The Ocean: BNHA x OP!Reader

Victories and Passing Out

"Oh, come on, what's going on here?  He's just as strong as he's always been.  Damnit.  Don't tell me I was lied to," Shigaraki continued to scratch viciously at his neck.

"What's wrong?" All Might teased.  "Not attacking me?  Didn't you say you were going to clear this level earlier?  Well, come and get me, if you dare."  Shigaraki took a nervous step back.

"Man, this is intense," Bakugou mumbled.

"As I expected," Todoroki nodded.  "There's no reason for us to fight now; he'll handle this."

The three boys started leaving, but I separated myself from Kirishima, refusing to take a single step.  "C'mon, Midoriya, (L/N), we should regroup with the other guys.  The last thing we want to do is get taken hostage or get in his way," he tried to reason, but I shook my head.

"I told All Might earlier that I wouldn't be leaving until every last villain had been defeated, and I intend to keep that promise," I said, not even looking their way.  They glanced among themselves nervously, not quite sure what to do with me, but I didn't care.  I refused to leave.  Not yet.

"What, are you scared?" All might continued to taunt the only two villains left.  Kurogiri's glowing yellow eyes narrowed slightly in thought, and my frown only grew.  He knew.

Shigaraki scratched harder at his neck, using both of his hands.  "Uugh, if only Nomu was here.  He'd rush you right now -- pound you into the ground without giving it a second thought--"

"Tomura Shigaraki, please do not fret," Kurogiri cut him off.  "Look at him.  He has definitely weakened.  Nomu's attacks were successful."  He paused a moment and turned to look at us.  I gritted my teeth together and lifted my chin in defiance.  "He's on his own.  The children appear to be frozen in fear."

I scoffed at this and took a step forward.  "Please, who would ever be afraid of a couple of weaklings like you?" I snapped.

Kurogiri chuckled a bit at this.  "Don't worry, little girl, our underlings are recovering.  They will make quick work of you."

I rolled my eyes.  "You mean the underlings I already took out once without even breaking a sweat?" I smirked confidently, doing my best to pretend that my legs weren't about to give out at any second. "Tell me something, where exactly did you manage to dig up that kind of trash? Then again, I guess it's true what they say: birds of a feather flock together."

Kurogiri simply chuckled softly again and ignored me this time.  I growled softly under my breath.  He was too smart.  He figured out I was trying to stall him after only two little jabs.  "We likely still have a few minutes before their reinforcements arrive," he continued, unfazed.  "If you and I work together, we can do this.  We haven't missed our chance to kill All Might!"

Shigaraki stopped scratching his neck.  "Yeah," he said softly, dropping his hands.  "Yeah, you're right.  This is it.  We have no choice.  We have to do it now."  He ducked his head, staring up at All Might much more confidently now.  "I mean, the big end-boss is right here."

Kirishima, Bakugou, and Todoroki turned to face the smaller villains who were starting to stand up behind us.  "I think All Might can hold his own against those two main guys," Kirishima said, activating his quirk in his arms again.  "Let's make sure these dudes don't hurt anyone else."

Todoroki nodded and turned to me and Midoriya, neither of us having taken our eyes off All Might and the two villains for a second.  "Will you be joining us?" he asked, glancing me up and down.  Neither of us answered, with Midoriya too lost in his thoughts to even hear his classmate and with me just ignoring him in favor of keeping an eye on the two villains.  I reached out with my quirk and frowned when my lungs immediately started to burn, my head pounding even harder.  I was seriously running on empty now.

Shigaraki started charging at All Might, and I immediately rushed forwards, unsure of what exactly I was going to do.  Still, I had to at least do something.  Kurogiri was the closest to the fountain in the center of the clearing.  I'll try and take him out.  I pulled at the water in the fountain and created a rope from the liquid, all the while doing my best to push past the nausea in my stomach and the pounding in my head.

Suddenly, Midoriya was launching past me at break-neck speeds.  My eyes widened as I stared at him flying towards the two villains to try and protect his mentor.  My thoughts raced with images flashing from the back of my mind -- memories from before I came here -- and I watched in recognition as Shigaraki reached over with his hand towards a portal currently being created by Kurogiri. The two of them were going to disintegrate Midoriya's face.  Quickly, I wrapped my water rope around Kurogiri's neck armor and yanked him backwards.  The portal disappeared in his shock as he flew back.

My legs gave out, unable to function after I overused my quirk so much.  I tumbled to the ground, rolling across the pavement and getting scratches all over my arms and legs.  I watched from my position lying on the ground as Midoriya brought his arm back to try and hit the skinny man, but Shigaraki's arm was longer. I tried disparately to grab at some water -- to find anything I could use to stop him, but it was useless. I had no energy left to give. At this point, all I could do was watch while Shigaraki was getting ready to destroy the young boy's face.  Oh, god, I had to do something, anything!  Suddenly, an idea popped in my head -- a complete Hail Mary, but it's all I had.

"T-Tenko!" I screamed.  Shigaraki's eyes widened under his hand mask, his hand retracting for a fraction of a second. And thank god for that, because apparently that was all the time we needed.  Before Shigaraki could recover from his shock, a loud gunshot rang out, hitting him directly in the hand and blowing him back a bit.  Midoriya crashed to the ground in surprise.

"They're here," All Might sighed in relief, and we all turned to see all of the teachers of UA and Iida standing at the entrance.

"T-thank god," I sighed in relief, letting my head flop back down, where I immediately passed out.

--

Shigaraki lay on the floor of the dingy old bar, his blood pooling beneath him. How could this have happened. How could they have lost?

"This is a travesty! And after all we did to make it as powerful as All Might!" The television went on. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped, unfortunately."

"Power," Shigaraki said slowly, his mind going back to the battle. "That reminds me. There were these kids there trying to protect All Might. That boy was just as fast as him!"

"Oh?"

"And that girl... she saw right through me," he frowned. "She read me like a book at every turn. And at the end there, I could have sworn she called my old name."

"Ah, yes, I remember that girl as well," Kurogiri nodded thoughtfully. "She was incredibly skilled. She read my attacks so easily and was even able to stop most of them. She was quite powerful, too -- tore Nomu's arm off like it was nothing."

"How interesting," the man behind the monitor commented.

"If they hadn't gotten in our way..." Shigaraki clenched his fist in anger.  "We might've killed the symbol of peace.  Those brats..."

"Naturally, you are upset, but this was not a futile mission," the man placated the overgrown child. "We've learned many things. Gather the villainous elite. Take all the time you need. I must remain hidden in the shadows, which is why I need you to be my face -- a symbol of your own." Shigaraki looked on in a twisted kind of wonder at the screen which represented his master. "Tomura Shigaraki, next time you will show the world that it should be afraid of you."