Kyandi: Hey, Kyandiacs!
Halyn: We apologize for taking so long to update.
Kyandi: This holiday season is a really busy time of year for me.
Halyn: And it's not over yet.
Kyandi: No, it's not. I still have New Year's and my birthday the day after.
Halyn: Then she'll be done until February.
Kyandi: Yep. I'm looking forward to getting back to a relaxing pace.
Halyn: Until then, we have a chapter for you.
Kyandi: Yep! So, everyone, enjoy and review.
Halyn: Kyandi-sama does not own My Hero Academia.
Chapter 38 Operation Go
"Tell me again why I'm being put on babysitting detail."
Halyn, who was currently going through the pockets on her hoodie, checking that everything was in place, looked up and over to where Hawks stood facing Mandalay and Pixie-Bob. It had been him who had spoken after they had gone through how all of the heroes present would be split up. Instead of being teamed up with one of the Pussycats, they had decided to pair Halyn with Hawks.
"It's not babysitting." Pixie-Bob told him.
"Leander is perfectly capable of taking care of herself." Mandalay added.
Halyn was glad to hear that the Pussycats thought this. At least someone didn't think she needed to be watched twenty-four/seven.
"The fact of the matter is, Leander is the only one here capable of possibly keeping up with your speed." Mandalay explained to Hawks.
"Isn't that right, Leander?" Pixie-Bob called out, turning to look at the girl.
All three turned to look at her. Halyn looked up from checking the pockets in her hoodie.
"I'll certainly try my best. One way or another, I'll keep up. I should be able to manage as long as I can keep him in sight." Halyn replied, turning back to her work. "My classmate, Tokoyami, interned with him and told me all about his infamous speed. I will not be so cocky as to claim, without a doubt, that I can keep up, but I'll manage something, one way or another."
With that, Halyn turned away from them, going to Tiger to pick up the headset she would be using to keep in contact with all the other heroes taking part.
"You're always so modest, Leander." Pixie-Bob remarked.
"Less modest, more logical. I won't be one of those caught off guard and possibly killed because I was too cocky for my own good." Halyn replied as she situated her headset. "I've gone up against too much in my short life not to know my own limitations. Anyway, we have to get in position."
With that, they split up, scattering throughout the city. It was after this that Hawks and Halyn found themselves sitting on the roof of a five story building. Hawks stood to the side, looking bored, while Halyn was scanning the city through binoculars.
"It's at times like this that I wish I had gotten my mother's quirk." Halyn muttered to herself.
"You say something?" Hawks asked.
"Nothing of importance. Just feeling a little quirk envy." Halyn told him.
"You? Feel quirk envy? From what I've heard, you have a quirk everyone wishes they could have, 'cause, with it, you can have any quirk you want." Hawks remarked.
"My quirk isn't all fun and games, you know. There's a lot of down sides to it, just like with anyone's quirk, and if I'm not careful, I can cause myself a lot of pain. It's not easy asking one's body to suddenly adapt to a quirk it wasn't born with. Especially when it's a mutant-type quirk I've assimilated. Besides, if you listen to others, not a whole lot of them want my quirk, or even want me and my quirk around them." Halyn told him, still scanning the streets below.
"Ah, right...All for One." Halyn's mouth twisted when Hawks said this. She didn't reply though. "I heard the two of you are related. Is that true?"
Halyn heaved a sigh, still not lowering her binoculars.
"Very distantly. I'm actually a descendant of his younger brother. And before you ask, no, he wasn't a villain like All for One." Halyn replied.
"That's got to be rough for you." Hawks remarked.
"Not really. I'm well aware of who and what I am and having him as a blood relative, isn't going to change that." Halyn replied. "Now, can we stop talking about this?"
"Yeah, sure."
For a moment, silence stretched between the two of them, Halyn scanning the streets and Hawks waiting for her to find something they could use for their plan.
"You know, me being able to keep up with you isn't the only reason they decided to put the two of us together for this mission." Halyn said suddenly.
Hawks looked down at her, raising an eyebrow in questioning.
"What was the other reason?" he asked.
"Your speed." Halyn said, finally pulling the binoculars away from her eyes to turn her eyes to him. "In the last two times we've confronted Temple, the Pussycats haven't been able to move as fast as me or the members of Temple and, thus, one of them has gotten hurt each time. I'm also forced to slow down so I don't leave them behind. Last time, it only caused me to get captured. Because of that, they wanted me to be with someone who could react as fast as I and Temple can. The solution to this problem...is you. So it's not babysitting."
With that said, Halyn returned to peering through her binoculars.
"Do you really think you can keep up with me?" Hawks asked.
"We're about to find out. I think I found us the perfect cover." Halyn said, holding her binoculars. "Check out just south of here."
Hawks took the binoculars from Halyn, peering through them in the direction she had said. Through the binoculars, he spied the bank robbery in progress that Halyn had found.
"Do you think it'll work?" he asked.
"Should. Only one way to find out." Halyn replied.
Hawks gave her back her binoculars, Halyn sliding them back into their pocket on the inside of her hoodie.
"Then let's go." he said, giving his wings a stretch.
"Meet you down there." Halyn told him.
Hawks turned to offer her a ride down, but he was blinded by an explosion of electrical bolts. When his vision cleared, he found Halyn already gone. Spreading his wings, he took off, scanning the roads as he went. He couldn't find Halyn anywhere until he arrived on site of the robbery. Halyn was already there, dodging the flying fists of the man robbing the bank.
Hawks had to stop and stare in shock. She had actually beat him down from the roof top and he had no idea how she had managed it. Though, he knew, without a doubt, that it wasn't a speed type quirk. Or, at least...he thought so.
"A little help would be much appreciated, Hawks!"
Halyn's voice snapped him out of his staring and got him to work. He dived into the fray, crashing feet first into the villain and sparing Halyn another punch. The hit knocked the villain for a loop, leaving him a little dazed at first. Taking that chance, Hawks turned towards Halyn who was dusting off her clothes.
"How did you get down here faster than me?" he asked, too curious to let it slid.
"It's one of the quirks I've assimilated. It's called Electric Teleport. It allows me to teleport myself from one location to another." Halyn answered.
"So it's not a speed-type quirk?" Hawks asked.
Halyn let out a little laugh at that. It was obvious that he had been a little concerned with losing his title as the fastest pro hero.
"No, it's not a speed-type quirk. You're reputation as the fastest pro hero is safe." Halyn assured him.
"I wasn't concerned." Hawks told her, trying to play it off.
"Uh-huh. Whatever you say."
Hawks threw a look in Halyn's direction, the girl's tail curling as a smile had one side of her mouth twisting up.
"Am I that easy to read?" he asked.
"Only because I'm good at reading others. Anyway, we still have a job to do."
Both turned to look at the would-be bank robber as the man got back to his feet, ready to continue the fight. Before their eyes, the man grew in size. It was a simple quirk that Halyn had seen multiple times before in villains. It was like they thought that simple because they were bigger, they were stronger.
Well, she hated to break it to him, but the bigger they were, the harder they fell.
"Shall we get started?" Halyn asked.
"You know what to do." Hawks replied.
"Yep...time to take one for the team. Joy."
With that, Halyn jumped into the fight to do exactly that. After seeing how quickly Deathmarch had jumped to her defense when his comrades had tried to attack her, Halyn had figured that her being in danger, was one thing the villain couldn't sit back and let happen. So the plan was simple.
Halyn was going to put herself in danger's way.
Which was easier said than done, since Halyn had been trained to react quickly to a threat and it was hard to turn that off. She managed, taking one hit that had her flying half way down the street and into a building side.
"You alive?" Hawks called.
"For the time being."
Halyn pulled herself free of the wall, landing on her knees as she shook bits of crumbled concrete from her hair. She grimaced as she felt her now broken ribs shift to reconnect and heal. It didn't hurt, but the feeling was an awkward and kind of disgusting feeling, and it provided enough of a distraction that it took Hawks calling her name for her to look up.
Looking up, she found the villain standing over her, his linked hands posed to slam down on top of her.
"Oh, this isn't going to feel good."
Halyn braced herself to take the hit, squeezing her eyes shut.
At first, she didn't know what happened. One moment, she was on her hands and knees on the ground, and the next moment, someone scooped her up out of the way, the sound of crunching concrete reaching her ears. At first, she wondered if Hawks had swooped in to save her at the last second, but when she cracked open her eyes, she was confronted with the sight of Hawks, a shocked look on his face, hovering a good twenty yards from her. Finding herself looking over the dark clad shoulder of someone else, being held in their strong arms, Halyn pushed herself back away from the person's chest, looking up to find Deathmarch's masked covered face just inches away from hers.
The man held her tightly to his chest, but not tight enough to make it uncomfortable. From the direction his face was facing, Halyn could tell he wasn't looking at her, but down below at the large would-be bank robber who was looking from the rooftop Halyn and Deathmarch now stood on, and the ground where Halyn had previously sat.
"You...you saved me?" Halyn found herself gasping.
She was willing to admit to herself that she had taken a huge gamble with her plan, the whole time hoping that she was right and Deathmarch wouldn't allow her to be killed. She was relieved to find that she had been right and he had, indeed, come to her rescue.
"Did you not stop to think that this little plan of yours might backfire?" Deathmarch asked, snapping her out of surprise.
"Plan?" she repeated.
The arm around her waist gripped tighter, fingers digging into her lower back as if out of anger.
"Do you really think I'm stupid enough to fall for such an obvious trap? I've been watching you for years, I know how fast you react to a threat. Not to mention that you now have a teleportation quirk at your disposal. A weak, pathetic villain like that is no match for you. Yet, you allowed yourself to be attacked and near crushed, all for the sake of drawing me out, thinking that I wouldn't allow you, of all people, to die." he told her.
With each word he said, Halyn felt like ice was being dumped down the back of her shirt. He really did know her well if he was that confident in her abilities. It made her wonder just how long he had been watching her. Since she had started attending UA? Since middle school? Or had he been watching her since she was a child? She didn't know, but she knew he was angry as his grip on her got tighter.
"I'm flattered, really, that you would risk so much just for a chance to see me. Believe me, it makes me very happy that you want to see me so bad, but, that being said...your carelessness for your own life, makes me furious. Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he demanded, his grip now so tight that Halyn was sure her skin would bruise.
"What a strange feeling. Usually villains are trying to kill me, not save my life." Halyn remarked, unsure of how else to reply to him or the situation.
It was strange to be speechless for once. Usually, she had some kind of reply to just about everything. But this? This was too strange for her. It was then that something reached her nose. Halyn took a deep breath in, drawing the scent deep into her nose. She could smell the blood, the iron, that hung around him in a thick veil, and she could smell the over powering, strong musk of some kind of cologne that he had probably used in order to mask his true scent. He had used so much of it, it almost made Halyn gag.
Underneath that, however, she could just barely pick up the slightest hints of his real scent. She could smell sandalwood and cinnamon. It was a scent that she was familiar with, though her brain raced to place from where. Before she could place it, though, a crash and a loud cruse had her whipping around to find Hawks dodging attacks from Deathmarch's comrades.
"Hawks!" Halyn exclaimed. Deathmarch's grip on her tightened even more when she started fighting to get away from him and go to Hawks' aid. "Let go!"
"Not after you went through all of this trouble to draw me out. " Deathmarch replied.
"Fine, then I'll just take you with me."
Halyn felt his grip tighten even further as she activated her teleportation quirk. She took them both from the roof top, dropping the both of them on top of Tepes' head. Halyn landed on top with Deathmarch sandwiched between her and Tepes. With the air forced out of his lungs, Deathmarch was forced to release her. With her hands now free, Halyn felt around until she came in skin-to-skin contact with both Tepes and Deathmarch.
What she found as she partially assimilated both of their quirks, shocked her so much that she didn't automatically respond as Tepes threw both her and Deathmarch off his back. Halyn hit the ground rolling, instantly teleporting away as Deathmarch rounded on her. She reappeared on the rooftop behind Hawks.
"Hawks! I know what their quirks are now!" Halyn called to the man.
"Good. I've already gave the signal." Hawks replied.
"Someone call for back-up?"
All eyes turned to another roof top as Halyn's back-up, lead by the Pussycats and Fatgum, made their appearance. Halyn heaved a silent sigh of relief, turning her attention down to Deathmarch and his comrades who now found themselves completely surrounded.
"You're surrounded, Deathmarch. You and your team. Surrender and come peacefully." Halyn advised him.
"Do you really think, after all we've done, that we will do that?" Deathmarch replied.
"I was hoping so. Contrary to what you must believe of me, Deathmarch, I'm not a killer. I do not relish in the action of taking another life, be they hero, civilian, or villain." Halyn told him. "Are you disappointed in me now? I'm not the hero you thought I was."
"Au contraire, I'm well aware of the person you are, and nothing can make you any less perfect in my eyes."
Halyn wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. She was sure there were a lot of people in the world that strove for someone to call them "perfect", but Halyn was all too aware of her flaws to have any kind of good feelings from being called "perfect". To be called so by a villain whose kill count only continued to grow...it left a bad taste in her mouth.
"Last chance, Deathmarch. Surrender peacefully, I beg of you." Halyn told him.
A low chuckle left Deathmarch then, his own comrades shifting in discomfort at the sound. Halyn's tail bristled, a bad feeling settling in the pit of her stomach.
"I do hate to deny you a request, really I do, but I can't do that. If I allow myself to be arrested, I would never get to see you when I want." Deathmarch replied.
"I know what your quirk is now, Deathmarch. I suggest you don't try anything." Halyn warned him.
"I have no doubt that you do, but, much like with yourself, the question then becomes...what quirks do I already possess?"
Halyn's tail shot out straight as a board, her instincts yelling at her to run. She had only a moment to call a warning to the others to take cover. Halyn took a dive for Hawks, shoving the man down onto the roof top and out of the way. She wasn't sure what happened, all she knew was there was a hot blast, the heat rolling over her so extreme, she could feel her skin burning. To save the others, Halyn used Tide to take the energy of the blast into her body. Only when the heat was clear, did Halyn move, popping back to her feet.
Halyn clicked her tongue in annoyance when she saw that Deathmarch and his team were making a quick retreat. She wasn't going to lose them again. Not knowing what she now knew about Deathmarch. Redirecting the flow of the energy she had just taken in, Halyn crouched, Hawks watching in wide-eyed surprise as her form shifted, flames erupting from her skin.
"You're not getting away this time." Halyn muttered.
"Fallout, don't!"
Halyn didn't even stop to see who had been the one speaking. Without giving anyone the chance to stop her, she launched herself off the roof with the power of Starburst Tigerlily. The sheer amount of power behind the launch, sent her rocketing through the air like a rocket. Deathmarch turned, but with how fast her approach was, there was nothing he could do to dodge it. Only Bones taking a dive for him, protecting him with the increased density of his bones, saved Deathmarch from taking the full burnt of Halyn's attack.
As it was, it still sent the three flying down the street, where they crashed into the side of a building, the building shaking from the sheer force of the impact. If there was anyone in the building, Halyn was sure it felt like an earthquake to them. Bones, still protecting Deathmarch, tried to move, trying to Halyn off, but the girl slammed a boot heel into the side of his head, pinning it to the building wall. Holding his head in place, she turned her eyes to Deathmarch.
His quirk...it made Halyn sick to think about it. She couldn't even begin to image being born with such a quirk. Despite the similarities she could see in his quirk when compared to two others, this one had a sort of twisted element to it that she just could stomach. To be a child growing up with that kind of quirk, was wrong. She was sure it had something to do with his somewhat twisted ideals. As much as she wanted to feel sympathy for him, she knew what her job was.
Halyn had to protect those Deathmarch sought to hurt.
To do that, she would have to do something she really loathed to do.
Reaching out, while she still had time before Tepes and Maso could reach her or Bones could knock her off, Halyn slid her bare finger tips under Deathmarch's mask. Almost the moment her skin made contact with his, he started fighting, well aware of what she was probably doing. Halyn refused to let herself be shaken off, pressing her free foot down on his chest near the base of his throat. She felt it the moment she latched onto a quirk and gave a great heave to tug it free.
'One down...'
A loud, blood-curdling scream ripped through the air then, breaking Halyn's concentration just a moment before someone seized her by the back of her hoodie and wretched her free of Bones and Deathmarch. Halyn let herself be tossed over a shoulder and hit the ground rolling. She knew instantly that she had managed to collect the wrong quirk, and double cursed herself as the pain set in, making her wince, but she wasn't going to allow it to put her out of the fight yet.
Raising her head, she found Tepes standing between her and Deathmarch and Bones, Maso knelling next to the two to check on them. Tepes looked ready for a fight, blades in each hand. Fine, then she would just have to give him a fight. Gritting her teeth and forcing herself to ignore the gut-retching pain, she launched herself forward. Trying to show some kind of restraint, Tepes swung at her, aiming to force her to retreat, not to hurt.
Halyn dodged under the swing, coming up with an upper-cut to Tepes' chin. Spinning, she landed a solid kick to his chest, slamming him back into Bones just as the poor guy was finally getting to his feet. The two hit the ground, a low curse leaving one of them, though Halyn couldn't tell which. Maso attacked next, Halyn side-stepping her blade to grab her wrist. With a sharp turn, she sent Maso flying over her hip. Whipping around, determined to finish her job before she lost the fight against the pain, Halyn faced Deathmarch, only to receive a punch across her face from Tepes.
"Don't hurt her!" Deathmarch snapped.
From the way Tepes hesitated to follow up his punch with another attack, Halyn could tell he was fighting with his self-preservation instincts and his desire to follow his leader. Halyn took advantage of that opening, launching herself at Tepes and hitting him with the stronger kick she could muster up. Tepes slammed into a wall, sliding down it until he sat on the ground, not moving. Praying that he was unconscious, Halyn turned her attention to the next threat.
The next threat, though, seized her from behind, arms slipping up under her arms to lock hands behind her head. With ease, Bones lifted her off the ground, leaving her feet dangling as she fought to break free of the hold he had on her. Hissing much like a cat not pleased with their predicament, Halyn raised her arms up over her head, giving her the opening to slip out of his grip. Dropping to the ground, she instantly rounded on Bones, landing a solid punch to his lower gut.
A grunt left Bones as he bent double. With his head now on level with her, Halyn followed up her punch, with a round-house kick to the head. By the time he hit the ground, Halyn felt like her insides were being ripped apart. Her legs were shaking and all she wanted to do was lay down and curl into a ball. Trying to steady herself, Halyn left her back open for a moment too long.
Maso jumped her from behind, slamming into her and sending both of them rolling across the ground. An angry and startled yowl left Halyn as she wrestled with Maso, both fighting to be the one that ended up on top. Their wrestling gave Deathmarch and Bones the chance to collect the unconscious Tepes.
"Maso!" Deathmarch called.
Halyn and Maso rolled free of each other, Maso instantly making a run for her teammates, Even as fog rolled in to cover their retreat, Halyn, her body protesting every move, moved to follow.
"Fallout, don't!"
Halyn looked up as several of the local heroes she was working with, ran past her to pursue the Temple team. The Pussycats, Gran Torino, Fatgum, and Hawks, were making their way towards her. Knowing that she would be safe to give into her body's desire to collapse, Halyn did just that, hitting her knees before curling in on herself.
"Leander!"
Mandalay and Pixie-Bob dropped to their knees on either side of Halyn, both checking her for injuries but not finding either.
"What's wrong?" Mandalay asked.
"I fully assimilated...a quirk...the pain...is the price...I pay for...doing so." Halyn told them.
"You took one of their quirks?!" Pixie-Bob asked. "Why would you do that? I thought you hated doing that?"
"Deathmarch, his quirk...it's not something...someone like him...should have." Halyn told them. "But I messed up."
"So you didn't get his quirk?" Gran Torino asked.
"I got a quirk."
"What does that mean?" Mandalay asked.
"His quirk is...similar to...mine, but...with a...twisted difference. That kind of quirk...is wrong...so wrong." Halyn told them, wincing as another wave of pain worked it's way up through her belly.
"What are you talking about?" Pixie-Bob asked, trying to ease her.
"He takes quirks...like I do, but...he does so...by taking in...the dead bodies of others."
The news had everyone staring at Halyn in horror. Where Halyn merely took the quirk factor, the gene that allowed for the formation of a quirk, in order to use another's quirk, Deathmarch's quirk worked by fully absorbing the bodies of others into his being, allowing him to, then, use the quirk of the deceased.
Things just took a twisted turn that none of them have been prepared for.
-0-0-0-0-
That night, when the Pussycats got Halyn back to UA, they instantly took her to see Nezu, who called in Aizawa, All Might, and a few of the other teachers. By the time everyone had gathered, Halyn was sleeping soundly on the couch in Nezu's office after having been given something by Recovery Girl to try to help with the pain of assimilating another quirk.
"It seems she's always finding herself trouble to get into." Aizawa remarked, looking down at Halyn's sleeping face. "What happened this time?"
Nezu explained to the teachers the situation of Halyn's current work study, right down to Deathmarch's fascination with Halyn, his quirk, and the lengths Halyn had gone to in order to try to stop him. By the end of it, Aizawa hung his head, heaving a sigh. Out of all of his students, Halyn, along with Midoriya, was the one that managed to find herself in similar situations, again and again...and again.
"So she wasn't able to assimilate his actual quirk but the quirk of one of the...bodies he had absorbed?" Present Mic asked, making a face when he got to the "bodies" part.
"Precisely." Nezu confirmed.
"What was the quirk she got instead?" Midnight asked.
"She called it Clairvoyance. It is a quirk that gives her the ability to glimpse a past or future event through contact with an object or person. According to her, it's a quirk that is constantly active, and she has no control over when, where, or what she will see." Nezu informed them.
"So, in other words, a quirk that, for the majority of the time, will be useless for her." Midnight remarked.
"And since the original holder is dead, she's stuck with it." Present Mic added.
"Why does she keep doing this to herself?" Aizawa asked himself.
All of the adults turned to look at Halyn's sleeping form. The girl always seemed to insist on hurting herself for the sake of others, all because, normally, she didn't feel the pain.
"That's just the kind of hero she is." All Might remarked.
" We have all known this for quite some time." Nezu remarked. "In light of the situation at hand, the Pussycats have agreed with me that it would be better to disband Leander's work study with them. That this newest villain and his comrades have taken such in interest in her, was worrisome enough. Tonight, however, she uncovered something."
"Uncovered something?" All Might repeated.
"Yes. Leander told us that Deathmarch, the leader of this team, had apparently gone through great lengths to mask his scent. He apparently was aware of Leander's animal-like sense of smell. Underneath that cover-up, though...was a scent she said she has smelled before, and quite recently." Nezu told them.
"Wait, what?! Are you saying...?"
"Though there is a chance that it is not the case, Deathmarch might, very well, just be someone here at UA." Nezu confirmed, when Present Mic trailed off.
"Did she say who the scent belonged to?" Aizawa asked.
"In the chaos of the moment and with how heavily it was masked, she couldn't quite place the scent, only that it was familiar and she has smelled it since coming to UA. I am sure, if she smells it again, that she might be able to place it, but given the information we have now, it would be in her best interest to, for the time being, confine her to the campus and keep a close eye on her. If he is, indeed, a member of the campus, I do not want him to have easy access to her." Nezu told them. "For now, Recovery Girl has given her something to help her sleep. If you would please take her back to her room."
Nezu turned to look at Aizawa as he made the last comment. Aizawa nodded, heaving a sigh as he collected the girl, lifting her with ease and leaving her costume case to All Might. It always seemed to be one thing or another with Halyn.
All Might and the others just hoped that, this time, they could figure things out without Halyn having to risk her mental stability in the process.
END
Kyandi: When I was given the idea for Deathmarch and his quirk, I thought it was really interesting.
Halyn: It's certainly...different.
Kyandi: You don't really have any other way to describe it, do you?
Halyn: Not really, no.
Kyandi: Well, it certainly is something else, that's for sure. Anyway, for those of you who have Twitter and haven't already done so, be sure to follow me on Twitter.
Halyn: You can talk with her, get early alerts for when chapters are going to come out, and get to see extra content, now and then.
Kyandi: Right! So, if you want, do that, and enjoy and review!
Halyn: Make sure to tell us what you think of Deathmarch's quirk, too! We'll return as soon as possible.
Kyandi: Bye-bye!