"You won't be enacting your so-called 'justice' today Hero Killer. Why?"
Midoriya Izuku wasn't sure what he had been getting into that day when he had run at the sludge villain to save Ka-chan. He'd barely known what he was getting into when he'd been attacked by the same villain earlier that day and All Might had saved him. He'd known even less at the USJ. But there was one thing for sure.
"Because I am here."
It wasn't the same as what All Might did, but the stance he was taking, the way he talked, every little part of it seemed to be a copy of the way All Might presented himself when arriving on a scene to save someone!
The Hero Killer, clearly at this point driven beyond sanity by rage and bloodlust, charged forward, darting from side to side. He saw Todoroki moving to raise some Ice, even as he prepared to leap, but the man held up a hand. "You've done enough for now." The man insisted. "Protect the others."
His other arm, which had dug into a suit pocket, blurred as it threw something out. Stain clearly saw it coming as he jumped as he ran, but the man had already started to move far faster than Izuku thought someone with that frame could, matching or even exceeding Stain's own pace, running at full pace before ducking low milliseconds before Stain's knives swung where he would have been, before pulling up to full height as he moved, hands lashing out and grabbing Stain out of mid-air, the hero then let his legs lift off the ground, tucking up and avoiding a stab from Stain, slamming his own weight into Stain, sending them both slamming into the ground.
This took a few seconds and Izuku was barely managing to keep up with every motion, his eyes wide as he took the fight in with intense focus.
"You… what makes you think… you can use HIS…" Stain started to rant… and then for a moment the intense pressure the Hero Killer had been giving off seemed to almost… splutter. "His… you're... Sir Nighteye!" He swung an unpinned arm with a knife held still in it, pulling himself up as Sir Nighteye seemed to pull off… only to grab at Stain's arm and neck, spinning the villain around and slamming him into the ground, twisting at said wrist in the process to force him to drop the knife.
"'Hero Killer' Stain. At this point, I am declaring you under citizen's arrest, until such time as you can be handed over to the proper authorities." Sir Nighteye simply remarked.
"Why? WHY ARE YOU-" Stain started.
"Because All Might can't stop everyone himself." Sir Nighteye sharply interrupted. "And because someone had to stop you from getting rid of the people who can help. Because you were going to kill a man and potentially several children to enact 'justice'... and in the opinion of some, just for making a valid point." The last remark was accompanied by a cold and accusatory glare.
At that, Stain let out what sounded like a cry of pure rage- and then suddenly cut out dropping limp as he did.
"Is he…" Ashido started.
"Unconscious, but alive. He's likely pushed his body far past what it could take, and it finally caught up with him." Sir Nighteye remarked.
As they tied the villain up with some nearby rope, Sasaki Mirai (better known as Sir Nighteye) assessed the situation, quickly gathering information from the heroes in training. Not a single one of them had a license. That was troubling, given they had made most of the effort in taking down the hero killer. Yes, one of them had done so for a selfish reason – as Nebulos had suspected out of Iida Tenya – but the others had either recognized the Hero Killer's pattern or their own friend's pattern. Speaking of…
"While I cannot praise you four for breaking the law… it does feel good to know that All Might has such a class of students to work with." Mirai noted. The Iida boy flinched. Rightly so, he had done the most wrong out of all of them, but from what he was able to gather from the scene and the one unbiased source in this – that of Native – he had at least redeemed himself by the end. "I will see what can be done about the… situation the law will have to deal with."
"What do you mean?" Midoriya Izuku asked. All Might's successor. And he seemed to be the central pillar the others looked to in the group, with an energy in his eyes that seemed at least a little similar to Mirio's own. And a little bit of awe.
"Technically what you kids did was against the law – fighting without a hero's license or a supervising hero giving permission," Native noted. "I'm grateful, even to you, Iida – you started for the wrong reason, yes, but I can understand it. But it's a tricky situation."
The mood became a bit more crestfallen at that… hmm, even with the situation, they did act like heroes. He held back a bit and placed a hand on Midoriya's shoulder "I'd still take personal pride. You all took on the Hero Killer with few injuries. A villain who has killed multiple heroes through shock attacks and speed alone." Mirai insisted.
The students seemed to brighten up at that, even as they reached the end of the alleyway-
"Wha- why are you here?"
"Gran Torino?" Midoriya called out, Sasaki's eyes widening slightly as he turned and looked, only for the old man to zip through the air and lightly kick Midoriya in the face – using his Quirk to slow it to a light tap at best, Toshinori had told him about this once or twice.
"I thought I told you to stay on the bullet train!" Gran Torino called out. Ah, this explains it. "And what do I see? Not just the Hero Killer, but you're with All Might's old Sidekick!"
"It's around here!"
Before Mirai could get a word in, other heroes had rushed in – including among others a blonde in a green two-toned jumpsuit and red neck scarf that looked at Ashido – and a whirlwind of discussion, phone calls for Ambulances and the Police, discussions and comforting from the heroes, as well as them asking about his presence here. It was easy enough to give quick reasoning – he'd been running his own investigation into the Hero Killer – but he kept his distance. Watching as the Ashido girl was admonished by the girl in green. Watching as the Todoroki boy – the two-toned hair made it obvious – and Midoriya were approached by the Iida boy, tears in his eyes. He didn't try to listen to the conversation, but just looked for a moment and appreciated that none of them had been injured.
… even so, it might be a bit of a cheat, but he wanted to look a little into Midoriya's future. To try and understand what made Toshinori pick him over Mirio. He started to look at the fil-
"Get down!" Gran Torino and Mirai shouted in unison, as one of the 'Nomu' creatures, yellow in color, flying and bleeding, swooped down towards them. He could see it clearly with Foresight, he had seen it grab Midoriya Izuku, and then it would take off again, using it's powerful wingbeats not only to buffet the heroes but Midoriya himself with intense winds. It had only been a glimpse, but it was all he had needed to see, as he turned while the Nomu swooped, reaching into his pockets as it grabbed Midoriya, and as it took off again he tossed a weight with all his strength.
Each of the seals that he had on them were extremely heavy for their size, being hyper dense. Their rounded, narrow shape made them perfect to throw as they would attract minimum drag, and with the amount of force he threw it, one hit would be enough to disrupt even a super tough villain for a moment, especially as he had aimed it where the solar plexus should be to knock the wind out of it. The moment he threw the seal he started to move, briefly dipping into Foresight again and spreading his arms and letting momentum carry him to grab Midoriya carefully as the villain dropped him. Even as he caught the young hero most would have prepared to endure a counterattack… but in this case, it wasn't necessary. He'd already seen what was happening before his eyes – Gran Torino using the brief pause in the air currents to bounce off of the pavement, into the air, and then down into the Nomu, slamming it into the concrete.
"Gotta say… you really show your experience Nighteye." Gran Torino commented, standing on top of the Nomu. "What was that you threw? A seal?"
Well, you need to find a way to inject humor into what you do, and after this, a smile could be needed. "Would it be cliché to say I want to stamp out crime?" Mirai asked, not trying to gather too much emotion to his voice.
He wasn't sure that the awkward silence he received was deserved.
The hospital. Sir hadn't taken any injuries from the fight apparently but given his involvement in the Hero Killer incident – as they were calling it – and briefly fighting the Nomu, he had remained at the hospital when not taking statements. And I suspected that I knew why. It was the sole reason that I had gotten permission to go there – I asked Bakugou, but one could imagine what his reaction was. It became less of a shock when I found out I was being escorted there by Mirio, however.
"I understand why you're going there." Mirio had explained. "But Sir wouldn't want you to be wasting the time you have with us."
As such, we had spent the entire train ride discussing hypothetical battle scenarios and predictions one could make about the opponent. Really the length and breadth of situations Mirio brought up was amazing. Sudden avalanches, villains using transformation Quirks, what if one has a gun, and more. It does show how he came to be one of the big three of U.A.
Still, the hospital. I was a bit nervous about this. Oh, I'd excused my reason with Mirio as going there to check on my classmates – something he gave a knowing smile about – but in reality, it was more of a debrief on the situation. Really says something that I was still holding onto week-old worries about myself until Mirio helped, but I'm still trying to take on the issues of the others. I couldn't spot many reporters at the moment; the news mustn't be out yet. It felt weird being back in one of these though, no bad flashbacks thankfully.
Sir was standing in the waiting room waiting for us and wordlessly gestured us over. "The students are all recovering in one of the rooms, although aside from Midoriya Izuku overexerting himself to near exhaustion and the Iida boy's stab wounds, they've mostly managed to get away with only minor injuries – nicks and the like from near misses," Nighteye explained as we walked down the hallways. "Mirio, thank you for bringing Nebulos along."
"I couldn't just let him come out by himself… and if a friend wants to look out for his friends, I can't stop him either." Mirio insisted proudly, pointing a thumb at himself with a smile so bright I think I'm getting glare from looking at it through my suit – travel suit, not my hero costume.
Sir smiled a little at that, making the display all the brighter in my eyes… before he gestured to the room. "We'll stay out here while you talk, and then once you're done, I have my car here ready to get us back to the office." He explained.
I simply nodded at that and went to go through the door… only for it to open first as a slightly steamed looking Gran Torino exited. "Ah, so you must be one of their friends, right? Go on in. I need to have a talk with Sir Nighteye anyway." Gran Torino noted.
I nodded again and slid past him, not exactly enthusiastic about what conversation the mentor and ex-sidekick of All Might could be having. As I entered, I noticed that while Todoroki, Izuku, and Iida were in hospital gowns, Mina was in her hero costume. Lack of injuries I suppose. I like the new scarf she has though, even if it looks worse for wear.
"Andros!" Mina exclaimed eagerly. "Didn't expect you to show up!"
I simply smiled and nodded… and a slight feeling of awkwardness entered the room… before I let out a sigh and looked at Iida. "… I'm-" I started
"You don't need to apologize Nebulos-kun." Iida remarked with a shaky smile. "… while I stand by what I said before, I can also tell I let my rage and grief blind me when you were just trying to look out for me. I should be the one apologizing."
"No, you shouldn't." I insisted. "You're right, I should've been more thorough in checking, but if you hadn't gone after him a man WOULD have lost his life last night."
"But-" Iida began, before cutting himself off.
Silence started to fill the room again- "Why don't you just both agree you were both wrong?" Todoroki pointed out. "And we can talk about where we go from here."
"Todoroki-kun…" Izuku commented. Something that happens a bit more here than what I remember but hey, it's a thing.
Still, Iida looked a bit stunned at that… before smiling a little and holding out his unbandaged hand towards me. I smiled back and took it, shaking it. "… you are planning on getting any extra damage in the other arm fixed right?" I questioned.
"How do you even know that?" Mina questioned. "You said you didn't remember much."
"Is it wrong that I can remember how stubborn Iida is sometimes?!" I answered.
"Your track record isn't spotless." Iida, of all people, deadpanned, causing me to let out a surprised laugh. "But I wasn't going to as a reminder of my failure here…"
"And then I pointed out that while it's very manly of him, Recovery Girl would string him up if she ever heard about that," Mina added.
"And it's not practical for Iida in the long run," Todoroki added. I suppose Hand Crusher wouldn't fit him this time anyway.
"The sentiment is nice, but not practical." Izuku reluctantly added.
Iida sighed. "Then I'll just have to rely on you all to be my reminders… to be what reminds me not to stray from the path of a hero again!" He declared
"Ah… um… what's going on with stuff about the hero killer?" I asked, wanting to avoid Iida getting too hyped up.
Izuku, his arms bandaged and clearly having pushed his body harder than it should have, let out a sigh. "We can't really say." Izuku pointed out.
I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth. "And that says it all. How's Endeavour taking it?" I questioned.
Todoroki raised a red brow. "He seems annoyed that your mentor is getting the credit and not me, apparently." At that, he raised his phone to indicate it was his sister who had told him.
"… wait what?"
Tsuyu… wasn't sure what to think about the situation.
Oh sure, she'd guessed what had happened from the news and from the alert that had been sent out last night. If what Andros had been hinting at was any indication, some of the others had gotten into a fight with the hero killer.
But the fact it wasn't being said as such meant they broke the rules. They were meant to uphold the law, but her friends were safe because they broke it right? But…
"Froppy." At that Tsuyu stirred from her thoughts and looked up at the Sea Rescue Hero: Selkie. Her supervisor, and the Pro who had actually requested her specifically for her ability to conduct sea rescues. "Are you ok? You've been a little wide-eyed since you saw the news this morning."
Tsuyu didn't sigh, she wasn't big on outward shows of emotion… but she simply nodded. "Some of my friends were involved in the incident, so I'm a bit worried about it, ribbit." She noted. Oh dear, subconscious ribbiting. She is worried, isn't she?
Selkie nodded. "That's nothing to be ashamed of. You have the mark of a good friend, and a greater hero to be thinking about them first." Selkie insisted with a nod. "… but you can trust your friends too. There's no way that the news would hide if there was anything more serious than some injuries that happened… so hopefully they're safe."
Tsuyu nodded. "I suppose, ribbit." She admitted
"You can even use it for tonight's patrol." Selkie added… before posing with both of his hands put into fists and balled up against the top of his chest, his voice going into a high pitched falsetto. "Keep your friends in your heart to drive you forward, ok?"
"Captain, we've told you that isn't cute!" Sirius called out.
Tsuyu disagreed, she thought it was adorable.
Momo bit down hard on the amazingly juicy meat stick that Fatgum had insisted on treating her too. Oh, he's basically encouraged her to increase her portions and the types of food she ate, and it had been quite enlightening to take advice from a hero that understood the advantages of fat-based Quirks, but also their disadvantages. Still, with the incident the night before, she had used it for another reason today.
"Stress-eatin' ain't going ta make what happened last night un-happen ya know." Fatgum pointed out.
"I think in this case Fat, it might be good for her." Suneater quietly muttered.
Momo flashed him a quick smile, before biting down on the meat so she wouldn't have to say some… impolite things about certain classmates getting themselves in trouble. After being warned this time.
As we arrived back at the office, I was… somewhat surprised to see that no parts of it were smoking or exploded from the outside. Bakugou might be someone I'm having to get along with, but we aren't FRIENDS, not yet, and either way, it's the exact thing Kaminari or Jiro would have guessed. Neither Nighteye nor Mirio commented on it so I suppose MAYBE that there was something planned.
… and I soon saw what that was. While Centipeeder was dealing with some minutiae of day to day operations, in the same training room as before was a marvellous sight. Glittering orbs floating slowly through the air, barely containing heaps of – as became clear once one popped on a wall and exploded – Bakugou's sweat. The room was filled with the bubbles and Bakugou was looking around, moving to dodge the bubbles.
"Oh, I think I get it!" Mirio remarked. "The way the bubbles are set up if he uses his own explosions or one is set off, the force of it sends the others moving. Which means he has to predict what effect it'll have and move out of the way."
"That's the idea!" Bubble Girl called out, even as she sent forth another one. "It's surprisingly therapeutic actually – he's been swearing less and having to focus on this."
"Bakugou swearing less?" I asked in disbelief.
"FUCK OFF GALAXY SUIT!"
"At least until you spoke up." Bubble Girl noted with a sigh.
Still, this was nice. Getting back into it, a solid afternoon of training then. "Should I get my-"
And then Sir Nighteye shoved me towards the bubbles, which I barely ducked under. Bakugou's laughter wasn't helping. But it felt nice to get back into the flow. Stain is dealt with and we can just… focus.
But there was no way we could have known what was going to happen.
Katsuki landed on the roof roughly, staring out in disbelief in what he had briefly suspected before. Plumes of thick grey-black smoke rising into the air slowly, all centered in one location, one direction, and one central place. And it was enough that even his own blood briefly ran cold.
"Damnit Galaxy Suit."