Chapter Seven: Encounters II

Uraraka's eyes went wide after the man in front of her said she and Psytempest would become hostages. She then frowned. Like hell she would let that happen. After the frustrations of dealing with Darkmask, she was more than ready to give a bad guy the beating he deserved. She was brought out of her mental deliberations when the large man in front of her lounged towards her with murderous intent, his right arm high above his head. Uraraka pushed Psytempest out of the way before dodging to her left, stumbling along the way as the man's battle axe crashed against the wall she was leaning against not two seconds before.

"You're trying to kill me!" Uraraka said with a surprised voice as she got back in a fighting stance. "I thought you wanted a hostage!"

The large man chuckled as he turned to face her, "I don't need you in full health to be a hostage." He then crossed both battle axes in front of his chest as he lounged forward in the air with surprising speed and agility. Uraraka was planning to duck under the man to try and used her quirk on him, but as the man was about to crash down on her, a vending machine came flying from behind her and crashed against the man, crushing him against the wall with massive force.

Uraraka looked to the other side of the crashed vending machine to see Psytempest with both arms stretched out in front of her. "Take a break, asshole!" The telekinesis hero said with an uncharacteristic angry expression. Just then the vending machine landed in between the two heroes and the large man jumped out and elbowed Psytempest on the face, hard.

"Why don't you take a break, bitch!" he said as Psytempest crashed against the other building. As he started to turn towards Uraraka, she was already delivering a flying kick to his face, which connected with brutal accuracy, sending him against the wall once again. Before he could react, Uraraka, rushed towards him and used her quirk on him. He started floating up, his movements accomplishing nothing with his gravity cancelled. "What the…" he looked at Uraraka with an angry expression. "What the hell did you just do?"

The gravity hero smirked, "It's called zero gravity. Pretty neat, right?" her smirk turned into a grin as she saw the unknown bad guy struggled while floating higher and higher. Once the man was almost at roof height, she released her quirk, sending the man on a collision course with the ground. He crashed hard, cracking the concrete where he landed. His body was still as Uraraka kept her eyes on him. After a moment without movement, she broke her gaze and turned to where Psytempest was slowly getting up.

"Hey, you ok? The gravity hero asked her friend as she turned and started to walk towards her. Psytempest rubbed the spot where she was hit. As she lifted her head to look at Uraraka, she saw movement behind the gravity hero.

"Behind you!"

Uraraka quickly turned around to see the man standing behind her, his right arm already high up. Everything went into slow motion as the battle axe started moving downwards with lethal intent. All the surrounding noise and scenery faded as Uraraka looked up at the instrument that was about to be her undoing moving down in slow motion.

Uraraka didn't understand it, but she couldn't move. She knew she probably should, but somehow, she just stood there, petrified at the sight she just knew was about to be her end. All her life flashed before her eyes. She saw herself in front of a camp fire, with her parents as they told her stories during one of their camping trips in the woods outside their home. She remembered looking at the night sky in wonder, gazing at the millions of stars as her father named some constellations.

She saw herself reading her UA acceptance letter, running to her parents, crying in happiness that she got accepted. She saw herself with her UA friends laughing and having fun during lunch break. She remembered herself training next to Izuku, as the two of them fought in their first hero training class and coming out victorious. The images stopped with Izuku. She remembered his freckled face, his green hair and his adorable smile. How she yearned to see him again, to tell him how sorry she was for breaking his heart.

She closed her eyes and accepted her fate. As she waited for the inevitable, she mentally said one last thing. 'I'm sorry, Deku.' Everything came to a sudden stop as she heard an unexpected crashing noise and wind blast into her with a strong force. She couldn't really understand it, but the pain never came.

As she opened her eyes, she saw there was nothing in front of her but a building. She blinked a few times, trying to get her bearings. She looked down at her hands and moved her fingers a few times. She was alive, she really was. Uraraka scanned her surroundings to see the large man's limp body half buried into the wall. In front of it, was Darkmask.

Uraraka just stood there no really knowing what to say or do for a few seconds. Darkmask turned to her. His dark kabuki mask looking at her. Uraraka blinked a few more times and then came to the sudden realization that the guy she was supposed to be arresting was standing not even 10 feet from her.

"Are you ok?" the dark clothed vigilante asked her with a serious tone.

The gravity hero just stood there, looking at him with an incredulous expression. After a moment she started to frown. "You!...You're responsible for this, aren't you?" As she said this, she lounged forward towards the vigilante, trying to use her quirk on him. But Darkmask grabbed her extended arm and the back of her head and used her momentum to send her on a crashing course towards the wall.

Uraraka hit the wall but was able to brace herself and lessen the impact. As she quickly tuned around, a metal trash container crashed into Darkmask, pinning him against the same wall she just crashed into. Almost immediately the trash container came flying out towards Psytempest, who bolted to her side to avoid getting pinned herself.

Darkmask stood there ready to do battle, "Is this how heroes say thank you?" Before Uraraka could say anything, Darkmask pointed a finger at her, "I just saved your life."

The gravity hero stood still as she felt a small pang of guilt. What he said was true. She was all but ready to accept her fate just ten seconds ago. They all stood there ready to fight but nobody was moving. After a few seconds Darkmask stood straight and pointed a finger at the body half buried on a wall.

"That's a villain called Axekill. If you look him up, you'll probably find he's wanted for murder." He then pointed a finger at the body on the floor. "That's another villain. His name is Knifehand and he's also wanted for murder." He took a deep breath before continuing. "They both work for the League of Villains. Feel free to turn them in and take all the credit." He turned and started to walk away.

"Where you think you're going?" Uraraka said with a surprised voice and a frown on her face.

Darkmask stopped and turned around. "I'm going home since I've already done your job."

Uraraka frowned even more and started to walk towards him. "And what makes you think we're letting you go?"

"Stop." The vigilante said as he quickly turned around with a raised hand. "You're in no shape to be fighting right now." He lowered his hand. "You should be thankful you're still alive." He started to walk again.

Uraraka started running towards the vigilante, "Like hell I'm letting you go."

Darkmask turned around to see a very angry Uravity running towards him and a vending machine about to land on him. He quickly jumped and kicked the flying vending machine towards the gravity hero. Uraraka yelp in surprise as the vending machine came crashing in front of her, not missing by much. As she tuned her gaze down the alley, Darkmask was gone.

Uraraka stayed silent. Both heroes didn't move for a few moments until Psytempest spoke. "Should we really be letting him go?"

The gravity hero took a deep breath to calm down. "He's right. We're in no shape to be fighting right now, and he's gone anyway." She pulled out her phone to call Ryukyu. She was definitely not ready to deliver the bad news to her boss…again.

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The flashing lights of police cars saturated the scenery as a multitude of police officers and detectives took evidence from the scene. Out to the side not too far from the center of the whole thing, were three heroes. Two were sitting on the floor, blankets provided by the police officers over their shoulders. The other one, standing in front of them.

Ryukyu stood there looking as her number one hero sipped from her coffee cup. She wanted to be mad at her heroes. But she also knew that both of them were inexperienced in the hero business. Uraraka was her number one, yes, but just three years ago she was still a UA student. She was still green behind the ears. No matter how strong she was, and she was really strong, she still had a lot to learn. Psytempest was even greener still.

Regardless of how inexperience the two heroes in front of her were, this was still a delicate situation, even for a seasoned pro hero. On one hand there was a very strong vigilante that had operated with impunity for years and the unusual situation of the contract to arrest him. On the other hand, there was the mixture of seasoned, wanted villains and inexperienced heroes in the same place.

Ryukyu pinched the bridged of her nose in frustration. She needed to cut Uraraka some slack, she really did. No matter how she cut it, her number one hero was doing very good given the circumstances. The poor girl was still suffering from the guilt of her actions during her UA years and Ryukyu had been putting her in front of all their big operations since the beginning. That's how Uravity had made it into the 25th spot so quickly. She was the face of all Dragon Hero Agency operations for three years straight.

The dragon hero looked at Uraraka, who had a frustrated expression, and opened her mouth to say something. Before any words could come out, Uraraka spoke first. "I'm sorry." She said without looking at her boss. "I let him get away…again." Psytempest looked at Uraraka with a sad expression, pressing her lips into a thin line, but didn't say anything.

For a moment Ryukyu didn't say anything, looking away, then taking a deep breath she spoke. "It's ok, Uravity. You did your best given the circumstances."

Uraraka looked up at the boss with a surprised expression. "What do you mean? He was right there in front of us!"

Ryukyu nodded; her lips pursed as she thought about the situation. "Yeah, but you two were dealing with a very dangerous villain before you even knew Darkmask was there." She turned her gaze toward her number one. "No matter how you cut it, you two were in a very difficult position."

The gravity hero wasn't convinced as she looked down into her coffee cup, "Still, I should've reacted as soon as he showed up and take him down."

Psytempest, who was absently looking away, spoke before thinking. "He saved your life." Uraraka's eyes went wide as she slowly turned to her coworker. Psytempest realized what she said and looked at the gravity hero with an apologetic expression. "Sorry." She whispered.

Ryukyu's eyes went wide. "What are you saying?" She turned her gaze towards Uraraka, who was still looking at Psytempest. "Uravity?"

The gravity hero looked down for a moment, then at her boss. "Axekill was about to delivery a fatal blow and I…just stood there. I couldn't move." She then looked away before continuing, "Darkmask showed up in the nick of time, and took him out."

Ryukyu didn't say anything for a long moment. It seemed that she almost lost her top hero not even a little over a week after setting up shop in Asaka. Even if the city had a lower crime rate, her heroes seem to be unlucky enough to be running into the only dangerous villains in this city. But why was Darkmask there as well?

"Uravity, did you see Darkmask fighting with those two villains before you got there?"

Uraraka shook her head. "No. I assume that one over there fell from the rooftop just as we were walking close by. Then the other one showed up and we started fighting."

"But why was Darkmask there?"

The gravity hero thought about the question for a second before shaking her head. "I don't know."

Psytempest looked at Ryukyu with a raised eyebrow. "You think it was a coincidence that he was in the area?"

The dragon hero shook her head. "No. I don't think that at all. I think they were fighting before you two arrived and became part of the fight."

After a moment of silence Uraraka spoke while putting a finger to her chin. "He's the one that told us the identity of the two villains." She then realized something. "He knew them from before!"

Ryukyu nodded. "Which is why I think they were already involved in a fight before you two got wrapped into this mess." She then was in thought for a moment. "Still. The fact that he saved your life is a good sign."

Uraraka looked at her boss. "You think he's not that bad, right?"

"Yeah. I mean, he's still a vigilante, but he doesn't seem to be completely against heroes." He looked at Uraraka with a somber expression. "He could've easily let you and Psytempest fight Axekill by yourself and walk away."

Neither Psytempest or Uraraka said anything after the dragon hero's statement and its implications. Namely, that the gravity hero would probably be dead right now if it wasn't because of the vigilante decided to jump in and save Uraraka at the last minute. Both stayed quiet for a long moment until Ryukyu spoke again.

"You two go home. There's nothing you can do here anyway."

Uraraka stood up and took a deep breath. "You sure?"

The dragon hero nodded her head. "Yeah. Get out of here. I'll deal with the paperwork."

Uraraka gave her boss an apologetic look before walking away. Ryukyu kept her gaze on the two departing figures. Maybe she was putting too much on Uraraka's plate. After all she herself was no stranger to rookie mistakes. She took a cleansing breath as she looked up. Yeah, she had made some terrible mistakes back when she was a newly minted hero. And she was lucky that it didn't affect her career or ended up with a revoked hero license.

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Uraraka slept the next day until late. The combination of alcohol and being involved in a fight that almost ended in her death was enough to make the gravity hero completely exhausted. After waking up, she decided to go to the local market and get some groceries and other miscellaneous items, like wine, which she always needed to have available because, well, who cares? She then spent the rest of her time in her balcony overlooking the city.

She called her parents, and some of her friends to catch up as well as to let some of them know how things were in Asaka. She only told a couple of her former classmates about her near death experience, which surprised both of them, especially Mina, who almost cried on the phone, making her promise to be more careful. God, she loved that pink girl so much. Jiro was equally surprised and asked her if she wanted to come to her place for a few days. She really had good friends, didn't she?

She then spends some time listening to music before she decided to make some dinner. Uraraka wasn't fond of all the time she spends by herself. She was a social butterfly that always enjoyed her time with friends and having a good laugh. Moving to Asaka had taken the little social life she had out of the equation. What a terrible way for a girl in her early twenties to spend her time. It was almost like her life was part of a horribly written fanfiction.

After dinner, Uraraka decided to take a shower. She walked towards her bathroom and as she approached the door, she noticed a figure outside her window. Stopping quickly, she looked again and sure enough, there was a man in dark clothes outside her window. She quickly got ready for a fight but the figure bolted away in a hurry. As she was getting ready to go out in pursuit, she noticed a piece of paper on the window.

She carefully opened the window, fearing a trap or an ambush. Seeing there was no danger she quickly grabbed the piece of paper and closed the window. Making some space between her and the window she started to read the paper. "Come to the roof if you want to talk. Your choice."

Uraraka was surprised at this turn of events. First, she knew it was Darkmask. While the man was not a villain, she couldn't be sure of his intentions. Second, as a pro hero brought to the city specifically for him, she couldn't be seen socializing with him and risk getting sidetracked. Her heart was racing at the idea that Darkmask not only knew where she lived, but actually came to make contact with her. After a couple of minutes of frantic internal debate, her curiosity won. She really wanted to know what this guy wanted with her. Deep inside she knew it was probably a really bad idea, but her interest was just too strong.

The gravity hero carefully made her way to the rooftop, double checking for a surprise attack or something else. Her heart was beating hard in her chest as she continued up the escape ladder on the side of the building. Before she got to the roof top, she scanned around and sure enough Darkmask was standing on the roof of an adjacent building.

Uraraka slowly made her way to the edge of her roof, making sure not to take her eyes of the vigilante standing not even 20 feet away. She took a quick moment to take in her surroundings before looking back at the dark figure in front of her. It was obvious that he was on a different rooftop to make it difficult for the pro hero to quickly close the distance between them. Regardless, they were close enough to talk without having to raise their voices too much.

"Didn't think you would come." Darkmask said in a calm voice, while leaning against a large air conditioning unit. Even though he was wearing his dark kabuki mask, Uraraka knew his eyes were on her.

"If you wanted to turn yourself in, you could've just gone to the police station." The pro hero said with a little heat in her voice.

Darkmask noticed that her demeanor and posture was ready for a fight and he wasn't surprised. "Relax. Like I said, I'm here to talk. I have no interest in fighting you."

Uraraka relaxed slightly, as she crossed her arms in front of her. "Look, thanks for saving me yesterday, but what do you want?"

The dark figure kept his gaze on her for a moment before continuing, "Pro hero Uravity. UA graduate. Currently ranked 25th in the hero index. I got to say I was a little surprised and curious as to why you came to a city like Asaka. But after seeing Ryukyu around I can only assume you're here for me." He chuckled before continuing, "I can't deny I feel a little flattered that such high-ranking heroes are here for little old me."

Uraraka scoffed, "Don't flatter yourself, you're just another bad guy to take down."

"I'm a vigilante, not a villain. You should know that." Darkmask said with a little aggravation.

"You say that like it's supposed to mean anything." Uraraka said in dismissive tone. While she knew he was technically right, it didn't mean she needed to be friendly, seeing that she was supposed to be arresting this guy.

Darkmask chuckled, "You're already acting like all the other heroes. You all think everything is so simple."

"Guys like you are always trying to justify their actions when in reality is very simple. They do bad stuff because they feel rules don't apply to them."

"I can't believe you actually think like that. I thought you were better than that, Uravity."

"What is that supposed to mean!?"

"Things are never just black and white. Everything is more like shades of grey."

Uraraka raised an eyebrow, "What? You actually think that what you're doing is good?"

Darkmask stopped leaning against the air conditioning unit and faced the pro hero, "I fight villains just like you. I actually have done more than all the other heroes in this city." He pointed a finger at her, "Tell me, how many villains have you captured, huh? How many villain groups have you disbanded?" his voice got a little louder as he continued.

"I disbanded the group known as the House of Wolves by myself, without any type of support, while idiots like Bound were running around capturing purse snatchers and petty thieves." The vigilante extended his arms to his sides. "But of course, heroes know better, right?"

Uraraka had heard of the House of Wolves on her previous briefings at the police headquarters. A secretive group that did business with the League on a regular basis. But apparently was eliminated by the dark figure in front of her. But right now, she didn't care about all that as she started to get a little aggravated at Darkmask's words, "Don't you come here and start judging me like you know anything!" she said as she pointed a finger at the dark figure. "I didn't become the 25th hero by sitting on my ass or posing for the cameras."

"I know you're a strong, smart hero and deserve all the praise that you get. But you have to admit that working in Ryukyu's agency and taking part of some big operations have helped your reputation in a big way. But tell me, have you actually stopped any League operations or prevented them from recruiting more people?"

The gravity hero chuckled in disbelief, "Is that what you wanted to talk about? You just needed to preach some weird vigilante propaganda?"

Darkmask sighed as he looked away and leaned against the air conditioning unit once again, "I just wanted to see if you were different from the other idiot heroes I have met." He tuned his gaze on her once again, "I guess I was wrong."

Uraraka laughed at the vigilante's non-sense, "What? You thought I was just going to agree with whatever came out of your mouth?" Darkmask just shrugged, which made the gravity hero curious. "Ok, so what if I had agreed with your ideas? What then?" The pro hero knew she needed to be careful. As a hero she wasn't supposed to be entertaining some villain or vigilante notions or starting to even agree with them as that could put her under investigation. But if half of what she heard about this guy was true, then maybe there was some intelligence value in hearing what he had to say.

"I thought we could help each other. The League is trying to restart operations in Asaka. That's why the two villains you saw yesterday were here." The vigilante took a moment to gauge Uraraka's demeanor before continuing. "They were here to kill me because I've been putting a dent into their efforts to restart their Asaka operations."

Uraraka raised an eyebrow. "What operations? What did you really stop when you took down that villain group?" She sounded dismissive.

Darkmask sighed slightly frustrated. "The House of Wolves was involved in the delivery and storage of equipment and materials needed for Nomu manufacturing. While they didn't manufacture the Nomus here, the vast majority of materials came through here."

That got Uraraka's attention. While the League was still a powerful group, they had suffered a number of setbacks thanks to the combined efforts Ryukyu's agency and others. The appearance of Nomus on their attacks seem to have shrunk down to almost nothing. Most heroes and the police were under the impression that the lack of Nomus in the League's attacks was due to their combined efforts. Guess they were only partially right.

But in the end, it didn't really matter to the gravity hero. She was here to arrest this vigilante, not cooperate with him or entertain his views. "I don't know if what you're telling me is true, but it doesn't matter." She kept her gaze on the dark figure not too far from her. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm here to take you down. Not to be in a team with you." She said in a harsh tone.

"So, you'll ignore information that could stop the League from restarting operations in Asaka, just because it's coming from me?" Uraraka didn't say anything. Darkmask let out a loud sigh. "I'm disappointed to hear that." He turned from her and started walking away. After a few steps he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "I wonder what Midoriya would think of you."

Uraraka's eyes went wide and her mouth hung open as everything around her stopped. All the night sounds faded into nothing as she wrapped her head around the fact that the vigilante in front of her just mentioned Izuku's name. For a moment she couldn't say anything. The shock of hearing his name was just too much. With a haunted voice, she finally spoke again.

"What did you just say?" Her body shuddered a little, "How did you know that name?" Darkmask stood there, looking over his shoulder, not saying anything. Uraraka's hands turned into fists as she started frowning. "Tell me! Where did you get that name!?"

The vigilante turned around and crossed his arms. "I know him."

Uraraka went pale. She just couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No." she started to slowly shake her head, "I don't believe you." She said in a wounded voice.

"Believe me, I know. More Importantly, I know what you did to him back at UA."

Uraraka's lower lip started to shake, tears forming in her eyes. "You're lying." Her watery eyes turn hard, as she sneered at him, "you're just trying to mess with my head."

The vigilante stayed quiet for a moment as if thinking about what to say next. He then continued, "Then ask me something. Something that only you or him would know."

The gravity hero continues to stare at him with an angry expression as the first tears started to go down her cheeks. For a long moment she doesn't say anything, fighting desperately the urge to jump to the other rooftop and beat this guy within an inch of his life. She finally found her voice again and played his game. "Then tell me. Where did I first meet him?"

Darkmask chuckled, "You used your quirk on him when he was about to fall on his face before the entrance exams."

Uraraka felt like someone just punched her in the gut. Her mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out. Without her realizing it she was covering her mouth with one hand. Five years. Five long years that nobody other than her and a few UA friends had mentioned his name. Then all of the sudden this asshole vigilante decides to drop his name like it was a casual conversation.

She started to breath hard, finding it difficult to talk, think and breath at the same time. "Tell me…" she croaked out, "tell me where he is…" Tears are now fully running down her cheeks. She hasn't felt this mentally suffocated in a long time. "…please, tell me."

Darkmask looked down in thought, then looked back at her. "Why should I do that?"

Uraraka's knees started to feel weak. She just wasn't ready to hear about her lost friend in such a sudden way. She tried in vain to wipe some tears away. "Because he's my friend…and I miss him." She looked at him with devasted eyes. "Please, I beg you. Tell me where he is."

The vigilante looked to the side and then decided to lean against the large AC unit. For a long moment he didn't say anything as Uraraka desperately fought the urge to cry. He then looked at her. "What would you say to him if I tell you where he is?"

The gravity hero stopped to think about the question, looking down. She tried to gather her feelings. She had thought so many times about what she would say to Izuku if she ever saw him again. But now, it was hard to think straight. Her mind was a muddled mess of emotions and random thoughts, all fighting for attention. She finally decided to go with the simple answer out of the dozens of things she would like to say to him.

"I would tell him how sorry I am for the way I treated him." She wiped a few more tears, "I would tell him I was wrong." She finally looked at the vigilante in front of her, "but more importantly, I would tell him how much I miss him. That my life wasn't been the same without him."

For a long moment Darkmask kept his gaze on her without saying a word. Eventually she had to look away, feeling his silent judgment too much to bear. Finally, the vigilante stood straight and started to walk away. "I'll think about it." Was all he said.

Uraraka's eyes went wide as the only other person to mention Izuku's name in years walked away from her. She desperately reached out to him as if he was just five feet away. "Please, at least tell me. Is he ok!?" she sounded desperate.

Darkmask stopped and without looking back he said, "He's alive." He stared walking away again, "I can't tell you more for now."

The gravity hero looked at the departing figure as more tears started running down her cheeks. She finally felt on her knees, clutching her stomach as she finally cried. "…Deku. Why? why it's so painful to think about you?"

'Because you hurt him.' Her mind answered back in a cruel way. 'and you love him.'

Uraraka cried even harder at her own mind's bluntness. She covered her mouth as she sobbed like she did back in UA when Izuku ran away. She let herself fall on her back and she finally got control of her emotions. Looking at the night sky with teary eyes she thought back at what had happened. In a crazy coincidence, the vigilante she was after apparently knew Deku. How such a crazy turn of event came to be? She didn't know. And if this guy was to be believed, Deku was alive.

Even if she didn't know this guy was telling the truth, she felt a small, hopeful wave of emotions wash over her. Like her whole body and mind wanted to believe he was saying the truth. Deku, her friend, was alive. 'Maybe.' She frowned at her own thoughts. No, he had to be alive. He had to be because, well, because the alternative was just too painful to even think about.

After a long time thinking while looking up at the night sky, she came to one conclusion. She needed to get the information out of Darkmask one way or another. She had spent too long without any kind of information about her lost friend. Now that there was even a small possibility that Darkmask knew something about Deku, she wasn't about to let it slip through her fingers. Hopefully Ryukyu would be willing to help her out.

She took a deep breath and stated to make her way back into her apartment. Tomorrow was going to be a very interesting day.