Jirou's heartbeat was a frantic rhythm in her chest, competing with the bone-shaking concussions of the fireworks still detonating overhead. She knew she needed to act fast. The sounds of a struggle were unmistakable to her, the sharp, unnatural screech of metal on metal and the familiar muffled voices of her classmates strained by effort. She moved to help them, preparing to alert the group of students still lingering on the grass, but just as she was about to disconnect her earphone jack from the wood post, a voice caught her attention.

  It was faint, filtered through a maze of competing noises... the festive music, the rhythmic explosions in the sky, the rising tide of panic, and that horrible, rhythmic scraping of steel against stone. She closed her eyes, focusing every ounce of her quirk on that one specific frequency.

  "If you can hear me Jirou! We're under attack by the villain Moonfish. Only Tetsutetsu and Mina can help. Tell the rest to stay away and evacuate civilians."

  The voice was Robinn's. It sounded strange, as if she was speaking directly into the earth itself, the vibrations traveling through the ground with a clarity that bypassed the air. A second later, a much fainter, more muffled voice followed, sounding strained and urgent. "Move, he heard us!"

  Jirou yanked her earphone jacks free from the ground and snapped her eyes open. Her breath caught halfway in. When she turned, she nearly collided with Momo, who had come up behind her without a sound, her hands clasped tightly together as she observed the raw panic written across Jirou's features.

  "Is everything okay?" Momo asked. Her voice was calm, but it was the fragile sort of calm that suggested she was holding back her own rising dread.

  Jirou didn't wait for a follow-up question. She started talking before she even had her breath back, the words spilling out in a jagged, frantic rush. Her teeth nearly clipped her tongue as she tried to explain the threat.

  Momo just stood there. She looked like she'd been struck, her hands hovering in the air, but the weight of the information was too heavy. Her analytical mind was clearly jamming, Jirou could almost see the gears grinding to a halt as she tried to come up with a perfect, safe response for a situation that was already spiraling out of control.

  Jirou stared at her for a heartbeat, her eyes wide with a flicker of disbelief. It was an incredulous look, watching the smartest girl in their class just lock up while people were probably dying a few hundred yards away. It wasn't the time for a debate, and it certainly wasn't the time for Momo to find her footing.

  The air was already filled with the sound of distant, high-pitched terror. She didn't say another word to Momo... just pushed past her, her shoulder bumping Momo's as she went to rally the others. She practically barked at Tetsutetsu, Mina, Uraraka, and Sero, her voice cracking under the strain as she forced them out of their shock and into the chaos.

  All of them scrambled up from the grass. Even though they were exhausted from the day's festivities, a sudden, violent jolt of adrenaline surged through them as a explosion boomed from the direction Jirou pointed. High-pitched screams followed the blast, echoing through the trees.

  As they ran toward the chaos, Jirou shouted for Mina and Tetsutetsu to charge ahead to help fight. Robinn's warning had been specific, and Jirou trusted her tactical instincts. It was during this frantic sprint that Jirou noticed Kaminari was missing. A sharp spike of worry pierced through her, but the environment around them was too chaotic to look for the idiot.

  The festival grounds had turned into a nightmare. They were met by a wave of screaming civilians running in the opposite direction. Dozens of brightly colored stalls had been toppled over, their wooden frames shattered and their goods trampled into the ground. The damage wasn't even from the villain himself, it was the sheer force of a human stampede. People were being knocked down and stepped on in the dark.

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  They hit the ground running, shifting immediately into rescue mode. Jirou knelt beside a fallen civilian, connecting her earphone jacks to the pavement even as she helped brace a man's bloodied leg. She tried to listen for Kaminari's specific voice or the sound of electricity, but her senses were drowned out by the agonizing sound of crying children and the low-frequency thrum of collective terror. Nearby, Momo was producing medical supplies in a frantic, almost mechanical blur, her face pale as she tried to make herself useful. Uraraka and Sero moved in tandem, lifting heavy debris and using tape to create clear exit paths, guiding the fleeing crowd away from the epicenter of the metal scraping.

  The explosion had come from closer to the fighting. A gas tank, pierced by flying shrapnel, had ruptured with a violent crack, sending flame rolling outward and setting several nearby stalls ablaze. Fire licked up fabric banners and wooden frames, casting erratic shadows as sparks rained down onto the stone paths.

  Mina and Tetsutetsu sprinted past the blast zone, heat brushing against their backs. They nearly cleared it before a sound cut through the chaos. A weak, broken cry. Mina skidded to a stop and spun on her heel, eyes snapping to a single hand reaching out from beneath a heap of shattered wood and canvas. Her jaw clenched as she hesitated, torn.

  Tetsutetsu stopped beside her, his gaze flicking between the fire, the distant scraping of metal, and the trapped civilian. The decision settled fast.

  "Help that person first, I'll go fight." He said firmly, his eyes offering no argument.

  Mina didn't waste another second. She scrambled toward the debris, palms already slick with acid as she began melting the heaviest beams away, careful and frantic all at once. Behind her, Tetsutetsu broke into a full sprint.

  The jagged peak of blades was barely visible over the rows of stalls, a warped silhouette clawing at the sky. The sound reached him before the sight did. Metal scraping against stone. Rapid footsteps. Impact after impact. He pushed harder, lungs burning.

  Following the paths and rules wasn't getting him there fast enough.

  He lowered his shoulder and crashed straight through a stall. Wood splintered. Fabric tore. He tumbled through collapsing tables and crates, rolling hard before slamming to a stop on the other side. Groaning, he shoved a loose sheet of tarp off his head and forced himself upright.

  That was when he saw it.

  The fighting had torn the ground apart into a wide, uneven radius of destruction. Stone was shattered and cratered, chunks of pavement gouged out and scattered like shrapnel. Bent metal jutted from the ground at broken angles, some pieces half-buried where they'd been driven in by repeated strikes. Fires burned wherever stalls had been clipped or torn open, crawling outward through fabric and splintered wood.

  Dozens of metal tendrils slammed into the ground again and again, chewing up stone in violent arcs that traced a rough, circular pattern only because something kept moving just out of reach.

  A figure was running at full speed. He'd only ever seen it on a screen before, but there was no mistaking it. Robinn, transformed as water. Her shape held as she ran, translucent and fluid, the metal blades cutting straight through her without resistance, leaving no mark as they passed through the liquid.

  Before he could fully process it, another figure burst into view.

  Kirishima skidded up beside him, sprinting hard, his arms and shoulders streaked with cuts. A toddler was cradled against his chest, wailing in terror. Kirishima's face was twisted into a mix of focus and raw fear.

  "Dude!" he said with half a breath. "Take this kid far away now."

  He glanced over his shoulder at the carnage chasing the sprinting girl. The gap she’d been keeping was narrowing, her turns sharper, more desperate. "She's got him distracted for now, but come back as quick as you can."

  He shoved the toddler into Tetsutetsu's arms and was already turning away when Tetsutetsu spoke, his voice loud and steady despite the pounding in his chest.

  "I can help fight!"

  Kirishima shook his head even as he moved, backing away before breaking into another sprint. "We aren't fighting! just stalling." His voice carried as he got farther away. "And there's another toddler missing."

  The last part came quieter, almost to himself, before he disappeared back toward the chaos.

  Tetsutetsu nodded once and turned, tightening his grip as he looked down at the little girl in his arms. Her sobs hit him harder than the explosion had. He ran back toward safety, this time sticking to open paths instead of crashing through obstacles, even if it slowed him down.

  When he reached the fire-lit area again, Mina was still working. Uraraka and Sero had joined her, already patching up the injured civilian. Without stopping to explain, Tetsutetsu passed the child into Uraraka's arms, waited just long enough to see her secure the girl, then grabbed Mina by the arm.

  They turned and ran back toward the sound of scraping metal together.