Chapter V
Midoriya stated blankly, frozen, as tears rolled down is cheeks. Shock blanketed his features like a white light, blocking everything else out except for what lay before him.
His world had just been shattered like the mirrors, his heart broken like glass. He had become a hero to save people, to protect them in their greatest time of need. Instead, he had failed. And he had failed to save his mother when she needed him the most. I-I'm a terrible son!
"Mom…" he said under his breath, "I'm sorry."
He put his hands to his face and cried, then yowled with grief. HIs voice didn't echo. The walls prevented it. His own bereavement was reserved for his own ears.
He shouted, "MOM!"
And then, anger swelled deep inside him. It bubbled up to the surface and he thought a multitude of dark thoughts, one's that heroes should never consider.
He remembered Twice's profile, the man was a bona-fide killer, a member of the League of Villains; he was insane, cruel, and psychotic. And since he didn't get the ransom he wanted, Midoriya figured, he had decided to end the game with a final solution that suited him.
"Well, then I'll just end him!" he vowed. He'd use All-For-One for a suitable purpose, all right!
Midoriya heard a noise to his right, and he looked through tear-filled, bitter eyes.
The wall to his right began to form a thick layer of ice, dissolving the area, and then was reinforced with an arch to prevent the building section from collapsing as a result, and Todoroki emerged, walking over clumps of ice. He'd used his Ice quirk to break through the wall.
Midoriya gasped, both shocked and amazed. But Todoroki was too late.
A split moment later, the opposite wall began to melt with super conductive heat, making a hole similar to Todoroki's. Kacchan emerged. He then used his nitroglycerin sweat glands to hardened a carbon substitute and stabilized the super-structure for an archway. Midoriya didn't know Kacchan could do that. He was impressed, momentarily skirting his inner agony.
Twice had lied about coating the walls with a liquid explosive, Midoriya surmised. Most likely to prevent the others from barraging in and ruining his fun.
But it didn't matter now. Twice had killed his mother! And he was going to pay for it!
His mind returned to those dark thoughts, and Midoriya's emotions erupted in a fit of grief, anger, and rage. And his quirk reacted—electrifying his body. Lightning blots danced around his entire body. He hurt, and his quirk hurt him reacting to his emotions, but the pain fuelled him for what he was going to do. He needed the strength. And an aura of darkness engulfed him.
His friends looked on with bewilderment.
Midoriya felt pure unadulterated anger. He didn't like it, but he knew what he had to do with it.
I'm going to kill that bastard!
He'd lose his hero status, he would even be branded a villain. And he thought, was revenge worth losing everything he worked so hard to obtain? His mother wouldn't be happy.
He'd catch up to Twice, then decide the villain's punishment!
Midoriya bolted for the rear of the building, he was fast on his feet. When the mirrors were blown up, he also remembered hearing a secondary explosion in the distance, apart from the one that had more-than-likely killed his mother, as she sat helpless, tied and gagged, in a chair.
There was obviously an exit there!
"Midoriya, wait!" Todoroki shouted surprised, extending a hand out.
"Deku, where the hell are you goin'?" Kacchan's voice growled uncertain.
But Midoriya ran pass them focusing on finding Twice!
But then, Midoriya had to stop short, his boots making black skid marks on the floor, as his rubber soles burned with the halt. He stood stunned. Hawks stepped over some rubble at the blown out rear entrance and he had Twice with him, smiling with an optimism and glee Midoriya didn't share. All Midoriya thought about was getting his hands on the villain! Twice stumbled over the rubble, and then fell to the ground. He had a pair of red handcuffs on.
"We gottem, guys!" Hawks shouted cheerfully.
The sunset behind him, cast Hawks in a silhouette of a godly being, a majestic angel with his red, feathery wings. But right now, he was about to witness something devilish!
Midoriya didn't wait, and he ran forward, and went for Twice's throat. "You killed her! You murdered her! You sick, and twisted bastard! I'm going to make you pay, you hear me! I'm going to make you pay!" He screamed the last word with a mix of anger and sorrow.
"Midoriya!" Hawks shouted, with a hand out. "Don't! It's not what you think—"
But Midoriya didn't listen. All he saw was Twice in his tunnel vision of enmity. Midoriya picked Twice up, the villain struggled to breath. But he told himself in that moment that he wouldn't kill the killer. And without warning, he shouted, "This is for my mother! It's my pre-patented: GO BEYOND, PLUS ULTRA—GROIN SMASHER!"
Hawks ordered, "Stand down, Midoriya! NOW!"
And he brought up his right knee, reinforced with his gear, and he was about to bring it into Twice's groin when—
Hawks immediately intervened. Hawks flapped his wings with a strong gail force, and created a such heavy gust, the inertia caused Midoriya to tumble back, end over end. Midoriya recovered, and looked back with shock and awe, as Hawks grabbed Twice by the back collar of his tights.
Midoriya pointed. "He killed my mother! You're coddling him? Whose side are you on!"
"Stand down!" Hawks repeated. "Your mother's alive! I managed to find her just before the second blast that took out the back wall and whisked her away to safety. He's safe outside."
Twice chuckled mildly. "It was a joke," he said with some regret.
Midoriya didn't know what to feel at the moment, he was still entrenched with anger. However, with Hawks news, despite not seeing the truth in it yet, a lot of it had defused. Hawks wouldn't lie. "A joke? A JOKE? Kidnapping my mother was a joke to you?" he said to Twice.
It took Kacchan and Todoroki to hold him back from kicking the crap out of the villain. Midoirya's legs kicked through empty air, as the pair held him at bay. "Get off!" he told them. "Let me go! I want him for what's he's done!" Midoriya kept protesting, and struggled, but to no avail.
"Chill, dude!" Kacchan chided him. "Clean out your ears, your mother's safe!"
"Midoriya, settle down," Todoroki repeated the assurance. "Twice has been captured. He'll pay for his crime."
"He's scary," Twice said.
"Indeed," Hawks agreed. Then said, "I'll take Twice to jail, so he can think long and hard about what's he's done today. I suggest you do a little thinking yourself, Deku." He frowned.
"Please, let me get one shot at him," Midoriya pleaded. "I think I deserve it."
"Normally, I wouldn't have an issue with it. But not in the mental state you're in right now. I'm going to have to report this to the committee. You have a dark side, Midoriya, and I don't like it. You need to control that hidden anger you have. Maybe you've been spending too much time with Bakugo."
Kacchan grumbled under his breath, as Hawks then hauled Twice out, through the rear entrance, and then flapped his wings, with Twice in his arms.
"You okay, Midoriya?" Todoroki asked, releasing him.
Midoriya took a deep breath and settled down, and nodded. He sighed softly. But he wasn't so sure he was okay. Did he possess a dark side to his personality? It was the job of a hero to tame one's emotions, to react instinctively to any given situation, strategically, and without compromising the safety of people around them, but he had failed miserably. His quirk, if unleashed without control, could've hurt his friends. He'll learn from his mistake.
As Midoriya watched Hero #2 fly away, a pang of remorse and guilt suddenly hit him for what he wished to do to Twice. But he pushed it aside for the moment.
"Mom?" He ran out into the street.
"Midoriya!" she answered.
Midoriya turned to see his mother approaching from the opposite side of the street, safe and sound. Relieved to the point of tears, he ran towards her, and gave her the most intense embrace he had ever given her. He cried, tears of joy.
She padded him on the back. "Sweetie, I'm safe now, thanks to you, and your friends," she said, almost to reassure him.
"Mom! I thought I lost you," Midoriya said, pulling back. "I'll never let any villain do this again!" He then hugged her again, tighter, and never wanted to let her go. "I promise!"
Midoriya turned to the others, and said, "Thanks guys, for your support." Kacchan and Todoroki had just emerged from the rear hole of the building.
Todoroki shrugged, and said, "You're welcome."
Kacchan grit his teeth, as if annoyed, and said, "Hey, we did very little. It ticks me off! You got all the fun. Next time, I want to knee that bastard in the balls!"
And Midoriya smiled.
When they got back U.A., Midoriya told the others in Class 1A everything that had happened, skipping over the "dark parts". Todoroki and Kacchan said nothing about it, either.
And a bodyguard was assigned to Midoriya's mother until further notice, just in case the League of Villains attempted to kidnap her again.
As for Twice, the moment Hawks got a little rough with him—the villain deserved a little beatdown for what he had done—the impact caused the villain to POP into nothingness. It had been one of his doppleganger's. It was a major weakness in Twice's duplication quirk. But no doubt, the real Twice had been watching everything unfold in the shadows, or it had actually been him initially, and then he slithered away somehow, and switched with his double just before Hawks snatched him. The perfect getaway!
As for Midoriya, Hawks spoke to him privately, and told him he would not report what he had seen at the scene, only the result. He understood Midoriya, and the anger and sorrow he expressed, believing his mother had been killed. But Hawks remarked, it still bothered him. It bothered Midoriya, too, and in private conference, he used All Might as a sounding board. And told him what Hawks had said. He didn't like his dark side.
All Might understood how Midoriya felt. "I'm proud of you." He smiled. "Family always comes first. We all get angry sometimes. Never feel guilty about it."
And in a moment of emotional respite, Midoriya began to cry.
All Might then hugged Midoriya. "You did good, kid. No matter what anyone says," he said. And Midoriya continued to cry. All Might padded him on the back. "Let it out, son. Let it out."
END