We're far past the point of trying to understand each other at this point. Hazard has made it clear where he stands, and so have I. There's only one way out of it – for one of us to win. But he has to know he's on a timeframe – whatever the ninja was using to buy for time has to be up by now. And knowing that, he'll be desperate and more willing to take risks. Predict.

I pull into a slide as Hazard reached forward and slammed his fists together with a terrible clang, slamming my fist into his solar plexus as hard as I could, enough to make him stumble back a step. And only a step as he brought both fists down-!

I let out a yell as a tremendous spike of pain shot through me, shocking me to the core. I'd trained up to the sports festival to reduce the pain I felt in Blood Stark form, to try and prepare for the attacks that the likes of Izuku, Bakugou, and Kirishima could pull out. But this felt almost like taking the Howitzer Impact all over again as my body was slammed deeper into the ground. Was he hitting too hard for my pain threshold to play down? That's… terrifying. Still… I got a Hazard Level reading from that. 3.5, stronger than Kamen Rider Build starting out – feels it too.

"Andromeda!" Centipeder called out.

"Sorry Andromeda, but I ain't got tha luxury of takin' it easy on ya," Hazard remarked, before going for another slam!

I wordlessly snarled, flicking my left arm to force the cord out, sending feeling through it to quickly wrap around his left leg before slamming my arm into his other leg, harshly tugging his other leg out from under him and down onto the ground. I turned my head back to look at the lamp posts and thrust my arm out to wrap the other cord around one that was still standing, pulling back on it soon after to pull me out and to get some distance from him.

I shook my head as I steadied myself. The pain isn't anywhere near as bad now… but he hits damn hard and I won't be surprised if, win or lose, I end up with something broken because of that. And me punching with all I had only got him to stumble. Damnit.

Hazard started to pull himself up and I pushed forward at speed, slamming in a punch at his face before darting back as he swung back with another arm blow or punch – given the Smash form has two massive arms, it makes no sense either way. He's all upper body, a massive bulky gunmetal silver coloured body with two pillars with fists that somehow counted as arms. By all rights from the series, I should be on equal strength with him, if not better… but then, this isn't a TV series, and he's both in control and trained with that form. I can't assume anything.

I start to try and use my speed to dart around his body, slamming in another few punches, enough force to them to make him at least react with flinches, grunts, or steps, occasionally having to move away as he made a wild swing that was based more on reactionary instinct if I had to guess. But none of it is making an impact.

… maybe I should try more of a Bakugou move?

"You're not a fighter Hazard!" I called out, trying to the slimier sounding Evolt voice to enhance the talking down. "You sucker punch most people."

"Shuddup! It works!" Hazard declared as I darted back in for another blow – only to find him already swinging an arm at me!

The pain isn't as bad as the first blow, but it flings me down the street a little, even as I roll back to my feet. But he isn't facing me anymore, he's already running at the ninja! Damnit, he isn't TRYING to win this, all he needs to do is kill the guy! I don't have enough time to do anything fancy, so I just push into pure speed, launching into a jump kick to slam as much weight into his top-heavy form as possible before kicking off of it, flipping backwards and only just managing to land correctly.

This isn't just a ring-out match like the tournament, where I'd have probably lost if Bakugou could use his costume and use more range. This is a defend the defenceless situation. No ring outs, and no clean fights.

I grabbed his legs and pulled! Pulled to throw him back, even though for all my strength he felt like he weighed a ton! It was enough to flip him over and slam him into the ground. I let out a pant at that, even as I let go and hopped back, taking up a fighting stance.

"…why?" Hazard asked as he pulled himself up.

I stopped briefly but said nothing in response.

"I said WHY damnit! Why can't ya make tha one damn exception!" He bellowed, slamming an arm into the ground. "I getcha don' want innocent folk dyin', but he ain't innocent! Why can't you let me do this one thing? I'm tryin' ta HELP you!"

"Because it wouldn't just be this one time!" I yelled back, before pulling my voice back. "If I let someone like you kill someone, even a villain, especially when they can't protect themselves, what's to stop me from just letting it happen all the time? Or to do what you do?"

Hazard pulled himself up fully and with a yell leaped surprisingly high into the air- he's trying to use his weight this time! Damnit, this is gonna hurt, but I start to fill my pipes with Nebula Gas, before running over to where the ninja is, guessing that he's going to try and roughly land nearby.

With pops and wheezes of twin jets of gas releasing at once I launched into Hazard, wrapping my arms around him with a wince as I slammed into him, the force being enough to send us both toppling to the ground a short distance away from the ninja, only by sheer chance managing to both be standing as I let go and stepped back a step, barely avoiding another double-armed swing.

I can't let up though. I run back in and launch a punch against his face, moving backwards instead of to the side this time, avoiding him trying to out predict me before I run back in with another one-two punch and a knee to his chest, finally causing him to stumble back a bit. Not that he was going to let up as he charged back in, but as I prepared to move back he suddenly stopped just short of me and swung both of his arms into each other with a deafening clang that made my ears ring and enough force that I stumbled back a step.

I could practically hear his attempt to capitalize on it as he slammed both arms together again – even if right now I could hear precious little else as I stumbled back another step. Looking around quickly I spotted the stripped, but still mostly intact wreckage of the motor scooter from the last fight. I swung my arm and thus a cord at him, Hazard leaning to the side to try and avoid what I suspect he thought was me trying to grapple him.

So it was probably a surprise for him when I tugged my arm and the cord back as one, putting even more strength into the pull, the remainder of the mostly destroyed scooter shattering against Hazard's back, forcing him to stumble forward, as I lashed out with a kick, hoping it would hit with more force than just a rushed punch thanks to… I dunno, physics! My desperate attack landed thankfully and sent him stumbling backwards, but not over.

Damnit damnit damnit! What is he able to take, an All Might punch? There's a limit to what I can pull off, and I'd rather not risk the Steam Breaker unless I think the blow will end it, there should only be enough gas for one hit over a period. And right now, it's taking all I have just to make him stumble and hesitate!

"Y'know, for all yer talk… ya ain't doin' much." Hazard noted, tapping the side of his… head? Shoulder? Head-shoulder. Shit. I was hoping he hadn't noticed. "Oh sure, ya hurt me, more than anyone else's managed ta so far. But I bet it ain't anythin' compared ta what ya felt before."

I let out a huff that almost sounded like a sigh at that. "Well, I can't just toss you out of a ring." I pointed out with little humour in my voice. "But you're not moving all that confidently either. You're flinching when I hit… you're feeling the blows."

"I can do this all day." Hazard insisted with a laugh.

Caught off guard, I could help but let out a laugh too… and then I felt stinging at my eyes. Stinging that was followed by a hissing sound as Nebula Gas seemed to leak from my eyes. Damnit! "Why do you have to kill him?" I asked bitterly without the voice for once. "Why can't you just let this go, come quietly damnit!?"

And at that… Hazard dropped his arms. "I'm a deli clerk Andros-Andromeda, sorry. I barely got through high school, I failed as a freakin' businessman, I ain't even a passable monster. After I took down Kan and Teronosuke, I thought I had it, somethin' special I could do. Somethin' I was good at. I could help people in heroes ain't able to." As he explained, he shook his entire upper body to shake his head. "An' I've seen it. I've bin on tha streets, in tha underclass, even briefly in prison – fer that damn bad trigger. I know what scum does. Damnit, Andromeda… ya can't let me have just this one? He ain't worth riskin' yerself over."

"… worth it? No. He's at least an attempted murderer and you… were one of my friends and strongest fans." I said, wincing slightly as I did. It hurt to say that, and it's going to keep hurting, I think. I coughed a bit, sucked in a breath as I tried to ignore the stinging around my eyes again, and changed to my other voice. "But he's defenceless, he's unconscious. He's no threat. And a hero defends the defenceless! No matter who they have to face to do so, even if it's their former friends! I can't let you do this!"

And Hazard… started to shake a bit. "Ya can't let me? Yer sayin' we ain't friends no more because of one stinkin' little piece o' scum!" Hazard roared, slight wisps of grey-black gas escaping him briefly. "You aren't going to stop me doin' tha right thing ANDROMEDA!"

With that name roared out, Hazard charged forward faster than I thought he was supposed to be able too, he slammed a fist into me, sending me flying across the roads as he managed to keep pace for long enough to slam another fist into me, the motion sending me off the road and flying into a nearby wall.

"Hazard Level… 3.7." I muttered in abject shock. I completely forgot that bursts of emotion can lead to increases in one's Hazard Level… or in other words, the anger makes their transformed states (and to some extent untransformed states) stronger.

"Stay there, it's what's best fer yer right now." Hazard practically spat out, before turning around.

'It's what's best for me.' Hah. I grunted as I forced my right arm out of the wall, before starting to pull out the rest – whatever this was, it was a thick enough wall to leave an indent instead of crumbling outright.

At the sound Hazard let out a sigh and slammed his fists together a couple of times. "I ain't warnin' ya again Andromeda. Stay down." Hazard growled

I can't drag this fight out anymore. I was hoping I could just take his hits for long enough that someone would show up, but if I do, he's just gonna get angrier and risk raising his Hazard Level higher. "I won't. Because of this, I'm protecting a villain!" I declared, rushing forward and slamming not my fists, but my pams into his chest, barely being nicked by the wild swing of his fists that he threw, before lashing out with another punch. "I'm losing a friend" And I swung out another punch that he managed to block, even as I slammed my knee into him again, forcing him to stumble back. "And I refuse to lose anything else!"

At that Hazard let out a wordless cry and slammed his fist into me, sending me flying back… but it didn't hurt as much as before. No, that's not true, it hurt just as much. It just doesn't matter right now.

"Right now, I can't lose!" I bellowed out, leaping to my feet and swinging both arms out wide. Hazard brought up his own to block but the wires swung past him. Clearly having not felt anything, he dropped his guard and spun around to see if I was going to fling anything else at him – I wasn't. As I stepped back a bit and started to tighten the grip of the cords, he turned slightly and saw that each was wrapped around a lamp post.

Too late. I leaped into the air and let the cords pull me forward at the same time, pulling into a kick as I slingshot myself right into him, sending both of us flying back past the ninja and Centipeder, both unsteadily landing on our feet. I hit the ground running, stumbling slightly before pushing as much energy as I could into my legs to slam a punch into Hazard before he could recover. Then another before pulling back just enough to avoid him swinging at me.

As he went to slam both his arms together again instead, I hammered my right knee into his arm as it swung, knocking it away. My eyes were still stinging even as I continued, flat out forcing my body against his at speed before taking a short jab from him in return, sending me skidding across the tarmac.

I just ran back at him. I could already see him going for a straight jab with one arm and probably trying for an uppercut with another. I go for neither, instead launching into what is for this form a light jump over him with a slight twirl and a raised leg, hammering it down onto him as I started to come down on his other side. Bakugou's counter-counter.

Even so, it forced me to have to stumble to land, leading to another heavy jab from Hazard. If I could, I think I might have spat blood from that, it was definitely getting harder to hold onto the transformation at this point… but either I'm getting woozy from all the punches or that one came out slower. I forced out my cords to slam into the tarmac to force me to skid to a stop on my feet as I looked Hazard dead on.

Fuck it. Do or die time. I pulled the Cobra Fullbottle out of my holder, adjusting the top to face forward with a click, before sliding it into the Steam Breaker.

"COBRA!" The Bottle? Seemingly announced. I'd say the breaker but knowing Mei… Still, nothing was happening yet like this, it wasn't meant to after all.

Hazard let out a wordless roar, sounding almost animalistic as he ran at me, fists raised. I returned the cry in turn as I ran forward, turning the Breaker from facing sideways pointing forward to facing upwards, forcing the bottle to face downwards, pouring the Gas into the breaker and pushing it directly into me. And I could feel the power suddenly fill me, a surge of supercharged energy… and I leaped into the air, pushing it into my left leg as I stretched it out.

As I did, I could see a red flaming energy aura flicker around me before starting to surge, collecting and gathering around my leg before it started to take a form, at first coiling around my leg before merging with it, the energy manifesting a snake's head upon my leg, mouth opened wide.

"STEAM FINISH!" I called out with as much energy I could muster. All the anger, despair, hotblooded mix of emotions seemed to gather into that one moment as Hazard swung out his arm at my leg, the two slamming into each other.

Just like at the start of the match I felt a hot spike of pain from that impact, and for a brief moment it felt like nothing had happened as the force of his punch and my kick kept us in place for a second. And then the snake moved, chomping its head down and biting him, before surging into his body, red crackling lightning of energy shooting through before emerging out the other side, Hazard's transformed body exploding into green flame with enough force to fling me a little away, rolling on the tarmac as I felt my grip on the transformation loosen to barely anything, only the Cobra Fullbottle being in keeping me in my transformed state, and only just.

As I pulled myself up, I heard the light chuckle of… of Taro, the green fireball having cleared up with him in its wake, the grey-black Nebula Gas being the only thing left in its wake. He'd be fine aside from maybe some physical injuries… but there's one thing left I have to do. Forcing myself forward with a slight limp, I grunted a bit, even as I felt my hold slip, the transformation firing off into just grey Nebula Gas before being absorbed back into my body. I could feel pain in my leg, and what I assumed were bruises over my chest and head. And I stared at Taro, who was just… chuckling.

"Heh… good fight… but it ain't gonna change things." Taro noted. "The ninja's going to get out, and they ain't gonna send me ta Tartarus for it. And if not him…" He sighed, a sad look in his eyes. "Kinda a shame too. Ya actually sounded like someone ta listen to fer a sec. But seems like tha ol' shows… I'll get 'em next time."

I didn't answer at first, simply pulling out the Cobra bottle and reholstering it… before I reached to the next holder down. After all, I make it a habit to always have one or two empty Fullbottles on me. "… there won't be a next time Taro." I noted, slowly pulling the empty bottle up to me.

"Aw, what d'ya mean by that?" Taro asked. "Y'ain't got it in ya ta grab tha gas now."

"I don't need to." I sadly replied, holding out the hand-sized bottle with one hand and adjusting the top. I don't know what mix of physics and technology Mei and Saikyo use to pull this off, but the bottle started to suck at the air around it… and especially started to suck in the darker Nebula Gas. "You've shown me that you can't be trusted to have this power, so I'm taking it back the old-fashioned way."

Taro's eyes widened in shock. "No. No! Don't! It lets me do some-"

"You've already made your speech before," Centipeder noted. I turned and saw that… he's still there. No progress apparently, but annoyingly the fight was too fast to try and pull him out. "And it's a selfish reasoning. You don't want to be a hero; you don't want peace… you want to be special. You've lost yourself to the fantasy that what you do is right."

Before Taro can say anything else, the Fullbottle sucked up the last of the darker Nebula Gas with a hiss, before I adjusted the top to the sealed mode with a twist and a metallic-sounding click. The bottle swelled out in my hand, a reaction with the Nebula Gas that I assume Mei put in to be accurate-

And then it pulls back in on itself, the bottle shaking slightly as the black top and bottle start to gain colour, as the condensing clear layer gains a familiar indent as a dark blue tank is decorated onto it.

"… refined Nebula Gas… of course, you really were a living Fullbottle," I noted, even as I put the Tank Fullbottle back on the holster.

Taro let out a sound that half sounded like a cat being thrown around after being dunked in water… before he slumped back on the ground. Knocked out it seemed. I sighed as I walked towards the wreckage… only for the sounds of explosions to echo from nearby-

"What the fuck happened here?" Bakugou questioned as he landed beside Centipeder, facing me. "Oi, Galaxy Suit, what the-"

"Technopath Ninja pinned Centipeder in, got knocked out by someone who I thought was my friend who then tried to kill him, so I had to knock him out," I noted bluntly. "I'm not having a good day Katsuki, less of the fucking aggro act, help me get this loose, then you can tell me why you're late."

Bakugou growled at that… then narrowed his eyes. "You said you fought two people?" He asked.

"Yeah, the other is-" I started, and my jaw practically dropped as I looked back. How. The fuck. Had someone taken the ninja from his crater without me seeing it?

"You don't do anything by halves Ninjutsu," Genjutsu muttered, pulling away on a motorcycle that to all the world would just look like one person was riding on it. "Even unexpected disasters."

"Mmmfn…" Ninjutsu hiss-mumbled.

"Don't speak," Genjutsu warned. "That… Smash's hit wasn't pulling punches. You're lucky to even be conscious right now, let alone alive." Even so, the stoic and serious-minded illusion ninja couldn't help but smile. "… but sensei is right. We do have an interesting target."

Ninjutsu didn't reply, which didn't surprise him. He'd been downplaying just how bad of a hit Ninjutsu had taken, but according to Lady Papillion, he was to be brought back anyway. Genjutsu couldn't guess as to why, but he didn't question his Master's instructions.

It was luck and heroics that meant he could even be there. When Ninjutsu's communication feed went dead – as with everything powered by his Quirk – he'd left a multilayered multisensory illusion to buy time. The explosive boy's arrival might have secured the battle earlier, but it would have made it much harder to extract Ninjutsu.

Although given the way Lady Papillion had laughed when she mentioned she'd 'Call in some favors' to fix him… Genjutsu wasn't sure if Ninjutsu would appreciate the gesture.

It was only a few minutes later that Bubble Girl had shown up with the police in tow. It was a few more after that when Sir arrived, and only a moment after that when an ambulance showed up. The ride to the hospital was a bit tense, Sir riding with me to try and keep my spirits up, but given it was the second time that week I had been at a hospital it left me nervous.

And then after the tests were run, Sir Nighteye stepped into the room with Bubble Girl and Bakugou – Centipeder was getting his own tests run. "I'll be blunt. You could have been in a far worse situation Nebulos." Nighteye remarked. "But thanks to Centipeder, you won't be seeing any legal issues. That's the good news."

"… the lack of problems with the cops is good news?" I asked in slight horror.

"Well, it's not all the good news!" Bubble Girl insisted. "While you've injured your leg and have some bruises, with the right medical care you'll be fine quickly!"

And Bakugou… smirked a little shit-eating grin at that. "What they're not saying is that Nighteye knows the old bat at the nurses' office." He cut in.

There was a tense moment as I could hear an oversized needle tapping against the floor and I paled.

"And I believe that's our cue to leave you in Recovery Girl's ample care," Nighteye remarked as the group walked out, clearly trying to avoid Recovery Girl as she walked in seeming to radiate a dark aura.

"YOU ABSOLUTELY FOOLISH-"

Katsuki sighed as he pressed against the door to try and muffle the sound. "Fucking rollercoaster this was. First Deku and the others end up against the Hero Killer, and now Galaxy Suit fought a ninja and a monster." He grumbled out.

"You almost sound jealous," Nighteye remarked with a slight smile.

Katsuki just let out an angry huff of air in reply to that, going to speak but interrupted by

"AND I WAS JUST SUPPOSED TO LEAVE HIM? I'm training to be a hero, I need to-"

Until THAT was blocked off by Bubble Girl flinging some bubbles to the door to keep absorbing the sound. "Didn't think he'd give as good as he gets." Bubble Girl admitted.

"Been there, seen that," Katsuki muttered.

"About that actually…" Bubble Girl noted. "You said you were dealing with some sort of illusionist?"

"A crappy one too – or he only bothered to do research on Galaxy Suit," Katsuki explained. "Bunch of fucking light and sound shows, then when they stopped doing that, they tried to make me think I dreamed it."

"And what told you it wasn't?" Nighteye questioned.

Katsuki snorted. "Simple. Everyone in the class was sucking up to me. That's not who they are, and that's not what I've wanted since the fucking Sludge Villain. Give him credit, he turned it around after… but I already know I'm a shitty person." Katsuki remarked. Both adults glanced at each other for a moment, before Katsuki waved a hand. "Don't look too deep into that, the dogman is already talking with me about it."

Even after an… impressively loud argument with Recovery Girl, she still conceded in the end and healed me up under the consideration that I saved a life. And let me tell you, it's weird being healed by her. You feel a rush from being all healed… and that rush immediately crashes afterwards when it hits an iron wall of exhaustion.

Still, Nighteye and the others – Centipeder had apparently decided to stay overnight to make sure nothing was wrong – helped make our way back to the agency, if only to pick up the gear.

"No, not just to pick up your gear," Nighteye remarked as we entered. "I will be driving the two of you back. While there will be little blowback from the incident, I want to make sure that both of you make it home safely."

The worst part was I was too tired to argue with that, and Bakugou seemed to swallow down any protest he had for some reason. I was fine with being escorted home though, I was feeling worn out, barely cracking a smile as Bakugou attempted to race out of the car once we got to his place… only for his mother to burst out and the two to start yelling at one another. It took a little while after that for us to get going again, but I didn't mind. It rekindled some faded memories, both of this life and the last, leaving me feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

Thankfully Yubi was waiting out the front of the building as Nighteye drove up to the building, and after escorting me in – and using Foresight just to make sure – he left and it was just the slow elevator ride up.

"Well. You had an interesting internship week." Yubi commented eventually, breaking a brief silence. "… I heard you have another Fullbottle. Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head at that, silent. Even so, the feeling of gloom I felt from that didn't stay, as Mei burst through and grabbed me in a powerful hug – literally, as she seemed to be testing some sort of exoframe for her arms – and Te fussed over me and my suit. I barely got two words in before Mei insisted I sit down at the table.

"Mama tried to call you before and heard it go straight to messages – and then when I got in, she told me," Mei explained. "So, I assumed that the worst had happened, and it had been destroyed-!"

"That was your worst-case scenario?" I asked weakly.

"You're strong enough that she didn't think she needed to worry," Te noted with a chortle, one Yubi joined in on.

Mei pressed forward regardless. "Sooo, I pulled out a project I started to work on since I accidentally gave you that EMP. Tada!" At that, she pulled out… a deep red phone with the Blood Stark emblem on the back, a smartphone at that. Below the emblem was a symbol showing Mei's smiling face. "The Mei-ble Smartphone. Designed to be EPM-proof, blast-proof, with the latest firewalls, fantastic Wi-Fi capability and it's energy-efficient!"

"Don't worry, I double-checked it," Yubi remarked. "And had Te triple check it. No extreme side effects."

I blinked at that… and I simply picked the phone up… and smiled, feeling a slight burning at my eyes as I did. I blinked twice and simply hugged Mei. "Thank you." I insisted.

Mei just smiled, and for once didn't say a word in return.