See bellow for author's notes.
Chapter 1
It had been decades since the great villain outbreak that had threatened to tear Japan apart. The scars of that time were still visible in the parts of the country still yet damaged from the battles and destruction, and in the memories of those whose lives were lost in the chaos of it all.
But Japan had eventually recovered, rebuilt and restored to order, by the heroes who had played a crucial role in that recovery, just as they had put all of their might and their lives on the line to fulfill, both experienced pros and hero students alike, the former now the pro heroes of today. The events of that chaotic time, though a dark and tragic history that will not die down so easily, gave those former students an experience that helped them to become the pro heroes they likely would've become regardless, heroes that have inherited the restored faith of the people, and maintain it through the continued protection of the peaceful everyday life of the country.
But overcoming a great evil isn't the same as the complete elimination of it. The villains have also retained their part in today's world, reminding the people that the world was still a dangerous place, being no less of a challenge to the heroes than before. Some have even looked to the powerful villains who contributed to that dark time as something to aspire towards, few of which have had some success in.
And so the heroes were there as always to counter the villains time after time, backed by their dedication, the people on their side, and the memory of those who had come before them as inspiration.
Little does one villain know that his desecration of a particular memory would soon be his downfall.
The room was sterile and quiet, with only the soft hum of machinery breaking the silence. A large glass container dominated the center of the room, with a luminescent fluid hat had the outline of a bare human being floating within, connected by wires and tubes connected to the machines and monitors that surrounded the human shape, humming with activity. The only other inhabitant in that room is a humanoid life form in a lab coat, with pale skin and shoulder-length hair of a matching color, standing at the controls to monitor the ongoing experiment involving the content of the container. It's focus on the work was unfazed from the sound of doors opening behind it.
"What is the status of our subject?"
In walks the master of the scientific base they were located in as he demands an answer. His skin was the same pale color, with long dark hair and black eyes that bore crimson pupils. He wore a black outfit, covered by a dark blue long coat that looked metallic.
"Results meet expectations master. Cellular reinvigoration complete. Tissue fully regenerated. Vitale signs stable. No resulting anomaly detected. We can conclude that physical restoration is at one hundred percent."
The response provided by the humanoid was enough for the master to grin in satisfaction.
"Very good. Let us proceed then to the mental."
An unconscious body covered in a one piece white suit is seen to be restrained to a mechanical platform in another part of the facility. The main component of this device was the restraint that surrounds the top half of the head.
Once again, the master of the facility and his servant were present in the room with the latter working behind the controls to conduct their experimental work further.
"Opening the gate now."
The room they were currently in was next to a much longer one, separated by a transparent glass wall. The other room had a machine that looked to be a laser projecting device, pointed towards the farthest end where a portal had suddenly formed. The machine activates and shoots out a constant stream of energy into the portal.
The servant kept its eyes on a computer screen, waiting for a certain status to display as being reached.
"Brain pattern has been matched."
"Begin." A simple command given and immediately followed.
A light began to emit itself from within the head restraint on the unconscious subject, who remained in that state while moving and behaving in the same way as someone going through a dream.
Meanwhile, images were rapidly displayed on screen as part of the process, resembling a first person view of a life in fast forward. The master had curiously been observing the display.
'How interesting. This boy was the same one that had been known to have a history with the Number Three Hero. His life is everything I imagined it to be for someone as inferior as him, but even I can admire his talents. Perhaps I'll make use of them.'
"Nearly finished master. "
The display made it to a moment that could easily be described as the final one. Standing on the roof of a building, walking towards its edge, taking time to get a view of the city, before his gaze turned to ground beneath him. His eyes close of his sight, and they never open after that.
Suddenly, his body in the real world jolts upwards as much as it could and then drops back down.
"Tonight has shown a major development in villain activity."
A female news anchor with a heteromorphic appearance of an owl person was reading out the news on one Japan's highly rated news channel.
"The villain Specter, know for his more popular title as The Hero Hunter, is well known for the kidnapping and disappearances of several pro heroes. His latest attempt however has proven that he a has a willingness to target more than the heroes, but their families as well."
"Akeno Todoroki, the eldest daughter of the Number 2 Hero Solstice and Number 13 Hero Creati, was reported missing earlier today along with her family driver who was sent to pick her up from middle school. Only in the past hour the perpetrator has been confirmed to be The Hero Hunter himself. More concerning then that is evidence at the scene of the crime suggesting a collaboration between Specter and another top villain of Japan, the one who seeks to terrorize the country through his army of bio-engineered life forms commonly labelled as 'Biomantes,' the bio villain known as the The Progenitor."
"Fortunately for Miss Todoroki and her family, she was found in the Musutafu district after safely escaping her captors with little impact to her health and is currently under the protection of the local police department."
A teenage girl was sitting in the office belonging to a detective within the Musutafu Police Headquarters.
She had long black hair that reached straight down to her shoulders with a strand hanging on both sides of her face, and sharp eyes of a similar color. She was wearing her middle school uniform, not having any occasion to change out of it all day because of the incident she had been unfortunate to experience. The same incident she was currently lost in thought over while staring down at the cup of tea she had been offered, even though she lived her life knowing that things of that nature were bound to happen for someone like her.
Pulling her out of it were the talks she started to hear outside of the office, the police getting excited that someone of high interest had entered the building.
"I believe he's arrived." Telling her this with amusement was the detective she had been in the care of, a man with spiked black hair and red eyes, and dressed in black formal wear.
The girl sets her cup on a nearby table and rushes out of the room and into the more open area, where she finds the center of everyone's attention. A muscular individual with a noticeable scar on the left side of his face, the same side in which his hair is colored red while the other was white. The costume he wore was a blue bodysuit with red formations. It had mechanical components which included a centerpiece on his chest, metallic stripes that circulate around the body to link with the other metalic pieces, such as shoulder pads, bracers, boots, a belt, and parts on his back that resemble thrusters.
To the people around her, this was the Pro Hero with the second highest ranking in the country, the equinox hero; Solstice.
To her, he was something more that only she would know him as.
"Father!" She calls out and runs towards him.
"Akeno!" Solstice was instinctually prepared to capture his approaching daughter the second her voice drew him to where she'd come from.
The two capture each other in a tight embrace, both remaining silent for a short time as they were helping each other relief themselves of tonight's tragedy through this simple gesture, not caring for those around to witness, nor were any dairing to interrupt them. The father then lets go of the embrace, but keeps his hands over her shoulders while entering their discussion.
"Were you hurt in anyway?!"
"I'm alright, nothing I haven't recovered from. I'm more concerned for Sebastien, but I'm told he should recover as well."
"Excuse me."
Before they could talk further, the detective she became familiar with made his way towards them, prompting Akeno to introduce him to her father.
"Father, this is the detective who's been taking care of me."
"Itachi Nara. An honour to meet you Solstice." He offers a hand to the pro hero, who graciously grabs hold of to form a handshake.
"My deepest gratitude for your the kind assistance you've given my daughter."
"Simply doing my job. I'm sure you want to take her home immediately, but I still need to get her statement of tonight's events, something we agreed you should be present for." Itachi states.
"One thing I need to get out of the way first. If you could please give us a moment."
"Of course. I'll be in my office when you're ready." He informs the teenage girl and walks away. The pro hero pulls out his cell phone and starts making a call.
"Your mother's waiting to hear from us. We shouldn't leave her to worry." He hands the phone over to her. It receives an answer from the number it was reaching, and a video chat begins. On the screen appears a woman with a great resemblance to Akeno wearing a white shirt, and who can be seen reacting strongly upon seeing her.
"Akeno!" The woman bursts into tears and places a hand over her mouth, unable to hold back the joy of seeing her daughter out of danger.
"I'm alright Mother. Father is with me at the police station." Akeno tried to reassure her well being.
"I am so relieved. If anything happened to you, I...I just couldn't..."
"I know, but I'm safe now."
"Hold on. Yukina wants to see you as well."
The image on the video chat showed that the other phone was set aside. The mother could be heard interacting with someone else in the background. Shortly after the image turns back to the mother, this time kept at a distance so as to fit in someone else besides her.
Held in her arm was a little girl with short white hair and blue eyes, dressed in a short sleeved blue sweatshirt.
"Hello Yukina. I missed you." Akeno was joyed to be speaking with her precious younger sister.
"Did the bad villains hurt you sissy?" The girl on screen asks innocently.
"No, I'm not hurt. I was saved tonight by the heroes." She reassures the child.
"Are you coming home now?"
"I still have to talk with the nice policemen who aree helping me. I have to go and do that now, then Papa's going to bring me home and we'll see each other when I arrive."
"Okay."
"We'll be home as soon possible." Solstice gets behind her to join in.
"Be safe. Both of you!" The mother states before the call ends.
With that done, Akeno lead her father to the detective's office, who had offered them to take the seats at his desk opposite from where he sat.
The detective pulls out a recording device and leaves it on the desk while it operates.
"Whenever your ready Miss Todoroki." He offers the teenage girl some time to prepare herself before reliving her traumatic experience from today.
It took only seconds for her to begin.
"My driver came to pick me up from school as usual. Or so I thought."
Flashback
Akeno stood outside the gates of her middle school in waiting, until a familiar black vehicle pulls over nearby, inviting her to enter in the back seat.
"Hello Sebastien." She happily greets the elderly attendant behind the wheel, a lightly bearded man with grey hair dressed in a black suit.
"Hello miss. How was your day?"
"It was alright. Nothing of note."
A bit more of their small talk and they were on their way. The drive home was a moment of leisure for her, giving her time to look through her phone after a day of school without care. She would eventually look up from her phone to get a view of their surroundings and roughly estimate how far from home they were.
Only this time, none of the streets around them looked to be part of the normal route, nor anywhere near a direction towards home. This was reason to raise caution.
"Sebastian, where are we?" Akeno naturally questions the driver.
Instead of getting a response back, she was taken back when a flying object emerged from behind the front passenger seat and remained suspended in mid-air. Just as she realized it to be a metallic cylinder of some kind, a thick blinding gas was released from the end of it that was pointed to her. Akeno couldn't help coughing from inhaling the gas, and her arms had a red glow from an instinctual activation of her quirk while she was flailing them around.
In the end, she had succumbed to gas's effect and fell unconscious in the back seat.
Flashback End
"I tried to use my quirk on the gas to protect myself. I couldn't stop it, but I believe I managed to shorten the effect since I woke up prematurely from what my captors intended."
"Can you please describe your quirk. To my knowledge it's known as Forge, based of your mother's creation quirk." Itachi states.
"That's correct. Like my mother's quirk, I can create newly formed objects." As a demonstration, Akeno pulls out her hand and in her palm a red glow appears, from which a small piece of metal emerged into creation.
"But with traits inherited from my father's quirk, I'm also able to alter existing materials." Another glow came and surrounds the object, causing its shape to change into various forms, from a tiny person, to animals and objects.
"An amazing quirk you possess." The Detective compliments her.
"Thank you. Thought it's not without limits. Using it on non-solid elements for instance isn't as easy for me." She humbly points out while putting the metal piece away.
"But it does seem like you had some success in this particular case. You said you woke up earlier." He said to bring them back on track of the recollection.
"Right. We had just arrived at their hideout when I came too."
Flashback
Her eyes began to slowly open when she was regaining consciousness. Realizing that she was still in the backseat of her family car, and that had been lying on the right side of her body while in a sitting position, she remembered what had happened to cause this situation. More importantly, the meaning behind it all.
She had been taken against her will. Someone was intending to do her harm.
A terrifying thought to come to, but fortunately she knew to keep herself calm in a scenario she had hoped never to face, but still expected the possibility in her life as a child of high ranking heroes.
The first thing that came to mind on how to act was that her captor might not be aware that she awoke, an advantage she couldn't afford to lose, so she made sure not to make too much movement and noise. When trying to assess more of her current situation, she looked out from the windows while remaining laid down, and she could tell that the vehicle had just entered inside of a building, no doubt the destination from how she could feel the car slowing down to a complete halt, and immediately after the engine turning off.
The driver, whoever it was that took the place of Sebastien, was getting out of the car. Akeno quickly closed her eyes to keep up her unconscious façade. Now having to rely on her other senses, she heard the opening of the door opposite from where she sat, felt that her seatbelt was undone, and gently her body was lifted up and pulled out of the vehicle. It was clear that she was being carried, with care even, though it didn't feel like there was anything physical beneath her.
With little to no knowledge of her adversaries, how many there were, what quirks they posses and how powerful they are, she decides that a quick getaway is the best course of action. That starts with discreetly using her quirk to create a small device within one of her sleeves.
Soon she would hear a disgruntled male voice from the direction she was approaching.
"Took you long enough. I still don't see why we had to set up base in another city."
"Her father is the number two hero. We had to take special precautions for this one." Another voice responses from the opposite direction, more than likely belonging to her kidnapper. This one sounded distorted and inhuman.
"You give the heroes to much credit. We would've been done before they'd catch us. If anything, you took a bigger risk by taking this long."
"Master entrusted me with this task as always. If you think you're better suited, perhaps you should take it up with him."
With her being in no position to not listen in on the argument, and not able to rely on vision, Akeno used the moment to gather as much information as she could. The mention of a master was certainly worth learning, though it didn't sound like the argument would continue afterwards.
"Whatever. Just strip the girl down and feed her to the seed maker already."
She didn't know what a seed maker was, but hearing that they were going to feed her to it only raised alarm in her, enough to decide now to take action.
She used her quirk to undo her sleeve so that she could easily slide her hand to grab the object she made earlier and toss it in the air. The result was a blinding light meant to avert the sight of the villains away from her, while in that same moment she rolls of whatever it was she laid without waiting to find out if the light had the desired effect. The second she makes contact with the ground, her quirk comes into play, warping the material beneath her to surround herself in a hollow space she would use to traverse underground, effectively burrowing her way to freedom.
After sinking into a sufficient depth, Akeno would bring herself back up in an angled path so as to create some distance away from her captors. Finally, she'd reach the surface and open air again after spending time in an enclosed space with limited oxygen. More importantly, she was outdoors and hopefully away from where she had escaped from. She looks around to find that she ended up in the middle of an alleyway. Not a bad spot, considering she had no way of navigating bellow. Still, not exactly an ideal setting to be clear of the danger, so she immediately runs to one end of the secluded area to enter a more public space where she has a better chance of acquiring help.
Akeno would succeed in making her way out of the alleyway, had a sudden force not have stopped her in her track, much to her bewilderment. A force that came in the form of some energy field that appeared all around her, Then she felt a pressure exerted on her mouth, like a hand that's placed over to enforce silence, and both her arms held outwards to her sides. While she struggled to break free, her body was lifted of the ground and further back into the alleyway until she was brought to the rooftop of one of the adjacent buildings, suspended in the air with a small gap between her feet and the roof. Her eyes widened upon seeing the other individual already standing there.
He was dressed in a black bodysuit with a pattern of faded red lines that covered him completely. Placed over is a long open coat that's equally dark, having tattered edges and a hood over his head. The only noticeable feature from his masked face was the exposed eyes that showed some light emitting from them.
His appearance made it easy to identify her kidnapper.
'This is the villain named by the media as The Specter. The one that's been hunting down heroes that have never been found since!.' She realizes in terror.
"An effective plan you had." He spoke in the same distorted voice from earlier. Without question the one who took her.
"Your quirk is as amazing as I imagined. Unfortunately..."
He lifts a hand up, and in his palm a ball of fire is conjured, a new focus for her worries.
"I cannot allow you to use it any further." The villain walks up to bring the flame to her. All she could do was helplessly struggle in a panic while he places the flame at her center, and then it spreads to engulf her entire body.
Or more specifically, the energy field that's been holding her the whole time, which at the moment seemed to prevent the fire from coming into contact with her, instead allowing only the heat to penetrate.
'The heat. He's using it against my quirk!'
Flashback End
"Another weakness I gather?" The detective inquires. Akeno nods her head in response.
"My quirk generates heat in my body the more I use it, to a point when I couldn't until I'm forced to cool down. He knew enough to take advantage of that."
"No surprise. Specter has shown to posses tactical knowledge on quirks. Still, you had to have escaped from that as well if you made it out alright."
She looks down and lets a moment pass before providing a different answer than what the detective implied.
"Not exactly. Things just took an unexpected turn from there."
Flashback
The fire dissipated away after a few minutes.
Its aftereffect has left Akeno warmed up beyond comfort, making her breath heavily through her nose. Worst still was the fact that she wouldn't be able to use her quirk in this state, and the villain made it clear that was his intend.
If she wasn't exhausted from the heat, she'd be wallowing in despair. Any chance she had of escaping or fighting back was likely gone now, and her only hope now is for a hero's rescue. If only she could've found the help she had desperately sought earlier for her life's sake.
"I take no pleasure in any of this, despite what you might've heard about me, but I have no choice. The will of my master is abso..." The villain's sentence halts abruptly. Akeno took notice of it and when she looked at him, he wasn't looking back at her. His attention was towards the distant view behind her, seeming as though he was getting lost in thought and no longer focused on his objective.
Slowly he turns around, as if to look through out the horizon in every direction.
"This...could this be..." He says out loud, giving the impression that their current location was significantly familiar to him.
Specter turns to the edge of the roof that's above the alleyway, walks to a particular spot over it and looks straight down. Then after a few seconds, he takes a step to fall of.
Surprising, but doubtful the villain would easily be harmed by the fall. Akeno was left alone by this action with no change to her position and soon she would faintly hear him screaming from down bellow. At the same time, the energy field that was holding her was acting up, until it disappeared and she landed on her feet, now miraculously freed.
Akeno went to get a glimpse of her kidnapper to better asses the change in her situation. From the distance above she sees him on his knees and facing the ground, clearly in a condition that may have rendered him incapacitated. Whatever the case, this was a second chance at escaping she couldn't squander.
Except that to is short lived when she's startled by the presence of a new threat, landing some feet behind her just as she was turning around.
In front of her was a muscular individual on all fours with pale white skin and features that resembled those akin to a predatory animal, including sharp fangs and claws, yellow eyes with vertical pupils and black fur growing from the top half of his back. He rose to stand on his legs, revealing his more than ordinary height and black shorts as his only piece of attire.
The sight of this new assailant already told her that this wasn't a person with a Mutant Quirk. What stood before her was a creation of another fearsome villain the media was sure to warn the public of. An artificial life form product by The Progenitor, a Biomante.
"Thought you were safe little human? You thought wrong." It spoke with the other voice she heard before her escape, confirming its involvement. Then to her growing fear, it started walking closer to her. She still couldn't use her quirk in her defense, a short attempt causing heated pain in her arms, and though she has some training in combat, it certainly wouldn't be enough against a physical superior. Running wasn't an option either with the limited space of a rooftop.
Another hopeless situation following the previous, and once again, all Akeno could do was stare at her assailant with dread of her fate.
Instinctually she moved back the few feet she had to the edge of the roof, to jump from the feeling of hands coming in contact with her shoulders. Hands that belonged to Specter who had been hovering above the edge before gently landing on it. Now she was surrounded by both of enemies, though that didn't keep her from noticing there being something different about him.
"What were you doing down there? You know better than to loss focus on a mission from Master." She could hear the Biomante speak. The villain's only response was having his attention directed at his partner, and the next thing she hears from behind was a shout.
"HEY!"
It drew her to turn back at the larger of the two, to be surprised from seeing the state he was in; suspended in the air by the same energy field that held her moments ago, only he has was allowed more movement to resist aggressively in vain. Specter walks pass her to get in between her and the biological creation.
"What are you doing?! Put me down!" It demanded.
Specter raises an arm towards his captive with two fingers pointed out, from which the parts of his glove covering those fingers suddenly extend and shoot out in a path that enters through a point in the Biomante's neck, and comes out straight from the other side. The result had rendered the target silent, unmoving and with a blank expression on its face. The energy field disappears afterwards and leaves the body to drop and lay still, while Specter's extended fingers retract back to his hand.
Akeno went from despair to stunned after seeing one of her kidnappers striking the other in what is seen as an act of murder, even if it wasn't too a human being. The former makes eye contact with her and gives more reason to surprise her.
"Are you alright?"
She hears that particular questions coming from the villain. With no expectation of this scenario and still to stunned from its occurrence, she fails to provide an answer, but he seemed understanding of that.
"I... I'm sorry for putting you through all of this." Hearing him talk some more helped her to realize that his voice was no longer distorted, now sounding like that of a teenage boy. Adding in his height she had now observed to be as tall as her, she could assume he was no older than her. Finally, his eyes were not glowing like before, instead revealing green iris in them.
"Come here please. I have to show you something." He walks over to a farther end of the roof that paralleled with a nearby street. Akeno didn't have any other options but to comply with her savior, although naturally hesitant to approach him and left a small distance when she did.
"See that building over there?"
She turns from staring at him to looking at the building he was pointing at.
"That's where we brought you. The heroes will want to know that. Also, your driver is in the trunk of the car."
That information regarding Sebastien had her staring back at him with a bit of a shock. Specter must've realized the implication of what he said.
"Oh no, no, he's just knocked out. Same as uh...as you were." He quickly clarifies in an awkward tone, even waving his hands in the gesture, that seemed uncharacteristic of the villain he had been portrayed as. None the less, it helped to put her at ease.
"Anyway I'm going to use my...quirk to bring you down. Then you can go and find the help you need." He states.
Akeno wouldn't say anything to question him when her safety was assured, but she was compelled to know one thing from all this.
"Thank you, but why are you helping me now?"
It was Specter's turn to hesitate when providing an answer.
"I...wasn't myself until I found something that helped me to remember."
"Found what?"
"It doesn't matter." Specter then did as told and used his quirk.
Akeno felt the hold from his ability once again, which had lifted her of her feet and brought her hovering body above the alleyway. Unlike before, she hadn't been restrained and there was care in her movement. The two exchange one last moment of eye contact, in which Specter gives a final say in their encounter.
"Again, I'm sorry for everything. If you plan on becoming a hero, then I hope my actions didn't effect that. I think you'd be a great one."
Her body begins to gently descend to the ground, landing in the alleyway without harm and a few feet away from the nearby street. She looks upwards for any more signs of the kidnapper who had let her go. None had appeared, so she carries on to safety.
Flashback End
"I encountered the pro hero patrolling nearby, and I'm sure you've gathered the rest after that." Akeno finishes her retelling of the experience. The detective nods his head.
"From your account Miss Todoroki, you're suggesting that Specter was under the control of The Progenitor, and the scenery triggered something that freed him of it, at which point he acted on his own to aid you. Do I have that right?" He asks to verify the interpretation of her words.
"Yes Detective." She didn't hesitate to answer what she already went over in her head long and hard to believe firmly.
"One think I can say for sure is that the Specter who saved me isn't the same Specter who initially kidnapped me. I couldn't stop thinking about it since, but if I'm right, then The Progenitor is the one responsible. Specter was another victim the whole time. I'm hoping that my testament would help the law to see it that way as well."
"Of course Miss, you've made an excellent start in that. The possibility of one villain's actions being under the control of another is certainly worth investigating, and if proven true, would very likely clear him of the penalties he would've otherwise faced. You have my word on that." The detective reassures her.
Knowing that has put Akeno at ease, now that the one who she owed her life to may be seen for the hero that he was.
"This confirms it Master, Specter has betrayed us. He gave the heroes our location."
The Progenitor could hear the Biomante that served as his right hand while staring at screen in front of him, seeing a team of pro heroes rushing their way through the forest that held his underground lab. The images on the screen reveals a convoy of specialized tactical vehicles rolling through the woods, while in the air were two well known pro heroes using their quirks to fly. One was riding on a whirlwind of his control, the wind hero Gale Force. More troublesome than him however was the Number Two himself thrusting through the air with the fire of his quirk, the one he risked earning the wrath of after sending his traitorous hunter to target that man's eldest daughter.
"Initiate our defensive measures." He orders. The Biomante obeys and press a series of buttons on a nearby console, when suddenly the lights go of and everything is engulfed in darkness. A set of back up lights restores visibility, and the Biomante turns to a portable device on his wrist.
"Main power has been cut off. Attempting to restore...No response. The generator must've been disabled!"
First the heroes were heading straight for them, now their power was sabotaged. Both of these circumstances had the same obvious suspect. The latter is evident of one thing.
"He's here."
The Progenitor walks down a hallway towards a particular section of his base with a sense of haste while accompanied by his most powerful Biomantes.
"You're certain that's where we'll find him Master? I don't know why..."
"If he's regained his old personality, then he's likely to play the hero, like he did in Musutafu." He answers his right hand Biomante before it could finish its question.
They reach the double door to their destination. They slide open to reveal a room that had clear signs of a recently occurred battle, with damage to the interior and to the machinery, and even some of his lesser Biomantes lying lifeless on the floor.
A sight not at all pleasing, but none of it compares with the focus of a particular component within the room. A containment unit with its door torn off and thrown across the room, the fluid it held spilled on the ground and the pieces inside of it left dangling on wires in the now empty space of the container.
Next to it were viles smashed to the ground, with all of their content burning in flames.
'The DNA samples.' Recognizing what they were from simply looking at them.
The situation was already a frustrating as it was. Now the on responsible for it got away with stealing an important asset for his work. That is of course, only if he manages to escape the base, which he is about to order his Biomantes to prevent.
"The Heroes are fast approaching. It won't be long now master."
Listening to his right hand warning him of their reminds him of the more pressing matter he's forced to deal with.
'A distraction I couldn't ignore while he gets away. This was his plan.'
Instead of taking the course of action he prefers, The Progenitor reluctantly, and with rising anger, chooses to set that aside for a later time and does the more practical option for his benefit.
"We're evacuating."
"Our main priority of capturing The Progenitor in this operation was a failure, no doubt having escaped with the essential parts of his work to remain a major threat."
The pro heroes who all took part in the attack on The Progenitor's base were seated around a large conference room table for a mission debrief. At the head of the table giving the report was an aged man in a dark gray business suit with long, white hair and some scars on his slightly wrinckled face. This was an agent of the HSPC with a role that's been established after great villain outbreak, focusing on the apprehension of high profile villains in the country, such as the one they've tried to capture recently.
"That aside, all other priorities were meet with optimal results. Most important of all was the rescue of six year old Mikoto Takeda."
The agent presses a button on the remote in his hand, and an image appears on the screen covering the wall behind him. It displayed the profile of a young boy with brown hair and yellow eyes. This child was reported to have been kidnaped for some time, with suspicion surrounding his unique but potentially hazardous quirk, and in this mission was a prime target of rescue when The Progenitor had been identified as the kidnapper.
"Medical experts have determined that he's been subjected to possible exploitation of his quirk, but otherwise is in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery. Although, while the boy's health is a top concern, our main interest is the way he was found."
Flashback
Pro Heroes and law enforcement personnel alike were operating in an open field of the forest, surrounding a large hole made through a combination of quirks, for entry to the underground base they were informed belonged to The Progenitor.
The agent was present at the scene, keeping his eyes on the hole when he sees Solstice and some other heroes walking out of it on the makeshift stairs he made with his ice.
That they weren't carrying anything with them means that they didn't find anything of worth.
"I take it you haven't found him." He asks the number two approaching him.
"Plenty of his monsters down there, but It looks as though he escaped through some tunnels in a cave system that were blocked off." Solstice answers with hint a of disappointment.
"And the child?"
"No sign of him either. I can only hope..."
"Over here!"
A voice shouts out to get everyone's attention and they all saw what had instigated it. Coming from the tree line behind them was an illuminating formation slowly levitating towards them. It resembled the upper half of a humanoid figure. Something akin to a spirit or a ghost, many of them are thinking, but Solstice knew exactly who was behind it.
Specter.
Before coming to the thought that the villain who both kidnapped and saved his daughter was in the vicinity, his mind was occupied with what the apparition had resting in its arms.
The body of a child dressed in some one piece white suit, resembling the boy they were looking to rescue.
Flashback End
"The Hero Hunter, Specter. The events in Musutafu a few days ago had brought to light a possible connection to The Progenitor as a controlled pawn, putting to question his status as a villain. Needless to say, him providing us the location to his base, and his presence there to prioritize the rescue of the boy both support this possibility."
The Agent's visual display showed everyone a profile of the other villain of interest while he's explained his involvement in this case.
"I for one am hesitant to dismiss his villainy for this alone."
One of the heroes wearing silver armor with a facial mask, and the symbol for 'order' on his chest, expresses his opinion of the villain to maintain an objective to the discussion.
"Maybe he did lead us to a dangerous villain and protected an innocent child in the process, or maybe this was nothing more than revenge against his puppet master and depriving him of an asset. Without knowing what his intentions were, there's nothing to say he's turned to the side of good, much less that he's not going to continue acting like a villain."
"All the more reason to find him before he does and to know for sure." Solstice interjects the armored hero's argument. Everyone turns to the highest ranking hero in the room.
"More to the point, since it was Specter who tipped us of on the location, then he might be able to help us again. That is what you were getting at right?" He looks to the agent, who nods his head in response.
"Pursuing Specter first does look like the best course of action if we wish to capture The Progenitor at this point. Fortunately, we have a lead that could make things easier for us."
The agent switches the image on the wall to reveal a crime scene photo, consisting of a small mechanical implant left on the ground, over a spot that's stained with a few drops of blood.
"A certain piece of evidence found back in Musutafu. A small device similar to what is found planted in Biomantes, this one possessing traces of human DNA which we can presume belongs to Specter. Once the detectives in that district get a match, we'll finally have a face behind the mask of The Hero Hunter."
Being able to identify this villain was considered a major development for the pro heroes. Some of them had a more personal interest to discover who that identity belonged to, though none greater than Solstice wanting more answers over his interaction with his daughter.
Another peaceful day in Japan was passing by, waiting for that peace to be disturbed in any part of the country like any other day in the modern world of quirks, by someone deciding to use their own for a criminal advantage.
Such as someone whose quirk made their body into a lump of shape altering clay, helping him to run from the two sidekicks chasing him.
The villain dashed through the city streets, his body shifting with every step to enhance his agility and maneuverability. The sidekicks were only able to keep up because of their own quirks. One was a female hero with a kunoichi outfit whose quirk gave her control over paper, using a paper glider to soar through the air. The other was a male hero in a simply designed beige body suit. His quirk allowed him to slide on his feet with sufficient speed.
Unfortunately, chasing was all they could do at the moment, because the villain held more than the stolen goods within his clay body that started all of this. Trapped in that same villain were innocent civilians that he captured on the way, using them as hostages to prevent the heroes from attacking him.
As they ran, one of the sidekicks spoke into their earpiece.
"He's getting close to position!"
Another hero was traveling through the air above the city, using the wing flaps of his costume under his extended arms to glide. He could see the villain chase in the street beneath him heading in his direction, approaching close enough to a designated target area where he'd take action. He retracts his arms to his sides, then explosions from both his hands changed his trajectory into a rapid descent towards the villain.
Right when the clay villain looks up to see the hero, a fist had already delivered a powerful punch to his face that sunk deep into the clay body. Following immediately after were carefully calculated internal explosions that sent pieces of clay flying in every direction, leaving only the parts of the villain that held the hostages to simply fall on the spot and break away for the people to be freed. Curious Bystanders all around began to form a crowd surrounding the scene at the intersection where the villain chase was halted.
The sidekicks froze in their tracks, surprised at the scene in front of them, even though it was planned. Standing at the center of the mess where the civilians laid on was the hero who just saved them and one they all to well. A tall and muscular individual with spikey blonde hair and red eyes surrounded by a jagged black mask. His costume consisted of a black tank top with an orange 'X' on the middle and a metallic neck brace, baggy pants with knee guards, a belt that carries grenades and knee high combat boots. The costume had features that looked to be retractable flaps for gliding. His biceps were covered with gauntlets that were designed to resemble grenades, a model that was slimmer and more sophisticated than what he used to wear, with tubes connected to two cannisters on his back.
This was the number three hero: Ground Zero.
The sidekicks were starring with awe and admiration at the hero they had the privalage of working under, until he looked back at them and broke it.
"The hell are you two standing around for? Come and help the hostages!" He ordered them aggressively. The sidekicks were intimidated by the tone of his voice and were quick to act.
"Yes sir!" They respond at the same time and approach to provide aid.
Suddenly, all of the clay pieces began to move and converge to a single point, no doubt so that the villain would reform.
"Get these people away! Maintain a perimeter!" The sidekicks did as they were told as they guided the frightened civilians to a safe distance. Ground Zero remained in place and got ready to face the villain, who eventually becomes whole again and ready for a fight.
"Ground Zero! Think I'm afraid to take you on?" A smirk appears on the explosion hero's face from hearing the villain challenging him.
"As if you're a real threat mush for brains! You were dumb enough to be a villain anywhere I'm at, and weak enough to rely on meat shields!"
"Don't get full of yourself number three! The hostages were an idea I got when I heard it happened to you once, with a villain whose quirk was like mine!" The villain taunts back, unaware of how much of an effect that had on the hero.
The sludge villain that nearly suffocated him when he was still in middle school. He knew right away what the reference was to.
Ground Zero has been known for being aggressive and quick to anger, despite the considerable job he's done suppressing this part of him through out the years. Mocking him over a memory of one of his least favorable moments in the past was a way to bring up that anger with ease, expressed by the scowl that quickly grew on his face and the sparks of tiny explosions in his palms.
"So basically, you're just one pathetic villain imitating another! I bet you'll end up a bigger stain than that villain did!" The hero remarks back.
"Bring it!"
The clay villain forms multiple tendrils from its body and shoots them towards Ground Zero, who aims one of his gauntlets in retaliation. Before either side would clash however, the tendrils slowed down to a near stoppage, surprising the villain as he discovers that its movement was drastically stalled.
"What the... why am I..." Then suddenly the villain's entire body was incased in ice.
Unexpected, but the hero was already familiar with a quirk capable of freezing to this extent, belonging to the one person he could think of that could be behind this. When he sees someone coming from behind the frozen villain, it was exactly who he had in mind.
Not in his costume, but still recognizable enough in the dark blue button up shirt and jeans he wore that the crowd would immediately recognize the number two hero, getting them all excited to witness a meeting between him and the number three.
"Bakugo." Solstice greets him. Ground Zero wasn't to excited for his presence.
"The hell are you doing here IcyHot?" He calls him by the old nickname he's always had for him.
They've known each other since attending the same class in hero school. They've competed and worked together as students. As pro heroes, they're work rarely has them put together, and are known for their famous rivalry over their rankings, both sharing the goal of becoming number one. Even if one is ranked higher, it's simply because each spot in the hero ranking system is for a single hero. The populace otherwise views these two as equals in power and hero proficiency.
"We need to talk. I was on my way to your agency when I heard about a villain chase nearby and stopped by to assist if I could." Solstice explains.
"I didn't need your help with this." Ground Zero points to the villain's frozen state, unhappy that another hero had beaten him in his own work with ease, especially when it's Solstice in particular.
"What I came to tell you isn't something worth waiting on. Believe me, you need to hear this right away, and strong as you are, a villain like this would've taken you time to beat."
Some lingering impulses of his teenage self wanted to argue back on that comment, but Ground Zero restraint himself from acting out, knowing deep down that there was truth to it. The villain's clay body could recover from his explosions, and trying to throw more powerful ones would've caused unnecessary damage, or worse, risked endangering the nearby civilians. Solstice's quirk was better suited for this, and given that he went out of his to come see him personally must really be something that requires his immediate attention.
"Origami! Frictioneer!" He calls his sidekicks.
"Sir!" They both approach their superior.
"Stay with the villain until the cops take him away, be sure they get what was stolen and see that the hostages get medical attention from paramedics." He gives the order, then turns back to Solstice gestures for them to leave the scene together.
"This better not be a waste of my time."
Clouds began to fill the sky later that day for the rain that's soon to fall.
A hooded figure stood at the open entrance of a cemetery. Hesitant to lay one foot it's grounds, he eventually finds the resolve to do what he came here to do.
He walks down the main path with his head down and hands the pockets of his gray hoodie. Not long in his journey did the rain began its descent. He lifts up a palm and a piece of his sleeve protrudes upwards to alter its shape and image into that of a certain object, an umbrella, to shield him from the rain.
His walk remains undisturbed.
"IS THIS SOME SICK FUCKING JOKE?!"
The Ground Zero agency was no stranger to loud noises coming from the hero it was run by, from either him or his quirk.
Those in the building who've worked there long enough were accustomed to a point where they could distinguish all of the head hero's different kinds of shouting. This one sounded like something very personal had struck him, drawing everyone's curiosity to whatever was transpiring between the two high ranking heroes behind the doors of the main office.
On the other side of those doors, Ground Zero was standing behind his desk, his hands pressed on its surface to support him in his current position, which allows him to stare down at the object that's taken over the focus of his mind with shock and disbelief.
A document that was laid out in front of him, revealing a specific piece of information he couldn't turn his wide open eyes away from.
This reveal was causing an emotional turmoil within him over something he could never have thought to find, much less accept any of it as fact.
"I was skeptical about it as well, for the obvious reasons."
Solstice stood there with his arms crossed, giving his companion time to process the impossible news he just delivered. After a few minutes, now was the moment when he would to remove the doubt and assure him of its legitimacy.
"Thought the whole thing had to be wrong. But then I realized that maybe it's not as far fetched as you'd think, because you and I have already faced something of a similar nature in our youth."
That got him curious enough to lift his head and look at Solstice for clarification.
"The Nomus." He answers.
Another set of knowledge had sprung up in his mind, complimenting the dreaded shock. The idea that the product of some madman playing god with lives and quirks had any relevance to this was just as unbelievable, but it came to him, the memory of a basic detail on how those monsters were created, or more specifically, from what.
That one madman in the past had already found a means for it was proof enough that another could do the same, and he did it to him of all people. There's no other explanation, and no way out of it now to deny it.
The hooded figure continued walking through the cemetery with the umbrella resembling construct in his hand to protect him from the falling rain.
His attention was to the names on the tombstones he was passing by. One in particular got him to stop when he reaches it, and turns to face it.
But it took him a few moment to raise his eyes so he could actually see the name inscribed on the stone.
At some point Ground Zero moved away from his desk when he could no longer look at the document, instead now looking out in the world through the rain covered window of his office, anywhere but towards the things that brought this on him. in a society forced to view him as a threat to subdue and punish, after everything he already suffered from that same society.
"He's still human. They didn't find anything to suggest otherwise. More importantly, we have good reason to believe that not only did he remember who he is, he's acting like his true self would, from the events I described. You have to face it Bakugo. It's really him." Solstice went on with providing more details of the situation to better convince him.
"This you selling your damn point? And what, get me on board so that you could use the personal approach, like I have a choice, Like it's that fucking simple?" Ground Zero retorts aggressively while keeping his back turned to the other hero.
"I never imagined it to be simple. It was decades ago, but I went through this type of situation myself, if you recall my brother who was in the League of Villains."
A moment passes to allow more memories to serve as examples. Ground Zero could not argue against the villain that gave the Todoroki family so much tragedy and damage to their name all those years ago.
"I know what you're going through, and I understand the difficulty weighing on you. I also know that compared to me, you have a better chance of making things right, but it will get harder to do that the longer it takes us to capture him first. Are you really not going to try and give that to him?" Solstice firmly questions his resolve.
Ground Zero remained silent, thinking hard on the answer. It should be obvious, but there's still some inner demons in his way of making that choice.
"He is out there, alone and with nothing, and a target for one of the most dangerous villains in the country. Whatever you were to him in the past, you're all he has now." Solstice adds to the discussion.
He didn't even think about any of that. This whole times he's been sulking in his own grief, his unburied guilty from those days, while he's left out to fend for himself in a society that's forced to view him as a villain and punish him for it.
Ground Zero wasn't going to let it happen, not after everything he's already suffered before.
He moves to look again at the document on his desk, focusing on the image of a certain identity. A teenage boy with a round freckled face, dark-green fluffy hair, and green eyes looking back.
Those same eyes kept staring at the tombstone from inside the hood covering his head.
One might argue that they were as cold as the stone they were staring at if they could see him, which in some twisted sense would be fitting for the scene.
It's not often someone may come to gaze upon their own tombstone.
Hello everyone, welcome to my second MHA fanfic!
This was one of the other ideas I came up and decided to take a swing at while working on my first story, Augment. What this means for both stories moving forward, all I can say at the moment is that I plan to put in time for both as much I can and see how far that goes.
You've probably guessed all of the troops from this first chapter. I've described Augment Izuku as Red Hood, but this one is more on theme to the character, where as Augment is comparable to Winter Soldier. Personally, I like to think of these two versions as my Marvel/DC counterparts.
Some other troops to confirm, this will be a post cannon, next gen setting with a number of original characters that mostly the children of Class 1-A and others. The hard part for me to come up with OCs are their names, just gonna pick names I've heard from other anime I've watched.
Those you've been introduced to already:
Akeno Todoroki - More or less a clone of Momo, who I like to have as the main pairing. This was the best way to fit into this.
Yukina Todoroki - The adorable little sister. Imagine Sue from 'A Centaur's Life.'
Mikoto Takeda - Basically the equivalent of Eri.
The Progenitor - Had to give some thought on the villain. Imagine Orochimaru from Naruto, if he was more of a master mind from Resident Evil. Appearance wise, I tried to go with something akin to Mr. Sinister.
Anyway, "I hope you enjoyed. Looking forward to your comments.