Sento Kiryu: Last time on "Building a Hero!", after using Misora's connections as the net idol Miitan to find them, Team Build was finally on the path to finding out about the man who framed Ryuga Banjo, Nabeshima.
Mina Ashido: I'm still blown away by that revelation.
Eijiro Kirishima: The mystery around Miitan kinda disappears when you meet her in person, huh?
Misora Isurugi: Come back to me after you purify a ton of Fullbottles and perform live in front of a camera. Then tell me how much energy you have left...
Izuku Midoriya: But to clear his name, Mr. Banjo went off to Seito with Miss Takigawa to save Nabeshima's family in exchange for his testimony!
Pony Tsunotori: Honestly he could've been a little gentler, since he chained us all up before we could stop him.
Ryuga Banjo: Whatever, we're still making a lot of progress anyways! We're landing in the harbor and we'll be in district six in no time!
Sawa Takigawa: But you were really late to get to the harbor.
SK: Yea, and I had to save your butt from being caught by Guardians. Not to mention that I fought a Smash, who turned out to be Nabeshima!
RB: Wait what-
SK: And not only that, I got poisoned by the cobra man, who kidnapped Nabeshima as I passed out! What will happen to Nabeshima, will Banjo manage to save his family, and what more can we learn about Faust!? Find out in this chapter of "Building a Hero!"!
RB: Wait what!?
"Let me go! Stop!" he cried. He struggled against his confinement in the clear chamber, as green liquid covered him, and a cloud of white gas passed over him. His breaths were heavy, as he looked around. People in white hazmat suits stared at monitors surrounding the chamber, as a strangely armored man with a yellow visor shaped like a bat sat a distance away in a gaudy chair, with a strange panel in a pillar next to bat man laughed, as his cries went unheard.
"Wake up!" Souichi said, as he pulled on Sento's cheeks. Sento yelped loudly, as he shot himself upright quickly, rubbing his now-sore cheeks. He looked around. He was back in his room at the Build Shop, right in the comfort of his own bed. "Welp, looks like a good night's rest was just what you needed."
"Why did you do that?" Sento muttered. He recalled what happened last night, about catching up to Ryuga and Sawa, fighting the Smash who turned out to be Nabeshima, and finally getting poisoned, no doubt by the cobra man of Faust.
"Well, you've been out for like, a good five. six hours? Was getting worried when I came back to the Build Shop, and you and Banjo weren't here. Misora and the kids told me what happened, so they gave me the coordinates of where you headed, and when I got there, you were on the ground, knocked out with a hole in your clothes, and no Banjo or Takigawa in sight," he explained, as he sat down on Sento's chair. "What happened? Thought you were supposed to stop him from going into Seito."
"The plan changed," Sento said, as he got up to examine his overcoat. Sure enough, there was a tiny, almost imperceptible hole in it. Definitely from when he was struck by the cobra man's poisoned needle. "If Nabeshima's family really is in trouble, well, I couldn't let that happen now. But the Smash I fought there was Nabeshima, and before I could take him somewhere safe, I got attacked by the cobra man."
"Really? You sure?"
"Well, either that, or there's some other maniac with a giant green cobra on their chest," Sento muttered, as he put on his overcoat. While he put it on, the Build Phone started to ring. He checked the number, and it was from Ryuga's prototype Build Phone. He picked the call up. "Banjo? What's the situation? Did you make it to Seito?"
"Yea, we did," Ryuga said, as he drew on a map the path he and Sawa had taken. "A lady that Build saved gave us a ride through the barrier. Not only that, she's giving us some information about where Nabeshima's family could be living in district 6. And she even managed to get us a van from her uncle's rental company."
"That's good," Sento remarked, taking a deep breath. "Listen, last night while I was fighting the Guardians, a Smash came. After I purified it, it turned out to be Nabeshima. Before I could do anything else, I was poisoned by the cobra man, who probably kidnapped him."
"Seriously?" Ryuga said, his hand tightening around the marker he was using.
"The information that you learned about Nabeshima's family, it could be a trap to lure you out. Be careful."
"Got it."
Sento ended the call, and Ryuga growled. Unbelievable. Nabeshima got himself turned into a Smash? This could throw off his plans to testify for his innocence into the gutter. They were so far into this, too, so turning back now would waste it all.
"Banjo?" Sawa said, snapping Ryuga out of his thoughts. "You ready to go to district 6?"
"Yea," Ryuga answered. "Let's go."
"So what are you going to do now?" Souichi asked, as Sento hung up.
"While I was asleep, I got another brief memory fragment," he replied, running his hand through his hair. "In Faust's lab, there was a panel that had the same pattern as the Pandora Box. It has to be connected. Maybe that's where their technology's derived from."
"Are you sure?"
"Technology mostly beyond our understanding and capable of changing people without transformation or mutation Quirks into monsters with enhanced Quirks or even whole new abilities? Yea, it's looking more and more likely now."
Amidst his pondering, the Purification Chamber's characteristic ding went off, catching Sento's and Souichi's attention. "Oh yea, that's right, while you were asleep, I gave Misora that Smash Bottle to purify," Souichi said, as Sento ran out of his room to the Build Shop. He chuckled, and followed suit.
"Come on, let's see what prize I got after getting poisoned!" Sento said, opening the Purification Chamber's microwave door. As the steam escaped, he pulled out a gray Fullbottle with the image of a rhinoceros imprinted on it. "Rhino, huh? Makes sense, with Nabeshima's horn and all. This sounds like it'll be a brute force Fullbottle! Nice!"
While Sento marveled at the new Fullbottle, the Chamber's door slid open, and Misora walked out. "Tired... Sleepy... Sleeping..."
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on, I need to ask a favor, Miitan," Sento said, snapping out of his excitement and grabbing her hand.
"Huh?" Misora muttered, her deadly glare piercing through his soul.
"I need to gather info about the Skywall Incident. I think I'm onto something, but I need to get all the information I can from anywhere. So will you please-"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Don't wanna."
"Do it."
"Don't wanna don't wanna don't wanna!"
"Master!"
Souichi sighed, shaking his head before leaping into action. Misora watched him move and grab the changing curtain and her idol clothes.
"Don't wanna!" she cried, before instantly changing into her idol clothes as Souichi pulled the the changing curtain up around her. Sento set the camera up in the meanwhile, and started rolling once Souichi finished setting the backdrop.
"Hi! It's me, Miitan! And I need to ask for another favor todaaaaaaaaaaaaay..." Misora said, losing energy with each word before falling asleep standing up.
"Oh, this is gonna take a while," Sento said, as Souichi pinched his forehead.
Izuku grimaced as he flexed his fingers again. This morning was another rough training session, and yet another healing session with Recovery Girl. It was frustrating, having spent so many weeks with One for All, and yet he's still breaking his bones, to the point that Recovery Girl insisted that he and All Might take a mandatory break from training, otherwise he'll just reach a point where he'll never heal again. The only bright side to this whole experience is his training with the Beetle Fullbottle, which had been more fruitful in comparison.
"If my One for All training doesn't work out, maybe I can make it as a Kamen Rider," he thought in his head. "If I do, can I still make it as a number one hero? I don't see why not, since being there's no law saying you can't be a hero and a Kamen Rider at the same time. Mr. Kiryu just doesn't have an actual license, but that doesn't mean much now since he's still more effective at handling Smash attacks. And the Kamen Rider is the only one who can purify victims... If I was a Kamen Rider, what would my name even be? He mentioned that there's only one Build and that's him, so what can I call myself? Kamen Rider Mighty? Nah, too close to All Might, I can't do that... Kamen Rider Maker? Well, that's assuming that the name can be close to Build... Kamen Rider Green? Nah, that would only work if my suit was green-"
In the middle of his thoughts, Izuku felt his head get slapped by the teacher's floating detached hand, snapping him back to reality.
"Earth to Midoriya, hello? I know that you being attacked by a few villains here and there has been traumatizing, but that doesn't mean you can just ignore class, you know?" the teacher said, a little dismissively.
"S-sorry!" Izuku apologized, as he returned his attention back to classwork. Still, the thoughts of being a Kamen Rider occupied the back of his head. Maybe when he goes back to the Build Shop later Mr. Kiryu can check his Hazard Level to see how high it's gotten. Hopefully he had recovered by now; when Mr. Isurugi sent the message that he found him unconscious and possibly poisoned. Everyone was worried, though it seemed like Mr. Isurugi was confident that the poison was just enough to knock him out, and that it wouldn't cause any lasting damage to someone with a Hazard Level like Mr. Kiryu. Still, it would be very bad if the country's only Kamen Rider was out of commission.
Last night might have been rough, whatnot being poisoned and all, but Sento was back in the game. In the hours before going to work, he had watched all the footage of the Skywall Incident he could get over and over, trying to find any clue to his dream. And just in the nick of time, he had found it.
"I came across this footage of the Skywall Incident, and I was curious about what exactly was happening with the Pandora Box. So I applied a special filter that dampened the light. As you can clearly see, it shows that when the Pandora Box was activated, its outer shell changed colors before launching off," Sento said, showing Gentoku and Utsumi the footage he had gathered. He had slowed the filtered footage down, and indeed, the moment Souichi's hand had pulled away from the Pandora Box, it had levitated and spun around, launching its out panels.
"Where on earth did you get this footage!?" Utsumi demanded, grabbing Sento's phone and replayed the video. "No one is supposed to-"
"So you've known about this?" Sento said, raising an eyebrow as Utsumi realized what he blurted out. Gentoku sighed as he stroked his goatee, before admitting, "Yes, we've been quite aware of this for some time now. The Institute had kept it under wraps, since we haven't been able to recover any of the Box's outer panels. After such a disaster, it would've been too soon to reveal something so sensitive as this. Only myself, Utsumi, and two board members know about this. Not even Katsuragi knew."
"Not able to recover? So they're lost?" Sento said, taking his phone back from Utsumi.
"That's what we hope. Of course, there is the possibility that someone's found them, but we can't be sure," Gentoku said. He took a deep breath, and put a hand on Sento's shoulder. "I want you to understand that this information about the missing panels needs to stay secret. We're already busy studying the Pandora Box as it is, so we can't afford the resources into searching for them at the moment."
"I see... Do you have any idea what these panels could do? Like, what if someone had found one of the panels, and was using it to create those Smashes? I mean, the way that Smashification works is... pretty alien, don't you think?"
Gentoku stood there, silent. Pondering. Before Sento could get the feeling he said something wrong, he finally replied with, "That's a mighty big 'if', Mr. Kiryu. While I appreciate and understand your concern about the missing panels, I suggest that you refrain from making such dangerous theories. I won't tell you that you can't research them, since I figure you'll do it with or without a warning, but please do it on your own time and with your own resources, as well as keep it secret from the other members."
"Yes, of... of course, sir, I understand," Sento said. He gave Gentoku and Utsumi a curt bow before running off back to the Pandora Box observation room, leaving the two behind.
"Sir, do you think this is wise? We've kept this a secret for years now, surely it'll-" Utsumi said, but Gentoku put a finger on his lips.
"Don't worry, Utsumi. We can use this to our advantage," he said, as he resumed stroking his goatee. The smile that was growing on his face was wide, but something sinister hid in his grin. "After all, science is our best weapon."
"Alright, this seems like the right building," Sawa said, checking the map that the boat owner gave them. It had been just under an hour of driving. Thankfully, there weren't that many residential buildings in district 6, so it was easy to narrow it down. They had parked in an alleyway to avoid being seen, though with the rather empty streets, that wasn't a big concern.
"Good, now let's go and-" Ryuga said, preparing to climb out of the van, before being pulled back in by Sawa.
"Whoa, what are you doing? We need disguises! Don't you remember that you're a felon? Even if we're in a different country, they'd probably be on alert for you!" she muttered, smacking him in the head with the rolled up map.
"Well, did that lady give us anything to use?" Ryuga whispered back, crawling over his seat to look for anything in the back. Sawa pulled and stretched her left index finger, trying to figure out a plan when she spotted a peach delivery truck nearby with two delivery men getting out of the cab. "I'll be right back."
Sawa opened the door slightly, and slid out from the crack. She compressed herself against the ground before slithering towards the delivery men, hiding underneath the delivery truck to avoid their gaze before moving behind them. Luckily for her, they were engaged in a rather strange, but apparently very important conversation.
"I swear, I think the last person we delivered to was Miitan."
"Again with this, Hanto? You've said that about every short-haired lady we delivered to. Besides, didn't you notice that she had cat paws? Miitan doesn't have those."
"They could've been fake! Haven't you seen all the weird accessories that she wears? She must have fake cat paws-"
Within seconds Sawa whacked the two delivery men in the neck, knocking both of them out in an instance. She looked around, and dragged the two unconscious and hapless delivery men back to the van. Ryuga stared at her, unsure of what just happened.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" he asked, as Sawa began pulling their uniforms off. She stared back at him for a few seconds, before responding with a simple, "You don't want to know."
"Are you alright, Midoriya?" Mina asked, as he met up with her, Eijiro, and Pony at the train station to get to cafe nascita. "You look kinda out of it."
"Yea, it's just... training, you know?" Izuku answered, scratching the back of his head. "It's been pretty hard to keep up, you know, even with my Hazard Level boost..."
"I can only imagine that," Eijiro said, shuddering. "Being All Might's apprentice has to be some grueling work."
"You have no idea..." he muttered, as the four recounted their day to each other, and it wasn't long until they reached cafe nascita. When they got inside, they saw Mr. Isurugi getting ready to leave.
"Where you going?" Mina asked, as he picked up a helmet.
"Oh, I'm off to do some errands," he explained while heading towards the door. "With all the people who've been coming around here lately, I thought that it'd be a good idea to get some more supplies, you know? Sento's down in the Build Shop working on his computer if you're wondering where he is."
The four teens say goodbye as Mr. Isurugi left through the front door, and immediately went through the Build Shop's mini fridge entrance. As they climbed down the stairs, they were greeted with the sight of Sento working at his computer.
"Hey you four," he said, absentmindedly typing away on the keyboard.
"Hi Mr. Kiryu!" Pony greeted cheerfully. "What sort of science adventure will we have today?"
"Calculating the most likely areas that the Pandora Panels might have landed, theorizing their purpose, reviewing the Build Files, and-"
"Wait wait wait, 'Pandora Panels'? What's that about?" Eijiro asked. Sento got up to show them the edited footage of the Skywall Incident and explained what he had found.
"So the Pandora Box this entire time was missing parts?" Izuku said, raising his eyebrows. "That's crazy! I always knew the Pandora Box had more to it, but to have multiple layers-"
"What's crazier is that no one's found them, not even the Institute," Mina added, scratching her head. "You'd think there'd be a big treasure hunt for alien technology or something."
"That's precisely what's concerning me," Sento answered, going back to his computer. "I've been working on algorithms that could help me pinpoint where these Pandora Panels could've landed, but so far, nothing substantial's come up."
"Well, besides the Pandora Panel thing," Mina said, looking around the Build Shop. "Where's Banjo? The last thing we heard about him was you getting poisoned!"
"Oh, yea, he and Sawa are on their way to district six in Seito," Sento absentmindedly replied, as he looked through the maps he complied for the Pandora Panel search. "Since the two were into their plan that far, I covered for them as Build to keep some Guardians off their trail."
"Is that fine, though?" Izuku asked nervously. "I mean, we haven't known him for long, but Mr. Banjo... doesn't seem to be the careful type."
"I'm sure it'll be alright," Sento answered. "He's got someone to watch over him, and I doubt that both of them will be stupid enough to get caught."
"Afternoon delivery," Ryuga said, as he and Sawa walked into the apartment lobby towards the elevators. As the doors closed, the two silently congratulated each for an infiltration well done, and were soon heading towards the Nabeshima's apartment number.
"Now remember, we have to be kind, considerate, and tell them as much as we possibly can about the situation," Sawa instructed, as Ryuga nodded obediently. They rang the doorbell, and a middle-aged woman opened the door.
"Are you Nabeshima's wife?" Ryuga asked with almost immediate aggression. The woman jumped a bit in surprise and tried to close the door, but Sawa stopped her.
"What part of that was that kind and considerate!?" she whispered, before turning her attention to Mrs. Nabeshima. "Are you Mrs. Nabeshima? We're here on the behalf of your husband, he sent us here to protect you."
The woman looked at the two suspiciously, before letting them in. Sawa began helping her with packing some things, while Ryuga found himself sitting at the table in their living room, with Nabeshima's daughter across from him playing cat's cradle.
"So are you aware of the organization Faust?" Sawa asked, as Mrs. Nabeshima packed some more clothes.
"My husband never talked about work," she admitted, as she picked up some letters that he had sent to them. "One day, he told us to move to Seito. When I asked why he wanted us to move to a different country without him, all he said was that 'I'm going to protect my family'."
Ryuga turned his head, picking up the last thing she said. His eyes shifted towards the ground as he began to think. But before he could think about it some more, Nabeshima's daughter Haruka caught his attention.
"Hey mister," the daughter said, holding up her hands and showing him her cat's cradle. "Tower," she said, as she began her trick. "Turtle... Rubber... Helicopter! Neat, right?"
"I dunno, I've never tried that trick before. You wanna tell me more about it?" he said, smiling a bit at the small girl, who beamed a big grin at him. As the girl began to explain the trick, Mrs. Nabeshima and Sawa smiled for a bit before resuming their discussion.
"Your husband might be in trouble from trying to protect you," Sawa said, as she helped back a few more things. "We should head to him as soon as possible."
"We're gonna see daddy? Yay, yay!" the girl asked, her grin almost ear to ear in excitement. As she cheered, Ryuga's eyes shifted towards the ground for a bit before refocusing them onto the girl.
"So... you really love your dad that much, huh?" he asked, as the girl turned towards him again.
"Yep! Daddy's the best daddy ever!" she said, as she showed him her cat's cradle string. "Whenever I show him my cat's cradle, he praises me lots and say 'That's very good, Haru!' Daddy's been busy though, so he hasn't seen the new ones I learned."
Ryuga's eyes shifted to the ground once again. The image of Nabeshima he had in his head was starting to clash with his family's image. All this time he had imagined him as this remorseless man who tricked Kasumi and knocked him out for Faust's experiments, but now? It seemed like he was just another victim to whatever Faust's plans are.
"I'm... I'm sure your dad will get to see them soon," Ryuga said, as he cracked a smile for the girl. "After all, we'll be seeing him soon."
Nabeshima emerged from the Nebula Chamber, its door once again broken at the hinges. Gas surrounded him as he staggered around, and soon he had turned into a Smash once again, though his appearance was different. Instead of the rhinoceros-like Horn Smash, his horn was now shaped like a gas stack-like pillar, not unlike that of Night Rogue's and the other two leaders, though it was much larger. His eyes were now covered with a vent-like mask, and his chest had a large cannon-like protrusion coming out of it.
"Huh, fancy that," Meta Bolt said, watching the new Smash attacking everything in sight, including the other struggling future test subjects strapped to the beds, who screamed as he narrowly missed hitting them. "Seems like if someone goes through a second Smashification they'll get a change in abilities."
Night Rogue grumbled as he stepped in to stop the new Smash. It charged towards him, firing blasts of hot air from its horn, though he leaped over it and shot it in the head with his Transteam Gun a few times before pinning it down with his knee. "Hmph, what do you think a third dose of Nebula Gas would do, Bolt?"
"Probably nothing right now, considering that the Nebula Chamber is broken. Again," Meta Bolt said, pointing at the now door-less box. "See, this is why we should use the Steam Rifle more often, repairing that thing is a waste of time. My time, to be precise."
"Tch, for once you're right," Night Rogue said, as the Smash struggled to free itself from underneath him. Footsteps echoed in the lab however, and they turned to face Blood Stalk.
"Let me handle that," Blood Stalk said, as he twirled his Transteam Gun in his hand. "It's been a while since I've done anything, so I think that it should be me that gets a turn, right?"
"... Fine, take him," Night Rogue said, as he got off the Smash, who had tired himself out from struggling for so long. "It would free up Meta Bolt to fix the Nebula Chamber."
"I just told you it'd be- oh forget it," Meta Bolt said, giving in, though he muttered under his breath, "This time I'm giving the Nebula Chamber stronger locks and hinges..."
"So where will you do the third Smashification, Stalk?" Night Rogue asked, as Blood Stalk picked the Smash up by the scruff of its armor plated neck.
"Oh, it'll be somewhere remote, don't you worry," Blood Stalk answered, as he released a steam of gas from his Transteam Gun. "But it'll be a good chance for me to see Build in action."
Ryuga got out of the elevator as he pushed the large box of "peaches" (in reality Mrs. Nabeshima and her daughter) towards the front entrance. Sawa had already gone down to get the rental van ready for their departure. Things were going rather smoothly. At least until a Guardian tackled him when he walked a few steps away from the apartment entrance. The sudden impact shoved the box over, and both Mrs. Nabeshima and Haruka fell out roughly.
"Gah, what's with this Guardian!?" Ryuga growled, before looking at its "face", which was uncovered by the normal metal plate, much like-
"That face... this must be Faust's work!" he said, punching the Guardian off. He pulled out the Dragon Fullbottle from his pocket, shook it, and twisted the cap open. The Guardian swung its fist towards him, but he wrecked it with one shockwave-powered punch. More Faust-controlled Guardians started to pour in, however, and soon Ryuga found himself nearly surrounded, and split between fighting the Guardians and protecting the Nabeshimas. Before he could get overwhelmed however, he heard a car honk from the side, and when he turned to look, he saw Sawa in the van driving at high speed. He grabbed the Nabeshimas and jumped out of the way, and the van slammed into all of the Guardians, breaking many of them.
"Hurry, get in!" Sawa said, rolling down the window to shout at them. Ryuga rushed and opened the door, and Mrs. Nabeshima and Haruka got on, and he jumped in just as quickly after them. Sawa made a break for it and sped off, heading back to the pier where their boat ride was waiting. Sawa continually checked behind them, making sure that they weren't followed, when a Guardian slammed its face against the windshield, startling everyone. From its singular "eye" it emitted a strange clock, which was counting down.
"A countdown?" Ryuga said, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't tell me-" Sawa said, as the realization of the countdown's nature dawned on the three adults.
"A bomb!?"
Reika stood on her family's boat. She looked at her watch, seeing that it was nearing the time that the two Kamen Rider allies were supposed to come back, when she heard a van honking its horn. She looked up, and saw the rental van she had gotten for them speeding towards the boat, with a Guardian on the roof and windshield.
"Hey!" Ryuga shouted, poking his head through the window. "Start the boat! Start the boat!"
Realizing what was going on, Reika turned towards her employee, and motioned to him to hurry up and start it.
As Sawa pressed on the gas, she said to the three passengers, "We're gonna have to jump onto the boat!"
"Jump!?" Mrs. Nabeshima said, startled by the suggestion. Haruka meanwhile smiled wide, and shouted, "Oooooh, let's jump!"
As the boat began to move away from the pier, the van flew over it. Sawa and the others opened their doors and jumped off the van, with Ryuga grabbing Haruka and rolling underneath her to absorb the impact of the landing. The van fell into the water, and within seconds of the boat speeding off, exploded, leaving a fiery cloud in the water.
"We did it!" Ryuga shouted triumphantly as the cloud grew smaller the farther they got.
"My uncle's not gonna be happy about that..." Reika muttered, shaking her head. "I'm gonna have to ask you two to pay for the replacement."
Sawa looked at her, and then at Ryuga, who shrugged at her. "Oh man, this is gonna cost a lot..."
"Ugh, this is going nowhere," Sento said, as he got up. The four teens turned to him, having taken up some time by doing their homework (Eijiro and Mina in particular were glad that Sento had given them some advice on their science homework offhandedly) and testing some of the Fullbottles for themselves. "All the potential landing areas for the Pandora Panels are either in totally remote areas that no one could get to, are populated areas where something like that would've been immediately reported, or are in the other two countries. And lord knows how I'd get there."
"So the Pandora Panel thing is a deadend?" Eijiro asked, as Sento plopped himself on the couch.
"What do you think?" Sento said, deadpan. "I guess for now we'll have to put finding the Pandora Panels on the backburner for now."
As Sento ruminated on the missing Pandora Panels, Misora came out of her room, her tablet in hand. "Hey Sento," she said, handing it to him. "We got a Smash alert. But the tip on it is... really weird. It's talking about things you'd usually say, like experiments and essences..."
"'A Smash has appeared in the park in area C4'," Sento read outloud, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he read through it. "'He's been experimented on twice, so if his essence isn't taken soon, he might die. Think he'll last about 3 hours if you don't. Do your best! Blood Stalk.'"
"E-experimented twice?" Izuku said, as beads of sweat dripped down his face. "You mean they doused someone with more gas!?"
"Hey, do you think it could be-" Mina said, as Sento got up from the couch.
"Yea, it could be Nabeshima. But this 'Blood Stalk' guy... could he be the cobra man?" he muttered, as he got his overcoat and the Build Driver. "Stay put you guys, this could be serious."
"But we-" Eijiro attempted to protest, but Sento stopped him.
"I need you to stay put, please. With how one-sided my fights with Meta Bolt and Night Rogue turned out, and the fact that the cobra man literally poisoned me when my guard was down, this Blood Stalk guy could be just as dangerous as them, if not more," Sento said. "I understand that you four want to help, but you're not even official heroes in training yet. And I need you to tell Banjo, Sawa, and All Might where I am and what happened as well."
"I... I guess I get it," Eijiro said, looking down at the ground. "Just don't talk like you're gonna die, though, Mr. Kiryu."
Sento grinned, before snidely saying, "Of course I won't die. After all, I'm the genius physicist Sento Kiryu! I'll be back before you know it."
As he drove into the coordinates that the "tip" gave, Sento looked around and observed the area. It was an old abandoned playground that was far away from any buildings or houses, surrounded by clusters of trees. It fitted Faust's MO of leaving Smash victims, so he gave them credit for sticking to it, even with Meta Bolt's habit of Smashifying people in more public areas. He didn't need to look too hard for the Smash, as he saw it stumbling around.
Sure enough, the Smash's appearance resembled the Horn Smash that Nabeshima turned into, though for some reason, it had changed in some aspects as well. The horn was replaced with a large gas stack-like pillar, its eyes covered with a vent-like mask, and most obvious of all, a giant cannon-like protrusion stuck out of its chest.
"Huh, so I guess a second dosage changes a Smash's abilities," Sento said, gritting his teeth as the Build Driver's belt formed around his waist. "I don't want to know what a third dosage does. So, let's start this experiment, alright?"
Sento took out the Deer and Pyramid Fullbottles and shook them before twisting the caps open and inserted them into the Build Driver. "Deer! Pyramid! Best Match! Are you ready!?"
He cranked the handle quickly and the runners formed, though the Smash seemed a bit out of it as it didn't move to attack him yet, leaning against a tree to keep itself standing upright. "Transform!"
"The Royal Family Guardian! Deeramid! Yeahhh!"
With a flick of his left wrist, Build created a small floating energy pyramid, and motioned it towards the Smash. It fired its branching lasers at it, but to his surprise, the metal-like plating showed no signs of softening from the heat like before. The Smash roared, and pointed its horn at the pyramid, releasing a strong blast of hot air at it. The sudden shift in temperature caused the pyramid to dissipate, and before Build could process what happened, the Smash released another blast of heat from its horn, knocking him off his feet.
"Ow! Hot!" he cried, getting up. The Smash didn't let up the assault, however, as it released a ball of fire from its chest, hitting him once again. "Another fire-type Smash, huh? I wonder if this is related to his Quirk?" he muttered, as he summoned the Drill Crusher in its gun mode and inserted the Refrigerator Fullbottle. "Let's call you the... Heat Smash! Not like you'll be hot for long, 'cuz you're about to get iced!"
"Ready, go! Vortex Break!"
Build fired a salvo of icy air blasts at the Heat Smash, but to his surprise, the Heat Smash held its fingers out, and emitted a continuous wave of heat that went through the cold blasts. It charged at Build, who rolled out of the way to avoid it, though he had dropped the Drill Crusher by accident. "So it can emit a strong consistent heatwave to prevent being frosted over? Guess that sets it apart from the Explode Smash," he muttered to himself, swapping out the Deer and Pyramid Fullbottles with Lion and Vacuum. "Lion! Vacuum! Best Match! Are you ready!?"
"Transform!" "The Mane Cyclone! LionCleaner! Yeah!"
The Heat Smash growled once again before firing more blasts of heat at Build, who sucked them in with the Long Range Cleaner. With each absorbed heat blast, Build began to charge the Golden Lio Gauntlet with the converted energy. "Yea, keep firing at me!" he taunted, feeling the growing power in his right arm. "Just a little more and you're finished!"
Unbeknownst to Build, several feet away from him was a man dressed in a red bodysuit with gunmetal gray pipes forming his armor and a muffler-like collar. A symbol of a green cobra rested on his chest, and an identical one formed his visor. He held his Steam Rifle in his hands as he laid lazily on a park bench. He yawned, and sat up as he spun the valve on the Steam Rifle.
"Guess it's about time I make this interesting," he said, pointing the Steam Rifle up. "Devil Steam!"
With a press of the trigger, a gas bullet flew out of the Steam Rifle. As it weaved between the trees, it swerved around Build, and struck the Heat Smash.
"Another injection!?" he said, as the gas bullet started to surround the Heat Smash. As he got up, a voice began to echo around him.
"Hey, Build," it said, as he activated his sensors to determine where it's coming from. "Hope you like that gift. An extra dose of Nebula Gas, just for him. Be careful, there might some side effects, since this is the first triple dosed Smash."
"Who's that!? Are you Blood Stalk!? Show yourself!" Build demanded. The sensors picked up nothing nearby, however, as he tapped the side of his helmet. "Don't bother, Build. By the time I finish this sentence, I'll be long gone. So good luck, and fight hard, Build!"
As Build scowled underneath his helmet, the Heat Smash's roar became deafening. When he turned to face it, he couldn't believe his eyes as the Heat Smash began to grow out of the Nebula Gas cloud. As it finished absorbing the cloud, the Heat Smash had quadrupled in size, towering over some of the surrounding trees.
"A third dose turns a Smash into a giant!?" he exclaimed, as he rolled out of the way from the Heat Smash, who attempted to step on him. "Fascinating! And unfair!"
Build cranked the Build Driver's handle, having gathered enough energy from converting the Heat Smash's attacks from earlier. "Ready, go! Vortex Finish!" "Cleansing Bite!"
He swung his fist as an energy projection of a lion's head formed around his hand, launching it into the giant Heat Smash which exploded upon contact. Build stood ready in case it wasn't enough, which proved to be true as when the smoke settled the Heat Smash roared and fired another heat blast from its chest, knocking Build off his feet and causing him to hit a tree.
"Agh, I guess that wasn't enough," he muttered, struggling to get up, though the sudden impact of his landing had disoriented him. The Heat Smash approached him, ready to grab him, when all of a sudden it had froze in place. It moaned, and it turned around, looking behind itself. Build looked at its back, and saw the Drill Crusher had been thrown and lodged into it. He moved his head to look behind the Smash, and saw Ryuga, holding his Dragon Fullbottle in his left hand.
"You wanna fight, you giant jerk!? Come on!" Ryuga said, shaking the Fullbottle and twisting the cap again. "I ain't scared of you!"
As the Heat Smash started to approach him, a familiar blue-and-white blur flew from the right, hitting it square in the face. As the Heat Smash staggered from the impact, the blur landed, and it was none other than All Might.
"I am here!" he announced, getting up. "Now's your chance, Mr. Kamen Rider!"
"Much obliged!" Build said, as he exchanged the Fullbottles in his belt for the Hawk and Gatling Fullbottles. "Hawk! Gatling! Best Match! Are you ready?" "Transform!" "The Rampage in the Skies! HawkGatling! Yeahhh!"
"I've got the winning formula!" he announced, as he did his signature helmet flick. He summoned the Hawkgatlinger from the Build Driver, and started to spin the bullet drum. "10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100! Full Bullet!"
"And let's add in a Vortex Finish!" he added, as he cranked the Build Driver's handle furiously. "Ready, go! Vortex Finish!"
As soon as the Build Driver made its announcement, a giant spherical energy graph surrounded the giant disoriented Heat Smash, and a gatling barrel formed on Build's left arm, to which he attached the Hawkgatlinger to. The barrel began to spin, and soon an unstoppable volley of energy bullets flew out of the Hawkgatlinger's extended barrel and into the Heat Smash. "Hawk Helix Hurricane!" he cried out, as the Heat Smash was struck bullet after bullet, causing a huge explosion that enveloped it. When Build's finisher ended and the smoke cloud vanished, the Heat Smash had returned to normal size, barely moving from the finisher. Build twisted an Empty Bottle open, and pointed it at the downed Smash, taking its essence and revealing an unconscious Nabeshima.
"So they really did get Nabeshima twice..." Ryuga said, grinding his teeth.
"Unbelievable," All Might muttered, picking the man up. "What should we do?"
"We take him to the Build Shop," Sento said, as he pulled off the Build Driver and detransformed. "He's our lead, and I doubt we can take him anywhere else without heavy security."
The two nodded in agreement, and soon they went off, heading back to the cafe where the others were waiting.
At the cafe, they had set up a cot to put the unconscious Nabeshima so everyone could keep an eye on him. Izuku and the other teens sat on the couch, while Misora was in her rocking chair. Ryuga was sitting on the ground and Sento leaned against the wall. Sawa was waiting with his family upstairs, who were worried about him since they saw Ryuga and Sento bringing him inside in tattered clothes and out cold (All Might had left before hand in order to keep his involvement a secret to the Nabeshimas). He finally woke up after a couple hours, still dazed and confused. Ryuga was the first to notice that he had awakened, and almost immediately confronted him before the others came to stop him.
"You're finally awake Nabeshima?" Ryuga said, as the man looked at him, brow furrowed. "I saved your family, so you're gonna keep your end of the deal and tell the truth about what happened, right?"
Nabeshima stayed silent, as he walked a bit into the Build Shop. "Hey, are you listening?" Ryuga said, gritting his teeth. "You promised, remember the deal?"
"... Who are you? Where am I?" he asked. Ryuga tightly clutched his fist, and stomped towards him. "Are you serious? I'm Ryuga Banjo! You framed me for murder! How can you not recognize me, Nabeshima!?"
"Who's that?" he said, stunning everyone in the room. "I... who am I?" he said, as he began to realize that he didn't even remember who he was. Everyone looked at each other worryingly, as they began to realize what was happening. Ryuga's face twisted into a frightening scowl, and he kicked the foot of the cot hard, causing everyone to flinch.
"Don't screw with me!" Ryuga cried, as he turned around to Nabeshima and grabbed him by the shoulders. "If you can't remember anything, than who can prove to everyone that I'm innocent!?"
"Mr. Banjo-" Izuku said, as he, Eijiro, and Sento got up to hold him back, when Sawa, Mrs. Nabeshima, and Haruka came downstairs.
"What's going on?" Sawa said, looking at the distraught Ryuga and the befuddled Nabeshima. "What happened?"
Ryuga turned to see the others behind him, staring at him apprehensively, Eijiro ready with his hardened arms. He let Nabeshima go, and walked off, grabbing one of the metal pillars in the Build Shop as he tried to calm down. Nabeshima fell to his knees, unable to process what was going on.
"Daddy!" Haruka said, grinning broadly as she went to hug him. Nabeshima grabbed her arms and gently pushed her away, observing this strange girl who had just embraced him immediately.
Sento turned around towards Mrs. Nabeshima, his eyes pointed at the ground. "It seems like he's lost his memories," he said, the words escaping his lips. It was a feeling he's known for the past several months, and yet it was still hard to say. Mrs. Nabeshima's eyes widened, as she rushed past Sento and towards her husband.
"Look daddy!" Haruka said, pulling out her cat's cradle. "Tower... turtle... rubber... helicopter! Isn't it neat?"
Nabeshima stared at her for a while, frowning as confusion plagued him. Ryuga turned his head slightly, and walked over to Nabeshima.
"Banjo, wait-"
"I don't care about me," Ryuga said, as the others froze around him, unprepared for what he had said. "But just look at her. She's been practicing that just for you. Because she loves you and wants your praise. At least remember her, Nabeshima... She's your kid!"
Nabeshima stared at him, his gaze shifting between Ryuga and his daughter, growing more and more distraught as he struggled to remember his family and who he was. Haruka's smile began to disappear, as she looked at her father. "Daddy?"
As the atmosphere continued to get heavier, Sento made his way to his work table and grabbed a small light bulb and its battery case.
"Haruka," he said, lowering himself to her level to talk to her. "Your father's memories of you and your mom... They were taken, like this." He pulled the battery powering the light bulb out. "But if you two help make new ones with him-" he added, layering small copper and nickel sheets on top of each other- "I'm sure that his memories will come back soon."
When he finished layering the small metal sheets, he pinched them with a small wire clamp, and connected the other end to the light bulb, making it shine once again. Haruka smiled, and she turned to face her father. "I'll teach you how to do a cat's cradle, daddy! We'll play and play until you remember!"
Mrs. Nabeshima walked over, the tears drying on her cheek, and she grasped her amnesiac husband's hand. Haruka did the same, and despite his missing memories, a smile grew on his face, as his hands tightened around theirs.
"That's so sweet..." Mina said, before looking to her left at Eijiro, who was sniffling quite a bit as he wiped his eyes. "Kirishima, are you crying?"
"Of course I am," Eijiro said, unashamed. "A real man doesn't hide his emotions."
Ryuga stared at Sento, whose smile had gotten wide at the sight of the Nabeshima family. There he was again, putting himself aside with zero hesitation to comfort strangers, especially with the fact that he was missing his own memories. He still couldn't understand it, how anyone like Sento could do something like that.
Sawa similarly wiped her eyes, before going to the family and helping them up. "We better get to that safe house I got for you three. Faust won't be able to find you at all."
As the four began to leave, Nabeshima glanced back to look at Sento and Ryuga, before something caught his eye. He rushed past the two, and went to the Fullbottle device in the wall.
"They had these bottles," he muttered, as a memory returned to him. "And this panel, too..."
Izuku and the others stared at one another, wondering what this could mean. "What do you mean, 'panel'?" he finally asked, as the conversation they had earlier came back to their minds.
"There was this panel in this pillar," Nabeshima said, struggling to remember more. "It could flip around, and they stuck colorful bottles like these onto it..."
"So what's the verdict, Stalk?" Meta Bolt asked, sitting on Night Rogue's tacky chair, looking at a hologram projection of his fellow Faust member. Night Rogue himself was standing near a pillar, as he inserted Fullbottles onto a panel. Unlike the purple and silver ones he and the other Faust leaders had, these ones resembled the ones Build had. A light blue Fullbottle shaped like a rocket had been resting on it before he inserted a green Fullbottle shaped like a train, followed by a silver one shaped like a unicorn head, and a yellow one shaped like a tiger.
"He's good, but he's still got a lot to learn," Blood Stalk said, as Night Rogue sighed. "He's come into the role soon enough."
"Why are you two dragging this out?" Night Rogue muttered, turning to face Meta Bolt. "The longer we wait, the more time Seito and Hokuto have to prepare themselves."
"Calm down, Rogue. You can't rush these things you know," Blood Stalk said, smugly. "I'm a game maker after all. It takes time and carefulness to make the best strategy work, you know. I'll send you more updates later."
With that, Blood Stalk ended the transmission, leaving Meta Bolt and Night Rogue alone in their headquarters. Night Rogue scoffed, as Meta Bolt stretched and got up. "I should get back to my own mission as well," he said, walking off. "We've been making some pretty solid progress, Rogue, so calm down and let us do our jobs."
Meta Bolt pulled out his Transteam Gun, and with a quick swipe, a cloud formed around him and disappeared. Night Rogue growled, as a pair of footsteps came towards him. He turned, and saw Utsumi approaching him, tablet in hand.
"Are you sure it's wise to trust those two?" he asked, looking at Night Rogue. "They've kept making strange decisions that could jeopardize our mission."
"True," Night Rogue said, holding his Transteam Gun. A cloud of gas surrounded him, his armor disappearing with it. Gentoku Himuro walked out of the cloud, and stroked his goatee while he frowned. "But it's not like I have any choice. Their intelligence is valuable, especially with the loss of our head scientist."
Gentoku put his hands in his pockets, and walked off, with Utsumi trailing behind him. As much as he hated Blood Stalk's and Meta Bolt's disregard for his orders at times, it was true that he needed them around to help with Faust's experiments. He needed all the resources he could get to make sure Touto stayed on top, and if he needed their help, so be it.
"Wait, so Faust also has their own Fullbottles and a Best Match finding device thing?" Ryuga said, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't you tell me that Misora is the only one that can make more?"
"As far as I know, yea," Izuku said, as he racked his brain over what Nabeshima said. "But it makes sense that Faust would have their own. I mean, they have those unusual purple ones, so they have to be able to make their own, right?"
"Unbelievable! So are Faust also looking for Best Matches?" Pony said, having thrown her hands into the air in surprise. "Does this mean they're trying to be Kamen Riders too?"
As everyone talked among each other about this revelation, no one noticed Misora fidgeting with her bracelet. Nor did anyone notice Sento grabbing a hammer.
Souichi opened the door as he struggled to carry as many bags as he could get inside when he was caught off guard from a smashing sound coming from the Build Shop. He dropped the bags onto the ground, and rushed into the minifridge entrance. When he got to the bottom, he saw everyone in the Build Shop staring at Sento, who was just hitting the wall with a hammer. Misora was on the ground on her knees, stunned by what was happening.
"Heyheyhey, what's going on!?" he asked, shoving everyone aside to get to Sento. He grabbed him by the arm, attempting to hold him back. "Stop that! You think I can fix a wall!? Plus, you might break the Best Match finder-"
Sento pulled himself from Souichi, and grabbed the device by its edge, pulling it free from the wall and turning it over to look at the opposite side. It was a flat, metallic panel with strange wire-like patterning covering it. Even though everyone had only seen it once before, they all knew what it was immediately.
"This is one of the missing panels from the Pandora Box," Sento said, his voice shaking. "Why do you have it? Where did you get it!?"
Souichi turned his head away, as he tried to find what he could say to explain it all. Ryuga, Izuku, and everyone could only stand there, completely silent at this revelation. Sento's breathing grew faster and faster, as he finally spat out his suspicions.
"Are you a part of Faust!?"
ORIGINAL AO3 NOTES:
- So. It's been a while since I've updated this, huh? Sorry about all that. I've been working on my original ideas more and more so this has fallen quite to the wayside. I do want to keep writing this, I really do, but I've been kinda stuck on making this a bit more original from Build and MHA (I'm really sorry if this chapter isn't too different from canon). It's mostly the beginning I've been having trouble with, and there are a lot of later ideas that I want to get to eventually. Though I don't know if I'll ever get to them at this rate, and I've been debating whether or not if I should just reveal them all in a post so that if I never do get back to this, that I can at least let others know what I had been planning. I'm gonna try my best to condense the plot to make it go faster, but it'll be quite a while before the next chapter.
- Ironically, I've also gotten an idea for a Ex-Aid/Glitch Techs crossover since I've started watching the cartoon, but it's still rather early into it, so it's not necessarily something I'll pursue? Especially with the fact that I've been having trouble with "Building a Hero!" on its own. I'll probably do something similar with making a post detailing my ideas for it too if I end up deciding to do it with "Building a Hero!".
- Will I make a crossover between my EA/GT idea and "Building a Hero!"? Prooooobably not, since I feel like that both would be too different in setting and stuff to really make it work.
- I'm sorry that for the most part that this has had a heavy Build-focus to it rather than being more balanced in terms of the spotlight, and I feel bad about it. I'll admit that it's partly because I'm using some of Build's plot to add more time between the beginning of the story to Izuku taking the U.A. entrance exams. Still, I've been hoping to give the MHA characters some more focus soon. I'll try to make the next chapter more about the MHA part of Team Build, but considering that Sento and Souichi need their conversation, it'll probably still have a small chunk about Build.
- It'll be a while before I do another Build Files chapter, since I don't think I've really introduced enough new Fullbottles or Smashes to really justify making one right now.
- But yea, hopefully I'll be able to write another chapter of this. If I don't, then yea, definitely gonna do that "here's what I had planned" post. Probably would write it on tumblr or do a "special" fanfic where I not only detail what I wanted to do, but write some fanfic excerpts that would explain a bit more about them.