Semper Fast Chapter 26:

The Man His Brother Admires

(Alleyways of Hosu City)

Reacting with nearly inhuman speed, Stain dropped Allen and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid having his head smashed like a watermelon between Tensei's foot and the brick wall.

Deciding that they were in too close of quarters to effectively use his katana, Stain dropped his sword and drew a knife from its sheathe, lunging at Tensei with a stab that the pro hero deflected with a rising knee. Flowing with the movement, Stain shifted his grip and changed the stab into an upward slash. At the same time, Tensei used his raised knee to transition into an Engine-boosted side kick to the assassin's stomach, leaning back just enough to avoid a solid blow from the slash, but had the helmet knocked from his head.

The loser of that exchange, Stain let out a pained grunt and was sent flying into the wall of the alley from the force of the attack. Expecting Tensei to follow up, Stain feigned greater injury than he had actually suffered, slumping over and slipping one of his hidden knives out of his wrist wraps. He tensed his muscles, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"Fasuto-kun!" Tensei shouted to Allen, never taking his eyes off of Stain. "Get up! We're getting you out of here!"

"I can't move!" Allen replied, "He never cut me, but he got me with his quirk somehow…I didn't see what he did."

Realizing that Tensei wasn't going to take the bait, Stain dropped the injured act and got back on his feet. "An admirable attitude, Turbo Hero." He praised, circling around to block the possibility of escape. "I must admit, I didn't expect trash like you to put the life of this disrespectful child ahead of your grudge against me." His eyes narrowed. "But one heroic act does not change your true nature, you fake. Neither of you will leave this place alive."

Glaring at Stain, Tensei clenched his fists. "Fasuto-kun, I want you listen to me very carefully…can you activate your quirk?"

Allen wrinkled his brow in confusion but checked, activating 2X for a brief moment before shutting it off. "Yeah, I can…but what good will that do? I'm still paralyzed."

Tensei slid into a fighting stance and stared the Hero Killer down. "I have reason to believe that Stain's quirk works on some sort of time limit…do you understand what I'm saying?"

Allen's eyes widened. 'If that's true, then I can cut the time down to a fraction of what it should be!' "Yeah, I understand."

"Good," Tensei said. "I'm going to hold him off as long as I can. When you're able to move, I want you to run away from here as fast as you can, even if it means leaving me behind…understand?"

Allen turned on Fast Forward at 8X without another word. He wasn't going to acknowledge an order he had no intention of following. He might hate Tensei, but there was no way that he would leave anyone to die like that. As soon as Allen turned on his quirk, Stain's eyes widened and he tore his gaze from Tensei to direct it towards Allen.

Stain could sense how long his quirk would work on a person, as well as the amount of time remaining until it wore off. He knew as soon as he had tasted Allen's blood that he was type-B, and that he should have had a full eight minutes to dispose of him. He couldn't comprehend why, but his senses were telling him that he had less than a minute remaining before the boy could move again. "That's going to be a problem." He muttered, "I need to kill him now."

"You don't have time to worry about him, Hero Killer." Tensei growled, dashing forward and feinting a low kick at Stain's front leg. Reacting to the feigned attack, Stain leapt into the air and lashed out with a kick of his own, hoping to spear Tensei's shoulder with one of the spikes on his steel-toed boots, but missed when Tensei unexpectedly spun around, avoiding the counter and used his quirk to change the timing of his follow-up attack—a blindingly quick roundhouse to the mid-section that connected cleanly, spittle flew from Stain's mouth before he was sent tumbling down the alley. "I'm going to be the one to take you down."

'Holy fuck, he just nailed him with that tornado kick! Fuck yes!'

Seeing the exchange in super slow motion let him recognize Tensei's tactic as the very same one Tenya had somewhat successfully used against him in the tournament—though judging from the distance that Stain had just been sent flying, Tensei's kicks were clearly on another level in terms of power. 'That ability to change up the timing of their kicks in an instant is really hard to read, even for an experienced fighter.' More importantly, Allen remembered how much even a glancing blow from an Engine-boosted kick hurt. Stain would be feeling that hit for a while.

His legs trembling from the vicious blow he had just taken, Stain pulled himself to his feet. His face was contorted with pain; his breathing was ragged and uneven. Even still, he stood. "Too weak." He said, drawing two knives, wielding one in each hand. "Far too weak. A kick like this will never defeat me…I won't allow it."

"You don't have a choice in the matter." Tensei said, dashing forward on the attack once again. "Hero Killer Stain…in the name of all of the heroes whose lives you have taken, I will bring you to justice!"

When he heard Tensei's words, something in Stain's face changed. "You don't get to speak of justice to me, you pretender!"

Stain leapt into the air and kicked off of the alley wall as a springboard to jump clear over Tensei's head, landing in a crouch. Both hero and hero killer spun around to confront each other. Stain's eyes were cold as ice and his voice dripped with venom as he swung his blades at Tensei like a whirlwind. "You're nothing but a corporate stooge, selling your name as a hero for money, basking in luxury and tainting this society with your greed!"

Tensei swayed backwards, narrowly avoiding Stain's attacks, placed on the defensive by the killer's all-out assault. "I don't want to get lectured to by a murderer who kills men and women just trying to make a living by helping others!" He spun away from one of Stain's lunging stabs and used the motion to fire off a spinning back kick that Stain dodged by throwing his hips back, letting Tensei's foot shoot past him.

"Heroes shouldn't be seeking compensation!" Stain stepped back, and then launched himself forward with a flying knee that Tensei blocked with his arms before he was sent stumbling into the side of a nearby dumpster by a front kick that connected solidly to his sternum. As he moved forward to press his advantage, Stain suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to Allen with narrowed eyes.

'Oh shit.' In his sped up state, Allen couldn't understand Stain's words, but he certainly understood the murderous intent glinting in his eyes. 'I'm going to die here, aren't I?'

"Look's like time's up." In one smooth motion, Stain flicked the knife in his right hand into the air and caught it by the blade. "Fighting both of you at the same time would be difficult. I'll take care of you now." He launched the blade straight at the paralyzed teen.

"Overdrive!" Tensei bellowed, activating his quirk at the highest level he could and blurred into motion, diving in front of the blade and taking the hit for Allen. The knife had been thrown with incredible force, piercing the back of Tensei's outstretched hand and pinning it to his shoulder.

Stain blinked in surprise at the sacrificial move, but did not hesitate for long and moved in for the kill, smashing the butt of the knife with his palm, pushing the blade even deeper into Tensei's shoulder and drawing out a gut-wrenching howl of pure agony. Stain grabbed the hilt of the blade and push kicked Tensei in the chest, removing the blade and sending the armored hero stumbling backwards. He licked the bloodied knife, making Tensei's eyes go wide with horror as he felt his body go limp and crumple to the ground like a puppet that had just had its strings cut.

"This wasn't what I had intended," Stain said, "but taking you out of the picture accomplishes my goal all the same. Now, back to the business at hand."

"N-no." Tensei gasped, feeling faint from the blood pouring from his shoulder. "Stain,' he grunted, "listen to me…do whatever you want to me, but please, spare the kid. H-he didn't write any of those things online…I made him do it! F-for god's sakes, he's just a boy!"

"Self-sacrifice." Stain acknowledged. "Admirable, Ingenium, very admirable. I've decided not to kill you after all." He paused, "I think I'll cut all of the tendons in your legs, instead. You might even walk again, eventually, but your career as a hero is over."

"The fuck it is, you blood-sucking freak." Allen growled. Tensei's sacrificial dive had bought him the few precious seconds that he needed, and Stain's quirk had finally worn off. He was back on his fight. He held Stain's sword in one hand and glared at him with molten hatred in his eyes.

"Damn." Stain cursed, glaring at Allen. "I took too long, huh? How did you break free from my quirk, boy? I know that you should have been under its influence much longer than you were."

"Run, Martin-kun!" Tensei shouted. "Get the hell out of here now!"

Allen shook his head. "There's no way in hell that I'm leaving you to die after you just took a knife for me."

"That's an order!" Tensei's voice was hoarse with distress. "Get out of here! Go!"

"I think I can see why your brother admires you so much now." Allen placed the tip of the battered sword against the ground at an angle and stomped on the blade, snapping it in two before tossing it aside. "Yell at me all you want later, but I've made my decision. We're either getting out of this mess together…or not at all."

Stain growled at the sight of his sword being broken. "Big talk." He spat. "That's all you are, boy. That's why you will fall to me, again."

"We'll see." Allen said, activating Fast Forward at 4X and darting forward in a serpentine pattern. His unpredictable motion allowed him to dodge another series of throwing knives.

'He's slower than before.' Allen thought as he snatched the lid off of a trashcan, using it to block on more thrown blade before he hurled it at Stain like a discus, catching him in the shoulder. 'He would have been able to dodge that easily when the fight first started. He's got a good poker face, but that kick from earlier clearly hurt him…maybe broke some ribs.' Allen glanced at Tensei. 'I can do this! I have to do this!'

Drawing yet another knife, Stain rushed wildly at Allen, alternatively slashing and stabbing at his hands, his legs, armpits and his face—anywhere that was lightly armored or unarmored. Undeterred, the teenager closed the distance, dodging, slipping and parrying the slow motion attacks with razor sharp focus. Unlike before, there were openings, but he didn't take them. He had to be patient, to wait for the perfect moment to strike—even injured, Stain was incredibly dangerous and wily, Allen knew that he'd only get one chance.

Finally, the moment he was waiting for arrived—Stain lunged forward, slashing downward at a specific angle that Allen had practiced the defense for thousands upon thousands of times. Moving on autopilot, he stiffly redirected the slash, grabbing Stain by the wrist and yanking the arm forward and down. Stain's eyes widened when Allen shifted his grip and grabbed the same arm with his other hand, turning his hips and forcing Stain off balance, spinning him around and placing him in a textbook standing shoulder lock.

"You—" Stain began.

Allen didn't hesitate. Stain could perform any manner of reversal or escape from that position, so he jerked the captured limb as hard as he could, wrenching the joint out of its socket with a sickening ~pop~.

"You little bastard!" Stain howled. "I'll kill you!"

"You aren't killing anyone today." Allen said, dropping out of Fast Forward and kicking out the back of Stain's knee, bringing him to the ground. He planted his knee on Stain's mid back. "You aren't killing anyone ever again, now go to sleep you psychopathic fuck!" He shouted before smashing his elbow into the back of Stain's head. As soon as Stain went limp, Allen wasted no time in pulling out a pair of handcuffs from his pockets and slapping them around Stain's wrists.

As the adrenaline flooding Allen's body began to fade, he let out several shuddering breaths and wearily pulled himself to his feet. He'd never deliberately hurt somebody that badly before, and he felt a little sick to his stomach. "That fucking sucked." He announced, "Next time someone decides to use me as bait, I don't care what the consequences are, I'm telling them to go fuck themselves."

"Sorry to interrupt," Tensei said weakly, "but can you please call Overwatch now? Tell him to send an ambulance, too, because I think I'm about to pass out from blood loss."

"Yeah…yeah, I'm on it." Allen grabbed his collar. "Overwatch, this is Fasuto. Stain has been neutralized…we need a pickup and an ambulance if you've got one, I'm pretty much fine, but Ingenium is injured and bleeding pretty bad."

Omou's voice was tinged with relief as it crackled over the comm., "Copy that Fasuto…thank goodness…Luckily the situation with the Noumu is mostly under control now thanks to Endeavor showing up for some reason. Just sit tight."

"Copy that." Allen acknowledged. Spotting one of Stain's many blades lying on the ground—a small foldable pocketknife—he picked it up and inspected it carefully before slipping it into one of his pockets on an impulse. 'I'm keeping this.' He decided, 'I deserve a fucking souvenir for this bullshit.'

Allen walked over to Tensei. "Tell me how to get this armor off of you," he said, "we need to put some pressure on that wound."

"Let's get out of this alley first." Tensei said. "I'll feel a lot better once we're on the main street."

"Good point." Allen acknowledged. "Can you move at all?"

"No, I'm still paralyzed."

"Wonderful…I guess I'll carry you then." Allen grunted as he heaved Tensei's limp body over his shoulder in the classic fireman's carry. Tensei bit back a whimper of pain as the sudden movement caused his shoulder wound to flare up.

"Fuck you're heavy!" Allen complained through grit teeth, staggering from Tensei's dead weight out of the grimy alley. When he finally reached the mouth of the passageway, he set Tensei down with a palpable sense of relief. "All right," Allen said, "let's tend to that wound."

"Go check on Stain first." Tensei insisted. "I won't bleed to death before help arrives. We can't run the risk of Stain escaping."

"No way in hell is he escaping." Allen said. "I restrained him and he's out cold. Even if he managed to get free, he's got a dislocated shoulder and probably a couple of broken ribs. He's done."

"Just humor me." Tensei had a dark look on his face. "Never assume anything when it comes to villains. Until they are in police custody, expect that they can and will kill you if you drop your guard."

Allen stared at Tensei for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Right." He said. "Be right back."

"Just…be…careful." Tensei said, closing his eyes and slipping into unconsciousness.

Allen stood up from his kneeling position and turned the corner to go back into the alley. His only warning was a blur of movement and the glint of metal under the streetlights. Flinching backwards reflexively, Allen felt a searing pain erupt from the top of his forehead, stopping just short of his left eye. Letting out a surprised cry of pain, he knew in an instant that his reflexive dodge was the only thing that saved him from losing his eye.

He also knew that he had bigger problems then almost losing his eye at the moment, such as Stain, who was awake and running his tongue over the bloodied knife. Under the influence of the Hero Killer's quirk once again, Allen collapsed.

"N-no," Allen swore, "how are you awake? What the fuck does it take to bring you down!"

"I already told you." Stain stood over Allen with murderous intent. "I will…never be defeated by a fake like you." Stain was in a clearly terrible condition. His left arm hung limply to his side, and the thumb on that hand was clearly broken from Stain's successful escape from Allen's handcuffs. He knelt over Allen and lined up the tip of his blade with Allen's throat. "Now…it's time for you to die."

Recognizing that there was nothing he could do, Allen closed his eyes and waited for the end. Then he heard the sound of footsteps, the crackle of electricity, and the cry of a very familiar voice.

"Get the hell away from my friend! SMAAAAASH!"

Allen opened his eyes and blinked several times, unable to believe them. Standing over the downed form of Stain was none other than Midoriya, wreathed in green lightning and illuminating the night with a hair-raising display of power.

"M-Midoriya?" Allen stammered, unable to believe it. "What are you doing here?"

"I—" Midoriya began, but was interrupted by a kick in the head from a tiny old man in a yellow costume.

"I told you not to go ahead of me, you disobedient brat!" The old man turned to Allen and grinned. "No need to worry now, kid. The cavalry has arrived."

Shouts and footsteps echoed in the distance, rapidly growing louder as they approached.

"This is the place!"

"Look, it's Ingenium! He's unconscious, but still breathing!"

"Oh my God, is that the Hero Killer?"

Allen wanted to weep with relief. His encounter with Stain couldn't have been more than ten minutes long, but it had felt like an eternity.

"No…" Stain growled, pulling himself up off of the pavement. "It's not over…my work isn't finished..."

"What's going on here?" A booming baritone voice rang out.

"Endeavor!" Midoriya exclaimed, followed by "Todoroki-kun? What are you doing here?"

"My internship…what else?" Todoroki paused. "Is that the Hero Killer?"

"ENDEAVOR!" Stain howled, silencing all of the gathered heroes with his voice and a glare, freezing them all in place at the sight of the wild, animalistic fury in his eyes. "They must be cleansed in blood. This rotten society...the corrupt fakes calling themselves heroes, the villains idly throwing around their power…I will purge them all!" He took a step forward, "Come at me then! I'll kill all of you pretenders! Only the true hero will bring me to my end!" He bared his teeth at them all, "ALL MIGHT IS WORTHY!"

For a moment, nobody dared move. So great was the pressure of Stain's conviction that everyone from the interns to the number two hero was frozen in the face of such unyielding spirit, a sense of will so thick and oppressive that it hung in the air like tangible force. And then, as quickly as it had arrived, it was gone.

"He…he's unconscious." Allen heard someone say. "He's still on his feet, but he's unconscious."

"Whoa…"

"Yeah, that's very impressive and all, but can I get some help now?" Allen called out. "I'm still paralyzed from him trying to kill me."

(SEMPER FAST)

The aftermath of the Hosu Incident, as it came to be called, sent ripples through society that nobody could have predicted. Unbeknownst to the heroes at the scene, Stain's final monologue had been captured on live camera by a member of the press flying overhead. The clip quickly made its way onto YouTube and spread across the Internet like wildfire. Interestingly, the public conversation surrounding Noumu attack—despite doing much more damage—died off quickly in favor of the mystery surrounding Stain and his ideology. As far as Allen was concerned, he couldn't care less. He had bigger problems to deal with at the moment. Problems like the humanoid dog currently standing in his hospital room.

"Unlicensed quirk use?" Allen protested from his bed, "Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Despite his only significant injury being the cut on his forehead—which only required a number of stitches—he had been kept overnight for observation. He turned to Tensei, who left his own room for this meeting and had his arm wrapped in a sling. "I saved your life! Fuck, I saved my life! He wanted to kill me, remember? Was I just supposed to let him?"

Tensei shook his head. "No, the issue isn't that you protected your own life—there are exceptions for that, of course. This issue is that you stayed and fought instead of running away when you had the chance, and like I instructed you." Tensei grimaced. "Though I'm obviously grateful that you didn't, given how it worked out."

"That this scenario did turn out well in the end is what makes this a rather delicate matter." Tsuragamae Kenji, the dog-headed Chief-of-Police told Allen. "We are grateful for your actions in apprehending the Hero Killer, but the fact of the matter remains that you used your quirk to cause injury to another person without authorization. You would receive a great deal of accolades if the true nature of your involvement in this case made public, however, we would have no choice but to punish you."

"That's fucking bullshit!" Allen exploded.

"The law is the law, ruff." Chief Tsuragamae gruffly rebuked Allen. "We cannot simply ignore it if and when it seems expedient to do so. The only reason that our superpowered society functions at all is due to the strict enforcement of our laws regulating quirk use."

"But I did the right thing!" Allen clenched his fists and glared at Tensei. "If you two think that I'll simply bow my head and accept punishment for taking that monster down, then I can tell you where to shove it!"

"An apology won't be necessary, Martin-san." Tsuragamae said. "Ingenium and I have come to an agreement regarding another solution to our legal conundrum."

"Oh yeah?" Allen said, "And what's that."

Ingenium sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "If all the credit for the fight with Stain and his various injuries is given to me."

Chief Tsuragamae nodded. "Luckily, this will be an easy sell since your quirk doesn't leave any distinguishing marks. You won't receive any recognition, but we can sweep the disciplinary issues under the rug."

Allen pinched his nose. "So let me get this straight…I get my reputation on social media fucked as part a sting operation, nearly get killed being the bait in said operation, risk my life fighting for the guy who put me in that situation, and now you're saying that I don't even get any credit for any of it, so I end up looking like some loser who had to be rescued from the consequences of his big mouth." He glared at the two adults. "Have I got my details straight so far?"

Tsuragamae and Tensei exchanged a look. "Well when you put it that way, that seems like a raw deal for you."

"No, really?" Allen layered as much sarcasm into that phrase as he could physically muster. "And here I was just thrilled with my options until you said that." He paused. "I fucking hate you, Ingenium."

"I'm so sorry Martin-kun." Tensei said. "I can't express how sorry I am."

Allen let out a bitter laugh. "Somehow the fact that you aren't malicious about fucking me over makes it even worse. If you were being an outright asshole about it, I could at least enjoy hating you…I know you aren't a bad guy, but you're still fucking me over really hard and I hate you for it."

Tensei hung his head. "If it's any consolation, I will do everything in my power to help you in your career. I will make this up to you Martin-kun. I swear."

"I'll take your fucking deal." Allen told Tsuragamae in a dull tone, ignoring Tensei entirely. "What do I need to do?"

"Nothing much." Tsuragamae replied. "Simply agree to never disclose the true version of last night's events, and the police department will consider the matter closed. We'll send you some papers to sign in the next couple of days. I'd recommend going over them with a lawyer."

"I'll take care the lawyer." Tensei said. "He still has two days left as my intern, technically."

"Fine, whatever. Now get the fuck out of my hospital room." Allen demanded, "I need some time alone."

Recognizing the black mood permeating the American teen, Tensei and Tsuragamae left. Feeling in desperate need of reassurance, Allen pulled out his phone and dialed Asui. She picked up immediately.

"Ren-chan! I saw the news, are you okay? What were you thinking, taking on the Hero Killer?"

"Hey, Tsu-chan." Allen said in a low tone, suddenly feeling exhausted despite not leaving his bed the entire morning. "I'm…I'll survive…do you have time? I can't answer any questions right now…I…just…I really need to hear your voice for a while. Can you tell me how your internship is going?"

Allen sat in silence as Asui regaled him with the story of the villain she had fought while searching for a pair of stowaways, her new friend Sirius, and her Mutant-type mentor with seal powers and how she found him 'completely adorable' even though nobody else did. Most importantly, she didn't ask any questions or smother him with unwanted concern. Somehow, she always knew exactly what to do to make him feel better when it really counted. He loved that about her, more than anything else.

"Hey Tsu-chan?" Allen said, finally breaking his silence. "If this is too soon for you, I understand…but when the internships are over, would you like to come over and meet my parents?" Allen held his breath after asking the question. Several seconds passed, seeming to stretch into an eternity.

"…I'd love to, Ren-chan." Asui croaked, "But…are you sure? You aren't asking me this because you feel like you have to, right?"

"I'm sure." Allen told her, lying back on his bed to stare at the plain white hospital ceiling. "Right now, you're the only thing in my life that seems like it's going right." A sad smile stretched his way across his face. "I wanna show you off."

AN: Poor kid just can't seem to catch a break. At least he has people to help see him through. This was a pretty difficult chapter to write. I wrote at least five different endings to the Stain fight, but figured that this was as good as it was going to get. I'm sure I'll never be completely satisfied.

As always, remember to leave a review to let me know what you think. I'll be working on chapter 2 of my new story next; Heroes Never Die, and then expect some fluff before we jump into the Summer Camp arc. Plus Ultra everybody.