Chapter 23: The Hero Killer's Conviction
"Thank goodness we got here in time." Melissa sighed with relief as she rushed over to Yui and Native, assessing their injuries before using Ajak's Healing to regenerate their wounds. Akatani checked in on Tenya to look over the injury Stain inflicted on him.
"Are you alright, Iida?"
"Mikumo, Melissa...how did you two find me?"
"One of my Quirks, [Friend Alert], allows me to know when people I care about are in danger. I used it to track you down and Melissa followed me."
"Don't worry, Grandpa Torino gave us permission to go ahead after a Nomu showed up and attacked our train." Melissa reassured as she moved to heal Tenya next.
"Kodai, I'm sending you and Native to safety," Akatani said as he used [Warp Gate] to teleport the two out of harms' way. Stain scowled as he watched his prey had escaped him.
"Damn it, they took the fake." The Hero Killer muttered as he readies his knife.
"Don't let him cut you!" Tenya warned. "He managed to find a chink in my armor and stab me. The next thing I knew, I'm paralyzed!"
"Don't worry, Iida. Knowing Quirks, it has to have some kind of deactivation." Melissa reassured as she and Akatani turned to face Stain.
"You know? I don't really get you. Why do you kill Heroes anyway?"
"I kill the cancerous fakes that use the title of Hero to abuse authority!" Stain snarled. "Those who only seek pride, greed, and lust, and will push around and even kill any who defy them!"
"It's true there are some heroes who are only in it for fame and money, but the world isn't as black and white as you make it out to be!" Melissa retorted.
"Foolish little girl, you don't understand just how deep corruption lies in the hero society..." Stain scowled. "It's a fact I learned a long time ago..."
"Well, we won't let you get away! You've killed your last Hero!" Akatani said. "As long as I'm standing, you won't kill anyone else!"
"You have conviction, boy! I like it!" Stain said, now smiling wildly. "But let's see if that conviction can stand!"
Stain rushed toward Akatani, who turned his arms into swords and clashed against the Hero Killer's katana, the two growled as they butted heads before Stain smirked and flicked his wrist, revealing a hidden knife as he moved to stab Akatani, only for the boy to use Eijirou's [Hardening] to make the knife break against his hardened skin.
"Mikumo!" Melissa shouted as she used Kingo's Rays to charge up energy in her fists before making a finger gun motion. "Heads up!"
Akatani smirked and ducked away as Stain's eyes widened, Melissa firing a concussive energy bolt from her finger at him. The Hero Killer ducked out of the way, the energy grazing the tip of his bandana as it was singed.
Stain recovered fast though and slashed upward with his katana, then threw several small knives at Melissa and Akatani as they dodged. Stain then suddenly dashed forward and drew another blade, slashing his katana one way and his new knife another. The katana was aimed to cut off Melissa's legs while the knife was aimed to take Akatani's head.
"Yikes!" Melissa yelped, using Makkari's Speed to move out of the way while Akatani pushed [Hardening] to the limit to avoid being decapitated.
"Damn, Melissa and Akatani are risking their lives...and I can't do anything!" Tenya grunted as he was still under Stain's paralysis spell.
"Akatani, you need to call for help. I'll hold him off!" Melissa said as Akatani nodded and jumped back, helping prop Tenya against the wall before lifting his finger up in a gun motion and using the Quirk, [Flare Gun], to shoot a distress flare into the air.
"I just hope somebody comes soon..."
Izumi, Shoko, and Ochako were helping out Endeavor as he took on the two Nomu that had attacked Hosu. The trio of girls was fighting the huge black Nomu while Endeavor went after the flying one.
"How can we take this one down? It's probably the same as the Nomu from the USJ, right?" Ochako suggested as she used the Strong Force to erect a wall from the ground to block a haymaker from the monster.
"Izumi, we have to go for its head. Cells can't regenerate if they're carbonized after all." Shoko noted as Izumi nodded.
"I'll go high, you go low!"
The two girls rushed around the wall Ochako erected and charged at the Nomu, who howled as it threw a punch at Izumi, who was closer. Izumi quickly turned into water and flowed through the fist before outstretching her arms and turning them into wooden tentacles akin to Kamui Woods, wrapping them around the Nomu's legs before breaking them off, leaving behind wooden shackles that made the beast fall to the floor.
"Go!" Shoko grunted as she came up from behind and jumped on the Nomu, placing her left hand on its head and unleashing all the flames she could unleash. The beast howled and flailed around as Izumi rushed in and put her hands to add her own fuel to the fire. Ochako then backed her friends up by increasing gravity on the Nomu to keep it from struggling.
Soon, after an agonizing few moments, the Nomu was still, its head now a charred stump. Endeavor soon came crashing in, holding the Winged Nomu in a vice head grip.
"Good job, girls!" The Flame Hero congratulated before twisting with all his might, snapping the Nomu's neck as it went limp, twitching on the floor, somehow barely alive but able to move more than a couple of inches.
Suddenly, a flare was shot off in the distance as Izumi, Shoko, and Ochako took notice of it before turning to Endeavor, who nodded to them.
"It's alright. Go! You have my permission!"
With Endeavor's blessing granted, the trio rushed off in the direction the flare was shot off. Izumi and Ochako took to the sky with Shoko hitching a ride by being carried by the latter.
Things weren't looking so good. Stain had managed to get a tiny cut on Melissa's cheek and the single droplet of blood on his blade was all he needed to paralyze her. Now, it was only Akatani as he stood to protect both Melissa and Tenya.
"Both of your allies are down and yet you still stand to protect them. Truly you are a remarkable sort." Stain commented as Akatani breathed heavily in anger, refusing to show fear in the face of this maniac.
"Just...why? Why did you start killing Heroes? What pushed you to do this?"
Stain hummed as he stopped to think about what Akatani said. He thought back to a smiling boy who he always saw as a dear friend. The boy loved heroes but had a Quirk people called 'villainous'. Stain could relate as he knew his own Quirk was seen as scary and gross by others.
"I had...a friend, once...His Quirk was what many people called 'villainous', but he idolized heroes...then, the hero he looked up to the most rejected him..."
Stain gripped his hands around the handle of his blade angrily. He remembered the last time he saw his friend was in a Villain Attack. They were both trapped under a pillar. Stain managed to get out and begged for anyone to help his friend, but his friend told him to leave and the words he said shattered the future Hero Killer's heart.
"Leave… It would be better if I died here rather than rot in a cell."
"The hero who broke my friends' heart, who shattered all his dreams...He was my first kill." Stain recalled, remembering the grim satisfaction of slipping that knife into that bastard's chest and slowly cutting out his heart from within. "It was then I realized that this society is full of Heroes who only care about power, money, attention...and looking down on those weaker than them. That is my vow...I WILL PURGE EVERY LAST ONE OF THOSE SCUM UNTIL ONLY THE TRUE HEROES REMAIN!"
As Stain rushed toward Akatani, he was suddenly hit by a wind blast in the shape of a fist. Akatani jumped as he turned to see Izumi, Ochako, and Shoko running into the alleyway.
"Mikumo! Iida! Melissa!" Izumi cried as Ochako and Shoko helped check over Melissa and Tenya.
"Midoriya! Uraraka! Todoroki!" Tenya cried in relief as Stain got up, glaring in annoyance.
"More children getting in the way of my crusade..."
"No way! Is that the Hero Killer?!" Ochako gasped as Akatani grimly nodded.
"Yeah, Tenya stopped him from trying to kill Native and Kodai. I managed to warp them to a safe zone."
Tenya suddenly felt movement in his body again as he got up shakily on his legs, Melissa soon joining him.
"His Quirk paralyzed us when he tasted our blood...but it has a time limit, it seems."
"So you've figured it out." Stain sneered as he readied a new blade. "But it won't do you any good. I must continue my work!"
"Like hell!" Izumi shouted as she and Shoko fired combined gouts of flames but Stain, with impressive parkour skills, ran across the wall, avoiding the flames as he lunged down to swing his blade at Izumi, only for Ochako to create an electric barrier that caused the blade to be magnetically repulsed out of Stain's hands.
"I told you, Stain...you won't kill anyone else today!" Akatani said as he jumped on Stain from behind and activated his original Quirk.
Stain gasped as he felt his Quirk being yanked from his body. Falling to his knees, he slowly crumbled as he felt a piece of his soul had been ripped from him.
"No...Vengeance..."
"Not vengeance...Justice." Akatani said as Stain soon collapsed, the loss of his Quirk taking its toll as he passed out.
With the Winged Nomu and the Four-Eyed Nomu crippled and detained and the Big Nomu dead, the Heroes were able to clean up the rest of Hosu. Endeavor vouched for Izumi, Shoko, and Ochako while Gran Torino vouched for Melissa and Akatani in taking down Stain.
Tenya was scolded for trying to fight Stain on his own by Manual but was praised for doing his best to keep Yui and Native safe beforehand. As Stain was led away in heavy-duty chains despite no longer having his Quirk, he gave one last look toward Akatani and the others.
"You all stood by each other, refusing to leave anyone behind...perhaps there is hope for the future yet..."
"So, Mikumo-Kun, what are you gonna do with your new Quirk?" Izumi asked as Akatani hummed before closing his eyes, recalling having gotten another Blood-related Quirk from his father a long time ago...a Quirk that allowed one to shapeshift into anybody if they consumed their blood first.
Transform x Bloodcurdle = Blood Double: This allows the user to become a perfect double of the other person by ingesting their blood while also paralyzing the person in question and leaving people unaware of the real one until the Quirk wears off.
"Yeah, this could be useful..."
"Awww poo, the Hero Killer lost too soon." Number Six pouted as the Shigaraki Brothers watched the relief effort over Hosu.
"Our Nomu were no match for those heroes and Stain was beaten easily. He was only good when he lured his victims into one-on-one confrontations...but an alliance overwhelmed him." Nine noted.
"Still, we got to make some lovely chaos in the process." Tomura chuckled. "And I can't wait to see Midoriya and her little friends again."
"Especially since you've been given Sensei's new gift." Curator noted as Tomura grinned, looking at his new prosthetic hand and the six glimmering stones embedded in it.
"Best Early Birthday Gift Ever!"
Aplogies for the long wait, went to see the new Mario movie today and it was great.
Should post the last chapter by Tomorrow.
Happy Easter!