Rumi didn't understand why she allowed herself to be dragged out like this. Actually, no, scratch that, she knew exactly why she was out on the town. Pity. Ragdoll had called her that afternoon, apparently things with Mandalay had gotten…desperate. Poor woman had taken Percy's disappearance harder than maybe even she had. She supposed it wasn't too surprising. Mandalay had been closer with Percy than anyone save her. But the poor thing hadn't left her room in weeks now. The Cats had been forced to nearly force feed the woman.

So, the Cats' grand plan for pulling their sister in arms out of her depression? A night out drinking.

Because alcohol and depression were exactly the time-bomb that Mandalay needed at the moment. But Ragdoll had been so desperate that Rumi had accepted. Though, if she were being honest with herself, she might have been getting a little…lonely herself. She hadn't spoken to anyone in a non-professional setting in…well, she forgot how long.

That likely wasn't good.

At one point, the Cats had been her best friends. It wasn't saying much, and it might have been stretching the definition of the word "friend." Casual drinking buddies might have been more accurate.

"You've been rocketing through the rankings lately, bun-bun," chirped Ragdoll, casually twirling her finger along the rim of her fruity drink. "You're sure to break through into the top three any day now. Especially after that weapons seizure at the docks."

"Thanks," she grunted, spinning the base of her beer as she averted her eyes.

"What's with the coy attitude Miruko," asked Tiger gruffly. "That's not like you."

"Fuck off," she snarked, though it lacked any real bite to it. "Just…not really in a drinking mood tonight."

She swore under her breath as someone's foot slammed down on hers. She turned a heated glare on Pixie-Bob, who paid her aggrieved stare no mind, opting instead to take a hefty swig of her drink. But, as she turned her head, she caught sight of Mandalay, who withdrew even further into herself. The poor woman had dark circles under her eyes, which were red-rimmed and slightly bloodshot. She didn't understand how the woman even had tears left to shed at this rate.

She fished for something to say as the silence over the table seemed to stretch.

"Uh, Mandy," she began uncertainly, drawing the woman's attention. "How's the brat doing? Still giving you hell at school?" The distraction worked as the woman sat a little straighter in her chair.

"He's, uh, he's been doing better lately. Hasn't gotten into a fight in months. His teachers last report was that he was even participating more actively in classroom exercises."

"Awe good little Kota," cooed Pixie softly, "Turning into such a good little boy, and all because he wants to be like gah-" Tiger tried desperately to cover her mouth, but it was too little too late. Mandalay withdrew back into her shell. She scooted back away from the table and walked briskly towards the back of the bar near the restrooms.

"Dammit," sighed Ragdoll, as she excused herself from the table. "There goes that,"

"Smooth, Pix, real smooth," muttered Rumi, casting a sidelong glance at the blonde woman.

"I'm sorry," groaned Pixie, resting her head on the table. "I drank too much, and I stopped thinking and just started speaking. It just kind of slipped out."

"It's all right Pixie," grunted Tiger, patting the woman consolingly on the back. "This was probably foolish to begin with."

"I just wish there was something we could do for her," grumbled Pixie. "It's been two-months and we haven't been able to do anything for her."

"You've been there for her," Rumi said without thinking. The other two turned to stare at her. She felt heat rush to her cheeks and she quickly averted her eyes. "What the hell are you staring at me like that for?"

Pixie giggled, resting her chin in her hand as she stared. "You've changed."

"The fuck I have," Rumi snarled, slamming her fist on the table, causing some of the excess beer to splash over the rim.

"Oh quit it, you two-bit tsundere," said Pixie with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"She's right," nodded Tiger, "you've changed, and for the better I'd say."

"The hell are you two talking about?" Rumi grumbled, slouching back into her chair. "I'm still the same kick-ass top-tier pro I've always been."

"Then why did you say that like someone just stole your carrot, instead of screaming it from the rooftops?" Teased Pixie.

Rumi didn't quite have a response to that, so she opted for silence.

"It's not a bad thing," chuckled Tiger. "Percy had that effect on all of us. We've all changed since he came into our lives."

"Would you guys quit talking like he's gone?" Grumbled Rumi, "You know I hate that shit."

Tiger and Pixie shared a look with one another, and Pixie reached out to grab Rumi's hand.

"Rumi, look-"

"Holy shit! Mt. Lady is getting her ass kicked!" Whatever Pixie was about to say got drowned out as the entire crowd began to speak loudly all at once, as all eyes in the bar turned to the various televisions hanging behind the bar-table. The screen was showing a live-feed of a fight going on in Musutafu between the pro hero, Mt. Lady, a giantess and some other giant-type villain. From the looks of things, the fight wasn't exactly going in Mt. Lady's favor either. Rumi's eyes flicked to the creature. There was something oddly familiar about the guy, but Rumi couldn't place her finger on it.

"Going to go?" Asked Pixie, her eyes not leaving the screen.

Rumi, scoffed and took another sip of beer. "Hell no. Mt. Dumbass likes to bite off more than she can chew. She got herself into this mess, she can get herself out."

BREAK

Gods be good, how was she going to get herself out of this? It was supposed to be nothing more than an easy photo-op. This guy was a nobody. A loser. He didn't exist. Nobody had heard anything about him until earlier that afternoon. So how the hell was the guy so damned powerful? Every blow hit like a mountain, and every time that she knocked him on his ass, he would get back up like nothing ever happened.

Panting heavily, she swiped at the stream of blood flowing from her nose. The creature, a large, foul-looking monstrosity that appeared far more monster than man, let loose a terrifying roar and charged at her. She managed to duck under the first strike, following up with a blow of her own. But just like every time she hit the creature, it was like punching a brick wall. She felt her knuckles crack under the strain of the blow.

Snarling, the creature's hand shot out and wrapped around her neck. She choked, desperately trying to force air into her lungs. She swiped and lashed out against the creature, but it was effortless. She felt her head grow foggy. As though it could feel her mounting defeat, the creature redoubled its efforts and the force behind its choke seemed to grow in intensity. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. The corners of her eyes grew dark. Was this the end then? Was this the end of her story? All of her efforts for glory…for fame…gone.

Just…like…that…

"OH YEAH!"

Something slammed into the creature, the force of the blow sending vibrations through its entire body that she felt down to her toes. All at once, the chokehold on her released and air rushed into her lungs all at once. Her concentration faltered, and her control over her quirk slipped. She began to fall, tumbling through the sky. But before she could splatter over the ground, she felt something catch her. She caught the faintest glimpse of bright green eyes, and chiseled, whiskered cheeks.

Then, she knew no more.

BREAK

"Calypso!"

Bright green light erupted at Percy's side, and Calypso's swinging braid appeared at his side. Percy pressed the unconscious Mt. Lady into her arms.

"Please, do what you can for her." She didn't answer, and Percy glanced at her. Her gaze was glued to the woman in her arms. As much as he wanted to allow Calypso to take in her surroundings, things at the present moment were more than a little desperate.

"Calypso!" He grabbed her attention. "Please!"

"Oh," she snapped out of her daze, and quickly took the woman into her arms. "Right, yes," her gaze flickered to the creature who had recaptured its bearings and was charging forward.

"Thanks, now get clear of the blast radius!"

"Blast radiu-?"

Percy didn't give her an opportunity as he blasted off towards the creature. This was going to be more annoying than he would like, given he was down an arm, but he wasn't particularly concerned. Still, this wasn't what he was expecting when he returned to Japan, but he supposed this was one way to announce his return.

Soaring through the air, Percy avoided the massive hand that swiped at his, slipping between the giant's fingers and slamming his left palm squarely between the iridescent green eyes of the giant. Its head snapped back as Percy contorted in the air. Flipping upside down, he pointed his palm at the creature's eyes. With a blast of divine magic, razor lances of water raced forward and slammed into the eyes of the creature.

With an unearthly wail of misery, the Creature stumbled backwards, its hands rubbing pitifully against the lids of its eyes. Not wanting to give an inch, Percy shot forward, landing another blow between the creature's eyes with the sole of his boot. Rolling out of the way of another oncoming blow, Percy darted to the other side of the creature. There was something…unnatural about the creature. Something that Percy couldn't quite put his finger on. It wasn't divine, as he couldn't sense any divine energy emanating from it, but it seemed almost…dead. The stink of rot permeated his nostrils, and his janky and unearthly movements reminded him so much of a risen corpse that it unnerved him.

Furthermore, it wasn't attacking with any sense of intelligence. There was no plan, it was simply trying to fight. To kill. It was more animal than man, and as far as Percy was concerned, that was all the go-ahead he needed to try and take this thing down the hard way. Catching the creature by the fat of the ear, Percy thrust his finger forward, his divine power thrumming as a thin, highly compressed blast of water shot from his fingertip.

The creature jolted, as blood and an odd green liquid exploded from the other side of its head. Staggering backwards, the creature faltered, tumbling to one knee. But to Percy's mounting confusion, the creature didn't go down, as its hand shot upwards and slammed into Percy. He grunted as he tumbled through the sky, before careening into the ground. Groaning, he pulled himself free from the small crater of concrete before rocketing back into the sky.

"Okay…" he muttered to himself, "Since subtlety didn't work…Overwhelming force it is then."

BREAK

The mug of beer in her hand shattered. She blinked. She rubbed her eyes and then she blinked again.

"Tiger…"

"I'm seeing it too…Pixie?"

But the young woman was already gone, darting in the direction of the bathroom. Rumi turned her eyes back to the television. It didn't matter that he'd grown a beard. Didn't matter that his hair was longer. Those eyes…she would know those eyes anywhere.

"Percy…"

She was out of her chair and sprinting towards the exit before she could even understand what she was doing.

"It's about damn time!"

BREAK

"TV! Turn on the damn TV!"

"Shitty hair, would you shut the fuck up!"

"Not now! TV!"

That caught Izuku's attention. Kirishima never snapped at Bakugo like that. Everyone else turned their attention Kirishima's way as well. It was late in the evening, and most of the class was assembled in the common area. Some studying, like Bakugo, while others were simply trying to relax.

"The hell has gotten you so up in arms Kirishima?" Asked Sato around mouthfuls of sweets. "A new episode of Tights and Tantrums on or something?"

Instead of answering, Kirishima snapped the remote out of Mina's hands.

"Hey!"

The channel changed from the music video that Mina was watching to an ongoing news report.

"-dea who the second woman appears to be, but it would appear that the man is none other than the former U-A student Argonaut, long thought dead following the climactic battle at Mt. Fuji two months ago."

The camera zoomed in on the face of a man as he slammed into the massive titan. Even though the camera footage was shaky, and it was difficult to make anything out. Even still, Izuku doubted anyone in the entire class didn't recognize the man in the footage.

Silence permeated the room. Then, Tsu broke the silence.

"Someone want to go tell Momo?"

A loud scream of delight followed the pronouncement from somewhere up on the second floor.

"Nevermind."

BREAK

Percy twisted out of the way of the lunge, gripping onto the back of the cloth the giant was using as a shirt. Swinging his legs downward, he slammed into the giant's back. It stumbled forward and Percy shot into the sky. Gripping tightly onto the hair of the giant, Percy pulled with all his might, adding to his exertions a blast of divine energy to strengthen the winds in his favor. The giant toppled forward onto the ground with a mighty crash.

One of its hands flailed wildly through the air, crashing into Percy and sending him spiraling into a nearby office building.

"Okay," he grumbled as he extricated himself from the shattered remains of an office desk, "either I've been gone longer than a few months, or some serious shit has been going down. Villains were not that strong a couple months ago."

"Hey!" Called a masculine voice, "You all right in there?"

Looking up, Percy watched as a tall, lanky man dressed in all denim up to the bridge of his nose hopped through the hole Percy's body had created.

"Yeah," said Percy, pulling himself up and waving off the concern, "I'm good." He looked more closely at the man, and realized he recognized the newcomer.

"You're one of top guys right? Jeanist or something?" He asked, and the man nodded.

"Best Jeanist," he introduced with a slight dip of his head, "and you must be Argonaut."

"Yup," Percy grunted, cracking his neck and walking over to the hole as well.

"You're causing something of a stir, coming back from the dead like that," Jeanist observed, turning with Percy to watch as the creature hobbled back to its feet. "What are we dealing with?"

"Not a goddamn clue," said Percy. "My last attack should have killed the thing. Pretty sure I liquified its brain stem."

"Well that's…distressing." Jeanist hummed in thought, "gonna need to go heavy handed with this I suppose."

"If you can get it stationary, I can probably cut its head off. Think that'll kill it?"

Jeanist stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "That might work. Not a great optic though, decapitating a villain on live tv."

"Know what's a worse optic?" Asked Percy bluntly, "Letting that thing level half the city."

"I agree," soothed Jeanist, placing a placating hand on Percy's shoulder. "I'll get him stationary. You cut off the head of the hydra."

"Please don't say that."

But Jeanist didn't hear him, having already jumped clear from the building. Using thin strands of fabric, he descended safely down to the surface. The monster noticed him immediately, slamming a heavy foot down onto the ground near the hero but Jeanist managed to avoid the resulting shockwave.

Wrapping his strands around light post, he swung forward like a man on a vine, and lassoed thousands of thick strands around the creature's legs. But, with a roar of fury, the monster broke free from the attack.

"Nuisance," Jeanist groused in agitation. A massive hand slammed down onto the ground, faster than he could have possibly avoided. However, just in the nick of time, a blast of air smashed into him and sent him catapulting away from the attack, throwing him free from his swing and landing painfully on the ruined street.

"I appreciate the assist, but you lack any sense of refinement young man."

"Shut up and fight!" Percy slammed into the creature's chest with the sole of his boot, before launching a massive blast of water projectiles from his palm. The projectiles slammed into its chest, but couldn't penetrate its thick hide. However, it did work well enough to stun it.

"If you're going to do something, now would be a great time!"

"Right!" Pulling on all of his available threads, he launched everything he had at once. Tens of thousands of fibers shot forward from his clothing and began wrapping around its legs. Simultaneously, Percy whipped around the creature and slammed into its back. With its legs trapped, and the strength of Percy's blow, the creature tripped, falling face first onto the street.

Moving as quickly as possible. Percy reached out and summoned all of the available moisture he could. Forming the water into a massive blade, he let loose a mighty roar and brought the mighty construct down on the creature's neck. Blood and the green liquid exploded around Percy with the force of a volcanic eruption. With a squelching rip, the blade tore through the flesh and bone cleanly, and Percy could feel the decapitated head roll free from its shoulders.

Breathing heavily, Percy shot back up into the air and glanced down at the body. He needed to make sure that it wasn't getting back up again. But as he floated comfortably, the street was filled with nothing but silence. He watched for a couple of seconds, but when he was comfortable that the creature wasn't going to be getting back up again, he descended back down to the street. A moment later, the screaming sirens of approaching emergency vehicles reached his ears.

"Well, that is most certainly one way to make an entrance." Percy turned to meet with Jeanist as he approached casually. For having fought relatively little, the man certainly didn't look particularly well off. His outfit of high-rise jeans and matching jacket were now little more than a crop-top and shorts.

"What can I say," said Percy as he wiped a dollop of sweat from his forehead, "I like to put on a show." He turned to look at the dismembered corpse. "So…any ideas?"

"Not a clue," Jeanist muttered, kneeling down and examining the dismembered head. "But there is something…familiar about it."

Percy walked over and knelt beside him. "It's not a Nomu…is it?"

Jeanist glanced at him, brows raised under his straw-blonde hair. "I'm not going to ask how you know about those, but no. It's not. We destroyed all of their remaining facilities. But still…"

Percy was about to follow up, but paused. Something was blasting through the air towards him at a high speed. He could feel the air rushing towards him. Spinning, he just managed to bring his arm up in time to block it as a very familiar boot slammed into his arm. Just as quickly, a second foot rose and made to slam into him, however the attack never landed. Green light erupted in front of him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Percy lowered his guard as Calypso walked up to his side, her hand extended and green light emanating from her fingertips.

"Easy, Calypso," Percy tried to soothe, positioning himself between Calypso and the newcomer. "She's a friend."

"That's a funny fucking word for it, you bastard!" Percy turned, and met the red-eyed woman.

"Hey Rumi…long time no see."

AN: Shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week

All My Love,

LilDB