Era

33

If Era didn't know any better, she'd have wondered if she made a couple enemies with that little stunt. Thankfully, Era did know better. She knew she didn't have to wonder.

Bakugou would be gunning for her, now, which was fine. Hah. Gunning. Humor.

But she'd made her point, she was in the running, she was ready to turn around and start taking shots at the ice boy—

Midoriya was flying overhead. Midoriya was clinging to a piece of scrap metal. Midoriya was taking the lead.

Era grinned, feral and vicious, as all three of the squabbling frontrunners found themselves scrambling to play catch up. Todoroki finally relented and began to freeze the ground beneath him as Bakugou propelled himself forward using his quirk, focus clearly shifted from trying to murder her. For her own part, Era took advantage of the path Todoroki left in his wake, the ground hardened by permafrost but not quite as treacherous as it had been at the beginning of the race.

So he could control the output. And he was tiring? Possible, or perhaps his focus was now on speed instead of incapacitating his opponents.

Era still had her rifle tight in her grasp, feeling it rock against her body with every step. Her muscles burned and stretched and snapped beneath her skin, tearing and reforming as she pushed herself to gain on the two powerhouses of Class 1-A.

And Midoriya. Fucking Midoriya. It was one thing for Era to ride the explosions forward, to use the mines as a means of propulsion; Era couldn't break, she wasn't delicate in the way real people were.

Nothing to be done about it now. Although it seemed that Midoriya himself was rapidly hurtling towards the consequences of his actions, and for all of his constant overthinking had he really not thought of a way to land?

As Bakugou and the ice boy fought a little further ahead, Era held back just enough to see how Midoriya shifted the piece of metal in his grasp, how he swung it around and slammed it into the ground, right between the two boys. She was close enough to get caught up in the fringes of the blast, but she'd managed to avoid the worst of it.

And he was off again, like a fucking rocket, holy shit, she was never underestimating that kid again.

Era regained her footing, hastily readying her rifle once more as she charged forward on light feet. She was still in fourth, but maybe... the ice boy had continued to freeze the mines in front of him, so she wouldn't be able to knock him off course. Bakugou though...

Bringing the rifle up to her shoulder, Era didn't break stride as she fired off another shot into the ground at Bakugou's feet. Debris from the explosion bit harsh red lines into her skin, reminding her that she was probably too close to be playing games like this, but it did the job nicely; Bakugou went flying off course again, and Era was able to dart past him in ice boy's wake with another well-placed shot at her own feet.

At last they were clear of the minefield, ice boy shooting ahead as Midoriya sprinted to maintain his slight lead, and Era... Era could recognize a loss when she saw it. With a grim smile she aimed the gun back at Bakugou and let off one last shot, allowing herself a breath of laughter at his furious screech before swinging the rifle back around to rest between her shoulders and breaking into an all-out sprint. A sharp crackle of explosions let her know that he had regained his footing and was now hurtling towards her, but no matter; her legs burned as she forced her body past its natural limits, heedless of snapping tendons or tearing ligaments, flesh and sinew writhing through her legs like worms beneath her skin.

She felt explosions hot on her back as she flew across the finish line.

The roar in the crowd was deafening, but louder still was the blood rushing in her ears and the frantic patter of her heart against her ribcage. Era collapsed on the ground the moment she was able, leaning against a wall of the stadium and gasping for breath. She wasn't tired; on the contrary, she felt like she could run another race and then some, could fly along the rooftops with the wind in her teeth for hours and hours and hours until her body finally gave out beneath her. Adrenaline made her hands twitch, her eyes dart, her head swim with the lights and color and sound and oh, was that Bakugou? Was he coming towards her? He really shouldn't, because Era had a gun in her hands and was just thrill-hazed enough to use it.