teeth.

"Snipe!" Midnight yelled toward the far end of the highway. "We need cover on this side and we need it now!"

"Happy to oblige, Midnight, but I'm a little busy at the moment!" Snipe answered, rolling behind a patrol car while the four-eyed creature bounced his own bullets back at the bumper. "This bastard's throwing every bullet I fire right back at me! And Kamui's just about at his limit!"

From within a tangle of splintered logs, Kamui Woods forced the growth of new branches to reinforce his prison.

"I can't let him go! If he breaks through, he'll head straight for the trucks!"

We're completely alone, Izuku thought, feeling cold sweat trickle down his back.

Woman was hanging back a step, letting the eyeless Nomu handle the raw work to conserve her energy, her eyes fixed on Aizawa with a stillness that promised nothing good. She was watching the professor without any hurry, waiting for the blink that sooner or later would have to come. No matter how hard Izuku looked, he couldn't find a gap to slip through or an opening to exploit, and every second that passed the two nightmares pushed the little group further and further against the overturned van.

"Sensei," Izuku said without taking his eyes off the creatures, "the woman's the one who explodes, right?"

"She explodes, she can liquefy at will, and she regenerates from almost any damage," Aizawa confirmed, pulling on his scarf to keep the tension. "Don't underestimate her."

"Glad to know my stupidity served some purpose."

Think, Izuku, think, he ordered himself, clenching his teeth while the eyeless Nomu flexed its arms getting ready to charge. What do you have that they don't? What do you know that...?

Suddenly he remembered a detail he'd completely overlooked in the middle of the chaos: Midnight's manual. There was a section that had stuck with him for how dangerous it sounded, one he'd underlined himself in his notebook with a warning in all caps. Berserker Mode.

That's... insane, he thought, his heart pounding. The manual's description left no room for doubt: high risk, medical supervision only, side effects capable of turning against her... If anything goes wrong... aaahhh, dammit!

Izuku scanned the scene one last time. Aizawa was still on his feet with red eyes and labored breathing from the strain of holding the erasure. Midnight was trembling with exhaustion and still held her head high, ready to fight to her last breath. The eyeless Nomu was set to charge, waiting only for the perfect moment, and Woman was raising her palm again with her fingers starting to swell.

There's no other way out, and if I'm wrong I'll never forgive myself. I'm so sorry, sensei, but it's the only way.

He took in all the air his bruised ribs would let him and yelled with everything he had left.

"MIDNIGHT-SENSEI! ACTIVATE BERSERKER MODE! NOW!"

The shout cut through the roar of the highway and hung in the air.

Midnight snapped her head toward him with her eyes wide open, and Izuku saw the exact instant understanding hit her face. She knew perfectly well what he was asking of her, because she'd read those very same lines from the manual with him, sitting in her office, and they'd agreed it was the kind of last resort you save for the day when nothing else is left.

"Kid..." she murmured. "Do you have any idea what you're asking me?"

"None at all, sensei, but it's the only thing I can think of and we're running out of time!"

In front of them, the eyeless Nomu dug its feet into the asphalt and launched itself forward, while Woman followed close behind, keeping her own figure covered so Aizawa couldn't get an eye on her.

And in that instant, with the two nightmares closing in on them at once, Nemuri shut her eyes, clenched her teeth, and brought her hand up to her skin.

*****

All I'll say is, if you want more, look me up as Shurazero. See you soon!