AN: I will try to be more descriptive from now on.
Chapter 11:
It was the next day, at the train station, that Doppo noticed that something was off about Iida. While he was always more on the quiet side, he was also always up for a chat, and didn't like to just stay alone silently. However, he did exactly that, he was just off alone, silently, and after Aizawa dismissed us he immediately went off. He wasn't like this normally, this was how I acted when I was about to do something illegal, something that I always regretted in the long run. So me and Ochacho attempted to catch up to him, to at least have a short conversation.
"Iida, if you ever feel hopeless, please let us know." Damn, Ochacho did know what to say in these situations, I don't know what I would have done without her. "We're friends right?"
He dramatically turned around to face us, and as he stood there it seemed like he was totally okay: "Yeah." Except he wasn't. He was probably thinking about catching Stain on his own, which was the stupidest thing, if he could mortally injure his brother, who was a lot better than he was, then he had no chance against him, not with the usual hero tactics at least. If he really wanted Stain dead he should have used poison, but he was a hero, if he was going to kill someone he was going to do it honorably. And so he left. I probably should have done more, maybe even forcibly restrain him, but I was occupied with my own thoughts about the internship.
It didn't take that much time for the train to arrive in the town that I chose, but it took me a couple dozen minutes to find the "headquarters" of Corrosive, since he liked publicity even less than Aizawa.
I finally found it however, exactly where it was said to be. The building however didn't look to good, it looked dirty and abandoned, like one of those warehouses that villains like to use so much. I didn't hesitate much, since there was no point in staying still, and so I entered. In there, it was surprisingly clean, there even was a receptionist. She appeared to be playing something on the computer, but she immediately stopped when I entered. She watched me with hawk-like eyes, but it wouldn't have appeared to anyone, she wasn't overt about it.
She had long flowing raven black hair, put in a ponytail, and pale skin. She was more on the skinny side, but not enough to be very noticeable. She appeared to be in her twenties, another apprentice of Corrosive perhaps?
"Well, it's a nice day today, what can I help you with?"
"I'm Doppo Kamiyama, I came here for the internship."
"Would you show me your identification?" Corrosive was notoriously paranoid, and to enter one had to identify themselves, so I showed her my papers without hesitation.
"I also need your hero identification code." Yep, really paranoid. Hero identification codes were almost never used, they were created in case a villain disguised themselves as a hero, since that was one information that they almost surely didn't know about. I told her mine, and she smiled.
"Thank you for choosing ACID agency, we hope you enjoy your internship." I nodded, and entered the common room. And there he was, Corrosive himself, the only hero that I really looked up to. He had a similar build to Endeavor, he had dark blond hair, and a beard on his face. He wore a dark green jacket, with a pale green shirt, in brown pants.
"Kamiyama, good to see that you've arrived. I trust there were no problems on the way."
"Of course there weren't! I must say, this building is really well hidden, nobody would ever think of it being your headquarters."
"That's the point! I swear, so many heroes miss it! If a villain has a strong enough quirk, they can just go and destroy entire agencies because they're so visible! But enough with the introduction, it's time to talk about what we'll do here, but first, I've got a question: Why did you choose me? I'm not a popular hero, and those who knew me all know me for one thing."
"And that's why I chose you! You always advocate for killing the villains, and you have been accused multiple times for killing villains, but it was never proven! I want to do the same, I don't want to let serial killers live, to just escape from prison and start killing again."
"Well then, I suppose we won't just see each other for the time of this apprenticeship."
"That's what I counted on!"
"Okay, so now that everything's cleared up, let's talk details: I've seen your quirk on the sports festival, and there are a couple clear things: You still need more control during full transformation, so we need to work on the pain tolerance. Thankfully my quirk is perfect for that. Now the other part, the one you're interested in, my custom course that you won't find anywhere else: "How to kill villains and make sure you're not found out." You won't believe how long I waited for another student to have the same values as me, and I would have never dreamed that the one who won the annual Sports Festival would be the one come here."
"Great! Just one minute so I can unload my baggage."
He was even better than I hoped for, he was like an older version of myself. I wasn't wrong to choose him as my idol amongst the heroes. After I put down my backpack and everything else, I was called for lunch.
I went through the hallway that lead to the bedrooms, into the common room, and from there in the direction opposite to the entrance. Looking around, I really liked the feel of the place. The windows that looked barred and broken from outside were clear from the inside, the sun came in and shined on the green walls.
I went to the eating area, where the receptionist and Corrosive were already sitting next to a table.
"Doppo, great that you arrived. I believe you've met her already, but she's my right hand, Fumiko." She just nodded at me. She wasn't as cheerful as she was previously, that must have been a deception created to lower the guard of any potential impostors.
"I've put together a training programme for you, but first, in order to work together effectively, we need to know each other's capabilities." I nodded, even though I didn't feel so sure about it myself. I was fine with talking about shapeshifting, but the other part? The scream? The truth? Not so much. But first, let's hear what he has to say.
"Like you, I mostly rely on my quirk to do things for me, however I'm not completely useless without it, which seems to be the case for you." Okay, that stung a little, but it was true, without my quirk I couldn't do anything.
"Let's talk about my quirk. It's called Acidic Mist, and it's one of the best ones if I do say so myself. In a 30 meter radius around me, all air is replaced with my acidic mist, all the time. I can mentally increase or decrease it's intensity, it can go up to so high that it destroys even inorganic materials, but most of the time I keep it low enough that it's nothing more than a small itch to most people. I can control this circle of mist in whatever way I like, similar to wind manipulation quirks. As most people who accused me said it: "It's perfect to get rid of bodies."" This elicited a laugh from everyone at the table.
"It can also be used like a wind manipulation quirk when the intensity is low, since it's easy to move then. The more I increase the intensity, the harder it is to move it. It is also slower to intensify the stronger it already is, so from small itch to burn it's pretty fast, but it gets slower the stronger I make it.
Now, what about yours?"
"Well, before my quirk first activated, my body was like a normal human's, but after the first reconstruction it changed. My skin, is like a shell, and the inside is made from the black liquid that can solidify, which I call void. After I first used it, I was discouraged by everyone from using it, and so during the quirk help classes I was given breathing exercises to supress my anger, since that's what causes it to activate. When I'm angry, my skin starts cracking, first on my arms and legs, then on my torso, and finally on my head. After some training, I managed to manually induce this cracking.
As I said before, I wasn't given help with my quirk, so I had to be creative, and because of this I used a rather crude method when I first wanted to have some control. I started cracking my arm, but before I cracked my entire skin and lost control, I broke down my arm like it was made from porcelain. From there, there was an opening from void, and I could mold it, this is what I used for most of my life, I broke down my arms and used the void from there.
Before the Sports Festival, we had two weeks to train, so I asked Eraser Head to help me, since he could stop me after I lost control. With this, I managed to complete a full transformation, but in that form I still don't have much experience, and it's much easier losing control.
A downside of my quirk is that whenever I stop using it, I have to reconstruct my body, and if I don't have the energy then I'm like a sitting duck, nothing more than a puddle of void. This happened during the USJ incident, when I used my quirk too much and wasn't able to reconstruct my arms.
Another downside of my quirk is losing control. It's easier to keep it in human form, but I can lose it even here. Anger is the main emotion that causes it to activate, but any negative one strong enough can cause it. When I lose control, I'm like a rampaging beast, and my quirk is much stronger, since it doesn't need to keep itself collected, and it can freely move between liquid and solid modes, changing the body continuously.
There's also this last part, that only happened twice: Once I was on the verge of losing control, and the second time I actually did. It's sort of like a scream, but it invokes fear in everyone. I can't use this myself, and have no idea how to go about it." There, I did it, I was honest. Phew, it was hard, breaking down my own weaknesses like that for someone other than myself in my journal.
"We can work with that, it's similar to what I predicted, though it's interesting to know that you're basically always transformed, we just can't see it most of the time. Is it a transformation or a mutant quirk then?" That question caught me off guard, but thinking about it, it was logical, so I attempted to answer.
"Well, I think transformation, since I wasn't born this way before my quirk activated. Most mutants are already like that as babies."
"Interesting perspective, so the schedule is going to be pain and frustration tolerance increase in the mornings, after lunch you'll learn some combat that you can use without your quirk, and I also saw that you like to stab through people, as it was shown in the finals, so we're going to probably work on that, Fumiko here is great in biology. Then, in the evening, some classes about permanent solutions."
"But don't you have hero work to do?" I asked confused. It would have been great if he could dedicate all his time for me, but it was much more than what I thought I'll get.
"I usually have very little to do anyways, and since I didn't have a student for more than half a dozen years now, I took the week off."
"There is one more thing" I cut in "I have friend, Tenya Iida. I'm sure you know what happened to Ingenium, and before I left the train station I saw that he went to Hosu city, to the same place where it happened. I'm sure that he plans to do something stupid, and I both don't want him to die, and eliminating Stain would be a positive for us." He looked at me approvingly.
"Wonderful observation! One night we'll go and help out Iida, but not before letting the fight start, so I can have an excuse to go in and quickly lose lethal force. If we leave fast enough, nobody will even notice it, and I wont' get reprimanded, again." Plan decided, we ate, then combat training without my quirk started.
The sky was blue, the grass was green, and the sun shined down on all. It was peaceful, and I just sat in a clearing, surrounded by tress, sittingnext to a small stream, my legs in the water, using small stones to build a dam out of them.
The idyllic beauty of the scene couldn't last forever, since it started raining, but it was light rain, and I just continued to sit peacefully. I felt the droplets traveling down my skin, and I closed my eyes as I was listening to the sound of the falling droplets.
The rain's intensity continued to increase however, and it began hitting my skin harder and harder, I began to feel small blocks of ice appearing even. From peaceful the scene began to shift to a raging storm, and so I opened my eyes and attempted to sit up. I wasn't able to, I noted, my legs were in chunks of ice, frozen, and I was unable to get out.
The stream's size was increasing, and the water began darkening.By the time I gave up on trying to get out of my restraints it was nearly pitch black. But it didn't stop, I could hear a giant wave coming in the distance, coming closer and closer.
And I saw, I saw the result of the rain, a giant wave tovering over the clearing, yet still fitting inside the stream, I giant wave overshadowing everything, a giant wave made out of void.
It crashed into me, and I woke up.
"Doppo, you're awake, finally." I heard the sound of a man, who I quickly identified as Corrosive.
"What is it?" I asked back grumpily. I didn't like to be waken up during the night, and he did just that.
"There's action in Hosu. We're going to check it out." After hearing this, all the sleepiness that I felt magically evaporated, and I was already up and getting my hero clothes.
While I was preparing, a question came to my mind.
"Wait, how do you know that there's something going on there?"
"You know, you didn't ask about Fumiko's quirk before, which is such a shame, since Teleportation is one of the best ones." Oh. I really forgot about her. Did she do it intentionally? Is this another tactic, to make people dismiss her and not pay attention to her? I'm pretty sure now that she's an infiltration specialist.
After I put on all of my clothes, we went into the common room, where Fumiko was waiting for us, and before I could even greet her she already touched me and Corrosive, and all three of us were teleported to Hosu, from where she quickly left.
"Is she always like that?" I asked. I thought that it was just her attitude to newcomers, but she didn't change during the days I was there.
"She is like you when it's about being up in the middle of the night." Ah. That's understandable, and relatable. Two-in-one.
We could see a big fire in a direction, I used my arm to get on the top of a nearby building, while Corrosive used a his mist like how wind users use their quirks, and flied up there next to me.
It must have been a giant coincidence, but I heard the clink of a sword just a couple alleys away, along with a scream that definitely sounded like Iida to me.
"That way!" I told Corrosive, with whom I did the tests on my hearing, and it turned out that it's a lot better than the average human's, thanks to me building my own body.
And I was right, as just a couple blocks away in an alley was Tenya on the ground, with Stain monologuing about something. I wanted to do an ambush here, kill him while he's vulnerable, but then he put his sword in a 90 degree angle, and prepared to stab Iida in the heart, and I wouldn't sacrifice him, so I jumped down, and using my arm I pushed him away from Iida. It ended in a spike, true, but it barely did anything but scratch the Hero Killer. Corrosive landed next to me.
"Kamiyama?" he asked, surprised, and I certainly hope he was grateful, I saved him from certain death.
"I just knew you would something stupid, Iida, so I convinced Corrosive here to check out Huso city so we might help you, and look, I was right!" While I talked, Stain just stood there, sizing us up. If I was alone, he would have probably already rushed me, but I had a pro-hero with me, so it wasn't that simple.
"Can you move? We need to get to a larger street." It was risky to use Corrosive's quirk in such a constrained space, since if it was turned up enough to kill Stain it would also kill Iida. I could survive it somewhat, by solidifying the void inside and then rebuilding my body that corroded away.
"No. Ever since he cut me, I can't." So that was it. He needed the victim's blood to immobilise them.
"But, don't get involved! This has nothing to do with you!" he told me, that idiot. I'm not big on heroics, but wasn't it a hero's job to solve everyone's problems? Plus, Stain already killed more than a dozen heroes, letting him go would be more like a crime.
"I'm afraid I can't do that." That was the first time Corrosive contributed to the conversation, and Iida finally noticed him. "As a pro hero, it is my duty to cleans the world of villainous scum like Stain." and with these words, he stepped forward.
He was to me what All Might was to other people. The hero, the knight in shining armor that you wait for to save you. Seeing him walk forward was like a dream coming true.
Stain however appeared to be confused. Perhaps he didn't know about Corrosive? Pretty common mistake, I admit. Still, that worked in our favor.
Unexpectedly, Stain rushed forward. That wasn't good, if he came to close then Corrosive wouldn't be able to use his quirk, since it would affect Iida. Not good, not good at all. But Stain didn't seem to stop, he just kept running towards us.
"Doppo, do the cavalry battle trick!" It took me a couple seconds to understand what it meant, but then it hit me as pure genius. I broke out of my body, and covered Iida like a dome, making sure to not be on him fully so he would still have air. Thanks to staying still, I was able to concentrate enough to harden my outside, but I still felt the power of the acidic mist that Corrosive activated. It felt like I was being stinged by a thousand bees, but thanks to the training that I had the last couple of days I was able to endure it. My hearing was working somewhat, so I could hear Stain's howl of pain, but I could also hear how he managed to jump away. It is what it is, the stronger the acid the harder it is to move, and the harder it is to increase it's potency. One day he told me a story about how he increased his mist's potency for an entire hour, and by the end it looked like an atom bomb was dropped around where he was standing, not to speak about all the damage that he caused to himself, he was protected, but only until a point, not fully.
- POV change -
Sadly, Stain was able to get out of his first trap, curse his limitations! He was full on retreating now, recognizing that he was not equipped to deal with Corrosive. He immediately let the potency go, and used it again like a wind quirk to propel himself through the air, to catch the Hero Killer.
He was fast however, and he kept jumping around the different buildings, so he knew that he had to make a plan. He knew that Stain's quirk was immobilising someone, probably with blood, but it was definitely with close contact. They were only physically restricted however, so theoretically he could still use his own quirk, and while Stain monologued catch him in the acid. If he built up a big burst of strong acidic mist and released it when he was close enough, he could easily take him out, and dissolve the entirety of his body after that. No need to know that he was there, involved in all of that.
Plan made, he landed on a rooftop, and took a couple deep breaths, to act like he was exhausted. He didn't count on actually being caught however.
"You fake heroes are all the same!" started Stain from on top of him "You never notice the small cuts!" And really, now that he thought about it he was singed during Stain's rush, but he didn't feel it, and dismissed it as feeling his own quirk, and Stain knew this, counted on it, he wasn't able to gain the title of "Hero Killer" for nothing.
"And now, another false hero will die by my hand!" monologued Stain, as he positioned his sword just above his heart.
Still, during all of this he still kept a little pocket of acidic mist under himself, increasing it's potency, and finally, just before Stain's final move, he released it on Stain in one quick burst.
- POV change -
He damned another one of those faker heroes, and made the world a better place. Even though he still lived, he was practically dead anyways, he lay defeated and with another slice he would lose his life. He felt the itching on his skin, but he rationalized it as the after effect of his quirk, it was nothing compared to the other feeling that he was hit with earlier.
Suddenly, he had a feeling in his leg, so painful that he couldn't even process it at first, and before he could jump away it hit his torso as well, and his face the last. At first, it was so incomprehensible that he just felt numb. That was, until the pain came. He never swam in lava, but if he did, he would still have said that this was worse. It was like all of his cells were burning, like they were plucked out and crushed one by one.
He fell, but he didn't even notice, as the pain was too great to feel anything else. He didn't even notice, but his sword was moved, cutting into his opponent's lung, slicing him up.
Will the world be cleansed without him?! Will the fake heroes ever fall?! Such thoughts were the last ones on Stain's mind, before life left him, and in his place was a husk barely recognizable.
- POV change -
Endeavor just finished off one of those Nomus, so he flied high into the air, to survey the landscape, in order to find more of them.
However, from up there, he saw something that he didn't see in a long time. He could recognize it anywhere, the signature look of green smoke, so deceptive, so small compared to the power that was hidden in it. He immediately flied towards it, and by the time he was there he noticed that there was not one, but two people on the rooftop. Mentally he corrected himself, one person and one dead husk.
He landed on the rooftop, and looking at the corpse closer he could identify it as none other than the Hero Killer Stain. Well, after this, he may not get reprimanded at all!
"Enji, fancy seeing you here." the hero on the floor coughed out, not losing his terrible sense of humor even in that situation.
"I see there is another corpse left in your path." He replied, while thinking about where the closest hospital was. This one was one of the few heroes he respected, he wouldn't let him die here.
- POV change -
While the stinging sensation left, I wasn't sure in myself, so I remained in dome form for a couple more minutes. I didn't want to leave, just for Stain to come back and take Iida hostage or something, while I'm rebuilding myself. That would have been terrible. So, I stayed in that form, right up until I heard footsteps. I prepared a couple of spikes to shoot out, to impale anyone who closes in on me, but I recognized the voice, and with a sense of relief I allowed myself to collapse.
I took a couple seconds before I rebuilt my body, and locked eyes with Todoroki Shoto.
"Good to see you Shoto." I started "I'm pretty sure you want an explanation, so let's start from the beginning: I assume you also saw that Tenya here was going to do something massively stupid, and saving him from that would have been the thing that a friend should do. Now, knowing that his brother, Ingenium was seriously wounded by the Hero Killer: Stain, it is clear that he wanted revenge, so I convinced the hero that I'm interning under to come here to Hosu city to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, and maybe stop Stain in the process." Shoto nodded.
"I assume then that he was the one who was chasing after Stain that I saw a couple seconds ago, it was because of him that I came to this alley, to see if anyone here needed assistance."
"You don't understand! It has nothing to do with you!" shouted Iida into the conversation, very rudely I must say. That is certainly not how upperclassmen should act. I looked to Shoto, and indicated that he should start the explaining of why that's wrong. Despite managing to do one, I was still horrible at motivational speeches.
"It is the essence of a hero to help everyone, even when they don't want that help."
"As he says Iida, you need to learn that you're not alone."
It was directly after my sentence that I heard a sound, and I looked up to the sky only to see a flying Endeavor carrying a bleeding Corrosive. That wasn't good, but it at least meant that they defeated Stain. Shoto also saw this, and he looked at me to see how I react.
"I hope it's nothing too serious, but even if it is, he's in good hands. We should get Iida to the hospital however."
AN: Well, I hope the chapter was enjoyable, I plan to make Corrosive a recurring character, who helps Doppo get better as a hero, strengthening his more brutal/specialised skills.