And we've finally reached 40 chapters to this amazing story! I'm gonna be explaining more about how things will be done with future chapters once we're fully caught up, so please bear with me. I see how so many people love this story, and I want to express that I won't abandon it up until the very end.

Anyways, the battle against both Stain and Jamilov has ended, but the chaos in Hosu has yet to fully cease. So how will things all end? Well, let's find out.

"HRAH!" Jaguar roared as he slashed mightily at the black Nomu on the fire-ridden street, sending it sliding back along the ground. Its left arm was completely taken off, while cuts riddled its hip. However, it regenerated rather instantaneously. "Ergh..." the I.U.A. Hero growled in frustration.

'So it can regenerate lost limbs like the one we heard was at the USJ...' he noted inwardly with narrowed eyes.

"Mister Jaguar!" Manual called out as he came over alongside some other heroes and sidekicks, getting his attention, "We've evacuated the entire area, but we still need to deal with that airborne monster before it goes after someone!" he told him.

"We can't do anything until this one's taken care of..." Jaguar pointed out, referring to the black Nomu, "Until then, keep track of its movements and make sure it-!" He stopped talking as he looked up and gasped to see the figure of Mirko coming down and landing a powerful axe kick onto the winged Nomu, sending it crashing down onto the street. She glanced down and smirked.

"That you, old cat?!" she yelled out in question to the I.U.A. Hero, who blinked in surprise before cracking a small grin.

"You're as rowdy as ever, Usagiyama..." he muttered out, rushing forward, "Handle that one for us!" he requested, "We'll finish things with this one!" he vowed, slashing mightily across the black Nomu's chest as it failed to block.

"The name's Mirko, ya old cat!" the Rabbit Hero shouted back, landing onto the ground. She attempted to strike the brown Nomu with another kick, but it flew back to evade it. "You better hurry before I steal your thunder and take 'em both out!" she insisted, leaping after her fleeing foe.

'Not much has changed with her, it seems...' Jaguar deduced through his thoughts before slashing at his opponent again, this time aiming for its exposed brain. It managed to block the attack, having crossed its arms over its face beforehand. The I.U.A. Hero blinked in surprise. 'It's quite protective of its head...' he noted to himself, 'Perhaps that's it weakness!' he concluded inwardly, rushing forward again.

The Nomu blocked his slashes from both claws again, followed by grabbing his wrists as he widened his eyes in surprise. He found himself pulled forward, about to be met with a powerful headbutt from the monster. All of a sudden though, it was struck by Endeavor's enflamed right fist, much to everyone's surprise as it was blown back.

"Todoroki...!" Jaguar gasped out.

"Is everyone alright?" the Flame Hero immediately asked.

"Yes, we're fine for now," Jaguar answered, "It's just these two we've had to deal with..." he pointed out.

"I see..." Enji responded, narrowing his eyes underneath his mask of fire, "Once we finish these ones here, we need to head to Ekou Street," he instructed, "I don't know what the exact situation is, but it's urgent we get there as soon as we're done," he informed seriously.

"Very well," Jaguar replied as he readied his claws, "Aim for its head," he advised of the Flame Hero, "I'll create an opening for you," he promised.

"Much obliged," Endeavor remarked back before they both rushed forward. The Nomu attempted to tackle them, but was stopped as Jaguar pierced his claws into its torso, keeping it at bay. That allowed for Enji to come in and grab it by the sides of its head. A plume of fire erupted, turning an incinerating blue before the Nomu fell over, with what remained of its head smoking.

"Well done, Todoroki," the I.U.A. Hero complimented as he stood up, "Seems your firepower's improved greatly..." he pointed out.

"I... suppose it has..." the Flame Hero responded, glancing down in thought. Jaguar blinked in surprise.

'Todoroki isn't normally so mellow, especially when it comes to things like teamwork...' he noted inwardly, 'What's happened to you?' he wondered through his thoughts, narrowing his eyes.

"Hey, get back here!" Mirko's voice yelled out, snapping him away from his thoughts as he and Enji looked out to see the winged Nomu flying off, "Dammit...!" the Rabbit Hero cursed, leaping after it.

"That's not good..." Jaguar realized.

"Everyone finish up here and head to Ekou Street!" Enji advised of the other heroes, "We'll meet you there!" he promised before hurrying off. The I.U.A. Hero was quick to follow him. All the while, Drakken watched from afar with crossed arms and a disappointed expression on his face.

"Shigaraki really dropped the damn ball on this one..." he muttered out.

"Ugh..." a voice groaned out.

"Oh, he's coming to," Izuku noted, getting everyone's attention as they looked to see the tied-up villain in front of them. He was a thin, unkempt man with greasy shoulder-length dark hair and large glasses with an 'X' design over them. He has a large nose with blackheads on it, and large lips. He wore a dark turtleneck with a set of jeans, a pair of white socks and a pair of simple sneakers.

"Huh?" he uttered, blinking underneath his glasses as he saw that he was tied up.

"Why the heck does he look so different now?" Rebecca wondered aloud, "He's... a nerd..." she noted with a tilt of her head.

"That is quite a harsh judgment that I shall not say I agree with..." Homura mentioned, covering her mouth sheepishly with her left sleeve.

"It's his Quirk," Native chimed in as he had gotten back up onto his feet.

"Mister Native!" Tenya exclaimed in surprise, glad to see that he was up.

"I know this guy from a couple years back. Called himself Spider," he told the student heroes, "He's a villain who was able to hack into various banks around the country and steal hundreds upon thousands of yen from accounts," he explained, "Thankfully, we were able to track him down and get him behind bars," he noted in remembrance.

"Does that mean someone bailed him out?" Momo guessed.

"It's possible..." Native replied with a shrug, "Anyways, his Quirk's called Reanimate," he mentioned, "He can morph any nonliving object and shape it into whatever he desires, but only for about an hour or so before it automatically goes back to normal," he explained thoroughly, "He can also alter his own appearance," he added.

"So that's why he looked so freaky..." Rebecca recalled, sweating a little.

"Whatever the case, we've got him," Shoto noted, "He won't be able to break free from Yaoyorozu's binds," he added assuredly, seeing how the villain was fully bound.

"Damn it..." he cursed out, "I was supposed to have the perfect combination of Quirks...!" he whimpered out, "My Reanimate and Hermit Mio's Master Code...!" he continued sadly, "How did I get beat by some little kids?!" he wondered in frustration. An uncommon smirk graced Rebecca's face.

"Well, I guess that's enough of an answer..." she noted, gesturing behind herself and the others. Spider glanced over and gasped. Tied up like him was Stain.

"Th-The Hero Killer?!" he stammered in fright, looking around at the six U.A. students.

"Huh..." Izuku sighed out in relief. All of a sudden though, he felt himself get suddenly hugged by Rebecca, causing him to blink in surprise and blush a little. "R-Rebecca?" he stuttered out. She just smiled, continuing to hold him close.

"What a day, huh?" she guessed. He blinked again before grinning, hugging her back.

"Yeah..." he replied in agreement, "But we did it," he noted, "We all did," he added, looking over to his classmates, who all nodded except for Tenya, as he was looking down ashamedly. Shoto and Homura dragged Spider and Stain out from the alleyway, with the latter of the two villains still being unconscious. After a few moments, a cross Gran Torino arrived, reprimanding Izuku for not staying on the bullet train.

More heroes arrived as they contacted for police and ambulances. Everyone seemed to have minor injuries, save for Tenya as his left shoulder was still bleeding from his earlier encounter with the Hero Killer. He approached his classmates and bowed to them.

"I'm sorry for getting you involved in all of this..." he apologized as he was shedding tears, "This had nothing to do with you and-"

"Stop it, Iida," Izuku insisted, interrupting him, "I should've been looking out for you more," he admitted out of sadness.

"But in the end, we stopped two villains together!" Rebecca noted excitedly, "And that's the important thing," she added with a smile.

"Indeed," Homura agreed as she gave off her own smile. Shoto and Momo gave off their own grins in agreement. Seeing their expressions, Tenya wiped his eyes, letting a grateful look come across his face. It was nice to have a moment of levity after such chaos. But all of a sudden...

"AH!" Izuku yelled as he was suddenly caught by the talons of the winged Nomu from earlier.

"Izuku!" Rebecca cried out, while everyone gasped in fright. However, another figure lunged out and slashed the beast's wing cleanly off, being none other than Jaguar as he took hold of the freckled teen and landed upon the ground with him. The Nomu crashed onto the street in a flurry of dust.

"Are you alright, son?" the I.U.A. Hero asked of Izuku, causing him to meekly nod in response. The dust settled to reveal the Nomu pushing itself up, growling at its foes. Endeavor and Mirko arrived onto the scene, prepared to fight. But at that moment, Stain awoke and rushed forward, undoing his bindings with a single folding knife he still had hidden. He dashed past Izuku and Jaguar, slashing the Nomu's brain, effectively killing it as its body fell onto the ground.

"Everything I do..." he began menacingly as his blade dripped with blood, "is to create a stronger society!" he declared. Everyone looked on in shock at the scene. Why did he attack the Nomu and not one of the heroes?

"Don't know what the hell he's doing, but we've gotta get him now!" Mirko insisted.

"Right!" Endeavor agreed. However, they and everyone else were left frozen in shock from the sudden pressure exhibited by Stain the moment his mask came off. He turned to face him and the others.

"I'll make this right...!" he grunted out as he stepped forward, causing everyone to flinch one by one as he approached. Izuku saw that even the pros were heistating. "These streets... must run with the blood of hypocrites!" the Hero Killer proclaimed, grunting with each step, "Hero...!" he growled, "I will reclaim that word!" he declared fiercely, "COME ON!" he roared as he stomped his left foot down, "JUST TRY AND STOP ME, YOU FAKES!" he challenged, "There is only one man I would ever let kill me..." he continued, "ALL MIGHT!" he bellowed out. The tension passed through the air as one of the pros fell onto her bottom out of fright. A trembling Rebecca was close to falling over as well, as was Momo. However, they steeled themselves with their classmates.

And at that moment, Stain stopped moving...

"I think... he's out cold..." Jaguar noted as he and Izuku stared ahead in disbelief. Every U.A. student fell onto their butts, stunned by the overwhelming pressure they had to endure. It turned out that the villain wasn't stopped by a Quirk, but rather a broken rib that had pierced into his lung. Even so, only he had seemed to have any fight left as no one found it in themselves to stand up to his weakened state.

"Ah..." Spider uttered out, falling over onto his side.

"Ah, hey!" one of the heroes yelped in shock, causing the others to turn and see the blood pouring out from the side of his head as he lied upon the sidewalk.

"Was... he just shot?!" Rebecca questioned, quite panicked as she covered her mouth with trembling hands. She was already scared enough.

"I didn't hear a gun go off...!" Mirko noted with a grimace. Holding a silencer in his right hand atop a nearby roof was none other than Seth, who walked away silently while smoking a cigar. He was already out of the heroes' sights, holding up his phone to his ear as he holstered his weapon.

"Job's done, Drakken," he confirmed, "You don't want me to kill Stain, too?" he inquired on.

"Nah, he's clean," his boss assured in reply, "But that tick would've snitched on us in a heartbeat if he could get out of jail in return..." he noted, "Plus, it looked like that copied Quirk he had flubbed out, so he's useless now," he mentioned with a scoff, sitting upon a couch in an isolated room with Diego and Maria, "Hey..." he continued through the call, "did you see that Bluegarden girl there?" he questioned curiously.

"Yeah, why?" Seth inquired back in response. A small smirk formed upon Drakken's face.

"I just got a feeling... that we'll have a new target soon," he noted aloud.

And that wraps up the Hero Killer arc for this story! I have to say, it was a lot of fun writing the battles and the character developments. But the internships aren't over yet though!

Now to talk about what'll be ahead, particularly when it comes to Season 3. Chapters won't be coming as frequently, but they will still be getting written bit by bit. They're also going to be a lot longer than the average chapter for "Through the Rough" thus far, particularly because they'll have an opening and an ending sequence. I'll discuss more when we're fully caught up, but be on the lookout for that.

With all that said, thanks for reading!