"BLERGHH!"
I watched as the symbol of peace threw up a mouthful of blood.
It was disgusting really. Just goes to show just how much damage his battle with NOMU did to him.
"Ugh .. Well, definitely broken." All Might said as he cleaned the blood smeared on his face.
The current him was a far cry from his muscled form. His uniform was tattered, displaying his weak point near his left ribs which were bleeding badly after taking several hits from NOMU.
'That NOMU guy took too much out of me.'
I heard him saying internally.
My eyes were glowing red behind my mask, allowing me to read his thoughts. Hence, I asked with some concern.
"You alright?"
"It's fine. I'll live." He said with a tired sigh. "Thank you for your help young Takumi."
"No problem." I replied with a shrug before standing from my crouching position and focusing before turning my attention elsewhere. Quite literally might I add. The moment I confirmed his condition with Meta Eye that he wouldn't die from internal bleeding or something, my mind went elsewhere entirely. From the moment of awakening till now, it had been less than an hour.
In that time period, I had figured out the inner workings of my fourth power. Easy since it came with a clear description of what it could and could not do.
My internal consciousness divided in two, one here and one connecting to something else more than Two hundred kilometers away from here.
My shadow.
Watching me just stand there looking into the distance, All Might's brows furrowed.
"Not gonna ask?"
'Huh?'
I was stunned at first before realizing what he meant.
"No." He tilted his head. "You're not curious?" "Not really, no. I can make my own deductions. Not to mention this isn't really the time to chat now, is it?"
"I see." He nodded.
"I'm just surprised. You're taking this really well."
"My sincerest apologies. Would you prefer panicking?"
"..."
He sat there speechless. Just before he could utter another word ... BLAARREE! BLAARREE! BLAARREE!
'Those are ...' I looked up.
"The alarms are on" all Might's eyes lit up.
'That would mean ...'
"No WAY ..." In a hidden corner of ground beta, Tesla, the villain responsible for jamming communications tapped his monitoring device rapidly.
The alarms going off certainly weren't his doing.
"How did ... Hold on. My Quirk is ...."
"Erased." A voice completed before he could. Tesla's body froze for a moment before snapping around.
However, his body was wrapped up and bound tightly before he could react.
"Damn it ..." His eyes fell on the one responsible. "So you're the scum in charge of jamming all signals huh? Guess I'm lucky." With glowing red eyes, floating hair and capture weapons extending from his neck scarf,
"... Heroes." Those were Tesla's last words before he was smashed into the wall.
"Is everyone listening?"
"Yes. Communications are back up. Excellent work." A cheerful voice responded to Eraserhead.
Aizawa paid it no need. "Mic ... You owe me 400 yen."
"Aw Man!"
Not far away, Present Mic groaned with his hands on his face. "That's not fair. You got lucky."
"Luck is also a skill. Deal with it."
"Do you guys really think now is the time to argue over a bet?" Midnight interrupted right beside Mic.
"Indeed. Please stay focused. Our students need us." Principal Nezu added.
"Dammit. Heroes are here."
"Where's the Warpgate? What aren't we retreating yet?"
Seeing heroes appear, the villains in ground Beta panicked.
"Ugh, fine. Let's get this over with." Present Mic said as he adjusted the dial on his support gear.
"YEAHHHHHH!"
__
"Is that."
Near the gate Mina looked back. Everyone did the same as well.
"It is."
"The Teachers are here."
___
"Well, it seems it's game over for the villains this time." I uttered to All Might. The man didn't respond, face filled with worry.
I understood immediately.
"Relax. The battle's over. The other teachers can take care of things from here. They'll get the missing students back."
"I ... "Cough!" Hope so." He uttered between coughs.
"Well, come one. Let's get you out of here."
"What?"
"We can't let anyone else see your current condition now, can we?" I said supporting him up. "Plus, you need medical help. Is there anywhere you can go that's appropriate?"
"Oh, yes. Recovery Girl's office. She also knows about this, as do all of the teachers .. though she's definitely not gonna let me off lightly after she sees this ...."
I raised an eyebrow.
My mind going back to my memories of the anime and the trio dynamics between him, recovery girl and Izuku Midoriya.
'Huh?'
Hearing something, my gaze turned left, eyes sharpening for a moment before relaxing.
"What's wrong young Takumi?" All Might asked.
"Nothing. We just got friendly company."
The next second, a figure dropped from the roof before he could properly process that.
"Freeze bub ... Oh ... All Might."
Dressed in a cowboy getup, Mr. Snipe stopped and lowered his guns up on realizing our identities.
"Snipe. It's good you're all here."
"I'll say. What in hell happened to ya?"
"It .. it's a long story ..," All Might responded. "Yeah. It must be if you got this badly hurt. We need to get you to the infirmary."
"We were headed there right now."
"Alright ... And you young man ..."
Snipe's gaze lingered on me before turning to All Might.
"It's fine. He's the reason I'm still alive."
"Alright then. Get All Might to the infirmary son. Recovery Girl's not gonna be happy to see him this banged up."
He was right.
Using my speed, we avoided the eyes of everyone else until we reached Recovery Girl's office. Only to be greeted by her finishing up with a familiar face upon opening the door.
"Huh? Ken? ALL MIGHT?"
Lying on a hospital bed with half his body wrapped in bandages and limbs held by appendages, Midoriya's voice still carried the same characteristic vitality whenever it came to All Might.
"Deku."
"Young Midoriya."
Recovery Girl turned around, took one look at All Might's condition and immediately started fussing. "Toshinori! What did you do to yourself this time?"
She didn't wait for an answer, just started pulling medical supplies from various cabinets. "Lay him down on an empty bed before he falls down."
"Recovery Girl, I'm—"
"You're looking horrible. Covered in blood, heavily bruised and your old injury spot is damaged again." she interrupted. "Don't 'I'm fine' me, you stubborn fool. Lay now before these old bones smack you down."
All Might winced like a schoolboy caught sneaking out after curfew. "Er—perhaps I overdid it…"
"You think?" Recovery Girl shot back, pushing him down onto the bed with surprising strength for someone her size. "You're lucky you even made it here without collapsing in the hallway."
I let out a low whistle, leaning against the wall. "Symbol of Peace, brought low by a granny with a tongue sharper than a blade. I'll remember this sight for the rest of my life."
"Takumi…" All Might groaned, but there was no heat behind it.
Recovery Girl wasn't finished. "And you—" Her eyes flicked to me. "If you hadn't dragged this fool here, he'd probably be face down in the dirt right now. So, thank you."
"I am happy to be of service Mam." I said, tone even, voice serious. "It's not everyday the chance to secure bragging rights for saving the symbol of peace himself shows up. Any sane person in my shoes would have done the same thing." Personally, Bakugo's never gonna hear the end of this. Guy's gonna go nuts once I rub it in his face. "Hmph. Quite the tongue you have yourself."
She came up, eyed me for a bit, and chuckled. Then declared while wagging a finger at me.
"You're staying too. You look fine now, but adrenaline hides injuries. I'll check you after I'm done patching this big oaf."
I shrugged. "Sure."
Across the room, Midoriya shifted, trying to sit up despite his limbs being trussed like a broken doll. His eyes kept darting between me and All Might, wide with worry.
"All Might, ... Your secret .."
"It's ok young Midoriya." All Might cut in. "He found out while saving my life from the villains." Midoriya's eyes widened even more. "You needed ..." He swallowed for the last word, finding it difficult to utter. "Saving?"
All Might sighed. "Yes, I did. Those who attacked us had one among them as strong as I was. If not for Young Takumi here, I might have been killed. Or worse, held captive."
He turned to me.
"Thank you. I owe you my life. It's a lot to ask but I also hope you can keep my secret. The world isn't ready to learn of my condition."
"Well, you won't hear anything from me." I examined the office and found somewhere to sit down. The book laying on the table grabbed my attention.
'Well what do you know.' It was the limited edition hardcover of The Last Airbender, Book 2. Apparently, all U.A staff got free copies courtesy of Everblue due to U.A inducting it into their curriculum.
I opened it, pretending to read while focusing on something else entirely.
"It's good to see you're fine Deku. The damage your quirk did to you scared me a bit."
"Um ... Thanks. I .. "
"Though I'm surprised you're aware of this. From your dialogue, you've known All Might's weakness for a while now. So how exactly did you find out?"
"... Um ..."
'Oh no.'
'Shit!'
___
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