"Hurry up and move the stuff before she- gah!" The man's body soared across the warehouse, careening into the far wall. His body's momentum halted with a grotesque thud, before sliding down limply onto the floor. The six other men in the warehouse immediately turned, but their target was far too fast to track. Another one of the men screamed in misery as his leg was painfully snapped, the white of his femur poking through the skin before he was bodily thrown into another man, who crumpled under the weight.
The men in the warehouse only managed to catch a glimpse of silver-white hair and blood-red eyes before another of their number was taken out. One of the men scrambled to a pile of boxes near the center of the room. He heard a scream of terror and pain before another man was brutally taken down, but he focused on the task at hand. With trembling hands, he managed to open the box and was just reaching in and grabbing the assault rifle inside when something slammed into his back.
He tried to scream, but it died in the back of his throat as something snapped and he was thrown across the room, slamming into another pile of boxes before finally falling still. Rumi Usagiyama let out a breath of frustration, tucking a free strand of hair from her forehead behind an ear. Stepping over the body of one of the thugs, she approached one of the boxes, kicking the lid off and peeked inside. Like she had expected, more automatic weaponry.
"Third time this month," she muttered to herself, tossing the weapon on the ground and crushing it under her foot. Sighing, she pulled her phone free from her belt before notifying the authorities that the warehouse was secure. Without sparing another glance at the discarded, broken bodies of the men around her, she strode from the warehouse and into the cool evening air. She shivered slightly and pulled her jacket a little more snugly around her shoulders. She hated the colder months, they made her feel sluggish.
"Miruko!"
She turned her head, one of the police lieutenants assigned to the case jogged over to her.
"Officer," grunted Rumi. She tried to remember the woman's name, but it was escaping her for the moment.
"Great work in there!" The Officer complimented. "You worked even faster than we anticipated," she laughed, "we didn't even have the time to put together the police barricades."
"Yeah, well, you're welcome or whatever," Rumi said dismissively, making to walk away. Her phone buzzed in her belt. She glanced at it, and her expression darkened.
Looked into that thing for you, but I couldn't find what you were looking for. I'll keep looking and let you know.
She had half a dozen other messages, specifically from the Cats. But she ignored those. Gnashing her teeth together, gruffly shoved the phone back into her belt. She turned back to the Officer, who had still been chatting at her and cut her off.
"Let me know if you find anything relating to more of these guys." Without another word, she leapt into the air and away from the warehouses. In only a couple of minutes she was back on the roof of her agency. With an agitated grunt, she thrust the door open, tossing her jacket on the unoccupied chair by her desk. Walking to the kitchen, she fetched a glass of juice before retreating back to her room. With a sigh of relief, she flopped down on her bed. The light of the moon shone through the window, and something in the corner shimmered. Unbidden, her eyes turned to the corner of the room.
The light from the moon reflected off of the soft metal that sat there. She scowled in agitation and turned away. But, in spite of herself, she rolled back over and stared. They'd scoured through the ruins of Mt. Fuji for days following the battle, but they had only managed to find the hunk of metal currently collecting dust in the corner of her room.
Nobody had said anything when she took the arm for herself. She could hardly understand the decision herself. She hadn't even thought about it. She'd simply seen it, and taken it. It had been hers, after all. Or, at least, it had been hers by proxy. Even if it had belonged to…
"You fucking bastard," she hissed, fighting off the tears that threatened at the corners of her eyes. She turned her back on the arm again, pulling her knees up to her chest.
It had been two months now, and she hadn't heard anything. She'd reached out everywhere she could think of. She'd even been taking advantage of her new divine power courtesy of Tsukuyomi to begin looking into places of particular divine power. But so far, nobody had seen hide or hair about the black-haired son of a bitch. But that didn't necessarily mean anything, at least, not as of now. The world was a big place, and the divine world was beginning to look even larger. It was entirely possible that Percy was squirreled away in some remote corner of the world.
The others had tried telling her that she was wasting her time. That she was simply grieving and that she was in denial. But she knew that she was right. Nobody else had been there. Nobody had seen what she had seen, and nobody had known Percy like she had. The bastard simply wasn't going to go out like he had.
She was certain.
Her heart constricted painfully, and she curled further into herself. Godsdamnit, nobody ever told her that it was going to hurt this much. Nobody ever said that getting attached to someone like this would hurt her like this…she hated it. She would take a beating over this any day of the week. At least then, she would have the knowledge that she fought with everything and still lost. But this? How was she supposed to fight this? She couldn't just punch her heart until it stopped hurting.
She screamed, whipping the bottle of half-finished juice across the room where it embedded itself in the wall. Gods damn you, Percy Jackson. Gods damn you to the deepest pits of hell for what he'd done to her. This was why she didn't work with people. They were weak. They got in the way, and worse still, they always left.
Just like him.
"Hey…Rumi, c'mere."
"You're my best friend…You've done everything you could do for me, been there for me in my darkest and at my brightest. Thank you."
Her fists clenched tightly at her bedsheets. All she'd wanted was a simple life. Get strong. Get into some good scrapes. Be the strongest she possibly could be. She'd been happy like that. Content. And then that bastard had to show up, interrupt her life, drag her into his messes, and make himself the best friend she'd ever had. Then he had the gall to up and leave like that? Worse, to throw her from the fucking mountain?
She hated him. Or at least, she wanted to. But if she were being honest with herself, she knew better. She didn't hate him, as much as she wanted to. She knew she had been out of her league in that fight. The kind of power being thrown around? It wasn't the type of hero shit that she'd seen. Even the strongest of heroes didn't have that kind of raw power behind them. Except maybe All Might but even then, not like what those two could have done.
She had been in over her head, and at the end of her rope. Percy too. They'd been pushed to the brink against a wildly stronger god of all things. Percy had known what he needed to do and had gotten her to safety just in time. It had been, objectively, the right call to make at the time. Over the last couple of months, she'd come to terms with those facts. Had dealt with the painful realization that there were just some fights she wouldn't be qualified for.
But just because she understood why, that didn't mean she had to like it.
She glanced back to the corner, her eyes finding the arm in the corner.
She got to her feet and softly padded over to the arm. She ran a hand over the smooth metal.
"Gods…where the hell are you?"
She was distracted from her work when her phone beeped. Pulling her phone free, her eyes narrowed.
"Shit!"
BREAK
"Shit!"
"Language!"
Izuku toppled back as Mirio's punch connected with his guard. In spite of the guy not having enhanced strength, his natural bulk was more than sufficient. Izuku could already feel his forearms starting to bruise.
He watched as Mirio disappeared once more under the ground. However, Izuku had been training with Mirio and was more than familiar with this particular parlor trick. Grunting in anticipation, Izuku leapt backwards, his leg thrusting out with One for All coursing through his muscles. Simultaneously, he began to channel power through his opposite hand. As Mirio materialized again through the ground behind him.
However, as Mirio's arm shot forward, Izuku's leg shot out. However, like he anticipated, the blow phased harmlessly through. But Izuku had anticipated as much. As soon as he kicked out, he pointed his hand at the ground and released a blast of compressed. The blast careened into the ground, detonating on impact and showering the region in a fine dust, creating a veritable smoke screen. Landing swiftly, Izuku swiveled and through a punch in the direction Mirio had been a moment before, but his fist connected with nothing.
His eyes barely had time to widen in realization before a fist connected with the underside of his jaw sending him flying across the room before he landed in a heap.
"Enough,"
Mirio stood down, panting heavily as the dust began to clear. Izuku groaned, rubbing at the underside of his jaw. As the dust settled, and the stars began to dissipate from his vision, Izuku became aware of the large man standing over him. The Pro-Hero Sir Nighteye, the man that Izuku had been doing his internship for, stood over him. Unblinking over his spectacles.
"That was…adequate." He surmised, as Mirio jogged over and hefted Izuku easily back to his feet.
"Thank you, Sir," Izuku said, bowing his head lowly.
"You did well to anticipate Lemillion's movements and plan, however, you grew overly zealous when your diversion seemed to work and failed to account for Lemillion's own actions, resulting in your failure." Lectured Nighteye, "I trust you will not be making the same mistake again?"
"No sir!" Izuku replied sharply. Nighteye grunted, and glanced at the clock on the wall.
"You had better get moving you two, the last train will be leaving in twenty minutes."
"Yes Sir!"
The sun had begun to set by the time they boarded the train back to the school. The orange glow of the setting sun cast a dour gleam along the otherwise empty train car. Izuku sighed as he rubbed at his jaw. In spite of him not having enhanced strength, Mirio's punches still stung.
"How's the jaw?" Mirio asked, drawing Izuku out of his stupor.
"It's okay!" He said quickly, "Just a little sore is all. But I'll put some ice on it tonight and I'll be good as new tomorrow!"
Mirio chuckled, and clapped him on the back. "You know, there's no shame in admitting that you're hurt. It's not a sign of weakness."
Izuku's cheeks reddened and he quickly averted his gaze. Mirio's answering chuckle rang in his ears.
"I would have thought after what happened with Overhaul, you would have gotten over some of that shyness. Man, you're really like Amajiki sometimes, you know?"
"Speaking of," said Izuku, leaping at the opportunity to take the spotlight off of himself, "How are he and Nejire doing." At Nejire's name, Mirio's expression fell.
"Not great," he admitted. "She's been leaving her room at least, and Ryukyu and the others have been able to at least get her to go outside a little. Spending time with little Eri has helped too. A lot, if I'm being honest. But it's been slow moving…" He trailed off, but he needn't say more. Izuku understood. Nejire and the other members of the Big Three had been some of Percy's closest friends. Being far closer in age, he'd gotten along far better with them as peers than the others in his own class. They'd taken Percy's…disappearance, exceptionally badly.
Not to say that Class 1-A had escaped unscathed. Yaoyorozu in particular was having difficulty adjusting to the man's disappearance.
"No word then on…." Izuku didn't say finish. Nobody liked saying Percy's name these days.
"No," sighed Mirio, leaning back in the chair, "but even if there was, I doubt they'd be telling us anything. The teachers have been even more tight-lipped about stuff than usual. Even with us."
Izuku respond, and the train fell into an uncomfortable silence. He and Mirio finally parted ways after making it back to the school, and they departed for their individual dormitories. Following Percy's disappearance, the faculty decided that it was better for the students of Class 1-A to stick together. Something about mourning together rather than as individuals. For what it was worth, Izuku didn't know if it was actually making a difference or not, but it was nice to be around everyone at least. Made the days a little less lonely.
It was late as Izuku walked through the door, with most of his classmates having already gone to bed for the evening. The lights were off, and darkness ensconced the building, save for the light coming from the living room where someone was watching television. Ignoring it for the moment, Izuku took his shoes off and wandered into the kitchen and gathered a bottle of water from the fridge and an ice-pack from the freezer. He contemplated going to bed, but he was still vibrating a little with excess energy, and decided to check on whoever was in the living room.
The sound of a digitally enhanced explosion sounded from the speakers, followed by a derisive snort of amusement.
"That's looks so lame. Explosions don't actually look like that."
"Agreed. You can't just turn your back on something like that, it would either burn you alive or liquify your internal organs."
"I believe that, perhaps, given our choice of profession, we might have forever ruined this form of entertainment."
"Awe c'mon man, let me have this,"
Walking into the room, Izuku was unsurprised to see Kirishima, Tokoyami, and Shoji lounging on the couch. The newest Best Jeanist movie was playing in the background as all three turned to look at Izuku.
"Oh, hey Midoriya," greeted Kirishima, waving a lazy hand in his direction. "You just get back?"
"Yeah," nodded Izuku, taking the seat next to Tokoyami, who shifted over to give him some space.
"Hell of a bruise on your kisser there tough guy," Chortled Tokoyami's Quirk, Dark Shadow, "got roughed up a bit huh?"
"Quiet," ordered Tokoyami, absently flicking his quirk in the beak. The others chuckled, and Shoji glanced at him,
"He's got a point though; your chin is starting to bruise. You training with Mirio again?"
Izuku nodded, and pressed the icepack to his chin. "Sir Nighteye's been having me try and train my reflexes and battle adaptability."
"Can't think of a better sparring partner for that than Mirio," Conceded Tokoyami,
"Or a worse one," laughed Kirishima. "That guy is crazy strong. All of the big three are." He rubbed at his own bruise forming on his forearm, "I was training with Amajiki today, and man, even though he looks like a mouse that guy can hit like a truck when he wants to."
"Seems as though we all have been taking our training rather seriously as of late," observed Shoji.
"I wonder why," grumbled Dark Shadow, only to be flicked again by Tokoyami,
"Quiet" he seethed, his eyes darting to the other boys in the room.
"It's fine Tokoyami," sighed Shoji, "We really do need to stop beating around the bush with him anyways…can't dance around forever, ya know?"
"I know what you mean," said Kirishima softly, looking at his palm, "But that doesn't change the fact that talking about him like he's not here…just makes it feel like he's never coming back."
"I know we haven't really discussed it," said Shoji carefully, "But perhaps it's time we begin-"
"And I thought we had already talked about this," snapped Tokoyami, glancing harshly at his friend.
"We have," admitted Shoji, "But Tokoyami, it's been two months. Two months and nobody has heard anything. Seen anything. I don't wish to speak out of turn, but we need to come to terms with the fact that it's more than likely he's gone, and dancing around the subject isn't going to do anything but keep everyone down." Tokoyami's beak snapped shut with an audible click. "You remember what he was like when he first arrived here yes? And now we are acting just as he did; it feels like we're dishonoring his memory by acting as we have been. We need to accept the fact that he's not coming back and use his loss to strengthen ourselves."
"What do you think, Midoriya?" Asked Tokoyami, and Izuku flinched at suddenly being addressed. "You and Percy were fairly close as well. Surely you have an opinion on the matter.'
Izuku hesitated, his eyes glancing around the room at the others for a moment before sighing in defeat.
"I don't know," he admitted. "It's been hard to accept, you know? That he's actually gone. We used to train together - I was helping him with that power of his since it's so similar to my own quirk, so I've seen up close what it can do. It's-it's hard to imagine that anything could-could…" he gulped and trailed off. "It's hard to imagine anything could beat him like that. But, well, knowing what we know about his powers and what he was fighting…it's just hard to know."
He rubbed thoughtfully at his chin, before glancing up at his friends. He was surprised to see that they were…hopeful. He didn't realize just how badly everyone probably needed some sense of optimism these days.
"That being said, we all know how strong Percy was, and no body was ever found right?" The others nodded, "Well…until we know for certain that he's-he's gone…well then I'm going to choose to believe that he's just hiding out somewhere, healing up before coming back."
"That's the kind of dramatic thing he'd do alright," chuckled Kirishima, "wait until all hope is lost, only to swing in at the last moment to steal all the glory for himself."
"That describes him rather aptly, yes," chuckled Tokoyami. They fell silent for a couple of minutes, and the movie continued to play in the background. Finally, the silence was broken by an oddly trepidatious Kirishima.
"You guys…you guys think, wherever he is…that he's proud of us? Proud of how hard we're working?"
Izuku smiled. "Yeah…yeah I think he would."
"We interrupt this program to bring you this important news update."
All eyes turned to the television, the movie had paused and the camera shifted to a news room.
"At the behest of the Hero Commission, we stress that while the following information will be shocking and disturbing, all citizens should maintain a sense of calm. That being said, approximately two hours the Super Max Prison Tartarus was attacked. This story is still developing, but as of now, reports are suggesting that at least three-hundred prisoners have escaped."
Kirishima muted the television, and all the boys in the room shared a look.
"Shit."
Thanks Kirishima, Izuku thought…
That sums it up nicely.
AN: Shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week
All My Love,
LilDB