Fighting Fears

Chapter 29

"DEKU ARE YOU DONE YET?!" Kacchan screamed over the chaos. I landed a final blow on the villain I had been fighting before racing over the broken asphalt roads to join my friend. "What now?" I asked. "We've gotta get in there! Ururaka's on the other side of the building, so we can't get her to help us move this shit!" He growled, throwing a piece of cement out of the way. "If I blow it up, the whole building might collapse, so we've got to move everything by hand before it does! There are a few civilians in there!" Kacchan continued trying to get into the building. The ground below it had sunk, so half of the building was underground now. "Right!" Grabbing a chunk of rubble, I lifted it, using all the strength I had to get it away. Bit by bit the two of us dug our way in, sweating from the heat of the flames and the sun beating down on us. Finally, I had created an entrance big enough to get in and out of. "HEY KA-TIMEBOMB, OVER HERE!" We had decided to use hero names for the rescue mission, rather than civilian names, to keep our families and friends as safe as possible. "Nice work, Deku." He grunted, diving in. I followed after him. The dust inside the dark building seemed to be choking anyone breathing it in. "We-e've got to f-find them!" I coughed, pulling my mask on over my face. Carefully, we crept through the building, eventually making it to the victims. "Look! H-Heroes!" One of them cried. The small crowd cheered in relief. "We're gonna get you out of here! Please let us help with the most injured first! The rest of you are gonna follow me." I said. A young kid was handed over. They appeared to be unconscious, their head bleeding heavily. "GET MOVING, I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER THIS BUILDING'S GOING TO HOLD UP!" Kacchan shouted as he took up the rear. Slowly, I retraced the path we had taken to get in, guiding the victims out. "Deku! There you are! We need help fighting!" Iida skid to a halt in front of us. Suddenly, there was a heavy rumbling sound. I whipped around, seeing the building shaking. "MOVE, IDIOT!" Kacchan shoved the last victim out as the remnants of the building began to collapse on him. I felt a wave of fear crash over me as I watched. "GET OUT OF THERE!" I cried. He just glared at me. "Come on we've not got time for this!" Winter suddenly appeared, snatching Kacchan just as the building was obliterated by an explosion from the other side. "Thanks, Cold." He dusted himself off. "Yeah yeah come on! Deku, wrap a bandage around that kid's head, hand them over to one of those adults and come with me." She snapped. I did as told, handing the kid off before following in pursuit. "All Might saw Shigaraki and, like an idiot, WENT AFTER HIM. He's currently getting his ass kicked so we gotta get him out of there. Freeze, Creati, and Uravity are trying to get closer but they need backup. Oh, and we lost Midnight, Mic, Riot, Chargebolt, Grape and Eraser like half an hour ago." Winter updated us. "What do you mean we lost them?!" Kacchan shouted. "We literally lost them! There was an explosion and the smoke and shrapnel cut them off from the rest of us!" Winter retorted. "Great. Charge's probably short-circuited his dumb self already, Grape's most likely clinging onto Midnight and who knows what the rest of them are doing. I'll go ahead and assume that Mic's out of commission for now otherwise we'd be hearing him yelling." Kacchan snorted. "Yes, exactly, which is why I'd at least like to get All Might back. Losing six people at once is not gonna help us." Winter rolled her eyes. We came to a halt as we approached All Might and Shigaraki going at it. It was obvious who was winning the fight. "Cold Front, there you are! Oh good, you found the rest of them." Yaoyorozu ran over to us. "Ingenium, you need to go in and see if you can distract them. Timebomb, follow him and try to separate the two with small explosions. Deku, I want you to get All Might out of there as Freeze wedges an ice wall between the two. I'll try to get Shigaraki's attention so you can leave safely." Winter decided. I nodded. Quickly, the plan was in motion. Iida started zipping back and forth between the pro and the villain, running in circles too. The flashing in the corners of their vision distracted them long enough for Kacchan to play his part. It left a small space for me to dart in, drag All Might away while he was caught off guard, and to leave so Winter and Todoroki could get in. Todoroki quickly stepped forward, an ice wall shooting out in a vertical line from where he placed his foot. Winter changed forms, quickly attracting Shigaraki's attention. "JUST- SLOW- DOWN YOU IDIOT!" He swiped at Winter, trying to use his Quirk on her. Unfortunately, Winter was doing too good a job for him to do so. "I'VE SEEN TURTLES THAT MOVE FASTER THAN YOU, BRO!" Winter cackled, jumping around in her snow leopard form. "She's enjoying this way too much." Kacchan grumbled. "You little shit!" Shigaraki dove forwards. "OHHHHH!" Suddenly, Winter's form changed a little. Now, she sported two icy-colored feathered wings like some sort of feline-dragon. She spread her wings, going to step on Shigaraki, but before she could he rolled over, extending his arm. Winter reared, flapping her wings to keep her balance so she didn't fall on his hand and disintegrate herself. Once she was a safe distance away, she landed back on all fours, snarling. "Dirty move, Shigaraki." She hissed. "We were playing dirty, to begin with. You are much more powerful than me. Actually, now that I think about it, you remind me of two certain someones." He smirked. Winter's pupils narrowed to thin slits. "Ah, yes, you must be Insanity and Death Row's child. They speak quite fondly of you." He chuckled. "They should know I do not speak fondly of them." Winter snorted. "By the way, have you seen your parents new abilities? They've been perfecting them over the twelve years you've been gone, and I must say, it's very impressive. I think you'll enjoy it." Shigaraki said. "I have heard of these so-called new abilities. Care to elaborate?" Winter stepped forwards. "They preferred to keep most of it to themselves, but from what I have heard, they injected themselves with a cross between the serum I had used to develop my Nomus, and this other concoction that should have killed them by now. They're basically ticking timebombs that may go off the second they activate their new abilities." Shigaraki explained. "Why are you telling us all of this? Wouldn't it benefit you to keep it to yourself?" I questioned. The villain turned to me. "Normally yes. However, I do not particularly like Insanity and Death Row. Even what they are doing and turning themselves into is beyond my goals and views. Honestly, I'm just trying to keep myself alive at this point. If I do one thing to tick them off, not even my most powerful Nomu would be able to save me." He shrugged. "And do you have any Nomu on the streets?" Yaoyorozu chimed in. "Oh yes. In fact, their reputation blew up after they attacked during your summer camp a while back, and villains from across the world were demanding them. So I created my most powerful Nomu and released them to the buyers. There's about fifteen in Japan alone. They should keep the rest of the pros busy... and the ones here aren't even as strong as the ones in the other countries!" Shigaraki grinned evilly. "I only have one more question." Winter growled. "Ask away. My time is almost up, so you may as well get as much information out of me as possible. Either you, your parents or one of the faulty, rogue Nomu will be getting to me soon." Shigaraki nodded. "Who's in charge here? You obviously control the Nomu you own and in the other countries the villains that bought their share control theirs, Overhaul's doing whatever the hell he's doing, but who's in charge? Villains joining together doesn't make sense without a reason or threat." Winter asked. "Ah. Smart girl you are. You are correct, we would not join unless there was a good reason or a threat. I have first-hand witnessed the power your parents now hold. They plan to capture, torture, and kill every being on this planet until there's nothing left. This doesn't benefit my goals at all. I let them know, and in return, they threatened to kill my mentor," Shigaraki began to violently scratch at his neck, enough that he started bleeding a bit, the blood trickling downwards. "All For One is plenty strong now, he could very easily defeat All Might if All Might was still in his prime, but there is no possible way for him to beat your parents. So I had no choice but to join them." He finished. Winter's thick tail slowly swayed back and forth as she took in the information. "So... if I killed Insanity and Death Row, the structure of this world-wide battle would collapse, leaving the heroes victorious?" She muttered. "Precisely." Shigaraki replied. Winter nodded thoughtfully. "Well then. Thank you for the information. Unfortunately, you don't provide any sort of benefit to my goals. When I see All For One, I'll tell him you said hello." Winter smirked, sharp fangs bared. "Wha-" Before anyone could react, she shot forwards, slamming Shigaraki into the ground, suffocating him under her paws. She had frozen his hands to the ground below, rendering him defenseless. There was a muffled screeching before Winter roared, removing her paws from his face. "NO-" She viciously crushed her jaws around his neck, which caused a sickening snapping, before yanking her head upwards. Blood splattered everywhere, across her fur, Shigaraki himself, and the ground. Shigaraki's body twitched once, twice, before falling limp. Winter stepped off of him, turning to face us. She opened her jaws, dropping the flesh and the throat she had just ripped from the dead villain. I was frozen with fear as she changed back into her human form, wiping the blood from her face with her arm. "W-Winter- y-you just-" Even Kacchan was stuttering at what he had just witnessed, not bothering to use her hero name. "I told you. You're gonna have to get used to it. I've just disabled most of the Nomu running around here, minus the faulty rogues Shigaraki mentioned. All Might, can you please refrain from fighting pointless battles for now? Shigaraki was merely a pawn in this war. We kinda need you for other things, but that won't work if you're dead. Please?" Winter sighed, running her fingers through her hair. All Might was still for a moment before replying. "You're right. I shouldn't have acted impulsively. Heh, you'd think that after being the symbol of peace for so long I'd know that by now. Guess not." He chuckled awkwardly. "Don't worry. I probably shouldn't have killed Shigaraki just now, but I did... anyway, I think I know what we need to do," Winter said. "What would that be?" "For starters, if Insanity and Death Row are planning on continuing what they were doing before I blew up the house, that would require them to kill all the student heroes and pro heroes so the civilians had no way of defending themselves. Which, if that's the case, most likely means that they've gotten ahold of our six comrades. I'd like to get them back before they die." Winter said. Kacchan made a weird choking-squeak. I frowned but decided not to ask him about it.

He's been acting weird today. First freaking out when Kirishima was chosen to be a victim, and again now. Maybe I should ask him soon...

I thought. "Good plan. Come on, let's get going." Todoroki took off, surfing along his ice. "WAIT YOU IDIOT YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" Winter groaned, face-palming. I stifled a laugh.

Even in times like this, she's still Winter.