The worst part, Inko realized, was the smell of blood. If she looked away from the jagged, tearing wounds or the puddle of blood beneath her, then she could almost ignore the tacky, sticky liquid on her hands and pretend that everything was alright. But that stench, likely sickly sweet iron, was inescapable and she felt near tears every time she breathed it in.

"It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay," she babbled to the semi-conscious teenager lying beneath her, pressing her blood soaked jacket against their weeping wounds. The stranger was startlingly gorgeous but painfully young, giving her an air of purity and innocence that had been ruined by the crimson stripes that had been clawed through her chest. "It's going to be okay, I promise," Inko repeated as the girl stirred beneath her. "I've already called the police, they're on their way, you just need to hold on! Please hold on!"

The girl groaned weakly, reaching up to clutch at her arm. "No…" she gasped between soft breaths. "No… Need to go…"

"No, no, no," Inko gasped, gently holding her down as she fidgeted feebly. "I'm sorry, I mean, you can't! You can't, you're hurt! You need to stay right here, okay? We'll just wait for the police, or a hero or someone, and then I'll go handle whatever you need, alright? Does that sound alright?"

There was no answer, and it took Inko a panicked moment to realize that the girl was still breathing. "Izuku!" she shouted, turning as far as she dared towards the mouth of the alley. "Do you see any police cars yet!"

"No mom!" her son shouted back. He had wanted to help, been desperate to help really, but she couldn't bear to leave him looking at this, just in case she… just in case. So she had let him be a lookout instead.

"Keep looking! Let me know as soon as you see someone!" she called, before turning back to the girl. Even through her worry and her panic, Inko couldn't help the thrill of awe that went through her every time she looked at the girl. Not even her many wounds (for the clawmarks, sadly, were merely the worst of them) could hide her incredible beauty, more akin to a masterpiece than a mere human. It was almost as if there was an inner glow to her, like she was more real than the mere asphalt and dirt beneath her, and Inko couldn't help but wonder if it was a quirk that was making her feel this way…

...or if the girl was just that stunning. "H-hey," she said when they stirred again. "It's gonna be okay, the police are on their way, I'm sure they'll be here very soon, alright? You just need to hold on, okay?"

"Y-you," the girl gasped. "Y-you need…"

"Yes?! What do you, I mean can I, I mean need…?"

"Need to leave…"

"No, no, no, no," Inko blurted. "You need to stay, I mean you're hurt! I'll take of it don't worry, you just need to-"

"N-no!" the girl cried, harder and stronger this time, and Inko almost reared back in shock when her hand was suddenly grabbed.. "N-no!" the girl cried again. "You...need… to… leave." Her expression was filled with pain, but her gaze was clear and strong when she locked eyes with Inko. "One's who hurt me. They are… coming. Here, soon."

"That's, that's...okay," Inko stammered as her heart stuttered to flutter in fear. "It's okay, it's okay, it's fine. The police are, they're on their way. They can protect us."

"People… in… police. People everywhere. And now… they know… where I am." The girl started to struggle, forcing herself upright, and this time Inko couldn't find it in herself to stop them. "You need… to leave. Before it's… too…"

"Mom, mom! It's them, it's the police!"

She couldn't help the thrill of fear that shot through her at his words. It was silly, of course, absolutely ridiculous. After all, if you couldn't trust the police, who could you trust? But still… "Izuku, come over here please!" she called as she clambered to her feet.

The girl followed her lead, struggling her way up with grunts of pain, and after a moment's hesitation Inko leaned down to help her up. For the first time, she noticed the barely contained strength in the girl's arms, and the sword that clicked at her side as the scabbard knocked against the ground.

She heard the scuff of Izuku's footsteps, and reached down to take his hand in hers, while the girl slumped against the wall to keep herself upright, one hand wrapped firmly around the hilt of her sword. They watched together in silence as a dark silhouette appeared at the mouth of the alley and trotted towards them.

Inko relaxed slightly when she realized that the man was wearing a policeman's uniform, but something in the back of her thoughts she heard a warning whispered in the darkness. Something was wrong…

"Hello, officer!" she called before he could get any closer. He was a plain looking man, short and lean but with a powerful jawline, and there was something… odd about his teeth. "I'm so glad you're here! This, this woman was, was attacked by someone! She needs a hospital right aw-ay…"

She trailed off as his eyes drifted across her, a long lazy look that didn't belong on a policeman's face, and she finally realized what was wrong. 'Where's his partner?' she thought as she started to pull Izuku behind her, slowly backing away. 'Where's the ambulance? Why didn't I hear a siren!'

Then the cop bared his teeth in a chilling smile, and she felt the blood freeze in her veins. "So this is where you got to, Andariel," he hissed through a literally cheek-splitting grin, his face unzipping itself to reveal needle-sharp teeth that stretched from one ear to the other. "All weak, and alone…" His chuckle was wickedness itself as he reached up and pulled his shades away. "I'm going to enjoy this," he announced as his eyes flashed red and gold.

"You wish," the girl retorted, clumsily reaching around to draw her sword before shoving herself off of the wall. She was upright, but even Izuku could see the wobble in her step, the trembles of weakness in her hands. "I'll kick your ass, and when I find your boss I'll kick his ass too. I'll beat you both so hard that you'll wish you never left the horrid pits that spawned you."

"Hmph. Cocky as always," the cop retorted as he stretched. "Let's change that, shall we?" It was like watching an explosion in slow motion; one moment, he was standing there, an ordinary man with a frightening quirk. Then, almost faster than the eye could see, he was growing, tearing right out of his clothes with a shriek of shredding cloth. Tanned skin erupted into dark fur, a pair of bovine horns thrusting their way out of his skull with a wet pop. His left hand sprouted claws, long and needle sharp, but his right hand sprouted blades, long enough to drag on the floor despite his new, increased height.

The worst part, though, was his face, where his needle grin was joined by a single huge, staring eye, set into the center of his face, so that his face was all eye and teeth. "Look upon I, the great Barazael, and despair!" he roared in a voice like flames and thunder.

"Meh. I've beaten bigger," Andariel said with an ease that Inko knew she didn't really feel, somehow managing to flourish her sword without dropping it. "Now, let me get the gawkers out of the way, so that we can get this over wi-"

"Oh no," he rumbled, his voice full of spiteful glee. "The mortals stay. I want them to see your death. And I want you to die knowing what will happen to them." He looked up, and Inko felt herself start to tremble at the cruelty in his eyes. "So if she tries to run, I will take her sun and devour him in front of her eyes."

"You'll not touch them," she hissed, her blade flaring with an ephemeral light; a perfect match, Inko realized, for the glow beneath Andariel's skin.

"You are too weak to stop me," he growled, before he launched himself at her with his blades outstretched.

Andariel's blade blurred into motion, leaping to intercept the charging beast, but he simply danced around it with startling agility. He darted in at her from the side, and as fast as her sword was the rest of her body could not keep up; she could intercept his charges, but she was simply too weak to follow up her strikes, and it was obvious that the only thing holding him back was his respect for her weapon's glow.

"You can do it!" Izuku shouted, almost dancing with enthusiasm. His eyes were shining with faith, his sheer certainty of Andariel's victory. Inko wished she could share his surety, but she could only see her savior's trembling, the harshness of her breath.

'I have to run,' Inko thought as she watched Barazael claw yet another bloody line down Andariel's back. 'I have to run,' she told herself, but her feet were rooted to the floor. 'I have to get Izuku out of here. I have to get help! I have to do something, anything! I can't just stand here, watching!' she silently cried as her savior leapt to meet another charge and was promptly slapped back.

"Is that it?" Andariel grunted as she fought herself upright, her sword never wavering away from Barazael's face. "I expected better, even from your kind." Bizarrely, she actually looked stronger now, despite her new bruises, but she was listing to one side, and one of her arms didn't seem to be working properly.

"Even now, your tongue moves too freely. Let us see if it stills once I have ripped it out," he growled. He lunged, and Andariel moved to meet him, but this time, this time… This time, the blades on his hand abruptly doubled in length, catching them all by surprise. Two of them caught her in the shoulder, plunging deep and ripping their way out in a spray of blood. The third slipped past her guard, cutting deep into her hand and sending her sword spinning away down the alleyway.

Andariel didn't even hesitate, launching herself into a series of punishing elbows and knees with blinding speed, but Barazael was simply too large, too strong. Blows that would have broken a man simply bounced off of his burly body, and he chuckled in anticipation as he closed in for the kill.

"You can do it!" Izuku again shouted, but this time his faith was...unsteady, his voice filled with uncertainty as he realized that this time the hero might not win…

Which meant that it was up to Inko to do something. "Izuku. Izuku," she said, kneeling down to murmur to him quick and quiet. The police were obviously unreliable, and she couldn't ask her neighbors to step in like this, so it would have to be- "I need you to take my phone," she whispered as calmly as she could force herself to feel, "and I need you to run out of the alley, okay?"

She heard him start to protest, obviously upset, but she shushed him quickly. This was too important. "Do you remember where the nearest hero office is?" she asked, already knowing the answer. Her little Izuku knew where all the heroes where, even the ones nobody else knew about. She waited for his nod before saying, "Good, good. So I need you to run to them, okay, and get help. And if anyone tries to stop you I need you to run and hide and call one of the hero numbers for help, alright?"

Maybe, maybe 'they' were in the police, but they couldn't have done the same for the heroes, it just wasn't possible. And even if they had, surely not all of the heroes… So her best bet was to get Izuku into their hands, and hope he ended up with the right ones. If he could run all the way there, that would be fantastic, and if not… Every street, every park and alleyway was littered with posters for hero teams, a dozen for every street corner. Surely Izuku would be able to find one to keep him safe.

She just needed to buy enough time for him to get away.

"I need you to run, okay," she said as she scanned the alley. "Run now, right now!" She heard a roar of triumph and knew there was no more time. A quick gesture summoned a long sliver of wood, left behind from some ancient project, into her hand as she scrambled to her feet and ran.

Barazael was pinning Azariel to the ground with one massive hand, growling and snorting in glee as he slowly crushed her to death. He didn't even bother boasting, so focused was he on her struggles, such that he was entirely unprepared for the four inches of razor shape wood that slid smoothly into the muscles on his back.

It was a small wound, but it hurt, and more than that it was an insult! So he roared and reared back, stomping on Azarial when she tried to rise before he began to swing himself from side to side. "Pathetic ant!" he shouted as he slapped at the small, struggling shape dangling from his shoulders. "Your death will be slow and painful for thi-argh!"

The first sliver had been an annoyance, but the second had *hurt*, and he couldn't help trying to jerk away. Suddenly, he had no more interest in playing with this stupid mortal, and he hurled himself to the side, slamming his back into the wall. He grinned in satisfaction at her cry of pain, the snap of bone, and when he pulled away her saw her slumped against the wall, cradling her ribs with one hand. The other was laying at her side, her wrist twisted out of place.

"You will pay dearly for this insult," he growled as he rubbed at his side, and the burning piece of metal that was still lodged there. His claws were too big, too clumsy to pull it out, and he rumbled in frustration. "I might have granted your son a merciful death before, but now I shall make him shriek in agony while you-"

He turned to glare at the boy, only to find the empty alley staring him in the face. Far into the distance he heard what was left of his temper go *snap*. "I am going to hunt that kid down," he said in a voice of infinite calm. "I am going to hunt him down, going to find him, and when I do I'm gonna-"

The rest of his threat was abruptly cut off by the tremendous ball of fire that struck him in the side of the head, instantly filling the alley with the stench of scorched hair and frying meat. "Arrgh!" he bellowed, as he clutched at his face, whirling to face Azariel where she stirred dazedly on the ground. "No more games!" he roared as he leaped at her, knocking aside another fireball on the way and landing hard on her chest with both feet . "No more talking!" He reared back, his bladed fingers glinting eviley in the morning light. "Just die-!"

The feeling of the blade entering his lower spine was startlingly painless. It was though his body had been abruptly transfixed by a length of shining ice, a burning numbness spreading from the dire wound as he looked down at the shining metal that had erupted from his chest.

"N-no, no," he gasped, as he tried to raise his arms, which suddenly felt as though they weighed a thousand tons. "But h-how?" he whined as he stared down at a bruised and broken Azariel, who nevertheless looked up at him with a triumphant grin. He could hear the other woman stirring behind him, still slumped against the wall, but that meant-

He turned to look, his powerful body struggling to pull the blade out of his attackers hand, fighting to stay standing… and he felt his heart clench as he looked down at the tiny boy with dark green hair, who stared up at him with wide eyes. "I-impossible," he moaned. "I c-can't die here." He collapsed to his knees, the boy who had murdered him stumbling back in fear. "Not like this. Not like-"

And then he heard the clatter of stone and felt a small hand grab the blade and suddenly the sword burned. The weak, fading light that had coated the weapon was suddenly blazing, and he shrieked in agony as he felt the burning glow filling his body. He couldn't move, couldn't fight, could do nothing at all as his body burned from the inside, his eyes and mouth sprouting streaks of fire as his flesh came apart into black smoke and ash, to be carried away by the rising breeze.

-

"So…" Azariel said, once she was strong enough to breath without pain. "I think, considering the circumstances, that it would be better if we did not call the police for this."

-
Eight Years Later

It had started out as a perfectly ordinary day. So ordinary that it was in fact boring, and Mina Ashido hadn't been able to stop herself from wishing for something exciting to happen, despite knowing better. Like her mom always said, 'Never make a wish unless you know how it will be granted.'

Well, Mina had certainly gotten her excitement; too bad she probably wouldn't survive it.

"I told you, I don't like spicy food," said the thing on her left as it reached out to prod her with a huge, hooked claw. She had thought they were villains at first, with especially bizarre mutation quirks, but there was something so subtly, so indisputably… wrong about them both. The second, who moaned and whined and groaned constantly looked like a man-sized preying mantis who had stapled a duck's feet onto it's abdomen, and she did mean *staple*. It was absolutely covered in bits and pieces that looked like they had been attached, hammered or smelted or nailed into place by some outside force. If it hadn't talked about eating her, the way her dad talked about the weather, she might have felt sorry for it.

The first one, though, was the one who scared her. She had read Lovecraft on a dare, once, and had regretted it for years, but some parts had stuck with her. The idea of non-euclidean dimensions, angles that just didn't fit, she had wondered for years what that could look like.

Now she knew, and she wished she didn't.

The first thug looked transparent, like the ghost of a man, only whenever she looked at him for too long she began to realize that he wasn't actually see through, parts of him were just far away, and the others were far too close, so that she kept seeing through the spaces between them. The fact that his mouth never moved in time with his words, or that his shadow kept looking at her, was a small thing compared to the sheer wrongness of his presence.

Oh, and he wanted to eat her. That was still a thing.

"Dude, I promise she's not gonna be spicy," Thug One said, one hand wrapped tightly around Mina's upper arm. She had tried to melt his grip off early on, once she realized he was being serious, but somehow his acid kept missing him.

"I'm not stupid, bro," Thug Two retorted, in a voice like nails on a chalkboard. "Everyone knows that peppers burn because they got acid in em, right? So acid is spicey, QED."

"...okay first, never say that again. You know how I feel about misusing latin, dammit! And second, you're thinking about capascain, you dumbass! Acid doesn't make things spicy, it makes em sour, capiche?"

"Oh." The mantis monster slumped in embarrassment, before perking up a second later. "I like sour food."

"I know bro, why I hunted 'er down for you," Thug Two said, reaching out to wrap an arm around his companions chitinous shoulder. "Only the best for my best bud on 'is birthday, right?"

"You're the best, Dude!'

"No bro, you're the best!"

Mina lashed out with a kick, aiming directly for Thug Two's little thug, and found her leg passing through his crotch with a feeling like sticking a finger into an electrical socket on a hot summer day. By the time the burning feeling had faded away, Thug One's spiney limb was wrapped around her other arm, both limbs pulled taught to the point of pain.

"Make a wish, Bro-" Thug Two began, before he was abruptly cut off by a sword to the face. It wasn't a spectacularly large sword, being only somewhat longer than her forearm, but it looked sharp enough to cut air, and it gleamed with an inner glow that clung to the edges.

"Whu-" Thug Two began with an expression of terminal surprise, before the sword flared and the spaces between himself were abruptly filled with burning, breaking light. His body burned like tissue paper, and fell apart to reveal the slender girl who was standing behind him with an enormous smile and her hand on the hilt.

She was extremely pretty, with gleaming golden eyes and a grin that was as sharp as her sword, and Mina felt herself smiling back almost involuntarily as the girl declared, "Well that's one down, one to woah!"

She leapt aside, just in time to avoid a jabbing claw from the mantis beast, it's mandibles rattling in rage as it tossed Mina to the ground. "You killed him," it bellowed, flailing wildly with its razor-barbed claws. "You bitch, you fucking bitch, you killed him. You killed my bro!"

"No need to take it personal, just doing my job," the girl retorted as she danced around him, her body flowing smoothly around his desperate, reckless attacks. "Don't worry, I'll send you to join him shortly."

"Who gives a fuck about your business, you killed my bro!" it blubbered. "Gonna make you regret, you bitch! You bitch! You fucking cunt! You're gonna wish you was never born-!" It spread it's mandibles wide and belched a stream of noxious smoke that filled the other end of the alleyway with a cloud of toxic gas, before it turned to face Mina with rage in it's bulbous eyes.

"You," it gurlged as it stalked towards her, it's claws spread wide. "This is all your fault! I'll kill you!" It lunged for her, and Mina belatedly realized that lying on the ground in the midst of a deadly battle had been a terrible idea, but it was already too late to run-

And then she felt a pair of strong hands grab her by the shoulders and haul her back, just in time to pull her out from under the mantis and the sword that had just sprouted from its chest. "Whoops," said a manically cheerful voice from behind her, while she stared at the gleaming blade that had impaled the concrete between her legs. "That was a close one."

The mantis glared at her in hate and despair as a small shining figure dragged it back into the toxic smoke, and she felt her rescuer haul her to her feet, still babbling away. "You know, I keep telling her to be more careful about civilians, I really do, but does she listen? Nooo. 'Izuku,' she says, 'why should I worry about hurting people. I can just heal em after, can't i?' And I say, 'No, that's not how it works, heroes are supposed to avoid hurting people period', and she goes 'But I'm not a hero, I'm just a-'"

"Oh my gosh, what's going on!" Mina finally blurted out, pulling to free to round on her rescuer. He was actually kind of cute, now that she got a good look at him. Bit short for her tastes, but he had an honest face, and his dark green hair was the nice kind of messy, just like hers. Oh and he was also, like, serious ripped; not gross, like the guys her mom liked to watch on tv, but he looked like worked out, like, super often.

"Who is that, who are you, are you super heroes!" she shouted, practically vibrating with excitement. "Oh my gosh, you're totally heroes aren't you! That's so cool!"

"Uh, no no," he stammered with this adorable little blush. "We're not heroes or anything, we're just, uh… actors? Yeah, actors! This was all, just, uh, a movie?"

It was the stupidest explanation, the stupidest excuse Mina had ever heard; more ridiculous than 'B , more unbelievable than 'Lose thirty pounds in ten days', and even stupider than ' '. It was in fact so stupidly unbelievable that Mina gave him her biggest smile and declared, "Oh sure, that makes perfect sense!"

"...it does? I mean, of course it does!" he blurted out. "Because it's the truth, right?" He shot her another nervous smile and held out a hand. "I'm Izuku."

"Mina Ashido!" she replied, giving him a firm, friendly shake. '...four, five, six,' she counted silently in her head, forcing herself to let go when she reached ten. "It's really nice to meet you!"

"Oh, you t-" The rest of his words were lost in an abrupt crash, and they turned together to see the mantis slumped across a half-crushed dumpster, with its head rolling to a stop at the feet of the swordsgirl as she stopped out of the toxic mists.

"Well, that's my good deed of the day done!" she declared as she gave its head a firm kick, smashing it into a cloud of blackened ash. "Now to- oh, hey Izuku!" she called as she spotted them for the first time. "Who's your lady friend? You didn't tell me you were seeing someone, you sly dog!"

"Oh she's not, I mean I'm not-" he spluttered, before he spotted the laughter dancing in her eyes. "Boss!" he whined, before he belatedly remembered Mina staring at him from the side.

He coughed busily into his fist. "I was just telling Miss Ashido here about the movie we're shooting!"

"What movie?" she asked, swinging her sword around to slide it into her scabbard. "I didn't know we were shooting a movie? Why didn't you tell me you were shooting a movie?! I could have worn something nice, instead of this ratty old thing," she said, tugging at her admittedly unflattering sweater with an expression of disgust.

"I think you look very nice, Miss-?" Mina said.

"Oh, I'm Azariel," she answered, accepting Mina's handshake with a broad smile of her own. "And if you think I look good now, you should see me wearing my clothes, instead of Izuku's old things!"

Mina blinked, and looked the beautiful girl up and down, her eyes lingering on the fuzzy, stripey sweater and the short frilly skirt. "Um-?"

Izuku flushed harder than she had ever seen before. "I had a phase," he admitted in a tiny voice.

"Is that what they're calling it, these days?" Azariel asked.

"Anyway, back on subject!" he blurted out. "I was just telling Mina about the movie we're shooting, so that she doesn't think we're vigilante's or something. Like I've been telling you we should be doing from the start-?"

"Oh, right. Guess we're shooting a movie then," she said with a shrug. "Anyway, I'm gonna go home, take a shower to wash off all of the evil," she added, brushing off some of the blackened dust from her sweater. "See you there?"

"Yeah, sure," Izuku said, eyes tightly shut in frustration.

"Cool. Bye!" Azariel spun on one heel, and trotted back into the cloud of incredibly poisonous gas, whistling merrily all the way.

Mina watched her go, waving goodbye, before turning back towards Izuku. "So, has the movie excuse ever actually worked before?" she asked.

"Well normally, people are too busy recovering from their headaches to ask questions," he replied with an embarrassed expression.

"Oh, well…! Guess I'm just lucky then?" The awkward silence continued, and Mina found herself fidgeting in place as she tried to think of something to say.

"So, uh… guess I'll go then?" he finally said, jerking his finger towards the barely visible street. He waited a moment for her answer, before slumping a bit and turning to trot away-

"Wait!"

-until her urgent cry cut him off. He turned back to see her staring at him, her golden iris's standing out brilliantly against her pitch-black sclera. "I just remembered!" she called, "I never remembered to thank you guys!"

He blinked at her, seemingly uncomprehending, before his face split in the biggest, most earnest grin she had ever seen. "Thanks, but what do you mean?! It was just a movie, after all!"

She sprouted her own smile at that, and found herself laughing as she waved goodbye, watching until he rounded the corner into the sunlight. Soon, even his footsteps had faded away, and she allowed herself to wobble over to the wall and slump against it, her knees suddenly too weak to support her.

"...so," she finally said to the empty air, "I think that's enough excitement for one day."

AN: If you're wondering why Ashido was willing to accept such an obvious lie, it was something between gratitude and 'don't argue with the crazy people with a sword'. Anyway, I think I have more snippets to build from this idea.
Don't know if I want to build an actual story from it though... we'll see how it goes.
So, how'd I do? Comments and suggestions are always appreciated!