"… And that's the end of the first match of the Top 64! Juzo Honenuki comes out victorious from his fight with Todoroki Touya! But give a round of applause to the defeated too!" The crowd cheered, more for the winner, Honenuki, than for the loser, though the Announcer was sure the older fighter had his fans too.
Izuku turned off the mic and sighed. It wasn't that strong a start for the Tournament, since it was a Quirk vs Quirk between two known fighters. Touya just spammed fire and Juzo had damped that by turning the whole battlefield in what was essentially a swamp. It was a decent match, but from the start Touya was at a disadvantage.
"Next match in five. It's Ruin versus Mina."
"Ugh. Why do we invite that psycho every year?"
"Because he can play by the rules. Do you need a repeat of their entrance speeches?"
"Nah, I memorized them all." Announcer stated proudly. Technically it was a half-truth. He had memorized the gist of them and would make up the rest on the fly. Considering he was the one that oversaw their writing in the first place, it wouldn't be a huge problem to 'take some liberties'.
Also it really wasn't his fault. Getting saddled with extra work impacted performance a bit.
"Alright, and the Arena is changing… now!" Jiro declared, and indeed, darkness shrouded the arena. Magic, of course, since looking from above Izuku saw only ink black darkness covering the field until the edges. The magic in question was The Carpet, the spell the JTO used to cover the use of magic and high-tech items to restructure the field based on requests.
Not that anyone doubted what Ruin had requested.
As he talked, The Carpet started to rise, forcing him to go higher, and then vanished. Izuku looked down at the miniature city. The tallest building, in the center of the arena, was a six stories tall apartment complex, while around it where smaller buildings at three or four floors, and on the edge, what looked like the beginning of a park that cut abruptly at the western entrance of the arena.
The outskirts of the city of New Yokohama, California. Where Tomura Shigaraki became Ruin.
Urban fighting was a favorite of the JTO watchers, which had made Ruin, who habitually chose this urban arena as his combat location, a fan favorite.
"Ready?"
"Ready." At the response, he twirled in the hair, sunglasses down as he looked at the crowd. The music kicked in. Each fighter of the Top 64 got his own theme, though admittedly the JTO cheated: since composing one for each fighter was too slow, they would usually travel to other universes and buy the rights for appropriate OSTs and songs, or even buy the rights in that same world. Did that make them derivative? Maybe a bit, but it definitely made it more entertaining for the crowd.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Next match, and I'm sure most of our watchers know whose turn it is. He is from a world of Superheroes and Supervillains, where superpowers known as Meta-Abilities have changed the world forever. And among them, rising as one of the most dangerous Supervillains of the American underground, is the resident terror of the city of New Yokohama. The sworn enemy of the Superhero known as The Green Guardian, to which I bear a striking resemblance," He raised his sunglasses and winked at the crowd, "he is the Destroyer of Cities that returns on our field after a gap year taken for personal reasons. A quarter finalist for two consecutive editions! He! Is! Ruin!"
The crowd shouted and cheered as Tomura Shigaraki walked on the field of grass. He wore a long dark cape over a black overcoat, highlighting his long white hair. His face was scarred, though that was hard to see given the black mask that covered the bottom half of his face, from the nose down. His eyes, however, remained focused.
Izuku had the impression they were focused on him, and felt a shiver run down his back.
-x-
"Are you sure you don't want to watch this?" Izuku asked, while Mina Ashido entered the field on the opposite side of Tomura.
"The last thing I need right now is to get agitated." Izumi said, breathing in and out and examining her sword. The wooden weapon seemed in perfect condition, but Izuku wondered if she would use it. From what he had learned training with her, one of her powers transferred damage to the sword. Doing that however snapped a wooden blade quickly, and Izumi seemed attached to it, so he had to wonder if she would instead use a replacement like she had in the Qualifiers.
"Begin!" Izuku shouted, and Izuku turned back around. Huanli had never stopped looking, and they followed together the beginning of the match. Mina and Shigaraki were separated by the central building, so they couldn't see each other, but they knew where the opponent was, so both charged, but not at each other. Instead, Mina chose to take the high ground. She reached the closest building, and gripped the walls, fingers denting the surface thanks to her acid, allowing her to climb like a spider on the cement. Izuku took note of that. Maybe his version of Ashido could make use of that too.
Meanwhile, Ruin moved forward. And Izuku meant it: he was running straight forward. When a building was in front of him, he extended his hand, and the wall came crashing down, broken into pieces, Tomura rushed through the building, the cameras not missing a moment of it, emerged on the other side, and reached the tallest building by crossing a road quickly, before starting to climb too, using whatever power he was using to crack the walls and create openings.
Ashido, meanwhile, had set up her position, ready to attack Shigaraki. Judging by her looks toward the main building, she expected the attack from there, and she was ready, acid oozing from her arms.
"So what's his power?" Izuku asked, as the figure of Tomura reached the top of the building and looked down at the girl.
"Misfortune." Epsi replied. Deku blinked.
"What?"
He watched Tomura slam a hand on the ground and the building start thumbling down, cracking into pieces. Almost riding the collapsing building, concrete and metal falling around him, Tomura descended until he reached Ashido's level and then jumped. Ashido, of course, immediately protected herself with her Acid.
Tomura didn't seem to care, plunging his hand in the orb of acid the girl had surrounded herself with.
"Is he insane?!"
"He is using the rules of the Tournaments to his advantage." Huanli replied, "If battles to the death are not allowed, it means the acid Ashido is using can't be lethal. Which means in turn that while it probably hurts, it can't just vanish his arm."
"It would still take the willingness to plunge your arm into acid." Izuku pointed out.
"Yes, it would." Huanli nodded, not taking back her point. Deku looked at her.
"You absolutely would, wouldn't you?"
"If I must…" She shrugged, and Deku shook his head.
Meanwhile, Tomura's hand had wrapped around Ashido's arm, and Izuku could see what looked like black fog emerging from his hand now. "What is that?"
"It's his power." Epsi chimed in, "Misfortune."
"Misfortune?"
"He causes bad things to happen to anything he touches." She explained, "A wall crumbles down, a car's breaks fail, a computer stops working, or…" Mina freed her arm by pulling it away and using acid between the hand and the limb to make it slide out, but as she did her pull was done wrong, and she shouted as her shoulder dislocated, "That." Epsi grimaced.
Ruin didn't let the chance go, his fist slamming into Mina's face even as the acid corroded it more, the skin blistering and fuming while it impacted him. Still, Izuku could tell Huanli was right. If you weren't worried about the burns and pain, you could win this fight just by brute forcing your way past Mina.
"She is out." A voice said from behind them. Their eyes widened and they found Revenant standing behind them.
They both shouted.
"Christ, calm down, I didn't even sneak around this time, you left the door open and I walked in." He pointed his thumb at the door, where the bodyguards assigned by the JTO both nodded. Clearly, they knew him and had let him pass. "Those guys are pretty useless to be honest. What if I was a killer that can shapeshift?"
"My friend here has a magic that recognizes disguises." The one on the left said, pointing at the man on the right, with a grin that showed he hadn't taken kindly the comment, "We let you pass because you are who you said you are."
"Ah. I take it back then. Sorry." He said, though he seemed a bit miffed.
"Shouldn't you be preparing for your own fight?" Izumi asked. She had been sitting pointedly turned from the screen, still busy checking her own equipment.
"Eh, I did a final check of everything before coming here, and I brought everything." He pointed outside, where one of the guards nodded. "Anyway, Ashido just lost."
"What?!" They both turned to the screen, and it was true. Mina was on the ground, unconscious, an arm broken and the other still dislocated. It didn't look pretty, though the half-burnt face of Ruin looked even less so. "Damn, we lost it."
"We can always rewatch it, thanks to your little friend." Revenant pointed out, "Personally, thanks to her I got everything I needed. It's a touch based power that makes bad events happen when it touches you. I assume the event his worse the more of that black stuff it emits?"
Epsi nodded, "It is."
"Good to know. When I fight him, I will have to focus on keeping him at range, or failing that keeping his hands away from me. Pretty much my plans for my world's Tomura."
"When you fight him?" Huanli raised an eyebrow, "What about Captain and the God of Thunder? Those two are both in your way before you can fight Ruin."
"I have a plan for the God of Thunder and Captain. Iwata too, if Captain Kamino isn't up for the challenge. If I didn't think at least that far ahead, I wouldn't be taking this seriously enough." He pointed to the screen, "I waited to see who I need to keep an eye on in the first two matches, and I think Ruin is the most likely winner of Saturday's bout. By Sunday, there will only be sixteen fighters left, so it's better to wait until then to come up with anything unnecessary."
Deku nodded, "So why are you here?"
"Because I figured you could use some guidance." He winked, "Or maybe because I'm interested to hear what Epsi and Huanli have to say."
"Me?" Huanli asked.
"You. A girl that has been fighting through the Multiverse for six months. You have enough battle experience against magic and high tech to offer something of worth to any conversation on this Tournament. And I want to hear it." He grabbed a chair and sat down, "Though, I will only get one more before my match." He pointed at the screen, "It's up to the Captain now."
-x-
For his first match, Izuku had been asked to not wear his helmet until after he was in the ring. This time, there was no such request. He pushed the helmet down and the metallic mouthguard up, locking them together. The design was made that way so that if someone grabbed hold of either, Izuku could slide them off and still have a modicum of additional protection for the head and neck.
The two, large feather-like additions on the side of the helmet were his uncle's idea. If you are going with this much effort to be Captain America you must look the part, he had said, as he helped him draw his costume. Most pieces of his costume had gone through edit after edit to make it more appealing, but not those. A few of his father's friends had called him his rabbit ears, but always in good spirits. To be fair, they might have been a bit too long- Izuku shook his head. Not the time to reminisce on the past. He pushed up his gloves, put on his cape, and tied his red combat boots.
Honestly, the JTO had gone above and beyond to create a replica of his costume. The original had been lost in the decades since he had taken his final dive to save Japan's Meta-users, probably stripped off Izuku's body by whoever had fished him out of the sea and somehow revived the teen, but showing the design to the JTO had been enough for them to create a full replica.
'At least I still have my shield.' He thought, strapping the item to his left glow. The item had been repainted after his first match, but the metal beneath remained spotless. Vibranium, him and uncle had called it, an obvious reference given it had almost the same properties of the comic book equivalent. The layer of titanium on top was only there to paint the metal properly, and the only part that had the tendency to break in a fight. Oh how he wished Vibranium could be directly painted.
'I'm reminiscing again.' Izuku thought, looking at himself in the mirror. The sight was nostalgic. The JTO had asked him to also remove his cape during the first fight, to look as similar as possible to Captain America, so this was really the first time he was in full Captain Kamino attire.
He took a deep breath, and marched out, listening to the sounds around him. The cheering of the spectators was deafening, even in the middle of the corridor that led to the exit. The corridor itself was dark, while the arena outside shone brightly, almost blinding. It probably was by design, so the B-lister would see their opponent only at the last minute, on the large screens that showed both of them.
He took another deep breath. It was… weird, to think to those people out there Captain Kamino was just a curiosity. To think that the name that meant so much in his own world was something to gawk at and little more.
Even as he was, Izuku had no idea of what Captain Kamino meant to him. The name represented the most important years of his life, the greatest success, the greatest failure.
A man that had died on a plane crash and was immortalized for eternity as a Hero of the Meta-human movement.
A teen with a dream and the courage to do what was right.
A child in way over his head.
Izuku Midoriya.
Izuku gripped his shield and stepped in the Arena. "-It's Captain Kaminooooo!" The Announcer shouted, as Izuku entered the Arena. He had missed most of the speech - the cheering and shouting of the crowd covering it up - but he could hear the song playing under it. That was a bit on the nose, he decided, but he couldn't argue that it fit.
'I guess the Captain America theme from the MCU was a rather obvious choice.' He thought with a shrug.
Then he turned to examine the Arena, smiling at the preparation having been completed.
His request had been simple: stone walls covered by a layer of metal scattered throughout the Arena.
The perfect place to use his shield, with all the options of bouncing off the walls, but nothing that would damage his opponent's chances. His father would have had something to say about that, but dad wasn't there, and Captain would do what he thought was right.
"And to face him, a veteran of the Tournament that has reached the Top 16 several times. The master of lava with a temper as hot as his explosive fires. The Living Volcano, Maguma Iwata!"
Iwata entered the field, and Izuku, even if he could only see the man directly, knew exactly who he was facing. A two meters tall giant of a man, red hair that looked almost on fire themselves, eyes that shined a bright crimson, like raging flames.
"Begin!" The Announcer shouted, and it started.
Izuku moved, rushing to his left and reaching for a cluster of walls, using them as cover while looking around to find the man. He found him alright, because the giant emerged from above the walls, standing atop a pillar of lava that moved to his will. Iwata had raised himself above the walls.
Captain Kamino thought back to what Epsi had told him. 'Ok, so… He is a magic user that creates and controls lava, so I have to watch out in close-range, or I will get a nasty burn. He can control the temperature while somehow keeping it liquid, so I won't die, but the moment both my arms are on fire I have functionally lost. Still, I have a better chance at close range than at long range, weird as it might sound. Wow, I really got the worst opponent for me, uh?'
Nothing new there really. He had gone, jumped to a decision and ended up having to fight someone he wasn't really suited to fight.
Last time it happened he had knocked out Endeavor, so maybe that meant something good was coming.
Fire and fire and all that.
He knew Iwata was baiting him. His position was perfect to try and snipe him with a well-placed shield throw, but the shield was also his only weapon. If he tossed it above the walls, it would then ricochet away, and even with his smarts Captain Kamino couldn't really predict where the shield would end up when it hit walls he couldn't see.
So instead he was the one that had to pull Iwata back on the ground. With that in mind, Izuku jumped out of cover and moved forward, not quite running but keeping enough of a good pace that he was moving faster than the average runner. Quirkless runner, at least.
Iwata opened his hand and a burning rock – volcanic lapillus, his brain supplied – was launched from it toward him. At the speed it was going, Izuku easily side-stepped it, only for Iwata to immediately fire another one. Izuku could dodge them.
Or he could do something either really smart or really stupid.
He grabbed his shield, putting both hands on the same side, and readied himself, eyes focused on the incoming projectiles.
The rock slammed on the shield.
And he batted, like a baseball player at Koshien, though his bat was round and flat and his ball was smoldering hot and not made of an elastic material. What he hoped was that the rock was hard enough to not shatter against his shield, once the object absorbed most of the impact.
His strengthened muscles spasmed for an instant, a sign of just how much strength was needed to pull this off, but it worked, the rock shooting back toward Iwata. Izuku didn't have time to cheer, having to immediately roll out of the way of the second projectile, but the cry from Iwata – more surprise than pain, since Izuku had aimed for his torso and the 'ball' was probably flying at a far lower speed than when Maguma had shot at him – was enough to make Izuku grin.
'Alright, that should make him angry, just got to keep going until he realizes that long range is a disadvantage for him.' Izuku thought.
Yeah, no pressure there.
The following lapilli rained down at a quick pace, so he dodged them rather than try the batting again. Last thing he needed was for a lapillus to hit him while the others came in. He needed to wait out the end of the barrage, and knew that it had to come. There was no way Iwata could just keep shooting down his attack with no consequence for so long.
True enough, eventually the man stopped, Izuku pulling off the batting move once more with the final lapillus but to less of a success as the rock cracked and splintered before reaching Iwata. The man panted a bit as he waited for Captain Kamino's next move. Izuku sighed. "Alright, I guess he really isn't coming in to fight close. New plan" He murmured. In that case, the only choice was to close in himself.
He moved forward once again, studying the walls around Iwata's magma platform. There were five, scattered without much of a logic as he had asked. The metal around the one closest to Iwata's lava pillar had peeled off and was puddling around the base of the pillar. Izuku nodded. 'All or nothing.'
He reached two walls close to each other and jumped, left foot pushing on one of the wall and then right foot propelling him upward from on top of the second. In a standing high jump, Izuku knew his body could push him easily to a two meters height.
Above Iwata, and crucially, in a position where he could see better the layout of the arena. The crowd cheered as he seemed to fly high, then he twirled in mid air and launched his shield like a discus. The object flew toward Iwata at high speed, but the man saw it coming and predictably dodged out of the way, before turning around and launching a lapillus. Izuku moved both arms up, the rock exploding on impact and shooting him back toward the edge of the arena. Izuku's back slammed against it, the cape barely doing anything to break the impact. His left 'wing' broke off the mask, but Izuku stood back up and grinned.
Iwata shouted as he fell from his pillar.
-x-
"What?! How?!" Deku shouted.
"Because that shield has decided physics can take a vacation, that's how." Revenant grumbled. He pointed at the quick replay on screen. Iwata had turned around after dodging the shield, but the object had continued its downward trajectory, until it had bounced on the wall right behind Iwata, and immediately ricocheted off to fly back toward the opponent, hitting him in the back of the head. "That's just bullshit. Even if the shield could do that – which it shouldn't, but apparently it does – calculating the ricochet of a discus you threw in midair within barely an instant with that much precision should be impossible. Heck, even if he planned beforehand to bounce it off that wall, it's still a throw that requires superhuman precision, intelligence and strength."
"You couldn't?"
"Not like that. I can make an accurate guess on how a bullet will ricochet if I shoot, but I could only tell you if it can hit the opponent or not. The Captain aimed for the head, that's not something you do if you aren't sure to hit." His face took a curious expression, "Guess this is gonna be a more interesting fight than I expected."
-x-
The crowd cheered for Captain Kamino, as Izuku staggered back on his feet and moved forward, this time on a full sprint that brought him in close range with Iwata before he could move away. The man was still staggering up, the impact of the shield having probably concussed him. Still, Izuku wasn't taking the chance. He moved in the messy guard the opponent tried to throw up and launched an uppercut aimed for his jaw. The mask the man was wearing shattered along with his jaw.
In an instant, the man seemed to strangely regain control of himself, like the pain had awakened him rather than throwing him down. With a growl, he moved his hand forward and Izuku shouted as the heat of the scorching lava covering it seeped through his mouthguard and to his face.
It hurt a lot, but pain wasn't enough to stop him. Reaching for Iwata's head with both hands, he slammed his knee upward and the head downward, the two impacting each other. Iwata still didn't budge, bringing up his other hand to grab his left arm. The armor around it started to burn, acrid smell reaching Captain Kamino's nostrils, but once again it wasn't enough. He pulled Iwata down, preventing him from standing back up, and then delivered a roundhouse kick with his right leg, using Iwata's hold on the arm against him to pivot himself properly.
For a moment, he thought even that wouldn't be enough. Then Iwata's grip on his arm and mouthguard loosened, and the men fell back, lights out.
"And we have a winner!" The Announcer declared, Izuku sighing in relief as he removed the crumpled, half melted remains of his mouthguard. Thankfully, even in his state of half-consciousness, Maguma had managed to control himself, so Izuku only had burns around his face. 'Well, that and thankfully dad decided to not make the mouthguard super adherent to the face.' He thought. If it was, the melted metal would have probably fused with his burning skin. He shivered at the thought, then walked off to pick up his shield. The referee – who had most likely been there the entire time, just staying out of sight to allow them to move freely – quickly walked up to him and checked on his physical state, while two men with a large stretcher walked past him to carry Iwata back.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." He said, wincing a bit. Well, his back hurt, his face and left arm were burnt, and his arm muscles were sore from his Koshien move. All in all, better than he expected.
"The infirmary is…"
"That way, I know. Thank you." He nodded once more to the man before walking out of the Arena. 'Two matches down, five to go.' He sighed, thinking back at his deal with the Announcer.
-x-
Izuku and Izuku stared at each other, sitting in All Might's apartment. The blonde man was out on patrol, and the white-haired Izuku, Captain Kamino, had decided to not call him back.
The Announcer smiled. "So, what do you say?"
"Well it's… a lot to take in." He started, before pausing, "I believe you though. You showed enough proof. Still, while I could use the money, I don't think I need to travel into the Multiverse and take part in a Tournament just for that."
"Oh I know, but I offer more than that." Announcer grinned, pulling out a contract, "Give a read to the payiment."
Izuku frowned, eyes sliding toward the bottom of the page. The reward was detailed, and made it clear that ranking high in the Tournament meant coming back rich, but what mattered most were the words at the bottom. "Intelligence on anything?"
"Anything. Enemies, allies, lost friends, hidden locations, secrets… Ask and you shall receive. Though, I do think there is something for you." He leaned in, "What would you say if I offered a meeting with your family?"
Captain's breath caught in his throat.
-x-
Realistically, Izuku knew that it probably would be some distant descendant of his dad, or maybe his uncle. If it was the former he wasn't angry, of course. His father had the right to rebuild his life after his death. If there was a family, though, Captain had to know.
He had also asked and obtained for that to include any family grave's location. That way, he would hopefully find the final resting family of his father and uncle. Knowing his dad, he wasn't buried as Hisashi Midoriya.
What Izuku wanted was closure. To leave his past behind and march toward the future.
-x-
Shoto had never entered the prison cells of the League for All before, but as he looked at them, he frankly couldn't help but think they didn't even look like cells. Safe for the cameras and the alarms, one could have thought them to be just a bedroom lacking windows. Each was reserved for a single person, and it included a separate bathroom – though that too had a camera, most likely because otherwise there was a risk someone could slip away through it. Shower, sink, a wardrobe… On the surface the rooms weren't really cells.
"We designed them to be comfortable." Zuzu-9-Delta supplied, "We have means to stop Quirks and Magic to work down here, and everything in this room is heavily reinforced, fireproof and in general wouldn't budge even against a One for All user. The door in particular can only be opened by someone with the code."
"But they opened it anyway." Shoto noticed, "How did they get in?"
"Elevator vent. Yui Kodai, the same one you met before, was among the intruders. She miniaturized everyone and they snuck down. We have sensors in there, of course, but they had someone capable of stopping them from working properly. Then they hacked the doors and let out four of the prisoners."
"Out of five, right?"
"Yes. The fifth one, they killed." She gestured to another room and he followed, finding Mariah staring at a deceased Izuku rolled on his back. Something had passed through his chest and come out of the back, something large, leaving behind a messy hole. He had probably died instantly.
"Who was this one?"
"Izuku the Green Hood, from the Thiefverse. He was a multiversal criminal with a list of crimes I couldn't possibly list in a single sentence. A thief and a murderer. We managed to corner him and imprison him three months ago, and we were trying to figure out if we had a way to stop him from committing further crimes."
"Seems someone beat you to it." Shoto grimaced, "Any idea?"
"Actually yes." She rolled the body around, and Shoto looked at the face of a man in his twenties with a short beard, then studied the wound. It was charred and broken, like…
"An explosion?"
"Yes. The same one that killed Yu Takeyama, if I had to wager. Well, smaller, but the same MO." She turned to Delta, "The cameras?"
She shook her head, "I'm sorry miss Mariah, they deactivated them. We caught a glimpse of Yu from the external camera, but all I can tell is that there were two men and another woman in the group."
"So two groups of four here, and another group of four at the mall, because we know an illusionist was there too." Shoto scratched his beard, "They have at least thirteen people then, if what your friend in the Arenaverse told you is true."
"And now they have also taken four prisoners." She grimaced, "Toshinori Yagi and Katsuki Bakumagou are strong fighters, and the Doctor is a madman that puts us all in danger, but the real problem is the Kurogiri that arrived with Dekiru. If they find a way to reactivate him, they will have a way in through his cell."
"Then stop them." Shoto pointed at the stairs, "I say we collapse the stairs, or ideally fill the entire basement with something like rocks or cement. You don't need the cells anymore, and Kurogiri can't open a portal to a location that doesn't exist anymore."
"I hate that you are right." Mariah sighed, "Delta, bring down the bots to clean up the whole floor, take the body upstairs so we can send it to the morgue, take out everything we can use, then I will use Cement to fill it out. At least we won't have to worry about Kurogiri sneaking up on us in our sleep."
"Figured out what happened with the sensors at the entrance? Otherwise, they will just sneak up on us through the front door."
"The technomancer lowered the sensibility of the sensors so much they wouldn't have been able to tell an elephant was stepping inside. Uraraka says the door didn't open, but I'm going to assume they had some way around it. Maybe the bot, or maybe Yui shrunk them and they slipped in, then she undid her spell. Whatever the case, we will have to take measures against them."
Shoto nodded. Yes, that made sense. "If you say that, I trust you guys to follow it. News of Star Might?"
"He says he will hold defense of the Star Tower and the people inside, but if we find out where those people are hiding he will come to help if we need him."
Shoto hummed, "Alright. First thing we need is to figure out what happened to Kendrick and the Ironblood."
"You think they took them?"
"It's possible, but there is a chance I hadn't considered." He grimaced, "What if they were both on their side?"
Mariah's eyes went wide, "Wait, you mean…"
"Think about it. The only proof we had of Kendrick being an enemy was Ironblood's hypnosis. It's a possibility."
Mariah nodded, then looked at him. "Have you considered what I asked you?"
"I… Yes. But why not asking Power Suit?"
"I did, and he agreed. Bakugo is on it too. But I think we need everyone we can." She said.
"Why not you, or Star Might?"
"I'm a government worker, Star Might is a Hero that specializes in combat and crowd control. The same goes for everyone else we have here. If we could find Richard I would ask him, but while he is out of reach, you three might be our best choice."
Shoto nodded. "Fine, I'm in it. I will help the investigation. I was already involved anyway."
"Yes, but until now we thought it wasn't this serious. Now we know they are powerful enough we need everyone on board-"
"I am on board. I wouldn't let you risk your life without helping." He grimaced, "Despite everything, I am… was a Pro Hero."
Mariah nodded, and he sighed, walking out, "Start by closing the place down. I'll go talk with Bakugo and Power Suit and we will start studying a plan. Feel free to supply us with any information. We need any hint we can."
"I will. And, Shoto?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. I know you didn't come here to help, but to look for help. Dragging you into this is not what I wanted, and if you want to leave, know we can take you to the-"
"What a coincidence. Getting dragged into this is not what I wanted either. But I'm not walking out now." He smiled, "I wasn't lying. I am a Pro Hero. We will defeat this group, whoever they are."
(xx)
Featured in this chapter:
Revenant from Locked in Digital by Rogue Druid
Captain Kamino from Kamino's Ward by tunafishprincess
If you don't know the Captain America theme Captain Kamino mentions, here you go.
Alright, so, first set of battles from the Top 64. Only three, but we will pick up the pace in the following chapter and I expect a few of them to take us through six or seven at once with only the highlights. Is just that the early Top 64 is clustered with a few important matches.
Speaking of which, the Captain fights a human volcano and of course, in Captain America fashion, bashes him in the head with a shield. At the same time, he fights his own inner struggle and we find out what he wants out of this Tournament.
Meanwhile Revenant keeps sneaking up on people. I still can't figure out if he is doing it on purpose. Next chapter it's his fight, hope you are ready.
And the investigation is ongoing. Finding the True League for All will be quite the challenge, won't it?