Infectious

ch. 33

Chapter Thirty Three;;- Fall of All Might

The press conference went on for a little while longer, but nothing else of note happened. No one seemed to be catching on to the fact that this was mainly just a distraction from the real battle happening down at the villain's hideout.

The four of them went back into the back room, tiredly flopping into the seats that they had silently claimed before the press conference. [name] resisted the temptation to rub at her face without any care about smearing her makeup. Everyone was silent for a long moment, catching their breath and calming their nerves that were shot from the tense conference. No one spoke, and the only sound in the room was the soft breaths of everyone.

Finally, [name] stood. She slowly walked down the hallway a little ways, looking for the bathroom door. She just wanted to take off her tights and her makeup. The pin from her hair was pulling at her scalp and giving her a headache. By some tacit agreement, they had all decided to stay at the place together until the whole thing was over, and if [name] was going to do that, she was going to have to fix all this.

Footsteps behind her made her turn around. She smiled softly when she met eyes with Aizawa, waving at him with the hand that wasn't holding onto her purse.

"Are you leaving?" He asked. His tie had already been untied, his suit jacket was unbuttoned, and he had undone the top button of his shirt, too. It seemed like he was just as eager to get out of his uncomfortable attire as she was.

[name] shook her head. "No, I just wanted to take off my makeup and my tights." She carefully extracted her clip from her hair and fluffed it up, dropping the clip into her purse.

Aizawa ran his hand across his own hair, disliking the slickness on his hand. "Yeah, fair enough." He paused, turning toward the men's bathroom across the hallway from the the women's. "Just wanted to make sure that you didn't leave without saying something."

"I wouldn't," She replied simply, pushing open the door and ducking into the bathroom. Once she was inside, she kicked off her shoes and sat down on the edge of the counter between the two sinks, pulling her leg up so that she could tug off her pantyhose. She immediately sighed with relief when her legs were bare (save for her skirt, she wasn't just stripping down in this bathroom).

[name] hopped back off of the counter, shoving her feet in her shoes and digging makeup remover out of her purse. She went about carefully removing the product from her face, gently but thoroughly. She didn't generally care about her appearance too much, but she tried to keep good care of her skin. After all of the makeup was off, she considered replacing the concealer under her eyes but decided it was too much work, so she put her folded up pantyhose and the makeup remover back in her bag and stepped out into the hallway again.

Aizawa was already out there, his hair no longer slicked back. He must have used some water to get rid of whatever he had used to push it back, because it looked a bit damp now. When the door opened and [name] stepped out, he looked over to her and titled his head curiously, examining her face. "I didn't know you wore makeup regularly."

"Well I don't generally think men know how to tell..," [name] said with a light laugh. "No, I usually only wear it under my eyes but the occasion called for it, so."

He blinked at her, still looking over her face. "You're not wearing any now?" When she shook her head, he shrugged. "You don't really need it."

[name] wasn't quite sure how to answer. Was that a compliment? His tone of voice stated it so matter-of-factly, she wasn't sure. "I'll keep that in mind..." She turned and wandered back down the hallway. He began walking next to her. She stifled laughter when the thought of how he could easily pass for someone ten years younger without his usual scruff. She decided against telling him that.

They were both feeling pretty happy when they entered the room again, but the TV playing on the wall was quick to shoot their moods down.

Displayed on the screen was a massive amount of destruction by the hideout where they were supposed to be retrieving Bakugou. [name]'s blood ran cold as the announcer spoke in a loud voice. "It's a nightmarish scene! In no time at all, Kamino ward has been leveled half to dust! At the moment, it appears All Might is locked in battle with the villain thought to be the mastermind! I can't believe it! A single villain destroyed the city! A single villain is proving more than a match for All Might's power..!"

All four of them gaped up at the screen, at the two tiny figures from a bird's eye view. Rubble and wreckage was splayed all around the facility. They couldn't tell if the villain and All Might were conversing, but by the way they would stop moving ever now and again meant they were probably stopping to talk.

The villain was powering up, seeming to imbue himself with power. Gran Torino zipped behind the figure that was All Might.

And then the villain punched forward, razing down the land around All Might, who now stood in his true form. The cameras zoomed in on him, the live stream showing him surrounded by smoke and his hero costume sagging off his thin limbs.

"Wait... What the...? My eyes are deceiving me, are they, viewers?" The news caster murmured, their shocked voice sounding loud in the eerily silent room. "All Might seems... emaciated..."

The cameras kept rolling as there was a brief moment of no movement. More talking? Finally, other heroes that had been helping with the raid all rushed in, doing whatever they could to clear the area for All Might's probably final stand.

The villain prepared himself and so did All Might. Then, the cameras feeding to the TV station are shown nothing by debris flying everywhere, not sure what was happening. Everyone's eyes were glued to the screen, waiting with bated breath. There's another torrent, another attack, before the dust settles.

When everything is unusually calm again, All Might's true form stood over the villain's unconscious body, staggering to keep on his feet. Tension from around the country suspends the moment thick in the air.

All Might finally raised his fist and the moment is gone. Even through the TV, the camera's microphones pick up the sound of people cheering.

"The villain isn't moving! He won!! All Might won!! The hero stands victorious!" The news caster boasted, sounding suspiciously close to tears.

The TV showed the police wrestling the villain into a maiden, All Might standing to the side silently, bloodied and weak. He extended his arm to the camera, pointing his finger at it. "You're next," is heard faintly.

[name] may have had no idea what the hell he was talking about.. but color her inspired.

a/n: mmm since the reader wasn't there i dont really like how i had to resort to writing this chapter but like,,, its too important to just skip? i dont love it but c'est la vie, amirite