Keeping You (Todoroki x Reader)

Chapter 13

'Are you sure?' Ochaco asked. 'How do you plan on taking out Shinso?'

'I haven't figured it all out yet...' For the first time since before the match, he smiled, and a little bit of joy shot through me. 'Knowing that you guys have the others covered, gives me the confidence I need to finish it off for you guys.'

'But aren't you scared about your quirk acting up again?' I asked. It had just happened out of nowhere, the birth of Black Whip. So it surprised me how I couldn't detect any fear or hesitancy in my green-haired friend. Only calm, only control.

He flashed me a small, knowing smile. 'Nope. I'll be fine. Just don't be scared of your own, L/N.'

I blanched with confusion. 'What?'

But before he could answer, a soft ping caused me to turn around. Just as a steel support beam came flying at us. Midoriya and I ducked as Ochaco touched and deflected it with ease. From over the edge jumped up Monoma, his blue eyes flaring with manic lightning. Wait, that looked like actual lightning. It flashed green around him in a familiar way that-

All colour drained from my face as realisation crashed over me, watching as Monoma leaped towards Midoriya. Don't tell me he...

'I've got you now,' he said, the lighting flashing brighter, the energy levels raising higher.

...he copied One For All?! The panic on Midoriya's face told me he was thinking the same thing. Monoma must've touched him sometime while I'd been unconscious. This was bad. On so many levels. Midoriya had trained for months to hold even 20% of One For All's power. Monoma, though...

'Wait Monoma,' Midoriya shouted, reaching out to the blond. 'Don't do it!'

'Too late!' Monoma raised his hand, and I could feel the power surging, ready to blast us all to wind. In a last ditch effort to save us, I raised my arm to raise a shield-

'Not so fast!' Ochaco's hand was around Monoma's outstretched hand in a second, using his body weight to haul him over her petite figure and slam him into the ground. 'Gunhead Martial Arts!' She secured his hands behind his back before pressing her whole body onto him, restraining him from any movement. She yelled over her shoulder, 'He doesn't have your quirk, Deku. It's a bluff! Keep going!'

Monoma groaned in frustration. 'Oh, no fair. I drew a blank?'

'Damn, Monoma!' Shinso called out. I turned to see him pulling at his binding cloth, but then Midoriya was there, grabbing ahold of them.

I swivelled around to find, in fact, my friend had left the building. Quite literally. Ochaco, still lying on top of Monoma, pressed her fingertips together and said, 'Release.' Midoriya dropped onto the ledge properly and gave no time for Shinso to react as he tackled the lilac-haired boy, knocking off his voice modulator.

'All right, Deku!' I called out before turning back Ochaco and Monoma. 'Now, what to do with him.'

'If you are needing to discuss what to do with a prisoner, you're dumber than I thought,' Monoma said, managing a sadistic smile despite his situation.

Ochaco and I looked at each other for a moment, silence filling in the gaps of our words. We couldn't speak to him. He could have Shinso's brainwashing. The three clocks ticked along Monoma's waist. Perhaps they represented how many quirks he could hold at once and for how long. I guessed he didn't have Brainwash before, but that could've changed since I was knocked out. He definitely had Poltergeist, and from the size of some of the parts he threw at Midoriya and I before, he had Yui Kodai's ability to shrink or enlarge objects at will. Those two plus Shinso's quirk would make three.