Obama chuckled, "You mean the Chaos Emeralds?"
Shouta had been prepared for one of the crazier nights in his career. They were supposed to be tracking a prisoner who had escaped from Hoshi. The Commission had admitted to Nezu, off the books naturally, that Fuzui had escaped, but they'd refused to reveal how.
Red flag, number one.
What was more aggravating was that one of his students figured that out before Shouta himself. Hell, Midoriya had probably gotten it at about the same time as Nezu considering the early time he'd gone to the office.
It would have been impressive enough if it were any of his students, but of course, it just had to be Midoriya.
A boy who had an Emitter Quirk that Shouta could not cancel. He'd tried many times since Midoriya's fight with Bakugou. It was pretty easy to find moments to use Erasure on Midoriya in all honesty. Whether it was during an obstacle race or rescue exercise of sorts, Shouta had had plenty of opportunity to use it on the boy. And he did, too. A lot.
Midoriya's Quirk would just not turn off.
It was...bizarre.
And yet it also wasn't all that unique. Well, sort of...
Midoriya wasn't the first who had given him this headache. No, that person was already at the meeting point for Shouta's target for tonight. There had been rumblings of some sort of trade for a substance that the whole world seemed to be chasing after.
Nezu had mentioned some metal of some sort but hadn't been all too clear on its origins nor its effects. Whether Nezu hid that information out of amusement or necessity or even ignorance, none of the UA staff knew. No matter how much they all pressed, nothing was forthcoming.
Red flag, number two.
In fact, only the shadiest of Shouta and Midnight's sources had any information on it. That even the slightest sliver of this metal was ridiculously expensive and that many, many groups were actively collecting, spreading and using this stuff.
Worryingly, even heroes were said to be after it too. Both local and international— if the more outlandish rumours were to be believed.
In the past, that would have been easy to dismiss. Nowadays, Shouta wasn't sure what to believe. With the sheer amount of heroes in Japan and the world, it was irrational to think that they were all righteous. However, without any solid evidence that was an uphill battle filled with strife.
It was maybe the easy choice to make, but Shouta would only believe what his eyes showed him. He knew enough of the Commission to know that even if there was shady stuff going on, they would have buried it long ago and quickly— much like with Fuzui's escape.
In many ways, this capture mission was to do exactly that— he hated being a Commission lapdog, but he hated criminals being free even more. That was why he was on this team. Well, that and because Fuzui was a bit of a mirror to Shouta.
Fuzui had a visual paralysis Quirk and this team was built to fight that. Ingenium and Iniuria could both probably move faster than Fuzui could activate his Quirk. Cementoss didn't need to move to use his Quirk and Miruko, annoying as she tended to be, was Miruko. She only really needed one slight opening and it'd be all over for Fuzui.
And of course, no one knew better how to fight someone with a visual Quirk than Shouta.
The plan had been simple mainly due to their lack of intel. The Commission had narrowed Fuzui's location to the area surrounding a water park. Miruko's hearing would help them narrow things down further and they'd be able to intercept Fuzui mid-transaction.
Shouta didn't really care that part of the plan called for Miruko to carry him. She wouldn't really be affected by his Quirk and so that cancelled all of that out. Not even Miruko's teasing about it got to him.
Not that much, anyway.
Their stakeout proved to be fruitful as Miruko tracked down their targets and rushed in after a quick radio call to the others.
They'd found a crystal giant as well as a group of other criminals, but the most notable figure was him.
Kage.
Shouta was reasonably sure that Kage wasn't on the side of the criminals, but even so, he was now rather notorious. The sheer skill and power he had outstripped all other vigilantes Shouta had ever even seen or heard of. He must have had some sort of training, surely. Or his Quirk was truly that ridiculous that a rank amateur could use it to great effect.
The majority of vigilantes, who may have had good intentions, didn't have good training. Quite the opposite, actually. Eventually, they would slip up and be caught by a hero or worse, be at the mercy of a villain. Only the very best vigilantes, those Aizawa wished were licensed heroes, could survive what Kage had gone through so far.
Though, maybe not with the same amount of ease.
Kage had dodged Miruko's strike with a liquid finesse that one wouldn't associate with someone unlicensed or untrained. That being said, Miruko's lunge for him was also not even close to her going all out. Otherwise, there'd have been fissures and cracks spreading for quite some distance.
And some blood and viscera too.
That being said, Kage seemed to have some new tricks up his sleeve. Kage must have felt backed into a corner as he was sandwiched between two parties with a healthy interest in taking him out. And so, like a wounded animal, Kage lashed out.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!"
Shouta lost count of the red flags.
Shouta forced his eyes to stay open as the water park was lit up. He watched an airborne Kage conjure a titanic ball of fire and shoot it at everyone below him. Yet again, Erasure had no effect whatsoever on Kage. The fireball shone as it soared towards them and the heat singed every cell in Shouta's body. Tears leaked out his eyes, but he ignored the urge to blink as he took everything in. It was as if the sun had come out and through the flames, Shouta could see the inaction on pretty much all the non-heroes' faces.
The heroes, much like Shouta, were all already undertaking their own protective measures— shocked by this new development but not rooted to the spot. Miruko flipped back away from danger and returned to their position above the criminals. As for the criminals themselves, well they weren't able to do much beyond cover their eyes and recoil away from the fireball.
He dove away from the blast radius, but in the end, it was all for nought. A deluge of water smashed into the fireball and snuffed it out after a surprisingly long struggle. What kind of fire was that hard to put out? Steam was pushed everywhere from the clash of elements. Shouta cursed as he was unsighted by the billowing clouds, finally giving in to the urge to blink.
Who had— ah.
Backdraft...who had somehow gotten here even before they did... Bigger issues, though. What in the world was that? How on earth did Kage pull that off? Superspeed, he could understand. Some sort of energy that could cut his battlescarf? Shocking, but perhaps just a different application of the same speed Quirk— a massive stretch, but still.
On top of the reported illusions and teleportation, he now had to add pyrokinesis? And all of those were things that Shouta's Quirk could not cancel— much like Midoriya's...
...A relative of some sort? Unlikely. Or just a type of Quirk he had never encountered before? Was there some mass evolution going on beneath everyone's nose? Was Kage a foreign agent trying to infiltrate Japan?
Nothing was truly off the table which wasn't good.
The steam finally cleared to reveal that Kage's attack, scary and powerful as it had been, had been nullified by Backdraft's equally powerful counter. The titanic wave of water had made Backdraft look like a bizarro Endeavor.
That, too, raised many questions.
Having worked with both Backdraft and Endeavor, Shouta was confident in saying that they were nowhere near being in the same league. If he were to mince his words, there was a reason the Endeavor agency hadn't hired Backdraft on a permanent basis. That was despite the sheer amount of fires they often had to put out— literally and figuratively.
And yet Backdraft had just shown more power than he ever had before. Even Endeavor would have to exercise a lot of caution against any villain with that sort of power over water. Had Backdraft been training? No. Shouta instinctively knew that wasn't the case. Backdraft had never shown the same level of drive as heroes like Miruko, Crust and other heroes.
And even if he had developed since they had last spoken, the results wouldn't be so drastic.
A Quirk enhancer then? It was the only logical explanation. Even the most talented of heroes didn't make the amount of progress that Backdraft supposedly had in such a short time. Yet, why would Backdraft go so far against Kage? Trigger was as rare as it was expensive.
Why would an average hero like Backdraft waste it on a vigilante like Kage?
Furthermore, how would Backdraft even know to be here? Was it a coincidence or had Backdraft known ahead of time? There had to be something that Shouta wasn't seeing...and he hated that.
At the very least, the timing of it all didn't hurt. Not when Kage pulled off an attack very similar to one by the number two hero himself. Surely, Endeavor would know if he had a relative of some sort running around launching literal hellfire at heroes, right?
In any case, Backdraft's timely and inexplicable appearance was working out for now. Having occasionally sparred with Burnin' and others with fire Quirks, he knew all too well just how awful they were to deal with. This far exceeded anything he'd seen from any fire user not named Endeavor, though.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shouta could see that his team were all unharmed and were on guard for anything else. Ingenium, Iniuira and Miruko had simply sped away whilst Cementoss had made a wall to protect himself— and at the same time, Cementoss had fully encased the crystal giant that Shouta had momentarily lost sight of.
Thankfully, the villain didn't have the sheer force required to escape Cementoss' hasty prison. Cementoss had ensured the man couldn't escape and Shouta's slip-up with Erasure thankfully went unpunished.
"This won't hold me!" screamed the man from his concrete coffin, "You'll have to take care of the others soon enough, Eraser! What'll you do then?"
Unfortunately, he was right. That man was probably able to fire his diamonds as projectiles. It went without saying that depending on their speed that didn't bode well for the heroes. The Iida pair would be fine and probably Cementoss. Shouta was pretty sure Miruko would be quite alright too.
As for himself, Shouta was definitely the most vulnerable to those attacks.
Well, no point delaying the inevitable.
"Cementoss, bury him," Shouta commanded and his colleague got the memo immediately just as Shouta felt his eyes begin to prickle.
A sea of concrete swarmed and warped around the crystal man. It took only a few seconds before he was encased in a titanic sphere of liquid concrete. The sphere of concrete melded into the floor before hardening leaving only a few holes—none wider than an inch across.
"Concrete Stitching: Punjabi."
Cementoss' whispered command confirmed the success of his technique. The crystal giant was now trapped underground in super-hard concrete. The small holes ensured he could still breathe despite the lack of air down there.
To think, Mic had laughed off Cementoss' degrees in engineering and architecture as unnecessary.
Slowly, the billowing clouds of steam began to dissipate finally. It was quite unnatural how long the steam had lingered in the air for. And there was just a whisper of something off about it that he couldn't quite pinpoint.
That aside, it was quite fortuitous no one had used the steam to rush the heroes. The villains had probably been paralysed by the show of power by Kage then again by Backdraft. Plus, only a select few were comfortable fighting with their vision compromised.
It was actually smarter of them to wait it out.
"I hear...clinking," Miruko said as her ears twitched, "Got any ideas, Eraser?"
Through the slithers of steam, Shouta could see the beginnings of movement as the criminals began to get active— the steam fading enough to give them all a reasonable view of everything.
"Not sure yet," said Shouta as he blinked and let his eyes rest for a bit, "We need to—"
"We got projectiles incoming!" Miruko warned cutting Shouta's speculation short.
Shouta trailed off as a series of canisters landed amongst the heroes. A warning built in his chest as some concrete rose up to snuff out the danger. The best he could do was cover his face out of instinct. The canisters lit up with a bright blue that quickly shifted to red just as concrete began to wash over them.
"Oh shi—"
A series of concussive waves sent Shouta flying through the air. Shards of concrete tore at his clothes and skin as his body flailed through the air. With a violent twist, he was able to right himself, but his body still slammed into the metal railing of the balcony.
His head cracked against one of the metallic bars and immediately he felt a warm liquid begin to drip down his head. Shouta's vision spun and he blinked quickly before he rose to his feet once more— the last remaining steam clouds blown away by those explosives. His vision swam before he settled his eyes on Kage who was down on the fake beach below and standing over what looked like some weapons?
Were those what these criminals were after?
Kage had weapons lying in front of him, but instead of picking them up, he was looking up at...Shouta? Why would he stop? If those weapons were the fabled contraband everyone was after then he wouldn't have gotten a better chance to escape with a few than now.
A bolt of pain flashed through Shouta's head as he was forced to lean on the railings. Damnit, he was concussed, wasn't he? Of all the—
"Huh," said the blonde criminal down below as he tossed a few canisters up and down, "I thought that would have put you down for sure. Guess you're tougher than I thought, hero. Anyway, let's try that again!"
Aizawa was preparing to move when a flash of pink froze him in place. He tried to activate his Quirk and it flickered on before a skull-rending headache made him shut it off. He was barely able to shift his eyes to the source of the pink light.
"Eraserhead and Miruko? All for me? I feel flattered that the Commission sees me as worthy of you two," Fuzui said as he walked up next to the blonde criminal, "I guess the other three aren't small fry either."
From the lack of engine sounds, Shouta could only assume that all heroes had been trapped by Fuzui's paralysis Quirk. This was bad. Again, Aizawa tried to activate Erasure, but this time it felt as if two spikes were driven into his head through his ears.
Okay, definitely a concussion. His Quirk already strained his eyes enough so it bugging out on him was a clear sign he was concussed. Well, that and the fact that the world would not stop spinning. In truth, if it weren't for Fuzui's Quirk, Shouta would probably have fallen a knee by now.
Wait, but Backdraft was free. He was down on the beach along with Kage and the three other villains. Why hadn't he—
"I'm getting bored," the blonde criminal said as he raised his handful of concussive canisters, "Let me show you a neat trick."
Without any clear movement from the villain, the canisters flew from his hands and through the air at a blistering speed. Was that his Quirk? The explosives were already primed and Shouta grimaced as he prepared for the worst. It never came, though, as for just a second the air seemed to shimmer before exploding with life.
"Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!"
A squall of wind blew all the canisters away and at the same time, Fuzui's paralysis was released. The canisters exploded safely away from them— the concussive waves ultimately hurting no one. Shouta fell onto the railing as the only thing keeping him standing dissipated. Through his blurred vision, Shouta was able to spot Kage lowering his hands from his mouth before giving Shouta a thumbs up.
"How are you?" Miruko asked as she landed next to him and assessed him, "You're concussed, aren't you? Tch, of course. Ingenium, get Eraser somewhere safe. Thankfully, Cementoss is still keeping that other guy wrapped away or we'd be in a mess. There's no way Eraser can use his Quirk in this state. Iniuria, you're with me!"
Miruko's disgust paled to Shouta's frustration with himself. He had allowed himself to get distracted and now he was essentially dead weight for the rest of this fight. On one hand, how was he to know the villains had gotten a hold of such powerful weaponry?
On the other hand, that was just him making excuses. Villains had tricks of their own, sometimes.
"Roger that, Miruko," Ingenium said before turning to Iniuiria, "Stay safe, uncle. This seems a bit more serious than we were expecting."
Shouta wanted someone to go after Kage, but a grunt was all he could muster as moving his head hurt like all hell.
"Children these days," Iniuria scoffed, "Let's not forget who taught you to run, Tensei. Worry more about keeping yourself and Eraser safe."
The ignoring of codenames would have annoyed Shouta more if his brain wasn't still sloshing around in his head.
"Alright, uncle," Ingenium said through a laugh as he assessed Shouta, "Your concussion isn't too bad. I think some pills will be able to quell it in the meantime."
Shouta was lifted by Ingenium and he watched as Miruko and Iniuria prepared to charge over the railing and towards the criminals. It may have been the concussion, but Shouta was on edge. More than usual, mind you.
They had only been caught by those paralysis beams due to being unsighted by the steam from Kage and Backdraft's clash. Well, that and also the after-effects of the concussive devices. Tricks like that worked best when they were unexpected, but now they knew to look for it.
So, what was causing this paranoia he felt?
"That's Fuzui, isn't it? The escaped prisoner with a visual paralysis Quirk?" Miruko said with a vicious grin, "I'm gonna kick him so hard for that cheap trick he pulled. Now that I saw those beams, I won't be hit by them again!"
Fuzui, for his part, seemed to panic as he took a large step back. Miruko noticed this and her grin grew even wider. Her legs bulged as she crouched down on the railing. The exhaust pipes sticking out of Iniuria's back whirred away and began to glow a bright orange as he too prepared to engage the enemy.
"Planning on running away, you bastard?" Miruko said before she sprung off the railing hard enough to crumple it entirely, "Like I'd let that happen!"
Iniuria shot off after Miruko and they were both closing in on Kage and the villains. The villains were actually a fair distance away from Kage. If anything, Kage was closer to the heroes than the villains. The inverse was true for Backdraft who was standing in front of the shark villain and neither of them looked even slightly concerned by that.
In fact, Fuzui and the grenade user also seemed rather calm by their proximity to Backdraft. In all honesty… they seemed calm about the situation as a whole. What did they have up their sleeve? Why would they be so calm near someone who was on the opposite side?
Shouta's suspicions were proven right as Fuzui's fearful expression was wiped away.
"Predictable!" Fuzui yelled loud enough for all to hear, "Did you really think I'm the same as before? Let me show you how wrong you are."
Fuzui's rear leg bulged ripping apart the seams of his pants. On instinct, Shouta once again tried to activate Erasure, but his body failed him. Unlike him, Miruko and Iniuria noticed Fuzui's intentions a touch too late as their momentum carried them forward. It would prove to be costly as Fuzui's leg sliced through the air with a shout from the escaped prisoner.
"Quirk: Air Kick!"
Once again, a powerful squall of wind was conjured to life, but this time instead of saving the heroes it was looking to crush them. The blast of wind was so strong it threw Miruko and Iniuria in different directions and it even tore and destroyed the balcony Shouta and his team were on. Kage's body disappeared under the storm of dust and sand that swept over his position as he was caught in the crossfire.
Okay, so Kage certainly wasn't on the villains side.
"Recipro Leap!"
Thanks to his arms' turbos, Ingenium flew high into the air and he was able to avoid the worst of Fuzui's devastating attack. The entire balcony had been devastated and down there somewhere, Shouta knew, were the other three members of his team.
"Eraser, call me crazy, but his Quirk was Paralysing Gaze, wasn't it?" Ingenium said and he sounded as puzzled as Shouta was.
"Yeah."
"Well, then."
"Yeah."
Shouta ignored an abrupt bout of dizziness as they descended to the ground. He was unable to find his team members and that worried Shouta. As he'd feared, Cementoss—who had been well over thirty metres away from the others—had seemingly vanished. It was likely he'd been buried underneath the collapsed balcony.
However, a puff of smoke drew his attention and he watched as an unscathed Kage emerged from it. Shouta had no idea how the man had managed to dodge the attack. He had definitely been an intended target—as well as the closest— but somehow he was perfectly fine.
Kage drew out two rods as he settled into a loose stance. A niggling sense of familiarity struck Shouta, but he couldn't quite place it. The weapons which had all been in one spot were now spread all across the beach. However, Kage didn't seem to care about that as he pointed his weapon at Fuzui. The lull in action made it easy to hear what was being said by all parties.
"How did you do that?" Kage asked with confusion in his rumbly, distorted voice, "Your Quirk isn't anything like that at all."
Fuzui, for his part, seemed utterly relaxed.
"Well, yes and no," Fuzui said glibly as he stared Kage down, "One of my Quirks isn't like that, but the other definitely is and I have you to thank for that! If I'd never met you outside that orange witch's gym then I'd have never become who I am now."
"Eraser, did he just say 'one of my Quirks'?"
Shouta chose not to answer Ingenium's question this time. It was put on the back burner as Kage was about to spring into action. Unfortunately, Fuzui noticed that too and before Kage could even move, Fuzui snapped his fingers. Immediately an immense wave of water swarmed the beach, but most of the water seemed to be directed and focused on Kage.
"What the hell is this? Fuzui has another Quirk too?" Ingenium muttered as his engines flared to life.
No. This definitely wasn't Fuzui. Damnit. Shouta should have known better. His vision began to darken as the adrenaline that had kept him awake began to flow away. Even so, he fought the urge just long enough to hopefully give Ingenium a hint and also confirm his suspicions.
"N-No," Shouta said just barely able to speak as he pointed his hand, "Look."
The wave of water flowed and crashed in an all too familiar way. The deluge of water swept Kage away as it moved with a life of its own away from the wave pool and deeper into the water park.
When the water cleared, not only was Kage gone, but so too was Backdraft and the shark villain.
"What the hell is Backdraft doing?" Ingenium muttered under his breath, "This night just keeps getting better and better..."
"Now that that's done," Fuzui said as he turned towards Ingenium and Shouta, "I guess I need to take care of you two next."
To make things worse, from somewhere behind him, Shouta could hear the shattering of crystals. The sounds got louder and louder until finally, the crystal giant was free from his earthen prison and he settled his gaze on Shouta and Ingenium.
Okay. Enough was enough.
"Let me down. Now," Shouta said and once Ingenium obliged he reached into his pocket before taking a pill. This was gonna burn a hole in his liver but screw it. He swallowed the pill and he felt the haze on his mind fade as his heart began to thrum and beat at a high speed.
Commission-grade concussion relief pills. Not available for public consumption, and for good reason too.
He activated Erasure and despite the soul-churning headache, he was now able to keep it active. This stopped the crystal giant in his tracks as he realised his Quirk wasn't responding once more. Shouta and Ingenium went back to back as they considered their circumstances.
"This pill won't last long and eventually, I'll be less helpful than a first year," Shouta said just loud enough for Ingenium to hear, "We need to end this before things get that bad."
"So you can fight after all, Eraser?" A voice said with some strain in it, "That's what I like to hear!"
The exclamation was punctuated by a roar of effort as Miruko lifted a large amount of debris off her using only her legs. Several massive rocks were cast aside by Miruko as she jumped to her feet. Bruises and cuts peppered her body and one of her ears was bent at an unnatural angle, but she was still raring for a fight.
"I guess you're not that weak," Miruko said as she leapt over to them.
Feeling much more encouraged by Miruko's appearance, Shouta ignored her backhanded comment as he loosened his battle scarf.
"We need to go after Kage and the others so let's make quick work of this."
After all, concussed or not, Shouta knew he had seen enough to warrant a very serious chat with Backdraft.
However, that depended on what state he was in after Kage dealt with him.
Okay, this was getting ridiculous.
Izuku had been trapped in a wave of water for about twenty seconds and despite being thrown around a lot with the rushing water, he was able to see quite well. Plus, he still had his chakra rods so things could have gone worse, in all honestly.
What were those lights he kept seeing? Had some floodlights been turned on in the park? Odd, but that didn't matter. What mattered was escaping from this mess. Yet again, his mask was proving its worth as it prevented any water from flowing into his mouth or nose.
Actually...hold on. Could he actually breathe underwater with it on? Now, that was amazing. If he ever actually got out of this mess, he'd be sure to investigate that further. It was really peculiar and amazing how his mask was able to do so many—
The surge of water carrying him suddenly broke up and slowed to a crawl as he approached the end of the slide. Izuku grasped and fumbled for some purchase, but it was for nought as Izuku spilled over the edge.
Backdraft must have used the water slides to separate Izuku from the heroes and also used them to gather up the weapons. Thankfully, Izuku had put his sealing scroll in the waistband of his pants and it hadn't been shaken free thanks to the chakra keeping it in place.
He figured it would survive getting a little wet.
Izuku suppressed the bolt of panic falling from so high induced as he gathered some chakra. It was no moment too soon as the shark criminal appeared above him and fell towards him at some speed. At the speeds they were both going, it was clear that the shark villain would reach Izuku before Izuku himself reached the ground. He must have gotten some sort of boost versus Izuku just tumbling over the edge.
Judging by the all too familiar glow to his skin, the Shark clearly had some sort of chakra stimulant running through him. Izuku tensed up as the Shark neared him— a glance behind the man and Izuku saw that the villain was being pushed forward by a spout of water. Backdraft's doing, Izuku had to assume.
"Die!" The Shark ever so politely requested before opening his mouth revealing rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth— his intentions extremely clear.
Yeah, no.
There was a streak of black before one of Izuku's chakra rods slammed into the bottom of Shark Guy's jaw. There was a meaty crunch as the villain's jaw slammed shut before shards of bloody teeth fell from his mouth. Still in midair, Izuku activated the Fatebreaker and delivered a crunching stomp that pushed the two of them apart.
"Fuka! Stop messing around!" Backdraft hollered from somewhere.
Izuku landed and rolled along the water surface's using just enough chakra to keep him only somewhat buoyant. Thankfully, this bastardisation of Water Walking disrupted the surface tension enough to minimise his impact. He'd seen enough videos of what water could do to people when falling from high enough.
Unlike those poor souls, Izuku just felt a few aches and pains across his body which was preferable to death in his book. Fuka was less lucky though and the Shark Villain crashed into the pool with a crunching splash. A large spout of water was kicked up, but Izuku was on guard immediately as he saw Fuka swim into the murky depths of the large pool they were in.
With a quick surge of chakra, Izuku was now standing on the water's surface. The water itself felt odd somehow. Izuku knelt and touched it with his fingers and immediately felt an odd sensation rush through his chakra system…
The water had traces of chakra in it. Quite a lot of it, honestly. This was probably due to whatever Quirk Enhancer Backdraft was using. Was someone out there able to extract chakra out of the Konoha artefacts? That was...bad.
Really, really bad.
This had to be the reason the artefacts were so sought after.
Izuku scanned the area around him as he tried to regain his bearings. The massive pool was surrounded by a series of water slides that all poured water into the pool. Izuku guessed that one of those slides had been the one to deliver him to this...well, killzone for lack of a better word.
Backdraft was definitely at a major advantage in these surroundings.
Izuku looked around for Backdraft but was unable to see him as more and more water rained down from above. Instead of settling into the pool below, most of the falling water lay suspended in the air. It was as if someone had hit pause on a rainy day. Except these rain droplets were essentially caging Izuku in and keeping him confined to the pool.
With Backdraft's Quirk, those droplets could reform into something considerably more dangerous. Plus, the chakra weapons were likely with Backdraft who was somewhere nearby so Izuku had even more incentive to hang around the pool— dangerous as that may be.
If push came to shove, he could use a water jutsu to protect himself. His earth jutsu clearly needed work so land was a no-go.
Even in such a precarious situation, Izuku could see that the Quirk Enhancer was the only reason Backdraft was capable of crafting such a trap. Chakra or no, Quirk Enhancers were still mostly the same.
The baseline Quirk was empowered, but its mechanics remained the same mostly. If Kendou took an enhancer, for example, she wouldn't suddenly grow wings or spit fire. There were still immutable rules and laws that applied to Quirks.
In other words, knowing Backdraft's Quirk would help him out here. Now, if only he had a collection of books on the Quirks of every hero he had ever seen or even just heard of. That would be really helpful about now...
In his mind's eye, Izuku could already see notebook number 7 open up and flip over to the correct page.
"Backdraft. Quirk: Water Shaping," Izuku announced to the water park as he scanned the area, "This Quirk allows the user to shape any water they touch into any shape they wish. This Quirk only works with water that the user is touching and also doesn't allow the user to produce any water."
Rushing water was his answer even though he knew Backdraft had heard him over the din.
He began to mold chakra as he sensed a lurch in the chakra flow of the water around him. Had he always been this sensitive to chakra? Or was it the fact that it was someone else's chakra that made him feel off? It reminded him of when he'd seen Momo's sister using those kunai. Did he just have this sixth sense for chakra now?
Not the worst skill to have.
"Due to this, the user is limited by always having to carry water or having to fight near aquatic areas," Izuku continued to speak into the darkness, "This explains why Backdraft chose to be a rescue hero specialising in fire rescue rather than direct combat."
"No wonder you had to inject that Miraculum drug," Izuku said as the Fatebreaker blasted into life, "What a shame. I used to be such a fan of your work, too. Even after you began to, uh, tumble in the rankings...and you fell quick. Really, really quick."
"Damn you!"
Found him.
That seemed to be the final straw for Backdraft as a section of the suspended water turned to streaks that shot at Izuku. Izuku flipped and dashed out of the way as he ran across the water's surface. Water bullets, huh? So Backdraft didn't have to touch the water to manipulate it anymore.
Wow, that was a serious buff.
The water bullets themself weren't terribly quick, relative to Izuku anyway, but judging by the impact splashes, they definitely packed a serious punch. That didn't matter though, as Izuku strained his eyes to look for Backdraft and eventually, he succeeded. The man's shout had come from somewhere to his left and Izuku found him perched high up in the support structure of one of the water slides.
However, that moment of victory was gone in a flash as a lasso of water wrapped around his ankles. Immediately, Izuku was tripped up and as he fell to the water's surface, he felt his stomach sink as he saw rows of teeth staring back at him.
Damnit, he'd forgotten about Fuka. Sloppy.
Izuku jabbed his left rod into Fuka's mouth as the man bit down. Instead of shattering the rod though, it was Fuka who was on the receiving end of some pain. His rows of teeth— some of which Izuku had knocked loose earlier— crumpled and cracked around the rod. The rod dug into the soft flesh of Fuka's mouth before the man let go of it.
Fuka screamed as shards of bones and drops of blood sprayed through the air. Fuka recoiled away into the murky depths as he aborted his attack. Unfortunately, that's where the good news ended as Izuku was dragged underneath the surface by the lasso around his feet. It happened so quickly that Izuku wasn't even able to brace himself.
The water was cold and seemed to press in on Izuku from all directions. Izuku nearly used the Body Flicker to escape but stopped as he realised the water was acting as some sort of prison. It took monumental effort to swing his arms around and slowly at that.
Things went from bad to worse as he was struck with a blow by Fuka. Thankfully, Fuka had gone for a swipe with his arm. His teeth and jaw were too mangled to go for a bite. Damnit. He'd gotten ahead of himself and was now at a severe disadvantage.
Again and again and again he was struck by Fuka as Izuku struggled to think of a plan. His mask allowed him to breathe underwater, but Fuka was hitting Izuku so hard that he kept knocking the air out of his lungs. He had to do something!
Taijutsu? No, it was far too hard to move effectively
A genjutsu? Considering he had no one to practice them on, Izuku didn't know for sure he could perform one at all.
Okay, so ninjutsu it was. He hoped his work over the last few weeks would pay off. His fire and wind jutsu seemed to be working well, but his earth jutsu was not. In any case, all three were off the table now considering his location. That left him with just two options.
Another swipe from Fuka crashed into him and this one was so strong, that Izuku's mask slipped off his face and with it went the water breathing. A quick grab allowed him to replace it on his face. Enough planning. He had to act or he'd drown.
Izuku closed his eyes as he let his chakra rods float away from him. He could feel Fuka swim towards him. The chakra empowering Fuka a beacon to Izuku's sixth sense. Still though, Izuku was calm.
This would work.
Hanran tried to calm his heart as he tracked Fuka's underwater scrap with Kage. The Kage. Vigilante extraordinaire. He clicked his tongue. Everyone loved a caped crusader. All mysterious and dropping in before disappearing.
The civilians went crazy for him— and even some heroes too, much to his disgust. Kage didn't have to deal with the administration and accountability of being a hero. The constant fight to stay relevant and having all your mistakes scrutinised? The regulations and rules that Hanran had to wrestle with when all he wanted to do was his job?
He knew nothing.
...Although the bastard was right, he had to concede. Hanran had slipped more than just a few places in the rankings recently. In fact, if that trend continued, Hanran was sure he'd soon have joined many others in the hell of being unranked. It wouldn't have been just him, though. Death Arms and Native were on the same trajectory.
One small mistake. One little mess up and suddenly he lost all his support. Sponsors pulling their cash, sidekicks going off on their own. The Commission, oh don't even get him started on The Commission. Their stipends dried up so quickly, Hanran was all over the place looking to make up the difference.
He was accustomed to a cushier lifestyle and they'd have to pry that from his cold, dead corpse.
So, of course, he had begun to play dirty. It was his way of evening the odds. He still did his job. There was just some fudging here and there. He'd been put onto this underground contact guy, Gidan.
From him, Hanran was pulled into the first of his less-than-legal activities. If someone wanted to fake an insurance claim, they'd start the fire and Backdraft would take a bit of time before putting it out. Perhaps the one upside of being a rescue hero was the attached legitimacy in such matters.
You'd think someone whose word held such weight would be compensated fairly, but apparently not!
In any case, no one was ever hurt— well not too badly— let alone those putrid insurance companies and it made him some amazing money. Gidan took his cut, but that was just the cost of doing business. What Hanran hadn't expected at all was his eventual resurgence in the rankings.
So of course, he had to share the cheat codes when pressed by his closest buddies who were also beginning to circle the drain.
He connected Native and Death Arms to Gidan and all three of their careers began to improve. They all did less-than-legal things to pair with their hero work and honestly, Backdraft couldn't say he regretted it.
It wasn't his fault that he was born with a weak Quirk. Not everyone had ridiculous Quirks like All Might or Miruko or Endeavor— who by the way never answered Hanran's calls about a tryout. Hell, Mt Lady was years younger than him and her Quirk made her eclipse all his accomplishments in just a few months.
He remembered watching her at some backwater Sports Festival a few years back for crying out loud! Even then she could only grow up to 10 metres and for barely a few minutes at a time, but he knew right then and there that she was stronger than he'd ever be. That was a real kick in the teeth.
He knew for a fact that it bugged Death Arms that Mt Lady outclassed him strength-wise. Let alone an old geezer like All Might— when the hell was he gonna retire anyway? Wasn't he like 80?
So, when Gidan had told Hanran, Native and Death Arms about a heist with massive upside, they were already in. They almost backed out when they heard it was gonna be so close to their general stomping grounds, but Gidan swore there was something worth the risk on the cards.
A game-changer, Gidan had called it and Gidan really wasn't one for exaggeration.
That was what had convinced them.
It was a robbery on Iwatani Facility— a foolish endeavour for those insane enough to try. However, that was where Hanran and the others came in. They called in a few favours with some sidekicks and heroes and were able to get a general overview of the schedule. From there, planning around the heroes they knew to be there was light work.
Worryingly, it was even easier to find villains who could handle those heroes and sidekicks— how many strong villains were out there just flying under the radar? A few heroes would likely be killed, but that honestly wasn't as big a hangup for them. If they were strong enough, they'd find a way to survive.
Same as usual.
All that Native and Death Arms had had to do was take care of the fodder. They'd purposely let the more dangerous villains get a clean getaway whilst pounding the fodder to the ground— realistically Dabi and Muscular would've gotten away either way. In any case, Dabi would "coincidentally" set fire to Miruko's club and Backdraft would put it out. Thus, explaining why Backdraft never joined the fray despite his agency being so close to Iwatani.
One of those villains had a fire Quirk that Backdraft could've done decently well against. Well, he wouldn't have suffered the same fate as the others that had fought Dabi anyway. Probably. After that first encounter with Kage who duked it out with Dabi, Hanran wasn't sure his water could do anything to stop Dabi.
There was never any useful footage from the heist and they would've gotten away with it too if things hadn't gone to shit. First, they got way less of a cut of the Miraculum than promised—villains weren't reliable go figure— but also that damn Kage knew of their involvement.
How Kage had known about the deal at the mall was more than a little worrying. Hanran wasn't quite sure if he could trust Death Arms and Native anymore so they were all currently striking it out on their own. He could've used either of them right now though because quite honestly Fuka wasn't cutting it.
Kage was kicking Fuka's ass who now deliberately stayed underwater after Kage damn near broke his jaw. God, what a coward. Though, he was just a desperate chump indebted to Hanran. It was a bit unrealistic to expect him to throw down with the likes of Kage or the Shie Hassaikai.
Let alone all the other heroes that were somewhere in this water park. Miruko probably couldn't smell or hear them thanks to all the water slides. Fuka was good for something after all, he had to concede. This was definitely the best place for Backdraft to fight, but in the end, Gidan had made the Iwatani heist worth their while.
The tradeoff for losing the promised amount of Miraculum was ironically Miraculum just in its finished form. This Miraculum Trigger was unbelievable. No angry haze or risk of permanent damage like ordinary Trigger.
Finally, he knew what it was like to be an elite hero with amazing power. What it was like to be Ryukyu or Endeavor. Dare he say, what it was like to be All Might? He wasn't even worried about all the other heroes. Even if they suspected him of something, he could just kill them. Well, only if they pushed him to that.
In a place like this with Miraculum in his veins? They'd be begging for mercy sooner rather than later. Even that arrogant bitch Miruko. She'd totally blanked him at the Top 10 announcement years back and he'd never forgiven her. So hearing her nightclub was chosen to get burnt down was like a dream come true. And if he did such a bad job of putting out those fires that it'd be out of commission for months to come then so be it.
Hanran's heart began to race and he swore he could feel every blood vessel in his body bulge. Seeing that Miruko was a part of the sting team was great news as she'd been a fixture in the top 10 for a few years now. As someone who'd never cracked the top 200, it was irritating as all hell.
But that didn't matter because he had enough power to kill her and all those other heroes if it came to it. Hanran should have felt ecstasy. He should have felt on top of the world. He should have been laughing so hard his eyes teared up. His heart should've been full of joy and wonder and exhilaration.
And yet. Doubt. Dread. Uncertainty.
There was a seed of unease that had been growing and it was all due to Kage.
Something was wrong. That man, no, that thing was scary for lack of a better word.
Hanran couldn't honestly call Kage a human. No, it was something else entirely.
Super strength. Super Speed. Pyrokinesis. Water Walking. And that was just from the past maybe twenty minutes?
Hanran had felt true fear when Kage had made way for him. He hadn't realised how scared he was until he managed to drag Kage into the water below where Fuka was lying in wait. An overwhelming sense of relief had flooded his system— surely the Shark Man would win an underwater fight, right?
Hanran had a good sense of what was going on— his Quirk had been souped up to the point where he had rather good control of all the water in the vicinity.
He could tell that Fuka kept striking Kage over and over and over. With the speed Fuka was going, it should have done something. Even if Fuka, the idiot, was using non-lethal force.
And yet, Kage didn't seem to panic. He barely seemed to register the hits at all, really. It was now long past the point where Kage would need some air. And yet, Kage simply stayed at one spot below the water's surface. The pool itself was well over fifteen metres deep— and yet Kage didn't sink. He just stayed in one spot even after Fuka smashed into him over and over.
Hanran would have thought Kage was dead, but he detected enough movement to know that Kage was definitely alive. In fact, if Fuka didn't know better, it almost seemed like Kage was... breathing underwater?
Just his luck.
Fuka circled back for one more attack and there was a pulse of something. He didn't see or hear it— he maybe felt it but even that didn't sound right— all he knew was it was definitely not his mind playing tricks on him. Through his Quirk, he could tell that Kage was bringing his hands together— just as he processed that, it happened again. A rush of something not-normal.
The hair on his neck rose and goosebumps grew across Hanran's skin as the anomaly swept across him— stronger than the last time. A primal feeling bloomed deep within and Hanran felt his body act even as his mind raced to catch up with his body.
The pool bubbled.
There was the smell of cut grass, now, cloying and suffocating. And maybe just a touch more chemical-like? It was hard to say. However, the smell made the worry within Hanran spike. He made a bubble of water that scooped up all the Miraculum weapons that Kage had tried to steal earlier. He had stashed them down below— hidden in the support framework of the slide he was standing on.
He had to get away from here. Right now. Hell, he should have never been here in the first place.
He hopped off the struts and his feet settled in the air on a large disc of water. Hanran hadn't even realised he was turning to leave until he was blinded by a shockingly bright light. His body froze and the disc he was on nearly dissipated.
The flash was followed by the crackle and roar of lightning.
.
The embers of bravado within Hanran were snuffed out. Replaced with a squall of terror and panic. Had he really thought this drug made him like Endeavor or All Might? It was laughable. He had crested a mountain only to stumble upon another that towered far up above him. The hill he was on only a resting spot on the way to the actual zenith.
The surge of electricity had done some serious damage to Hanran's surroundings. The whir of the slides shut down as they shut them down. The lights illuminating the pool all flickered off. Smoke and steam flowed through the air as the smell of grass was replaced by the sickening scent of burnt out wires.
Hanran didn't even realise he was stock still until some of the lights somehow came back to life— causing him to flinch ever so slightly. The lights flitted between on and off, the abrupt thunderstorm having irreparably damaged the circuitry.
That was inconsequential, however as standing on the surface of the pool was Kage, holding Fuka aloft with one hand.
It was hard to tell with the failing lighting, but Fuka seemed to be covered in major burns. His skin was marred by sprawling lines that had no discernable origin or conclusion point. Mercifully, Fuka was unconscious, but his body would twitch and spasm now and then as Kage kept a tight grip on the tatters of Fuka's clothes.
With just one hand, Kage threw Fuka clear across the pool. Hanran expected Fuka to bounce and roll across the ground or even just sink back into the pool. However, instead of that happening, Fuka floated through the air as if held by an invisible hand.
Perhaps it was the peril of the situation that made Hanran realise it wasn't a divine act, but rather Kage's doing. The hand he'd used to throw Fuka was now twitching and making precise movements. Fuka, still twitching and spasming, was placed with a surprising gentleness— at odds with the brutality of Kage's earlier attack.
Not that it changed anything.
With a flourish of Hanran's hand, the surrounding water surged to life before converging on Kage— still standing on the surface of the pool down below. Hanran twisted his hands and a whirlpool centred on the vigilante roared to life.
"E-escape that, you freak," Hanran choked out as fear and exertion and exhilaration made him sweat every pore on his body.
Hanran had used the vast majority of the water not just in the pool, but also the water from the surrounding slides. Their pumps somehow still in working condition. The result was a veritable flood that swept Kage and even Fuka from view— which was a little unfortunate. Despite the cataclysmic attacks, Hanran just knew it wasn't enough, but also that there wasn't much more he could actually do.
Or rather, running was probably the smartest thing to do.
Hanran turned his back on Kage as a new plan popped into his head. Adjusting his stance on his floating disc, he directed it towards where he suspected the other heroes were. He had to help the villains dispatch as many of the heroes as possible. Undoubtedly, his hero career was about to go up in smoke if it hadn't already, so escape was the best choice. Honestly, it was his only choice.
He didn't want to risk a one-way trip to Tartarus, after all.
He could only hope the heroes were too busy with the villains to put out an alert about his treachery.
The sound of roaring engines drew his attention and Hanran accelerated in that direction. Stopping high up in the air, Hanran was beset with the sight of the heroes and villains squaring off against each other. The area they had progressed to was a garden that was mostly meant for picnicking— a murky river bisected the garden as it gleamed under the moonlight.
Ingenium and Cementoss were nowhere to be seen. The heroes could have used the Hero Network to request backup so it was likely that at least one of Ingenium and Cementoss were out of commission and the other was getting them to safety.
Iniuria seemed to be wary of Setsuno— the blonde man from the Shie Hassaikai. Using his Quirk, Setsuno kept trying to throw all sorts of weapons towards the older of the Iida heroes but to no effect. Concussive grenades, bolas, spears and all manner of throwable weapons zoomed towards Iniuria with barely any effort on Setsuno's part. Even those that missed their mark eventually rose and chased after Iniuria once again. The weapons chased after Iniuria as if they were heat-seeking missiles, but none were able to connect.
The only weapon Setsuno didn't launch was the gleaming blade of light— its harsh yellow giving Setsuno's face an eerie gleam. That was Kage's sword and Hanran was glad that it had been taken from him immediately. Kage definitely would have used it on Hanran, after all. It was quite unlike anything he'd seen. It was hard to describe, but the blade looked as if it had been crafted from a lightning bolt.
Lightning plus water equalled Tartarus. Backdraft was reasonably sure that math checked out.
He wanted to call it a support item, but that felt like an understatement somehow. It gave off the same sensation as the Miraculum weapons, but hundreds of times more intense. It also felt vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite figure out why...In any case, even Iniuria probably sensed the danger from it too which was why he kept his distance.
Heroes were taught to treat unfamiliar weapons as if they could kill you in one shot— and this one certainly could, Hanran could just tell. What was it? An import? In any case, it didn't matter since he was on Setsuno's side.
Iniuria, unfortunately for him, was not on Setsuno's side.
The spoilers jutting out of Iniuria's back spewed blue fire as he avoided the projectiles with noticeable effort. Iniuria could definitely close Setsuno down if he wanted to. The only thing keeping Setsuno safe was Iniuria's wariness over what that weapon could do. The other weapons Setsuno had already used weren't half-bad after all.
Though, if Setsuno could use it he would've definitely done so by now. Or maybe Iniuria feared he'd target the other heroes like before? In any case, Iniuria seemed content to run the clock down— likely aware that the Trigger had to expire at some point. Iniuria probably figured that would finally spur Setsuno into using the lightning sword— if he even could.
Hanran had to figure a way out for the villains. The Hassaikai especially were crucial for his escape plan. He'd heard rumblings of what their boss's Quirk was. Apparently, the man had shown up to an underground fight club near Shibuya and had killed, or rather, he mutilated all that had faced him.
The fight club roamed around and disappeared mostly without a trace. Well, except for the corpses that were found. A few months back in Shibuya Station, there had been corpses found that had arms jutting out their mouth, people who'd quite literally been turned inside out and other such horrors.
He didn't exactly want to meet the man responsible for that, but it was necessary. Hanran had to ensure that the Hassaikai members got away safely. Hopefully, the goodwill from that and also some Miraculum would convince the man to change Hanran's appearance. Then it'd be easy to make for some backwater town in the countryside and settle there.
It was a certainty that Hanran would receive his burn notice very soon. There was no chance any of the heroes below trusted him as things were. If they weren't occupied with juiced-up villains then Hanran would've been their primary target.
He was done with the hero life. The sooner he got out of dodge, the better. But to do that the heroes had to be taken down.
Miruko was fighting against Hojo— now free from the prison that Cementoss had encased him in. Miruko clearly did not need help, as she evaded a hail of diamonds. She was littered with cuts all over her body, but they were mostly superficial. Despite the boost from the Miraculum Trigger, Hojo was still outgunned by the number five hero.
Case in point, a frustrated Hojo fired another spray of projectiles— high in number, but low in accuracy as Miruko slalomed through with no damage. Hojo was beginning to feel the burn and was caught off-guard as Miruko cleared over twenty metres in just a few seconds— running headlong through a diamond storm with no apparent concern for her well-being.
Hojo aimed his hands towards her, but it was too little too late. A flurry of kicks smashed into Hojo's chest driving him backwards with each blow. His diamond armour held up surprisingly well, but he couldn't even get a counter as crushing kicks from Miruko rained down on him. Finally, there was a loud crystalline crack as Miruko delivered a crushing axe kick to his shoulder.
"Luna Arc!" Miruko's voice pierced through the shatters as Hojo dropped to his knees his arm now limp by his side.
Hojo tried again raising his arm towards Miruko, but it was futile. Miruko delivered a rising kick that floored Hojo as once again shatters of crystal rung through the air. It was almost over. Hojo was sent a good twenty metres away from Miruko and was stumbling as he rose to his feet, blood dripping from his mouth.
"Your armour won't stop me— I'm not like Edgeshot" Miruko smirked as she rose to her full height, "You're still soft and squishy on the inside and your armour's been letting up little by little. You ever read a book? Cars are supposed to crumple, rockhead! It helps dissipate the force."
"Shut. Up!"
Miruko's oddly scientific taunt seemed to give Hojo a second wind as he fired a blitz of attacks— a snaking wall of diamonds traversed across the ground and supported by a rain of crystal bullets. Hojo was now desperate and pulling on the last dregs of Trigger within him.
Miruko was the sole target of Hojo's rage and even as she was swallowed up by the attack and the ensuing dust cloud— she never not lost her smile. If anything, her smile grew into a depraved grin. Miruko jumped and weaved through the onslaught of attacks.
To his credit, Hojo did manage to catch Miruko off guard. Wickedly sharp lances sprung out from the rushing diamond wall just as Miruko left the ground. Miruko was now the target of crystal bullets, but also crystal lances— all looking to skewer her.
To Miruko's credit, she was able to minimise the damage from the crystal lances as she destroyed them with another Luna Arc. However, this left her leg exposed to the crystal bullets. A sharp grunt escaped Miruko as her outstretched leg was riddled with Hojo's earlier attack.
"Damnit!" Miruko cursed as she crumbled to the floor somehow still landing on her feet. Though, she was heavily favouring her unharmed leg.
It was time.
Hanran lowered his water disc as he descended towards the lazy river at breakneck speed. His hand sunk into the river and immediately the water surged to life. The others had all noticed him by now which wasn't ideal. His Quirk flickered off for a touch as Eraserhead went after him, but that didn't last— Fuzui re-engaging Eraser and giving Hanran his Quirk back.
A blast of water slammed into Miruko and she was swept up into the air. A quick circular motion with his arms and the rushing burst of water chased its own tail before flying off in a random direction— Miruko still trapped within.
"Backdraft?! What is the meaning of this?!"
Iniuria tried to rush him— furious at Hanran's betrayal, but for all his speed, he made the wrong choice. In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Hanran whose stomach dropped. It was then that Setsuno decided to finally use Kage's weapon. Yellow electricity arced over Iniuria as a scream escaped his throat. The smell of cut grass and burning flesh flooded Hanran's nose as Iniuria locked up.
It was for perhaps just five seconds, but that was enough. Iniuria collapsed backwards— revealing Setsuno the lightning blade pointed at Iniuria from a distance of over twenty metres. Iniuria was still alive, somehow, but his body would seize now and then. Very reminiscent of Fuka earlier.
Yeah, lightning was scary.
Only Eraserhead was left to be dealt with and as Hanran descended to the ground, Fuzui disengaged from his scrap with Eraserhead. Hojo and Setsuno also sensed the numerical advantage and they began to encircle Eraserhead on Hanran 's command.
"His eyes allow him to cancel out your Quirk and his hair is the tell," Hanran said as he stepped off his water disc and let the Miraculum weapons clatter to the floor, "Stay in a circle around him and at least one of us will always have our Quirk active."
"I knew you were working with these idiots," Eraserhead huffed and puffed as he glared at Hanran the red of his eyes beaming out from his goggles, "You're a disgrace to heroes."
"I guess I am," Hanran glibly responded, "Anyway, time to die. But first, call off any support using the global channel on your radio. Or we'll hunt and kill all your partners too. I bet Ingenium and Cementoss can't be too far away nor in great shape—we know Directive 2 says to evacuate heroes unable to battle. Call backup off and we'll let everyone run free and just take what we came for."
Eraserhead clicked his tongue, but he put his radio on speaker and—
"Watchtower, Eraserhead currently working on Operation 1124WP checking in. This mission is complete and the request for backup is abandoned. I repeat. The request is now abandoned."
"THIS IS WATCHTOWER 54 CHECKING IN, REQUEST HEARD AND RECEIVED. PLEASE CONFIRM FOR BACKUP TO BE CANCELLED. BACKUP IS ALREADY EN ROUTE."
"Affirm," Eraserhead said as his hair fell down and the red faded from his eyes.
"UNDERSTOOD, BACKUP CANCELLATION RECEIVED AND ACCEPTED. BACKUP SQUAD DELTA, PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT THE REQUEST FOR BACKUP IS CANCELLED. REPEATING. THIS IS NOW ABANDONED."
The radio fizzled off and Hanran could detect the bloodlust from his associates rising, "For what it's worth, Eraserhead. You were actually not that bad."
The water behind Hanran surged to life and at the same time, Eraserhead's hair spiked up as he wrapped Hojo up in his battlescarf—a ploy that failed as Setsuno used his Quirk to steal the battlescarf away.
"Haven't you been paying attention? On MIraculum, I can steal and gift anything I want!" Setsuno chuckled as he tossed aside Eraserhead's battlescarf, "I'll make this slow. Unlike Backdraft, I fucking hate you."
Setsuno took one step forward with Kage's sword—the very same that put Iniuria down for the count— but that one step was all he could take. All of a sudden, Fuzui simply pitched forward and collapsed—asleep. Setsuno turned towards Fuzui, but before Hanran could get a word out, he began to scream— his words sending an icy chill down Hanran's spine.
"It's All Might! He's here, we gotta go fast!" Setsuno screamed as he tried to run somewhere anywhere, but his body remained stock still even as his muscles flexed and burst with exertion. The sword he was holding dropped to the ground sinking all the way to the hilt with an unnerving ease.
Had the backup arrived? Oh no, this was bad. Really bad especially if All Might—
Wood sprouted and burst from the ground wrapping Hanran up in a powerful bind. What the hell? Was Kamui Woods already here or—
"Magen: Jubaku Satsu (Evil Illusion: Tree Capture Death)!"
Hanran's thought slowed to a complete crawl as he heard a chilling voice— bursting with a glacial anger.
In a puff of smoke, Eraserhead was gone and in his place was Kage whose mask was nowhere to be seen. The man had a very nondescript face— in fact it was laughable just how unremarkable his face was. However, just for a second, he could have sworn Kage's eyes had turned a striking crimson and his hair had lengthened into, well, luscious(?) waves. But that illusion was gone in a flash.
Hojo was the only one not currently unconscious, captured or completely freaking out. Setsuno was now begging and pleading to "All MIght" who if Hanran was honest was suspiciously quiet. In fact, that went for Kamui Woods too. What in the hell was going on?
Hojo charged at Kage who barely flinched and tried to deliver a punch. Idiot. The punch cracked Setsuno's armour, but this time he wasn't sent flying. A quick glance down showed he had shot spikes put his feet to plant him in. In a similar way, the diamond on his chest quickly trapped Kage's hand and crept up all the way to his forearm.
The next move was obvious and for the first time that night, Kage moved with what Hanran could only call panic. It all happened very quickly.
The tree binding him faded out of view.
Setsuno's screaming stopped.
Hojo laughed as blood began to drip down from where he intended to shred Kage's arm and Kage—
His free arm reared back and with a..palm strike to his trapped arm, the built-up crystals shattered. From behind Kage, Setsuno threw a kunai at the vigilante's head. Without looking back, Kage slapped it out of the air.
Perhaps it was then that Hanran knew it was over for him.
Kage swayed between a punch from Hojo and his voice was barely a whisper, but still audible to all those around him. He took a few steps back from Hojo and lowered himself into a tight yet peculiar stance. His injured arm was pointed towards the floor, the other did the exact opposite angled towards the ground.
This time Hanran could outright see the change in Kage's appearance. What had been black eyes and then red was now different. Very different. They were now surrounded by bulging, straining, veins and even though blood was leaking from Kage's ears and nose and mouth nothing could take Hanran's focus away from his eyes. Those gleaming white eyes.
"Hakke…"
Kage's body coiled with tension as a burst of blue energy shone from his hands.
"Rokujūyon Shō(Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!"
Hojo never stood a chance.
Author Notes:
First of all, thank you for all the love and support you guys have shown this story. Literally hundreds of comments and thousands of follows, faves and all that stuff. It really makes me happy that so many people find this story worth their time of day and that keeps pushing me to continue writing and sharing it with you all!
I can't believe it's been two years since I updated last. A lot has happened, but we're here finally. Sorry to everyone who I kinda left on read for all this time, I really wish I'd been more active.
Admittedly, I wanted to conclude the water park arc with this chapter which messed me up as the word count kept creeping up. It's also very tough and weird to write again after so long so please bear with me. It was always going to feel weird, but in the end we got there.
I had probably about 40 to 80% of this written out for honestly maybe six or seven months, but we're finally here.
Anyway, the next chapter is the conclusion of this water park arc and then directly into the next one.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that and please wish me luck for writing more chapters and also with grad school!
I also almost made "THIS IS NOW ABANDONED!" the chapter title, but that seems horrifically cruel after this long lmaoo.