Shizuoka Prefectural General Hospital- July 15th, 200X
Majima bolted out of the taxi that he arrived at his destination in.
Rushing through the door, he made beeline for the front desk, startling the receptionist there.
"Inko Midoriya checked in here. What room's she in?"
"U-um, I'm afraid I can't give you that information."
"And why the hell not!? Yer mouth's workin', ain't it?"
"U-um, i-it j-just um- well, you see-"
The cyclops glared.
"Eek!" The woman trembled.
This continued for a few moments before it was interrupted by a call of, "Niisan, over here!"
Majima looked over towards the elevator to see Hisashi waving at him.
With nought but a glance back at the receptionist to glower at her once more, he ran to the elevator and quickly stepped in.
The receptionist just slumped down into her chair, face a rather unhealthy shade of pale.
Inside the elevator, Majima was a bit less tense.
Hisashi wasn't fidgeting like he had been in the months leading up to the day, so clearly, nothing had gone wrong.
As great as that was, it didn't make the silent ride of anticipation too much better, so Majima opened up the conversation.
"So, how's she doing?"
"Much better now. She's the one who told me to come down and see if you were here. Good thing I did. That poor lady looked like she was about to cry."
"Serves her right. She wouldn't tell me what room to go to. Honestly, who does she think she is? Ya know what we call people that, Hi-chan?"
"A hospital receptionist that's doing her job while following the law?"
"A narc. That's right, Hi-chan."
The freckled man opened his mouth, seemingly to protest, before thinking better of it and snapping his mouth shut.
The silence continued for another beat, before being broken by Hisashi this time.
"I'm really glad you made it, Niisan."
"Are ya kiddin'? Wouldn't miss it for the world." The man in the snakeskin jacket grinned.
DING!
They were there.
Majima could feel a genuine smile creep across his face as he walked out of the elevator, following behind his younger brother.
Halfway down the corridor, however, he felt his grin drop.
His one dark eye met the bright and sharp red eyes of his ashen haired nemesis.
Mitsuki Tengan.
Though, judging from the man at her side and the band on her finger, it was actually Mitsuki Bakugo.
Hmph.
It wasn't that he didn't think of the possibility of being there. She was Inko's best friend, after all.
It was just that the thought of being in the same room as her made his stomach turn like a washing machine left on a spin cycle.
Of course, he wasn't the only who let his distaste be known through their locking of eyes.
Mitsuki was hardly one to let her opinion go unknown, least of all, her opinions on the bowl-cut man that she had found herself engaged in a glaring contest with.
Her husband Masuru, on the other hand, sighed and readjusted the cooing blonde child in his arms, offering a nod of acknowledgement to the similarly exasperated Hisashi.
The freckled man sighed and asked, "Can you two just… not? For today, at least. Just don't."
The two opposing parties ceased their clash of wills and came to a quick consensus.
No blood would be spilled on such a joyous day.
But next time, I ain't lettin' ya off so easy.
And with that, the conflict was resolved and the quartet(plus one) walked into the hospital room of one Inko Midoriya.
One Inko Midoriya who was currently cradling the newest member of the Midoriya family.
A small babe of a mere few hours at the most. Wide green eyes like his mother's, chubby freckled cheeks reminiscent of his father's, and a shock of curly green hair.
He thought the kid was cute, so did the 'she-devil' and her husband.
Hisashi was on an entirely different level from all of them, though.
Within an instant, barely even the blink of an eye, the new father was at wife's side, fussing over both her and the curiously staring infant.
It made the oldest man in the room smile, as one thought ran through his head.
He grew up nice, Midoriya-han. He grew up real nice.
And then, he heard the faintest of chuckles. Not from anywhere in particular, and certainly not from anyone in the crowd he was with. It felt almost familiar, though.
Shaking himself out of his brief distraction, he turned back to the new parents, who were looking at him expectantly.
"Huh?" He'd clearly missed what they asked him.
That didn't seem to bother Inko at all, as she asked her question again, "Do you wanna hold him, Goro-nii?"
Hold him? As in the kid?
"A-ah, I'm good."
"C'mon, Niisan. Just for a minute."
"I ain't sure that I should…"
"Please, Goro-nii?"
The look that he received not only from the pleading parents, but from the curious infant as well, was more than enough to cancel out any protests that he had in mind.
He leaned down towards the young mother, scooping up the baby in her arms and ignoring the snickers from his blonde mortal enemy.
"Alright, give him here. I hold him like this, right?"
"Yeah, just shift him a bit, he's oddly active for having just been born. He's likely to try and wriggle out the door over there if you let him."
Heeding the greenette's instruction, Majima adjusted the small baby in his hands so that he was nestled into his chest and just… looked at him.
The little thing looked so soft.
Fragile, almost.
It was something he almost had.
Something we coulda- He stopped that thought before it could even get off the ground.
Happy day. It was a happy day.
Whatever he could've had didn't matter. What mattered, was what he held in his hands right at that moment.
What'd they say they were namin' him, again?
It was right on the tip of his tongue…
Ah, that's right!
"Izuku-chan." As if he knew he was being addressed, the newborn stared directly at the eyepatched man's face. Not focused on any one thing, but certainly focused on him.
Izu-chan, I want ya listen real close. As long as I'm alive, no one's gonna hurt you. I promise.
West Taihei Boulevard, Kamurocho, Tokyo-201X
THWACK!
Izuku's knuckles were starting to hurt.
That had to have been the twelfth Omi Alliance member that he had just knocked out.
And looking towards the rest of his companions, he was still far behind.
Saejima had picked up one of Kurosawa's men at some point and was swinging him around like a ragdoll, knocking down anyone that came too close to him. It was a thing of beauty. To Izuku, at least.
Shinada had disarmed a pipe-wielding yakuza, and was wielding that same pipe with the dangerous elegance that Izuku had only seen in samurai films. In the back of his mind, he could feel a spark of inspiration, almost like the inspiration that he had felt at Pop✰Step's show. He decided to follow up on that later.
Akiyama was quick and dangerous. Kicks a flurry amongst the group of mooks surrounding him. He resolved to ask the moneylender for some pointers when all of the fighting was over and done with. His resolve was strengthened when he saw the man kick a particularly beefy yakuza into the air, before jumping up after him and bringing him down hard with a dolphin kick. He'd definitely need to learn that.
Greatest among them was Kiryu. The dragon sped from man to man. It hardly even looked like he was stepping. The blink of an eye, and he was just there knocking out the next guy. And after that, he could feel an even greater Heat than he had felt when he fought the man. At that moment, Izuku counted all of his blessings. Kiryu had definitely held back just a bit when they fought atop New Serena. If he hadn't, Izuku had no doubt that he'd've been left comatose afterwards.
Seeing the rest of his party doing their best, pushed the boy to go past his best. He could feel the Heat envelop him again and knew exactly what to do next.
Running into a particularly thick group of yakuza with a burst of speed, he put his plan into action.
[!]Climax Heat Move: Essence of Crowd Destruction
THUD!
"URK!"
Burying his fist into one man's stomach, he quickly pulled back and ducked under the strike of another assailant, sliding through his legs and jabbing him in the crotch as he did.
After that man went down, he moved on to the next, springing up and attaching himself to a particularly portly man's neck.
Leaning into his ear, Izuku whispered, "Go ahead. Struggle."
"GET OFFA ME, YA DAMN RUNT!"
He tried grabbing at the small child, who simply swung to the man's front and gripped his lapels.
Shit-eating grin in place, the greenette sang, "Guess ya missed~" and the man began to froth at the mouth.
He wound up and brought his fist down hard to smash the little pest on his chest.
THUD!
All the while not realizing that the same little pest had already scampered back to his back.
"Unf!"
With all the wind knocked out of his human jungle gym, Izuku kicked off, sending the big man to the ground with a hard Thud!
He hooked an arm around the neck of his next and final target, a tall and lanky fellow, and used his momentum to start swinging and kicking every poor schmuck that happened to be too close.
Roku…
THWACK!
Ichi…
WHACK!
KYU!
THUD!
OI!
SLAM!
Several kicks and one slam later, Izuku stood amongst a considerably less congested portion of Taihei Boulevard.
Unfortunately, less congested didn't mean clear, there was still over a score of men surrounding him and even more around his friends.
They needed to get away, but Izuku had no idea what he could do aside from…
He had taken down half a dozen yakuza with that one move.
That had stopped all of the others advancing in their tracks.
He could feel it again. That feeling of his skin crawling, it came back in full force with a bit of extra kick.
And if he could feel it, he was sure that they could too.
He looked at them again, and there it was.
That hesitance in their eyes, hesitance that sat by just the tiniest bit of fear.
Izuku wanted to kick himself. Of course, why didn't he think of that earlier?
Whatever, I just need to do it now.
Focusing on the men around, he could feel his skin start to crawl, the feeling was disgusting as always, but it was necessary.
C'mon, get scared.
He could see some of the men hesitating, but it wasn't enough.
C'mon, GET SCARED DAMMIT!
He pushed even further, his skin was writhing at this point, and saw even more of them stop in their tracks, but even still, it wasn't enough.
Is this really how it is? Fine, let's go.
He could feel the sensation begin to recede and took up his stance again, ready to continue fighting, when he heard a noise.
SCREEECH!
THUD!THUD!THUD!THUD!
And suddenly, a lot of the Omi members in the crowd directly went flying as yet another car came barrelling through the crowd… directly at him.
Oh… shi-!
HONK! HONK!
He dived out of the way as the vehicle skidded to stop right next to him.
From it, stepped four men in black suits, and one of them had a very familiar face.
"Yamikumo-chan?"
The Lieutenant that he had singled out and made an example of in Shizuoka stared back at him. Not with malice or even discomfort. On the contrary, it seemed to be a stare of… grudging respect.
"It's Yamamoto, kid. Listen, you should get going. The boss told us to take care of the trash in the streets, apparently you've got a steaming pile'a shit to take care of on top of that tower."
The boss… Akatani?
Yamamoto shooed the boy, "Go on now, off you go. One Yamikumo clan member's worth ten of these bastards. Let's see how they do against twelve of us."
Twelve?
Screeech! Screeech!
THUD!THUD!THUD!THUD!THUD!THUD!THUD!THUD!
And right on time, two more cars came careening through the other portions of the crowd, slamming into any unfortunate yakuza without the chance to move out of the way.
And from those two cars, out stepped four men each. All of them presumably Yamikumo clan.
But none of them were Akatani. He voiced his observation to Yamamoto.
"The boss is busy with somethin' at the moment. You just get to where ya need to go."
Seeing as almost nothing about the man made sense to Izuku at this point, he took it for what it was and found Saejima and Shinada.
"Shinada-san, Taijiji! Now's our chance, we gotta go!"
"Right!"
"Got it!"
In his peripheral, he could see Kiryu and Akiyama had come to the same conclusion as he, as they took off down another street.
Good, now we're coming for you. Mom, Jiji, just wait. We'll be right there!
And so, the trio, headed by Saejima took off towards the sewers.
Fuji Soba- Musutafu, Tokyo-200X
Sluuuurp!
"Careful there, Izu-chan. Last thing I want is to have to explain to your mother that you choked on a stray noodle."
"Er errying too mush eji. Um fun."
"Swallow, kid. Yer gettin' noodles everywhere."
Gulp!
"Yer worrying too much, Jiji. I'm just fine."
"Right, should I call the ambulance now or later?"
This made the six year old greenette giggle.
The cyclops smiled before saying, "Alright, c'mon, pack that up to go. I got somethin' to show ya."
Izuku tilted his to the side, inquisitively.
Yaomajima Batting Center
CRACK!
"Ooh. That was awesome, Jiji!"
"Aw, that was nothin'. Shoulda seen me when I was younger. Home runs aplenty."
Majima's grin only widened at the sound of his nephew's praise.
The batting center was a great investment. It was a good pastime for both high schoolers and families(quirked and quirkless, alike), making it a big hit after school and over break. Truly, a brilliant business decision.
The Yaoyorozu Conglomerate seemed to agree, seeing as they only agreed to give Majima Construction the material for it under the condition that they be allowed to co-opt the name.
Apparently the Yaoyorozu Patriarch had even brought his granddaughter there on the day it opened.
Fun times for all.
"Alright, Izu-chan. Your turn." At this, he turned the bat, presenting the handle to his nephew.
"Huh?"
"C'mon, take the bat, hit the ball, home run."
"But…" Whatever protest he had prepared died on his lips as soon as he saw his uncle's smile.
"Okay." He grabbed the proffered bat, hardly taking note of the weight due to years of moving heavy trash from the Junkbeach.
He squared his hips, stood in the batter's box and waited.
The machine pitched, he swung…
[!] Heat Move: Essence of Fence Swinging
CRACK!
"Ack!"
"HOME RUN!" Izuku dropped the dented bat that he appropriated from one of Kurosawa's men, and looked over towards Saejima and Shinada, who happened to be taking care of their own assailants .
The trio had been attacked just after entering the sewers, but they had managed to fend them off and stand at the crossroads. One way leading to the Japan Dome, the other to the Millenium Tower.
Shinada spoke first, "Guess this is where we part ways."
Izuku responded, "Yeah, stay safe out there, Shinada-san."
"You too, kid. And when this is over, think about joining a baseball team in school. That's a nice swing you've got."
He grinned, "I'll think about it."
And with that, they were off.
It was a mad dash to get to the top of the tower, but when they made it, it was all worth it.
Right at the center of the rooftop's helipad, stood Tsubasa Kurosawa.
He wasn't a very imposing man, in his dark overcoat with his graying hair, and Izuku really just wanted to punch him, elder abuse be damned.
Though as he began walking forward to do so, he felt Saejima held him.
Looking up at the mountain of a man, he saw him shake his head.
Grrr.
"I figured you'd show up." The chairman spoke up. Surprise, surprise, Izuku hated his voice as well.
"You guys are painfully predictable. Almost shocking." He looked down towards Izuku, " Granted, I expected you would have been captured hours ago. You Midoriyas always have had a penchant for mucking things up, though."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't know? I would've thought that your father would've clued you in about this. Foolish as his father was, the man was always honest at least."
"What the hell are you talking about?" He really wanted to slug the man.
"To think, Omi's God of War would have an inept if 'gifted' son, who would then go on to have a clueless, useless son of his own."
That's enough!
Before Saejima could stop him, Izuku was halfway towards the man insulting his family, body coiled to strike.
Click! Click! Click! Click!
He stopped his approach upon hearing four identical, and very familiar sounds.
Behind Kurosawa stood several men, each armed with a pistol.
Shit.
Kurosawa didn't even look surprised, "Oh? Where'd all of that bravado go?"
Crap. Calm down.
Saejima took this moment to speak up, "That's enough, Kurosawa! Where's Majima at? And the kid's mom?"
Kurosawa waved off two of the gunmen who stepped off the helipad for a moment.
When they returned, they returned with two familiar figures: one, a man in a tacky snakeskin jacket with an eyepatch, and the other, a woman with green hair, wearing a pink cardigan.
"Mom! Jiji!"
Inko had her eyes closed and a slight bruise on her forehead, but overall, she looked unharmed with ropes tied around her wrists.
Majima however, seemed to have taken the worst of it, his face bloodied, beaten, and bruised. Unlike Inko, Kurosawa and his men had taken the utmost precaution in keeping him restrained. Instead of tying a rope around his wrists, they had wrapped a heavy chain around his arms and body, keeping it together with a heavy padlock.
The man grunted as he pushed and fell to his knees.
"Izu-chan, bro…"
"Majima!" "Jiji!" The two began to run towards their respective brother and uncle-
BANG!
Only to stop in their tracks as one of the men fired a shot at their feet.
"Dammit, I messed up you two. I'm sorry… that I let it get this far."
Izuku turned to glare at Kurosawa, not trusting his words at that moment.
Saejima spoke up for him, "Kurosawa! What the hell's this about? Start talkin'!"
Kurosawa smirked, "All in good time." He began to approach Majima, pulling a key from his coat "The best part's still to come."
He sauntered past a still glaring Izuku and up to the kneeling Majima, bending down and inserting the key into the padlock.
Ch'trik!
Thunk!
The lock hit the ground, chains following soon after. Majima's head hung low, arms limp at his side.
"What're you playing at?"
Saejima was promptly ignored by the chairman, who whispered something that Izuku couldn't quite make out.
Kurosawa then called out to one of his men, who had put down his gun and held a rather familiar knife, offering it to the older man.
He took it and dropped it in front of him.
"Okay. Start the show."
The show? What's the show?
Majima grabbed the knife, standing on wobbly legs and shambling towards Izuku and Saejima.
Izuku took a few steps back, backing into Saejima. His uncle had his frightening moments, but this was a bit much.
"Jiji?"
"Move out of the way, Izuku."
"Majima… Hey… What're ya doin?"
"Sorry, brother. Seems that you and I gotta try to kill each other."
Izuku's eyes widened.
What?
Saejima appeared to be of the same mind.
"What the hell?"
"I couldn't do it. She means more to Kiryu-san than life itself. And these guys..." he looked between Izuku and Inko "These guys are my world. I couldn't just let it happen."
"You're not makin' a goddamn lick of sense!"
"No, I think he is. It's Haruka-neechan. Right?"
Kurosawa spoke up, now holding a smartphone out to the trio across from him, "Wow, maybe you're something a bit less than useless. No quirk, but at least you have brains."
Bite me, ya old dick.
Unaware of the venom that Izuku spat at him with his mind, Kurosawa tossed the phone to Saejima, who caught it and positioned it so that Izuku could see the screen as well.
And on the screen, Izuku's suspicions were further confirmed.
A live recording of Haruka's concert, being streamed from the outfield stands, right next to the batter's eye screen.
"What the hell's goin' on!?"
"When I give the signal, that girl gets shot. You should be able to work out the rest."
"Bastard!"
Kurosawa addressed Majima, "If you want to save Haruka Sawamura and your 'little brother's' family, kill your sworn brother." Looking at Saejima, "If Majima wins, I give the signal for these men to shoot. You can both head on up to heaven together. As a bonus the boy and his mother get to see tomorrow."
What is wrong with you?
Kurosawa continued, "But if you win, Saejima, I'll let the girl live."
What? "What?"
"Then you get to spend the rest of your life behind bars for the kidnapping and triple homicide of Goro Majima, Inko Midoriya, and Izuku Midoriya. In retaliation for the foremost kicking you out of the Tojo Clan."
Saejima said nothing.
"What? I thought you'd enjoy rotting in a cell."
"You twisted fuck."
More than twisted, he's filth. Akatani's got nothing on him.
Majima stared silently, hand gripping his knife intently.
"Bro… we really doin' this?"
"We don't, my world dies right here. And her dream dies in front of 50,000 people. You and I kick the bucket, though- the world goes on, hardly anyone bats an eye. The choice ain't that hard."
"Jiji…"
Majima turned his sight to Izuku.
"Jiji, you're a fuckin' idiot."
His eye widened.
"'Hardly anyone bats an eye'? 'The world goes on'? Jiji, when you 'died', my world stopped. I sat in my room crying for a week, I felt too sick to eat some days. Are you stupid?"
"Izu-chan…"
"I want in."
"What!?"
Izuku turned and addressed Kurosawa, "I'm fighting too."
The man snorted derisively, "Do what you like. Just understand what's happening after."
"Right." He turned back to Majima, "You heard him, Jiji. Right now, all I wanna do… is kick your ass."
The cyclops looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Shaking his head, he grasped the shoulder of his jacket, in a similar manner to Akatani, and pulled.
With one motion, his jacket was off.
And Izuku finally saw his uncle's tattoos in full.
No.
He'd seen his uncle's tattoos before, but this was the first time that he actually looked at them.
Black swirls, whirling with flowers, and twin snakes wrapping about his arms and legs.
He couldn't see the man's back, but he knew exactly what was there.
The Hannya. The same symbol on the back of his stajun.
He knew what it meant, and now he could finally apply to the man that stood in front of him.
The complexity of human emotion. He had felt it earlier, after he almost killed Akatani.
He could see it stirring in uncle's eye.
"Fine then, Izuku. Show me what ya got. Consider this your final exam from me."
Izuku nodded, taking note of all of his injuries.
Saejima, however, was the one to speak up, "How ya gonna fight us all banged up like that?"
Majima kept silent.
"Ya won't last five minutes. We ain't even on the same playing field. Heard ya say so yerself You ain't what ya used to be. Way you are now, the kid could prolly take you with his hands tied behind his back. "
"You're right about that."
"Then what're ya doin'!?"
"Two years ago, I couldn't fight you."
"Uh-huh..."
"That's because… ya were too damn weak, brother!"
What?
"Huh? The hell?"
"It's true, I saw all I needed at that battin' center. I saw ya'd gone soft as a broke-open clam. Made me wanna cry."
Taijiji? Soft? Sure ya have the right guy?
"But I knew what I hadta do. 'Cause in our world, it's all over when ya go soft. That's why I gave ya an easy out. That expulsion letter, brother… It wasn't Morinaga or Aoyama who wrote it... It was me. Sent it out while I was headin' out to Sapporo!"
"Bro… how could ya?"
"I really didn't want ya dragged into this. Never wanted any of ya dragged into this, if I'm bein' honest. I never thought that legend about you killin' eighteen men would make ya such a target, but here we are."
"Yeah, here we are."
"So, get yer shirt off, an' prove yourself worthy of the myth! Show me you haven't lost it, old friend. Show me yer fangs."
And after that came the rasp of a blade against its sheath, as Majima drew his dagger, decorated with demonfire.
In response, Saejima grabbed the shoulder of his coat and pulled it and his shirt off in one simple motion.
From the corner of his vision, Izuku could see Kurosawa grin.
Majima spoke up again, "We ain't got a choice. Bear with me, you two. Would ya?"
"Dumbass" Saejima responded "If you were the kinda guy who'd just let her and these folks die… I'da killed your sorry ass anyway."
"And I'd help. Hate to say it Kurosawa, but I owe ya one."
For the first time in the encounter, the unflappable older man seemed surprised.
"Huh?"
"I've done a lotta growing these past few days, if it weren't for you being a complete dickhead, it would've taken years."
"Yeah, and thanks to you, I get another real crack at my sworn brother. If he'd died before I proved myself… I'd carry that regret to my grave. So let's go brother. Izuku."
"Yeah."
"You got it."
Tonight, I'm not gonna fight like Izuku Midoriya...
"One last rush of blood through our veins."
Tonight, I'm gonna fight…
"Let's show 'em how it's done!"
Majima charged. Izuku struck out at him but was swiftly evaded, as the man jumped into the air coming down at Saejima with a cleaving motion.
Tonight- I'm gonna fight...
Saejima grabbed Majima's arm and spun the man around, letting him go and watching him land on his feet and slide.
That didn't stop him though, he was quickly back upon the mountain of man in a flash, never noticing the small figure quickly approaching from the other direction as he slashed at his sworn brother again.
THWACK!
Only to catch a small fist straight to the cheek and be sent sliding back several feet.
And Izuku pulled his fist back and slipped into his fighting stance.
Tonight- I'm gonna fight… Like a demon!
Goro Majima
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it. Let's do this!"
After the brief exchange, Majima was back upon the two, lashing out with his dagger and feet in quick combo.
Izuku dodged a spinning high kick, and tried to counter by kicking the man's other leg, only to miss as Majima pirouetted and kicked him away.
"Unf!"
He was lifted a few inches off of the ground, but managed to stay upright, digging his heels in and sliding back when he landed.
While he was in the air, though, Majima had gone back to attack Saejima again, thrusting his blade at his sworn brother.
Saejima evaded, but Majima kept up his pursuit, moving forward still, but spinning and tossing the knife into the air, catching it after completing the spin and thrusting once again.
Saejima evaded still, deftly avoiding the sweeping kick that the eyepatch-wearing yakuza lashed with soon after, with the knife in the air once again.
Another catch, another thrust that was swiftly avoided, followed by a roundhouse kick that Saejima ducked under, and concluding with two more thrusts, the second of which saw the blade knocked out of Majima's hand, though he quickly caught it again.
It was a macabre dance between the two, one that Izuku found himself fascinated by.
One that he desperately wanted to cut in on.
He began running at the two with the speed and abandon of a wolf on the trail.
Majima had just begun another savage combination with his blade, slashing and lashing out with his off-hand in tandem.
Saejima backstepped, moving closer to the railing at the edge of the helipad, and then sidestepped another slash.
Majima came flying past, right into the railing. Not losing a step, he jumped onto the railing and sprang off of it, coming down with a twirling slash.
Only to be caught by Saejima, who used the opportunity to slam the man's head into the railing.
CLANG!
After ringing his knife-swinging brother's bell, Saejima spun him around and tossed him towards a still rapidly approaching Izuku, who used the opportunity and forward momentum he had accumulated to strike his uncle with a dropkick to the stomach.
THUD!
To his credit, Majima didn't make a sound, aside the harsh Thud! that his body made after hitting the ground. He laid there still for a moment, while Izuku took to a knee to catch his breath.
Is it over?
It wasn't.
Majima quickly rose to his feet again, knife still firmly gripped in hand.
And then, he multiplied.
Izuku hardly blinked, and suddenly several shadowy dopplegangers of his uncle had appeared.
What!?
They all then took to the offensive, striking in tandem at Izuku and Saejima.
The fu-!?
Schwing! Woosh!
He quickly dodged from a strike that came a bit too close to his right eye.
Woosh!
The attacks didn't stop there, he then had to avoid a shadowy boot to his torso, falling back and scrambling away.
Eventually, he found himself back-to-back with Saejima, who seemed less perturbed by the appearance of actual shadow clones of their opponent.
"Taijiji, what's going on!?"
Schwing!
"Calm down, Izuku. These ain't real. They're just afterimages. Majima made 'em usin' pure speed."
He's that fast?
"So, what do we do now?" Whoosh! "These things hit like they're real!"
"Yeah, well we just need to find Majima and slow him down."
"How? That's impossible! We're hardly even on the same footing now!"
Wait, that's it! Same footing!
"Taijiji! I've got a plan, we can end this right now."
Schwing!Schwing! Whoosh!
"Well, I'd be glad to hear it!"
"We need to throw off his footing! Do ya have somethin' that can do that?"
With a brief look in the man's direction, Izuku could see a realization spark in his eyes.
"Yeah. Now that ya mention it, I do. Hop on!"
Izuku didn't need to be told twice, quickly jumping onto the massive man's back and wrapping his arms around his neck.
[!] Cooperative Climax Heat Move: Essence of Shock and Awe
Raising a fist high into the air, Saejima wound up for a huge punch, Izuku could feel all of the tension in the man's body. The raw power built up in his muscles. The smoldering Heat that permeated the air. It made him sweat, but it felt great.
He could see the dopplegangers moving in tandem, all of them closing in, poised to strike.
And once they got close, Saejima brought his fist down. Hard.
SLAM!
And all of the doppelgangers disappeared leaving only the one, true Goro Majima to fly into the air.
"Izuku, NOW!"
"Right!"
He stood on Saejima's back and locked his vision onto his uncle.
Bending his knees, he felt the Heat rise in his body.
It was intense, more intense than ever before. So intense, that he could actually see blue flame surrounding him.
Blue flame, with small flecks of green.
It motivated him, and from Saejima's back, he sprung.
Fist cocked back, he rapidly approached Majima who was still suspended in the air, ready to fall.
They locked eyes, and Izuku gave him the widest smile that he had given in weeks.
THWACK!
His fist met the man's cheek and Izuku watched him spin in the air, knife spiralling off into another direction, before they both hit the ground with a slam.
"Ngh!" "Unf!"
Izuku sat up and took a knee again, catching his breath and watching Majima groan and do the same.
Majima spoke up, "That was well fought, you two. 'Specially you Izuku. Yer definitely not that sobbin' brat I found at the park six years ago. He's pretty great, ain't he Saejima?"
"Yeah, kids are weird like that, take your eyes off of 'em for a second and they end up growin' up without ya."
"You guys are makin' me blush. You two are pretty awesome too."
Kurosawa spoke up for the first time the fight began, impatient and enraged, "What? That all you got to offer!? It ain't over yet!"
The fighting trio just looked over at the man.
"Keep fighting, or Haruka Sawamura and Inko Midoriya get a bullet each!"
They continued staring.
"Damn it!" Kurosawa pulled out a phone and quickly dialed a number, impatiently listening for a few moments to the tone, before pulling it away and asking, "What? Why isn't he answering?"
Izuku responded with the snideness that the man regarded him with earlier, "C'mon, you'd think that if you were smart enough to pull all this off, you'd at least have the brains to understand what was goin' on under your nose."
At this, Saejima slid the smartphone that Kurosawa had given him back to the man in question.
After picking it up and watching what was on the screen, Kurosawa's face twisted into a snarl.
"What!?"
Izuku could feel a smirk on his face.
"Who the hell is this!? He failed me?"
Sometimes you just suck, old man.
"Damn it!" He threw the smartphone down and stomped on it.
Pulling out his own gun from his jacket, Kurosawa pointed it at the youngest of the trio.
"Fine, change of plans. You all get to die right now. Starting with the damned Midoriya."
BANG!
And the gun clattered uselessly after being shot out of his hand.
The force of it knocked the old man over, and they all looked to see who fired the shot.
"Yeah, I don't think so."
And to the side, just at the stairs of the helipad, there stood three men.
The first one, the one who had fired the shot, he didn't recognize.
The second looked familiar, he supported the first man as he slung the man's arm over his shoulder, but he couldn't quite place him.
And the third, the one who had spoken up, was someone he now knew disturbingly well.
It seemed that Kurosawa also knew the man, seeing as he had just tried to have him murdered.
"Akatani, what are you doing here?"
The men that Kurosawa had brought with him trained their guns on the newly arrived trio.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
And were taken down by several well aimed shots to the torso.
Akatani gave Kurosawa his regularly infuriating grin, "Just handin' in my resignation." He looked over to Inko, then Izuku, and his smile took on a genuinely gentler edge, "And makin' sure all my affairs are in order, 'fore I do my time."
He's planning to go back?
That didn't matter to him, there was something more important to care of.
His mother was still unconscious behind the gunmen. He had to untie her and wake her up.
So he stood on shaky legs, waving off the concerned looks of Saejima and Majima, before he began shambling his way over to his mother.
The men spoke in the background, but he ignored them, there was still something important for him to do.
But halfway there, he noticed something.
One of the gunmen was still breathing.
Not only that, he was still moving.
In his hands, his gun.
Aiming.
He was aiming at something.
Not at him, it was too far to his right.
He was aiming past him.
Aiming right at-
"NO!" He ran at the man, as quick he possibly could while his legs were still wobbly-
BANG!
And he felt an impact as the bullet struck him, tearing through his stajun, hitting him in the ribs.
He fell back and hit his head.
And it went all black for Izuku Midoriya, after taking the fatal bullet meant for Mikumo Akatani.
I'd like to thank everyone, who's made it this far.
Everyone who's followed, favorited, or left a review has made my day just a little better on more than one occasion.
If I'm being completely honest, you guys are my heroes.
And I hope to see you all when I post the prequel/companion to this story: Rise of Yamikumo(Winner of the poll).
Once again, thank you all.