Circus of Horrors Arc : Bloodstained Sands.
Warning : Graphic Scenes ahead. Skippable scene.
Katsuki wasn't thinking at the moment, he was well aware of that. He didn't decide to move, he didn't decide to use his quirk. First, he saw his mothers face, then he heard flesh being chopped by something, then he heard Inko scream Izuku's name.
Then he was standing between her and some bitch with a knife reaching out to Izuku, both hands out and his quirk already activating. The sweat he'd worked up lifting weights with his mother working to his advantage. Both hands set of a single explosion each, using every drop of sweat from his fingertips to his wrist, the twin shockwaves threw sand and junk forward, clearing part of the beach while flames scorched everything in front of him, catching onto flammable objects in the junkyard and echoing the roar of the initial blast.
Katsuki grit his teeth, even with the extra workouts the last week or so it still hurt to fire off a blast that strong. As the dust died down he didn't see her the woman, just her knife in the sand. "Did I get her?"
As if waiting for him to ask an arm, followed by the rest of the woman, came out of the blade of the dagger, picking it up and dusting it off. "Never ask that darling, it never ends well." She said before flipping the knife in her hand before throwing it, her body disappearing into the blade just before she let go. It flew at him and he formed a circle with one hand and put it in front of the other, trying to aim at the blade and blast it away.
Instead the woman, Bloody Mary Katsuki reminded himself, came out of the blade, grabbed it, and went to slash him. Izuku reacted before he could, leaping from the ground and putting herself in the way of the knife. He could hear it cut into her neck, a wet gurgle as she attempted to say something.
Katsuki changed tactics, putting an arm around Izuku and facing a hand towards Bloody Mary who seemed to be delaying her return to the bloodsoaked knife.
He lifted his legs and set off an explosion, putting distance between the two of them and Bloody Mary. "Izuku, are you alright!?" He said as she coughed up blood as stitches formed over her throat. He looked up to where Bloody Mary should be to see her coming from her knife, but he saw burn marks on her clothes. She must not have been fast enough to avoid the explosion.
"Y-Yeah, are you?" She said as she wiped the blood from her lips. He nodded while the woman glared at them, gripping her knife with anger. He nodded to Izuku as he helped her back up, he heard running footsteps and saw Izuku looked behind them out of the corner of his eye. When she did Bloody Mary moved, throwing her knife and disappearing into it again. He went for a wide blast rather than precision, his arms protesting a bit with residual pain for his first blast. It had been bigger than he was ready for and so was this blast, he couldn't keep up this level of damage.
Still, it caught the knife and threw it back, only for him to see something glint from the junk pile. He moved before he tried to recognize it, and was lucky to just get a small cut to his ear. It stung but it could have been worse, but why didn't she appear from the blade. He felt someone pull him and saw Bloody Mary with her first knife thrusting a blade where his head would have been.
Then he saw Izuku go to grab her arm only for Bloody Mary to smirk, he reacted and grabbed Izuku, pulling her from Bloody Mary as the woman disappeared into the blade. It traveled a bit further and Bloody Mary reappeared from the blade. "Izuku, she's after you damn it, if you're holding onto her she'll warp and you'll go with her!"
"Such a smart young lad you've found for yourself dear, and a powerful quirk too, I've never really been one to choose between two beautiful people so I think I'll take you bo-"
The woman didn't get to finish as she was forced to dodge Mitsuki throwing one of the microwave kettlebells at her. "You dar-" Bloody Mary started only to be forced to dodge again as Mitsuki closed in on her and threw punch after punch. Bloody Mary eventually gave up on her monologue to fight back.
Katsuki formed a circle with one hand and put it in front of his palm like the barrel of a gun, using the base knuckle of his middle finger, as well as his flat hands middle and index fingers to create an 'iron'-sight aiming for Bloody Mary's knife, if they could get it off her not only would she be without a weapon, she'd have no way to use her quirk.
"Where the hell are Gunheads extras when you need them!?" He said as he started focusing the sweat on his palms into the circle. He imagined a small fireball, propelled by a shockwave, forming the sweat of the hand he'd curled into a circle to be more incendiary while the sweat on his palm to be more bang than fire.
He ignited both and launched a glowing hot blast, it flew fast but it was new to him, it went wide, buzzing past the woman's hair and only causing a distraction for his mother to use, getting out of Bloody Mary's striking range. He realized he should probably be thankful his mother is actually pretty good in a fight, Izuku had moved but he didn't see where. He hoped for a moment she had run away to safety only to see her run-in with the fireman's ax that had been buried in her shoulder at the start. "Izuku!"
He ran after her as Bloody Mary dodged Mitsuki's attempts to smash a fist into her face, dancing around her with her blade, cuts starting to little Mitsuki's cheeks, arms, and knuckles. Inko looked and found the knife the woman had thrown before, the blade buried in the sand. Bringing it to herself with her quirk she saw the reflective blade and wondered why the woman hadn't attempted to use it. A thought ran through her mind and she threw it back down into the sand and buried it with her foot.
"Cover the blade!" Inko said as loudly as she could, Mitsuki not questioning the idea from her friend and thrusting her palm at the knife as Bloody Mary went to stab her. The blade pierced into the Mitsuki's hand, making her scream before she closed her hand around the villain's hand. Bloody Mary's eyes widened, with no light reaching the blade there was no reflection to warp through. She went to pull the blade back out when Izuku came up to them and tried to chop off Bloody Mary's arm with the ax.
The villain growled and let go of the knife to avoid her arm being chopped off, only for dozens of small fireballs to start flying around and past her. Katsuki had made a split second decision, if he can't Aim the new trick, he'd just start launching as many as he could, as fast as he could. What did most games call it? Bullet hell, he'd put her into a live-action recreation of a bullet hell game.
Izuku put herself between Bloody Mary and Mitsuki, both hands on the fireman's ax while Mitsuki dropped to her knees, panting heavily as her husband ran up to her. "That, might... not my best plan... fuck this hurts." She said as the adrenaline that pushed her to be able to do what she did began to taper off now that Bloody Mary wasn't directly trying to kill her. Said Villain dodged between Katsuki's poorly aimed blasts, the shots were random unlike Mitsuki's feints and counters but there was so many she couldn't move towards Izuku, where Katsuki was firing from beside.
The shots also kicked up dust, giving Bloody Mary a chance to run to the junk pile and towards a new mirror shard. As she got out of the dust cloud Katsuki turned and started firing towards her, but the inaccuracy of the shots made it pointless. He cursed and was about to run towards her when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Good work kid, let us take it from here." Retribution said as two other heroes ran after Bloody Mary. Katsuki grit his teeth but nodded, and Izuku ran over to them, still carrying the ax. Mitsuki, Inko, and Masaru weren't far behind. Once they'd gotten together Izuku found herself being checked over intensely by her mother while Katsuki had to look away, finally noticing something.
The initial hit from the fire ax had cut most of Izuku's shirt, and her bra had been cut slightly as well. Mitsuki starting looking him over as well, while Retribution gave them a few seconds before speaking. "Alright, you five need to get out of here, reports of quirk usage hit HQ while the monitoring group was on its way here." He said as he started popping his knuckles one by one. "Realizing what was happening thanks to a call from UA's principal Nezu, they were rerouted and we were sent to try and take her out, they're creating a route for you to escape through. Head home and on the way there Gunhead will catch you and lead you to a safe house."
The parents nodded and Izuku and Katsuki found themselves being pulled away while Retribution made his way to his fellow heroes. The two kids had done rather well in the face of danger, now it was his turn to get rid of the danger. When he got to the junk he saw his teammates slow down and took a moment to remember who they were.
Pro-Hero Coagulate, her quirk, also called Coagulate, allowed her to control her blood in small quantities outside of her body, as well as crystalize it. She carried a specialized repeater crossbow, rather than having to hold it at her waist and repeatedly pull a lever like a normal repeating crossbow the lever was automated with her pulling the trigger. Combined with her quirk allowing her to form various bolt heads and could fire everything from a tip-less bolt to a bolt whose head would break apart once it pierced and go into your bloodstream, forcing heart attacks.
Both of her arms were covered in white armor, with tubes connecting them together and a single tube from her right forearm connected to the crossbow. Her legs and torso had similar white armor but with a red cross over her chest. He wasn't sure what her face looked like as she wore a dome-shaped helmet.
Pro-Hero Hand of Harmony, in his black and white aikidogi, ran beside her, eyes scanning for Bloody Mary, the two worked different paths of the hero life but when the two paths crossed villains often regretted it. Hand of Harmony was terrifying in a direct fight, skilled at forcing people to do what he wanted them to do, which opened them up for Retribution to slam a fist into them and that was checkmate.
He'd lost an eye in the clinic, however, which gave him a blindside. Coagulate was with them for covering fire and keep an eye Hand of Harmony's blindside, while the two of them put Bloody Mary down and behind bars. That or down and six feet under, they did have the go-ahead on that.
Slit-Mouth had already been executed, and the other survivors were locked in Tartarus. Given the stories he supposed Slit-mouth had been given a mercy killing compared to her cohorts. One they didn't want to give to Bloody Mary.
"Boss Fight dead ahead." Coagulate said, most of the trash had formed a white crescent, almost like a stage, dozens of reflective surfaces were scattered throughout, with Bloody Mary standing in the middle like some sort of actress. It literally looked like a video game boss fight...
"Oh god she's one of those isn't she?"
"She is."
"Heroes, you have come to your end, soon your blood will soak the sands and I will have that girl under my heel!"
"She's going to start monologuing, really?" Hand of Harmony said as Retribution ran past him. Like hell he was listening to some makeup covered psychopath predict his death when all he needed to do was land a blow. As he ran he noticed there was a number of shards in the sand, the kid's quirk must have blown up a few mirrors.
"I will be-" Before she could finish Retribution took a swing at her, aiming for her shoulder only for her to warp from the shard she was standing on to a shard behind him. She moved to cut into his back with another dagger, only to receive three crossbow bolts on her shoulder. She screamed and Retribution spun to attack her. Before he could land a blow however she'd disappeared and the shard she'd been holding started to fall. Retribution hit the shard and snapped to activate his quirk, the shard shattered into dust.
He saw Hand of Harmony move and kick something next to him, hearing flesh strike against flesh. He turned to see Bloody Mary flipping back, a dagger in hand. He briefly wondered where she got it when the man spoke. "She's going to warp to an apartment she's set up a few mirrors in, there are weapons and there's a window that I can just see the ocean out of. Find her warp area and shut it down."
Linked to Whisper then, should have thought about that. It might also be why she hasn't run off yet, she knows her main base is gone, but if she can kill off a couple heroes low-level villains go to her for protection and fame, she could rebuild.
She was cornered, running isn't an option as far as she's concerned, too many failures and she'll always be a low-class villain. Her theatrical need to be awe-inspiring and feared kept her in the corner, for now, they had to drop her before survival instincts took over and forced her to run. As predicted she stepped to another mirror fragment and warped away, Hand of Harmony already turning to find where she'd warp to. Retribution's eyes were drawn to a glimmer behind Hand of Harmony and he moved to intercept.
"Six!"
Bloody Mary had warped between the two hoping to catch Hand of Harmony off guard with a dagger thrust to the back of the neck, but he was already ducking under the strike. Hand of Harmony turned and hit the woman's stomach, forcing her back a few steps before she warped away again. "She's tangling with you next Retribution, drag her to me."
"Four!" Coagulate said and Retribution spun clockwise, right hand extended to grab Bloody Mary's arm. He heard a sound of surprise as he caught and twisted her wrist, forcing the dagger out of her hand and then using her momentum to lead her forward. Hand of Harmony spun into a back kick as Retribution let go of Bloody Mary, the sole of his foot slamming into her forehead. Retribution then turned counterclockwise to strike Bloody Mary's right pectoral, the initial kick and follow up punch throwing her back. She warped again and Hand of Harmony turned his head to Coagulate.
"Six!"
She dived forward and rolled as Bloody Mary appeared behind her, attempting to slice into the heroes waist but only managing to brush the tip of her dagger over the woman's armor. Coagulate spun and fired another blood crystal tipped bolt, aiming for the villain's upper arm, the shot flying through the air instead as the woman warped away and came back behind her again.
Retribution rushed forward as Bloody Mary kicked Coagulate onto her side and straddled her, both hands on her dagger as she thrust down at the woman's neck. The tip of the blade just starting to draw blood before he tackled her off of his fellow hero and started to punch her biceps and shoulders, getting only a few hits in on the stunned woman before she warped again. "Fucking warp quirks... I'm bringing her down, be ready to disable her legs."
Coagulate nodded, holding her slightly bleeding neck with one hand while Hand of Harmony looked down and closed his eyes, knowing what was about to happen and not wanting to see it. Bloody Mary did reappear but a distance away from them. She looked like she was about to start taunting or monologuing, Retribution didn't know or care. He brought his hand up and snapped his fingers as Coagulate fired three bolts at the woman's right knee.
Bloody Mary screamed as the skin on her shoulders, biceps, and right wrist twisted itself apart, tearing muscle and flesh in an explosion of gore. Both arms fell limp at her side as blood poured down her arms and dripped rapidly onto the sand. She fell to her side as the bolts pierced through her kneecap and ruined the joint of her right knee one by one. Bloody Mary's face twisted from her calm and lethal expression to one filled will malice and rage, glaring at the three of them like a wild animal about to lash out.
Then the sand exploded behind her, forcing the three heroes to cover their eyes.
"Now what..." Coagulate said as the sand died down, revealing All-Might and Lemillion, though Lemillion looked... bigger than he'd seen reports of, and his cowlick was spiky as hell. "The hell, All-Might?"
"Villain, you have been defeated, they have stopped you and we've taken away your escape route, you'll find no mirror shards in the sand any longer," All-Might said, Lemillion nodding beside him. The woman looked between the Retribution and All-Might, her rage growing faster and faster, Retribution thought her head might explode before she got the chance to scream at them with how red she was getting.
"No!" She said, and he sighed, no such luck, she's going to monologue again. "This, is not my destiny, I'll escape and end you all, she will be mine, my pet, my dog to lick my boots and devour my enemies. She and her blue friend will belong to me, Bloody Mary!"
That's when he saw a coming down towards Bloody Mary, he started to move as the object hit the sand next to her. They all looked at it, a piece of a mirror taped onto a frisbee. She grinned and put her hand on it. "I will not be beaten today!" She said just before Retribution could tackle her away from the mirror shard, disappearing to the mirror the shard had come from rather than lock onto a position.
Retribution hit the sand in anger as he heard Hand of Harmony begin giving orders to Whisper through their link, while Lemillion began searching through the area for another mirror and All-Might stated he'd head to Izuku's location in the event that was where the crippled woman was going. "Damn it, let's hope she's still close by…" He said as he snapped his fingers.
Bloody Mary fell to the ground as she warped from the mirror shard to the easiest mirror nearby for her to warp to. She noted it smelt like hair dye as she forced herself onto her knees and gasped for air. The pain in her arms was unbearable, so much so she could barely warp properly. She stood up and tried to go to the mirror she warped to only to find a girl with wet, recently dyed red hair, dressed in a cardigan and school girl outfit.
"Hi, I guess my aim wasn't off huh, did you like it?"
Bloody Mary smiled, such a pretty pet she'd make. She let the girl grab onto her and moved back to the mirror, heading to one of the few safehouses she was able to make before she attempted to catch that girl. It was the furthest from the beach and she would have warped to it first but with the pain in her arms and stomach she had panicked... wait... when did her stomach start hurting.
There was a giggle and she realized her lower body and legs felt wet as something started to pull from her stomach. She choked on air as she fell forward, her arms useless to keep her from hitting her head. "You, Hurt, Izuku," Himiko said as she kicked Bloody Mary over and onto her back, the woman screaming from the pain of the kick. "You hurt Izuku, my Izuku, I can't forgive that... I didn't throw that mirror so you could get away... no, the heroes would just cuff you and pat you on your back..."
Himiko started stomping on the stab wound she'd given the woman. "But you, Hurt, Izuku, My Izuku, only I get to hurt Izuku and make her beautiful!" She said, nearly screaming at the end as she dug her heel into Bloody Mary's stomach. Then she smiled and held up her knife. "But I'm going to punish you and ruin you and make it all better for her, I'm going to cut you up over and over until all you can do is smell and feel and lock you in a box and put you in a dark dark room that's never seen the light of day and then I'm going to soak that room in gasoline and light everything on fire and leave you to die, your last thoughts being of how your burning flesh smells and how the fire burns!"
Dark scene ahead
She drove the knife into Bloody Mary's mouth, grinning with bright wide as she dug the knife into the woman's gums and began breaking each and every tooth out from her jaw before cutting away the woman's cheeks and tongue. "You won't taste the smoke, you won't hear the smoke." She said as Bloody Mary's screams turned wet, unable to push the strong girl off of her as her arms were useless. She put the knife down and grabbed Bloody Mary's ears, ripping them from her head before she noticed the woman's breathing was off.
She put her hands where Bloody Mary's cheeks used to be and began applying CPR once she realized the woman was drowning in her own blood. Bloody Mary coughed out her own blood and found herself being flipped over, the blood from her ruined mouth and face pouring onto the floor as she felt and heard something sharp start digging into her ears before she stopped hearing anything.
Himiko grinned and pulled Bloody Mary's head up so she could see her own reflection, her face ruined beyond anything she'd seen before as Himiko brought the blade under the woman's left eye and starting cutting away her eyelids, then repeated the process to the other eye. Bloody Mary was sure she was screaming but all she could do was watch deaf to even herself as Himiko brought the knife back to her right eye and dug it out of her face, leaving it ruined on the floor as she moved onto the next one. Blind, Deaf, her mouth decimated, Bloody Mary couldn't understand why this was happening. She was going to be great, adored by her precious little pets taking care of her every need while the plebeians quaked in fear of her anger and whims.
She felt it as the girl dug the knife into her leg and started cutting away, the pain slowly climbing to match her arms. She felt the world getting colder as she bled out, momentarily wondering why it took this long before deciding it didn't matter. At least her killer wouldn't get the satisfaction of burning her alive.
Himiko blinked as she felt Bloody Mary stop breathing underneath her before shrugging and putting all of the teeth, pieces of flesh, and eyes next to Bloody Mary's face and took a picture with the cell she'd stolen a few victims ago, then a selfie with the remains. "There, now I can show Izuku it was me that saved her... now to find out where I am and send it to the police so she can know she's safe..." She said as she looked around. No gasoline but the woman was in a pretty big dress... Himiko shattered the mirrors and broke the wooden frames, stabbing them into Bloody Mary's corpse before taking out a lighter she found at the condominium and setting the Victorian dress on fire.
Scene over
She hummed a song to herself as she walked out of the room and found she was in a small condemned house a few miles from Dagobah Beach. She took the form of the condominium woman, having drunk her blood while watching the fight on the beach, and called the police to report that she'd seen Bloody Mary in the second floor of the house.
As the operator picked up and she starting putting on the hysterics, she wondered how Izuku was doing.
Izuku sat in a room Gunhead had taken her, her mother Inko, Katsuki, and Katsuki's parents Mitsuki and Masaru, to keep them safe from Bloody Mary. There were no windows, no mirrors, and only one way into the room. In that one passage was Nezu, principal of UA, All-Might, and Gunhead.
"I'm going to head back to the scene of the crime, assist Mirio in his attempts to find who threw that mirror shard to Bloody Mary," All-Might said, getting a nod from the other two as he walked off. Gunhead looked at Nezu, who had been waiting at the agency while they arrived. The principal had explained he was hoping to speak with Izuku and Katsuki and offer something to try and bring down the mental trauma of the attack.
"You want me to introduce you to two young teenagers, with their parents, who were just attacked by a villain, one of which being the villains kidnapping target, while they're in the middle of processing the attack and calming down, so you can give them more to process?" Gunhead said, and Nezu rubbed the back of his head with a paw. The hero shook his head at the principal of UA. "No way, maybe once we can declare things safe, as it is we're not sure if they're going to be long term residents or not."
Nezu sighed. "I understand, could I stick around for a while then, in case things turn out well I could make my offer when you break the good news to them." He said as they walked to Gunheads office. Gunhead had an idea as to what Nezu might offer and was somewhat sure Izuku would accept it, but he didn't want to overload her. As they came to the office he pulled open a minifridge and grabbed a beer for himself and a can of decaf tea, tossing the tea to Nezu. "Guess we wait until Whisper gets some news then, in the meantime I imagine you want to know about her? Go ahead and ask while I check status on the teams we sent to the other clinic victims."
Katsuki watched as Izuku held onto her mother for dear life. The room Gunhead had taken them to was nice enough, it had beds, a television, a small kitchen, two bathrooms with no mirrors. His mother was fast asleep, her head on his dad's lap after the support heroes bandaged her minor wounds and healed the major one in her arm. He was leaning on one of the walls, watching them, and he didn't like it. Standing still felt wrong, they were just attacked by a villain and he was standing here doing nothing.
He didn't like it. Izuku's barely holding herself together and he can't help her if he's standing around, he needed to do something. At the same time, he can't just walk out and demand to help find Bloody Mary. He also had to bottle up the anger so he didn't look like a threat or make Izuku feel worse, the last thing he wanted right now is to trigger her memories of his bullying. So when the door to the room flew open he was already on a hair trigger, and he spun to the door with both hands at the ready to blow up whatever the hell couldn't be bothered to knock.
"Izuku, are you alri-gah!"
"Idiot, don't just barge-Osore!"
Katsuki just stared at the group of three in front of him as Osore ran over to Izuku and latched onto her. The first one in was a muscular guy with silver hair and thicker than normal eyelashes, wearing a gunmetal grey shirt, black cargo pants, and running shoes. The one who hit him was a taller girl with long black hair tied into a ponytail, wearing a red, sleeveless dress and heels. Finally, behind both of them was a really tired looking guy with messy indigo hair in a purple shirt and beige pants looking straight at him.
"Hey, I'm Hitoshi, and these two are Tetsutetsu and Momo, we met Izuku at the clinic." He said as Tetsutetsu started apologizing for being impolite. Momo, on the other hand, saw Izuku and immediately locked onto her, walking over to check on her. Katsuki lowered his hands and scoffed, going back to leaning on the wall while Tetsutetsu followed after Momo. Once everyone was in the room Katsuki sighed and felt a spark of annoyance, why did she have to be an extras magnet.
"Hitoshi, not to be rude but are your parents with you?" Masaru said as the tired looking boy came into the room, hands in his pockets. Hitoshi looked around, seeing a three-way hug between Osore, Izuku, and who he assumed to be Izuku's mother, with Momo rubbing Izuku's back and Tetsutetsu swearing to protect them. He looked back at Masaru and nodded to him.
"They're at the rooms we'll be staying in if they don't find the one who did this." He said as he walked over to the same wall Katsuki was leaning against, keeping a good three feet between them before leaning on it as well. Katsuki looked over at Hitoshi and felt an eyebrow twitch. He followed Hitoshi's gaze to find it landing on Izuku, making him want to start questioning him only for Hitoshi to speak first. "So, what's your relation to Izuku?"
"We've been friends since childhood, our mothers knew each other, what's it to you?" Katsuki said, and Hitoshi nodded his head in response, but not answering. It annoyed Katsuki's nerves, which were already frayed between everything going on and the other boy bursting in without notice. "Well?"
"Izuku's my friend, she's wasn't afraid to talk with me at the clinic despite my quirk. She actually got excited at the idea of experimenting with it." Hitoshi said, his eyes not leaving Izuku, who was starting to pull from her mother to response to Osore, Momo, and Tetsutetsu. He smiled at a bit and waved when she looked over at him. "It's brainwashing, I can take control of people when they respond to me."
"Huh, that'd have been useful, could have told that bitch to smash her face against the pavement..." Katsuki said, getting a look from Hitoshi. Katsuki looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "What, according to Gunhead she was the one behind the clinic. She attacked Izuku, would have killed Aunt Inko, nearly killed my mother, she deserves a mouthful of concrete."
Hitoshi decided not to argue that. At least he hadn't gone straight to a villainy comment. "I'm half surprised you're still talking to me, knowing my quirk."
"If Izuku decided you're cool enough to let you brainwash her... well, okay, that doesn't actually say much," Katsuki said, Izuku probably would trust a hippo not to kill her as she rushed over to and started snuggling the hippos baby, in the middle of the river. "If Gunhead let you in here, you're probably not some idiot thinking about being a villain."
"Works for me... You've known her longest, any ideas on how to cheer her up?"
Katsuki was silent, as that wasn't a question he was sure he could answer. He'd effectively ruined her life over their younger years, still, he did know her rather well. "When we were growing up she was fond of All-Might, she still is but she's been fonder of Gunhead lately, three guesses as to why," Katsuki said as he watched Izuku and Osore interact, Tetsutetsu still trying to look the part of a strong friend to help her feel safe while Momo kept looking at Katsuki and Hitoshi. "Any reason she keeps checking on us?"
"Her quirk is Creation, she can make stuff, might be looking for a hint of what to make her. She also gave Izuku some makeup tips so they had more chances to talk about each other's past." Hitoshi said, and Katsuki straightened up off the wall and walked towards Momo.
"Good enough for me, hey, build-a-bear, mind if we talk for a minute?" Katsuki said, getting a look of surprise from Momo and a snort from Hitoshi as the boy covered his mouth to stifle any further sounds of amusement. Momo then nodded and walked over to Katsuki, who led her to the bathroom. He opened the door and gestured for her to go first. "So she doesn't hear anything, happy surprise and all that."
Momo nodded stiffly as she walked into the bathroom, Katsuki following behind her. Once they were in Momo looked at him with a mild glare, Katsuki guessed Izuku must have mentioned something at the clinic and after hearing he was her childhood friend was connecting rather unflattering dots. Fine by him, he didn't need her to like him, he just needed her quirk since his quirk wasn't any good at giving direct comfort. "You didn't protect her from bullies?"
"The bullying started when she was four and declared quirkless, I started it and was the one of the worst until recently, when I got a bit of a reality check," Katsuki said, admitting it straight out, getting a harsher glare. He scoffed at the aggressive look on her face, he'd given himself worse in the mirror. He put his hands in his pockets and shook his head. "I don't care if you hate me, hell, I hate me so if you didn't I'd tell you to get the fuck out but right now Izuku doesn't need us at each other's throats. I have an idea and your quirk might be able to help."
She glared at him before huffing and looking away. "What exactly did you have in mind?"
"Izuku's a big fan of Gunhead, so after we learned about the incident at the clinic I got her a Gunhead plushie at the local hero merch shop. We had to leave it behind after we got attacked, there's also a couple other heroes that might make her feel better so to start, can you make plushies?"
Izuku would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about Katsuki and Momo being alone in a room, Katsuki could be abrasive and Momo didn't seem like the type to take abrasive people in stride. Momo also might have realized Katsuki was one of the people who bullied her and while Izuku didn't mind, her searching as a kid told her sometimes friends teased each other after all, Momo seemed to dislike the very idea of them and might confront him.
Confronting Katsuki usually ended... badly, and loudly, and with things broken and on fire.
There was also the fact Katsuki called her out directly, he doesn't do that to people he likes. He'd been different lately though, not teasing her as much and she admitted it was nicer than when he was teasing her. She wasn't sure what was about to happen. She gave Hitoshi a worried look, but he just shrugged. "Don't worry, I'm sure they're just planning something," Hitoshi said, pulling himself from the wall and walking over to pat her shoulder.
Katsuki then opened up the door to the bathroom with a replica of the Gunhead-Plushie he'd gotten her the day before in his arms, while Momo followed out behind him with a notebook and pencil under her arm. Katsuki walked over to Izuku and shoved the plushie into her arms before heading back to the wall he was leaning on before, turning his head away from Izuku as Momo walked up to her.
"Izuku, Katsuki said you're fond of analyzing hero quirks and coming up with useful ways they can be implemented." She said, causing Izuku to blush and bury her face into the Gunhead plushie. Tetsutetsu's quirk activated as he tensed up behind her, Osore looking over at him as he did. "I was curious if you'd like to hear about my quirk, Creation, I feel like I've hit something of a wall in how to use mine."
Izuku was suddenly animated as Osore let go of her to check on Tetsutetsu. Before Momo knew it Izuku had her arms and legs around the plushie with the notebook and pen in her hands. "That would be awesome, it looked really cool when you made the makeup and ribbons you put in my hair!"
"Wait there was a ribbon in her hair and I didn't get to see it?" Katsuki said, getting a smug grin from Hitoshi. "You bastard!"
Momo giggled a bit as Osore waved her hands in front of Tetsutetsu's face, with no reaction. "Alright, so, my quirk is called Creation, I can rearrange the molecular structure of the lipid cells in my body, pushing them to the surface of my skin and creating anything I understand the molecular makeup of," Momo said as Osore poked Tetsutetsu, causing him to fall over with a loud crash, still as a statue. Izuku wrote down what Momo was telling her as Katsuki burst into laughter and Osore silently started panicking. "It's easiest to create things from my lower stomach, as that's where most of the fat cells my body produces go.
"Does it have to exist?" Izuku said as Osore lifted Tetsutetsu off the ground and started pushing him back onto his feet, still as stiff as a statue. Momo looked at Izuku with a blank face, like she didn't understand what Izuku meant. "Like, Leonardo Di Vinci created blueprints for devices that could fly and armored war vehicles like tanks. The science and math was all correct but they couldn't be made until much later because while he could think them up and do the math to prove it possible, we didn't have the materials or technology, could you make things that we know are possible, but just don't have the technology to make happen yet?"
Momo stared at Izuku in shock as Izuku waited for an answer, then decided to start drawing an image of Momo next to the notes she'd taken. As Momo started to think about it Osore managed to get Tetsutetsu back onto his feet and started dusting him off. Once she decided Tetsutetsu was back to how he was before she knocked him over she went back to Izuku and sat down, watching as Izuku drew Momo.
"That... well, if I had the molecular structure... if we don't know it I suppose I could attempt making different combinations until one worked..." Momo said as she started contemplating the idea. She'd never tried to do something like that, her mother didn't let her do 'frivolous' things when she could be studying or practicing other fundamental skills, like cooking or combat training. "... I've never tried?"
"You've never tried to make the tools comic heroes use?"
"I don't know any?"
Izuku, Osore, Masaru, Inko, Katsuki, and Hitoshi stared at her, Mitsuki still asleep in Masaru's lap and Tetsutetsu still a statue. "I'm sorry, my family comes from a long line of heroes and my mother wants me to follow the same path, so she keeps me on a strict schedule of etiquette training, schooling from hand-picked professors, combat training. I haven't had the time to read comics or go to festivals..."
"Hold on, your mother knew your quirk is 'I can think it, I can make it' and then didn't give you time to think anything up, just shoved blueprints at you?" Hitoshi said, his eye twitching. "You could make anything you can figure out and she didn't give you a chance to come up with your own ideas?"
"And she's part of a hero family?" Katsuki said before scoffing. "You sure she wants you to be a big-time hero?"
Momo gave the two a short glare before looking back at Izuku, who had filled up the first pages and was moving onto the next. "What about you, is there anything neat you're able to use your quirk for?" Momo said, Izuku looked up and smiled while Inko, Katsuki, and Masaru paled. Momo gave Inko a confused look as Izuku put a few fingers in her mouth. Momo looked back at Izuku as she did that "Izuku, what are you do-"
"Izuku no!" Katsuki said just a moment too late, Izuku bit the fingers off her hand. Momo gasped while Osore starting animatedly flailing her arms, Hitoshi's eyes going wide as his mouth fell open as if limp. Tetsutetsu was finally startled out of his statuesque shock to make a high pitched noise as he held his hands out to her as if asking why. Izuku then spat her fingers out and strings of muscle caught them, reattaching them to her hand. "Idiot..."
"I can cut pieces of me off and use them as grappling hooks!"
Osore looked at the stitches in wonder as Tetsutetsu passed out, Momo still looking at Izuku's hand in horrified shock. Hitoshi turned to Katsuki. "I blame you."
"Welcome to the club, send me your mugshot and I'll get you an I.D. in a few days."
"I... I think I'm going to be sick." Mirio said as All-Might stood next to him, nodding his head. They'd been informed of the Bloody Mary sighting that was called in, shortly followed by a fire. They'd ran over, using One for All, and managed to put out the fires before the house was truly destroyed. Bloody Mary lay before them, her skin burnt and her dress ruined, but the mirrors in the room, the weapons, and the somewhat hard to recognize body shape left behind made it clear who it was.
"Whoever threw that mirror had something against Bloody Mary, pretended to be an ally then took her out once they were far enough that they could make a getaway before we found them," All-Might said before releasing his quirk, his body deflating. He reached over and patted Mirio's back "Although that begs the question of who had a reason to do something like this?"
Retribution stood outside of the building, keeping a watch from the outside with emergency services. "So, first we get a call from a condo on the beach, then we get a call from here within minutes of Bloody Mary's escape." He said as Coagulate walked up to him. She had her helmet off, revealing a pale complexion with white hair and pink eyes. "What do we have from the condo that called it in?"
"Short or Long?" She said as she brought up a tablet.
"Both."
"Two murders and a missing person, the condo was owned by a woman who was found dead, possibly within the last few hours, and the phone that called belongs to a dead for just under a day single father in a freezer." Coagulate said, Retribution turned to her. He waved his hand for her to continue as they walked to his motorcycle. They'd have to start searching the area to find who killed Bloody Mary soon. He wasn't sure if he'd congratulate them or take them out with a bit more force than necessary for taking down his target. Maybe he'd do both, both is good. "In the long version, yesterday a man was murdered and drained of his blood, he was then folded and shoved into his own freezer. The killer appeared to eat his ice cream for added salt to the stab wound, and left."
"Then she kills the condominium woman, hears the fight, calls it in on the guy's phone that she apparently stole of the body. She drinks the woman's blood as she watches the fight for all we can tell, then breaks off part of the bathroom mirror, tapes it to a frisbee, saves Bloody Mary who then used the chance to get to a secondary safehouse, and kills Bloody Mary." Coagulate said as she swiped through the information on her tablet. "She then calls in a Bloody Mary sighting and torches the corpse. The MO save for that last part and the short period of time between the two civilian deaths all matches a file of a school girl aged villain, Himiko Toga. Incidentally, that also matches the sort of person Bloody Mary is interested in keeping for herself according to Nezu's analysis"
"So, we're looking for the literally bloodthirsty maniac, she usually goes after two victims a week though..." Coagulate said as she took a helmet from Retribution, who pulled on his own once she'd taken it. They climbed onto the motorcycle and Retribution put the key in the ignition. "Thoughts?"
"We have a bloodthirsty schoolgirl who watches people for periods of time decide to up her kill rate after the clinic incident, her next kill puts her in viewing distance of Izuku and the next one takes out someone targeting Izuku." Retribution said as he turned on the motorcycle. "We knew Izuku was being targeted by Bloody Mary once Nezu contacted us, we failed to think about something else."
"What?"
"Who else would develop an interest in the little girl who got pulled out of that nightmare. Izuku was covered in more blood than anyone else, even more than the heroes who were supposed to fight." He said as he revved the engine and started to drive. He gave a moment for Coagulate to put the pieces together before continuing loudly to over talk the engine of his motorcycle. "A blood-soaked girl dragged out of literal hell, every news channel in Japan would have been reporting with zoomed in close-ups and plenty of hero leaks to get her name and spread it around... and people wonder why my generation had so many heroes going underground instead."
Hand of Harmony watched as the two sped off to do a perimeter sweep as he and a few officers made their way into the alleys. Other teams did the same throughout the investigation area, three blocks in every direction surrounding the building they'd found the burnt corpse. They'd find her and flush her out, then the perimeter teams would be able to do the takedown. A simple and straight forward plan that he rather liked, nothing too flashy just simple, straight forward tactics that gave him breathing room and a lack of media to complain about what happens.
He put a hand over his blind eye, ruined by a villain who would have done much worse if he hadn't been lucky enough for a little girl to warn him and when he finally catches the woman that orchestrated the entire attack she's whisked off by a serial killer before anyone can get any answers. He wanted to roundhouse the little hellion then thank her for making sure Bloody Mary died painfully. It might not be the most Heroic thought he's ever had but hell, after his past two days, he's allowed to be a little angry.
"Let's move people, quicker we find her the quicker we can hit the bar and forget the image of that bitch on the second floor." One officer said as Hand of Harmony pulled out his cell to call Gunhead with the latest information. He felt a bit amused at the officer's comment, knowing full well Retribution was probably going to cherish the memory of Bloody Mary's burnt corpse, he was spiteful like that.
Gunhead saw his office phone ring and picked it up. "Hand of Harmony, tell me you have good news."
"Fifty Fifty."
Gunhead sighed. "Hold on." He said, then held the phone away as he downed the rest of the beer in his can. He brought the phone back to his ear. "Alright, hit me."
"Are you sure you don't want to finish off another first?"
"Hell no, but I'll probably need to remember this when I tell Izuku's friends and family what's going on so, hit me," Gunhead said as he propped his feet up on the desk, Nezu laughing a bit at the comment, tea in one hand cigarette in the other.
"Bloody Mary is dead, and based on phone records from the police regarding the two calls that gave us Bloody Mary's position today, the locations they came from, and who owned the phone she was killed by Himiko Toga."
"The bloodthirsty psycho killer who selectively picked cannibals got murdered by the bloodthirsty serial killer who literally drains people of their blood?" Gunhead said, Nezu suddenly paying close attention to Gunhead as the man continued. "Why the hell was she even nearby?"
"Retribution and Coagulate were working on a theory as they drove off to do a perimeter sweep, I didn't hear all of it but with what I heard from them and drawing my own conclusions, Himiko probably wants Izuku for herself."
Gunhead palmed his face and groaned. "I just had to get the monitor case with the magnetic personality." He said before throwing his head back. "First it's that Katsuki kid, then the police officer in charge of investigating all the wrongdoing in her past, then All-Might, then the kids at the clinic, then Bloody Mary, and now this!?"
"Don't forget me, I can't wait to invite her to UA, she's going to make such a shockwave I'll finally have some real fun trying to predict what happens next," Nezu said, causing Gunhead to glare at him before thrusting a finger towards the two-foot-tall principal.
"Don't you start!"
"Maybe we should make a club, if so I motion we start making badges, she might come out of her hiding spot for one." Hand of Harmony said, making Gunhead bring his hand back to his face before sliding it up and rubbing his temples as Nezu burst into laughter, his animal ears letting him catch what Hand of Harmony had said. Gunhead took a breath to calm himself down before responding to Hand of Harmony.
"Find her, bring her in, we'll figure out what happens from there, keep in mind her profile was updated to reflect that she might have committed most of her crimes as a result of untreated Quirk Instability. Take her down fast, we don't want her escaping but we also don't want to hurt her too badly, if her instability gets proper treatment she might turn a new leaf."
"Understood."
"You know the chances of that actually happening are pretty low, given how long she's been at this?" Nezu said as Gunhead ended the call. He nodded as Gunhead put the phone down, frowning a bit. "Himiko Toga has dozens of murders attached to her... that we know of."
Gunhead stood up from his desk, put his mask back on, and moved to the office door. "I'm aware, however, this person also was purposely misdiagnosed, and her latest kill implies she can feel some sort of protectiveness... assuming it wasn't just lucky she was there and decided to corner Mary for herself." He said as he opened the door and gestured for Nezu to leave his office, the principal complied and they started walking through the hallways back to the saferooms. Nezu eventually tossed his cigarette butt into the empty can of tea he'd been drinking and tossed it into a small trashcan they passed. "Besides Izuku and her family are still in danger despite Bloody Mary being dead if Himiko is after her, I'd rather my staff feel better about bringing her in than worried about sending a little girl to death if she decides to play that card."
"That's a fair assessment, so, what now?" Nezu said as he jumped up onto Gunheads shoulder. The hero adjusted his stance a bit to better keep the principal from falling, it was an unspoken rule that Nezu could use other heroes as transport. He guessed it was just a result of him doing so at UA and the fact he was only two feet tall, shorter strides and all that.
"I need to let them know Bloody Mary is down but Izuku isn't safe thanks to a serial killer on her trail," Gunhead said as Nezu got comfortable on his shoulder. He wasn't sure what he was about to walk into, but he knew once he gave the news it was going to go downhill fast. He tilted his head to look at Nezu out of the corner of his eye. "Maybe you can give your news then if you think it'll make them happy, I get the feeling this news is going to make them real emotional."
He knocked on the door to the room he'd brought the two families to, opened the door, and walked in. Masaru had his face in his hands while Izuku was being fussed over by the other clinic victims, Momo, Hitoshi, Osore, and Tetsutetsu. Inko was rubbing her temples at the sight while Katsuki had one hand over his face. Gunhead saw Izuku looking confused at the sudden fussing and could smell blood. "Please tell me she didn't."
"She did."
"I asked you to say she didn't, did it nicely and everything," Gunhead said before clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention. Inko was the first to turn her head, followed by Izuku and Masaru. Then Momo, Hitoshi, Tetsutetsu, and Osore turned their heads as one to give him a mild glare, he ignored said glares. "Alright, so good news first, Bloody Mary has been found and will no longer be a threat to Izuku."
Before he could continue Izuku was suddenly bear hugged from behind by Tetsutetsu, who was cheering victoriously while Izuku squeezed her Gunhead plushie to her chest. The others made sounds of relief save for Katsuki, who narrowed his eyes. Gunhead waited for a moment and waited to see if Katsuki was going to call out the fact that he specified that Bloody Mary wasn't a threat to Izuku, not just that the threat was over. He gave no response but was clearly aware of the coming details. "However, we have reason to think Izuku is still in danger, in fact, she might be in more danger than before."
Before they could interrupt him again he kept going. "Bloody Mary was saved by an unknown party, who then used that to get Bloody Mary's trust, be brought to one of Mary's safehouses, and killed her." He said, watching Tetsutetsu's joyful hug turn protective. Momo and Osore looked at him in horror while Hitoshi looked at him in confusion. Katsuki, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to put pieces together to find out what was about to be said next, getting an approving look from Nezu. "We have people looking for the killer because we think the only reason she was actually there is that she had already been tailing Izuku."
"So what now, she just stays locked up here?" Katsuki said. That's when Nezu jumped down from Gunheads shoulder, getting everyone's attention to focus on him.
"That's where I come in, or would like to if young Izuku accepts my offer," Nezu said as he walked to the middle of the room. Gunhead shut the door and leaned against it, now was the moment of truth, what did Nezu want with his charge. Katsuki glared at the sentient animal before them, Katsuki knew it was Nezu, principal of UA, but he had a feeling whatever was about to come out of his mouth would end with him winning, regardless of Izuku's reaction. "You Izuku knowingly or not have caused quite a stir with your own death and now find yourself in the middle of two incidents in as many days."
"First we discover a doctor in charge of a quirk diagnosis program has been sending people off with false diagnoses, then there's the incident at the clinic, which catches an upcoming villains attention as well as a serial killer. Now we don't have to worry about how bad Bloody Mary would be if she got the chance to learn from her mistakes because the serial killer is so intent on having you to herself she interrupted an active Hero villain fight that All-Might himself was involved with, just to ensure Bloody Mary wasn't ever a possible threat again." Nezu said. At this point, everyone listening was pale, save Gunhead, he already knew this part. "We don't know what else this person will do, but she is already notorious for using stealth and quick kills to manage her spree without anyone getting any closer to finding her and investigating her targets thoroughly. She is a threat not only to you but to everyone in this room and their families, as she might go through them to get to you."
"That's why we've asked their parents, and will now be asking you, your mother, and your friends if they'd like to live within UA at the dormitories once they've been finished. As an added bonus each of you will have the option of taking a set of exams in the school to get into the Hero Course to start at the beginning of the new school year via recommendation."
Gunhead blinked behind his mask, he'd anticipated recommendations but not a direct invitation to live at the school. Hitoshi's eyes went wide with shock while Momo put her hands over her mouth. Osore was gobsmacked from the open mouth and sudden slouch in her posture, and Tetsutetsu dropped Izuku, who didn't seem to notice as she landed on her butt hard, just staring at Nezu. Katsuki too was surprised, his glare gone as he realized he was being invited to the school of his dreams.
"True, none of you received your medical recommendations, however, your actions at the clinic were proof of your abilities and your mindsets are useful for Hero work, and reports from eye-witnesses of the battle on Dagobah beach proved you Katsuki know when to go onto the attack and when to go on the defensive. Your instincts not only to get Izuku away from Bloody Mary but when it was time to go on the offensive and force her back." Nezu said, his paws gesturing to each of them as he spoke. "I see no reason to wait until the entrance exam to approve your applications, you've already proven yourselves in combat and tests can be given while you're in the dorms easily enough, UA has some of the best security in the country."
He turned and headed to the door while Gunhead moved away from it so he could pass. He jumped up slightly to turn the knob and open the door before turning back to them. "I will be downstairs in the main lobby, do let me know your decision so I can inform the school faculty."
Nezu left, and the door closed behind him, only to be opened again as the children went to go speak with their parents, leaving only Izuku and Katsuki's families in the room with Gunhead. "Kid, I'd accept the offer, Himiko Toga is dangerous and if she's after you, UA is your best bet. Not to mention getting in would put you in the best possible position to be a hero, regardless I'll support your decision." He said before walking out himself, Katsuki grinning at Izuku as she sat dumbfounded at what she was just asked. A chance to stay at UA, with her mother and her friends, and finish up the needed requirements for a recommendation.
She turned to her mother, who smiled at her as Katsuki walked over and lifted Izuku into the air with a bear hug from behind. "We're going to UA!"
End of Circus of Horrors Arc.
Omake 3: Dadzu
"You're principal Nezu, the first animal to be discovered with a quirk, the Mutant Quirk High Specs, which makes you more intelligent than even the brightest recording humans in both history and present day!" Izuku said as she looked at him. "I've always wondered what you are, your ears relative to your size most resemble a bear, though your face, nose, and whiskers have more in common with mice, not rats, mice. Your front paws or hands are reminiscent of a cat and your size and tail are similar to many breeds of smaller dogs."
Nezu watched as Izuku went onto a tangent, blinking as her mind connected so many dots in regards to him that he hadn't really thought about.
"Mice are known to be excellent problem solvers and extremely clever, while dogs and cats both become highly affectionate in regards to those they bond with. Dogs are physically wired by breeding to become happy at the sound of a human voice or the smell of a human, while cats often see humans as entities to co-exist with setting social rules by habit or by treating you as a surrogate mother. Bears are often considered one of the smartest carnivores in existence, due to their capacity for problem-solving, ability to open and get into complex traps, and even learn how to make tools or knock objects over to safely move over rivers that would be dangerous for them to cross. To have a connection with all of these animals and a quirk for intelligence would make you capable of predicting the future by watching social trends or create domino effects by categorizing how each object or person would react to what kind of pressure, it's an honor to meet you, sir!"
"Dadzu."
"Huh?"
"Call me Dadzu, I'm adopting you."
"Eh!?"