AN: DOS, these next two are for you
Neither of them were fans of public transportation at the best of times. Right now, they hated just about every form of it. Cabs had all stopped, busses about the same and the trains were, frustratingly, experiencing delays. Mere moments after the broadcast had started, Aizawa and Vanessa had been transfixed to where they stood. Staring in awe and listening with rapt attention, they watched All Might and Mooney dismantle Philanthropy.
One piece of evidence after another, bit by bit the empire was exposed for the dirty thing it truly was. Even horrors the two of them hadn't dared to imagine were brought into light. Moonfish, mainly. No matter the reasoning given there was no excusing that one.
Nor what had been done to the Vampires.
"Aizawa?" he blinked, turned to her, then saw she was watching the crowd.
The crowd of people now looking at him with something resembling murderous intent.
"I think it might be wise to forgo stealth, just this once."
Nodding, he reached out and grasped her hand. "Lets go."
She leapt into the air, the crowd began clamoring, demanding that he turn himself in. It wasn't long before voices began to disagree, heroes and civilians alike, and then a super powered brawl broke out. As the two of them leapt, climbed and jumped over the city toward Philanthropy's HQ.
As they hurried along, in the streets below, they didn't see terribly many fights like the one they'd left behind. Just a few skirmishes between heroes, heores who couldn't agree which side was the right one to be on anymore.
"Looks like a civil war down there." Vanessa dryly remarked, carrying them both as fast as she could.
She wasn't going nearly fast enough, not in either of their opinions. "Nothing the city wont survive."
She shook her head. "Not the point. It looks like we're gonna be alone once we get there." Turning over her shoulder, she added one thing more. "Do you think the two of us can take on Endeavor?"
Not knowing the answer to that, he said nothing, holding on as tight as he could.
"Tch..." she scoffed, steeling herself for the battle ahead of them. "Wonderful... nice knowing you, Aizawa."
He gulped. "Let's get there first, then see how dead we are..."
Slow, dragging footsteps slammed on the floor like stones down the side of a mountain. Momo knew she was getting closer to them, and with every step closing the remaining distance she felt her body growing heavier. This was crazy, going into battle mere moments after waking up from a days long coma? What the hell was she trying to prove?
"STAIN!"
Nothing. She wasn't trying prove anything. There were lives to save from what or who ever that... thing was. When she heard its breathing around the next corner, she lowered herself and crept along quietly. From the sound of it, that thing was moving slower now. Much slower.
Is it searching? Eyes narrowing, she listened closer. Did Yoichi lose... him?
"STAIN!"
Perfect. That meant, if she had to fight, it was only her skin to worry about. However, she wasn't about to bet that Yoichi had managed to slip away just yet.
"Yoichi?" she breathed, hoping the faceless one wouldn't hear her. "Where are you?"
She crept around the corner, finding an area that was reduced almost entirely to rubble. Not one wall over three feet high left standing, any that remained were little more than jagged slabs with bits of wiring and metal protruding from them. Towering above them all, turning this way and that, was the cyclops.
Clearly searching for him... Momo felt herself relax a little, so she went forward, hoping it had already gone passed him.
A prayer that was mercifully answered. "Yoichi!" She smiled, and his head jerked toward her. She motioned for him to move. "Come on!"
Vigorously, he shook his head, not daring to say a word with that monster so close to him.
Glancing up, she saw it was wandering further away, but not nearly fast enough for comfort. Deciding to risk it, she crept over to him. "It's okay, the others are safe." Yoichi seemed to perk up a little hearing that. "Just leave the rest to me, okay?"
Looking her up and down, Yoichi wasn't so convinced. "Your legs are shaking."
Momo winced. "I can handle this."
He paused for a moment, deliberating something in his head for a few seconds. When he was done, he chanced a look toward the cyclops. "Can you make a gas mask?"
Blinking, Momo nodded. "I can." One sprouted from her face, then she took the straps and maneuvered them into position. "Why?"
Yoichi held up a hand, something like mist swirling from it. "My quirk," he explained, "it's ah... well, it can either be 'sleep' or 'Mustard' gas." Momo decided to make herself some goggles as well. "I'm gonna flood this place with sleep gas, then I'm gonna run. Okay?"
Momo gave a thumbs up. "Don't look back."
Doing as she instructed, Yoichi filled the room with sleep gas. The monster turned around slowly, hissing out another utterance of that word, "Stain..." And Yoichi started running.
Leaping to her feet, a quarterstaff pulled from her knee, Momo struck the creature across its face. Bloody chunks of flesh and teeth flew and spattered the ground, but it didn't seem to care. It just swatted her aside and yelled that same word again, lumbering after Yoichi.
Gathering herself up, Momo felt a little dizzy as she started after him. So much so, in fact, that she fell to the ground again. "Arrrrrgh!" She growled at herself, forcing her body to move.
No, no! She wasn't going to let that thing hurt anyone!
"GET OFF ME!"
When Yoichi screamed, she leapt into the air, lunging forward as far as she could with each step.
Its hands were on the kid's throat, squeezing hard. Popping noises came from Yoichi's neck, and his hands flung forward. A yellow-ish mist sprayed into the monster's face and it shrieked, throwing the teenager aside. As Yoichi slammed into a nearby wall, falling limp, the beast started clawing at its face.
She closed the distance in less than a second, stiking the beast her staff so hard it snapped. In retaliation, it lashed out with a fist and slammed her spine into a wall. Seeing the world spin, she let her legs drop to avoid being punched again, and the wall behind where her head had been was smashed like stale cardboard. Thinking quickly, she activated her quirk, and two substances coated her palms. Slamming her palms together in front of her opponent's face produced a series of sparks and flashes, noxious fumes flooding into his eyes and mouth.
Gagging, what had once been a man staggered back, arms thrashing every which way. Shaking its head, snarling, it lunged back at her, fists swinging wildly. She threw herself, weaving around the strike and spinning on her toes. Quirk at the ready, two sets of brass knuckles crafted themselves around her fingers and she felt the thing's jaw crack when she struck back.
Elbow swinging toward her head, she ducked, landing a series of punches in the thing's ribs. Each hit would have been enough to render most men unconscious, but this thing wasn't so weak yet. Bones snapped under her assault, blood spurting from its mouth, and it recoiled. For a moment they just watched each other, Momo refusing to back down with Yoichi gasping for air behind her.
Footsteps were rapidly approaching, "Yoichi!" Shuichi had come back, and for once Momo was grateful that someone hadn't listened to her. "Are you okay?"
"Get him outside!" Momo hollered, and the lizard boy didn't hesitate to listen.
The beast roared, Shuichi scooped his friend into his arms, and Momo met her enemy's charge head on. There was no way on earth that anything was going to passed her, not while she had them to protect. A fist flew passed her face, her own colliding with the monster's skull and rattling it. The beast only staggered back a step before retaliating. Clawing for her abdomen, shoving her against the wall.
Her world shook, refusing to center as she tried not to fall prone. Her senses returned enough to see her enemy flailing wildly at her. Arm brought above her head, a shield sprang from her skin and the thing battered its limb against it. The first strike dented it, the second shattered it and sent her sprawling across the floor. Tucking her shoulder in, she rolled with the fall and landed on her knees.
When she spun around, she already had another plan. A series of thin, metal strands sprouted from her fingers and she aimed them at her assailant. From her other hand, she fountained a clear fluid that reacted with the strands, producing something like that sleep gas Yoichi had created. The cloud of fumes went right into his face and finally, finally, he started slowing down.
Staggering steps, slipping on the littered floor and falling against a wall. His head caught the wall at an awkward angle, his neck and cheek flush against it as he dragged downward. Blood smeared against the surface as he came to an uncomfortable rest on the floor, still awkwardly propped up. "Whu..." it wheezed. "Where eh I?"
Standing shakily, Momo realized he hadn't known mangled his face was, as he tried to make sounds using lips he no longer had. "You're in the hospital."
His remaining eye blinked. "Can't see... can't... 'eel"
Approaching slowly, she put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. You're okay."
He scoffed, clearly not believing her. "I... dying..."
She winced. "Do you have a name?"
He laughed a throaty, gargling laugh. "Naw... hero killer... 'uscular..."
After uttering those last words his chest deflated, the stopped moving. Her hand moved to his neck, checking for a pulse but found naught but already cooling skin. "I hope this was what you wanted." she withdrew her hand,slow to turn around and leave. "Otherwise this senselessness served no purpose at all, not that it would be much worse that way..."
"Heat lighting flash, but don't blink...
Misleading
Tranquility ruse,
You're gonna happen again
That's what I think
Follow the evidence,
Look it dead in the eye,
You are darkness
Trying to lull us in, before the havoc begins,
Into a dubious state of serenity
Acting all surprised when you're caught in the lie
It's not unlike you"
Endeavor watched as all his men decided they were going to kill each other. Those student hero brats were hunkered down against the far wall, near the entrance. Well, all except that 'Feral Hero' brat and the earlobe woman. The vampire was busy trying to stop every side from killing each other, earning no shortage bullet wounds, slashes and burns for his trouble.
While the vampire weakened, slowing down with every injury, Endeavor's patience waned. He strode toward the stairs, yanking a belt of grenades off a dead guard and halfway up the first flight. When he turned around, pins collectively pulled free he saw the battle had ended.
His side had lost, and all he could do was sigh. "Really?" Even as they pointed weapons at him, he just lazily held his finger on the 'dead man switch' of the explosives. "This is how you all choose to go down? Turning your weapons on me?" He shook his head, gazing at them all disappointedly.
Despite some of the weapons being trained on him, Guren stepped forward. "Lets not do anything crazy..." he moved his hands in a calming motion, urging Endeavor to reconsider his obvious course of action. "Just... stop the explosives and come along quietly."
For a moment, he actually looked like he thought about it. That contemplative look he gave as he blinked really made it seem like he might.
Then he started laughing. "No." He through the explosives right into the center of the room and ducked behind the nearest cover.
Spinning on his heels, Guren grabbed and then threw the closest people to him as hard as he could. "SHOTO!"
At his word, the heterochrome put up the largest, thickest barrier of ice he'd ever made. Izuku tried to leap forward, throwing more people outside, but it was too late. The grenades exploded, shaking the entire building right to the top and the vampire was sent flying outside.
Of course, Shoto's ice wall wasn't enough to protect everyone. Shards of ice flew every which way, shrapnel and stray bits of metal as well. A large hunk of metal, spinning like a thrown hatchet, impaled Uraraka's shoulder, and she fell outside, through what remained of the glass windows, screaming. Endeavor stepped out from behind his cover, feeling the building teetering under its own weight now, and smiled. He saw movement, among the bodies, meaning some had survived.
That just wouldn't do, so he took a deep breath, strode to the center of the room and and unleashed his quirk.
Toga was almost there, right on top of them all when she heard the explosion. As she flew, she saw a body go flying outside, crashing through a van full of news equipment and then through the wall of another building. When she landed on a nearby rooftop, she saw the fire erupt, Kyoka's friends barely taking shelter behind that ice guy in time. They looked remarkably unscathed, considering what they'd just narrowly survived.
Gritting her teeth, she was about to leap down and snap Endeavor's neck, ending this once and for all, when she saw it. The skyscraper was leaning. No, it wasn't just leaning to one side it was toppling! "Oh you gotta be fuckin kidding..."
For a moment, she hesitated, didn't know what she should do and faltered at leaping into battle or leaping in to stop the building. Then she heard civilans screaming and stopped being so indecisive. Swearing under her breath, she flew to the opposite side of the sky scraper, landing in the street. Her options were limited. If she jumped up to try and push it all she'd do was punch a hole through it. Try and grab the base and hold it up and she'd be practically useless. From that angle, even with All Might's strength, it would fall just as quickly.
Standing in the middle of the street, she resolved to do the one thing she could. Bringing her arms back as far as they could go, she clapped her hands together as hard as she could. The thunderous sound produced a shockwave that shattered glass in her immediate vicinity and sent hurricane level winds against the sky scraper. To her relief, it stopped mid fall before continuing its was way back down, but much slower this time.
Of course, that was the exact moment she felt her time as All Might drawing to a close. "Fuck fuck FUCK!" She brought her arms back and repeated the process.
The building stopped, then kept falling and her legs began changing back.
Gotta time this just right...
Even with her quaking knees, Toga refused to flee. She still had enough juice to leap clear and far away, but she didn't. She wasn't about to be like the bastards she was here to stop at any cost. So she put all her remaining power into her arms, drew them back, waited a few precious seconds then released a battlecry as she slammed her hands together as hard as she could.
Wind blew, the building stopped, then it fell.
It was falling entirely too fast for comfort.
"No no no, not now!" She still had her own strength left, damn it! Kicking as hard as she could against the ground, she flew off to one side -any side- and tried to evade the building's fall.
It smashed into the roofs of the nearby structures, then slid down and through their sides, kicking up no small amount of wind. Toga was sent flying through a car by the initial blast of wind, then the shock wave of the building hitting the street knocked her flat once again. Cursing, spitting out blood, she got back onto her protesting legs and started staggering toward the fallen tower.
Limping her way forward, she started yelling. "IS ANYONE OUT THERE!?" no reply. "WHO NEEDS HELP!"
Then she heard people screaming. Well, groaning as loud as they could. She started dragging who she could free of the rubble, ordering others to call for help with phones or start applying triage if they knew how. No one bothered to ask who she was, so long as she was there to help.
"Hey!" Someone yelled. "There's someone inside that building!"
Toga looked up, squinting, trying to see who they were talking about. She had to run -limp- over to where she saw movement, before she recognized the survivor. "Kyoka!" She shrieked, running -limping- faster to reach her.
The Kyoka in question waved. "Himiko!" Surprisingly unscathed, for having just been inside a dropped building. Just a few bruises, nicks and scratches. Aside from a cut on her scalp, nothing looked serious at all. "He needs help!"
It took Toga a few moments to recalibrate her brain. "What!?"
Climbing up the rubble, she arrived to find Kyoka trying to shove a piece of debris off of an incredibly battered man in a suit. He was an older fellow, bleeding from more places than not and beneath that suit she could tell he was frail as hell. If they didn't find him help now, he wasn't going to last much longer.
With a pained grunt, Toga grabbed under the hunk of rubble and hauled with all her might. "Pull!" She tried to yell. "Pull him out now!"
Doing as Toga ordered Kyoka dragged the as of yet un-named man free and hoisted him onto her shoulder. "Okay, let's-" The building groaned, creaking under its own weight. "Oh no..."
Without thinking, Toga dropped the rubble and pushed her friend as hard as she could. "MOVE!" As Kyoka tumbled down the slope of wreakage, she thought she saw the suited man move his hand, and a sort of... shell encased her body. Kyoka would reach the bottom without a scratch, but Toga lost her balance and fell further in to the wreckage.
"NO!" Kyoka shrieked throwing herself back onto her feet, once she'd reached the bottom and found her footing again. "HIMI-
The building groaned again, then the groaning turned into wailing. With a heart wrenching series of crashes, it collapsed in on itself and whatever Toga did or tried to do next went unseen. Dust was kicked into the air, the city shook, and Kyoka screamed.
Only there was no reply.
Crying, Kyoka screamed louder and fell to her knees.
She didn't move until she felt a hand on hers, gripping weakly. When she turned, she saw Nameless looking at consolingly with his one good eye. "Idiot..." she sniffed, moving to scoop him up. "Worry about yourself..."
Too weak to speak, he merely smiled as he fought to stay awake.
Toward the nearest group of people she went, what luck that a few ambulances had arrived on scene. From the sound of things, more were on the way. "Thank you..." she murmured, "for protecting me." Weakly, he nodded and she passed him off the EMTs, turning back toward the wreckage.
Clenching her fists, Kyoka did the math in her head. If she went in alone, she'd just be running into another potential collapse with no way out and no one who knew where she was. There would be almost no chance of survival if anything went wrong, and something likely would.
On top of it all, she knew. She knew that if she did run back inside, it would spit in the face of Toga's choice to save her life. Her... sacrifice would be for nothing. Drawing in as bracing a breath as she could, Kyoka resolved to run back toward Endeavor likely was.
Himiko...
Endeavor, that bastard had a lot to answer for.
The three of them crashed onto a nearby rooftop, one with footprints already embedded therein. The sight they arrived to was semi-apocalyptic. Philanthropy's main building had fallen like a tree, crushing a great deal of buildings in its path. People swarmed around the ruins, both trying to escape and help those in need.
Their eyes were more concerned with their immediate area...
At the base of the building, half dead from the looks of things, were some of Stain's former classmates. Uraraka was badly hurt, bleeding out from her shoulder and barely moving. Shoto looked stunned, shocked but otherwise alright. The psychopath -Bakugo- was dazed, bleeding from his scalp above his right ear and had smoke coming off of his back. Ashido was covered in scratches, none of them serious, all of them bleeding. Kaminari was the only one who looked unharmed.
To make matters worse, Endeavor was stepping from the ruins, intact as ever.
Stain immediately drew his sword. "Lets end him."
"Wait." Dabi thrust his arm in front of Stain, pointing toward the shroud with the other. "Look..."
The entire lower level of the structure was on fire. Burning from the ground up, thick plumes of smoke beginning to drift into the sky. It was only a matter of time, before it came crashing down.
"If you're going to go through with plan B..." Dabi spoke in a dark tone, eyes turned toward his father, "you have to do it now."
Stain hesitated, looking between the Shroud and Endeavor. "I..." His hands wrung at the hilt of his sword. "I can't just-"
Dabi reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "You can." Stain stared into his eyes, clearly worried. "We'll keep Endeavor busy." At his declaration, Mooney nodded. "Just do what it takes to end my family's damned regime."
"On it!" Mooney leapt down first, hoping to take Endeavor's head off before a fight could really begin.
Stain dropped his sword, pulling Dabi into a hug. "I'll see you when this ends, Toya. We're gonna make it through this."
Smiling, Dabi returned the embrace. "Meet you there, Chizome." With that, and great reluctance, Stain let him go, grabbed his sword and started leaping toward his objective.
Then, taking the pistol from his belt and priming it, Dabi jumped to the street below."
Kaminari felt like his entire body had been turned into jelly. Extremely pained, heavy, slow-moving jelly. With a groan, he managed to roll himself over. They were outside, in the rain, with no help in sight, and Endeavor was probably walking out of the now toppled skyscraper. Truly, he could think of few scenarios more fucked than this one.
To make matters somehow worse, he heard a certain friend of his whimpering in pain "Ochako!"the collected future heroes ran to her side.
Mina knelt by her side. "We're here, we've got you!" their hands clasped around each other.
Uraraka nodded, tears streaming from her eyes as Bakugo's hands started pulling the shrapnel free.
"No no no!" Kaminari shrieked, she'll bleed to death if you-!"
The gravity girl held up a silencing hand, Kaminari watched for Endeavor, closely, hoping he wasn't intent on killing them too. "D-do it." Uraraka said.
As Kaminari tried to see through the smoke Shoto spun around. "This is no time for you to be so daring."
Meeting his eyes, she pointed right at Shoto. "If... if he removes it, will you cauterize it?"
Bakugo's jaw dropped. "Are you crazy!?"
Smiling reassuringly, Uraraka looked right into his eyes. "Nope... just don't wanna die. Not today." Her eyes fluttered, struggling to stay open as she sat up. "Fuck!" She swore, wincing in pain. "Please, Todoroki, I'm begging you... help me."
His shoulders slumped, fists clenched. "...okay." He lurched to her side, gulping back his nerves, going quite pale.
Kamiari stepped between them and the door. "Okay, better hurry! I can hear the bastard coming outside!"
The remaining heroes, exchanged some weary glances, found they had no other ideas, and reluctantly made their decision.
There was a pair of flame jets, shooting toward the guards Izuku had saved, Then screams that died as quickly as they'd started. "Oh no..." Mina breathed.
"Todoroki?" Hearing Uraraka croak his name, he knelt beside her, taking her hand. "I'm gonna make it, right?"
He nodded. "Of course you are." His eyes met those of Bakugo, and the warhead yanked the shrapnel free.
Uraraka bit back a scream as blood fountained out of her wound. Todoroki rushed his hand forward, shutting his eyes tight. He felt his quirk activate, then Uraraka actually screamed and the smell of burning flesh hit his nose. "
I'm sorry!" He started blubbering, squeezing her hand as tears streamed from his eyes. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"
A hand touched his cheek, his eyes bolted open and he saw Uraraka looking at him with a weak smile. "m-..." she breathed, eyes fluttering shut. "my... hero..."
Her hand dropped, Shoto caught it, his heart hammering in his chest. "Ochako!" He wasn't there in the thick of battle, he was back on the floor of his childhood home looking at smoke pouring off the wounds of someone he loved; looking at the smoldering, ruined flesh that was Toya's body.
N-no... I- I didn'-
Smoke billowed up, steam from burned fat and blood thickened the air.
This wasn't supposed to-
A pungent smell of seared flesh, almost like rotten pork, filled his nose and made him want to be sick.
I'm sorry!
Then he was in the kitchen, behind his mom, watching as she spun around, kettle in hand.
No, no wait! Not again!
He slapped a hand across Shoto's face, as hard as he could. "GET IT TOGETHER, ICY HOT!"
Stunned, nearly falling flat, Shoto tasted blood on his lip. The sounds stomping footsteps overwhelmed his ears.
"Fuck..." Bakugo spun around his heels, standing between Shoto and the unseen Endeavor, soon joined by Mina. "You picked one helluva time to go ptsd."
Shoto didn't hear him, he was just staring blankly at Uraraka, apologizing under his breath over and over.
As fate would have it, a flash of light came from inside the building. Leaping to, Kaminari tackled Mina, sending them both flat as could be. Bakugo was not so yielding. He cupped his hands together, aiming his palms at the building and unleashed as big an explosion as he dared with the others so close. His attempt to deflect, disperse the flame was only mostly successful.
Flame burst in almost every direction, no small amount of it spearing right into the Shroud's lower level. Several small explosions sounded off from inside the Shroud, doubtlessly igniting something important and volatile. Thankfully, he'd deflected most of it away from Shoto and the others, shielding them from further harm.
Unfortunately, his palms and chest were not so lucky. "FUCK!" He screamed, nearly falling to his knees. He managed keep himself standing, but unable to stop Endeavor from kicking him in the ribs sending him sprawling to the ground.
"Pitiful..." the 'hero' rolled his eyes. "This is the best the next generation has to offer?"
Rolling to his feet, the only one left standing for the moment, Kaminari gulped. "No, but you're stuck fighting us for now." He flexed his wrists, dreading the fact that it was still raining cats and dogs. An electricity quirk in the rain that he had almost no way to aim. "You know... this didn't have to go this way."
Having heard someone land behind them, Mina chanced a look over her shoulder. Concealed by shadow though they were, the silhouette looked vaguely familiar... Furthermore, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Stendhal, leaping toward the Shroud.
What the hell is he...? Why isn't he helping us?
Shakily, she climbed to her feet, eyes everywhere. Flitting between Kami, the wounded Bakugo, Uraraka, Shoto. Where was Izuku? Where was Kyoka? Mild panic set in as she realized that most of her friends were either missing or too hurt to defend themselves. Although, rather than running, screaming or doing anything so instinctive, she chose to bear with it and stand where she was, as still as she could.
Paying this no mind, Endeavor ruefully shook his head. "Once the secret was out, there was no other way it could end." He cast a glance to his son, watching as he kept muttering, whimpering and apologizing to the unconscious Uraraka. "Pity he has to die too. I had such high hopes for him but..." he clicked his tongue, shrugging. "He's been nothing but a relentless disappointment. Not that it matters now."
Looking at Endeavor's eyes, it was at that exact moment that Kaminari realized where he was. This man had, in swift decision, destroyed his company's headquarters and killed easily over a dozen of his own employees and hadn't cared that he might killed his own son doing so. Right now, Kaminari was standing in the open, with an extreme environmental disadvantage, against a man who had nothing left to lose and just wanted to see how many people he could take down with him before it all ended. Any fight that could -and would- ensue was going to be vicious, bloody and utterly, inhumanly merciless.
You know... I think I miss All For One. Scary as that was, I suspect a higher body count from this guy. All For one had feelings. But Endeavor?
Laughing nervously, he stepped a little closer to Mina, placing himself in front of her. "So..." he gulped, "no chance we can... just talk?"
Slowly, too slowly, Endeavor turned to face him with a wicked, sadistic grin. "No."
His fist flew faster than Kaminari or anyone could reasonably expect from a man his size, sending him flying right into Mina. Something crashed to the street in front of them, over them, and he forgot to breathe when he recognized it. "You..." Mooney hissed at Endeavor.
Rolling to one side, slippery as the street was, Kaminari managed to get back to his feet. "The beginning is the end and..." Endeavor said, and Mooney started twitching. Violently. His head was jerking, shaking hard, jaw spasming.
Gulping, Kaminari readied his launcher, preparing to fire it at Endeavor. He just hoped the rain wouldn't complicate his 'lightning rod' trick, that his quirk would still seek the projectile instead of arcing aimlessly through the rain.
"What does it do Mooney?" Endeavor grinned.
Twitching of Mooney's jaw and neck, his arms now, was joined with the snapping of bones. Muscles constricting so tight the creature was breaking its own skeleton. "Keeps..." he hissed, voice straining as hard as his body, "coming... round again!"
Not liking where this was headed, Kaminari decided to make his move now. He sprang forward, fired the projectile right at Endeavor's shoulder and prepared to let him have taste of lightning! He fired, felt the energy crackling between his fingertips, and leapt forward.
For a man so large, he moved with speed and grace unparalleled by most. A thing of envy to any aspiring acrobat or athlete.
The projectile missed, then Kaminari's hand and quirk missed. The only reason he wasn't immediately turned to bacon was because Endeavor was too busy dodging gunfire to burn him. Instead, he kicked him savagely aside, unleashing a jet of flame at the yet unseen opponent, forcing Mina to fall flat again. The newcomer screamed, clutching his burning arm and dropping the gun, its pieces clattering away.
As Kaminari tried to stand, Endeavor turned back to Mooney. "The beginning is the end, and...!"
Something clicked in Mooney's head, his eyes went dull and body still. "KEEPS COMING ROUND AGAIN!"
Eyes hungry like a predator, Mooney started stalking toward Kaminari on all fours. "Oh..." Kaminari gulped. "Okay..." His hand quickly went to reload his launcher and Mooney roared.
Last time he'd fought this man-thing, he'd had the help of quite a few other people. Some of them were here now, but they were all down for the count or near enough to it. It was just him and Mina, and she was having trouble standing. How much blood had she lost?
Mooney pounced, he threw himself as far as he could to the side, not caring about the landing. If that creature grabbed him, he was done, game over.
His body clattered against the street, Mooney landed gracefully on all fours. Kaminari aimed the launched right for his eye and fired. When the projectile lanced into the yielding orb, Mooney screamed and he flinched. Never had he thought that he might regret such a well aimed shot... No matter, he flung his hand forward and let Mooney have it.
Enough electricity to fuel six city blocks went from his hand right into Mooney's head. While the creature spasmed and flailed, he did not fall. "Go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep!" Kaminari started desperately chanting, sending arc after arc into Mooney's skull.
While Mina shoved herself to her feet with a spinning head, Endeavor strode toward the one who'd shot at him. Following the smoke and steam, he soon drew near but the newcomer had one last surprise up his sleeve: a quirk that allowed him to sprout jets of blue flame from his body.
To no one's surprise, Endeavor simply walked through the flame and grabbed the boy by his throat. "Toya." Said he, tone reeking of impatience.
Behind him, Shoto's ear twitched and he slowly turned around, in time for Dabi to say, "father..." choking on every syllable.
The heterochrome climbed onto his feet, his father spoke. "You know, this is..." Looking into Toya's eyes, those fearful, hateful orbs of his, Endeavor sighed. "Nevermind." With his hand on his throat, Endeavor's palm sent forth burst after burst of flame into Dabi- Toya's throat and skull, until all that remained was a charred, featureless hunk of flesh and bone where his head used to be.
Shoto felt a scream lancing through his heart, but didn't so much as squeak. He just reached out, jaw slack, glassy eyes and felt his entire being shiver with cold grief.
Endeavor just sighed. "I hate awkward silences." Then tossed his son's body aside.
Mina's jaw dropped, and she recoiled in horror. "What!?" For a moment, finally finding her balance, she didn't know what she should do.
A murderer and a mindless beast, neither bearing concience nor any care for those they were now -clearly- trying to kill. Yet she was still hesitating. If she held nothing back-
A scream split the air, utterly disrupting her thoughts and sending terrible shivers through her skin. Her head snapped to see the source of it: Shoto, quivering with grief, rage, regret, probably dozens of other feelings he couldn't even name. All the same he threw himself at his father, his right arm creating an avalanche of jagged ice, and it was flying right at his father.
Endeavor rolled his eyes and raised one hand, countering with an onslaught of flame. Ice flew from one, fire the other, water and steam was all that reached the middle.
Then Mina saw what Kaminari had been dealing with.
In the time Endeavor had decided to ignore him, the blond had been frantically trying to subdue the hungry rage monster Mooney had become. Electricity arced from his hands and fingers toward the projectile impaled in Mooney's eye, and through the water that fell around them. Sparks here and there found their way back to Kaminari's body, making keeping this up more and more difficult.
"Come on, Mooney..." he begged, whispering mostly to himself at this point. There was no way the monster could even hear him any more. "I don't wanna hurt you, but I can't let you hurt anyone else." His other hand went and reloaded the launcher on his right arm.
Then the launcher in Mooney's eye popped free. His seizing muscles had finally shaken it enough to just slide from the wound, and Kaminari's quirk went everywhere at once.
"Shit!" Feeling the jolt hit him, he was staggered back raising his left arm to fire the second launcher at Mooney, but the beast wasn't having it.
Teethe lanced forward, shattering the launcher and slicing Kaminari's arm and head, tearing free bloody strands of skin and flesh. Kaminari yelped, screamed really, his left side wrenched back, and he raised his right hand again to fire his only remaining launcher.
As luck would have it, he got another direct hit. "Sleep sleep sleep!" He begged, hissing in pain as his hand reached forward and continued the electrical assault.
Only it wasn't enough.
Mooney, very slowly, very shakily raised a limb and took a step toward him. "No, bad!" Kaminari's eyes widened, other hand brought up to amp up thenumber of volts being sent into his enemy's body. He winced, feeling the his quirk jolting him through his own blood, arcing on his skin through the red fluid to the water. "Don't eat the hero, the hero wants to help yo-" he winced, staggering a bit as his head began to throb.
Sensing weakness, Mooney's body tensed, preparing to pounce again.
"Mooney!" Kaminari's face twitched with pain and fear. "You're trying to be one of the good ones, remember? I'm not your enemy!"
The words never reached him. The projectile fell free once again, and he closed the distance between them. His hand reached forth, clawing the launcher off of Kaminari's arm and damn near taking the hand with it. Yelping, grunting in pain, Kaminari ducked under Mooney's jaw and barely avoided having his shoulder torn into by the beast's teeth.
"STOP!" In a desperate attempt to finish this, he reached out and grabbed with both hands, shocking Mooney as hard as he could. He heard Endeavor say something, and then saw a few bursts of light. His heart stopped when he saw the body fall, and Mooney kicked him.
The light nearly went out when he was sent flying, and very nearly broke when he slammed into the newscrew's van.
Sliding down the side of it, his feet barely caught the ground as the world refused to stay still. Shaking his head, he saw Izuku. He was emebbed in a brick wall, barely moving at all. Only the rise and fall of his chest told that he was even breathing. "Izuk-!"
His voice called out to the unconscious vampire, but the only given reply was teeth piercing his left shoulder. He screamed, shoved against the van as Mooney's teeth impaled the vehicle behind him. He reached out to try and shock Mooney through his own teeth, but the beast was wise to his tricks now. Teeth retracted, then struck out again and slashed down the length of his right leg as Kaminari stumbled.
Falling to the street with a splash, the blond felt incredibly dizzy. His only consolation was that Mooney was looking shaky too. He'd actually managed to weaken him, through all his efforts. But it wasn't enough, and the beast was still looking at him like he was dinner. "Mooney..."
Once more, the creature lowered itself to the ground, preparing to pounce. When he jumped, Kaminari closed his eyes and shieled his head with his bleeding arms. Only, when Mooney crashed to the ground, something was incredibly wrong.
Toppling the van, screaming in agony, Mooney thrashed about and wailed. Something was sizzling on his chest, almost like-
Looking up, he saw Mina, palms outstretched and looking like she was going to be sick. Paler than ever, shaking all over, she kept creeping forward. "Please just stop..." she breathed, not wanting to hurt the poor thing anymore.
But Mooney wasn't thinking clearly enough to hear her. So he kicked the van, sending it flying right at her. Yelping in fright, she threw herself aside and almost made it out of harm's way.
If only she didn't have horns growing out of her head.
One snagged, snapping off almost at the base of her skull. Her neck was pulled at an awkward angle and for a moment all she could see were stars.
"Mina!" Kaminari tried to stand up, but his leg wasn't making that easy.
Furthermore, Mooney saw him as easy, wounded prey and pounced on him. Hands grabbed his shoulder and leg, pulling him off the ground, and his torso was brought into Mooney's mouth. Teeth spearing into his body, he gagged out a scream and Mina shrieked.
Never had he heard anyone make such an anguished, angry sound and the Troll girl was ready to back it up. Both her hands speared forward, acid blasting into Mooney's flesh and eating into him.
Dropped like a rotten fish, Kaminari tried to stay awake. Mina just kept shooting more and more acid into Mooney's hide, watching him writhe and sizzle. Tears were flowing from her eyes, her face was so pale she almost lost her pink hue. Mooney thrashed about, scurrying wildly in any direction he could to escape. When he realized that Mina wasn't going to relent, when the pain no longer blinded him, his teeth lanced out. Stabbing through the left side of Mina's abdomen, just under her ribcage, he staggered her enough to make her stop for a second.
Crying out in pain, she splashed acid onto the teeth that impaled her, and watched the bloody, prehensile things recoil. Falling to one knee, vision blurry, she saw Mooney flying through air, right at her. Both hands raised, she held nothing back and Mooney's head paid the price. A heavy, limp, purple body crashed into her and they both toppled to the street.
Mooney would not be getting up again. However, with her injuries and the body now stuck on top of her, she wasn't going to be doing so either. As she tried her best to stay awake, shoving at Mooney's corpse, she only hoped the others wouldn't need her anytime soon.
Yet another prayer that would not be answered.