Determined

Chapter 9 ~ Hope Diminished

Izuku had run ahead of Todoroki, who fought off any villains that tried to prevent them from reaching the plaza. A pang of guilt stabbed him, but he knew Todoroki could handle it. He even agreed to only freeze the villains' limbs so that they wouldn't actually be harmed.

And Izuku needed to know what's going on.

He was running for what felt like ages, before reaching a horrible scene he wished he could undo.

Aizawa was pinned down by an abomination of a creature the towered over everyone, its brain exposed and its eyes unnaturally bulged. Izuku noticed his teacher's elbow too, cringing at the sight of the skin and flesh around it gone to reveal the raw muscle beneath it. He looked at the skinny man nearby, the oppressive presence he felt coming out of the portal earlier.

"Shigaraki..." Izuku whispered under his breath, staying behind a boulder a few metres away. That man must've been the cause of the devastation that was Aizawa's elbow.

The pale haired villain was on a video game-termed monologue about his plan to kill All Might, but the student didn't hear a word of it, instead noticing the man walking towards the bay of the shipwreck zone.

Where he could spot Tsuyu's signature bow ponytail...

"No!" Izuku ran towards the man in attempt to stop him, but couldn't even reach him before he grabbed the girl's face.

"You really are a cool guy, Eraserhead!" A sinister chuckle came from the villain. "But how long until you blink I wonder? Until this girl's face becomes skeletal?"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" Izuku roared pulling Shigaraki's arms away from Tsuyu. "Aizawa-sensei! You don't need to use your quirk now! Trust me!"

"Ohoho," the villain grinned. "A cocky brat aren't you? Don't want to accept help from your teacher? Have you not seen his elbow?"

The boy snarled in return, a newfound hostility coming out of him. This man wasn't redeemable. He kills for fun.

When Shigaraki lunged Izuku dodged, grabbing the polyester rods from the side of his belt and sending a bolt to the man. It didn't deter the villain, and instead forced him to jump back again. Should've known lighting works better over longer distances.

"Nothing to say, brat? You resemble a wild animal right now, but you'll look like what vultures feed on when I'm done with you."

And with that, Izuku instinctively clicked the buttons on his wrists, his middle fingers freed. He was about to try something really stupid, but if if he was right the fight would be in his favour.

Shigaraki jumped forward once again to grab him but the boy caught his hand mid-swing, interlocking their fingers.

He was right. Their quirks cancelled each other out. He wondered if their quirks were that similar in a way, with Izuku's uncontrollable attraction of atoms through direct contact keeping his own skin in one piece with Shigaraki's quirk tried to pull it apart.

"What? How are you still alive, Eraserhead?" Shigaraki remarked, blinking at the five seconds that passed with neither of the opponents feeling pain.

"If Aizawa-sensei had erased your quirk you'd be on the ground crying like a baby right now," Izuku deadpanned, eyes narrow. "Our quirks cancelled each other out."

"What~" the villain rasped weakly as if such an idea wasn't plausible. "I call bullshit, kid."

Izuku caught his other hand doing the same thing before twisting them until their wrists faced upwards. He then pushed their hands into Shigaraki's torso and upwards, causing the man to wince in pain as his wrists cracked. I gave him a sprain at least, the boy thought, all empathy for the villain having disappeared as soon as he spoke of killing in a light manner.