Chapter 17: Growing Stains
"So," Endeavor began, "What the hell am I looking at?"
Todoroki and Midoriya exchanged glances nervously, and then turned back to the hulking regenerative beast in front of them.
"That's a Nomu," Midoriya answered. He'd already been spinning Mjolnir to charge electricity.
"One of the things that attacked us at the USJ," Todoroki added.
"So it's part of The League of Villains?" Endeavor smirked. "This will be a perfect way for me to show up All Might. Get back, interns, you'll only be in the way."
"What?!" Midoriya yelled, incredulously.
"Father, we've actually already - and he's gone." Todoroki scowled as Endeavor tackled the beast and they went brawling at high speeds down a street.
Before they could even give chase after the two, a different Nomu, this one with wings, began flying over the buildings around the, screeching like some sort of pterosaur.
"Guess that one's ours," Todoroki smirked, creating an ice slide to chase after him. Not one to be outdone, Midoriya took to the air with Mjolnir and flew after the beast.
Have to be careful throwing lightning around a crowded city like this, Midoriya thought, charging his power internally and waiting for a spot to pic. His eyes darted around the brightly lit city. So much metal everywhere, if I'm not careful... "WHOA!"
Midoriya stopped in mid air, and Todoroki turned to look up at him. "What's wrong?" He shouted up to the green-haired boy.
Midoriya gaped for a moment and blinked, making sure he had seen correctly.
Down in an alley, in his search for an opening, a flash of steel had caught his gaze. And as he looked back, it was something he had feared may happen, but never actually expected.
Iida was there, facing off with Stain. And there was... a lot of blood.
"Todoroki, down there!" Midoriya called, but did not wait for a response before rocketing down to the pavement.
Below, Stain had already sliced Iida's hand, and had paralyzed the boy with his Quirk.
"...If you were a real Hero, you would have saved him." Stain scowled, nudging his head towards Native, slumped against a wall. "You're a failure. Just like your pathetic brother." He readied his sword. "But since you're a kid, I'll make it qui -"
"I SAY THEE NAY!"
Stain jumped backwards as a green blur came crashing down. He just barely cleared enough distance as another teenager slammed a hammer into the ground, cracking the pavement. Stain lost his balance, but as he did, he managed to slide a few throwing knives out of his sleeve and throw them at the intruder.
As the knives flew, the hammer erupted with electricity, lightning crackling down the entire alleyway. The metal knives attracted the electricity, and were flung into the walls helplessly. He was next, electricity washed over him, burning his flesh and setting his nerve endings on fire.
As Stain collapsed, Midoriya turned to his friend. "Iida, are you alright?!"
Iida blinked up at his savior, partially convinced that this was some sort of dying dream. "S...Stormbreaker? What are you doing here?" He grimaced. "This was... my moment."
"Moment?" Midoriya blinked. "What are you -"
"IZUKU LOOK OUT!"
Midoriya turned to see a knife approaching his eyes at blindings speeds. They were only knocked out of the way at the last possible moment by a wall of ice that popped up in front of him, separating Midoriya and Iida from the rest of the alleyway.
Todoroki came running from the opening of the alley. "That was close..."
"I thought I had knocked him out," Izuku lamented, cringing. "I never should have turned my back on him."
"NO, IT'S A PRETTY BAD IDEA!"
Midoriya and Todoroki gasped as Stain somehow vaulted over the ice wall, katana poised to pounce on Izuku. Midoriya jumped backwards and avoided the attack, but as he landed, Stain threw another knife at Todoroki. The taller boy dodged to the side, but the knife still cut his shoulder.
Midoriya threw Mjolnir at Stain, but he dashed forward out of the way, leaving the hammer to smash through the ice wall Todoroki had made. In the split second Mjolnir left his hand, a wide swipe of the katana nearly grazed Midoriya's arm, but he was able to move at the last second before recalling his own weapon.
"Watch out for his Quirk!" Iida yelled from the ground, "it paralyzes."
Todoroki raised his arm for a fire attack, but Stain had already picked up his knife and gave it a lick, freezing Todoroki in place.
Stain turned to face Midoriya, who spun Mjolnir at his side. "What... what business of this is yours?"
Midoriya grit his teeth. "What does it look like? Stopping you. That's my business."
"Why?" Stain grinned. "I understand what he's doing here." He nodded towards Iida, twitching at his feet. "Another misguided Hero looking for revenge. A shame to the field. You have no reason to be involved." His face became more grim as he furrowed his brow. "Get out of here. I have no interest in killing children."
His response was for Midoriya to shoot a blast of lightning towards him. Not to be fooled by the same trick twice, he planted his katana in the ground as makeshift lightning rod and jumped backwards.
"YOU EXPECT ME TO LEAVE AND LET YOU KILL PEOPLE?!" Midoriya yelled.He threw Mjolnir again, this time it snapped directly through the katana on it's way to Stain. "I'm a Hero. I WILL stop you! No one else gets hurt!"
Stain laughed as he jumped over the hammer, brandishing a katana. "Never thought I'd find a kid who's ideals would live up to All Might's. Maybe I'll let you live!" Stain dashed towards Midoriya.
Midoriya raised his hand and recalled Mjolnir, the hammer returning and beaning Stain in the back of the head at it's return, knocking the villain to the ground. Even during his fall, Stain threw a knife that just barely missed Midoriya's shin. "How can you sit here and defend a system so broken?! A system that rewards people like Endeavor?!"
How is he still moving after all this?! Midoriya thought, wincing.
Stain hit the concrete on all fours, and scrambled to get to his feet with another knife drawn. He was stopped though by Iida, who kicked him in the ribs at high speeds, still clutching his shoulder.
Stain rolled across the alley, but propped himself up on his knees and threw another volley of knives to keep Iida and Midoriya away. Iida managed to dodge to the side, but Midoriya created a wind bust to throw the knives back towards Stain. A few sliced his face and his eye-mask, causing him to laugh as blood began to trickle down his own face. "WHY FIGHT ME?! I'M JUST CLEANING UP THE TRASH PRODUCED BY YOUR HERO SYSTEM?! YOU SHOULD THANK ME!"
Enraged, Iida ran forwards for a kick, but Stain jumped to his feet swung his katana. The blade cut Iida's side, and in a fluid motion Stain gave the blade another lick. "You're sloppy, kid."
Stain swung for Iida again, but Midoriya dove in front of him, smacking the blade away with Mjolnir. "GET AWAY!"
Stain, incensed with how this kid kept getting in his way, swung the blade straight down for Midoriya's helmet, but Midorya swing Mjolnir again, snapping the blade. But that was a distraction as Stain had gripped a knife in his left hand and tried to stab Midoriya in the arm after he swung the hammer.
Neither of them were expecting the knife to snap against Midoriya's exposed forearm. Midoriya paused to stare at it, but Stain recovered, swinging his katana again. This, too, met Midoriya's side and snapped in two.
His anger returned, and Midoriya snapped. Swinging Mjolnir into an uppercut which broke the Hero Killer's jaw, he launched Stain into the air, before unleashing an even bigger blast of lightning. Stain screamed in pain and collapsed on the pavement, finally unconscious.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he scoured the alley until he found an extension cord, and tied Stain up.
"Are you guys okay?" He called out to Iida and Todoroki.
"Yeah... I'm starting to be able to move again," Todoroki sighed, moving rather disjointedly from his spot. "If I had known you were knife-proof, I would have tried attacking Stain instead of blocking his attack."
"To be honest, that's pretty new." Midoriya admitted. "Sorry..."
"Hey, we got him," Todoroki shrugged. "That's the important thing. Iida, are you okay?"
Iida slowly stood up, but didn't turn towards his friends. "Yeah... I'm alright."
"What were you doing here, Iida?" Midoriya asked. "Where's Manual?"
Iida walked over to Native to check on the Hero's condition, ignoring the question. "... why did you interfere?"
Todoroki and Midoriya exchanged looks. "What...?" Todoroki asked.
"I was here to avenge my brother," Iida said, harshly. "It was my business."
Midoriya scowled. "Iida, it's a Hero's job to stick his nose in someone's business. If I can't save my friend, what right do I have to call myself one?"
The remark his Iida, and he paused in his tracks with widened eyes. "I... I guess you're right."
"Let's save it," Todoroki interjected, "And get Native and Stain over to the right parties. Now's not really the time for speeches."
Iida nodded silently, and helped Native to his feet. Todoroki and Midoriya carried the unconscious Stain out to the road to see Endeavor and Manual approaching them.
"There you..." Endeavor began, but stopped, his eyes widening as he saw the Hero Killer restrained by the teenager, "...who is that?!" He asked in disbelief.
"That's Native," Todorki replied in monotone. Native gave a small wave.
"I'm pretty sure he meant Stain, Todoroki." Midoriya laughed nervously.
"You..." Endeavor clenched his fists. "You children apprehended Stain?"
"Is this why you went off on your own?" Manual asked, disappointed.
The conversation was interrupted by a horrible shriek. The group of Heroes and Students turned to see the flying Nomu, the target Todoroki and Midoriya were originally chasing, dive down and grab Deku in one fell swoop.
"MIDORIYA!" Iida and Todoroki shouted together.
When the shock of what had happened wore off on Midoriya, the Nomu was already high above the buildings. He wriggled his hand free and summoned Mjolnir. The second the hammer hit his hands, he summoned a lightning bolt from the heavens that struck the Nomu and sent them both plummeting to the ground. Before impact, Midoriya was just barely able to get himself out of the creature's grasp and fly out a few feet above the ground, watching as the Nomu crashed into the pavement.
"So much for keeping property damage to a minimum," Midoriya muttered guiltily, surveying the hole the Nomu had left in the ground.
"Midoriya!"
Izuku turned to see Iida running towards him, leaving Endeavor and the others behind with his superior speed. He waved to Iida, and the taller boy caught up to him in mere moments.
"That was close," Iida panted, "We thought we lost you there."
Midoriya shook his head. "No, the air is a pretty good place for me to be. Whatever that guy is, he wasn't strategizing by pulling me into the sky."
Endeavor, Todoroki, and Manual caught up to them, and the approaching red and blue lights told everyone the police were going to be here soon. Endeavor and Manual made eye contact.
"Look," Endeavor said to the teenagers, "you guys are unlicensed, so just let me do the talking okay?"
"Why?" Todoroki asked, tone sharpening slightly.
"Because you three running off to apprehend Stain can get you arrested for vigilantism," Endeavor spat, "so let me smooth this over."
Todoroki huffed angrily, but Iida looked to his feet, guiltily.
Midoriya looked between the two, feeling somewhere between; he had taken down the Nomu, and had helped Todoroki and Iida apprehend Stain.
The feeling in the pit of his stomach grew as he watched the police arrive, and Endeavor explained to the detectives how he had taken down both Stain and the Nomu, together. When prompted, Manual would agree to the story, but even he had a look of unease on his face the entire time.
He turned to see Todoroki trembling with anger. Helplessly, he reached over and grabbed the taller boy's shoulder.
Finally, at the end of the statements, the detective approached Iida. "So you got attacked, yeah? That looks like nasty wound. Come on, we'll get you looked at."
Iida nodded silently, offering no objections to the story, and followed the detective. Manual went with him.
Free to leave, Endeavor ushered his interns away from the crowd. Once they were approaching the agency, Endeavor let out a frustrated sigh. "That was close. You two should be ashamed for your recklessness."
"Recklessness?!" Midoriya shouted, unable to hold back.
"Father, if we didn't intervene those two could have died!" Todoroki objected.
Endeavor snorted impatiently. His whole demeanor made Midoriya begin to shake angrily as well; he was acting like they were two people taking a long time in a fast food line instead of two people concerned about their friend's life.
"Your job," Endeavor said, pointedly, to his son, "is to become the Number One Hero. Getting yourself arrested for unlicensed heroics means that's never going to happen. And you," he turned to Deku, "while you are at my agency this week, you are my responsibility. Anything that threatens my reputation means I make one call to the school, and you get kicked out."
He turned and walked away, but not before looking over his shoulder and adding, "You two will be on paperwork duty the rest of the week. Go home."
As he turned the corner, Midoriya turned to Todoroki, who was literally fuming from a combination of his Quirk. "Man... you have to live with him?"
Todoroki gave a small smirk for Deku's effort, but it quickly snapped back into a scowl. "I'm sorry you had to see him like this."
Midoriya shook his head. "Look, it's not your fault. Don't apologize for him. We did the right thing."
"Yeah," Todoroki relented, letting the smirk return to his features. "Yeah, we did. We're the ones who caught Stain."
"And saved Iida," Midoriya added. "Probably pisses your dad off. Speaking of, let's go check on Iida tomorrow... I'm kind of worried about that stuff he was saying."
Todoroki nodded. "Yeah... we should do that."