Chapter 1: Evanece
"As far as we konw, the villain has an unknown Quirk. All we know about it is, if they ingest any amount of the victim's blood, the victim disappears, and as of now, we have yet to find any sign of the victims since. She uses a searated blade, so make sure to wear extra protective gear. Cover all skin possible. I want to keep it as long range as possible, and if they manage to get a hit in, make sure to remove your blood anyway you can, and do the same for your squadmates if possible."
The task force was big, composed of a majority of long range fighters, with a few close to mid range fighters. Anyone that required exposed skin, or thin to no armor for their Quirk to work would be kept in the back, mainly for support.
The Villain they were pursuing was a fairly new one, though she had made quite the name for herself in only two weeks, given that her quirk seemed to erase a victim from existence. If not for the memories of the victim remaining, it would almost be as if they never existed to begin with.
She had given herself the name Evanesce, and from what they could tell, not even she knew what happened to her victims. For all she or anyone knew, they simply ceased to exist.
She also didn't seem to care who it was she attacked, as she had even gone after villains. One notable villain was the Hero Killer, Stain, and an idolizer of his, one Himiko Toga.
While these two where the more notable vitamins, further information told them that it was the only commonality in her attacks. It seemed anyone with a quirk related to blood, especially the consumption of it, was her rival. Any other attacks seemed to be on a whim, or if they tried to get in her way.
Bakugo opened the folder that detailed his team's position and goal for the mission.
His team was composed of Red Riot, Charge Bolt, Shoto, and of course himself, Dynamight.
They'd all gone to school together, and faced off against the LOV. Looking back, it was odd that it both felt like a lifetime ago and just yesterday that they were still in school during that war.
Since graduating, they had all gone to find work at agencies.
Kirishima, hero name Red Riot, had gone on to work for the BMI Hero, Fatgum. After a few years rising through the ranks, he'd made a good enough name for himself to start his own agency, alongside the hero Real Steel, real name Tetsutetsu, forming an agency of heroes whose quirks altered the makeup of their skin, giving it the name Hard Core.
Likewise, though much sooner, Bakugo had started his own agency. Working under him were quite a few members of his former class, 1-A. Kaminari Denki, Mina Ashido, Hanta Sero, Kyoka Jiro, Fumikage Tokoyami, and Toru Hagakure.
He had named his agency after someone he had come to realize meant a lot to him and had the heart of a true hero.
Izuku had come up with the name when they were still in middle school. Bakugo suspected it was in opposition to the nickname he had given him, "Deku," a word that equates to "useless".
Since the day he found out about the death of Izuku, or rather, since the day he realized it was his fault that Izuku killed himself, he had devoted himself to become a hero worthy of the approval of Izuku Midoriya. He had found out about the name in one of Izuku's many notebooks, where he had designed a costume and theories on how he could be a hero despite not having a quirk. So, to honor that conviction and the boy himself, he'd given his agency the name "Dekiru", a word that meant "can do".
No one else in the class knew about Izuku, short of hearing about his death in the local news at the time. Nobody but Bakugo, his parents, and Izuku's parents seemed to remember him, so Bakugo was determined to make sure Dekiru would be remembered.
"Hey, Dyno!" called out a spiky haired redhead from across the room.
Bakugo looked up and nodded at his friend and teammate for the upcoming mission.
Red Riot would be the close range fighter, and main defense. It would be his job to act as a shield, blocking any blades from hitting his other teammates, and was one of few people given clearance to actually fight up close.
Charge Bolt and Shoto would be tasked with incapacitating, either encasing her in ice, or paralyzing her with a shock.
It was Bakugo's job to direct attacks, attack from a distance himself, and if necessary, call for a retreat.
While the team was balanced, and would work in just about any other fight, the threat this villain posed made this more nerve wracking. Even a single drop of blood ingested could mean the difference in continuing to exist or not.
As always, Kirishima was trying to lighten the mood and bolster his team mates before the impending mission.
"So after the mission, I was thinking about gathering everyone from class 1-A, have a little get together, go out for drinks?"
"You payin'?" Bakugo said, smirking and giving a playful punch to his friend's arm.
"I could certainly afford it, but how about a deal?"
Bakugo's eyes narrowed, "What kind of deal...?"
"My neighbor's kid is a huge fan of Dynomight. You give me your autograph, with a personalized letter to him, and I'll pay for all the drinks."
"Really...? An autograph is all you want? What, you sweet on the kids mom?"
Kirishima looked shocked, "I mean, she's pretty, but she's married, man. Nah, the kid just reminds me of you. His Quirk has potential too. He can super heat his hands, to the point he's got like a personal heater. With a bit of training, I'm sure he'd even be able to melt metal!"
Bakugo nodded. It would be a handy quirk. He walked over to a desk and plucked a pen and piece of paper out of the drawer.
"What's the kids name?" he asked over his shoulder.
Kirishima smirked. "Kenko Sakamoto."
To Kenko,
Thanks for rooting for me. If you become a hero, hit up my agency.
-Dynomight
He blew the ink dry and handed the note to Kirishima.
"And now you owe us all drinks."
The air was chilled, and Bakugo cursed it as it would mean he'd be over working his quirk to stay on the top of his game. At least the added layers helped against the wind, but it didn't do much to actually warm him.
He really hated the cold. It did nothing but make his quirk weak, and caused a stiff aching feeling all over.
At least, that's what he blamed the feeling on, rather than even admitting to himself that he was scared, for himself and his squad.
They were positioned up on top of a building, surveying the area, waiting for any sign of the villain. So far all had been quiet, but the second anyone spotted her, a signal would be given to alert the nearest squads on where the villain was.
Two squads would be paid to help each other, but kept separate to cover more ground. As soon as a signal went up, the signaling squad would be on the attack, and the squad assigned to aiding the signaling squad would be en-route. All other squads would stay in position, incase she got away.
It would be Kaminari to send up the signal, given that his lightning could be seen from a lot farther away, regardless of how tall most buildings were.
After waiting for what felt like hours, but was merely 20 minutes, Kirishima julted, having spotted something in the shadows of an alleyway.
"Down there, can you see it?" he said, pointing at the alley.
Bakugo looked closely, wishing his gear included night vision goggles. It took a moment of staring, but eventually, he could make out the shape of a stocky, young woman with long dark hair. She shifted and he caught a flash of light coming from her hand, and recognized it as being a blade.
While he couldn't make out all details, what details he did see were a match to descriptions given.
"Charge Bolt, signal. Let's go." Bakugo said as he and the rest of the squad jumped down. After Kaminari sent up a bolt of lightning, he joined them.
Whatever doubt Bakugo had on this being the villain or not was dashed as Kaminari's lightning gave enough light for him to fully see her.
They had her.
As much as they wanted to get a full surprise attack on her, doing so would have meant a low number of fighters, and they couldn't risk it. If she were able to "vanish" them, than no one would know what had happened, nor would they be able to know where she was.
It was an unfortunate trade, but a necessary one.
As planned, Red Riot activated his Quirk, and went in to grapple her. And, as expected, she was surprisingly agile, despite her stocky frame. She dodged and whipped her knife out, intending to slice into his arm. Thankfully his Quirk prevented the blade from doing anything.
She growled and jumped back, assessing the situation.
Red Riot kept trying to go in for a tackle, and she kept dodging. While he did that, Charge Bolt shot off disks, surrounding the area. He couldn't use them just yet, as the arching would hit his squad, or any others that came to help. But should the opportunity arise, they were there
Shoto was forming a wall of ice on either side of the alley, preventing her escape.
Bakugo maintained a vantage point, keeping an eye on the situation, and shooting off blasts to either distract, hit, or interrupt her attacks on the other squad mates that couldn't harden their skin.
The fight had been going on for 5 minutes when the other squad arrived. Uravity, Tsukuyomi, Froppy, and Grape Rush.
"We came as soon as we saw the signal." Froppy said, landing on the wall next to Bakugo. She was the leader of this Squad.
Given how far away they'd been, and how soon they had gotten here, it seemed Uravity had used her quirk to lighten everyone and then they all grabbed onto Tsukuyomi so he could fly them over.
"Good. So far she's been putting up a good fight. We've kept her boxed in, but she's even more agile than expected. If not for Red Riot's Harden, he'd be done for by now."
"It's no wonder she's been such a threat." Tsukuyomi said.
"Yeah..." Froppy said. "Tsukuyomi, help Red Riot out. Since Dark Shadow can't bleed, you should be safe. Just don't get too close yourself. Grape Rush, set some traps for her. She'll either have to avoid them, or she'll get stuck."
"Right!" Tsukuyomi and Grape Rush nodded. Dark Shadow was sent down into the fight, while Grape Rush started throwing his balls around. He avoided too many on the ground, as it would impede on Red Riot's ability to move too, but put a good deal on the walls surrounding them.
It was only a few more minutes when she was clearly tiring out. As fit as she was, it seemed she was used to short fights, and having the advantage of a surprise attack.
10 minutes after Froppy's squad arrived, they had her pinned. The fight only lasted little more than 15 minutes.
They had her restrained with a combination of two of Grape Rushe's balls pinning her elbows to her side and one sticking her hands together. Rope was wrapped securely around her arms and chest, further restraining her. They put a muzzle like device on her face, in case she decided to try and bite.
While they worked at restraining her, Bakugo called over the radio to the rest of the taskforce to report on her capture.
"Good work everybody." the leader of the task force said.
Bakugo and Su gave a report on the fight, though it was mostly Bakugo giving the account.
Once they had given all the details, they bid the leader a good night and walked over to a group that was forming. It was all members of his former class. They were all asking for the details of the fight.
"Good, the class is all gathered." Bakugo said as he approached. "Looks like it's time for some drinks, courtesy of-"
There was a sudden commotion behind him and he turned. Evenase had slipped out of the grasp of the officers. She'd bashed her muzzle against the cop car, bending and breaking the metal wire of the muzzle basket. Before he knew it, she was charging at Kirishima.
Without thinking, Bakugo dived into her path, intending to grapple her. Too late did he realize the muzzle had been turned into a weapon as it stabbed into his shoulder.
He felt his blood run cold as he saw her tongue flick out and lick at the blood on the broken muzzle.
His world turned black.