What is up everyone! Bench-be-yolking back with another Taxes and Taxes chapter!
Thanks to everyone who kept me going through the hard parts, now I've finally hit my stride with this story and can keep the updates rolling out.
A little note though, because I have had people mention it before, and I want to clear it up; Feel free to dislike Lazarus and criticize his choices.
Lazarus is not always a good person, he doesn't always make the right choices, he's angry, wrathful, has an irrational mistrust of authority and while he wants to help people, he's easily led astray by anyone who earns his trust. A very dangerous combination.
...That being said, Lazarus is still the protagonist and his job is to be somewhat likable. If you ever find him a little too mean-spirited or harsh, feel free to let me know in a review so I can take it into, well, review! I'm not a very practiced writer, so I'm always looking for pointers, be it on my pacing, my plot, or my characters!
Thank you all for continuing to read my little story, I'm so happy and continually feel blessed that there are people who actually want to read the things I write, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading! (That goes to every guest, as well as my 50+ followers and 39 favorite-ers! You guys rock!)
Without further ado! The story continues~
I'll let the chapter speak for itself...
Lazarus felt the heat of the sun finally cool off, the metal hallway feeling cold, especially after his quick trip to the nurse's office.
"Poe-kun, I'm glad you were able to finally rejoin us." Kan spoke from the front of the group, just as Lazarus passed through the metal door leading to the observatory area. Almost instantly, the entire class seemed to turn.
Lazarus suddenly felt self conscious about his appearance, running a hand through his hair as he smiled back at his classmates, giving a quick wave as he stepped forward.
"Recovery girl works quickly! You look good as new!" Tetsutetsu declared, Lazarus shrugged coyly. Just because a few of the students knew his quirk, he didn't need to broadcast why he had 'recovered' so quickly from such bad injuries. He had to keep a few tricks to himself, and as the winner, he had a little bit of a right to his mysterious nature.
"Sorry folks, I'm the only one from my group joining us, Nurse is holding the others for a while, just being carefully, apparently, there was some issues with air ventilation down there and with how much running they did, she's just making sure there's no issues with anyone's lungs." Lazarus explained apologetically as he pointed at the closing door behind him. Keeping his spirits high as he skipped across the room.
"Well, thank you for delivering the news, Poe-kun." Kan gruffly spoke, nodding slowly, Lazarus raised his hand again.
"Oh and uh, Recovery Girl wants to talk to you later, something about irresponsible endangerment, or whatever." Lazarus coughed as he trained off quietly, trying to soften the news. Kan's irritated expression told him it didn't work.
"Thank you. I'll be sure to do that." As Kan finished he sighed, then looked around the group, who had finally stopped staring at Lazarus and gone back to looking towards their teacher.
Lazarus walked up to the group, and looked at the results, he had missed all the other matches, but at the least, he could get a feel for the class. As if reading his mind, Kendo leaned over with a grin on her face.
"You missed a couple of good fights, shame you didn't get to see any of it. But you were a real glutton for punishment out there." Kendo spoke plainly, the only thing giving away the humor behind her otherwise cold analysis was her smile.
"Did I at least manage to dish out what I took in?" Lazarus replied, keeping his eyes on Kan as he spoke. He saw Kendo chuckle. He grinned back, his mood infinitely improved, his regeneration offsetting his fatigue for a while.
"At the least you did. We thought Jurota was going to rip you limb from limb! You should have seen the shock when you started laying into him, half the class was laughing and the other half was trying to pick their jaws off the floor. You're a little more competent than people pegged you for. Congrats." Her dry praise was betrayed by a little admiration behind her words. Lazarus smiled back.
"Who are you? Neito? You can't give a compliment without delivering it with a solid backhand?" Lazarus nudged her with his elbow, she rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"Okay, okay, you did good. I don't think Kan agreed with the class though…" As Kendo trailed off, Lazarus felt worry worm it's way into his throat, scared to ask what she meant. The worry wormed its way further into his gut, threatening to awaken something more detrimental to his life then worry.
Right on cue, Kan cleared his throat as he looked around, nodding carefully.
"Now, I want to congratulate you all on your performance, you all gave it your all out there, and your performance reflected that. Every battle was hard fought, and even against impossible odds, some of you managed to overcome the obstacles. For those who did not, don't worry, you are here to learn, and you'll get your chance." As Kan finished, the group devolved into scattered conversations again, before Kan stomped to regain everyone's focus.
"I have been reviewing everyone's performances as they came off the field, but, I want to give special attention to one particular match. Namely, Poe-kun's match, seeing that he is the only one well enough to attend." Kan pointed him out, and Lazarus felt the attention shift onto him, again, as Kendo stepped a polite distance away.
"The good kind of special attention, I hope?" Lazarus laughed, but Kan seemed to be in no joking mood.
"This was a perfect example of how important it is to recognize and adapt to a changing battlefield, and how sometimes, simple chance can be the deciding factor between victory and defeat. Though the villains, won, I assure you all..." Kan stopped and looked Lazarus dead in the eyes. At the same moment, Lazarus felt his skin crawl, and an unexpectedly indignant anger begin to form in his gut.
"...if I had not clearly defined the rules beforehand, I would have awarded the win to the Hero team. They deserved it." Kan finished, his frown suddenly driving Lazarus crazy. Lazarus felt the fire of rage crawl up his throat and seep into his spine. He felt his fist clench and his fingernails dug deep into his skin.
"Oh, really?" Lazarus spoke, stepping forward, he instantly saw surprise register in Kan's eyes, as well as several of his classmates take another step away from him, and even in his hazy anger, he knew he had to be very careful not to overstep the line he had suddenly uncovered.
"I mean, Sensei, I'm not sure I understand. We won fair and square. It was, our victory." Lazarus felt his anger quell, as he stepped back with a plastic smile, driving the rage back into his gut as his head cooled, slightly. He fought to control his emotions, repressing them before they could do more damage. Yet in his gut they remained.
"Shall we review your fight then?" Kan spoke, his voice cool, but a hard edge was evident underneath. As he spoke, Kan hit a few buttons on his remote, as the screens changed to a camera grid, revealing Lazarus and Kosei in the underground, frozen in place.
"At the beginning of the fight, instead of protecting the hostage, or working to develop a way to use your quirks together, you immediately separate and go to opposite ends of the subway. While your plan to mark the path was clever, it was ultimately wasted, considering that you get to the edge of the area and then sit down and stay perfectly still for about three minutes." As Kan continued, he fast forwarded through the video, and Lazarus felt both irritated and validated as he watched his hollow body sit perfectly still at the edge of the subway. No abominations or decay in sight. As he feared, he looked like a vegetable for no reason.
"I'll admit, it wasn't the most solid way to start the match…" Lazarus gave his teacher the point, he did understand the value of picking the right battles, but if the offer appeased Kan at all, he didn't show it.
"Next, you proceed to ignore your partners warnings and drunkenly stumble down the entire subway, making as much noise as humanly possible I might add, until you run headlong into the hero team by accident." Yet again, Kan paused the video and pointed, and Lazarus couldn't come up with a good counterpoint here either.
"There were some other factors at play there! Okay, I get it, I got into a fight I couldn't win without backup, but, I fought it out, pretty well, and we still managed to pull out the win with some team thinking-" Lazarus took his hands out of his pocket and held them up, hoping to calmly bring the discussion to a close before he did something he'd regret, Kan didn't seem to be on the same page as he was.
"Tsuburaba-kun, he strategized the entire match, pulled you out of danger, and then you proceeded to rely on his quirk solely to get you out of danger till the very end. Afterwards, he couldn't even remain conscious. He showed resolve, cunning, and skill." Kan heaped praise onto Kosei's action, and Lazarus felt his anger bubble from his gut as he grinded his teeth, knowing fully well what was going to come next.
"You, on the other hand Lazarus, made counter-intuitive strategic choices, were utterly MIA for the first bit of the exercise, ignored your partner's advice, engaged in a fight you had no hope of winning, knocked out another student was was clearly already out of it, and ultimately failed to even stop the Heroes from making it inches away from the end. If the hero team had five more seconds, you would have lost and quite honestly, I'd make sure your mark heavily reflected the part you would have played in that. Plain and simple." Kan's cold admonishment only heated Lazarus's temper more, he felt blood trickle down his fingers, his tightened palms cutting into his new flesh, he felt like his teeth were going to break, and his eyes felt a little misty in the worst way.
"They didn't." Lazarus spoke, trying to keep his tone level, feeling betrayal ripple through his body as his voice shook slightly, prompting him to take another breath, forcing his wild emotions to at the very least let him keep his dignity. He hated it, he hated it all, he hated how he felt and how he acted, how he couldn't control it and how it controlled him. He hated his father, he hated how his father's blood poisoned him.
"Excuse me, Poe-kun?" Kan spoke, and though his voice said 'repeat that' his tone said, 'shut up.' Lazarus knew he was too dumb to stop now.
"They didn't have five more seconds, sensei. They had the exact amount of time you gave them, and we had the exact amount of time you gave us. My choices were the influence of the very specific circumstances of the exercise. I'll admit." Lazarus forced the treble in his chest to stop, his rational mind screaming at him to shut his mouth and just end the conversation. His rational mind wasn't in control right now.
"I- my performance was sub-par, but, it's unfair to declare that a team 'should' have won, because they simply didn't. The outcome is the outcome. Regardless of how close it was, we won. Maybe it wasn't the best victory, but I mean, it's a little unfair to both me and my teammate to say we didn't earn it." Lazarus finished, standing his ground, he became vaguely aware of the panicked glances of the students around him, but his focus was totally on Kan.
Kan's face seemed to betray nothing, as if he was keeping his cards right against his chest, but, Lazarus had seen that exact expression before, that thinly veiled disgust and disappointment. How many adults had he seen wear that exact expression around him, he couldn't even count any more. They were all the same, all of them. They all wanted to take what little Lazarus could call his own, call himself proud of, and destroy it. All of them.
"Very well Poe-kun, I suppose you are technically correct. Though if you want to clutch that tightly to a technical victory, I wonder if you even got the point of the exercise in the first place." Kan's voice wasn't even angery, simply condescending to Lazarus's ears, like a parent lecturing a naughty child, and it drove Lazarus to the edge.
The poisonous blood was all through his body now, it had infected him, spreading to every edge of his being, every painless nerve hurt through emotion. Every atom screaming at him to throw something, or hit something, or hurt anything. It clouded his vision, heated his breath and caused his heart to pound. Any positivity he felt towards Kan melted, and suddenly, it was the local police chief back home, his middle school teacher who laughed at his dreams, his brother's pitty, and everyone who had ever taken something away from him swirling in front of his eyes.
"Don't…" Lazarus began, and he saw the flash in Kan's eyes, the moment that his teacher's patience wore thin, and Lazarus knew, he knew that Kan was judging every word, and weighing Lazarus's every action against him, and he was most likely standing dangerously close to the edge of expulsion. And he was weighing if he cared or not. Even if he was expelled, his brain could focus only on victory, on winning, on proving Kan wrong, somehow. On getting back the feeling he had had of accomplishment, of having achieved something, anything, and not having to feel bad about it. Kan had taken it. He wanted it back.
Suddenly, as if the storm parted ways, Lazarus saw Neito's face in the crowd, unlike most of the group around him who were awkwardly trying not to engage in the display before them, Neito was watching with his full, undivided attention. As soon as their eyes met, Neito shook his head in a single slow gesture of communication, of understanding.
Lazarus felt the haze clear, his embarrassment overtake him and his body melt, the tension transfering to the floor as his hot blood sucked back into his gut, going back to sleep where it always rested, waiting to be awakened by any inconvenience. Lazarus felt tears prick his eyes as the shame crashed into him like a wave. He was acting like a child, no, less then a child.
"I- I don't think I did, Sensei, Forgive me. I'll take your advice into consideration. Truely. Th-thank you for your criticism. I'll make sure I improve. With your help. Thank you." Lazarus bowed low, hoping to hide his suddenly pathetic emotional state. He hated this even more than the anger. The shame was worse. The guilt that clawed constantly at him, that made him aware that every action he took was wrong, that always made sure he knew it was his fault when he lost control.
Kan seemed utterly shocked by Lazarus's compleat heel-turn, and Lazarus couldn't blame him, very quickly, he himself adjusted himself, trying to figure out where to go.
"Well, uh, it's...my job to instruct you, Poe-kun, I do hope you understand that I mean this for your own good, so, just, keep it in mind in the future." Kan finished with an awkward 'hm' sound, leaving the entire room in Silence, Lazarus felt his hair fall over his face, which served him fine, considering he didn't really want anyone looking at him right now.
He quickly moved away from Kan, standing at the edge of the group. The students around him made an effort not to bother him, he made the same one back, as Kan finally got back on track, and returned to further discussion about the exercise results. Leaving Lazarus to sit with his own self-inflicted punishment.
Class ended what felt like an eternity later, and Lazarus left without another word to anyone.
"Lazarus!" Hanta called out, his voice carrying across the call, finally registering in Lazarus's downturned ears. He straightened himself up, blinking away his thoughts as he turned to face his friend with a smile.
"Hanta! I guess you just got out of class too! Feels like it's been a while man, how you doing?" Lazarus walked across the hall, lowering his voice to a casual tone as he finally reached his friend, holding his bag in one hand as he stuck his other in his pocket.
"Less the twenty-four hours man, maybe you've forgotten, but your half-dead corpse walking into my kitchen is pretty fresh in my mind still." Hanta frowned, raising his eyebrows quizically.
Lazarus put a hand to the back of his neck as he couldn't help but chuckle awkwardly, he was hoping he could avoid that. He cleared his throat.
"Yeah, sorry about that, we're still cool right?" Lazarus smiled as genuinely as he could manage, and Hanta rolled his eyes as he punched him playfully on the shoulder.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm still pissed at you, but it's not like you killed anyone or anything...you're not a bad person Lazarus. So yeah, as long as you hold up your end of the deal, we're cool. Totally." Hanta nodded, smiling, as Lazarus felt a knot untying itself in his gut as he relaxed.
"Awesome, er, where are my manners, how was class?" Lazarus inquired, Hanta started wandering towards the stairs, slowing down to motion for him to follow, and Lazarus quickly did.
"Well, english was hell- but most likely not as bad as it would have been before I met you, so that's something." Hanta began to recount his experience in class, holding out his fingers as if to keep track of the events, which Lazarus quickly grew bored of.
"Common, I mean the good stuff! How was your hero training? With All-Might himself no less!" Lazarus proded Hanta, who's own smile grew larger.
"It was...you know, the coolest thing ever! There was a bomb, and two on two scenarios...I mean, I had to play the villain which sucked, but it was still an awesome class, I already feel like All-Might will be able to teach us all a lot. Even though we lost, he gave me some praise! All Might praised my work!" Hanta began to rant, cooling himself off with a deep breath as they reached a landed, Lazarus glanced at the signage out of the corner of his eye, he assumed this is where class-A resided. He shrugged and turned his eyes back to his eager pal.
"That's great! My experience in B was pretty similar, playing the villain and all...but uh, well I 'won' but I didn't really get any praise…" Lazarus started with a smile, his mouth turning to a grimace as he finished.
"It couldn't have been that bad man! As long as you didn't you know, lose your temper or anything!" Hanta consoled him, patting him lightly on the back, which Lazarus responded to with an equally enthusiastic nod, waiting until Hanta took a few steps ahead to let out a dejected sigh.
"That damn temper of mine...hah." Lazarus mumbled to himself, his mind wandering back to when he had gotten back to the test area and the whole previous debacle.
Lazarus sighed, feeling the now repressed emotions already trying to come up again, he pushed them further down. Hanta looked over, his face quickly shifting to pity, which while Lazarus didn't like it, he'd accept it from Hanta and Hanta alone.
"Oh man. You didn't. Did you?" Hanta didn't specify what he meant, but he didn't really have to.
"Yeah it was, uh a… unfortunate time to lose control of my emotions. Needless to say, I have some...apologizing to do later. A-Anyways, what are we doing up here, you leave your umbrella in class or something?" Lazarus joked as he caught up to Hanta's stride. Hanta chuckled, clearly choosing to accept Lazarus's offer to move on.
"Nah, I'm just double checking that I grabbed everything, I don't want to leave anything on the first day of class after all! It'd be pretty, well…" Hanta began to speak, before a gruff sound echoed from around the next corner.
"It would be irrational." A tired man spoke as he turned the corner, his own bloodshot tired eyes mirrored Lazarus's own. His scraggly nature and long black hair gave him the appearance of some kind of lazy do-nothing, but Lazarus pegged something in the other man's eyes that reminded him of something dangerous.
As Lazarus looked the man over, he couldn't shake the feeling he had seen him before, but Lazarus knew he had never seen the man here at UA, or at his apartment, so he couldn't think of anywhere else he could have known him from.
"Aizawa-Sensei!" Hanta jumped, clearly caught off guard as he greeted who Lazarus guessed was his teacher.
"Sero-kun, I've already swept the homeroom, you didn't leave anything. So go home." Aizawa spoke plainly, his voice lacking energy. Lazarus couldn't help but observe closely, knowing fully that Aizawa would shape class A just as Kan would shape class B. Suddenly, Aizawa looked back.
"Who's this. I don't recognize him." Aizawa's eyes pierced Lazarus, they almost reminded him of Stain's. Though while Stains were filled with a fire, Aizawa's were filled with a cool determination. Lazarus shook it off and stepped forward slightly, offering his hand instinctively, completely unsure if the gesture was too American or not.
"Lazarus, Lazarus Poe. It's a pleasure to meet you Aizawa-...uh...saaaaannn…" Lazarus flickered his eyes from Aizawa's tired face to glance at Hanta, who was wearing a massive frown while waving his hand in front of his throat in a very 'stop' gesture, Lazarus corrected his course.
"-saaaaaaannnnsei, Sensei. Aizawa Sensei." Lazarus finished, yet again glancing at Hanta, who was giving him two thumbs up with a big smile.
"So you're not from around here. Not knowing the customs of where your staying is irrational." Despite Aizawa's words, he did accepte Lazarus's offer with a firm handshake. Lazarus noted that the teachers face never changed. Hanta coughed.
"Yes! Aizawa-Sensei, this is my American friend from class B, Poe-kun." Hanta repeated his introduction. Lazarus glared at his friend as he yet again continued to trend of introducing him as Poe-kun, but he let it slide, this once.
"And Lazarus, this is my teacher, Aizawa-Sensei, but you might know him by his hero name; the erasure hero, Eraserhead!" As Hanta finished, Lazarus stiffened, immediately placing where he had seen Aizawa before.
"Eraserhead?" Lazarus meekly repeated, turning his eyes to stare at Aizawa's own bloodshot eyes. Fear bubbling in his gut.
Newtonia's limp body was thrown against the wall of the alleyway with such force that the wall caved in, bricks and dust obscuring Lazarus's view of his incapacitated sister. As Lazarus hit the ground and tumbled, feeling his body bruise from the distance he had just jumped down from above. He looked at his sister with worry, he would have been terrified for her, if he wasn't so afraid for his own life for once.
Lazarus struggled to get back to his feet, feeling knocked off kilter by the torrential rain and howling wind. He took a moment to wipe the blood and sweat from his neck, fighting with the sudden struggle to see through his mask.
Another massive gust of wind hit him unexpectedly, funneled through the alley like a natural wind tunnel, keeping him on his toes as he battled against the new threat, and the elements. He looked back over his shoulder, seeing his brother halfway out the broken window that Newtonia had been thrown from, guarding himself from Newtonia's attacker as he turned and leaped.
"Newtonia!" Lazarus heard Isaac call as he descended, dressed in his Grav outfit, His brother hit the ground with such force that the street cracked and dented underneath him, leaving a crater which he effortlessly emerged from to look at the hole his sister had been thrown into. Isaac let out a scream that tore through the weather, his brotherly instincts clearly kicking in, as Lazarus immediately noted the fury in his brothers features, even if the other boy's face was hidden behind his own mask.
"Take this you black-haired bastard!" Isaac screamed, throwing out his hands towards the building the two of them had just jumped from. His palms flat, before he squeezed his fingers together forcefully into two half-fists. Before Lazarus could say a word. He felt the air escape from his lungs as his knees buckled.
The entire world seemed to shimmer, Lazarus heard a stray cat screech from nearby as the aging garbage bins groaned in stress. His legs continue to shake, his spine feeling compressed. Isaac pressed on, and before Lazarus's eyes, the entire building before them began to shake.
"Take Newtonia and run! I'll keep the building on lockdown! Get her out of here!" Isaac shouted, the strain evident in his voice as he extended his powers to their limits. Lazarus somehow found the energy to stand, barely.
"I'm not leaving you here Grav! There's gotta be-" Lazarus shouted, trying to make himself heard over the groaning of the objects around them, before instantly, he felt himself straighten, his body decompressing as the rain and wind returned to the only sound around them. Lazarus looked at his brother.
Isaac for his part, looked down at his own hands, still in the same position they were a moment before, Isaac began to flex them again, but before he could, a thick strand of cloth rushed down from above, wrapping fully around Isaac's arm. Isaac barely had time to think before a black figure followed after the cloth, delivering a heavy kick directly to Isaac's exposed chest.
Lazarus watched in disbelief as his brother was thrown like a ragdoll, his body tumbling to the side of the alleyway. Instantly, Lazarus tore his eyes away from his brother, just in time to duck underneath another throw of the cloth, the material ruffling his hair as it passed just over him, before retracting back to the mysterious figure.
A crack of lightning split the sky, and Lazarus saw their foe for the first time, clad in all black, with a pair of yellow goggles and a scarf made of that mysterious cloth. He stood stoically, his eyes locked on Lazarus.
"Who are you? Rival gang? Ninja of vengeance? Deep Well?" Lazarus called out to the figure, balling his fists as he stepped forwards. The attacker remained silent as Lazarus approached. Lazarus cursed.
"I'm a hero." The figure finally answered, a thick accent over his voice, the figure clearly wasn't a native english speaker. Tilting his head, the 'hero' raised his hands into a fighting stance, grabbing the cloth around his neck, which twisted and moved to free an end for him to ready to use.
"We don't want trouble, we aren't part of the gang, we were there to take them out, maybe this is one big misunderstanding." Lazarus stopped his approach, the figure's calm demeanor freezing the liquid fire in his blood. He wanted to make this guy pay for what he did, but for once, Lazarus's wasn't sure if he could.
"Vigilantism is irrational. It is still a crime." The figure replied, slowly, as if trying to remember the words in english. Lazarus couldn't place the figure's accent, but he knew this guy was something else.
Lazarus didn't like having to fight heroes, but every now and then, a sidekick trying to go solo would roll into town and instead of going after the gangs like an actually helpful figure, they would inevitably go after the glory of finding and taking down the local 'Masks' that were 'destabilizing' the city, so far, the three of them had survived. Barely.
Lazarus didn't hesitate, instantly, he darted forward, keeping his hands up as he weaved to the side, intent on nailling the figure's exposed ribs. The figure moved so quickly, Lazarus could barely follow with his eyes. Instantly, Lazarus's hand was grabbed and his body was wrapped in that damn cloth, his movement instantly constricted as he was spun around and knocked to the ground. The Hero putting a single foot on Lazarus's chest, staring down at his ensnared prey.
"You are kids." The man spoke, the English not quite coming out right. Lazarus assumed the comment was meant to be chiding, or perhaps mournful, instead, Lazarus took it as a rather blunt insult as his face turned red with anger.
"Hey! Let me outta this forced blanket and I'll show you how much of a kid I am! You think you're tough with your cool kung-fu ninja scarf and wearing goggles at night! I'll give you a taste of a real-" Lazarus continued to struggle as the man pressed down on Lazarus's chest with a little more force, silencing him.
"There are always consequences for your actions. Accept it." The hero spoke, looking down on Lazarus, who felt heat continue to irradiate off of him in waves,his face feeling like an oven. Sometimes, Lazarus wondered if he had a heat type quirk he had just never fully realized.
"Sorry, Hero, I don't want to hurt you…I really really don't..." Isaacs voice drifted over from behind them, but before the Hero could turn, Lazarus felt the rain around him become as forceful as rocks pelting his flesh.
The hero hunched over and grunted, as the gravity around them seemingly octupled in force. From behind the Hero's hunched head, Lazarus saw Isaac, standing on shaky feet with one arm leaning against the wall, his mask had shattered half way, revealing that one of his blue eyes were swollen shut from the fight. Lazarus felt his gut sink, his brother may have looked tough, but he knew Isaac had barely any pain tolerance. Still, his brother continued to press, his hand turning shaky as he continued to grab at the air.
"...and sorry Lich, I know this isn't going to be comfortable...but with everything on the line, I hope you two understand…" Isaac coughed, a bit of blood leaking out of his mouth as it dripped out from under his mask, his hand closed further and Lazarus felt the strain on his body increase.
"I can't afford to hold back now!" Isaac shouted as he finally closed his hand fully, channelling his quirk and forcing himself to his limits.
Instantly, Lazarus felt the foot on his gut turn into a knee as the Hero was forced down ontop of him. Lazarus wasn't fairing much better, feeling every bone in his body shift as he began to feel like a pancake. He felt something give inside.
"Yeah, oh, that was my appendix, that's gone now, this is not comfortable." Lazarus gritted his teeth as he felt the hero's knees shake. The hero was still somehow keeping his hands on the ground and his torso upright, slowly turning his head to the side to look at Isaac.
"I'm sorry! I don't want to do this to you sir! But I have to protect my family!" Isaac cried, his arm turning purple and blue as bruises spread from his fingertips. He reached with his other hand, grabbing his outwards hand to keep it steady, leaning his body fully against the wall.
The Hero finally turned his head, in a single sharp gesture to look at Isaac, and instantly, the force stopped.
Lazarus took a deep breath, gasping as he finally put two and two together.
"...Quirk...suppression..?" Lazarus raspy voice barely managed to make a sound above a whisper, as Isaac began to quickly open and close his hand, he saw panic set in as his brother began to shake his head in disbelief.
The hero stood, rolling his shoulders as if he hadn't just felt the force of a bus being placed down on top of him, Lazarus reached out and grabbed at the Hero's shoe, wrapping an arm feebly around it.
"You...won't hurt...hi-" Before Lazarus could finish, the Hero kicked, knocking Lazarus onto his back. At the same moment, Isaac let out a war cry, swinging his non-bruised fist at the Hero, who sidestepped the attack and tripped Isaac, wrapping him up in his Cloth on the way down.
Lazarus stood and charged, feeling his anger peak as he engaged the Hero. The Hero ducked underneath, grabbing Lazarus around the neck and pinning his arms behind his back. Lazarus felt his throat constrict, the Hero's chokehold quickly sapping the strength from Lazarus's already battered body.
"...you…" Lazarus choked out, feeling the heat quickly extinguish from his face, draining along with the colour. The Hero tightened his grip mercilessly.
"Sleep. You've lost, admit it. Two children and a little girl are not a fair matchup." The Hero spoke, a strike of lightning punctuated the Hero's decree, and Lazarus felt defeat, along with fatigue, begin to overtake him. Lazarus tried to twist his head to get some small gasp of air into his lungs, but wherever he turned, the Hero's grip remained constantly even. However, as Lazarus looked to the side, he saw a blur coming from behind the Hero.
As if sensing something from Lazarus's sudden surprise, the Hero released Lazarus's arms while keeping the headlock, throwing his elbow backwards. Lazarus saw Newtonia's bruised and angry body rushing the Hero from behind. Her face was contorted in singular, focused determination. Lazarus saw the elbow fly towards her face, but before it could connect, Lazarus saw a flash in Newtonia's eye, and the elbow stopped dead, it's momentum completely halted in an instant.
Lazarus felt the stiffness in the Hero's body at the effect of Newtonia's quirk, seizing his chance, Lazarus used what little energy he had left to reach up with his now unpinned hands and threw them over the Hero's eyes, blinding him momentarily.
"Where do you get off calling me a little girl, huh?" Newtonia spat with venom. The blinded Hero tried to throw his cloth out, (with to Lazarus, terrifying accuracy), but just like his elbow, it froze in mid air and fell to the floor an inch before touching Newtonia.
Newtonia sudddenly ducked, moving inbetween Lazarus and the Hero by rolling underneath his legs, throwing an uppercut at the Hero as she stood. In the instant before she connected, Lazarus saw a flicker in Newtonia's eye as she released the energy she had stored.
"Take a little opposite reaction! You hobo-looking freak!" Newtonia laughed maniacally, instantly, the Hero was thrown up into the air by his own former energy. Both Lazarus and Isaac toppled to the floor. Newtonia didn't sit on the opportunity.
"Get off your ass and help damn it! Isaac! Hit him with the combo!" Newtonia flipped her head and threw her long damp blond hair off her mask. Isaac whimpered from the ground.
"My arms...my head...they hurt so much-" Isaac began to speak, his eyes dazed and misty, as if he wasn't quite sure where he was, Newtonia grabbed him by half of his broken mask and pulled him up.
"Oh, do your arms hurt? Boo hoo! Do the damn combo! Or do you want us all to die?" Newtonia shouted in Isaac's face. Almost instantly, Lazarus saw the fire reignite in Isaac's eyes as he shoved Newtonia aside with his good hand, reaching out with his bruised arm up into the sky.
Above, Lazarus could see the Hero recovering as he hit the peak of his arc, the cloth around his head expanding in the cold air as he seemingly prepared to come back down on them with a vengeance. Isaac had other ideas.
With a agonizing cry, Isaac closed his hand again. Instantly, the Hero vanished from the sky, propelled towards the ground with such speed that in the time it took Lazarus to look back down at the ground, the Hero had already hit it. The impact caused dust to fly into the air, once again obscuring the already limited vision the weather provided.
Isaac lowered his hand, clutching at his now entirely black and blue arm with his other hand, his eyes were focused and alert.
"Masks! Scatter!" Isaac called, the three of them turned as one, booking it away from the impact point. However, Lazarus heard something from the impact, and without thinking, threw his body out to the side to put himself between his siblings and the Hero behind them.
As soon as he did, the hero's cloth flew from the impact and wrapped itself around Newtonia's leg if Lazarus's own wasn't in the way. Instantly, Lazarus was on his chest, the breath knocked out of him as he was dragged backwards.
"Lich!" Newtonia called over her shoulder, freezing momentarily. Without thinking, Lazarus pulled his cube from his pouch and threw it along the ground, wincing at each time it bounced before resting a few inches away from her foot. Newtonia grabbed it and nodded, grabbing Isaac by the arm and dragging him forward with her.
"Brother no!" Isaac declared, drunkenly stumbling away as Newtonia pulled him, clearly not in his right mind from spreading himself so thin. Instantly, Lazarus turned onto his back, just in time to see the Hero rising from the crater, his face dark and serious.
"What's the matter hero? Little under the weather by getting outsmarted by a bunch of 'kids', huh?" Lazarus couldn't help but smile, in truth, simply trying to buy his siblings a little more time to escape, the hero grunted.
"I'll get them later. You did not escape." The Hero asserted. Lazarus looked the other man over, even after their most powerful combo move, the Hero looked at best lightly injured. Lazarus felt a shiver go down his spine, he couldn't imagine what that fight would have been like without his siblings with him.
"What's your name, hero?" Lazarus asked, tilting his head with a fake grin. In truth, he was just providing a cover to reach into his hidden back holster for his 'last resort'. The Hero frowned.
"Erasurehead. If you think you're going to be able to get me with that blade your reaching for, you are very mistaken." Erasurehead spoke without hesitation, easily seeing through Lazarus's ruse, though not entirely.
"I know I won't be able to hit you." Lazarus chuckled before pulling out the knife, and in the instant Erasure moved to defend and disarm him, Lazarus drew the blade across his own throat.
Lazarus gave Erasurehead credit, he didn't hesitate an instant further, kicking the knife away from Lazarus and wrapping his cloth around Lazarus's wounded throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding, however, Lazarus's already beaten body as well as the growing distance between him and his cube finally caught up to him as his body failed.
The last thing Lazarus saw was the Hero take off his goggles as he felt Lazarus began to slip into death. Erasurehead's eyes were filled to the brim with a mix of defeat and confused anger. Eyes that would burn their way into his memory for weeks after the event. Lazarus closed his eyes and spoke, forcing an unearthly clairity into his voice.
"We'll meet again Erasurehead, and next time, you won't get the jump on me…until next time."
And then, Lazarus died.
Lazarus froze, his memory fully restored as he remained holding onto Aizawa's hand for an almost uncomfortable amount of time. Suddenly he released and backed away from the pro hero.
"ERA- oh, ha! Erasurehead, hey, I'm a big fan! I love your uh, American work." Lazarus laughed nervously as he took another step away, bumping into Hanta who had circled behind him.
"Dude, I shouldn't need to tell you it's rude to walk away from a conversation." Hanta muttered in his ear and he pushed him back towards Aizawa, who was blankly staring back at him. Lazarus began to sweat, it had been nearly two years, did the pro still even remember it?
"I haven't done any 'American work' and I'm not the type of hero to have a fan club." Aizawa coldly replied, his eyes scanning Lazarus for something Lazarus couldn't read. He couldn't tell if it was his own behaviour prompting the scepticism, or was it Aizawa remembering something.
"You- you sure? Haha, well I thought I must have seen you somewhere…" Lazarus scratched the back of his head and continued to laugh slightly too loud for what the situation actually called for. Hanta tried to join in to support him, but quickly tapped out when Aizawa's eyes flickered to him for a second before returning to Lazarus.
"I have been to America before, but on highly private, highly sensitive work, only a few people ever knew I went there…" Aizawa's eyes narrowed, Lazarus gulped.
"Where in America are you from that you would have seen me?" Aizawa's question freezes the blood in his veins, Lazarus opened his mouth, then closed it again.
Lazarus saw two answers before him, one, tell the truth, which was the easiest to do, but also risked jogging Aizawa's currently incompleat mind. Lazarus decided to go with option B.
"I don't know." Lazarus spoke with such certainty that he even surprised himself alongside Hanta and Aizawa.
"You don't know where you're from?" Aizawa asked, clearly now questioning Lazarus's sanity instead of his origins, which had its own pros and cons.
"No, well, actually, yes, I do know where I'm from, but no. I mean I lied, I have no idea who you are or where the hell you've been, I was just trying to net some free brownie points by recognizing you.
"Then how did you know I went to America on hero business?" Aizawa asked, his even tone lifting slightly, showing some genuine curiosity, Lazarus felt the same genuine curiosity inside himself as he wondered what the hell the next few words out of his mouth would be.
"I didn't. I took a wild guess and you proved me right. It wasn't too much a shot in the dark to think that any pro worth his salt has been to America at some point, right?" Lazarus reasoned, impressing himself with his constant stream of crap coming out of his mouth at once. Aizawa leaned back slightly, thinking on Lazarus's words. Lazarus saw his opportunity to get out of the situation.
"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Aizawa sensei, but I've gotta skedaddle, so, until next time!" Lazarus smiled as he turned grabbing Hanta by the shoulder and pushing him along. Lazarus froze when he heard Aizawa mumble from behind him.
"...until next time?" Aizawa's voice was low, but Lazarus still heard it, his blood running cold at his own words being reflected back at him. He turned over his shoulder and smiled. Aizawa was not smiling back.
"There's something off about you, Poe-kun, was it? Something about your reaction to me has been very irrational. I'll be keeping my eye on you. Have a good day. Get some rest." Aizawa switched from bored, to threatening, to teacher with such rapid speed, Lazarus could barely register all three comments before Aizawa walked away, leaving the two of them alone in the hallway.
Hanta looked over his own shoulder, inspecting Lazarus's stressed face with a tired emptiness in his eyes.
"A Lich thing?" Hanta asked, already knowing fully well what the answer was.
"Yeah, Lich thing, sorry." Lazarus mumbled, not meeting Hanta's eyes, the other boy sighed.
"Alright, I'll drop it, but you owe me an explanation later." Hanta readjusted his bag strap and began to walk back to the stairs, Lazarus quickly stumbled to keep up, smiling with what he hoped was earnesty.
"You're the best friend a guy could ask for, Hanta." Lazarus placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, who simply deflated at the gesture, looking away.
"Too good. I swear Lazarus, you may the one who comes back, but you're going to put me into an early grave. Sometimes I wonder if I'm your friend or just your get out of jail free card." Hanta mumbled, clearly half-joking, but something struck a nerve inside Lazarus, a very private nerve. He recoiled his hand from Hanta's shoulder, biting his cheek as he slowed down slightly, feeling his blood run cold.
"You coming, Lazarus?" Hanta called out, turning around to face him with a thumb pointing over his shoulder to the stairway down, Lazarus still couldn't meet his eyes, a swell of emotions he didn't want to deal with surfacing.
"Y-yeah, uh, I think I'm going to take a look around this floor, actually, get use to it, you know?" Lazarus turned away, pretending to inspect the fire-escape map on the wall beside him, he could feel Hanta's eyes on his back.
"I thought we were going to walk to the station together?" Lazarus noted the disappointment in Hanta's voice, and as much as he wanted to catch up more on the day, a sudden guilt overpowered all his other feelings.
"Yeah, sorry! I just want to take a look around, I promise, tomorrow for sure. I'm not this flaky normally, most of the time!" Lazarus forced a little cheer into his voice, but his heart wasn't into it. Hanta picked up on it instantly.
"Did...did I say something?" Hanta's face dropped, and finally, Lazarus overcame his sudden guilt to meet his friends eyes, managing a smile. Even if he didn't feel it.
"You didn't say anything untruthful…" Lazarus whispered, his voice meek and more then a little defeated.
"What?" Hanta asked, cuping a hand over his ear and taking a step towards Lazarus.
"I said, 'of course not you stupid tapehead!' get outta here! Obviously we're cool! I'm just a little worried about getting lost. I have enough problems doing well in school that being late is not a problem I need!" Lazarus yet again impressed himself with the quality of his lie. Hanta seemed to buy it too, releaf washing over his features.
"Okay! Cool! No problem Lazarus, you have a good day, alright bro?" Hanta tried to lift the mood, finger gun-mocking Lazarus as he walked off. Lazarus leaned against the wall and waved him off, his heart still not quite fully committed.
Hanta hesitated as he got to the end of the hall, clearly still sensing something off about Lazarus's behavior. Lazarus watched Hanta look both ways nervously before calling back.
"Hey uh, you know...Love you! Haha! Ha...hah.." Hanta immediately looked around, hoping that no one saw the awkward declaration. Lazarus couldn't help but finally lose it, his emotions put aside as he laughed.
"Say it loud and proud or not at all, 'I love you Hanta Sero, my dear and loving brother-from-another-mother!' like that!" Lazarus cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, not quite at the top of his lungs, but louder then Hanta was probably hoping.
"Ehhahahhaaa!" Hanta made a guttural sound, looking around more rapidly for any signs of life, thankfully, the hallways was still empty. Finally, Hanta took a deep breath, and giving Lazarus one last smile, slipped down the stairs and out of view.
Lazarus kept his smile until Hanta got out of view, before it finally fell, dragging his shoulders down with it as his whole body slid down the wall till he sat on his behind, his knees against his chest.
Lazarus looked out the glass on the other side of the hall, he noticed one of the panels had been taken out for repair, and a crude wooden plank had been placed midway up the empty space, while it's intention clearly was to stop students from accidentally falling to their death, it also served the purpose of blocking out the sun, leading to a dark shadow to fall across Lazarus's face. He let out a sigh. Lamenting on his thoughts.
"...just like a get out of jail free card...yeah...yeah that's what I do...that's who I am...I am...so sorry Hanta…" Lazarus mumbled to himself as he pressed his knees in tighter to his body, letting his mind yet again be ruled by his emotions as he drowned in his self pity.
"I'm saying Deku! I heard someone screaming 'I love you from down here!" A bubbly feminine voice drifted down the hall, instantly shocking Lazarus out of his party of one. Rising to his feet, he ran a hand through his hair out of habit, brushing himself off as he head voices grow closer from around the corner.
"There should be no yelling in the halls! I will make sure they know it is against school policy to shout unnecarilly in the hallways, the academic environment of this school must be preserved!" A loud and firm male voice seemingly replied, at a comically loud volume itself.
"Don't you end up shouting a lot in the hallways though, Ilda-kun?" The female voice replied, identifying the other voice as Ilda.
"Do I? I have always simply considered my voice to be at an appropriate volume to make myself heard! If it is in fact too loud, I will work to considerably lower my volume moving forward." As the voices drew even closer, it almost didn't offset the ridiculous quieting of Ilda's voice with each passing second. As if Ilda was some kinda robot and someone was gradually turning down his volume knob.
As the voices finally turned the corner, and Lazarus had a face to put to a voice, he saw the girl first. She had shoulder length brown hair and wore a big smile (which Lazarus assumed was a regular feature of the bubbly-sounding girl).
The taller boy, Ilda, he assumed, had short black hair and a pair of glasses. His face seemed almost robotically set and serious. He immediately reminded Lazarus of a somewhat Japanese verison of Isaac, which Lazarus wasn't sure if he was happy about or not.
As the two rounded the corner and faced him, they both blinked in surprise at actually finding someone in the empty hall, however, before Lazarus could introduce himself, a third figure stepped out from between the other two, a mess of green hair immediately drawing Lazarus's eyes as he felt a rush of terror unlike anything he had ever felt before.
"AH! THE WEIRD GUY FROM THE QUIRK REGISTRATION LINEUP!" Izuku screamed.
"AH! THE SWEET SWEET SMILING PRINCE!" Lazarus screamed back.