December.

Tokyo

It was mid-day in Tokyo, snowy and pristine. Not at all like the lanky man walking on the sidewalk with a smirk to his gait, a perpetual smile on his angular and bony face. Life was kind to him, he was a hero, he was single, he didn't have to worry about anything except the property damage his tape caused. Being former Class 1A had its perks though, most people gave him a pass, most.

Right now? He was heading towards a special little place he liked to visit in his down time, the home of his biggest fan. The hero walked into the small time club area for boys and girls, saluting the girls at the front desk and turning down the hallway.

Exiting out the back, Sero smiled at the sight of children playing, all ages from all walks of life in this humble little club. It warmed his heart. He was newly graduated of course, but at least he had one real fan already right? Sitting in a wheelchair, Sero saw the young teen with brownish hair and a round innocent face watch idly as the other kids played. With a mischievous grin, he snuck up behind the wheelchair bound teen and grabbed the handles, shocking the round headed teen.

"Hey, been a while huh?"

"Cell- I mean S-sero s-sir!"

The tall man smirked as he pushed the teen's wheelchair, "You know, if it's too much hassle you can call me by my hero name if you want."

"Nah, I can handle it, I was just surprised." The teen collected himself quickly, Sero whistled, impressed.

"Sure sure, and other jokes you can tell your friends to make them laugh." Sero chuckled at his own joke, ironically.

"Ha, you're here to lecture me on comedy? What's really funny is that you're the only single member of class 1A, that's really funny." A tick mark appeared on Sero's forehead, his default grin straining slightly.

"Well well Tadashi, look who knows how to smacktalk now."

"I learned from the best, but now I'm not so sure about that last part."

"You wound me so, I thought I was speaking to my greatest fan."

They laughed together for a moment, Sero felt truly at peace here with the small guys. Tadashi was his self proclaimed greatest fan, and despite being paralyzed from the waist down. He said he was inspired by Cellophane, inspired that even despite being one of the weakest of his class, he never lost that smile.

Never taking on huge cases, never biting off more than he could chew, he stuck to his own neighborhood and helped his neighbors live out their lives to the fullest. That was his purpose, he wasn't strong like Bakugo, or fast like Iida, or smart like Yaoyorozu, or sneaky like Hitoshi. He was just...

Him.

Little did he know, that was a far graver crime than anyone could have imagined.


"What's up? Sero speaking." He answered his phone, not checking who the number was as he exited the building.

"Greetings!" Sero smiled at that voice.

"Ahh if it isn't Ingenium, finally reaching out to me, I'm touched."

"Do not be like that my friend, the last time I saw you was only a month ago!"

"I'm just playing big man. So, What's up?" He leaned on the building and winked at the attractive woman passing by, only to get ignored.

"Well, in three weeks, we have a hero festival planned for Christmas, sponsored by the HPSC of course. We wanted to know if you were interested in being there."

"Wow, and you want to invite me? I'm not that high on the leaderboards but... sure thing. Could use some decent publicity, you and the trio took all the fame from the war and I still haven't gotten over it!" Sero was still annoyed about it to this day, he was class 1A too!

"Apologies, but it's good to hear you're willing to come, be presentable! And my friend, don't put yourself down because of rankings, you're just as valuable to class 1A as any of us, don't forget that."

"Yeah yea." He waved the taller man off despite him not being there in person, drawing weird looks from passersby.

"See you then, oh, and do take care of yourself. Ciao."

"Bye Iida, say hi to your brother for me."

He hung up.

So, they wanted to throw a festival for heroes?

'Sounds cool, maybe I could meet a cute girl there, ya never know!' Despite being a self proclaimed bachelor for life, like every man did, he wanted something more.

His mind thought back to his best friends, particularly the electric hero. "See you guys soon." He muttered to himself, reminiscing the times they'd spent.

They all practically moved on without him, a lot of his former classmates started dating each other or they shot up in the ranks instantly, while him? He wasn't even in the top 200, and his odd body type wasn't really convetionally attractive.

But he didn't mind, he was for the small guys. As long as he saw one person smile, it was worth it. He always was the jokester of class 1A. So as long as he could make people laugh, it didn't matter to him at all.

That's how a hero ought to be.


Elsewhere, in Tokyo, a few weeks later.

It was the weekend before Christmas week, and to celebrate, Izuku spent the day working extra. His manual labour was a valuable thing to the workforce of shield industries, he was surprisingly strong for his size and stature according to the other workers. The green eyed man liked to volunteer to help out when he wasn't helping elsewhere, or when he wasn't hanging out with Melissa and brainstorming.

Currently he was holding a metal pipe twice his size on his shoulder and transporting it to the work station for Keizer, the mechanical monster was nearing completion now, it had a mechanical lizard like T-rex head with a wide bipedal body to support it's huge weight, somewhat like a sumo wrestler's stance. It's entire body was coated in platinum paint, a menacing disposition for sure. It looked more menacing than heroic, but maybe that was the point.

"Yo, Izuku!" A voice from above, Izuku nearly dropped his load in surprise.

Looking up, Izuku saw David waving from the scaffolding. "You're off early my boy, come up here." The world famous inventor commanded, this caused a frown from the younger man below.

"But it's only been four hours?" Izuku said with comical naivety, David chuckled.

"Just come on up, I have something important to tell you. And- BE CAREFUL!" The man sputtered when he saw Izuku drop the pipe to the floor like it weighed nothing, blinking twice.

'That boy sure is strong…' he shook his head, smiling.

The door clicked shut as he entered David's office, "You need something boss?" Izuku asked, sitting down and stretching out his body. The man in question swiveled around on his chair and faced him.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you'd be an escort for Melissa during the Christmas hero parade next week." Izuku shot straight to attention, a slight flush growing on his face. "W-why me?" He sputtered out, avoiding eye contact.

"Heh, relax Son. You're a good kid, I know how you feel about her." Izuku nodded, uncomfortably shifting in his seat. "You're the only person she'd want to go with anyways." The green eyed man blushed deeply and hid his face in his palm.

"Anyways, there's another reason." His voice dropped by an octave, a more serious tone replacing his more relaxed one.

Izuku sat up straight and lost his flush, "Is there danger?" David nodded, shutting his window blinds and darkening the room. "Yes, but it's just precaution really. How familiar are you with the meta liberation army?"

"I don't know much about them s-sir, sorry all I've seen is their recent attacks in America. But what do they have to do with the parade?" Izuku questioned, his face growing worried.

A sigh, "I can't tell you the full details, but they were heavily involved in the war of Jaku. Thankfully the entire hero force was able to push them back to foriegn countries, but we lost far too many heroes to do it. That's why I plan to reveal the Keizer at this parade, there has been word going around that meta liberation will one day return to Japan, and that's why it's urgent we send a message. Redestro is still at large in America after all, and even more of our heroes have left to help overseas." Izuku nodded, but inwardly he was wondering why David would tell him these things and not someone more important…

"Is that why you haven't gone back to America yet?" He nodded, that little tidbit explained a lot. "Anyways, I'm just a quirkless, why would you trust me for this?" Izuku didn't tell him about his power, he'd decided to keep it secret from everyone, it would be too much to explain. He still didn't know why exactly he got his powers from a spider bite, maybe a quirked spider?

Interrupting his inner thoughts, David scoffed. "Quirkless or not, you're stronger than most men I know Izuku, there will be heroes like Hawks and Ingenium there for sure and maybe even the Cruller could show, but I want you to keep an eye on Melissa in case they can't. Again, you'd probably end up going with her anyways so it's perfect. And the reason why I worry is because if something goes wrong, I need you to protect her when I can't." He was too vague, Izuku thought. What did he mean by "goes wrong"?

His mentor smiled at him, his blue eyes shining "I'm telling you this because you've gotten close to Melissa and she trusts you absolutely, and you're strong enough that she can depend on you even though you're quirkless. She'd never let me sick a private guard on her, but you? You could protect her without her whining about it, you're a good man, not 'just a quirkless'!" Izuku's eyes widened at his wording, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes. He dried them on his forearm.
Stifling his questions, Izuku raised his fist determinedly. "Thanks boss… I'll do my best!" David stood up and walked over next to Izuku, he ruffled his hair a little and gave his thanks.

"Alright, I'll text you over this secure phone line with more details, trust me it's not likely to be dangerous there, this is just a precaution." He tossed the fancy mobile device which Izuku caught with ease, his eyes sparkling.

'I have a private line with David Shield?!?!?' Izuku felt his inner fanboy resurface for a small moment.

Taking the elevator, "You have the rest of the day off, have fun. Now I have to go find that brat daughter of mine, Detnerat has been on my ass lately because of her inventions out classing them in sales, she's a genius but terrible for PR." He said, shaking his head. He waved bye to Izuku when the door opened.

"Later boss! Good luck."

"You too kid, Ciao." A two fingered salute.


Izuku swung onto the top of a building with a sandwich wrap in hand and a pair of earbuds in his ears, it was only 3 PM so he had the rest of the day to work on anything else and to relax. And relax he planned to do, he never got sore anymore but he definitely felt the mental exhaustion, he hadn't been to the fighting ring in a week, the mental exhaustion finally caught up to him.

'Maybe I should stay out of that Business, it's not exactly the best for one's record…' And even amongst quirk users, he was stronger than most of them…

The song he listened to played softly in his right ear, eliciting a calm within the man's soul only replicable by one person.

That calm was short-lived.

"Heya, didya know public quirk usage is illegal?" A chipper voice asked from behind, Izuku didn't bother turning around.

"Yeah." Izuku replied nonchalantly, taking a bite of his sandwich.

Wait.

"Wht thfhe hfel?" Green eyes widened, his voice coming out muffled thanks to the food in his mouth.

Performing a small flip, Izuku slid to a stop at the center of the building he and this other person were standing on. The figure chuckled, "Oop, illegal use of your quirk number two!" Izuku opened his mouth to rebuttal, but ended up choking on his food.

The figure shook his head, "Wow, and terrible manners? Who taught you those? Chew your food before talking and get back to me." The figure was tall and slender, his face covered by an orange and black helmet that sort of resembled a toilet paper dispenser… He wore a similarly colored combat vest with sleek shoulder plates along with black and white spandex covering the rest of his body. On his elbows there are two cylinder protrusions, likely his quirk.

Izuku finally swallowed his food, breathing heavily. Sandwich still in hand. "Who are you?" Asked Izuku, his face still red from almost dying. He was surprised that he couldn't recognize this hero, he researched them quite a bit.

"Ah…" The costume wearing figure slumped, turning pale. "Nobody recognizes me, goddamnit Bakugo you stole all the thunder!"

'Wait, Bakugo?'

"You know Bakugo Katsuki?" Izuku blurted out suddenly, he covered his mouth after he realized.

"Do you know Bakugo Katsuki? Most people don't know his real name, are you a fan or something?" The slender hero asked, a question mark appearing above his head.

"Something like that…" Retaining his defensive stance, Izuku continued to glare at the taller man, he seemed too carefree to be a hero.

The spandex clad figure shrugged, "Well anyways, I'm sorta here to arrest you, there have been sightings around these parts of a web swinging quirk user and yatta yatta they called me in to put a stop to any illegal quirk usage and I was in the area so yea, sorry bub, but I'm gonna take you in for questioning now." Izuku frowned at that, 'Really? I haven't even used my powers in public.' he inched away from the hero, not wanting to be caught.

"Oh boy, here we go." The figure groaned out, dropping to a sprinter's position.

In a split second, Izuku turned around and shot forward with all his might; the ground shattered underneath his soles and he shot through the air like a bullet.

Only to be caught around the ankle by a line of tape.

"Crap…"

His momentum stopped; he flew back towards the building at high speeds and slammed against the glass, Izuku grunted at the light pain before growling. "Hey! I wasn't even using my quirk in a public space!" He yelled up, frustrated, did the skyline count as a "public" space?

'This guy thinks I'll just go in quietly for nothing!' Izuku latched his hands against the building to create leverage, pulling down with his leg and the tape line with it and swinging the hero though the air in a show of strength.

The spandex clad figure shot into the sky, "Holy crap! This guy's strong, might have to beat him up a little. Gah it's freezing! No more playing with this guy!" He shot two lines of tape out to slow his trajectory; he slingshotted himself back towards the green haired perp.

"Attacking a government official? You're just racking up crimes huh?" He yelled, shooting out dual lines of tape towards his target.

Izuku grabbed both of them easily, "It's c-called self defense! I did nothing wrong!" He stepped to the left and pushed his entire frame into swinging the hero away from him, still standing perpendicular to the wall.

"This isn't America bub! Respect my authority already-woah!" He quickly detached from his tape lines before he got sent careening into downtown Tokyo, cursing his bad luck as he fired another pair to slingshot him back.

"Why didn't they call Iida for this shit…" He quickly shot himself towards the law breaker after releasing from his tape lines, the hero wrapped his arms around the green haired man and sent them both careening off into the sky at breakneck speeds.

Crashing against the roof of another building that was connected to a taller one, the two swingers tumbled over each other for a second before Izuku pushed up with his legs and launched his chaser into the air. On his hands and knees, Izuku didn't get a chance to breathe; two lines of tape wrapped around his body and the spandex clad hero shot down like a meteorite, his soles crashing against Izuku's back siphoning enough kinetic energy to crack the concrete below.

Gasp!

Izuku felt all the air in his chest completely leave him, for the first time in weeks he felt pain. It was enough to send his adrenal glands into overdrive, the web slinger lurched forward to perform a handspring; landing on his feet into a low stance, Izuku narrowed his eyes at the helmet wearing figure, he wasn't able to see past that visor.

'Holy crap, he's still standing after that? I hurt my knees just now!'

"That... HURT!"

Izuku was on him in a split second, before the spandex clad hero could even react, the green haired man slid to a stop right in front of him in a crouched position; he kicked up the snow around him, warm breath exiting his mouth, cocking his fist back, Izuku pushed forth on the ball of his foot, twisting his waist and upper body along the trajectory of his movement to amplify the force building up in the man's fist, shooting forward while air seemingly bent around his clenched hand in its trajectory.

The spandex clad hero barely had time to put up his block.

Crack!

Izuku smashed his fist against the taller man's defense, instantly crushing through and launching the hero skidding across the building and into a wall, spider cracks formed from his indent. Izuku crazily glared, boring down on the man he'd just launched 20 feet away with a single blow, he relinquished aggression when he noticed the man crumpled against the wall.

'I just punched a hero…'

"Shit…" a rare curse from him.

Izuku tried to approach the hero, "Oh my, I'm sorry! Sir! Are you okay!?" He helped the groaning man up, Izuku winced as the slender hero yelled in pain.

"Ahh hell! You really had to punch me that hard? I think you fractured a bone!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Damnit, you should be a hero with that kind of strength…" Izuku flushed slightly at the praise, his worriedness disappearing as the man stood up and brushed himself off.

Izuku became defensive again, "And what, be like you?" If he was ever a hero, he refused to track down innocent people who didn't do anything like this man.

"I'm just doing my job man…"

"That, d-doesn't make it right! I didn't do anything wrong besides use my quirk for transportation, it's way cheaper and faster!" Izuku released his pent up frustration at the hero system, this is the first time he had the chance to talk to an actual hero.

"I don't make the laws, I just enforce them, you don't get to use your powers in public spaces, it's just the way it is friendo, now come on, let's go peacefully, don't make me call in backup." Izuku scowled, this hero really didn't care whether or not it was right…

"I h-hate bullies like you, a-always thinking they're right to do what they want because everyone else supports them." He couldn't see the man's face, but the small jolt was enough to make him smirk slightly.

Sero was getting tired of this, 'Maybe I should just let him go, he's pretty powerful and wasn't doing anything wrong anyways…' But the way this man called him a bully… It rubbed Sero the wrong way.

"Listen, I have a responsibility to make sure that the law is followed, if we don't follow the law then we are just villains." The hero sighed, it was a truth of the system and one he couldn't change.

Izuku's fists were clenched white, "What if the law is wrong?" He hunched over shakingly for a second, "W-what happens when your orders have you pointing your quirk at an innocent..."

"It's not up to me! You can't have exceptions to the law! That's how we get villains!" The hero was visibly angered, his eyes narrowed behind his helmet. "And you know, the way you move… You remind me of the blur in the alleyway, those two boys told me how strong you were when you attacked them… And you move just fast enough…" Izuku widened his eyes, this wasn't good.

"I… It was self defense!" Izuku tried to rebuttal, his eyes frantically darting away.

"There is no self defense in this country bozo, not with a quirk, something our mutual friend told me was and I quote "A villain is a villain, even if his fucking intentions are good." Sero felt wrong saying that, but he wouldn't let a civilian back talk to him like that, especially after everything...

"And legally… You are a villain." The hero emphasized his words sharply, Izuku clenched his fingers, shaking violently.

Izuku refused to believe that

Before either could get out another word, a small buzzing was heard. Izuku's spider sense blared louder than ever before.

A large combat knife embedded itself in the concrete, splitting apart the snow and shooting fear directly into Izuku's heart. He felt a presence, with every thud he heard, his heart sank more. The steps of a demon, and the voice of one.

"CELLOPHANE!" A demonic chorus of rage echoed several times. Slowly, the inventor inched his eyes towards the booming vocal projection. Izuku was nearly frozen solid when he saw a new figure, one laced in a cloak of Macabre. One could feel the murderous aura from the new figure as a blanket around their very soul.

The figure stood atop a building higher than there and stood shadowed by the sun, silver blades shining in the light. Glowing red eyes settled on his shrinking form, suddenly, Izuku couldn't breathe.

"Battling with a civilian? No wonder my blades yearn for your blood, you FAKE!" Izuku began to hyperventilate, he realized who this entity was, what he was out to do…

'He's back???' Izuku could recognize those red eyes anywhere, that killing intent that could be felt through the other side of a video.

"H-h-hero killer…" The hero in question wasn't doing well with the realization either, but he would not freeze, tempered by years of fighting murderers, Sero glared back at the cyberized killer.

Sero cursed his luck, "Shit, gonna need backup for this one." He pulled out a communicator only for another knife to skewer itself through the device and through his hand. The hero killer took the hero's painful cry as a distraction and landed between him and Izuku, brandishing his swords, the blood red killer didn't look like he belonged in this scenery. He looked wrong.

Izuku looked on in horror at the confrontation growing, the sight of viscera shot his mind into overdrive, it was fight or flight. Green eyes reflected the silver swords brandished against Cellophane, a hero who'd only tried doing his job.

"Cellophane! H-he's coming!" Izuku cried out, terrified and unable to move.

"Stay away! Run! This is my responsibility!" Cellophane roared out at the civilian pain echoing in his shaky voice and breaking Izuku out of his trance.

"B-but…" His half assed refute fell on deaf ears, Izuku wasn't as brave as he thought. Even with his powers, the crippling stake of fear plunged deep into his heart.

'What do I do? I could help, I could provide support! I'm strong now!' He took a wobbly step forward, only to get interrupted by the slightly shaky voice of the hero.

"Let the pro do his job! Get out of here!" His eyes flashed with anger before glancing to the hero killer.

Sero was breathing heavily, his body was incredibly sore thanks to that punch earlier, and he was quickly getting light headed due to the blade lodged in his hand. With a grunt, he pulled it out, biting down his urge to scream in pain. The spandex clad hero used his tape to cover his wound, carefully eyeing the hero killer who was approaching slowly, methodically. Truth be told…

'I'm terrified.'

Stain had changed since he saw him all those years ago, he was more mechanical, he looked stronger too… Likely enhanced by cybernetics. It took four of his strongest class members to take him down last time, and that was when he wasn't so… Augmented. "I'm not the strongest hero…" he whispered to himself more than anything.

"But… I still have the responsibility of a hero either way! To take you down for good! Even if I go down tryin!"

Izuku watched them prepare to begin their battle, still rooted to his spot, it seemed the hero was going easy on him earlier with how he was moving now, maybe because he was fighting to live. Izuku took one step back, his eyes watering.

'He's right… It's not my responsibility, right? I'd just end up getting both of us killed, that man is a real murderer…' taking a step back, then another, and then another. Izuku turned and began his sprint, jumping off the building and closing his eyes tightly.

He'd just left someone to die… And he had the power to help...

The cold he felt right as he realized was greater than any winter breeze.


"And so the final hour arrives." The two men stood 15 feet apart, the sun glistening directly above them, glaring through the clouds and shedding it's light. Stain gripped tightly onto his swords, so tight that he felt himself shake from the exertion.

The tape quirk user whistled, "Wow, you look better than the last time I saw ya Mr. Cyborg, ain't saying much though." Sero bantered, always one to smacktalk his enemies.

"Do run your mouth comedian, make me strike you down all the quicker!"

Sero gagged, "So edgy, did you really think that was cool to say?" The hero killer prepared to pounce after that, Sero smirked from behind his visor and regained his defensive position.

Stain slid his left foot forward and bent his knees slightly, pressing against the snow and revealing the concrete below. The hero killer raised his arms up and flicked his blades into position, both pointing directly at his target.

Sero responded in kind, sliding into a Muay Thai stance. He leveled his breathing, he could not afford to lose his cool versus the hero killer, not even for a second.

The two warriors mirrored each other with the sun shining down, the wind deciding to kick up at that very moment. The snow followed the wind; the mist covered stain entirely except for his two glowing red eyes.

The hero killer shot through the wall of fog, his legs crashing against the concrete. Like fangs, his blades were at the ready to attack and plunge into their target. With ever increasing speed and ferocity, the red eyed killer jetted his right sword out seconds before he would reach the tape dispensing hero; Sero still hadn't moved, nonchalant even with a sharp weapon bristling and charging towards him.

Shooting dual lines of tape down, Sero smirked as the blade approached ever closer.

The blade shot right above his head, missing him by micrometers. The tape quirk user then used all the strength in his lower body; he swung his leg into the air straight towards Stains exposed jaw and with a mighty

crack!

Stain shot into the air as Sero flipped backwards thanks to his tape, cutting the lines off and shooting one line of tape into the air to chase after the hero killer.

"How's that! Didn't expect to get your shit rocked huh?" Sero quipped, smirking victoriously.

"Not good enough!", Stain sliced the line of tape down the middle, falling back to the ground into a back roll before making another beeline for his target.

Sero ducked under one slice and jumped over the next, pulling himself over the hero killer and onto the other side of the building with a small flip, his eyes widening as a small blade shot at him. The lanky tape user barely dodged it. Deciding to go on the offensive, Sero shot out two lines of tape, the first one was deflected but the second wrapped around Stain's left arm, the hero retracted the tape and grinned as Stain was pulled off his feet; Sero cut off the tape just as Stain reached him and twisted his hips right along the trajectory of his elbow, the blow crashing against the hero killer's helmet violently.

"Hshkk." Stain reeled back for only a second, taking a step forward with a slice of his sword in a counter attack.

The two combatants went back and forth on the building, violently attacking each other at every opportunity, Sero winced as his chest sustained a minor cut and blood spurted out onto the white snow below.

"Damn! I have to be more careful!" Hw roared out, berating himself as he dodged another slash of Stain's blade. The masked men clashed, thankfully Stain's tongue had been burned off, but in that case… How was he speaking again?


Izuku was running, running faster than he ever had before, running so fast that he simply flew through the air with every step, shooting out twin lines of web; Izuku catapulted himself across Tokyo, crashing against the side of a building to catch his breath.

'Why am I running!'

'Why do I feel like a murderer!'

'Why haven't I called the police!'

Of course, Izuku knew the answers to all these questions. He was running because he was afraid, he felt like a murderer because he left a man to die, and he hadn't called the police because he was afraid of the repruccsions, he was afraid for himself and his newly found life.

He was afraid..

And that is why Izuku found himself running.

He was an accomplice, if Cellophane died today… raw terror etched across his face, Izuku felt an ice cold feeling run through his heart. His eyes still watering, only the blistering wind to dry them as he shot through the sky.

'I have to swallow my fear… I have to call the police…' he had to, he had to.

He pulled out his phone.


Fighting Stain was an uphill battle, his stamina was endless, his will was unbreakable, and he was fast, fast for a man who was practically quirkless. One would not be blamed for losing in 1 on 1 combat versus the assassin, his skills honed after years of hero hunting and excruciating training. The tape quirk user knew this well.

Sero slid across the ground, reeling from a kick that sent him sprawling to the floor. His eyes shot up to see Stain's sword crashing down towards him like lightning, jagged and scathing. The tape quirk user then rolled to the side and did a hand flip to get back to his feet, shooting two lines of tape to wrap around his sword that was still indented into the floor.

Sero pulled the sword out of Stain's grasp with a triumphant yell, the silver blade crashing against the building behind him and falling down into the alleyway.

The tape quirk user fell to his knees, 'Good, good…' huff. 'I got one of his blades away…' huff huff, 'I can't let him continue his war against heroes, we're already thinned enough!' Sero stood up and bolstered his will, squaring against the hero killer who stood straight in the wind, his head tilted slightly.

"You foolish hero, even if you stole every one of my weapons and left me useless, I'd still with every fiber of my being come at you with intent to kill."

"You talk a lot for a guy whose tongue got turned to ashes…" Sero muttered to himself, "I'm right here, aren't I? Back up your words with actions, either way I'll hold you here until someone tougher than me comes and kicks your ass!" Sero roared out with false confidence, praying that the man he told to run called the police by now.

Stain chuckled darkly, his stance shifting to a more dignified Ronin stance. "I'll admit, fake, you're far more capable than I thought."

"Awe, is that a compliment? I'll frame it on my wall, but for now just let me turn you in, a way of saying thanks." The tape quirk user jokes despite his beaten up appearance, inwardly his body was on fire.

'I won't be able to keep this up much longer, my left arm was already damaged from earlier…' He sidestepped an overhead slice from Stain, 'Just endure, endure it!' He cartwheeled to the side, narrowly avoiding a spinning slice.

Sero betan to think of a makeshift plan thanks to the distance from his opponent, "This open space is pretty neutral for battle, let's make it harder for you to move shall we?" Sero began blasting tape everywhere, purposely as to restrict all Stain's vectors of movement in this open space.

"Foolish tactic!" Stain spoke, slicing apart the proverbial web of tape that was growing every second. "Your tape is a detriment to your movement to-." He was cut off by a dive kick from above that left him reeling, he sliced the air in retaliation only to hit nothing.

"Think again! You think I've had my quirk all my life and I never thought to use it like this?" He had leapt back into the air, landing on a line of tape like he was an acrobat on a tightrope.

Stain cursed the hero, even from behind his helmet he could feel the cold glare from the hero killer. "AND YOU THINK SUCH TACTICS WILL DEFEAT ME?" Sero froze in place, his face paling behind his helmet.

Stain hunched over more, his body shaking. "YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN DEFEAT ME AFTER COUNTLESS OTHER HEROES HAVE DIED TRYING?" His voice had a demonic tinge to it.

"THE REAL TRUTH IS, I CANNOT DIE, I CANNOT BE BEATEN, AS LONG AS YOU FAKE HEROES EXIST TO BE PUNISHED SO WILL I." Stain stood up straight suddenly, holding his single blade out and pointing it at the tape quirk user.

"I AM JUSTICE INCARNATE, AND UNTIL A HERO WORTHY OF THE TITLE RISES TO STRIKE ME DOWN, MY FIGHT WILL NEVER BE WON!" Stain was ranting like a madman, but to Sero, he felt the oppressive aura of the hero killer in full force.

"COME CELLOPHANE, COME FACE MY JUSTICE!" He brandished his final sword into the air, eyes burning fiery red as he sliced through several lines of tape, Cellophane jumping into the air after.

"Not fast enough!"

Faster than Cellophane could even react, Stain's sword was upon him, reflecting in his visor like a reminder of his mortality, his entire life flashing behind through eyes.

To be continued...