11

"Who am I?" The strange man exclaimed. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Yes." Boku replied sarcastically. "I'm asking who you are because the answer is totally obvious."

"Boku." Midoriya said.

"Don't even try and act like you weren't thinking that." Boku shot back. "What I just said was you thinking that."

"I guess," Midoriya admitted, "but did you have to be so…Bakugo about it?"

"Talking to yourself, huh? You probably need therapy, little dude." Midoriya and Boku both turned to glare at the strange man. He held up his hands defensively. "Just saying."

Boku scowled. "I'm still waiting on the answer to my question, baldy."

"Please." Midoriya added politely.

The man grinned. "I'm your senpai." 

"Senpai?" Midoriya repeated in a perplexed tone. "I don't know what you're..." His eyes widened. "Wait, you don't mean…?"

"Yeah," The man grinned. "I carried One for All before you. Go ahead and call me Rokudai."

"'The sixth?'" Boku snorted. "Real original. No way that's your real name."

"Are…all of you previous holders in here?" Midoriya asked.

Rokudai nodded. "You'll probably meet all of us eventually. But I'm on limited time here." He indicated towards his body, which was fading into darkness by the second. "Hold your questions for now. I've got a present for you."

"A present? What kind of pres—huugh!"

Without warning, Rokudai walked up and socked Midoriya in the stomach, dropping him to his knees. Before he could form a word of protest at the rough treatment, black tendrils of energy exploded out of Midoriya's body, writhing, thrashing, and violently grabbing onto anything in range, ravaging the imaginary landscape of the park. Every couple of seconds, the park would flicker and return to its pristine state before being destroyed all over again.

"It…hurts!" Midoriya gasped, each part of his body emitting the strange black energy felt as if the nerve endings were being scalded by boiling acid. "Aaah!" He dropped his head to the ground and convulsed in agony. "It hurts! This is a dream, how does it hurt so bad?"

"It's no dream." Rokudai said. "This is my quirk, Black Whip." He gave the rampaging black tendrils an impressed look. "But man, it's waaay stronger than it was when I had it! On the outside, it's going a little wild right now, so you need to calm down before you hurt the girl that's with you."

"Forget her!" Boku shouted, "What about me? Turn it off!"

"I…can't!" Midoriya grunted. "It won't…respond to my commands!"

"Black Whip ain't something you control with your thoughts, man!" Rokudai crouched next to Midoriya. "It's all about the intent, the feeling, you dig? Do you think about moving your hands? You just gotta stay positive!"

Midoriya closed his eyes and forced a slow, controlled stream of air out of his nose, putting his years of emotional control to good use. Little by little, the dark tendrils of Black Whip receded until they were no longer visible. "…How is this possible?" He asked, still twitching from his torturous experience. "One for All is supposed to be a stockpiling quirk."

"One for All is pure energy." The sixth explained. "In most cases, One for All merges with the host's quirk and supercharges it. When it's passed on to a new host, vestiges of that merged power come with it. Within you are cores containing those vestiges, and after all this time, One for All has become strong enough that those cores are just about ready to burst. That means you've got six dangerously supercharged quirks to master." He laughed and slapped Midoriya on the back, "Lucky you!"

"Yeah…" Midoriya muttered. "lucky me."

'If they all hurt as bad as this guy's did, I'd rather go without.'

Midoriya's eyes widened. "Wait, is my quirk being supercharged?" He wasn't sure he liked that idea. "How would that even work?"

"It's the opposite." Rokudai grimaced. "That's why I'm here, actually…One for All is still growing, even across these resets. You've still got some time, but if you keep this up, the power will eventually outstrip your body's capacity to hold it, and if that happens, well…" He trailed off.

"I'm talking about your body, kid!" All Might's words echoed through the park. "My quirk holds the stockpiled physical prowess of eight generations of heroes! If I gave you my quirk now, your limbs would probably explode if you tried to use it!"

"If that happens..." Midoriya finished the thought. "Game over." He sighed. "Wonderful…how much time do I have?"

Rokudai shrugged. "I dunno. A bit. I'd avoid looping again if you can help it."

Boku growled. "That's real fucking helpful."

"But that ain't gonna happen!" The Rokudai encouraged him. "Black Whip is just the thing you need to get out of this funky time loop situation! Just focus on the intention of needing to 'grab hold' of something! Ah, dang." Rokudai frowned, his body was almost entirely gone now. "Looks like my time is just about up. I've gotta go. Just remember that we're watching over you, little dude! Do your best, and punch that immortal, quirk-stealing bastard right in his smug prick face for me!"

"I will." Midoriya promised, bowing in gratitude as his predecessor finally faded into nothing. He blinked in confusion when the last statement sunk in. "Wait…punch who?"

"Who cares?" Boku said. "Just figure out the baldy's quirk so we can kill those villains and get us out of this loop before we blow up."

"Not killing anyone." Midoriya corrected Boku, "But we do need to get out of this loop." He paused and glanced around the park. "But first things first, how do I get out of here?"

"Have you tried opening your eyes?" Boku snarked.

"Boku." Midoriya said flatly.

The blood-spattered child huffed. "I don't know. Just do your stupid meditation crap or whatever!"

Midoriya shrugged and sat down. "Worth a shot."

He took several deep breaths and closed his eyes, grounding himself in the present moment. As he began to feel himself coming out of his dream-like state, he heard Boku's voice echo in the back of his mind.

"I'll be keeping in touch, Deku."

XXX

HEROES NEVER DIE

XXX

"It is regrettable, but to achieve our goals, you will all be scattered...tortured...and slain."

Midoriya opened his eyes to a freefall. He eyed the railing of the boat, about five meters away from his current position. 'Focus on the intention of needing to 'grab hold' of something.' He reached out his hand towards the boat and willed Black Whip to come forth and bring him towards the boat. 'I hope this doesn't hurt! Grab the rail…grab the rail…grab the—'

~SPLASH~

'Goddamn it.' As he sank, Midoriya expelled a frustrated huff that came out as a stream of bubbles. '…Maybe I need to already be using One for All?'

"Sorry kid, it's nothing personal, but you're chum!"

Midoriya opened his eyes and glared at the shark-like villain who had tried to eat him so many times. He could already see Asui approaching the villain from above.

'No, I want to handle him this time.' Midoriya activated Parallel Flow and extended his hand. 'I need to reach him…if can just grab ahold of him, I'll have taken the first steps I need to get out of here!' His extended palm began to tingle slightly and the green sparks that usually flew off him were beginning to turn black. 'Something's happening! Grab him, grab him, grab him!'

Before he could coax out his new quirk, Asui's feet slammed into the top of the villain's head and Midoriya was once again unceremoniously dumped onto the deck of the boat. Asui raised her eyebrows as she climbed onto the boat. Midoriya was sitting cross-legged where she had dumped him, staring at his palm with a frown. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was sulking.

'No way. He must be in shock or something. What kind of person pouts in a situation like this?' Asui thought. "Are you okay, Midoriya?"

'I almost had it!' Midoriya pouted. 'If I'd only had a little bit more time! Damn it!'

"Midoriya?" Asui repeated.

"Oh…uh, yeah." Midoriya pulled himself to his feet and walked to the edge of the boat. "I'm fine. Everything is fine." He narrowed his eyes at the amphibious hydrokinetic and held out his hand. 'There was a sort of tingling sensation…come on...grab him, grab him, grab him. I need to capture him to get out of here.'

"What are you doing?" Asui asked. "Trying to use the Force?"

Midoriya ignored her. 'Don't think, feel it…I need to do this.' His forearm and palm began to tingle, and One for All's green aura began to darken. 'I need this power. Grab him, grab him, grab him!'

"Midoriya?" Asui grabbed him by the shoulder and disrupted his focus. The tingling feeling disappeared. "What are you doing? You're freaking me out."

'You stupid fucking frog! Let me figure this out in peace before I use you as bait!' Midoriya recoiled at the angry, violent impulse and pushed it away. 'Where did that come from?' He furrowed his brow. '…Boku?' There was no answer. 'Of course, there's no answer…I'm literally talking to myself. I don't have time for this.'

"I think I have an idea for a new application for my quirk." Midoriya told Asui. "I'm gonna need a moment to figure it out though."

"Oh? Are you going to electrocute the villains with that green lightning I saw coming off you?" Asui croaked.

"No," Midoriya shook his head. "I can't do—" He paused. "Wait…can I do that?" He rubbed his chin and began to mutter. "The sparks observed during the use of my quirk haven't shown any effects outside of their appearance, however, the green coloration is strikingly similar to the aurora seen near the poles…if the comparison holds up, it stands to reason that this phenomenon is the result of the emission of both photons and electrons with sufficient velocity to ionize the surrounding oxygen molecules upon contact, which explains the increased luminosity and intensity as energy output rises. Therefore—"

"All I was looking for was a yes or a no." Asui cut him off. "Also, did you breathe once during that rant?"

"Ah. Um, no, probably not." Midoriya flushed. "The green discharges are probably the result of some kind of electromagnetic interaction with oxygen, but it seems to be a side effect of energy bleed. It's highly doubtful that I could produce enough power to have any real effect in such a large body of water. Even Kaminari would fizzle out if he tried to do that. It is something to think about in the future though."

"Then what are you trying to do?"

"I don't have time to explain it." Midoriya eyed the formation of the villains. 'Damn, I wasted too much time on that distraction, they'll attack any second!' "Just trust me when I say it can be done. I need to concentrate."

He stuck out his palm. 'Focus on the intention of grabbing them. I need to capture him. Focus, focus, focus!'

XXX

HEROES NEVER DIE

XXX

"It is regrettable, but to achieve our goals, you will all be scattered...tortured...and slain."

~SPLASH!~

"Sorry kid, it's nothing personal, but you're chum!"

'Well,' Midoriya thought as Asui's powerful tongue wrapped around him and dumped him onto the deck of the boat, 'that obviously isn't working.'

"Are you okay, Midoriya?"

"Yes," he answered automatically, "I'm fine."

'What am I doing wrong?' Midoriya wondered. 'I'm doing exactly what Rokudai told me!' He removed his helmet and shook out his waterlogged hair. 'Maybe that's the problem…maybe he just sucks at explaining how to use it since he's always had it. I need an outside perspective. Luckily, I've got the perfect person here for that.' "Hey Tsuyu…"

"Yes?"

"How did you learn how to use your tongue? What does it feel like when you use it?"

"I'd be happy to answer that question, but don't you think we have more pressing issues at the moment?" Asui pointed towards the villain infested waters down below.

"Trust me, this is critically important." Midoriya said. "I think I have an idea of how to use my quirk in a way that will let us escape, but I need your input."

"Oh…" She croaked. "Well, in that case…"

XXX

HEROES NEVER DIE

XXX

'Okay. Time to get the hell out of here!' Midoriya directed his glowing eyes at the hydrokinetic villain and reached towards him with a flicking motion. He sent a spike of energy down the limb and imagined the sensation of his arm stretching to reach his target. The green sparks turned jet black and surged towards the villain as a solid mass. The ebony tendril constricted around the man and held him tightly in place.

"What the hell is this?" The man grunted, struggling to escape his binds.

"Since when could you do that?" Asui croaked in surprise.

"Since…now." Midoriya grunted as he struggled to keep Black Whip under control. 'This is even more difficult to control than One for All!' The villain suddenly let out an agonized howl of pain as the Black Whip enveloping him suddenly surged and cracked his ribs. At the same time, Midoriya winced at the flash of pain that engulfed his arm. 'It's like it's trying to run wild, like it has a will of its own!'

"I don't have very good control over this power!" Midoriya shouted to the villains at the top of his lungs.

"Midoriya, what are you doing?" Asui whispered, "Why would you tell them that?"

Midoriya waved her off before he used his other hand to ensnare a villain with Black Whip. The villain tried to avoid the tendril but was caught by the arm and screamed when the strength of the whip randomly surged, and the surrounding villains winced at the audible crack of bone. By now, the Hydrokinetic villain was unconscious from the pain so Midoriya flicked his wrist and released him, tossing him with enough force that he bounced off the surface of the water multiple times before reaching the shore of the manmade lake.

'Shit! I really hope that didn't kill him.' Midoriya glanced at the trembling hand that had just performed the throw. The inside of his mouth was bleeding from where he had bitten his cheeks to keep from crying out in pain. 'Those random surges hurt so bad that it's wrecking my concentration. I don't think I'm injured, but I can't just keep enduring that…let's see if I can bluff them.'

"If I get anxious, or my focus slips even a little!" He shouted and pointed towards the unmoving villain on the shore, "I can't control my strength!" He extended both hands and ensnared another two villains in a flash.

'Focus, focus, focus. Don't lose control!' He moved his hands together and slammed the two villains into each other knocking them unconscious. Midoriya felt something in his forearms crack and his face went pale. "L-Let us go, or I can't ensure your safety!"

"M-Maybe we should just let them go." One of the villains said. "We don't have to kill them, right?"

"Fucking coward!" Another villain holding a trident scoffed. "It's just two kids!"

"One of those kids just took out our four strongest in a couple of seconds." The first villain shouted back. He looked over at one of the villains Midoriya had caught and pointed at the grisly compound fracture sticking out of the man's arm. "I didn't sign up for this shit!"

"This was always going to be messy!" The other villain shot back, "Get your shit together, if we let them go, Shigaraki is going to—aack!"

The villain was cut off mid-sentence by a black tendril wrapping around him. The remaining villains watched in silence as it jerked him backwards through the water and slammed him into the side of the boat with enough force that it knocked him out immediately.

"Son of a…mmmph!" Midoriya cursed through grit teeth. His hands and forearms throbbed with a bone-deep ache. 'I don't think it's just my level of control…my body simply isn't strong enough to use Black Whip safely yet.' With trembling hands, he gingerly fished a few painkillers out of his med-kit and chewed them, ignoring the horribly bitter taste in favor of activating them as quickly as possible. "Dang it…I only have one or two more of those in me…If they don't give up, I don't think I can beat the rest of them by myself."

"Good thing you aren't alone then." Asui quipped as she hopped back up onto the deck and brushed her wet hair out of her face. "That was a great plan."

"Plan?" Midoriya raised his eyebrows. "Wait…what were you doing back in the water?"

"Shit!" The sole remaining villain shouted in a panic. "Where did everyone go?!"

"While all their eyes were on you, I used the element of surprise and took them out one by one." Asui raised a finger to her lip and tilted her head. "Was that not your plan? I figured that's what you'd want since that's basically what you did during the team battle the other day."

Midoriya stared at Asui for a few moments before busting out into laughter. "I'm an idiot. All of my talk about relying on the strength of my classmates and I still tried to do everything by myself." He picked up his helmet and hurled it with One for All, cracking the final villain in the head with and knocking them out. He hissed and rubbed his abused arms. "Ow."

"What's wrong?" Asui gently grabbed Midoriya's hand and narrowed her eyes when he winced at her touch. "Take off your jacket and gloves. I want to take a look."

"I'm fine." Midoriya moved his hands away from her. "We need to get off of this boat and back to shore before any of the villains come to."

Asui lightly tapped Midoriya's forearm and drew out a muffled whimper of pain. "It's obviously not fine. Just hurry up and let me take a look."

"Okay, I admit it." Midoriya growled. "I'm not fine. But unless you have the resources and qualifications to provide medical care, our immediate priority is getting the fuck off this goddamn boat!"

Asui hesitated for a second before giving a reluctant nod. "I guess you have a point. Now hold still, I'll swim us to shore." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "I'm surprised. I didn't think you had that kind of language in you, Midoriya."

"S-sorry about that." Midoriya flushed. "I'm in a lot of pain."

XXX

HEROES NEVER DIE

XXX

Midoriya watched in horrified silence as Noumu smashed their teacher's skull into the ground with enough force to crack the pavement. His body trembled in rage and he had to physically restrain himself from going out there to save him.

'Don't do anything stupid, Izuku. You can't just leave Tsuyu here.' Midoriya told himself, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. 'And even if you do go, you know you can't beat that monster. Not in your condition. Not even in your best condition.'

"Shigaraki Tomura." Midoriya tensed up at the horribly familiar sound of Kurogiri's deep, menacing voice. The nebulous man appeared in a swirl of dark mist. "Despite my efforts, one of the students managed to escape."

Needless to say, Shigaraki did not take this news well. He began to scratch his neck in an odd, seemingly compulsive fashion, making sure to only use four fingers at a time. "Kurogiri…" He growled menacingly. "You idiot! The pro heroes are going to be here any minute now!" The scratching intensified, leaving bright red trails on his pale neck. "If you weren't our only ticket out of here, I'd kill you myself!" Then, Shigaraki's anger vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. "It's game over. We can't kill the Symbol of Peace with a horde of pros breathing down our necks. We're leaving." He declared, slumping his shoulders in resignation. "But before we go, let's see if we can't damage his pride a little."

In a shockingly abrupt display of agility, he darted over towards the shoreline, intent on turning Midoriya and Asui into little more than dust. Having already been on the receiving end of Shigaraki's surprising several times before, Midoriya was more than prepared for the lethal assault and intercepted the villain's attack by stepping forward and grabbing the villain by the wrists.

'This bastard. Even now, he's still trying to kill us! And for what?!' In his anger, the pain in Midoriya's arms felt distant. The sounds of combat throughout the dome faded away, and the only thing Midoriya could hear was the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears like a war drum. 'He couldn't get what he wanted, so he's cut to murder children in a petty tantrum!'

"What the—?" Shigaraki exclaimed. He struggled to break free of Midoriya's quirk enhanced grip. "Let me go, you little brat!"

'He's the one behind all of this.' A dark, unctuous voice whispered in the back of Midoriya's mind. 'It's his fault. He's responsible for so much pain. I need to hurt him. He needs to be punished. You don't have to kill him, but he needs to suffer. Give him a taste of what I've gone through.'

"You know something, Shigaraki Tomura?" Midoriya whispered, "I was prepared to do just that. It's been a really, really long day, and if you had just left, I wouldn't have tried to stop you…" His glowing eyes went cold and hard. "But then you had to go and do this. You just couldn't leave well enough alone."

"Let go!" Shigaraki grunted, lashing out with desperate and ineffectual kicks to Midoriya's thighs and groin. Midoriya ignored the feeble attempts to attack him. With his protective cup and One for All's defensive aura active, the amount of damage the lanky man could do was negligible at best.

"Did you know," A cruel, toothy smile spread across Midoriya's face, "that gram for gram, bone is actually stronger than steel? Its structure allows it to withstand a shocking amount of force before it breaks."

"Let. Me. GO!" Shigaraki shouted, spittle flying from his lips in his frustration and rage.

"The thing is…" Midoriya tightened his grip and ground the delicate bones of Shigaraki's wrists together, bringing the man to his knees with a pained gasp. "For all their strength, bones are fairly brittle. They're great with compression forces, but if you apply a force at the right angle…" He sharply twisted Shigaraki's wrists inward with an audible snap. "That happens."

"Noumu!" Shigaraki howled, "Forget Eraserhead and get over here! I want him dea—!"

Midoriya interrupted Shigaraki with a front kick to the chest that sent him stumbling to the ground with a gasp. He crossed his arms in front of him and channeled as much energy into the limbs as he could. 'One for All: Blast Shield!'

In a blur of motion, a large black fist smashed into the hastily erected defense with an absurd amount of force and sent Midoriya skidding backwards several meters.

"I wasn't sure that would work." Midoriya grunted. "It looks like my theory was correct, however..." The sleeves of his jacket were completely shredded and revealed the dark, ugly bruises and swelling on his shattered arms.

'Even with most of the damage absorbed by One for All, the damage to my arms was pretty severe. I can still move them, but I can't take too many more of those. To make matters worse, that thing is so fast I can't evade its attacks. All I can do is hope that help arrives in time.'

"He cheated!" Shigaraki pulled himself to his feet and allowed his broken wrists to hang at his sides. "Noumu was made to kill All Might…how can this little brat withstand a full power attack? No…it hurt him. It had to." He narrowed his eyes hatefully at Midoriya. "Noumu, beat him to death. Make sure it hurts."

Noumu let out an unintelligible screech and disappeared with a blur of motion.

'This is bad!' Midoriya desperately threw up his broken arms. 'Blast Shield!'

When Noumu crashed against Midoriya's defenses again, the enhanced creature didn't let up on the assault, slamming its black fists on the unstable shield again and again. The relentless attack continued to push Midoriya backwards until his battered arms finally gave out and Noumu smashed Midoriya's body with a blow that he could confidently compare to being hit by a truck—if the impact of said truck were concentrated into an area the size of a fist, that is.

"Midoriya…no." Asui whispered in horror as she watched her classmate fly through the air and bonelessly tumble across the courtyard like a ragdoll.

"That's what you get." Shigaraki grinned and glanced over at Asui. "Now we've just got one more before we leave." He froze her in place with his murderous gaze. "It would have been painless if I had done it myself. Just a touch, and it would be over. But now I think I'll have Noumu tear you apart, one limb at a time. You can thank your friend breaking my wrists for that."

"D-don't even think about it."

"No." Shigaraki's eyes widened in shock at the sight of Midoriya pulling himself to his feet. "No that's impossible!"

Midoriya's muscles seized up several times from the agony shooting through his injured side and he coughed up a mouthful of blood after trying to take a breath. "I'm n-not done yet!"

'Bloody vomit, shortness of breath, dizziness and extreme pain…signs of internal bleeding.' Midoriya's vision began to swim and he grit his teeth, fighting to maintain consciousness. 'I'm dying. I'd give myself maybe an hour to live without treatment. Not that I'd have an hour in this situation to begin with…'

"Fuck it." Midoriya's eyes gleamed with the conviction of a fanatic as crackling green bolts of energy flew off of his battered body. He spat out another mouthful of blood and flashed a smile stained with red. "If I'm going to die no matter what, I'm going to die on my feet."

"That smile of yours…" Shigaraki growled. "That smile of yours reminds me of All Might…it really pisses me off. Noumu, forget the girl. Get back over there and—"

~BOOM~

The sound of the front door exploding off its hinges reverberated throughout the domed facility. Every living thing went perfectly still in the face of the overwhelming feeling of power that saturated the air. For the students, it felt like being wrapped in a blanket after being caught out in the cold. For the villains, it felt as if they had attracted the ire of a wrathful god. Heavy footsteps echoed in the sudden silence, and towering figure emerged from the cloud of the dust and smoke.

"Fear not, children!" All Might's booming voice carried across the dome. His eyes burned with fury and his ever-present smile was nowhere to be seen.

"A-All Might!" A number of the students near the exit began to cry tears of relief. "Thank goodness!"

"You're safe now." All Might reached up and tore off his tie with a snarl. "For I am here!"

AN: This is not, in fact, a cliffhanger. I will be skipping the All Might/Noumu fight because it will essentially play out the same way it does in canon. Shigaraki's broken wrists means Midoriya won't have to do the final mad dash that buys the extra second of time. Next chapter is the aftermath of USJ and some much needed fluff to soothe poor Midoriya's damaged spirit before the Sports Festival arc begins.