Mikazuki ran.
He ran and he ran, he ran until his feet felt numb… and even then, he didn't stop for even a second.
In spite of his rapidly soring legs, however, Augus' breathing remained steady. Years of training helped hone his mind and body to the point where he could feasibly maintain a full sprint for up to half an hour, without the use of his Quirk, and by all means, that was probably a good thing, as it allowed him to clear even more ground than he would've were he still an average thirteen year old.
His haste was brought about by one thing; a phone call. One from Atra, no less. The young girl calling him wasn't exactly common, but then again, it wasn't particularly noteworthy either, and at first, Mikazuki had assumed, or rather he hoped, that she was just calling to tell him, or whoever had answered the call, that she and Yosetsu were running late.
That assumption was quickly broken when, upon answering the phone, Augus' eardrums were met with the panicked voice of his little friend. She spoke with so much fear in her voice that it made the boy freeze up right there and then, though before he could snap out of his worried stupor, he caught onto something that made his blood run cold.
"A-Awase-San! They… t-t-they t-took him!"
It took him a moment or two to fully understand what Atra had just said… and upon acknowledging the connotations behind her words… he gritted his teeth against one another and tightened his grip around the phone with enough force to bend its casing. Yamagi took note of this and, on instinct, made an attempt to read his mind to get a better understanding of what was going on, though upon attempting to do so, he found himself immediately ejected from Augus' mental space.
It wasn't Mikazuki who had ejected him this time, however… it was something else… a presence that was both familiar and unfamiliar all at the same time…
Regardless, Mikazuki was quick to ask Atra about her whereabouts, and upon being told, he told her to stay put before charging up to the second floor to get his things.
"Yamagi, tell the old man that I'll be late," was all he bothered to say before departing, and before he even got an answer, the boy was gone.
His familiarity with the streets of Kametsuka was very much a blessing, especially now, as he was able to weave his way through the town with very little issue, and the fact that there weren't many people present to slow him down was very much a good thing. Multiple shortcuts were used in order to minimize his running time, and within ten minutes of him leaving the orphanage, Mikazuki could already see Atra's silhouette off in the distance.
Atra's… and the silhouette of another child, one that looked to be incredibly nervous as he stood with his arms loosely hugging himself. Mikazuki wondered who the child was at first, though Mixta's safety took precedence at the moment, and as such, he rushed towards her at top speed.
"M-Mikazuki!" cried Atra the moment she saw her best friend rushing towards her, and on instinct, she ran at him as well. In response to this, Augus slammed the heel of his foot into the ground to slow his approach, not that it really matters, anyways, as Atra ended up crashing into him regardless, with her arms wrapping themselves tightly around his waist as she cried out apologetically to him. "M-M-Mikazuki! I'm sorry… I… I-I couldn't save A-Awase-san!"
"Atra…" muttered Mikazuki as he slowly brought a hand down onto his friend's head and patted her reassuringly. When it came to reassuring others, Augus would readily admit to being a novice… but even so, when it came to reassuring Atra in particular, he knew enough to keep her from having a mental breakdown. Comforting words and gentle reassurances never did work with her, but physical contact, at least with Mikazuki, seemed to alleviate her stress incredibly effectively. It was very apparent to him that she had been bottling all this up whilst waiting for him to arrive.
Slowly but surely, Atra began to calm down, though her heart rate was still spiraling. It would take a while before she could tell him about what was going on without the risk of another mental breakdown, something that Mikazuki wasn't about to risk. Luckily for him, however, Mixta wasn't the only person present, and upon acknowledging this, the boy glanced up and made eye contact with the other child present.
"You," said Mikazuki sharply, with his cold tone of voice being a lot more pronounced now more than ever as he addressed the kid, who flinched a little as he spoke. Augus seemed to take note of his flinch, however, as he exhaled softly and shook his head, with him speaking once more in a gentler tone of voice thereafter. "Your name?"
"Huh…?" responded the boy as he tapped his index fingers against one another nervously, seeming surprised that someone was asking for his name. Mikazuki found himself frowning a little at that. It was rather apparent to him that the people who raised or owned him prior to now had not referred to him by his proper name, at least not frequently…
"Do you have a name?" repeated Mikazuki, with his voice taking on a surprisingly gentle tone as he spoke, one that seemed to make the boy relax a little as he clasped his hands together and looked away thoughtfully.
"... Rita… R-Rita Reroutata," introduced the boy, Rita, as he clasped his hands together awkwardly. Mikazuki simply nodded in response to his introduction. Rita Reroutata… he would have no problem remembering that name, even if the second half was a bit strange. Hell, if he were honest, the boy did look kinda odd, not that Augus would ever say that to his face.
For the most part, Rita did look to be the average pre-teen. Short, skinny, and with a mostly unassuming appearance, Reroutata could very easily blend into a crowd… were it not for his hair and eye colours. His hair was primarily a dull yellow colour with streaks of dull brown breaking up the monotony of yellow, giving his hair the appearance of a worn down paper map, and his eyes were unique in the sense that his pupils were incredibly tiny, so much so that, if Mikazuki were any nicer, he'd find himself worried about them. As things were right now, however… he just found them to be neat.
"It's a good name," complemented Mikazuki as he nodded towards the younger boy, and as he did so, Rita seemed to blush a little, seeming unfamiliar with the praise as he nodded in appreciation. "I'm Mikazuki Augus."
"O-Oh… it's a pleasure to meet you… A-Augus-san," said Rita meekly, to which Mikazuki nodded. The poor child was broken, that much was obvious to him… and by all means, whilst Augus did not consider himself to be a good person in the slightest, he still found himself wanting to help this poor soul in some way. This poor child deserved a lot better than what he was given in life…
But even so, regardless of his wishes, Mikazuki had to force them off to the side for now. For as much as he wished to help Rita, he still had to focus on the reason behind him being here in the first place, and as such, he found himself nodding before he spoke up once more.
"Rita. I want you to tell me what happened to you and Atra," insisted Mikazuki after a few moments of silence, with his question catching Rita off guard. Atra said nothing as she clung onto her best friend's jacket, though Reroutata found himself biting his bottom lip uneasily as he nodded in response to the older boy's words.
"W-Well…"
And, over the course of the next five minutes, Rita began telling Mikazuki everything that had transpired to the best of his knowledge. He spoke of being taken off the streets nearly three years prior, having been taken in for manual labour in the underground crime network before being sold off to various illegal organisations after his Quirk had fully manifested. The latest group he had been sold off to was involved in illegal child trafficking, something that pissed Mikazuki off to hear, though he remained composed for now as he listened to the child speak.
The only part of Rita's short tale that made Mikazuki flinch was when he mentioned how he had attempted escape from his captor's temporary compound. He didn't get too far and would've been captured and sent back were it not for Atra and Yosetsu's intervention… and upon acknowledging this, Augus found his heart swelling up with pride, if only by a little, at Awase's bravery.
"I… I h-had to use my Quirk to guide them around places… t-they… they don't treat me too well… b-but… they treated me nicer than the other kids I-I…" Rita's voice faltered as he acknowledged the atrocities that he had helped commit, but even so, Mikazuki's expression remained unchanged. Despite this, however, the boy was certainly feeling no small amount of righteous anger, as he slid one of his hands into his pockets and clenched it tightly, with it being so intense that his nails began digging into his palms, causing some blood to drip out in the process.
Child trafficking was already a disgusting act in of itself… but to force a child to help you commit such an atrocity…? In Mikazuki's eyes, such an act was inexcusable, and the penalty was, without fail… death.
And as luck would have it, Mikazuki Augus was available as both the judge, jury and executioner today.
"Rita. Your Quirk. What is it?" asked Mikazuki, with him cutting off the boy's thoughts as he spoke. In response to this, the aforementioned boy froze up a little, a sign of him having some bad experiences with people asking about his Quirk, though before his thoughts could spiral out of control, the boy took note of the look in Augus' eye.
It was very different from the looks he was used to receiving prior to now. Mikazuki wasn't asking about it so that he could take advantage of his situation… rather, he was simply curious about it. This unexpected curiosity made Reroutata's heart clench a little as he nodded in response to his words, and thereafter…
Rita Reroutata
Quirk: Map
Any location that Rita has been to will be cataloged by his Quirk, and, upon activation, he will be able to retrace his steps with perfect accuracy. His Quirk catalogue does have its limits, however, as older locations will constantly be forgotten in order to make room for newer ones.
… Mikazuki nodded and gently patted Atra's head, a sign for her to release him all the while. Mixta didn't seem too pleased with this as she clung onto him tightly for the briefest of moments, though before long, she relented and loosened her grip, prompting Augus to nod in appreciation.
"Do you know where your previous owners were keeping you?" asked Mikazuki, with him grimacing lightly all the while. Rita flinched a little at that, prompting Augus to stop grimacing altogether as he realized that he might have frightened the kid.
"I… I-I can't tell… if I do… t-they'll…" began Rita fearfully as he hugged himself tightly, a sight that didn't sit well with Mikazuki as he gently pushed Atra away from himself and moved towards Reroutata. The boy was shorter than him, so much so that Augus had to kneel down a little just to look him in the eye, and when he did, the poor child flinched at just how close he was to him… only to relax a tiny bit when he abruptly wrapped his arms around the younger child and pulled him into a gentle embrace. "W-W-What…?"
"They won't get you Rita. They won't get you… because I am here," muttered Mikazuki softly as he held Reroutata in his arms. His inner self cringed a little at him quoting All Might, what with him not being that big a fan of the guy… but even so, at the moment, Rita needed someone that wasn't Mikazuki Augus to comfort him. He needed a shadow of reassurance that could defeat anything and everything that was thrown at him.
He needed a Hero, and though quoting the very best did nothing to make him one, it still served its purpose, as Reroutata seemed to calm down a little when he heard him say that.
Meanwhile, Atra found herself smiling a little as she heard her crush… best friend say those words, something that didn't go unnoticed by Mikazuki, even if he did ignore it for now.
"I promise you. They won't touch you. I'll make sure of it," promised Mikazuki gently as he patted Rita's back gently. The boy quivered as he held onto Augus' jacket with a deathgrip, clearly not believing him at first, but before long, his doubts seemed to melt away as the Map user buried his face into the older boy's chest… and before long, he nodded.
"O-Okay… and… a-and you'll save the Headband Boy… right…?" pleaded Rita as he stared up at Mikazuki worriedly. Augus flinched a little when he saw that… look of adoration in his gaze, though he didn't acknowledge it just yet as he nodded firmly.
"I will."
"A-Alright… they're at…"
Meanwhile
Upon waking, Yosetsu's first instinct was to groan out loud as he shook his head in annoyance, and as he did so, he found himself grimacing as he attempted to make out what had just happened to him.
At best, the only thing he could remember was him rushing into that alleyway with Atra, and thereafter… everything was but a blur. His head ached something fierce, almost as though something or someone had bashed it in with a sledgehammer before using shoddy rewind Quirk to patch it back up, and his lungs felt as though they had been violated on a microscopic level… though then again, that wasn't exactly an inaccurate assessment of things, now was it?
His vision wasn't exactly much better either, with it taking more than a minute or two to clear up. His eyes remained glassy and his gaze was incredibly foggy… but even so, after the aforementioned time was up, he found himself sighing in relief as he felt his vision returning to him proper… and then, he felt his eyes widening as he took in his surroundings.
Instead of his bedroom, which was, unsurprisingly, where he always woke up in… he found himself sitting in a dimly lit, near featureless room, one with dilapidated brick walls and without any furniture of any kind. The windows were all boarded up with wooden planks, though the dim lighting that shone through them told Awase that it was probably rather late, and the air in the room was so stale that it threatened to make the bile rise up in his throat. Upon acknowledging this, Yosetsu found himself widening his eyes in shock as he made an attempt to rub at his eyes to see if he was just imagining things, though his attempts were thwarted when he felt both his arms bound behind his back via what felt like zip ties.
"The fuck…?" muttered Awase, with his heartbeat slowly but surely rising as he acknowledged just how fucked he really was, and as he spoke, he glanced behind himself and saw that, indeed, his hands were both tied up behind his back via a zip tie, one that was zipped a little too tightly for comfort. Then again, considering his situation, he figured that comfort was the least of his worries.
"Oh hey, you're finally awake."
Rather abruptly, a new voice could be heard, catching Awase's attention as he turned towards the source of the speaker. His grey eyes widened significantly when he realized that he was not the only person present in the room… and his heart rate spiked quite a bit when he saw that the other occupants (three to be precise) looked to be younger than him. Their arms were similarly bound behind their backs like his were, and that in itself made him shudder as he realized what was going on…
The one that was speaking to him had an overall dour expression on his face, almost condescending, as he spoke. Awase would've felt insulted by his words were it not for the cuts on his body, one that looked to have been given to him quite recently… though outside of that, the kid looked mostly normal, if a little emaciated.
His most distinguishing feature was no doubt the appearance of his arms and legs. Though normal looking at a glance, if one were to focus beyond surface details, they'd be able to take note of how his skin seemed to have a paper texture to it. It took Awase a few moments to realize that it wasn't just the texture of his skin, however… but rather, it was how his limbs were. The boy was made out of paper…
The sight of this… paper boy made Yosetsu flinch a little, especially when he took note of how his limbs were actually formed. They were almost like paper tubes that tapered off near their ends, and by all means, Awase didn't wish to imagine what would happen if he was caught up in a rainstorm. He also didn't want to focus on how his fingers worked…
"Oi, what's with all that staring, huh?" groaned the boy in annoyance as he glared at Yosetsu, prompting him to turn his attention up to face the guy directly. There, he visibly flinched when he saw that the paper boy's head was nothing more than a large crushed piece of paper that was layered over by some paper, and his 'face' was just drawn onto the paper covering the crumbled mess that lay beneath. His 'hair' was just more paper stuck onto the top of his head, coloured black rather poorly.
Yosetsu didn't want to admit to staring… but it was hard not to, especially when someone's Quirk made them look this… unique.
Thankfully enough, however, the paper-themed boy was subdued when one of his friends(?) brought a hand up to his shoulder and squeezed it gently, prompting him to turn and stare at him with a raised brow.
"Calm down, Itagami. He just got up. Don't frighten him," advised the other boy stoically as he glanced over at the paper-boy, Itagami, with a neutral look on his face. As he spoke, the boy averted his gaze from the paper themed boy as he turned to stare at Yosetsu briefly, with his fair green eyes locking onto Awase's light greys momentarily. The boy didn't seem hostile towards him whatsoever, even if his gaze did seem more than a little judgemental.
Aside from his light green eyes, the boy also had some messy black hair atop his head and a noticeably large, slash shaped burn wound on his lower left cheek that curved upwards, pointing towards his nose. There were also a handful of burns on his body, barely visible in the dim lighting, making Awase wonder if they, alongside the scar on his cheek, were related to his Quirk in some way, though before he could wonder any further, the black haired kid sharpened his gaze on him, prompting him to look away on instinct.
"So, you're the new guy… huh?" greeted the boy with the scar as he stared Awase down. His gaze was sharp, though not as hostile as the other boy, Itagami, still threatened to slice straight through the Welder, and though his natural instincts told him not to, the boy ended up nodding in response to the boy's words, prompting him to nod in acknowledgement. "To be expected, I suppose. Do you have a name?"
"... Awase. Awase Yosetsu," introduced the headband wearing boy as he glanced at the scarred child, who nodded at his introduction.
"May as well drop the Awase part," scoffed Itagami, with his voice being kept rather silent, so silent that the boy in question could barely even hear him. He didn't like how ominous that sounded, though before he could comment on it, the third boy present in the room jabbed him lightly in the ribs with his elbow.
"Shut it. He's might not be like us, but that doesn't mean that you get to make his situation worse, Itagami," chastised the third boy, a boy with light brown hair in a bowl cut and a round face, who stared up at the paper themed child with a scolding look. Itagami seemed rather annoyed at being told off by the brown haired child, though he said nothing as he grimaced and looked away, prompting the shorter kid to sigh. "Sorry about him. Itagami's not the friendliest."
"It's alright, I guess," muttered Yosetsu reassuringly as he stared over at the kids, with Itagami and the scarred boy looking away from him while the brown haired kid stared at him with mild interest. Unlike his compatriots, the brown haired child seemed to be genuinely curious about the Welder, and seeing nothing else to do at the moment, the boy, after attempting to rub the back of his neck out of habit, only to realize that he wasn't able to do that thanks to his bound wrists, attempted to start a conversation. "Do… you have a name?"
"A… name?" responded the brown haired boy uncertainly, to which Awase nodded. The kid seemed taken aback by such a question as he looked to his compatriots for support. Itagami seemed to be against the idea of him introducing himself, if the annoyed look was anything to go by, whilst the scarred child seemed mostly indifferent, and, much to the former's chagrin, the boy introduced himself awkwardly. "Well, everyone calls me by my Quirk's name… but some people like to call me… Derma."
"Derma… it's a nice name," commented Yosetsu with a small smile. He took note of how the boy, Derma, had said his name as though it were a curse… something that Awase didn't agree with as he smiled at him. Derma seemed to be taken aback by that statement, however, as his cheeks took on a pinkish hue as he turned away meekly, though he did offer his thanks before doing so.
"Thanks… I guess?" muttered Derma shyly as the faintest hints of a smile could be seen cropping up on his face, and though Yosetsu did feel a tiny bit proud of himself at that, he could tell that the kid didn't wish to continue the conversation, prompting him to turn his attention towards the only other unnamed person in this room all the while.
It took less than a second before the scarred child took note of Awase's staring, and for the first few seconds, he didn't acknowledge it, with him instead looking away uncomfortably as he expected Yosetsu to lose interest in his identity within a handful of seconds. Unfortunately for him, however, the Welder's attention-span was a lot greater than he had initially expected, and after a few moments of awkward silence, the child relented.
"Aston," muttered the scarred child, just barely audible as he kept his eyes averted from Yosetsu, who nodded in appreciation of him introducing himself all the while. Opening his mouth, Awase was about to repeat what he had said to Derma to Aston before he was abruptly stopped by Itagami, who glared at him whilst grimacing.
"Shhh!" spat Itagami harshly as he glared at Yosetsu, prompting him to appear confused at first, though before long, he found himself perking his ears up when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching the room they were being held in. Getting the memo, Awase found himself shutting up as he heard them come closer and closer, and before long, the single door that led into the room they were in swung open, revealing a pair of adults all the while.
Derma, Aston and Itagami all flinched as the duo entered, with Aston grimacing as he averted his gaze while Itagami did his best to fold in on himself in a literal and metaphorical way. Derma tried to remain brave as he glared at the newcomers venomously, though all it took for him to back down was for the adult with brown hair to raise his arm up and clench his hand into a fist. Just the look on the poor kid's face as the man's knuckles cracked was more than enough to unnerve Yosetsu, though he said nothing as he watched the two adults approach him.
The adult that had made Derma flinch was a middle aged man that looked to be in his early thirties to his late twenties, with an… interesting choice of attire that consisted of a pair of form fitting pants and a shirt that exposed the sides of his torso and part of his chest. His turquoise eyes regarded Yosetsu coldly as he sized him up, clearly not seeing him as a threat whatsoever, though there did seem to be some intrigue buried beneath his clear disinterest… intrigue that honestly worried Awase. His Quirk was unknown to the Welder, though he could surmise that it was not to be underestimated, if Derma's reaction was anything to go by.
As for the other adult, she was a rather tall young woman, one whose veins were visible from beneath her skin. Her veins glowed a gentle blue hue and pulsed every so often, though outside of that obvious side effect of her mutation Quirk, she didn't seem too out of the ordinary. Long black hair with light blue tips alongside disinterested blue eyes, all of which were rather mundane in the world of the extraordinary.
Of course, when compared to Yosetsu, she may as well have been the most interesting looking person in the world, but that's besides the point.
Upon entering, and after the man had non-verbally threatened Derma, the duo made their way towards Yosetsu in particular, something that made the Weld user uneasy as they approached. He kept himself mostly stoney faced to give his assumed captors the illusion of bravery, but it seemed as though they knew that he was faking it, if the man's dramatic eye-roll was anything to go by.
"So, this is the new fresh meat we've captured, huh?" commented the man as he stared down at Awase, sizing him up whilst observing him for anything noteworthy. The Welder didn't like it. It felt as though the guy was trying to figure out where he could hit him from to cause him the maximum amount of pain… and by all means, that wasn't exactly off the shelf in regards to the possible outcomes of this situation.
Before Yosetsu could let out a snarky comment on instinct, however, the other adult, the lady, held her hand up at him, and emerging from beneath her fingernails were several bright blue tendrils that coiled around Awase's body. The Welder gasped in shock as the boys over by the corner, with the exception of Itagami who watched on whilst biting his lower lip, looked away out of pity, and as the blue strings constricted him tightly, the boy gasped as he felt something… invading him mentally.
It felt as though his brain was being hijacked of various memories, and as this happened, a sensation akin to being electrocuted began to assault his entire body, causing Yosetsu to cry out in pain as he jolted upright in shock. The feeling was akin to having an electric eel with an electricity amping Quirk wrap around one's body and discharging at max output, and even though it had only lasted for five seconds, to Awase, it felt as though it had lasted for an hour. Derma seemed mortified at what he had just witnessed Yosetsu go through, and though their expressions were mostly unreadable, both Itagami and Aston seemed to be appalled as well.
As for the woman that had inflicted the pain upon him in the first place, however, she didn't seem the least bit concerned about his wellbeing. If anything, she seemed to derive no small amount of pleasure from hurting him, something that made the Welder sick to his stomach as he glared up at the lady whilst writhing on the ground.
"Yep. This one's called Awase. Awase Yosetsu. Age: 13. Quirk: Weld, the ability to fuse two objects together at the atomical level. Lived a comfy life up till now, though I'm not sure if anyone's gonna fork out that much money on him. At best, we're looking at 4000K Yen from the Brewers, nothing more," lamented the woman coldly as she retracted the blue tendrils back into her fingers, and as she spoke, the man she was with scoffed and crouched down to his level.
"Well, I can't really complain about having an extra pouch of Yen laying around, so who gives a toss," commented the man as he reached his hand forwards and snaked his fingers around Yosetsu's jawline. The Welder found himself grimacing as the older man squeezed his cheeks and forced his head to turn from side to side as he inspected him as though he were an item, and once he was done, he grinned and shook his head. "But I must say, he's a fine young man. Perhaps we could pawn him off to one of the whore shops? What say you, Awase-Chan?~"
Disgusting… the prospect of him being shipped off to those places disgusted Yosetsu to no end, and by all means, he seemed to be visualising this quite well, as the man snickered as he held onto the lower half of his face. Awase really wanted to punch him in the face, but due to his bound wrists, he was unable to do so… so he did the next best thing.
He spat at him.
What came next was a few moments of silence. Yosetsu's spit splattered against the man's cheek, which caused him to blink in surprise. The woman in the room appeared baffled by Awase's actions as she stared at him in shock… and as for Derma, Aston and Itagami, the trio were frozen in terror as the former began praying for the Welder's sake. Yosetsu, however, was still experiencing a high that wouldn't die down anytime soon, and on reflex, he spoke the first thing that came to mind.
"Go to Hell, you crab haired stripper wannabe," spat Yosetsu, with him gathering up all the venom he could muster to verbalise just how disgusted he was with the older man as he sharpened his gaze at him… and at that… the man simply smiled… something that unnerved Awase more than if he had simply grimaced.
"You have spunk, kid," praised the man half heartedly as he slithered his hand down Awase's neck, with his nails gliding over his skin all the while. Yosetsu grimaced at this act though he refused to tone down his gaze… or at least he didn't tone it down until the man's fingers reached his chest, with all five fingertips pressing against the very centre of his torso… and within a moment's notice, it felt as though his lungs had collapsed in on themselves.
Or rather, it felt as though they had stopped working altogether, and right as that happened, Yosetsu widened his eyes as he coughed out in pain, with him missing how the smile on the man's face turned into a deep grimace all the while. Leaning forwards, Awase hacked and wheezed as he attempted to breath, only for the man to grab onto his hair and force him to look at him directly.
"And I fucking hate spunk," concluded the man before he spat in Awase's face. Thereafter, he jerked the younger boy's head back, slamming it against the wall behind him in the process, before snapping his fingers, and upon doing so, Yosetsu felt his lungs filling with air yet again, prompting him to take a deep breath in relief all the while.
Thereafter, the man left without another word to Yosetsu, who simply remained on his side in pain as he took in several ragged breaths. The woman said nothing to him as she simply watched him recover, and as soon as he was stable enough to look up at her, she glared at him, promising an even worse fate that what had just befallen him should he ever show any form of spunk in the future, to which he looked away from her, prompting her to grin all the while before she left the room.
And as soon as the door to their room slammed shut, Derma, Aston and Itagami stared over at Yosetsu with their eyes wide and mouths agape, with the latter's drawn on features displaying his surprise well enough as he stared at Awase incredulously, seemingly gaining some modicum of respect for him all the while.
"... not bad, for a street kid," commented Aston half-heartedly as he gave Yosetsu a double take, almost to confirm that he was staring at the same kid, before he nodded in apparent approval of Awase's attitude, and likewise, Itagami scoffed in bemusement, seeming to find the Welder's comments to be amusing at the very least, while Derma simply remained in shocked silence.
And as for the Welder himself, he simply shrugged and looked away from the kids, with him grimacing all the while as he did his best to steady his laboured breathing.
If this was all that he'd have to look forward to in his life from here on out… well, it was almost enough to make him wish that he didn't run after Atra… almost.
Meanwhile
Whilst the four children remained trapped within the small room in the abandoned building, in a separate part of the structure, three adults were simply… hanging out, so to speak, as they chatted amongst one another with very little issue.
Of the three, one of them had gloves that ran the length of his arms, used in order to prevent his Quirk, Chloroform Touch, from seeping out and affecting his comrades. The guy was mostly responsible for the heavy lifting due to the useful nature of his Quirk, and he seemed pretty proud of it, despite the morally bankrupt nature of his occupation.
The other two people present in the room were a middle aged man and a mildly obese woman. The former had blade-like protrusions jutting out of his elbows, made of bone, which were a byproduct of his Quirk, Bone Swords, and the latter didn't have any obvious indications in regards to her Quirk… aside from her mass, anyways, though it was fitting, as her Quirk was known as Adhesive Digestion for a reason.
Their current conversation was mostly forgettable, with the Digestion user simply commenting on how easy it was to douse the flames of Aston's Quirk with her adhesive digestive fluids while the Bone Sword user scoffed about how he would've turned Itagami into cut-out art were it not for their boss requesting he be taken alive for his… unique Quirk. Apparently some sickos in the underground liked those with outlandish Mutation Quirks, albeit for all the wrong reasons, enough to pay a lot just to add a new one to their collection.
It was… morbid, to say the least, and the Bone Blade user could think of many things one would want to do to Itagami when they got their hands on him, most of which being too graphic to be put in a K+ rated story, but by all means, that was the living paper doll's problem and not his, so he didn't really care much about it.
As the Chloroform Touch user began to comment on how the girl, Atra, had escaped him at first, however, the door to their little room swung open, and the trio turned towards it and saw two others enter. The first was the head of this operation of theirs, a man who could make use of Kinetic Energy to freeze things in place if required, whilst the other made use of her Quirk, Bodily Pleasure, to attack a target's mind and body by using the blood vessels that emerge from beneath her fingernails. Both had incredibly powerful Quirks, and as such, it was only fitting that they were put in charge of this little operation.
"So, how's the new kid?" asked the Bone Blade user, to which the Kinetic user grimaced. He was quick to recount just how disrespectful he was to him as he groaned and stalked towards the wall beside his subordinate and leaned against it, with his feet clattering against the wooden floorboards all the while. Once he finished talking about how he had punished Awase for disrespecting him to such a degree, the Digestion user whistled in amusement.
"Kid got what was coming to em," quipped the Digestion user as she smirked at her boss, to which he shrugged. As he did so, however, the Pleasure user rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she stared over at her boss, who took note of her staring as he asked her what was wrong.
"It's nothing… but… whilst reading that Awase child's mind… I learnt something," muttered the Pleasure user as she stared at her boss, who raised a brow, a nonverbal prompt for her to continue. She nodded and was about to speak her mind, to tell everyone present of an Orphanage that held many children and young adults that they could potentially take without consequence…
… and yet, before the first word could even leave her lips, the lights to the building they were in abruptly cut off, leaving them in near total darkness. As the lights flickered off, everyone present found themselves startled for the briefest of moments, though before long, one of them, the man with the Chloroform Quirk, stood up and waved his teammates off.
"Looks like the generator's busted or some shit. I'll go check on it," commented the man with a mostly disinterested tone of voice as he grinned in the darkness and moved to check on the aforementioned generator, to which his compatriotes nodded. As he did so, however, the Bone Blade user found himself standing up, ready to offer some assistance to the Chloroform user all the while, though he was quickly waved off by him as he moved to exit the room. "Chillax. It's just a little power cut. Can't be that bad, now can it? Be back in five."
And with that, the man left the building they were in, with him whistling along the way as he walked onwards, not knowing that he probably should've accepted the Bone Blade user's silent request all the while.
One of the many downsides to making use of an abandoned building as a temporary hideout was the fact that the power to the place was almost always out, and by all means, this was no exception.
But even so, one couldn't exactly book a hotel for the sole purpose of being a base of operations for storing kidnapped children, and by all means, while not the most comfortable of places, abandoned buildings made for good temporary hideouts for people with occupations as illegal as theirs.
Even so, it would've been nice if the power was more… reliable.
Regardless of reliability, however, the Chloroform user couldn't really bring himself to care much about it as he stepped out into the abandoned building's backyard and checked on the power generator sitting by it. It was rusted and practically an antique at this point, but it still served its purpose in providing the building with enough power.
Or at least, it used to serve its purpose, as the Chloroform user would soon find out, as he made use of a flashlight to illuminate the power generator's surface. His eyes widened quite a bit when he saw that it wasn't damaged, but rather, it had been damaged beyond the point of restoration. More specifically, however, the power generator had a massive gash lining its surface, one that had cut into it so deeply that it had nearly split the machine in half. Whoever damaged it in the first place really didn't want this thing repaired, and although he knew that it was unlikely, as they had their patrol routes catalogued by their boss, the Chloroform user couldn't help but pale as a thought ran through his mind.
'A… Hero…?' thought the Chloroform user as he observed the damaged generator worriedly, with the panic building up in his chest as he did so. Bringing an arm forward, he brushed his gloved fingers across the damaged chassis of the generator, and amidst the dim lighting of the night… the man failed to take note of a serpentine appendage slithering down behind him from above.
In the dimness of the night, its general appearance couldn't be made out, though its silhouette could just barely be seen hovering around in the darkness. A five metre long tendril attached to an unseen figure with what looked to be a sharpened shard of bone attached to its end, the appendage slithered its way up to the man's back before it stopped. It would've been so easy, to just kill him right there and then, but even so… the owner of the appendage wondered if the Chloroform user deserved it.
A simple stab to his back would've been more than enough to end his life. Quick and (mostly) painless... but he didn't deserve it. These monsters didn't deserve a quick death, and as such, rather than stab him through the back, the bladed tendril's owner opted for a different approach.
Before the Chloroform user could even notice it, the bladed tendril swung forwards and coiled itself around the man's neck twice-over, and not even a moment after, it tightened itself around his neck, cutting off all air circulation whilst also preventing him from screaming out to alert his compatriots. His fingers clawed at the fleshy tendril coiled around his neck as he attempted to free himself from this conundrum, but all it did was make it tighten itself as it began to lift him up into the air.
Within seconds, the Chloroform user felt the odd sensation of weightlessness as he was hoisted into the air, with his legs kicking as he attempted to free himself from his situation to little avail. His vision began to blur as his air circulation issue worsened by the second, and before long, he found himself losing consciousness as his face slowly but surely became purple…
… and yet, before he could lose himself completely, the man widened his eyes, if only by a little, when he saw what looked to be twin glowing red eyes glaring at him with barely contained rage, and before he could even make out who those eyes belonged to, the tendril around his neck strengthened its hold on him, and seconds later, a snap could just barely be heard before the world around him went dark.
"He's taking his sweet damn time…"
Those were more or less the only words that escaped the lips of the Digestion user as she leaned against the backrest of her chair with very little care, clearly annoyed at the tardiness of her compatriot whilst the rest of her little gang simply remained silent.
It has been just under seven minutes since the man had left to investigate their sudden power outage, and though they knew that he was mostly joking when he said that he'd be back in five minutes, they were still expecting him to be quick about it. Off to the side, the Bone Blade user was sharpening his blades against one another to pass the time while the Pleasure user remained in a meditative state to train her Quirk for any further sessions with their captives. The Kinetic user, however, seemed to be growing fed up with all the waiting, as he eventually got up and moved to leave the building and check on their missing teammate.
"Sir?" commented the Bone Blade user as he stared up from the twin blades protruding from his elbows, which retracted back into his arms as he spoke.
"I'm going to check on that idiot. You guys stay put," growled the irritated leader of the bunch as he moved to exit the building, and as he did so, the Pleasure user shook her head.
"Perhaps he is just trying to repair the generator?" suggested the woman as she stared up at her leader, who scoffed at the notion.
"He's good with electronics, he wouldn't be taking this long… and if he is, I'll just have to give him a piece of his mind," groaned the Kinetic user as he walked.
"Tch, suit yourself," muttered the Digestive user offhandedly as she crossed her arms over her tubby abdomen, seemingly indifferent to the whole situation all the while…
… and yet, her indifference would quickly turn into apprehension when, rather abruptly, the group of four heard… something.
It wasn't the sound of the building they were in settling down as the temperature dropped, nor was it the sound of vermin scuttling about behind the walls. This sound… it was sharp and purposefully made, with it being reminiscent of bone being scraped across a concrete surface, something that the Bone Blade user was quick to point out as everyone present went on high alert.
Blue tendrils emerged from beneath the Pleasure user's fingernails as she got ready for a potential fight, and the Bone Blade user allowed a curved blade of bone to emerge from the lower half of his forearms, giving him twin sickles mounted on them like tonfa. The Digestive user readied her gut for a potential battle while the Kinetic user flexed his fingers expectantly, with him ready to freeze anything in place with his Quirk at a moment's notice.
As the seconds ticked by, however, nothing seemed to happen, with the scraping noise quieting down into nothing, and at that, everyone present lowered their stances a little as the Digestive user scoffed in amusement.
"Well, for a moment there, I thought we were gonna have to deal with a-" began the Digestive user, who grinned a little as she spoke, though unbeknownst to her, she had unintentionally jinxed them as, before she could even finish that statement, chaos swiftly ensued as, within a moment's notice, the ground beneath the Kinetic user's feet exploded upwards, prompting all of them to stare down and faintly see two hands wrapping themselves around their leader's ankles. "Hero… shit."
And right as she cursed out loud, the Kinetic user found himself being pulled downwards as the wooden floorboards beneath him crumpled downwards. A loud thump could be heard as he slammed into the ground whilst a cloud of smoke was created when the wooden floorboard was destroyed, and as the cloud rose up into the air, the other adults present rushed towards the newly made hole.
As soon as they got close to it, however, the Bone Blade user had less than half a millisecond to react as a small yet powerful figure sprang out from the hole in the floor and slammed itself straight into his body. He widened his eyes in shock as the small form of their apparent 'Hero' opponent crashed into his chest with enough force to send him spiralling backwards, and as luck would have it, he was sent careening through a door that was conveniently placed behind him, forcing him into another room altogether.
The moment he crashed through the door and landed on his back, the Bone Blade user's attacker grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him over their head. And, with a powerful toss, they threw him towards a wall, cracking it in the process. The older man coughed as he shook his head and turned towards his attacker, who was charging right at him with twin glowing red eyes, and without a second thought, the Bone Blade user activated his Quirk on his forearm, causing the sickle-like blade to spring out from beneath it.
With a mighty swing of his arm, the man lashed out at where he assumed the head of his attacker was, and he grinned when he saw that they weren't moving to dodge… until the last second that is, as, mere milliseconds before the bone sickle could connect with his attacker's head, they ducked downwards. The edge of the blade managed to tickle the very tip of their ahoge, but even so, it didn't do much more than that, and their reaction speed was more than enough to shock the Bone Blade user.
Whilst he recovered from his shock, however, the man's attacker clenched one of their fists tightly and, with a mild grunt, they swung it towards the side of their abdomen. On impact, the Bone Blade user's ribs actively vibrated from the power behind the hit as he was sent stumbling a little to his side, and before he could even begin to recover from that hit, another punch was sent towards his stomach with his attacker's other fist, causing him to lean forwards in pain.
To add insult to injury, the man's attacker, who was apparently a short one, swung his leg up and slammed it between the Bone Blade user's legs, causing his entire body to jolt upwards in pain as he squealed in agony. Somewhat paradoxically, however, the pain had also caused a massive amount of adrenaline to rush through his body as he staggered backwards and activated his Quirk on his other arm. Grimacing in anger, the man growled and attempted to slash at his attacker with his other arm sickle, though as with the first attempt, the attack was dodged by the shorter person, with the very tip of the sickle just barely clipping the very tip of their nose.
As the man's arm passed his attacker harmlessly, however, they jerked their arm out and caught the Bone Blade user's wrist before it got out of range, holding it in a vice grip. The aforementioned man widened his eyes in surprised at just how agile his attacker could be, though before he could get over it, the unseen attacker raised their other arm up and slammed the side of their forearm into the back of the man's elbow, making use of just enough force to force it to bend the wrong way, effectively breaking the limb all the while.
By all means, the man would've screamed in pain, especially since this was legitimately painful, even with the adrenaline rush blocking out most of it, but even so, the anguished cry didn't manage to get past his lips before it was silenced when he felt something… sharp pierce his back, and as he felt this, he stared down at the source of the injury and saw… a sharpened object sticking out of his chest. Blood dripped from the tip of the 'blade' as it slowly lifted him up into the air, and as it did so, the man brought his unbroken arm up and attempted to free himself from the blade's grasp.
Before he could make any progress, however, the blade, which was connected to the unseen attacker's back via a fleshy tendril of sorts, whipped itself back towards its owner and placed the dying man's body between them and an inbound projectile. Said projectile was a sizable glob of digestive liquid, and though they had not seen it being vomited at them, the unseen attacker sure as Hell heard it being discharged, prompting them to take immediate action, which involved making use of the Bone Blade user's body as an impromptu shield to defend against this inbound attack.
On impact, the blob of digestive liquid splattered against the man's body, and on impact, it began to burn straight through the man's skin. Even the unseen attacker found themselves wincing as they heard the man cry out in agony as his flesh was melted off by one of their compatriot's Quirk, though they didn't care enough to let him go silent, as they were quick to lift one of their legs up and press it against the flat of the dead man's back. And, with a powerful kick, they sent the Bone Blade user's corpse flying towards the person that had unintentionally killed him.
The Digestive user barely had enough time to even comprehend what she had done to her compatriot before his half-melted body came flying towards her. On impact, it made her stagger a little as she stomped backwards a good few steps, though before she could recover fully, the Pleasure user grimaced and sprinted forwards, rushing towards their unseen attacker with malicious intent.
As soon as she was within range, the young woman aimed a roundhouse kick at their attacker. It wasn't exactly hard to see where their head was, after all, as their eyes were glowing red in the darkness, making them remarkably easy to track. The issue came with just how agile they were. Small statured and quick on their feet, the unseen attacker was more than capable of dodging almost everything that was thrown at them, and without much issue, they were able to duck under the inbound roundhouse kick with relative ease.
Another kick was aimed their way, with this one narrowly missing the short person's abdomen, before a back kick was aimed at their head. Leaning backwards, the attacker just barely managed to avoid being kicked in the head by the back kick, and before the Pleasure user could pull it back, their unseen opponent launched his arms out and wrapped both his hands around her ankle, prompting her to widen her eyes in shock.
Her shock was quick to turn into pain, however, as their unseen attacker, with a mild growl of frustration, hoisted her up into the air before slamming her into the ground behind him. On impact, the wooden floorboards beneath them cracked intensely as the woman winced in pain, though she didn't even get the chance to fully register it before her attacker swung her by the leg once more. This time, rather than being slammed down into the ground, her body was used to swat a glob of digestive juices out of the air before it hit her attacker yet again, and as soon as she smacked the disgusting blob of goo out of the air, her assailant released their grip on her leg, in turn sending her flying towards the closest wall.
"Shit," grumbled the Digestive user as she saw their attacker turn to face her down. At this point, she was the only person left for them to deal with, and after unintentionally helping her opponent incapacitate two of her compatriots, her morale was remarkably low. Despite this, however, she didn't back down, knowing that she wouldn't be able to outrun this person anyways, as she took in a deep breath to ready a few more Digestive Adhesion projectiles, and right as she was about to discharge them, her attacker lunged forwards.
Several blobs of Digestive Adhesives were launched their way, though for the most part, they were able to dodge a good majority of them as they closed the distance between themselves and the woman. Right as they got within two metres of her, the Digestive user vomited a large blob of Adhesive at them, having expected it to be too close to dodge, but much to her shock, rather than evade to the side in a panic, something that she had expected in the first place, the red eyed attacker simply lunged up into the air to avoid the attack.
Due to how large the adhesive was, it ended up being incredibly heavy, so much so that the unseen attacker could very easily jump over it as they lunged towards the Digestive user with their arm pulled back, ready for a punch. As they got in close, however, the pudgy woman grimaced and, rather swiftly, vomited out a small blob of digestive juices straight at the inbound attacker, who was unable to predict this, causing him to tank the hit head on.
Thankfully enough for them, however, the digestive blob had only struck their fist, covering it in a semi-acidic coating that burned quite a bit. The impact that came with it, however, did force the person's punch to lose some of its momentum, though rather than working against it, they worked with it as they twisted their body around mid-lunge and went in for a roundhouse kick to the side of the woman's head. Having not seen this coming, she ended up taking the kick in full, and on impact, she was sent skidding off into the closest wall, with the impact rendering her unconscious and leaving a mild crevasse in the ground all the while.
With the final obstruction having been dealt with, the unseen attacker, upon landing back on the ground, sighed and stared down at his digestive-juice-covered hand. With a grimace, they pried the glove that they were wearing off his hand and dropped it to the ground, and within a matter of moments, the digestive adhesive clinging onto it burned it into ash, eliciting a frown from the person as they stared down at their once gloved hand. Their skin was smoking a little, with a few parts of their forearm having been burnt off, revealing the charred flesh beneath, though currently, they didn't really acknowledge the pain, most likely due to their Quirk blocking it out…
Rather abruptly, however, the person was hammered out of their thoughts when their instincts surged yet again, prompting them to turn towards a specific spot and wince when they saw a handful of thin, light blue tendrils coming at them. In an instant, their bladed whip-tail lashed out and severed a good majority of them, though that didn't seem to deter them one bit as, rather than retreating back to their owners, the tendrils instead wrapped around the bony blade of the person's tail and coiled themselves up the length of its tendril. Thereafter, they wrapped themselves around the person's body and restrained him lightly.
The person could very easily break free from this dilemma, but by all means, they were unable to think straight, as the tendrils began to shock them on almost every part of his body. Likewise, a handful of them clung onto their head with immense strength, restricting them and, if their experience with mental Quirks was anything to go by, the tendrils were also making an attempt to read their mind as well.
As they attempted to do this, the one making use of the tendrils stepped out into the open, revealing herself to be the Pleasure user. She was a little banged up from the initial takedown, but aside from part of her attire being burnt off by the Digestive user's adhesives, she looked to be in fighting form, even if she was making an attempt to hide the limp in her right leg. Her attacker, on the other hand, simply glared at her in silence as she attempted to subdue them with the electrical shocks that came with the use of her Quirk, though at the same time, she was also trying to read their mind, it would seem.
It made the person wonder if mind reading was an unavoidable side effect of her Quirk, though they didn't ponder on that as they narrowed their glowing red eyes at her. Past experience with dealing with mental Quirks has taught the unseen attacker a thing or two about how to counter them, and they just needed to focus a bit in order to strike back at their attacker.
And as such, they closed their eyes and…
"You're… a Hero?"
"Yeah. A Pro at that. I… I'm sorry that I took so long to rescue you, kid."
"Don't be. I wasn't counting on any of you."
"Harsh. You got a name?"
"No."
"Hm. How about… Mikazuki?"
"Mika… zuki?"
"Yeah. The crescent moon. Like your ahoge."
And as the Pro-Hero finished speaking, she reached for the boy's ahoge and flicked it, causing it to bounce a little thereafter. She had hoped that the boy would at least crack a smile at this, though he did not. Rather, he simply nodded.
"Okay then. I'm Mikazuki. What about you?"
"Me, huh? Well, you can call me-"
"AAAAAAURG!"
It worked. Without so much as a second thought, the numerous tendrils that were coiled around the unseen person's body fell to the ground as their owner stepped backwards and clutched her head in pain. Blood gushed out of her nose like a fountain as she stumbled around, attempting to make sense of the world around her to little avail before she crashed straight into a wall, causing her to lose her balance and fall onto her back, where she continued to scream in agony whilst cradling herself up into a fetal position.
The unseen attacker didn't even spare her a second glance as they moved to leave the room, exiting via the closest staircase. It was honestly incredibly easy to counter the woman's Quirk. Those with mind-reading Quirks tended to get headaches if they were fed too much information all at once, and the person had simply given her too much to process in such a short amount of time by bringing up several memories all at once. They might have gone too far, honestly, as their original intent was to simply incapacitate her.
As things were now, they may or may not have given her brain damage, though it was neither here nor there, and either way, they really didn't give a fuck.
The only thing that really mattered to them at the moment was finding their friend, and they wasted no time in rushing up to do just that.
And in their haste, they may or may not have forgotten about the person they had pulled into the ground.
Meanwhile
Yosetsu… was a little panicked, and likewise, Derma, Aston and Itagami all seemed to be incredibly unnerved as well, with the three of them huddling close to one another as they tried to figure out what was going on.
It had all started when the lights to the entire building went out, leaving them in near total darkness in the process, and thereafter, the sound of combat would be heard from the floor below them. At first, the captured children had believed that a Hero had found them, something that made Derma and Yosetsu smile in relief whilst Itagami and Aston pretended not to be… though their initial hopes were quickly dampened when they heard the sound of screaming coming from below.
By all means, whatever was going on down below sounded like a small scale war, with the sound of wooden planks being shattered, concrete being cracked and multiple people screaming bloody murder. It made the kids wonder if the place was being assaulted by some Villains, though they didn't voice that thought out for fear of jinxing it.
Before long, however, the sounds coming from below ceased, and the kids found themselves tensing up a little as they acknowledged that this meant that the fighting was over, and as they processed this fact, they perked their ears up when they heard the sound of footsteps approaching the room they were in rapidly. They only stopped when they reached the door to their room specifically, and shortly thereafter, the doorknob shuddered a fair bit, though it was locked, something that brought a small amount of relief to everyone present as they didn't wish for a potential Villain to be in the same room as them.
Said relief quickly became shock, however, when, without warning, a fist burst through the door and created a small hole in it. Everyone present flinched (and in Yosetsu's case, gasped) in surprise as they watched the arm reach around the inner side of the door briefly before its hand landed on the doorknob. Thereafter, it twisted it with very little fanfare, opening it up and allowing the door to swing inwards all the while.
And the person that entered the room… certainly did come as a surprise to everyone present, especially Yosetsu, who found himself widening his eyes in shock when he saw who the guy was.
"M-Mikazuki?!"
"Awa-Kun."
Yeah, that deadpanned response and nonchalant use of Yosetsu's given nickname, even in a situation as bleak as this… was to be expected at this point, especially as Mikazuki Augus, of all people, pried his hand out from the door he had just punched through. He stumbled back a little as he freed his arm, and thereafter, he jogged over to where Awase was sitting at with a mostly neutral look on his face. As he did so, however, he did spare the three younger kids a passing glance, with him acknowledging the bewildered looks on their faces all the while.
He mostly ignored them, however, as he crouched down in front of Yosetsu and checked on him. Blue eyes met light grey as the shorter boy stared at his… acquaintance with a mostly blank expression, though regardless of how dark it was, Awase could still tell that the boy was worried. Being with him for so long allowed him to make out some less obvious clues in regards to his facial expressions, and upon noticing this, he smiled weakly.
"I… I'm fine, Mi- Augus. Augus-Kun. Just a little banged up," assured Yosetsu with a small smile, to which Mikazuki nodded flatly. As he nodded, however, the upper back portion of his jacket shuddered a little, only to go still once more, something that didn't go unnoticed by Awase as he blinked in surprise, though he didn't comment on it for now as he watched his acquaintance reach behind him and grab onto the zip ties binding his wrists together.
As he worked on prying them off his acquaintance's wrists, the three other kids present stared at him in confusion. They didn't know who he was, and by all means, they were wary around him, with Derma commenting on the situation before anyone, even himself, could stop him.
"W-Who are you…?" asked Derma as he eyed Mikazuki meekly, to which Augus paused briefly as he glanced his way. The brown haired boy flinched under his gaze, though their eyes met for less than a few moments before contact broke. Everyone had more or less presumed that was the end of the conversation, though surprisingly enough, the blue eyed child had enough courtesy in him to respond to Derma's question.
"Augus. Augus Mikazuki," responded Mika flatly as he grabbed onto the zip tie with both his hands and pulled. It took him a bit of effort, but before long, the plastic restraints snapped apart, freeing his acquaintance's wrists all the while. Thereafter, Awase brought his hands in front of himself and sighed in relief, with him grinning thankfully at his friend all the while. Augus responded by reaching his hand up and pulling his headband upwards. "Your headband is loose."
"Tch, smartass…" shot Yosetsu, though there were no hints of legitimate malice behind his words as he spoke, and his tired and rather scared grin confirmed this. Mikazuki didn't smile back at him, though that was to be expected at this point, as he simply knelt in front of his acquaintance and glanced at him worriedly. Awase wouldn't ever claim to be good at reading someone else's expression, but he could tell what Augus wanted to know. "You wanna know what happened, huh?"
"Atra and Reroutata-Kun told me the basics," assured Mika, confusing Yosetsu briefly as he continued. "You can add on once we're out of here."
"Reroutata…?" muttered Yosetsu, eliciting a huff from Augus, who stood up and held a hand down to Awase, an offer to help pull him up to his feet.
"He's the kid you bumped into with Atra before getting kidnapped. Now come on, we should-"
And yet, before the boy could even finish that statement of his, Mikazuki felt his instincts perk up as he turned on a dime. His instincts rarely ever failed him, and by all means, this time was no exception, as, upon turning, he grimaced when he saw one of the five people that had kidnapped these children lunging at him, or more specifically, he saw the Kinetic User lunging at him. His lunge was clearly powered by his Quirk, as it was a little too fast to be conventional, and he had brought his arm back to punch at the boy's head.
As this happened, Mikazuki, after berating himself for not making sure that the man was dead after he had pulled him down, held his arms up to shield himself from the inbound strike. On impact, Augus felt himself being hit with kinetic energy equivalent to that of a car crash, and the bones in his arms cracked a little on impact. Despite this, however, he didn't let any of the pain get to him as he brought one leg behind himself to stop himself from slamming back-first into the wall behind him, and thereafter, with a jerk of his arms, he forced the man's fist away from him, causing him to stumble backwards all the while.
He was quick to recover from the counterattack, however, and aimed a strike directed towards Augus' head. When it missed, he attempted to lash out at him several more times with his fists, only for every one of his strikes to miss, albeit narrowly, as Mikazuki was significantly more agile than he could ever hope to be.
Whilst Mikazuki seemingly effortlessly dodged the man's swipes, Yosetsu, alongside the three younger boys, found themselves watching his movements in shock. For the former, Awase was very well in the dark about just how agile Augus could be due to him being exempted from all physical activities in school due to Quirk related issues. This was the first time he had seen him move around with such speed and agility, and by all means, the boy's movements were nothing to scoff at. He knew exactly how and when to dodge, and he did so with minimal movement in order to conserve his stamina in order to strike back as quickly as possible, as evident by how he had just twisted his body around to avoid being hit by a haymaker, only to counterattack almost immediately by jabbing his elbow into the Kinetic user's back, forcing him to jolt upright as he staggered forwards.
To not only keep up with a grown adult in regards to physical strength, but to also outpace them this severely… it was nothing to scoff at, and though Awase never did consider himself one to feel jealous about much, he allowed himself to make an exception just this once as he found himself envious of his acquaintance's strength and flexibility.
As for the children, however, they found themselves enthralled by just how he was able to go toe to toe with the Kinetic user, with him even managing to land a few good hits in all the while. Evading to the left, he was able to dodge a punch aimed at his head before he seized his opponent's arm and kicked at their lower leg. As soon as Mikazuki's foot made contact with the back of the older man's shin, he was forced down to one knee, and before he could even recover from that strike, Augus began hammering away at his face several times over with his fist, with him ending it off with a powerful uppercut that sent the Kinetic user into the air, though before he was launched too far off, he used his Quirk to remove the kinetic energy from the launch before he launched himself back at the kid.
Itagami and Aston winced as they watched that happen, only to widen their eyes when Mikazuki was able to easily sidestep the attack. The Kinetic user landed on one knee and turned to face Augus, only to be roundhouse kicked in the face by him.
"Holy shit… he's good," commented Itagami, with him sounding genuinely impressed by Mika's display as he watched on with his faux mouth agape, and to that, Aston and Derma nodded in agreement, though as they did so, the former seemed to take note of an opening in all this as he snapped his fingers against one another hastily. Several snaps were all it took before the palm of his hand began to heat up rather drastically, with it growing hot enough to make the plastic restraints around his wrists bubble up as they melted from the head.
Whilst Aston worked on melting through his bonds with his Quirk, Yosetsu caught wind of Itagami's comment, prompting him to smile a little.
"Yeah, he's the best…" muttered Awase with a small smile. Thereafter, he turned back towards Mikazuki and silently wondered if he was secretly training to be a Hero. With skills like his, he'd have no problem becoming part of the Top 10 within a handful of years, and even if he didn't make use of his Quirk, whatever it may be, he'd still undoubtedly be a great Hero!
Things eventually took a turn for the worse, however, when, rather abruptly, one of Mikazuki's punches failed to connect properly. He had miscalculated an opening , which resulted in the Kinetic user grabbing onto his fist before it could connect with his abdomen, and upon grabbing onto it, he smiled victoriously and immediately slammed it into the closest object, which turned out to be a small drawer, before backing away to avoid being struck by Augus' other fist.
As he backed away, Mikazuki stepped forward to close the ground between the two of them, only to pause when he realized that his fist was stuck to the drawer, prompting him to widen his eyes a little as he glanced over at it. Confused, he made an attempt to tug his hand off, though he didn't get very far with it, with him only managing to rattle the drawer a little with his attempts.
"How do you like that, kid? I removed all the Kinetic energy in your forearm! For all intents and purposes, it's deadened, and it'll remain that way till my Quirk wears off!" laughed the Kinetic user as he splayed his arms out, seeming confident of victory as he grinned at Mika. He was very sure of himself, that much was obvious, though his grin was quick to falter when he saw that Augus barely even reacted to his gloating. "Tell you what, if you surrender now, I'll-"
"You only removed the Kinetic Energy from my forearm, idiot."
And he didn't even get a chance to finish that statement, as, in a shocking display of strength, Mikazuki, with a mild grunt and with his eyes bleeding from blue to red, lifted both his arm and the drawer it was forcefully attached to and swung it towards the Kinetic user. He swung both his arm and the drawer it was attached to with all his might, and as both swung forwards, Mikazuki felt himself being pulled alongside his arm/drawer, with him soaring straight at his opponent at a worryingly high speed. The man barely had time to register what was happening before the drawer slammed into him, causing it to break apart on impact, with millions of wood chips flying into the air all the while, and likewise, a small cloud of smoke had also engulfed both Mika and the Kinetic user upon impact.
Yosetsu and the three other kids watched on in silence as the small cloud of smoke slowly began to dissipate, with Awase now in a kneeling position as he felt the panic growing in his chest, and at first, he found himself smiling a little when he saw that Mikazuki seemed to be mostly fine, with him kneeling over the mess that was left over from his ridiculous, if effective, attack… though not long after, the boy felt his smile dropping when he saw… something else.
A large, sharp shard of wood, most likely having been broken off the drawer when it had impacted the Kinetic user, buried in Mikazuki's right side. The boy's usually neutral eyes were widened in shock as his hand twitched a little, with it reaching down to pull it out, though before he could do so, his fingers tensed as the wooden shard was shoved deeper into him.
And when the rest of the smoke cleared, Yosetsu saw who was responsible for granting upon him such an injury… the Kinetic user. The guy had a smug grin on his face in spite of the newfound injuries that marred his skin. His forehead was bleeding something fierce, but his grin was even fiercer, especially as he watched Mikazuki stagger backwards in pain.
"You're good, kid… but I'm sorry to say that you don't have my durability," spat the man as he got up and dusted himself off. There was obvious pride in his voice as he stared down at Mika, who had fallen onto his rear whilst grabbing for the wooden shard embedded into him, though he reconsidered pulling it out despite the pain, knowing that he'd just bleed out more if he did, something that seemed to amuse the Kinetic user as he smiled down at him. "So, you gonna finally surrender, kid?"
No response at first. Rather, Mikazuki simply glanced over to Yosetsu with an uncertain look in his eyes. He still looked mostly neutral, but there was an undeniable level of uncertainty beneath all that neutrality. He was seriously considering a surrender right now, and whilst Awase knew that he was an incredibly powerful individual, he knew that Augus was, at the end of the day, still human, and even he had limits to what he could achieve.
Yosetsu wanted Mikazuki to surrender, not for their sake, but rather… for his. He wanted the guy to live, and if he surrendered now, their futures would've been bleak, but at least they'd still be alive… but by all means, the look in Augus' eyes told Awase that he wasn't even considering a surrender. Rather he seemed keen on remaining silent as he turned away from him and glared back up at the man.
And by all means, that look in his eyes was the equivalent of a proverbial fuck you to him, as he grimaced and shook his head.
"Well, so be it then. I'll see how many splinters I can shove into you until you die, how's about that?" quipped the Kinetic user as he crouched down and picked up a sizable chunk of wooden shards. Making use of his Quirk, he attached them all onto his arms and approached Mikazuki, who seemed mostly content with all this as he exhaled sharply, knowing that there wasn't any real way for him specifically to counter this man… not in his current injury.
He was content with being a distraction to this vile man, one that would allow for the other children present to escape unharmed, and by all means, the three youngest boys took note of the look he was giving them, as evident by the glint in their eyes as they made eye contact with him briefly.
But as the man approached Mika's weakened form, he didn't account for someone else butting into the fray… and as such, when Yosetsu Awase came barreling into him with aggressive intent, he was caught completely off guard. Now, the Welder wasn't particularly strong, not by a longshot, but even so, he had caught the Kinetic user off guard, and as such, he stumbled further than he would've had he been expecting the blow, and as he turned to face Yosetsu with a grimace on his face, the headband-wearing boy quickly reacted by grabbing onto the man's hand and forcefully slapping the palm of his hand flat against his face.
As soon as his palm smacked his face, Awase activated his Quirk, fusing the two together and causing the man to give out a muffled yell of rage, one that greatly amused Yosetsu quite a bit as he grinned. Likewise, the trio of kids appeared to be taken aback by Yosetsu's sudden act of bravery, though it was quickly dampened when the man suddenly punched the Welder in the jaw with his free arm. The hit made him spin a little as he subconsciously unwelded the man's hand from his face, and as he fell onto the ground, he saw stars spinning around the top of his head as the Kinetic user spat on the ground beside him.
"Didn't I already teach you a fucking lesson, you little bitch?" snarled the man as he clenched his fists tightly, to which Awase, being the potty mouthed brat, even with half his face sore from the punch, and even with blood dripping from one of his nostrils, still had enough energy left in him for a snark.
"I'm a slow learner, you fucking inbred," spat Yosetsu weakly as he held onto his jaw, wondering if it was dislocated from the hit, as the man grimaced.
"I'll have to double your punishment from here on out. A few extra seconds of lung paralysis, perhaps? Oh, it's going to be great…"
The words uttered by the man… disgusted Yosetsu, to say the least. This man truly did love asserting his strength over those that were weaker than him, and it made the boy's insides curl up as he glared at him in rage. His eyes were quick to look past him, however, when he took note of something… or rather, someone, running at the Kinetic Quirk user from behind.
Likewise, the aforementioned man seemed to hear this as well, as he turned to see just what was rushing him from the rear, and at that, he widened his eyes in shock when he saw Aston running at him, with both his palms glowing orange all the while. Yosetsu was, rightfully, taken aback by Aston's sudden willingness to rush into assist, though as for the Kinetic user, he simply grinned a little as he lashed out at the inbound boy.
Before he could grasp onto him, however, Aston leaned to one side and avoided the man's grasp in an instant, surprising almost everyone present with his reaction speed, before he reached a hand up to grasp onto the older person's wrist. Upon making contact with his wrist, the Kinetic user widened his eyes when he felt the skin begin to smoke as Aston's orange palms grasped tightly onto the limb, and seconds later, it began to peel away, allowing his flesh to be seared by the young boy's Quirk.
Aston
Quirk: Grill Palms
Aston's Quirk is an Emitter type that allows him to generate heat that goes up to 1200 degrees fahrenheit (aprox 650 degrees celsius) on both of his palms. He is partially resistant to heat due to his Quirk, though his body will start to show signs of weakening once he passes the 1000 (538) range
"I won't let you!" cried Aston as he grimaced and focused more power into his palms, causing the man's blood to boil in a literal and metaphorical sense all the while. With a wide grimace, the man began moving to pry the younger child's hand off his wrist, though before he could do so, he felt another figure tackle him yet again, with this newcomer slamming into his chest all the while.
"And neither will I!" added the newcomer, Itagami, everyone noticed, as he grimaced at how the Kinetic user began struggling against him. Unlike Aston, Itagami's wrists were still bound together, though instead of using zip ties, they were stuck together with staples, something that was unfortunately incredibly effective against someone made out of crumpled paper. Despite this, however, and despite the pain that it caused him, Itagami still ripped his hands apart from one another, causing a blood-like liquid to fall from the numerous staple holes in his hands, before he made use of his Quirk to help restrain the Kinetic user.
Itagami
Quirk: Living Origami Paper
As his Quirk name suggests, Itagami is a living piece of origami paper crumpled and reformed into a human-like shape. A strange Mutation based Quirk, Itagami's origami skin is just as resilient as human tissue and is resistant to any form of liquid, barring acid, but highly susceptible to fire. Due to his mutation, he does not have any bones in his 'body', allowing him to uncrumple himself into a fifteen metre large square piece of origami paper and be folded into any desired shape.
With a grimace and a snarl, Itagami uncrumpled his arms and legs and wrapped them around the leg and free arm of the Kinetic user, respectively, prompting him to widen his eyes in shock as he felt the shockingly dense origami paper ensnare him. At this point, the man was ensnared on both ends, with Aston restraining one arm whilst Itagami held the other.
Despite his situation, however, the man still offered a grin as he glanced over at Aston, who paled a little at that smile, before he lifted the arm he was holding back up into the air. The scarred boy, having not expected this, gasped in shock as he was lifted up into the air alongside the man's arm, and Itagami, having no time to react to this, could only watch in shock as the Kinetic user lifted Aston into the air and threw him back onto the ground, forcing him to deactivate his Quirk and release his wrist in the process.
Whilst Aston bounced off the ground, the Kinetic user turned his attention towards Itagami, still wrapped around his arm and leg, respectively, and grimaced at him. The living origami shuddered at this as he unraveled himself from the older man in an instant to gain some distance between the two of them, though before he could do so completely, he felt the man grab onto his unraveling leg and yanking on it. Gasping in shock, Itagami felt himself being lifted up into the air and slammed back onto the ground continually, with each impact shaking his entire frame, before he was thrown off towards a random spot.
Yelling out in a mixture of pain and fear, Itagami had fully expected to hit the ground after a matter of moments, though that didn't come to pass as, before he could impact anything remotely pain-inducing, the living origami felt a pair of arms grab onto him, effectively cushioning his fall as both he and his living cushion fell onto the ground.
With a wince and a groan, Itagami crumpled his arm and leg back into the a vague approximation of either limb before he turned around to see that Yosetsu had been the one to cushion his fall, prompting him to widen his eyes a little in surprise as he felt Awase grasping onto him firmly. Opening one of his formerly shut eyes, the Welder smiled weakly at the younger boy as he released him, and though Itagami was quick to get off him, he still gave Yosetsu a questioning gaze, one that he responded with accordingly.
"You… just looked like you needed some help, Itagami-Kun…" admitted Yosetsu meekly as the aforementioned boy blinked in apprehension. Such a strange reason to stick one's neck out for another… but at the same time, the living origami appreciated the sentiment as he nodded in thanks, eliciting a mild blush of embarrassment from Awase all the while.
"How touching. It's almost enough to make me vomit right here, right now," scoffed the Kinetic user, pulling the duo out of their trance like state as they turned back towards the aforementioned man. As they did so, the pair turned and spotted Derma kneeling beside Aston, with him allowing the scarred boy to lean against him for support as he still recovered from that throw, and all the while, Mikazuki remained on his side, with the wooden shard still embedded in his side all the while.
Despite his pained expression, however, Augus still gave Awase a stare that looked to be a little in between shocked and… impressed as he held onto his side. Yosetsu didn't really acknowledge it that much, however, as he instinctively pushed Itagami's smaller body behind himself, eliciting a laugh from the Kinetic user as he rolled his eyes.
"Still trying to play the Hero, huh? Even when you're clearly outmatched!" laughed the man as he rolled his eyes, eliciting a grimace from Yosetsu as he glared right at him. The intensity of his gaze was something that Mikazuki has never seen before until now… and it impressed him, to say the least.
Typically, Yosetsu's gaze held some level of indifference, something that was normal for him as Awase never really had anything to commit to… but now, they burnt with a level of protective determination that Mikazuki has only seen in but a handful of people… those weren't the eyes of a civilian, nor were they the eyes of a soldier or villain…
They were the eyes of a Hero… and that thought in of itself… repulsed Mika.
He hated it. He hated how, despite his powers, he had to rely on Yosetsu to keep him safe now. He had come to get his acquaintance out of this mess, but now… it seemed as though their roles had been reversed… and he despised it. The anger boiled within him as blood gushed up into his skull, causing a dim red glow to emanate from the boy's irises as he felt his power surge through him, and as the seconds ticked by, the blue in his eyes faded into nothing before it began to take on a crimson glow.
Likewise, from beneath his jacket emerged a tendril that slithered up and behind the man threatening Yosetsu and Itagami with deliberately slow movements. It didn't wish to alert the monster in human skin to its approach, not until it was within range, at least, and before long, it lifted itself up and behind the Kinetic user's back, only stopping once it was directly above his head.
And for their part, both Itagami and Yosetsu found themselves widening their eyes in a mixture of shock and horror when they saw it hovering behind the Kinetic user's head. In the dim lighting of the room, it was incredibly hard to make out just what the hovering entity was… but even so, they could just barely tell that it was a blade of sorts, attached to a fleshy tendril that connected it to a point underneath Mikazuki's jacket. The blade hovered up behind the man's body and stared down at him like a bird of prey, seemingly to find the perfect angle to strike from, and after a few moments of silence… tendril blade subsequently stopped darting around and darted forwards…
… and within a second, the bone blade pierced through the Kinetic user's right shoulder, with it tearing through the ligament that connected the two together all the while. Despite this, however, the impaled arm was flailing about in an attempt to save itself from beind sliced right off, and likewise, the owner of the limb was crying out in terror as he jolted around in shock. As he did so, some of the blood from his injury poured out and splashed against Yosetsu's face, prompting him to pause briefly and wipe it off.
Holding his now blood smeared fingers up to eye level, Awase found himself widening his eyes in terro as he processed what was going on in front of him, and by then, the Kinetic user's impaled arm had went limp, though Mikazuki, seemingly not content with just letting it stay that way, jerked his Tail Blade upwards, and as he did so, he sliced off the entirety of the man's right arm.
The limb flew upwards, accompanied by a small explosion of blood, before it fell to the ground, fingers still twitching, as its owner cried out in pain. Yosetsu flinched as the severed limb landed a little closer to him than he was comfortable with, though as for the Kinetic user, he, on instinct, he turned towards the one that had severed his arm in the first place, with his eyes widened in rage… rage that would soon turn to terror when he saw Mikazuki Augus sitting on the ground with his right arm held up, pointing directly at him.
And in his right hand… was a pistol.
Opening his mouth, the man would have attempted negotiations with the boy that had sliced his right arm off, but he didn't get far with it as three bullets found their place in his skull, with the third shattering his head completely and causing a mess of blood and brain matter to be ejected into the air. Some of the blood managed to splatter itself onto Awase's face as he stared on in shock… and his already widened eyes widened even further when he saw the bladed tendril that had severed the Kinetic user's arm hover down beside Mikazuki, almost like a bird flying by its master's side.
At the same time, Aston, Itagami and Derma stared at Mikazuki as well, with the former two appearing mildly respectful of the now-red eyed teen whilst the latter seemed rather… uncertain of what to think of him. However, as the intensity of what had just happened began to die down, the four boys present took note of just how… pale Mikazuki looked as he remained on his rear, with his tail… his Quirk, flopping down onto his side, seemingly lifeless as he breathed in and out deeply. The injury to his side must've been a lot more severe, Awase realized, as he got up and rushed to his acquaintance's side, and by some miracle, he was able to reach him before he fell over completely.
"Augus-Kun…!" proclaimed Yosetsu in shock, with his mind racing as he held Mikazuki in his arms. The orphan appeared to be out of it as he stared up at his acquaintance blankly, and before long, he passed out completely from a mixture of fatigue and blood loss, with his hand losing its grip on his pistol all the while. The armament hit the ground with a mild clang as Augus lost consciousness, though at the moment, none of the present boys really cared as the eldest of them all grimaced and shook his head. "Dammit! I… w-we need to get to the nearest hospital!"
"We…?" muttered Derma, confused as to why Yosetsu was using a plural term as he held Mikazuki in his arms, careful not to jostle him too much all the while. In response to his inquiry, Awase simply nodded, with him cradling Augus as he responded.
"Y-Yeah… all of us are leaving, Derma-Kun!" responded Yosetsu firmly, eliciting a blink of confusion from Aston.
"But why… why do you care enough to bring us along…" inquired Aston, with him finding the whole situation to be… surreal as no one has ever shown this much concern for him prior to now. Opening his mouth, Yosetsu would've told him that he didn't really need a reason to do the right thing… but Itagami was quick to beat him to it as he smiled shakily.
"What the fuck kind of question even is that, Aston? He's helping us… because he's a Hero!" proclaimed Itagami awkwardly as he smiled and offered his friend a thumbs up, and at that, Aston and Derma both blinked and accepted that comment. Though it was true that Mikazuki had done most of the heavy lifting, Yosetsu still played a good part in their salvation, and as such, in their eyes he was indeed a Hero, a thought that made the Welder blush a little as he motioned for the younger boys to follow him out.
'Me… a Hero, huh…?' thought Yosetsu wistfully as he exited the building, with the dim lighting masking all the dead bodies that littered the abandoned building's hallways as he exited it alongside Aston, Derma and Itagami.
'Well… it doesn't sound too bad, I guess…'
Fun fact, this used to be the previous chapter. But... things changed, y'know?
Regardless, as of now, this is certainly the most combat heavy chapter. More to show what Mika is capable of... and also to tease his Quirk, finally. What will it be? Who knows...
Not much else so review replies.
yangn33: well...
Spyro fanboy: well Awase's Quirk is certainly interesting to make use of, but it's future application... shall be a mystery for now.
That's about it really. I'm very tired, and as I update Tekketsu No Kyojin, I'll be focusing more on this story than any other. So expect more updates for Iron Blooded Heroes this year until the updates for the former story are done.
Till then, happy new year (2022) and here's to a better year.
Minor edits made on 10/4/2022