Chapter 1

The man could tell things were tense in the city as soon as he set foot into the concrete street not too far from the address given to him. He would need to remind himself to thank Athena for finishing the preparations for the stealth tech motorcycle she whipped up for him. It wasn't the prettiest thing you'd see on the streets, but it got the job done for transits between point A and B. He threw a tarp over the bike, silently preparing himself as he took stock of the gear he had on him. Duel Pulse Pistols? Check. Prototype Barrier Field Gauntlet? Check? Tactical Visor attachment? Check. With the main pieces together he went over his plan, or more of a lack of one. He wasn't ready to face Sludge Villain yet, but he knew this had to happen now. He wasn't going to let him destroy a family. Not another one on his watch.

Quitely the man started to run down the dark and dirty alleyways of the city, rushing deeper through them til reaching a residential area within the prefecture. With a heavy sigh he slowed his pace as he got to the address, the house looking calm enough as he tapped his finger to the part of the visor that covered the ears and back of the head. "Athena, anything inside?"

A few seconds went by before the AI partner spoke through the communication device against the man's ear. "I am tracing four heartbeats within the building. Imaging suggests a man, two women, and a mass within. Soldier, I do not think it is wise to do this on your own."

"I know Athena, I wish I could have finished the Android Prototype for this so you could be beside me. But right now we need to hit the target before he kills them all or worse. If things get hairy, I give you full permission to alert the local authorities. At that point my focus will be survival for myself and the family. Consequences be damned."

Athena sighed heavily into the comm, figuratively rolling her eyes. "Understood. Be safe, Soldier."

Soldier smirked as he vaulted over the fence and landed onto the backyard without a sound. He kept his head low, moving quickly as if he had practiced the tactics of stealth all his life. He gently pushed his back against the wall near a window looking into the living room. Slowly he peeked into the window to see if he could see what was going on. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the family sitting on the couch. The mother and father sat on either side of the daughter, who looked panicked as the villain before them was looking through her phone. This wasn't good, he must have caught the girl with her phone and was seeing if she had made contact with anyone. The slick, disgusting looking slime of the villain rolling over the screen and leaving smear marks. Soldier leaned his head back, taking a deep breath as he slowly reached to his tactical utility belt and grabbed a canister. He hoped this was going to work. Without a second thought he threw it through the window, startling all four present in the room and soon after a flash and loud bang echoed and shined through the house.

Soldier rushed in, bursting through the window with pistols drawn and quickly firing onto the mass of liquid that was called a villain. He turned his head, seeing the girl perfectly fine. She must have understood what was happening, after all she was the one that contacted him. "Get them out of here! Make a break for somewhere safe while I take this monster down!"

The girl nodded, a toothy grin across her face as she grabbed the wrists of her blinded parents and headed for the door. The Sludge Villain roared out, making a blinding swipe from a tentacle of liquid to stop them but Soldier was faster and wasn't blinded from the flashbang. He stood in front of the fleeing ground and clenched his fist tightly and the gauntlet on his left arm glowed and a barrier made of some sort of hard light took shape to mimic the appearance of an old fashioned kite shield. The tentacle slammed against the barrier, and in response the barrier sent out a shock to the Villain that seemed to be more effective than the pulse rounds he fired at the sludge beforehand.

The family made it out of the front door, leaving Soldier and the Sludge Villain staring at each other through visor and bloodshot eyes. The shield remained operating on his wrist as he holstered the extra pistol in his grasp. Now he stood and slowly started to circle around the Sludge Villain, shield up and ready while his free hand held the pistol and pointed to the Villain. Soldier smirked under the mask he wore, rolling his shoulders as started to speak.

"I have been waiting some time for you to resurface, a whole year of planning and preparation has come to this."

The Sludge Villain looked at the Soldier, trying to think of who he was. "I have no idea who you are. I have killed plenty of people in the past to make someone want revenge on me. You got to be more specific. But who cares, just die!"

The villain swung another tentacle towards Soldier, only for him to react by thrusting forward to bash the shield against the tentacle to again shock the liquid mass. Before the villain had a chance to react his foe kept the shield against the liquid form as he charged at him. He kept the shock charge coursing through the sludge man til he had to pull away. Sadly enough, the barrier field did not have enough of a charge to fully electrocute this creature into submission, forcing Soldier to back off before he was shoved out of the broken window and into the backyard. By now the people around were awake and trying to find the commotion, only to find the villain the news channels had been warning them about for the last few days towering over a leather clad man slowly standing up with pistols in each hand.

Soldier smirked, rolling his shoulders before engaging the enemy again. Though effective, the Pulse Pistols were only able to cause temporary stuns after unloading nearly a whole clip into him. It was clear to the Soldier he needed to work on special cartridges that had more impact for villains like him. He ducked another tentacle whipping towards him, but stumbled back as he whipped backwards once it was dodged. He fell to the ground, rolling to the side as more tentacles were whipping and lashing out at him. This wasn't good, not only was he not able to put the villain down like he wanted to, but if he doesn't end this soon the civilians would be endangered and the pros would be here and make the situation harder for him. With a groan he got back to his feet, taking deep breaths before pointing a pistol at the monster once again. The sludge villain chuckled, launching forward towards Soldier ready to smother and suffocate him and take his body for a puppet. Before this could happen however, something unexpected happened. From the skies fell…a dragon?

(Five minutes after the escape)

Ryukyu wasn't one to complain about overnight patrols, in fact she preferred it over the day time because there was more criminal activity happening at night. Not to mention the manhunt for the Sludge Villain had given her a bigger reason to hunt throughout the night. She wasn't looking for the glory though, she was looking to end the villain and bring him to justice. She had lost two people very close to her when he was in Musutafu. She couldn't forget that night, finding her friends…she didn't even want to think about it right now.

So the Dragoon hero was shocked when she heard a commotion coming from the residential part of her patrol route. Typically that area was quiet, all things considered. However as she flew over to the location she stopped as she saw three people running for their lives down the street. She landed, quickly trying to get a grasp on the situation. The two older folk were a babbling mess, but their daughter seemed to be more level headed. She told Ryukyu that the Sludge Villain was holding them hostage for several hours before the Soldier came to their aide, but she was afraid for the vigilante. She didn't know if he could handle the villain on his own. Quickly Ryukyu started flying to the house, telling the family to call the police and tell them the situation. She wasn't going to let the murder slip through their grasps again.

When she got to the house she saw the Soldier standing still with a gun pointed to the villain. The villain chuckled and charged at the vigilante. She had to act and swooped down, landing between the two as she roared in utter rage and defiance. It was time to flush this mass of shit into hell.

(Current Time)

Soldier slowly got up, taking the confusion to his advantage as he reloaded his pistols with fully charged cartridges and started to change the cartridge of his gauntlet. Even with the back up, he knew this wasn't going to be an easy battle.

The Sludge Villain looked towards Ryukyu, not making any moves even as he saw the pesky man behind her reloading. "This wasn't what I needed. The boss isn't going to be happy that I got tangled up like this."

Ryukyu roared back at the villain, gleams of anger shining through her eyes as she didn't move a single inch from her aggressive stance. "I care little that you may upset your boss when I finally bring you down, murderer!"

Soldier now stood beside Ryukyu, the dragon still standing strong but acknowledged the presence of the vigilante. "You, vigilante, I am willing to let you slide for saving that family. Leave, I don't want to arrest you."

Soldier chuckled, stretching his shoulders out as he brought out the Barrier Field again and reached behind him to take out a flail looking weapon. He pressed a button on it, causing it to spark to life with electricity and loosen the head of the weapon down a chain connected to the handle. "No offense, Ryukyu, but this monster took something precious to me. And I need to finish her. I don't care for my freedom if it means finally ending him once and for all."

The Dragoon hero was going to respond, but didn't have the chance to as Soldier ran head first into the fight once again. He went for a shield bash, but like he predicted the slime moved and contorted to let him run right through the monster's fluid. With a smirk he let the flail whip before he would reach through the villain, having the electrified head of the flail slam into the sludge and electrocuting the foe again. This time it was much more powerful, the shield not meaning to have a powerful charge compared to the flail. With the Sludge Villain shaking in pain he turned and hoped to land another blow, and another and another as he found the method he needed to bring the villain down. Blow after blow not only incapcitated the villain, but the electricity was slowly making the mass of fluid shrink and shrink as it evaporated with the shocking power of his weapon. Once he was nothing more than a small puddle with a face, he knelt down and grinned as he saw the eyes closed. He doubted he killed him, but he wouldn't care if he did. He put the flain back to the back of his belt, letting it recharge as he pulled out a solid metal canister and opened it before scoping the sludge into it. As he did this, Ryukyu slowly morphed back to her normal form, walking over to the vigilante with a look of confusion and curiosity.

"How did you know that was his weakness?"

"I didn't know, I came into this fight pretty blind. I only found it out when he slammed himself against my shield and shocked himself and revealed that weakness."

"I see, please tell me you're not going to take him with you."

Soldier chuckled, standing up after sealing the canister tight and tossing it to Ryukyu who caught it with gingerly care. "No, as much as I want to end him, I can't kill him. And if I took him, it would make me a real criminal. Not a vigilante."

Ryukyu raised her eyebrow as she held the metal canister. "Vigilantes are criminals by definition of the law."

"If that was the case then so would heroes. You and I both know the honorable days of Heroics are gone, very few heroes are clean like you."

"Even if that is true, they had to work-"

"Work for the government, is that what you meant to say? Because I don't trust the fear ridden Hero Commission or any organization tied to it. Ever since the Battle of Symbols they have been fearful of another All for One rising and no All Might to combat them. If you ask me, their cowardice and heavy restrictions into the Hero Programs of schools is causing more villains and heroes to come about."

Those words did ring a bit in Ryukyu's head. Ever since All Might and All for One essentially killed one another in the Battle of Symbols, the Hero Safety Commision had restricted the Hero Programs of many schools like UA. It was nearly ten times harder to become a hero in this time now, essentially only those with purely driven combat quirks were able to get in due to the heavy amount of favoritism the exams had in their favor. This in itself caused very few heroes with a true heart to be able to become pro, and more of those full of arrogance and pride to become them. As she thought about it she didn't seem to notice the lights of police cars and the yelling of officers coming from over the fence. When she looked back to see Soldier, he was gone. Though he did leave a single thing left for her. Where he stood was a single photograph, and when she saw the smiling faces of her precious brother, his wife, and their son she fell to her knees. She looked at the picture, looking it over to see something written on the back.

"Mom, dad, and Izuku at Mighty Land. Izuku's thirteenth birthday."

She gently put her hand on the picture, running her fingertips across it slowly as she realized what this meant. What the vigilante was. "Izuku…nephew, what happened to you?"