Finding Me (Todoroki x Reader)

Heroes Rising - Chapter 4

My heart pounded like the hooves of a horse on a race track, hard and fast, as I ran along the beach. "Everybody! Please make your way calmly but quickly off the beach!" I called as I ran by. "The area is no longer safe; so please, make your way calmly but quickly off the beach!" Another resounding boom from the harbour elicited some screams and cries of fear, but all the civilians listened, gathering their belongings and making their way towards the forest or their cars.

Most of the beach was now cleared, but there still remained the most populated area down by the northern end of the beach. Tsu, Shoji and Ojiro were rounding people up, with the two boys gathering the people for Tsu to use her tongue and pull them up to where she sat on the forest's ledge. Seeing as I had no one else to take care of, I ran back to them. "All right, the southern end is clear of civilians," I said as I reached Ojiro and Shoji. "Is this the last of them?"

"I believe so," Shoji said, holding up another group of people for Tsu to tongue-pull up to safety. "Tokoyami and the others must be dealing with the others elsewhere."

"Good." Smoke clouded the air, drifting over us on the wind from the harbour. The empty beach only added to the horrific scene in front of me - like the apocalypse was coming. "If everything is all good here, I might head on down to the harbour to see if I can help anyone there."

"Good idea," Ojiro said. "I'll go with you, though. You might need back up if that villain is still there."

"Thanks." Turning to Shoji and I Tsu, I said, "You guys can handle this?"

Tsu gave me a thumbs up - seeing as her tongue was in use - as a sign of agreement, while Shoji nodded. "We'll get these people out of here, then come help you. Be safe, you two."

I nodded my thanks before looking over at Ojiro once more. "You ready, Tailman?"

"Whenever you are, Nova," he replied, his cheeky tone making me smile.

However, just as we took off for the harbour, a chilling laugh cut through the air, halting our footsteps in the sand. At the end of the beach stood  a tall figure - male, for sure, and almost as buff as All Might was. A cigar hung loosely in his mouth where animal fangs were instead of human teeth. From there, I noticed that his head wasn't human, either, but was that of a blue-furred wolf with dreadlocks. He had a humanoid figure, but wasn't human at all. It was terrifying. He was terrifying.

His chilling laugh, full of rasp and menace, cut through the air again, taking his cigar out of his mouth with an eagle talon where there should've been a hand. "Well, well, well," he said, the amusement in his tone sickening me to my core, "what do we have here? A bunch of children? How boring."

"Who is that guy?" Ojiro asked, his voice low so only I could hear.

"I don't know, exactly, but we can assume he's with the villain who attacked the harbour," I said. My eyes trailed behind him in the direction he came from, where smoke from the destroyed communication tower rose high into the air. "My guess is that he's the reason we can't call the office for backup."

Ojiro took up a defensive position, dark eyes focussed solely on the hybrid-man in front of us. "That just means we have to get rid of him; and quickly."

I nodded and copied his position, poising myself to attack. Studying the villain, once more, I noticed he also had a crocodile tail coming out from underneath his brown trench coat. He wore a blue dress shirt and pants, but they looked on the brink of busting open from his sheer size. I gulped, swallowing the rising urge to puke. This guy was able to take down the whole communication plant single-handedly. He was strong, possibly stronger than even Ojiro and I combined.