Chapter 8: From the Ashes
Shipping District, Niigata, Chubu Province
Thirty Minutes after the Villains' Escape from Yokohama
"Room clear. Advance."
Kendo Itsuka shot Jiro a thumbs up and obeyed wordlessly as the shorter girl pulled her jacks out of the ground and fell in step behind her. Together they edged carefully along the warehouse's cold metal wall toward Nighteye's position, their eyes flitting back and forth through the shadowy metal containers for any sign of movement that Kyoka might have missed. The downpour outside formed a steady drumbeat on the steel roof as they moved, interspersed by occasional booms of thunder that set the dull yellow lights above their heads flickering with every clap.
As they entered another, identical room and began to repeat the process all over again, Kendo couldn't help but reflect how much she hated stealth missions. They were perfect for Jiro's quirk, to be fair, and more experience was always good, but… but all this sneaking around just feels like a waste of One For All, she mused, as they turned a corner and started down a dimly lit corridor with bare concrete walls. I could be punching villains across cities right now, or flying from town to town helping with disaster relief after that quake in Kyushu last week. Her daydreaming tapered off when she thought of All Might, though, and one of the dozens of little impromptu lectures he continued to deliver each time they trained together. Making an impression is important, Young Kendo, but you must never forget that being a hero isn't about showing off. Some of the greatest acts of bravery and selflessness this country has seen in the past hundred years occurred outside the public eye, but those men and women never complained that they weren't recognized for their deeds. Being a hero isn't about being praised, it's about being worthy of praise in all that you do. Whether or not you receive it is irrelevant.
Itsuka chuckled softly to herself; it had been a windy day when he gave that speech, and she could still picture the way his drooping tassels of blond hair had whipped back and forth across his face as he talked. I wonder what he's up to today- I'll have to text him after I'm done here. Usually her mentor spent his weekends working even in his 'retirement', at the police office with Tsukauchi or brainstorming lesson plans with Aizawa and Midnight. One time she'd run into the three of them grading mid-terms in an honest-to-god maid café, and despite Toshinori's panicked insistence that they'd lost a bet to Nemuri, Kendo had never let him live that one down.
"Hey, Itsuka, hold up. I'm getting something up ahead in the next room." Jiro laid a hand on Kendo's shoulder to pull her to a halt, one jack plugged into the wall and the other into the floor. Her voice had dropped down to a whisper. "This stupid storm is creating enough background vibrations to throw me off, but I'm pretty certain it's one, maybe two people, just inside the threshold."
"Roger that." Itsuka whipped her head back to the doorway in question, eyeing it carefully. It was about five meters ahead, and when she looked closer, she could see the briefest hint of a shadow flitting along the opposite wall before it disappeared again. "Alright, let's take this slow and steady, one of us on each side. If you can get their exact location, I'll come in from the left and-"
Whack.
Before either of the girls could even begin to move on their potential target, a Yakuza thug's limp body fell through the door and into the passageway, though Sir Nighteye caught him by his dark outfit's nape before his masked face hit the floor, straightening his glasses as he stepped into the light and gave the two U.A. students a curt nod.
"Sir? What are you doing here?" Kyoka asked, her eyes wide. "I thought we were supposed to meet you further ahead!"
"I arrived at the rendezvous point early, so I decided to backtrack and make sure you two hadn't run into any trouble. Some help here, if you would?"
"Of course, Sir!" The older hero's current intern, Jiro rushed forward first as Nighteye stripped the plague mask from the man's head, revealing a rather plain countenance with short, tufted brown hair, though Kendo wasn't far behind.
"Earphone Jack, I need you to wake him up for me. Battle Fist, help me restrain him."
They each nodded and snapped to their respective task; once she'd firmly pinned the man's arms and legs, Itsuka watched as Jiro pressed her jacks to his skull, one at each temple, and sent a concentrated burst of soundwaves hurtling into his body. She'd seen the move in use before- capable of waking someone from anything short of a coma, it was incredibly useful for quickly reviving unconscious allies, and the sound it generated was mostly contained within the target, making it relatively quiet as well, perfect for their purposes today.
By the time the Yakuza jolted awake, Nighteye had already clamped one hand down on his mouth, muffling his cry of anger while he made eye contact and activated his quirk. The man tried to thrash and struggle, but Kendo's grip on his limbs remained tight- she didn't even need to use an ounce of her full strength to contain him.
"Alright, I've seen all I need to see." Nighteye stood from where he'd been crouched over the thug, brushed off his grey suit jacket, and delivered a single, swift kick across the man's jaw that quickly rendered him unconscious again. "I watched his patrol route. We're clear until the room at the end of this warehouse- that's where most of his colleagues seem to be concentrated. I counted ten to fifteen men, including the two priority targets, Rappa and Rikiya. There was one new face as well, a girl. It's unclear whether she's affiliated with the Eight Precepts or the Osaka Group, but regardless, she's to be treated as a threat. They're already suspicious about how long the shipment is taking- we should hurry, or they might try to leave. On my six." As he spoke, Nighteye's fingers ghosted along his newest support item, a small metal attachment affixed on the lenses of his glasses, which allowed him to reel back the tape he saw with Foresight and look up to one hour into his target's past as well as into their future; it enabled him to use his powers twice a day as well, up from his previous limit of once per twenty-four hour period.
He gestured back toward the same door he'd entered through, and the three of them walked through it together. They advanced through a maze of empty crates and up a flight of metal stairs to a catwalk halfway to the ceiling, from which they could look down through a set of wide, open windows into the next room. Sure enough, just as predicted, the Eight Precepts were there, milling about on the warehouse floor as they waited for a shipment of foreign weapons and ammunition that had already been intercepted off the coast. Her eyes darting between them, Istuka did her best to compile a mental list of their positions, noting that their primary targets, the Expendables Rikiya and Rappa, were furthest from their current vantage point. Steal Vitality and Strong Shoulder- draining stamina via touch and insanely fast and powerful punches. Two incredibly dangerous quirks- we have to take them out right off the bat. At the Yakuza's center, though, was the unidentified girl Nighteye had mentioned. Her back was to Kendo, but from this distance she looked relatively young, with blue hair tied up in a ponytail and a pair of complex electronic goggles on top of her head. She had a rifle in her hands, and some sort of strange mechanical harness on her back. Could she be the girl from the Osaka Incident? She wondered, listening in to see if she could get any clues one way or another.
"I swear," one masked man was saying, "those fuckers better not have gotten cold feet. This was our biggest purchase from them in months, they're gonna be missing out on a hell of a payday if they don't show."
"Relax, man," another replied, "they're Russians, they're always late. The only real danger is that they all had too much vodka and passed out before they could leave port."
Peals of laughter lifted up the rafters at that, giving the three heroes the opening they needed to quietly discuss their next steps.
"Lemillion's already given me the all clear that he's in place, so once I get the same from Miruko, we'll attack." He glanced down to his comm unit, which had just begun blinking with a new alert, and swore calmly under his breath.
"Actually, change of plans. It seems that Miruko and Real Steel encountered a separate pocket of enemies en route, and they've engaged them. We'll move in now, before they can call this group for backup. Earphone Jack, like we discussed- you're the signal to engage."
"Yes, Sir, of course." Taking a deep breath, Kyoka stood up, plugged her jacks into her boot-mounted amplifiers, and shot Kendo a confident grin before she sent a massive wave of sound screeching down toward the cluster of Yakuza.
As they covered their ears in pain, Nighteye ducked out from his own cover and hurled two of his tax-stamp hypermass seals down towards the enemy, with deadly accuracy; they struck Katsukame Rikiya in the head and chest, knocking the hulking criminal out cold and sending him skidding ten yards backwards into the wall. Letting the power of One For All fill her body up to the brim, Kendo leapt through the open window frame and out into the center of the room, a wide smile on her face. Blue sparks of energy crackled around her first as it swelled up to the size of a boulder; once it was ready, she rocketed straight downward in an instant and slammed it into the ground, tearing the concrete floor all around her to ribbons and sending the incapacitated thugs flying.
"COLORADO SMASH!" She cried, then jumped back up and began to pick off the henchmen one-by-one while they were still midair, opting mostly for simple punches or swipes now that her hand was back down to just two or three times its normal size.
Flitting between them before they landed turned out to be even easier than she thought- she only needed to use about the full speed she'd unlocked by now. Over the course of a few seconds, she tore through five, but when Kendo propelled herself over to the sixth amid a wave of blue lightning, someone's first was already smashing into his face; Lemillion gave her a friendly wink before phasing right through her, something she still hadn't gotten used to after two years of knowing him, and moving swiftly on to his next target.
By then, the dust had settled, and the thugs had all fallen back to solid ground, conscious or not. Working roughly in concert, Kendo and Mirio plowed through another three before they could aim their guns, but she was stopped short when something hard and heavy slammed into her side before she could block, and staggered backward. The cloud of dust kicked up by her initial move was so thick that she couldn't locate the attack's source, and cursing herself for the carelessness of the tactic, she swelled up her hands and waved them back and forth, beating the dust away just in time to reveal a fist hurtling toward her face, bound by leather straps and massive metal knuckles. Her mind racing, she barely leapt out of the way in time to dodge it, eliciting a chuckle from the man it was attached to.
"Kendo Itsuka. The famous girl with my name. Funny coincidence, huh? But that's what made me certain that I have to kill you." Kendo Rappa cracked his neck as he stepped forward to face her, and pounded his knuckles together with a reverberating clang. His face was entirely obscured by his beaklike mask, though a mane of long, greasy blond hair spilled out the back. "Now I don't wanna see any of that fancy flying-around crap. Just you and me, straight punches, to the death. I don't care if I lose, I just need to know for sure who's stronger."
Deciding to entertain his challenge, Itsuka bared both her enlarged fists, a hint of a grin on her face. I'll finish him in one punch, then move on to help Mirio and the others.
"Don't think I'll go easy on-" She was cut off midsentence by a lightning-fast hook across her jaw, and felt blood flying from a broken cheek and busted lip as she threw up her hands to block his next blow. Okay, I deserved that one. Get it together, Itsuka.
But instead of just one blow, Rappa followed up with a storm of dozens, each one impacting faster than she could even process. Even with all the extra strength and endurance provided by One For All, they were chewing through her guard like so many bullets, gradually pushing her backward as bruises and cuts opened up across her palms. She could finish him in one strike, but there was simply no time to counterattack, not even a hint of an opening. He began to laugh aloud as she struggled, and her expression darkened. Alright, forget the challenge. Let's finish this.
Digging her heels into the ground, she waved her hands to stagger him with the resultant blast of air pressure, then used a burst of speed to dart behind his field of vision, safely out of range of his punches; she was winding up a finishing blow when he pivoted and landed a vicious backhand across her chest. The impact still stung, but Kendo was prepared for Rappa's quick reflexes this time; she caught the blow, wrapped her oversized hands around his arm, and vaulted him brutally over her shoulder and into the ground, digging an even deeper crater than the one she'd already made. When he tried to lift his arms in a desperate attempt to keep attacking, she grabbed him by the collar of his torn shirt and flung him straight up into the air.
"Hey asshole, here's your punch!"
Itsuka leapt up to meet him, letting 100% of One For All's strength flow through her as she landed her first squarely on his chest. A dull grunt of defeat escaping his lips, Rappa was sent flying backward at twice the speed of one of his bullet-like blows, and impacted a stack of steel shipping containers with a resounding crash before finally falling still among the wreckage.
Once she was sure he was down, Kendo only allowed herself only a moment to catch her breath before she turned to charge back into the fray. At first glance, chaos still rained across the span of the cavernous room: Mirio was finishing off the last few Yakuza thugs as they attempted to flee, while Jiro was currently locked in combat with the blue haired girl. A set of metal earmuffs had slid down from the sides of the villain's goggles, rendering Kyoka's sound-based attacks ineffective, while a half-metal, half-holographic mask had descended over her face, perhaps for her quirk, or perhaps to conceal her identity. Each time Jiro tried to strike her directly with the jacks, a set of hydraulic-powered mechanical arms sprung out of the case on her back, lifting her out of the way just in time over the sound of her maniacal laugher. Even Heartbeat Monitor proved ineffective; when Kyoka plugged her gauntlets into the ground and tore apart the concrete floor beneath the girl, she activated a set of rocket jets on her boots and soared upward and out of range, bringing her rifle to bear once she came to a hover.
"Alright, that's enough messing around for one day. Say goodbye, hero!"
"Earphone Jack!"
Activating all of her speed in a single bound, Kendo barely extended one massive hand in time to pull Jiro out of the way before a stream of high-caliber bullets reduced the ground she'd been standing on to a flurry of rubble and dust. The gust of wind from another swipe of her free hand sent the villain tumbling back through the air, but before she could set Kyoka down and continue the attack, a sizable hole burst open in the massive hangar door, and Tetstutetsu Tetsutetsu charged through, letting out a ragged cry of defiance as he tore Soramitsu Tabe's gnashing jaws off of his arm and body slammed the Expendable into the floor.
"Sorry we're late!" He bellowed, before he leaned down and broke the Yakuza's jaw and teeth with his next two blows, rendering his quirk, Food, useless. "Can't eat what you can't chew, you freak!" Bullets from the airborne villain's rifle bounced off his metallic skin the entire time, but he paid them no more heed than so many gnats.
Seconds later, Miruko bounded through the opening behind him, whipping the rain out of her hair before starting a running jump toward Rocket Boots. Swearing viciously, the villain tried to dodge, but one of Nighteye's hypermass seals slammed into her back while she was distracted and broke her mechanical harness in a flurry of sparks. It was only a glancing blow, but she was still thrown off balance long enough for Miruko's leaping kick to connect with her stomach, and the two descended to the floor together with an audible thud. A brutal stomp to the face knocked the girl out when she tried to reach for her fallen rifle, but instead of simply falling unconscious, she began to quickly melt into a pile of sludge, and Real Steel and Miruko swore almost simultaneously at the sight.
"Are you kidding me?!" Tetsutetsu cried, his voice full of exasperation. "I'm so friggin' tired of these clones!"
"You and me both, kid," Rumi muttered, patting her second intern on the shoulder as he fumed over Tabe's limp body. Kendo, the first, waved weakly to the two after a quick check to confirm that all their targets were down, and released her grip on Jiro.
"Glad you two could make it after all, I was starting to get worried."
"Oh, don't lie," scoffed Miruko, "you know better than to worry about us. Well, about me, at least. This reckless little twerp, on the other hand, just can't help finding trouble." She clamped a hand onto Tetsutetsu's head and mimicked ruffling his metallic hair.
"This whole stealth thing's just not my deal…" He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.
"Hey, everybody! Great job today!"
Though Rumi remained stoic as usual, Battle Fist and Real Steel nearly jumped out of their respective skins when Lemillion popped out of the ground between them, shooting them all two thumbs up. The wide smile on his face quickly turned into a grin when he looked Itsuka's way, though.
"I counted six takedowns for me. How about you?"
"The same," she grunted, shaking her head. "Tied again, huh? That's the third time this month."
"It's not a competition, you two," Nighteye chided, setting the case of money the Yakuza had prepared for the Russians down in the middle of the congregation of heroes. He chuckled despite himself as he glanced between them, though. "I swear, though, sometimes working with you makes me feel like I'm Toshinori's sidekick again."
"Aw, don't say that, Sir, we're partners now! I think we make a… great… team…" Confusion clear on his face, Mirio began to trail off midsentence, and fell to one knee with a grunt. Suddenly the same quickly began to happen to the rest of the group; Jiro was the first to notice what was wrong, pointing to the far end of the room with her jacks.
"It's Rikiya, he's conscious again!"
"But he has to make physical contact for his quirk to work…" Miruko gritted, struggling to stand.
Kendo and Nighteye locked eyes, and in an instant she understood exactly what she had to do.
"He has Trigger!" She cried, swelling up both hands and using them to swipe the four others to the opposite corner of the room, as far from Katsukame as she could get them. "He doesn't need to touch you, stay away from him!" It was widely believed that the quirk-enhancing drug had been pulled once and for all from the black market after Nighteye's bust on the Eight Precepts' operation manufacturing it two years ago, but clearly they'd been mistaken.
Once they were at a safe distance, Itsuka bore the full brunt of the Expendable's quirk alone, and forced herself to turn around and face him despite the steady drain of energy from every muscle in her body. I have to finish this right now, she knew. The more power he drains, the more his size increases. Rikiya's deep, steady breaths were audible from ten meters away as he slowly rose and emerged from the shadows, his entire figure growing larger and larger with each passing second. If he gets all of One For All, the others won't even stand a chance.
The desperate need to prevent that outcome was pushed to the forefront of Kendo's mind as she knelt down and shot herself forward, one massive fist outstretched. Every part of her body felt like it was weighted down by lead, and after around ten seconds of exposure she could only muster around 50% of her second quirk's full strength. Her blow was still more than enough to stagger Katsukame, though not nearly as much as she was used to; it took three more to send him stumbling out into the rain through the hole left by Tetsutetsu's entrance, and she winced with each one; for every instant of physical contact, her stamina left her at a swifter pace. Far behind her, Kendo could hear the others' shouts as she followed Rikiya outside, and Jiro's too. But the rain quickly muffled them, soaking her hair and costume; her blue cape, already slightly tattered from her fight with Rappa, was waterlogged within seconds, and her wet bangs threatened to obscure her vision.
She pressed ahead regardless, though she couldn't help but shudder when Rikiya's rose up to his full height, the rain bouncing off his bulging muscles. Her trademark strategy of 'punching people really hard until they faint', as Tetsutetsu once so eloquently put it, doubly ingrained into her mind since she inherited One For All, was actively working against her, more and more so with each passing second. It was a bitter irony, but Kendo had no time to reflect on it- her vision was fading in and out, and her head was swimming, but forced herself to leap forward again, the lightning trailing behind her a bit less vigorous this time, down to 30% strength now. I have to finish this with my next attack, or I won't be able to put a scratch on him. There was still enough power behind the sweeping punch to put a hole through a building, but after all the stamina he'd stolen, Rikiya was practically a behemoth; caught her boulder-sized fist with both arms, skidding backward half a dozen yards, but not falling.
When it was clear that the attack was ineffective, she ripped her arm away immediately, but the damage was done- 10% and dropping. She wanted to back away, get out of range of his quirk and reevaluate the situation, but her legs wouldn't move properly anymore, and when she tried to jump backward, she only traveled a few meters before falling to the ground in a haze. Katsukame began to stride slowly toward her, each footfall shaking the ground, and for a moment, as the corners of her vision grew dark, she saw Muscular in his place, remembered how eager to kill her he'd looked after he smashed her arm to pieces. It seemed so long ago, so distant, her first true act as a hero.
Your origin. When you think you're at your limit, remember where you came from. All Might's words drifted unbidden into her mind, but they lit a fire in her chest all the same, a blaze that forced her eyes open and pushed her back to her feet in spite of her overwhelming exhaustion.
I remember, sensei. I remember where I came from, and I know where I'm going.
A shaky grin spread slowly across her face as the gears of her mind began to turn again, formulating a strategy. He thinks he has my strength, but as long as there's even the faintest dreg of One For All left inside me, I carry more power than he ever could.
Kendo slammed her foot into the ground she'd just been lying on, and watched with satisfaction as the resultant shockwave cracked apart the concrete in a web spreading outward from where she stood, disrupting Rikiya's balance just long enough for her to leap upward and out of Vitality Drain's area of effect. Moving more quickly than she thought possible with this much energy gone, she flit around him in a rough circle from rooftop to container stack to rooftop, trying to get a sense of exactly how wide his drug-enhanced quirk's range was as a fraction of her strength began to return bit by bit. Haphazardly smashing aside everything in his path, Rikiya tried to pursue her, but she was moving too fast for him to keep up- his enlarged form was as cumbersome as it was strong.
Just as she was searching for an opening in his guard for the next phase of her plan, the perfect one presented itself, in the form of Mirio Togata bursting out of the torn-up concrete and delivering a lightning-fast strike to Katsukame's face before phasing right through him and retreating back into the ground on his other side. He proceeded to repeat the attack three, four, five more times, and soon the villain was spinning in circles, letting out a roar of rage as he tried and failed again and again to swat the untouchable hero out of the air. Togata's vitality wasn't being drained anymore, Itsuka noticed, because he was only deactivating his quirk in his hand, and only in the exact instants he struck; the rest of the time, there was simply nothing there to steal from. He can't even see what he's aiming at, she realized with a start, he memorized his approaches in advance! But Mirio's punches alone clearly weren't strong enough to take the Expendable down- this was a distraction, not a real attempt at victory, designed for her benefit. Kendo's suspicion was confirmed when a wave of sound from Jiro's boots and another of Nighteye's hypermass seals struck Rikiya from behind, and Tetsutetsu's voice became audible over the roar of the rain. All three of them had followed her outside, but thankfully they were smart enough to stay at a good distance.
"Fuck him up, Battle Fist, you can do it!"
"You've got this!" Kyoka added, her hands cupped around her mouth. Nighteye remained silent, but even from this far away she could feel his intense gaze urging her on, no, challenging her to win.
"Keep him there!"" Itsuka bellowed down to Mirio, before she remembered he couldn't see or hear her. Shit, that makes things more difficult.
"Better hurry up over there!" He shouted in the midst of his next attack, as if he'd read her mind. "I can only distract him for so long!"
She was about to shout something back about him taking his own sweet time to come help, but immediately recalled the futility of the gesture, and sufficed for a simple nod before she bolted back down to the ground. Rather than make straight for Rikiya, though, she leapt clear across the shipping yards in a single bound, landing at least three hundred meters away from where the Expendable was still struggling with Lemillion. There was a clear path straight to the villain through the maze of crates and buildings, though, and that was exactly what she'd been looking for. And so, after a brief stretch of her legs and a slap across her face to clear the remaining fog from her head, she started to run, faster and faster, accelerating herself with One For All until she was nothing but a streak of blue-white energy, too fast for the eye to keep track of. At the last possible moment, as Katsukame's towering silhouette grew large above her, she held out her right fist, let it grow until it was twice the size of her body, and put her back into it.
"SAN FRANCISCO SMASH!"
When her blow connected with the Yakuza's chest, the sound it made was louder than any thunderclap the storm had mustered. Blood spilling out from inside his mask, Rikiya flew up and backwards like a ten-foot missile, blowing straight through Lemillion- who was thankfully still dephased- and out over the harbor. For all Kendo knew, he might have kept going like that for miles, but the hull of a docked cargo ship stopped him short. Easily four hundred meters long and fifty tall, the massive freighter rocked in its moorings at the impact, churning up the already rough water into a foaming frenzy. But when Katsukame fell motionless from the deep dent he had made in the thick steel plating onto the distant pier, Itsuka knew without a doubt that she had won, and sank to her knees, her chest heaving with exertion.
"You did it." Mirio laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Above them, the clouds had finally broken, and a shaft of bright sunlight fell through as the rain began to falter.
"Yeah…" she choked out after a moment, smiling through the blood trickling down her face. "I did, huh?"
A set of rock-solid arms wrapped around her waist from behind and lifted Kendo up into the air before she could move another muscle, and Tetsutetsu's excited laugher became audible as her adrenaline levels gradually died down.
"Holy shit, dude, that was insane! The distance you got on that last punch?! So friggin' manly!"
"Put her down, Real Steel," Jiro chuckled, poking the 3-B boy with her jacks as he spun Itsuka around so she could see them both. "After that, I think she could use a little less energy."
"Not to mention some first aid," Nighteye chided, stepping up behind them with his hands clasped behind his back. "Remember to follow protocol, you two. Lemillion, contact Inspector Tsukauchi and tell the detainment squads that they can move in." With his suit drenched and his several strands of his waterlogged green-and-gold bangs hanging down over his forehead, the tall, lanky man looked even more like a scarecrow than usual as he ordered them about, and Kendo had to stifle a giggle at the sight. All the same, though, the expression he wore as he gazed down at her was kinder than she was used to seeing, and his mouth curled into the faintest hint of a grin before snapping back into its usual straight line. That was enough for her to know that he approved, even if he was too stubborn to put it into words.
"Of course, Sir!" Once Tetsutetsu set her gently back on the ground, Kyoka was quick to kneel down and start cleaning the wounds on her face, a soft smile on her lips and a hint of color on her cheeks as she applied a bandage to one of the wounds left by Rappa's fists. "He's right, though- it was pretty amazing. I don't know how you did it, Itsuka."
Kendo's breath was still escaping in ragged pants, but she managed to return her friend's smile all the same.
"I guess… I just needed… a running start."
Half an hour later, cleanup from the raid was well underway. The entire harbor was swarming with police, and the warehouse was bathed in flashing blue and red lights from the small fleet of squad cars on scene. Crime scene tape snaked in a haphazard line around the perimeter of the engagement, and off to one side, Earphone Jack, Real Steel, and Lemillion were already debriefing with Tsukauchi and his assistants. They weren't taking any risks with transporting the captured Yakuza members; a full riot police squad, armed and armored to the teeth, watched with their weapons trained as Rikiya and the dozen-odd other Eight Precepts members they'd captured were led into the quirk-dampening Iron Maidens. Even Gran Torino, one of Naomasa's most frequent partners since Kendo forced him out of his self-imposed retirement at All Might's behest, had made an appearance, and was conversing in hushed tones with Nighteye at the edge of the water when Itsuka gave the two a friendly wave.
"Long time no see, you old grouch! Good to see Tsukachi's helping you socialize every once in a while."
Torino crossed his arms at her nonchalance, and made a grandfatherly harrumph.
"I see you haven't changed at all, kid. Still the same impertinent little pain in the ass." As usual, the shadow of a grin on his lips gave him away despite his best attempt to hide it, and within a few moments they were laughing and reminiscing about old times.
When the time came to look for an internship at the end of her first year, just a few short months after she inherited One For All, she'd nearly gone back to work with Uwabami a second time, but ended up seeking out the older hero instead on her master's advice. While Toshinori still remained terrified of his former teacher, she'd shocked All Might by rapidly befriending the man, perhaps because of her uncanny immunity to his normal intimidation tactics, or perhaps because she reminded him of Nana Shimura, something he'd only admitted when thoroughly drunk at Yagi's last birthday party. After a summer working together, Gran Torino recommended her in turn to Sir Nighteye; she spent over a year and a half as an intern at his agency before taking on her current position with Miruko, for the sake of diversity of experience. Luckily for Kendo, the transition between the two inspired both her past and present employers to form a hero team together with Lemillion, and she'd gained three mentors for the price of one.
"I'll tell you what, Kendo, I wish I'd been here to see you in action- it's been too long. Remember when we busted that arsonist gang down in Chiba? Was it anything like that?"
"Oh trust me, sensei, this one was even better! It reminded me more of that crazy cult down in Kyushu, when we cornered them in Nagasaki!"
"Ahem." Nighteye cleared his throat pointedly, tapping one foot on the ground even as he struggled to conceal a smile of his own at their antics. "If you two are finished?"
"Sorry, Sir!" Kendo snapped back to attention, and after a quick glance back toward the warehouses, realized with a start that her current boss was nowhere to be found. "Still no sign of him, then?"
Amid the chaos of the fight with Katsukame, it seemed that Rappa had somehow regained consciousness and snuck out of the building. While the others ventured outside to help Kendo, Miruko had done her best to follow the trail he left behind, but weakened by Rikiya's quirk, she wasn't as quick on her feet as usual, and hadn't been successful in her search so far. The police were actively assisting, and had already put out an APB for him for the entire city; Itsuka tried to help as well, of course, but she'd already overexerted herself in her fight against Katsukame, and in the end Jiro and Tetsutetsu persuaded her to let Rumi handle it out of concern for her health.
"Nope, none, and I'm pissed!" Miruko called from a dozen yards away, striding out from behind a metal container- Kendo jumped at the sound of her voice, and reminded herself for the hundredth time that Usagiyama's rabbit ears gave her an incredible sense of hearing, with top-notch accuracy and massive range. "I swear to god, it's like that fucker vanished into thin air!" The tan, silver-haired hero pounded one fist into her hand in frustration, and shook her head vigorously. Personality-wise, she was almost the exact opposite of Sir: aggressive, loud, fiercely individualistic, and unabashedly expressive of her thoughts and opinions, regardless of whether or not they'd been asked for. All the same, though, their partnership seemed to be going rather smoothly thus far, to Itsuka's surprise.
"That's a possibility we can't discount entirely," said Nighteye, straightening his glasses. "However rare they are, a warp-type quirk could have been involved."
"Yeah, and there's a chance that you could get struck by lightning at any minute, but that doesn't mean I'd bet money on it, as entertaining as that would be to see." She couldn't help but smirk at that last bit, her hands perched on her hips. "Warp quirks are one in a million. My much more credible theory is that the Precepts have a compound somewhere in the area, and that bastard slipped into a hidden entrance before I could catch him. We're gonna have to get the seismic team to do an analysis on this whole district to check for irregularities."
"A few blocks should suffice. The entire district would be a bit excessive, don't you-" Sir was interrupted by his phone's ringtone, and politely excused himself to one side when he saw whoever was calling. Gran Torino spoke up once he'd stepped away, one hand stroking his scruffy grey beard contemplatively.
"The last active villain with a warp-type quirk was Kurogiri, and he's been missing for months, ever since that explosion in Kobe took out half of the League. I still regret not bringing him in myself. If the Eight Precepts somehow got their hands on him…"
"Possible," Miruko conceded, "but still unlikely, as far as I'm concerned. I can't imagine that whoever took out Shigaraki Tomura over in Nabu Ward would leave him alive. He's probably buried in the same ditch as Muscular and Moonfish." She turned to Itsuka and wrapped an arm around her intern's shoulder, a smile replacing her scowl. "But forget about that, I heard you put on a good show while I was gone, kiddo! You keep makin' me proud like this, I might actually…" Rumi trailed off midsentence, and her ears began to twitch. The color drained from her face, and following her line of sight, Kendo realized she'd been listening in on her partner's phone call.
"Oh, fuck…"
"What is it?" Itsuka asked, glancing rapidly between the two. "Is something wrong?"
By now Nighteye had noticed his eavesdropper, and held the phone away from his face, one hand over the speaker. His expression was unreadable, his features completely calm, but when he spoke, there was enough of a hint of urgency in his voice to chill Kendo's blood.
"Gran Torino, go and get the others. They need to hear this." Then he drew the phone back to his ear and continued the conversation quietly, though they were all listening this time. "Yes. I will. Thank you. Stay safe, Shota."
Shota? Was that Eraserhead? Nighteye fell as silent as the grave as he hung up and turned back to face them, and remained so until Jiro, Tetsutetsu, and Mirio had joined the loose semicircle around him. Even the usually talkative Miruko, who also seemed to know what was happening, remained mute.
"What's up?" Real Steel asked good-naturedly, a wide smile on his face. Kyoka and Togata were similarly upbeat as they strode up on either side of Kendo, but they all drew quiet in short order once they picked up on the anxious mood.
"I… was just on the phone with Aizawa." Sir began haltingly, as if he disliked the very words leaving his mouth, and wished to stop them from doing so if at all possible. "There was an incident about an hour ago in Yokohama. Ryukyu, Gang Orca, and several of their sidekicks and interns engaged a group of villains that included Dabi, Toga Himiko, Kurogiri, and at least three known Eight Precepts lieutenants. There were multiple casualties. Ryuko, Asui, and Nejire sustained serious injuries, and are already being treated at the nearest hospital." He took a deep breath, and dropped his gaze momentarily to the ground before lifting it back up to meet their eyes. "Todoroki Shoto and Uraraka Ochako have both been captured, and were transported away from the scene by Kurogiri. Their whereabouts are currently unknown. The situation is still unfolding as we speak, but Aizawa thought it was best that you hear this before the media pick up the story and run with it. Lemillion, I trust you handle the rest of the cleanup and debriefs here. Jiro, Tetsutetsu, Kendo- you'll be returning to Tokyo immediately with Miruko and myself."
He paused again, longer than before, and pulled off his glasses, though Itsuka barely noticed over the frantic beating of her own heart, and the panicked thoughts racing through her mind. Genuine anguish was plain on Sir's face when he finally spoke.
"I'm so sorry."
The train ride back to the capital passed in near silence. No one wanted to be the first to talk about what had happened, to make it any more real and visceral than it already felt. They would much rather it remain a distant, foggy nightmare, one they'd surely wake from at any moment. But as Kendo, Jiro, and Tetsutetsu stared blankly across the booth at each other, the Kanto countryside whipping by outside the window, no one seemed to be snapping out of it. At Nighteye and Miruko's insistence, they were seated in the dining car- their last meal had been at six in morning- but their plates of food remained cold and untouched. No one felt like eating. A TV in the corner of the car had been blaring news headlines about the two kidnapped young heroes when they boarded, but the staff had immediately turned it off out of respect when Sir asked. They were just thirty minutes away from Tokyo when someone finally spoke.
"It's like it's happening all over again," Jiro suddenly said, tears falling from her eyes and into her miso soup. "With Tokoyami and… and Momo." She tried to wipe them away with the back of her hand, but that only made them spill out harder, and her face flushed red. "Oh god, I'd gone so long without thinking about her, but… now…"
"Hey, hey, I'm right here." Seated next to the shorter girl, Kendo wrapped Kyoka up in her arms and let her cry into her shoulder, stroking her hair softly. Tetsutetsu laid a comforting hand on her arm from across the table. "We're both right here, Kyoka. We've got you. Let it out."
"I c-can't lose someone like that again," she finally choked out through the tears. "Not Ochako, not Shoto, not either of you! God, I'm sorry, I'm so fucking weak. I-I'm not strong like you, Itsuka, I try and I try but I never will be!"
"Bullshit," Kendo countered, grabbing hold of the other girl's face with both hands and using her thumbs to wipe away Jiro's tears herself. "That's not true, and you know it's not. We all do, right, Tetsu?"
"You're one of the strongest freaking people I know," Real Steel growled protectively, locking eyes with his distraught classmate. "You've done so much and come so far, and I've always been jealous of how cool you are, it's like you don't even have to try!"
"Cool? Are you kidding me?" She jabbed a finger toward the streaks of eyeliner running down her cheeks, and shook her head. "I'm a mess, Tetsu! Heroes don't cry!"
"That's a load of crap," he shot back, and the sudden change in his tone momentarily silenced her sobs. Once he was sure he had her attention, he leaned forward, wrapped his meaty fist around her dainty one, and gave her a gentle smile. "I mean, who made that a rule? I think crying when you need to is one of the manliest- I mean, uh, bravest things that anyone can do, hero or not."
As much as she tried, Jiro couldn't stifle a chuckle at that last part, and forced a shaky smile onto her face.
"You really think so?"
"I know so. Just like I know we're gonna find Ochako and Shoto. We're gonna get them both back, I promise."
Rather than continuing to cheer her up, though, his words had the exact opposite effect. Kyoka's smile withered just as quickly as it had blossomed, and tears welled up anew in her already puffy eyes.
"Whoa, whoa, what is it?" Exchanging a confused glance with Testsutetsu, Kendo pulled Jiro back into her arms, an embrace the other girl returned even more tightly this time.
"T-that's the same exact thing we said about Momo, and Fumikage, and Monoma!"
The last name sent a jolt of white-hot pain through Itsuka's heart, an ache from an old wound that had long since scarred over. Her eyes fell down to the table. She opened her mouth to try and say something, but the words wouldn't come out. Even Testsutetsu seemed at a loss for words.
"Kyoka… I…"
"Don't you remember, how we all said we'd never stop searching, how we wouldn't rest until we found them? The speech that All Might gave to the school? We were all so confident, but in the end, no one ever came out and owned up to the fact that it was over, we just accepted that they were gone! I've never been able to give up on Momo. I still see her sometimes. It's always just a flash of a black ponytail in a crowd, or a voice that sounds like hers on a busy street, but every time, I still stop and look. Am I crazy?! I just want to be able to forget! Sometimes I wish she was dead, that I'd seen her die. Then at least we could've had a funeral! I never even got to say goodbye!" Jiro paused to take in a ragged breath, and Kendo rubbed her hand back and forth across the girl's back, more cradling her than hugging her at this point. By now her jacket's shoulder was entirely soaked with Kyoka's tears, but she didn't mind.
"And now… god, what now? The last thing I said to Ochako at the bar last night was something stupid about her being a lightweight. I don't think I even talked to Shoto besides saying hi! Why does this keep happening?! I can't lose two more friends like this. Please promise me it'll be different this time, Itsuka. Please."
A light footfall followed sounded behind them, and when Kendo glanced back to its source, Nighteye was standing over them, his face full of surprise and concern. Judging by the slips of paper in his hand, he'd come up from the passenger car to give them their luggage tags before they pulled into the station, but at the sight of his intern in tears, they'd swiftly been forgotten. He and Itsuka made eye contact, and without a single word, her expression conveyed everything he needed to know. With her head still buried in Kendo's clothes, Jiro couldn't see him, and remained oblivious as he sat down next to Tetsutetsu, watching the back of her head intently.
"I promise," Kendo continued after exchanging a nod with Sir. "I promise on my life that things will be different. We've learned from our mistakes, from our past. And I'm not the only one who can make that promise to you, Kyoka."
After a moment of sniffling which announced that her tears had halted again, Jiro lifted up her head hesitantly, but immediately recoiled in horror when she saw Nighteye and realized her mentor had witnessed her breakdown.
"S-Sir! I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were here! I was just feeling… after hearing about the kidnappings… I mean, it's not that I…"
"There's no need to be embarrassed." With a few quiet words, he cut off her nervous rambling, then stood and gestured for the other two students to leave. "Go and see Miruko, she needs to brief you on the conference we'll be attending when we get back. I'll stay here and speak with Jiro."
"She's not in trouble, is she?" Tetsutetsu asked warily as he and Kendo rose and stepped out into the center of the car.
Nighteye raised a questioning eyebrow as he sat back down, and shook his head calmly.
"No, of course not. I have a state license for post-traumatic stress counseling."
"O-oh, yeah. That makes sense."
Kendo nearly delivered a chop across his neck on account of the sheer stupidity of his question, but managed to restrain herself until they were safely out of the dining car and approaching their seats. When they did finally reach them, Miruko was fast asleep, drooling on her neck pillow. Knowing full well that waking her would end in their violent and untimely deaths, they sat down, joined hands, and leaned against each other in melancholy silence until they finally pulled into Tokyo Station.
When they arrived after twenty minutes of traffic, the hospital's waiting room was already full to bursting with press. A dozen mics were shoved into Kendo's face the moment she stepped inside, and the reporters' desperate pleas for a soundbite blurred into a series of barely discernible cries.
"Battle Fist, Miruko, do you have any comment on the disappearances?!"
"How close were you with Todoroki and Uraraka?! Did they have a history of being reckless in combat?!"
"Is a rescue operation going to be mounted?! Will Endeavor be involved?!"
"How will U.A. respond to this latest breach in security?! Do you still feel safe in your own internship?!"
"Give her some space!" Tetsutetsu shouted, pushing one particularly aggressive paparazzo out of their path to the elevators. Moments later Jiro did the same on Itsuka's other side, and muttered something under her breath about deafening every last one of them.
As much as Kendo wanted to imitate the two, though, to swell up her hands and sweep the entire crowd of press back outside, she knew that she couldn't. I have a responsibility as the Symbol of Peace, one that I can never ignore. And so, when she spotted a reporter for her favorite evening news show, she walked straight towards the woman, graciously took the mic she was offering, and began to speak.
"Uravity and Coldflame are two of the smartest and most highly skilled heroes-in-training that I've had the honor to know during my time at U.A., and I can assure every one of you that their competence is not in question. They are both dear friends of mine, and my heartfelt condolences go out to their families." The room had fallen almost entirely silent, and Itsuka struggled not to blush under the gaze of thirty cameras. She wasn't nearly as much of a natural in interviews as her mentor, but she was learning. Just like All Might always says, pretend you're talking to a single person. Her eyes tried to drift out across the entirety of the crowd for a moment, but she forced them to focus on a single camera.
"I'm not aware of all the details of the incident right now, and I can't speak for the hero community, but I can promise you this. There will be a rescue operation, and we will get them back." She was about to turn away and end things there, but the woman persisted.
"How much responsibility does U.A. bear for this massive lapse in its students' safety?"
"Every one of us understands before we even apply for internships exactly what's at stake when we choose to participate in them. If we want to experience professional hero work firsthand, we have to experience all of it, and that includes the danger of injury, capture, or death. Coldflame and Uravity both knew that, and they still chose to risk everything regardless. I just don't understand why everyone's always so eager to try and pin blame on our own community after something like this happens, when the only ones who deserve that blame are the villains themselves." Even if her expression didn't show it, Itsuka was beginning to get angry now, and very nearly let a 'fucking' slip out midway through her last sentence. I'm not Bakugo, I need to stay civil. But then Miruko's reassuring hand was on her shoulder, and her boiling frustration subsided, transformed into pure passion and charisma.
"We have to remember first and foremost as a nation of heroes that we can't fight villains if we're also fighting each other! That's exactly what they want us to do. So to the criminals who kidnapped my friends, I have only one thing to say." She let her hand grow to three times its normal size, and pointed one massive finger straight at the camera. "If you think you can run, you're wrong. If you think you can keep my friends away from me, you're wrong. And if you think you've broken our spirit, you're wrong. You're going to regret the day you thought you could mess with U.A."
Surrounded on all four sides by Real Steel, Earphone Jack, Nighteye, and Miruko, who for a few brief moments felt more like her bodyguards than her mentors and peers, she handed back the mic, then pushed through the crowd's renewed chorus of shouts and flashing cameras and into the elevators, letting out a deep sigh of relief once the doors had closed.
"Does it get any easier?" She resignedly asked no one in particular.
"Ah, you get used to it!" Rumi gave her a friendly shoulder punch, and ruffled her auburn hair. "And if they get too bad, you can just do what I do, and kick the fuckin' cameras out of their grubby little hands. Well, it'd be punching for you, I guess."
"Please don't do that." Nighteye pleaded as the doors opened, and they stepped out into the tenth floor hallway, much less rowdy by comparison.
There was already a small gathering of figures outside Tsuyu's room when they reached it at the end of the corridor: Her parents and siblings were conversing quietly with a group of U.A. staff including Aizawa, Midnight, and Snipe, her second-year homeroom teacher. A familiar, skeletal figure was towering above them, dressed in one of his gaudy striped suits; his back was to her, his mane of messy blond hair bobbing up and down as he spoke, and Kendo had to restrain herself from calling out his name and breaking into a run. Thankfully, the group noticed the newcomers soon enough, and All Might was the first to start toward her.
"Young Kendo!"
She'd reached him in just a few swift strides by the time the words left his mouth, and the two shared a brief, tight hug that communicated more than words ever could before Itsuka turned to face the others.
"How is she?"
"Can we see her?" Jiro added frantically, her eyes wide.
Aizawa exchanged a solemn glance with Asui's parents, then stepped forward to speak on their behalf.
"She's already in surgery- they're operating on her now. There's a decent chance that they'll be able to reattach her tongue, but whether she'll ever be able to use it the same way is a different question. In a best case scenario, it'll take months of physical therapy."
"My poor baby girl," Tsu's mother whimpered, wiping tears from her eyes. Jiro, who knew the Asui family best, embraced the woman, whispering comfortingly in her ear, and the two held each other for some time as Tetsutetsu did his best to distract Samidare and Satsuki with jokes and silly faces, finding only middling success. Miruko and Midnight quickly struck up a conversation, as did Nighteye and Snipe; she picked up a few stray words from the latter two about an upcoming meeting to discuss rescue plans.
Kendo, meanwhile, turned back to All Might, whose gaunt face seemed even more gloomy than usual.
"I should've been there." Ituska hated the sentence the moment she said it, because it wasn't necessarily true. She had her own responsibilities to fulfill, her own battles to fight. She wasn't her classmates' babysitter- she couldn't save everyone, everywhere, every time. She'd been a hundred miles away when it happened. But even though it wasn't true, she desperately wanted it to be.
"I know how you feel," Toshinori responded quietly, shaking his head. Usually, she reflected, when someone says, 'I know how you feel', it's a lie, just a weak attempt at mimicking real empathy. But when they came from All Might, she was satisfied with those few brief words, because he did know, intimately and truly.
"I hope the press didn't bother you too much." He offered next, smiling weakly. They began to walk down the hall together, around the corner and away from the others.
"Don't worry, nothing you didn't teach me how to handle. I tried to give them some good quotes to chew on."
"I look forward to hearing them. You're better in front of a camera than you give yourself credit for. Maybe not as much of a natural as me…" He chuckled to himself at that, and weathered a soft chop on the neck from Kendo as they continued down the next hall. "But that can be forgiven. Spending time in America does wonders for getting rid of your stage fright- you should try it too! I can show you all around Los Angeles and New York, maybe if you have time after graduation."
"I can't copy you too much," she replied with a smirk. "I loved San Francisco and Denver when I went as a kid to visit relatives, but that was only a week. Maybe I can try some more northern cities, or Canada for a change."
"Hmm, I wouldn't mind that." He mused, one hand on his chin. "I've always loved maple syrup. And I wonder if they let you pet the moose, like the deer at Nara."
"Torontooo smash!" She cried with an air of mock seriousness, miming a blow to Yagi's chest. Their laughter died a swift death, though, when a group of doctors in surgery scrubs rushed past them, carrying saline and bloodied scalpels, and the mood grew somber again.
For a moment she was ashamed that she'd dared to laugh and joke at a time like this, but as always, All Might knew exactly what to say; his face suddenly dead serious, he stood up as straight as a pole and held a finger to the bridge of his nose to push back a pair of imaginary glasses.
"The world always needs more smiles and laughter, Battle Fist." Fully committed to the impression, Toshinori even keyed his voice up to Sir's register, and perfectly imitated his pattern of speech. "But don't tell me that, I'm too busy brooding and pretending I don't care about anyone."
Kendo had to hold a hand to her mouth to keep herself from sniggering, and only partially succeeded. Before she could start clapping, though, someone else did, and they both nearly jumped out of their skin when they whipped around to find Nighteye standing behind them.
"Not half bad," he said, with the bare hint of a grin on his lips. Then he pointed a questioning finger to the door immediately to their right. "You two came down this way to visit Nejire, yes?"
"Of course," replied Kendo, not missing a beat. He wasn't wrong- she had actually been intending to find Hado's room next, until All Might's antics distracted her. She'd grown relatively close to the Big Three's only female member after losing to her during the Cultural Festival Beauty Pageant in her first year, and had kept in regular contact with her after she graduated. The three of them stepped inside together, and found the still-bedridden Nejire holding hands with Amajiki Tamaki as the two of them facetimed Mirio on a laptop. Suneater had clearly come straight from one of his patrols with Fatgum and Red Riot- he was still in his hero costume, with a few minor scrapes of his own on his hood and cape. Hado's face was heavily bandaged to the point that only her eyes, nose, and mouth were fully visible, but that didn't stop her from turning and greeting them with a smile.
"Hey guys, look who's here! Itsuka, it's so good to see you, it's been too long!"
Something was off, though, and they all knew it; her words didn't have the same carefree, joyful tone as usual, her eyes didn't light up with the same childlike glee at every syllable. After she returned the greeting, Kendo briefly made eye contact with Amajiki, whose pained expression made the situation clear- they were trying their best to distract her. Hado's arms were bruised and bandaged as well, with burn gauze on the palms of her hands, so Tamaki turned the laptop to face the door for her, and Togata's excited voice burst through the speakers.
"Whoa, Sir, Kendo, is that you?! Long time no see, huh?! And All Might too! Don't worry, Sir, I'm not slacking off on the job- I already finished the incident reports and helped Tsukauchi file everything. Say hi to All Might, Naomasa!" Mirio turned his phone camera to face the detective, who waved awkwardly for a few moments before another voice became audible off-frame.
"Did you say Toshinori's there? Lemme see that damned thing." Suddenly the camera was jerked downward, and Gran Torino's grizzled face filled the frame. "You watch yourself now, Yagi. I don't like the way things are headed. Now that it's confirmed that Kurogiri is back in play, and that the Osaka Group is working with the Yakuza, things are about to get messy. So you kids best stop messing around and start taking this seriously. A lot more than just two lives could be at stake."
"Yes, of course." All Might replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "We'll be doing everything we can, master, I promise. There's going to be a meeting downtown this evening…"
"I know, I'm going to be there. Take care, Toshinori. And you too, kid." Torino handed the phone back to Mirio before Kendo could reply, but the previously jovial mood was beyond even Lemillion's power to save.
"Well, uh… I've probably gotta go finish up some things at the police station here in Niigata before I head back to Tokyo. You guys take care now, ok? Stay strong. I'm here for all of you, and I'll be there in person soon." Once everyone had said goodbye, he gave then one last friendly smile before hanging up, and the atmosphere in the room seemed to immediately grow colder from his absence.
"Are you holding up alright, Nejire?" Kendo asked in an attempt to fill the void. There was no use trying to skirt around things anymore. "He's not the only one who's here for you, we all are."
"I'll be… ok." She said, though the words sounded forced. "Please, don't worry about me."
"But we are worried about you!" Amajiki protested, his voice cracking midsentence. "We know you're strong, Nejire, but you don't have to deal with this by yourself!"
"There are people who have it way worse off than me!" She countered fiercely. "Ryukyu's in surgery right now having her skin grafted back on where Dabi burned it off! Uraraka and Todoroki were abducted! Toga stabbed Shoto before she took him, did you know that?! Because I saw it! Put her knife in his back half a dozen times, I don't even know if he survived, and that was after she took my blood! And… and…" Angry tears welled in her eyes, and she forced them shut. "And it's all my fault, because I wasn't fucking strong enough!"
That silenced the room for a long moment. It was the first time Kendo had ever heard Hado even come close to swearing; judging from the shocked look on Tamaki's face, it was a first for him too.
"That's not true." All Might said quietly. "And you know it isn't. It's possible to make no mistakes and still fail, Young Nejire. That's not weakness, that's life. I read the police reports, reviewed every line of the witness testimony. You did everything you possibly could and more. You went so far beyond the limits of your quirk that the doctors are still struggling to explain exactly how your body handled that much energy in that little time without falling apart. By all previous measurements, you should be dead right now. But you're not, and do you know what that means?"
Hado opened her tear-filled eyes and shook her head almost imperceptibly.
"It means you have a second chance to save the people you couldn't. If they could talk to you right now, what think Ryukyu, Uravity, and Coldflame would want? For you to beat yourself up over something you couldn't change, or for you to be strong and push forward?"
The answer clear, she slowly nodded her head, trembling.
"Y-you're right, I'm sorry. I'm so stupid."
Before he could correct her, the door opened again, and Yuyu Haya burst in, red-faced and clearly exhausted, along with two other girls Itsuka recognized as Hado's former classmates.
"I came as soon as I heard," Yuyu panted, rushing immediately to the bedside. "I was in Nagano, I'm so sorry I couldn't be here sooner." Kendo had barely ever spoken to Haya, but she did know that the short-haired girl was Nejire's best friend, and All Might quickly recognized the fact as well.
"Let's give them some space," he whispered in her ear, and with a nod to Sir their trio retreated back outside and gently closed the door.
"Is… now not a good time?" A quiet voice piped up behind them; Itsuka turned around to find Gang Orca standing in the middle of the hallway, his red eyes lowered to the ground. Everything about his posture and tone conveyed abject shame and remorse. "I… I thought I should come see her. And all of the rest of them, of course. To apologize."
All Might opened his mouth to speak, but Gang Orca cut him off with a wave of his webbed black hand.
"I've heard your speeches before, Toshinori. Don't tell me that I did everything I could do, that it's not my fault. The students are blameless, but me? I was responsible for him, for all of them! They were kidnapped on my watch! I could've done more, could've been there sooner, could've fought harder, could've stayed with Todoroki instead of letting him fight Dabi on his own. I could've jumped down into that godforsaken bunker instead of letting Uraraka do it for me like some kind of damn coward. It should've been me they took. I wish it had been."
"Kugo…" Using Gang Orca's first name, Yagi laid a hand on the man's shoulder, but he was interrupted by the distant sound of shouting around the corner.
"Sir, please, try not to make so much noise, there are patients sleeping!"
"Where is he?! I know he's here, my sidekicks saw him walk in!"
"Sir, if you can't calm down, I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"
They all recognized the voice in a heartbeat, and Nighteye cleared his throat pointedly.
"Gang Orca, perhaps it would be wisest to move you somewhere more-"
"SAKAMATA!"
The thought came too late, though. Endeavor had already rounded the corner, trailed by a helpless nurse and doctor doing their best to keep their distance as he continued forward, heedless of their pleas. His flames were smoldering with magnified size and intensity, and his face was a mask of pure rage.
"There you are, you piece of filth!"
All Might and Nighteye immediately stepped between the two men, but Kugo waved them aside and extended one hand toward the furious hero.
"Endeavor, I'm so sorry. I was going to come to you in person next, I-"
"Were you now?! I don't believe you!" Enji was still advancing with every word, his footfalls singing the floor as he walked.
"Endeavor!" Nighteye snapped, pushing back his glasses and putting himself in front of Gang Orca again. "Control yourself!"
"I trusted you, Sakamata, I trusted you with my son! Where is he?! WHERE IS SHOTO?!"
"Forgive me, please. It was my fault." Gang Orca fell to his knees and bowed his head low, but when Endeavor still didn't stop, and flames began to dance around his right fist, Kendo decided that she'd seen enough.
"You know what you need, Endeavor?" She stepped past All Might, swelled up one hand until it was larger than her, and picked up the flaming hero like a doll, holding him in the air. "A time-out, until you learn to behave."
After a moment of shock, the anger returned to his face, and he began to struggle in her grip.
"Release me, you arrogant child!"
"Not a chance. Unless you promise to play nice, that is."
"Play nice?! Is playing nice going to bring me my son back?!" The flames on his head roared with sudden intensity, and Itsuka winced as her palm began to rapidly heat up; it felt like she was gripping a hot stove. Okay, that's not good. One For All does a lot of things, but it doesn't make me flame retardant.
Just when Kendo was about to drop him instinctively out of pain, though, all the fire on Endeavor's body went out at once, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Enji." His bands of binding cloth writhing around his neck and his eyes glowing with his quirk's dull red light, Eraserhead's voice was full of disgust as he walked toward the group with Midnight at his side. "Would you care to explain what the hell you think you're doing?"
All Might motioned for Itsuka to let him go, and it took a good deal of willpower to set him down gently when she would much rather have tossed him across half the length of the corridor. He sank to one knee the moment he touched the ground, his hands balled into fists.
"I don't have to explain myself… to you…"
"Get up." Nighteye placed a hand on Enji's shoulder and stared into his rage-filled eyes. "Get up and walk away. Before we decide to press charges."
The next few moments passed so quickly that Kendo could hardly process them. By the time she realized that Sir had activated his quirk, Endeavor was already on his feet and swinging, making wild, vicious arcs with his fists that Nighteye dodged easily with Foresight, ducking and weaving his lanky body out of the path of each strike. Then All Might, blood spurting from his mouth as he forced himself back into his muscle form, landed a hard blow on Enji's back, and sent him sprawling to the ground. His body trembling with rage, he tried to push himself back to his feet, but Midnight rushed forward and tore one of her sleeves, and within moments he had fallen still and silent in the throes of sleep.
More footfalls echoed down the hallway, and a group of hospital orderlies and police officers burst around the corner.
"What's going on here?!" One officer asked, confusion clear on his face. "We heard there was a disturbance!"
"Cuff him." Aizawa flashed his pro hero badge, and nodded toward Endeavor's unconscious body. "He's under arrest, on my authority."
Hope you all enjoyed! I meant to get to Todoroki's POV this chapter, but once I started writing Kendo, I realized that I had a lot more to tell for her than I anticipated. What did you think of everyone's reaction to Todoroki and Uraraka's abduction? I tried to focus on some of the realistic emotional fallout that would take place, and there's more to come next time on the practical, hero community side. Also, I hope the All Might/Kendo relationship is good so far, this chapter was my first chance to write about them actually being master and student. And let me know what you thought of her smashes! Plus, Tetsutetsu! Mirio! Nighteye! (Aka three of my favorite characters, this chapter was a blast to write). Next time, one final setup chapter before the big Kill Hawks operation is a go. I think it'll be a mix between hero and villain POVs, and it should most likely be out by Christmas, New Year's Eve at the latest. See you soon!