Sup readers. I'm so happy for all the people who have stuck through with me on this story. Sorry for the extremely long wait.
Back in the alleyway
The body of the huntsman killer laid frozen there in the pillar of ice, his sword arm limply hanging of the side. His iron grip on the blades handle loosened and his fingers uncurled, letting the worn downed katana to fall out of his grip and clattered uselessly on the ground below.
Everyone continued to watch the killer. The alleyway and the surrounding had large cracks spiderwebbing through there foundations threatening to crumble and fall apart. There was no way he wasn't down after an attack like that.
"Holy shit that intense!" Kirishima said, his skin back to normal and his adrenaline dropping. No one disagreed with him for a second.
Shouto pulled Jaegar out of the ground and sheathed it back into his scabbard. "He isn't going to be unconscious forever. Let's take his weapons and find something to tie him up." He placed his left hand on the ice pillar and steam began to pool out from the ice as the pillar melted and the unconscious body fell into a fresh puddle made from the pillar.
"I have rope in my pack we can use." A voice startled them from behind. They all twisted around with their weapons at the ready.
It was the downed huntsman holding a large bundle of rope in his hand while the other hand clutched the blood soaked wound on his shoulder.
During the adrenaline rush of the fight they had almost completely forgotten about him. Ochako walked over to him. "Are you alright?"
The huntsman groaned. "I'm alive, thanks to you all. But lets focus on that bastard first." He finished, handing the rope to the brown haired girl.
Ochako reached and took the rope while everyone else got to work.
Kirishima and Izuku hesitantly approached the body and began to remove all of his weapons.
Tenya and Tsuyu hung off to the side leaning against the wall. The two of them had taken the most damage of the group and their limited aura was doing the best it could to heal their wounds.
After a minute, the two boys were done disarming the killer from all his hidden blades, throwing knives, throwing picks, and a few kunai.
Ochako undid the bundle of rope she was given and began to tie up the man while Izuku and Kirishima held him down. The rope tightened the arms around the torso while the hands were tied together by the wrists behind his back.
After they made sure that the ropes were tied tight and properly, Kirishima hoisted the body up on his shoulder.
With the killer wrapped up and all of his weapons confiscated everyone made their way out of the alleyway.
The huntsman was in the front clutching his healing shoulder.
"Are you sure your alright?" Ochako asked him with concern.
"Whatever is left of my aura stopped most of the bleeding, but I still should go to a doctor if I don't wanna keep in one peace." He took a look at Tenya and Tsuyu who were both hobbling slightly in back. "Those two get to one as well."
"We'll be fine until then." Tsuyu said.
The huntsman nodded before he sighed. "Honestly I think my pride hurts more than anything. I'm the huntsman, yet I was useless back there."
"Stain was a serious threat." Izuku surmised. "It took all of our strength just to knock him out. Even with our advantages, he would beaten any of us one on one. That just goes to show how strong he really is."
"But you did all save my ass back there. So thanks." The man said before turning to face. "There is an Atlas military station a mile from here. We should get him there before he wakes u-"
"Huh. What are you kids doing here!" Everyone looked across the street to see Gran Torino standing there with a pissed off old man scowl.
"Gran Torino! We were just..." Midoriya didn't get to finish as his head took a downward strike from the man's cane.
"I told you and chipmunk cheeks to make sure the people were safe." GT said, now suddenly in front of them.
"Y-Yeah... but... Stain was going to kill everyone here... and we stopped him. So... technically... we did." Ochako tried reasoning.
Only to get a cane gouged in her stomach.
Ochako held her abused belly and tried her best not to puke. "Why..." She groaned.
"And you two." He said pointing his cane at Tenya and Tsuyu. "You two aren't off the hook either. Only reason I don't clobber you is because you're both obviously hurt."
"Uh, so anyone know who the old man is or..." Kirishima asked.
"Gran Torino. The huntsman we're interning under." Izuku explained as he massaged his head.
"How did you find us?" Shouto asked.
The old man turned his head to face the bi-colored boy. "Your old man met me while we were fighting the new kind of grimm. He said you went this way so I went this way and found you all here.
Shouto fist clenched at the mention of his father sending someone else to search for him.
The old man turned his head to the members of Team TOTM. "I don't how you all got wound up fighting the huntsman killer, but I'm glad none of you are dead at least."
Izuku lowered his head. "Us too. And we're sorry."
Gran Torino could only sigh. He's reminding me Toshinori every second.
The huntsman just watched all of this happen and decided to actually do something of use. "I'm going to get ahold of the base. Have them send over a transport for the killer and an ambulance. Until then, rest up."
Everyone seemed take that sentence in stride as the last of the adrenaline finally left their systems. Kirishima set down the killers body against the wall and exhaled deeply.
"Everyone." They all turned to Tenya who was kneeling his head to the ground bowing to them. "You all got caught up in this because of my reckless actions. I'm truly sorry."
"I'm sorry too." Izuku said, his face crestfallen. "Even though you told us, we didn't understand how much you were really hurting."
Ochako nodded sadly. "Yeah. We didn't do anything. Even though your our friend."
Tsuyu kneeled next to him and raised his face off the ground. Tears streamed down his face. "Tsuyu. I'm sorry. Even though I just promised to have us all work together... I still let my anger blind me."
Tsuyu simply wiped his tears as her own fell down her face. "Just promise me now that you'll rely on your team more."
"Us too." Kirishima said smiling. "We might be a different team, but your our friend too."
Shouto held out his hand for the kneeling man. "Pull yourself together. You're their leader aren't you?"
Tenya looked at the hand before rubbing his eyes of the remaining tears. "Right." He grabbed the hand and hoisted himself up. He stood tall as his eyes regained their determination. "And I do promise. I promise from now on, I will always ask for help if I need it. "And I also promise to straighten myself out and be a leader you can also rely upon." He said with a shaky smile.
Everyone smiled at this. The city was still under attack from a new type of grimm, smoke rising from the fires, and the huntsman killer not even ten feet away from them.
But it felt like things were finally going to be okay.
Far too soon we might say.
A ear piercing screech made itself known. Everyone turned to see two winged humanoid grimm heading straight for them.
Thinking quickly, Shouto unsheated Jaegar and stabbed it into the ground. A great spiked glacier rose from the ground and stabbed itself into the first grimm. The creature tried to move off of it until Izuku leapt into the air above it and brought his ax down on it's neck, decapitating it.
Izuku wouldn't get to celebrate long as the second one streamlined for him. Unfortunately, now he was in midair and had no way to dodge. His aura was already low from the fight. A hit from this thing might break it and him.
But the hit never came as the creature was suddenly slammed into from it's side and crashed into a nearby building and fell to the ground in a heap of dust and debris.
Izuku landed on his feet with the group. He turned to see the dust clear and his blood ran cold.
Because the killer was there. Unrestrained, standing like their fight hadn't happened, and his bloody hand on the grimm's face.
The blood was black, meaning it wasn't his.
"All of you will be purged. The Grimm who overrun our world. The White Fang who promote faunas violence. The criminals who toss the power around for themselves. And the false warriors who's claims to protect are as empty as their lifeless bodies." He coldly said as he removed his hand, revealing a hidden blade beneath his wrist. "Everything I do is to better society." He looked back at Izuku as the body behind him dissolved. "It would be bad to let a golden egg like you die."
Fear held the teams hearts. He looked as good as before the fight. He was still armed. And he was still fighting.
"Stop making O faces and arm yourselves!" Gran Torino's cut through their hesitation like a hot knife to butter as they all pulled out their weapons.
"What are you all standing around here for." They turned to see Shouto's father running toward them. "The two flying grimm came this way right." He turned to where they were looking before and his eyes widened. "Wait... Is that the..."
Stain's eyes met his and they narrowed as his mask started slowly falling off. "Enji Todoroki!"
The flaming man grew a smile as he held his hand in front of his face summoning a spear made of fire. "Hunstman killer!"
Before he could make any move however the killers mask fully fell off his face.
And that's when the very air around them froze.
His face had no nose, it looked like it was cut off. His mouth was leaking saliva and blood. But the part everyone feared were his eyes.
They were glowing blood red. The veins around bulging.
His aura flaring off his body in a cloud of bloodlust. The very world around them was beginning to dye itself red in his rage. Pure. Unadulterated. Rage.
"Another... false huntsman."
Each word rumbled through his throat with the power of fire and the stance of a mountain.
Nobody could move. It was though he used his semblance on them, but he hadn't taken any of their blood. It was if the fear had coursed it's way into their bodies, freezing their blood.
"The world..." He took a step. It felt like death was coming to greet them. "Must be rectified of these injustices." He took another step. "I will stain myself in it's blood to create a better society! Righteousness will be restored!"
The flame huntsman nearly felt the fire inside him freeze as the killer kept walking towards him.
The killer took another step and for all the people their it was louder than thunder. "Come on! Just try and stop me you fools!"
Everyone's weapons were being very loosely held from the loss of strength in their grips.
"You think you can kill me?! Just try it!" His lips curled in a manic smile. "There is only one man I will let kill me! The only one worthy of the title of a huntsman!" He raised his head to the sky and with the deepest breath he could muster... "ALL MIGHT IS WORTHY!"
The air was suffocating them all. The weight of everything the killer was came and made itself a weight, flooring them to the spot.
This was it. This was where they would die.
And then it was gone.
The overwhelming blood lust was gone. The world had gone back to it's true colors. They could breath the air again. How could they...?
The killer stood completely still. His mouth still hanging open. His eyes had rolled to the back of his head, revealing only the white of his eyes.
"I think..." Enji started, revealing his loud voice to have dialed down a definite degree. "I think he is unconscious."
Gran Torino let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and then looked back to see how the kids were handling it.
Izuku fell back on his rear, not believing all of this really happened. Shouto's emotionless mask cracked from fear as he too fell backward. Tenya fell to his knees in horror and realization at what he tried to fight alone. Ochako and Tsuyu held on to each other as tears threatened to spill at how frightened they were. And Kirishima. His body stood ramrod still, his feet glued to the spot he was in.
The killer was finally beaten, but in the end he was the only one who could keep fighting.
On a rooftop not so far away
Shigaraki looked through his binoculars with one hand with the other feverishly scratched at his neck.
Why did that kid have to be there? Why did the killer have to kill the flying Nomu? Why couldn't any damn thing go his way?
Him and Kurogiri had been standing on one of the taller buildings to watch as the chaos unfolded itself upon the kingdom.
Their monsters did well at first. Beating any soldier or huntsman they came across.
But eventually higher ranked and better qualified fighters came in and dealt the final blows.
Hell. That flaming bastard had killed almost all of them.
And then the Huntsman killer was captured. No skin of his back, but it was that kid again. And he and his friends were smiling like idiots at their victory.
He had sent the last two flying nomu at the group. Hellbent on killing the boy while he was exhausted. And he almost did.
But that bastard had to revive himself and kill the second one when it was about to deal the killing blow.
And then he got himself captured!
The new kind of grimm he used would be undermined at the news of his capture. Even captured, he stole his thunder.
The binoculars in hand cracked and crumbled into dust that slipped out of his hand into the wind.
He angrily sighed. "Let's head back to the base."
Kurogiri nodded as he used his semblance to create a portal for them. "Are the results to your satisfaction, Tomura Shigaraki?"
The pale blue haired man sighed again. "Not right now." His face suddenly relaxed into a smile, not that you could see it behind his mask. "But I will be after I suit up for the morning attack."
As he walked through the portal he swore. He swore that he wouldn't be outshined by some rogue killer. He swore that the kingdom would have it's foundations shook.
Because tomorrow would be remembered for all of history. Not as the day Vale was breached by the creatures of Grimm.
No.
It would be the day the symbol of peace perishes.
The day All Might dies.
A few hours later
The military that hadn't been helping defend against the new grimm had came and brought the killers unconscious body into custody. It was revealed one of his broken ribs had pierced his lung and his aura was to low to try or even attempt to fix the damage.
The students still shaken and still trying to reassure themselves he was really down, were taken to a nearby hospital to tend their wounds.
Now it was a few hours away from dawn. They all sat in one of the hospitals many conference rooms with some of them wearing bandages and others not. They were all still in their normal clothes and still had their weapons on hand.
Kirishima had both his aura and his skin so he had to injuries to even speak of.
Ochako and Izuku's injuries were minor enough to have been healed by their aura.
Shouto had a bandage on his cheek from the killers first attack. It wouldn't scar, but it would take longer to heal.
Tsuyu had bandages wrapped around her head and had been given medicine to fight off any kind of concussion.
Tenya, who had clearly taken the most damage, had both his forearm and his shoulder wrapped up from where Stain's blades had pierced him.
They were in silence from their recent experience. The room so quiet that a pin dropped on the ground could be heard.
"You know..." Izuku said breaking the silence. "Now that I can calmly think about it, what we did was incredible. The fact we survived was a miracle."
"At the beginning when he attacked me. He could easily sent his blade to my face instead of his fist." Tsuyu managed to croak out. "He could have killed us whenever he wanted, yet he still held back."
"It was all of his mistakes that allowed us to actually get in our hits." Shouto surmised. "He was getting more desperate the more of us showed up and the less time he could have Tenya and the huntsman frozen."
Everyone nodded at the information.
"Shit." Kirishima exclaimed. "We were supposed to come and help you guys, but in the end we were frozen to the spot." The redhead's fist clenched itself until it went white.
"We all were." Ochako reminded. None could have moved.
The anxiety and tension still held on to them as they tried to recollect themselves.
The doors threw themselves open as a pink missle launched itself into the room.
"Are you guys okay?!" Mina asked in a frenzied state. "I heard about what happened!" She ran over to Kirishima and looked him over. When she found no wounds she softly grabbed his hand. "Eiji?"
Kirishima put on the best smile he could, even if it was kinda forced. "We're all alive and well. Just a few band-aids here and there for everyone."
Mina sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."
Tsuyu looked at their latched hands and was reminded of something important. She looked over to their leader. "Tenya. Did you get the doctor's report on your injuries?"
The bespectacled man nodded. "I did." He gripped his left shoulder where the killer attack got him. "My left shoulder was a shallow wound and was easy to fix up." He then solemnly gripped his left forearm where he took the thrown knife. "But the knife in my right arm went in pretty deep and attacked my nervous system. All it really adds up to is that I now have some numbness in my right hand." He explained, balling his hand into a fist.
"But you can get it repaired, right?" Ochako asked fearfully.
Tenya looked down at his bandaged arm. "I can, but I don't think I'm going to."
That part certainly shocked everyone in the room.
"Why not?!" Izuku said, asking the obvious question.
Tenya remained silent for a moment before he began. "All of this happened because of me and my actions. None of us should have been there, but we were because of my need for revenge. I went against everything I was taught about being a huntsman for my own selfish desires." He then smiled as he raised. "That's why it will serve as a reminder. To never be what I once was. To strive forward. And maybe one day I'll let it be fixed. That day will be the day I can look at myself and truly call myself a huntsman of the Iida family line."
Everyone was surprised at how deeply felt his confession was. Quite frankly no one had any words.
Except for Izuku.
The green haired faunas walked over to his friend. "Iida." He said, garnering his leader's attention. He smiled and raised his own right fist. "Let's all be huntsman together."
The leader smiled wider and bumped his fist with his friends.
Their was comradery in the air and it brought lighter hearts to everyone.
Ochako smiled at everyone until she noticed something new about Mina. "Mina. What happened to your hair?"
Everyone seemed to finally notice Mina's new hairstyle. Her fluffy cotton candy locks were straightened out and permed inward at the ends.
"Oh this?" Mina said, ruffling her hair back to what it was before. "The huntsman our team's interning under did it. He said it would add to my appeal."
Kirishima shrugged his shoulders. "It was cute, but I like your hair better this way."
An almost imperceptible purple blush made it's way onto the pink girls face. "Well aren't you a charmer."
Kirishima realized his own words and nervously chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. Then he stopped as he remembered something. "Hey, where's Bakubro at?"
Mina quickly her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laugh. "He's (giggle) right behind me."
"Why are you giggling? Ribbit." Tsuyu asked.
Mina shook her head. "Oh ho ho you'll see. You'll see alright."
"Deku!" They heard a voice roar from outside the room. They had no time before the doors opened and Bakugo walked in, anger clearly written on her face. "You better not be dead you shit nerd! Only one who gets to kill you is me!" He looked over at his teammates. "And what the hell were the rest of you side characters thinking, you could have been..." He stopped when he saw the blank looks on everyone's faces. "The hell is wrong with your faces?"
No one said anything because...
HIS HAIR!
His usual ashen blonde spikey hair had been tamed. The top combed over to the side and everything else was gelled down like a teenage heartthrob.
It looked so damn out of place for him. So damn wrong. So damn...
Hilariously funny.
Ochako had been holding both her mouth with both her hands and her cheeks were puffed in her best effort to hold back a flood of laughter.
Unfortunately that dam broke for her first.
"PFFFt! Ha ha ha ha ha!" She broke out laughing before taking a deep breath to continue laughing.
This caused a chain reaction and pretty soon everyone in the room were laughing their asses off. Except for Shouto he just smiled, clearly amused at his teammates misfortune.
"Hahahaha!" Kirishima was holding his stomach. "Holy crap! What the heck Bakubro! Hahahahaha!"
Bakugo's body was shaking and his face was red with both anger and embarrassment. "Shut up! I already got enough shit from Raccoon Eyes! It's freaking hair gel and I can't get it out! Stop laughing! I'll kill you all!"
"Hahaha! I'd like to see you try there, Pretty Boy!" Mina managed to comment between her laugh.
"The hell you say!" Bakugo roared in anger so loudly that his gelled down hair exploded back into it's usual spiky nature.
"It's back!" Mina and Kirishima voiced at the same time with humor literally laced into their voices.
"Is that what Yang meant when she said your hair is explosive?" Shouto asked in his usual monotone voice.
Which erupted the room in another fit of laughter.
"Todoroki. Pffft. I didn't know you could make jokes." Izuku managed to get out as he was bent over with his face on the table in order to keep him stable.
"I wasn't joking though. It's like he's a human bomb." Shouto said, not understanding why people found what he said to be funny.
"Hahaha! A human bomb!" Tsuyu and Ochako said together, having fallen to the floor and rolling in laughter.
"Damn it! Stop giving them ammo to use against me, Icyhot!" Bakugo voice said in it's feral anger.
Kacchan is getting teased so much! Izuku thought while trying to get a hold of his breath. Beacon students are the bravest people in the world!
After a night full of intense fighting and horrifying fear, the huntsman in training could finally breath easy.
Well, as easy as one can breath while laughing their ass off.
At Beacon, Team JNPR's room
Jaune who had been sleeping soundly was woken up by his scroll vibrating.
He flipped himself over and grabbed it.
Evidently Ruby was calling him.
He answered. "Ruby?"
He got nothing but static and a few filtered out words before the line cut off.
He tried calling her back, only to go straight to automatic voicemail.
After a few more attempts he gave up and was about to put the scroll down when he saw something new on the team chat. He opened it to see it was location marker from Tsuyu. And nothing else.
He set his scroll back down on his nightstand and rolled over back into bed. He hoped neither of the messages meant anything bad.
The next morning would show him how wrong he truly was.
Thud!
A can of canned coffee fell down into the open cubby of the drink vending machine after Kirishima paid for it.
Their group laughter fest had ended a few hours ago and now the sunlight had just started to peek it's light into the city streets.
Kirishima grabbed the can and popped the lid. He took a few gulps, the caffeine filled beverage traveling down his throat and flooding his body with much needed fuel.
Another thud was heard as Mina bought her own of the same brand. "It's just so crazy. You guys beat the huntsman killer. A guy who is basically the boogeyman of huntsman and huntresses."
"Yeah." Kirishima said, but it was far less enthused.
Which his friend immediately picked up on. "Hey, are you okay?"
The redhead looked down at his drink with a face she hadn't seen on him in a long time. A face of self loathing.
"I was frozen to the spot. Every sense in my body told me to haul ass. I had to fight with everyone, but I couldn't." His hand clenched crushing the empty can and tearing into the thin metal. "It was just like that day. The day I realized how much of a coward I was."
A pair of pink hands grabbed ahold of his face and aimed it to face hers.
"Eijirou Kirishima," She started. "is the bravest man I know! Long before he dyed his hair red and spiked it up. Even before he was my best friend I saw how much of a man he was."
Kirishima scoffed. "I was so lame back then. You were so much cooler and braver than I could ever be."
Now it was her turn to scoff. "Mina Ashido is the girl who cries whenever she gets really scared. She would have peed herself when she felt what you all felt."
Kirishima stayed silent.
"Didn't you say that you would have no more regrets. That you would kiss that old emo face of yours goodbye." Mina listed off each of his promises to himself and her. "And you have. You, Eijirou Kirishima, are my best friend and the furthest thing from a coward."
The hallway was silent after her declaration.
The manly man of Team SMKE finally cracked himself a smile. "See what I mean. So cool." His eyes met hers. "Only you could knock so sense into my hardened skull."
Mina reciprocated the smile with her own. "The most corrosive acid gets through all things."
The moment was cut off as they both heard sirens sound off.
They both looked at each other. Nodding, they ran back to where everyone else was.
"Hey, what's going on?!" Kirishima asked.
Everyone else was over by the window looking out over at a portion of the city that had a pillar of smoke rising.
Shouto looked back at them. "We don't know. We saw the smoke and then the sirens turned on."
"It looks like it's coming from the shopping district." Tenya ascertained from looking at the surrounding districts.
The doors slammed open again, this time Gran Torino came walking in. "Suit yourselves up. There's been a breach in the shopping district. Grimm of all sizes are climbing through."
"How did they get so far in?" Ochako asked.
"I don't know and frankly it doesn't matter right now. What matters is that they are there and we can't let them run around killing anyone." The old man said.
Tenya raised his hand. "You heard him. All hands on deck."
"But Iida, your hand..." Izuku started, but was silenced by said hand.
"It's fine. Even if it wasn't I don't exactly need a hand to run." He said, gesturing to Ingenium armed on his legs.
Everyone's eyes became determined and ready to defend the people. Gran Torino liked that.
"Alright then! Let's go kick some ass!" The old man shouted.
"Yeah!" The two teams cheered.
None of them knowing how exhausting this day would be.
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.
I'm not calling Mina a crybaby. Even if she sent that villain away when Kirishima couldn't, she broke down in tears right afterward saying how scary it was.
Next time: The Breach.