Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia.
Episode 5 - Captured Angel
The morning of the wedding had arrived, and a car had taken All Might from the Helios mansion to the wedding venue. The venue for the wedding was Dawn's Promise Cathedral, the largest and most ornate church in Sunrise City. It had been built with the help of very generous donations from the richest families in the city, with the Helios family being among them. The church was a very large white building with massive stained glass windows. The most iconic of these windows was a large round one right above the front doors of the church depicting a golden sun with a silver cross in the middle.
The car dropped All Might off right in front of the church wearing his hero costume. Apparently every hero who had been invited to the wedding was to attend in full costume, including the bride and groom. All Might didn't learn of this until the very last minute from one of the mansion's butlers. He was grateful David had been able to repair his costume and get it back to him so quickly the previous night, but he now felt a bit foolish for having rented a tuxedo for nothing. Upon his arrival, All Might noticed quite a few reporters and T.V. vans in the church parking lot. It was clear Edward was attempting to turn the wedding into another media event.
"Yo, All Might," a familiar voice spoke. All Might looked and saw Mr. Magnet walking up to him, with his board tucked under his arm. "Glad to see you back on your feet."
"You as well," All Might responded, smiling as he shook the hand of his fellow hero. "I was actually a bit worried about you."
"Yeah. Well I would've been dead if it weren't for your friend, Star Queen. Or you, for that matter. Thanks for stepping in to keep Outcast from finishing me off."
"Think nothing of it. I should be thanking you for trying to help me."
"Not that it did any good. By the way, where's your wingman, David Shield?"
"He's still at Helios Tower, working on a new support item for me," All Might explained, pointing his thumb in the tower's general direction. "He said it should help me the next time Outcast shows up."
Mr. Magnet nodded. "I should probably get to work on some new Anti-Outcast gear of my own."
"We can worry about Outcast later. Right now I'd rather think about the wedding."
"True enough. Though I can't say I dig the way Edward Helios is giving this thing so much press. I feel like I'm attending the wedding of that one British princess from the 1980s. You see the paper this morning? The headline said something about this wedding being the start of a new dynasty of heroes."
Suddenly All Might's phone began to ring. He took out his phone and went a little pale when he saw the name on the caller I.D.
"Uh, I better take this," All Might told Mr. Magnet. "If you'll excuse me."
Mr. Magnet nodded. "Guess I'll go into the church and mingle for a bit. Catch ya later."
As Mr. Magnet headed up the church's front steps, All Might accepted the call and put the phone to his ear. "Hello, Gran Torino. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly."
"I saw video of your fight yesterday online," Gran Torino responded. "You were right to call me as soon as you did, Toshinori."
"What were you able to find out?"
"I'm having some friends of mine on the police force digging into the details of this so-called accident. So far they haven't been able to find out much, but they were at least able to provide a short manifest of who was aboard the transport. Sergeant Blackout of course was the hero guarding it, and your friend, Kaoru Tsukishiro was listed as one of the prisoners."
"Who else?"
"The Oni, for one. I'm sure you remember him."
All Might sighed. "I thought so. Any others?"
"There were two other prisoners. One of them was Koichi Izumi, a real psycho from what I've seen in his file. He possessed a quirk called Metamorphic Limbs. It allowed him to transform his arms and legs into weapons. The final prisoner was a woman named Ami Ozawa. She possessed a sound-based quirk called Banshee."
"Both of those quirks sound like two of the ones Outcast used in yesterday's battle. And she definitely had Sergeant Blackout's electrical quirk as well."
"And the Demon quirk possessed by the Oni. It looks as though All For One attacked that transport and for some reason gave the quirk of almost everyone aboard to your friend, Kaoru."
"Are you certain it's Kaoru?"
Gran Tornino sighed over the phone. "I understand how you feel, Toshinori. Now I can't definitively say Outcast is this friend of yours. The fire in that tunnel was so bad that they couldn't get an accurate number of the bodies at the time, but you should be prepared for the possibility that Kaoru Tsukishiro is All For One's newest pawn."
All Might closed his eyes. "I actually never knew Kaoru very well. She was just someone who lived at the house of my classmate, Kaito. I understand what you're saying though."
"This is your first real battle against All For One. He's sent forth an assassin designed just to kill you. Your next big test as the eighth wielder of One For All has already begun."
"I'm ready. No matter what happens, I will defeat Outcast and stop All For One."
"I'll call you if I find out anything else."
The call ended with those last words. All Might reattached his phone to his belt as he turned back to the church. He took a breath before heading up the church steps. At the moment he wanted to put the situation with Outcast out of his mind and focus only on the wedding.
Right across from Dawn's Promise Cathedral was a fairly tall office building that had long been abandoned and scheduled for demolition. Carmine's small limo pulled into the alley next to this building, and both he and Outcast got out of the back. Driving the limo was one of Carmine's top lieutenants, Vito the Touch. Vito was a tall and rather nondescript man with neatly combed dark hair, wearing an ordinary black suit and sunglasses. The reason behind Vito's colorful moniker was because he possessed a quirk called Corrosive Touch, which allowed his fingertips to melt through just about anything; a power that allowed Vito to easily break through locked doors and safes, and also made him an ideal hitman when the situation warranted.
"Any trouble getting things set up?" Carmine asked Vito as he and Outcast followed him into the building.
Vito shook his head. "With all the press this damn wedding is getting, I was expecting to find some police snipers in here keeping watch over the church, but it was empty when I cased the place."
Carmine grinned. "Guess Ed Helios thinks he doesn't need police protection since he's got a church full of heroes."
"My father always was an arrogant bastard," Outcast remarked.
"Jimmy and I have everything set up," Vito continued as the three traveled up the stairs. "Once the wedding gets going, we can start."
Vito took Carmine and Outcast up a few floors to a large room with huge windows facing the church. The room had once been home to several office cubicles but was now an empty space with wires and cables hanging from the ceiling. In front of the main window was a slender man with pale skin and slicked back brown hair, wearing an ugly green and yellow suit with a gold chain around his neck in place of a tie. This man was Carmine's other lieutenant, Jimmy Presto. Presto was not his real last name, but the name given to him based on the nature of his rather unique quirk.
On Jimmy's right next to the window was a large grey metal rectangular box nearly eight feet in height. On his left was a small wooden table with an open laptop set up on it. The laptop was showing live coverage of the wedding down below.
"If you're just tuning in now, we are only minutes away from what is likely to be the biggest wedding in the history of Sunrise City," the reporter on the laptop's screen announced. "Practically everyone is excited to see the city's own Miraculous Hero, Sun King and the Celestial Hero, Star Queen tie the knot."
"You ready to work your magic, Jimmy?" Carmine asked as he and the others approached the window.
"Pretty much, boss," Jimmy answered as he turned to face them. "All I need is a clear view of the target."
"Leave that to me," Outcast told him.
Suddenly the large box next to Jimmy began to rock and make noise, causing Jimmy to jump. Something was thrashing around inside the box, something big.
"Son of a bitch!" Jimmy exclaimed as he backed away from the metal crate. "I'll sure be glad when we can finally dump this freaky thing."
"I can't believe the Doc had some mutant on hand for us to use like this," Carmine remarked. "Then again, knowing the guy like I do now, can't say I'm really surprised."
"Just what the hell do ya have in that box?" Vito asked.
Outcast walked up to the front of the box. "Someone who deserves everything he's gotten…"
It was Kaoru's fifth night at All For One's hidden mansion. She was still getting used to all of the changes that had been made to her body. The previous night All For One had given her new quirks for infrared vision and enhanced hearing. Kaoru was still getting the hang of all of her new abilities. Meanwhile the combat training intended to help Kaoru master her small arsenal of quirks had been very difficult.
At the moment though, Kaoru was sitting at the end of a long dinner table finishing off a thick steak. Ever since gaining the Demon quirk, Kaoru found she had strong periodic cravings for meat. She had to wonder if the cravings were some weird side-effect of getting the quirk. Meanwhile All For One was at the other end of the table eating his own steak.
"I trust your meal was prepared properly," All For One spoke as he neatly cut into his meat.
"It was fine," Kaoru responded.
After taking one last bite, All For One put down his knife and fork and delicately wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Since you're finished, perhaps now is a good time to give you the little surprise I've prepared for you."
With those words, All For One got up and headed for a door on the left side of the room. Kaoru got up and followed him. The two of them went through the door and went down a staircase leading to a long dark corridor. At the end of the corridor, the pair found Dr. Garaki waiting in front of a thick metal door.
"Good evening, Dr. Is our guest awake?" All For One asked.
Dr. Garaki nodded. "He only just woke up. The poor boy has no idea what's happening to him."
"What's going on?" Kaoru asked.
"When you told me about how you ended up getting arrested for a crime you didn't commit, I decided to do a little investigating of my own," All For One revealed. "It took some time and effort, but I found the actual thief who stole the diamonds you were accused of taking. I thought perhaps you might like to meet him."
At All For One's direction, Dr. Garaki opened the door. Kaoru walked into the room and found a familiar kid in a black hoodie huddled in a corner of the room. When she saw the kid's face she recognized him as the thief who had bumped into her on the fateful day she met All For One. When the thief saw Kaoru, he became even more frightened and started begging for his life.
"Go on. Take your rage out on him, my Outcast," All For One urged. "Make him pay for taking the blame for a crime you never committed."
Kaoru glared down as the thief as she advanced on him. Just looking at his face brought back the memories of when she was falsely arrested, and of the very last time she saw Noriko. Just thinking of those times caused her anger to flare into a white-hot flame. Kaoru stood over him, her claws extended and her hands began to crackle with electricity. After a few moments of watching the thief beg for his life however, her hands stopped crackling and her claws retracted.
"What's wrong?" All For One asked. "Aren't you going to kill him?"
"No…I don't want him to die," Kaoru answered. "Death would be letting him off too easily." She bent down and got in the thief's face. "I want this little punk to suffer something a thousand times worse than what I've gone through!"
All For One grinned. "How interesting. I believe you may have struck upon the real meaning of vengeance. True revenge is not killing your enemies, it's making your enemies wish they were dead. Yes, I think we can grant your request. Don't you agree, Dr. Garaki?"
Dr. Garaki chuckled as he entered the room. "Indeed, I believe this young man will make a fine test subject for some of my experiments."
"Leave him to us, Outcast," All For One told Kaoru. "We'll make sure this enterprising young thief gets just what he deserves."
"…I still don't know what the Master and Dr. Garaki did to him, but the heroes can finally put him out of his misery if they want," Outcast declared.
Carmine shuddered. "Remind me never to cross ya."
Outcast simply pushed Jimmy aside and stood before the window. "We should be ready. The wedding will probably start any minute now."
Star Queen was in a little dressing room that had been prepared for her in the back of the church, standing before a full-length mirror in her hero costume. She had a bouquet of roses in her hands and a wedding veil had been added to her suit just for the wedding. In all honesty, Star Queen would've preferred an actual wedding dress, but Kaito had insisted they get married in costume. He said it was the perfect way to symbolize the start of a new dynasty of heroes, and the rest of two families had agreed. It was not the type of wedding Star Queen would've liked, but then she didn't really want this wedding in the first place.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Star Queen heard her father's voice asking to come in. The reluctant bride gave permission for Yukito to enter.
After he came into the room, Yukito stopped and looked Star Queen over. "You look beautiful. I wish your mother were still alive to see you now."
Star Queen nodded. "I wish she was here too."
"She is, in spirit." Yukito walked up and put his hands on Star Queen's shoulders. "I am so proud of you right now. This is a day all of us have been waiting for."
"Yeah. It's…a dream come true."
"Come. Everyone's waiting."
Star Queen nodded and took her father's arm. As they headed for the door, Star Queen suddenly found herself wanting to run away.
All Might was sitting in the front row of the groom's side of the church next to Edward and Shiori. Sun King was at the front with the priest, a short bald elderly man with bifocal glasses. In all four corners of the church were T.V. cameras set up to catch all of the action. Half of the pews on both sides of the aisle were filled with pro heroes, many of who All Might recognized from various news reports he had seen over the years. Also present among the guests were the wealthiest and most influential people in the city.
"Boy. This is quite the turnout," All Might remarked as he looked around at the guests. "I'm actually feeling a little out of place here."
"Oh don't be silly," Shiori told him. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't belong."
Edward nodded. "My wife's right, Yagi my boy. You're here because my son thinks very highly of you. There's no need for you to feel so self conscious about rubbing elbows with us elites, because in our family's book you're already one of us."
"Looks like I just barely made it to the big event," a voice interrupted.
Standing before the three was an older gentlemen with greying blonde hair, wearing a black suit with a red tie. A small pin in the shape of Sunrise City's official flag was attached to the lapel of his coat. Standing next to this gentleman was another older man with grey hair, dressed in a full police uniform.
"Ah! Rupert, you're right on time," Edward told the man in the suit. "Yagi, I'd like you to meet my younger brother, Rupert Helios. He's actually the mayor of this town. The officer with him is our chief of police, Jake Lipton."
Chief Lipton saluted the young hero. "You call yourself All Might, correct? I've been meaning to thank you for your work defeating the Golden Skulls the other day."
"I'm glad I was there at the right time," All Might responded. "I just wish I could've done more at the stadium yesterday."
"Don't worry about it, son. We'll catch that dastardly villain sooner or later."
"For what it's worth, I think you're a spectacular young hero," Rupert remarked. "My nephew has good taste in friends. I hope you'll choose to join the team he and Edward are planning to form."
All Might's eyes widened. "You know about the Protectors Initiative?"
Edward chuckled. "My brother and Chief Lipton are among the few who do know about it. Anyway, we can talk more about this later. The big show should be starting any minute now."
Suddenly the classic wedding march began to play and Rupert and Chief Lipton quickly sat down. All eyes went to the doors of the church as the bride and her father entered. Everyone watched as Yukito led Star Queen down the aisle. Once Star Queen was brought up to the priest and Sun King, Yukito took his seat.
"Dearly beloved," the aging priest began. "We are gathered here today to join these two young people, these young heroes, in the bonds of holy matrimony. If anyone here has any objection to this union, please speak now or forever hold your…"
Before the priest could finish his sentence, a horrid shriek cut through the air and shattered every single window in the church. As the colorful shards of glass rained down, a fast-moving object busted through the remaining frame of the giant window above the main doors.
When the dust settled, Outcast was standing between Star Queen and Sun King. "You asked for objections? I've got a big one!"
What happened next happened in the space of a few seconds. Outcast grabbed Sun King by the neck and hurled him towards the far wall. As Sun King sailed through the air, the end of Outcast's tail changed into a hand and reached into the pocket of her hoodie. The hand pulled out a futuristic syringe filled with a strong fast-acting sedative, which Outcast injected into Star Queen's neck right as Sun King crashed through the wall next to the door. Outcast caught Star Queen as she fell unconscious and held her bridal style.
All Might immediately leapt to his feet and stood before Outcast, smiling. "You're not going to ruin this happy event, villain! You know why? Because I am here!"
Outcast glared at All Might. "As much as I'd love to rip that grin off your face, jock, I don't have the time."
Suddenly both Outcast and Star Queen glowed yellow as a circle of light appeared around them, rising from the ground up. There was a blinding flash, and when the light cleared the box from the building across the street had appeared in the spot where Outcast and Star Queen had been. The box banged and moved as its living contents thrashed around inside.
"What's goin on?" All Might asked. "Is this another one of her quirks?"
Outcast reappeared inside the building across the street with an unconscious Star Queen still in her arms. She saw Jimmy touching her right upper arm and growled at him.
Jimmy flinched and dropped the binoculars he was holding before pulling his hand away. "Sorry."
"I generally don't like being touched by men," Outcast told him.
"Well, it's kinda how my quirk, Switcheroo works," Jimmy explained as he rubbed the back of his head. "It lets me swap whatever I'm touching with my hand with just about anything I see, as long as that object is in the same physical space as I am and within a certain radius."
"Never mind all that," Carmine interjected. "You should book it to the other hideout with your lady friend. We'll wrap things up here."
Outcast nodded and her legs morphed into more monstrous double-jointed forms. She ran for the opposite wall at an incredible speed with Star Queen still in her arms and crashed right through it. Outside, the villain jumped from rooftop to rooftop as she headed away from the building.
Jimmy shuddered. "Hey boss, is that chick…you know?"
"What if she is?" Carmine asked in an exasperated tone. "Who gives a freakin' damn? If you got a problem with it, maybe you should tell her."
Jimmy held his hand up in surrender. "Even if I did have problem, I wouldn't be that stupid!"
Carmine shook his head. "You and Vito get to the car. I'll be right down."
Both Jimmy and Vito nodded and headed to the door. Carmine meanwhile reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a small black remote.
"Okay heroes, time to you for play with our friend, Distraction Boy," Carmine declared as he pressed the remote's single red button.
Steam shot from the edges of the metal box and the sides and top all fell to the floor, revealing the creature Carmine had dubbed, Distraction Boy. The pitiful creature had a mostly humanoid body and wore only a tattered pair of jeans. Its head was covered in silver scales and was similar to the head of a fish, with large blue lips, two large blood-shot yellow eyes on one side on the head and a single blue eye on the other. Most of the creature's body was colored a slimy green, and while its left arm was still human its right arm resembled the red arm of a crab or lobster. Several large bloodshot eyes covered the left side of its chest, upper back and left shoulder, and in his stomach was a giant mouth filled with sharp fangs. The creature's feet was a pair of massive yellow talons similar to the feet of a chicken.
As most of the heroes present began to evacuated the VIPs and other civilians from the church, the large mouth in Distraction Boy's gut opened and a beam of blue light fired at All Might. The blonde hero was forced to jump back to avoid the attack. Meanwhile Mr. Magnet jumped onto his board and surfed to the front of the church. At the same time, Sun King had recovered and flew to the front of the church as well. With a wave of his hand, Mr. Magnet pulled two sides of the metal box from the floor and wrapped them around Distraction Boy, pinning his arms to his sides.
Once the wrapping was complete, Sun King fired a beam of gold light from his right palm that welded the ends of the metal panels together. Distraction Boy broke his bonds apart though and fired another beam of light from his large second mouth at Sun King. Sun King evaded the attack while the other heroes inside the church began to surround the abomination. Suddenly beams of some sort of black energy fired from the eyes on Distraction Boy's torso and left shoulder in all directions. All Might, Sun King and Mr. Magnet all managed to dodge or block the attack, but the heroes who were hit by the beams were immediately knocked unconscious.
"KILL MEEEEEEEE!" Distraction Boy screamed in a distorted voice as he blindly swiped at the heroes with his lobster claw.
All Might charged in and punched Distraction Boy's fishy jaw with a powerful uppercut. Distraction Boy fell to the floor and was rendered unconscious.
Mr. Magnet jumped off his board and walked up next to All Might. "What the hell is this thing?"
Sun King landed and walked up to the fallen villain. He aimed the palm of his right hand at his chest and fired a single powerful ball of gold light from his hand, blowing out one of the giant eyes on his chest and burning his heart to a crisp.
All Might rushed over and grabbed Sun King's shoulder. "Kai! What've you done?"
Sun King pushed off All Might's hand. "I put that thing out of its misery! You heard it begging for death earlier."
"That's still pretty cold, man," Mr. Magnet declared. "Besides, we could've interrogated who or whatever this guy was and maybe found out where Outcast made off to with your bride."
"He's right!" Yukito agreed as he stormed over. "You may have killed our best chance to find my daughter!"
Sun King sighed. "No, I haven't. Noriko's costume has a tracker built into the lining. As for the poor devil who showed up in Outcast's place, I doubt he actually knew anything that could help us. He probably didn't even know what was happening to him."
"Well if we're able to track where Noriko is, then go out and get her!"
"Hold on, Yukito," Edward interrupted. "I'm sure both you and Kaito are worried, but we should do this properly. We loop in the police and get an army together, one that's properly equipped to deal with a villain like this."
"Mr. Helios is right," All Might agreed. "Outcast is far from an ordinary villain. We need a plan in order to take her down."
"As much as I do want to rush out there and save Noriko, I'm with Yagi on this," Sun King agreed. "Let's get back to Helios Tower and come up with a plan."
Noriko awoke to discover she was lying on a cot inside a small darkened room with old wallpaper peeling from the walls. As she sat up, she saw Outcast sitting on the floor like a dog not only a few feet away.
"Good. You're awake," Outcast spoke. "I was afraid the sedative I gave you was a little too strong."
Noriko immediately swung her legs off the cot and rose to her feet. "What do you want? Why did you bring me here?"
Outcast stood up to face her. "To save your life."
Before Noriko could ask what she met, Outcast pulled down her hood. She then removed her mask, revealing the face underneath for the first time in ages.
Noriko gasped in recognition. "Kaoru? No. How…you died!"
Outcast gave her a small bitter smile. "Most days I feel like I did die the day I was arrested, but I'm still here."
"What happened to you?"
"It's a long story. Have you heard of a villain called All For One?"
Noriko shook her head. "He's a myth."
"He's very real. He took the quirks of Sergeant Blackout and all of the other prisoners on that van and gave them all to me, plus a few more."
"This…this is impossible! Even if All For One exists and he gave you all of these quirks, why would you become a villain?"
Outcast let out a bitter chuckle. "You really have to ask? It was my only option. That, or dying quirkless in a prison with a bunch of super-powered psychos. Besides, terms like hero and villain are just labels in this day and age."
"But…you attacked the church, and the heroes at the stadium yesterday!"
"All so I can crush Kaito and my father."
"Is revenge what all this is about?"
Outcast's face became serious again. "Partly. My whole life I was quirkless, and because of that my brother always got his way. But now I can strike back at both him and my father and tear down everything they've been trying to build."
Noriko shook her head again. "I know Kaito and Mr. Helios are hardly perfect, but they're trying to help the world! The Protectors could save so many lives!"
Suddenly Outcast burst out into laughter. It was the coldest laugh Noriko had ever heard, especially from her old friend. In some ways Outcast seemed like the same Kaoru she always knew, but at the same time not.
At last Outcast stopped laughing. "You really don't know, do you? Guess I shouldn't be surprised Kaito, my father and yours didn't let you in on the big secret. They always saw you as someone who's only duty in life was to look pretty and produce quirk babies when the time came. They wouldn't tell you anything about the really important stuff."
"What're you talking about?"
Outcast dropped her mask, came over and put both her hands on Noriko's shoulders. "It's time you knew what the Protectors are really all about, and the truth about who's really behind the group they're calling the Golden Skulls."
After the chaos at the church had finally settled down, all of the reporters who had been on the scene to cover the wedding had gone straight into the breaking story of Noriko's abduction. Edward, Rupert, Chief Lipton and Sun King ended up having to make quick statements about the abduction to the press before they could retreat and begin planning for the rescue. Meanwhile the heroes who had all been knocked out by Distraction Boy's final attack had been taken to the hospital. While none of the heroes in question had been fatally injured by the attack, they didn't show signs of waking up anytime soon. An autopsy was to be preformed on Distraction Boy's body in the hopes of figuring out what sort of quirk they had been hit with.
All Might and all of the other important figures involved in the incident at the church, including Rupert and Chief Lipton, had returned to Helios Tower and met up in the big conference room where Edward had explained his idea for the Protectors. David was also present for the meeting, wearing a lab coat and holding what was his fifth cup of coffee for the day. Inches above the table was a transparent 3-D holographic map of Sunrise City and the immediate area around it. In one corner of the map was a red blinking light coming from what looked like an old farmhouse.
"The blinking location is the area where Noriko is being held," Sun King explained. "I'm certain we'll find Outcast there as well."
Chief Lipton crossed his arms and nodded. "I'll get in touch with the county sheriff and have him send some of his people to help us. We can have the place surrounded within the hour."
"I do have one question," Rupert spoke. "Does anyone know who the hell this villain is or what she's after?"
"I think I know," All Might interjected. "I held this information back before because I wasn't certain about it, but now that things have gone this far I think you should all know. Outcast is a minion of All For One."
"Who the heck's All For One?" Mr. Magnet asked.
Yukito shook his head. "A legendary villain from Japan, but he's only a myth."
"He's no myth," All Might insisted. "I've seen him with my own eyes. He killed my old master, a hero named Nana Shimura."
Edward leaned back in his chair. "I'm familiar with this villain too from my many years in Japan. According to the legend, All For One has the power to steal quirks and transplant them into others if he chooses. It would explain why Outcast seems to have multiple quirks."
"All right young man. Would you happen to know the true identity of this Outcast as well?" Chief Lipton asked All Might.
"I'm not certain…but there's a chance Outcast is a young woman by the name of Kaoru Tsukishiro," All Might revealed.
Upon hearing this name, both Edward and Sun King went deathly pale. Yukito was noticeably started as well. Even Rupert flinched a little upon hearing Kaoru's name mentioned.
After a moment, Sun King smiled and shook his head. "I was with you up until now, Yagi. Kaoru died in an accident."
"Like I said, I'm not certain Outcast is Kaoru. But it is very likely. After the attack on the stadium yesterday, I reached out to one of my old teachers at U.A. and asked him to look into the prison transport accident in which Kaoru was supposedly killed. Outcast has the quirks of every prisoner who was on that transport, as well as the quirk of the hero who had been guarding it, Sergeant Blackout."
"I think we're all getting off topic here," Mr. Magnet interjected. "The way I see it, we can worry about who Outcast is later, after we bring her in. Right now, what really matters is taking her down and rescuing Star Queen."
Chief Lipton nodded. "Agreed. So how do we go about apprehending this villain?"
Mr. Magnet shook his head. "It won't be easy. Right now, the only heroes left in the city, at least the only one who didn't get hit by whatever quirk that mutant used in the church, are the three heroes here in this room. The odds are definitely stacked against us."
"I'd say the three of us are more than enough," Sun King declared. "I mean we are among the best of the best in our generation."
"I did just finish something that could even the odds," David interjected. "It took me all night, but I built an armored suit that should hopefully allow All Might to defeat her. Admittedly it's a prototype, but it should give him an edge and at least protect him from some of Outcast's deadlier attacks."
"I've been having the rest of my people working on some weapons designed to counter Outcast's various quirks as well," Edward revealed. "We can issue them both to the police officers helping with the operation."
"Very well," Chief Lipton agreed. "We'll move in once every hero and officer is properly equipped."
"The sooner the better," Rupert told them all. "I'm not going to let this villain commit any more terror in my city."
Noriko was left stunned by everything Outcast had told her. She couldn't believe the real reason for why her father and Kaito's were trying to form the Protectors, but then she couldn't believe a lot of what was happening around her in that moment, like her old friend being back from the dead. Yet Noriko couldn't deny what her eyes were telling her. The person standing before her was definitely Kaoru, though her body was different. The thing Noriko noticed about Outcast most was how tired her face looked and how her eyes seemed almost dead.
"So, you still dead set on carrying out your father's wishes?" Outcast asked. "About marrying my son of a bitch brother and becoming a member of the Protectors?"
Noriko shook her head. "I don't know what's what anymore. How could my father have anything to do with something so…so wrong? How could Kaito be a part of this and call himself a hero?"
"Like I just told you, terms like hero and villain are just labels. There are no true heroes, Noriko. Every hero out there is just a phony looking for some fame. My brother only became a hero because he wanted to make himself into a legend. You only became a hero because your parents brainwashed you into thinking you needed to be one because of the quirk you were born with. As an outsider…as the Outcast I am…only I ever saw the truth of this screwed up world of ours."
"…There's one other thing I want to know, Kaoru. Why did you abduct me from my wedding?"
"Because I wanted to try and save your life. If I let you marry Kaito, he would've kept beating you around until one day he…I couldn't let that happen."
Suddenly Outcast pulled Noriko close and kissed her right on the lips. When the kiss finally broke, Noriko's head felt like it was spinning. Kaito had kissed her before, but none of those kisses ever felt like the one Outcast had just given her. Noriko looked into Outcast's eyes and saw that a little life had returned to them.
"I love you," Outcast told her. "I always have, but I could never tell you for so many reasons. I never stopped loving you, even after everything that's happened to me."
Noriko was absolutely speechless. She wanted to say something in response but her brain wasn't functioning properly enough to do so.
Outcast simply went and picked up her mask off the floor. "I'm glad I could finally tell you. I wouldn't blame you for being disgusted, especially considering what I am now. You're welcome to leave if you want. As for me, I need to get ready for when the police and heroes show up. My brother and that U.A. jock friend of yours will probably be among then."
When Outcast reached the only door into or out of the room, she stopped and looked back at Noriko, giving her the most pained smile she had ever seen. "You know, it's ironic. Before, I couldn't be with you because I was quirkless and because we're both girls. Now I have a bunch of quirks and things are still the same. We were from two different world then and we're still from two different worlds now. You're a hero and I'm a villain, and we're still both girls. A romance between us never had a chance."
With those final words, Outcast put her mask back on and shut the door behind her. Noriko slumped back down onto the cot, her body running on full autopilot as her mind reeled by everything that had just happened. She didn't know what to do or where to go. In the moment there was only one question on Noriko's mind. How did she feel about Kaoru?
Author's Note: Once again, I'd like to thank Firebolt-The Blazing Saint for looking over this chapter for me. I'd like to take this moment to talk about some of the minor characters from this chapter.
The Mobsters: I'm of course referring to Don Carmine Fugo and his two goons, Jimmy Presto and Vito the Touch. Originally they were all going to be bit characters who weren't going to appear beyond Episode 1, which is admittedly why they come across as stereotypical mobsters. Carmine was just a character I came up with on the fly as someone who would get All For One involved with the whole affair with the Helios Corporation and the Protectors. As I was writing Episode 1 though, I realized Carmine made a good point of view character for All For One's group in this story. I needed someone with a more human perspective, and Carmine was just the only character on the scene who fit the bill.
As for Jimmy and Vito, I brought them back for technical reasons. The moment where Outcast bursts into the wedding was something I had been picturing since I started developing this story a couple of years ago, but I had always been hazy on how to end the scene. I realized it would be hard for Outcast to escape from the church with Noriko if she had to fight All Might and a church full of heroes. At last I recalled a little-known manga series called Psyren and remembered this one character who had the ability to create these boxes that allowed him to teleport objects and people from one place to another. This is when I had the idea to have someone teleport Outcast and Noriko out of the church and swap them with an enemy who would keep the heroes distracted.
Originally I was going to have Carmine fill this role himself, but I realized I couldn't have him do everything for this part of the story. It was more appropriate to give one of Carmine's two goons this power. Thus Jimmy had become Jimmy Presto. As for Vito, he admittedly didn't serve much purpose besides serving as an implied getaway driver. I decided to at least mention what Vito's quirk was, but ended up having kind of a hard time figuring it out. I didn't want to give him anything too powerful if he wasn't going to play a major role in any of the battle scenes coming up later in the story.
Distraction Boy: Carmine sort of came up with the name of this character for me as I was writing the episode, and the name immediately stuck. As for his original identity being the petty thief who had accidentally framed Kaoru/Outcast all the way back in Episode 0, I just felt the fate of this thief was something I should address at some point during this story. In the end, I suppose it didn't matter who Distraction Boy had been originally. He was always going to be a disposable character. I just hope I made him look grotesque enough.
Please review and let me know what you think.