Energy (D.P./M.H.A.)

. 5 2 .

"You gotta do something, Danny!"

Danny's focus broke away from Shigaraki's hand flying toward his chest as he spotted Tucker sprinting towards him, panic apparent in his eyes and movements. Behind Tucker, a giant wall of greens and blacks prevented him from seeing the Nomu. Just in front of it was Sam, crouched low, hands on the floor, screaming. The sound broke through in his mind, and he faltered, a sudden wave of desperation hitting him.

Shigaraki's hand hit just after.

There was a brief second of blissful nothingness and then pain across his back. It rasped and ground against his spine and it hurt. Bakugou's cracked scream felt like silk in his ears compared to the gravel digging into his skin where his spandex suit had ripped on his elbows. 'Hatsume was right,' Danny thought as his surroundings came back to him. 'Spandex sucks.'

"You alright?"

Midoriya was hanging over him, one arm outstretched toward his. He leaned back as he pulled Danny up, his other hand on the ground for leverage. Danny wobbled a bit, and Midoriya's hands didn't waver away from him.

"I gotta get to Sam," Danny managed to warble out. Panic was thrumming through his muscles, making them twitch beneath the suit that now felt like it wouldn't do him any good anymore. The gloves and boots felt like safe anchors, everything else a mess of stress and exposure. He was shaking. This was his fault. They'd been stupid, thinking a frontal assault was going to go smooth. Because right now, All Might was about to be exposed, Thirteen was fatally wounded, Aizawa was scarred for life, and the students...his friends...

"I gotta do it."

Secret identities and strategy be damned, lives were at stake.

"Do what?"

He needed to know. Before he did anything that would ruin their entire plan, he just needed this. Consequences in the short term didn't matter. Not anymore. Danny reached for Midoriya's elbows and forced eye contact with his wide eyes. "Do you trust me? Us? No matter what?" They could use a motivated Midoriya on their side when Bakugou was going to freak. Tucker was yelling with Bakugou and Sam screamed again in exhaustion. Midoriya gripped Danny's hands back and nodded.

"I do."

Danny wasted no time.

One second he was holding onto Midoriya for dear life, a declaration of trust and confidence still laying on lips, the next he was flying through the air, white rings washing over him as he shot away from that moment of safety.

Tucker exclaimed in either surprise or victory as Danny whizzed past. Sam just managed to not pass out and hit the floor as he slung his arms around her waist and shot away from where the Nomu charged through the wall. Her arms found their way around his neck and she buried her teary face in his shoulder.

"We fucked up," Sam mumbled. "Massively."

"I know."

"What now?" Tucker panted as they landed next to him.

"Now..." Danny said, still holding Sam engulfed in a half-hug. She wasn't quite unconscious, but she wasn't awake either. He nodded towards the shoreline, just past Shigaraki. "Now we try not to die." Bakugou's eyes were ablaze with confusion and fury as he stared past Shigaraki. The threat was momentarily forgotten in favor of glaring at Danny. "Can you keep him at a distance so I can try to explain?"

Tucker numbly nodded and lowered his stance, readying himself for the rage of Bakugou. Shigaraki was as confused as Midoriya looked, and just...stood in the center of their little circle. The Nomu had stopped moving after it had broken through the wall, remains of some vines and other plants still hanging from its shoulders and head. Midoriya was in a deadlock, unmoving as he looked Danny in his eyes. Questions raged about behind those eyes, but they would have to wait.

Bakugou was coming in hot.

"You fucker! I said I'd kill you!"

Tucker managed to redirect his leap to the right side using a wall of marbles, but Bakugou let loose another explosion and propelled himself over the three of them. Danny threw up a shield over them and strained against the power Bakugou put in the blast directed toward them as he sailed over. "You filthy liar! You said you were on our side!" He landed with one hand splayed on the floor, his other directed backward. "Did you know about this?" he yelled.

Midoriya unfroze, eyes moving between Bakugou, Danny, and Shigaraki, who seemed to be starting to realize what was going on. "I didn't!" he said. "But I trust them, Kacchan," he continued. "Think of what they did for us! They trained with us, warned us, helped us grow! They're only trying to help. But you have to let them!"

"Bullshit!" His hands were trembling, Danny saw. "They kept secrets! They knew things we didn't and always were one step ahead. Who's to say they're not with these villains? They sucked up to the teachers, got special treatment as if they were controlling the entire thing! How can you trust them?"

While I've been here the entire time?

"Must be hard," Shigaraki said, "to have everything you know crash down in a lie." The sudden rasping made Bakugou whirl around hand pulled back with sparks in threat. "Have the ones that were supposed to be there for you, to protect you, turn around and abandon you when you need them most."

"Like I need protecting," Bakugou spat. "I just need to know who I can trust not to stab me in my back in this world. And it sure as hell isn't you." A tiny explosion popped in his palm, rage and probably confusion getting the better of him. "So stay out of it, creep."

Shigaraki shrugged, "Your loss," and charged. Bakugou was a bit surprised by the sudden attack from the one that was just trying to convince him to join his team and was just a bit late with his reaction. Shigaraki's hand flew through his hair as Bakugou crouched and spun. His foot met Shigaraki's chest on the way back of his improvised roundhouse and knocked him back a few feet.

Danny shot away from Sam and Tucker to help, but nearly got intercepted by the Nomu that was now active again. Danny spun a loop in the air and kept flying, the Nomu now hot on his tail. He hooked his arms under Bakugou's shoulders and turned them intangible, whizzing straight through Shigaraki.

The Nomu didn't have his fancy tricks and crashed into Shigaraki at full speed.

Danny was about to put Bakugou down when pain erupted from the back of his shoulders. He screamed out, dropping his intangibility, Bakugou, and himself. They crashed to the floor and Danny had just a brief feeling of deja vu when Bakugou's hand was at his throat again. His knees were on either side of his hips, the other hand hovering closely by his face. The gravel was digging into his now burned shoulderblades, and he cried out as Bakugou pushed him down further.

"Give me one good reason to not kill you right now."

Danny could barely hear him over the sound of his heart throbbing, the tears making his vision fuzzy. But that could also be the lack of oxygen. Moving seemed impossible right now. He barely heard Sam and Tucker screaming for him as Bakugou pushed his knee into his hip when he noticed Danny trying to escape. Intangibility felt far away, the sudden shock of being attacked while supposed to be invulnerable apparently having shaken him too bad to even consider it.

He choked on a sob. "K... Killing someone w-would really hur... hurt your hero career, wouldn't-t it?" Ah yes, humor to cope. He was absolutely nailing these negotiations for his half-life. 

It must've looked odd, a ghost being pinned down, tears streaming down their face as they smiled and cracked a joke. Bakugou needed a few seconds to catch up before he leaned closer (which was terribly close) and bared his teeth. "Not if I kill the bad guy."

The bantering they did after Bakugou threatened to kill him barely an hour ago felt so surreal, calloused fingers digging into his neck now. 'I don't need to warn you.' 'I thought you cared about me.' They'd taken out heaps in mere seconds, talking smack, throwing enemies to each other. Danny had trusted him to make up his mind the right way. To fight on their side. His side. Because it had worked. 

And now he was one move away from being killed by the person who he had trusted most to save his life.