Summary: In the Conflagration Zone, Bryant manages to make some more possible friends. He also gets to learn more about the Todoroki bloodline as well as get a couple new forms to his watch.
He reluctantly enters the Conflagration Zone, "Phew, shit, here it goes". Entering the door he sees literally everything on fire, from buildings, spreading to even the sidewalks and some roads; barely enough room to walk through. "Well, at least I've got protection", he transforms into Tidal, "This guy was made for stuff like this. I'm a living fire engine". Seeing as only Multiclops and Tidal would be viable here, Bryant has few options which will make this even more of a pain in the ass.
As Tidal he quickly tries putting out as much fire as he can with his water spray, but unfortunately there's so much of it he decides it almost not worth the effort. Inside the whole zone unsurprisingly there is practically no one aside from worthless grunt villains that he dispatches with his water whips rather easily. At this point is more bored if nothing else, deciding to use Master Control and slap the faceplate on his chest to turn into Multiclops. Just for variety he starts zapping the fires with his ice beams during the 'long walk'. He finally happens upon a villain worth his time as he sees one with wrecking balls for hands, the chain and all.
"Alright. Hey knuckle dragger, over here"! Incited by the insult, the villain runs over, tossing the ball and chain his way. Ducking away he zaps his left arm with a freeze beam, encasing it. Using his free one he smashes the ice off and starts twirling around with the wrecking balls spinning around like a theme park ride. To prevent him from getting closer he using his chest eye to blast afire in front of him, causing the villain to trip to try and avoid it. With a smile on his face he uses a plain laser, or more so four of them, to blast back to the ground while trying to stand up. But before he can deliver the finishing blow, a guy with a ripped shirt, red hair and rugged skin, breaks out of a wall of fire and seeing the villain, knocks him out for the count with a sharpened hand.
"Hey man, I had him", Bryant sounds disappointed. The hair dyed guy looks to him, "Oh, sorry man. Didn't mean to steal your glory". He accepts, "*sigh*, It's fine. Eijiro, isn't it"? He nods, "You got it. Speaking of which, how many you beaten so far? I mean I've let you have credit for this one". Bryant brags, "Just this zone? About 10, you"? He rubs his hand on his chest, "About 6 and a half"? He asks, "A half"? Eijiro corrects himself, "I'm pretty sure I stepped on a villain with shrinking powers by mistake. But hey, my bad. I'll count it though". They shake hands, "Pretty cool power you got there. Resistant to fire I assume"? He embellishes some, "Yeah, Hardening is a pretty damn cool quirk. I mean I will admit I get a bit upset seeing people with similar quirks but I used to not even think it was very good. But now look at me".
Bryant suggests, "Want to team up? We might score some more if we stick together". Eijiro agrees to it, "Sounds good to me". Bryant's time runs out and they just talk for a bit, "So, have you seen any of the others"? He shakes his head, "Nah, nobody. You"? Bryant too shakes his, "Not here in the Conflagration Zone. Just villains aside from you". The watch recharges and as he's also getting hot he turns back into Tidal and sprays himself, "I've been extinguishing flames here and there but I'm almost sure that with how this place is built that there's no way they'll stay out for good".
Eijiro gives small talk, "So uh, you seen Mina around"? Bryant responds, "That's the pretty girl with the enchanting black eyes, pink skin, and horns that shoots acid, right"? He answers, "Uh, yeah". Allen shakes his head, "No, why"? Kirishima rubs the back of his head, "Just curious. We went to middle school together. I just want to keep her safe, you know? She's a good friend". Bryant peps him up, "If I see her once I'm out of here I'll try to keep her out of harms way, okay"? He gives a light smile, "Thanks".
"Soooo booooorrred", Bryant complains; "Tell me about", add Eijiro. Then they see a wave of ice extinguishing flames and go to investigate. Turning the corner they see the student with the white and reddish hair encasing a lesser villain in ice, "Todoroki! Nice one", says Kirishima. The boy looks over, uncaring look as always no matter his emotion, "Hello Kirishima". He looks to Allen, "Bryant is it"? He acknowledges, "Yeah, Shoto right"? He just nods, "Aren't you Endeavor's boy"? He answers but only a simple, "Yes". Bryant adds, "Not to insult you, but I hate your father". Shoto doesn't disagree, "Can't say I'm too found of him myself but he is still my father, so to me it doesn't matter much. But out of curiosity, why"? He admits his distaste, "His ego is the size of Jupiter, he hardly cares for property damage, and he's just a plain asshole. He's not even the No.1 Hero and he acts like he runs the world. But enough of my rant, how are you doing out here"?
He finishes freezing the villain, "I'm in my element around here, using my ice quirk too much causes me to freeze, so this fire is counteracting that". He gives Shoto props, "That's pretty cool. Nice way to take advantage of this area. Myself, this place sucks. But, hey, shouldn't you have fire powers too"? He simply states, "No, just ice from my mother". Eijiro speaks up, "You want to come with us Todoroki? Three's a company, and nothing wrong with extra help. I just want to find some bad guys to deal with". Shoto accepts, "Sure".
As they walk together, Bryant sweating as the watch recharges, he thinks to himself, 'Ice powers would be pretty awesome to have, maybe I can sneak a touch'? While Eijiro is distracting Shoto with talk, Bryant takes the opportunity to touch his icy arm without him noticing. 'Mutagen acquired, alien forms unlocked'. He notes, "Plural again"? Popping up the faceplate he takes a look at the new silhouettes. One shows a humanoid with a flaming head and two little 'volcanoes' jutting out of its shoulders, while the other shows a feminine, humanoid figure of a winged being. 'Awesome', he thinks to himself. Not long after, they all see a huge wave of blue flames blasting out of one of the regular orange flamed buildings. A man in his early twenties comes walking out, fixated on Shoto it seems; his black hair and more noticeably a patchwork jawbone that makes him look like a Frankenstein creation almost. The man gives the biggest Joker smile, "Well, if it isn't Shoto Todoroki"? Shoto demands, "How do you know my name"?
The man keeps grinning like he's just heard the best punchline to a joke, "Don't you recognize me at all? Or were you too little to even remember...your own brother"? Shoto's eyes nearly pop out of their sockets, "*gasp*. T-Toya"? The young man seems pleasantly surprised, "So you do remember me after all". Bryant and Eijiro are rather engaged, "What happened to you"?! Toya goes on, "YOU happened to me. Once you were born, 'Endeavor' had no more use for me, just you, you, you, EVERY day". He explains more clearly, "He wanted to create the perfect child but just because I wasn't born with both I was discarded, and NOTHING I accomplished could change it even though I kept trying. But Rei did give me one thing, a defect that makes me pretty much nonresistant to my own damn quirk"! Shoto tries to talk to him, "Listen Toya…", he cuts him off, "No, you listen to me, 'brother'. One night I asked Enji to meet me so I could impress him but he never showed, so I faked my death. Sure enough, only a funeral later and I was forgotten".
"I was discarded trash. So with that my emotions all but turned me to cinder due to my quirk. Now, I only have two things left in my life. Destroy Enji's reputation, and kill you both". Bryant says something, "He's your baby brother. You want to kill him just for existing"? Toya is too far gone of course, "He was the reason I ended up like this! He's a puppet to Enji, and as such he's no better"! Without another word Toya blasts blue flames, everyone ducking out of the way but it being hot enough to not just liquefy light posts but all three could feel the heat even from cover. Eijiro goes to attack once the flames stop but Todoroki holds him back, "He'll cook you alive. You two stay here, this is between me and Toya". Heading out, Toya unleashes all his flames onto Shoto, while he uses all the ice he can muster into a cool 'freezethrower'.
Unfortunately the blue flames are insanely hot, too hot to literally handle and Shoto is forced to leap back into the alley with them before collapsing from the heat. Bryant looks to Eijiro, "You keep Shoto safe in here, got it"? Kirishima asks concernedly, "What are you gonna do"? He cycles to the fiery humanoid, "Shoto was apparently lying to me. But regardless, to answer your question. Time to fight fire with fire". Slamming the watch down his skin is covered in burning rock, his feet downgrading into two toes and a heel. His hands becomes pure flaming fists, and cracks of bright fire seeps out all over his body. The shoulders sprout the little craters shown in the silhouette, bursting a stream of constant flame. Lastly, as his whole body in engulfed in fire, his head is immolated, his eye losing both iris and pupils, he loses his nose and overall his head becomes a burning skull, with the rising flames looking almost like a hairstyle. He walks out and confronts Toya.
"And who might you be"? Bryant grins, "I'm a firefighter". Toya instantly engulfs him. As the blue flame dies out, Bryant is just standing there with hands on his waist, "Not bad. Wanna try again"? Toya gives a look of, 'how', and does so, blasting even more until he can't even see in front of him. Out of the flame stream, Bryant socks him in his jaw, "Ugh". He caresses it, "Two strikes. What do you say Todoroki? Third time's a charm". Toya looks pissed, "BURN"! Running this time through the flame he uppercuts the villain, knocking him to the ground for a second, and all the while his flames have been expended for the moment.
"Ah, outta juice? Let's just talk while you recharge", taunts Bryant. Toya tries to throw a punch but Bryant catches it, unintentionally burning his hand, "Gah". Allen grins, "Oops, my bad. On another note, you do realize I haven't even used my own fire yet". With a big breath, Toya tries to burn him yet again in anger, but this time he stretches out his arms and actually absorbs the blue fire. "Huh, didn't even know that'd happen. Just wanted to try something else". Toya is already beaten, but he just won't give up, "Die"! Shooting out one more flame, his skin boils, and Bryant just stands there. "You know, it's only fair that I get a turn. Tell me, does this hurt"? Stretching out one arm he tests out his own fire, and sure enough the jet of flames he aims at Toya's leg, burns him, "ARGH"!
"You're a real piece of work Cain. All talk, no shock". Turning into Warrior for a minute he knocks him clean out with a blow to the head. Bryant then times out, "I think I'll call that guy 'Molten'. Now, time to check on the others". Heading into the alley he finds the two of them with a look of impress on their faces, "We saw it all. That was awesome", Eijiro says. Shoto looks to Toya, "Will he, be okay"? Bryant looks over, "He's seen better days but he should be fine. I just burnt him a little and punched his lights out. How are you holding up"? Shoto shakes his head in disbelief, "I just can't belief my own brother would try to kill me. I mean, I didn't even realize he was still alive. I wish I could help him". Bryant tries to comfort him, "Well maybe instead of Tartarus, we could get him sent to an asylum for treatment"? Shoto responds, "Maybe. Or maybe this is all my fault. Regardless, thank you, for your help". Bryant reaches out a hand and shakes his, "No problem. Oh, and thank you for the awesome new form. But I have a question. Why lie to me about your fire side"? Shoto answers, "I'm not ready to talk about that just yet but, I can tell you another time".