Hello everyone, I'm putting a trigger warning for some very mature and messed up language ahead about serious violence toward a person. This violence consists of multiple people taking advantage of an unarmed and bound victim. I will add asterisks (*) around that area. If you feel this language would be too much, skip the area until you see the second set. I've been sitting on this since Thanksgiving. I finished it at the same time as the previous chapter.
We'll talk at the bottom.
The Chaos King walked through the decrepit cargo ship with a broad smile. His plan was working perfectly.
Shortly after taking the Discorders throne, he contacted the Villain Factory. The ultra-secretive organization followed All for One to the depths of Hell and back. When he reached out to them, they did their best to shatter the lines of communication and even tried burying themselves further into the darkness.
When they relented, the Chaos King quickly persuaded them to follow him with the Q-Series technology and the Instant-Nomu serum. Even the base of the Quick Quirk solution was a shiny toy presented to them.
While the prototypes for the Q-Series rifles failed to meet par, the Instant-Nomu serum worked. The only issue was a supply of Quirks was necessary to make each dose, and Dr. Garaki's supply of copied Quirks was destroyed.
Thank you Miruko...and Shigaraki.
With the serum in plentiful supply, he launched a first strike against the population, showing the world that there were more Nomu out there. His attack in Eshua City drew the Symbol of Peace in and reaffirmed his fears of a quicker rise of the Discorder Organization. Minato, however, was his crowning achievement.
Seeing the Instant-Nomu serum in action terrified Deku and introduced the younger heroes to a new age of horror. Their future would become a future filled with worry and paranoia. Any criminal on the streets could have a dose of the Instant-Nomu, and each dose created a beast capable of destroying a small town, if not a major metropolis.
And now here he was; the Chaos King stood tall with victory within his grasp. All he had to do was break the Symbol, and he knew what to do.
The Chaos King started walking through the hall. "So...Deku, have you resorted to hiding from me? What a pathetic final ploy from a man desperate to maintain the status quo," he mocked.
"There is nothing to maintain," Deku's voice echoed.
The Chaos King stopped. He heard the voice echo from someplace nearby, but he knew this trick. He didn't know how, but Deku had access to small speakers to stick down hallways and inside closets. He fell for that trick once. "Come on out and fight me, boy!"
Silence. The Chaos King continued. "Your words ring hollow. You and I know that the peace you've struggled to maintain requires a legion of heroes to live without fear. My creations threaten your peace, much like All for One's presence threatened All Might's sense of peace!"
"You crave control, and I have refused to give you that. My empire spans the globe, and all you can do is hop from one country to another. My Instant-Nomu, Quick Quirks, Q-Series weapons, and FACE stand in your way. You, a daring and egotistic general leading his armies across battlefields, desperate to quell the fires the barbarians set!"
Nearby, Deku clenched his fists. "The Warrior Hero: Deku. He isn't the Symbol of Peace; he's a soldier. He's a monster!"
"The only monsters I've seen are those who willingly sell people to have their Quirks extracted, including children!"
"Would you prefer I storm through their houses, forcing them at gunpoint to give up their strongest? Would you prefer I fill the world's streets with the sounds of screaming children?"
"You had no problem doing that for Eri," Deku said.
The Chaos King smiled. "Ahh...little Eri Midoriya. I imagine graduating from U.A. will be difficult for her since she doesn't have her Quirk anymore," he said. "Such a shame. She had a great head on her shoulders."
"Don't you dare speak of her," Deku growled.
"Oh, I'm only stating facts, boy. I admire what she's capable of, but even you should've known that her Quirk was too valuable to leave unprotected in the wild. I would call you a terrible parent, but I've done that many times."
The Chaos King glanced down an adjacent hallway. It was empty, and there were no doors down that way. He kept walking. "Taking her was too easy, in my opinion. Since her Quirk has no combat potential, all she could do was use some weak martial arts and a can of mace gel, but her panic made those tools irrelevant. Of course, we only needed a few moments to extract her Quirk and send her away. The process has been refined since you were on the receiving end."
Deku started to shake.
Creati's worries about the battle grew to a new point when the Chaos King briefly overpowered Deku. That worry was magnified when her phone started to beep erratically.
With her drone disabled, the EKG monitor took up the whole screen. After the Siege of Tokyo, Deku's suits were fitted with a sensor that tracked his heart rate. The sensor was connected to an app that Creati had to ensure Deku's health. However, this case was used to monitor Deku's condition in the fight.
And his heart rate started to pick up rapidly.
"Would you like to know why the leader of a criminal empire decided to kidnap the Symbol's daughter personally? Why did I risk immediate arrest by returning to Japan for a little hero-in-training like her?"
Deku didn't want to know, but that question lingered for weeks after the incident happened. "I mean, I could've sent any of my senior officers to do it instead or lure her off course from home for a quick and clean removal, but I had thought of something that day." The villain smiled. "I thought: how can I hurt the Symbol of Peace in a way that not even the Demon Lord himself could've done? I couldn't exactly do what he did ten years ago."
"Finding Eri was no problem for us since she usually took one of three paths to that little outreach center she goes to, and we knew which one she took that day. Of course, we needed to redirect her a little so she could walk right into our arms. Once we had her, we needed a quiet place to play our game with her. As it turns out, removing her sense of sight and binding her in place made her relive those days she spent with the Yakuza."
"How do you...?"
"The Discorder Organization used to send reserve villains to other organizations to fill their ranks. It used to be a sort of rent-a-crook kind of service. Some of the Shie Hassaikai were Discorders, and after escaping prison, they reported all of the juicy gossip. Of course, most of it was old news, but it was better than no news," the Chaos King explained. "And tying her down was the perfect way to implant fear into her."
Deku clenched his fists. "Taking her Quirk was easy enough, I suppose. Her body rejected the liquified Quirk without any issue, and once we had it stored away, we had no reason to keep her with us...but, well..."
(***Trigger below***)
The Chaos King's smile widened. "She looked so good in her uniform. There she was, 18 years old and on the cusp of graduating. We had already taken her Quirk, so what else could we take from her? What would be the point of keeping her?" He paused, inhaling through his nose like the mention of the memory. "We decided a little experiment was required to ensure her Quirk was viable. One of my underlings ingested the Quirk factor and gained her abilities. We had found that time spent on the subject was time to rewind someone."
"Of course, we needed to be sure it worked, so we worked out a solution. It was pretty easy when there were four of us and only one of her."
"No..." Deku whispered.
The Chaos King smiled. "Breaking her for the first time was too easy. Her screams and tears were music to my ears. She tried to resist us by thrashing around, keeping us from finishing, but that made the experience worthwhile. And when we were done...rewind!"
The Chaos King started scrolling through his phone. "We rewound her body to an hour before that happened, and one of my underlings wiped her memory of it...well, he locked the memories within her subconscious. Once she was rewound, we did it again; one of them started first. And then the next. And the next one after that." He opened his gallery. "We noted that you took good care of her because she looked healthy."
"We alternated who got to go first after every hour. After the fifth hour, we all had fun. We rewound her one last time, dressed, and cleaned her up. We altered her memories so she only remembered blacking out after she was taken. We had debated whether or not to release her, and I believed keeping her would drive you insane. Having people around debating each decision worked out well, I think. We locked her memories behind a wall and sent her to be found. Her memories would only be unlocked if someone said the proper passcode."
"Passcode?"
The Chaos King nodded. "A simple word that would only be said under the right circumstances, and her curriculum was about to touch on that subject. A subject not even you like remembering: the slaughter in Tokyo from a decade ago," he said with a smile. He groaned wistfully. "Oh, if only I could've heard what happened when her professor brought up Tomura Shigaraki during that class. The school tried not to talk about that battle until the students matured. Lucky me, I suppose."
"Enough..."
"Although I still have the videos we took. This one...this holds a special place in my heart. This one stays with me at all times."
He hit play.
"PAPA!"
"Keep her still!"
"She kicks excellent!"
"Admire them later!"
"PAPA, HELP ME! PAPA! PLEASE STOP!"
There was the sound of fabric tearing and punches landing. "Shut her up!"
"Don't! Nobody comes out here. Let her scream as much as she wants," The Chaos King said.
Eri's screams were muffled as laughter emerged from the other Discorders. Three voices were laughing, but one wasn't. Deku tried covering his ears, but the Chaos King increased the volume.
Eri's cries suddenly erupted. "PAPA, THEY'RE HURTING ME! PAPA! HELP ME!"
"Keep crying, girlie! No one is coming to save you!"
"I want a turn next."
"Boss is next!"
Outside the ship, Creati's EKG monitor started to beep rapidly. Deku's pulse was skyrocketing.
"This Rewind is awesome! She's always freshly healed!"
"Only for us to continue breaking her."
Deku shut his eyes. The recording was piercing through his heart. He couldn't stand to hear anymore.
"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HER HERO! A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR COMING TO SAVE THE DAY! WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THAT HERO FAILS?!" The Chaos King bellowed.
Please...Eri...
An ear-piercing scream echoed throughout the ship. The scream drowned out the laughter the Discorders were bellowing.
"PAPA, HELP ME!"
(***End of zone***)
Deku's heart rate burst through 150, shooting to 160 with ease. His pulse echoed into his ears like ceremonial drums. His fingers clawed into the space above his ears, drawing blood.
And then, like an old-fashioned television shutting off, everything became silent.
Deku's hands fell from his ears, with blood dripping from his fingers. His eyes opened and sharpened.
Gone were his emerald green irises.
Outside the ship, Deku's EKG monitor let out a long Beeeeeeeeeeeeep. The young heroes immediately panicked at hearing the flatline; however, the future heroes only exchanged worried glances. Pinky and Red Riot blanched with their eyes wide. "M-Midori..." Pinky muttered.
"That bastard...tell me he didn't..." Red grumbled.
Uravity stared at the monitor. "DEKU!"
The shout alerted the pros to the students of Class 2-A. Iida, Tokoyami, and other high-mobile heroes tried rushing past the pros. Creati created several stop signs while Uravity readied her bracers to capture anyone who tried going past them. The Anti-Gravity Hero didn't notice Uraraka going past her until Pinky jumped in to stop her.
Out of all of them, Bakugo didn't move. He looked at his future self. "Old man, you know something, don't you?"
DynaMight nodded. "The long beep wasn't a flatline. The EKG is reading an abnormally fast heartbeat. It only sounds like a flatline, though," the pro said. "He's still alive."
"Then what the hell has all of you acting like something's wrong?"
Uravity sighed. Before she could say anything, she was suddenly hit with a wave of heat.
The wave emerged from the ship, rushing and knocking everyone off their feet. The wave was followed by a blast of heat that gave the battlefield a strange and light red tint. The captured villains fell over, with some of them complaining about feeling sick all of a sudden.
The wave only meant one thing to Uravity. Her eyes widened as she watched the ship. "D-Deku..."
Uraraka moved past Pinky and ran toward the ship. Uravity quickly shot out her capture wire, wrapping it around the young Gravity Girl's waist before pulling her in. Once she was back, Uravity held her close. "Don't! Deku is fine," she quickly said.
"HOW CAN YOU BE SURE?! HE COULD BE IN DANGER!"
"He's not! The EKG told us that he's alive!"
The pro turned to the ship. "Besides, the concern isn't on him now..."
"What do you mean?" Yaoyorozu asked.
Creati looked out. The wave dissipated. She felt a light pull as the released energy was drawn back in.
The Chaos King was unaware of the situation he was in.
He continued to play the recording, but it didn't matter anymore. The target audience had wholly tuned it out.
Deku emerged from his hiding place and immediately eyed the Chaos King. The villain had his back turned toward him. The hero briskly stalked toward his prey. His heartbeat echoed in his ears. His vision's crystal clarity was replaced with a red fog. As he got closer, the Chaos King smiled.
"And so, in the end, you face me." He turned both gauntlets back to their previous configuration. "Total output: 120%!"
He turned on his heel. "DIE HERO!"
SLAM!
"Deku will be fine physically, but we have a new problem now. The concern isn't Deku losing to the Chaos King," Creati explained.
"Then what is the concern?" Yaoyorozu asked.
Uravity felt herself gasping for air. "The concern...is Deku killing the Chaos King."
BAM!
The cargo ship's side exploded as an object flew out of it. The object smashed through three fully operational cranes before it crashed into the earth. Everyone watched in horror before feeling the sudden wave of heat dissipate. From the wreckage of the ship, they saw a single figure emerge.
Creati and Yaoyorozu created high-tech binoculars for everyone to use. When they all focused on the ship, everyone in 2-A gasped. Some people screamed. "W-W-What the hell?" Hagakure exclaimed.
"Is that-?"
The pro heroes watched.
Emerging through the ship was Deku. His jacket and undershirt had dropped from his body along with his Full Gauntlets. The metal boots were gone, leaving his legs below the kneecap exposed. His exposed skin...
His skin was burning bright red, with ghostly flames dancing across his body. His scar was also red, with purple lines glowing bright where the spiderwebs were. His hair moved in the wind and changed to dark red. His eyes, however, were glowing gold.
"I-If that's Deku, then did he...?"
Class 2-A and the pros turned to see the Chaos King in the middle of the rubble that he crashed through. He was flat on his back, and he wasn't moving.
"Oh God, no..." Pinky muttered.
"The power of the Third..." Creati muttered, earning a confused look from Yaoyorozu.
"He's using it..." Uravity gulped.
"Deku..." DynaMight muttered.
Deku kept his eyes on the Chaos King. His eyes were fierce and sharp, watching for any movement from the villain. Danger Sense was pinging numerous hostiles in the shipyard, so he knew they weren't alone.
"The Third's power and the last Quirk Deku unlocked: Blood Fury," Uravity muttered.
Hello everyone, so it's time I explained my reasoning.
The Quirk I've introduced here requires a particular and powerful trigger, and the Chaos King used it to dig under Deku's skin. I know I could've used other methods, but Eri being targeted and assaulted tore through Deku because of what he knows about the Shie Hassaikai and what they did to her. This was a first for me, and I'm sorry for going this route with no heads-up (well, I've been inching toward it in the author's notes and some of the Chaos King's crimes.)
This chapter was also to transition into the final fight. Blood Fury has been something I've been working toward for a long time.