"Well," said Detective Tsukauchi, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he surveyed the empty room, hands on his hips. "He was never going to be foolish enough to linger here."
"You never know," Izuku muttered, opening and closing the kitchen cabinets, searching for anything useful. "Mustard is a kid, after all. Kids get attached to houses."
"Not kids who join the League of Villains."
Izuku stared into the half-open fridge. The search team was moving in and out of the other dark rooms in the small house. Pale flat light from the overcast day came in through the windows. Objects and wrappers scattered the floor.
"He was in the League of Villains, a year ago. I don't think he's with the PLF now, though," said Izuku, frowning. "For some reason. Something about the way he spoke in that video."
"He did seem to put All For One on the same level as the heroes," Tsukauchi commented, running a scanner over the walls, looking for hidden alcoves and compartments. "But maybe AFO sees a benefit in making us think the boy is acting alone. The fact that he chose that time to strike Ketsubutsu…while Dabi was attacking Annaka. It seems coordinated."
"I thought so too, before I saw his message. One thing I've realized out here is that the villains aren't as coordinated as we think. A lot of them are simply acting alone and capitalizing on the chaos that others are causing, maximizing their damage and minimizing chance of capture. Mustard could be one such type. If he saw the broadcast of Dabi's advance warning, he may have seen that as an opportunity."
"He is just a kid with an emitter Quirk. If he's acting alone, he would need to do everything in his power to remain hidden." Tsukauchi sighed. "The parents are long gone. Can't find any information on them that's any less than a year old. This address hadn't paid any of its bills in months, either. This is going to be tough."
"You did confirm it's him, though." Izuku knelt down and picked up an old book off the floor of the abandoned house. A Farewell to Arms.
"The autopsy results match the effects of the gas that was registered by the juvenile prison he was being kept in. It has a very similar chemical makeup to Midnight's Quirk, but it is distinct. No other registered Quirk matches it that we've managed to find." Tsukauchi lowered his scanner and turned it off. "Deku, perhaps you'd be better off leaving this to someone like me."
Izuku gave him a blank stare from beneath the mask. "What do you mean?"
"If All Might were here, he'd say that there are villains out there who can be defeated by any hero, and villains who can only be defeated by a few. Mustard is the former type. We need you focusing on the latter."
"This boy you underestimate has killed nearly a thousand people in the past month that we know of."
"Yes, and now that you've given us his name, we will be able to use the info gathered from his records and previous incarceration and hopefully catch him soon. I appreciate the help, Deku, I really do, but…"
"This goes deeper than you think, Detective. He left a calling card at the scene of the murder that he could have only gotten from a certain outfit of organized criminals. He is not fully working alone, and we still know practically nothing about the weapons he's using. If I see an opportunity to nip this in the bud before he gets to his next target, I'm taking it."
"Ah, yes. The…card. We were not able to find anything on it…" Tsukauchi cast his eyes out the open door, somewhat uncertainly. "You trust Maboromicamie's word on that?"
"Well…" The second most powerful Hojo didn't appear to know anything about working with Mustard, but he DID seem to at least know what the card was. So she wasn't lying about that. "She's a licensed hero. She may be a student, but she's still a year older than me, and you're trusting me. Why do you ask? Do you know something I don't?"
The detective winced and shook his head. "It's not good practice for me to disclose that kind of information to you. If you want to know about the girl's past, you should ask her yourself." He walked off to consult with the rest of the search team.
Izuku left the abandoned house of the boy who had become Mustard. Through the front door, there was a tiny garden that was pushed right up against the street. Other houses were packed in close in this area, all small and mostly abandoned.
Camie was sitting on the curb with the smartphone in her hands, replaying a part of the message over and over again. She was frowning in concentration. Maboromicamie. Illus-o-camie. For some reason, he had forgotten that that was her hero name. Or that she even had one.
"You could have helped us search the place," he commented.
She did not even look up from what she was doing. "I don't roll with those kinda guys. House ravagers. Detectives. They don't do what they say they're gonna do, in my experience."
"Tsukauchi is a friend of All Might. You can trust him." Izuku was starting to realize why he had trouble thinking of Camie as a hero. She stands apart on purpose. Almost like a vigilante. Not unlike what he was doing. I wonder if anyone has trouble remembering that I'm Deku. His own fault, really.
Illus-o-camie. Was everything about her an illusion? What had Tsukauchi meant about her past? What was her connection with the Hojos? All things he was still too socially awkward to try and find out. Besides, he respected her privacy. I just don't want my trust to be misplaced.
I don't think it is, said Nana softly. She's not the nicest girl ever on the outside, but she has kind eyes.
Izuku sat down next to her. "Figure anything out?"
"No." Camie groaned and leaned back, laying on the pavement. Izuku remained upright and looked around, alert for any possible dangers. "I'm starting to think I'm just going koo-koo bananas," she mumbled.
"I was just talking to the detective about how I think Mustard isn't working with the Front," Izuku told her. "And if that's the case, then the video serves another purpose. It's not like the Dabi video where you could see All For One's puppet strings all over it."
"But if he's a slippery little shit who doesn't actually want to be caught or chased or perceived in any way, why leave a video? Just to taunt?"
"My schoolmates said he did talk a lot when they fought him in the woods. Some people just self-destruct with their big mouths."
"No. No, I refuse to believe he could be such a dumbass when he has successfully blown two schools to hell. Two well-fortified schools." Camie sat back up, scrubbing the video back to the start. "God, I'm starting to talk like you, I feel like," she muttered. "There's gotta be something important in here that he wants us to see."
"The last thing he left behind turned out to be a red herring. It may be that he's trying to hide clues that are just subtle enough that we think it means something, to get us to investigate that and give him more space to operate safely. It may be that whatever's hiding in that video is just a…"
"That card was not a red herring, dude," Camie said brusquely. "I don't care how slick he is, there's no way he could have gotten it without interacting with the Hojos or making some kind of deal. Which means that at least one of them knows about him. You get me?"
"But…" Izuku's eyes searched the ground. "Surely if they found out he left it there, he would be in trouble with them…"
"Well, he's got the hookup on these bombs from somebody. And it seems like the partnership's still on."
"So…you think this video is something similar. A clue leading us to someone Mustard is working with, but not necessarily Mustard himself." If so, he plays a very dangerous game.
"Yeah." Camie shifted herself on the curb, rolling her shoulders. She seemed to gather confidence. "Yeah, that's what I'm thinking."
"Well, if it's anything related to Kijimi, I guess I leave it in your hands. Since you know more about that than you're willing to tell me."
She made eye contact with him. There was a pause. Mixed emotions seemed to cross her face…and then she smiled.
"Maybe I'd spill if you figured out the right questions to ask," she whispered, and then stood up almost provocatively. She brushed his leg on her way. "Gonna take a walk and burn every frame of this into my eyeballs. Catch ya in a bit."
"Take care," he called after her, face burning under the mask.
…
"Stop right there!"
The officers held up their arms as Amajiki walked up and Nejire floated down to street level.
They were guarding an orange street blockade. Beyond was a road leading up to a multi-story abandoned jazz club, where the Kijimi hero operation had now established a front-line base. Personnel and tents had been set up on the sidewalks.
"Looks like they didn't get lost without us," muttered Tamaki.
"We're friendly, we're friendly!" Nejire exclaimed, holding up her own hands as she deactivated her Quirk. Her hair swirls fell down on either side of her head. "We work here!"
The officers exchanged a glance, and then one of them spoke into their radio. "Mandalay, this is the rear guard. Yes, sorry for…you said to use this channel for this. Yes, Suneater and Nejire-chan have returned."
Some more personnel, dressed in plainclothes but wearing combat vests over them, stepped forward and waved them through the blockade. "Follow us."
Nejire and Tamaki entered the street, passing by activity. Some more civilians were getting treated for wounds beneath the tents. Elsewhere, boxes of supplies were being organized, and a car was being levitated by a woman's Quirk while a mechanic worked on its underbelly.
Reconstructing civilization one block at a time is tough going, thought Nejire. "They must be planning something big," she said out loud.
"The question is, are we gonna be part of it or not?" Tamaki's eyes were shifty.
They reached the jazz club. It was dark and close inside, but they went down a narrow corridor and found themselves in an open space that could have only once been the dancefloor. It was now covered with standing people and boxes and some surveillance equipment.
Mandalay and Gang Orca were standing together with an aide, who was holding a clipboard and relaying information to them. They nodded along until Mandalay noticed the two newcomers out of the corner of her eye, dismissed the aide, and turned to face them.
"Are you two alright?" the heroine asked, brown eyes wide with concern.
Nejire was taken aback. She had not expected those to be the first words out of Shino Sosaki's mouth. "Err…yes. We're not injured."
Her eyes danced over to Gang Orca, slightly confused but still prepared to show defiance. The big man appraised the two young heroes for a moment. Then he let out a "Hm." And walked off.
Nejire blinked, stunned. She looked back at Mandalay. "What did you tell him? Are you guys not mad at us? Are we going to be punished? What's the deal with this new base, anyway? Wha-"
Sosaki laughed pleasantly and held up her hands. "Whoa there, dear. There was a discussion about the two of you and your actions, yes. I believe Gang Orca has his own thoughts on the matter that he will need time to gather. Meanwhile, we absolutely will need your assistance on what we're doing here."
"So…we're not getting punished?" She rocked back and forth on her toes.
"Unless you see a bunch of nasty work as punishment, then no. Not for the time being."
"A new operation, then," said Tamaki.
Mandalay nodded. "The lady you questioned has given as much to work with. We've been scouting and conducting more rescues while you two were…out. As a result, there is now sufficient intel on the criminal villain known as Renata Mitoma. The Skindancer."
"Who's that?" asked Nejire. "Oooh, is she the Harbor arms dealer?"
"She deals in more than just arms." The cat heroine's face had gone grave. "A deal of the information we've collected should come with a trigger warning. You can peruse through it on your own time. The main facts are this: she is planning some kind of operation on the fourteenth of May. The building she operates out of is one of a possible twenty-three along a stretch of the river, which is all we've managed to narrow it down to. If we can figure out where she is for sure, we will make our move before that date."
"That's in just a couple of weeks," Nejire gasped. "But wait…why is she called the Skindancer? What's her Quirk?"
"Well…some of her wealth is made off of exotic or erotic dancers, so that's part of it. But her Quirk, from what we can tell from our limited accounts…allows her to turn any part of another person's body inside out if they are within a certain radius of her. We don't know what that radius is, and we don't know if it's capable of doing anything else."
Tamaki let out a sound like a gag, and dark bells rang in Nejire's head. Inside out? And it had a radius, too…
No wonder she stays in the shadows. Defeating this woman in her territory meant that getting close was basically required, and how fast would you need to be to avoid having that happen to you?
"So what's the plan?" asked Tamaki.
"The plan is being worked on with utmost care." Mandalay's expression softened. "We had Mirko visit us the other day, demanding leads, and we had to turn her away. The lives of many struggling people who live in this area are at risk. Mitoma will continue to expand her wealth and territory without our intervention. This is the kind of operation that has to go smoothly, without…unpredictable factors. Which leads me to ask…can I trust you two now? To be predictable?"
"Yes," Suneater answered immediately.
Nejire hesitated.
Mandalay put a caring hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "We heard what you accomplished in Annaka. Not a single life lost. You should be proud. I doubt it would have been possible without you."
Blue eyes met brown. "Deku was there," said Nejire.
Something unreadable crossed Shino Sosaki's face. "I heard that, too."
…
Izuku and Camie had departed from Mustard's old house and split from Tsukauchi's team.
Now they were slinking through the suburbs, ducking under overgrown fences and darting across yards as they tried to reach an area with taller buildings to shelter in for the night. Clouds had rolled up, and there was distant thunder. The sky had grown forebodingly dark.
"Do you want me to scout ahead and come back for you?" asked Izuku. For him, getting out of residential areas like this was no problem, but he wanted to make sure Camie was safe.
"If we run into trouble, we're gonna fight 'em, not run for it," she answered, somewhat incredulously. "Can't have gangs of assholes roaming around neighborhoods like this like they own the place."
"Well, if you see one, let me know."
Camie just nodded and continued to follow him on foot, as the thunder grew closer, and the clouds grew darker. She was muttering under her breath. She'd been doing that for some time.
She pick that up from you? asked Banjo.
Maybe. It doesn't really seem like something she'd do. She's gotten really into figuring out this video.
Perhaps she's trying to impress you, En suggested.
Perhaps you should try to pipe down, Izuku responded dryly. He ducked behind a garden shed and looked back at Camie, as she quickly joined him, still muttering. "Five…fourteen…numbers!" She lifted her heart-shaped face and made a surprisingly excited, bouncy expression. "Those are the only numbers he says in the whole video. Five schools, and then he guesses that the heroes don't think he's older than fourteen. And he makes a big gesture with his hands after both."
"You really memorized the whole thing, huh?" Izuku tilted his head. "Five and fourteen…"
"The passcode was a date. Maybe the next clue is a date, too. The fourteenth of May."
"Is…is that soon?"
She deadpanned at him. "You need to get a grip, dude. Yes, it's soon. It's like, two-weeks-away-type-of soon."
"Sorry." He winced. "I guess I really am kind of a mess." Losing track of time.
It began to lightly rain on their heads.
Camie looked up at the sky with pursed lips. "Ugh. Lame AF." She stepped out from beneath the shed and took his arm, pulling him along. "C'mon, let's get you under a roof so you can eat, and sleep, and hopefully look like less of a hobo."
"Well…okay, but we need to hurry on toward Kijimi in the morning or else we'll…"
Danger Sense.
Lightning flashed, revealing the silhouette of a person on the roof above them. At this distance, in that split second, Izuku could see their curves: a woman.
"It's Lady Nagant," he blurt-gasped. "Run-"
Her first shot was synchronized with the delayed sound of the thunder, echoing behind the lightning.
Izuku grabbed Camie about the waist and took off laterally with One for All, crashing through fences, spinning around and taking the brunt of the force with his back, shielding Camie. The bullet came after them.
"Holy sh-shit!" Camie sputtered. Rain was blasting into their faces, but the bullet could still be heard whizzing closer and closer in the gloom.
Izuku cornered around a house hard and the bullet struck the wall, shattering against the bricks. He slid to a stop, leaving deep grooves of mud in the grass of the house's yard. He released Camie.
"Sorry!" he apologized, not even stuttering. "But she's after me! She can control where those bullets go, and it will be hard to shake her! I can't have you-"
"If she's hard to shake, then let's attack!" Camie immediately suggested, another lightning flash illuminating her almost catlike eyes. She was zipping up her black suit to as tight as it would go. "Hood up, bud! It's a fight in the rain. Kinda aesthetic when you think about it."
"Camie, please take this seriously. She's almost killed me. We need a plan-"
"If she's a sniper, then she relies on her eyes and ears." Camie leaned close enough to breathe on him, and then winked. "I can turn those against her."
Oh, God. I don't like this. More thunder. The next bullet hadn't yet come - they had gotten some distance. But still. Izuku was barely capable of staying ahead of Nagant's shots himself. How could he hope for Camie? If only I could figure out a way to use one hundred percent One for All again, safely without ruining my arms like the doctor warned. He floundered for advice from the past users, but on this matter they were silent - they only seemed to want to speak up when it was to tease him about girls.
"Fine then," Izuku growled. He'd wanted to wait for Hawks, but if Kaina Tsutsumi wanted to fight him now, here in the suburbs, then he'd give her hell. "Come on."
…
Where did they go? Kaina wondered.
The problem with ambushing Deku in a thunderstorm was that they were both at a disadvantage. She had her sight that would auto-snap to movement, but with heavy rain streaking through the night, it could only go haywire. Her tech was failing her.
She used Air Walk to hop houses in the direction they went. They. The girl was not someone Kaina recognized.
She fired a probing, heat-seeking bullet. It seemed to swerve drunkenly back and forth in a few directions, and then appeared to hone in on a spot across the street…before suddenly zipping across the way toward a very close lightning strike, instead of finding a person.
Dammit. Kaina winced, lifted her rifle, and then lowered it, frustratingly wiping rain off her face. Her dress was getting soaked. And her hair would not be as moldable, either, if this kept up.
She saw a glow of green out of the corner of her eye.
Lady Nagant swung about and immediately fired another bullet, seeking him. He was dashing through backyards across the way. She walked through the air to get closer. She fired two more bullets, juggling multiple in the air, making them bend out in different directions before having them converge on him.
Deku leapt high and kicked the air. The wind blast buffeted Kaina's face. Her wet hair and dress swept back, billowing, as a huge amount of rainfall was suddenly forcibly moved hundreds of yards sideways. The torrent drowned her bullets, and now her opponent was diving.
"GIVE IN…TSUTSUMI!"
Kaina only allowed herself a second of shock before she fell back toward the ground, using her airwalking to cushion herself, and lifted up her rifle to fire at him point-blank.
Deku closed his fist. He's prepared to punch it even though he knows I can make the exploding ones. So brave. So foolish. That was not the kind of bullet she'd just fired at him.
BBWWWWWWWWWWWWAMMMMMMMMMMM.
An oscillating sonic blast burst from the bullet, vibrating the stormy night and causing the whole street to shudder. Deku faltered in mid-air, letting out a yell of agony and throwing his hands over his ears, falling backward.
Kaina landed in the middle of the street, threw her hair back over her left ear, and reloaded, her muscular arms working in sync as Deku descended. She leveled her gun with the arc of his fall. Prepared to fire the headshot.
And then it stopped raining.
Wait…no. No, that's not it.
Kaina looked up. The rain was gone. But it wasn't. She couldn't see it anymore, but she could still feel it hitting her head, could still sense the wetness dripping down her hair and clothes and skin.
And its sounds had gone awry, the rain echoing strangely around the area in a distant, tinny tone, like it was bouncing off a dome over her head. Whaaaaa?
A pink glow pushed across her vision, leaving an afterglow of sparkles, and suddenly she was in a mirror maze.
A labyrinth of shimmering glass surrounded her, throwing her own likeness in her face.
Nagant spun in a circle with her gun aimed out, alert. There is another Quirk at play. The girl. The girl who'd dressed in black.
She experimentally kicked one of the mirrors, and her boot phased right through. The illusion wavered upon impact. Oh, good. Screw this.
She swept forward with a huff, walking right through mirror after mirror, still feeling the rain attack her despite being unable to see it. Her reflections looked angry on every surrounding surface. Angry and soaked. Where are you-
The next mirror she passed through, she was suddenly face-to-face with Midoriya, his mask bearing down on her like a demon.
Kaina let out a girlish yelp and fell backward, shooting an instant panicked shot at the boy's head. It passed right through - Deku, the mirror, the illusion, just shimmered as the bullet sliced through it. Kaina immediately whirled, expecting to see him behind her, but no - just more reflections of her. And the illusion was tightening, too; all the mirrors were getting closer.
"ENOUGH!" she roared. "COME OUT AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!"
Through the echoing sounds of the rain, she heard another sound. It was Deku laughing.
…
Izuku laughed through his pain, having heard what Lady Nagant said. He half-choked on it, standing back up off the wet street and massaging his ears, trying to clear the ringing from them as rain continued to slide down his mostly-waterproofed costume.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Izuku got to his feet and looked around, seeing the maze of mirrors that Camie had promised to make. The only problem was that she could only make one illusion over a certain space: she couldn't allow Izuku and Lady Nagant to see different things. So now he was somewhat lost, too.
He stepped through the mirrors, searching for her. Camie's illusion had thrown the sound of the rain askew, but it also played with voices, meaning that Izuku and Lady Nagant could not locate each other by listening.
I can jump up and out of the illusion and find her that way, but I want to understand her first.
"Face you like a man?" he rasped. "Did you think that would rattle me? You must not know me very well."
"I know everything I need to know about you!" she shouted in response. Her voice came from left and right and above simultaneously. Dammit, Camie. This power is a double-edged sword.
He crept through the mirrors, his own haunting, sunken figure passing across the reflective surfaces. "Is that so, Kaina Tsutsumi?"
"You recognized me. You knew my voice before. You're a hero fanboy."
Another clap of thunder. "Did you gather that, or did All For One tell you?" asked Izuku.
She only laughed in response to that, but he could hear a hint of something else. Resentment, maybe?
"What's the matter, Tsutsumi? Don't like that I know you're a lapdog? You kill your first boss and decide to go right back to taking orders from a different one once you break out of prison?"
"If I'm a lapdog, what the hell does that make you, kid?" she snapped furiously. That sounded more to the right. I'm getting closer. "Zipping around the country doing the bidding of those who would shape you into a machine. A husk of a person, who knows how to finish a mission and not much else. They'll make you forget how to live."
"So it's better if I don't live at all, then? Is that what you've decided?"
"That's what I've decided!" she threw at him. "People are like weapons, Izuku Midoriya. If I'm a rifle, then you're nothing short of a nuke, on a boyishly stubborn crusade. You must be disarmed!"
"I didn't start this, Tsutsumi. Is it stubborn of me to want to save lives? You were a hero. Surely you know what that desire feels like."
"I know exactly how stubborn that desire feels. I carry it with me every day. You haven't even lived two decades. You can't possibly understand."
He turned another corner, and as thunder rumbled another time over their heads, he saw her in a mirror ahead of him to the right.
Izuku stopped short. Is that part of the illusion, her real reflection, or really her? She did not appear to see him.
Kaina Tsutsumi was holding up a rifle, one leg bent out in front of the other, her dark dress flowing around her high-booted calves. Her utility belt was stable around her tight waist, but the dress was soaked through. I can see the outline of her bra. He flushed red, suddenly unsure as to what to do. Her face was very solemn, but there was a fire shimmering in her eyes, and now he got a good look at the hair that made her bullets - multi-colored, wavy, flowing around her shoulders in layers.
She's beautiful.
"You keep trying to remind me that I'm just a boy, like it's a bad thing," he said, more softly. He saw her face change and knew that his voice was coming through more clearly - clear enough to where she would locate him in moments. "So I'll remind you that you're just a villain now. That's what you've become."
She barked out laughter, but her eyes were darting around in the reflection up ahead. She must be just off to the side of it. He moved closer, more of her reflections appearing on other mirrors, shifting in and out of sight as he navigated through the maze. Closer. Closer.
"A villain? That's what you'll say? Please. Maybe attack me on the same gendered grounds as I attacked you and we can fight each other properly pissed off."
From what part of his mind the next thing he blurted came, he did not know.
"I would only attack you for things I think you're failing at," he said. "You're not good at being a villain, Lady Nagant. But, whether I was seeing you as a hero on TV or as a bad villain now…you've always been a lovely lady."
He saw three different reflected versions of her blush and lower their rifles, stunned and miffed in an almost cute way. "H-huh?" she sputtered.
And Camie tackled her from behind.
…
Kaina had just enough time to think, no way did that shit just work on me, what the hell? Before the girl clad in all black attacked her.
She materialized through the mirror in a leap, moving like a cat as she attempted to full-body knock Kaina to the ground. The illusion shattered, cracks spreading through reality like a spiderweb. Kaina slid sideways expertly, and the girl rolled, transitioning into a sweeping kick at Kaina's legs. Lightning flashed in the sky. Rain pounded the ground. The illusion began to fade and shift and transform. The visual surroundings were a mess.
If she thinks I'm short-changed in close combat, she's mistaken. Lady Nagant swung her rifle-arm like a blunt object, blocking the girl's kick with a counter-kick of her own. The girl ducked and got in close, firing a flurry of fists and boots from multiple directions, spinning and twirling. "HYAH! HYAH!"
Kaina danced with her, blocking and countering and matching her, not giving ground. A snarling smile broke on her lips. "In too deep, young lady!" She kicked the girl in the chest and got enough distance to point her rifle at her head.
The girl's eyes widened in panic, and then her lips parted. A blast of pink smoke shot out of them, and an illusion-barrier was thrown up, blinding Nagant. She cried out and fired anyway, but the girl had hopped sideways…and now they were in the middle of a jungle, the pink illusion-smoke forming into green trees and bushes and vines.
Rain continued to fall.
…
Izuku had taken two seconds to balk at what had just come out of his own mouth, and in that time, the fight between the two women had forced Camie to change the illusion. Now he was in a jungle and could not see them anymore.
Dammit! He shook his head to refocus and launched up above the street with One for All.
He re-entered a dark world of rain and lightning and thunder, the suburban houses barely silhouettes now in the raging storm. Beneath him, filling up the road, was a cloud-dome of pink gas.
Camie, no…you'll run out of breath! She had no trouble making one illusion of this size, or so she claimed…but if she was being forced to change it to fight Nagant? I've got to get back in there!
He dived.
…
Kaina swiped for the girl again, and she hopped backward, disappearing this time into a flow of lava off a shield volcano. Kaina walked through it, her base human instincts only giving the slightest fear-reaction to the visual. "Each time is working less and less on me! Who are you, anyway?"
"A hero!" the girl answered spitefully, emerging from the lava with a flying kick. Kaina ducked under it, fired another bullet, and watched it zip off into what became outer space. Most Quirks have limits. She can't keep doing that for long!
Kaina stepped forward and appeared to nearly fall off a cliff. Her arms wavered for a moment and she leaned back, before scoffing and walking forward again. "Do the young heroes all dress in dark colors and work in the shadows now?" she commented.
"Bold words, old lady. I think I need to put you back in the mirror maze. You need like, hella self-reflection, ASAP."
Kaina looked down at her feet, standing on what appeared to be air, just off the edge of a cliff with a forest hundreds of feet below. Just like the Quirk AFO gave me.
Wait…oh my god. In her panic and confusion from how overwhelming this fight had been, she'd totally forgotten Air Walk, which she'd so shoddily integrated with her combat style. AFO screwing me over with his poisoned gifts.
The girl attacked again, and this time, Kaina went up.
…
Izuku found them in a strange cliffside illusion, just as Camie missed a punch, and Lady Nagant began to walk into the air, as if on an invisible staircase.
He gasped. Is Camie doing that…? Wait, no!
She had been given an assignment from All For One. Of course he had given her another power. That's how she moves so fast.
"Huh?" Camie looked up in shock, as Lady Nagant turned in midair and prepared to fire down at her.
"NO!" Izuku fired up Fa-jin, and his body felt like it was about to rip apart, straining against him to stop him from trying it when he wasn't properly up to momentum yet. Haven't built enough energy but it doesn't matter need to get there go go go go go GO NOW!
He pushed OFA to nearly fifty percent and carved through the air toward Camie, nearly blacking out from the strain he was putting on his body. It was like the feeling of standing up too fast but multiplied by a hundred, his brain filling with TV static. He grabbed her off the ground and Nagant's bullet struck the pavement. Camie's already-wavering breath was knocked out of her as the two of them went thousands of feet down the street, Izuku unable to slow down. The illusion went POOF! The pink smoke evaporated in the rain.
Nearly a mile and a half away, Izuku finally managed to regain control, blood flowing through his head properly again as he hit the brakes, slowing down and down and down. Eventually, he managed to get Blackwhip around a lamp post and swung to a stop.
He was carrying Camie bridal style. Rain continued to fall on them, but it seemed to be less intense than before. Still, he had to get her out of it.
The house they were next to looked abandoned, boards over the windows. Recklessly, Izuku kicked down the door and took her into it. It was completely empty. He set her gently down on the floor, water dripping off their clothes. The sound of the rain was shielded by the roof and walls.
Camie's chest heaved for breath, her eyelashes fluttering. "omg," she muttered. "That was…like…my life flashed before my eyes, for real."
"Are you okay? I knew this was a bad idea, I'm sorry, we should have…you basically pulled all the weight and pushed your Quirk too hard. Is there anything I can do to help you breathe? I can…"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa there, tiger," she chuckled, choking a bit. A soft smile spread on her face, and she shut her eyes. "We almost had her when you flirted with her. Should try that again next time."
Izuku balked. "You can't be serious."
"Heh…legit though, I'll be okay. Prob'ly. I just…need a sec." She put one slender hand over her chest, still inhaling deeply.
"Okay. Okay, I'm going to…I'm going to go make sure…I'll finish this! You stay here!"
Izuku left the house and went back into the storm.
He went back the way they had come, searching the skies now, searching everywhere for Lady Nagant. The rain and night made it almost impossible to see. She can walk through the air. What if she had gained other Quirks, too? And she can make any bullets she likes already. She had not fired nearly as many this time, and her hair had still seemed pretty long…that length suited her.
Gaaaaah, what am I thinking?!
Maybe Illus-o-camie had a point, Ninth.
Yeah! She doesn't seem fully motivated to be a villain, like you noticed. You need a way to get through to her. Maybe flirting is the way.
You have gotten better at it.
All of you, be quiet… Izuku grimaced. No sign of her anywhere. I can't get myself to full power anymore or use Fa-jin properly when the situation calls for it and you guys aren't helping at all.
I'm sorry, kid, said Banjo. I don't know much about Fa-jin. I can keep helping you integrate Blackwhip with One for All, but…
The second and third users were being silent again like usual. Izuku had noticed a pattern with them: they only spoke up after he made some kind of breakthrough, usually to offer clarifications or detail-based advice. They'll help me out, but they want me to see the big picture myself first. There was something he was missing. Some kind of potential. Using powers in tandem…
Lady Nagant had called him a weapon. Something about that nagged at him. A weapon…a weapon…
Regardless, mulling over this was much preferred to mulling over something stupid like flirting. And the ghosts in his head had their priorities all screwed.
Twenty minutes later, he returned to Camie, who was now sitting up. "Well?" she asked.
"I couldn't find her," he answered honestly. Lady Nagant had fled.
…
Kaina's mind was astir.
Dammit! No! Why would he…no, I didn't mean to…I forgot to…I accidentally said…arrrrgh!
Everything about the fight had gone wrong. She'd failed to remember basic combat maneuvers, basic rules of talking to an opponent, basic everything. Midoriya had too solid of an idea of her character now. He will start to use that against me. He knew her background. He knew she was operating at AFO's behest.
And he apparently had figured out, by accident or otherwise, that she was a very deeply closeted romantic who just about melted when flirted with.
It's fine. There's no way he tries that shit again.
She needed to focus on the positives. The last two major encounters had been telling enough about him. He wouldn't give up. He wouldn't stop. He was singularly focused on his goal. If the Commission digs their claws into him…if they haven't already!
Doubt and debate gnawed at her. Her stomach growled. She clutched at it, going pale, her breath catching. No. Not yet. I can do this, please…just…not yet.
"Having stomach problems?" the hostage muttered.
Kaina looked across the dark room. The rain pattered on the roof of the warehouse, but the man's slurred voice was still clear.
"None of your business," she told him.
"That's four times now you've dragged me along to some location in hopes of finding Midoriya. This time you actually did find him, but you didn't even use me. Don't try to deny it, I know what I'm here for." Kai Chisaki shifted forward, his face coming into the light only a little. "We had a deal. I realize I have no power left in me to make you uphold your end of that deal…" He lifted up his shirtsleeves, hanging off of useless stumps. "...But at least go ahead and admit that you have no intention of letting me see the boss."
"That's not it, Overhaul. I just needed the right time." That's twice now he's shifted focus to save someone else instead of finishing me. But those people were ones he fully cared about. If it's someone he detests instead…
She gave Chisaki another look. "And next time may be it."
