June 25th, 2298
"Seriously? You're already taking a sidekick?" Richard stared, disbelievingly, at the black-haired woman sitting across from him. She had just finished a patrol – apparently her last at the Aces High Agency – and, as such, was still dressed in her costume. Even if the woman in front of him hadn't recently risen to the number Twenty-Five spot on the Hero Charts, the bright blue bodysuit and comically large goggles on her head would have been more than enough to draw the attention of the patrons in the cafe.
But then, Harmony had never put the same emphasis on maintaining her secret identity as he had. She'd always been cagey about her family, aside from her sister, but she'd admitted to him years before that she didn't have cause to worry about their safety for a good reason, and left it at that.
At present, the black haired woman sipped her coffee with an amused look in her eyes before setting the cup down and leaning back in her chair. "Well, I can't just start my own agency alone, can I? Who is going to do all the paperwork?"
"Typically the Pro," Richard shot back, a smile forcing its way onto his face despite his concern. Harmony rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Okay, well, I spent my first three years as a sidekick doing all of Oddball's paperwork, so there is no way in hell I am doing my own. Besides, it's good practice." Her tone was indignant, but Richard recognized the gleam in her eye; the same one she'd had every time she teased him while they were growing up.
"Until she does the same to her first sidekick." Harmony barked a laugh, drawing even more attention to the pair. Richard was beginning to regret not asking for the private room they'd been forced to use in the past when both of them were in costume. As she downed the rest of her coffee (French Vanilla, extra cream and extra sugar, as always), he took a moment to see her through the eyes of one of the other patrons of the cafe. A fan rather than her significant other. Even from a very quick glance, anyone could see the confidence she held, the proud weight to her shoulders, the mischievous glint in her expression and the smile lines indented onto her face.
Richard had always admired the ease with which she operated her day to day life, taking every curveball with ease and adapting to any new situation. It had done her well in their career choice. 'Still, it's incredible that she can already strike out on her own so young. Twenty-three is still one of the youngest to appear in the Top Fifty, let alone leaving a bonafide top agency to start her own. Audacious as always. It's no shock that she's already surpassed me,' he thought, though doubted his father would have anything good to say when he heard the news. He'd never liked Harmony and she'd never liked him. Both were incredibly set in their ways, dogmatic to their beliefs for better or worse.
"That just means I'd have taught her well! Besides, graduated or not, she's still a bit on the rough side. It'll take a bit to whip her into shape," Harmony said, reaching into her messenger bag and pulling out a sheet of paper. Once she slid it across the table to him and he flipped it onto its face, the first thing Richard noticed was the girl's eyes. They were the color of whiskey (a substance he'd become intimately familiar with since he and Harmony came of age, mostly due to her proclivity for the taste) and filled with an emptiness that set off alarm bells in his mind. He looked back up at Harmony, who smiled. "I do love a good underdog story."
"Harmony, are you sure? I mean, this girl's Quirk… it is insanely dangerous," Richard said as he read the profile. He'd seen a lot of Quirks in his years, many very destructive Quirks as well, including his own, but this girl – Lydia, the sheet said her name was – had a potentially horrific power. 'How could one even use this as a Hero? The collateral damage would be ludicrous.'
"All Quirks are inherently dangerous, Richard. It's up to the individual to decide how they want to use theirs. You told me last month that your Quirk's growth will require you to wear a dampener in the future. Doesn't that speak to its destructive capabilities?" Richard pursed his lips in a frown. It was just the kind of idealistic talk he'd come to expect from his girlfriend, but there was a nagging voice in the back of his head. Noticing his discomfort, Harmony sighed. "Look, I know what I'm doing, you know. She worked with Oddball for her internships, so I know her well. She's aware of her limitations and the dangers her Quirk presents, but she's more determined than anyone I've ever seen.
"Besides, no one else sent her an offer. I expected Oddball to, but he's been forbidden from taking new sidekicks for five years after that cartel busting business with the Council. This was the only way for her to even get a chance."
"Her mental state is also a concern. One doesn't just come out of a household like that without trauma," Richard pressed after reading further during her speech, wanting to make her understand the risks. The more he read, the more unsure he became.
Of course, what he saw as a liability, his Harmony always seemed to see as an opportunity. As much as it was one of the things he loved most about her, it was also a constant source of anxiety. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when he reached the "Disciplinary Actions" part of the profile. "Good lord, Harmony! This girl got into more trouble than Derrick. Picking fights with other students, destroying school property, disrespecting staff and teachers?"
"Yeah, she's a little troublemaker, that's for sure," Harmony said with a smile. At Richard's incredulous look, she sighed and snagged the profile back. Once it was securely put back in her bag, she thought and formulated the correct words. Her voice had lost its humorous tone, and her eyes sharpened when she spoke again. Richard had seen this attitude before, usually when his girlfriend spoke out against the Hero Council. To be on the receiving end was almost frightening. "She's never had anyone to look out for her before. Because of her Quirk and her upbringing, she's always been alone. Her actions are just a scared little kid lashing out at a world that has done nothing but spurn her. Everyone deserves a chance, and I'm giving her one."
There was no room for argument in her words. Despite his misgivings, Richard felt himself smiling. 'You truly are a remarkable person, Harmony. Father is wrong about you.' Relaxing into his chair, worries abated, Richard's hand gravitated towards the lump in his pocket. His fingers brushed against the square box reverently.
Purpose of a Hero
"It's been too long, Richie." Seismos stopped dead in his tracks, his body tensing at the voice. As he turned, for the second time in just under a month, he came face to face with Vesuvius and her absurdly irritating smile. When he'd first felt the heat, he'd expected a fire to have broken out. However, the way his chest had begun to ache must have been his body realizing before his mind.
"I thought that the streets were too quiet. You must have a death wish, approaching a Pro Hero on patrol," he growled. Vesuvius came to a stop and placed her hands on her hips, tutting at his incensed tone. A quick glance around at the surrounding streets confirmed for him that no civilians were visible, nor were there any within the distance of his hearing. 'She's planned this. If she had the civilians moved away, she must be expecting a fight. I can't worry about holding back against someone as dangerous as her, so if I see any sign of an attack, I'll have to aim to kill.'
"Come now, Richie. Is that any way to talk to an old friend? Especially one that has moved heaven and earth to arrange this little meet-and-greet." Seismos scowled, his hand subtly moving towards where his HAND phone rested on his hip. As much as he loathed to admit it, Vesuvius wasn't someone he could take alone. A clash of their Quirks would cause untold collateral damage and in a battle of attrition, she would simply overwhelm him. He just hoped he could get someone of actual status to assist him; he knew Star Bright and his own agency's patrol routes intersected near here.
However, before he could press the "SOS" button on the face of the phone, something long and sharp pierced his hand. He grunted in pain as Vesuvius tutted at him. "Now, now. Why should I let you call for friends when you haven't even introduced yourself to mine?"
Wincing, Seismos glanced down at his skewered hand to see what looked like a long, thin spear that had cut through his flesh, as well as the HAND device, like they were nothing. His head jerked to the side as he heard footsteps, his line of sight following the spear until he finally saw its owner. The Villain, a middle-aged man with a wild grin and whose fingernails seemed to have formed the spear, winked at him while waving his unobstructed hand. "Didn't expect to land a sneak attack on the Seismos! Color me elated."
"Revel in it while you can, scum. That will be the only hit you land," Seismos growled back, though his furious tone didn't seem to phase the Villain. 'Where did he come from?' He glanced back at Vesuvius, who gave the newcomer an exasperated look before turning back to him with a smile. He said nothing; his whole body tensed to pounce as she studied him and laughed.
"Oh, Richard. I'm not going to fight you. I was given very clear instructions by my master to not engage and risk capture. I'm very important to his plans, you know," she said, speaking as if she were talking to a very misbehaved child. There was no more malicious playfulness in her eyes as she raised one hand and snapped her fingers. Instantly, Seismos heard nearly a dozen sets of footsteps making their way towards him. "I did, however, get a say in making the team to deal with you should you refuse our offer."
"Is this your idea of an intimidation tactic? You should know I would never be scared into accepting whatever offer you and your master have," Seismos demanded, glaring at the large group of people, all men and all sneering at him confidently 'Has she really distracted me so completely that I couldn't hear them hiding? If I'm that off, I'll have to finish this quickly,' he thought, his expression darkening. To his surprise, Vesuvius just smiled at him. In a flash, the mass murderer was gone and in her place was a shy, troubled teen with more destructive potential than a hurricane.
"Oh Richie, I already knew you would never accept our offer. I tried to tell Plague, but he was insistent we give you a chance. As you are now, you would never join our cause." The moment passed quickly and Vesuvius replaced Lydia once more. Her head tilted to the side as she held his gaze for a heartbeat. Then, the cold edge returned and she spun on her heel. "Harmony held you in such high regard, even after everything she did. I think it's time you join her, don't you?"
Seismos didn't waste a second focusing on her words, pushing them to the very back of his mind and instead jerking to the side to avoid being skewered by the first Villain's spear. Before the Villain could retract his weapon, Seismos grabbed ahold of it with his uninjured hand and snapped it, reveling in how easily the appendage snapped in his grip. The man barely appeared phased and Seismos had to dodge again as his other three fingers produced spears of their own.
Hearing movement behind him, Seismos turned just in time to throw his elbow into the nose of the far too skinny man with mottled gray skin that had snuck up on him. The Villain cried out as brown liquid flowed from his now broken nose. His cry of pain turned into one of surprise as Seismos grabbed him by the back of his neck and lifted him off his feet. There was a sickening squelching sound as four finger spears pierced his chest before Seismos tossed him aside.
The other Villains paid their fallen compatriot no mind and continued circling Seismos, who took in a deep breath, the sound muffled by his dampener. One of the only benefits of the accursed device was that it allowed him to prepare a sneak attack of his own. Once his lungs were burning at capacity, he flicked his jaw and caused the dampening rods to shift, creating tunnels for the soundwaves that followed to spread. "Howl Wave!"
The asphalt beneath his feet cracked as the soundwaves shot off in several directions, creating a set of moving walls that plowed into several of the Villains. To Seismos' surprise, one of the larger Villains, a man with massive horns and bulging muscles, charged right through his attack, seemingly unphased. The monster of a man lowered his head, but Seismos angled his body just enough to absorb the impact of the man's rush, while also not being skewered. Regardless of his positioning, the Villain managed to push him back several feet before they came to a stop and Seismos brought his knee up into the man's gut.
With no time to rest, Seismos had to leap to the side to avoid several spears that would have penetrated his chest.
Villain Name: Lancer
Quirk: Finger-Spear
His Quirk turns his fingernails into razor sharp blades capable of extending up to twenty-five meters. He can't extend his thumbnails though.
He snarled and quickly took stock of his situation. While he was still outnumbered, his attack had wiped out a few of the Villains, leaving around half of their numbers still fighting. Except for the bull-man, they seemed hesitant to approach him after he'd taken out their ally so easily. 'Suits me just fine. They'll regret fighting me at a distance once my voice shreds them to pieces,' he thought as he once again set himself to clash with the bull.
"You're as strong as they said. It's been a long time since someone was able to match my power," the Villain growled, throwing a heavy fist that Seismos just barely dodged before delivering a thunderous kick to the man's stomach. It barely phased him. "Not since that damned knight captured me and threw me in prison!" His roar was nothing compared to the one Seismos let out, surprising the man but not doing much damage to him. 'His muscle tissue must be extremely thick if he's able to shrug off my Howls. He must be their lynchpin, the one to distract and tire me out while the others throw cheap shots at me. The foolishness of weaklings never ceases to amaze me.'
"Howl Knuckler," Seismos said, his dampener adjusting to reflect the vibrations back as his own body, specifically following the specialized metal line that attached to his right shoulder, sending the vibrations down his arm and making it a blur of movement as he landed a devastating blow to the bull-man's jaw. A hit like that would have atomized any normal person's jawbone, but the Villain took the hit with a grunt and stayed standing, the only evidence of the attack being a small trickle of blood that ran from the corner of his mouth.
Villain Name: Minos
Quirk: Bull
His Quirk gives him the strength and power of a charging bull. It also gives him the quick-trigger temper!
Seismos had just a moment to admire the man's tenacity before he heard something billowing behind him.
He turned and saw what had to be the youngest of the Villains (looking just a few years older than Clara) glaring at him as a veritable inferno grew around him. The man's wiry black hair fell in greasy strings over his forehead as he frowned darkly. "They weren't lying about your Quirk, it's freakin' strong! You Heroes at the top are so damned lucky and you don't even know it! If I had that type of power and influence, maybe my life wouldn't be so shitty!" As the boy spoke, the fire surrounding him seemed to respond, growing larger and licking the nearby buildings ever more violently.
"Your life is shit because you're too weak to reach out and take what you want," Seismos goaded, hoping it would make the Villain snap and attack him. He suppressed a smile as it apparently worked, leaping out of the way of the responding blast of super hot fire that engulfed the bull-man.
"You sly fucker! Sorry Minos!"
"Not a problem, Cain. Keep up the pressure," the man, Minos, roared as he flew out of the flames, still burning, and tackled Seismos to the ground. Seismos cursed that he'd been caught off guard, bucking against the man who held him down. Minos growled, low and dangerous, as he leaned his head down and hissed, "Stay down. The sooner we kill you, the sooner our freedom is won."
Seismos replied with another Howl, this one pinpointed into the man's face. The close range caused Minos to reel back and grunt in pain as his eardrums burst. Siesmos took immediate advantage and quickly reversed their positions, though he only had time to land a single disorienting punch to the larger man's face before he heard the air being displaced behind him. As he dodged the spears, he was met by another wave of fire that made the skin beneath his metal dampener bubble.
Regardless of the pain, he reached out, grabbing the spears and pulling their owner close enough to him that he could slam his fist into the Villain's gut. He heard the third man, Cain, cry out "Lancer!" then threw the man's body aside, focusing on the final Villain. "You fucker. You must think you're really hot shit for beating up a bunch of nobodies, eh? It's allowed because you're a Hero, but when I try to stand up for and protect myself, I get thrown in jail! The unfairness pisses me off!"
"If you want sympathy, you'll get none from me," Seismos shot back, not fully understanding where the Villain was going with his rambling. Perhaps it was just the last desperate words of a man who knew he was beaten. Although, if that were the case, then why were the flames surrounding him intensifying again. Cain smiled and held out his hands.
"And on top of it all, you get paid for beating the snot out of undeserving people just trying to make their way in the world. I've never been more jealous," he snarled, motioning with his outstretched hands to manipulate the massive plume of flames surrounding him.
Villain Name: Cain
Quirk: Envy
His Quirk takes the form of his burning jealousy. The more envious he is, the hotter and more intense the flames become.
"Burn away! You sorry excuse for a Hero!" Cain roared, throwing his arms, and by extension the wall of fire, forward. Seismos set himself and breathed in deeply, the flick of his jaw opening the dividers in his dampener. Just before the inferno reached him, he bellowed, letting loose as much of his Quick as the damned dampener would allow. The result was devastating. His voice burst through the tidal wave of fire with ease and carried on, slamming into Cain and throwing him off his feet and backwards nearly ten meters. Every window on the buildings behind the Villain shattered and rained glass down on the streets below.
Seismos huffed, feeling a familiar itch starting to take form at the base of his throat. 'It's been some time since damage was done to my throat. A mixture of overuse and the smoke from that man's Quirk. The noise must have alerted someone, so help should arrive soon. I better get these idiots contained before they get here. Last thing I want is that fucking egghead showing up and berating me in that annoying voice of his. I doubt Vesuvius is still hanging around,' he scowled at the thought as he walked over to Minos, removing a pair of collapsible Quirk-sealing handcuffs from his belt. As he approached, Minos looked up at him with bleary eyes.
"Don't move. I wouldn't mind giving you a few more bruises, but I'd rather just ge–" It took a moment for Seismos to realize that the words he was saying weren't coming out of his mouth. His mouth moved, he could feel his vocal cords working, the itch in his throat being stoked, but he couldn't hear his voice. In fact, as his mind adjusted, he realized he couldn't hear anything. Not the groans of pain from his downed opponents, not the crackling of the fire that had begun spreading through the nearby buildings, not even the distant, ever-present din of New York. As he turned, he couldn't hear his footsteps and, for the first time in a long, long time, a bit of fear began to claw its way up his throat.
His eyes strained as he scanned the area, looking for the source of whatever had muted the world, doing the job his ears normally did. There was no movement, other than the already defeated Villains, and he'd already seen their Quirks in action. 'Vesuvius said she picked the team to fight me specifically. It's no stretch to think she would have planned a way to nullify my Quirk. Get it together, Richard. You're getting distracted. They trained us how to fight when sensory deprived at the Forge, focus on your remaining senses.' He let out a breath and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
However, keeping his head on a swivel wasn't enough. He'd caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned just in time for a flash of pure white blinded him. He grunted, though no sound came out, and stumbled back. By chance, his shoulder knocked into something bulky and he spun around with his fist raised. With his vision still blurred, he was able to make out the large figure of Minos just before his fist connected with the bull-man's face.
Seismos' snarl turned into a grimace as two finger spears pierced his left thigh. He stumbled as blood drained down his leg and the spears yanked themselves out. He turned to face Lancer, but almost immediately had to dive out of the way of a small (at least compared to the earlier attacks) burst of fire from his right, feeling the heat far too close to his back. Seismos sprung back to his feet and turned to glare at his three opponents, doing his best to keep all three in his line of sight as he backed up.
Just as he sucked in a breath — hoping that, while no sound came out, perhaps his Quirk would still work — he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and glanced down to see the man he'd used as a human shield earlier biting down on his flesh with disgustingly green teeth. 'Impossible, those wounds should have been fatal,' he thought as he brought up his opposite fist and slammed it into the seemingly rotting man's face. It was enough to break his hold, allowing Seismos to jam his elbow back into the man's already bent nose. He then kicked the man in the chest, throwing him onto his back.
Villain Name: Franken
Quirk: Zombie
Even as his body rots and decays, as long as Franken's brain remains in-tact he can weather any injury. If a limb ever so happens to fall off, it can easily be sewn right back on!
Seismos didn't even bother turning back around before taking off at a sprint; he knew the moment he turned his back that the attacks would come and, sure enough, he just barely managed to get out of the way of the finger-spears, fire, and a raging bull. He came to a stop just behind a large delivery truck, breathing hard but unable to hear it. 'They're too coordinated for this to not be pre-planned. They must have developed ways to communicate without being able to hear. Either that… or the Quirk only affects who the user chooses. Regardless, all Quirks have a limit. They will reach theirs before I reach mine,' he thought confidently, stepping out from behind the truck with full lungs.
He let out his most powerful Howl yet, with all four Villains in its blast radius… and nothing happened. To Seismos' complete and utter shock, not only did no sound leave his mouth, but neither did the vibrations that made up the destructive power of his Quirk. The brief moment he spent standing in a stunned daze was enough for Minos to close the distance and slam his head, and by extension, his horns, into Seismos's stomach.
Still paralyzed by his surprise, he put up no resistance as he was slammed into a solid brick building, driving the horns deeper into his guts. Minos drew back his head sharply, eliciting a soundless roar of pain, and grinned at the gore streaming down his face. Seismos scowled up at him as the other three Villains joined, forming a semi-circle around him.
He saw, through burry eyes, them using some form of sign language to communicate. In the slightly hysterical part of his mind, he remembered the lessons Harmony had made him attend in their early days as sidekicks ("What if we have to help someone who can't hear? It's our job to make them feel safe, no matter what," she'd said) and was able to pick out the most aggressive motion made by Lancer.
One hand splayed out flat, the other curled into a fist with just the index finger pointing out, curving beneath the other. The sign for "kill" he remembered.
As they loomed over him, Seismos caught a flash of magenta behind them, before the undead man collapsed, a large metal pipe sticking out of his chest. Fury rose in his chest as he stared up at his savior, standing behind the Villains with a thunderous expression on her face.
'Idiot girl.'
Purpose of a Hero
Heyo. Been a while but I'm back. Blame work being dumb and Safari Week kicking my ass with 2 phases over 23k.
…and yeah, maybe blame me for being lazy too, I guess.
Anyway, been a while since I wrote a chapter-long fight scene so I'm a bit out of practice lol. Most of my writing has been child abuse related :|
Richard/Seismos is a very interesting character for me to write, especially when I'm writing both in this one chapter (which sounds weird, but look back at the chapter and you'll understand). All of these random Villains are another reason I've been struggling to write this chapter. I'm not super creative when it comes to Quirks, but I randomly came up with these on my drive home the other day and really like them.
Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed!
Next Time on: The Purpose of a Hero:
Order Chapter 66: Swarm