Moments before that.
After encountering Manual during Izuku and Gran Torino's patrol and learning that Iida ran on his own, he instantly realized what Iida was doing.
Combined with the news of his brother suffering from Stain and his admiration for his own brother, it's not hard to connect the details.
It's now a race against time, he pulled up his phone while swinging and managed to make his location signal be sent to the class GC.
He was sure the others stationed in Hosu will realize what it was for, especially Yoshiki.
Thankfully the signal updates based on his location so he doesn't have much problem with moving through the city as he swung his way forward like a certain hero.
He thought grimly to himself, 'Iida... please, be alright.'
...
In an alley away from all the commotion, 3 people can be seen, 2 of them are bloodied and on the ground. One person stood above another.
This was Iida being stepped on by Stain's boots, staring into his upcoming death.
"What did I tell you, kid?" said Stain, cleaning his katana as he raised it in a reverse grip.
"Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world." he spread his other hand, curling his fingers inward. "The longer you live, the more you realize that in this reality, only pain, suffering and futility exist."
He looked down at Iida, relishing his state. "You fakers who only ever cared for nothing but yourselves, hiding behind that fake heroic acts." he gripped his katana harder. "You are all stains in this world. You deserve nothing but to die in my hands."
He took a deep breath and released it, still looking down at Iida.
"Now die."
They say that the human's survival instinct is incredibly powerful. In several R*ddit posts, there are stories about the Indomitable Human Spirit. Their tenacity to survive and their severe pettiness puts them above several species.
Iida, in his last moments as he stared at the blade coming down upon him moved before he could think. Paralysis is not the same as Quirk Suppression, at the end of the day, he didn't really need to move to put fuel in his legs.
His right leg roared to life, as if answering the owner's will to live. Blue flames lit up, as the exhaust pipes turned orange due to the heat. It arched and slammed directly at Stain's legs, tripping him, making the blade miss its mark and stabbing deep in Iida's shoulders.
Gritting his teeth through the pain, he increased the output on his engine and blasted off the ground, carrying him up into the air and landing directly at the top of the building.
He put his all and—
"HEEEEEEELLLLPPPPPP!!!!"
He continued shouting for help, knowing full well nobody would hear. Before he could continue, a hand clamped down on his hair and dragged him near the edge, forcing him to look at the city.
"Nobody's going to help you! Can't you see?! Look at the destruction! Everybody else was busy, the true Heroes are out there helping the civilians!" he then smashed his head on the ground.
"This is why you are not cut out for being a Hero! Instead of helping the others, you came all this way all for what?! Revenge?!"
He got stabbed in the legs with a knife.
"Aaaarrrghhhh!!!"
"Did you really think you can defeat me?! Me?! You can't even win that Sports Festival! You're a thousand years too early, kid!"
In Stain's madness, he slammed Iida's head again and again on the ground. A few moments later, he breathed a rugged breath. He can hear Iida murmuring something so he leaned his head a little bit.
"...Y-You... are... just... another V-Villain... you... will... soon... understand that..."
Stain was done with him so he grabbed the Katana that cluttered away from Iida's desperate attempt earlier.
"This time, you are really dying."
He stood over Iida and aligned the Katana horizontally. There was no remorse in his eyes as he slashed.
Swiiiiinnnggg—
Before it could even get close, he felt something coil in his body and lost contact with the ground. He realized he was airborne a moment too late as he got swung back down onto the ground, cracking it completely and dropping him through the floor below.
"Guh—" he spat out blood, he felt his bones cracking from the impact, few of his ribs digged into his lungs.
Before he could even think properly, he was pulled along and got smashed into a wall. And then to the ceiling, then back down to the ground. By then, he already lost consciousness but his suffering wasn't done yet. He was completely immobilized, he was tightly gripped by something.
That figure soon revealed itself, breathing deeply, eyes lost in electric hue, green sparks rode off his body.
That was Izuku arriving just in time to save the damsel in distress. However, before he could even move, another figure crashed upon him, blasting him out of the building.
BOOOMMM!!! CRAAAASHHH!!!
He gripped the side with this Black Whip to stabilize himself before he could fall to his death and looked at what hit him.
It was a hulking figure of mass and aberration, it looks all sorts of wrongness. It's limbs are a mess of spikes, it's back is hunched, muscles bugling in wrong sort of way, and the most inexplicable thing about it is that it could fly in the air.
(Okay, what the fuck is that?)
[That, my friend. Is fan fiction at its finest.]
Izuku didn't even have time to think before it arrived in front of him again so he could only cross his arms in front of him.
BAAAANNGGGG!!!
He flew back in an instant and smashed to the ground, skidding and tumbling before stopping.
His arms were numb, his ribs were aching and he couldn't do anything but lay there in pain. The Nomu was closing in fast, like a falcon dropping in for a hunt.
The atmosphere turned chilly and ice rose up into the air blocking the path of the Nomu.
Crasshhh!!!
He was whisked away by Todoroki, sliding on ice as they distanced themselves away.
"I came as fast as I could."
Izuku sighed in relief before remembering why he was there.
"Wait! Iida is there! Go back!"
Todoroki clicked his tongue as he took a detour and slid up a building, before long they came upon Iida who was barely conscious. Izuku took him with his Black Whip while Todoroki turned and defended from the Nomu.
Ice blocks that was dozens of inches thick kept getting destroyed by the sheer strength of the Nomu. They needed to get out of there fast.
On their way to get away, they even saw Yoshiki coming towards them and they didn't even have to shout for him to turn back the other way around and continued running.
"Fuck this, if you are running, I am running away as well!"
His speed was so fast for them to catch up on so Izuku turned on his Full Cowling and grabbed the other two then dashed towards Yoshiki. This way, Todoroki could focus more on defending.
The moment Yoshiki saw Izuku gaining on him, he increased his speed while shouting, "Get the hell away! If we scatter, it will only focus on at least one!"
Izuku rejected this of course, but not for good reasons. "No way! I didn't have to be the fastest, I just have to be faster than you!"
Perhaps Yoshiki has rubbed off of him too much that he could even say things like that.
"Fuck! Halfsie, spike! Spike!"
Todoroki was irked at that nickname but there was no time to argue, they needed to get away fast. He formed spikes of ice to intercept the Nomu who was too fast to stop and got skewered on the ice.
"Yes!!! Damn it, take that!" Yoshiki cheered but then adopted a resgined look. "Of course it can regenerate..."
He then looked at Izuku and seriously said, "Throw Halfsie away! I'm sure that Nomu is mad at him right now!"
"I'm right here!"
"Shut up!"
The Nomu broke the ice and flew up higher, so high in fact that it became a dot in the sky. Before long it starts to dive down.
He skidded into a full stop, followed by Izuku. Todorki looked at them like they were stupid and urged them to run now but Yoshiki just smacked him on the head.
"Dumbass, shut your trap and start building the thickest ice you've got before we die!"
Todoroki swallowed his retort and drop to the ground, putting his hand on it and channeled his all into the ice. It rose up, thick and sharp and didn't stop, it just grew more and more as he channeled everything into it.
"RAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
"I will seriously start treating you better after this if we survive!"
The Nomu met the ice spike head on.
BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
The ice point broke as the Nomu crashed into it, it continued on until halfway, by then Todoroki was already spent so Yoshiki grabbed him in a princess cary. They looked at the ice which started showing cracks.
Crack, crack, crack...
Crash!!!
The ice broke completely and showered them in fragments. They heard a low growl from inside the rubble.
Yoshiki gulped and looked at Izuku.
"If you have another upgrade up your sleeves, this is definitely the time to show it."
Izuku didn't say anything and seemed to be out of it, his eyes are closed.
Yoshiki sighed and put Todoroki gently on the ground. He cracked his neck and took out his weapons. Staff on his left and gun on his right.
Huuuuuu...
His blood starts pumping, nerves bulging with restrained power. One ice fragment dropped from the ground and—
Wooooooshhhh!
During his dash, he inserted his staff on the his gun and the started combining.
Nearly six feet long, the staff was forged from dark steel and reinforced with brass fittings. Spiraling bands of blue energy wound along its length, converging at a crystal chamber near the head, glowing in energy.
He met the Nomu's fist head on, swatting its hands away and used the momentum to swing the other end to its face. Electricity flowed out and seeped into its body. He then released the pressurized air within and used it as a spring board to distance himself.
He ran around firing at it with air bullets.
Pew pew pew!
All shots successfully hit its marks, piercing the Nomu's limbs. As it stagger, he pushed off with air pressure at the end of the staff and leaped through the air before coming back down with a full swing at its head.
Wham!
Its head smashed into the ground while electric currents flowed out of the staff. He pulled and transitioned into multiple hits attacking the head.
The Nomu might be strong and scary but it was when it's in the air. Right now, it looked like a child being bully by Yoshiki as he completely locked its movements with electricity.
Suddenly, the Nomu started glowing in white. Yoshiki's instincts flared and he instantly dashed away.
Moments later, energy exploded outwards with the Nomu at the center.
Shock Absorption!
"Damn it! I should've known!" Yoshiki gritted his teeth as he slid on the ground before coming into as stop. He watched helplessly as the Nomu once again rose into the air.
'Shit, if only I can fly...'
Right at this moment, he saw a streak of green and watched as it slammed upon the Nomu. Black Whip restrained its body and then—
SMAAAAASSHHHHH!!!!
The Whips tore from the force as the Nomu crashed into the ground.
Boom!
The ground cracked and dust rose into the air, Yoshiki threw the staff upwards which was caught by Izuku who was flying in the air.
He was a streak of green light, completely bypassing the Nomu.
Ssshhhkkkkkk!!!
Electric stopped its movements while Izuku turned back and slammed past into it again. Then again, and again.
It stood helpless, body rocking to the motion of the strikes. Izuku floated atop it, his image was truly majestic. Black Whip coiled into him, green electric flowed out of his body while holding the staff. He really looked like a God looking down at an ant from Yoshiki's perspective.
He then reared back his hand holding the staff and threw it down. It was a streak of light which traveled instantly and embedded itself on Nomu's head.
BANG!!!!
The amount of energy was too much, soon the Nomu bloated up and then—
"Oh, not this again!"
SQUELCH!!!