Building Up A Hero!

by MKDremare-Riser

After a mysterious kidnapping, Izuku finds himself with little memories of what had happened, and sets out to investigate. However, a chance encounter with the Number One Hero All Might and the mysterious vigilante, Kamen Rider, he finds himself entangled in a conspiracy bigger than he ever expected. (updates 1st on AO3) (On Hiatus)

8. CH7: Scientist Rockstar

Sawa Takigawa: Last time on "Building Up A Hero!", Banjo and I went to Seito to find and save Nabeshima's family as part of a deal for him to testify for Banjo's innocence when Faust attacked!

Ryuga Banjo: But thanks to me, we fought off those Guardians and got his wife and daughter outta there!

ST: Yea, after I ran over most of them and got us out of there. I still gotta pay for that van, Banjo...

Sento Kiryu: Meanwhile, I, the genius scientist, Sento Kiryu, had fully recovered from being poisoned, and was on a lead with the realization of the ejected Pandora Panels! But before I could find anything more, a mysterious tip was sent to us about Nabeshima's second Smashification, no doubt thanks to the cobra man who had poisoned me!

Izuku Midoriya: Mr. Kiryu saved Nabeshima, but he had lost his memory, so he couldn't tell us anything about Faust.

Eijiro Kirishima: We were so close to finding out more about Faust, too!

Pony Tsunotori: It's a total bummer!

Mina Ashido: But he did give us a hint about the Pandora Box! It turns out that weird device in the wall is one of the missing Panels, and that Faust had another one!

SK: Why does the Owner have this Panel? Was he a member of Faust? Find out in this chapter of "Building Up A Hero!"

---

"Are you a part of Faust!?" Sento cried, holding the Pandora Panel in Souichi's face as he and the others stared at him. His eyes shifted behind his glasses, looking at each of the teens, Sawa, Ryuga, Sento, and finally Misora, who, while completely shocked by the turn of events, nodded at him.

"Alright, I'll explain as much as I can, but let's go upstairs, I think we could all use some coffee to calm our nerves," he said, as he headed to the stairs, motioning for everyone to follow him. Sento's fingers tightened around the Panel's edge, but he relented and followed.

"I'll go ahead and take the Nabeshimas to the safe house," Sawa said, holding Nabeshima's hand and leading him to the stairs. "You can tell me later all about what you learn."

As everyone followed Souichi and Sento upstairs, Izuku remained behind for a bit to process this revelation on his own. Souichi had one of the Pandora Panels all this time? And it was the device they've been using to find the Best Matches of the Fullbottles? What could this mean? Was Souichi a member of Faust? He shook his head, and made his way. This was something he couldn't miss.

---

Izuku sighed a breath of relief when he got upstairs, since everyone was crowded around Souichi as he prepared some coffee. Izuku was curious; despite having been at cafe nascita for months now, he's never had a chance to try Souichi's coffee, since he was always at his second job. "Alright, this is a secret recipe I memorized from the other coffee shop I've been working at, and I think I've just about got it," he explained, as he poured it into several cups. "Been sneaking glimpses into their books so I could use them here."

"That seems... underhanded," Mina said, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, some of the best ideas came from other people, so I don't see the problem," Souichi said, smirking. "Now drink up, this is gonna be a long story."

Everybody but Sento and Izuku took the cups, and took a sip at his suggestion to their immediate regrets. Mina's pink skin turned slightly green, Pony covered her mouth with her hands to stop herself from hurling, the cup in Eijiro's hand shattered as he subconsciously activated his Quirk and crushed it between his fingers. Ryuga's face almost collapsed into a crinkled mess of a grimace, while Misora attempted to keep herself composed, only to spit out whatever she could back into her cup.

"What's wrong?" Izuku asked, as he took a sip of the coffee for himself. He dropped the cup, shards of porcelain scattering in front of his feet and a pool of coffee forming around them. He trembled as flashbacks to the sludge villain shoving his muddy body down his throat came to him.

Only that was a far more pleasant experience in retrospect.

"What's the matter?" Souichi muttered, taking his own cup and drinking it. Unlike the others' reactions, his frown was one of disappointment rather than disgust. "Dang, I thought I could get a good pot this time around. I swear I followed the instructions right..."

"All this time, and you still haven't figured out how to make coffee despite owning a coffee shop," Sento muttered, as he gently pushed his cup away from him. "But let's forget about that-"

"That's gonna be tough," Eijiro grimaced, his hand still clenched.

"The taste will never leave my mouth," Mina said, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm gonna have nightmares about this forever," Pony added, shivering.

"I thought it would be better this time around, but I was so wrong," Misora muttered, her tongue sticking out in attempt to air the taste off.

"Let's forget about that," Sento stated, as the victims attempted to regain composure, "and focus on the important subject at hand. Were you, or were you not, a member of Faust, Owner?"

Souichi took a deep breath, and stared at the ceiling, his hand on his chin and his brow furrowed. "Well, to answer that, I was a member at one point."

Everyone froze at his admittance to his membership, though Sento honed in on a certain part. "'At one point'?"

"Yea, you see, I started off working with them under the idea that we'd use science to help people out, you know? Unite the countries back into one?" Souichi clarified, as he snapped his fingers as he attempted to find the right words to say. "Thing is, I found out that they were using Misora to force her to purify a lot of Fullbottles, which strained and knocked her unconscious for about a week in between creating them, and they wanted to use them for evil. Not to mention that they were turning people into Smash in order to do that."

"So I decided to take action, and got the hell out of there with her on my back, the Build Driver, one of the Panels since that seemed important, and a few of the Fullbottles that were already made. However, they distributed a lot of them out before I could grab them, so who knows where those are. Point is, I was a member, but haven't been for a few years now. That's why we're here in this out-of-the-way cafe and all."

"Hm, I see," Sento said, scratching his head. "Alright, I can buy that. So does that mean you know where their base is? And who Night Rogue, Meta Bolt, and the cobra man are? "

"Nope, I doubt they're still there after I left, since I could just leak wherever they were. And no, they're the leaders, and they never changed out of their suits. Only a few ever got to see their faces," Souichi replied. "You'd think that I'd be real important, since I'm the guy who was mysteriously compelled to activate the Pandora Box, but nah. The only real person of use to them was Misora thanks to her purification ability. Not like I didn't get something out from activating the Pandora Box, got some decent super strength now. It's how I repurposed this accidentally broken tablet into a nice backscratcher," he added, pulling out a warped piece of plastic from a drawer to show off.

"So that's what happened to my old tablet!" Misora said, narrowing her eyes. "All my app games were on that!"

"Oops, forgot I didn't tell you," Souichi laughed. "But yea, sorry I didn't tell any of you earlier, I just didn't know when the right time would be to tell you."

"I'm sorry, too," Misora sighed, her head resting on her hands. "It's kinda hard to talk about how you were told that making Fullbottles was for the greater good, only to find out that they were being made for villainous purposes."

Sento leaned back against his chair, biting his lips as he processed the story. "No, it's fine. I'll admit, that sort of situation does seem hard to talk about. But if that's the case, then why are you making Fullbottles now, Misora?"

"Because of you, you dummy," Misora said, playfully punching him in the shoulder. "After I found out about Faust wanting to use Fullbottles for evil, I wasn't able to purify anymore of them. But then you came along and actually turn what Fullbottles we had into something for good, and against Faust for good measure, too."

"So wait, if there are Fullbottles that Misora made that are out there already, what do we do about them?" Eijiro asked, finally wiping off the coffee on his heads with a napkin. "Should we go out and look for them?"

"Nah, there wouldn't be any point," Souichi said, waving it off. "I don't know how big the group's gotten since Misora and I got out of there, but there were enough people to make sure that the Fullbottles were far apart from each other in Touto. Heck, maybe some are in Seito or Hokuto to make sure that there isn't a repeat."

"Still, if we see any Fullbottles out there, we should take them from them, right?" Izuku interjected, looking at everyone. "I mean, we just can't let Faust have them."

"No, we can't," Sento said firmly as he got up and headed back to the Build Shop entrance. "Thing is, if there are Fullbottles out there, I think we need to start getting serious ourselves. Midoriya, I think it's time for another Hazard Level checkup. You must've risen it more by now with your training with All Might, and if I'm correct, it might be time to give you your own Build Driver."

"Really?" Izuku said, his eyes wide as everyone followed him down, with Souichi staying behind to clean up the messes everyone made. "A-a-are you sure? I mean, I'm not even a hero course student yet, and I'm still getting used to the Nebula Gas power boost. I spend so long thinking I was Quirkless, so it's kinda tough getting used to it..."

"Well, it wouldn't be ready right away, I'll still need to build it and figure out what we can do to make your Rider suit different from mine. Can't have identical Riders running around, can we?" Sento said, as he plopped down behind his computer and began searching through his files on the Build Driver and his notes on Fullbottles. "Maybe if I create some sort of device that can stimulate the contents of just one Fullbottle to double its power..."

"What about us?" Mina asked hopefully, as everyone headed back down to the Build Shop. "Can me, Kirishima, and Tsunotori get Build Drivers too?"

"I don't know. Even though you got a power boost to your Quirks, your initial transformations were into Smashes. And if my observations and tests are right, Smash victims can't really raise their own Hazard Levels that easily," Sento said, deflating the three teens' hopes. "But that doesn't mean you can't train to get a better hang of your Quirks' boosted abilities. Now come over here, Midoriya."

Sento pulled out his Build Phone from his pocket, and opened the HL Indicator app. He pointed the phone camera at Izuku, who stood absolutely still for it. He couldn't believe it. Him, a future Kamen Rider, fighting to save people from Faust. Of course he still wanted to become the Number One Hero, but Faust was a more pressing matter at the moment. As he thought to himself about what potential names he could use, and what he'd look like, the app's alarm beeped several times, having finished its scan. Sento took a look at the final number, his eyebrow raised.

"2.3? I thought it would've been higher by this point," Sento said. Izuku froze. He should've expected that. As lucky as he had been getting that Nebula Gas power boost and One for All, it wasn't a guarantee that he'd get a Build Driver, too. "You've been constantly training, so I don't know why it wasn't risen more..." he muttered, before noticing Izuku's growing frown. "Not that it would be immediate, of course. It's just a steady growth, so you'll eventually get to 3."

"Still, it'd be a good idea to get as strong as we can as fast as possible. Try me, we don't know my Hazard Level," Ryuga said, stepping up to get scanned.

Sento chuckled and shook his head. "Yea, but I doubt it's that much," he said, though he pointed the Build Phone at Ryuga. "You've only recently got your Nebula Gas dosage, so it shouldn't be- 2.4?"

Sento took another look at the HL Indicator, and used it on Ryuga again. 2.4 again. There was no mistake about it. "How on earth-? I don't think anyone's had a Hazard Level that high after being recently doused... Unbelievable."

"So wait, does that mean I can get a Build Driver?" Ryuga said. "Looks like you won't be the only Kamen Rider after all," he added, a smug grin spreading over his face.

"Yea yea, don't let it go to your head," Sento said, waving him off. "Your Hazard Level is probably getting higher thanks to some like, abnormally high synchronization with the Dragon Fullbottle. Still, it would be smart to start working on your own Build Driver and tools... The Build Driver will be the one that takes the longest, so whatever tools I'll make will have to compensate for that in the meantime. And on Midoriya's, too, since he'll catch up in no time..."

Sento turned his attention to his computer again, and started to look through his collected files of experiments and designs to see what he could make for the two prospective Kamen Riders. The teens meanwhile, started to pat Izuku on the back.

"Congrats, Midoriya!" Mina said, smiling as she gave the green-haired teen two thumbs-up.

"Yea, not only are you All Might's successor, you'll be a Kamen Rider! That's manly!" Kirishima said smiling, though something about it felt off to Izuku.

"That's so cool! Professional hero by day, Kamen Rider by night!" Pony added. "Well, professional hero-in-training at least."

"Thanks," Izuku replied, looking at the ground, muttering to himself about how this was just a reminder that he's still got a lot to learn and grow, and that he'll need to stay vigilant if he wanted to be better as a future hero and Kamen Rider-

"You're muttering again," Misora said, snapping Izuku out of his trance. "Besides, I think it's about time you four got back home, it's getting late. And I'm sure your parents will be wondering where you all are."

The teens looked at the time on their phones, and hastily said their goodbyes and left the Build Shop and cafe. Ryuga himself went to his room, muttering about how tired he's been ever since he got back from Seito, leaving Misora and Sento alone in the Build Shop.

"So... how are you holding up?" she asked, after a few minutes of silence had passed between the two of them. "I know it must've been tough finding out about dad's and my past like that."

"... I'm doing fine," Sento said, as he grabbed some computer boards, wires, and other parts to start working on his designs for Ryuga's and Izuku's tools. "I understand why you two didn't tell me about being a part of Faust, much like how I understood why Owner didn't tell me about being the astronaut who activated the Skywall."

"You're not really fine, though," Misora said, astutely, sitting on the Purification Chamber's stairs, and looked Sento right in the eyes. "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Distracting yourself with projects."

"Oh please, I always work on projects."

"Yea, but whenever you get some particularly distressing news, you end up putting yourself into multiple big long term projects. You did it when Midoriya accidentally revealed dad's history as an astronaut by deciding to help him with Fullbottle creation, and you're doing it again after finding out about dad's time with Faust by working on tools and Build Drivers for Banjo and Midoriya," she explained, grasping the golden bracelet around her wrist. "All you really need to do is just make two more Build Drivers and that's it."

"Well I want all of us to be distinct from one another," Sento weakly justified. "Like it'll be weird if we all looked alike, right?"

"Sento, please."

"Alright, alright, so I'm a little upset!" Sento admitted, throwing his hands up in the air. "This entire time I was only told part of the story, and it's just... I feel like I was being used, you know? That I couldn't be trusted enough to be a player and was instead used as a pawn."

"Don't feel like that, Sento," Souichi said, coming down the Build Shop stairs. "Heard everything you two were talking about. Listen, I didn't tell you all about this stuff because I didn't know if you were ready or not. I'll admit, you're handling this news better than I thought you would, so I should've trusted you a lot more."

"Owner I-"

"You're making a difference in this world right now, you know. You took the Fullbottles and Build Driver and turned them into tools to protect love and peace, even if the rest of the world doesn't see it that way. I think that makes you a lot more heroic than say someone like, Endeavor. It's a lot more than I could do, since the Driver wouldn't work for me. So keep your head held up high, Sento."

"I... thanks," Sento said, smiling a bit. "Still, I do think I need to work on these projects, though. I have a feeling that Faust is going to get serious soon, considering what they've done recently. We can't afford to slack off, they could strike again any day now."

---

"Man, when is Faust going to make their move?" Eijiro said, as he and the other teens walked down the alley to cafe nascita. Two weeks had passed by after the rescue of the Nabeshima family. From the updates that Sawa sent to everyone, Nabeshima himself was still recovering from the memory loss, though Nabeshima himself had been slowly adjusting to the fact that he has a wife and child. For the most part, Faust had gone inactive, much to the disconcertion of Team Build, Ryuga and the teens in particular. "It's gotta be soon, right?"

"It's not like we can really focus on that right now, since U.A.'s entrance exam is coming up soon," Mina sighed, her hands behind her head. "That alone is gonna be stressful."

"At least Mr. Kiryu's lessons have been super helpful, right?" Pony grinned. "I feel like I'm twice as smart as I was before! What about you, Midoriya?"

The three teens turned their heads towards Izuku, who had been muttering to himself while holding his wrist. This morning's training wasn't that much better. Recovery Girl's spiel didn't really sooth things over, either. But he felt like he was on to something about One for All. All he just needed to figure out what that something is, and maybe he'll-

"Midoriya?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Just... been thinking about this morning's training and all," Izuku responded, snapping out of his mutters and thoughts.

"Still tough, huh?" Eijiro said, as they opened the door. "Well, I bet that even if you haven't gotten the hang of his regiment, that you're like, ten times more prepared and stronger than most of us, man."

"Yea, I bet you'll just plow through everything like nothing, Midoriya!" Pony added. The four teens walked in onto Sawa, Ryuga, and Sento, who had been engaged in their own conversation when they showed up. "So what's in the agenda today, Mr. Kiryu? Fullbottle testing? Working on Midoriya's and Banjo's Rider tech? Tracking down Faust?" Pony asked.

"Getting a lead on my memories," he replied, pointing to Sawa. "Sawa just told us that she's been showing my picture around online and in person, and someone sent an email saying they recognized me. We're going to be meeting up with him at a park soon."

"Really!?" the four teens shouted, prompting Ryuga to jump a bit.

"That's amazing!"

"After all this time we're finally getting somewhere with the memory case!?"

"I can't wait to find out what you were like before!"

"I bet you were a total rock star scientist with how smart you are!"

"Alright, alright, calm down you guys," Sento said, smiling. "Yea, I'm excited too. I've been so focused on Fullbottles, Smashes, Faust, and my Pandora Box research that I've totally forgot about finding my memories. If you want, you all can come with me. I already sent a message to All Might about being out for this, so he's gonna be doing some hero work."

The four teens excitedly nodded in agreement, grinning wide for the amnesiac Kamen Rider. "Banjo, you stay here with Misora. It's better if we keep this to a minimum, and since you're still wanted by the police."

"Yea yea, don't remind me," Ryuga grumbled, crossing his arms. "Don't we have more disguises or something? I need something better than that grandpa costume."

"I thought it was a grandma," Mina chortled as she remembered the costume he was putting on after he had tied them to the pillar.

"It's a grandpa!" he snapped.

"Calm down, Owner mentioned that he'll be getting a bunch of disguises on the way back from his second job. Said something about a costume maker owing him a favor or something," Sento dismissed, as he headed to the door. "Now let's go, can't make him wait all day, can we?"

---

Sento, Sawa, and the teens had gotten to the agreed meeting place of the water fountain at a nearby park earlier than expected, so they looked around at the few people there to see if any of them were the person that contacted Sawa.

"Any idea what this guy looks like, Sawa?" Mina asked, her eyes tracking a man a large orc-like overbite.

"No, it was an email, so no picture. The only thing I have is a name, Tatsuya Kishida," Sawa said, after mother with dog-ears pulled her child away from the strange group. "In retrospect, I think I should've asked for one so we could identify him..."

"Well, he said he recognized Mr. Kiryu, right?" Izuku said, as he worked on some updates to his Hero Journal. "So it should be easy for him to see us, right?"

"Yea, it should," Sento said, shrugging. "I wonder what this Tatsuya is like. If he was my friend he must have been-"

"BIG BROOOOOOOO!"

Sento and the others turned left to see who was screaming like a maniac. The owner of the voice was a man in a black tank top with the band logo "Lynks" emboldened on it, an orange jumpsuit in lieu of normal pants with the top tied around his waist, big pink plastic framed glasses, wristbands and a bandanna around his left arm, and the biggest afro any of them had ever seen before. "Is... is that him?" Eijiro said, as Sento's face began to sweat. To all of their horror, the man started to run towards Sento, no doubt in hopes of embracing him in a big hug.

"BIG BROOOOOOOO!"

Instinctively, Sento grabbed the man's arm, and flipped him over his shoulder, nearly hitting Izuku and Pony with him if they hadn't moved out of the way in time. The world seemed to have slowed down as everyone watched him fly over Sento and onto the hard concrete beneath them all. Everyone stood in shock as the man laid there, his face frozen in an odd expression of confusion and joy.

"O-o-oh... Oh! Oh man, I am so sorry!" Sento said, as he snapped back to reality after having judo-flipped him, and checked on him. "I just... you were running towards me, and I- Oooooh, are you okay?"

"B-b-big Bro..." the man said, clearly more stunned that his "big bro" had just tossed him over like a ragdoll. "Since when did you know moves like that?"

---

"What!? Amnesia!?" the man, Tatsuya, said, his eyes practically bulging from his face, after Sento finished explaining the situation in Sawa's van. "Really, Big Bro!?"

"Y-yea, it's why I'm trying to figure out who I am," Sento replied, scratching his head. "So I hope we can start things over, right?"

"Yea, Big Bro! Of course!" Tatsuya beamed, having already forgotten about being judo-flipped earlier. "You're gonna start remembering everything when we get back to our place!"

"We're here," Sawa said, as she parked in front of a rather small apartment complex. Everyone piled out of the van, their eyes scanning the building and the surroundings.

"This is, um, uh..." Mina said, trying to find the words to describe Sento's potential former residence.

"It's a dump," Pony answered for her, pinching her nose and grimacing.

"Yea, I'm pretty sure we passed by a bunch of metal refineries and a fish market," Eijiro shuddered, unsure of what to think about the combined smells of iron, smoke, and rotting fish.

"Hey hey hey, you're looking at the home base of the up and coming band Lynks!" Tatsuya snapped, clearly offended at the dismissal of his home abode. "Or well, was up and coming before you disappeared, Big Bro..."

"'Lynks'?" Izuku said, raising his eyebrows.

"'Band'?" Sento said, equally confused.

"'Up and coming'?" Mina added in disbelief.

"Yea, come on, you have to remember our band!" Tatsuya said, grabbing Sento and dragging him upstairs to their apartment. "Behold, our home, big bro!"

Tatsuya unlocked the door, and dramatically swung it open to show it off. Sento and the others were immediately repulsed by the dozens and dozens of trash bags, empty takeout containers and pizza boxes, and crushed soda cans strewn about. Clothes were hanging every where but the closet. Only the sink was empty of any trash or dirt, if only because it became clear that only paper plates and bowls and plastic cutlery were used.

"Eep!" Pony yelped, jumping up a bit. She looked down, and saw a small rat plush that her skirt had knocked onto her hooves. "Oh thank goodness, I thought there was a rat..."

"There might as well will be!" Sento said, as he stepped over bag after bag inside the trashy apartment. "My lord, is this how you live?"

"How we live, big bro," Tatsuya said, a little offended at everyone's reaction to his living space. "I swear I thought this would bring back memories..."

"I may have lost my memories, but I certainly think I would've remembered being this messy," Sento said, as everyone clambered inside. "I'm way too much of a clean-freak organizer to have been like-"

Sento froze in place, staring at the living room wall. Everyone turned their heads to look at what he saw, and also froze. There on the wall was a poster advertising "Lynks", with Sento front and center, a guitar in one hand and a mike in the other. He was dressed in a construction worker outfit, making a grimace that clearly was an attempt to look like a hardcore rock star, but only made him look like a goofy theme park comedian. Tufts of hair spiked out from his head much like what his hair would do when he was struck by inspiration or deep in thought, only this time, his hair was full of them, forming a shape that one could generously describe as starfish-like.

"Oh my god that's me," Sento said, his jaw slacked in disbelief.

"Oh my god that's you," Mina replied, her eyes fixated on the trainwreck that was Sento's past.

"Oh my god that's you!" Sawa repeated, tears of laughter running from her eyes as she took a few pictures of the poster. "Misora's gonna want to see this!"

"Yea, bro! That's our band, Lynks! We were the greatest construction rock band around!" Tatsuya gloated, puffing up his chest.

"Was it because you were the only ones around?" Pony asked, almost naively.

"Yea, how'd you know?"

"Okay, okay, let's get back on track," Sento said, forcing himself to pry his eyes away from the only evidence of his past. "You've only ever talked about Lynks and calling me 'Big Bro'. Can you give me a name, and, uh, personality? Perhaps my Quirk, too?"

"Oh, right! Why didn't I think of that!?" Tatsuya said, slapping his forehead at this realization. "Well Big Bro, your name's Taro Sato, you're the lead singer and guitarist, a rocking cool dude, and your Quirk's Mega Memory, you can remember anything you read! But, why do you need to know your Quirk?"

Sento slumped against the wall for a bit, processing this information. "That is really close to how Big Brain works, and I did have that Nebula Gas injection, so it must've boosted Mega Memory to super genius levels..."

"So does this really mean that you were a part of a washed-up band?" Eijiro said.

"Hey, we're not washed up!" Tatsuya protested, glaring at him.

"Then where's the rest of your band?" Pony asked, pointing to the poster.

"They quit a few days before Big Bro disappeared..." Tatsuya sighed, frowning as he began to recall how their buddies just left Lynks without a second thought, when a blaring ring came broke everyone's thoughts. Sento pulled out the Build Phone, and looked at the alert.

"A Smash Alert, and it's nearby," Sento said steadfast, getting up as if he hadn't gone through a discovery that shattered everything he thought he knew about himself. He rushed out the room, leaping over all the trash bags to get out. Sawa and the teens followed suit, Tatsuya trailing behind them. "Wait up! A Smash Alert!? What!?"

---

It didn't take long for Team Build to reach the Smash attack. Workers stumbled as they ran away from a hunched-over werewolf-like Smash with large fangs coming out of its metallic snout, sharp metal claws and a blade-like tail, and fur-like wiring over the areas where its metal plating didn't cover. It growled as it ran towards the workers, but before Sento could slap the Build Driver onto himself, a troop of Guardians rushed in and fired at the Smash, making it tumble backwards from the gunfire. Before anyone could relax however, a loud finger snap echoed through the area. The Guardians stiffened as the lights on their heads flashed before their face plates flew off, exposing the wiring inside. They turned around, and started shooting at the workers, forcing them to resume their retreat, though this time a couple of them were barely grazed by bullets.

"Alright, let's take care of this," Sento said, putting the Build Driver on. He took out the Hawk and Gatling Fullbottles and shook them before twisting the caps open and inserting them into the Build Driver and cranking the handle. "Hawk! Gatling! Best Match! Are you ready!?"

Orange runners formed in front of Sento while gray runners formed behind him, and as he finished, he announced "Transform!" The runners slammed together, forming Build's armor as the Hawkgatlinger formed in his hands. "The Rampage in the Skies! HawkGatling! Yeahhh!"

"Sawa, guys, get the workers to safety! I'll handle the Guardians and Smash!" Build said, as he flew towards the rampaging Guardians and Smash, firing a barrage of bullets at them. "I think I'll call this guy the Feral Smash!" he quipped, as the Feral Smash swung its claws and tail at him. "Since you're moving like a real wild animal!"

"Big Bro's the Kamen Rider!?" Tatsuya exclaimed, his eyes bulging out of his head so much that they could've knocked the glasses on his face off. Izuku and the others turned back to look at him, realizing that he had followed them.

"Uh oh," Mina said, biting her lip. "Um, you weren't supposed to see that..."

"Yea, uuuuuuh, it's all a dream!" Pony said, as she started moving her hands in a circular wiping motion while wiggling her fingers. "Ooooooo! You'll wake up soon and decide to clean your apartment!"

"I don't think that's gonna work," Sawa moaned, shaking her head as the last of the workers had escaped. "I guess we would've told him eventually..."

"Please don't tell anyone else," Izuku pleaded, clasping his hands together. "This is all a huge secret, and we can't afford to let too many people knowing about it!"

"Yeah! Plus, it'll be super unmanly if you go blabbing about other people's secrets!" Eijiro added, as he dug through his head to think about what type of threat he could make without it actually being a threat.

"Well, I am pretty manly..." Tatsuya muttered almost thoughtfully, nearly forgetting that he was in the midst of a battle between Build and a Smash.

The Feral Smash leapt towards Build, who kept his distance with HawkGatling's wings and firing the Hawkgatlinger at it, while at the same time destroying all the rogue Guardians until every last one of them was reduced to scrap metal. The Feral Smash tried its best to avoid Build's gunfire, but it couldn't avoid all of them, getting grazed constantly by the rain of bullets if not being hit by them. Its breathing grew heavier and heavier as it started to get tired from constantly moving, until finally collapsing onto the ground out of exhaustion.

"Let's end this!" Build cried, as he spun the Hawkgatlinger's bullet drum as a spherical energy graph formed around the Feral Smash, lifting it up from the ground. "10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100! Full Bullet!" "Hawk Hurricane!"

Hawk-shaped energy bullets flew out of the Hawkgatlinger, colliding with the Feral Smash one after the other until an explosion consumed the Feral Smash. As it landed, Build pulled out an Empty Bottle and pointed it at the fallen Smash, pulling out its essence until a wolf-headed man dressed in dirty white clothing was left on the ground unconscious. "Alright, that takes care of that," Build said triumphantly, storing the bulbous bottle away. He turned around to face the rest of Team Build, only to see that Tatsuya was among them. "Oh. Uh... Well I guess I was going to have to tell you at some point," he said, shrugging. "I mean, since you are apparently my... 'Little Bro'."

"I can't believe my Big Bro's the Kamen Rider!" Tatsuya exclaimed, pumping his fists in excitement. "You've really gone somewhere incredible!"

"Yea, he's certainly incredible, isn't he?" a stranger's voice said, catching everyone's attention. They looked around, trying to find who had joined them, when the voice said, "Up here, on the roof."

They looked up at a flat roof of a warehouse, and saw an armored man dressed in red leather, with gunmetal pipes forming a muffler around his head. A green cobra symbol rested on his chest, matching the cobra-shaped visor of his helmet, the tail of which formed an antennae of sorts on the left side of his head. He was sitting on the ledge of the roof, swinging his feet as if he was bored waiting for them to notice him. "Ciao!" he sneered, in a condescendingly friendly casual matter. "What's up? I'm Blood Stalk, but I'm sure you're familiar with my associates, a Mr. Meta Bolt and a Mr. Night Rogue."

"Faust!" Izuku yelled, as Build immediately assumed a battle stance, with everyone following suit, including Tatsuya.

"What the- you guys can't fight him!" Build exclaimed, seeing them copy him. "I'm flattered that you want to help, but this isn't just any normal villainous punk, he's a lead member of a shadow organization!"

"He's right you know," Blood Stalk chortled, shaking his head. "I admire your bravery, but I'm sure that you all won't last even 5 seconds against me. Build? Probably just 10 seconds."

"You-!" Build growled as his fists tightened. With a mighty scream, he flew into the air and started firing at Blood Stalk, who rolled out of the way and swiftly summoned his Steam Rifle. He returned fire, constantly weaving between the bullets while also swinging tendril-like whips from his wrists towards Build, eventually knocking him out of the air. Blood Stalk jumped off the roof and landed on the ground, popping his neck as he turned to face Build and the rest of Team Build plus Tatsuya.

"Guys, get out of here!" Build commanded, as he swapped the Hawk and Gatling Fullbottles for Rabbit and Tank.

"Rabbit! Tank! Best Match! Are you ready?" the Build Driver announced, as Build cranked the handle furiously. "Build up!"

"The Moonsault of Steel! RabbitTank! Yeahhh!"

Build's familiar red and blue armor replaced the orange and grey of HawkGatling, as he summoned the Drill Crusher and started swinging it at Blood Stalk. While he dodged left and right, Blood Stalk snapped his fingers, summoning more hacked Guardians to surround everyone. The robots pointed their rifles at Team Build, and started to fire, though Sawa was quick to form a barrier around everyone with her elastic body, causing the bullets to bounce off her.

"Mmmmmmm!" she grunted, as the Guardians kept firing at her.

"Are you okay, Miss Sawa!?" Izuku asked, looking at the stretched out woman.

"No! This really tickles!" she answered, attempting to hold in laughter as the bullets bounced off one after the other. "Also, this'll ruin my outfit!"

"I'm coming!" Build said, right as Blood Stalk struck him in the back with the Steam Rifle's blade.

"Pay attention! Are you really gonna save people when the answer to your past is right here!?" Blood Stalk taunted, as Build growled and swung the Drill Crusher towards him, making Blood Stalk back up as he dodged each attack.

"Jokes on you! I already my past!" Build stated, looking back at Tatsuya.

"So you're satisfied with it?" Blood Stalk asked. "That you're just some halfbaked band singer?"

Build took pause at this. Now that he thought about it, he still didn't know why he had been chosen by Faust for their experiments. Taro Sato wasn't looking to be a hero, he wanted to be a musician. And his Quirk wasn't all that impressive on paper to see how Nebula Gas would interact with it. He shook his head though and resumed his attack. Those questions would have to wait.

Meanwhile, the teens and Sawa were conversing about what they should do.

"We got to get away from these Guardians," Izuku muttered, as bullets flew over their heads and into Sawa. He gritted his teeth, as he racked his brain for any ideas.

"Don't worry, I got this! After all, this is just self defense, right!? This isn't vigilante work!" Eijiro yelled, leaping over Sawa's body barrier while activating his Hardening Quirk. He braved the Guardian's gunfire, and started smashing their heads in one after the other. "Plus no one's watching us!"

"I'll help out, too!" Pony exclaimed, as her horns flew off and smashed through dozens of Guardian heads. Mina followed their lead, slinging acid at any remaining Guardians that the other two hadn't gotten yet, and Izuku joined Eijiro in breaking Guardians apart (thankful that he could at least use the basic strength boost to smash through Guardians). Build smiled under his helmet, as he refocused on Blood Stalk.

"Impressive!" Blood Stalk whistled, as he watched the teens take down the squad of Guardians. "Not bad for three failed experiments and one in-progress one!"

"What do you mean?" Build said, as Blood Stalk backed up.

"Oh, didn't Meta Bolt and Night Rogue tell you? Well I guess I will, at least as much as I can without spoiling the surprise," he said, as he paused his attacks. Build and the teens also stopped, especially since all the Faust Guardians were taken cared of. "We're looking for people who can resist the Smashification process for special reasons, like greenie over there. Any Smash that gets created," he pointed to Eijiro, Mina, and Pony, "like you three, are complete failures. The worst of the worst. Completely useless to our plans. Well, except for Hazard Level 1 people, like Banjo's little dead girlfriend. Way more of a failure than those three."

"You-!" Build gritted, as horror and disgust washed upon the four teens' faces. "You insufferable evil bastards!"

He tossed aside the Drill Crusher, and started to crank the Build Driver furiously. "You'll pay for everything you've done!"

"Ready, go! Vortex Finish! Yeahhh!"

"Take this! Tank-Down!"

Build's energy sloping graph formed, but before it could pin Blood Stalk, he leapt backwards to avoid it, though that didn't stop Build's kick from starting. He slid down the slope, ready to hit Blood Stalk with the Tank Roller Shoe's speeding thread. To everyone's shock, Blood Stalk simply and unflinchingly grabbed his foot right before he could land the finisher. The kick didn't even move Blood Stalk an inch from where his feet were planted. With a short grunt, he tossed Build aside, visually unharmed.

"Hazard Level 3.3. Not bad," Blood Stalk said, as Build dazedly got up, shocked by how he just casually stopped a Vortex Finish. "Could be better, though. Guess you aren't as far along as I thought you'd be."

"Holy crap," Eijiro uttered, his eyes wide as his gaze shifted between Build and Blood Stalk quickly.

"The leaders of Faust are that strong?" Izuku said, as he readied himself to fight. The others followed suit, ready to fight Blood Stalk as he turned his eyes onto them.

"Well, I think I'm done for the moment," he stated bluntly. "I got what I wanted to see, so I think you all deserve a break. Better hurry, I think you one of those workers might've called for some heroes and police officers, and I bet you all don't want to get caught fraternizing with a vigilante. Ciao!"

He took his Steam Rifle and swept it, creating a cloud of gas that surrounded him, forcing everyone sans Build to cover their mouths to keep themselves from breathing it in. When the gas dissipated, Blood Stalk was nowhere to be seen.

"Crap!" Build yelled, punching the ground in frustration. "First Meta Bolt, then Night Rogue, and now Blood Stalk!? That gap is that big between me and all three of them!?"

The group stood there in silence, the dread palpable in the air. "We... we should go," Sawa said, snapping everyone out of their shock-induced stupor. "As much as I hate to admit it, we can't let ourselves be caught here, right?"

"... Let's head back to the cafe," Sento said, finally pulling off the Build Driver. "We might as well take you there Tatsuya, since that's the safest place where we can talk about everything."

---

"Man, what's taking them so long? We could be looking for Faust, but here we are, just lazing around," Ryuga grumbled as he sat at the cafe's bar, a canned coffee in his hand. He took a sip of it, and slightly grimaced. "Man, I thought this brand tasted bad before, but now that I had the Owner's brewed coffee, it's just... alright."

"Relax, Banjo, Faust hasn't done anything in like, two weeks," Misora said as she finished pulling off a successful chain combo in her puzzle app game. "And Sento's finally got a lead on his memories, so I bet he's just catching up with the guy."

Just then, the front door opened, with the four teens and Sawa pouring into the cafe, all of whom looked strangely downtroddened. "Speak of the devil," Misora said, slightly smiling. "So how did it go?"

"Well you remember the day we all met?" Mina said, forcing a grin as she tried to figure out an explanation.

"Oh god Sento told him all about Build, didn't he?" Misora said, her eyes narrowing in disappointment. As if on cue, Sento walked in with Tatsuya following him, as he looked around cafe nascita with intrigue. Before she had a chance to scold him, Sento walked to the bar, and his head fell onto it, despondent to everything around him.

"What happened?" Misora asked, turning to Izuku and the others.

"Well, besides finding out that he used to be the lead singer of a construction themed rock band," Mina said, allowing Misora to process the information as the bewilderment settled in, "we finally met the third member of Faust, Blood Stalk."

"The gap between him and Build was way bigger than we thought," Izuku said, as he took out his Rider Journal and wrote down everything he could remember from the fight. "He just stopped his Tank-Down Vortex Finish like nothing."

"It's infuriating!" Eijiro said, slamming his right fist onto a table. "It was like he was just playing around with us until that moment!"

"Yea, Sento's been really beaten up about this," Sawa said,

"So this is where you've been, Big Bro?" Tatsuya said after finally taking it all in, as his gaze fell onto Misora. "What a cool crib! And with a girlfriend, too!?"

"Nononono," Misora said, shaking her head. "He's been like my brother."

"Who the heck is this weirdo?" Ryuga asked, crossing his arms.

"Who're you calling a weirdo!?" Tatsuya objected, as he squared up to intimidate the much taller and toned Ryuga. Ryuga, undeterred by Tatsuya's lame display of machismo, simply headbutted him in the head, knocking him down to the floor. Tatsuya moaned and rubbed his now sore forehead, as Sawa and Pony lowered themselves to help him up.

"Oooh, you alright?" Sawa asked, holding him steady as he shook off his dazedness.

"Yea that was one hard headbutt," Pony added, walking over to the counter and grabbed a canned coffee to put against Tatsuya's head.

"What was that for, Banjo?" Mina asked, though she was swiftly ignored as Ryuga walked over to Sento.

"So since you've found a lead on your past, does this mean we can focus on taking down Faust?" Ryuga asked, prodding Sento for a response.

"Calm down, I still need to process my past as Taro Sato and the ever widening gap between me and Faust," Sento muttered, pushing Ryuga's hand away.

"We're gonna need to work harder than ever if we want to stand up to them," Izuku said, pausing as he remembered how utterly in control Blood Stalk was. "But I'm not even sure that will be any time soon."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I finished purifying Nabeshima's second Fullbottle while you were away," Misora said, as both Sento and Izuku perked their heads up, and a tuft of Sento's hair poking upwards. The two rushed to the Build Shop's entrance, and rushed down as fast as they could to the lab.

"Hey! Come back!" Ryuga yelled down through the entrance. "Are we gonna take Faust out soon or not!? I'd like to be able to go outside!"

"Then just go outside, punk!" Tatsuya said, attempting to regain his bearings by squaring up to Ryuga again. Ryuga turned around and scowled, and as the two got closer to size each other up, Tatsuya took another good look at Ryuga, and immediately went pale and shrunk back.

"Wait a minute... You're that murderer that escaped weeks ago!" he screamed, loud enough for his voice to echo around the room. Mina and Sawa had to look outside to make sure that no one could've hear that, and to their relief there was no one around.

"And your point!?" Ryuga retorted, headbutting Tatsuya hard once again, knocking him to the floor. "Besides, I didn't kill anyone. I was framed by someone who did."

"Wait... what?" Tatsuya moaned, rubbing his head.

"I said I didn't kill anyone. That Katsuragi guy was dead before I got there," Ryuga said. "Didn't stop the police from blaming me."

Tatsuya went even paler as he broke out in a cold sweat. "But if you didn't kill him, then that means..."

"Means what?" Eijiro asked. Tatsuya started to huff and puff, until he finally let out a scream and ran out the door.

"Wait! Come back!" Mina said, peeking out.

"You're gonna keep this all a secret, right!?" Pony added. Everyone turned to face Ryuga to reprimand him, but he had already disappeared down into the Build Shop.

---

"How about Dog and Dryer?" Izuku said, as they looked at the Pandora Panel and the array of Fullbottles they had in front of them, with the new Dryer Fullbottle in Sento's hand. Sento grabbed the Dog Fullbottle, and inserted it and the Dryer Fullbottle onto the Pandora Panel. The panel failed to light up, disappointing the duo.

"Dang, no go," Sento said, pulling the Dog Fullbottle off. Ryuga climbed down the stairs and watched as the two eyed the Fullbottles.

"I was so sure, too," Izuku muttered, as he stroked his chin in thought. "Going on Ryuga's logic of it being an 'animal' and 'machine', I was thinking that it would be a Best Match with Dog since you use dryers after giving them a bath..."

"A bit silly, but yea, that would be logical in his world," Sento said, as he reached for the Giraffe Fullbottle. "I think the next one we should try is-"

Ryuga grumbled as he sulked over to the table. He grabbed the wayward Rhino Fullbottle, and inserted it next to the Dryer Fullbottle. To Sento's and Izuku's surprise, the Pandora Panel lit up, revealing the new Best Match.

"No way..." Sento said, as his tuft of hair sunk back into his hair.

"The Fullbottles from Nabeshima were a Best Match!?" Izuku said, his eyes bugging out. He reached for his journal, and started scribbling into it. "Incredible! Does this mean that Fullbottles that come from the same person will result in a Best Match naturally!?"

"Can we focus here?" Ryuga said, tapping his foot. "We seriously need to take down Faust. We're wasting time-"

"Well if I can't be the one who found this Best Match-" Sento interrupted, springing up from his chair and rushed to the clear dry eraseboard, marker in hand. He knocked Ryuga out of the way, who collided with a metal pillar behind him. "I'll go and work on a weapon for it! Oh, I should figure out some ideas and actually test this Best Match. Midoriya, you wanna help brainstorm ideas?"

"Of course!" Izuku replied, grabbing a marker and joining Sento. Soon the two got lost in their own little world, discussing potential ideas for what they could do and scribbling out notes and designs.

"If the Dryer Fullbottle makes a Best Match with the Rhino Fullbottle, should the weapon be a heat gun?"

"Yea yea, good idea. If I use a heat gun as a base, I should add a setting dial or switch to adjust the power. Since it's a Best Match with Rhino, I'll give it some rhino horns to reflect that."

"Oh oh, if the Dryer Halfbody is anything like Gatling and can generate dryers, or Vacuum and has a dryer attachment, maybe the weapon could-"

"Combine with the Best Match's weapon, yes! Great idea, Midoriya!"

"Hey!" Ryuga shouted, catching the two's attention. "When are we going to actually take Faust down!? They're out there plotting who knows what, and we're just sitting around doing nothing!"

"Oh, s-sorry Mr. Banjo," Izuku deflated, as the air of excitement escaped him. "I guess we are sort of dragging our feet-"

"We're not doing nothing," Sento said curtly. "We're preparing ourselves. If I managed to learn anything about Faust, it's that right now, we need to get all the tools and resources we need to stop them. So calm down, and be patient for once."

Ryuga scowled and grumbled before storming off to his room, slamming the door closed.

"A-aren't you being a little harsh, Mr. Kiryu?" Izuku asked, as Sento returned his attention to the eraseboard. "I mean, I know our situations are pretty serious, but Mr. Banjo was framed and arrested for a crime he didn't commit. And he can't really go out in public because of it."

"I don't think I am," Sento answered, as the marker squeaked across the surface. "I get his frustrations, but we can't afford to rush this and mess it all up. Trust me, I want answers as much as he does, but we need to prepare as much as we can."

The marker's squeaks came to a stop, as Sento took a look at his and Izuku's work. "Alright, time to get to working on this! I think I got enough parts to make this in one night, actually! Oh wait, I should say goodbye to Tatsuya before I start working on this-"

"I don't think you need to worry," Sawa said, as she and the others came down the stairs. "He ran off a while ago. He got freaked out when he found out who Banjo was."

"Yea, and he was super fast, too," Pony added. "By the time we got out of the door, he was out of the alleyway."

"Oh no," Sento said, pinching his forehead. "I mean, I guess I should've figured that an escaped prisoner would've freaked him out."

"Actually, that's the weird part," Mina replied, as she took a seat on the couch. "He panicked when Banjo clarified that he wasn't Katsuragi's murderer."

"Really?" Izuku said, raising an eyebrow. "Why would he be worried about that in specific?"

"Well, either way, I guess I should call him later," Sento said, as he grabbed some parts from the drawers. "Hopefully he'll be safe when he gets home."

---

The walk was a lot longer than Tatsuya thought it would be. In retrospect, it was a bad idea to just rush off like that. Not to mention that he was totally unfamiliar with this side of town. He slowed down when he got to the underpass of a bridge, eventually sitting down on the ground. He reflected on what that Banjo guy said earlier, and his hands curled tight.

"If he didn't kill that Katsuragi guy," he muttered, biting his lip. "Then does that mean..."

He took a deep breath and sighed, as he began to think about happened so many months ago...

---

"You guys can't leave!" Tatsuya said, as Ryo and Kenichi packed their instruments away. "We're about to make it big, I know it!"

"Bro, give it up," Ryo dismissed, slamming his guitar case closed. "We haven't gotten a gig since we've started! I can't believe I thought going with this stupid construction theme was a good idea!"

"Hey, don't talk shit about the construction theme!" Tatsuya snapped, grinding his teeth. "Lynks' construction theme is iconic! We're the best there is!"

"That's because no one in their right mind wants to make a rock band whose songs are all about construction work!" Kenichi yelled, throwing his construction costume in Tatsuya's face. "My parents were right, I should've just stuck to studying marine biology!"

"You-!"

"Hey hey hey."

Tatsuya and the other turned around, and saw the starfish-haired Taro walking towards them. "Let's all just calm down, 'ight? So we haven't gotten any hits, big deal! We gotta just stick to our guns, and we'll get noticed! Or my name's not Taro Sato!"

"Taro, dude, I respect you, but it's time to face facts," Ryo sighed, pinching his forehead. "We're wasting our time waiting and waiting for our big chance when we can be spending it doing other things. Use that big brain of yours for once, and give up."

"Yea man, out of all of us, you're the one who's suffering and wasting the most! You literally could be a scientist, a professor, anything with a super smart Quirk like yours!" Kenichi cried, throwing his hands up into the air. "And here you are, wanting to be in a shit band! You were always like this when we were kids, wasting your potential!"

"Whoa whoa, this is not a shit band! We're just going through a rough patch!" Taro insisted. But the two had already walked off, heading to their cars. As their engines roared to life, Ryo rolled down his window one last time.

"Seriously you guys, you're not going to go anywhere if you keep this up," he yelled, sticking his head out. "It's time to grow up from this high school dream, we're 25 now! Go look for some real jobs, since you're gonna be losing half the rent now! And clean up the place for once!"

Taro and Tatsuya watched the two drive away, Tatsuya wiping his eyes. "What if they're right, Taro?" he sniffled, snot and tears rolling down his face. "Am I just dragging you down with me on some dumb dream?"

"Hey hey hey, don't talk like that, Lil Bro," Taro assured him, slapping him hard on the back. "We're in this together, 100, no, infinity percent! Always have, always will!"

"But what about rent? Ryo's right, without them, half of our rent's gone!"

"Actually I was gonna tell them that I got a job," Taro said, sighing. "Some science-y guy had a posting for a part-time assistant, and I took it!"

"Really!?"

"Yea, so you can just call me Taro Sato, Scientist Rockstar! We'll be eating yakiniku soon, my dude!" Taro exclaimed, as the two laughed, watching as the sun set, with the red light of the Skywall illuminating the night sky.

---

"No... there's no way Big Bro could've done it," Tatsuya said, shaking his head. He stood up, puffing his chest out as he regained confidence. "It's got to be some sort of frameup! Yea, that's it! This is all some sort of mega conspiracy!"

"Oh? So who do you think's behind this conspiracy?"

"Isn't it obvious!? It's all that snake guy-" Tatsuya said, turning around to face Blood Stalk.

He froze.

"Ciao," Blood Stalk said casually, doing a quick finger flick greeting. Tatsuya screamed, and turned around to run away, when some guy in an outfit similar to Blood Stalk's stopped in front of him, though his suit was gray and black with blue spanners instead.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked. Tatsuya panicked, and turned left to run, only to slam his face into a pillar. He fell backwards, unconscious and his face red from the impact.

"Huh, and here I thought we were gonna go and turn him into a Smash here and now. Guess we'll just do it back at the base," Blood Stalk chortled, picking the fallen man up. "Boy, you sure are heavy for a short guy. Hey Meta Bolt, be a pal and get us outta here."

"Yea yea, of course," Meta Bolt replied flatly, pulling out his Transteam Gun. He pulled the trigger, and swiped the gun to cover the three with gas, disappearing once the air was clear.

---

"Finished!" Sento cried out, as he held his newly completed weapon above him. He had worked over time that night to get it finished, but it was worth it (of course he took a power nap every so often so that he wouldn't be too tired). Izuku and the other teens had gone back home long ago, so he couldn't wait to show it off to them. "Behold! I think I call this the Drhinomic Gun!"

True to the name, it was a dryer-like heat gun, with the barrel being shaped like a mechanical rhino's head. A dial rested on the right side above the handle, while an exhaust port-like hole occupied the back to connect it to the Dryer Halfbody's dryer attachment.

"Hey, can you keep it down?" Misora yawned, coming out of her room, followed by Ryuga. "It's a little early to be excited, you know."

"Look at this, Misora!" Sento said, ignoring her request. "It's Build's newest weapon, the Drhinomic Gun!"

"What does "Drhinomic" mean? Is it related to like, ergonomic?" Misora questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a combination of dry, rhino, and dynamic! Drhinomic!" Sento explained, as a tuft of hair rose from his head. "This little beaut's got a dial that adjusts its power and blast type from Low, Medium, and High! And this barrel here can be used as a battering weapon!" he added, swinging the gun around.

"Okay okay, we get it! Just stop swinging that thing around, won't you?" Ryuga said, stepping backwards to avoid getting smacked by the gun. As Sento fawned over his weapon, his BuildPhone started ringing. He checked the caller ID, and saw that it was Izuku's number. "If you're done working on that, can we-"

"You're calling pretty early, Midoriya," Sento said, picking up and shoving Ryuga to the side. "But you're just in time! I just finished the new weapon, and it's-"

"Mr. Kiryu, there's a Smash in front of my school!" Midoriya whispered, snapping Sento out of his excited mood. "There's a bunch of Guardians and a hero's here right now fighting it!"

"I'll be right there," Sento stated, grabbing his Build Driver and some Fullbottles. "Just stay hidden away from the fighting, we don't want you to get caught up in it."

"I understand," he replied. "But you better hurry. This Smash doesn't seem like that strong of a fighter, so it might not last long."

"Wait, are you serious!?" Ryuga said, as Sento hung up and started climbing up the stairs. "We're not going to go after Faust again!? Come on!"

"Ryuga, calm down," Sento said, dismissively while walking out of the front door of nascita and inserting the Lion Fullbottle into the Build Phone. "We'll think of something, right now there's someone who needs to be saved."

---

Sento had driven into an alleyway nearby Aldera Junior High, where he met up with Midoriya. "How's the situation?" Sento asked, removing his helmet.

"Not good," Midoriya said, peeking out from the alleyway. "The Smash has been struggling against the Guardians and heroes. Luckily it doesn't seem too injured."

Sento took a look around the corner, and saw the Smash for himself. It was an unassuming sort of being, resembling a bit like an armored panda with a metal face with goggle-like eyes and a simple small hole for a mouth. A pair of bamboo-like metal rods stuck up from its back, and fur-like wiring poked out between its metal plating and joints. Its hands were oversized paws with claws, though they didn't seem to be sharpened. Indeed, it was not doing so well against the barrage of Guardian bullets, and when it wasn't getting hit by gunfire, it was being smacked around by the hero Death Arms like a ragdoll. The principal was at the front entrance, cowering behind one of the pillars as chaos flew around in the courtyard.

"Oh man, this is the worst Smash yet," Sento said, pulling out his Build Driver. "Wonder what type of poor schmuck they Smashified?"

"True, what poor schmuck did we Smashify?"

Sento and Izuku turned around, and saw Blood Stalk strolling towards them. "Yo, what's up?" he said, giving the two a quick wave, as Sento immediately transformed and prepared to fight, while Izuku pulled out the Beetle Fullbottle and shook it. "Now now, don't you want to know who that Smash is? I'll give you a hint."

Blood Stalk coughed into his hand, clearing his throat for a few seconds, before shrieking, "Big broooooo! Big brooooo it's me!"

"Tatsuya!?" Sento said, as he and Izuku whipped their heads around to look at the Smash. Sure enough, the more they looked at it, the more they did realize that Tatsuya himself did have some panda-esque qualities, not to mention that the pitiful nature definitely was a match for him.

"Bingo!" Blood Stalk said, giving them two thumbs up. "Found him wondering around aimlessly with ol' Meta Bolt last night, and we decided to spice his life up a bit more. Granted, I've never seen such a pitiful Smash in my life. He's so pitiful that we could call him the Pity-Me Smash. Hell, even Banjo's girl was more impressive than him!"

"Stop talking," Sento growled, slamming the Build Driver onto his waist. He shook and twisted the Rabbit and Tank Fullbottles open, and inserted them into the belt quickly.

He rushed Blood Stalk, cranking the handle as furiously as he could, yelling "Transform!" as the familiar red and blue runners formed around him and slammed close.

"Rabbit! Tank! Best Match! Are you ready? The Moonsault of Steel! RabbitTank! Yeahhh!"

Build summoned the Drill Crusher and swung the weapon at Blood Stalk, who blocked each blow with his gauntlets. He did not let up the attacks, as he forced Blood Stalk to remain on the defensive and unable to summon his weapons to counterattack, finally landing a hard blow to Blood Stalk by thrusting the Drill Crusher's spinning blade into his gut, sending him staggering back a bit. Build threw the Drill Crusher aside, and began to crank the Build Driver's handle furiously once more.

"You and Faust will pay for everything!" he cried, leaping into the air and soaring towards Blood Stalk with his right leg extended.

"Ready, go! Vortex Finish!" "You're not stopping me this time! Tank-Down!"

Like before, Blood Stalk stood his ground, and grabbed Build's foot as he was within range. However, unlike before, he was being pushed back, struggling to stand his ground. With a final yell, Build forced the Tank Roller Shoe's tread to speed up faster and faster, causing it to spark in Blood Stalk's hand before exploding, sending him backwards. He grunted as he rolled across the pavement before coming to a stop on his knees. Blood Stalk took a good long look at his hand, which was still sparking from attempting to stop Build's Vortex Finish.

Build and Izuku stood there, ready to keep fighting, but after what seemed like an eternity, Blood Stalk got up and, to their frustration, began chuckling. "Hehehehe, nice, you got your Hazard Level up to 3.6! Knew that getting you angry like that was worth it."

"What!?" Build screamed. "All this, just to see my Hazard Level rise up!?"

"Yea, so?" Blood Stalk said, shaking the soreness out of his hand. "I thought you wanted to rise it! Getting stronger so you can defeat our big bad group! Well, now we all know that heightened emotional reactions can lead to higher Hazard Levels, instead of just wasting time only training! 'Cuz if you ask me, the training that green kid's going through isn't good enough."

"Excuse me?" Izuku said, his fists tightening. He gritted his teeth; a part of him knew that Blood Stalk just wanted to get him to rise his Hazard Level up too like Build, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel his blood boiling up.

"Yea, you're still at 2.3! Come on, kid, for someone who resisted a Nebula Gas experiment, whatever training you're doing isn't cutting it!" Blood Stalk taunted. "If you ask me, whoever's teaching you has got to be a hack! Worthless! Probably some washed-up hasbeen!"

"Don't you dare talk about him like that!" Izuku said, rushing him before Build could stop him. He pulled out the Beetle Fullbottle from his pocket, shaking it vigorously and twisting the cap open before throwing punches at him. While it was true that his training with One for All hadn't been fruitful, he has at least learned how to throw better punches. And with the Beetle Fullbottle's "drill punch" powers, he wasn't breaking the law since it wasn't his Quirk, right?

Blood Stalk yawned as he dodged each punch and jab from the short green-haired teen. "Well, you certainly know how throw a punch," he observed, as he rolled with Izuku's fists. "But can you really land one-"

From the side, Build came flying in, punching Blood Stalk across the face. He staggered backwards, having been dazed by the attack from his forgotten opponent. Before he could reorient himself, he saw Izuku coming up from below him, his fist colliding with the chin of his helmet in a powerful uppercut.

"Kabuto SMASH!" he cried up, the aura around his fist spinning. Blood Stalk flew back, landing against a dumpster hard enough to leave an indention. He moaned, rubbing his chin, though once more he broke out chuckling.

"Good one, kid!" he complimented, though to Izuku it was worthless. "Got to say, didn't think you'd get up to 2.5 that easily, but here we are! Nice job!"

Blood Stalk pried himself off the damaged dumpster, and began stretching, as if he were just waking up from a nap. "You two are gonna be great, you know. Definitely the best experiments we've had."

"Gee, thanks for the praise," Build said. "But it's time we take you in."

"Oh, you're sure about that, Mr. 'I'm Not A Licensed Hero'?" Blood Stalk said, pointing behind the two. "Besides, don't you two have a Smash to stop?"

Build and Izuku froze, as the sounds of yelling and Guardian gunfire began to fill their ears again. "I gotta say, you two get so tunnel vision when you're all angry like that. That said," Blood Stalk pulled out his Transteam Gun, and summoned a gas cloud around himself as the two turned back to him, "I should go. Keep up the good work, you two! You're all gonna need it! Ciao!"

Build grumbled as the Faust member disappeared, but he shook it off, refocusing on what's going on in front of him. "Midoriya, stay here, and I mean it. Remember, just because you can fight a Smash with just the Fullbottle, doesn't mean that you'll be able to extract its essence easily."

Izuku nodded, and walked back into the alleyway as Build hopped back onto his motorcycle and drove out.

---

"Just a few more hits, Guardians!" Death Arms cried out, as he slugged the Smash in the face. The Smash staggered back, as some more bullet fire struck it from nearby Guardians. The Smash grunted as it flailed around to swipe the bullets away, but it was no use. It was clearly getting worn out from the beating it was receiving.

"Hmph, and that Kamen Rider has the guts to say that these Smashes can only be handled by him," he sneered, cracking his knuckles. "We'll get you the help you'll need soon, whoever you are."

"And that help is right here!"

As if on cue, Death Arms turned around and barely had time to jump out of the way of a speeding motorcycle, which rammed into the Smash. Build grabbed it by the head, and drove off as fast as he had appeared. "Sorry, but I gotta go, and he's coming with me for treatment! Can't do that with all these Guardians around!"

"What the- Get back here!" Death Arms shouted, as the Guardians opened fire on the retreating Kamen Rider. "Quick, get those Guardians onto the bikes!"

The Guardians obeyed and marched to their bikes, but before any of them could depart, a large phoenix-like blast of fire struck them all, causing them to explode. Death Arms covered his face with his right forearm to avoid getting the flying Guardian debris into his eyes. "What the hell!?" he exclaimed, "Who did that!?"

He got his answer very quickly in the form of a man speeding by on a motorcycle similar to the Kamen Rider's, with that strange drill-sword-gun contraption in one hand. The man's face was obscured by a helmet, so Death Arms couldn't get a good lock at him, but he had a good feeling who it was.

"Dammit! Was that Ryuga Banjo!? Is he the Kamen Rider's accomplice?" he growled, as he grabbed his cellphone from his waist. "I gotta call this in... and also a replacement order for these Guardians... stupid piles of junk."

"Um..."

Death Arms looked to face a few students, who peered into the school's courtyard. "Is... school cancelled for today?" one of them, a boy with long fingers, asked.

"... I guess," Death Arms said, shrugging while looking at the principal, who violently shook his head yes.

---

"Alright, I think we're far away enough from any heroes or Guardians, Tatsuya!" Build said, as they came to a stop at an abandoned warehouse. "It's time to get you back to normal! Though not without giving this form a name... how about the Bamboo Smash 'cuz of those sticks on your back?"

Build let go of the Smash, who staggered away from the Kamen Rider. It swung his arms at him, seemingly ready to go down with a fight, however weak it may be.

"I know we're friends and all, but I supposed you wouldn't fault me for testing out a new Best Match, right?" Build said, pulling out the Rhino and Dryer Fullbottles and removing the Rabbit and Tank Fullbottles out of the Build Driver. He shook the bottles and twisted the caps open, and inserted them into the belt. He cranked the handle, and gray and red runners formed in front of him.

"Rhino! Dryer! Best Match! Are you ready?"

"Transform!" Build announced, as the runners slammed onto him, forming his new armor. His right leg, the left side of his chest, and left arm were a crimson red, with his right eye having changed shape into a hairdryer. On his left arm was a large hairdryer-like attachment, with vents coming out of the left shoulder armor. His left leg, the right side of his chest, and right arm were a cool steely gray, with his left eye having changed shape into a rhinoceros head. His right forearm and shoulder armor had become large and bulky, resembling rhinoceroses's heads, and his left foot had two large horn-like spikes on top of it.

"The Super Heating Dry Continent! RhiDryer! Yeahhh!"

"I've found the winning formula!" Build said, as he pulled out his new Drhinomic Gun, turning the dial to Low.

"Drhinomic Gun! Low Heat!"

The Smash charged at Build, who fired several fast blasts of hot air into it, knocking it backwards. As it scrambled to get back up, Build turned the dial again, this time to Medium.

"Medium Heat!"

Before the Smash could reorient itself, a stream of hot air hit its face directly, heating up its metal-like face and turning it red-hot. It grunted as it slapped itself silly, apparently attempting to put out a nonexistent fire on its head. As its face cooled down, Build turned the dial once more, going all the way up to High.

"High Heat!"

Build held the Drhinomic Gun's grip with both of his hands, as it started to intake air and heating it up. He pulled the trigger, releasing a massive ball of heated air into the Smash, causing its entire body to become burning hot.

"Alright, that's enough," Build said, as he swapped the Drhinomic Gun into his left hand so he could crank the Build Driver's handle. "It's time to finish this!"

When he finished cranking, he swapped hands again, and inserted his left arm's Buildryer attachment into the back of the Drhinomic Gun.

"Super Heat!" "Ready, go! Vortex Finish!"

"Dynamite Drying!" Build cried out, as a giant stream of heated air collided with the Smash. It struggled against the wind, but its foothold was weak, and it flew backwards into the warehouse wall behind it and pinned to it by the continuous blast of air, which was followed by a blast of fire that engulfed. When it finished, the Smash fell to the ground, barely moving from exhaustion. Build took out an Empty Bottle, and pulled out the Smash's essence, returning Tatsuya to normal. The out-of-shape musician was in plain white clothes much like past Smash victims, heavily drenched in sweat, no doubt as the result of being hit by consecutive blasts of hot air.

"Tatsuya! Are you alright?" Sento said, as he undid his transformation. Tatsuya groaned, his body aching all over, so much so that he was unable to bring himself back up.

"Big bro, did you save me?" Tatsuya asked, finally finding the strength to speak.

"Yea, of course I did," Sento replied, sitting down next to him. "Even if I don't remember my past and I'm not entirely sure if I really am your big bro, I couldn't just let you suffer like that."

"Big bro..." Tatsuya sniffled, when the revving of a motorcycle's engine filled the air. Sento turned to look, and saw Ryuga driving into the warehouse.

"Ryuga?" Sento said, getting up and walking over to him. "What are you doing out of the Build Shop!? You know that they're looking for-"

Ryuga slammed his fist into Sento's gut, knocking the wind out of him. Sento gasped for air, and fell down unconscious as Ryuga followed up with a chop to the neck to knock him out. "Big bro!" Tatsuya cried out, struggling to get up. Ryuga pulled the Smash Bottle containing the Bamboo Smash's essence, and untwisted the cap, pointing it towards Tatsuya. Tatsuya yelled as the essence reentered him before it turned into a low grumbling growl, once again transforming into the Bamboo Smash. Ryuga grabbed Sento and pulled him to hide behind some nearby barrels. When the Bamboo Smash finally got up, it looked around before grunting and wondering off, walking out of the warehouse.

"That's it, big guy," Ryuga said, as he snuck around the barrels to follow the Bamboo Smash from a distance. "Just lead me to where they took you..."

---

Earlier...

Ryuga grumbled as he pulled a canned coffee from behind the counter to drink. He couldn't believe it, they were wasting more and more time with just saving one or two people at a time, when they could just go and stop Faust at the source. Granted, he didn't know where Faust was, or more specifically, remembered where they were, so that was definitely an obstacle to that plan.

"Man, I used to hate this brand, but after drinking the Owner's coffee, this isn't nearly as bad now," Ryuga said, slightly grimacing as he remembered that horrid taste. Misora climbed out of the Build Shop's entrance, phone in hand, playing a puzzle app game.

"I don't get it, how can you guys wait and wait while Faust's out there running amok?" Ryuga grumbled, as Misora plopped herself onto a couch.

"It's not like we have a choice," Misora said, smiling as she finished off a long chain combo. "Sento would never let anyone stay Smashified for long. Otherwise we could just follow them."

"Excuse me?" Ryuga said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yea, on the day I found out what they were using the Fullbottles for, I saw a Smash coming back into the base. When I realized where the essences were coming from, I just... stopped being able to make Fullbottles," Misora said, shrugging.

"So wait, are you saying that if we left a Smash alone for a while, it would-"

"Oh. Shit," Misora said, her eyes widening as she realized what Ryuga was thinking. "I swear to god, you better not. Being a Smash is-"

"Gotta go!" Ryuga exclaimed, running out of the front door and inserting the Hawk Fullbottle into his blue Build Phone. He drove off, as Misora poked her head out of the doorway.

"Get back here, Ryuga!" Misora softly cried out, not wanting to get anyone's attention. Ryuga had disappeared out of the alleyway, as Misora looked left and right.

"Ooooooh man, Sento's not gonna like this."

---

Currently...

It had been roughly thirty minutes since Ryuga had started to follow the Bamboo Smash. He didn't care if it was a bit unethical to let someone stay a Smash like this, if it meant getting to the bottom of Faust's operations and toppling them over, so be it. It was time that they did something to stop them at the core. It didn't take them too long to reach the Smash's destination; the Skywall. Or more specifically, one of the buildings that was built right next to it, which was designed for on-field study and testing on the Skywall itself.

"So that's one of the entrances, huh?" Ryuga muttered, as the door opened for the Bamboo Smash to enter. "Alright, all I need to do is to sneak in and-"

"Halt, you are trespassing on private property. Leave now, or be punished."

Ryuga turned around, and found himself surrounded by a Guardian troop, with Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady following close behind.

"Shit..." he grumbled, as he raised his hands to the sky. He wanted to grab Kasumi's Dragon Fullbottle from his pocket, but there was no way he'd be able to activate its power before they riddled him with bullets.

"Good work, my Guardians!" Mt. Lady said, blowing them a kiss while holding a tablet in her other hand. "It was a good thing I thought of checking along the Skywall!"

"You mean I did," Kamui Woods muttered, as he prepared his wood Quirk to capture Ryuga. "Now come quickly and-"

"Prepare for execution," one of the Guardians said, as they all switched their safeties off.

"Whoa what!? No! No executions!" Mt. Lady said, pressing on the tablet to shut the Guardians off, though they failed to respond to the tablet. "Why is that even a feature!?"

"Shut them off!" Kamui said, grabbing several of them, pinning their arms to their sides to prevent them from firing, though there were still a few that he couldn't get. However, a familiar red-and-blue figure on a motorcycle sped in, ramming into the rest of the Guardians and knocking them over.

"Get on, you fucking idiot!" Build shouted, waving at Ryuga. Ryuga grumbled and obliged, and quickly clambered on, grabbing onto Build's torso as they drove off while Mt. Lady's remaining Guardians struggled to break free from Kamui Woods' grip.

"After them!" Mt. Lady said, as Kamui released his grip on the Guardians. The Guardians turned around and pointed their rifles at the two heroes, however. "Immediate threat detected, preparing to use lethal force."

"What!? No!" she cried. Kamui swung out his arms, wooden spikes flying out of them and into the Guardians' heads and chests. They sputtered and sparked, before collapsing onto the ground motionless.

"Ooooooh, I knew I shouldn't have invested in a Guardian troop for my agency!" Mt. Lady lamented, falling to her knees. "And I should've bought that warranty, too!"

"Is that what concerns you right now?" Kamui said, as his wooden spikes retracted back into his arms. "And not the fact that for whatever reason, the Guardians have an execution function? And that they didn't respond to your tablet?"

"Of course I'm concerned!" Mt. Lady snapped. "I'm also concerned about all the money I wasted on these stupid Guardians!"

"Well, whatever your feelings are, I think this is something we'll need to bring up to Mr. Namba," Kamui said, as he crouched down and examined the broken Guardians. "I really doubt that robots made to patrol and apprehend criminals and villains need to actually execute anyone that's not resisting."

---

Sento slammed the door to the café open, stomping inside as Ryuga followed him, closing the door behind him. Izuku had come to the café early on account of school being cancelled from the Smash attack, and All Might came there as well, deciding to check in on them. Misora was on the couch, trying to pay attention to her phone, though she looked up from it when Sento and Ryuga came in. They had all gotten the message from Sento about what Ryuga had done to Tatsuya.

"What the hell were you thinking!?" Sento said, turning around and swinging his fist into Ryuga's face, knocking him backwards. Izuku got up to stop them, but All Might held him back by the shoulder. "Why did you turn Tatsuya back into a Smash!? I just got him back to normal!"

"Oh, shut up!" Ryuga said, returning the punch to Sento, knocking him into a table. "At least I finally did something to find where Faust could be! We've done nothing but let chances slip by!"

"Don't act as if I'm not doing anything at all!" Sento said, as their slugfest continued. "I'm just prioritizing the wellbeing of Smash victims first!"

"Shouldn't we stop them!?" Izuku said, as Ryuga slugged Sento in the gut, but Sento kneed Ryuga in the head.

"Yea, Uncle Toshi! I know Ryuga's a screwup, but I don't think letting them punch each other is a good idea!" Misora said, trying to get past All Might.

"Do not worry, Lil' Misora and Young Midoriya," All Might said, reassuring them. "Sometimes, men just need to speak their feelings through their fists."

"Smash victims this, Smash victims that!" Ryuga yelled, throwing a right jab into Sento's shoulder and knocking him into a chair. "I'm tired of just focusing on one part of the problem, we need to look at the bigger picture and stop them!"

"The bigger picture can wait!" Sento rebuked, kicking Ryuga's right knee, only to get headbutted by Ryuga. "If there's a person who needs my help immediately, that's what I'm gonna do!"

"And we can stop more people from being Smashified if we stop Faust right away!" Ryuga growled, punching Sento in the chest. As Sento stumbled backwards, he dropped the Build Driver and a few Fullbottles.

"Alright, what's going- Holy shit, my café!" Souichi said, his eyes almost bulging out of his eye sockets as he came down from upstairs.

"And if you won't take Faust down as Build, then I will!" Ryuga said, grabbing the dropped belt and a handful of Fullbottles. He slapped the belt on, and shook the Robot and Rhino Fullbottles furiously, inserting them into the Build Driver and cranking the handle. Clear runners formed in front and behind him, pushing back nearby chairs and tables away.

"Wait, Banjo, you're not-"

"Mr. Banjo!"

"Banjo you idiot stop!"

"Alright, now this is crossing a line, Mr. Banjo!"

"MY TABLES AND CHAIRS!"

"Transform!" Ryuga shouted, as the runners slammed onto him. However, instead of armor forming around him, Ryuga was hit with blasts of electricity, shocking him from head to toe. He convulsed violently before falling onto the ground facedown, the Build Driver's belt falling off his waist. "Ow... what was that? Everything's numb..." he groaned, gritting his teeth from the pain. "Why didn't I transform into Build?"

"Seems like as fast as your Hazard Level is growing, it's still not enough to use the Build Driver," Sento sighed, walking over to Ryuga and picking up his Build Driver and Fullbottles. "Good thing, too, otherwise who knows what dumb things you would've done. I think we're done talking here. If you need me, I'll be down in the Build Shop, coming up with a new plan to save Tatsuya."

"Hey, no, get back here, Sento! You need to fix up my café!" Souichi said, as Sento opened the Build Shop's entrance and walked in. Souichi scrambled to the minifridge entrance, only to find that it was now locked. "Sento! Open up this instance! My café's in ruins!"

"Ugh... dammit all," Ryuga said, still reeling in pain. All Might sighed, as he picked up the limp man and put him onto the couch to rest.

"Maybe now you understand why Mr. Kiryu is acting and planning the way he is after that fight," he said, crossing his arms. "He is carrying a burden as big as yours, you know."

"... I might understand later, after I can feel my butt cheeks again," Ryuga grumbled, turning his head away from everyone, as Izuku and All Might picked up the tables and chairs and started to put them back in their places. Soon after, Izuku started reading the notes he had in his Hero and Rider Journals with All Might down at the Build Shop, Souichi had left for some errands, and Misora sat on top of Ryuga, who could not do anything as he was still numb from the pain.

"Get off," he muttered, as Eijiro, Mina, and Pony entered the cafe. "I'm not in the mood for this."

"Too bad," Misora replied, checking her social media accounts as Miitan. "This is as good a punishment as we can give you for what happened."

"What happened?" Eijiro asked. As Izuku recapped what happened at his middle school and what Ryuga had done, the three teens' eyes widened at shock, and by the end of it, Mina strutted over to Ryuga, and slapped him in the forehead.

"Ow! Of course I'd regain my feelings right as I get slapped," Ryuga grumbled, as he began shifting underneath Misora, forcing her off.

"How could you do that!?" Mina asked, her pink cheeks flushed with red. "Of all people, you should be the one who knows how painful seeing someone close to you get Smashified!"

"And that's exactly it!" Ryuga snapped, rubbing his forehead. "I'm sorry, but if it takes at least one person to find out where Faust is to stop them, then I'll-"

"What if it had been Kasumi?" Pony asked. Ryuga froze, his eyes shifting away from the satyr-like girl. "Would you have done it if it were her again?"

"We understand your frustration, Banjo," Misora replied, crossing her arms. "But the fact of the matter is that we need to take care of the immediate issues first before we try taking down Faust. Especially since Sento's fought all three lead members now, and hasn't had a decisive win."

Ryuga sighed, pinching his forehead. As much as he wanted to argue, he knew that they were all right. He saw how Build fought against Night Rogue, and from what he's heard of Meta Bolt and Blood Stalk, he didn't fare too well. He had to face facts; no matter how badly he wants to take down Faust right there and now, they were just woefully not ready yet.

"... I'm sorry," he said, as Sento and All Might came out of the Build Shop. "I really did screw up this time, huh?"

"It's alright, 'cuz we can fix it," Sento answered, as two little robots flew out from behind him. A little blue dragon flew towards Ryuga, and a little yellow beetle flew towards Izuku. "Those are your Build Driver adapters, the Cross-Z Dragon and the Battler Beetle. I worked overtime on these, but I don't have the parts for your Build Drivers yet. Not like your Hazard Levels are ready for them yet. Still, it's a good idea to have them around, since they can assist you."

"Aaaaw, they're so cute!" Mina said, as she and Pony fawned over the two small robots, scratching them on their chins as if they were dogs. The robots for the most part seemed rather receptive to the scratches, as they beeped and whirled happily.

"An adapter for a Build Driver," Izuku said, as the Battler Beetle rested on his shoulder. One step closer to being a Kamen Rider; if only he were as close to being a suitable successor for All Might.

"So what's the plan?" Eijiro asked, looking at All Might and Sento. "Wait for them to release Tatsuya again?"

"No, not exactly," Sento said, crossing his arms. "We're breaking into their hideout to save him and all the victims they have right now."

"What!?" everyone shouted, as they stared at the Number 1 Hero and the vigilante Kamen Rider.

"I hate to admit it, but Ryuga had a point," Sento answered, looking at the brown-haired man. "Even if he had gone about it the worst way possible, we at least found one of their bases, and it'd be a waste to not go in and at least save as many people as we can. I don't think we'll be able to take them down, but we can cripple their operations for a bit."

"Count me in!" Eijiro said, slamming his hardened fists together.

"Me too!" Mina said, nodding her head in agreement.

"Yea, let's-" Pony started to say, before All Might interjected, "Hold on, this has to be a covert operation. We can't have you kids coming along. It'll just be me, Mr. Kiryu, and Mr. Banjo."

"But All Might, we can help!" Izuku said, the Battler Beetle shaking its horn in agreement. "I know that we're not heroes yet, but we don't need to fight to save anyone, right? We just need to go and free any victim they got, right? You and Mr. Kiryu can stop any Smashes, Guardians, or the Faust leaders, but while you do we can free them!"

"He's got a point," Sento said, shrugging. "Plus, even if we say 'no', they're gonna go ahead and follow us anyways."

All Might tapped his foot in thought, before sighing and saying, "Alright, fine. You four can follow us. But no fighting. The second you've freed all the victims, follow them out and stay out of sight."

As the four teens nodded, Misora went behind the counter and pulled out four masks she had hidden in one of the drawers. "Take these," she said, handing them over to them. "It'd be bad if they recognize you and they out you for vigilante activity. I'll grab some jackets so that no one will see your uniforms."

They complied, and slipped the masks into their pockets, and Misora went over to a coat closet to grab them. Ryuga looked at them all, trembling a bit. "So we're really finally doing something?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm still really angry," Sento said, taking a deep breath. "But I'll admit that I've been a little too dismissive about your feelings on everything, so I can't blame you for trying something extreme too much."

"Right," Ryuga said, laughing rather bitterly. "I guess I wasn't really hero material after all, like Breaker Box said."

"Don't sell yourself short, Mr. Banjo," All Might said, slapping Ryuga's back and almost knocking him over. "Heroes aren't perfect, every now and then we'll make a decision that doesn't end well. All we can do then is fix it to the best of our abilities, and make sure it never happens again."

"Fix mistakes, huh?" Ryuga mumbled. He clapped his face with his hands, and stood up. "Yea, I can do that! Let's go save Katsuya."

"Tatsuya," Pony corrected.

"Right, my bad."

---

Team Build had arrived at the Skywall testing building where Ryuga saw the Bamboo Smash enter into, with the teens in their disguises. They hid inside one of the empty abandoned buildings, as they observed the surroundings, which was occupied with Guardian troops. "I guess they decided to up the security after word got out about Banjo being seen here," Sento said, as he slapped his Build Driver on and taking out the Gorilla and Diamond Fullbottles. "I guess we just have to find an indirect way in."

"What do you mean?" Ryuga said, as Sento became Build GorillaMond. Build's eyes scanned the floor of the building they were in, before pointing his left hand to a weakpoint in the ground, transforming it into diamonds. He tapped it with the Muscle Glove, shattering the floor, revealing an entrance to an old sewer.

"Ew, we have to go down there?" Mina grimaced, looking down at the hole.

"At least it looks like the only thing that's in there is rainwater," Izuku said, looking at the clear water at the bottom.

"Wait, how come the floor broke like that? Aren't diamonds unbreakable?" Eijiro asked, scratching his head.

"Not necessarily," Build explained. "If diamonds really were unbreakable, we wouldn't be able to make jewelry out of them. They're tough, yea, but hit in the right way, and it'll break apart."

"Enough science, let's go," Ryuga said, jumping down into the sewer, followed by Build, All Might, and the four teens (Mina the last and most reluctant). As he looked around the sewer, he started to have a sense of déjà vu. "I... think I was here before."

"You were?" Pony said, as they walked down the sewer.

"Yea... Yea! This is the sewer I escaped in!" Ryuga said, as he ran down the sewer. "At the end there should be a bunch of pipes and stuff!"

As Team Build traversed the sewer, they eventually did come across the room full of pipes and walkways, which was patrolled by two Guardians with missing faceplates, no doubt hacked by Faust to guard the lab. They hid behind a wall and large pipes, looking at the Guardians walking around. "The lab should be further down this way," Ryuga whispered. Build nodded, and swapped the Gorilla and Diamond Fullbottles with the Rhino and Robot Fullbottles.

"Rhino! Robot! Are you ready?"

"Transform!" he whispered, as the brown and cyan of GorillaMond was replaced with the grays of RhinoRobot. Build stepped out from their hiding place, and slammed his fists into the two Guardians' heads, knocking them clean off.

"Not really a subtle takedown, huh?" Mina said, as the Guardians fell down, their neck motors sparking.

"Hey, the grays of this Trial Match is the best we can do for stealth," Build said, as Ryuga went ahead of them and motioned them to follow him. "If I had something like, a ninja or chameleon Fullbottle, I could've been stealthier."

It didn't take the group long to find the lab, as they entered a walkway that peered down from above. There they saw a big glass box with green liquid surrounded by men in white hazmat suits, soon-to-be-Smash victims chained to beds that struggled to escape, and a teeange female victim with orange hair tied into a large ponytail that was already in the box, shaking as she transformed into a new Smash. Near the box was the tacky armchair that Sento, Izuku, and Ryuga all remembered seeing when they were experimented on, and off to the side was the Bamboo Smash, standing completely still.

"This is it!" Izuku whispered, as Build's fists tightened around the guardrail. The men opened the lid and the Smash climbed out mindlessly. The Smash was mechanical in appearance, with a round cockpit-like face with metal fins jutting out from the sides; on the back of the head was a metal fin that resembled the victim's ponytail. Its fingers resembled helicopter blades, with four missile-like protrusions sticking out of its shoulders. Its chest also appeared cockpit-like, though it was angular rather than round.

"Another dud," one of the men said, shaking his head, before looking up and spotting Team Build. "H-h-hey! How'd you get in here!?"

"Holy shit it's the Kamen Rider!"

"Holy shit it's... a bunch of kids?"

"Holy shit it's ALL MIGHT!"

The hazmat men trembled at the sight of All Might, who leaped down from the walkway and onto the floor below them. Cracks from the impact of his landing formed beneath his feet, and the men ran off as Guardians swarmed in around him.

"Your experimentations are over, because I AM HERE!" All Might exclaimed, gritting his teeth in fury. "I'll handle these Guardians! Get the Smashes and the victims!"

"Right!" Build said, as he swapped Robot for Dryer. "Rhino! Dryer! Best Match! Are you ready?" "Transform!" "The Super Heating Dry Continent! RhiDryer! Yeahhh!"

He leaped down, the Drhinomic Gun in hand, and started blasting the Smashes with heated air. The Bamboo Smash and the new Smash started fighting back, throwing punches at Build, with the new Smash's hands adjusting themselves into a fan shape and starting to blow air back at Build.

"Guess we'll call you the Fan Smash!" Build stated, swinging the Drhinomic Gun's barrel into the Fan Smash's head, knocking it backwards. Ryuga and the teens followed suit, climbing down the stairs and going towards the struggling victims, though Ryuga opted to grab one of the retreating scientists and slamming them against the wall.

"You remember me!?" Ryuga cried out, shaking the man who whimpered in his grasp. "Who gave Nabeshima orders!? Why was I framed!? Tell me!"

As Mina melted chains, Eijiro breaking them through brute force, Pony breaking the links with her horns, and Izuku using the Battler Beetle to shatter the locks, a bullet struck the wall near them, making them finch. "Well, look at who we have here?" a voice said. The teens turned to look, and saw Meta Bolt walking in, Transteam Gun in hand, with Blood Stalk not too far behind. "Oh wait, I guess I can't say, since you all are wearing masks and all."

"Meta Bolt!" Izuku whispered, as Mina, Eijiro, and Pony froze at the sight of the one responsible for their Smashification. Ryuga let the man he was holding go, who scrambled to crawl away from him.

"Oi, what am I, chopped liver?" Blood Stalk asked, feigning hurt. "Well, welcome to our secret lair! Or at least one of many. Guessing you, Build, and Banjo are familiar with it, though, since this one is the place where we experimented on you."

"So you're Blood Stalk and Meta Bolt, huh?" Ryuga said, recognizing the two from what the others described. "Tell me! Why did you frame me!"

He rushed towards the two, shaking the Dragon Fullbottle and twisting its cap. He swung his fists at them, though they kept sidestepping each punch with zero effort. Blood Stalk grabbed Ryuga by the shoulder, and a tiny tendril popped out from his gauntlet, injecting itself into Ryuga's neck. From the injection point his skin turned purple that reached his cheek as he screamed out in pain, collapsing to the floor and grasping at his neck.

"Mr. Banjo!" Izuku said, as the teens rushed to his side. He grasped at them, crying and writhing in agony as Izuku and Eijiro picked him up by the arms.

"Oh don't worry about it. It's not gonna kill him, it'll just leave him in agonizing, excruciating, unbearable pain," Blood Stalk stated, shaking his head.

"Wow, poisoning one of our more successful experiments? After telling us to leave them be? Harsh," Meta Bolt sneered, kicking Ryuga away from them. Before he could return his attention to the teens, All Might had jumped towards him, throwing a mighty punch at his face. Meta Bolt barely had time to dodge, and he rolled away before standing back up. "Oooooh, that was real close that time, All Might. Almost had me right there."

"You scum!" All Might growled, as Build swapped to GorillaMond again and started punching the two Smashes. "What is your game here!?"

"Calm down, All Might!" Blood Stalk said, waving him off. "Believe it or not, we're just looking out for Touto! And that comes with a couple sacrifices here and there, you know."

"Looking out for Touto!?" Build shouted, as he shoved the Smashes away and charged towards Blood Stalk and Meta Bolt. "Does 'looking out for Touto' mean I had to lose my memories!? Does 'looking out for Touto' mean torturing others for experiments!? Does 'looking out for Touto' mean killing innocents like Banjo's girlfriend!? Tell me!"

Build punched at the two wildly, smashing wall after wall, pipe after pipe. The Smashes regained their bearings and charged towards the teens, but were intercepted by All Might, who punched them away.

"Build, calm down!" All Might stated, as the Smash refocused their attacks onto the Symbol of Peace. "You're the only one who can extract Smash essences, remember!?"

"Tell me! Why were my memories taken!?" Build demanded, swapping to RabbitTank and swinging the Drill Crusher at Blood Stalk and Meta Bolt. They dodged swing after swing, though Meta Bolt stumbled when he stepped onto an errant pipe, giving Build the chance to knock him down and pin him to the ground. He punched Bolt's helmet right and left, screaming, "Was it you who did it, Bolt!? Stalk!? Rogue!? Answer me!", only for Meta Bolt and Blood Stalk to just laugh.

"What do we do!?" Eijiro whispered, as Ryuga breathed heavily. He was no longer screaming in pain, but he was still very much so in it.

"I don't know!" Izuku whispered back. "We don't even know what type of poison he used!"

"We should suck it out! Like in the movies!" Pony said, as she prepared to plant her mouth onto Ryuga's neck like a vampire, when she felt a little metallic claw bump her head. She looked, and saw the Cross-Z Dragon floating near her. It moved towards Ryuga's neck, planting its fangs into it. The purple marks on Ryuga's skin started to disappear, as the poison flowed into the Cross-Z Dragon. Soon, Ryuga's skin was clear of all purple blemishes, and he looked up at the four teens while the Cross-Z Dragon spat out purple inky poison onto the ground besides them. "Hey that worked, I feel great now," Ryuga answered, as the boys let go of his arms. He shifted his gaze away from them, and looked at the berserk Build, who was still punching Meta Bolt in the face, and All Might, who was keeping the Smashes away from them.

"Why are you laughing!? Give me back my memories! Give me back my past!" Build yelled, grabbing Meta Bolt by the collar, only for Blood Stalk to shoot him, knocking him away from Meta Bolt, and forcing him out of his transformation.

"Took you long enough," Meta Bolt said, popping his neck. "Had the time of my life with that, though. Who knew that the Kamen Rider would just lose control when he thinks he's got a lead on his memory?"

"Yea, pretty disappointing, if you ask me," Blood Stalk added, shaking his head. "Underneath all that armor, he's just some petulant kid."

He pointed his Transteam Gun at Sento, before pointing it at the ceiling. "Guess this hideout's done with," he stated frankly, firing several rounds at the ceiling, rubble falling everywhere. Meta Bolt shook his head, before pulling out a remote control and pressing a button. Several explosions could be heard from far away, shaking the room.

"Shame, guess we ought to tell Night Rogue that his favorite one's gone now," Meta Bolt said, as he and Blood Stalk walked past All Might and the Smashes.

"Hold on, you scoundrels!" All Might cried, as he slugged the Fan Smash away. "Where do you think you're going!?"

"Out," Blood Stalk said, taking a sit on the tacky armchair near the box. "Got places to be, experiments to perform, you know? Bolt, if you will?"

"Yea yea," Meta Bolt replied, pulling out his Transteam Gun, and with a sweep, a cloud of gas formed covering the two. "Don't bother following us, I think you have more pressing matters to attend to right now!"

The two Faust members and the tacky armchair disappeared without a trace once the cloud of gas dissipated, though that didn't stop Sento from running towards it. "Get back here!" he screamed, only to be held back by Ryuga.

"Calm down!" he exclaimed, pulling the enraged scientist back. "Don't you remember what you said earlier!? We didn't have any hope of beating either of them, but that we need to save Tatsuya and the victims! You're the Kamen Rider, you're Build! Are you gonna forget about all that!?"

Sento huffed and huffed, and looked back at the teens who went back and started freeing the victims again, while All Might was still holding off the Bamboo and Fan Smashes. He took a deep breath, and sighed, "You're right. This comes first."

Sento placed the Build Driver back onto his waist, and pulled out the Rhino and Dryer Fullbottles, shaking them and twisting the caps open before inserting them into the belt. "I'm the Kamen Rider, Build! And I'm gonna save you two!"

"Rhino! Dryer! Best Match! Are you ready?"

"Transform!"

"The Super Heating Dry Continent! RhiDryer! Yeahhh!"

"All Might!" Build said, as he connected the Drhinomic Gun to the Buildryer attachment on his left arm, and cranking the Build Driver's handle. "Super Heat!" "Ready, go! Vortex Finish!"

"Move!"

"My pleasure!" All Might said, as he leaped out of the way, and grabbed the four teens in his arms, and led the freed victims out.

"Dynamite Drying!" Build announced, as a giant stream of heated air slammed into the two Smashes. The Bamboo Smash flew back and against the wall, while Fan Smash attempted to blow the hot air back, but it was too much for it to handle, and it joined the Bamboo Smash against the wall. A blast of fire flew out of the Drhinomic Gun, engulfing the two Smashes, and when the fire went out, the two Smashes collapsed onto the ground, exhausted. Build took out two Empty Bottles and pointed them at the Smashes, extracting their essences and returning Tatsuya and the girl back to normal.

"Big Bro... you saved me again," Tatsuya groaned, as Build undid his transformation and slung Tatsuya's arm over his shoulders, while Ryuga did the same with the girl, who was drifting in and out of consciousness.

"We'll talk later, right now we need to get out of here," Sento said, as the four rushed out of the collapsing hideout, following All Might and the other victims out.

Soon, everyone was out above ground, far away from where Team Build had entered the sewers ("Good thing we did, or those Guardians might've gotten us," Izuku thought). The victims, finally freed, all ran off in different directions.

"I promise I'm never talking about this to anyone!"

"I swear I'll change for the better!"

"Janitorial duty was way better than this!"

"Thank god that's over," Eijiro said, when the entrance behind them exploded after they took no more than three steps away. All Might covered the teens with his body, taking the majority of the blow, but Sento, Tatsuya, Ryuga, and the female victim were blown away, landing hard onto the ground.

"Mr. Kiryu! Mr. Banjo! Are you alright!?" Izuku cried out, as they all rushed to their sides.

"Yea, I am..." Ryuga said, rubbing his head. He turned to look at Sento, who was still unconscious however. "Hey, Kiryu, get up... Kiryu? Oi! Kiryu! Are you alright!? Kiryu! Sento!"

"Yea, yea," Sento moaned, as he sat up, rubbing his left shoulder. "Definitely gonna feel that in the morning, though."

"Big Bro... I'm so sorry," Tatsuya whimpered, tears streaming out of his eyes. "I should've told you, I should've told you..."

"Hey, it's alright," Sento reassured. "It's not like you asked for any of this."

"No... it's about the day you disappeared," Tatsuya said, catching everyone's attention. "The day you disappeared, you had taken a job as an assistant to that scientist, Takumi Katsuragi..."

"What?" Sento asked, his eyes wide. "When!?"

"The day that... that Ryuga Banjo killed him!" Tatsuya spat out, freezing eveyrone in place. "I thought he had done you in, too, 'cuz you went missing! But if he's not the murderer, then... then...!"

"It... was me?" Sento whispered.

Silence overcame Team Build, as the flames of the burning hideout flickered and sparked.

---

ORIGINAL AO3 NOTES:
- Hey everyone, missed me? Or at least the people who've randomly came across this fanfic? So yea, I'm back-ish. I think I'll stick to this fanfic, 'cuz I feel bad for starting it and contemplating abandoning it in favor for my original work before I finished. I'm not gonna stick to a schedule for this, though, 'cuz this is definitely more a fun project than something I want to focus on entirely. I'll do my best to update often, but since I'm still working on my original works and the like, it's definitely no longer on my "main to-do" list, so you'll most likely get a "once every few months" update. I promise you though, they'll probably be very long to compensate, like this chapter. And they will happen, eventually. I also have a couple other crossover ideas I kinda wanna do, if as one-shots if only to avoid stretching myself too thin. Will they be related to "Building Up a Hero" directly? Nah, I don't think so. One's definitely not, though, since it's also a MHA crossover. What it is? You'll find out if I get to it.
- I think one of the biggest issues I had was that I was attempting to keep the fanfic to the exact same beats to both stories, and that trying to work it out was killing my motivation. From this point on, I'm gonna try to be more loose with how I write the events and whatnot, starting with this chapter. Basically it'll still follow general plot points and stuff, but I'm gonna be changing things up 'cuz trying to watch/read Build and MHA was a chore, and I'd rather only go check out how canon went if I absolutely need to get details right. Not to mention the fact that I'm literally paying more attention to the current KR seasons (first it was Zero-One, now it's Saber).
- However, if that's not necessarily satisfying to everyone's desires, I'll go ahead and do vignettes of what I wanted to do instead of just dragging this story out. Like there's a LOT more I've thought out for, but the issue is that I decided that a good idea would be to fill some of the months between the Sludge Villain incident and the Entrance Exam with some of the Build plot, and it's surprisingly taking up a lot of the writing so far. And it's very motivation-draining.
- I'll admit that I do think that I kinda inserted the MHA characters in Team Build ham-fistedly in this chapter, but for what it is, I think it went fine. Still a bit bummed that I'm relying so much more on the Build side of things, but that will change when we finally get to adapt the MHA stories.
- I included that flashback with Tatsuya and Taro 'cuz I felt like there could've been some more scenes dedicated to establishing their relationship.
- I had a lot of fun coming up with the Drhinomic Gun and RhiDryer. Since some of the forms never really got full images, I'm gonna take a couple liberties with their appearances. Or if I feel like they could have some better changes, like what I have in mind for TurtleWatch. More specifically, the Watch Halfbody.
- If you're wondering how to pronounce "Drhinomic", it's "dry-nomic", it just looks that way 'cuz it incorporates "rhino" in the middle of the word.
- That's right, folks, we got Izuku's KR name now! He's going to be KR Battler and transforms with the Beetle Fullbottle and the Battler Beetle adapter. For simplicity's sake, the Battler Beetle is just a remold of the Cross-Z Dragon, just without the tail, and the dragon head/neck is replaced with a Japanese rhinoceros beetle horn.