Chapter Fifty Six

Midoriya blocked Gray's path with outstretched hands, Gray stalled, eyes scanning for a new route. Bakugo flounced forward, ripping you from his grip, a snarl ready on his lips as Gray spun around.

"We don't have fucking time for this-!" Gray bit, reaching for you but Bakugo took a step back.

"Gray-" Midoriya calmly moved in front of Bakugo. "-what's going on, just talk to us-"

"Move-!" Gray shoved the greenette to the side. "-fucking marshmallow, we need to get as far from this place as possible!"

"Why?" Kirishima stepped forward, "It's ok we are far enough from the building we don't need to worry about-"

You looked up from gazing at the ground, your vision was met with a murky hallway, minimal light lit your path as you tailed your hand along the course wall guiding you through the twisted space. Water dripping from the ceiling echoed around as you maneuvered through the unknown area, you slid through the half-opened door.

The slurping sound following bone a sickly crunching caught your attention first. You turned the corner, your heart dropped into your gut as you gazed at the back of a metal beast, there was barely any human form left as it devoured its prey. Your face twisted, eyes shifted to the corner, Gray leaned against the wall, his arm contoured in an unnatural fashion, his shaking hand lifted to his face, signaling to not speak, blood from his soaked glove left an imprint on his mask.

You heard the crumbled stone grunt as it was being pushed around, something was trying to get out. Your eyes widened as you subconsciously took a step back, Bakugo looked to you, allowing you to move but his arm remained around you. The shock lining your muscles thinned. Your eyes met Gray,

"You need to go." You breathed, meeting Bakugo's gaze, he frowned.

"I'm not leaving-"

"(y/n)-" Midoriya reached out.

"Midoriya-!" Voice called from behind. "-(y/n), Kirishima-!" You swallowed the lump in your throat, spotting members from your class as well as heroes and police, most likely responding to the building collapsing.

"Fuck-" Gray breathed; "-this just got a lot harder." Gray turned, signaling with his arm to turn around. "You need to leave-!"

Just then Shiro broke through the rubble, he snarled and spat rummaging through the fallen building, your group unnoticed by him. Mina hid behind you, Kaminari stepped beside Aizawa. The police dropped to the ground, instantly going into defensive mode, guns pointed.

"What the hell is that!?" Kirishima breathed; cold sweat coated his body having never seen such a silhouette belonging to a monster.

"Men-!" The police commissioner called, "-fire-!"

"No!" Gray gasped, blood sprinting cold as he ran over, "-wait-!"

You pulled your gun, pulling the hammer down.

"You shoot my brother-" You warned, aiming for the police commissioner's head."-you'll be dead before you hit the ground."

"Everyone calm down!" Aizawa raised his hands, looking between the officers who turned their aim towards your chest, then he looked at you who had the U.A. students flocking to your side. "We are on the same side here."

"Aizawa is right." The police commissioner cleared his throat, "I should never have jumped the gun like that, I apologize."

"Mhm." You narrowed your eyes but didn't lower your gun.

"What is that?" Aizawa gestured, locked onto you, almost pleading with his eyes.

"Not a what-" You answered, holstering your gun. "-it's Shiro."

"Shiro?" Aizawa frowned, looking at the beast.

"How did he get like that?" Mina wondered, tugging on the bottom of your jacket to get your attention.

"It's his quirk." You mutter, "He can't control it when he gets like this."

"Then why did he go over the edge?" Aizawa questioned, crossing his arms. You rolled your eyes, feeling as if you were in trouble.

"We did what we had to do." You replied, feeling Gray's hardened gaze, knowing when the three of you were alone, you were going to hear about this later.

"What is he doing?" Midoriya wondered, having been observing Shiro.

"Eating." Gray answers.

"Eating?" The greenette blinked.

"Shiro eats metal." Gray breaths, "To use his quirk, he has to eat it."

"So that's what he's doing?"

"Yeah." You stepped in, "He's probably been eating the buildings pipes this entire time."

"What um..." Mina swallows. "...what happens when there are no more pipes?"

"He will move on-" Gray looks to the pinkette. "-to the next thing that has metal."

"So, we have time." Aizawa says, "But not much, we need to get everyone away from here and figure out how to advert Shiro to his original form."

"We need a plan." Todoroki says.

"I have a plan." Gray says.

"Is it a good plan?" Bakugo asked.

"I have a plan." Gray repeats, turning to you.

"No." You shake your head.

"Oh, come on!" Gray whines. "It worked last time!"

"Last time we weren't being held together with medical tape."

"I took that into account." Gray smirked, looking over to Kaminari, who instantly began to sweat.

"Wh-Why are you looking at me like that?"

----

As Todoroki placed an ice dome around the distracted Shiro, you walked up to Aizawa, key waited in the palm of his hand.

You could tell by the scowl carving itself over his face, he wasn't thrilled with Gray's plan. You offered your wrist, Aizawa's grip was gentle, his warmth soaked into your tired bones, causing another wave of sleep to hit you.

"The pros can handle this." Aizawa mutters, eyes darting over to Midoriya and the others, who were currently being bossed around by Gray, stripping all metal off their person. "You need to get to Recovery Girl."

"No." You hummed with a shake of your head. "I'm the one who told him to go Beast Mode, I'm responsible for him."

"Toru told me what happened." Aizawa unlocked the GPS tracker. "You did what you had to do to get out of a bad situation, this isn't on you-"

"It doesn't matter." You replied, rubbing your free wrist. "Shiro fell this deep because of me-"

"This isn't because of you." Aizawa sternly corrected. "He made this choice, he did it to get Toru and you to safety."

"I know." You nod.

"We shouldn't do this." Aizawa shook his head, "We can keep him on ice until we come up with a better plan."

"The longer we wait the deeper Shiro falls into his hunger," You countered, "This is the only thing I know that will work against him, this there is a better plan, I don't know it."

"(y/n)..."

"I will be fine." You promised, "He won't even notice me."

"I don't like this." Aizawa stated. "I know All Might wouldn't approve either."

"Good thing he isn't here then, huh?" You smirked, spinning on your heel you walked over to the group who were getting a final check from Gray.

"They're all good!" He flashed you a thumbs up, "You're turn-"

"Touch me and I'll break your hand again."

"I don't really understand the plan..." Kirishima raised his hand.

"How the-!?" gray groaned, "-it's like the simplest plan ever, because that's all my brain can formulate!"

"Well..." Kaminari chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "...maybe I wasn't listening."

"How have you not been unalived yet?"

"I'm just lucky I guess!"

"Or blessed with the most top tier dumb luck I have ever seen." Gray grumbles under his breath.

"Can we just go over the plan-?" Midoriya stepped in, a tight ball sitting inside his chest, not liking his friend being looked down upon. "-one more time, please?"

"Ugh-!" Gray threw his head back. "-half n' half here-" Gray gestures to Todoroki, "-has created a dome to keep Shiro inside, which by the way, man-" Gray looked over, "-contrary to popular belief, size does matter, you need to get it up a little higher."

"Gray." You warned, side eyeing him, Gray rolled his eyes.

"Then you-" Gray points out Kaminari, Kirishima, Bakugo and Midoriya. "-will hang out around on the top of the dome to ensure Shiro doesn't get out. Your other classmates will be on the outside acting as the best plan B we got. Then blondie over there—after he recharges from overusing his quirk—and (y/n) will electrocute Shiro."

"E-Electrocute him!?" Mina gasped.

"It will jolt him back to normal." Gray crossed his arms. "Any more questions?"

"How-How will this get him back to normal!?" Midoriya held his wide eyed, he wanted to save everyone's expression. "That could kill him!"

"Maybe." You stepped in, over the current conversation you unzipped your jacket. "But the risk is better than leaving him like this."

"What the hell are you doing?" Bakugo frowns, watching you slide the jacket off your shoulders. "You need that on!"

"It lined with steel." You reply, "If I leave it on, I'll look like a happy meal to Shiro."

"We are still in a hot zone-" Kirishima agreed. "-we don't know where villains could be lurking, you still have a price tag on your head!"

"I know." You say, gazing over. "You're not saying anything I don't already know, but Kaminari can't control where his lightning goes, so you need me in the ring. We don't have the time to find another hero with a lightning ability, the longer we wait, the deep Shiro falls into his quirk."

"I don't like this!" Bakugo stated.

"That's fine." You shrug, Aizawa took the jacket from your grasp.

"I'll be on the ground." Aizawa announced, "If something goes wrong, call me."

"Why can't you just come with us?" Midoriya wondered.

"Because Shiro is hardwired to search out metal-" Gray answers, "-but that doesn't mean he won't respond to the stimuli on the top of the dome if there's to many of us up there."

"Oh."

"Let's get this over with." You sighed, reaching into the collar of your shirt your fingers looped around the metal chain tucked into your uniform. You slipped it off, tucking it into the pocket of your jacket. Mina, Bakugo and the others locked onto the object, their curiosity instantly burned.

"Are you sure about this plan?" Aizawa questioned one last time.

"Yes." You exhaled, itching for Todoroki to bring you up with his ice and just get this day over with.

"As long as no one wears anything metal-" Gray pats Aizawa's back. "-and remain moderately quiet Shiro won't even notice us!"

"But..." Toru stepped forward, face pinched clenching Gray's jacket. "...he hurt all those people..."

"He didn't hurt them-" You flatly defend. "-he went after the metal they had."

"Oh..." As her eyes fell to the ground you noticed how her uneven hair kissed her shoulders. It must have been difficult to cut hair you couldn't see, the light blue shade reflected against the dying sun, Toru gazed upward at you, her eyes and matched the shade of her hair.

You turned your back to her widened gaze.

"Let's go." You called, walking away from the group.

"Ri-Right!" Kirishima and Midoriya instantly followed, Gray shook his head, they reminded him of lost puppies following you around. Todoroki kneeled touching the ground, after a moment and a wise crack joke from Gray about troubling getting it up, Todoroki created another layer to the dome as he raised your group to the top. Midoriya glanced over this shoulder, he could barely make Aizawa out from the ground.

"This is high!" Kaminari instantly panicked, dropping to all fours. "Holy shit!"

"Don't fall." Gray warned. "I'm not jumping after anyone."

"Rude!" Kaminari pointed, but quickly returned to gripping the ice feeling himself slide. You lend forward, spotting Shiro who was still munching on the building's broken foundation. You furrowed your brows, there was barely a human form left.

"He's in deep." Gray stepped beside you; his gaze broken revealing the pain he felt for this brother who was lost inside his own skin. You nod, unable to remove your eyes from the bloated figure standing nine feet tall. "Alright-" Gray sighed, "-let's get this done." You nod in response turning to Kaminari.

"You ready?"

"Al-Almost." The blond cleared his throat, looking over his shoulder to the edge feeling him sliding. "Just-Just give me a minute."

"We don't have a minute." Gray bit, "Get the hell up-"

"You don't think he would like..." Kirishima nervously smiled. "...really attack us, right?"

"He has before." You mumbles.

"He uh..." Kirishima's grin dropped. "...what do you mean by that?"

"Get going." You shooed them to get in position around the dome, there couldn't be too much metal left down there, Shiro would soon be on the hunt for more.

Placing a stern boot on the edge you leaned forward to get a better look while waiting for Kaminari, you furrowed your brows as Shiro lifted his contoured head upward, as if he was smelling something in the wind. You tilted your head, looking down seeing how much space you had your eyes was drawn to your right leg.

You narrowed onto the ankle monitor, you blinked, turning to look at Gray who remained beside you. You licked your lips as dread seeped into the pit of your stomach, churning it, you swallowed the lump in your throat as you stood.

"Shit."