Gran Torino and I rushed the ugly thing, keeping it from getting too close to any civilians while doing our best to make sure property damage stayed at a minimum, a difficult task since this wasn't the USJ. I didn't have a wide open space to work with.
"Clear the civilians!" I called to Gran Torino, getting close and hitting it upwards, using using the seventh users quirk and a jump to follow it upwards, while Gran Torino got the last of the civilians out of the area.
"Move!" I yelled to the geriatric hero as I soared above, binding the Nomu in black whip and releasing float while kicking upwards with as much force as I could muster, sending both myself and the bioengineered monstrosity right into the ground.
Standing up from the crater I'd made right in the middle of the street, I looked down at the twitching Nomu, unconscious and unable to keep fighting. Good enough for me for now. Just it being weaker than the one from the USJ was a good sign.
I jumped back as flames poured into the crater, burning the waking Nomu and making sure it stayed down as I got a look at who'd done it.
"Go! There are more civilians who need help! The other heroes and I can handle these beasts attacking Hosu!" The number two hero commanded, Gran Torino nodding in agreement.
"We've got this kid, go." He told me, watching me run off as soon as he gave his permission.
I could only think about how much danger everyone was in if the other nomu were as strong as the first I'd fought before remembering that Iida was having his internship in Hosu. I had no plan, no course of action, just doing what I could to help any random person I came across.
"Tenya! How could he run off at a time like this?!" A hero yelled, looking worried up at a giant Nomu that looked like the one from the USJ. But if it was... wouldn't they have brought it with them to the USJ?
That guy who was calling for Iida was the normal hero! He was Iidas' mentor!
"Stand back and don't get in the way! We heroes will put a stop to this! Follow police instructions and get to safety!" A hero told me, putting herself between myself and the nomu.
Legally, I couldn't do shit to help, just nodding as I moved away. I hope to have hope that all the heroes here could subdue the beast.
"Right! You got this!" I called, moving back and thinking about how Iida, the super serious Iida, had run off in the middle of this mess? Hosu City... those nomu creatures... Iida... Hosu... the hero killer was operating in the area...
I turned on my heel and ran off in search of my friend, praying to anything that would listen that Iida wasn't so stupid. That he was running around trying to save everyone he could.
It took a while, almost too long, but I could hear him yelling. "You're still the criminal who hurt my brother!"
I didn't stop, ramming into the guy who was about to stab Iida.
"Bingo." I spoke, looking into the eyes of the man who'd tried to murder my friend.
"Midoriya?! But why!?" Iida asked, watching me raise my hands to fight.
"It was on TV! How sixty percent of the hero killers victims were discovered in blind corners in deserted areas! So I've been searching the back alleys near the Normal Hero Agency, close to the center of all the trouble, looking for you! Can you move?! Make for the main road and get some pros to come help us!" I told him as I stepped between him and the hero killer.
"I can't move! He cut me... likely his quirk!" He replied, and I nodded.
"So all I gotta do is not get cut?" I asked, lowering my goggles and slipping my mask up on my mouth as I noticed the hero slumped up against the wall. If it was just Iida, I could have carried him and ran, but I couldn't leave anyone to just die.
"Midoriya! Do not interfere! This has nothing to do with you!" My friend told me, but I refused to show fear or shock. Anyone with half a brain could tell that he was only here for revenge.
"What're you saying? I asked, shocked but trying not to show it.
The hero killer spoke, and his voice filled me with fear. I wasn't facing someone with some half-assed goal like the villains who attacked the JSU. This guy was a stone cold murderer.
"A friend shows up and says, "I'm here to save you." A good line for sure. But it's my duty to kill these two. And if we're forced to fight, then naturally... the weaker of us will be culled. So... what now?" He asked, and I shivered. His energy was terrifying.
"Man, I'm stupid. All the pros I passed, and I didn't think to get one to help." I put one of my arms behind my back, sending an S.O.S. text to the only other person I knew wasn't busy fighting. Now, I just had to hold off the hero killer long enough for backup to get here.
"No!! I told you to run!! This is none of your business!!" Iida screamed at me, but even if it wasn't my business, I couldn't just run.
"What's a hero supposed to say when you say crap like that? I've got some choice words for you, but that'll have to wait until later. It's like All Might said, "Giving help that's not asked for is what makes a true hero!"
The hero killer grinned at me, like he was excited to get a chance at killing a fifteen year old.
Full power, zero to one hundred, but I moved much faster than the hero killer, dodging under the blade as Iida yelled a warning, not helping at all, moving behind him and then jumping over, using float and black whip to move to his blindspot, dropping to the ground and punching him in the stomach.
Quickly, he turned, and I brought my black whips up to block his blade, rage filling me. Here was a man who wanted to kill heroes, the people who risked their lives every single fucking day, just because his ideals didn't match with societies.
"Fuck you, you stupid ass Krillin looking bitch!" I yelled as I felt feeling something sting my leg before I realized he'd baited and switched up on me, licking his dagger with my blood on it.
"Gross." I managed to get out as my body became immobile. It had to be my blood because I could move until he ingested it.
"You lack power. But you did track my movements. You exploited my blind spot and planned to bring me down. That's how you moved." Stain walked past me, moving to Iida.
"So many fools out there are nothing but talk... but you... are worth keeping alive... Unlike these others." He stood in front of Iida, looking down on him.
"Oh crap!! No, don't!!" I begged, the words taking all the effort I could muster to get out as he prepared to slaughter my friend.
Flames forced Stain to jump high out of the way, and I could see Todoroki standing at the end of the alley.
"One after another. So many interruptions today..." The serial murderer spat out, looking to the half and half hero.
"Midoriya. Learn to write... more specific directions... I was almost too late." He told me, and I could have laughed. Here we were, paralyzed by a quirk, and he was quipping?
"One after another." The hero killer laughed a bit, like he was enjoying himself.
"He paralyzes people by ingesting their blood!" I called out. even if it was just a hunch, I hoped it would keep him alive long enough that Iida or Native could move again.
"Don't worry. Just a few more minutes, and the pros will be here!" Todoroki called, sending a wave of ice out that lifted Native and I up as the ice we were on grew, sliding us behind him.
"It's just like the reports said. But you're not killing these guys today, hero killer." Todoroki stood tall and proud, protecting the three of us.
Stain threw a blade at Todoroki, who dodged it, getting a scratch on his cheek, but Stain left him no time to think about it.
"You've got some good friends... ingenium."
He told Iida, swinging another blade, which Todoroki stopped with ice.
Even with all that, Stain still glanced up at his Katana, which he'd thrown and none of us watching noticed, Todoroki glancing up just long enough that Stain moved in close, holding Todoroki by his tactical vest and trying to lick his cut before flames spewed out of his prey, sending the murderer jumping back.
Iida protested the protecting we were currently getting. "Why...? Both... of you... just stop it... I've inherited my brothers name. I have to do this. He's mine to..." But Todoroki interrupted his weird speech, my fingers regaining some movement.
"Inherited his name? That's weird..." He started, a huge thing of ice expanding upwards, slowing the killer. "Cause the Ingenium I know never made faces like that. Guess your family's also got a dark side to it."
Somewhere inside the ice, Stain critiqued Todoroki.
"Obstructing your own vision when up against an opponent faster than yourself... poor strategy indeed."
"You'd like to think so." Todoroki prepared himself, two small blades sticking into his arm.
"You're not so bad either..." Stains voice croaked from above, and I took the opportunity to move, whatever power Stain had over me broken, jumping up and grabbing the villains scarf thing and dragging his face against the nearby building.
"Midoriya!" Todoroki called to me, but I couldn't look back at him right now.
"Somehow, I can move just fine again!" I called back, getting elbowed hard in the kidney and dropping the hero killer, both of us landing our feet and turning to each other.
"So it has a time limit?" I could hear Todoroki ask, Native replying.
"No! He was the last of us to get hit, and I still can't move!"
"Get back, Midoriya!" Todoroki called, and I heeded his warning, using float to move out the way of his ice, black whip guiding me next to Todoroki.
"So he tasted our blood and paralyzed us. But I'm the first one to break out somehow." I recapped, looking back at the hero killer.
"I can think of three possible explanations. Either the effect is weaker, the more people he uses it on... or it's about how much blood he gets... or its effectiveness depends on blood type..." Todoroki theorized, making a lot of sense.
"Blood type? I'm B." Native spoke, his voice weak.
"And I'm A." Iida told us, sounding much stronger, but definitely in pain.
"Blood type..." Stain laughed, the sound of pure evil. "That's right."
"That's not likely to help us. We need to hurry and get these two out of here." I muttered, Todoroki agreeing.
"He's quick enough to react to both my fire and ice. So I'm not seeing an opening. Until the pros get here... our best option is to keep him at bay and keep dodging." My freezerburnt friend told me, and I stepped forward with a plan.
"You've got too much exposed blood. I'll draw his attention while you provide rear support!"
"Pretty risky plan... but yeah... The two of us will protect them." He told me, getting ready with me as I cleared my mind, going full power slowly, my eyes on the murderer in front of us.
"Any advice, guys?" I asked the human outlines only I could see, one of them moving next to me, her voice soothing the worry inside me, my feet moving before I could think.
"You can use Float to get above him, and the raw power of One-For-All to pummel him from afar. If he throws any knives, use -" She was interrupted as I lifted off the ground, shooting a concentrated blast of air at the killer, blocking his knives and watching them fall to the ground with a clatter.
"Use black whip to maneuver while you fight!" A mans voice called, and the black and teal tendrils began to move on their own accord, sticking to walls and helping me dodge while keeping up my assault, Todoroki using his fire and ice to keep our foe from gaining any ground.
"Stop it... I can't... take it..." Iida begged, worrying about us from below.
"If you want to stop this, then stand up!! Because I've just one thing to say to you!! Never forget who you want to be!!" Todoroki yelled at him, the two of us holding our own, but not gaining any ground either. We were pushing him to his limit, but the hero killer was doing the same to us.
"Recipro... BURST!!" I heard, and I saw Iida move, attacking Stain with a kick to the side, knocking him against a dumpster.
"Don't get distracted, Ninth." The woman's voice spoke in my ear, or maybe it was just in my head, but I guess now it didn't matter. She kept me in the fight.
"It wore off. So this guys quirk isn't so great after all." Todoroki spoke, looking relieved to have help.
"This had nothing to do with either of you. I'm so sorry." Iida told us, standing tall and looking up at Stain. "That's why I swear I won't let you two lose anymore blood here."
"It's no use pretending. A person's true nature is not so easily changed. You're a fake who prioritized his own selfish desires. A cancer on this society warped by "Heroes." Someone needs to correct the system." Stain began, giving a stupid monolog as we kept our distance.
"So you're a fundamentalist? Get with the times. Iida, don't even think about listening to his so-called reasoning." Todoroki told our taller friend.
"No. He's right. I have no right to call myself a hero... Still... I won't let him break me... because if I break... then Ingenium'sreally dead."
"You're hopeless." Stain told him, holding his sword in front of him.
"Idiots! The hero killers after me and the dude in the white armor! All three of you, forget fighting and just run!" Native begged us, but we ignored him. Leaving someone who needed us? We wouldn't. We couldn't. Besides.
"I don't think he'll let us. He went through a clear change just a moment ago. He's all fired up, too." Todoroki told him as Iida came up with a plan that included Todoroki while I kept Stain back with black whip and blast of air.
"Todoroki, can you regulate temperatures?"
"I'm not really used to my left, but why?"
"Freeze my leg for me without blocking the exhaust pipes!"
But I missed a blade, getting a knife stuck in my right arm while Iida got the same, Stain breaking through my defense and throwing another, this one piercing the concrete through his arm, keeping Iida down as Todoroki did as Iida asked, Iida pulling the sword in his arm out with his teeth, and as cool as that was I was trying to get to Stain before he stabbed Iida again, but Iida was up, aiming a kick that would hit the villain just as my fist made contact with his jaw, the both of us together, and for a split second I thought we'd won, Stain falling to the ground, missing a swipe with his sword.
"I will defeat you! This time, for sure! You, as a criminal, and me, as a hero!" Iida told him, Todoroki yelling to keep the villain on the ropes as Stain hit the ground, ice swallowing Stain and both Iida and I slipping and sliding away from the villain.
"Get up, he's still -" Todoroki yelled, looking at Stain, but he was unconscious.
"He's out cold, isn't he?" I asked, holding my right arm in my left. Didn't know if it was safe to pull out the blade.
"Let's tie him up and get out to the main road. See any sort of rope we can use?" Todoroki asked, getting a chance to flex how prepared I was, pulling a nylon rope out of my belt pouch.
"We should take all his weapons too, just in case." I mumbled, helping disarm and tie up the man who'd pushed us all so far.
Once we got him as secure as possible, walking out of the alley into the street, Todoroki took the duty of dragging the man since he was mostly uninjured, Native leaning on my left side for support.
"Please, Todoroki, all me to drag him." Iida insisted, but my half and half classmate shook his head.
"Your arms are all messed up."
"Sorry... I'm supposed to be a pro, but all I did was get in the way." Native apologized, weak from his own blood loss.
"Don't sweat it. It could happen to anyone in a one-on-one where a serial killer was stalking them in dark alleys. If I'm honest, I'm kind of excited to write down the hero killers quirk in my journal." I told him, pain pulsating in my arm.
"Even in a three-on-one fight, we just barely won because he screwed up. He probably got so mad that he forgot about the effect wearing off on Midoriya. And with Iidas' final Recipro, he couldn't react in time to Midoriyas movements." Explained Todoroki, and I wondered why. Maybe he was more shook up than he looked.
"I should have known you were involved in whatever this is." Gran Torinos voice called, somehow managing to avoid being seen until then.
"Oh, hey, Gran Torino." I waved with my free arm, sucking in air as pain shot through me. I'd managed to forget that there was a knife in my arm.
"Well, I don't know what happened here, but I'm glad to see you're alive." He told me, his walking cane tapping as more heroes came onto the scene.
As they approached, I could hear the hero who told me to seek safety earlier asking Todoroki if we had the hero killer with us, shock and awe on some of their faces.
"Details can wait a little bit. Two of us are severely injured, and I got a knife in my arm. Plus, someone needs to properly restrain Stain before he wakes up." I told them, cutting through the meaninglessness chatter, the same woman who'd asked if it was Stain taking and putting him in cuffs, someone else helping Native, easing my own burden.
"I'm sorry. You two were wounded because of me. I am so terribly sorry. I... was blind. I lost sight of everything..." Iida apologized, crying as he bowed to Todoroki and I.
"Your actions did cause us a pain in the ass, but we're your friends. I'm just sorry that, as your friend, I didn't see how much pain you were in."
"Get it together. Ingenium doesn't cry." Todoroki told him, and I thought he was being a little too hard, but Iida managed to wipe his eyes and stand.
"Get down!" I heard Gran Torino shout, just as something grabbed me, and I was lifted on the ground, a nomu taking me for some reason.
It was strong, but I could break its grip, holding onto one leg and swinging myself up on its back, my right arm on fire as I grabbed its wings, the both of us starting to fall as I used float, keeping the beasts wings from beating, it hit a dumpster in a dark alley and forcing me into letting go and protecting my own head as I floated off, before wrapping black whip around one of the beasts ankles, touching the ground as I stopped using the sevenths quirk.
"There's only one way to handle you things. If you escape, people die. You keep healing and resisting, so I'll stop you permanently." I told it quietly, pulling the knife out of my arm as black whip wrapped around the entire monster and held it in place in front of me.
Driving the blade deep in its brain, I twisted it around, waiting until it stopped healing and went limp before I stopped, pulling the blade back and looking at it.
"I've got the world to worry about, so lessening my burden now makes my job as Atlas easier." I told it while cleaning its blood off the knife, hiding it away in a pouch on my belt, walking calmly as I could feel it poking me, reminding me what I'd done.
(KingButtGobbler here! I'm gonna keep writing this story, but I also want to work on a couple of other projects, so updates will be less frequent. Anyway, have a Plus Ultra day!)