Once Again From Better Days

The ground shakes again, and Katsuki hastens forward, his heart beating too loud in his c.h.e.s.t and thoughts he has avoided for years are ringing in his head. He presses forward. Despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins, his steps feel heavy.

Izuku . He tries to center himself. Izuku is in danger.

The hallway ends, and he stops himself before he spills out into the room ahead. His boots stop just over the threshold. He can hear the fight before he can see anything. A cold voice resounds through the underground walls. It must be plagueface. The individual words are hard to make out in the midst of sounds of fists hitting flesh and rubble crashing to the floor, but the taunt in his tone is unmistakable.

Katsuki inches closer. Even he's not brash enough to burst onto the scene and punch Overhaul in the face without assessing the situation. Between the sounds of punches and falling rubble, he catches a few words, like "quirkless" and "they'll die without me," all in plagueface's voice. Memories of twin bandages covering the two young girls' arms flicker through his mind. Plagueface must be talking about the children. Eri, Nao, the other children .

His eyes find Izuku first, and he is, thankfully, only mildly injured. Nighteye stands a little to his left. In addition, Izuku has Eri securely in his arms, wrapped in what appears to be the tattered remains of Lemillion's cloak. A glance surveying the ground tells him that Lemillion himself is out cold due to injuries but still breathing. On plagueface's side, there's one villain with arrows for hair face down and another in hardly better shape, but mask up.

Izuku is safe. For a moment, Katsuki lets himself bask in relief and lets out a deep breath. But the fight is still moving, and Izuku is at a disadvantage with both of his arms occupied with Eri. A shadow of Toga's words pull at the back of his mind. Izuku is safe for now. For now . Apprehension builds in the pit of his stomach–maybe he'll never be able to save Izuku. Maybe Toga was right (he never managed it before).

The battle pauses, letting the dust settle to the ground. The combatants pant for breath. Katsuki's pleased to see that there's blood dripping from plagueface's short, black hair and a few bruises blooming across his face. He looks like he's struggling to stand. Izuku's forehead glistens with sweat. In the lull, he glances over his shoulder (not wanting to risk turning his back to the enemy) to affirm Katsuki's presence. 

When he faces forward again, there's a smile on his lips. "This is the end of the line for you," he says to plagueface. Determination rings in his voice, and even without being able to see, Katsuki knows his eyes are blazing. "Tell us where the other children are."

The demand makes plagueface's expression sour. "Those children are worthless to anyone but me. They're tragedies are already written, what can you do to save them, little heroes?"

Near to the ground, Katsuki glimpses something move. The arrow-haired villain is struggling to put himself into an upright position. There's something on the ground a short distance from his right hand, and Katsuki spots a carrying case of some sort a few more pieces of rubble away. Thoughts of quirk-erasing bullets cross his mind. It would be bad, to say the least, if villains were to get a hand on those en masse. Or if the bullets were used against them now. 

Katsuki jumps after arrow-hair and doesn't hear the rest of whatever plagueface has to say. He lands with a thud, and the villain has just enough time to glance behind him before his face meets an explosion. 

In the time it takes to properly knock out the villain, the two Iidas appear in their matching suits of armor, both similarly scratched up and missing helmets, but standing strong. Nighteye gives them a quick rundown of the situation and an order to go after the rest of the children. With their quirks, they're the best choice for a quick rescue. The brothers zoom toward the exit on the other side of the room, and  while plagueface moves to stop them, he falls short.

With a howl of frustration, Chisaki turns his attention to his nearest associate, still lying motionless on the ground. "Nemoto," he hisses. "You'd be glad to die for my sake, wouldn't you?"

His b.a.r.e hand reaches for the unconscious man. Katsuki watches with morbid fascination as flesh and blood erupt from the point of contact. With a sickening squelching noise, body parts separate and rejoin in a new configuration. Once the transformation is complete, there are no longer two villains, but one. The thing that stands before them now reminds him horribly of the nomu. It's form has too many arms to be considered human, but the eyes that glare at them in rage are too discerning to be considered animal.