Despite the trepidation, Izuku decided that it was best for everyone to relax. he had learned that leaving problems for later is wrong, but trying to solve them all at once can also be counterproductive.
So he proposed to everyone not to think about it anymore, both as a way for his mother to make peace with everything he had told her and also so that he and Ranni could settle down.
His mother offered to make breakfast and, although Izuku proposed his help, she refused, saying that it had been so long since she had made breakfast for her son that he would not take away the pleasure with his lack of culinary skills. It pained him to admit that she was right.
The food he could make was quite spartan and more dedicated to giving him advantages than being tasty.
Ranni didn't even offer. Although she wouldn't admit it, he was sure it was because she didn't have the slightest idea how to cook.
Anyway, now they both entered his room, noticing that it was exactly as he had left it... which was embarrassing because his room was covered in All Might merchandise.
"It seems like you admire him a lot," she said with a mocking smile on her face, entering the room and taking one of the many All Might figurines.
"I would say obsessed would be a fairer term," he let out a sigh. He really didn't remember his obsession being so serious. If someone walked into his room, they would have serious questions about his mental health.
"Why do you admire him so much?" Ranni asked, returning the figurine to its place.
"Well… I would rather say that I admired him. Make no mistake, I still have a certain amount of respect for him, but… you know," she nodded at his words; he didn't need to tell her more. "But in any case, it is in part because of his position as number one hero and for his acts of heroism, always with a smile, saving thousands of lives, putting thousands of criminals behind cells. "I would say…he was to me what Godfrey was to Radhan."
Ranni seemed to understand everything better when he made the comparison. She had told him some things about her late brother, how he was completely obsessed with Godfrey. He admired him as the epitome of what a warrior should be and consequently imitated him.
"Now that you mention it… if all these things had existed in the lands between, I'm sure Radhan's room would have looked the same, except with things that represent Godfrey." The idea of the gigantic Radhan having a room like his made Izuku laugh.
"It would have been funny to see. "Anyway, I think I'm going to give away a lot of things from this room." He started making a list of things he would give away.
He was about to start ordering, but was stopped by Ranni's words. "Wait, don't make changes. "I'm still coming up with a plan so that you can be declared found without causing us any problems."
He let out a sigh. "We're supposed to be relaxing."
"I can relax and plan at the same time," she said simply.
He couldn't deny it; Planning is probably second nature to Ranni.
"Well… then I better put on something more comfortable," he said, making her notice that he was still wearing his armor, which made him mentally wonder how his mother had slept so comfortably on him.
Solitude's armor doesn't seem like the most comfortable thing to sleep on. Anyway, he changed his armor for a simple cloth outfit. It was quite comfortable, although it didn't look very modern for the world they now found themselves in.
"I have a question, why is your mother so negative about our relationship?" Ranni asked.
"Oh, that… Well, like I said, I'm legally fourteen years old, and due to not having aged, I'm biologically fourteen years old. It is not an age to marry in this world. Plus, you look like an adult, so in my mother's eyes, she probably thinks you took advantage of me," he explained.
Although his mother wasn't entirely wrong in thinking that, Izuku and Ranni's relationship had been one of them taking advantage of the other. Him to obtain the mark of her corpse for Rogier and Fia and her to obtain the weapon to kill her two fingers. They had used each other to achieve their goals.
But marrying her had been completely and solely Izuku's decision, one that even Ranni herself had greeted with a degree of surprise.
"Is it just that?" Ranni said, letting out a sigh, probably thinking that this is all stupid.
He was about to tell her more when he noticed how Ranni's face began to change. Her features rejuvenated and even her height decreased slightly.
"This appearance should be more acceptable," she said, as if she didn't come from literally changing her appearance in front of him.
It's not that he didn't know she could do that, after all she had stopped being a doll when she ascended to have a body of bone and flesh, although identical in appearance to her doll body. But that didn't take away from the surprise.
"Did you just take on the appearance of a teenager?" he asked her, to which she simply nodded.
Izuku let out a small laugh. "Well, one more thing we will have to explain to my mother."
"Explain what?" When talking about the devil, they both turned towards the entrance, where they saw his mother looking at them expectantly.
But she seemed to quickly realize something when she looked towards Ranni and saw her rejuvenated appearance.
"You know what? I'm not even going to ask. Breakfast is ready." And with that, she walked away.
A call from Naomasa was all that was enough for him to leave his home in a hurry.
Nine months ago, Toshinori Yagi had made an unforgivable mistake; His doubt had caused the disappearance of an innocent young man whose vision he had previously destroyed.
He had replayed that day hundreds of times in his mind, thinking about what he could have done differently, what words he could have said to the boy instead of the harsh, cold ones he said, how he should have risked taking his muscular form and stopping the villain before tragedy struck.
Unfortunately, thinking about it wouldn't change the past.
The boy threw himself into adversity, into danger itself, moved by a pure spirit of heroism, while other heroes, including himself, stood still. His reward was to disappear without a trace.
He had joined his search without hesitation and, even now, he continued to use his contacts to search for him and patrolled throughout Japan from time to time in the hope of getting even the slightest clue to his whereabouts.
He had begun to lose hope, like many others.
But Naomasa called him. The boy's mother had received a simple message saying "SOS" from her son's phone number. The police were able to trace the location from where the message was sent and immediately mobilized for a rescue operation.
Therefore, he quickly left his home and hurried to the police station. As soon as he arrived, he was quickly guided to the meeting room and upon entering, he could see several police officers, detectives, and the police chief were in the middle of a meeting.
"Welcome, All Might," said Kenji Tsuragamae, the police chief. At the greeting, the number one hero just nodded and took a seat. "Well, as I was saying, we managed to trace where the message was sent from. Here," he said, projecting a map behind him. "According to the information obtained from the place, the only place it could be is an old bunker that was built before the Quirk era. As far as we know, it hasn't been in use for decades."
All Might couldn't help but frown. He had looked for it everywhere, from cities to forests and mountains. They had even used tracking quirks and nothing.
It is true that the place is very far from any type of civilization and the searches for that place were minimal, if not nil.
"Then it's most likely a kidnapping," the hero pronounced, making Kenji nod at it.
"It is the most likely theory, but whatever the reason for the kidnapping, we can rule out asking for a ransom. Assuming it was the boy who sent the message, they have held him hostage for nine months," the dog-man explained.
"Organ trafficking and human trafficking can also be partially ruled out," Naomasa proposed.
"Indeed. If it were organ trafficking, the boy wouldn't be alive for long. Same for human trafficking; He would have been out of the country for months. But we cannot completely rule it out either, so it is best to coordinate with the rescue services. Likewise, there is a possibility that he is not the only victim; After all, we have many missing," the police chief said.
"What will the plan be then?" All Might asked, resisting the urge to run to the place and hit everything in his path until he got the boy back.
"The first and most important thing is to secure the perimeter to prevent anyone unwanted from entering or leaving. As I said, we must contact the firefighters and ambulances; it's better to prevent than to cure. We also need negotiators," explained the police chief.
The number one hero nodded. "How long would it take to get all that?"
"Maybe a few minutes. We are against the clock right now. If the kidnappers find out that such a message was sent, there is a possibility that they will leave," Naomasa explained.
After the meeting, Toshinori couldn't help but marvel at how fast the police work. The meeting had taken a few minutes, but while it was taking place, they had already contacted the fire and ambulance services. They already had an expert hostage-holding negotiator ready. Everything happened very quickly and, in the space of an hour, they were already in place, with the perimeter secured and observing the entrance to the bunker via drones.
"According to what we know, the bunker has only one entrance and, consequently, one exit," explained Naomasa, the leader of this operation.
They had contacted other heroes to help in this situation, the most notable being Edgeshot and Recovery Girl.
He thought they were a perfect choice; Edgeshot would be great at infiltrating and is very good at stealth, and Recovery Girl can help if any of the hostages are hurt.
"I'm afraid, All Might, that you will have to stay at the rear. The bunker, although sturdy, is old. We don't know if it has been reinforced and the risks of collapse are too high to risk it," the detective explained.
Knowing that made him grit his teeth. He certainly controls enough of his strength to be able to throw punches without causing major havoc, but he still understands the reasoning. It's not just about his strength; also possible villains. If they see it, they will use greater force that may end up damaging the structure. It's something that always happens; His reputation as invincible causes every villain he faces to throw everything in an attempt to hurt him enough to escape.
"So, what's the plan?" Edge Shot asked.
"I ask you to infiltrate the place. Stay as discreet as possible. Try to find the place where the hostages are. In about ten minutes we will announce our presence. We will try to negotiate, but if that is not possible, come out of hiding and do your thing," the detective explained, drawing a nod from the ninja hero.
"All Might, in case things get out of control, we need you on standby. If you need to concentrate, we have a private van for you," Naomasa explained.
Toshinori understood why the proposal. They were basically telling him that he could relax so he could use his power when necessary. He nodded and walked away, hoping everything would go well.
Entering the bunker was easy with the use of his Quirk. Moving through it was too; There was no electricity in the place, everything was dark, and luckily he had the habit of working in the dark.
He closed his eyes; They were a useless sense in this place. Furthermore, depriving himself of one sense allowed him to sharpen the rest more, especially his ears, which turned out to be the most useful in this place.
He moved carefully between the hallways of the bunker, being careful not to trip over anyone or anything. He wasn't supposed to alert anyone, just find the hostages, wait for negotiations to begin, and if they failed, act accordingly.
His mind did not wander; He focused completely on his goal. There was no room for distractions, not even mental ones.
And what a good decision it was to do that, otherwise he might have ignored his instinct when it yelled at him to jump from his position. He could feel the air pressure change around him; he had just dodged a blow. But there was something terrifying about that blow: He didn't feel his attacker approaching.
Another blow was thrown towards him and, again, it was only his instinct that allowed him to dodge. He tried to attack, throwing his own elongated fingers towards whoever was attacking him, but he knew he hadn't touched anything.
Then, the blind dance began. Whoever he was fighting was skilled, fast, and incredibly stealthy. If it weren't for his instinct, he would have received many hits. Unfortunately, none of his attacks managed to connect either.
His combat was making him go deeper and deeper into the bunker. At some point, he could hear a noise coming from outside; the police had made their presence known. The fact that his enemy did not stop attacking made him realize that he cared little or nothing about the police.
They knew they were coming. The ninja hero grimaced at that; They probably discovered the distress message. That greatly reduces the chances of finding the boy alive.
Deciding to take a different approach, Edgeshot launched himself into the air, transforming most of his body and attacking in all directions at once, hoping to touch his adversary.
It was frustrating to feel how none of the parts of his elongated body had connected with his target. How skilled is the person he fights?
He realized that it made no sense to continue fighting, not under these conditions, so he made the decision to flee. Using his powers to shift and move at maximum speed, he ran through the corridors of the bunker, hoping to find the hostages in the darkness.
His enemy's silent ability prevented him from knowing if it was following him and, if so, how close it was to him, which was incredibly frustrating.
Although, luckily, the darkness was beginning to reduce. As he moved forward, even with his eyes closed, he could see the light filtering through his eyelids. He opened his eyes and realized that he was approaching a lighted room.
Now having some light, he looked behind him to see if his enemy was pursuing him, and what he saw made his eyes widen.
The female figure was jumping from wall to wall with a speed and skill that matched his own with the use of his Quirk. She was covered in black armor tight to her body and wore a hood that completely obscured her face, preventing him from seeing her features.
"An assassin against a ninja," Edgeshot thought.
It would be an interesting confrontation, but it wasn't the time for that. Propelling himself at speeds close to sound, he managed to cut the last meters that separated him from that illuminated room.
When he arrived, he could see it: two young people, tied to beds with intravenous infusions putting a blue fluid into their bodies. I had found them.
But, the assassin had reached him.
"Surrender," Edgeshot uttered as a warning. The woman, who had taken one last leap to get close to him, rose from her crouched position, making the ninja notice that she was tall; He barely reached the middle of her trunk.
She didn't say anything, she just looked at him, or he supposed she looked at him; he couldn't even see her eyes behind that hood.
He was about to speak once more, but he couldn't do it. Like a blur, the woman disappeared to reappear in front of him, her hand dangerously heading towards his face in search of grabbing him.
He barely managed to avoid the attack, using his Quirk to flatten himself against the ground. He quickly launched an attack towards her, but the woman dodged his attack in such a graceful manner that it almost seemed like she was dancing.
It seems that the darkness also acted as a limitation for her. In their previous fight, she wasn't that fast, but right now he couldn't give one hundred percent either, not with civilians present in the same room as them.
She attacked again, this time throwing a kick. He dodged her by once again using his Quirk, but this time he reached around the woman's leg and advanced towards her, looking to hit her while she was in the middle of an attack. He stretched his fingers straight towards her face, but once again, the woman demonstrated incredible skill and enviable flexibility, because in the middle of her kick she threw her head back with her entire body.
Flipping backwards, as soon as her feet touched the ground, she lunged forward again with her palm-shaped hand and fingers pointing at him. Considering the claws on her gauntlets, it was not a harmless attack.
But the ninja dodged again. The situation quickly became routine: he attacked, she attacked, he dodged, she dodged. Neither he could land a blow, nor could she; He couldn't immobilize her, nor she him.
"I have met my match," Edgeshot whispered. He was quite proud of his speed and skill; He wasn't the ninja hero for nothing. Agile and fast, a master of movement and fighting; few equaled him in skill, except this woman.
He would have liked to rejoice in such an incredible fight, but he had several things that were worrying him. The first thing, obviously, were the hostages who were still in danger receiving that blue liquid. The second thing was that the woman had not shown any signs of using any Quirk.
Her Quirk may be that ability to move without making noise, but he is also capable of that and it is not something he does thanks to his Quirk. He can only hope for two things: either that the woman's Quirk is not suitable for fighting, or that her Quirk is one of augmentation and she is already using it.
Otherwise... things can get complicated.
Something bad is also that they hadn't been fighting for long, maybe a minute at most. It wasn't enough time for the police to start worrying; he wouldn't be receiving reinforcements for at least four minutes.
Maybe if he used his maximum capabilities he could get a good hit, propelling his body to speeds faster than sound. But it is dangerous to break the sound barrier in a bunker; the sonic boom could end up injuring the hostages' eardrums.
What a complicated situation he is in. Look, he just found his equal in skill in a place like this.
The combat continued in a deadly dance between two masters of discretion and speed. Anyone who attended their showdown would undoubtedly be impressed. If they are good enough at observing, they would even notice how Edgeshot was trying to guide the assassin away from the hostages in search of being able to better use his maximum abilities without putting the two young at risk, but they would also notice how the assassin would not allow him to move away and would not he let herself be guided.
Luckily, the sound of salvation came in the form of a loud crash and the sound of falling metal. Four minutes passed.
The woman paused for a single millisecond. He wanted to take advantage of that distraction, but before he reached her, she...faded. She simply disappeared without a trace.
He stopped, put himself on guard, and looked around, expecting a surprise attack.
An attack that never came.
All Might appeared quickly. "Don't worry, I'm here!" shouted the number one hero making his entrance.
But he just looked confused at Edgeshot, who was on guard and looking at him alertly.
"It seems... it seems like she's gone." The ninja sighed, lowered his guard and immediately fell to his knees on the ground. All Might quickly approached him trying to help him, but he raised a hand stopping him.
"I'm fine... just tired. The hostages are up ahead, they're hooked up to some kind of IV. I'll catch up with you shortly." All Might nodded, heading towards where he had pointed.
He had had longer battles, he had been active for many more hours at a time than just five minutes, but he had never felt as exhausted as he did now. Although the fatigue was not physical but mental. That woman, skilled enough to put herself on equal footing with him, even if he was holding back for not hurting civilians... she used her Quirk; had disappeared.
Maybe a teleportation Quirk, or maybe an invisibility Quirk... No, it had to be a teleportation Quirk. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense why she didn't use it in their fight; that would have created an undeniable opening. The same trick may not have worked twice, but in a fight like the one they had, the slightest advantage would have changed the balance enormously.
"Who was that woman?" the ninja wondered.
third chapter done, man this took some effort, especially with the fight at the end, I'm not that good at writing fights even less so when this one is supposed to have some mystery.
Thank you again for reading this story and leaving your reviews. I'm going to answer some questions I saw.
Firem78910: Answering that would be a spoiler, so I can only tell you, keep watching.
DavenTheNomad: If you manage to recognize who is fighting Edgeshot in this chapter you will have a good idea of what Izuku is like in comparison to All Might. As for the build and set of it, we will see later.
yeoldhouse: Yes friend, so you already know what to expect, although this chapter makes it clear by the armor with which Izuku arrived.
Well that was all, thanks again for reading this story.