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Chapter 29: Chapter #28 | Tears of Bones

Notes:

Welcome back everyone! I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

But now that we're back from Holiday, here is a continuation of that cliffhanger from last time!

Warning here now, this chapter gets a bit more graphic than the others in term of what happens.

So be aware of that, that being said specific ones are in the end notes.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Aizawa was in a dead sprint out of the observation room before the building could even finish settling. Logically, he should have given orders first. Logically, he should have ordered All Might to stay with the students and for everyone to stay calm. But Shota wasn't thinking logically, and he most certainly wasn't calm. He fought to shove down images of his late friend's broken body, but as he stepped out onto the street, Shota froze.

The air was thick with the grey dust and ashes of the crumbling building. Half of it still stood, albeit heavily damaged, while the other half had practically collapsed inward before spilling out onto the street. The fake vehicles parked alongside the road had been crushed inwards from the debris landing on their roofs. Aizawa could hear the shifting of the building from where he stood. The main collapse may have finished, but the building creaked ominously and the subtle shifting and grinding of concrete implied a following collapse was well within the realm of possibility. Faint footsteps grew louder until they were behind him.

"Oh, Jesus Christ." Aizawa glanced back to find his entire class standing with All Might, staring at the absolute wreckage of what had once been their testing building. Ojiro hadn't been the only one to have a shocked reaction, Aizawa noted. A vast majority of the class had grown pale and wide-eyed as they took in the carnage. Even Asui, known already for not showing many emotions, was visibly worried.

Aizawa closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Now isn't the time for this. Later. I'll deal with this later. He turned, opening his mouth to take control of the situation, and the sound of shattering glass ripped through the air just as the shards did. All Might hastily threw himself in front of the class, catching the blond, bloody package that came flying out from the window. Bakugo.

Now that Aizawa got a good look at the boy, he looked far rougher than he should have come out of their first day looking. Small glass shards peppered his costume, and a few of the larger ones had pierced the fabric, leaving small pools of blood. Bruises already littered his skin from Midoriya's strikes, and his nose was very clearly broken. Bakugo's eyes were dilated and stared through him at the building that had finally settled, leaving the world an uncomfortable quiet.

It was because of the quiet that every one of them heard the cursing and crunching of glass as a second figure came out of the window. Aizawa's eyes traced the path from Bakugo, who was clearly going into shock, to an equally rough looking Midoriya. Blood dripped down his face on one side where he'd taken some kind of blow, likely from the collapse, while his right calf had been completely exposed to the blast that caused this mess in the first place. The skin was black with carbonization, and the muscle was clearly visible in patches. It confused Aizawa, though, that there were patches of angry, red muscles and even patches that he could have sworn were regenerating. How the hell is he even walking on that? Both boys were pale, and the dust caked to them and in the air gave them the appearance of ghosts of the damned.

Izuku snarled when he saw All Might but shook his head and retracted his mask before spitting blood onto the ground. "What's the status, sir? Iida and Uraraka out yet?" Aizawa could see the fury in Midoriya's eyes, could see the urge to lunge at the number one hero. He had to respect the self-control needed to prioritize, but that level of animosity was concerning. Something beyond simply having had his gun taken from him. He'd get to the bottom of that later, but for now, Midoriya had the right idea. Prioritize.

…

"No, you two are the first out." Midoriya cursed and shot another hateful glare towards All Might and Bakugo, who had been set down on the ground. He'd deal with them later, when the situation permitted it.

Midoriya reached up to his neck and tapped the communicator embedded there. It was less than a second before he was connected. "Phoenix, we have an emergency situation. Building collapse during training. Alert the paramedics we have wounded and contact the president, as well as Recovery Girl."

Roger that, Izuku. Paramedics have already been alerted and are on their way. Relaying the situation to the president and Recovery Girl now. Do you want me to alert Mother?

"Midoriya? Who are you speaking with, young man?" All Might took a few wary steps towards Midorya, concerned that the hit to his head had been worse than it seemed. Aizawa stepped in front of him and pinned him in place with a look. Aizawa knew exactly who Midoriya was speaking with; he just didn't know how. Yet another question for a later time.

"Alert her. She'll be pissed with us both if you don't. Thanks, Phoenix." Midoriya turned back to Aizawa and studied his face for a moment before nodding. "Paramedics are on the way and the president's been alerted. I'm considering this a rescue operation now. I'm going in for them."

"Absolutely not. You are injured! The building could collapse again at any moment and needs to be cleared first. And you have no idea where they are in there." All Might moved to take a step around Aizawa before the smaller man once again stepped in his way and put one finger into the middle of his chest.

"You are sure, Midoriya? All Might brings some valid concerns up."

"I am. You couldn't stop me even if you wanted to. I'm not leaving another teammate behind in this shit." Midoriya turned to the class next while Aizawa muttered to himself about something concerning. Izuku scanned the class, looking for one person in specific, and when he found them, he barked out their name, both to get everyone's attention and to try and snap them out of their frozen states. "Kaminari!"

"Hieh!" The boy jumped nearly out of his skin when Midoriya called his name but turned his attention to him all the same.

"Can your quirk only emit electricity, or can you absorb it, as well?" Kaminari tilted his head, confused, as he didn't see the relevance at the moment, but answered, anyway.

"I can absorb it a lot easier than emit it, but only up to a certain point. Why?"

Midoriya jerked his thumb at the collapsed building. "Good. Go around the back. There is a mainline power junction to every building. It should have automatically disconnected when the collapse occurred, but I'm not risking it. Pull the power if it hasn't."

Kaminari wanted to argue but thought better of it, not only because of the situation and the fact that Aizawa wasn't stopping Midoriya from taking control, but because the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice demanded obedience.

Midoriya turned from Kaminari back to the class and began to call names out. "Shoji, Kyoka, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu. You four are coming with me. Shoji, work with Todoroki to identify weaknesses in the structure, then reinforce them with his ice. It'll buy us the time that we need to evacuate everyone. Kyoka, you focus on finding them. You can pick out their heartbeats better than any of us could. Yaoyorozu, we'll undoubtedly need medical supplies. Be ready to make whatever is needed once we find them."

"And why exactly should I help you, Midoriya? You are going to get us all killed." Yaoyorozu was horrified at Todoroki's rejection of Midoriya's plan and opened her mouth to argue that he would be letting two of his classmates suffer and possibly die if he didn't help. Before she could, something snapped.

The air was suffocating and heavy. Every one of the class members' nerves suddenly felt as if they were on fire as Midoriya growled. Everyone took a step back, and All Might's head whipped around to Midoriya as his side clenched. They couldn't breathe, they couldn't make a noise. If they didn't do exactly as he said, there would be reprisal. Of that, they were certain. It was a promise of pain and suffering for disobedience. Midoriya's eyes glowed, and his lips twisted in a snarl as he bored into Todoroki with his vision.

Then, as quickly as it came, it was gone. Midoriya's eyes were closed, and he took a deep, shuddering breath. When he spoke, it was sad with a tinge of pity. "I see. Well, I suppose that is alright. Our classmates were counting on your ice to keep them alive, but I'm certain we can achieve something of the same effect with Sero's tape. Not as effective, but we can make do. I do wonder, though. If you want so badly to be different from your father, why are you behaving exactly as he would?"

It was a low blow, Midoriya knew. He'd spend some time apologizing to Dabi and Natsuo for using that against their younger brother. But later. That could come later. Izuku could see it got the desired effect the moment he said it. Fury blazed up in his eyes, quickly followed by the realization and abject horror. He bowed his head as if to apologize before turning to Shoji and agreeing to work with him.

"Himiko, take the other students back into the observation room. It's safe there, and they need to calm down."

"But-"

"Himiko." Midoriya cut her off and shook his head. "I know. But look at them. They need to get away from it." Toga turned now to see what Izuku was seeing. Toru clinging to Mina, Shinso doing his best to talk Asui down from rushing in without his quirk, Pony still as rigid as one of her own horns. Clear enough what Midoriya wanted from her. "Let's go, everyone. We're working on borrowed time here."

…

"You can't be serious, Aizawa. They are students, and they aren't trained for rescue operations. It doesn't matter if Midoriya has medical experience. He isn't ready for something like this."

"All Might, you might just be one of the most oblivious people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting, much less working with. Nedzu and I don't know how or why, but clearly Midoriya is trained in a lot more than just rescue training."

All Might watched as the students entered the building, Midoriya giving directions as they went. His hand unconsciously went to the hole in his side, and he grimaced. "Clearly, Aizawa. The kid is dangerous. I've not felt pressure like that since I faced off with All for One. But they are barely eighteen, Aizawa. Most of the students in the class aren't even nineteen yet. One of us should at least be going in with them."

"I'm not going in there because I would be a liability, and we both know it. You are being blinded by their age, and what do you mean clearly? Are you telling me that you realized what was happening was dangerous, and you didn't step in to stop it?"

All Might was quiet when he responded. His face was serious as the students filed back inside the observation room. His trademark smile was missing. "I wanted Midoriya to see that, without a quirk, he'd have to deal with overwhelming force at some point that he couldn't handle. I didn't expect things to get so far out of hand. I certainly didn't expect young Bakugo's reaction to young Midoriya, and I didn't expect things to escalate like that."

"What the hell do you mean you didn't expect things to escalate like that?" Both professors turned to find Toga standing behind them, practically radiating rage. "He told you this would happen. He told you he needed to speak with Hound Dog, and you ignored him."

"You did WHAT?" Aizawa whipped his head around to All Might. He had already been angry that the walking disaster let this happen. But now hearing this, that two of his students being possibly dead or horrendously injured was completely avoidable, he was ready to come undone. "You are going to explain. Now."

…

It didn't take the team long to find Iida. The moment they had called out for the two missing students, the speedster had started calling back, trying to direct them to him. That isn't to say there hadn't been several close calls. Even if he would feel bad for how he went about getting Todoroki to help, he didn't feel bad about the end result. The building was unstable and just waiting for an excuse to collapse again.

When they'd worked their way past the last of the rubble between the two parties, what they found could have been better. Iida had been pinned underneath a larger piece of rubble by both his right leg and his chest. "How are you feeling, Iida? Can you tell me what happened? Do you remember the collapse?"

The boy's throat was dry as Shoji looked for handholds on the rubble resting on Iida's chest before, at Midoriya's instruction, carefully shifting the rubble off of Iida. "Ah, yes. Aizawa suddenly yelled that the exercise was over. I pulled off my helmet because we were confused as to what had happened. Uraraka and I were getting ready to exit the building at the end of the exercise when there was suddenly this loud crash. Then all I remember is waking up trapped under that concrete."

Midoriya carefully checked over Iida while he listened. Initially, he'd tried to sit up when the rubble was removed, but a gentle hand on his shoulder kept Iida from doing that. Midoriya pulled a small penlight from one of his waist pouches before checking Iida's pupils. One's half dilating. Shit. "Any fuzzy vision, Iida?" When the speedster affirmed as much, Midoriya clicked his tongue.

"Midoriya! I've found her over here!" Kyoka's call had Midoriya's head snapping around and his eye's zeroing in on the limp form across the room. Fuck.

"Alright. Iida's got a concussion and his armor got shot to shit from the rubble. He's got shards of it in both his leg and chest. Three broken ribs. Shoji, carry him out, but be careful. Recovery Girl should be showing up soon or has already. Relay what I just said to her. Yaoyorozu."

The girl, who had been bandaging Iida's leg after peeling back the armor, looked up from what she was doing. Her face looked haunted by this. The only light any of them had to work with were the LED neck lights she'd created, and in that sharp, washed-out light, she looked like she was going to be sick. Which, honestly, Midoriya couldn't blame her for. Iida's armor had been a grizzly sight, a sick bending of metal penetrating and lacerating flesh. "We need to move. With me."

Shoji picked Iida up, despite the boy's insistence that he could walk now, and carried him from the room while the remaining three made their way to Kyoka, where she was sitting with the freshly uncovered Uraraka. It took only one look before Yaoyorozu was stumbling off into a frozen corner to empty the contents of her stomach. It took only one look before Midoriya was clenching his fists and taking a deep breath. Shitfuck.

Moving quickly, Midoriya moved to Uraraka and started his examination with Yaoyorozu bandaging as they went, making confirmations. Multiple broken ribs, multiple lacerations, bruising around her eyes and behind her ears. Clear fluid leaked from her nose and ears while her skin was chilled and clammy. Hissing, he took note of the rebar piercing through her right lumbar and sticking out through her left side.

"Yaoyorozu," Midoriya called out to the sick girl while taking Uraraka's pulse. "We're gonna need a brace, stretcher, and bolt cutters. We need to get her out and into an OR as quickly as possible."

"Bolt cutt-" At this point, Yaoyorozu couldn't have gotten paler but focused herself on the task at hand while Midoriya ordered Kyoka to make sure they had a clear path back. Yaoyorozu passed Midoriya the bolt cutters and followed his orders to place the brace around Uraraka's neck.

Midoriya placed the bolt cutters at the base of the rebar before snapping them closed and shearing the rebar apart. Quickly, he discarded the tool and, signaling Yaoyorozu, carefully shifted Uraraka onto the rudimentary stretcher that had been created before picking it up and beginning to move out of the space.

"Todoroki, use your fire to try to keep her temperature up. We're leaving. If the rooms collapse behind us, it's fine."

"I told you all on day one, I'm not going to us-"

"Shut the fuck up, Todoroki. Right now, I don't give a flying fuck about your personal feud with your shitbag of a father. I'm not going to have Uraraka die of hypothermia because of your daddy issues. Fucking do it."

…

Midoriya and company rushed out of the hole they'd entered through back into the daylight to find both Recovery Girl and the paramedics on scene. All three were fussing over their respective patients. The paramedics with Iida and Shuzenji with Bakugo. It was two steps out the hole, one to adjust to the light, when Midoriya opened his mouth and yelled for them.

"We've got critical here!" It took no more than another second for Shuzenji to come running for them while the paramedics grabbed a proper stretcher and their medical equipment. She might have been getting on in her years, but she could still certainly get around just fine. Especially if it were for her patients. Shuzenji had barely begun her own check when the paramedics skidded to a stop beside where they'd set Uraraka down and Midoriya began reporting faster than the students could keep up with any longer.

"Broken ribs, lacerations, both raccoon eyes, and battle signs. CSF leaks from nose and ears, as well as hemotympanum." The paramedics took over quickly, transferring the broken girl to their stretcher and beginning to move towards the ambulance. Midoriya continued to rattle as they moved. "Rebar through her right lumbar. Pierced intestine and lower left kidney. Stage two hemorrhagic shock, and we're moving towards three. The ER is expecting you. Get her there quickly."

The sound of the ambulance's siren wailed as the vehicle took off, and in the stark silence of the aftermath, the echoing shriek bounced from wall to wall long after the ambulance had left their field of vision. Midoriya took a deep breath now and shuddered while looking down at his own hands. Once again, he was covered in the blood of one of his teammates.

Midoriya turned to the waiting, expecting to find at least one of his professors. Instead, he found Shuzenji checking his rescue team and realized that it wasn't just him that looked like shit. Yaoyorozu was pale with deep bags under her eyes. The comparison to Aizawa would have been funny here if the circumstances behind it weren't so incredibly messed up. Blood that should have blended in with her hero costume instead stood out starkly against her skin.

Todoroki wouldn't look him in the eye, but if that was because he was angry with him, or because he had realized something during their arguments, Midoriya wasn't sure. At that moment, he also wasn't sure if he cared. When Midoriya found the two professors to report the situation, he found the president with them.

To say Nedzu was furious would have been like calling the surface of the sun warm. His fur was standing on end, and he stood at full attention. His ears were flat back against his head, and his full array of razor-sharp teeth were on display. His paws flexed, his claws aching to tear into something. It was when his eyes moved past the number one hero and saw Midoriya in the doorway that the fury gave way to abject horror.

Midoriya was fully aware of how it looked to anyone else. The military gear he wore had been practically coated in his own blood, as well as the blood of his fellow students. His leg was still in a state of half repair, and his eyes were flat as he stared at the number one hero.

"President Nedzu. Good to see you, sir. I was going to come get you before I left. Uraraka Ochako has just been transported to Musutafu General in critical condition. I'll be contacting her parents from there. Would you like to come with, or will you stay here?"

"Young Midoriya, you can't go anywhere yet. We need to-" Izuku's leg slammed home between the number one's legs faster than any of them could even register that he had moved. The crunch that followed, as well as the soulful wail of the hero, made Aizawa blanch and even Nedzu shift uncomfortably in place. Neither, however, moved, because that flat look had transformed into one of pure, distilled fury.

"Shut up, All Might. You have done enough damage today, and so help me, by any of the gods, if Uraraka doesn't make it, I'm coming for you next." Midoriya spun on his heel before striding out the door without another look back towards his professors.

"I'm going with him. I'll need to be there when he contacts Mr. and Mrs. Uraraka. Aizawa, you know what to do."

"Yes, sir." The President rushed from the room quickly to catch up to Midoriya while Aizawa did his best to pat the back of the now vomiting number one hero. If Aizawa was hiding a smirk behind his capture gear while doing so? Well, no one needed to know that.

Notes: