"Focus."
Hana gritted her teeth as she balanced on a single hand on a small rock in the middle of a raging river, a waterfall thundered behind her; pelting her with stinging cold water droplets and drenching her gray robes, her hair thrashing wildly about, the bells twinkling under the cacophony of the falls, she was surrounded by tall rocky walls, tunnel entrances dotting their surface.
"Rain, cold, fatigue, pain, all of it is a distraction," she didn't know where he was, but she knew he was close, watching her, "drown it out and focus on the force, on peace."
Hana slowly lifted her other hand, doing her best to ignore the distractions as she focused on a small boulder, it shuddered and rocked before slowly rising into the air.
"The force will grant you peace, the force will take care of your ails and woes, release it all into the force, and achieve balance."
With a huff she dropped the rock where he had told her to, almost immediately the falls stopped, the water hanging in the air as if by magic.
"You take much too long to focus, young one." Ronin said as he stepped out, clad in his robes, though his helmet was gone, only his eyes and hair were hidden by the cowl of his hood. "Summoning the force should be like second nature to you."
"I'm trying," she huffed, backflipping to her feet and plopping down on the rock with a huff. "It's only been a month."
"So it has," he mused, walking around to sit on the rock, his back to hers, "you are only just beginning, your potential in the force is nigh unlimited, the only thing holding you back is you." he stood up, "let's return to the ship, it is time for meditation."
"Can we practice our lightsaber skills first?" she begged, following him into an adjacent cave, the falls behind them continuing once they were out of the way.
"After meditation." He said calmly, "you're not fully tuned to your crystal, I want you to focus on that during your session today."
She grumbled but obliged, following him out of the tunnel system and into the forest, where his ship was waiting for them, as well as a familiar ninja crouched atop her hull.
"Stain," Ronin droned, "I didn't know we had a meeting scheduled today."
"You promised lightsaber training." The man grunted, jumping down beside them, "and my time is limited."
Ronin sighed, "It looks like you got your wish Hana."
Hana cheered, pulling her fathers lightsaber off her belt, activating the teal blade.
"Easy there go-getter, we'll be going to the clearing for this," Ronin said with a warning tone, "too many trees around."
"Oh, right." she said sheepishly, turning the lightsaber back off.
"She's eager to learn." Stain commented as they began walking through the forest, "that's good in a disciple."
"She's also argumentative, as attentive as a puppy and hard headed to a tee." he quipped.
"As are many of the youth today." Stain chuckled.
"You know I can hear both of you right?" Hana grumbled, crossing her arms childishly.
"Would you like me to say it behind your back?" he offered.
"...no." she growled a bit.
"Glad we worked that out." he drawled, making Stain chuckle as they entered a large field, "now, ready up."
Hana grinned as she pulled her fathers lightsaber off her belt, igniting the teal blade, Stain pulled his own and igniting it.
"You already have a basis in sword skills." Ronin droned to Stain, "however, it's the feel of the blade you have no experience with, there's no weight in the blade, it's all in the hilt, and even that isn't very heavy."
"Speak for yourself." Stain muttered, swinging the blade about and grimacing, "I've meditated with it and yet it still grows heavy in my hand."
"Will you be able to spar?" Ronin questioned as Hana twirled her lightsaber, ignoring the weight of it and doing her best to keep her mind clear, as he had taught her.
"Its a little heavier than my sword, i'll be fine." Stain said gruffly, getting into a ready stance.
Ronin chuckled as he settled on a nearby downed tree, "well, it's a good thing I've been teaching Hana Form 1, first to disarm wins. Begin."
WVWVW
It felt weird, being invited to a classified meeting with Eraserhead in the very warehouse where he had killed two sith lords, but it was secure as far as he knew, and he did owe the man a bit of an explanation.
Still he was careful, and waited an extra ten minutes before revealing himself to the underground hero.
"Ronin," the man greeted tiredly.
"You look like hell," Ronin commented, smirking behind the faceplate of his helmet when Aizawa grumbled.
"First day of school, it's always rough." He griped, "but that's not what I'm here for, what do you have to do with Hana Botan's disappearance?"
"...she's safe." He said softly, "she came of her own free will-"
"-she's a child." Aizawa snapped, "a twelve year old girl, not a killer like you.".
"I'm trying to prevent that." He shot back, "she is a force wielder like I am, like the red blades I killed in her defense-"
"Don't act like you did that out of the kindness of your heart." Aizawa spat, "you've been stacking bodies for weeks! Villains and heroes."
"I went after her to save her!" Ronin snapped, "because her parents had been slaughtered by sadistic monsters that deserved the deaths I gave them. Had you gone with your original plan then the heroes and police men you'd have sent in would have been slaughtered, face it Aizawa, you need me. And you have to trust me, Hana isn't in any danger, I am only teaching her how to properly restrain and control her powers; nothing more, nothing less."
Aizawa glared at him, "and what guarantee do I have that you're telling the truth?"
"You don't." Ronin said simply, "you'll just have to trust me."
Aizawa grumbled, running a tired hand over his exhausted face, "you don't make it easy." he muttered, "why just take her?"
"I didn't, I gave her the choice." Ronin sighed, slumping a bit, "I didn't want a preteen brat tagging a long, I have important work to accomplish without adding a Padawan."
"Padawan?"
"apprentice." he grunted, tapping the side of his helmet in thought, "a term the Jedi use."
"You still haven't explained all of that." Aizawa accused.
"There's no need for it." Izuku said simply, "the majority of Jedi were slaughtered at the creation of the Empire over twenty years ago, before my time, even the sith we ran into are statistically impossible due to the rule of two…but they alluded to the old rules being done away with…" Izuku pulled something off his belt, handing it over to Aizawa, "a data stick on SIth and Jedi, and what they mean to the galaxy at large."
"Galaxy?" Aizawa scoffed, then remembered the aircraft that had rescued the so-called Sith at the entrance exam, "you're telling me my world is a lot bigger than I thought it was."
"Sucks doesn't it?" he asked dryly, "look at the bright side, you found out as an adult, I found out when I was 9."
Aizawa winced, "what does this mean for us? Humanity as a whole?" He demanded to know quietly.
"Nothing," Ronin said simply. "The galactic empire is done for, I made sure Earth was scrubbed from every Archive I could find, and the aforementioned Sith will soon be dealt with as soon as they show their faces."
"Why scrub Earth's existence? Why come back to begin with?"
"An entire planet full of people born with superpowers at birth, with many being more malleable and usable than the Force ever could be." he shook his head, "we'd be at constant war trying to fight off slavers and Syndicates trying to take advantage of our population and resources, and if a Imperial splinter-cell were to find out…no, it's better that the earth stay in obscurity until we can defend ourselves properly."
Aizawa frowned, but changed the subject, "is there anything I should know about these Sith upfront?"
"...do you remember how it felt being in the presence of the Sith?" he asked curiously, looking over at the man.
Aizawa nodded slowly, "my skin's crawling just thinking about it." he muttered, "I get a bit of the same feeling around you, come to think of it."
"That's the Dark side of the Force, it's a corruption that can be felt even by those who aren't force sensitive." he explained, "the Sith, however, have learned how to suppress this feeling, to instead exude a purity and trustworthiness that can fool even trained Jedi."
"You had lost the Sith at UA during the Entrance exam." Aizawa remembered.
"That I did." he confirmed, "you found me as I was trying to track them, and even then I only found them when they revealed themselves."
"That's dangerous, there could be one in the school, the police, the hero commission, and we'd never know."
"That's how Palpatine-the Emperor-took power.' Izuku sighed, "but it's very unlikely that'll happen here. We're dealing with a far more aggressive and upfront enemy."
Aizawa grunted, "I'll contact you if I end up running into anymore of your friends…and don't forget, the police's official stance is that we're doing everything we can to capture you, should I find a way to subdue you and keep you subdued-"
"-then I'll graciously turn myself in." Ronin drawled as he turned away, walking towards the exit of the warehouse, "Provided you can best me in combat before hand."
Aizawa's eyes narrowed a bit as he watched Ronin disappear, he then disappeared into the rafters, making his way to the roof before taking off across town, capture scarf aiding him in swinging from building to building until-finally-he arrived at UA.
Within fifteen minutes he was walking into a secure workshop that Majima had built under his student's workshop. A place where he produced Support Gear for the teachers and a few other specially contracted heroes. It was here that he found Majima standing in front of a glass container, inspecting the remnants of the destroyed Lightsaber they had been able to recover at the warehouse.
"Any progress?" Aizawa asked as he came to a stop by the support hero.
"The cut was clean, which helps, but the damage cut straight through a few key components that I would need to activate it..not to mention this crystal is giving me some real skeevy vibes."
"Best to quarantine it." Aizawa warned, "Ronin did say the Sith were corrupted, who's to say this crystal can't do the same."
"So we'd need to find a way to purify it if we want to recreate it." Majima muttered, "all of it out of our reach i think."
"What about the second project?" Aizawa asked.
"That one's going a little better." Majima said, walking over to another part of the room, where a few dismantled quirk suppression cuffs were laid out on the table, "using the blood samples we got from the two dead-eh-force users, I was able to confirm that our quirk suppression cuffs don't work on them."
"How'd you do that?" Aizawa asked.
"Even when dead, there's these small micro-organisms that are present in their blood that's not present in any known sample we have on file." he clicked a button and a hologram popped up, showing the blood samples side by side, "here's yours," he said, pointing to one, nothing special, a few red and white blood cells, "were I to go further, i'd find the quirk gene tangled around your DNA, but other than that, nothing too special.'' Another click and the alien blood came up, showing clumps of tiny cells swarming around the blood cells, a fifteenth of the size of the blood cells, "I'm not sure what these cells are, but they're practically infesting both of them. And they react kind of like the quirk gene reacts, if I turn the quirk suppression field on-like the cuffs create-they slow down, but they don't stop, meaning these cuffs are practically useless against them."
"That doesn't sound better." Aizawa frowned, making Majima chuckle.
"Yeah, but the fact that it still worked on a minute level means that I just need to tweak the math a bit and I should be able to create an effective handcuff to keep a force user contained."
Aizawa smirked at that, "good, put a rush on that, we may need them sooner rather than later, and try your best on replicating what you need for that saber, we'll need it if we want to counter Ronin's own."
"Doesn't it feel weird to have case briefings with the guy while also working towards arresting him?" Majima asked as he began inputting some calculations into a data pad.
"I get the impression he sees this as a game more than life or death." Aizawa muttered, looking at the two blood samples for a few moments before Majima canceled the program, "at least when it comes to getting caught, as if it's out of his hands and he's just along for the ride."
"Serial killers do tend to exhibit tendencies like that." Majima pointed out, "and we can't say he's not that, how many has he killed so far?"
"A hundred and eighty." Aizawa scowled, his fists clenching a bit, "mostly criminals, twelve heroes, four police officers…two civilians."
"Civilians?" Majima asked in surprise.
Aizawa nodded tensely, "They pre-date his public debut by about a month," Aizawa muttered, "Jin Bubaigawara, and Toga Himiko, no criminal records to note, though there were several notes in both of their files for mental instability and-in Toga's case-homicidal ideations; but up to the point of their deaths, they hadn't performed a crime that we know of past illegal quirk usage."
Majima shivered, "so what's stopping him from just going around killing people indiscriminately?"
"I don't know…which is why we need both of these projects to produce results, otherwise we're not going to be able to keep him contained."
WVWVW
All For One was fuming.
It took a lot to get under his skin, even All-Might and his never ending crusade for 'the greater good' had never been more than a minor annoyance at best, but this-
-this was infuriating.
"Tell me again what happened Doctor?" he growled out low in his voice, making the man shiver.
"We've lost over half the invasion force." the doctor muttered, "most of them killed by the Vigilante Ronin."
"Did he know of our plot?" he demanded to know.
"As far as I can tell, no." the doctor denied, "by this point no one knows how he's been locating them, he just appears while they're conducting business and he kills them. The ones he doesn't kill he turns over to the police. He's even gone after a few heroes we had on the payroll."
"Who is he." All For one wondered aloud, "why has he kept himself hidden until now? And what purpose does he have for killing my pawns?"
"For balance.'
The Doctor flinched and whirled around as heavy boots thudded against the ground, slowly, an armored warrior walked into the light, his T-shaped visor hiding any emotion on his face, the red on black armor had a few chips taken out of the faded paint but otherwise was in good condition, the pistols on his hips and the rifle in his hands looked deadly, as did the gleaming silver spear attached to what looked like a jetpack on his back.
"The Ronin uses his obsession with Balance to kill as he pleases." The newly arrived player continued, "if he declares you as dark or corrupted, he will cull you to keep it in check. He's every bit an inspiration of All-Might while also having none of his morals."
"And who are you?" All For one asked curiously.
"Just a man who wants the Ronin dead.'' he said simply, "and one who also has the means to help you with your current problem."
"And what do you have to offer?" the Doctor asked, eyeing him distrustingly.
"For one: men. Two platoons."
"And what are their quirks?" the dark villain asked, leaning forward.
"No quirks, but they have armor, and they have blasters." he pulled one of the pistols at his side and fired it into a nearby table, red hot bolts blasted the wood apart easily, "that. Is a blaster." he said, looking back to the doctor, "military trained, cohesive, they'll do their job. There will also be two others who will be joining me, red blades."
"I have been wanting to examine the Red Blades." the doctor said eagerly, any traces of fear from the soldier's blaster gone. "They're quirks-"
"-it's not a quirk." the soldier said impatiently, "nor will you be examining them, per our lord's order."
"You do understand our plan is to infiltrate UA, why do you think Ronin will be there?" All For One questioned.
"He was here during the entrance exam when Fos was there, he'll return again if we offer the right incentives, you get your muscle, we get to kill the Ronin, everyone wins."
"It does seem like that does it?" he mused, "you have a deal, what should I call you?"
"My title is Mandalorian." he supplied, "and I do believe this is the start of a very beneficial business deal."
WVWVW
Hana grumbled as she combed her hair out, the bands, ribbons and bells that had been braided through her hair were now in a heap in front of her, they had been falling out progressively over the the course of the last few weeks, finally fully falling out during her sparring session with Stain, resulting in her hair blinding her for a few moments and allowing stain to win their match.
She fiddled with the bells, pouting as she looked at the small silver instruments, her mother used to love to braid her hair and end each one with one of them. And she loved how they would tinkling and chime as she ran and twirled.
Idly she thought about braiding her hair herself, but it felt off not having her mother do it.
"You're supposed to be meditating-are you okay?" Ronin questioned, tilting his head slightly at his morose apprentice.
Hana sniffled, quickly wiping a tear away, "I'm fine." she mumbled.
"Your hair is out of its braids." he noted, slowly walking fully into the room and taking a seat across from her.
"Yeah." she said glumly.
"Do you not know how to braid them yourself?" he questioned.
"Sorta?" she shrugged, "I can never do it as tight as mom did, they always fall apart quickly…mom knew how to do it right, I wish she was here now."
Ronin nodded, "I'm sorry," he said, "if I could…but that kind of talk does no one good, instead, let me see if I can't help you feel your mothers presence once again, if only for a moment." he sat down cross legged from her, a wave of his hands sending the bells and ribbons into her hands, "close your eyes and focus," he instructed, Hana hesitated, then nodded, closing her eyes and and cradling the trinkets, "focus on these tokens of your mother and remember."
And Hana did, she remembered how her mother would lovingly brush and comb her hair and expertly twirl and braid her hair, tying ribbons throughout to keep it all together. How she'd laugh and tease her throughout it, she felt her heart ache at the memories even as it was filled with warmth.
"Now, call upon the force, guide it."
Hana concentrated, slowly, the slim weight of the bells and ribbons disappeared from her hand, her hair began to move on its own.
"Concentrate." Ronin whispered, two fingers up, guiding her with gentle nudges in the force, helping with the finer movements that this required. It would take many, many hours for her to be able to do this herself, but he was fine with helping her along.
After a few minutes her hair fell, the tinkling of bells making Hana open her eyes, surprised to find she'd started crying at some point.
"You helped me.' she mumbled sullenly.
"Of course," Ronin said, "you are strong in the force, but you are-as of yet-proficient in it's use, however, I only nudged you in the right direction. Just as you guided the force."
"Thank you…" She said, giving him a small smile.
Ronin nodded, standing back up, "I have a new task for you." he said, moving to the door, "the bells, they can't make any noise, I want you to focus on keeping them silent whenever you move, until you can do it without a thought." with that Ronin left.
Hana watched him leave, then stood up, the bells tinkling and making her wince a bit, she focused and slowly walked forward, this time only three of the bells made a sound, making Hana scowled, "he only helped me to give me more work." she grumbled, carefully making her way to her room while trying to keep her bells quiet.
Ronin walked down the ramp of the ship, looking back for a moment before chuckling, "every moment is a teachable moment." he mumbled to himself, heading into the forest and towards the city.