Rejected Stones

We Press On

Beta'd and Edited by Poliamida and kylekatarn77

67. We Press On

I hate feeling like Han Solo in a world of Jedi. I'm supposed to be the Jedi.

- Harry Dresden

For once, after a major battle, Izuku's gear was mostly intact. The Power Suit stood in its charging station, completely unscathed. It was undergoing a few diagnostics, as Izuku had used it to fly about for a while, but all systems looked nominal. As for the Ultra Armor, it had taken a serious beating, and had suffered damage. A few pieces would need to be replaced or repaired, but overall it was in surprisingly good shape.

Despite the good news, Izuku found himself gripping the edges of a 10 gallon bucket, vomiting bile into it. He'd started to go over the Ultra Armor's damage, and had found dried blood and other bodily fluids on the fists. The final straw had been the bits of human hair that had fallen out when he'd washed off the fists. So now he was contemplating the bottom of a bucket, gasping for breath.

After a few minutes, Izuku slumped down, leaning up against the workbench, closing his eyes in utter exhaustion. How many had he killed? He could still remember those screams, still smell the smoke, and dust, and excrement, and worst the iron tang of blood.

"I can't do this," Izuku whispered. "Iida's dead. So many of them are dead, and it's all my fault."

He lay there in his own misery for what seemed an age, feeling dizzy and hopeless. He'd retreated to the workshop to try to fix the armor for the League and MLA's counter blow he knew was coming, but he couldn't do this. He couldn't face the death and destruction.

"Thought I'd find you here."

Izuku blinked, his vision clearing a bit. He saw Bakugo examining the bucket. The other boy grimaced, shoving the bucket to the side with his foot, his hands in his pockets. With a groan, Bakugo slumped down by Izuku, looking up at the Ultra Armor.

"You kicked ass today, you know that, right?" Bakugo observed in a nonchalant, conversational tone. "And I don't just mean with that robot suit. You took charge. Shit, I could only think of keeping Ochako and me alive. But you saw the whole picture. Got us out alive. Thanks."

"Not all of us," Izuku whispered. "Iida...he's still back there. I didn't want to...but, we had to. Leave him. I had to worry about those of us still alive."

Bakugo shrugged. "Yeah, you did the right thing. We'll get him back, someday. Shit, you already killed Re-Destro. We'll just have to go back and mop up. After we beat the League of Villains."

"Are you serious? Bakugo, I did horribly. I can't lead this class. I'm just a kid!" Izuku protested.

"Didn't see Nezu, or Burnin, or even Togata come up with any plans," Bakugo said with a dismissive snort. "That was all you. Hell, you're the one who came up with the idea to get us back to UA, then get everyone's folks here so they'd be safe, fort up with the other heroes. It's a good plan."

Izuku considered that. His relationship with Bakugo was much improved of late. Since the other boy had lost his quirk, it was as though he'd lost his need to prove himself along with it. He was still prone to outbursts of anger, but he was also more patient and willing to listen then he had been. Still, for Bakugo to compliment Izuku like this...it was unusual.

"You really think so?"

"Shit, what do I know? But yeah. From one quirkless loser to another, yeah. You're smarter than I am with stuff like that. I know I'm not stupid, I can plan and stuff. But like, I'm better with just one or two people. Maybe a few more, dunno. But I can only deal with shit that's right in front of me. One fight? Yeah, I can figure out how to win that. But you had that whole damn battle in your head. Now you're figuring out this whole war, right? So what's your next move, Nerd?"