Mineta the Mayhem

by PsychoJack88

After a perverted scheme gone a little too far, Mineta seeks to become a better hero. The path to growth is perilous as despite his attempts to change, Mineta ends up in perverted situations. This is the journey of one Mineta Minoru now growing into The Mayhem. Will update with more. Feedback welcome.

34. Fracture

A/N: Hello everyone! PsychoJack here with another exciting, and spine shivering chapter of the one and only Mineta the Mayhem. Tensions rise as Mineta and his father Papito venture into the unknown outskirts towards the now destroyed Hydra Prison. There, they find themselves exposed to the after effects of the riot, including one that made Papito lose control of his quirk mid-flight. Will Mineta be able to find and save Monika or will he be too late? As for Deku, how will he fare against facing off against one of Hydra Prisons' most dangerous inmates, the walking husk known as Diamondeye? Only one way to find out what happens in this confrontation. Let's begin!

-With Mineta: Hydra Prison-

Mineta looked upon the wrecked walls that surrounded the Hydra Rehabilitation Center. The once thick concrete and steel walls were now ruptured. Its layered structure, designed to keep inmates stuck within the vicinity of the facility, now battered and dented.

Mineta raised his eyebrows as he observed the destruction.

'What the hell happened here, it looks like something literally tore through this place. Something big…' Mineta analyzed, immediately running deeper, past a large destroyed piece of the once mighty structure.

Papito chased after him as a literal wheel of slime, cycling himself as a donut shaped slime disc that propelled him fast enough to reach his son.

Papito, extending a slime tendril to Mineta's back, kept him in place.

"Stop son!" Papito warned.

Mineta looked back to his father. His eyes held a minor bit of annoyance. He was impatient due to the dire time constraints of this improvised and last minute rescue.

"What dad? We can't stop here." Mineta said with irritation in his voice.

Papito raised a consoling hand. He didn't want to stop the pace. He understood the reason for Mineta's apparent impatience. He wished to reach Monika more than anything.

"Something's not right…this place… please tell me you can feel that!" The grape patriarch warned Mineta, his face appearing cautious.

"What do you mean dad? Feel what? Aren't we going inside?" Mineta stated, pointing out the absurdity of simply waiting.

"I know…but, please, tell me you can read the room here kiddo! Don't you feel it? Something's about to go wrong, real quick."

Mineta raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? This place is practically a graveyard!"

Papito explained. "You don't get to reach my age as a father without picking up a few tricks, like avoiding walking into trouble. And I'm not just talking about the obviously destroyed prison here. This…this is about something else."

Mineta blinked in rapt attention. His dad seemed…cautious. He never saw his dad this way, being the usual jovial man that he was. To see him on guard like this made his words all the more important.

Papito continued.

"It's hard to describe. Remember, I wasn't born like you, your mother or…anyone else really, I'm a slime dad! My body can pick up vibrations real easily, helps me map out the place since technically I don't have any ears. I've gotten a sense of practically everything that makes noise. And let me tell you, the air here is vibrating like crazy, something's not right about the air here, like it's changed somehow."

Mineta protested.

"What about Monika!-"

"I'll help you find her. No doubt about it! But let me stay on your back to be sure. As your father, I'll always have your back, but I won't lie to you either, I don't like the feeling of this place. It feels…off…"

Papito slithered onto Mineta's back in his slime form. When anchored onto his son's spinal column, Mineta traversed ahead, into a smoky haze that coated the epicenter of the isolated building. His movements were slower. Instead of sprinting, the boy kept at a jogging pace.

There were intense signs of severe burns on the ground that appeared freshly hot, as if the ground burned from within. As he followed the lane that led past the walls, and into the facility, he couldn't deny how dangerous the landscape had become. It was too fragile and easily fractured. It was barely hanging together. In a matter of weeks the facility would collapse due to the broken foundation of the land itself.

His spine shuddered as he continued deeper into the unknown.

The destruction of the prison left an absence of ambience. It was silent like the grave, lacking sound from any stray birds or even the smallest of winds. Everything was devoid of sound and unmoving. A chill went up Mineta's spine. Though it was night, and the stars were out, the sensation of jolts in his spine wouldn't seize. His sense of danger flared consistently here.

The closer he got, the more his shivers worsened.

SHSHSHSHSH

HISS

His spheres shook again. It did not serve him any comfort. It was not a good sign in any matter.

'Don't worry Monika, I'm coming for you.'

He made it past the first blockade, usually populated by the mighty guards of Hydra Prison.

"This place is heavily fortified, there's sniper towers here that surround the area and all these checkpoints for scanner units." Papito noted as they made it past the first blockade.

"How do you know that? What was this place even for?" Mineta asked in curiosity as he bounced across the checkpoint wall.

"Well, as a police intern we were expected to be extremely flexible with our roles. So we learned everything and I mean everything about prison procedures. Trust me when I say that the exams are hell to pass. These checkpoints here had a scanner quirk unit that checks you before you pass through. If anything smells fishy those sniper towers would just open fire, no questions asked. Not even heroes have the authority to break rules here. This is HPSC territory."

Papito and Mineta saw a gap between them and the rest of the road, inside they noticed the ground had been breached, as if from beneath the ground. Papito stretched and formed a slime bridge for his son to walk through undeterred.

"This facility seems like a prison of the highest caliber, kind of like Tartarus. But this place looks like it was meant for long term isolation. For Tartarus it's security that's prioritized. Here, it's secrecy. It's too close to the coast and the roads are way too far from the city for any police to show up in case of a riot. Somebody didn't want this place to be noticed…by criminals and officers alike."

"What does that mean? Why keep it all a secret?"

Papito sighed. "I honestly don't know, but if I had to guess it's because these prisoners must have a lot to offer. Their quirks are held to such a degree that the police couldn't risk having them near Tartarus. If villains like All for One were like men with guns, these prisoners would be like unstable dynamite."

Mineta came to a realization. 'They wanted to keep Harukaze from All for One. Harukaze was crazy to fight on his own…but imagine an entire army of inmates at his level. No wonder they kept them isolated. They sound like complete monsters!'

"Whatever you do, be careful, there's a reason why these prisoners had to be locked up. And there's even more reason why heroes can't easily enter this place." Papito warned Mineta as he wrapped a slime tendril around Mineta, encouraging him onward with a few prods.

Mineta noticed that the second checkpoint was empty, just like the first. The floor around the checkpoint was charred, practically fried by something that stemmed from underground. Ash blew past Mineta at this area, signifying the vast amount of heat that had been around this area.

Mineta had passed the third checkpoint on foot, where he found a lone body of an officer. Heavily armored and mangled by large claw marks.

Mineta's eyes widened at the brutal sight. The man was bleeding despite the armor on his person. With a machine gun in hand, this stalwart warrior appeared to have met his end by what could be described by a large beast of some sort. The gaps of carved flesh displayed a part of the inside of his chest cavity, making Mineta queasy.

Papito sighed. "Can't believe you have to see a sight like this…"

Papito noticed Mineta's hands mildly shaking. Even though his son appeared all right, the slime already knew that such sights are leaving their mark on his son.

"I'm fine…I'm supposed to be a hero. What the hell happened here?…"

Papito shook his head in the negative.

"Definitely not anything good. Looks like this poor officer found himself in front of something big. What's weird is that he has claw marks from something like a bear…but also has tiny dings and tears as well on his armor. It was as if he was in the middle of a typhoon before something just decided to finish him off…"

Mineta furrowed his eyebrows. There was something familiar about what his dad said. It was then that he realized.

'Harukaze! This is his work!'

Mineta looked at the ground and noticed dead flies. Not even they survived the storm of the mass killer.

-Flashback Chapter: 10-

Mineta saw the bodies of the street, numbering at least a few hundred people. None of them were moving save for one lone officer in the middle of all the bodies.

He almost hurled right there at the smell alone, the smell of corpses in the hot sun. The strange thing was that there were not even flies around the bodies.

Upon closer inspection, Mineta noticed.

The flies were dead too.

-Flashback End-

'Just like downtown! Monika was right in the middle of that gas blowing freak!'

Mineta went to the front of the facility, sprinting with his father glued to his back. He opened the large double doors.

Oddly enough, the lights didn't work. All the lights were shut off. The power was out.

However, that wasn't the only thing that concerned him.

The interior was pitch black, an echoed hum lingered within.

Mineta's spheres rattled again, however, his own spine tingled upon the opening of the door, as if his muscles were ready to dash away despite the training of his school.

"Seems like you feel it too Minoru. See what I mean?" Papito whispered in his son's ear.

Mineta nodded slowly.

"Let's keep going…" Mineta mumbled, his father wrapping some slime around his son's torso to hang on as well as out of fatherly protective instincts.

Mineta pulled out a support item from his pocket. It was the emergency phone Mountain Lady gave him, the same one he used to call Monika before he had fainted.

With a shake, the phone lit up the hallway, washing it in luminescent light.

Upon its flare, Mineta noticed something.

There were men inside! Multiple silhouettes stood in front of him!

One immediately fired from what appeared to be a rifle, launching a strange attachment towards Mineta's torso. It appeared to be a metallic tag of sorts. It was cylindrical, painted black with a blue led light on its side.

Upon the tag making contact with Mineta, he felt a shocking jolt rush throughout his body, causing him to spasm involuntarily.

"Gah!" Mineta let out in pain, his body felt like it was on fire with the sheer amount of electric shocks that circulated his body.

He fell to his knees as he gasped for breath. He was about to collapse under his own weight with the sheer amount of volts contained within such a small piece of tech.

SPLASH

THWACK

"Watch out Minoru!" Papito warned Mineta as released a slime limb from his gelatinous frame, wrapping around the bothersome tag from his son's body before he flung the strange attachment back towards the one who fired it, with a slimy whip toss. Upon making contact with the unexpected assailant, an electrical jolt fired onto him as well.

CRACKLE

ZZZZT

"ACK!" The strange silhouette bellowed painfully before collapsing onto the ground in a tumble, dropping his gun in the process.

"Light him up!" A commanding voice let out, where multiple laser sights pointed towards Mineta.

That was before Papito immediately sprung into the offensive. He shapeshifted into a watery whirlpool, standing in front of Mineta like a walking whirlwind of devastation. His newly destructive form literally pulled in the would-be attackers within his drenched epicenter.

WHISH

WHISH

His defensive slime whirlpool form violently spun the attackers. He swayed with violent turbulence, banging them against walls as he rampaged.

"Over my dead body!" Papito darkly warned the armed men, as he swerved them around like a merry go round of impending doom. Bodies were flung about, some crashing into wooden desks and glass.

'Woah! Dad is kicking ass!' Mineta thought as he looked on, his father literally spun a squad full of bigger men like ragdolls.

CRACK

SMASH

With his father providing quite the distraction, Mineta pulled a sphere and immediately forged himself a weapon.

"Special Move: Jam Javelin!"

He made himself a far reaching polestaff. With the ranged weapon in hand he immediately thrusted towards one of the shadowed men by his head and slammed him towards a nearby wall, making his face meet hard plaster before sticking him against the floor.

With a sideways swing he glued his polestaff against another by his right leg. With a swerve and graceful spin, Mineta commanded his quirk mentally, causing his usual bouncing quirk to bounce the assailant off the pole staff and towards the ceiling, slamming the unseen offender through the boards of the roof. A large pillowy cloud of dirt and debris was sent throughout the room.

Mineta noticed another two men aiming their guns towards him before he used two spheres. One to bounce off the ground and the other to swing against the ceiling using his polestaff as an improvised rope. His control over his staff made it moldable, enabling Mineta to tackle the two. He had dropped his javelin due to the darkness, however, it did not stop Mineta from forming two jam fists before beginning his intense beatdown.

BASH

BOOM

The large jam fists would pop then inflate with each blow, sending powerful shockwaves with each punch. This sent cracks into the tiles beneath him, as the floorboards lacked enough strength to resist the blowback.

BASH

BOOM

"Stop dammit! Put down those guns now!" A voice echoed in the darkness.

Mineta didn't recognize the voice, seizing his assault, as the men beneath him crawled for safety. Papito was using himself in front of Mineta as a wall of thick slime as he stood ready to protect Mineta by any means necessary. Around them were a few staggering and wounded silhouettes. It was too dark to see clearly, and Mineta had dropped the only light in the unforeseen preemptive strike.

"Hey…I know that costume…I saw you on the news broadcast."

Footsteps echoed within the deep darkness. Large lights filled the hallway, making Mineta squint in response to the bright offending light.

Papito looked at the men who he and his son fended off. He took note of the armored attire. The uniform of the men possessed patches that were sewed onto their right shoulders, laced in black, and written in silver etching. On them, were the words:

MUSUTAFU SECURITY: HYDRA PRISON

Stepping forward with a faint limp in his step was a man. He had green eyes and average skin. His hair was dark brown, long and stylized as a ponytail, albeit slightly dry due to the time demanding nature of his role. Possessing a full thick beard and a few minor scars on his face, gave the man a masculine and fearsome outer look. He was clearly no stranger to heavy combat.

Stepping into the light, bearing a rather large and extremely thick plated piece of metal on his left forearm, was William Warlow, the Warden of Hydra Prison.

"I thought you were taller…but it looks like your reputation lives up to the hype all the same. Your Mayhem!" The Warden said with a puzzled tone in his voice.

One of the battered guards rose up on his legs.

"That is Mayhem…he's…just a kid!" The guard said offhandedly.

Another one leaned against the wall, nursing his wounds from the fight.

"What's a one time hero doing here?!"

Mineta stood on guard and asked the stalwart warden. "Who in the hell are you? And why did you attack me?!"

Warlow sighed. "To be honest, I can't believe we had to meet in this manner, but you came at the worst possible time. I'm William Warlow, I'm the Warden of this place. These men are under my command."

Papito and Mineta stared wide eyed at the officers who they unintentionally beaten up.

Both looked at each other with stupefied expressions. They thought simultaneously with sweat dripping off their faces. 'We just beat up a bunch of prison guards! We're screwed for life!'

Mineta gulped, feeling the eyes of wary officers on him and his father. He was mildly concerned if any bad blood existed between them.

The officers, in response to the Warden's non-hostile demeanor, appeared to lower their guards. Their shoulders slumped slightly, a body language indicating their lowered tension and unease, though they still had their weapons at the ready.

"You're the one who helped beat up Kuro Harukaze. You really did good downtown Mayhem!" A youthful sounding guard said with pride.

"Um thanks…" Mineta said, unsure about the praise sent his way after literally getting into a fight with these guardsmen barely a few seconds ago.

Papito told the officer offhandedly. "I'm proud of him too! He sent you flying."

The guard grumbled in response, a bit ashamed at being beaten up by what appeared to him to be a young boy.

Mineta sweatdropped. He really didn't need the guards resenting him right now.

"How did you get here? No hero outside of registered pros should even know about this place. I didn't expect to meet a local legend from the city anytime soon. Especially since all attempts at communication were fried." Warlow asked questioningly.

"Maybe he's one of them, came back to get back at you, Warlow. I say we take them in just to be sure." A guard mentioned to his superior who with a right hand gesture, told his subordinate to calm down. A simple gesture but one that the guard understood.

"No, no need for that…not yet anyway."

Papito crawled atop Mineta's spherical head, back in his small slime form. Some lone tendrils wiped some dust off his son's forehead. A habitual concern for his children's hygiene, even in the middle of a hellhole like this one.

Mineta pleaded with the Warden. "I came here because this place looked completely destroyed from the outside. I came to help!"

Warlow sighed depressingly. "Understandable…but you're a little too late in that regard. Whatever happened here has already come and gone. But my main concern is you. Nobody except registered pros heroes are allowed here, and with the comms fried it's clear you didn't get any calls from us? Are you part of any of the hero agencies?"

Mineta shook his head in the negative. "No…but…"

"Only fully licensed pro heroes are allowed past this point. I can't simply let you through without answers. How did you get here anyway?"

Papito nonchalantly answered the officer. Using his slime he literally formed tiny miniature wings to express himself visually. "Oh, we flew here!"

The guards looked at each other.

Warlow narrowed his eyes. "The very air above this place has a high rate of corrosive quirk based residue, if you did fly here you could have gotten yourself killed by the fall…or Qudestal."

"Qudestal?" Mineta asked in confusion.

"I remember Mira told me something about this. That's short for Quirk Destabilization right?" Papito's slime frame paled when the warden nodded in response.

"A deadly affliction that's been increasing these past few years here. It's so rare for it to happen, so we were surprised when there was a surge of cases here. We didn't know where it was coming from but from recent developments, we now know why." Warden said somberly, reminded how Harukaze's quirk had this terrible trait that affected all exposed to his smoke for a long enough period of time. To the duty-bound warden, this was a reminder of his inefficient leadership. Even despite his valiant stand when the prison was breached, so many under his command are now dead because of his failure to notice this.

'That would explain why Dad lost control of his quirk while we were flying. But I need to get in somehow.' Mineta analyzed, before he reached for his pocket.

A proverbial light bulb went off in Mineta's head.

"Wait, I do have this!" Mineta requested Warlow before pulling out his provisional hero's license.

Warlow reached for the license and looked at it. He read the name and saw the picture of Minoru Mineta. He was wearing his normal costume and was stamped with an internship label, with the organization name 'Mountain Lady's Hero Agency'. Being that it was the most recent internship he took part of, this was the agency he was technically associated with.

Compared to his license, he was wearing his half mask and was somewhat unrecognizable in this current lighting.

Warlow's eyebrows raised. He was surprised. "U.A? A student… you're a student?"

Mineta nodded. "I am! I'm here to help someone who needs me. An intern like me! Her names Monika and-"

"Monika?" A guard asked.

"You know her?" Mineta asked with desperation, finally finding actual answers.

"She fought alongside us, and fought like a pro to keep our asses alive." Another guard praised Monika.

Warlow interrupted, before the guard would reveal anything else. Before he made any rash decision he had to confirm. "You're friends with Monika?"

Mineta shook his head in the negative. He spoke with plain confidence, proudly declaring. "More than that."

Papito gushed as he unashamedly added. "She's his girlfriend!"

Warlow raised his left eyebrow, he didn't expect that particular detail about Monika. She was dating Mayhem! He cleared his throat before he motioned for a scanner unit.

The guard came forward and held a portable scanner in front of Mineta, making him flinch because of the bright light.

"W-what is this?"

"Just have to make sure you are who you say you are before we go any further. Standard procedure. Sorry about this Mayhem." The scanner unit informed Mineta as he scanned his face.

The scanner immediately confirmed the identity in a vibrant green light. It displayed the same information from his provisional license, with some added information such as his hero identity number as well as his status as a student.

"Everything checks out. Provisional license is confirmed. He's a first year student." The scanner unit informed his superior.

"Wipe the scan." Warlow notified.

The scanner unit tilted his head in mild confusion before he nodded and inputted a few strokes on a button pad beneath the screen. The reason was simple, though not clear to Mineta at the moment.

These guards were trying to conserve his identity.

"Very well, now come with me!" Warlow commanded Mineta, not needing to waste anymore time.

His right hand man stopped him and whispered. "Doesn't this go against procedure? Even for a licensed student he's not necessarily allowed here. We're already on thin ice as it is."

Warlow responded with a factual tone, in a low enough voice so others wouldn't hear. "Right now that girl whose the only reason we're all alive is on a medical bed in need of help. I say screw regulation, I'm making sure she gets to live. What is the HPSC gonna do? Replace me? This place is already destroyed. As far as I'm concerned, there's no use pretending we have everything in order. We're far past that."

Warlow, after stepping a few more steps, stopped in place before turning around towards Mineta. "Just one question, Mayhem?"

Mineta stopped and looked in concern at the unexpected pause.

"Just, what the hell is that thing on your head?" Warlow asked with a serious expression.

Mineta looked upwards towards his dad, who was still in his gelatine form. He had forgotten that his dad had been in his slime form since the moment they entered.

"Who? Me?" Papito pointed at himself with a small slimy tendril.

"Oh, that's not a thing, that's just my dad!" Mineta pointed out without a care, finding nothing odd about a large sentient blob settled on his noggin. The guards however stared oddly at Papito.

Papito shyly massaged the back of his watery head, before he pulled out his wallet, ready to whip out his ID. "Would you like to see my license officer? Ehehe!"

Warlow looked slightly uncomfortable, looking at the stark differences between Mineta and Papito before trekking forward. He didn't want to know how this worked. "Forget I even asked…"

Mineta ran on ahead, trying to keep up with the taller Warlow, who took a look at the boy-sized hero.

'No older than my son…and yet…he was the only one to actually make a stand against Harukaze. Which means he can stop him once again.'

Warlow looked at his men, noticing their stance being taller and even prouder. One even pulled out a notepad and pen, nervously looking in Mineta's direction. He clearly wanted an autograph.

'With young heroes like Monika and Mayhem, I couldn't be any more impressed with the heroes we will see in our future. The men already seem in higher spirits.'

Warlow smiled to himself as he walked alongside Mayhem himself.

-Musutafu 7th Lane: Market-

"I know you…"

The voice was cold. A detached inhumane tone that projected itself above the noise emanating from the pedestrians.

"Deku…" The feminine voice called out to him again, this time it was slightly more prominent in volume.

"Who are you?" Deku asked in bewilderment, a surprised expression from being confronted like this so openly. This was an unexpected encounter, and Deku had not considered the possibility that any villains would encounter him here, so close to home yet beyond the safety of the academy.

The unknown figure pressed a left pointer finger against the left side of his temple. With three gentle prods against the skull exposed noggin, the husk surmised in a factual tone. He whispered, mainly to himself, however Deku could still hear his voice enough to pick up what he was saying.

"You are a strange one indeed…"

The irony of that statement could not have been any clearer to the green haired hero.

Two mildly glowing gemstones gazed upon their intended target for this night. Despite the ocean of citizens encircling them, Deku and the unknown being standing before him maintained their respective gazes, meticulously scoping one another.

Even amongst the noisy city ambience, their mutual attention remained firm, undeterred by outside disturbances. Such was the case for heroes and villains, a trait that no outsiders would understand. The slightest movement could render the landscape asunder in the resulting chaos of battle.

Deku's green eyes navigated around him, taking a peak at the nearby cameras to see if they were in full view of this meeting. Usually, Musutafu marketing districts such as this one, had cameras that were mounted from atop the street lamps that lit the pavement with soft white light. In the case that a felon were to commit a crime and somehow escape, there would still be video evidence, which the police would be able to use as they orchestrated an investigation.

It was Deku's training that considered the possibility of this stranger's getaway. If he couldn't subdue this potential threat, then another hero could.

"Quite a bit late for a nightly stroll, isn't it?" Diamondeye pointed out, as Deku fixed his emerald eyes upon the skull faced man.

'Who is this guy…I never met him before and yet…he knows me by name?' Deku thought to himself, his hands curling in reaction to a perceived threat. His muscles instinctually flexed, ready for action if need be. His constant training and on field experience with combat have drilled into him this automatic response.

The young hero peeked at the citizens walking past him, noting that with so many people here, visibility was difficult to maintain. Combined with the nearby shadows made the body of the man in front of him to be obscure. All he could take in was the seemingly permanent grin of his bony features, and the glare that reached him from his eyes alone.

Deku, using his peripherals, looked at his own attire. He noticed that his costume that he wore for the Mineta family dodgeball game was still on. He hadn't thought about it before, but his own lack of mindfulness was an unexpected saving grace.

'The one time I ever overlooked my clothes is the same moment, for the first time, that I have ever been thankful for being careless…'

"You seem distracted…If so, it would have been in your best interest to have brought someone with you. Did you know that in the past thirty years, the highest number of kidnapped victims consist of teenage girls, the elderly, and interns? Hero interns, to be more precise." Diamondeye pointed out, his eyes glaring ominously for a second as he emphasized his point. A point made clear to Deku.

He would not attempt an escape. He came here for Deku, by force if necessary.

Diamondeye took a step forward, walking with the bony tips of his mangled exoskeleton. Somehow as he walked, none of the individuals bumped into him, as if he were to be avoided by all in a surprisingly strange manner.

A nearby led advertising screen glitched next to Diamondeye before it immediately fizzled out. The only lights appearing from arms length around him were the penetrative glows that originated in his dreaded azure gaze.

As he walked a further distance, the screen turned on once again.

'A range…about 45 inches…' Deku picked up as he observed the stranger before him.

CLICK

CLACK

The sound of his bony feet making contact with the concrete ground echoed against Deku's eardrums, a signifier of the fact that this particular individual was in fact a literal bonewalker.

Deku couldn't help but notice that despite his weight, the sound of his feet making contact with the ground was almost as if he was weightless.

Deku looked at the enigmatic individual up and down, needing confirmation as to the weight and height. The more he knew about the body structure of an opponent, the more likely he would understand their potential fighting styles and capabilities. It was something be had picked up during the many spars he had with his classmates.

In this case, what he noticed, made his stomach churn in revulsion. The pedestrians of this district originally obscured the figure, as well as the lighting that, though bright, left the torso blackened by stray shadows. The distance between them, with the cover of night, added along to the obscurity of the body of the carbon-eyed enigma.

Now up close, Deku was able to see the disfigured inverted form of his would-be obtruder.

His eyes widened a mere millimeter in surprise.

'His body! What…what the hell happened to him?'

Deku stared gobsmacked that he was faced off against such an abnormal appearance of an equally abnormal being. The very idea that he will be standing in front of what could only be described as a walking corpse was a shocker to be sure. To one as young as he, this was fear inducing. The figure before him was unlike any he had ever witnessed. A being that despite possessing a mutilated body, was still fully capable of walking as well as speaking without strain or signs of physical agony.

The mysterious husk of a man stood before Deku with prim and proper posture, one that was practically etched in confidence as well as strict discipline in his stance alone. This was clearly not a run of the mill criminal. He would not act by aggressive impulses alone.

As the gem optics of the felon stared deep into Deku's pupils, the green haired hero, despite his training, was stuck in place. His usually analytical mind was trying to ascertain exactly how in All Might's name this being was able to survive like this.

An exoskeleton, seemingly made of calcium as opposed to chitin that was necessary in order to support the body in such an inverted manner. That, and the biology is all wrong. This bare-boned half dead aberration didn't possess the physiology of an insect to warrant such a horrid bodily design.

Then there were the eyes. Literal gems engraved into the scalp of what could pass as a human skull, exposed to the air, vulnerable to infections. Within the gaunt cheekbones laid muscle fibers that contradicted the very biological structure of all that was human.

Whatever he was, he did not possess lips for which to speak with emotional display or to function with the intent of forming facial expressions, only the sickening grin of an otherwise expired cadaver.

Deku felt his skin crawl as the boneman came closer. With a whiff of his nostrils, he was able to distinguish an indelible smell.

Deku's eyes widened with a look of fearful realization.

"Deku…" The womanly voice called to him again. A stark contrast to the chilling sensation of fear that gripped him. But where was this voice coming from? It sounded so close, and yet came from afar, like an echo that traveled a great distance to reach him here.

"You seem nervous…"

"Who are you? What are you?" Deku asked with a guarded tone.

"We never actually met in person. Over the years I've had many meaningless names…but at this time…Diamondeye will do."

'I don't recognize that name. Is he a new villain? No…the way he carries himself. He has experience.'

"What…" Deku stammered, reeling from this walking medical disaster. He had to stop himself from asking the obvious.

"Speak. I'd be more concerned if you didn't." Diamondeye commanded the green haired intern, standing in place.

Deku's analytical mind was what guided his next words.

His mind formulated a diagnostic of the body structure of the man before him. It was all he could do, his own curiosity got the better of him. It was as if saying the words in his mind out loud would enable the boy to alleviate the chilling cold that ensnared his spine. To confirm the reality of what stood before him.

"The structure of your muscular system…it's completely mismatched. Your shoulders don't match in size…or in width. They're asymmetrical by mere centimeters, but that makes all the difference in everything that matters." Deku observed.

Diamondeye's head slightly tilted to the right. A sign of mild confusion from this unforeseen diagnostic. He allowed Deku to continue, uninterrupted.

"Really now…and in what way?"

"Walking, sleeping, even breathing. It would be extremely painful just to do anything normal for everyone else. Your bones… your entire skeletal structure is completely disoriented from the inside out, almost like an exoskeleton, except it's literally out of place. Your own rib cage is sticking out! Cartilage is not meant to be on the outside like that. And the smell…you shouldn't be alive…you should be…"

Diamondeye stood there, awaiting Deku's finishing remark.

"Go on…" Diamondeye replied. He wanted Deku to finish.

"Dead…" Deku finished. His right hand twitched a few millimeters. Deku had to self-consciously tighten his hand in order to prevent it from twitching further, in an attempt to calm his nerves.

Diamondeye uttered.

"Indeed…and what do you surmise from your observation?"

"Your body…all those parts-"

Diamondeye interrupted.

"Dead men tell no tales…but I congratulate you for your half-witted deduction of my current physique. We've only just met and you're already attempting to put things together. It would seem my first impression of you was correct, you are quite the sharp one."

Diamondeye shifted his head, taking in the crowd that still appeared blind to his presence.

"To be honest I did not expect to find any one of worth within this lane, at least not so soon. I had anticipated this to be done properly in a matter of days, but the results I sought were reached within record time. To find you in a glorified toy store is something I had not predicted to bear fruit. The timing was too perfect. Almost as if…this was meant to be…"

"What…you mean you saw me at First Class Figurines?"

"It wasn't difficult to notice a costumed hero walk into that children's madhouse. I saw you there, I followed, and now here you are...it was almost too easy."

"What do you want from me? I never met you but you already know me by name. Which means…you've been looking for me." Deku asked, his eyebrows furrowed as his guard rose. He was already used to tackling with the likes of Tomura and his group, fighting another villain was within his limits.

'What I'm really concerned about is all the people here. If we are going to fight, I have no means of fighting at my best. It would just endanger everyone. I have to find a way to lead him away from here if I am going to get any answers.'

Diamondeye pointed his jewel textured eyes into Deku's once more.

"It's not a matter of want, it's more out of simple curiosity."

Deku recited. "Curiosity? About what?"

"You see, despite my appearance, I am quite older than these muscles would suggest. Fighting is not enough to sustain my own personal interests. I leave that in the hands of the youth."

Diamondeye took another step forward. Oddly enough despite being among a crowd, none of the current populace that surrounded the two appeared to have noticed the walking corpse in the midst of the area.

'No one is noticing him either. Like a ghost! Is that his quirk…invisibility? No, he's visible to me, this is intentional. He wants to avoid being seen by people…or at least avoid the cameras here. So preventing exposure is his priority.'

"Deku…" The feminine voice beckoned him. He looked around for the source of the voice, still nothing.

'What's wrong with me? I'm hearing things that aren't there! I can't be distracted, not at this moment!'

Deku shook his head to stave off the voice he kept hearing. He couldn't help but feel unnerved by the stiff manner that this odd individual carried himself as he walked, almost as if he were walking on autopilot. A calculated stride in each and every step, gauging the most insignificant of details of inefficiency per millisecond.

Diamondeye continued.

"But I am also a businessman, and there is something I seek, something that I wish to obtain. What I want is information. Answers."

Deku felt his spine jolt, the little nerve endings of his back shriveled in nervous shudders as the green haired hero picked up something that he couldn't perceive at the moment. He wasn't sure as to what happened, however he did know one thing: the entirety of the atmosphere had dramatically shifted along with Diamondeyes' coldly delivered proclamation.

"There are many questions I have yet to find answers for. Why are we here? What is the grand mission of our existence? How did quirks begin? What is their true purpose and when must it all end as all things do? But recently, I find myself curious about you…significantly more than I should..."

It was as if the abnormal figure was fully able to peer into his soul, something that left the boy feeling vulnerable.

"Izuku Midoriya, age 17. An only son of Inko and Hisashi Midoriya. You were born July 15, 2147. You live at 447 Excelsior Road, apartment 9B."

Deku's eyes widened more and more as Diamondeye robotically recited much of his personal information, completely remembering each and every bit of his dossier.

"Blood type O, which would make you a universal donor should you wish. Nothing exemplary about your health records, other than the fact that before you obtained your quirk, you had an extremely difficult time actually using it. You were quite the late bloomer, had you waited just a little more, the window of awakening could have closed off to you as quirks normally would. Currently, you are a student of the most prestigious hero school of Musutafu, UA High, under the tutelage of Shota Aizawa, aka Eraser Head."

Deku gritted his teeth in steadily fuming frustration. This freak of nature has been studying him extensively. His hands gripped in place tightly, cracking his knuckles with the force he put into the grip. Unintentionally, his strength that was normally at zero percent of One for All had risen to a solid ten percent. His muscles tightened, fueling with energy to fight off this would be stalker.

"By your expression, I can see that I was more than correct. The possibility of you being a doppelganger is now absolutely zero. Originally the odds were 13.7%. This makes things easier."

"How did…how did you find all that about me? Records are usually kept from the public eye. You shouldn't be able to have access to all that?" Deku mumbled with a stunned expression.

"I heard about your name from a mutual acquaintance."

Deku blinked his eyes at the mention of an acquaintance.

"A…mutual acquaintance?" Deku asked in confusion.

"After hearing about you. I grew curious. I had to see personally what kind of person you were. So far…I am far from impressed. In fact, I'm a bit disappointed." Diamondeye emotionlessly criticized.

"Deku…" The voice appeared. This time slightly more prominent. It was clearer, but its source is still unknown.

"I have thought you to be some form of visionary among your classmates, hence the reason I didn't expect any results with me waiting at this particular lane. If one were to have such a brilliant mind they would take great care to not make costly mistakes."

SHATTER

A glassy shatter in midair appeared. Sprinklage of mildly glowing shards lit Diamondeye's back before dimming into nothingness. The unexpected burst caused Deku to take an automatic, evasive back step, he accidentally stepped on the Sir Nighteye figurine, left to the floor upon Diamondeye's self reveal.

One person from the crowd looked in their direction. It was a man in a long coat.

"Did you see anything, sweetheart?" A random woman asked the man, most likely a girlfriend or a wife.

The man shook his head in the negative. "No, it must be my imagination. Let's get out of here."

The couple left without a care. Deku's eyes widened at the clear fact that this unknown figure was unknown to the citizens currently present. Like a phantom, he would only appear for Deku alone.

Diamondeye unveiled something from his back on his left hand while he was distracted.

"Vulnerability to a hero can be a fatal mistake. A memoir. A letter to one's mother. A handwritten list of groceries. Any one of these trivial things can be used to track a hero down, straight to where he lives. There is no telling the things people could do with such findings…as well as the secrets they may discover."

He flung it towards Deku with a gentle swerve of his wrist. It was sent in a perfect frisby styled throw, despite how little the effort of the throw appeared.

In front of Deku, landed a book. The book itself was strapped together within a thick leather strap that bonded the papers in place, preventing spillage of any loose strips of paper, containing the wellspring of knowledge within. Its top side faced Deku.

Upon shifting his eyes from the strange visitor towards the ground, Deku's eyes twitched, a physical sign of increasing anxiety.

'What!? That book!' Deku noticed, his heart hammering in his chest in realization as to just how serious this situation was.

The book was a flimsy notebook, slightly battered and stained from overuse. It was titled 'Hero Analysis for the Future Volume 13'.

It was Deku's notebook. The one he had been searching for. Lost but now found.

"How courteous you were to put everything into one easily readable notepad. No doubt you wrote it to keep track of all the strange abilities you would encounter in your studies. Your findings and analyses are quite intriguing nonetheless. Besides how incomplete they are, most of your inquiries and observations are actually deduced correctly. Had fate been different, you would have found your talents most useful in medical science, or in quirk psychology." Diamondeye pointed out, as Deku picked up the notebook, disillusioned by this development.

'How did he get my notebook?! I was always at class or with All Might. When could he have gotten a chance to take this off me?!'

"What I find most intriguing is some of the little journal entries you wrote…"

Deku's eyes widened, his grip on his book tightened in response. His heart slammed against his chest as anxiety weighed him down. He was paused by the cold grip of fear.

"First hand entries fill in the gaps of my knowledge. It's been too long since I've had an update of current events. By a miracle, you somehow encountered and even subdued a client of mine. I'm sure you remember someone named Kai Chisaki."

Deku felt his heart race in remembrance of Overhaul. Many memories of the intensity and strain of that fight came full force.

"It would seem that the blueprints I provided him worked wonders. I was impressed he used them to develop blood based bullets that could strip a being of their quirk entirely. A shame that he is no longer active. But I suppose his fixation on his Yakuza uprising was doomed to fail. A bunch of halfwits with weapons still doesn't undo the fact that they were half wits to begin with, and died in their own mess like all the rest."

Deku mumbled. "You built…blueprints? For Overhaul!"

"Was that his chosen name? If so, yes. I did." Diamondeye answered without a care into the narrowing pupils Deku possessed.

"How else would a young man like him be able to extract enough proper genetic material from quirks without killing the patient? It requires engineering of a level that even advanced military science does not possess. Any form of quirk weaponry is difficult to make because of the unique genetic composition of each individual. For example, the quirk amplifier Trigger. It requires nanotechnology, combined with the necessary steady hands of integrated AI required to extract each component in a timely fashion. The machine I built, was meant for someone else…unfortunately they are long expired now. Selling one outdated prototype for a suitable price was logical. I was quite surprised that a yakuza boy would demand this tech, but the money was good and he knew well enough how to keep a secret. I even placed a self-destruct program into it, in case anyone other than its owner tried to use it. Odd…because it's nowhere mentioned in any reports I've found about the Shie Hassaikai Raid. Someone must have a need for it..."

Deku's eyes took in the journal entry, reliving the events that he endured and fought vehemently against in order to protect Eri. The fact that Mirio lost his quirk as a direct result of Overhaul's actions. The fact that Eri never knew to smile before her rescue still lingered in his mind.

"Quite an impressive piece of equipment if I do say so myself. The pain the machine induced was a necessary feature, as it requires attaching it to the central nervous system, specifically to reach places that no scalpel could. It is a well intentioned design to procure the intended results. Maximum pain for maximum genetic and quirk data."

Deku fumed. He had thought Erie underwent enough abuse. To find out the specific manner of her torment made past memories resurface. He hissed with heat in his breath. "An innocent suffered…because of you…"

"If by an 'innocent' you are referring to the bastard child named Eri-"

Deku's eyes darkened, his knuckles crackled as he clenched his fist. He had unintentionally pumped out a fourth of One for All in response to the name of the girl he fought tooth and nail to protect. The fact that he described her as a bastard child was something that triggered the freckled hero in training.

"What did you call her?" Deku spoke in a silent whisper. His eyes steadily widening like a hunter ready to pounce.

Diamondeye continued, uncaring to Deku's increasingly aggressive body language.

"-then yes, she did. However, I do not carry the responsibility of what 'Overhaul' did to the stray. His outstanding findings are his alone. For her, he would have required stem cells extracted from bone marrow in order to make his quirk killing bullets. Simply astonishing that a girl with her quirk could actually exist in my lifetime. Under me…she would have made the perfect subject…" Diamondeye stated with a rare hint of regret in his voice, as opposed to empathy for Eri's inhuman mistreatment at the hands of Overhaul.

Deku was internally boiling. His heart pumped adrenaline throughout his body, as sheer rage began coming to the forefront of his mind. Deku's usually innocent demeanor was put to the back burner in response to the cold attitude of this twisted mechanist.

"Overhaul was too lenient. I would have collected a multitude of blood samples and at least performed a detailed observation of her organs. Maybe even harvest a kidney and a lung for safekeeping before sewing her neatly back into place. An awakening could have been reached under neuro shock therapy, or even through a multitude of acupunctures in her pressure points. Those usually yield satisfying results, at least until she was of proper age. Thirteen would be a perfect age to begin breeding tests, when she begins ovulating."

Deku gave a dead stare, a cold silence took his gaze where before there was fear.

Diamondeye continued anyway, unashamedly expressing his 'ideas'.

"Just picture it, through breeding, she alone would be the matron of an entire revolution. The types of quirks that would have been formulated with proper genetic grooming. New trials and quirk discoveries would be uncovered, the likes of which the world has never seen since the first quirk ever conceived. If she could rewind physical conditions, then why not time, space, or even cross into dimensions beyond our own. The age of gods we have read about for eons would be reachable within a mere decade under my watch. She is a proverbial Pandora's Box just begging to be breached by scalpel…or in her case…by phallus."

WHAM

A loud echo reverbed across the 7th lane. A large impact blew away stray newspapers like an impending hurricane. Some people covered their heads whilst others were holding onto their bags and belongings at the intrusive gust of wind. Car alarms rung in response to the force that they detected, constantly blaring in red led lighting that lit the dark walkways.

Some people began panicking as they looked around and huddled from what appeared to them was a gust of a stormy wind.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

However, one skeletal figure was sent rippling into the air. A multitude of crackling ligaments and dislocated joints rippled in the air before Diamondeye landed harshly on the ground, flat on his back.

THUD

CRACK

Diamondeye was stiff as he laid on the ground, quiet and unresponsive. Deku was on the opposite side with his right hand outstretched. His face held a snarl, a look of rage reserved for only a reserved few. His left held the wrist of his right hand steady. The fingers of his right hand were clenched, save for one, specifically his middle finger. He had used a Delaware Smash, propelling a powerful shockwave with the flick of a finger towards his intended target.

Due to his training with Endeavor and his constant self practice, the shockwave was small enough to only strike the one within his sight, maximizing the efficiency of the blow while ensuring that none were caught in the blast. A stilted silence filled the immediate area, save for the blaring car alarm nearby.

One random woman looked confusedly at the area where she heard the impact of a body.

From her eyes, one would see nothing on the ground as if it was untouched. Even the cracks and debris left on the ground wouldn't register in her irises.

"Did…did someone fall here?" The woman asked in confusion before looking around as if she was crazy before walking off without a care. Out of sight, out of mind.

For Deku however, this took first priority.

-With Mineta: Hydra Prison-

Mineta and the rest of the Hydra prison guards ventured deeper into the now darkened hallways of the facility. Mineta relied on the use of flashlights in order to navigate the darkened halls.

Upon reaching the uprooted internal fields which led to the actual prison and medical sectors, Mineta asked the warden.

"What happened to all the lights in this place? Aren't there any backup generators?"

Warlow explained. "We do, but during the raid, someone sabotaged the power. The defenses were all taken out at once from the vents. The maximum security wing is all dark for the moment. I wouldn't go there unless you want to trip and fall down somewhere. Half the place is completely collapsed."

Papito lifted a tendril as if in a classroom, raising his 'hand'. "The prisoners destroyed the wing?"

Warlow stood silent for a few seconds. "Crazy enough…no…They did start the riot, but the destruction was caused at the end, just before they escaped. Monika fought against Harukaze and literally destroyed all the foundations to the top floors as well as the roof in the ongoing battle. Pure Quirk based alloy, melted like butter under her quirk. The last thing I saw was a bright light where Monika was, about the size of a skyscraper. Never saw anything like it."

'So that light I saw from far away…it came from Monika!' Mineta thought. There was now no doubt about it, that light came from her directly. She had probably overused her quirk out of desperation.

SHSHSHSHSHSHSH

He still had a job to do. Warlow continued.

"Luckily, it didn't seem to harm us for whatever reason. I used my own quirk to protect her from incoming debris."

Warlow flexed his large electric plate shield in front of Mineta and Papito. They were impressed with the strength needed to wield it. It looked like something that could deal damage and withstand quite a beating.

Papito awed at the quirk. "I didn't think officers were able to use their quirks!"

"Technically no, but considering the chaos this has become my best friend in that small pit of hell."

"I have a friend who is an electric type too!" Mineta mentioned upon noticing the electrical arcs stemming from the metal plate shield.

"A friend?" The warden asked in interest.

"The best! He's like family." Mineta smiled under his half mask.

Warlow responded in interest. "Oh really? Be sure to send him my way. Think of it as a hero discount for what you did downtown. If he's an electric type, I'm sure he short circuits every now and again. I know a secret to keep him from straining himself."

Mineta raised his eyebrows. 'For real! So it's not just Denki who has that problem? Wait till I tell him about this!'

Upon reaching an intersection, one that led to pathways heading left and right, Mineta began heading to the left.

"Not there, you want to head to the right." Warlow informed.

"What's on the left path?" Mineta asked in confusion.

"That was the maximum security wing, Monika is held at the medical wing. Only nonviolent small-time crooks are kept there. So we head right." Warlow explained.

"So the medical wing. Is it an asylum?" Mineta asked.

Warlow replied in the negative. "The medical wing is a very up to date branch of modern medicine. We usually hold criminals who are in need of true rehabilitation. Some come from impoverished backgrounds, some just simply can't control their quirks. For the most part we mostly treat them as patients, unless they act up. The more violent criminals from the maximum security wing only go there from injuries they get from fighting each other."

The group stopped at a large white security door. Two guards wearing white variants of the usual bulky armor were stationed at the front.

Warlow called out to the men.

"Let us through underoos."

The left guard placed his hand on the door, where instead of the door opening, a portal opened, revealing the inside of the Hydra Medical Wing.

Entering inside, Mineta noticed that there were many rooms. Each of them held a prisoner who appeared to be in various stages of procedures.

One room had a man undergoing surgery. His body appeared severely burnt with the guy under anesthesia in order to maximize the immediate treatment.

"Heart rate normal…" A nurse announced. The thing is, she had a heart rate monitor literally planted on her abdomen. She was using a quirk to aid in the operation as opposed to technology.

"Just like your mother, these doctors have quirks meant for hospital care." Papito mentioned before they looked in holding rooms.

In one holding room, labeled "Biomelina", Mineta saw a woman literally made of grass. She possessed two large yellow orbs for eyes and the curvature of a well developed woman. Long strips of seaweed like strands were messily sprouting from her head, giving her a mane of wet grass. She stared at Mineta through an impact proof glass on the top of the door.

"She's quite a looker!" Papito said with an excited tone.

Warlow added. "Biomelina was originally thought to be the culprit of assault a few months back. Turns out she just couldn't control her quirk. A shame too, because her quirk is perfect for helping in the preservation and growth of endangered species."

She waved at Mineta in an oddly kind manner before a large mantis jumped out of her and attacked the window screen, causing the grassy woman to smack her forehead in frustration as Mineta flinched in fear.

"She can literally grow life on her person, but she can't control what comes out or how they react." Warlow informed.

Mineta took a look inside another cell, this one labeled "Lazer Labrador." Inside he saw a dog wagging its tail around. An oddly yellow labrador in the middle of his vividly painted room with a few dog toys inside.

Papito gushed. He grew large eyes that expressed the hypnotic effect of the canine inside. "Hey, there's a cute dog in there. I sure love me a labrador! Come here boy!"

The dog excitedly looked at Mineta. Shaking itself before heading towards the door. Its tail wagged at the sight of someone he could play with. That was the case before its eyes gleamed red and fired a laser at the glass. It immediately bounced off the heat resistant glass before ricocheting across the room, causing the dog to bounce around in panic.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" The 'dog' panicked, causing Mineta and Papito to widen their eyes before being led away from the sight.

Warlow warned the two Mineta's. "He'll be fine, he's immune to those lasers. Other than that he's a good boy. Just can't control his excitement."

Mineta sweatdropped. He couldn't fathom what he just saw.

'I'm more surprised that the dog talked! This place is weird!'

Upon going down a few more doorways, Mineta came up to a larger door, right before the staircase that would lead into the lower levels. It appeared to be a resting room, where stabilized patients were kept so they would get much needed rest.

Inside, Mineta noticed a woman speaking with a concerned male doctor. She wore a light-gray double-breasted mini dress with orange and black lining and slits on both sides of the skirt. She also wears a belt with a temperature gauge on the front and a fire extinguisher on the back, black knee-high socks, and short black boots. Her mask is black, similar to that of Bakugou's, and is connected to a red headband. Her most notable feature was her hair, specifically green fiery hair.

He recognized this heroine, she was from Endeavor's Hero Agency. Moe Kamiji aka Burnin.

Papito whispered to Mineta. "Hey, don't you have a figure of that girl in your room? At the top shelf along with Mid-"

Mineta closed his dad's mouth. He didn't need to embarrass himself right now. There were two many people here and he wouldn't want them to get any funny ideas about him. "Yup, that's Burnin alright…"

She was in the middle of a conversation when he entered through the double doors. She appeared slightly annoyed but it was overshadowed by her apparent concern.

"Look I already told you, I'm fine! I just want to know what's going on with them?"

The doctor answered her question, understanding her concerns.

"Right now we're trying to keep them stabilized until help from the outside gets here."

Burnin clenched her fists. She was frustrated.

"But there's no power in this place, everything's been fried! They can't last like this without proper equipment!"

The doctor sighed sadly. "We're doing the best we can, right now all we can do is let the doctors use their quirks to keep them in check, at least until we fix the generators or someone from the outside arrives."

Moe mumbled. "All the way out here…what if…never mind."

Moe nodded before reluctantly backing down. She turned around before she noticed Warlow. Her usual grin was gone, her concerns were to those undergoing treatment.

"Finally! Someone came from the outside?" Moe stated with no small amount of relief.

Warlow shook his head. "Not the help we were expecting but someone couldn't help but make a visit."

He stepped aside to reveal Mineta's small stature to Moe. She raised an eyebrow in confusion.

She had expected a medical team of sorts, not necessarily a hero. The thing is she didn't recognize this particular one. To her, he must be a new hero.

"Who's the shortie?" She asked questionably, tilting her head as she did so.

Mineta walked forward, his father still plastered on his head. "I'm…"

Mineta stopped. He decided to use his hero name for this occasion. He would embrace it here.

"I'm Mayhem."

Upon saying his name, the nearby doctors and nurses couldn't help but take glances upon uttering his hero name. A collective glint of hope appeared on their faces. Some were surprised, others were just glad that a hero arrived from the outside.

"I'm here to help. I came here for Monika. Where is she?" Mineta asked, prompting Moe to stand there with slightly widened eyes. Monika and Warlow told her about Mayhem, the new hero as of late who defeated Harukaze. She didn't know or recognize him, but from what she gathered, he was the real deal.

That, and how could she forget the purple spheres on his head. They were the same ones that helped her, Monika and All Might during the riot. At the moment she was unaware of his mother being the provider of said spheres. To Moe, without them, she would have been unable to fight for as long as she did. The same with All Might and Monika at the end of the riot.

Moe immediately stepped forward and with a quick extension of her left hand. Her hair glowed with her charged emotions.

"Come here!" She said with a faint of desperation in her voice as she pulled Mineta with a tug, leading him past the nurses into the medical beds where the patients were kept. Time was of the essence.

The nurses and doctors would have protested the interruption of the rest of their patients, but Warlow relieved them with a nod, leaving the heroes to their business.

To these normal people, outsiders to the world of heroes, this was a historical moment.

A moment that All Might may be saved, just as he did for them for many years.

Upon leading the two Minetas to the beds, Minoru and Papito widened their eyes upon the sight of Monika, who laid on a white bed on the left side. She appeared worse for wear. Her body was beaten.

Her long hair was out of its usual long ponytail, messily sprawled on the bed. Her burgundy hat was laid by a nearby table along with her dirtied gear and a small bottle of painkillers.

Mineta took a look to the right, noticing All Might, the legend himself. He was attached to many tubes that were connected to an attendant with a miniature generator quirk. It stuck out from his back, and was the sole reason behind the current stabilized state of All Might.

"What…what happened to them?" Mineta worriedly asked. He never thought to see All Might in such a state. And Monika appeared so weak and frail. Compared to her usually dominatrix demeanor, this was a shock to see her like this.

"That riot took a lot out of us. All Might was attacked from behind, almost bled out were it not for that sphere he had eaten earlier."

Mineta and Papito raised eyebrows in realization.

Papito whispered. "I guess your mother let him borrow one…that or maybe she dropped it before he picked it up."

Moe continued.

"As for Monika, she saved us before that bastard could finish the job. The last thing I saw was a bright light, and then those criminals all ran like cowards." Moe hissed with frustration in her voice. Her eyes watered a bit from having to recite the dreadful circumstances behind her allies' current conditions. She took a breath to control herself.

"Please Mayhem…help them…" Moe whispered, though loud enough for Mineta to hear.

Mineta was quiet, slowly walking towards their beds, taking in the damage done to them in its entirety.

All Might, his teacher was bloodied beyond measure. Multiple blood bags and other stabilizing liquid medicines were hooked to his body, feeding it with necessary compounds to force his recovery. They could only do so much.

"Dad, take care of All Might." Mineta said with a neutral tone. Papito looked at his son and saw the vacant look in his eye, an indecipherable expression that made Papito concerned. He didn't say a word however. What could he say?

The slime made its way to the footrest of All Might's bed. Peering into who laid upon it, Papito was conflicted with a sense of thrill of meeting All Might in person, and at the same time despair at seeing such a man at death's door.

'I can't believe I get to see the All Might. After all these years…I finally get to see him, though…not in the way I wished.' Papito thought as he tenderly took a sphere from Mineta's head, the large sphere that Mamira provided for them. Slithering upwards towards All Might's bed he took the sphere and placed it into his own body where it dissolved, coloring him a royal purple.

'I wonder if you still remember what happened all those years ago…'

He then leaned over and placed a tendril into All Might's empty IV bag to fill it with the now liquefied booster. He then replaced the IV bag All Might was hooked to, with the one he filled. The doctor appeared concerned but with an affirmative nod from Warlow, the doctor didn't interfere.

'You were the one who saved us from that heist 17 years ago…before…'

Papito shook his head before refocusing his efforts.

'I suppose that's all in the past now. Thank you, All Might. For all that you did, for what you represent, and the efforts of Skywalker before you. It's not much, but take this sphere as a gift in the name of the Mineta family…in honor of my wife and my children who live now because of you. I wonder if it's fate…I doubt Minoru even knows. If he did…he'd probably be your biggest fan. That or he'd be even more mad about his height!'

Papito smiled to himself at his own internal joke before he finished his part.

As for Mineta, he took the last remaining Boosting Sphere to Monika. He leaned over as he took in the sight of the hall monitor.

Black bruises from blows taken by Harukaze's quirk littered her body. Stray cuts and claw marks were on her arms and legs as a result of her battle with the demon of Hydra Prison. Even her torso had a mark of a thicker set of claws.

Her face appeared slightly paler, as if she was drained of all her usual vitality. She was struggling to breathe. Her voice sounded strained, raspy from overuse.

It was quiet, none made a sound. It was a silent operation.

Moe watched on as Mayhem gently

pulled off his half mask and laid it next to Monika's hall monitor hat. Seeing his face from this distance she widened her eyes as she saw the youthful face underneath. She recognized the face. She had seen it at the sports festival. She just didn't remember the name but she remembered that he had a knack for coordinated team efforts. He was nowhere near the top three but neither was she, even now.

'A student…is Mayhem?'

Mineta took the sphere and took a nearby scalpel. Pressing into the sphere until the blade successfully pierced the outer shell, he placed it over his mouth and took a sip before he gently lifted her head upwards.

He gently poured the contents into her mouth with his own, not a word was said.

Moe blushed before looking away. 'Well...that explains why he's the first to get here...smooth operator...'

Every drop of the sphere was emptied. Mineta fed her the sphere directly in a slow pressing of his lips, literally infusing her with lifeblood.

He gently caressed her face, brushing a few stray licks obscuring her left eye. Noticing her usual scar on her forehead, he gently brushed his thumb over it too.

The same scar that she always covered with her hat. It appeared thicker than usual. In fact it seems to have changed. Before it was only scar tissue, now it was a literal engraved blue mark. It appeared to subtly glow in a color like the color of her frosty blue eyes.

The boy that was Mineta waited for his girl to awake. The hero that was Mayhem stood watch.

-With Deku: Musutafu 7th Lane-

Deku was breathing with a heat in his breath. His rage had made him act on impulse forgoing his usual sense of control. He had used a lot more strength than intended, utilizing a solid 30% of One for All where normally he would maintain a 25% limit. The middle finger he had used felt the mild aftershock. It felt numb, however, it still remained usable.

"It seems that somehow I've offended you…" Deku snapped out of his funk as a voice was heard from the fallen carcass.

The hairs on the back of his neck stiffened upwards.

"Was it the girl? The notebook? All of the above? Or do you simply obtain pleasure from laying harm on elders?" Diamondeye's voice was heard as if directly whispering into Deku's ear. The voice made his spine tingle.

"Good to know you are capable of long ranged attacks. Not many possess the ability to utilize raw kinetic energy in such a refined manner." Diamondeye's voice rang within his cranium.

'He…he's speaking even though he's not right next to me? Is it telepathy?' Deku deducted in confusion.

Deku however spoke aloud. His fury grew with each word.

"I won't let you or anyone else from the League hurt Eri! You won't lay a finger on her!" Deku seethed with a furrowed brow. His legs arched to keep his balance, ready to fire another at even the slightest provocation.

Deku's emerald eyes glowed in darkened fury, as if taunting Diamondeye to push him into action.

Diamondeye, in a stilt like manner, used his legs to prop himself upwards. The ankles stabbed into the ground before his thighs and torso followed. Despite the robotic posture, he had somehow managed to upright himself without the support of his arms.

CRACK

POPPLE

SNAP

The sound of cracking bones resonated within the area in a cringing manner that would enable one to decipher the damage done onto Diamondeye's body.

"Your earlier deduction was more than correct. Misaligned muscle fibers can make movement sporadic when otherwise they would be at peak functionality. It gets tiresome however to form compatible parts down to the cellular components. It has been a while since I've encountered a strength type, especially one with such impactful long ranged capabilities."

SHATTER

SHATTER

SHATTER

The sound of shattered glass was picked up from Deku's ears. Sprays of a glassy burst appeared in several areas on Diamondeye's husk like body before he stood perfectly upright once more, flexing his left hand and shoulder as if testing it. Where before were hunched and sporadic movements, were now stabilized and fluid movements as if he didn't just get struck with the dense impact of Deku's far reaching Delaware Smash.

"You know, you put me in a particularly unfavorable position. I would rather bring you with me unspoiled…but if you insist on mounting pointless resistance, then perhaps tonight…a lesson is in order…"

Diamondeye's gem carved eyes glowed. A shade of azure reflection vibrantly shined in the darkness.

"A lesson…that you won't learn from any school. How fortunate of you."

Diamondeye shifted his neck to his left.

"I could deduce from your first reaction that not only do you know the girl named Eri, but that you are close to her, almost as if you spent quite a bit of time with her, consistently. You didn't write her location, but considering your busy schedule, no doubt she must be somewhere in your usual route, close to your internship or the school itself. This narrows her location enough for me to work with."

He continued after a silent pause

from Deku. Due to the mere mention of Eri's endangerment, he flared his quirk. A mild electrical aura burst from his body in response to the growing reality that Diamondeye would try to find her.

Diamondeye let out in a disinterested tone.

"Silence is not the same as victory. Something I've also learned is that silence reveals. It tends to say more than what words can provide. It would seem I am correct."

Deku fired another Delaware Smash. The kinetic force volleyed towards the sinister weapons specialist.

SHATTER

The kinetic energy that was fired towards Diamondeye made its mark, however it didn't seem to move him or stun him. This left Deku confused, as earlier he had flung him far away.

Among the civilians, a lone child, a girl, stopped in place. An innocent in the middle of the confusion of metropolitan lights. For some reason, Diamondeye's gaze lingered in the direction of the lone child.

"From what I gather in our short dialogue, you are inclined to uphold the most virtuous of heroic tenants and values. The very essence behind every society lies first in its values. To value nothing is the basis of anarchy, to value everything means a society lacking in specialization or even greatness, rendering its contributions to worthless mediocrity. Values are the very blueprint of every nation…but oftentimes are easily exploited."

"What are you talking about? What is your point?" Deku growled, not necessarily seeing the point behind this.

"You hold a certain subset of values that instill the need to protect others. These people you protect however…you'd be surprised what values they truly hold."

Diamondeye pointed at a random civilian with his right hand, away from the child he was directly looking at. It was as if his peripherals could see more than the average vision. It was perfect even when looking away.

The person he pointed at was an old man. A random citizen amongst the ocean of others.

"Like that man over there. Ex military, long retired and now enduring the monotony of everyday life. To this day he has yet to inform his children of the many lives he's taken in service to Japan years ago, during the War of Masks."

Deku gazed in confusion. "The War of Masks? I never heard of it…"

"It was a silent war. Starkly similar to the Cold War of 1945. It was a war of conversion. Many sides fought to obtain dominance, but not through weapons, it was through the very culture of its people. The 'masks' that their societies wore came slipping off to a disastrous degree, revealing the ugliness of those who ruled. It was hopelessly dropped in the end. Quite a few skirmishes resulted in the process, now hidden along with all its dead. But that man, a stranger, a nobody, is one of the few who still remembers all the players of that unspoken war, as well as the secrets still held there beneath the ruins."

"What's the point behind this?" Deku demanded, rage being the sole reason for his apparent impatience.

Diamondeye stared at the man with a robotic shift of his neck muscles. His eyes sparkled with an unknown intent.

"I'm sure he'd want to be done with them. But the players were quite fickle, eyes still watch to this day. To him, secrecy is his most treasured value, seeking to shield his family from the ugly truths of the world he was forced to witness first hand. Such unknown atrocities, all in the name of a nation who gladly lines its people like pigs to a slaughterhouse. A man who looked into the world and found himself betrayed by all, even himself."

"And you know this…how? You haven't even spoken to him…"

"I did sell the weapons for the battles surrounding it. To all sides, the highest bidder changed quite rapidly. I made quite a suitable profit. About 235,789 casualties were recorded. From my recollection there are many more lying buried in the ground, some still under the effects of that lost page of history."

Deku saw the old man look with a forlorn almost lost look at the pedestrians around him. Upon seeing his family the man was capable of forcing a smile, as if nothing was bothering him.

"Even now the burden of isolation is weighing him down. He will reach the inevitable end of all men who know of war and have no one to console them. By this time next year, expect a note left behind, before he dives into one last battle with only a single bullet in the chamber. A pathetic end to an equally pathetic being. His value will be his undoing. A new war will begin the cycle anew, and the many victims with it."

Diamondeye then pointed at the child he was still gazing upon.

"That child there is a murderer in plain sight. The finest I have seen at her age. Being forced to fight in dog pits is not easy for a child, it is a miracle she escaped. And yet, that was not enough. She utilized her quirk to break down the bones of her oppressors, before dropping the remains in some beach by the coast. Murder was the answer to her grandest problem yet, 'why did the dog bite me?'. A good starting point, however she'd do well to consider chocolate next time. Her value, revenge, will lead her to darkness, and what will come out will no longer be human. Even now, agents of revenge gather in the shadows of our world."

Diamondeye tilted his head, as if questioning something.

"That is merely two of the many 'values' you people hold. And I see it all. I saw it in the past, I see it in the present and know the repercussions awaiting us in our future. Obscurity, lies, and bloodlust."

Deku appeared visibly bothered by these odd analyses of random civilians. Civilians, who despite appearing happy, were well beyond that of stability, practically smiling despite their well hidden evils and struggles.

"There are always going to be good people and bad ones. That's the way of the world, it's not for us to judge. Especially the likes of you!"

"And yet as heroes, aren't you meant to stop the evils of the world? If you only looked out your back door, you'll find as much evil hidden in any child as you would the likes of Genghis Khan. Why not stop it before either begins? Why wait until the four horsemen arrive when you can prevent them from gaining momentum in the first place? Then again, it does help to possess eyes like mine. No secret can be hidden from them…not for long."

Diamondeye then looked from the child to Deku.

"The lesson here is that values are the hints to one's weaknesses. The old man's value for secrecy is the reason for his silent agony. The child's need for revenge is why she will never be truly free of those pits, she will carry that feral rage with her for the rest of her life. Your value, to protect others, would mean that your weakness is…people."

All the people walking past the two confronting quirk users then began slowing down, until collectively they were all literally paused in place. The ambience stopped altogether, along with the voices and ambience of the city district.

All was silent. A disturbing chill tingled Deku's spine.

"Deku!…" The feminine voice pleaded, almost desperately trying to reach Deku. It came ever clearer to him without the ambience distracting his focus.

"The thing is…unlike these people…I had to 'guess' your value, when I should be able to 'hear' your value?" Diamondeyes' voice was heard behind Deku, enough to feel the sensation of breathing behind him.

He wouldn't listen to these obvious distractions, not when Diamondeye was right in front of him. He had no time for tricks.

"Deku…LOOK BEHIND YOU!"

He flinched before turning around and found Diamondeye immediately in front of him, face to face. From a distance one would assume Diamondeye was quite average in height. However, up close, the man was clearly taller than Deku. The smell was even more foul up close.

The smell of rotting flesh. The eyes sent an odd stinging sensation within Deku's retinas. It was not painful by any means, but the power of his eyes was felt from this close range.

"Along with those cowardly shades who follow you…" Diamondeye noted, his eyes flashing as he spoke down to Deku. His right hand was slowly reaching for Deku's head as if slowed by a barrier Deku couldn't see.

The boy immediately swung his right fist in self defense, finding his fist making an impact against the Diamondeye's exposed ribcage. Diamondeye merely slid back from the intense force of Deku's blow. The ground beneath the terrorist scratched under the weight of his bony feet scratching against the ground.

Deku looked behind him, noticing that the Diamondeye he was talking to earlier was gone. He had been talking to an illusion.

'All this time we were talking…and he made it right behind me! He had me the whole time!' Deku analyzed before gulping audibly. Cold sweat marred his face.

Diamondeye appeared to shrug off the strength of Deku's right arm before he stiffened upright and began walking in an automatic manner towards Deku.

Diamondeye's voice projected itself in Deku's mind.

"Too many inconsistencies about you. Strength types usually possess a body in proportion to its output. To match the strength of a hit like that requires a much larger physique. Even for quirks, yours is quite illogical."

Deku's eyes twitched in nervousness.

'He knows who I am, he knows my dossier…but now he's trying to figure out my quirk! I can't stall here.'

"There are many possibilities as to why your strength quirk is so abnormal. It could be genetic, however, both your telekinetic mother, and your fire breathing father are unlikely to produce any form of strength-based quirks. It does explain your sharp mind however."

Diamondeye reached for Deku with an outstretched left hand, who immediately attempted to strike Diamondeye with a focused left side kick, intending on breaking Diamondeye's stilted balance.

GRIP

Diamondeye caught Deku's extended leg with his right hand. His grip was extremely tight, holding enough strength to press deeply into Deku and keep him in place. It surprised the emerald cladded hero.

"Odd…strength types passively possess their capabilities even when not using their quirk. It would also require the bone structure to properly support the aftershock of each empowered blow…but you…you possess none of that. You are the only one I've seen whose bone density suggests a vastly weaker body, especially after that poorly executed kick."

The amount of pressure Diamondeye pressed into Deku's leg began increasing enough for his bony digits to prod against Deku's ankle bone. It was painful to the One for All user, causing him to grimace.

"Hm…your bones are quite easy to fracture without your quirk…practically like twigs. Interesting…"

Deku swung a left hook into the left side of Diamondeye's face.

CRACKLE

The jaw literally detached itself with a harsh crunch. It was practically dangling off its joint, the only thing keeping it attached was the muscle fiber strands that were under the bones.

BASH

Deku used a right legged shove to kick Diamondeye off his person. The weapons specialist was shoved a few feet away, skidding against the concrete to avoid losing balance. Deku, as a result of the strength used in his legs, had to use his hands to halt the momentum of his body, otherwise he would crash into a wall or some of the bystanders stuck in place. He heard Diamondeye's voice again.

"It triggers, then dissipates like a light switch. You are capable of regulating your strength with each blow. Which means you can hypothetically use your full strength…but your body won't follow, will it? And you know that…don't you?"

Deku breathed in exertion. 'There's too many people here! I can't fight like this while worrying about their safety. But if I leave…what would he do…'

SHATTER

SHATTER

SHATTER

Multiple glass textured bursts appeared on Diamondeye's body before he flexed his shoulders, the sounds of popping echoes in the now quiet market district. His jaw, which was originally dangling, was set back into place with a sickening

audible crunch. The air surrounding him distorted, as if the air reflected parts of Diamondeye like mirrors before vanishing in milliseconds.

POP

CRUNCH

"You have strength, which you hold back intentionally. Your physiology contradicts the body structure of the average strength based quirk. Too weak to withhold the aftershock of your blows and yet sturdy enough for you to control at will. And you wear a costume with excessive cushion pads and reinforcement armor, which means you'll practically fall apart without that costume of yours…you're a living glass cannon. And like one, all it takes is one solid blow to break you."

Diamondeye stood in place for a second. Deku wouldn't respond but his anxiety only grew along with Diamondeyes' more than accurate analysis.

"I will require more data from you."

SHATTER

Diamondeye pulled out an arms length weapon from his left hand. A rapier was held in hand. Looking at it, it was a custom made piece of weaponry. The hilt appeared to be made of ebony, with small nicks of fleshy material, appearing to connect to Diamondeyes' left hand. The pommel was small, crafted with a blue sapphire gem. The guard was of an unusual make, with a mixture of bone-like protrusions that served as the sweepings of the handle and a literal ruby knuckle guard. The false edge of the blade appeared to be made of normal metal, bouncing off the lights of the nearby street lights.

As for the true edge, it was made from a different metal than the false edge. It appeared almost see through, as if made from glass. An odd material to build a sword with, however he held it with a practiced grip.

Diamondeye held the forged rapier in front of his left eye, the thin blade gleamed under the night lights, reflecting Deku's face upon its glassy metal sheen. His right eye pierced Deku.

'Wait…I thought his quirk only had something to do with messing with people's minds! He pulled that sword out of thin air. What's going on here?!'

"I wonder what other secrets you carry. I will ask only once…come with me of your own volition…or retribution awaits…"

Deku grit his teeth as he arched his legs in a battle stance. Though he had many questions about Diamondeye, he knew he had a personal stake in this.

'I can't let him roam free. With all the information he had discovered about me, mom and Eri would be in danger! Letting Diamondeye go now would be dangerous.'

"No. There's no way that I'm going with you."

"Then your lesson will continue...as it already did for them."

"Them?" Deku asked.

Diamondeye nodded. He repeated himself. "Them…"

"AHHHHHH!"

A piercing high pitched cry filled the area silencing whatever Deku had in mind. He looked to his right, his heroic training looking to find the immediate source of the obtrusive scream of an innocent.

A woman next to Deku clasped her scalp as she collapsed to the ground, on her knees. She was a brown haired woman, wearing a black jacket with a white undershirt. Her eyes were wide with shrunken pupils. It was as if she lost herself, looking at something that wasn't there.

Deku's protective instincts drove him to reach out towards the woman who seemed to be in some form of internal pain.

He worriedly asked. "It's okay, I'm here, what's going on, are you okay miss?"

The woman in question stared upwards, with large droplets of tears in her eyes, practically lost in her shock induced delirium. The irises of her eyes may have looked at Deku's, but she wasn't seeing him.

"No…not again! Please…mom…get him off me…" The young woman mumbled before her eyes closed in resignation.

"Someone…please kill me…" The girl whispered.

Deku's eyes blinked at the realization that whatever she was experiencing had nothing to do with the present. She was lost in her own mind.

"What did you do to her!?" Deku demanded of Diamondeye.

"Me…I simply exposed her life as it was in its entirety. It is quite a lot to take all in. There were many who toyed with her in her gullible lifetime. I wonder if her father knows about her pain. Oh wait…he died in war…the old veteran killed him. How erroneous of me…"

"AHHHHHH!"

Another scream bellowed in the lane. This time from the mentally struggling veteran Diamondeye mentioned.

"OH GOD STOP! SO MUCH BLOOD! SO MUCH BLOOD! IT'S ALL OVER ME!" The old man cried out, literally forced to relive the atrocities he had been exposed to in his military servitude.

Deku felt his impulse to spring to action. He could only react verbally.

"It's not real! There's nothing there! Snap out of it, you're under an illusion!" Deku warned the old man.

"Voices everywhere! Blood! We can't let him win! Blood! They're all dead, we've both lost! No more blood!"

Unfortunately, Deku soon found that he couldn't do anything. Not for this kind of problem, whatever that man held came from within. He couldn't reach him as he was now.

Diamondeye simply watched, admiring his 'work'.

"Don't bother. There won't be any saving tonight. There is just you and me. Tutor and student in a class of our own. I warned you to come with me or you would face retribution. Yet you persisted…" Diamondeye spoke in a subtle hiss, a minor sign of hostility in his voice. A sadistic tone that spoke volumes of what lied in store next.

The ads along the seventh lane began glitching, sporadically turning on and off in messy transitions. Street lamps fizzled into darkness, whilst traffic lights burst into electrical flares, sending sparks onto the ground as their power was violently disrupted.

"Deku! Listen!" The feminine voice was as clear as he could make it. He knew it well enough by now.

"Whether serving in war…"

Around Deku, several more men of various ages fell to the ground and clasped their heads in mental agony. Their pained screams flared Deku's eardrums.

"Let them go! Your fight is with me, leave these people out of it!" Deku demanded Diamondeye.

"Or love…"

The women fell to the ground, all screeching and pleading for mercy as they experienced their worst moments in life.

"Stop it!" Deku demanded. His eyes held panic as he looked everywhere as the once happy populace collectively screamed in despair.

The revenge filled child began weeping.

"Mom…dad…*hic*...please no more dogs…please…"

"Or fighting in dog pits…"

"Let them go!" Deku demanded

"Weapons of war are my trade. Conquest is my value…"

The ever increasing cumulation of all the screams formed a deafening cry of sorrow and despair that pierced both Deku's heart as well as his eardrums. The volume alone forced him to cover his ears as the noise proved too loud for even his ear drums.

WHEEEEE

Frustration built up in Deku's mind. He couldn't stand the deafening cries, the agonizing pleas that emanated from the citizens he wished to protect. A deep seated righteous fury bubbled within, one propelled by not only himself but by all the occupants within the very core of his being. He couldn't describe it, but this orchestra of hopelessness made his blood boil.

"Stop it!" Deku said with fury. Anxiety of failure to protect people in a non physical manner made it all the more worse. Even with One for All, and all its grand power, he couldn't stop this internal war. Like an audience, all he could do was watch as the people around him lost their minds.

"Like you, they will all learn retribution…"

Deku felt desperation make it to the forefront of his mind.

"...and you only have yourself to blame."

The source of this madness made Deku sick to his stomach.

"Your values have led you here, to unending despair…"

A rare form of anger and rage fueled his actions, hoping to silence the deafening cries of a hopeless crowd.

"What will you do…student…" Diamondeye taunted, mocking Deku as the people grew increasingly loud within their internal purgatories. Some of them clasped their faces so tightly that their fingernails tore into their skin. Bits of blood dropped from their wounds as well as from their ears. The source of the damage done to their minds was still unknown.

Deku had yet to be dealt such an unexpected turn of events. So many people suffering, so many scared, terrified and even breaking, without a thing he could do to ease their agony.

His solution to this lone manipulator was one born of desperation. Though he had little experience with the use of this quirk, for this dangerous situation, for the good of everyone else here, Deku would make an exception.

SHHHHHH

GRIP

Diamondeye was stuck in place. The escaped inmate peered downward towards his body.

Black rope like tendrils with emerald outlines had wrapped around the assailant. Diamondeye was kept in place in a vice-like hold. His arms were flattened against his sides, prodding the muscle interior with the sharp edges of his exoskeleton.

Looking at the source of this proverbial net, he noticed that Deku's body lit with green tinted sparks that lit the darkness of the lane. His left hand held these small mechanical grooves from which the strange wisps came from.

'Black Whip!' Deku commanded his second quirk he had discovered during the Joint Training Battle with class 1B. The quirk, as a result of his training under Endeavor, was more focused than his haphazard first attempt, but still unmastered. For the purpose of grappling, it did serve as an extremely flexible and yet restraining rope for enemies who didn't expect it.

Deku moved as if on impulse.

With a mental tug of his mind, the tendrils crushed Diamondeye within his grip ever tightly, before pulling the felon towards him. The manner Deku pulled however suggested he wasn't pulling Diamondeye towards him.

THWACK

He sent Diamondeye upwards, high into the sky, far from the reach of the surrounding victims of his sick game.

'Before, Diamondeye appeared to have a range of 45 inches. However, it's probably the bare minimum range of his quirk. Musutafu 7th lane was inspired by New York's One Times Square! The size of the entire block would mean that his range could number from 20 feet to around 139 feet! The higher up I send him the more his quirk will lose its strength!'

The velocity of the empowered pull made Diamondeye helpless to the forced grip of the unexpected attack. It was confining, and despite its appearance, it worked much like a rope. The energy output that crushed his body was as if the whip-like quirk had a mind of its own. It moved him upwards, away from the vicinity of nearby citizens. He intended to send him into the sky.

"A second quirk…" Diamondeye whispered.

GLINT

A bright flash of light emanated from Diamondeye. It was only for a second, before the wispy black tendrils obscured his face as it raised itself high in the sky.

'Raise One for All into my fist at 25%. I'm finishing this now!'

Deku's free right fist surged with green electrical volts that surged from his body. A focused glare appeared on his face as he powered a large haymaker, one that sent sparkling emerald volts outward, lighting the darkened streets with neon green.

THWACK

Black Whip pulled Diamondeye toward the ground, straight down with as much velocity as the quirk could manage. With Deku's One for All charging him, the strength and speed of the wisps were magnified.

"25% Detroit!" Deku proclaimed as he raised his fist and swung with the velocity of One for All.

"SMASH!" Deku roared his attack. His voice echoed like a battlecry made from champions. He dished out an upwards uppercut right at the point of impact where Diamondeye would collide with him. With Black whip keeping him in place, Deku's uppercut would render him asunder.

BOOM

CRASH

CRACKLE

The shockwave released was flung upwards in a sharp steep blast. The advertisement lights of the 7th lane blew out as a result of the overwhelming power that ripped them off their hinges. The people were sent off their feet as the earthquake-like ripples disbalanced them, sending them far from the epicenter of Deku's titan-like strength.

The people had begun shaking themselves free of their mental torment, fleeing the sight of what appeared to be an explosion. It would seem that the shockwave of the blast had literally snapped them free from whatever illusion Diamondeye subjected them to. They all sought safety, leaving their cars behind as smoke filled the area as a result of the large scale blast.

Prominent cracks appeared on the concrete floor as well as the paved city streets. Though harmless to people, the architecture of the lane itself suffered quite a bit of damage despite Deku's aim for the sky. It was only a fourth of the sheer god-like strength that One for All possessed, yet it left devastation to any unlucky enough to be caught in direct contact with Deku's fist.

In this case, the unlucky target would be Diamondeye himself. With Black Whip holding him in place, the husk was in the perfect position to be undone with one shot.

Deku breathed with fatigue. He put a lot into that blow, intending on finishing Diamondeye quickly. It was a lot of power for just one man, however considering the otherworldly endurance the felon possessed, this was a necessity.

All was silent, not a sound other than the pillowy smoke that flowed with the wind.

SHING

SPLATTER

Deku couldn't tell what happened. What he did know was that his left cheek was split open by a razor sharp sensation, spewing blood into the air.

Deku backed away, back flipping to his right in order to avoid the source of the blade that cut him. Within the smoke of the debris he lacked his vision, forcing him to look around.

"I know you…and yet I don't…that quirk you used…I recognize it…it was the same one that belonged to Lariat…Daigoro Banjo. I was only a boy at the time…but I remember that quirk as clear as yesterday…" Diamondeye's voice echoed within the smoke. He was astounded.

'How…how old is this guy?!' Deku thought before narrowly avoiding another slice heading his way. It cut into the armor on his leggings. Though the armor was thick, the blade managed to leave a prominent mark past the protective shin guards.

"How can you have another quirk? It is a natural impossibility. And yet you possess two."

Deku backed away from the voice that appeared behind him, forcing him to leap away to make sure he wouldn't be caught unaware.

SHING

He successfully dodged a blade thrust which literally sliced deep into a car. It was far too clean for the blade to be of normal make.

"0.6% Probability of Quirk Marriage. Quirk alterations: Medical Files suggest none. Quirk implantation ErRor…eRrOr…breach of Quirk Law Section 5-63A. Unlikely. Probability 9.8%. Readjusting diagnostic…"

Deku's face shifted into a confused expression. He was shocked at the robotic manner that Diamondeyes' voice projected itself. Like a computer. His voice appeared to come from everywhere, making the boy increasingly anxious and paranoid.

SHING

Deku felt a nick on his right shoulder in his distracted state. He was cut once again.

SHATTER

"Blood sample collected. No genetic correlation to records pertaining to Toshiyori Yagi or Daigoro Banjo. Yet correlation remains... probability of quirk implantation…32%."

Deku grew more fearful as Diamondeye appeared to analyze his blood in mere seconds. The fact that his eyes were able to detect such detailed intricate facts was alarming.

"Readjustment confirmed. Theory: subject underwent generational quirk implantation. Daigoro Banjo…implanted quirk to Unknown…"

"Deku!"

"Unknown implanted quirk to Unknown B. Hypothesis…possible recipient…inconclusive."

"Listen to me!"

"Unknown B implanted quirk to Toshiyori Yagi. Hero name: All Might."

"You need to-!"

"Toshiyori Yagi implanted quirk to Izuku Midoriya. Potential number of quirks for Izuku Midoriya…error."

"-you need to-"

"Running diagnostic: Odds of quirk implantation…"

All was silent.

"Final deduction: 83%. Known donors: Daigoro Banjo, deceased. Toshiyori Yagi, deceased."

Deku stood in place, as his world stopped. Even the guiding voice of Nana Shimura seized, her voice was silent.

"What…what did you say?! All Might…is dead?!"

The voices Deku kept hearing stopped.

"Confirmed dead…time of death…7:10pm. Approximately 4 hours, 35 minutes, 54 seconds ago."

-Flashback: Chapter 22-

Deku spoke in earnest. "I overheard your phone call the other day, if you are going at least take me with you."

The living legend interrupted. "I know you are concerned about my well being, but the answer is no. I don't want to bring you along, not for this."

Deku had a worried look on his face. "But-"

All Might intervened. "I'll be fine, another pro hero volunteered to come with me during my appointment. Besides, you have a group dinner to attend to, right?"

"Oh…that's right?" Deku acknowledged.

-Flashback End-

Deku's eyes instinctually watered with nearly flowing tears upon what Diamondeye said.

"No…you're lying!" Deku cried, as tears fell without restraint. He wanted to collapse, but he denied the statement.

"Death by a proverbial knife in the dark. I was there when Kuro Harukaze severed his spine with a single swipe."

Deku's face shifted into unspoken sorrow. Tears slipped down his face. He originally thought Diamondeye was an ally of the League of Villains. Instead he was an ally of Kuro Harukaze. Though they have never met, he did enough reconnaissance to discover all about his personal information.

-Flashback: Chapter 34 (Earlier)-

"I heard about your name from a mutual acquaintance."

-Flashback End-

Deku was horrified as pieced everything together.

An ally of Harukaze. The same one who supposedly killed All Might. That means Diamondeye is most likely a prisoner.

'Harukaze, during the massacre. He took my book during the fight. And Diamondeye read it. Everything…Eri…mom…and my friends…'

"Harukaze…was imprisoned."

Diamondeye's voice projected itself into Deku's ears, sadistically mocking him.

"And now…thanks to All Might…thanks to you…we…are all…free!"

A pause registered for only a second. Diamondeye had yet to make a move.

"Fight." A brave voice echoed within Deku's core. It was the passionate roar of Daigoro Banjo, demanding Deku to make his stand now.

Deku's tearful face shifted into a determined gaze.

"Fight!" The voice came out in a chorus of righteous fury of all previous One for All bearers. Fury for the loss of one of their own.

"Fight…we stand with you…" The feminine voice echoed to Deku. The panic of before was replaced with a somber tone, one of melancholy for another lost in the war against One for All. It was the voice of Nana Shimura.

It was all the confirmation he needed from the legend herself.

The battle is far from won. He would make his true stand here.

( A/n: *Que music: My Hero - Opening 3 : Sora ni Utaeba)

WHOOSH

Deku thrusted a lone punch within the obscuring smoke that had filled his vision, clearing it free from any unnecessary obstacles that would obscure his vision. He will be needing it for this fight.

CLICK

CLACK

"You are used to fighting villains, but tell me boy…are you ready to contend with monsters who thrive in the abyss?"

Deku immediately turned around him with a readiness in his gaze. His legs were stretched wide in a battle stance. Both arms clenched tightly into fists as he faced this new threat. A threat among many others.

He will avenge All Might here.

Peering out from stray wisps of smoke was Diamondeye. Stepping forward to meet Deku in their battle, with blade drawn.

"Full Cowling!" Deku roared. With a shockwave, surges of electrical discharges were sent from his body, as his quirk was on full display.

SHATTER

Diamondeye held his left hand behind his back, whilst his right pointed his rapier in Deku's direction.

With a few still seconds the two superpowered beings stare at each other down before the battle entered its next phase.

Deku began by sending firing off an empowered well-timed Delaware Smash.

Diamondeye's eyes flared before the walking bone man decided to sidestep. Though a large wind brushed past the stalwart gem-eyed inmate, he was relatively unharmed.

SHATTER

Diamondeye whipped out a desert eagle. He opened fire in Deku's direction, prompting him to thrust himself in a high velocity evasion maneuver.

The bullet of the desert eagle wasn't in fact sent towards the hero, but towards the exposed gas tank of a nearby car. The ignited gasoline flared in a large violent explosion, sending bits of aluminum and metal careening through the air.

Deku rolled as a result of the unexpected explosion. Regaining his bearings, he decided to fire off another Delaware Smash, this time aiming for the ground beneath him.

BOOM

CRACKLE

With the large amount of boulders and concrete blocking Diamondeyes' sights. Deku utilized a hit and run tactic. He used his strength to literally punch the large pieces of boulder in Diamondeyes' last direction.

WHAM

SKID

The boulder skin towards Diamondeye before reaching his exposed body.

SHATTER

What surprised Deku was the fact that upon contact with the muscle-exposed inmate, the boulder that he had used as an improvised projectile disappeared in a glassy transition. Not a single pebble was left.

"Using your environment to your advantage. This is good. But just as you can do, so can your opponent."

Diamondeye placed his hand on the ground.

"Surveying material composition…"

CRINKLE

CRACKLE

"Storage…"

Deku felt gravity shift beneath him. Looking towards his feet the green cladded boy saw that the ground beneath was literally fractured like glass. It practically faded in a glassy air-distorting transition much like Diamondeye summoned his weapon. He fell towards the deep dark trenches of the underground subway system, crashing into metallic pipes along the way. He covered his body with his arms in an x shape as he made impact with the deeper foundation of the city.

SMASH

CRACKLE

Deku grunted as he made contact with the ground. He got up and looked at the now large hole above him.

'He destroyed the area where I was standing…'

Deku analyzed his surroundings, noticing he was now in the underground subway system, where speeding trains still were in operation.

"I need to get out of here!"

Deku jumped towards the hole. As he made his way towards the edge of the street, a notable glint of light entered his vision.

SHATTER

An odd distortion filled his sights before the boy felt his body make impact with something hard.

CRASH

WHOOO

"AHHHHHH!" A girl squealed as Deku shook his head in disillusion. Looking around him, he noticed he had just crashed through an incoming train. The occupants panicked as they noticed the green hero tear through the metal like tinfoil.

Deku felt blood drip down his forehead, most likely a cut he obtained from diving headfirst into the train.

The people, who were disturbed with the hero who literally smashed through the train, all possessed fearful looks on their faces as they looked at what was behind him.

FLASH

A stray light emanated from behind Deku, causing the passengers who were under the strange flare to collapse like ragdolls at the same time, dizzied and delirious.

"Where do you think you're going? Your battle is far from over…"

GRIP

Deku felt himself get pulled from the train and onto the waiting platform, making contact with a metal pillar, causing it to dent with his Full Cowling still active.

BING

SCREECH

Deku clenched his mouth to hiss out in pain as he struggled to get up. Two hard impacts like that were hard to endure. His body may be strong due to Full Cowling, but the bludgeoning blow to his head had nearly made his brain bang against his scalp. Even his bones ached from the rough impact.

"No matter how durable your body may seem, your quirk is only skin deep. Your bones and innards are nothing like your muscles. Had you been actually born a strength type, you would have this advantage. But you are an abomination…and thus lack this very basic foundation." Diamondeye's voice echoed in the darkness of the subway. Deku looked to his right and noticed Diamondeye standing In the middle of the platform. A dark silhouette prominent in the middle of the blackened underground subway.

WHOOO

SCREEE

A train sped past the platform, sending small bits of light from the windows onto Diamondeyes' person. His two optics glowed in an otherworldly sheen.

His blade was clasped into his right hand, whilst his left remained empty.

"Come boy…as all heroes do…straight to oblivion…"

Deku snarled as he used another Delaware Smash to fire another gust of air towards the husk.

SHATTER

The Delaware Smash dissipates upon making contact with Diamondeye.

"Surveying…"

SHATTER

"Send."

A gust of wind shook the room before Deku felt his body harshly blown back by a shockwave, flinging him into the subway wall panels nearby. He crashed through the ceramic tiles used to decorate the walls, forcing himself to get back up as he shook off the dust.

Deku stared confusedly at Diamondeye, a bit of blood dropped down the corner of his lips.

'What's going on? What was that? My Delaware Smash made contact and then…was…'

"You possess a suitable range of skills…but none are perfected enough. You have yet to learn to maximize the power of those gusts you favor. Ranged attacks need more precision and speed."

SHATTER

BANG

A bullet lodged itself next to Deku's head, shocking the boy who hadn't expected a bullet so quickly before he rolled and dashed behind other train platform pillars. His intent was to avoid any more incoming bullets.

BANG

BANG

"Gah!" Deku let out as a shrapnel of one of the bullets scrapped the back of his ankle, causing him to collapse haphazardly. Though Full Cowling increased his speed, the bullet was faster.

Diamondeye's left hand carried the desert eagle from earlier, still steaming from the freshly fired bullet.

CRINKLE

SHATTER

The gun appeared to fracture and explode in a glassy stream before evaporating.

"Your speed and reflexes are also lacking. Even All Might at his best has been said to move at 600 km per hour. The average bullet moves 1700 km per hour. But your speed...is only a fourth of that. How do you have speed if you have strength and those wires already? Then again, all your abilities suggest multiple quirks. You are like a jack of all trades, but an expert in nothing. You can hardly hold your own against an old man…"

Deku gritted his teeth as he rose up. His fists clenched as he readied for close range conformation.

He surged his quirk from the usual 25% to 28%. He was pushing himself past his usual limit. But the small boost can make all the difference.

BASH

WHAM

Deku struck Diamondeye with an uppercut followed by a speeding back kick. Combined with his Delaware Smash, the power of his legs combined with the impact of his air smash, propelled Diamondeye back. It sent the skeleton into the wall tiles. His weight broke through the wall entirely.

CRACKLE

SNAP

Diamondeye flinched sporadically upon making contact with the wall.

"You increased your output…"

SHATTER

SHATTER

SHATTER

Diamondeye rose himself upwards automatically, as if he was not wounded.

"For this…I will need better nerve endings…"

SHATTER

SHATTER

Diamondeye's usually calcium laced bones began displaying small bits of diamond shards against his person before they seized.

"Much better…"

He simply walked forward. Deku surged with Full Cowling again as he began sending blow after blow.

Diamondeye would make unusual movements, simple shifts of the body to avoid the incoming fist in automatic fashion.

SHING

Deku found his left arm sliced at his wrist. Responding with a ground rupturing right high kick, Diamondeye nicked the exposed ankle with the true edge of his rapier.

SHING

Deku backed away as he felt the stinging sensation of a bloodied leg.

'Dammit! That blade slipped right through my leg armor. I can't afford to mess around here.'

Deku used another finger flick to force the ceiling atop of Diamondeye, who stiffly looked upwards as the debris landed atop of him.

'There!' Deku analyzed before he sprinted forward and landed a bone fracturing right haymaker into Diamondeye's torso, making contact with it past the large rocks that collapsed atop of him.

'DETROIT SMASH!'

CRACKLE

Deku felt the bones of the assailant dig into his extended right forearm. Painfully, as the weapons specialist was blown away by the impact of another 30% punch, the bits of Diamondeyes' ribcage dug into Deku's skin.

SHING

SPLATTER

Deku gritted his teeth. Though Diamondeye had a fractured ribcage, his own forearm took a lot of damage from his exoskeletal defense.

'That's not…that's not normal…his ribcage. Nothing about his body is normal.'

Deku acknowledged the pain in his arms, noting the small bits of glassy shards against his arm.

'Diamonds…' Deku noticed, seeing the gem sheddings stuck into his forearm, acting similarly to razor wire.

"*Cough* *Cough* It would seem you noticed something…I'd say that your lesson is over…" Diamondeye stated with a shuddering cough before placing his hand over his left eye.

"Unfortunately…I'll have to make this quick."

Diamondeye extended his left hand.

Deku felt his body stuck in a paralyzed position. His body leaned backwards in a back breaking manner. As if something forcibly grabbed him in place.

"YoU cAnNOt hiDe…"

Deku let out a noiseless scream as his body felt like it was burning from the inside.

A pulse could be heard in his eardrums, blotting out the sound of the nearby trains, and the sound of Diamondeye's footsteps.

The moment Diamondeye's hand made contact with Deku's forehead.

SHATTER

Deku's vision literally broke into shards, leading him into darkness, an abyss without end.

He felt his body falling. His eyes burnt. Taking a weary glance to his left he widened his eyes.

Before him was a large skull within the abyss. The shape was noticeable as twin diamonds glowed enough to display the now massive skull face of Diamondeye in front of him.

WHEEEE

White noise banged against his ear drums. The slightest amount of movement was impossible. He was kept in place.

"SeVEn LiVes…" A bone chilling voice took the boy by surprise. An ominous tone from something that can be described as monstrous. Too grand to be human. Too silent to be natural.

"ShOw mE yOuR qUirK…"

Deku clenched his eyes tightly as he felt his mind burn. It was more than a headache. As if hot knives were jammed straight into his cranium.

"WhO aRe yOu?…" Diamondeye echoed.

Deku swung at the large face in defiance. His eyes bore that fire of rebellion even now.

"ReSisTAncE iS fuTilE…an illusion is all that remains…"

Deku felt his body take a large slash across his torso, spewing blood everywhere. It was painful to feel the sensation of being gutted.

That was before his torso refixed itself. The damage was now nonexistent.

Deku used multiple Delaware Smashes, hoping to gain some form of distance away from that thing lurking in the dark.

"ReSisTAncE iS fuTilE…I will follow wherever you run…"

Deku noticed the large skull steadily come closer towards him. Its evil grin heading in his direction.

Deku blocked his ears to block out the noise.

"ReSisTAncE iS fuTilE…all will break beneath my gaze…"

SHATTER

-Unknown Location-

Deku snapped his eyes, gasping for breath. Looking around him, he could see a strange plot of land. He didn't have any recollection of this place.

It was covered in rain. A long abandoned plot of land, rippled by incoming tides of the nearby ocean. The sky lacked a sun, and held no comfort in its aura. A blackened sky that washed the landscape in a dark hue. Large spikes filled the area, as if a great battle occurred here.

And yet it was empty.

'Where am I?' Deku thought before collapsing on his knees. Great pain registered into his body as he fell to the ground. His body splashed against the puddles of dirtied rainwater.

"Gah…hah…" Deku gasped for breath. He couldn't move. His body felt heavy, and sweat marred his body.

Deku felt the rain gather on his back. A large piece of cloth draped over him. It was in tatters. The fatigue of battle weighed on him. He was too weak to walk, so he had to force himself to crawl.

'Master!' A voice screamed to Deku, though he couldn't see where it was coming from. It was the cry of a young man, wallowed in despair.

"Pitiful…"

'I'm counting on you…' Another voice echoed within this destroyed land, spectres of a past long gone.

"Leaving the world in the hands of an easily forgotten name…"

'Someone…' A voice echoed in this long isolated area. He couldn't tell where it was coming from.

"In the rain…in the rubble…abandoned like you never mattered…"

'Please…' The voice begged. It felt closer now. Deku had to get away.

"No mercy will come for you…in the end…your smile is a mask to cover the fact that you lived a life of regret."

"Help me…" Deku let out before snapping himself from whatever it was he said. It felt like words that weren't his own.

Deku had to get up. He had to rise again. With great agony the boy used his arms, his yellow gloves arms, to rise onto his knees.

'These gloves...they're not mine...who do they belong to...'

The rain made strands of his long straight black hair block his eyes before he wiped it away.

'My hair...it's so different...'

Though on his knees, seeing the sky made his heart swell. The openness of the world itself made him feel free.

"Pitiful girl…in the end you still seek freedom…"

Deku turned around.

Diamondeye stood there staring down at him.

Deku collapsed on the ground backing away.

"I kNoW yOu…I sEe aLl oF yOU…"

Deku tripped over a small rock and onto a pile of mud. Diamondeye walked forward.

"YoUr qUiRk…yOuR cUrSeD eXisTEnCe…"

The ground fractured beneath Deku as he faced Diamondeye, now on the hunt.

"ChAnGe oF pLAnS…I hAvE nO NeEd oF yoU…"

Deku saw the large spikes begin fracturing within the radius of Diamondeye. His glowing eyes acted like lighthouses, aimed straight towards Deku, on target no matter where he went.

"YoURs iS a lEsSoN LOnG dELayEd…"

"LeT dEAtH bE yOuR teAcHEr…fOr yOu…and fOr tHoSe oF yOuR KiNd…" Diamondeye's voice projected itself within Deku's mind, a hiss unlike any other registered in his mind. He splashed against the ground as he coughed out the dirtied mud from his mouth.

He only saw the reflection for a split second. He saw a woman…

Yellow gloves...a white cape...black hair...

He knew her...

"OnE….fOr… AlllllllllLllLLlLLlLLlLLLL!!!!" A distorted garbled screech filled Deku's eardrums, sending dread into his spine as the diamonds held within Diamondeyes' cranium glowed a blood tinted red. The very sky of this already dark place became dyed in a similar shade of ominous red. The lighting behind Diamondeye made his body darken.

This monster was coming for him and everything he had.

"DEKU! YOU NEED TO RUN!" A voice commanded Deku before a strong hand grabbed Deku and tossed him away from the grasp of the evil presence that called itself Diamondeye.

SHATTER

Deku looked on as a gargantuan bone hand, bearing six sharp clawed fingers, reached for him. Instead, the digits caught the person who broke him free of whatever purgatory he was in.

"NANA!" Deku screamed desperately. His voice reverbed as the mentor of All Might was grasped by the revenant of war itself dragging her into the dark depths of her own memories before her death. She flailed about, struggling to get free.

A noticeable fear took her eyes as she fought off the digits of the large hand that held her, crushing her in its vice.

She turned to face Deku, and could only let out a small weak smile. "I'm sorry…you had to see me at my weakest…"

Deku's mind blanked. With One for All, he had never thought to see any of the avatars of heroism be fearful of the outside world. But under Diamondeye…things were different. They were prey, and Deku's mind was Diamondeye's hunting ground.

As he felt the weight of haze take his mind, as he slumbered, Deku realized he didn't understand what Diamondeye meant. But he understood now.

The difference between a villain…and a monster.

-Musutafu 7th Lane: Subway-

Diamondeye stared down at the limp body of Deku. The red diamonds that glowed still, hovered over the hero in training. The boy was still.

Reaching downwards, the inverted monstrosity searched for a pulse on Deku's body.

He was cold.

"No pulse…pity…" He said, as his blood diamond eyes shifted back into their normal shade of blue.

Diamondeye walked away leaving Deku by himself, abandoned in the dark alone with the empty hum of the now emptied subway.

As he walked he looked at his reflection in a lone glass displaying the map of the subway tracks. He began to speak as if he was conversing with someone.

"I didn't think it was possible, but somehow you of all people cheated death. I could have sworn that after miraculously surviving your battle with All for One that having your head mounted on a pike was the end of it…you did lack One for All…and thus wasted my time then. I thought it had died with you. It would seem I knew very little about your quirk and that of your prodigy's."

Diamondeye stood in place for a second, waiting for a wordless answer.

"A shame about the boy's death. He and the others should not have resisted as they did, this tends to happen when many minds are all meshed together like that. Even for me, breaching was almost beyond my grasp. I am far from what I was all those years ago, but my mind remains. Like David and Goliath, I took on Goliath with the only thing I knew to work. *Cough* *Cough*"

Diamondeye coughed into his right hand and cleared his throat before continuing.

"...It does not matter now, they belong to the ferryman now, and I have what I came for, our business is finished. I'm sure Kuro will understand…once he gets a look at you. Isn't that right…"

He caught a fly in his hand staring at it with an analytical eye before releasing it. He continued to walk back into the night-paved streets of Musutafu. As he walked, nearby cameras fizzled and exploded under his gaze. His target was successfully collected.

Diamondeye's voice projected itself in a booming tone, bouncing deep into all corners of the train station and market district.

"…Nana Shimura. Hero name: Skywalker?"

CHAPTER END