Overcrowded ER | Outnumbered | "It's all for nothing"
Fandom: My Hero Academia
Words: 1,188
Taglist: @athenswrites @lili-loves-whump
Warnings: hospitalization, power overuse, past experimentation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The shaking started first. It was the first sign that anything was wrong.
Next was shouting. The sounds of things, walls, doors, windows breaking. I made the mistake of going out into the hall to figure out what was wrong and almost immediately got decked had I not ducked.
Villains. So many villains.
There was reason UA prided itself on security, it set up it’s offense defensively and it’s defense offensively. But the defense had broken somehow.
Shit shit shit what are we meant to do? None of the kids from the lower levels are heroes! Are any of them safe? Are they okay?
[Focus Clo. We’re a hero. We handle this.]
I had already ended up engaged in combat with some of them, but there were just so many that I wouldn’t be able to take any of them out using only the power I showed off.
We’re outnumbered. We’re out of options. We just have to stand our ground until support arrives.
But support wasn’t arriving. I put maybe 3 out of commission, and 6 more showed up for me and the others in the hallway. If we go all out now, it’ll end up hurting people. I cant get them all to safety in time.
Someone hit me in the back.
[Fuck it. Void.]
My power stretched and I let it go as far as it deemed through out the school, causing damage like no other. I knew it would end up going out of control, I fought to stay conscious the same as my fight to contain the full power of my quirk from harming innocents.
I let it rage, let myself go for just a little bit, let them have my wrath. Let them see exactly why they should never come back ever again.
I let the anger and hatred fuel it, let what had happened to me cause chaos, let my quirk handle and give proper catharsis to at least a small sliver of my fury. My happiness, my protectiveness, my want for others to live a better life than I had barred it inside as much as it would be leashed.
And after that I was in a hospital.
“No, nononono stay down! You need rest!” the nurse said when he saw me get up. My confusion must have shown. “We barely managed to get you in but you’re the current most likely source of whatever wrecked UA. You need to rest,” he explained.
My just-waking-up mind was still confused but I wrote it off in the name of sleep.
The next thing I remembered was waking up again. I could think more clearly now. There was an IV in my arm. I was hooked up to a heartrate monitor. I was no longer wearing my suit, instead being put in a hospital gown.
“They’re awake!” I heard vaguely.
My dad was the first to enter along side Ochako and Izuku.
The same nurse as before said, “their condition isn’t critical so we’re allowing the one extra visitor, but if it is to change at any point you all will need to leave the room and they will only be permitted to have 2 visitors after that. “
My friends nodded and my dad immediately crouched down by my bed side.
“Are you okay sweetie? Is everything alright? Did you use too much power?” he whispered so only we would hear.
“Yes… to all three of those. Ugh, I feel like death.”
“Yeah well, you almost put us in death when we couldn’t find you. What happened?”
“Uhhh…” I wracked my brain for memory. “I went to the bathroom, the building started shaking, I heard sounds of general conflict and when I opened the door there were way too many villains for anybody to feasibly take in a fight storming their way through the building.”
There was a pause.
“You mean you dont remember anything about UA having a complete shift in reality for like 5 minutes before going back to normal?” Ocha asked.
“Yeah, even those of us on the training field experienced some of it,” Izuku added.
The nurse cut in, “they’re the most likely source for where all that power would have come from currently, so they probably dont remember anything about it. Plus, if it was someone near them, some part of said power might have knocked them out or caused them to forget.”
“Are you telling us they were the one that caused all that carnage?”
“Most likely, yes,” the nurse answered.
My dad looked at me and I nodded. “They are,” he said.
All eyes were on him now. “It’s been something of a secret since I adopted them, but yes, they have a very intense and powerful quirk that, under the right circumstances, would be able to have done that to UA.”
“I thought their quirk was Illusion?” Ochako questioned.
“One of, yes. I have multiple. Illusion is the one I was born with.”
“...Are you trying to say there’s ways to manifest multiple quirks?”
I sat up. “Well, considering I can do this,” I paused and concentrated, letting my heartrate monitor flatline for a bit, “for a minute straight without any sort of repercussions, I’d say that’s a fair assumption.”
“But why keep this secret?” Izu said confused.
“Because I didnt get these of my own volition. They were forced on me.” Dont think about it dont think about it dont think about it.
“By who?”
“That’s a question best left to the police,” my dad cut in.
“A pro-hero,” I responded.
The silence and tension could’ve been cut with a knife.
“A…A hero?”
“Yes. A very famous one. One that nobody would honestly believe me. He pumped me full of chemicals and now the official quirk blocker on file for me is a sedative.”
“A sedative?”
“You saw how strong my quirk is. Normal blockers dont cut it, I have to make special ones for me that are 10 times stronger than the current strongest ones available to heroes and cops, and even those still break when I lose control.”
The silence was only broken by the small shuffling of clothing as my dad offered me a cup of water.
“...We had a tough time finding you. There was a lot of people rushed to 3 different ERs to properly accommodate how many people ended up injured and otherwise passed out.”
“I can imagine.”
“...What exactly does your, uhhh… lab quirk?... do?”
“I was given three. You’ll have to be more specific.”
“Uhm… The one we saw you use?”
I put down the water. “That one’s my most powerful. It started as a general item-creation quirk, with the main component being a form of matter manipulation that with enough stamina turned into this.” I shifted the room around us, changing realities, shifting the environment, then letting it settle back to normal.
”So it’s matter manipulation?”
“At one point while it was still developing fully. Its true form is much better described as reality bending.”
The cold felt like it was fusing with his bones. This was a terrible idea, as well a terrible mission. He should have just left this to another mercenary group. It would have made his life much better at the moment.
This annoyed him more they he wanted to admit.
"Oh this is just brilliant" Gale said, his teeth clattering "This is really the worst mission you've ever picked"
Nova growled under his breath. "Shut the fuck up, Gale " he snapped, glaring at the snow around them "I swear I'll beat the living shit out of you if keep this up"
Gale snorted. "Like I'm scared of you" he said "You've become way to skinny to be a threat to anyone"
Max snorted.
"Don't you start, Max " Nova growled, glaring at his brothers.
"I didn't say anything" Max said with a shrug "You know it's the truth"
Nova just shot him a flat look. "Oh please... I was sick for a week" he said "What the fuck did you two think will happen?"
"It's cause you got lazy, dumbass" Gale said as they continued slugging through the snow.
"Yeah... Puking out my guts" Nova grumbled.
Max laughed, shaking his head. "That was your own fault.... We all told you not to eat the cheese... but noo.... the great Nova has to do it" he teased.
Nova narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Max.... I'm going to make you regret that" he said, struggling not to smirk as well.
"I swear every time we leave you to choose the mission yourself... You pick the weirdest shit ever" Gale said "Cause what the hell are we doing in the middle of no where?"
"We're not in the middle of nowhere" Nova growled, rubbing his arms. Not ever the thick coat he had on, managed to stay of the cold.
Gale snorted. "Is that so?" he asked "Cause seriously... This place is like an abandoned, freezing, wasteland"
"How far is it?" Max asked, folding his hands behind his head. He only wore a light jacket, since he could control his own body heat. "Cause I'm getting tired of walking... It's really annoying"
"The two of you should just fucking shut up" he said.
Both Gale and Max burst out laughing.
"What are we doing again?" Gale asked.
"We need to pick up the package and make sure that it reaches the client" Nova said.
"And what is this package?" Gale asked.
"Not a what..." Nova said "A who"
Gale paused for a moment. "Didn't you say you'll never do trafficking?" he asked, sounding almost worried.
"We're not" Nova said "It's a high profile family that needs their daughter brought from their save house, out here, to their mansion"
"And just how much more than usual did they have to pay to get you to agree for this?" Max asked "Because you hate doing jobs for people like them"
Nova snorted. "About seven times" he said "And yes.... I hate doing these jobs... but they just wouldn't stop"
That made both brothers laugh.
"So they annoyed you into saying yes" Gale said, shaking his head.
"YES!" Nova snapped, throwing his hands into the air "Now stop asking would you?"
"Why are we walking?" Max asked.
Nova clenched his jaw.
"Cause all three of us can fly" Gale said.
Nova growled at them.
"It would be much faster" it was Max again.
"It's a no fly zone" Nova finally snapped at them "We'll get shot down"
"And using snowmobiles?" Gale asked "What do they have against it?"
Nova groaned. "They wouldn't be able to go through their defenses" he said before pausing "There.... That's the place"
The three stopped and looked at the building, Nova pointed at.
"That... looks like a fortress" Gale said slowly.
***
Nova narrowed his eyes at the girl that stood in front of him. He felt like he was going to strangle her. This girl was working on his nerves. She was a spoiled brat that couldn't keep her mouth shut, and had opinions on everything. At first she argued with him about every single thing.
He felt like he's going to snap and punch her.
"Alright.... that's enough" Gale said, putting his arm around Nova's shoulders, pulling him back "There's no reason to get upset"
"You..." the girl snapped, pointing at Nova "Are bloody useless"
"Listen here you fucking..." Nova started, but snapped his mouth shut as the bunker's alarms went off.
"Get to the snowmobiles" Nova snapped "We need to leave. NOW"
"I'm not going with you..." the girl started, but Nova just ignored her, grabbed he wrist and pulled her to where the snowmobiles were.
The girl started screaming at him to let go, but he just ignored her.
As they reached the snowmobiles, she pulled away from Nova. He spun towards her.
"Look here... I don't fucking care what you want" Nova snarled at her as Gale and Max got onto the mobiles "If you don't get onto that thing... I will drag you after me....."
"You wouldn't dare..." she started, but Nova just put a helmet over her head, picked her up and put her on the snowmobile.
"If you get up from there" He growled threatening in her ear "I will tie you to it"
"My father...." the girl started again.
"Is paying me to take you home" Nova snarled as they heard gunfire from outside "So shut up"
With that Nova got up behind her, starting the machine. He motioned for the others get started. The moment the doors opened, the three machines shot out over the snow.
"Nova... can you hear me?" Gale's voice asked in his head.
"Loud and clear. Keep moving... and don't stop for anything" Nova said back "Max, take the lead. Make sure that the road is clear"
"Got that" Mike's voice said.
They shot over the snow. Nova glanced over his shoulder, noticing that they were being followed.
"Seven incoming" Nova said "Max... we need to lose them"
"I hear you..." Max said "I've got it..."
A storm rose up behind Nova. He could feel the wind and cold pulling on his skin and clothes. They kept on going forward. The sound of the storm followed them for a while, before Gale suddenly pulled to a stop.
"We are in trouble" Gale's voice said.
Nova pulled to a stop, his eyes flickering over the area around them. Gale was right, he noticed immediately. In front of them there were six snowmobiles.
"We're not splitting up" Nova said softly.
"No one said we should" Max's voice said.
Nova snorted, he grabbed the girl, before she could jump on the snowmobile.
"Where the fuck do you think, you're going?" he snapped at her.
"Away from you people" the girl shot back at him.
"Not a fucking chance, you damn brat" Nova hissed, motioned for Gale to take off again. Again the brothers took off.
The other snowmobiles chased through through the snow.
"Dami... it cannot go on like this" Gale's voice said.
"I know... Get out... regroup.... surround" Nova said "I'll keep them busy... They wouldn't leave without this brat"
"You keep on calling her a brat, and you two will never get along" Max said with a snort.
"Shut up and do it" Nova snapped.
Without warning Max and Gale took of in different directions.
Nova just kept on going forward.
All of the snowmobiles followed him, since the girl was with him.
"HOLD ON!" he called back to her, noticing something strange in front of them.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?" she yelled back.
Nova growled under his breath as they swerved through the trees. He could feel his brothers moving closer. Without warning something exploded right in front of them. Nova lost control of the snowmobile and they crashed.
Immediately he could hear fighting around them.
Groaning he pulled the helmet from his head, dropping it to the ground. His eyes flickered around before finding the girl. Quickly he went over to her and going down on his knees in the snow.
He shook the girl's shoulder. "Hey... wake up" he said, ignoring the cold that started to seep into his body again.
The girl groaned and Nova pulled the helmet of her head.
"Hey... open your eyes" he said, slapping her cheek lightly.
"... I'm... awake..." the girl muttered as her eyes flickered open.
Nova nodded. "Good... We're getting the fuck out of here" he said, hulling her to her feet.
For a moment it looked like she was going to argue with him, but the moment she noticed the fighting behind them, she just nodded.
Dragging the girl, behind him, they ran through the snow, towards what looked like a mountain.
"Dami ... one got through" Gale's voice said.
"Got it" Nova said as they moved. He could hear the person following them. Without warning, Nova grabbed the girl's arm pushing her roughly to the side.
The sound of a gun firing echoed through the snow.
As the girl fell into the snow, she saw Nova going down as well. Immediately the snow around his head, started turning a bright red colour.
She let out a high pitched scream as a man got of his snowmobile and walked towards her.
The girl scrambled back, wide eyes focused on the man, coming closer.
"No one is going to save you know, Girl" the man said.
"Who the fuck said that?" a voice snarled from behind the man before an arm slipped around the man's throat, strangling him until he went limp.
The man fell limply to the ground, revealing Nova behind him, blood running down the side of his face. He wiped some of the blood away with the back of his hand, eyes blazing.
"Get up" he snapped.
The girl blinked up at him. "You.... you're.... you're alive..." she whispered.
"Yeah, not shit" Nova groaned as he quickly pulled her to her feet "We need to move. You keep on sitting here on your fucking ass, and both of us will be in a shit load of trouble"
She stumbled slightly. "What... what are we going... to do now?" she asked, shivering.
"This way" Nova said, almost picking her up as he started moving. The air around him glimmered, as a shield form to protect them from any stray attacks.
"It hurts..." the girl whispered.
"Suck it up" Nova hissed.
He all but dragged the girl towards the small cave he noticed before being shot. As they reached the cave he let go of the girl. She all but fell to the ground, before Nova sank to the ground, his back against the wall.
The girl glare at Nova, for a moment before she pulled her knees up against her chest, shivering.
Nova struggled to keep his eyes focused. It took him a moment, before he realized that the girl was probably freezing. They were both covered in snow, wet and hurt.
Slowly he lifted a hand, blocking the entrance with a shield. He'll hopefully be able to keep it up for a while, until Gale and Max finished.
"Hey... Um... you..." the girl started.
"Nova" he said, looking over at her.
"Alright... well... Nova... Are you alright?" she asked, biting her lip.
"I'm fine" Nova growled as he shrugged off his coat, before tearing a piece of his shirt, pressing it against his head. "You?"
The girl pulled her hand through her hair. "My leg hurt... and it hurts to breath" she said.
Nova groaned, before just dropping the piece of shirt on the ground, carefully getting to his feet. He slowly walked over to her. With a grunt he knelt in front of her.
"Show me" he said.
"Dami ... are you alright?" Gale's voice asked, making Nova flinch.
"Shut up, Gale" Nova snarled, pressing his hand against his head.
"....Nova..." the girl said "Are you... Are you alright?"
Nova nodded. "Just keep quiet" he said "Now which leg is hurting?"
She nodded to the left leg.
Without a word, Nova pulled out a knife and before she could say anything, he cut away her pantleg and then the boot.
"What are you doing?" she snapped.
"Shut up" Nova growled, annoyed, blinking a few times as his vision went out of focus for a moment. Slowly he checked her leg.
"Don't tell me shut up" she said, her voice a pitch higher than normal.
Nova paused, glaring at her. "I fucking swear, if it weren't for the money, I'd just leave you here" he hissed.
"You bastard..." she started.
"Just for five fucking minutes... Keep your bloody mouth shut" Nova snapped "You're not making anything better"
The girl glared at him, but did not say anything.
Carefully Nova examined her leg. "At least it's not broken..." he muttered "You just sprained it"
"Just...." she started before , quickly clenching her jaw shut, when Nova glared at her.
Blood dripped to the floor of the cave as Nova kept his head bowed as he wrapped the girl's ankle. Every now and then he had to stop, to wipe the blood out of his eye.
As he pulled away, he just went to sit against the wall again, closing his eyes.
"Um.... Nova...." the girl said quietly "Thank you..."
"Yeah, whatever..." he muttered.
Silence fell between the two.
Nova just listened to the noise outside. He started feeling light headed. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that he needed to stop the bleeding, but he felt to tired.
"Your head... It's... it's still bleeding" the girl said softly.
Nova cracked open his eyes, he did not even realized he closed them.
"It's... fine" he muttered, wincing at the slur in his words. Maybe he had a slight concussion.
"If something happens to you... No one will know where I am" the girl snapped grabbing the piece of shirt that he discarded before, pressing it against the wound on the side of his head.
"I fucking doubt that" Nova said, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head "They wouldn't come, because there's a shit storm out there... No other... reason"
"Well I'm not allowing you to leave me here alone" the girl said.
"I really don't give damn" Nova growled, closing his eyes again.
The girl pulled back slightly, shivering.
"Fucking cold in here...." Nova muttered and opened his eyes.
***
They stayed in the cave all through the night. Nova started struggling to keep his barrier up at the entrance. He started breathing irregularly, slightly gasping for breath, like he just ran a long distance.
His attention finally snapped, the barrier disappearing and a cold wind ripped through the cave.
The girl jumped slightly, before quickly crawling over to Nova.
"Hey... Asshole, wake up" she said, shaking his shoulder.
He'd gone pale, dried blood against the side of his head. More blood than what she'd think should be. There was an exhausted look on his face, since he'd been awake the entire night, making sure their small fire kept on burning and the shield didn't go down.
Voices sounded outside, before three men stepped into the cave.
"Look at what we found" one of the men said, grinning darkly "We've been looking for you, Miss"
"Go away!" the girl snapped, grabbing Nova's cold hand.
Without hesitation one of the men grabbed the girl, dragging her away from Nova.
"You've caused us a lot of trouble, You fucker" another one said, grabbing Nova, but his jacket hulling him to his feet, sneering at the blood on Nova's face "Looks like Morgan got in a good shot"
"Leave him alone" the girl snapped, aiming a kick at the man.
The man caught her foot, gripping her bandaged ankle tightly, making her scream, before he dragged her out of the cave. The other one followed, dragging Nova behind him.
Snow covered the entire area, all evidence of the fight the previous day were gone.
With a punch to Nova's stomach, the man dropped him into the snow, before aiming a few kicks to his head.
"I don't think your little mercenary is going to get up any time soon" the man said "He looks like he's barely holding on to life"
"Screw you" the girl snapped, struggling against the other guy that's holding her "You should be glad that he'd not awake, because he'll kick your asses into tomorrow"
The man laughed. "He's not getting up, Cupcake" he said.
"We'll just leave him here to freeze to death" the last guy said.
All three of them turning their back to Nova, where he lay in the snow. They dragged the girl towards the snowmobiles that stood a little away from them.
Nova slowly opened his eyes.
The cold seeped into his bones, but he just ignored it, as well as the pulsing in his head. What bothered him was the fact that he couldn't take a proper breath.
That made the fury rise in his chest.
Through his blurred and double vision, he watched as three men dragged the girl towards some snow vehicles.
Slowly he allowed the fury to push through his body, awakening his feline side. His eyes turned vertical slit as power wrapped around him.
Motion caught the girl's eye. She watched as Nova slowly and smoothly got up. He stepped forward, for a moment she thought that he was going to sink into the snow like they did, but he didn't. His foot settled on top of the snow, before he stepped up with the other.
"Where the fuck do you think... you're taking her?" Nova's voice asked coldly.
The three men stopped, slowly turning towards Nova.
"How the fuck are you getting up?" the leader of the group asked.
A slow, bloody smirk, formed on Nova's face. "Next time... make sure you fucking kill me" he snarled.
Power rose from his shoulders like heat.
"Well... we'll quickly fix that mistake" the man holding the girl said, pointing his gun at Nova.
"I dare you" Nova growled "I fucking dare you. Give me a bloody reason to kill you"
The gun fired.
The sound echoed over the snow.
Nova shot forward. Before the men could react, he grabbed the first man, slamming into the snow enough to send clouds of snow into the air. He moved without stopping, appearing through the snow, like a ghost.
With quick movements, he kicked the next man on the side of his head, bringing him down, before he could even draw his gun. Nova spun, grabbing the gun in the last man's hand, twisting it hard.
There was a snap as the man let out a scream.
Nova tore the gun from the man limp grip, before hitting him through the face with it. His other hand caught the girl's wrist, pulling her away.
Without hesitation Nova dropped the gun, and kicked the man that took the girl. The man went down and Nova stepped forward, stepping with one foot on the man's throat, leaning closer, letting the blood newly bleeding wound drip on the man.
"You should have fucking killed me" he said, before flicking his wrist, knocking the man out with his power.
He stepped back and looked at the girl. "Are you fine?" he asked, the expression on his face, saying that he was really annoyed.
"Yeah... I'm fine" she said softly, staring at him with wide eyes.
"Let's go" Nova snapped, nodding towards the snowmobiles.
The girl blinked at him for a moment before she nodded, her eyes flickering towards the men on the snow. She took a helmet and got on behind Nova.
He pulled away, his power wrapping around them, to keep the cold air away. It did not take them to long before they reached the meeting point with Gale and Max.
The two were already waiting for them.
Nova stopped the snowmobile, his brothers quickly coming closer.
"Where the hell happened?" Gale asked.
Nova flipped him of as he got of, wiping some of the blood from his face. "Fuck off, Gale" he growled.
Gale shook his head and held his hand out to the girl. "Miss... are you alright?" he asked.
The girl glanced at Nova before nodded. "Yes... I'm alright" she said softly.
"That's good" he said "Now if you'll follow me... We'll take you to your father's house"
"Thank you"
Max walked towards Nova, since his brother looked almost ghostly pale. As Gale and the girl disappeared, Nova just collapsed, forcing Max to catch him.
"Dammit, Dami " Max grunted as he picked his brother up "What the hell did you do?"
As Max got his brother into the small stay over hut, he put him down on the bed, before getting the first aid bag. With a bowl of water and a cloth, he knelt next to his brother.
Carefully he cleaned the dried blood from Nova's face.
There was bruising and a small cut over his cheek, that already stopped bleeding. As well as a long still slowly bleeding wound on the side of his head, in his hair. It looked like a bullet, more than just gazed him, revealing small patches of the skull.
Clenching his jaw, Max cleaned the area, before he slowly closed it, using medical staples.
Even while he was doing that, Nova did not wake up.
Gale came into the room, frowning at Nova, before looking at Max. "What's his damage?" he asked.
"Probably a concussion, and some blood loss" Max said "Someone nicked him with a bullet..."
Nova groaned, his eyes flickering open.
"Dami" Max said, his attention immediately snapping to his brother.
Nova's mismatched eyes looked confused. "Max..." he groaned.
"Well come back, Dami" Max said patting his shoulder.
"I feel sick..." Nova muttered before his eyes flickered close again.
