"Well, that's an interesting order." Isaac Green commented as he brought his hand to his flank, before slowly standing up.

"Wait, where are you going?" Izuku had managed to force himself up, although his right leg couldn't even move, let alone support him. Muscular made it sound like having so many muscles would just give you super strength, but Deku was only feeling like his leg was a popped balloon.

"I got new orders." He replied "I'm supposed to get out of here the moment I complete my work. Now, there is an interesting issue there."

"What is it?" Izuku asked, preparing himself for a fight. He coiled Blackwhip around his arms, and legs, hoping it could keep him from hurting himself further. In theory, the idea of making shadow binds made sense, but he still hadn't tested them yet with all the training he had been putting into Teleport.

The man calmly walked up to him… and extended his arm. "Take my hand Izuku."

Deku stared at him.

"Come on, you have seen my cards. I can only shoot you to defeat you, I know a hand-to-hand match is bound to end with me looking at the roses from below. Just shake my hand so I can get going."

Izuku slowly moved the hand forward, and the man quickly grabbed it tightly, holding Izuku's own for several seconds.

"There, caught you, good job me." The gunslinger commented "Now I can leave. Bye."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"I caught you. You couldn't go anywhere, and I was holding you. The boss never told me my job was to bring you to him, not to mention I can't do that with my ribs broken. I completed the work by the letter, so this stupid thing is satisfied." He grinned "This magic is absurd at times but I am not complaining."

"Wait, you can't just leave!"

"Watch me." Isaac replied, his hand clenching his side as he walked away, before he felt something grab his leg and turned around to see a tendril made of darkness around his leg. "For real?" He asked, trying to pull himself free. "You are one stubborn kid, aren't you? I suppose we have that in common."

"I'm not letting you go. It's too dangerous."

"Dammit kid, I destroyed your right leg, I made you explode, I shot you with Tori's bullet, how are you even standing? The blood loss should have knocked you out cold even if I didn't hit a major artery." The man shook his head "Look, me and you, we are the same. I know I wouldn't let the bastard that did all this to me go, but…"

"It's not about vengeance! I need to bring you in for your safety! If you go back to Lord Arkin…"

"Oh yeah, he is going to make me do some nasty shit, I'm sure of that." Isaac laughed, staring at the kid, but even he realized his own laugh felt forced, "But I can't really oppose him meaningfully with this on my hand. So, best I can do is using the fact he thinks his orders are far more clear than they are to my advantage. Like not breaking my spine to try and carry a child that can probably punch me to kingdom come with me." He moved his ankle "Can you let me go now? You broke my arm and some ribs, I want my leg back at least."

Izuku's look, Isaac decided, was priceless. He looked so confused staring at him, like he was looking in a deformed mirror. He kinda felt the same in a way. The kid looked like he had at his age, but there was some innocence he had never had by that point. It was funny in a way, even if he wasn't the best to judge innocence. "Why not coming with me and helping us taking down Lord Arkin."

"If you wanted me to do that you should have knocked me out cold." Isaac replied, his hand on the gun holster. He was confident in his skills, enough to make sure that if Izuku leaped his way with a punch, the only option given that his kicks where disabled since one leg was out of the picture, he could take a shot. He still had one of the doctor's bullet. The gas inside could put the kid to sleep at close range, even if somehow he dodged it all the time. Of course, at this short range, he might have ended up getting knocked out too, but if it came to that, so be it.

Izuku didn't move. Instead, he just stared at him. "What does Lord Arkin want? Why is he doing this?"

"Frankly, I have no clue. I know that he has a kid called Kai and he uses him once every ten days to summon someone he needs. Something like 'A strong man' or 'An assassin'. Then there is a big light and one of us shows up with a mark on our hands." He felt a thug on his hand and paled slightly "But it sounds like I can't go beyond this in telling you things, sorry."

"Wait. What about the child. What does he look like, where is he?"

"Black hair. Golden eyes. Arkin took him." Isaac noticed Izuku pale and heard him start to mumble. Something about a Kai fitting the description. Hard to tell from where he was. He tried to pull but his leg was still trapped. The cowboy cursed. "Can I go now?"

"No. Whatever the case, I need to bring you in for custody until your Summoner Crest is gone."

"Yes, but I really don't want you to. We are at an impasse here, aren't we?"

"Can you stop joking around and talk seriously?!"

Isaac chuckled "Sorry kid, kind of a habit when I get stressed. Not sure what kind of upbringing you had but for me it was either this or becoming a broody bastard like Dusty Shawn. Not much of a choice there." He shook his head "See, I'm doing it again. Now, let's talk seriously for once. You can't beat me in your condition. Not now that I have enough distance to shoot one bullet before you are on me."

"I can knock you out."

"And I can shoot you in the other leg with Muscular's bullets, let's see how far you can run with both legs turned into that." He replied pointing to the overgrown limb, "I'm giving both of us a way out kid. Take it."

Izuku looked at him "Can you promise you won't kill anyone?" He asked, and Isaac saw in his eyes that it was a plea, not an order. The kid was seriously asking him if he could swear away killing.

Isaac snorted. 'Guess not everything is the same. Must have been lucky to be so naïve.' "No, I can't. I'm sure you have the wrong idea on me, so I'll make it clear: I am not a good guy. I have been in more shoot outs than I can count, I have robbed banks, I have killed people. Have you ever done that?" No response, only eyes staring at him in horror, something Isaac never thought he'd see from his own face. "See? And even if I promised, this Crest would make it moot. So do yourself a favor and…"

It happened in an instant. Izuku charged forward, using his good leg to propel himself, fist raised.

Isaac shot.

-x-

Dekirn roared in rage as he downed one more potion and threw the bottle forward. He rushed as the black-clad swordsman sliced both the bottle and his sword once more. He moved his hand to grab a throwing knife and saw it pierce the flesh of his opponent, but even then that monster didn't stop, merely swinging and swinging, each slice of the blade chipping away more of the saber he had been so proud of. 'Had he been toying with me all this time?' He wondered, before ducking under another blow, the top of his hat falling on the floor.

"It is unfortunate that it has come to this." The man commented with a saddened look on his face that made Dekirn furious. He gripped the handle of his now useless sword, enraged, swinging it in desperation only to see the last useful length of the blade broken by a sword that appeared the size of a knife. "I…" The man stopped, suddenly ducking to the side, like he had just heard something.

Dekirn didn't miss his chance to take out one of his knives and use it to plunge at his opponent, but he merely blocked, patting aside the blade with the handle and then using it to bludgeon him in the chin. Dekirn felt his bones crack and fell backwards. "Why…"

"Indeed, it is unfortunate it came to this." The man replied, his eyes focusing on him "But, in your misfortune, there is a shine of hope, young man. My orders have changed. I am supposed to complete my task and leave. Your life is spared."

"What… do you mean…" Dekirn asked through broken teeth and blood in his mouth, coughing.

"Yes, a remarkable luck. I was tasked with killing my lord's enemies, the Hero first among them. As I have killed the Hero, I shall consider my task completed." He smiled, and Dekirn suddenly noticed several teeth were gone, like they had never been there. "You costed me many teeth today. I shall praise you for that." He added, walking away from Dekirn and toward Izo.

"Wait, what are you doing!"

"I need to ensure he dies. My job can't be left half done, now can it?" He asked, and took his other sword out from Izo's chest. Blood trailed down the blade and on his motionless, half frozen body. "Such is the word of my lord."

Dekirn gritted his teeth and forced himself up, hand gripping tightly the handle of what had once been his saber. "I won't let you… do that…"

"Be reasonable. If you try to get in my way, I will have to kill you instead of him." The swordsman's cold eyes told Dekirn that he wasn't lying. He would kill him without any regret. Dekirn gritted his teeth and touched his pouch. Two healing potions. One potion of fire resistance that was completely useless. One magic scroll… He smiled, and threw away the husk of his sword, taking out a knife with one hand and a potion with the other. He immediately downed the bottle, feeling his wounds closing and his broken bones painfully reattaching.

"Ready when you are."

The swordsman nodded. "So be it then."

Dekirn nodded and moved carefully, keeping his stance, his left arm with the knife forward, the rest of his body behind. It was the best he could do but he knew it would all come down to what he was going to do next working.

The man attacked first, the weapon in his right hand growing to the size of a normal blade while the other remained the length of a knife. He moved quickly, entering Dekirn's guard so fast he had only a second to react. His hand moved in his pouch, he touched the scroll and then pulled out the potion of fire resistance, flinging it in his opponent's face. The swordsman closed his eyes as the liquid entered his eyes and the bottle shattered in his face, and Dekirn didn't miss his chance, hitting with his knife on the leg opening two large gash on his body before moving away. Neither of the two were deep enough to finish his foe, but he still smiled noticing him strain.

"Good one." The man commented, "What now."

"Now the Hero saves my life?" Dekirn replied, more as a question than as something certain.

"The Hero…" His eyes widened and he turned around, only to find Izo rushing at him.

One for All passed through his flank, emerging out of his belly, and the swordsman fell to the ground vomiting blood. "But you… You were dead…"

"I was on the verge, yes. A couple minutes and I would have died." Izo replied, and he looked like a man that had just barely made it from the edge of the abyss, pale from the blood loss and still partially covered in ice. "It was Dekirn's quick thinking that saved me."

The black clad swordsman lost consciousness, bleeding out on the floor, and Izo sighed in relief before his legs gave way and he lost his grip on One for All, exhausted beyond belief. Dekirn quickly rushed to him.

"Thank you." The Hero of Colfire mumbled, "If it wasn't for you…"

"I owe you my life. About time I repaid the favor, wasn't it?" The thief looked back to where Izo had been just a moment before, his blood still splattered everywhere on the ground, pieces of ice accompanying him. Next to him was the remainder of Dekirn's last bottle of Healing Potion, hovering in the air, still held by the Mage Hand he had used through the Scroll to bring it there. 'If I hadn't hit him in the face with the Potion of Fire Resistance, he would have noticed. That was just lucky on my part, that's all.'

"That was close, he just replied, "If you were dead, I'd be the one bleeding out on the floor."

"Speaking of which, think he will die?" Izo asked.

"Probably? You kind of pierced a good chunk of his internal organs. I don't really have anything to help him."

Izo nodded, before forcing himself back up and pulling out One for All from the soon-to-be corpse. He closed his eyes "O Lady of the Forest, second wielder of the Sword of Mankind, give me the power to be compassionate to all creatures."

Dekirn watched him put a hand on the swordsman's body and close his eyes. A moment later, the bleeding stopped, though he remained unconscious. "You saved his life?"

"I said there was no need to kill him. I wasn't joking." Izo replied, before walking to the other man, the frozen, armored warrior, and doing the same. "Not sure if it will actually save them though. All this spell does his block the worst of their wounds, they might still die if they aren't healed fast enough."

"Couldn't you use it on yourself?"

"When? In the middle of combat leaving myself completely exposed or while I was unconscious on the floor?" Izo's sarcastic tone made Dekirn look away awkwardly, "No, I am done. All my potions shattered when I fell to the floor.

"I can still move, though I'm out. I'll go calling the guards. It's time we put an end to this and capture them."

"Watch out. We don't know how Todoroki is doing."

Dekirn nodded and rushed off.

-x-

Itsumi had reacted purely out of instincts, but she looked in disbelief as the Claw's costume started to take the dark red color of blood. She had a hand on her chest, where the girl's last, desperate attack had hit her at full force.

"Fuck…" The woman that looked like her mother murmured, and Itsumi had to agree. That looked bad. She hadn't put any control on her own explosion, just unleashing the strongest hit she had managed, and the results could easily be lethal.

That was the other facet of a power Itsumi had to constantly work to keep under control. Not just because she could hurt herself, but because it could – it would – hurt others. Without guide she had no control over it, and now that she had reacted without thinking she had gone and fired a lethal attack.

The woman that wasn't his mother but looked like her snarled, standing back up. "Wait, please…" Itsumi asked her, almost pleading "If you move you will die."

"I don't have a choice." The woman replied "I just need to kill you and then I can run away and steal a potion. Just die, kid." She shouted, and rushed forward, her metallic fist punching Itsumi's side. It was so sudden the girl didn't even feel the pain for a moment, before rolling on the ground in pain.

Itsumi closed her eyes. For a moment, she felt desperate. She couldn't think of a way to get out of her situation without killing her mo… the woman that looked like her mother or die. Even her hero wouldn't know what to do, would he? 'He would, I'm just not as good…'

"Enough nonsense." A voice rushed in her head, and she felt herself move, One for All activating in her leg and making her move slightly. "I didn't raise you to be someone that gives up."

'If I don't die she will!' Itsumi thought, the familiar voice of the user of Guide in her mind.

"That is correct. If you fight, she or you will die. Thus, what's the solution? Think fast and you can save both.' The man replied, and Itsumi activated One for All 'Remember. Sometimes, there is nothing wrong in losing a fight. Though, never tell your mom I said that.'

The voice stopped, and Itsumi jumped back. Her wounds were still there, but One for All was holding her up, like a cast for a broken toy. 'If she kills me, I die. If I defeat her, I don't have any way to get her some help in time, and I doubt that wound is first aid material. Which means…'

Itsumi opened her mouth, and Claw prepared for an attack. That was her mistake, as the explosion produced a rush of light and heat. The woman screamed as Itsumi was thrown back. She had used guide to put the light and heat forward and move the wind pressure backwards, hoping that this would both blind her opponent and hurt her enough to give Itsumi a small advantage, while sending her flying back outside.

Itsumi ran. If fighting meant that one of them would die, the only solution was running. She had to lose the Claw so that she couldn't kill her anymore, thus failing her assignment and being free to search for something to heal herself. It was a slim hope, and an action that went against what she considered being heroic, but Itsumi had no other solution. She racked her brain to figure out another way, but she couldn't. A fight ended in her dying or stalling until the Claw died. Losing and running, hopefully, ended with them losing each other and her pursuer healing herself.

Rushing through the streets, she felt the heavy boots of the Prowler right behind her. The fact Itsumi's Stun Breath, her version of her mother's Stun Grenade, had only blinded her for a second, meant she had been prepared, somehow.

'Is she really mom? She didn't use Explosion, but that doesn't mean much. What about that ability to run on the roof, is that her Quirk?' She wondered, groaning in pain. That concussion bullet she had been hit with had cracked at least two ribs. 'I might kill myself if I move in the wrong way and one of them pierces my lungs.'

The streets grew in a cacophony of people shouting as she rushed through them, pushing some to the ground and others to the side.

She kept running.

She kicked with One for All through the stall of a man that was selling vegetables, leaving behind a trail of splinters and food on the ground as she rushed forward more and more, forcing her legs through One for All to build distance from her pursuer.

She kept running.

Another concussion bullet hit a wall as she turned a corner, leaving a large crater on it that would have undoubtably cracked her head open like a watermelon if she had been just a second slower.

She kept running.

She heard shouts and calls from behind, she kicked a wall open to make herself a road when she hit a dead end, she pushed through a plaza filled with people, and in the distance, looking at the castle, she saw a large fire in the courtyard.

She kept running.

Only after a good five minutes she turned around, gasping for air even as One for All granted her all the strength it could, feeling like she had just ran a marathon. In five minutes she had made it all the way to the lower part of the city, and she felt herself about to collapse. Her legs were trembling, her heart felt like it was about to burst open, her skin was covered in sweat.

She looked back. The Claw was gone. The woman hadn't made it to her.

She laughed, then coughed, gasping for air. She felt a hot liquid fall on her hand, and then, as One for All lost its grip on her body, she collapsed.

'You did good child. You did the best you could. Now rest, and know this. Whatever you think, that was the right choice.'

She closed her eyes, and immediately fell unconscious, only earing the sound of steps walking to her.

'Was it?' She asked herself before everything went dark.

-x-

Kikora tried to open the other door of the cart, but the moment it did it was shot through with another magic attack. She cursed. Arkin was just waiting for her to try and jump out.

"What do we do, what do we do…" She looked left and right. The horse was still following the cart obediently, but it was of little help if she was shot the moment she made it on it. Moreover, there was the kid to consider. 'The kid…'

Kai was a little, jumpy kid with golden eyes she kept hold of tightly as she tried to figure out what to do. "I have the kid Arkin!" She finally shouted "If you shot me while I jump, you will kill him too!"

"You wouldn't let a kid die Kikora, I'm sure of that much!" The man replied, and she grunted. The bastard was right of course, she just didn't want to admit it.

She turned to look at the kid "Kai, think you can help us out?"

"H-How?" He looked down "I don't know how to use my powers. The scary men of shadow say I'm not ready to use their powers. That man forces one of those out of me, but I don't know how to use it on my own. And I can't use the strength without breaking my arms and legs."

Kikora grunted, "Yeah, let's keep that as a last resort, I don't want you to get hurt just because it's convenient. What about that other one, didn't you say you have something else?"

"Overhaul is my father's Quirk, and mine as well. If I touch something, I can disassemble it and reassemble it at will." He explained, and Kikora looked at him in disbelief.

"That sounds incredibly good! Why not using that?! How are you still a prisoner?!"

"I'm not good at it! My father was still teaching me, and I still have a long way to go before… before I can do what I have to. And with One for All as well, my power has grown so much I can barely keep it in. If I used it, I'm not sure of what would happen."

Kikora sighed, shaking her head. So much for the magic kid that was supposed to be able to use. It was up to her and horsey out there to get them out. "How did you end up here from Nion anyway?" She asked "Were you just walking around the countryside or something?"

The kid shook his head "A group of monsters attacked the city, and my father intervened, but it was a trap. Another one snuck in our house and kidnapped me, and dad… dad gave himself up in exchange for my safety. They cut his hands, but he… he died because of it. An infection killed him. I… I couldn't save him…" He was crying now, loudly and messily, on her shoulder. Kikora's face darkened. "He took me aside and told me to hit his hair, because he said the power could not die, and told me he would always be with me." He stared down at his hands "Dad…" He murmured.

Kikora now was really, truly angry. She turned to the front of the carriage, beyond the thick wooden wall, and shouted. "Is that really how low you will stoop Arkin?! Kidnapping a child?! Killing his father?! I will kill you!"

"I don't expect you to understand the truth, Kikora. You have been brainwashed by the Kingdom and their foolishness in opposing our lord. The Demon King sees a future beyond what us mortals can imagine, one where those such as me retain their rightful place in this world."

'Seriously, is anyone hearing this? Where are the guards?' She thought a carriage running at full speed through the city, with another horse behind it, would have been noticeable, but something was going on, that much was clear. "Change of plan kid. You are breaking a bone or two. Sorry about it." Kai looked at his hands a moment, then nodded. "Ok, aim at the bottom. If you break it we can make it out."

"Won't we be run over by the wheels or crack our skull on the pavement?"

"Not if you do it at the right time. Get ready." The kid moved his head up and down quickly and Kikora looked around the cart, grabbing the largest bag she could find. A large one, filled with various clothes far to expensive, was exactly what she needed as she put her overcoat on it.

She looked outside, making sure they were on the route she thought, and smiled as she saw the familiar road. They were going to pass over one of the bridges that allowed to pass the river Cleit in a minute. That was the moment to go.

The moment they saw the bridge, she shouted. "Now!"

It all happened at once. The kid punched the ground and the floor cracked. Kikora had already guessed the carriage was magically reinforced, so she wasn't surprised when the walls held together. But a large all was now open in the floor of the carriage, large enough for her to roll out. A magic missile hit it before it disappeared.

At the same time, she launched out the bag, low so it could barely be seen before it passed over the bridge's side.

"Shit, she jumped in the water, slow the carriage, I need the Asset!" Arkin shouted.

Kikora felt the object slow down and the moment it was going slow enough she grabbed the kid, protecting his head and back, and jumped in the hole, rolling on the ground. She still hit the ground hard, feeling her bones strain at the impact, but it wasn't fatal. She quickly stood up and run, keeping hold of Kai.

'Shit.' She thought 'This is really the best I can do, uh?' She wondered.

Looking at the kid, she found herself wondering if he was worth losing Arkin.

A magic missile hit her in the shoulder just as she jumped on the horse that was panting, struggling to keep the pace with the carriage, and she heard Kai scream. She kicked the horse's side and the beast started to run. As she turned around, she saw the carriage speed off the other way. As she had hoped, Arkin only had a short window to get out of the city. He wasn't going to pursue her or the kid. She grimaced looking at him, at his broken arm twisted and darkened by the exploded blood vessels.

She still felt like she had lost that day.

-x-

The Beast was laying on the ground, motionless. Isaac touched her with the foot, and a low growl came out of her mouth, followed by a cough.

"Ah, still alive then." He commented, thinking of what to do. He was just looking for the closest path to get out of the tunnel, but of course that had to have him run into the remains of another fight. 'And this one was bloody, wasn't it?'

The man that had fought the Beast was next to her, bleeding profusely on the floor. There was a bad wound on his face. He might have lost an eye there, but it was hard to say with all the blood.

"Let's see…" He kneeled down, examining for a bit the situation, before finally turning to her and tapping lightly on the Beast's face. Her fangs were pretty scary to look at, reminding him of the monsters of the Frontier. Still, she was far from the scariest thing he had seen in his life on the run from authority.

Slowly, the girl with bat wings opened her eyes. "The prey…"

"Was dying." He answered concisely, and saw her eyes lit up.

"Feed me…"

"Can you move?" She tried to, he could tell, but then she shook her head. Her muscles were probably still feeling whatever her opponent had done to her and himself, judging by the fact both of them had burn marks he knew the Beast couldn't cause to her opponent. "Come on, we are going."

"A bite…"

"You already ate, I can see the bite marks, and I can't carry you. All I can do is pulling you up and we lean on each other to escape."

The creature made a weird sound, and it took a moment to Isaac to realize she was pouting. It was the reaction he wasn't expecting from someone that usually acted like an animal, a human reaction that was so at odds with everything he thought of when he spoke with her. "Meanie…" She added, completing the image of a young girl he couldn't associate with someone with claws big enough to cut off his hand like a knife.

"Come on." He said, helping her up with his good arm even as he felt the ribs the kid had broken cry in agony. She put her oversized arm around his back, and he instantly felt like he was wearing a cape thanks to her wing. An heavy, rigid cape. She used her other arm to help herself up, and kept her legs still, the tip of the claws dragging on the ground. He put his own good arm around her shoulder to prop himself up. He was happy he was taller than her normally, or he might have been pulled up from the ground too, something that wouldn't have gone well when they could barely hold each other up.

"How did you go?" She asked as they walked away, entering another tunnel that Isaac knew led to an exit hidden under an abandoned house. Lord Arkin had shown it to him as a good place to hold a prisoner if he found any, and now he was going to use it as an hiding spot before making it back to the noble.

"Put the kid to sleep." He replied.

"To sleep as in snoring or as in killing him?"

"He is snoring his wounds out in a room filled with gas. Doctor Stard would be happy to know his sleeping gas works in other worlds too." He clarified, a smirk on his face despite the pain that caused. It was good to talk. It kept him focused away from the pain, and kept her distracted from her hunger.

"What happened to your nose?" She asked.

"I didn't say it was easy." He replied. It had been a fluke really. Izuku's punch would have knocked him out if he hadn't stepped back in time, and the wind pressure alone had been enough to make the cartilage of his nose crack and blood start to come out. He didn't want to know how many parts of his skull would have been broken by a direct hit.

"I like it." She replied with a grin "Bloody looks tasty."

"Look ahead." He replied, "I'm not food."

"Yet." She commented. He wasn't sure she was wrong. Arkin could have fed him to her for this failure, for all the gunslinger knew.

'But if it comes to that, I am bringing him down with me.'

(xx)

A/N: Sorry for the delay everyone, last week was busy and the chapter took longer than expected to come out. But here we are.

We finish our arc with people making it out. What's next? Hopefully some recovery time for our characters, they deserve it.