Here we go with chapter 14. This is by far my longest chapter, sorry it took so long to get this out but I didn't have much time to sit down and write last month and when I did I had a LOT to put down. This chapter is going to be intense, a handful of future plot points will be revealed in this chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 14 What is a hero?
It's a sunny day in the city of Hosu, people are walking the streets, cars are going from point A to point B. However in the shadows of this usually peaceful city the Hero Killer: Stain stalks the shadows. He had culled his 17th false hero last night and his work in the city was far from done. He was intentionally hiding in the shadows along the specific patrol route of the Turbo Hero: Ingenium, it was one of his sidekicks that he killed and if he was the fake he expected him to be he would surely come for him in revenge. The false heroes that infest society and everything they stand for have become a stain on the concept of the word "hero". And he was going to eliminate them.
Izuku looked for a place to get into costume after making it off of U.A's campus. He found a secluded spot and got into his costume like normal, but as he jumped on the roof of a building it didn't feel right. Inspecting himself he saw that he was wearing a different costume. His cowl felt the same. His gloves were different with the backhand being black and the palm being red, the backhand had a big red dot and smaller ones on his base knuckles. His shirt was skin tight as usual but short sleeved with the same design and green as his normal one. His pants were the same green but baggy and tucked into his shoes, which looked like his trademark red ones designed as mid calf combat boots. His utility belt was red as usual but had from what he could feel were nine pockets. Pulling out his hero phone and going to the camera he got a good luck at what he looked like and it was pretty good. Still, this random change of looks should have been at least mentioned by his sidekick whom he finally decided to call. "Intech, the hell am I wearing?"
"Hahaha. I've been watching you feel yourself waiting for you to call!" He kept laughing at his friend for a moment before answering him. "To answer your question, this is your Beta costume. I've actually had this ready for months but I had to add upgrades and gear to your Alpha costume that I needed to incorporate to this one before you actually put it on.
This is just as durable as your Alpha costume just with a different design. I kept your cowl and shirt design the same, also the shirt stayed skin tight but with short sleeves those muscles stand out even more. Your pants are baggy but you know not OVERLY so, and your shoes. P.s those are my favorite part of this new look, takes the design of your trademark red shoes and turns them into strong and durable combat boots befitting a hero here to kick some ass! And possibly make you a trendsetter.
Lastly, your utility belt. I kept the usual stuff with pockets for first aid equipment, spy flies, trackers, smoke bombs, fingerprint collectors, sample collectors. The only thing I added were EMP grenades because, name a reason? And the last two are for your phone and money."
"I'll admit it surprised me at first but this suit IS awesome I have to admit. But say I want to wear my Alpha suit, I can swap between the two right?"
"Of course, I added Beta to the suit app on your watch. But I think you'll like this one better after a while."
"Alright! New suit, new leads, let's go stop a hero killer!" He said before taking off in the direction of Hosu City."
ONE, after a steady run at Mach 20 made it to Hosu City in about half a minute. He had plenty of time so he watched the broadcast of the sports festival on his hero phone. "So their first challenge is a 4km obstacle course race huh. Maybe I should have stayed to watch that? Momo's definitely going to kill this." He thought to himself.
The camera was on all the students on the field as they got ready to begin, his attention was solely on Momo. When Midnight started the race he was probably one of few people who saw her disappear as everyone else started running. After nine seconds the signal rang out telling that someone had crossed the finish line, shocking everyone in the stadium. Many students were still fighting to make it out of the first obstacle and standing past the finish line was Momo Yaoyorozu with a proud and confident smile. Izuku chuckled to himself as Present Mic roared out. "WITH A RECORD OF 9.3 SECONDS THE WINNER OF THE RACE IS MOMO YAOYOROZU FROM CLASS 1A!"
Izuku looked at his friend as she sat with Midnight waiting for the others to arrive, every pro in the stadium clearly impressed by that display of speed. "Huh, nine seconds on a 4k? Guess she didn't want to go all out at the start, she easily could have done that in four, minimum. Every pro in the stands is surprised though, way to start out strong Momo!"
Standing on the roof of a building in Hosu, a woman wearing a gray short sleeve shirt, camo skinny jeans and black boots watches the sports festival from her phone. "Looks like Yaoyorozu's going to blitz through this festival, how cute." She puts her phone away and gets back to the matter at hand as she looks out to the city. "Now where are you? Stain."
Back with Izuku he's headed over to where Stain was most likely going to strike. He looks out to the city as he does Parkour on the rooftops. As he's going he can see several local heroes on patrol, most notably several of Ingenuim's sidekicks and the Normal Hero: Manual. He makes it to the area and looks around.
Sports Festival
The forty runners had finished and made it to the next event that turned out to be a cavalry battle. The place of each runner had a point total with the first place spot receiving ten million, it was a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow those at the top. Everyone had demonic red eyes as they looked at Momo whose confident smile didn't falter with her expression saying, "Bring it!". They were given ten minutes to form their four person teams, many in class 1A were quick to try to join Bakugo or Todoroki, the former of whom needed reminding of their names and quirks. While Momo had no problem with working alone, she still wanted to team up with her classmates, but many were avoiding her because she was worth so much. Both Jiro and Ashido turned her down when she asked them to join her, but she didn't let it bother her as she prepared for the race.
All the teams had been formed and it was time to begin. It was clear that most if not all of the teams would target her, but Momo had several plans to grasp victory. She unzipped her shirt and prepared herself as the timer counted down. Midnight counted down, "3,2,1 Begin!" The moment the words left her lips and the starting bell sounded as she predicted many teams headed straight for her. Everything slowed down as she saw something causing the ground to shift. Something a boy with no lips from class B was doing, in a flash she was behind his group taking their headband. Several teams sank into the ground where she previously stood.
"So his quirk lets him soften what he touches, I should be wary of him and where I step." She thought as in a flash she had snatched Hagakure's headband, then a redhead girl from class B, then a blonde boy from class B, then Shinsou. She continued to speed blitz through her competition before finally snatching Bakugo's headband and appearing on the edge of the arena behind everyone else holding almost every headband.
Momo looked at the headbands in her hands as she thought about the past few seconds. "Hm, Mineta and Asui are using Shoji as a tent so I couldn't get theirs, but this is fine."
After a few moments the other teams were able to spot her, shock written all over their faces as they saw her holding their headbands. What was even more surprising was that NO ONE saw her take them!"
"What the hell!" Bakugo roared.
"When did she?" Todoroki exclaimed
"How fast is this girl?!" Kendo thought.
"Of course class 1A would show off like this." Monoma angrily stated.
Mineta clutched his headband after seeing what she did. "Ooh, hiding under Shoji's arms was such a good idea!" He exclaimed, relieved.
"INCREDIBLE! Momo Yaoyorozu of class 1A has snatched most of the headbands like it was nothing! Eraserhead! What are your thoughts on this?!"
"She has a plan." The man dryly replied.
Momo simply smiled at her competition as she showed them the headbands, putting her plan into action. She quickly made a Sakabato from her stomach as they charged at her. For the next ten minutes it became a very one sided game of cat and mouse, Momo was in complete control as she perfectly avoided and defended herself against the other students. She made a point to hold on to all the headbands until the final five minutes of the challenge as phase one, she began phase two by dropping random or specific headbands as she was running, dodging or fighting. This made everyone forget about catching her and start fighting for the headbands, after a while she had dropped all the headbands and just to be nice she dropped high numbered ones near Ashido and Jiro's teams. Momo leaned against the wall of the arena as she watched the others fight like hell for the last five minutes. "You were able to execute that flawlessly Momo. I'm sure if Izuku were in this he would have just kept the headbands until time was up." She smiled at the thought, knowing she was right.
The event ended and Present Mic spoke up. "AND THAT ENDS THE CAVALRY BATTLE! Our finalists are, Team Yaoyorozu, Team Mineta, Team Bakugo and Team Todoroki."
"Since our first place team was an individual we'll need to add four more people to fill the bracket. So the fifth place team gets to move on, Team Tetsu Tetsu, congratulations." Midnight said.
Kendo, TetsuTetsu, Hakanuki and Shiozaki cheered, thankful at getting to move on.
"And there you have it we have all our slots filled! Now to see who you'll be facing!"
First round match ups
Momo Yaoyorozu VS Itsuka Kendo
Shoto Todoroki VS Hanta Sero
Jozu Hananuki VS Tenya Iida
Mina Ashido VS Minoru Mineta
Fumikage Tokoyami VS Tsuyu Asui
TetsuTetsu TetsuTetsu VS Eijiro Kirishima
Denki Kaminari VS Ibara Shiozaki
Katsuki Bakugo VS Mezo Shoji
Momo looked over at the redhead named Kendo, interested in her. "So she'll be my first opponent." The girl then made eye contact with her and walked towards her.
"Hey Yaoyorozu, let's have a good match." She smiled at her as she extended a hand.
Momo smiled back and shook the girl's hand. "Of course, let's do our best."
"You've been dominating this whole festival from the start, you've definitely got all eyes on you. But I don't plan on losing, so I'm not gonna hold back!" She exclaimed.
"If that's a challenge I humbly accept." Momo replied with a smile. Kendo smiled back at her before walking away.
"We'll be taking an intermission before moving on to the finals so everyone competing should take this time to rest, for everyone else we have some fun side games for you." This made some upset about not moving on feel a little better as everyone left the field.
"Yo! Yaomomo!" Ashido called out.
"Yes, what is Ashido?"
"Seriously thanks for the headband, we would have been all kinds of screwed without it!"
"It's no problem. I gave one to Jiro's team too but unfortunately it wasn't enough."
"Thanks for trying anyway though." The long earlobes girl stated as she approached the two.
Unbeknownst to the girls, an angry Bakugo overheard their conversation. "Screw you ponytail! You didn't help me! If I knew we could have gone solo I never would have teamed up with those freaking EXTRAS!"
"What the hell is your problem?!" Ashido shot at him. "We only got two headbands and the one she gave us was the whole reason we moved on. Be thankful and stop being a jerk!"
"Tch. Like I said at the start, I'm gonna win and crush every single one of you extras. By the end of this there won't be any doubt who the best one is here. Listen up ponytail, I'm gonna kill you and that icy-hot bastard, it doesn't matter what you do, it's only a matter of time." He then walked past the three girls leaving a stunned Ashido and Jiro while Momo was unfazed by him.
With his back to her but still in ear shot she spoke. "You are truly unpleasant Bakugo."
He turned around and glared at her, "The hell you say!" He said with venom
"Izuku told me about your unpleasant personality before we even started school so I expected you to be someone I wouldn't want to associate with, which you are, but my point is this is your last warning...Learn to say what you mean! I could kill you right now just for saying that to me, I haven't been going all out yet but here's a frame of reference. One sword strike at my top speed is an instant kill, so start saying what you mean!" She exclaimed with a look that sent chills down the boy's spine. He gave a final weak glare before walking away.
As they saw the blonde walk away both Ashido spoke up again. "You look like you're extra motivated to win this, is there something you're not telling us?" Ashido asked with a sly grin.
"What do you mean? It's the sports festival, I just want to do my best."
The pink girl's smirk didn't fade. "Really? Because back in the waiting room you left because Midoriya wanted to see you before we started and you came back with the biggest blush and all fired up." Momo went pink from her words. "Soooo..Just what did Midoriya say to you? Or did he do something I want to know about?"
Momo tried to hide her blush but she couldn't help but smile at the thoughts from earlier. Ashido noticed her shift and her love senses were going off. "Did he give you a good luck kiss or something?"
Momo's eyes widened as she power walked towards the cafeteria, she could hear Ashido squealing behind her, "I knew it!"
Hosu City
"I know you're here Stain, come on out." ONE thought to himself as he observed the city from the roof of a building. He had been in the city for a while and he hadn't seen hide nor hair of the hero killer, he had also stopped several crimes which took his attention from his original task but he didn't complain. Hosu was a ward in Tokyo which was usually peaceful because All Might's agency was in Tokyo. But with him being a teacher at the moment he's not in the city as often as he normally is so it's only natural crime in the wards would go up a bit. "Maybe I should just tail Ingenium until Stain eventually strikes?" He thought to himself as he received a call from Intech.
"Yo ONE, you may want to get to Tokyo." He said, sounding uneasy.
"For what? Plus I still haven't found the hero killer yet."
"There's a plane descending towards the city and the flight path shows it's not heading for the airport."
"Where's it headed?"
"Not sure, but it shouldn't be descending on a path this far from the airport."
"Think it's been hijacked?!"
"It's possible, or a system malfunction. Look into it." The sidekick said before hanging up.
With a sigh ONE left Hosu and began Sky Walking to Tokyo. "Intech, I'm going to need you to guide me, I don't know the city at all."
"No problem, just head east."
At a corporate building a man walks with his business associates after leaving a meeting with one of his partners. He's a handsome middle aged man with well kept spiky black hair that's turned down at a right angle. He has dark gray eyes and a prominent blade of hair that runs down the right side of his face. He talks with his associates, all of them pleased with the continued success and upcoming deals of the company. They had two more meetings today in the city and had some time so they decided to take a break and relax in the office. The man sits next to a window overlooking Tokyo.
"That's one down two to go." He thought as he observed the city. "Hm, the sports festival should still be going on, she's sure to be doing well. Hopefully we'll have much to celebrate tonight."
He takes a seat in a chair by the window as he pulls out his phone to check the state of the U.A sports festival. It was the final event for the first years and it looked like SHE was going to be fighting first.
Back at the Sports Festival
Momo Yaoyorozu and Itsuka Kendo step into the arena ready to face each other. "Alright ladies in gentleman, now entering the arena, the one who's been dominating this entire festival! The Great Creator, the Flash of Slash, from Class 1A Momo Yaoyorozu!" The crowd road from present Mics introduction.
"And her opponent! This girl's got big fists, a big heart and she's ready to snatch a big win! From Class 1B Itsuka Kendo!" Her applause wasn't as loud as Momo's but it still got her fired up.
The two girls readied themselves for battle, when Midnight gave the signal to start it was on. Momo drew her Sakabato as Kendo rushed her, enlarging her hands and throwing a volley of punches. Momo skillfully dodged them but they were faster than she thought. "So her quirk let's her grow her hands. I'm guessing this drastically increases their power as well. Let's see how much." Finishing her thoughts she blitzes behind Kendo after dodging a punch, she stays in place long enough for the girl to notice and blindly throws a chop but Momo backflips away to dodge.
"Damn, I never even came close to hitting her, she's too fast. I gotta make an opening somehow?"
Momo had figured out the rhythm of her fighting style, now she had several plans to win. She raises her sword behind her head, "Spiral Phoenix!" The spiral air slash flew at the girl fast with her just barely able to bring up her arm to block.
"What the heck!" Kendo thought as she struggled against the attack. She then noticed something in her right periphery. Momo in a flash, slashes Kendo's right side, sending her flying and dispersing her attack. Kendo get's close to the boundary but is able to dig her hands into the floor and stop herself. She crouches over on all fours from pain. "Man! My arms are numb and I think she just cracked my ribs, she's as tough as I thought." She thought as she strategized through the pain. "She's faster than me, I can't get around that. But I should hit harder, if I can get her off balance just for a moment I can nail her and win.
Gathering all her strength for her last effort she stood and jumped. She spun and contorted her body before putting all the momentum into her right fist and punching the ground, this caused the ring to crumble and shake while having the intended effect of throwing Momo off balance. Kendo took the chance to charge at her but to her shock the black haired girl faded with her fist hitting nothing. "I don't have anything bad to say about that strategy." Looking around, Kendo could see that she was surrounded on all sides by afterimages of Momo. Before she could fully process her situation the girl struck, Momo slashed her over a dozen times at multiple angles with incredible speed, her final attack sending the redhead out of bounds.
"Kendo is out of bounds, Yaoyorozu wins!" Midnight exclaimed.
Back at the corporation
"Yes! That's my girl!" The man cheered to himself as his associates approached him.
"Mr. Yaoyorozu, it appears our next meeting has been moved up, we should head over now." One of his associates stated.
"That's fine. I'm wishing to head home early so let's take care of this as soon as possible." He said with his back to the glass window. All around, people were working in their cubicles and offices taking care of business when one of Yaoyorozu's associates tensed up. "What is that?" He said pointing out the window.
Turning around and looking out the window everything went in slow motion as from the plane just moments from crashing into the building. Seiya Yaoyorozu's grey eyes widen as his life flashes before his eyes. Meeting his wife in highschool, graduating University and taking over the family business, getting married and the birth of his daughter. "Hello Momo Yaoyorozu, aren't you the sweetest peach I've ever seen?" He said, holding a newborn Momo."
Seiya sits on the living room couch sipping some tea when a five year old Momo walks in. "Father! Look at what I made! She exclaimed, showing him the Russian nesting doll she created.
"You made that?"
"Yes!"
The excited father scooped up his daughter and ran to find his wife, "HONEY! Momo got her quirk! She's a genius, I told you!"
"You want to have Midoriya over for dinner?"
Yes I would like to have him over. He trained with Tabihara sensei as well, we're both aiming to get into U.A and he's really nice." Momo said fast, trying to convince her father.
The father thought about her request. "She's falling for that boy and I doubt even she doesn't realize it yet. Why not, Midoriya seems like a good kid." "Ok, he can come over." Momo immediately hugged her father upon hearing his answer.
"I have a couple of meetings today in Tokyo today, I'll try to watch you in the sports festival when I can."
"Thank you father, I'll do my best!"
That's all I ask of you my sweet girl." He said before kissing her forehead.
"Both of you do your best today and hopefully we'll have a lot to celebrate tonight." Miyako Yaoyorozu chimed in. Seiya shares one kiss with his wife before heading out the door.
Back in real time Seiya was coming to grips with his impending death, thoughts of his wife and daughter flow through him, he's unable to even scream or run away from the plane roughly fifty feet from tearing through the building. Suddenly out of nowhere a figure clad in green appeared before him, he stood between the building and the incoming plane.
"Gale Palm!" ONE called out as he threw out his hand in a spiral motion creating a powerful whirlwind that engulfed the entire plane. The wind pressure was so powerful it significantly slowed down the plane with ONE's hands bringing it to a complete stop with the wind keeping it afloat. "Time to see what the hell this was all about?!" "Flash Clone!" He created a speed clone to keep the plane up as he jumps off the air and phases through the nose of the plane going straight to the cockpit. Everything moved in slow motion as he sped up when he came through the controls. Two hijackers, one male the other female, looking to be in their early twenties. The male is protruding blades from his body and using them to hold the pilots hostage, The girl's just standing there nonchalantly, looking at the controls he sees that everything is turned off or at the very least disabled. "So that's her quirk. Taking the pilots hostage AND disabling the controls, why?"
With imperceptible speed he broke the bladed limbs near the throats of the pilots and with one punch to the gut and a kick to his leg he moved on to the girl and gave a heavy chop to the neck. He jumps through the door after becoming intangible and sees that a man with black hair was using his smoke quirk to suffocate several passengers. Everything is still in slow motion and the horrified faces of everyone both saddened and angered him. In a flash he lands one hard punch to the hijacker's stomach and frees the passengers. He goes back to the cockpit and finally stops with everything going back to normal with all the hijackers dropping from their injuries. The pilots looked at each other unable to process what was going on as a moment ago they had prepared themselves for death.
"Listen, I've stopped the plane and defeated the hijackers. Try to get the controls back online while I go under the plane and carry you all to the airport." He said really fast and didn't give them a chance to respond as he had jumped through the side of the cockpit. Once he was on the outside he fell for a moment before kicking the air and flying beneath the plane, he was able to put it on his back and hold it up just as his clone faded and wind finally dissipated. "Intech, I can carry this but I'm gonna need you to guide me to the airport buddy."
"I'm already ahead of you bro just go northwest. That didn't even take you ten whole seconds to stop a potential national tragedy. For the sake of my curiosity on a scale of 1-10 how heavy is that plane?"
"Doing a lot of multitasking right now but maybe...a 1.5." He answered as he flew up with Sky Walk.
"Of course it is." His sidekick said completely unsurprised by that answer.
ONE had the plane stabilized as he kept going straight up to prevent any collateral damage. Once he was high enough he began to head towards the airport. He was sure plenty of people were recording this and the way he was carrying it it probably looked more like a hovercraft than a plane. Carrying the plane and Sky Walking at the same time was surprisingly easier than he expected, during his training the heaviest thing he's ever carried while flying was a broken down bus. Still, it was good to know he could fly despite how large something was. If he could move faster than light speed he could do THIS. After a few minutes the airport came into view. He was able to get in touch with the control tower and they walked him through where to land the plane. After doing so law enforcement and several pros surrounded the plane, he went back in to round up the hijackers with the flight crew having already cuffed them.
He received many thanks from the passengers, the crew and the pilots with many of them wanting to know his name. While he could have taken off he decided to make sure everyone got off safely and help anyone who would understandably be stressed after their ordeal. After five minutes everyone was off the plane with the still knocked out hijackers being loaded up. As they were being loaded up he could see some yellow bugs flying out of the ears of the three and attempted to fly away. In a flash with one swipe he grabs all three, the pros and police watching are shocked by this sudden action. He opens his hands to see that he was holding three strange looking bees, "What in the world?" He said as he observed the insects in his hand. All three of them suddenly made eye contact with him before exploding in his face. It didn't hurt him at all but it was still surprising.
His quirk-nerd and detective side was analyzing everything about this incident. "Bee's coming out of people's ears, only the hijackers had them, they self-destructed when they were caught. Insects don't explode like that, they were either a quirk that produces insects or they were engineered with someone using their quirk to control them." He looked at the unconscious hijackers who seemed none the wiser about what had just happened. "Those three were probably under some sort of mind control. I definitely need to keep tabs on them, this will be all over the media later if it isn't already. Issues for later for now I have to get back to Hosu."
He finished his thoughts before leaping into the air and flying back to the city, he'd been away roughly fifteen minutes more or less. Hopefully Ingenium was okay and he could get to Stain, and after which check on the sports festival as it should be in its final stage by now.
Back at the sports festival
Momo was facing Todoroki in the second round, The heterochromatic boy's left side burst into flames as he launched a giant wave of ice with Momo side stepping to avoid it. Everything moved in slow motion as Todoroki extended his left hand to fire a blast of flames. In a flash Momo was in his face with her sword ready to slash him. Before the boy could release his fire Momo hit him with a horizontal air slash that hit his torso, making him spit up blood and carry to the wall of the stadium with a loud crash.
"Todoroki is out of bounds. Yaoyorozu wins!"
Momo went back to the stands as health bots came to get Todoroki, her fiends congratulated her on the win when she made it back. "Way to go Yaomomo! Ashido cheered
"Thank you! Todoroki was a strong opponent, I think this was the first fight were he used his flames."
It wasn't enough to stop you Ms. Flash?" Kaminari said playfully.
"Ms. Flash? How many nicknames am I going to get today?"
This made some of her class chuckle. Anyway, good luck Ashido, you're up against Hananuki, watch where you step and you should be fine."
"Thanks for the advice! She exclaimed before walking to the waiting room.
"Hey everyone check this out." Ojiro called out to everyone who could hear him.
"What is it man?" Kirishima responded.
"A commercial airliner was hijacked and about to crash into some corporate building in Tokyo, but ONE came out of nowhere and stopped it." This got the attention of everyone. They all huddled around Ojiro as he showed the news coverage on his phone. It told of how a plane from Nagasaki had been hijacked on it's way to Tokyo and about to crash into a corporate building. Momo's heart sank when she heard the name of the corporation but continued to listen. The report covered live witness reports and several videos of people who filmed the incident. The video's showed the plane flying into the building before a small figure appeared before it. Stopping it with powerful wind pressure and their bare hands then seconds later flying under the plane and lifting it into the sky before carrying it across the city.
Another video showed it being taken to the airport with all of the people being safely taken out as well as the hijackers being taken into custody. The news got statements from the crew and passengers and all of them gave thanks to ONE, several of them got photos with him and they talked of how he helped them with stress and how he was the hero to all on the plane. The broadcast ended with the news anchors giving their own take on the incident, all of them called ONE a hero while none agreed with his vigilantism they accepted he stopped a tragedy.
Man! That dude is so freaking MANLY! Kirishima exclaimed
"He stopped that in no time flat." Ojiro stated.
"I will never agree with his vigilantism but I must admit, that was very heroic. Iida chimed in.
"He stopped the plane, beat the hijackers, lifted the plane so it wouldn't damage the city AND carried it to the airport. Seriously, why is this guy not a pro? HOW?!" Sero asked.
Excuse me, I have to make a call." Momo said in a sad sounding tone as she walked to the hall.
Momo walked into the hallway and found a secluded spot to talk in private. She had to call her father after seeing the news, the phone rings a few times before he picks up. "Yes daughter?"
"Father, I just saw the news, are you alright?!"
"I'm a fine dear. My time did not come today."
"Were you there when it happened?"
"Unfortunately, yes. I had actually accepted my fate when a savior clad in green intervened." He said with a thankful smile.
"I saw the news coverage of the incident, it was ONE."
"I've heard of him but that was my first time seeing him, he's that vigilante from Musutafu, correct?"
"Yes, I have actually followed a few of his exploits, he really is amazing." Momo said with a smile tearing up slightly.
"I concur. I owe him my life...I saw your fight against the girl named Kendo, a stellar performance." The father smiled as he complimented his daughter.
"Thank you father. I also won my last match and I'll be moving on to the third round. How are your meetings going?"
"I was able to get through one before all the chaos went down. I cancelled the other two and I'm returning home right now."
"I understand, I'll continue to do my best here and impress the pro heroes."
"You've more than impressed them, keep up the good work my sweet girl. I love you."
"I will, I love you too father." She said before hanging up and allowing a few tears to fall. She wiped her tears, thankful her father was alive and she could still hear his voice, talk to him and genuinely tell him she loved him. "Izuku...Thank you." She said with genuine relief, thanks and joy.
Back in Hosu
One had quickly flown back to the city and went back on the hunt for Stain. He went back to the area he was patrolling earlier and when he got there he went on edge as he felt a wave of malice and the scent of blood hit his nostrils. He got on the ground and Immediately ran in the direction of both, they seemed to be coming from the same place. After a quick dash and turning a corner he came across an alleyway where the malice and scent were definitely coming from. With his speed everything moved in slow motion as he looked into the alley, he was sad, scared and frustrated by what he saw. Ingenium was on the ground covered in his own blood, with a jagged sword stabbed into his back, and the man holding the sword was the man he had been looking for.
The Hero Killer: Stain, he had intricately studied the police sketches, victim testimonies, eye witness reports, and with him right in front of him they were pretty spot on. He was armed to the tee with blades, a long white cloth for a mask, a blood red scarf, hair more wild than his own, wraps on both his arms, shin and knee protectors and spiked shoes. But none of that is what concerned him, his eyes, the look in his eyes is what worried him the most. He's too fast for him to have noticed him yet but as he was stabbing Ingenium he had a look in his eyes that was all too familiar with him. It was a look he had seen many times because it was the same kind that he possessed. When he started investigating the Hero Killer, he assumed his motive was because he hated heroes.
Maybe heroes failed him at a point in his life, like he lost someone important to him because heroes couldn't save them. But as he's looking into his eyes he could tell he was WAY off. Stain's eyes are just like his, the eyes...Of a fanatic. Someone who deeply admires heroes. This guy wanted to BE a hero, he could tell. What could have happened that would make him walk this path, he needed to know.
ONE speed blitzs down the alley and stops in front of Stain, he pivots his left and spins right, connecting a sidekick to Stains stomach. He flies back and appears to clutch his stomach but he reaches for his pocket knives and throws two at the hero. ONE snatches one in mid flight and uses it to deflect the other one as Stain lands and skids, before he could react ONE throws the Knife at Stain's foot, piercing it. The villain grunts in pain as he pulls the knife out, he looks at the hero who assumes a fighting stance. Taking a look at him, his costume may be different but he was sure he knew who this was. ONE readied himself to take down the hero killer but he kept looking down at ingenium who wasn't looking so good. He had cuts and stab wounds all over his armour, blood was everywhere and the sword from a moment ago was surely piercing his spine, he may very well be paralyzed or at worse be in shock.
ONE took his eyes off the immediate threat to check on the down hero, "Ingenium! Ingenium can you hear me?!" The hero didn't respond right away but he could tell that he was still breathing. "You...Have to run away...Get help." He managed to say through the pain and grunted breathes.
"This is really bad, I gotta get him to a hospital asap." He thought. He stood up to face the attacker. "Don't worry, I'm gonna save you. Intech, how far is the nearest hospital and or trauma center?"
"Give me a minute pulling it up." After some short searching he found it. "I got three, the closest one is 13km from where you are now. Dip out that ally, take a right then ride down your first left turn and you'll eventually reach it."
"Got it."
Stain watched the hero with interest, having heard him talking though not knowing with whom, he could tell he was prioritizing saving this false hero before fighting him. Maybe, he thought just maybe he was different. "Tell me, are you ONE?"
ONE was surprised by his question, although he really shouldn't have been. "Yeah that's me, what of it?"
"I'm curious, I've heard of the many things you've done as an illegal hero. Many in society sing your praises while pro's and many in the media refuse to acknowledge you and all the good you do. You've handled incidents in ways that only All Might could. You clearly view yourself as a hero but you're not a pro. Why do you do it?"
ONE took a moment to think about his question, he knew and understood why he wanted to be a hero before he ever put the suit on. The moment he saw All Might's debut online he knew what he wanted to be. "It's my dream."
Stain's eyes narrowed at his response. "Explain."
From the moment I saw All Might's debut I knew what I wanted to be, "A Hero". Saving and helping others with a fearless smile not for what you'll gain but because it's the right thing to do. People adore All Might all over the world, not because he's strong or because he's cool, that much is obvious. It's because he cares. He cares so much that he'll help anyone and everyone that he can reach from anything.
"I wanted to be a person like that. I dedicated myself to training and learning, gaining as many skills and as much strength as possible to be that. But all men are not created equally, and this world discriminates. I had a choice, let my dream die or take it into my own hands and I chose the latter. It doesn't matter what people say. If I can use the skills and abilities I've trained to help someone in need, be that saving from someone else, rescue from a disaster or even just being a friend to someone who needs understanding, then that's enough for me. Meddling when you don't need to is the essence of being a hero, even if no one knows my name or face, I'm still gonna be THIS hero." He finished, his words oozing resolve and conviction.
"Stain was happy to hear this but talk is cheap, it was time to test that resolve.
"I have a question for you too. Why do you do what YOU do? The look in your eyes, it's one I've seen many times in myself. You're a hero fanatic so why do this?!" He asked, demanding an answer.
"Stain narrowed his eyes as he recollected the reason for his mission, the reason behind his conviction. "To create a better world...And a stronger society." He answered with conviction.
"What do you mean by that?" ONE responded, genuinely curious to what he meant.
"The word hero has lost all meaning in this society. Hypocritical frauds who care more about fame, money and attention have tainted the very concept of the word." The thoughts behind his words seemed to make him angrier. "But I will reclaim that word! I will cull the fakes and all those undeserving of the title "Hero". The only way for true heroes to rise in this society is for the frauds that blind everyone to fade away so those worthy can shine and show what it truly means to be a hero."
ONE was taken aback by his words for a moment, he knew the hero killer had some sort of motive and hearing his words he couldn't deny that he was right but still…
"You're not entirely wrong, hero killer. There are a lot of pro heroes in it for the wrong reasons, the term "Hero" has become an occupation that anyone can pursue so it's only natural that the true meaning wouldn't resonate the same in everyone. But still...Killing or crippling those who don't fit the bill isn't the way to go about it, THAT'S where you're wrong in all of this! Instead of killing the so-called "fake heroes" you should have become a hero who showed others how to be a true hero through his example. And in turn those you would have inspired and taught would pass that on to heroes coming after them. Your eyes say it all, you wanted to be a hero didn't you?!" He exclaimed.
The vigilante's words seemed to strike a cord in the hero killer as in that moment he remembered his youth. His time in the hero course and becoming disgusted by what the industry was truly about and wanted no part of it. He tried, he truly tried to use his words to influence the masses and get back to the days of true heroism. The days where it was all about using your quirk to help others in need, not because you're getting paid, or because you'll look good, or because you'll get a lot of endorsements. But because that's what a hero does. But the influence of fake heroes was too ingrained in society and his words fell on deaf ears. He couldn't take it. THINGS had to change, SOMEONE had to change them, if he didn't WHO WOULD?! He resolved himself that he would change this world, he never wanted to kill anyone but for a better world these were the sacrifices that had to be made and he stood by that conviction.
"Yes, I wanted to be a hero. But the way the world is now I wanted no part of it." He brings up his sword and a knife ready to fight. "You're worthy of staying alive ONE, YOU are a true hero. My mission requires that I finish that fraud on the ground, if you wanna save him you're gonna have to kill me."
ONE, still in his stance, readies himself for battle. "I came to this city to stop you anyway, no one here is dying and that includes you."
With his sword in his right hand and holding his knife backwards in his left, Stain attacked. In a flash of speed he slashes at ONE's right side but is utterly shocked when the hero raises his right index finger to block and his sword breaks in half on contact. He tries to recover and attacks with his left but ONE catches his fist and with a squeeze crushes both his hand and knife before pulling him close. The hero knees him in the gut, coursing pain through him and sending him skidding down the alley. Stain manages to stop himself but the pain is intense, he still holds his half broken blade as he looks to his opponent but is shocked to see he's standing right in front of him. On pure reflex he thrusts his broken sword into the hero's chest with his sword fully shattering against his body.
Before he could fully process this ONE delivers a back fist to his elbow joint and uppercut to the chin, breaking the former and bringing him off the ground. With Stain wide open ONE lands seven brutal punches to his stomach before jumping and finishing him with a flying spin kick, making him hit the wall beside him with a loud crash and leaving an imprint. The Hero Killer hit the ground defeated and unconscious, he sighed as he went to check on ingenium. The turbo hero was in bad shape but he was still alive and breathing. He took off his helmet and it looked like he was going into shock. At that moment some of his sidekicks passed the alley, they were horrified to see their leader so injured but were even more so to see the hero killer defeated. ONE quickly explained the situation, telling them to watch over Stain and Ingenium as he ran to get a spine board as he needed to get to the hospital asap. He told them to call other pro's and the police before he left because Stain was just that dangerous.
In less than a minute ONE came back with a spine board and began applying first aid to the injured pro, several heroes had arrived on the scene and the police were still en route. After getting him on the board he got him to the hospital as quickly and safely as he could. He looked on at the doctors taking away ingenium for a while before heading back to the alley to make sure Stain was taken in without any hiccups, on the way he couldn't help but think about their talk before the fight. He was absolutely wrong for killing and crippling heroes, but his reasoning was understandable. "Hero" is an occupation these days, a job anyone can pursue, and some people may not be heroes in the truest sense but they could learn. Stains actions, while he had his reasons, they were easy. It's easy to just take out those who don't fit the bill of a hero, the harder thing is to lead by example and teach people. He could have done that, he could have put his ideals into becoming a true hero and cultivating those who would come after him. It made him sad to an extent because he was a hero fanatic just like him.
He made it back to the area of the encounter and was shocked by what he saw. He wasn't even gone five minutes and every pro and some police were laid out, scattered across the area clearly having been attacked. He also saw that Stain was gone and upon inspecting the victims he was sure he didn't do it. He was too injured and no one had any bladed wounds, they all looked like they had been beaten, he found that Native was still conscious and tried to get some answers from him. "Native! Can you hear me? What happened here? Where's Stain?!"
The hero coughed up a little blood before he answered. "It was a woman. After you left, a woman attacked us and took the hero killer away." He said through grunted breaths.
"What did she look like? What direction did they go in? Did you see?!"
"She had ash colored hair, a fringe covering one of her eyes, she was lightning fast and…" He never finished as he passed out from pain.
ONE laid the unconscious hero down as he gathered his thoughts. "Ash hair with a fringe over one eye, lightning speed. Tell me it wasn't?" He looks off in the distance knowing if the culprit was who he thought it was, they were long gone by now. But that only raised many questions, he pushed them aside and got to work helping the injured before him. After finishing his first aid and medics came to get everyone ONE took to the air and flew back to musutafu. "This has been quite a day."
"Yes it has." Intech agreed as he spoke into his cowl.
"I can't believe Stain got away, he was the whole reason for you coming to the city."
"Regardless, considering what would have happened with that plane I'm still glad I came. As far as Stain goes I'm certain we'll meet again. He won't be able to do anything for a while so we'll have to go back to waiting."
"You know who helped him don't you?"
"Based on what Native said...My old senpai."
"The same one that helped the villains at the UA attack?"
"That's the one. I have no Idea why but I'm gonna find out."
"Ok we'll double back to this later. You going back to the sports festival? Yaoyorozu's killing it you know."
"Yeah I was headed there now, they should be in the final stage by now, how's it look?"
"She made it to the final round and she's gonna be fighting that dumbass Bakugo, so you may wanna get there quick because it starts in a few."
"Noted. What time do you wanna meet up to head to Kashik?"
"Train ride isn't that long so let's say eight o'clock tonight. I already booked the hotel we'll be staying at and I got our disguises so we can just show up, drop our bags and head out."
"Alright, I might be having dinner with Momo and her family so I'll head over after."
"See you then." The sidekick said before hanging up.
"Momo VS Bakugo, No way am I missing or being late to that. Sky Walk: Flash Step!" He became a blur causing loud sonic booms as he flew towards UA.
Sports Festival
It's the final match of the UA Sports Festival, Momo Yaoyorozu and Katsuki Bakugo step into the arena ready to face each other.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen this is the last match, this is for all the marbles!" Present Mic exclaimed.
They step into the ring and prepare to begin. Bakugo's nasty glare unfazed her as Momo looked out to the crowd. Looking across the stadium she saw all the pros and fans ready for them to begin.
"And now for the final match for the first years, BEGIN!" Midnight exclaimed, starting the match.
The moment the match began Bakugo blasted himself forward using an explosion with Momo standing there waiting for him to get close. As she expected he throws a right hook with an explosion, Momo merely side steps with it completely missing and before he could react Momo wails on him with a flurry of punches before kicking him away. He almost goes out of bounds but he uses a blast to save himself. He rushes at Momo again and throws a blast that she seems to take on purpose, he doesn't realize he hit an afterimage until he gets brutally kicked in the face.
His face is one of rage as he picks himself off the ground. Momo creates a black staff with silver edges as the blonde comes back for more. Momo speed blitzes him and thrusts her staff into him, Bakugo is shocked when he is suddenly electrocuted by the staff. Momo quickly hits him five more times before hitting him in the head and kicking back. He twitches on the ground as he struggles to get up. "What the hell?!" He exclaimed as he struggled to get up.
She spun and twirled her staff as she explained, "The ends of this staff are powerful tasers that release 50k volts. Concede defeat Bakugo? She ordered as she held her staff ready to continue.
"LIKE HELL!" He roared as he got up and blasted towards her using some explosions he's able to get behind her, "Stun Grenade!" The blast is bright enough to blind Momo as she covers her eyes with an arm. Bakugo took this opportunity to get some distance and blast into the air, he begins to spin using blasts he becomes a smokey missile as he builds up power. "This'll end you, ponytail!" He thought as he approached the seemingly wide open Momo. "Howitzer…" Slink! Bakugo's body was suddenly wrapped in a metallic capture net that bound and prevented him from releasing his built up nitro sweat. He was still flying towards Momo and was shocked that instead of hitting her he passed right through her, hitting the ground hard and painfully bouncing and rolling until he landed outside the ring.
"Bakugo is out of bounds, the winner of the sports festival is Yaoyorozu!" Midnight announced, with the crowd roaring with applause. For those with good hearing they would hear the blonde on the ground screaming "FUUUUUUUUUUCK!"
Standing on the edge of the roof of the arena, the vigilante ONE looked down at the scene. "I already knew he never stood a chance, but still a good show Momo. I'm not surprised he didn't notice, when he thought he blinded Momo with his flash attack she made it look that way. In reality when she covered her eyes that was just an afterimage, she was already behind him when he got the distance to do his move. He never even noticed she was literally two steps behind him. Spinning was the worst thing he could have done because his momentum was used against him the moment he was wrapped in that net. And even if it didn't he would have used his strongest attack on an afterimage. Way to think far ahead of your opponent Momo."
The award ceremony happens with Momo on the first place podium, Bakugo being chained up and growling like an animal in second place, Tokoyami and Hananuki in third place. All Might came down and congratulated the finalist, after presenting the medals to everyone he gives a little talk about how anyone could have been standing on the podiums and to continue to work hard. To end his talk All Might said "good job" while the whole crowd said "Plus Ultra". This made the crowd yell annoyed with the pro's missed opportunity.
"Way to mess that up All Might." ONE thought as he turned and hopped off the roof of the stadium and chose to hit up some of the food stalls. To his surprise many people walked up to him wanting pictures and autographs, which he humbly obliged. He found a bento vendor and chose to get two boxes, but was surprised when the vendor "an elderly woman" just gave them to him. "Um, are you sure miss? I don't mind paying for them."
"It's perfectly fine ONE, consider it my thanks for saving my daughter and granddaughter in Fuji." She said with a smile.
Taking a closer look at the woman he was sure he knew who she was talking about, "You mean?"
"Yes, just as the blue menace was about to take their lives you saved them both. You have my eternal thanks. My granddaughter Teruko thinks you're the coolest thing ever."
These words warmed the hero's heart, "I'm honored Ma'am. I'm just glad I could help. Thank you for the bentos, it's been a long day and I'm really hungry."
"I hope you enjoy them." She said as she waved goodbye to the hero who began to walk away.
"That was a nice lady, it always feels good to know just saving one person has a domino effect on the people who care about them." He found a bench and sat down to eat his bentos. His plan was to enjoy these before running through request's on the app before heading to Momo's tonight. Opening his first one it looked delicious, he snapped his chopsticks and dug in. After the first bite of his food only one thought enters his mind, "Delicious!"
The bento was so good he quickly scarfed it down. He could sense the eyes of several pro's on him, he felt some of them getting closer and closer to him until three shadows loomed over him. "Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady, Death Arms. I see you're all doing well, nice festival isn't it?"
"What the hell are you even doing here you punk?!" Death Arms demanded.
"Well if it's not completely obvious I'm enjoying these delicious bento boxes, I highly recommend you try one. But I guess a broader answer would be enjoying the UA Sports Festival. It is a big event every year after all." He said with a smile that made the man angrier.
Kamui Woods spoke up, "We're here doing security and we'd like to ask you to leave."
"Any particular reason?"
"This is a no villain, No criminal's allowed zone. You leave or we attack." The wooden hero answered with a threat.
ONE knew there was no point in trying to talk to these people. "We're using ultimatums now? Fine then I'll go. But a little advice, caring more about "Stopping me" versus stopping actual criminals causing chaos is not a good look for you." He said before taking his last bento and walking towards the exit.
The two male heroes narrowed their eyes at the vigilante as he walked away with Mt. Lady looking unsure.
ONE spent the rest of the day knocking off requests on the app and stopping crime throughout the city, it had been one of his busiest days in a while. He was all over the media with videos and news reports of him stopping the plane on every outlet. His encounter with Stain also made the news, apparently there was a street camera that recorded the entire encounter. It showed Ingenium's fight with him and his own with the audio revealing everything that was said. It even showed who saved Stain after he got ingenium to the hospital and as he suspected it was Takae Tachibana. To his surprise many in the media were saying good things about him and his talk with Stain wasn't edited at all, though true to form Katakuri went on his radio show and slammed him as usual.
Yaoyorozu Mansion
Momo had won the sports festival and he gave her a time when he would come over to celebrate with her, he was sure her parents would have a big dinner to celebrate her win. After getting past the front gate and making it to the front door he is let in by Saikawa.
"Hello Midoriya, how are you this evening?"
"I'm doing fine Saikawa, yourself?"
He responded with his eyes closed, "I am well. We will be having dinner shortly and the Madam asked me to send you to her room when you arrive."
He thanked the butler before bowing and heading to Momo's room. He knocked on the door to her room and she tackled him into a hug when she opened it. He got a case of deja vu as he returned the hug. "Thank you, so much Izuku." She said with pure gratitude as she clung to him.
"You're welcome, but what did I do?" He asked, confused.
She said as she let him go and looked him in the eyes. "You saved my father today! Thank you so much."
He took a moment to register her words, "Wait, was he on the plane today?"
Momo shook her head. "No, He was in the building it was about to hit. As a matter of fact he was right behind you when you stopped it."
"Wow. Is he okay, I mean mentally?"
"After the incident today he canceled his remaining meetings and came home. I called him after I saw the news report, I'm just so thankful that he's still alive." She said as a tear escaped her eye that Izuku quickly wiped.
"It's ok Momo, you still have your father. I'm just glad I was able to make it on time. I saw the sports festival, you put on a great show." They then sat on her huge bed.
"Thank you, I had a handful of pros congratulate me as we left the arena."
"I actually wanted to congratulate you in person, but Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods and Death Arms ran me off."
"You were there?"
"Yeah, I was on the roof of the arena and saw your fight with Bakugo, you had him beat from the start."
"I just wanted to show as many skills as I could. Sensei actually called me after to congratulate me, but she did get on me for not using my body more instead of using a weapon."
Speaking of, when did you learn to make that taser staff? That was really cool."
I asked Fujiwara to make one for me and give me the structural formula for it. I wanted something unique to show at the sports festival, I actually regret that I didn't use it more."
"So that day at the cafe, THAT'S what Taku gave you."
"Yes, that's right."
"I saw your interview after you won, you looked really good on camera. Way to give kudos to Michiko!"
"Well I owe a lot to sensei. My training may have been brutal but I love her for it, so thanking her was natural. I think I did pretty well."
You definitely did. I'm pretty sure every pro who saw the festival is impressed with you, so you know where you want to do your internship?"
"I'm not really sure. I'll have to wait and see who scouts me before I make a decision."
"We'll it's just a possibility, but if Mirko or Ryukyo scouts you you should probably go with one of them."
"They are top ranking pro's, I wouldn't mind. Both of them trained with sensei as well, correct?"
"That's right, and I don't think I told you this but I teamed up with Mirko yesterday and I told her to watch you in the festival." He said with a charming smile.
Momo smiled back at him, "Look at you making connections with pro heroes."
"What, not all pros hate me. I would actually love to have some hero friends. I think I have some in Hawks and Mirko."
This made Momos eyes widen, "You met Hawks too?"
"Yeah, we teamed up yesterday too. It was pretty fun, even though he did a lot of piggybacking we got a lot of work done and helped a lot of people." He said with a smile.
You're always on the move Izuku, it almost makes me wish I was a pro now so I could join in."
"It's strange. I still resent the hero academia for rejecting me but I feel this is the path I was meant to take. I've done so many things and helped so many people since I put on the suit, and not to sound negative or conceited but if I hadn't many people would have suffered or worse, not be here anymore. When I think about that I'm certain that despite the negative connotation of vigilante, this was definitely the right thing to do." He said confidently without a shred of doubt.
Momo's heart fluttered at his words. Seeing him so confident and passionate was truly charming. He was right, If he let that rejection break him and not become ONE she would have LOST her father today. She was truly grateful to him, she also wanted to ask him about something else. "Izuku, what happened to the Hero Killer?"
"You want to know about that?"
"I saw the video but I want to hear about what happened from you."
"Ok, here's what happened." He went on to tell her the whole story of his encounter with Stain, how he found him after he attacked ingenium, their talk, how he beat him and knocked him out. How he took the hero to the hospital and how it all ended. " I had my suspicions but after I saw the video I now know that Tachibana senpai is the one who saved Stain."
"What are you going to do now?" Momo asked.
"All I really CAN do is go back to waiting, not sure what senpai has planned for him but he'll be back when he recovers and when he does I'll stop him for good."
"That's enough about my hero life, I came here to celebrate with you and my time before my next case is finite. So let's hang out and celebrate!" He exclaimed.
"Let's do it! But first...Do you mind telling me what that kiss was for?" She asked, narrowing her eyes and making a sly face.
This question threw him off for a moment but he regained his composure. "It was a good luck kiss, one that clearly worked."
"That it did. So what are you gonna do now?" She smiled at him while giving a knowing look.
"He returned with a charming smile and a knowing look. "Well right now, I want to celebrate, spend time with and give another one to the smartest, most amazing, kindest, most strikingly beautiful girl I have ever met in my life." He ended this with his emerald eyes meeting her onyx ones as he took her hand into his while leaning in.
"I'd like that." Momo said as she leaned in and her eyes closed.
The two teens connected at the lips setting off fireworks between them. Instinct took over, Momo brought her free hand to the boy's cheek, deepening the kiss and she absolutely melted. Izuku was in heaven at the moment. He's wanted to do this for a very long time, he was surprised at how natural it felt for his first kiss. This was a moment he would truly never forget. The two broke the kiss and stared into each other's eyes, they would surely have kissed again if it weren't for the knock at the door.
Momo turned to the door, "Come in!"
In walks in Saikawa, "Hello Madam, I've come to inform you that dinner is ready."
"Thank you so much Saikawa. We'll be down in a moment."
The butler closed the door. "That would have been awkward. Thankfully Saikawa always knocks before entering my room, my mother, not so much."
"Yeah if that were your Mom it would have been awkward. Do you think they'll have a problem with us?"
"No it should be fine, we'll tell them at dinner but before that…" She cups his cheek and they go into another make out session.
After an amazing dinner with Momo and her parents the two told them that they were together with her father and mother being surprisingly chill about it. He told Momo about his plans in Kashik tonight and she gave HIM a good luck kiss that blew his mind. He meets up with Taku at the train station and after a quick train ride they make it to the city. They get to their hotel and change into their disguises. "I hear that one of the rules of the Underground Masquerade is that everyone has to wear a mask, so I rolled with these. He gestured to both of them in their clothes.
"Taku was wearing black jeans, black and gray sneakers, a black t-shirt with a gray sleeveless vest over it. A black face mask that covered his neck, mouth and nose with a gray headband covering his left eye along with several concealed gadgets.
Izuku was wearing black baggy Jogger shorts with red and black sneakers, with a red and black jacket with a rabbit eared hood that formed a plain looking mask when fully zipped. Under that he wore a black head wrap over his standout green curls. "I get the need for a mask, but seriously man?!" He exclaimed at his disguise.
"What, you'll need a stage name when you fight. ONE's on a break, tonight you're the Red Rabbit!" He exclaimed.
"Really? Oh well." He unzips his jacket, "Let's try to find this place and more importantly the answers to Nomu. Based on what Mirko told me, the person making them is definitely linked to this event, so let's go."
"The two teens exited the hotel and went off into the streets of Kashik, unsure of what they'll find but hoping they'll find and discover everything they're looking for.
In an undisclosed location Stain wakes up on a bed, fully on edge from his unfamiliar surroundings, he lifts himself up and sees that his wounds had been treated somewhat but he would still need some time to fully recover effectively putting his mission on hold.
"So you're finally awake, Hero Killer." Came a feminine voice out of nowhere.
Looking to the right corner of the room he saw a woman roughly in her early 20s looking at him, arms crossed. "Who the hell are you?" The man demanded.
"You could call me a supporter, but I'd much rather be an ally."
"You drag me to a strange place wanting to be my ally when you won't even tell me your name?"
"Oh that's what you meant? Sorry, I'm not the best with social cues. My name is Takae Tachibana, and I'm assuming you prefer to be called Stain?"
"That's right. Now why have you brought me here and what do you want from me?"
"I thought the answer to your first question would be obvious, so you wouldn't be arrested and thrown into Tartarus. And as for what I want from you I want you to join me."
"With what?"
"We share a common goal, Stain, we both strive to build a better world. Both of us are able to clearly see through the darkness that blinds society and want to dispel it in order to bring about a better world. You kill false heroes to create a stronger society. I for one feel this country, hell this society isn't worth saving as long as it's controlled by the lowest of the low!" she said with conviction.
"Your eyes, you've seen truly despicable things haven't you? There is conviction in your words, before I give you any sort of answer, tell me...Why do you fight, what do you have to offer, and how far can your ideal take you?"
"If you want to hear my story then get comfortable, my hell started five years ago, just thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach. If I only knew what I know now I would have told 17yr old me to stay in that tent. She went on to tell Stain her story with the man giving his full attention with every word she said. Then she said something that caused a mix of shock, curiosity and anger to build within him. "The public safety commission trains its own personal heroes?"
"Heroes is the official term, but a more appropriate word would be soldiers. Trained to complete any and all missions given to them by the commission, and crossing every single line to do it. All for the sake of their notion of "Peace"." She answered him and continued her tale.
And that wraps up chapter 14, man I really wanted to get this out sooner but you know things happen. I really like Stain and I want to do his character justice so I couldn't just throw him away here. How will Tachibana's words effect him? We'll see. For those curious ONE was never going to be able to save Ingenium, I needed something that would take him away long enough for him to get attacked and ONE stopping a 911 is the best thing I could come up with while also introducing a future investigation and conflict. Izumomo is officially a thing, I figured stalling it was pointless because it'll be a important and fun dynamic in later chapters, plus I'm really looking forward to the lemons I'm gonna write for them. Momo dominated as expected and will only get stronger plus the effects this will have on an angry Bakugo truly warms my heart. I really want to know what you all thought of the chapter so please leave a review. Next time, Izuku and Takumi infiltrate the Underground Masquerade, Taku gets his hands on two quirk erasing bullets, Izuku fights his way to the top and gets the attention of the boss. Izuku teams up with a guy in a plague mask to battle a powerful Nomu and bumps into a little white haired girl desperately looking for help.
