Metahuman Network File [Excerpt]
Hero Name: Singularity
Hero Class: Superhero
Meta-Ability: Gravity Control [Emitter].
Her quirk allows her to manipulate the gravity of objects that she touches with all five fingertips at once.
She is capable of amplifying gravitational pull exerted on any object up to the equivalent of 5g. As of a few days ago, she can also concentrate the gravity on sphere-shaped (about a few centimetres in diameter) areas of air on touch, making it pull anything in the vicinity with up to 5g of strength. She can launch those, but they only remain active for up to ten seconds. Using this super move is also tiring her greatly.
She can only steal gravity from independently existing objects. She can't, for example, de-gravitate a building by touching a wall, unless it is collapsing and the part she touched is no longer connected to the ground through its foundation. She can spread the effects from object to object, for as long as they are in physical contact (yet still aren't connected to the ground) and she is touching one of them. She can also de-activate the effect whenever she wants.
Prolonged usage of her power on people causes nausea, especially pronounced if she uses it on herself. She can alleviate that side-effect entirely if she merely makes herself very light rather than entirely weightless.
She is equipped in body armour that takes advantage of her weight-altering quirk for increased protection and mobility. Her equipment includes a riot shield and a sniper rifle optimized with her meta-ability in mind. It can only fire non-lethal projectiles (either electrocuting the target or injecting them with chemical sedatives).
Recommendations: Long-range engagements. She can scale a building quickly and provide overwatch. Disaster-relief, especially in urban settings - she is capable of unearthing a collapsed building in a matter of minutes, by using her meta-ability on parts of it and then throwing them out, with zero risk to people trapped under them.
(***)
It was honestly a matter of time. Especially once Overhaul fielded some of his new villains right next to his thugs. Eventually, some of Aizawa's police officers had to run into one of them. Resulting in a scuffle.
In this case, a patrol ran into a group of yakuza thugs that were going through the neighbourhood to collect protection money. And for as much as none of the two police officers in the car considers themselves to be heroic individuals (especially not for pay like this), they were things they couldn't let slip.
Such as two yakuza thugs beating up a defenceless girl while forcing her father (who didn't have enough money prepared) to watch. On the street. In broad daylight.
Alright. It was quite a while since the police actually showed up on that street. But it wasn't far from the regularly patrolled area, which meant that it was still quite an escalation. For the yakuza (since they dared to act like that here of all places) and for the police, who actually tried to expand the protected area. For the first time in at least a year.
The situation almost immediately escalated into a rushed firefight between two police officers and several yakuza thugs. The former immediately called for backup. And then, when they began to see things and one of them was almost impaled by a glass spike that went through their car like it was made from plasticine, for more back-up.
(***)
One perk of acting alongside the police was that the Takoba superheroes had someone actually knowledgeable to tell them when shit might fly.
Izuku knew a lot of things, but he could never hope to get anywhere close to the level of knowledge about the local criminal activity of, for example, superintendent Aizawa. No amount of individual research could bring him close within a reasonable time-span.
More than that, he had someone who had years of experience in predicting the operations of the local criminals in charge of their war effort. And that changed everything immensely. Especially as superintendent Aizawa was a crafty one.
He expanded the patrol routes, knowing that there would be a confrontation. Sooner or later. It was reconnaissance by force, with one superhero on standby relatively close to it at all times over the past two days. And a handful of police officers (pretty much everything that he could spare to act as a reserve force) on standby, also close, but separately.
When the skirmish started, Kirishima Eijirou and officer Sansa Tamakawa were the designated guard duo. They rushed towards the site of the firefight. The 'official' relief force proceeded towards the same point, but from a different direction.
Izuku Midoriya was alerted as well. He was a bit too far to make it to battle in the normal way, but he had Eclipse start opening her warpgate. In the meantime, he was limited to being the mission control.
He quickly analyzed what he could from the panicked report of the police officers present on-sight. He was going to help Gargoyle as much as he could, even from a distance.
The thugs realized things were going nasty for them. So close to the police-controlled area they weren't ready for a firefight. Thankfully for the two police officers who would have totally died if the yakuza didn't decide to return after trashing their car and wounding one of them.
Unfortunately for the yakuza, the officers reported the direction towards which the thugs retreated. And Kirishima was in the right position to intercept them.
Aizawa phoned him. They quickly started making arrangements.
(***)
"It's glass manipulation." Defiant tells Kirishima through the secure commlink when he is leaving officer Tamakawa's patrol car. Sansa has an earpiece as well. They came prepared. "Engage away from larger amounts of glass, and watch for attacks from multiple directions."
Makes sense. All he has to do is to miss a single window behind him, and suddenly there is an attack going from that direction.
"I think that I have a good match-up, though?" Kirishima replies while both of them are running down the alleyway. He would feel much better if he had an actual hero outfit, but no. Only a hoodie and communication equipment. "I'm harder than glass."
"Theoretically." Defiant replies scarcely. "Are you sure that the insides of your ears are hardened as well?"
Ouch. He didn't think of that. And ears are only one of the bodily orifices that can be used as a point of entry if the enemy glass manipulation is detailed enough. He doesn't like the images that his imagination conjures.
Tamakawa gets to the corner first. He looks behind it, yells FREEZE, and immediately hides before a handful of bullets whizzed through the air next to them.
"Alright, they are resisting arrest." The officer calmly announces. "You're free to engage. The villain is the young woman with black hair."
He doesn't say it, but Kirishima is supposed not to kill or permanently maim anyone. They had that talk earlier. He was rather talkative about it, actually. And the time spent in the car was rather boring, so there was a lot of talking.
The police officer was also rather adamant in that Kirishima is allowed to kill if he has to choose between his life and theirs. But other than that, this should be the absolute last resort. Any kill was going to be reviewed up to the most minuscule details in order to find out if it truly was the only option. And there might have been consequences if it wasn't.
Kirishima hardens his entire body and runs behind the corner.
This is an alleyway lodged behind the rundown buildings. Four yakuza thugs and the woman fulfilling Sansa's description of the villain. They have guns. She has two orbs of glass floating above her head.
They were running towards the direction from which Kirishima arrived, only to be startled by Sansa showing up. And now, by the monster charging at them.
"FUCK, IT'S A HERO!" One thug yells.
Wow. Now it really feels like they are all starring in a superhero movie, aren't they? The situation would be even more like that if they yelled his hero name, but obviously, it's yet to become known.
Baby steps, Kirishima.
They have enough time to fire at him. He can feel the bullets (it's all small arms, good luck harming him in any way), but it's pretty much prickles to him.
"Take them down first." Defiant advises.
Ah. Makes sense. What if she exhausts him enough that his hardening fails while they are still around? That would be one stupid way to die.
He might not have a full uniform, but he isn't completely without equipment. He is strong, yes, but he lacks experience in fighting seriously in this form. It strengthens him. What if he punches someone a bit too strong? They had to figure out a countermeasure.
Mei responded by electrocuting him. Thus discovering that in his hardened form, his skin conducts electricity only barely. And that gave her options. Including one that she ended up realizing.
Taser knuckle dusters. Aka Baby #5. Alchemist was a scary woman. But she knew how to make the manliest of weapons.
The goons were all in front of the villain. They were all strong people. But not strong enough to remain in the fighting conditions after being electrocuted. All he had to do was lightly tap them.
All that Kirishima felt was the slight numbness of his fists. He could fight through that, no problem!
"Harden your body, now!" Defiant shouts suddenly. Kirishima listens to him (the drone is probably above them already) and goes as hard as possible. Two seconds later, he is still sent flying with a sound of shattering glass to accompany him.
What?
He hits the wall with a loud thump. It partially caves in. He doesn't care. He immediately stands up.
He doesn't seem harmed by the attack (what was it?) in the slightest. But he will probably have a nasty bruise once he deactivates the hardening. It would probably be worse if Defiant didn't warn him.
He must be watching the battle through a drone's camera. So Kirishima has eyes in the skies on his side. Nice. He still shouldn't let himself get caught by an attack like that.
"Fuck." The villain says. The glass balls are gone. Instead, there is something resembling a glass battering ram floating right next to her. One of its ends looks cracked, but it's quickly reforming back into a smooth surface. "You're a tough one, huh?"
Tamakawa makes himself known by stepping beyond the corner and firing at her a few times. She saw his arrival in time to reform the battering ram into a circular shield. It doesn't look tough (it's glass! and at best two centimetres of it!) but somehow, the rounds failed to pierce it. There are large cracks on the surface, but they quickly start mending.
The cracks are all near the edges of the shield. Officer Tamakawa wasn't trying to hit her. It was just a distraction. Probably a reaction to seeing Kirishima flying.
"Looks like…" Defiant comments as she shaves some of the glass from the edge of her shield and fires it as an arrow at Sansa. He jumps behind the corner in time. "... she can make the glass she controls harder."
"No kidding." Kirishima tries not to be sarcastic, but it's rather obvious that it's not just a normal glass. Even to him.
"Buy some time." Defiant decides to not retort anything back. Knowing him, he realized that he just said something stupid and decided to ignore it. And let the memory fade. "We'll be there in five minutes. Don't let her escape onto the main street."
Yeah. So much glass to manipulate. And perhaps some passersby to get harmed in the crossfire. Plus, yeah, witnesses.
"You know what? This isn't manly at all!" Kirishima yells and the villain looks at him weirdly. "A hero and a villain fighting, and we didn't even introduce ourselves? I'm Gargoyle. What's your villain name?"
Mustard clearly had a nickname. Overhaul as well. Did the remaining Shie Hasseikai super-thugs have nicknames like that as well?
"Glassmaker." She replies. For a second or two, Kirishima is graced by a vision of Overhaul going through old superhero comics in his free time between peddling drugs and killing people, all to figure out how to make his villains more villainous. By finding them appropriate villain names, for example.
At least they are still behind in villain uniforms. Overhaul should hire a proper stylist. She is wearing just simple trousers and a T-shirt. It's not villainous at all. Give her a bulletproof vest, at least!
"Nice." Kirishima palms his fist with fervour and vigour. "Now, it's going to be a proper fight."
His skills in buying time suck. Besides, she was clearly about to attack him now that the introductions ended. So it's time for him to take the initiative.
He charges again. She fires a few glass pellets at him. They bounce off causing no damage, so she changes her tactic. She forms a glass shield in her left hand, leaving the rest of her glass to float behind her, once again formed like a battering ram.
Nasty. Considering the impact that sent him flying earlier, she must be able to make her glass fly pretty quick. Something to keep in mind while engaging.
He delivers a nasty punch to the centre of the shield, just to test its durability. It partially shatters but quickly reforms. She retaliates with her battering ram, but this time he knows that it's coming. He hardens the area surrounding the impact point (his abdomen) to the max.
He is slightly pushed back, but not sent flying again. He can do it!
She curses him, but he isn't giving her the time to respond to that. Another punch, the shield partially shattered once again. Before she can reorganize it, he responds to her earlier attack with a gut-punch of his own.
With a taser knuckle duster. He feels vaguely satisfied when it goes off, only for Izuku to yell at him to fortify his left side. So he does just that.
Then he is sent flying again. What the hell is with this day? He is extremely heavy when in this form (Alchemist absolutely freaks out when this is brought up, WHERE IS THAT MASS COMING FROM and so on), her attacks must be incredibly strong. Worst of all, he lost the earpiece this time.
She would probably kill any normal person with a single blow. That's a scary meta-ability if he ever saw one. Thankfully, he is sturdy enough to take it.
But why did the taser… oh.
She looks at him, grinning nastily when he raises up from the ground. And she raises her blueish T-shirt up a little.
Under her clothes, she is wearing armour of glass. It doesn't conduct electricity all too well, now isn't it?
She seems to be taunting him now.
Kirishima Eijirou thinks that it's an unmanly thing to use violence on women. Of course, it's only a bit more unmanly than using violence on men. However, there are exceptions to that.
The first one is when you have to protect someone. Some people cannot be discouraged with words, especially when you aren't very gifted with them. Kirishima isn't (Mina very much is). This exception isn't at play here.
But the other one is. When someone is clearly a fighter and they want to fight you. For whatever reason. Then not giving your all is simply disgraceful, especially to them. And unmanly by definition. Regardless of who they are.
Considering the fact that she sent him flying not once, but twice, it's time to acknowledge that she is powerful. And she wants to fight him. So he'll happily oblige. Without metaphorical gloves on. They are both warriors, so it's just a matter of personal decency. And perhaps some honour.
He reapplies his hardening and pushes it to the maximum. Everywhere. It makes him look scary, yes. He can see the brief freak-out of Glassmaker when she sees it. She can't even see his face (he is still masked, despite taking down his hoodie to not get it shredded - at least he dyed his hair temporarily so officer Tamakawa doesn't see too much), and that's the objectively scariest part of him in this mode.
Then he charges forward. Her battering ram is still there, but it fails to even slow him down. The concrete tiles under his feet are shattering under the strain, but he ignores that. He ignores everything.
He collides with her shield and shatters it entirely. She yells something and tries to jump sideways, but he doesn't allow that. He slows down at the last second (he doesn't want to kill her), but the collision with him is enough to send her flying backwards.
She lands on the ground on her back. She tries to stand up, but she is dazed and hurt by the impact… and he doesn't give her the time. Suddenly, she discovers himself on top of him. His fist raised.
"It will hurt." He announces. "Feel free to surrender at any point."
She doesn't surrender. Instead, she gathers as much glass as she can. From her weapon, from her shield, from her body. Glassmaker does her best to use it to stop the rain of blows he is unleashing on her upper body.
Each punch sounds the same. Woosh followed by a sound of glass cracking. If Kirishima's body was now that of flesh and blood, the glass shards would have massacred his hands. If Glassmaker's quirk didn't let her control said shards, they would massacre everything above her chest.
She is screaming at him incoherently. He doesn't stop the attack. Blow after blow. Each subsequent attack is stopped by her glass closer to her body.
Glassmaker tries to retaliate. She goes after his eyes. He would lose those if they weren't just as tough as the rest of his body right now. And he doesn't give her time to think about another attack. He doesn't give her the time to go after his ears or mouth.
His tactic might be rather savage. But it works. He is overpowering her bit by bit. And he can see it in her eyes that she understands it.
She doesn't surrender. And he isn't in a mood to give her even a second of pause.
She is working for the same man who sent thugs to kidnap Mina and kill him. This doesn't make him feel like he should be particularly courteous towards her. Only enough to fight her seriously and not kill, but other than that… nope.
Finally, she cannot stop his attack entirely. And since his fists are wearing literal tasers on them, (and despite the impacts they sustained, they still work! Alchemist is wonderful), this is all that he needs.
She shakes a bit and then goes limp. Her glass drips down to the ground, like some odd liquid. Then it freezes there, all around her.
Kirishima takes off one of his knuckle dusters and checks out her pulse. Yep. Alive. Merely tased into unconsciousness.
Mission accomplished.
And holy shit if he isn't still riding high on adrenaline. That was the second most awesome thing he ever did in his life. He fought against a villain (well, a supervillain by the nomenclature from before the Metahuman Network)! Someone who had supernatural powers! And he won!
Awesome.
If you didn't think about what happened to Mina, Eri and Tsuyu. Superpowers were cool, and so was fighting the villains alongside the police, but…
Deaths were for real. And so were emotional scars for the victims. And who knows how many nasty things were happening to nice people elsewhere at that very moment. Getting too hyped about all of that was… well, it was internally conflicting.
This wasn't a superhero cartoon. The villains didn't make maniacal plans for world conquest, only to be foiled before anyone was permanently harmed. Almost every single time. It was… well, enough of a perspective to slightly calm down his emotional high.
Then again, someone had to do it. And standing up for the bad guys was the peak of manliness. It's what he wanted himself to do ever since he saw Mina do it.
"Officer Tamakawa?" He says while standing up from the unconscious Glassmaker. The police officer figured that the fight was over and was approaching him already. "Do your magic."
The police officer is pulling out his handcuffs while hiding his gun.
"Good job, kid." He says with a faint (and visibly relieved) smile. "I'll take it from here."
(***)
Izuku is completely alright with someone else stealing the laurels of first villain apprehension among the Metahuman Network members. Kirishima earned it. He saw the whole fight through the drone feed, and let's be honest, Gargoyle was absolutely awesome.
And manly. That's probably a very important adjective that will be used to describe this encounter at least multiple times. With Ashido appearing exasperated by that, despite clearly being amused by it.
He is happy that everything ended well. No serious wounds to Kirishima. Villain apprehended. None of the two police officers from the attacked patrol died - though the one attacked by Glassmaker will have to spend awhile in the hospital.
Besides, Izuku still has the laurels of being the first Metahuman Network member to save someone from a villain. Namely, Eri. And that's the most important laurel to have. His friends can take all the other laurels for as long as they all return safely from whatever excursion led them to earn it.
He arrives at the ambush location through Eclipse's warpgate. Kirishima returns to the base - he needs to de-harden and deal with whatever bruises the fight gave him. Mina enthusiastically volunteered to help him.
Making him blush like that was probably the point of the offer.
(she acts much more cheerfully than when they met her for the first time, but she is still far from being healed. Wounds like that take years to close. But she is doing better, and that's the really important bit)
"Eclipse, open the warpgate to Tartarus." He says. Mieko Eto (naturally masked) nods and starts working on it.
Officer Tamakawa finished handcuffing the villain and the remaining thugs. Superintendent Aizawa already sent out someone to pick them up, now they only have to pick Glassmaker out. She is a bit of a special case.
A special case that, if anyone not from those in the know asked, never existed. And certainly wasn't in Takoba. And never had a scuffle with a superhero.
Izuku wonders whose idea it was to call the superintendent Aizawa's best attempt at villain-imprisonment 'Tartarus'. But it sounds sufficiently intimidating, he has to admit.
Now he has the coordinates of it. And Aizawa should be en route to it right now, just in the conventional way.
They promised Izuku a tour. He is looking forward to it.
He looks much less forward to the concept of technically illegal incarceration without the right to meet your lawyer, without the right to a fair trial and all of that. But it's better than any conceivable alternative. And it will only last until Reveal Day. Should be a few months from now.
Everyone involved claims to be ready to take responsibility for this. Whoever wasn't sufficiently idealistic about their work has left the local police when the first pay cuts happened.
Small mercies, really.
(***)
The next chapter will include a visit to the precursor of Tartarus. A rather low-budget precursor to Tartarus. And you have no idea who is the head warden :V Oh this will be hilarious.