Chapter 115 - The Tormentor

A/N: Warning, scenes within this chapter contain depictions or references of torture, viewer discretion advised.

Infiltrating a Baron's Sector wasn't something many considered to be a safe idea, not while the exterior guards prowled in the dark, and heaven forbid, the Baron themselves found you. Zarlik was a sadistic creature who would occasionally send out a scouting party to find him new 'toys', be it men, women, or even children. If a human was caught in his sights, nothing could be done if they were taken beyond his borders. So the fact the very technology that gave the Splicers strength was used to infiltrate their headquarters was a fitting irony.

Deku motioned for Draco and Kaneko to quickly follow him behind a few pipes, obscuring them from sight as two Vandals strode down the hallway, unaware of their intruders as they spoke in their native language. Once the Fallen swept into a new hallway, the trio pressed forward. The interior of the buildings had been modified with the Fallen's architecture slightly, mainly their capture nets, splinter mines, and the occasional airlock doorway. What made their skin crawl was the ropes of red wires and tubing that infected any living matter, devouring it in its red webbing, feeding the black pyramid clusters that glowed the same harsh pigment. NARA. While it looked just like SIVA originally, the rate of infection on materials, as well as the density of a few nanite swarms was far greater than before.

"Hey, check it out..." Kaneko ushered them to a nearby rectangular window that peered into the heart of the Baron's Lair. The streets were practically crumbling and deformed by welded platforms and wires suspending devoured sections by NARA. Large archways of the nanomachines formed between some buildings like a bloodied art piece. The street itself was uprooted, digging into a small ravine where even more of the Splicers' technology fed, as if converging down into the pit itself. "They're destroying their own base? The hell?"

"They've broken down most larger buildings, so where is all that debris going?" Draco asked curiously, for the life of them, they didn't know, but something irked Deku, as if he had seen this before. Then, Draco pointed to the right. "I believe this is our destination."

The last large structure, the place seen from beyond the wall, Zarlik's den. It was connected by a series of buildings merged with Fallen structures, and it was guaranteed to be guarded, meaning they had no reason to be cautious. "Then let's hit them hard and fast, the second we're spotted they'll bring the whole horde of Fallen atop us in seconds."

"Good call, let's not give the enemy a second to gather themselves," The Second Holder nodded in agreement as Deku swept by his crossed arms. "Remember, keep a level head, kid, this one's not someone you can talk to,"

"I know, I will," Deku was certain, a monster like this wasn't going to be as talkative as other villains. Something about the environment just made his skin crawl and his scars itch.

The next large room was a series of hallways and interconnected buildings that felt akin to a dystopian underground town. Artificial lights burning above or from the walls, various walkways that led to other doors further through the maze of twisted steel. But that's not what made the trio's stomachs turn or their hearts pound in their ears.

Blood.

It stained the dark corners of the hallways, red bones were all that remained of innocent people, bloodied chains swung silently from the rafters, the equipment used left laying around to decay under the gore that still dripped from their edges. The pungent smell of copper clung to the air. "God have mercy..." Draco muttered breathlessly, clutching his cross necklace, bringing it up to his forehead for a moment.

"They... what the hell!?" Kaneko's fists trembled. "I'm gonna kill 'em!"

No one dared to correct him on raising his voice, they initially were going to sneak as far as possible then drop down on the Splicers with the element of surprise. But this? Deku had seen what Vosik did to Yuki, it made his heart clench with fear but also anger, pure, uncontrollable fury that yearned to lash out. These innocent lives were taken without a single consideration, how many more were like this corner? How long had Zarlik been allowed to take pleasure in others suffering?

Emerald bolts erupted from Deku's body, his percentage rising higher than he usually worked at. His eyes were pins, and bled with a vengeance as several radiant swords danced in the dark, and the steady vibrations covered Kaneko's gauntlets. "We'll make them pay." He nodded for Kaneko to take the first step, the red and yellow hero more than happy to oblige.

Within a single stride, Kaneko lunged with his armed folded back close to his sides, charging his gauntlets as they spurred to life. With a deafening cry, he slammed both knuckles against the airlock's surface, sending a chorus of horrid ripples through the surface, causing the pistons to spit and groan before the two plates were torn from their frame, bending inward. The projectiles threw the Splicers within off their game, the doors smashing a few unfortunate Fallen caught too close. The others recoiled from the ear-piercing noise that followed.

Dazed and confused, Draco's swords brushed through the dust, their gleaming edges swept the air, severing the arms of Vandals in the back before they could raise their rifles, while another pair of swords would sweep in from behind, impaling them before they could raise their voices in alarm. Draco didn't even flinch, spinning two close to him to ward off a few pot shots from the Fallen not caught in the two-part shockwave.

In a blur of green, Deku's right leg swept wide, releasing a groan throughout the whole building as the air pressure slammed into the Splicers on the ground, two funnels of vibrations sailing by his face, blasting a Captain away before it could gun down Deku who latched the ceiling with a Blackwhip and dove forward, blasting the ground with a Manchester Smash, blowing the Splicers away and into the line of fire of Draco's swords, the thin beams of light piercing their barding with ease.

Sliding forward on his knees, Deku felt the snap and pop of the wire rifles whiz by his head, bringing his left hook across the first Vandal, ensnaring the two either side with a whip each, pulling them closer to his twin Delaware Smashes, shattering their armour, leaving the Fallen reeling in pain before a pair of swords. The burns that had dug into Deku's costume buzzed with a blue hum, his cape's nanomachines repairing the damage with just a thought.

"Room's clear, let's move!" Deku ushered, the next door opening wide for Danger Sense to pull him back from two spearheads, instantly, Deku floated back, grabbing the Marauders' polearms with two whips then threshed forward, cleaving their heads from their necks with a Carolina Smash.

The room ahead opened up to a small rampart that led down into a wide hallway with various Splicers hiding behind objects, some with their weapons buzzing to life behind cloaks. In a flash, two sword spun before Deku, sparing him a fatal shot to the chest as Draco stepped forward. "We'll cover you, take out the snipers, Kotaro?" He eyed his companion who punched his knuckles.

"Pah! Leave the small fry to me!" He strut his way down, Dregs, blade-wielding Vandals, and the occasional Marauder closing in from the darkness.

"Wait-" Deku raised his hand out but Draco just gave his old friend a reassuring nod.

"Just watch, you'll see," Draco rolled his eyes down at the brunette who happily raised his fists, taunting his attackers forward.

The first Dreg swung with his shock dagger, only to find its visor shattering against a left cross, spinning its head around sharply. The second met with a right gut punch that threw it into the air and in the line of fire for the left gauntlet to erupt with a shockwave, flinging it over its allies. Kaneko looked like he was dancing, pivoting between the blades of the Vandals flanking him, grabbing the first with his left to slam into its companion, spinning around for a flying roundhouse kick, bringing the pair down into the cold hard earth.

He flipped off their backs, diving over another Dreg and Marauder spear. Landing behind the spearman, tossing the poor Fallen backward into a vibration-infused German Suplex, the shockwave throwing the rest off balance as the crumbling remains dusted Kaneko, his left hand catching another Marauder's wrist, bringing it forward into its right knuckle, taking the head clean off with a flash of red particles.

Kicking one of the shock spears into his hands, Kaneko spun the deadly weapon around, splitting a Dreg's head in half behind him while the sheer force he applied to the staff shattered the weapon on impact with a large Captain's shield, leaving it recoiling from the stinging impact. The boy rushed forward, catching the muzzle of the Captain's shrapnel launcher and pushing it off to the side, the molten slag burning the ground while slapped his palm to the side of the barrel, reducing the Fallen's weapon to a burning pile of scrap while pressed both palms to the Captain's chest.

"Boom!" Kaneko snarled, and his gauntlets made an audible 'click', two ports sliding forward on his bracers to unleashed a devastating wave of green energy, uprooting anything that wasn't bolted down straight through to the next chamber onward, shaking the very foundations of the facility. The Devil Splicers recoiled, and Kaneko stood there, dusting off his smoking gauntlets with a satisfied sigh. "I love these things."

"So that's like what... forty Splicers?" Kaneko listed off with his fingers, his armoured scratched and burnt in various spots from the altercations with the Fallen.

"I'd say it was around thirty, not counting those flying drones... Shanks, was it?" Draco argued, his skin coated in dirt or soot.

"Thirty-Eight," Deku spoke softly in front of them, coming to a stop before the final doorway, rather, the only one that would open. The Splicers were too busy recovering from their loses to intervene, this gave them a window to confront the Baron who would be waiting behind the door. It was a cold, sinking feeling standing on the edge of just one Baron. A single Fallen that kept an iron-grip over the masses and heroes run ragged in the streets. Tapping his fingers to Yuki's mask twice, Deku ran his hand over the airlock as it hissed and opened with a thump.

"Here we go..." Draco whispered, swords humming close to his shoulders while Kaneko stood by Deku's shoulder, watching their corners. Coming out from under a low-hanging roof, the final chamber opened up.

The interior wet and damp, large cages sat stacked by the pillars and in a bundle at the back of the room. the gurgle of pipes and steam rose to the white spotlights high above with a few balconies overlooking the bonfire crackling in the center of the room. Chain swung or were connected by the walls, with a webbing of NARA suspending cages too, the nodes burning in corners, or wrapped around two of the pillars. The occasional pike mounting weapons or bones as decoration. The dried stains of blood turning most of the steel plated floor red.

What startled the group most was what they heard. Not the growl of a Vandal sneaking around under stealth tech, or the snap and crackle of a wire rifle. It was a hoarse whimper coming from the cages mounted near the only other ground-level door to the back left. "p-please..." The feminine voice choked, their hand reaching out from between the bars, her skin covered in dirt and visible, bloodied wounds that had already clotted over.

She was one of three that could be seen, their clothing torn rags by now, shivering from the damp air as blood clung to their bodies. One of the them, a boy no older and fourteen by their estimate, was missing an eye, wrapped in dirty bandages. The other female who kept herself tucked in the corner of her prison was trying to make herself a small as possible, chains binding her arms and legs, rubbing her skin raw.

Without hesitation, Deku dismissed finding the Baron, running over to the prisoners. "We're here to help, I swear!" He assured the woman who retracted her hand with a terrified gasp. Deku's mind burned with needles.

"Midoriya!" Kaneko propelled himself with two smaller vibrations, quickly intercepting the burning maul that slammed into his own rising forearms. The sheer force knocked Kaneko flying into the outer edges of the chamber, gasping as he collapsed to the ground. But his bold move gave Deku the chance to angrily retaliate, throwing his left arm wide. "Detroit Smash!" He swung through the flames left by the jagged censer and a red flash alerted him that the Fallen had evaded.

"Nice... very nice... hehehehe..." It giggled, cracking its neck as it came into view. Then it lowered its head toward the civilians. "I'll be sure to repay the favour..." The woman who asked for Deku's help suddenly yelped, shuffling away from the edges of her cage.

The Splicer stood with a burning censer hung by chains coiled around his right arm, the weapon swung slowly in tempo with the dripping. His arms were bulky, armour clung with chains as his toothy mouth pulled back with an unnatural smile. The cage-like helmet concealing the rest of its head. Fresh blood dripped from his claws and around his chalky lips. Zarlik the Tormentor.

Deku stepped out to block Zarlik's view of the prisoners, "So long as I'm here-" The woman looked up tearfully, the energy bouncing off Deku illuminating the dark. "-not another pure innocent life will be taken by you!"

"Come so far... little Midoriya... hehehe," He cackled, increasing the tempo of his censer. "Brought innocent lives... risked them to get to me... how selfish of you, hero...!"

In all honesty, Deku would have liked it if he came alone, but Draco and especially Kaneko were insistent. In the end, it made his job easier but at the cost of risking their lives. Only now, Deku saw this was a good thing. Waving his hand back, he didn't take his eyes off Zarlik. "Ra, Shocker, help the civilians,"

"You're taking him alone?" Draco tried to butt in but Deku had already moved in to strike, disregarding the worry. "Midoriya..." He bit his tongue and did as he was asked, brandishing two swords to aid his friend. "Protect him for me." With that command, the radiant blades pursued from above.

"Hahahaha! Let's rip and maim together, little hero!" Zarlik roared, spinning his censer around to slam down before Deku, unleashing a wave of crimson flames swept high by a rush of wind. Zarlik raised his left arm as Deku held himself in the air, blackwhip taut as his right foot came crashing down.

"St. Louis Smash!" The buzz and halo of light blew out of the bonfire, tearing up the panelling below as the damage around Zarlik's arm slowly closed up and replaced the burnt plating. The force pushed Zarlik back and straight into the binding of blackwhip around his chest, Deku flew up and over the wide thresh of the censer, bringing his leg in a horizontal sweep at the Baron's back, knocking the Tormentor against a pillar.

He growled, crawling up the vertical surface to leap over Deku's approach, bring his censor down for a fiery inferno around him, warding off Deku's approach, grazing the teen's left shoulder with one of the censer's prongs. Deku dove through the air, evading the frenzied swings of the burning censer that spat flames into molten puddles across the torture chamber. Catching his feet on the lip with the outer ceiling, Deku dove between the Baron's legs, pelting the Fallen's backside with several Delaware Smashes, pushing Zarlik into warping in retreat.

"Hyraah!" From the dark, a wide column of vibrations collided with Zarlik's back, breaking up the already mending barding, the Baron pushed back into the light. Kaneko wheezed, his chest dotted with a few fresh gashes while he tore off his mask, allowing his damp brown hair to dry under the intense heat from the flames. "Don't ya think for a moment I'm standin' by while you break yerself! Hear me, Midoriya!?" His angry gaze was alot like Katsuki's, Deku realized.

"Okay... then let's go!" Deku broke into a floating dash, Kaneko avoiding a trail of fire, punching the air with quick bursts of vibrations, keeping himself mobile to avoid the deadly censer.

Zarlik swung wide, brandishing flames while deflecting Deku's snap-kick with the black frame, shoving him into one of the piles of empty cages, slamming the censer to light the pile ablaze. Deku was dragged by blackwhip away from the bonfire while Kaneko hopped against the nearest pillar, the censer swiping the structure below as his boots pressed against the Baron's cage-helmet, and over the monster's upswing, punching between the shoulder blades with enough force to hear ribs break.

The Tormentor howled in pain, slamming several times with his weapon before sweeping a wide arc of crimson flames to blind his enemies. Through the inferno, his left hand snapped wide, choking Kaneko with a burnt chain, threshing the brunette across the chamber and into Deku's blackwhip, saving him as the boy recovered, landing next to Deku who stomped the ground, pulling up the floor to shield them from the wave of flames that followed, Draco's swords taking the brunt of the force but they ultimately dissolved from the impact.

"Drac's not gonna hold out like this, his quirk's not suited for long periods of time," Kaneko hissed, rubbing his gauntlets. "Hate ta say I'm nearin' my limits," He smirked anyhow, patting Deku's shoulder. "Nothin' like a little intensity to get the blood pumpin'!"

"Look out!" Deku wanted to return his banter but picked the boy up and flew away from the barrier as it was crushed beneath the censer. Zarlik laughed at them hanging from the walls like a pair of insects. "He's completely relentless... and NARA's regenerative abilities are undoing all our attacks, but for how long? When does NARA reach its limit? Does it even have one?" Those destructive thoughts were pushed aside.

"Despite it all... I wish I could see that look on your mate's face..." Zarlik lamented at Deku's pinprick eyes. "How I wished to extract all the sounds of pain from her... to see her crumble again, gasping, begging for death..." He chuckled. "I'd love for you... to see what I can do...!"

"But now, I watch as you crawl and cling to scraps... you heroes... can't save..." In the Fallen's eyes, hatred spewed forward, nanomachines infusing into the red fire. "...ANYONE...!" Twirling his censer into a blur of flames, a wide arc of embers tore through the ground and up the wall, missing the pair by inches. Zarlik warped, slamming the ground beneath Deku and Kaneko, splitting them apart. "All those before you screamed, begged, yearned for death!... you will suffer all the same!"

Bringing the censer down, Zarlik was surprised to find Kaneko holding it back... with one of Draco's divine swords, his vibrations leaking from around the hilt while white cracks began to form along the blade's surface. His face flinching from the hot embers catching his skin. "All ya do is yap and yap about hurting folks! And to be honest, no one here gives a crap what you think of us!" He pushed against the censer, legs buckling. "We can't save 'em all, but we damn well are gonna try!"

"Then you will die...!" With a burst of nanomachines, the density swarm ripped through Kaneko's barding and gauntlets, tossing the brunette onto the ground as blood caked his right arm, the shards of the splintered sword embedded in his flesh. "...scream, scream until you drown in your own viscera!" Zarlik swung his weapon high, aiming to burn the teen alive.

Deku stood his ground, binding two pillars with blackwhip, pushing his back against the blackish-teal threads until they were ready to snap. "Hold on, Izuku, are you sure about this?" It was Shimura, her eyes looking between his slit eyes and the tension in One For All. "We don't know the backlash this could have on your body yet,"

"I'll be fine," He assured her, glaring at Zarlik inches from turning Kaneko into a burning corpse, this made him strain the muscles in his legs. "I won't let my lessons go to waste. Parallel processing, if I can't bring out OFA directly then I'll combine what I can do to imitate it," Like the tools at his disposal, just like En taught him. And akin to Yuki's augments, applying them all into a new, condensed alternative. "Forty-five percent..." His output buzzed and wrapped around his clothing. "Blackwhip..." The two bindings stretched tightly around his back. "Smokescreen..." Dark smoke billowed from his soles. "And Fa Jin," His legs suddenly felt lighter with a cool breeze piercing his muscles.

Kaneko fired a weaker vibration from his crumbling right bracer, throwing the Baron's aim off to only burn his hip, the snarky boy smirking back at the wide grin on the Fallen's face. "Heh... told ya we'd help, didn't I... Midoriya...?" He soon passed out from the pounding headache and fatigue, feeling the ground tremble behind him.

In a devastating explosion of speed, Deku left only a ring of mint-green light in his wake, snuffing out every blaze in his path. "Faux One-Hundred Percent - Detroit Smash!"

Zarlik's censer was blown into fragments, showering the unconscious Kaneko in debris. The Baron stared straight ahead where he thought Deku was, instead, the boy was standing behind him a few meters away, leaving several impact craters in the walls and ceiling. And a large, gaping wound through the Baron's chest. Clutched in Izuku's fist, the NARA Core could be seen pulsing with a faint red glow.

But for Deku, his world sudden fell to black...

Deku blinked, his mask off to stare into the shattered world. Everything reminded him of the Mindscape, only various floating islands could be seen connected to one another, shrouded in darkness. "What is this place?" He blinked in wonder, seeing himself along an old cobblestone path with the odd object depicting a park walkway, street lamps lighting the way forward to a darkened fragment of a street. "I can still feel OFA, so this must be a variation of the Dreamscape..." He marvelled, then walked toward the only road. "I guess this place wants to show me something...?"

Approaching the street, color returned, though it was a dark and bleak recollection. Several people were present, they dressed rather poorly, some were children who came out from under cobbled together shelters in alleyways, some adults taking what was offered by a man and his two allies. The leader looked as average as they came for a man in his late twenties, a small goatee, black, dishevelled hair with teal eyes, wearing a black trenchcoat with a stern but considerate expression.

"-look, it's ain't much, but this should help for a few days, alright?" The leader spoke to the woman he helped by offering her a small medical bag. The whole scene was a static, 3D image but the people talked.

"Thank you so much, but... we don't-" She was kept from speaking, the image moving as the leader help up a hand to her.

"No need, just keep everyone alive and well, and don't take crap from people looking to squabble, that's not how we do things," He instructed her, and the area turned black once more, the lanterns brightening to lead the way again.

"Is this... his memories?" It was reminiscent of the Dreamscape, was that the NARA core's doing? Deku had only noticed it a few seconds after feeling no backlash from his newest move, Faux 100%, was NARA connected to the memories of their users? Their quirks like One For All is to him? Unable to come to a conclusion, Deku followed down the crumbling path in limbo to a new scene not far away.

Light returned, and now, it was the same leader from before, only on a street ravaged by the aftermath of a battle. He looked furious with the masked hero that turned away from an unknown crowd to confront the man. "-the hell's wrong with you!? You just destroyed the only good place these folks had going for 'em!"

"Please, calm down, paramedics will be on the scene short-"

The scene flickered, and the leader had his fist pulling at the hero's collar. "That's rich! What, so they can be fogged off and left in a worse state than before? What about what little they had, how are you going to fix that, huh?"

Now, the hero had pried the man off, the leader walking away with his hands in his pockets. "Sir, if you intend to interfere I will have to detain you."

"Tch, go right ahead, asshole, at least you'd actually be doing something with that crappy title of yours," The man mouthed off, and the scene faded.

So, the man was helping the less fortunate and was angry a hero caused unnecessary damage to said people's very little livelihoods. Deku frowned, a pit forming in his stomach on where this was heading, but he followed the next winding path, he needed to know why this kind person would become something so hideous as Zarlik.

The third scene came to life, and it made Deku's eyes widen. It was raining, and the leader was sitting atop a destroyed building holding the hand of the same young woman from the first memory. There were... other bodies, beneath the rubble. Everything laid in ruins. "-Come on, stay with me, hear me?"

"...what's with that face...?" She breathed, her memory displayed the faded look in her eyes, but a gentle smile on her face despite the hideous gut wound. "This... isn't your fault..."

"I told you all to come here... I... I thought it was safe here, away from everything," He desperately tried to explain but his words crumbled. "It's all my fault, I'm so sorry..."

"Hm... it's okay, it'll... be okay..." The scene changed, her eyes were closed with a few stray tears. "...I got to smile again... than...k... y...ou..."

"Nari!" He yelled. Again, the memory flickered, and now, he bowed his head against her lifeless face.

Everything turned black again, Deku bowing his head. Slowly, his legs moved without much thought. "How awful..." Before he knew it, another memory took form. One that made his face flicker with emotion.

The leader stood with a scowl, shaking hands with... Drevis. "-so, we help your boss out, and we'll be able to rid ourselves of the heroes, yeah?"

"Yes, loyalty is rewarded, and your lives will go on," She hissed with a click in her throat.

"No one else gets hurt, so long as your boss gets that, we're in," He warned Drevis who pulled away, disappearing under her cloak, leaving the man with a single NARA cluster in his hand.

"Crystal, human..."

There was a pause, and the man closed his fist around the cluster. "God, she gives me the chills," He wore a smirk in his final panel. "'Detain' us, huh? Yeah, let's see how you like it then, bastards."

In rapid succession. The scene was black and a final island appeared, this one held a small stairway leading to a white light, possibly the way out, and a man strikingly similar to the one in the memories stood idly by at Deku's approach. When the man spotted Deku, his glare deepened. "Now you get it, kid, why we sold out our souls to the devil," He pointed accusingly at Deku's silent approach. "Because you damn heroes think you're so high and mighty, never giving a damn about how those that have nothing left feel. Struggling on scraps without a single damn person giving us a passing glance, and when they did, it was always 'a hero will come help you', bullshit!"

"You wanted power to protect your own, those that had no power themselves, so why... why all of this?" As Deku waved his hand, a few flashes of Zarlik's tormented victims appeared like ghosts. "Innocent people were robbed of their lives by you, and your allies, you became just as bad if not worse than the heroes you scorned."

"I..." He hesitated, biting his cheek. "How the hell were we to know, huh!? That Splicer did something to all of us, that damn ritual of his... we... I..." Shaking his head, he towered over Deku's neutral look. "Don't twist this around, brat! They got what they deserved!"

"So families being mutilated, partners ripped from each others' arms, all of that was deserving?" His cold words cut down the man's glare, meeting Deku's stern orbs. "Did you ever consider how they felt? Terrified as you tortured them? Well, did you?"

"...what..." He sounded lost, staring at the ghostly images of those he's killed, haunting him. "...but he said, he gave me his word..." Breathless, the man who saved many fell to his knees, overcome with grief as he cupped his mouth. "Dear God... what did we do...?"

"You were manipulated, but that won't excuse what you've done, and the lives taken can never return," Deku lamented, passing by the astral figures that let him walk toward the staircase, one of Nari appeared, crouching down to the man who became a monster with a soft smile. "Not everyone will pity you, but I will save them from Kovik, so no one else will suffer the way you have,"

He blinked, pulling his head up as he stared at Nari, the woman patting his back as the pair stared at Deku. "Wait... why?" He gulped, watching Deku ascend the stairs alone. "Why would you... save me...?" His mind, or what remained of it couldn't understand. A single person, not even a full-fledged hero was sorry for him.

"Because..." Deku turned back, tugging his cloak down to answer with a glint of hope in his eyes. "...that's what a hero does; save everyone,"

With that, Deku stepped toward the light, leaving the memories behind with the man who was left with his demons, all but one, who sat by his side until the dreamscape crumbled.

When Deku's senses returned, he stumbled forward as Zarlik's body crumpled to its knees, body breaking down into a skeleton of wires and a metal frame before collapsing in on itself. The Baron was dead. Deku held out his hand, eyes flickering to recognize the red cluster in his hand as it went into an inactive state. It was over, the first of a list of targets was gone, and Deku learned a valued lesson in the memories it held. Heroes can't always see the suffering underneath.

Tucking the cluster into his bag, he turned to Draco who held Kaneko's head upright, those he saved stood nearby, and outside the door, not a single Splicer could be seen, not even a Vandal cloaked in the corner. The whole sector was abandoned the second their leader fell. "We should leave, these people need to be returned safely," Deku breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the civilains. "Sorry to trouble you again, but are there anymore captives?"

"Ye-yes," The woman that asked him for help nodded quickly. "I-I can show you, b-but the others-" Deku cut her off with a kind nod.

"I understand, other heroes will be here soon, Draco, can you look after them?" Deku asked, and the blonde nodded.

"Sure, be careful, that was far too close," He replied, their job was far from over.

After twenty minutes, several paramedics and two local heroes had arrived on the scene to aid in returning those captured by Zarlik to their families or to nearby hospitals that were still active during these times. Draco sat on an old car, watching medics check on Kaneko who had woken sometime ago.

"Thank you for trusting us, Midoriya, and for saving Kotaro," He bowed his head to Deku, the greenette shaking his head.

"Anytime," He was curt, looking around the area. "This area should be free of Splicers, but when you can, you should scout the area,"

"Right," Draco nodded, then scratched his chin. "I wonder, why would Kovik command NARA to destroy the very strongholds his Barons established?"

That was a question Deku had to search for, perhaps the other Barons may shed light onto that inquiry. Turning away, Deku gave his old friend a brief look. "I'll find a way to bring them back," He blurted out, drawing the blonde's eye. "The Barons are the key, rather, Mr. Compress... he and the one that followed them through the portal that day are connected," Deku clenched his fist. "So I'll find him,"

"Midoriya," Draco turned to him as he slowly walked away. "You shouldn't hold yourself accountable for what happened to Yukino and the others," He gave Deku a solemn look. "You don't have to fight this battle alone."

Deku didn't say a word, instead, he released a burst of wind pressure at his feet, gliding away from the scene as quickly as when he arrived. One Baron was down, but he still have several more ahead.

That's right, he'll defeat them all.

And she can finally come home.

To Be Continued...

Izuku's got quite the plate in front of him, Zarlik (AKA The Hangman) was a sadistic Baron but not the most deadly of the bunch as we'll come to see. But how will he fare against the ones coming up on his list? I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Heroes!

Next Chapter Intermission: The Drifter

"Welcome to another fact session," Deku waved chipperly, eyes curved happily as he waved to a diagram of a Splicer. "To explain NARA is really easy. You see much like Halimaka's weaker variation when we first fought, those with NARA are implanted with a Core that helps to maintain all of NARA's functions, as alone, the nanomachines are far too powerful for the body to handle, and, as seen with Zarlik, will destroy the body if not kept regulated,"

The Splicer broke apart, then was replaced with a close up of the chest where the core was located. "If the core remains intact, a powerful Splicer can regenerate almost immediately, similar to a Nomu's hyper-regeneration, but lesser Splicers are just drones, so they don't require a core as the NARA density isn't lethal," He tapped the image of a swarm of red nanomachines, titled as 'Density Swarm'.

Deku blinked, then nodded. "I hope this helps as we move on to next week's chapter, The Drifter. Go Beyond - Plus Ultra!" He pumped his fist.