4-5

Chapter 4: Raxus Ward

After the group carried everything they came to deliver into the shelter, they started setting up their stalls, as they worked, the residents of Raxus slowly started to come out to observe them, upon seeing that they were wearing the robes of their sanctuary, the mood lifted as they'd had done a lot of charity in the area for years. Because of that, once they had set up the last stall and rung the bell to announce they were open, dozens of people appeared within minutes, bringing some life to the spark as people came and went, often carrying food, clothing and anything else they could buy.

Midoriya, much like the rest, was in his travelling robes with the only difference being he was one of the few with a bright red sash tied around his waist and his green and blue scarf wrapped around his neck. "And for 20 apples, 25 oranges and 12 bananas, that'll be," Midoriya did the math in his head for a moment before he passed them the bag of previously mentioned goods. "7,200 yen."

The mother and child, both quirkless smiled as she handed the bag to the 8-year-old to carry while she pulled out her purse, a beaten old one, and then handed him the cash. He pretended to ignore the fact that even that price, low as it was, took half of what she had. "Oh, thank you. It's hard enough getting groceries here, but some fresh produce does the soul good." Her boy was already snacking on an apple with a smile on his face, enjoying the sweet flavor of the red fruit.

Midoriya placed the cash into the register he had set up, before waving them off. "Have a nice day, Ms. Miko." The next in line was a woman in his mid-40s, taller than All Might and with an appearance that was a cross between a cactus and a pufferfish.

Midoriya didn't feel any fear when he saw her, in fact-he smiled. "Hello, Mrs. Tanaka? How have you been?"

The mass of intimidating muscle groaned as she tapped his back, smiling back at the boy. "Back's been giving me problems, but things have been…good." There was a pause at the end that Midoriya had noticed that whenever he brought that up, his regulars all seemed to hesitate.

"Is that right," He asked, but the woman didn't answer so he let it go for the moment. If it was serious, they'll figure it out soon. "Would you like the regular?" So asked a much more relaxed question as the man nodded.

"Yes, please."

"One moment please." Midoriya picked out another plastic bag, this one large enough to be easily carried by something with hands the size of Mrs. Tanaka. With that in hand, he went about gathering the regular order which was mainly vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, onions and eggplant. He repeated this process with a second bag before he placed both on the table. "Here you go."

Mrs. Tanaka didn't bother going through the bags, she trusted him to get it right as he always did and instead pulled out her wallet and counted the payment, a fraction of what she would pay for this if she had gone to the less shitty parts of town to shop. "I'll never know why you sell everything at a loss." She noted as she handed him the cash as it was always the same with this little bi-weekly market, just about everything was sold at a 3rd the price of what it would normally go for.

"Profit isn't the point, most of what we make goes to buying fertilizer," Midoriya replied as he placed the cash into the register, much to the interest of Mrs. Tanaka.

"Then how'd you manage to grow so much to begin?" She didn't know much about gardening, but she could only assume it was both labor-intensive and expensive. They even managed to bring them fresh goods when it was the middle of winter so unless they had a massive greenhouse, she was stomped.

"That's a secret." Midoriya laughed as the woman only shook her head before collecting her goods and turning to leave. "Tell Ms. Kenmikoto to take care of herself!"

As he handled one of the many food stalls, off to the side, Kyūfune was handling medical treatment. As she wasn't officially a medical student, she didn't have the funds or clearance to be giving out drugs so in place of that, along with a standard check-up, she was handling prescriptions via herbs and other plant-based medicines. Her role as their chief nurse nets her quite the fame among the people as even while she was busy with them, children couldn't help but play with her hair, robes or her blue sash. She handled it all in stride with humor and smiles, parents leaving with happy children even if they came because of a flu or bruise that wasn't disappearing.

She did have one thing that all child doctors had, which was a sack of sweets from which she handed out one to each child after their time with her. Waving one family of 8 kids off, she turned to handle the rest of the growing line of patients. "Next!"

Her next patient was one of her regulars, an old man in his 80s who walked with a cane and his grand-son to aide him, the boy no older than 12. Waiting for him to take a seat with a groan, she greeted him. "Old man, Roshi, how have you been?"

"Things have been good," Roshi replied, though she didn't believe it so she turned to the boy. His grandfather might dare to lie to her face, but the boy knew better.

"Have they, Madarame?" She asked the bald kid, who started to sweat both from her stare and his grandfather's, but he fell to the one he saw as scarier.

"He's been sick for the last few days, but I only managed to get him to show up today." The old man ticked to the side as his flesh and blood outed him to the nurse as she signed, pinching her nose as he wasn't the only old person to try that and most likely wouldn't be the last.

"Old man, why did you wait so long? You know the shelter could call me." She asked him if there was a reason that she did her best to have an open schedule outside her classes.

"It's not such a serious issue that I had to take the time out of your day when she could focus on the young," Roshi replied, which didn't amuse the fox woman in the slightest as she crossed her arms and frowned down on him, an easy feat for her as even seated in a specially made chair, she was still much taller than him.

"Your health is as important as everyone else, and I won't tolerate any talk to the contrary." She narrowed her glare at the man, getting a quiet nod from the old goat. Knowing that he'd bail or 'forget' if she left him to his own devices, she turned her gaze to the boy, Madarame. "I trust that you've been in good health?"

"Yeah, I got a cold the other day, but it passed after like 2 days." The boy nodded. "Been doing a lot of exercise and eating right as you said." She smiled as she heard that, with unhealthy foods being more available in Raxus, a lot of people relied on that so it was nice to hear that the boy was taking care of himself.

"Good. Remember to keep an eye on your grandfather, if his condition takes any turns for the worse, bring him kicking and screaming to the shelter and have them call me." She pointed towards the man in question, ignoring his complaint about her treating him like he was 6.

"Don't worry, I got my friends to agree to help me carry him if that happens." The boy only added to it.

"What am I, chopped liver?" The old man asked as Kyūfune set to work with his check-up.

"Chopped liver doesn't pretend it's fine when it's not." Madarame didn't try to hide how he laughed at his grandfather's expense.

Sometime later, Midoriya was busy packing a bag with a dozen apples for a customer when they started hearing commotion close to the informal shopping stall's entrance. Hearing it only increase and how his customer seemed both scared and…expected of whatever was the cause was enough of a reason for him to check it out. he waved over someone else to man his spot for a second before he went over to see what the issue was, being joined by Kyūfune.

Walking to the source, they found a group of around 7 people, all in their mid to late 20s, their scarves tied to either their arms or hung around their necks marked them as part of some gang, which shouldn't be possible as gangs didn't operate in Raxus, not for the last 3 years. The commotion was the group of thugs harassing someone over their purchase of vegetables, even knocking the bag out of their hands with a cruel laugh which was a step too far for them. Midoriya noted that their customers didn't stop them, but that was all he did as he stepped forward and shoved one of them away, giving Kyūfune space to help the man up and direct him to another stall where they'd be safe for the moment.

"If you came here to cause trouble, then you should just leave." He told them, with the man that he pushed glaring back at him, reaching for the bat he had.

"Is that right?" He tried to intimidate him but failed spectacularly as Bakugo was far more intimidating than this guy when he was 12. It also helped that he back up.

"It is," Kyūfune added, standing at her full height behind him which must have been far more intimidating than they were expecting, which he couldn't blame them for as the lovely lady was 291cm tall and weighed 211kg. She glared at them with the same height difference as an adult would an elementary school kid.

But, that shock passed as the thugs tried to regain some of that earlier advantage when they had been messing with someone just because they could. "How, I didn't know the trash could afford a bodyguard, or are you one of them?" Kyūfune crossed her arms there, taking into account that they were all 'human' looking, with not a single mutation among them which meant that this must have been one of those kinds of gangs.

"Leave, before it causes you issues you don't want to deal with." She repeated what Midoriya said earlier, neither giving them an inch of ground even as they still acted like they were in command of the situation, feeding off the unease and fear of the ground.

One of them, a tall man with dark blue hair shifted. "Oh come on, we don't mean to impose. We just wanted to check up on these criminals, they might not be the sharpest tools in the box, but they can have a good future in manual labor if they work hard." His backhanded compliments weren't appreciated as even while scared, people glared at them for mocking them.

"I fail to see why you're bringing up your futures," The man stopped and felt a vein pulse on his forehead at Midoriya's reply as the boy pointed towards the end of the street. "No one here wishes to waste their time hearing them, now leave before we make you." His warning didn't work as the man was far more focused on the fact that this kid dared to insult him, turning to him and looking at him like he was a misbehaving dog, the man's eyes took on a glow before they widened a bit as he saw something surprising.

"A quirkless brat should keep his mouth shut." The thug was surprised by how Midoriya didn't flinch or shy away from him when he brought up his lack of a quirk as the boy just catalogued that the thug's quirk must have been some sort of scanning ability focused on his eyes. He wasn't sure what it could do, but it seemed like he was wasting his power if this was what he turned to.

"I'll hold my tongue where there is a reason to," Midoriya replied, his stance relaxed, his arms hidden in the long sleeves of his robes as he faced the thug. The leader continued to glare at him when his effort to scare him failed, but another of the thugs stepped up, flexing his quirk which turned his hands into stone.

"Wanna repeat that?" Midoriya turned to address the new one.

"I'll repeat it ten more times if I have to, I've worked with the hard of hearing before." He mocked him, which enraged the man enough that he charged him with a yell. The people looked away from what they thought would be a one-sided beating or a brawl but Midoriya only responded by raising his hand, empowering it with his tenet before he caught the blow, a sound akin to rock smacking into iron ringing through the air.

The crowd and the thugs were stunned by this, as none of them had ever thought they'd see the day a quirkless person could catch such a blow. The thug that threw it was the most shocked as he knew his strength, he knew that a single blow could damage concrete and should have sent the kid to the hospital! That shock turned to fear as he tried to pull his fist back but found that he couldn't as Midoriya closed his fingers around it.

"A person controlled by their ego and temper is less a man and more a dog," Midoriya noted, no sign of effort despite how much the thug was struggling to free his hand, Kyūfune refraining from stepping him as she knew he had this handled. When the man tried to punch him with his other fist to free himself, Midoriya acted. "But even an unruly dog can be cowed." With his hold on the caught fist, he flipped the surprised thug over him, slamming into the dirt with a thud and pained groan from the villain as he landed belly first, his face smacking into the dirt and getting sand in his mouth. A moment later, Midoriya was on him, his arm in a joint lock held behind his back.

"You litt-" Midoriya pulled his arm further.

"If you move, I'll dislocate your shoulder." He told the man, who looked up to him and saw no hesitation in him, only a determined frown. The sight of one of them being so disrespected and taken down by a quirkless kid sent the rest of them over the edge as rushed him screaming bloody murder, the one with the bat being the one in the front as the weapon burst into flames, most likely an effect of his quirk. Seeing them coming, Midoriya prepared to handle them without hurting too badly, but Kyūfune handled that.

She caught the flaming bat in her hand, it being large enough that the bat looked like it was meant for a child in her hand. The sudden stop of momentum tripped up the thug as he fell, losing his grip on his weapon and using it to knock back 3 others, the 'light' smacks she gave them sent them into their butts in pain before she looked at the weapon, whose flames hadn't even managed to burn her as she grabbed it in both hands and bent the metal into a U-shape before tossing the now useless weapon aide.

Looking at them, the thugs felt like the bit off fare more than they could chew as they came here to mess with quirkless and mutant nobodies, not face off with a beast of a woman and her quirkless sidekick! "You had your chance." Her voice grabbed their attention, with her eyes keeping it as they might have appeared calm, but they could tell she was close to letting her temper get the better of her. "But we'll give you one last one: Leave. Now." Midoriya got off the man he pinned and stepped back, allowing him to scramble back to the others, nearly on all fours.

Turning back to them, they seemed like they were still dumb enough to take their chances with them, perhaps thinking their numbers would make up for their clear power difference, but a single look at the other stalls made it clear that the other robbed people had yet to step in, and from how they were looking at them, it wouldn't take much for them to get rid of them by force.

They picked themselves up, their dignity and pride thoroughly broken as they turned to flee, the quirk scanner screaming they'd regret this before they vanished down the street. Neither believed it as even if they brought it back up, they'd just embarrass themselves.

With them gone, the two turned back to the stalls. "Alright, they'll gone, let's continue this people, we don't have all day." Kyūfune clapped her hands together as the two moved back to their stations, but were confronted by others.

"How did you do that?" Someone asked Midoriya, the boy turning to face him.

"You mean the catching his first thing?" He asked to clarify, which for a furious nod from the man. He was silent for a moment before he responded. "Hard work, years' worth of it." The man looked confused by that statement as he had never heard of a training method that could do that!

"How did you catch a flaming bat?" Madarame, who had remained in the market while his grandfather went back home, asked Kyūfune, his eyes shining as he looked up at the woman. "Your hands aren't even burned!" Her palms didn't even appear to be singed despite handling a flaming metal bat.

Kyūfune only smiled, bending so that she could place a hand on his head, her palm warm to the touch. "I've seen far hotter flames than that, compared to them, my hands are just a little warm." The boy blushed a little at the attention before he said something about trying to score some apples before he ran off with a couple of his friends.

Having watched the entire thing, Ōbi sighed as he turned to Granny Biscuit, the woman looking pensive as she warmed him. "You should be careful with them; they belong to a gang of hoodlums that have been giving us grief for the better part of a month. They've been demanding so-called protection money and made it clear what would happen if we didn't cough up."

"That long, but I thought this place was cleared of gangs." He asked, to which the woman took a moment to respond.

"It was, but they moved here after striking out in other wards." Ōbi's brow rose at that, finding the entire thing idiotic.

"So what? They reject that couldn't even cut it against other gangs so they bully those weaker than them?" He asked, to which she nodded as that seemed to be the case with this latest group. "Why didn't you of you say anything?" He asked, they would have happily sent people to handle them, heavens knew that the heroes weren't going to bother.

"Have you at least filed a police report?" Midoriya asked, walking up to them as the woman gave him a look that implied, she was questioning his sanity.

"They barely pay attention to this place, as far as they're concerned, so long as the business interests aren't affected, we don't exist." She replied as the police station was built close to the factories, but far from them. they were lucky if a patrol passed by here once a week. Hearing that, Midoriya felt disgusted, even if he didn't expect much from them, he thought they'd at least be interested in taking down a gang or two but it appeared they preferred to target them as well or act as glorified bodyguards for the many factories and workshops in the ward.

"We'll get some people to stick around, keep an eye out for anything. But it'll take around a day for me to organize something but I assure you we will clear out these rats." Ōbi informed her, his eyes hard to which she nodded, knowing that the former street urchin was an honest lad, if he said he'd do something, it'd take more than just inconvenience to stop him.

After they chased off the thugs, the rest of the day goes by without much in the way of an incident. The sick are seen too, food is sold or traded for, children get to play with brand-new wooden toys and clothing is donated for those who need it. It was a relaxing way to spend a Saturday as near the end, they sold all that they had so they took the time to speak with the people, forming groups where they spoke about their lives, their families, their goals and the like.

Midoriya found himself lucky enough to sit next to Kyūfune in their group, talking about their plans he mentioned that his grades had been better recently, as they saw a bit of a dip as he focused more on his training, which one of the grannies told him was a good as rain or shine, a good education was essential, though they expressed some concern when he reminded them he was aiming for U.A. as the place wasn't one of the top ten high schools in the country overall, it was incredibly expansive. He might not live in Raxus with most of them, but that didn't mean his mother was swimming in cash either. Lucky for him, U.A. offers scholarships for this exact reason as a lot of applicants like himself, didn't come from wealthy families so in his application to U.A., he had also added in an application for financial aid.

With Kyūfune, she spoke about how she finally got accepted to Tokyo University's medical program for the following year, so long as she maintains her grades, her fees will be handled by her mother who they joked has so much money yet has a simplistic lifestyle as it doesn't take much to make her happy in terms of material goods. Some of the older guys joked that if she ever had issues with her new classmates like she did the old, they could mess with them from the shadows till they came crawling, begging for her mercy which she told them she didn't want.

But the time came for them to pack up and leave, waving at the people as Ōbi once again assured Granny Biscuit that they'd have aid for them by the following morning. With that finished, they gave their goodbyes and promised to return in 2 weeks with more goods for them. They never noticed that unfriendly eyes watched them leave the ward in their carts before turning their attention to the shelter they left behind, completely undefended.

Sometime later, the convoy was making their way out of the city and onto the mountain road that led them back to the sanctuary. The sun was already done, bathing the area in a calm, cool night eye as the group talked amongst themselves. In that, Midoriya felt…off. He didn't know what, but felt like something was happening and that he was missing a piece of the picture. Looking around, he saw that some of the others also seemed to feel it but just like him, none knew what was causing it. Ōbi was wondering if they perhaps left something behind when he got a call on his phone, pulling it out, he was surprised to see that it was the shelter, perhaps they had forgotten something but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what.

Seeing how he had a way to figure it out, he quickly answered the phone and brought it to his ear. "Granny Biscuit, it's real unusual for you to-"

"There's a fire!" It wasn't Granny Biscuit who replied, but a small child who sounded terrified, a loud roaring and crackling as in the background of the call.

He didn't have his phone on speaker, but the child's cry was heard by most of those close by, causing the convoy to stop as everyone turned their attention to him. "What, who is this? What do you mean there's a fire?" He asked.

"The shelter, it's burning! The gang people came back and-please come back!" The child begged them but was cut off. Looking at his phone, he saw that the call had been cut on the other end. He didn't know what this was, but he knew those brats wouldn't dare cry wolf so he knew it was serious.

Jumping out of the cart he was riding, he saw others doing the same, ready to hear his orders. "You heard that, people! Let's move, leave the carts behind!" He pointed to two of them, both older than him before he pointed towards the mountain that had been ascending just a few moments before. "You two, run back to the sanctuary and start preparing supplies and aid, if this is a fire, we're going to need as much as we can get!" Both nodded, not wasting time arguing with him as they turned and ran up the road, moving faster than anyone without a speed quirk should be capable of.

"On it!" Watching them leave for only a couple of seconds, he turned to the rest of them, seeing that all were ready.

"Let's move!" He jumped over the group to make it to the back before rushing off, his body leaning forward and his arms back, this being copied by the rest as they followed after him, running as if they were cars with how fast they were going.

Making it back to the outskirts of town, they turned and started heading towards Raxus, obstacles like cars, walls and even people did not slow them down as they jumped, dodged or rolled to avoid them, leaving behind surprised people yelling at them. "Alright, we don't know much about this, but standard procedure means we split up the tasks. We'll need people rushing into the blaze, others to try and put it out, and a third group to handle whoever we find in need of medical attention!" Ōbi gave quick and clear instructions to them as they run

"Fire suppression, first aid and search is the name of the game, got it?" He yelled to ensure they heard him.

"Yes, sir!" Midoriya was one of the loudest as they moved, but they soon got tired of the obstacles in the way, and people yelling their way so they decided to ascend with Ōbi being the first to jump, contacting the wall but like a spider, he started to climb it, with the rest following suit. Midoriya took a slightly faster route by keeping moving straight, and going in steps as he jumped into the hood of a car, then onto a wall-then a balcony and finally making it to the rooftops with the rest of them. free of people, they were able to further increase their speed. Before long, they could make out the dilapidated and ugly that made up Raxus in the distance, but also something else.

"I see smoke, it's in the direction of Raxus!" Midoriya called out, as he saw in the distance, deep within the ward, there was a large smoke cloud rising into the air, in the direction of the shelter.

"Heavens, that's a lot of it. Fire suppression, once on site, organize a bucket system! If you find anyone with hoses, take him and hook them up to whatever taps you can find!" Ōbi increased their speed again, now jumping from roof to roof at speeds of 90km/h, at times, they don't even run as if the distance is short enough, all it takes is a single jump to make it from one side of the roof to the other if not clearing it to make it to the other roof that lays ahead. Midoriya felt his legs growing tired, but allowing more of his tenet to flow to them soothed the muscles and increased his stamina, a trick which the rest were using to keep up such insane speeds for as long as they were without their legs practically rebelling and detaching themselves.

Ignoring how a policeman saw them and yelled for them to stop or else he'd fine them for illegal quirk use, Ōbi turned to see Midoriya who was right behind him. "Midoriya, you're with me on search and rescue!"

"Understood!" He knew he was the smallest one there, but also one of the best when it came to using tenet for tracking and reinforcement. Which made him ideal for crawling through tighter spots if need be.

Ōbi then turned to his other side, seeing that giant fox lady who was further back, she was starting to sweat but keeping pace with them. "Kyūfune, I'm leaving the supervision of the first aide to you!"

"I'll do what I can!" The fox woman replied though she would be limited as she was only able to grab a few of the remaining medical supplies they brought with them. Soon enough, they reached the boundary line between the two wards, which was as clear as night and day as while there was a middle ground, it was tiny and both sides were within yelling distance which showed off how one side might as well have been plucked from a different time all together.

"How's the fire brigade coming along?" Ōbi

"Dammit!" The person he was speaking to, a woman with a shark-like appearance, yelled as she ended the call with the fire department. "They say it'll take them 20 minutes at the fastest to get a fire engine on-site!"

"20 min-dammit! We'll work with what we have then!" Ōbi didn't have time for this, that was over twice the time for a bad day for the fire department, but when they had to drive from another ward to get here, it made fucking perfect sense!

"Have you called home yet?" He turned to another, the group jumping down to street level before continuing their journey.

"They're aware of the situation and are waiting to meet the two we sent back, but it'll take time to get anything ready. The best we can hope for is after-rescue aide." That was the best they could hope for as while they had cars and trucks at the sanctuary, they weren't purpose-built ones. It'll take time for one or more to be loaded up with barrels of water, hoses and pumps before they can make the trip, which didn't even include the fact they'll need to navigate evening traffic.

When they finally made it to the scene of the fire, sweaty and breathing heavily, they saw that it was far worse than they had first thought. It wasn't just the shelter that was burning, but the flames had already started to spread to the surrounding buildings, turning the place into a blaze that could grow to swallow the entire ward. Ōbi, seeing some people at the side caring for others who appeared to have been seriously burnt, ran up to them for information.

"What happened?" The man, barely 40 and covered with soot, looked at him before turning his attention back to the elderly grandfather he was tending to.

"Those gang bangers came back, with more of them after you left. They tried to get their payback but a fight broke inside, one of them had a quirk that secreted flammable liquids, and another was a human lighter," He snapped his fingers, he guessed that they hadn't meant to start this fire, probably just intimidate them but it didn't matter now, did it? "Shit went downhill from there."

"Where's Granny Biscuit?" Midoriya asked, trying to spot the old lady but not seeing any sign of her.

"She was inside, the closest to them when the fight broke out, but we got separated and I haven't seen her since!" Someone cried, their arms burnt badly as Kyūfune was already treating her. Midoriya felt his worry skyrocket as he knew what kind of person that old lady was, she would have met with those gangsters herself.

"Fire suppression, get as many volunteers and buckets as you can! Search and Rescue, we don't have time to wait for our clothes to be doused in water, we're going in as if, make sure to cover your mouths and don't breathe in the smoke!" Ōbi yelled as they did last-minute prep before they entered the building, it would have been better to wet their robes, but they could only work with what they had.

"These are our people, don't fail them like the world has!" He made sure to remind them all, his eyes as hard as stone as he looked at them all, seeing no hesitation in any of them as he grunted.

Removing his scarf, not wishing to see it burned, Midoriya handed it to a small child but while he did so, he was asked a question he wasn't keen to answer. "Will the heroes be here soon? Like All Might?" The girl looked up at him, her eyes scared, worried and hopeful all at once like his eyes would have been at her age.

"I-" He like her, knew that the number one was in town. He had saved some people earlier that day, but unlike her, he knew that he had a time limit that he could have very well already burnt through for the day. He didn't like the man, but he gave his word to keep his silence, more than that, he just couldn't bring himself to see the hope in the girl's eye die as he went with what he could. "We'll pick up the slack till they get here."

With his promise said, he and the other 7 rushed into the burning building, trusting that the 8 they left behind to handle the fires would be capable of it. bursting into the main reception area, they found that it was the least damaged by flames, but saw that was rapidly changing as the fires spread out from deeper inside the building. The next room was far worse, it had been the main floor where a mess of beds and tables had been set up, a room which only hours before had been peaceful as folks wither retired early, watched TVs, or played card and board games.

Now, everything was burning, beds resembling burning bushes while the wooden bedframes creaked or buckled under the strain of the flames. Electronics, when they could see them, sparked and fizzled, as they were turned to slag and trash but none of this had anything on what drew their attention

It was the bodies.

It was clear that when the fire started, there had been a mad dash for the exit, the main one being the most accessible, but with all the furniture around, the place became a bottleneck as people fell and were trampled in the confusion. Running over, they saw that most were in serious need but alive, others…weren't so lucky. Midoriya wasn't ashamed to admit that he had to lower his face covering as to throw up to the side, but that only made it worse as the stench of the dead and dying invaded his nose, making him dry heave as his stomach tried to empty itself again despite being empty.

Ōbi smacked him on the back and forcibly pulled his face covering back over his mouth and nose. "That's part of the reason we block our noses, the smell isn't pretty. Focus on those you can save, for now, it helps." Midoriya nodded at the former firefighter's advice, breathing through his mouth for a moment before looking around, trying to find people which didn't take long. His first being a young man in his late 20s maybe, his fur-covered body badly burnt, with some spots missing fur entirely and revealing pink and white blistered skin. Seeing that he was unconscious, Midoriya had to carry him out of the building, making it outside, he saw that others had already been taken to the first aide station where Kyūfune was barking orders left and right, her demeanor completely different in the crisis.

He didn't waste time and run back it, helping more people out either by acting as a support or carrying them on his back. On one of these trips, he stumbled onto someone he recognized, the man crawling towards the entrance after what must have been engulfed in fire, his clothes nearly gone and his skin badly burnt. He would have felt sympathy for the man…if he wasn't one of the same thugs that tried to fuck with them earlier that day.

Knowing that he was part of this, that he and those morons he called friends set this place, a place of safety ablaze made Midoriya consider just leaving him and letting karma run its course. But that wasn't what he wanted to be, he wouldn't dishonor his master's teaching by becoming someone like that.

"Hold on and don't complain." That didn't mean he had to be nice about it as he ignored how the man screamed in pain from how roughly he picked him up and threw him onto his back before running for the exit. Making it to the first aid station, he laid the man down before Kyūfune. The fox woman turned to assess her latest patient and like himself, she recognized him and for a moment her beautiful blue eyes became storms, swelling with anger but as quickly as it came, it went.

"I'll handle them, you go." He nodded as he turned and ran back in, they had only just started clearing the place, they still had 5 floors left to check, dozens of rooms and hallways to comb through for survivors. Before he got back in, he saw that the fire suppression team was making progress, having found as many buckets as they could, they formed chains of people where buckets of water were passed from person to person before it reached the end, at which point he was thrown into the blaze before they handed the empty container to a runner to took it back to the source to be refilled. It was managed well, the best they could manage in the situation but it was slow, and he feared that it might not be enough.

Chapter 5: Raxus Fire

"Crap!" Izuku cursed as he checked for the pulse of a child, no older than 8, only to find nothing. He wished that it was the first, or even second corpse he had seen, but the fact was that in the last 20 minutes, he had seen more death than he ever hoped to see in 20 years. Stepping back, he noted the bright red hair and the unicorn doll on their hand, making it all the harder to focus as he recognized them, he had made them apple and grape juice to take home only hours before…they had been so happy.

Now he'll never see that happiness again.

Leaving the small room, he rushed down the halls of the shelter, glad that they had at least cleared the first 2 floors and were nearly done with the 3rd. He focused on the fact he managed to find and save 11 people, not the fact he found 6 dead, or else he'd break down and become a sobbing mess. Turning a corner, he met up with Ōbi who was carrying an unconscious woman in his arms bridal style.

"Have the firefighters arrived yet?" He asked, speaking as loud as he could to be heard over the raging fire and creaking structure, they didn't have much time before something gave and neither wished to be around for that.

"I didn't see them, just keep focusing on what you can do!" Ōbi yelled back, not stopping as he turned around another corner, heading for the stairs to get his passenger to safety. Izuku muttered that he'd ring someone's neck but moved on, kneeling, he extended his tenet-much like he had done when he was doing his exam for his red belt. He didn't let the walls or the fire stop him, feeling out for any movement, any irregular shapes that could be considered human. He ground his teeth as the fires didn't make it easy, as their constantly changing shape messed with his perception, but he was able to detect a few more people on the floor.

Right as he finished, people rushed up the stairs and found him, all of them wearing their robes and any other spare pieces of cloth that had been doused with water. He pointed at several rooms and paths in what most would assume were random. "There, there, down that route, the middle path 4th door on the right!" These people knew better than to question him as they ran past him to where he directed them, busting down doors or if time was short, walls to get to the people inside. Midoriya took one where he felt a body, but couldn't detect movement. Breaking the door down, he coughed through his mask as he took in the space, seeing a small window which had been opened up, allowing some of the smoke to escape while to the side was a familiar person, slumped against the wall.

"Granny Biscuit!" He yelled, almost teleporting to her side and inspecting the old woman. Her cane was missing, and she was badly burnt, but she had a pulse, a weak one but it was there. Sparring the window thought, he realized that she must have ended up in her and opened the window to give herself some air. 'I need to get her out of here, fast!' He slowly picked her up, being careful not to make her wounds any worse than they already were, but now wasn't the time for a proper examination.

"Hold on, we're going to make it out of this, you hear me, Granny? I'm not letting some idiots do you in!" He told her as he left the room, followed by another as they raced down the stairs, the lower levels not as bad as when they started as others ran all over the place with buckets of water, dousing fires wherever they could. Making it outside, he saw that the small area for treatment had expanded to now have dozens of people, some awake, most still out as Kyūfune ran about, barking instructions and treating people in equal measure. She at least had help from locals who either could follow orders, or have some first aid knowledge.

It was the same with the fire suppression as the two lines from before had turned into 6, with 3 supplying the buckets for people entering the building while the rest worked on the exterior, but the blaze was a difficult bitch and wasn't going down without a fight. Laying Granny Biscuit down, two people rushed forward to aide her, too busy with that to say a thing to him, not that he would have heard it as he ran to a small water station, picked up a pale and tossed it over himself, getting his clothing and body wet again.

"Please, you gotta help me!" Turning to the side, he saw a woman being held back from running into the inferno by Ōbi

"Mam, we're doing all we can!" The older man yelled at her, but she didn't seem to care as she continued to struggle against him till someone came up and grabbed her from behind.

"But my son," Even while restrained, she kept crying as her eyes focused on the burning building. "My son's still in there!"

"Which floor?" The woman and the group turned to Midoriya, the boy fixing his wet robes to ensure they covered everything.

"What?"

"Which floor did you last see him?" He repeated, louder than the first time as the mother managed to collect herself enough to speak.

"The 4th."

"Midoriya don-!" Ōbi's warning was ignored as Midoriya didn't even let the man finish before he turned and rushed back in like a bat out of hell. "Goddammit!" The man cursed to high heaven before he told the husband to keep his wife away from the blaze lest she become another corpse before he went to get himself prepped to chase after the boy.

The 4th floor was just as dangerous as he feared, the flames hadn't spread everywhere, but that only meant that the smoke was seemingly everywhere, even through a wet cloth over his nose and mouth, he could almost taste it on his tongue. Reaching out with his tenet, he had to move slowly as he 'felt' his way through the smoke-filled space. It was that use of Húxū that saved him as he felt it before it appeared. Diving to the side, he evaded the wall where he just was exploding as the fires reached something extremely flammable, perhaps a gas tank that was stored, it didn't matter as turning back, he saw his way out blocked by debris.

He steeled his heart, turning to continue the search as he felt through the rooms, not even opening them when he felt nothing. With those with movement, he called out for a response but got none. He didn't have backup, he couldn't wait for them but…but he couldn't just leave them. that wasn't his nature. It was this resolve that saw him break down the first door, grab the thankfully breathing body and leave, following this process for the next several doors, till he was straining to pick them up as had to carry them one at a time to his next spot, this slowing down with each new person he found.

By the time he reached the final door, he was trying to protect 8 people of different sizes, appearances, genders and ages. Turning back, he saw that the fire from before was gaining on them, making him grateful he grabbed those he could rather than leave them to a fiery end. The air was warm even before he breathed it in, he kicked the door down, his augmented strength shattering the wood and sending bits and pieces flying around the place.

There, hiding behind a sink in what he realized was a bathroom, was the child he suspected he was after, they certainly shared the same horse-like features he had seen with the mother, but like the rest of the people he had found, they were barely awake thanks to smoke inhalation, smoke that was now entering the room faster thanks him busting the door down. Grabbing their shoulders, he pulled their fading attention to him and him alone.

"Hey, everything will be fine, I'm here to help. You're gonna see your ma and pa again, just you wait." He lowered his mask, letting the kid see his dirty face but also the big smile he was sporting.

"…Are you…a hero…?" The boy didn't seem to react much, his head a fog which only made Izuku hyper-aware of the fact he was running out of time

"I try to be, and I will save you." He replied, not wishing to lie but also wishing to live up to that idea. To what All Might preached, to what he believed.

"Kay…" The boy nodded but also cracked a lopsided smile as if remembering a funny joke. "You look like Rag-Gal…" Midoriya kept him awake the best he could, smacking his cheeks before he moved to check the rest of the room for a way to help the people he had with him and escape before they all burnt.

'Window's too small to climb through, even if I did, there's no way I'll be able to get everyone out.' He eyed the window, but it was small, clearly meant for ventilation over scenery or any potential movement, not unless you were the size of a toddler. Gently moving the boy, Izuku stood on the sink counter to look through it.

"Good, it's facing the front." He was close to being above the entrance, which meant that most people were there. Jumping down, he eyed the wall for a moment before he pulled back his fist. "Here goes." He uttered as he punched the wall, shaking the already structurally compromised room while leaving a small crater surrounded by cracks from the site of impact.

"One more!" Not sparing a second, he pulled back another, stronger blow before he punched through the wall, the force of the blow creating a large enough that the people on the ground picked up on it.

"What the-the wall exploded!"

"Dammit, where are the hoses?"

"Guys!" They looked up, seeing Midoriya clearing away bricks to increase the size of the hole. With that done, he started waving at them. "I'm sending people down, be ready!"

"What does he mean by-what the fuck are you thinking?!" Someone asked as Midoriya vanished back into the building, only for that question to change as he now held a middle-aged man in his arms in a scene that didn't take much to realize what his plan was.

"Ready to receive?" Midoriya yelled back to them, ignoring the second question as this wasn't the sanest solution, but he was on a timer and this was the best he could come up with.

"Oh for-Yes, give us a second!" The woman on the ground yelled back to him before she turned to the rest of them, including the mass of people that had arrived. "We need the biggest blankets you have!" They didn't have many blankets, but they did have plenty of people willing to give up the shirts off their backs and a spider mutant woman who volunteered to rapidly sow them all together. In less than a couple minutes, they had a blanket with the area of a small apartment held up by 16 people who moved into position.

"Alright, don't mess this up!" Midoriya warned them before he dropped the unconscious man down to earth, right into the blanket which held, softening their fall. With the first person safe at ground level, he continued to drop people down to them, the seconds between when they got the person off the blanket to get ready for the next felt like hours as he watched the fire getting closer, with the smoke leaving through the hole only getting worse as he started to cough from it. As he reached for the boy whom he had come for, the last person up there with him, he felt another disturbance in his Húxū which made his eyes widen as he realized he didn't have any more time.

Without a second thought, he grabbed the kid and jumped out of the hole, much to the horror of the crowd as an explosion followed after them, if he had remained even a second longer, they would have been caught in it, but as it stood, there were only pushed further by its force, a glance told him that he would miss the blanket entirely. With no other option, he transferred as much of his tenet as he could into the boy in his arms and braced for a harsh landing.

When his back and shoulder impacted the cold, hard pavement, there wasn't so much a crash as there was a crack and thud as he felt the air leaving his lungs, quickly followed by a searing pain all over his body, with the worst being the parts of him that impacted first as he found himself laying belly up, his arms to his side-one he was pretty sure was broken. Seconds after his rough landing, the rest were rushing over, fearing the worst but he could at least give a thumbs up as he felt it, the steady drumbeat of the little boy's heart, the rise and fall of his chest pressed against his own.

"Shit, you have to be the craziest person I know, the hell was that about?" Someone asked him as the kid was taken off him and rushed to the medical side, his concerned parents following right on after as Midoriya was helped up by two others.

"It was either a date with the pavement or the flames," He hissed in pain as he moved, jolting his thoroughly messed up shoulder and arm. "I think I chose well."

"You're lucky you didn't hit your crack your head open, you dunce!" The woman yelled at him as he laughed, feeling a bit light-headed.

"As long as the…people," His vision started to blur, the voices and sounds of everything around him fading into white noise before-"…safe." He was out, his eyes rolling back as he passed out from the pain of his injuries.

He didn't know how long he was out, or what happened. One second he was being, the next he seemed to be back on the…bed? Groaning, he fought to regain consciousness, hearing bits and pieces as he did so. "He's coming to."

"Already? What the hell is this kid made of? Most people would be out for at least another day." What was surprising about that? Anyone from the sanctuary knew his training was no joke, a simple 4 floor drop wouldn't be enough to do him in….Unless these people weren't from the sanctuary.

When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself on a stretcher, his head and right arm from his shoulder going down wrapped up, the limb being supported in a brace. To his sides were two EMTs, both looking at him with shock…when did they get here?

Ignoring them for the moment, he looked around and saw that he was still in Raxus, still close to the shelter which was now largely burnt out, with 3 different fire trucks still shooting water into the burnt-out structure while firefighters entered the buildings, others coming out carrying stretchers like the one he was laying on, but only covered with tarps. He didn't need to be told to understand what that meant.

Against the instructions of the paramedics tending to him, he forced himself onto his feet, with the two holding him down. "I'll be fine, focus on everyone else." His assurance didn't mean much to them, but the sneer one of them was shooting him didn't give an impression that she liked or even wanted to treat him.

"You want to die? Fine, the world doesn't need your kind anymore." He grunted as he got to his feet, refusing to wavier when she could see him. rather, he turned to glare at her over his shoulder.

"I don't have any plans to die till I'm old and grey." He spat back, flipping her off with his good arm before he walked off. As he moved, he was able to take a better inspection of himself and besides the bandages around his head and his cast-covered arm, his torso was also wrapped up, his top missing-most likely tossed but at least he still had his red belt. His day was made even better when the child he had handed his scarf to. "Thank you for helping us." She walked up to him, giving him a small hug which he returned.

"We must be there for each other whenever we're needed." He messed her hair a little, getting a pout from the girl as she handed him his scarf back. Taking it in his hands, he held it like it was a child. "You helped me by protecting this, it…it's important to me." He looked at it, smiling as he recalled the day he got it.

"Is it expensive?" He couldn't help but laugh at that, confusing the child.

"Heavens no!" He knew that it was cheap, that he could easily get a new one from just about any clothing store but…that wasn't the reason for its value, at least to him. "It was a gift from my mother." For what felt like the first time in hours, he smiled as he thanked her, wrapping it around himself with just one hand. Walking closer, he saw that most of the rescue team was sitting with the people, making sure that they were as comfortable as they could be. The fire suppression was still working, even though their role was mercifully reduced with the presence of the firefighters while the first aid people continued to work as well, only they were now helping move people onto ambulances, he just hoped that they got the treatment they deserved.

Approaching them, he walked up to Ōbi speaking with a police officer. The man had removed most of his robes, leaving him with just his white vest and a bandage around his left forearms. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could guess that it wasn't pleasant as things got heated with his senior and started to get angry.

"You call yourself a cop, what a disgrace to the badge!" The man yelled at the cop before turning to walk away before he punched him.

Jogging up to him, Midoriya spoke. "That seemed like it didn't go well." Ōbi sparred him a glance, if he was shocked that he was on his feet again, he didn't show it.

"Shouldn't you be on your way to the hospital?" The man asked him, looking him over and seeing how bandaged up he was, and he walking with a slight limp.

"I'm still walking, I'll heal up later if I have to." Midoriya shrugged it off, only for the man to mutter something about him being an idiot under his breath.

"One of these days, I'm going to knock some sense into your head." He spoke up, louder as they got closer to where the rest of their people from the rescue team were resting, their robes off and to their sides as some fanned themselves, or drank water that was offered to them by locals.

"Maybe, maybe not." Now wasn't the time to talk about Izuku's habit of running into danger without thought to save another. "You didn't answer my question." Ōbi snorted before he gestured to the shelter and the many firefighters working.

"You were out for about 90 minutes, maybe a little longer, maybe a little shorter. Point is, the calvary arrived a little over an hour ago." The was a dismissive disgust in his voice when he mentioned calvary, not that he blamed him as he wouldn't be surprised if that was a sentiment shared by all of them. When they called the fire department, they gave them a time of arrival of 20 minutes. That call had been before they arrived, where they spent over 20 minutes saving as many people as they could. All that meant that the firefighters, ambulances and the damn cops acting as crowd control didn't get here till they were well over an hour late.

"Amazing what they could have done if they showed up sooner." He felt an anger in him, a desire to lash out but he controlled himself, he wouldn't allow him to be lowered to the same level as those dogs.

"That's not the issue. The fucking issue is that according to their primary assessment, the entire 'incident'," Ōbi glared at a group of cops as they questioned a couple of people, none of them looking the slightest bit comfortable with the presence of law enforcement. "Was an unfortunate tragedy caused by overpopulation and poor handling of flammable materials."

"What the hell, it wasn't an incident, it was an attack!" Midoriya's rage exploded, his yell so loud that he drew attention from others, both residents and law enforcement alike, but he didn't care. "We have one of the fuckers right there! If they had done their jobs and showed up sooner, we wouldn't be hauling so many bodies, we wouldn't have lost so many people!" He pointed at the mass of bodies, all of them covered by tarps, blankets, shirts-whatever could be sparred. Around them, families and friends mourned their loss.

They had been attacked, they had been the victims-to even hint that some blame lay with them made him see red. He was stopped from running to the cops to yell that fact in their faces by Ōbi who grabbed his shoulder, the man's face as stormy as his but restrained in its fury. "Trust me, I know the feeling, I barely held back from clocking that cop in the face." He wasn't scared of spending a night in jail, but he had to remain here, helping to run the rescue and recovery efforts as he didn't trust these cops or EMTs as far as he could throw them.

"Excuse me," Both turned to see who was interrupting them, only to find themselves having to turn their heads up just to look the much taller man in the eye. "But I would like to get your statements about this tragedy." The number one seemed…sheepish, apologetic even. His costume was slightly burned from the fires but the man was untouched by them.

"All Might?" Midoriya asked, surprised to see him before that surprise turned to irritation. All Might recognized him and must have realized that the boy wasn't his biggest fan at the moment.

"He arrived first, they," Ōbi explained, nodding to the rest of the first responders. "Followed after him." It had been…a surprise to see All Might just land, his signature smile visible for all to see before he rushed in to help, coming out just as quickly with people or at one point, holding up the ceiling to allow others to save people, the weight of the hundreds of tons of brick, steel and concrete easily held up by the blonde.

"Of course, they did, where the number one goes, the cameras are sure to follow." Midoriya snorted, when did they call? They take their sweet time, but when All Might acts, they chase after him like love-sick puppies. "Didn't you already ask others?" He didn't wish to speak with him.

"We did, but it will be best if we speak to everyone involved, and not a lot of them can say they did what you did, young man. That was a mark of a true hero." All Might told him, the phrase catching him off guard as he felt it vibrate in his chest, sing to his heart in a way he didn't know that words from his fallen idol could.

"…Someone had to step up when there weren't any." He replied, but he agreed to speak with the man, it meant speaking with a cop that he might have struck.