Much faster than the last update, if things go well, I'll be able to release another one this month. Also, I got to watch the Mario movie and I enjoyed it, even as someone who never played a single Nintendo game in their lives, I could appreciate the love and care that went in when we all know they could have phoned it in and made a profit. Wonder if they'll make a sequel which focuses on Luigi hunting ghosts or something. As for me, I'm working on another MHA story, but it's a crossover with the Naruto universe and I'm taking my time ironing out the details. However, I should have something to post within 2 weeks or so, so if you see it, please check it out and give your thoughts.
Chapter 11: Their first encounter.
Despite his choices, Izuku found that he wasn't quite used to seeing such destruction yet. The attack on Hosu had already begun, with Shigaraki having taken their advice to heart as his choice of which of those…Nomu to deploy, and where to deploy them was a good choice. Even more when they factored in the regular patrols of known pros in the area, forcing those ill-suited to fight into an uphill surprised attack and those who could either be forced to handle crowd control, or waste time rushing to where they could fight.
Still, he couldn't help but frown underneath his helmet as he watched the flames spread, knowing that Shigaraki had left his anger against Stain win out, the destruction spreading out needlessly, but if their client wouldn't listen, it wasn't their business what he did. If one couldn't ignore the less palatable aspects of a client's personality or actions, you wouldn't survive long in the world of mercenaries and hired guns. "All I'm saying is that is it too much to ask for him to focus the damn temper AWAY from where the targets are?" White Fang complained as they stood on a rooftop, close to where the armoured cars carrying their payday would divert to avoid the chaos, or at least, should divert if Tomura had stuck to the plan.
"It can't be helped, all we can do is work with the cards we're dealt. We'll keep track of things here, Taskmaster." Night-Owl calmed her down, his robes fluttering in the night breeze as he paid no mind to the fires, police sirens and screams in the distance. "Why don't you search for Stain."
"Already know where he is," Taskmaster replied, turning to the side as his visor pinged Stain's locations, something he knew thanks to him planting 3 other bugs on the man in their second encounter, 1 of which he hadn't seemed to have found. With his target clear to him, he dashed off the roof, rushing towards him as he jumped and vaulted from roof to roof, covering the distance much faster than he would have been able to not even that long ago. It was this speed and precision in free-running that allowed him to get to the alley where the signal was coming from, seeing that Stain was predictable, standing over a pro-Native was his name, the Native-American-styled pro already defeated with Stain poised to kill but in the corner of his eye, he spotted a white blur heading towards the man, but as he reached for one of his throwing knives, Stain easily batted the blur aside, knocking their helmet clean off.
Taskmaster was…intrigued by what he was seeing, with Ingenium crippled, this must have been his younger brother, he recalled his performance from the UA sports festival just the previous week. He had a good quirk, but was stiff and unimaginative with it; quite gullible as well considering that support student managed to trick him into wearing gear she could easily be sabotaged. Still, his mental profile of the boy didn't match up with what he was seeing, so he stayed his hand for a moment to watch and see how things unfolded, it wasn't like Stain needed his help against a first-year hero student.
"What is this? A child wearing a suit?" Stain asked as he saw that the person on the ground didn't look all that old, maybe in their early 20s at best but more likely to be in their teens. "Get lost boy, this isn't a place to play dress-up." He told the boy as he prepared to continue with his murder but the boy didn't seem to care.
"Multiple blades of varying sizes, a scarf as crimson as the blood you spill, there's no doubt about it," Iida said aloud as he accounted all that was known about the appearance of the Hero Killer as he worked himself onto his knees. "You must be the Hero Killer: Stain!"
'So he knows who I am, and yet he still stands there, and with such eyes.' Stain observed him as he could tell the look of hatred from a mile away and the fires of furry burned brightly in this one.
"I have been searching for you! Though I didn't think I'll find you so soon." Iida said as his eyes grew even colder, so cold that he didn't even notice that there was a third person present as he locked his attention on Stain and Stain alone. He would have gotten up and continued if not for the fact Stain moved his blade to within an inch of Iida's face.
"You don't need to say more kid, your eyes say it all. You're here for vengeance, aren't you? You better pick your next words carefully because depending on what they are, you may find out that even children can become a target of mine." Stain told him, he didn't have the time for the patience for a young fool getting in his way, if he proved himself a fake like Native, then he would share his fate.
"So what you're saying I'm not even a target, a threat to you?" Iida said to himself in both anger and slight disbelief as he locked eyes with Stain once more, showing that he wasn't scared of him. "Then listen here, criminal!" He started as he started to get back up to his feet, the blade never too far from his face or neck.
"I am the younger brother to a hero you attacked, the blood of a man that was and will always be a wonderful older brother!" He said as he thought back to his brother and all the times, he watched his work. "I came here to stop you in his place, to get justice for what you did to him! Remember this name for as long as you draw breath." He continued with growing ferocity in his tone.
"Ingenium! That is the name of the hero that will defeat you!" Iida proclaimed as he got back up, standing tall even against the Hero Killer. He made a vow to himself that he would take vengeance for his brother and right here and now, he would take that shot-no matter the cost.
"I see." Stain stated as he dropped Native to the ground and turned to face Iida fully.
.
.
.
"Then die." He finished as he judged Iida to just be another fake, young as he may be, in his eyes, he was already too far gone to bother trying to reform, so he would meet his end in this alley. He won't live to see his brother again.
"Face justice!" Iida yelled as he tried to land even a single hit on Stain, but the hero killer dodged around his attack as if he was moving in slow motion.
"You're still a novice. This isn't even a fight." Stain stated as he jumped over a low kick before landing a heavy palm strike to Iida's chest, forcing him back.
"Shut up!" Iida yelled back in rage as he launched himself right back it, mixing in punches along with his engine-boosted kicks but it was as if Stain knew what he was going to try before he did. 'Dammit, how is he doing this? Is this his quirk? A speed booster as well?'
"You said that you're Ingenium's brother, right?" Stain asked as he closed the distance and punched him right in the face, breaking his glasses and his nose in a single hit. Sending Iida reeling from the pain. Just as he blinked away the tears, he that Stain was right in front of him, seemingly in mid-air.
"How did he…?" Iida tried to ask himself but before he could even react, Stain who had jumped over to him, slammed his spiked boot right into Iida's shoulder, causing the boy to cough out a wheeze of pain as the force of the blow sent him back first into the ground. The hero killer landed right on his chest with a heavy thud, the weight of the body cracking a rib or two.
"Don't think you can match me. The only reason he survived his punishment…was because I allowed him, to spread the word of my teachings in the hopes it would drive the fakes and liars away from the hero profession." Stain revealed before he pointed his sword right at Iida's face so that he could see the cold steel that would take his life. "But the fact you still stand here, trying to fight me tells me that didn't work." He finished as he raised the blade high, with Iida being powerless to stop him as he looked on with both rage and fear in his eyes.
"You're just another weakling." Stain finished as he brought down the blade.
SLASH
"Arg-!" Iida coughed out blood as the blade easily cut through his white padding, cloth, skin, and flesh. Leaving a clean slash from just shy of his lower right lung to his left waist.
"You and your fake brother, are both weak. Because you are not real heroes." Stain stated as he got off the boy and watched as he tried to move through the pain of what was a serious injury as he was sure he nicked organs in that attack.
"S-shut u-up, you vill-lain." Iida cursed at him, even as blood flowed out of his mouth along with spit. "Because of you, he's crippled from the waist d-down." He said with tears in his eyes as he remembered the first time, he had ever seen his brother in action, and how proud he was of him. "H….He can't work as a hero anymore..."
"He is….a wonderful…hero, who led people and s-saved lives!" That one came out with an angry cough of blood, seems like the injury was catching up to him. "There was no reason for you to crus" Iida now couldn't even finish the sentence, the pain building as he reached out with one hand to apply pressure to his wound, to try and stem the bleeding. "He didn't deserve your twisted judgment."
"He….he was a wonderful hero who gave me a dream to live for!" Iida was now openly crying, though the Hero killer didn't appear to care about his tears. "A-and yo-you cut him down like a weed! I won't, I'll never forgive you…I kill you!" He vowed to himself as he tried to move, the adrenaline in his veins numbing the pain as he worked himself back up to a seated position.
"Worry about saving that guy first." Stain, not caring that Iida was managing to climb back up to his feet, pointed towards the downed pro in the corner with his blade. His words caught Iida off guard as he turned his gaze to the man he hadn't even noticed up till now.
'Wait, there was someone else here?' Iida thought to himself, his blood running cold as he just realized that he never noticed him.
"Isn't that the job of a hero, to save people in need? To use your power and skill not for yourself but for the greater good and your fellow man?" Stain asked him, unimpressed with the boy's rage-filled rampage as he lifted his blade once more, this time towards his face.
"From the moment I saw such hate in your eyes, I knew that you're a fake." Stan mocked him, this time though, Iida, didn't offer up any rebuke, too lost in his failure to reply. "You didn't even notice him, did you? Too clouded was your vision, all you wanted to do was seek petty revenge rather than save him." Stain belittled him with a scoff as Iida lowered his head. "Disgusting, that's the furthest thing from a hero. Period."
"And that's why," Stain finished as he licked the blood off the blade. "You're going to die tonight."
"Wha-"Within an instant, Iida become paralyzed, his unstable stance making it so that he fell back down face fist, which even though he hurt to fall on his hand while it was still next to his wound, he couldn't even instinctively flinch, which meant even reflexes were down. 'What is this….sensation, I know that I should have problems moving but….I can't move at all….I'm stuck!' Iida thought to himself as a cold sweat formed on his face, the weight of the situation barreling down on him as he strained his eyes to look at his aggressor. 'Just what the hell did he do to me?'
Right as Stain raised his blade again, this time aiming to take Iida's head off, something drew his attention as he looked up at someone that Iida wasn't able to see from his prone position on the ground. "What are you doing here?"
"I had known about your quirk, but I have to say that I appreciate the chance to see it in action with my own two eyes," Taskmaster spoke up, jumping down from the rooftop into the alley, landing with the grace and silence of a cat as he stood to his full height. "I had thought you wouldn't heed the warning to stay away, the promise of heroes' blood too much to ignore?"
"You didn't answer my question." Stain didn't move from his spot over Iida, the boy also watching this strange new villain, one that seemingly knew Stain.
"I suppose I didn't, but I have a feeling you know the answer to it. So why waste my breath?" Taskmaster's reply didn't give Iida anything to work as, as the two were seemingly keeping their discussion vague.
"We agreed on 2 days, it's only been a few hours." Stain's reply got Taskmaster to chuckle, as he didn't recall them agreeing to anything, that was what Taskmaster had told him but he wasn't about to mess with his image in front of the two heroes.
"I know, but wouldn't be beneficial for you to be able to escape before the heroes get here? Endeavour's on the scene and you'll never get close enough to him to have a shot at killing him." Taskmaster had heard from Gingerbread that the flame hero was in the city, no doubt aiding in the search for their bladed-wielding companion.
If the news of Endeavour being present surprised Stain, he didn't let it show as his gaze moved from Iida towards Native, who was struggling to even move as these two villains discussed like there wasn't a crisis going on all around them. "I'll take your advice, for now, but first I need to despatch with this fake and the boy."
"That's it?" Taskmaster asked him. Stain nodded his head as he turned his blade to finish off the hero, but in a moment, Taskmaster beat him to it, drawing his pistol and shooting it in the same motion. Iida had never heard a gun being fired, sure his family had long worked in the hero business but pros almost always handled incidents before the police could get there, so his only real source of seeing them in use was in movies and shows. All of them made them sound like thunder or massive repeating bolts. This was different, there was a loud bang, closer to an overcharged firecracker popping and the next thing he knew, Native's head was slamming into the wall behind him, a bloody spatter across his forehead from where the bullet made its coin-sized entry, the splash on the wall being far larger.
In a mere moment, he had watched the pro hero Native die, his corpse falling over in a slump. He and Stain turned their gaze back to the villain who did the deed, his pistol-far larger than anything Iida had seen villains and cops use in fiction, still raised with its barrels smoking. But where Iida was stunned silent with some fear and disgust forming in him at the callous, cold murder he had witnessed, Stain only looked at him dryly, not phased in the slightest.
"Did you have to kill my prey?" Stain asked as the man put his gun away, no shame or regard for life in his stance or his words.
"I hate drawing things out. if you need to kill someone, try to kill them quickly. I like to believe we're killers, not animals." Taskmaster replied though Iida wanted to vomit at hearing this monster dare say something like that after what he just did! Stain, on the other hand, gave him a side glance and a small smile, as if his opinion of the man rose just a little.
"What a weird creed, but I won't condemn you for it. people that play with their targets are mindless beasts." Stain replied as he turned to kill Iida, the boy helpless on the ground as he watched the blade of his execution rise. It was by luck that he was saved as Taskmaster noticed something coming up behind him at high speed, on instinct he jumped jump and grabbed a fire escape ladder, allowing the ob-no, person to fly right on by where he was and straight towards Stain, he proved too slow to react to the kick from the second hero.
"Get away from him!" Uravity yelled as she kicked the villain away, having raced here as fast as she could using her new power-move Astro-form, combining the power of her quirk Zero Gravity to remove her gravity, and the power of One for All being spread her entire body, she could boast all her physical capabilities twenty-fold, with added boasts to her speed and jumping power.
"U-Uraraka…?" Iida asked, shocked at seeing her there, more so by the fact she seemed to glow as pink lightning bounced off randomly.
"The gravity girl from the festival? Well, certainly wasn't expecting this." Taskmaster said to himself, also caught off guard by this new move as he didn't know how her quirk could evolve like this.
"I heard the gunshot and rushed over, I'm here to save you, Iida!" Uraraka told him, keeping an eye on both villains as Stain slid to a stop a short distance away while the other landed after avoiding her surprise attack, equipping the shield she saw on his back and a sword. As she turned her eyes to the rest of the place, she saw Native's body not too far away, slouched on the floor with a large blood splatter on the wall. 'Native's dead? That must have been what the shoot was for.' She felt like vomiting at the sight of the corpse but suppressed that urge and its revulsion to focus on the present.
'Stain's in front of me, and there the other one behind me. I can't just grab Iida and run, I need to touch them both to give us a chance to escape, get help.' Uraraka saw that the odds were against her and that at least one of the villains had a gun to have killed Native with. She was good with her quirk and worked hard to train her second one ever since she met All Might but she wasn't sure she could stand up against the two threats. Her best bet was distracting them long enough to grab Iida, remove his gravity and rush on out of there, she didn't know what the villain in the skull mask's quirk was, but she was pretty sure Stain didn't give him increased speed or flight so if she could get some distance between them…
"But…how?" Iida asked, she wasn't even supposed to be in the city, how did she get here from her internship so fast? The attack had only been going on for 15 minutes at best!
"They were talking about it on the news, how most of Stain's victims were found in alleys. When I heard you separated from Manuel, I knew something was up." Uraraka, not knowing that he wanted to know, answered the question she thought he had as she and Gran Torino had been travelling through when a Nomu had attacked their train. He had left to fight the best off it, and she had jumped into the fray after the fact to help where she could. It didn't take long to find out how bad things were as the heroes struggled against the monsters, with Manuel aiding them as he yelled that his intern had gone missing. Hearing that, she realized why he was gone, why he chose Hosu and prayed she was wrong.
"Can you move…how injured are you?" Uraraka asked her friend and classmate.
"He…stabbed me earlier, but I…can't move, at all…" She turned to him, surprised when she heard that as he didn't look that bad, surely, he could get up, right?
"Ever since…he cut me…It has to be…his quirk…" Iida's response got her to focus back on Stain, who watched the two with an observant eye.
"So, I can't let me cut me." She whispered to herself. She heard the rumours, but not enough to have a good idea of what his quirk was. And while she was sure she was faster than him, Stain was someone that excelled in blades and close quarters and had already taken out fully trained heroes.
"Uraraka…!" Iida's got her attention once more, as she saw him, despite his own words about being immobilised, trying to get back up. "Don't get involved." She did a double take here, as Stain's gaze switched from the observant one he had on her to a dismissive glare as he looked at Iida. Taskmaster, for his part, chuckled as he watched this little banter, wondering just what was going through the boy's head if he thought he had any chance.
"This has…nothing to do with you…!" He managed to get out, with Uraraka looking at him with confusion and anger as his words registered. She didn't know if she wanted to kick him or yell at him after hearing something so insane, so selfish as a cry for a solo battle he must know he couldn't win. He was already done; a pro was dead and he thought he had a shot!
"What?" Before he could respond, Taskmaster's amusement grabbed their attention as the man shook, no-he was shaking in laughter at Iida's line and while he appeared far more relaxed than Stain, she wasn't going to think for a second he wasn't as dangerous and merely pretending to be open.
"Clever girl, this one is. And a real caring person if she came running all the way here for you." He twirled his blade as he got a little closer, Uraraka rising her guard as this villain treated this like a game. "It's a real shame that you worried her, little Ingenium, more so because she's going to die for it." His words chilled their bones, as he didn't say them like it was a threat, but a statement of fact. With those words, Uraraka could tell that he was the real deal and that that mask had been the last sight for who knew how many.
"I care little for the girl, but the brat's proving all the more why he has to die. If you're going to help, focus on her and try not to kill her. She has the potential to be a true hero." Stain cut in, drawing their attention as his gaze remained firmly on Iida.
"Why not? Alright, little girl, you want to play here, let's play!" Taskmaster said as he dashed in, so fast that Uraraka just barely escaped the swing that would have taken her head, but it did cut into the top part of her helmet, damaging it. In a panic, she pumped up her Astro-form to its max power, 8% and jumped back towards a wall before she leapt back at him, trying to use her speed to catch him off guard but Taskmaster rose his shield to block her kick, though he did slide back a little from the impact. Using his shield as a springboard, she quickly leapt back towards Iida, tapping him as she flew on by, removing his gravity as she tried to do the same to Stain but he avoided her hands, and nearly cut them off in response if not for her quick reaction.
Not giving them to react, she leapt back from Stain, straining her legs to their max as she landed next to Iida, and without pause or thought-kicked him into the air as hard as she dared, knocking the air out of him as he went up and up and up, not stopping. Stain, seeing his prey escaping, leapt onto the same fire escape Taskmaster grabbed and started to ascend after the still paralysed boy, but Uraraka gave chase, leaping after him and landing a kick which sent him back down to earth, crashing into a dumpster. She didn't have time to do more to push him as Taskmaster's shield smacked right into her, knocking her back a bit as she turned to see it bouncing off the walls as returned to his hands like a frisbee.
With his shield returned, Taskmaster went right on after her and leapt for her, forcing her to discharge air from her boots to gain altitude over him and avoid his attack, but he wasn't done as landed and rolled, he sheathed his blade and drew a bow, and arrow notched and ready which he fired at her. She twisted her body out of the way of it, but as it was about to pass her, she saw that its head wasn't what she was expecting, as there was a ring of lights changing from red to green and once all were green, the arrow exploded. The force of it didn't hurt her nearly as much as normally would, partly due to it being much weaker than the blasts Bakugo let off on the regular, and partly due to the fact her Astro-walk boosted her durability. Nevertheless, she was sent into a wall with a thud. With her distracted, Stain was up and running, moving to kill Iida as she grits her teeth and pushed off the wall, trying to touch him but he avoided her once more and kept coming. In desperation, she turned up the power of One for All to 20% and flicked one finger at the villain, and the other at the ground to counteract it. The concentrated air caught Stain off guard as the burst of air slammed into his stomach, forcing his lungs to empty as he missed his mark and came back down, only saving himself from the ground by stabbing his blade into the wall, slowing his descent.
Two more arrows came for her and having learned her lesson, she made sure to put as much distance between herself and then as she could, however, this too was a trap as through the smoke from the duel explosions, another arrow came flying right for her and would have pierced her stomach of she once more she pushed One for All, and just fired off one finger, blowing her back to the ground where she saw that Taskmaster had her dead to rights, but as he let loose his fourth arrow, a wall of ice appeared in front of her. Surprised she turned to see who caused it, and saw that it was Todoroki.
"One after another…just my luck." Stain muttered.
"Todoroki!" Uraraka yelled in relief at the sight of her classmate, though she wasn't sure if they were that close-more so after their rather explosive and emotional fight, she would take any help she could get right now.
"There were reports of Stain in the area, and when I heard that Iida was missing, I figured something was up." Todoroki quickly put up another barrier of ice to defend himself as three arrows pierced into the ice before they exploded, getting him to grunt as he melted the ice with a blast of fire, forcing Taskmaster back as Uraraka dealt with Stain, keeping him from going after Iida.
Having dodged the flames, Taskmaster notched another arrow and let it loose, forcing Todoroki to stop his assault to place up another ice barrier, thicker this time as the arrow exploded but it didn't destroy the barrier completely. Using his foe's lack of vision of him, Taskmaster rushed his position and jumped from wall to wall, getting higher as he put away his bow and reached for one of his pouches. "My oh my, the boy's got some reliable classmates. It'll certainly stretch my schedule a little, but I can manage." He said as he came over the ice, and while Todoroki reacted with a blast of fire, Taskmaster tanked the shot, letting it singe his armour and clothing, closing the distance as he gripped Todoroki's head and shoulder, twisting his body around and kicking him into his ice as he backflipped off of him, landing on his feet.
Shooting off a wide-reaching fire blast, Todoroki used it to both melting ice, and force Taskmaster back. "The pros are already on their way here; you too should surrender now while you can," Taskmaster answered with a gesture to the boy's shoulder, where he only now saw that there was a small, black object attached to him which electrocuted him as he reached to remove or destroy it.
With his body spasming, Taskmaster closed the distance once more and gave him and hard kick which sent him flying back, landing on his back. "Boy, if I had a nickel for every time, I heard that, I'll be able to take the misses out for a fancy dinner." He told the boy as he drew 6 shurikens, held between his fingers as he threw that at Todoroki with frightening speed and accuracy, the boy only managed to block 5 as the 6th hit his shoulder, drawing blood as he hissed in pain but powered through it as he fired another blast of fire to destroy his shield and try and hit the skull masked man who once more, proved too agile as he leapt out of the way.
He would have pressed the attack, worn the boy down and taken him down then and there, after all, it would be quite the achievement to rob the Todoroki family of their prized child, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Uraraka managed one good touch in on Stain, removing his gravity as she punched him pretty hard, hard enough that she screamed in pain as her arm went limp at her side, the same as the festival.
Deciding that killing them wasn't worth wasting more time, he decided to leave the fight as he jumped past Todoroki and grabbed onto Stain's injured, floating body. Quickly climbing up the wall, he made it to the roof with his…acquittance in hand. Seeing that he was trying to get away, Uraraka tried to move to attack but once more, Taskmaster proved his quickdraw was enough to scoff at as while she saw him draw it, she was too slow to dodge the bullet that slammed into her gut and out her back, leaving a large hole in her as she lost her breath, falling to her knees in pain as Todoroki ran to her side, about to erect another ice wall to defend against more shots when Taskmaster spoke.
"Don't bother, I came here to make sure this idiot," Taskmaster put his gun away, adjusting his grip on the struggling Stain who seemed to want to continue the fight but he paid no heed to him. "Didn't end up captured or killed. Killing you wasn't part of the deal. Hell, I'll even sweeten the pot by letting your friend here live." He pointed towards above them, where Iida, now able to move was trying to attack them and while Uraraka wished to release him and allow him to land on the two, she didn't think it would matter, a thought that was followed by her coughing up more blood as she tried to keep pressure on her wound.
"Uraraka!" Iida, watching all this, called to her in horror at the sight of his two classmates so thoroughly bested. But he didn't have time to think about it as Taskmaster turned his gaze up at him and tossed something above it, which proved to be an explosion which detonated above him, the force sending him back to the alley where the other two, plus body, were.
"Congrats kid, your friends fought well and managed to ensure you live to see another sunrise." Taskmaster knocked Stain over the head for trying to tell him he should have killed the boy, the hero killer had his chance and failed. If he wanted to try again, he could do it when he didn't have to bail his ass out.
Of course, the three students didn't look appreciative of his kind gesture, glaring at him with thoughts no doubt wishing for bodily harm to be inflicted on him as it was like water off his back. They weren't the first to hate and fear him, as that was a thing that he dealt with long before he dawned his mask and villain name. "What's with the looks? Are you that upset that you couldn't contend with me? Don't flatter yourselves, you're a decade too early to even come close." He turned as he spoke, before dashing off into the night, leaving them to lick their wounds and wonder how they were going to explain this to the heroes once they showed up.
As he run over the rooftops, slower thanks to the extra weight, Taskmaster took the chance to observe the city and saw that it seemed that the attack was in its final stages. In the distance, he could make out a Nomu being killed by Endeavour who burned its head off, leaving the headless body to fall to the ground. Whistling, he couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. "Expected nothing less than a man whose flames as hot as his ambition."
"Let me go, dammit! There's a fake hero right there! Didn't you say your boss would support me in my quest?" Stain asked him, if he wasn't so eager to die, Taskmaster would clap at his endurance as he had seen what that girl could do when she pushed herself at the festival, shattering her fellow student's glacier-level attacks. The fact Stain was still conscious was a testament to the fact he was made from tougher stuff.
"I did, but if I let you go, you'll get yourself captured, most likely after he fries you sunny side up." He told him, ignoring how he promised to kill him later, he knew the madman didn't think he had any real chance against Endeavour, much less an enraged Endeavour when he learned what had near fallen his son at their hands. With that settled for the moment, he kept up his pace, avoiding the many news choppers overhead before he finally reached his stop, overlooking one of the older, less used roads. A road that their targets would be taking with all the chaos happening around them. Only 40 seconds late, he spotted the convoy of 4 armoured cars approaching, speeding as to get out of the city as fast as they could.
"Right on time, now don't give me problems, I have something I need to do." He placed Stain down as he took his spot at the edge, drawing his bow once more, he pressed one button on its handle, allowing the hero-killer to see how his quiver's bottom turned before equipping a fresh arrowhead to the shaft, a process that repeated five times. With that done, the masked man drew and notched the arrow and took aim. A few moments later, he let loose, and then he repeated it, again, and again, doing so five times. Each of the arrows flew through the air straight and true, and as he had demonstrated through the night, he didn't miss as each hit their mark, four of them landed right in the space between the front wheel and the vehicle while the final one hit the windscreen of the last car. All at once, they blew up, the blasts far stronger than the ones he had used to play with the students. The power of the explosions sent the multi-ton armoured vehicles onto their sides with a skid of sparks and screeching of metal breaking as they ploughed right through the guard rails.
As the vehicles came to a halt, there was silence for a moment before one of them opened up, and from it, a hero came out to scout the area. They hadn't even closed the door before the pro found himself with an arrow buried in his skull, his body slumping to the ground as the rest of his team moved in to do their parts.
As the lead driver, injured from the first attack, tried to radio for help, Gingerbread skipped over to the car and placed her hand on it, on contact, it and the surrounding areas of the armour started to crack and break, becoming as brittle as a gingerbread cookie to which she punched right on through, catching the man off guard as she smiled at him, a blade in hand as she set to work. With another car, White Fang tore the door clean off its hinges before she smacked the guard to the side hard enough that his head crack on impact. The other was tossed out of the vehicle. Panda-fist and Scarlett did their parts with the third and final cars, breaking in and quickly killing any they found inside, with Panda crushing the head of a pro that tried to surprise her before she tossed her body aside like trash.
As the one that White Fang tried to crawl away, he was stopped when Night Owl came to stand in front of him. He didn't have a chance before he found himself in a nightmare, screaming in agony and fear on the ground. As he left his victim to suffer for the next 12 hours, he reached into his tattered cloak and withdrew an aged pocket watch, seeing that they had only taken 3 minutes, and 21 seconds to get the job done once Taskmaster had stopped the column. Nodding to the others, White Fang vanished and quickly came back with a stolen truck, Taskmaster already in the shotgun seat.
"Where's Stain?" Scarlett asked as Taskmaster got out of the truck and moved towards one of the flipped trucks, not caring for the blood and bodies.
"In the back." He pointed towards the back where he had placed, or more accurately, restrained Stain so they could get a medic to look at him.
"Good, then help us load as much cash as possible. We only have 4 minutes before reinforcements can arrive." White Fang reminded them, they would have 6 but with Shigaraki pulling out his remaining Nomu, they were expecting the pros to be better able to respond to this attack. Not that it would matter as by the time they arrived, they only found the one still screaming man, a lot of bodies and around 690 million yen missing from the transport. A dark and bitter icing to the cake which was the Hosu incident that the League would take credit for within mere hours, as well as the announcement on the dark web that they were aligned with Stain.