Keeping up with his winter training, Akio raised his right hand, concentrating to form three colorful rings around his forearm, marked with ancient runes in red, blue, and green. "Tier Three - Plantera!" The combination of Fire Scourge, Coldheart, and a new one, Jungle Thresh, emerged as a serpent of vines and thorns that snapped to a boulder, bursting into flames that quickly froze into a blade of ice. "Hah, nice!"
"Woah, never seen that one, new combo?" Ashido asked, ceasing her own training to increase the range of her acid while Rayla sat on a mat, her primary weapon dismantled to clean and polish.
"Yep! I did it before against Harrow, and since I can't discover any new magic in this world I thought to mix and match them," He replied happily. "Although, the bigger the combination the harder it is to try and merge them without any backlash,"
"Like Guardians mixing Light elements, you need to find a balance, right?" Rayla pointed up with a brush.
"Exactly, though again, this was Viral's forte, not mine," Akio admitted. "Wish he was here to tell me the obvious."
"Can't you open a portal or something?" Behind them, the person that seemed the most strained with Akio, Kyoka, spoke up, waving a jack in the brunette's direction. "Like to the past or something?"
"Yeah, maybe that can work!?" Ashido beamed but Rayla kept her silence, looking down at her work as Akio rubbed his head awkwardly, eyes downcast.
"I... wish," He murmured. "Time doesn't flow like that, I can't just jump to the past - plus, messing with time isn't something anyone should do, Harrow ignored that, and... and here I am, and he's not,"
Kyoka then realized what she said and mentally hit herself. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that-" He shrugged, rolling his sleeves down.
"It's okay, I'm... getting there," He was lying, not even Kyoka needed to hear it to know as she and the girls shared a look as he shuffled past them. "I... need to go for a walk, I'll tell the teach, good luck with your training," He waved weakly, tucking his hands into his pockets.
"That could've gone better..." Rayla sighed.
"I'm an idiot," Kyoka hit her forehead, shaking it. "I didn't think he was still... you know, raw I guess, about it,"
"It's been three weeks since we met him, right?" Ashido pointed out, crossing her arms sadly for the boy walking away. "Don't Nightmares make their Hosts live really long?"
"So it's like he lost the only family he had left after centuries," Rayla understood that feeling, immortality to a degree was a curse, no right way about it. "He'll come around, Longears, he's not one to hold a grudge,"
"Yeah, sure..." Kyoka knew their relationship was strained, what with his knowledge on so much she never knew. So it made her trust in him very confusing. Without thinking, her jack threshed against the boulder next to her, and a sonic blast split it down the middle. "Woah...!"
Ashido and Rayla cocked their heads to form an arch between them, shell-shocked. "Scratch that, Rockstar, I think you definitely need to talk with him."
"Definitely," Ashido agreed with a whistle. "Didn't know you could do that with your jacks, Jiro?"
"I... can't?" Right?
At the end of the day, Yuki flopped into bed headfirst next to Izuku, groaning into the pillow. "I think I want two cybernetic legs, can I have two cybernetic legs?"
"That seems messy," Izuku sighed, thankful for his recent shower to relieve some of the strain on his body, happy to just relax after failure to catch up to Endeavor all day. "We didn't even come close to him, let alone his reaction time."
"He's living up to the title, guess that's to be expected," Yuki huffed, rolling over to lean her head against Izuku's, enjoying the comfort while staring at her hand where a silver ring sat. "Oh, that reminds me," She perked up with a little bit of energy.
"Hm?" Izuku turned to her as she put her phone close to his face, it was a picture sent to her.
"Kyo sent me this, looks like they've got their work cut out for them also," Yuki smiled.
It was an image of a street bustling with emergency service teams, a large section of a building being anchored in place with various claw marks that indicated something grabbed it from the back and pulled. Beside Kyoka's smirking face, Akio sat on a stretcher, clearly exhausted with a peace sign up, one eye cracked open.
Earlier that day...
"New faces today, welcome to my agency!" Valstrax beamed with glowing blue eyes, bouncing back to let her studious workers pass by in the office. "It's been a white, Earphone Jack; and hello again, Viral and Tekton,"
"I'm happy to be here officially now, Valstrax!" Jura saluted with Akio smiling kindly.
"Thanks for accepting us for all this,"
"Think nothing of it, considering my daughter would rather work for Flamebrain over me..." Akame deadpanned to the students smiling awkwardly until the drake's mood swung around. "My daughter's betrayal aside, time to get to work, good thing you guys are in uniform, love the hustle, as you can tell, that's our job here, we do the typical hero shtick but we're one of the central nexus points of intel across the country,"
"I remember, you used it to track me and Viral down," Akio commented though again, no one knew, not even Valstrax. "Sorry, continue."
"All good - so, here's the big plan, one I've got someone important scouting out for me," The silverette ushered them close to the table clear of busy workers and sidekicks to a large map of Camino Ward. "I'll be straight with you three, this is a dangerous first day, but I'm not going to baby any of you, not with what you've all been through."
"What is it exactly we're doing in Camino? Isn't most of it still under repairs?" Kyoka had seen it, heck, who hadn't? The place was steadily under reconstruction but the scope of the damage left the area pretty much quarantined.
"Yeah, until a bunch of local pros saw Her skulking around the area," She slid a few photos toward them, and Jura's face fell to shock. Cloaked in a dark blue fabric that shimmered, armed with a long rifle spitting electricity, the stature of a Fallen could be made out clearly.
"Drevis!" Jura announced.
"You mean that 'Silent Fang' chick Yuki talked about?" Akio inquired as the Sky Comet hero nodded grimly, tucking the photos together.
"She's been wandering around the area, gathering stuff from the wreckage yet to be cleared, she's either looking for something or has already found it," Valstrax leaned forward with a stern look. "I want to find out what that is, and how it plays into the biggest mystery in Japan."
"Where Kovik is?" Kyoka summed up to the woman's delight.
"Right you are, Earphone Jack, so, you three up for an intel scouting mission with the possibility of action along the way?" She egged them on.
"What is there to lose?" Akio chuckled.
"If we can even find a shred of evidence it's worth it," Jura agreed.
Kyoka stared at the two, mostly Akio who looked completely unphased by any of the severity, even his heart rate was normal where hers felt a slight rush. "...sure, let's give it are all then,"
It didn't take them long to arrive at ground zero of one of the most prevalent disasters in recent history. In the wake of Camino suffering from the calamity brought by Vosik the Archpriest and All For One, All Might's old enemy, the place was a ruined wasteland between the lively city between it. Construction was continued, only some sectors remained unchecked and removed of ruins and rubble. That was where Drevis lurked.
"Everyone keeps to pairs, Drevis may be the only one left of her group, but she is their leader for a reason," Valstrax warned, tapping two fingers to her ear. "Tekton with me, Viral and Jack stay together, notify each other of any intel, clear?"
"Crystal," The students replied, breaking off into two teams to search the ruins left warped by battle and construction equipment.
Jura searched by using columns to slowly shove any large slabs of concrete from his path, searching underneath as Valstrax hovered through the air with a low rumble from her wings, face obscured by her draconic helmet. He had never seen the destruction up close, the afternoon air felt... empty, dark clouds bathing the vacant ruins in shadows and murk.
"It's like a ghost town, yet we're so close to the rest of Camino," Jura murmured, tossing junk aside while climbing up a ridge to what used to be a second floor. "Yuki told me a lot about what happened, how her mind blurred into the chaos, is that what it felt like for you?"
Valstrax landed, folding her wings. "...when I finally found a reason to breathe normally, not just for the sake of using my power I... I hardly noticed the destruction until the sun rose, what... happened then is something I don't wish to see repeat, the lives lost, those in need of rebuilding."
"I should've been there with them," Jura shook his head. "I can't change it, still feels bitter."
Valstrax kicked a wall down, letting the dust settle as she turned to Jura. "Want some advice on your weakness, rather, one that you can learn to overcome?" That perked his head up, turning to look at Number Twenty. She held up a finger, tapping his forehead. "You refuse to take action."
"Huh?" He stepped back as she smiled, lifting her head.
"You're an excellent teammate, and your control over your quirk is worthy of praise, however, you instead follow the words of others, never your own mind," She paced, turning toward the distant lights of the city. "I believe you doubt your own thoughts, and that's dangerous, and you hesitate, and that will cost you more than a lesson,"
She stood before him, leaning forward to push her words into his heart and soul. "Take Action, Tekton, there will be days there is no one to turn to but yourself, and if you hesitate, people will die," Her stern frown slowly turned upright. "You've done it before, and it saved my life against a person I once looked up to, your courage is there, boiling just below the surface."
"The Red Dragon... you knew him," He saw her muscles tense slightly, turning away.
"Yeah... how else do you think I got so awesome at my job?" She chuckled, patting his head with her tail. "Now, chop-chop, people are counting on this intel,"
"Right!" He ran forward, his heart ablaze.
Elsewhere, Kyoka kept her ear to the floor, any and all indications of movement aside their own monitored while Akio scavenged, or he should be, instead, he wandered like a lost puppy across the rubble. "What are you doing?"
"Following breadcrumbs," He chimed, making her expression drop further.
"Alright Hansel and Gretel, want to elaborate?" She huffed as he stopped her, pointing at her chest. "W-what?" Her arm moved slightly to cover her collarbone.
"Before Viral left me, I inherited some of his abilities, when a Nightmare and Host merge souls, its the trade - that includes sensing souls without them, and since I've become much stronger I can see remnant spiritual energy," To his eye, he saw a lilac hue surround Kyoka when he focused, and around him, pale, ghostly vapor dotted the ruins. "Some of it remains, one I recognized."
"Yuki's!" He clicked his fingers at her correct answer, shuffling over a slanted building, offering his hand for her to vault over as well. "What's her soul remnant stuff supposed to mean for us?"
"She fought Vosik, and Drevis is after something from their fight, so we search for spots they clashed and see what's left," He replied, rubbing his head. "W-well, that's how Viral would do it, I guess."
"That name again," Viral was his Nightmare, she heard some about the shade once bonded to Akio but every time he's mentioned made the brunette mournful behind his stupid smile. "Viral, what was he like?"
"Um, y-you wouldn't like him, used to call him 'Old Man'," Akio laughed lightly, kicking bits of metal and rock as they walked. "I know what you're trying to do, I told you, it's fine, you... don't have to try if it makes you... uncomfortable, i-if I make you uncomfortable," He rubbed his bicep lightly. "I-I'm not... I don't want to hurt you,"
"I'm not, I just..." She sighed, rubbing her temples as she lagged behind him, biting her cheek. "What do you mean by that?"
"I know everyone thinks I'm crazy, or, some anyway. A-and I know you take training lessons with me to make me open up more, I appreciate that," Akio gave the fakest smile she had ever seen, pain, sorrow, longing, it was all melting in his eyes. "I just can't help but run my mouth I guess, hehe,"
"Akio - wait," He jogged ahead, kneeling down at the edge of a large crater. "Please, talk to me."
"I'll just mess things up if I tell you," He murmured, eyes downcast before sliding down into the crater. "...I always do - just... don't worry about me." Every time she saw that look made her chest twist and anger bubble up when she didn't need it. "'Make me remember you'? Sorry, Kyo."
She tried to reply but instead, he held something up to her eye, something that made her skin crawl. A large fragment of what appeared to be a visor or helmet, three of its black eyes remained on the white metal, hollow and dead. "Is that...?" Her throat clenched.
"The remains of Vosik, some must've fallen off after Yuki defeated him, or when they fought, every spot in those photos was where I felt the faint remnants of Yuki's soul," Akio pulled himself out of the ditch with a furrowed brow. "Drevis is gathering Vosik's parts,"
"Why would Kovik need his parts? To rebuild him?" Kyoka sked but he shook his head.
"No... maybe, something about him that Kovik needs to do more," It was too little intel, "Let's go find Valstrax and Tekton, maybe calling Yuki could help the investigatio-" He stopped himself.
"What's up - mm!?" He covered her mouth with his palm, shoving her against a broken wall with his finger raised to his lips. Her startled face calmed down, waving her jacks to plug one into the wall, the other pushing her headphones on.
A snap and crackle entered Kyoka's ears, the ticking of something winding up to a climax led to her eyes to dilate, it was coming from behind Akio. "Look out!" Kyoka grabbed Akio, pulling him down atop her as a stray bolt of lightning fizzled and snapped through the air where his heart was, tearing into the concrete beside them. Panting heavily, the two stared at each other. "Dork."
"Always got my back," He smiled then quickly pushed off her after realizing the compromising spot they were in, both with red faces as they hid from another bolt that tore out a chunk of the wall they hid behind. "She's got us pinned,"
The commotion drew the others nearby to the scene, only for Jura to tank a bolt straight to the chest, splitting his breastplate slightly as he was flung back. "Up on the ruins, ack, that smarts!" He coughed, rolling away from another powerful bolt.
Standing high with a wire rifle in her hands, Drevis snarled upon seeing silver piece the clouds with a scarlet thunder behind it. She dove back, cloaked before Valstrax's bladed wings could slash her, a small cylinder device striking her chin as it stuck to the ground under the hero.
She flew back as the grenade burst with blue lightning, nearly paralyzing her. "She's gone!" Even her nose could trace the Fallen assassin. Jura was out ahead, sending two pillars to slam where the Fallen once stood, their cloak shimmering as they vanished after a bolt tore across a smaller wall that saved his shoulder. Valstrax was staying low herself, not wanting to be struck by the rifle mid-flight.
"Fall back, Tekton!" Valstrax warned, covering his escape by spinning through the air, blasting the ground with her wing vents, kicking up a dust cloud for him to use for cover, three minor bolts spiraling through the dust, nicking his back.
Atop a skeleton of a building, Drevis' throat clicked as she lowered her sights to the two pinned between a small wall and fallen building above them. Chuckling, she raised her weapon to the concrete pillar holding all that weight. "Pop, pop, pop..." Static buzzed and a line of lightning tore a chunk from the pillar, causing the building to buckle.
"Guess she's figured it out," Kyoka huffed, raising her jacks. "If I can distort the ground with my gauntlets I can create a dust cloud too,"
"No need, here," Akio offered her his hand innocently. "Grab on and try not to gasp, it makes you want to puke later,"
"..." She looked to his hand, then the pillar above as dust showered them again, the bricks starting to peel away. "...fine," She grabbed his hand and sank into a dark, murky ocean she couldn't tell where up and down was, nor a ceiling or floor began.
With a gasp, Kyoka was spat out of the shadow next to Jura, the armored boy catching her. "Huh? Nice entrance,"
"Wait," Kyoka shook her head, looking at his shadow. "Where's Viral?"
Drevis spun around, drawing a cutlass with her lower left arm, slashing at Akio's own blade of darkness, several invisible strikes slamming into her arm and barding. "*Hiss*!" She doubled back on one arm, spinning to fire a bolt through Akio's hardlight barrier as he ignored the burning across his bicep.
Black smoke erupted from his body, shrouding their forms as they clashed within the darkness. Drevis' cutlasses were shoved down by two arms as her chin connected to a knee, her other pair of hands grabbing Akio's throat, slamming him against a wall before her head slammed into it as Akio seeped out of the shadow to tackle her across the ground.
She threw him off, seeing his shadow floating above her as he brought his heel down, expelling the smoke with another ring of mist, billowing through her cloak and his coat. Through the wisps of black smoke, his left arm raised embroiled in red.
"Fire Scourge!" The top of the building ruins was cast in furious orange embers, Drevis landing on a small ledge below, retreating down the ruins toward the border between the construction site and the populated city. "Not yet - Vile Spine!" Several glyphs appeared around him, riddling the ruins and piles of rubble with venomous blasts that missed their target fleeing for the city.
"Grab on!" Valstrax reached for him, pulling Akio into the air with Kyoka and Jura on her shoulders. "Nice work, but Drevis is a slippery one for a reason!"
"You idiot, I thought you were still with me!" Kyoka kicked from her angle, knocking Akio's head forward.
"S-sorry, but it was all I could think of without getting you guys hurt!" He replied but she stared at him in a mixture of disbelief and anger.
"Little tip; both of you," Valstrax yelled over the wind as they landed outside the construction yard. "Trust your teammates, Heroes can't always work with a partner but when they do, you need to trust the other to have your back, get me?"
"Crystal," The pair sighed as Jura patted their backs.
"Come on, we've still got a chance to catch her, see?" He pointed to a fire escape where the unlocked Fallen used to scale a building. "Valstrax, should we focus on her or civilians?"
"Make the call, I'll draw her fire," She declared, she couldn't always give an answer or they'll never learn independently, something Jura had to learn from the last time they worked together. "You gotta strike forward without me, kid, or you'll never achieve what you want as a Pro or as a best friend."
"So, what do we do?" Kyoka asked, head snapping between the boys and the streets. "We can't sit here while she gets further away."
"I know, I..." Jura zipped his lips, opening a closing his fists. What could they do? What's stopping Drevis from focusing on the civilians? "I..." What would a hero do in this situation?
"We need to stop her, this is our only chance," Akio pressed.
"Yeah, but she can easily handle one of us, and all Valstrax can do is distract her," As Kyoka said this, the sky above flashed with streaks of blue. "Our best mobility's been cut off,"
"We're running out of time..." Akio was getting impatient.
"Wait!" Jura held his arms out to the pair, raising his head as the slits in his helmet burned, the left green and the right hazel. "It's not perfect... but if we work together there's a chance," He threw his finger forward. "Stop her, Viral, you too Earphone Jack, I'll keep the people down here safe!"
"By yourself, you got this?" Kyoka needed to be sure, she wasn't much of a fighter but someone needed to back Akio up, and Jura's better suited for the ground.
He nodded once. "Go!"
"I'll charge ahead, use that sneak up on her, Jack!" Akio suggested, and since neither of them disagreed he took that as a sign to pursue the fleeing Fallen. Drawing a scarlet circle ahead of him, the two triangles took form. "Gateway!"
Valstrax continued to dip and dive through the air, taunting the Silent Fang to miss her shots, though the drake coated in metallic scales was playing with fire, it kept the innocent lives below safe and somewhat unaware of the battle above the streets. Out the corner of her eye, Valstrax saw it, a flash of red move from her students to the spot behind the cloaked assassin.
Pinched through time and space, Drevis snarled as a fist connected to her jaw, knocking her down onto the rooftop, tumbling with Akio as the rift closed behind him. She reacted instantly, drawing a cutlass to parry his arm coated in a sharp blade of ice, shattering the blue blade while kicking him into a vent, knocking it over.
"You... are... frustrating!" She gargled in a thick accent before throwing her hood over, turning invisible the second her feet left the edge of the first building and onto the next.
"Then you're gonna hate this," She recoiled, rolling to the left, avoiding two dark hands emerging behind Akio's shoulders. His emerald eyes locked to her transparent form shimmering in the brief spots of sunlight. "I can see you, rat."
Drevis cursed him out, firing a line of arc energy to force him right, another weaker burst of five rounds dissipating against Ward as Akio stomped toward her. But she moved like a viper in the grass, striking from the left with two cutlasses, Akio skipped back, rolling over a vent before it was sliced into fours, a buzzing rifle poised toward his head.
"Yee!" He bent his body back in time to evade the line of electricity, seeping away into the darkness to kick Drevis in the back with a gust of wind.
She clawed at the ground, whipping herself around with a dark chuckle. Rising up, she held out something small in her right hand, a remote. Akio's face plummeted in horror, reaching out to catch her hand with Gloomy Grip. "Boom."
The symphony of death rang out across the street as a series of small explosives chimed, splitting through a portion of the building as the whole structure trembled and jerked down behind Akio's heels. Immediately, he summoned several seals of darkness, "Gloom Grip!" He caught the edges of the section that was moving, the various cries of panic and fear filling his ears while negativity swelled into his soul.
Both his feet inched toward the edge, grinding against the concrete in an effort to hold the whole collapsing section, from above, his eyes met Valstrax who craned her wings backward. "Help... Them!" He managed, his fingers taut as every muscle burned to lock the whole building in place. "I won't let anyone else die!"
"Too... bad..." Drevis chuckled, drawing her blade across the ground toward Akio. Without so much as a second thought, she sliced across his cheek, the electrical blade hissing on contact with his blood. He flinched but held his spell sturdy with a smirk.
"Is that a bee? I hate bees," His bravado irked her so she sliced down his forearm, blood dripped but the limb didn't buckle. "Man, my arm's itchy..." Akio's voice strained, hands shaking.
Down on the street, Jura slammed his fists into the ground, four pillars extended to slam against the building. He huffed, seeing them retract after a few seconds. "I can't hold them for long, my quirk -" He punched the side of his head, seeing the frightened people surrounding the street. "No, no excuses, no hesitance you idiot! Buckle down and grit your teeth!" Trying again, he struck the building with his columns, arms shaking to prolong their elongated state.
A streak of silver and red tore down a door inside the collapsing building, the small family of four surprised by the gust of wind that swept them up into a dragon's arms. "Hold on," Valstrax sucked in a long breath through her chest vents, expelling the energy as she smashed through a window, dropping them off safely to dive right back into the building.
Her wings inverted to stall her velocity only to speed up again, bouncing off any solid surface, leaving behind another four people on the road. Like a red comet her body arched through the structure, sniffing out all life, pets included as their panic gave way to stupefaction, finding themselves clear of the chaos as Jura lost his hold on the building for a second only to produce another row of pillars to hold it steady.
"Roughly thirty people, including pets, every life I'll hear, smell, and see a dragon's exposure to all that encompasses them, I'll save their small, precious lives," Valstrax was resolute, a brilliant ruby star in the darkness.
"Grah!" Drevis snarled as she slashed Akio's back a second time, enjoying his little gasps and grunts with her careful incisions as to not kill him, no, that would be too easy. He fell to a knee, almost losing his hold as he dived to catch two of the seals with his hands, blood dripping between his fingers. "Is this kink... of yours... all you got?" He dared.
"Heartbeat Distortion!" Kyoka's fists sent ripples through the air with a clap, her gloves blasting the Fallen with a strong wave of sound. Drevis shook her head, swinging her body low with her rifle pointed toward the rocker.
"*Inaudible Language*!" Drevis fired her wire rifle, but Kyoka hid behind a vent so the assassin cloaked herself, rushing from behind only to be struck with the force of a sonic blast to the cheek by Kyoka, her jacks plugged into her gauntlets still. The force sent the creature flying onto all fours, crawling away to draw a bulky pistol, firing three bolts to nearly stun the girl who weaved between the blue bolts.
Drevis slashed the open air between them with two blades, plunging them forward just as Kyoka dropped to her knees, rolling away from a spinning slash. The Eliksni gave chase, swiping at the girl's back a mere centimeter from her blades. Changing direction, Drevis plucked something from her belt, tossing one of her blades to force Kyoka to stop and turn between two vents.
"Ah!" A heavy boot pressed against Kyoka's stomach, and a hand yanked her hair, slamming the girl against the left vent, listening to her cough up the air in her lungs. Drevis yanked Kyoka by the wrist, slinging her against the right vent, bending it as the girl collapsed to the ground in a heap.
"Kyo...ka." Akio slipped forward, nearly toppling over the lip of the collapsed building, his wounds burned, and it took every ounce of willpower to hold the building upright, the brief lapses of Jura's help offering very little relief.
"Hehehe," Drevis tossed the ball at Kyoka's feet as it beeped. She moved only for the bomb to explode in her face, blinding her temporarily as static webbed itself all around her, locking her muscles with a fuzzy sensation. A large bubble of arc energy caged her, stalling her movements to a crawl before the assassin. "Stay."
Drevis picked up her lost cutlass, turning toward Akio as Kyoka's eyes widened, unable to speak. "No! Leave him alone!"
The Fallen stepped almost mockingly slow toward Akio's struggles, tapping her blade from stone to clothing, running the blade up to the point she wanted. Twisting her grip delicately, she shoved the silver edge clean through the right side of his stomach, blood spraying as it stained the ground under him, his gasp caught in his throat.
His spell flickered, the building beginning to shift against the rest as his shadowy arms struggled to hold the whole building's weight. Grinding his teeth, he bent his head down despite Drevis's constant jiggling of the blade lodged in his stomach. "You... c-can do it... K-Kyo," His words lifted her head stuck in stasis, again, she couldn't speak but her eyes screamed she was out of options. "I-I will al-always put m-my faith i-in you, w-we Both did!"
Her fingers dug against the ground, raising as the effects of the electrical cage began to wither, Kyoka didn't know what that meant, what he was saying she could possibly do now? Her left arm felt sore, so did half her back. So what? The guy who's been a strange enigma since they met just took a sword to the gut and was counting on her, of all people he looked to her for help.
Squeezing her eyes closed so tight she might cry something rushed through her arm, whatever it was dispelled the tight feeling of static around her body, it sounded like her heartbeat but much, much louder. Drevis turned to her only to scream out in agony as a blade of sound sliced through her two left eyes, flicking the Silent Fang onto her back in pain as reddish-purple blood stained her armor.
Kyoka's throat felt hoarse as she spoke, charging at the Fallen in a stumble, one jack hanging close to her right wrist. Her body moved without thinking, "Get the hell away from him!" Drevis howled, sights of her pistol primed to the girl's eyes, two pops resounded, but it came from Drevis' hand as it was lodged with the shrapnel of her own pistol, a jack dismantling the gun with a soundwave.
"Bitch!" The Fallen slashed with her cutlasses, cutting a thin line across Kyoka's face, narrowly missing her left eye as the Silent Fang threw a smoke bomb, retreating with a shimmer of light. The movement of the smoke indicated she ran for the next building, and she never once looked back.
"Right back at you," Kyoka huffed, spinning around to rush to Akio's aid. "Hold on!" She practically hugged his back, wrapping both arms across his chest as her jacks held onto his arms, helping to pull the building back with all their might.
"GRaaaaah!" The teens screamed out for all their worth, holding on for a little longer. Valstrax moved away from the building once she was certain the threat was gone.
"Tekton, do it!" She ushered, flying down the street at Mach speeds.
"Here we go! Ultimate Move - Everywyrm!" Six concrete pillars collided with the lopsided building, glass showering his armor as he held his fists to the road.
From across Camino, a red halo expanded in the sky, clearing the clouds momentarily as Valstrax swept through the street like a scarlet arrow, slicing the six pillars with her wings in a single, red glare. Her claws screeched to a halt, exhaling dragon element from her vents.
"Now, everyone hold a pillar!" Jura instructed any and all bystanders willing to lend a hand, pushing their weight against the severed pillars. "Once they're severed they can't retract, this has to work!"
Everyone pressed their body weight against the slanted columns, Jura and Valstrax included as Akio slowly released his seals one by one, heaving backward with Kyoka before finally falling back into her arms, the people below out of their sight cheering as their supports held the section in place firmly, though, for good measure, Jura made sure to keep himself close to the ground if needed.
When Valstrax flew up to the rooftop, she found the two teens exhausted, injured, and smiling in relief. "Heh, well done, heroes, well done indeed."
"You're an idiot," Kyoka huffed, wrapping the last line of bandages around Akio's stomach after he applied a healing spell to close up his gut wound.
"Yeah, I'm aware, you told me several times now - ow!" She flicked his head with her jack, glaring at her work. "Sorry, best I could do..."
She sighed, "Just... don't throw yourself into danger without thinking, you're not immortal," Not anymore, but she didn't want to upset him. By now, her attention was on her own hand, that tingling sensation at her fingertips, "How did I do that?"
"Do what?" Akio cocked his head at her aloof expression.
"I was stuck in that stasis bomb I did something... it felt like when I hear my heartbeat through my jacks but... different, stronger," Kyoka couldn't place it, and why did the sound come from her hand.
"Hm, what indeed," Akio smiled weakly as he lied back down on the stretcher with his shirt on. "After our Work Study, I'll tell you if you want?"
That perked her ears up, "Really?"
He winked up at her, "Anything for you, Kyo - a-ah, Jiro," He said it again, but...
"Dude, you can call me my first name, not like you'll tell me your surname," That was right, he never told anyone, did he? He was certain a few heard him say it.
"Well, it's Elnur, but... I never really had anyone call me that before the Harrow fiasco," Akio replied, relaxing under her watchful eye while Jura worked to keep the building stable with emergency teams. "...I promise to tell you, Kyoka."
Her body flooded with a strange feeling, leaving her face a shade darker as her fingers played with a jack. "...dork." He laughed, then winced from his wounds. "Hehehe,"
For their first day on the job, they had a lot left to learn.
Somewhere...
~So, you ran into trouble?~ The buzzing voice of Kovik inquired while Drevis wrapped up her missing eyes with gauze, hissing at the rubbing alcohol's effects on her stitched wounds. ~Did you acquire what I asked?~
"Mostly, why recover this dead thing's parts?" She had yet to receive an answer. "We have an army, subjects, why?"
Kovik's voice hummed. ~Without Dren our progress is slow, in order to achieve what I promised Shigaraki I'll need all available data on previous installations of Siva, we have Dren's, and now, thanks to you, we have Vosik's. Good work, I'll have your injures mended~ With that, the coms cut off to avoid risking detection.
Drevis shuffled toward the entrance to her cave overlooking a forest park, any signs of human life were miles away. But her scars burned with hatred, the image of that girl and Gin plaguing the Silent Fang's mind. She would ensure they'd meet again at the end of the world. In her claws, she eyed the mask fragment she stole, then, she held it over her bandaged eyes, it felt right somehow.
To Be Continued...
This is how you make a chapter with relevance not to a movie no one asked for, but hey, what do I know? I'm a fanfiction writer. Expanding on Akio's adjustments to getting his normal life back on track again with Kyoka, and Drevis makes a return gathering parts from Yuki's old battles. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Heroes!
Next Chapter: Breaking Point of Imperfections
Shoto lay on the ground, the others doing the same with their heads nearly touching, "We're still not surpassing him."
"Not with that attitude!" Yuki swung her fist high, then sighed. "Seriously, he's so fast..."
"We'll manage somehow, inch by inch," Izuku concurred, mulling it over with his muttering.
Katsuki, however, wouldn't admit defeat, "Hmph, this wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't so cold!" A finger then prodded his cheek.
"That lame excuse again..." Yuki shook her head, glancing at the camera with a weak smile, "Upcoming; Breaking Point of Imperfections."
Shoto stared up at the sky, his pitch a tame drawl, "Go Beyond."
Yuki and Izuku raised their voices, "Plus Ultra!"