The katana burst into a shower of fragments that would make any sane person close their eyes and cover their face; Stain's response was to reach for another hunting knife and look for a new opening in his target's body. He moved fast as lightning, fueled entirely by Izuku's expression of pain and despair, but not even a full charge from the Hero Killer could compete with his enemy's raw power. He got elbowed right in the stomach as Izuku got pulled out of view and before he could get a proper grip on the other man, the fraud jumped far away from his reach and disappeared behind the other buildings around them. He could have sworn that Izuku called out for him as well.
One of Curious' goons went to tackle him, the broad grin telling him that he did not give a damn about the fact that he was about to combust into flames and smoke, but Stain kicked him in the face with such strength that the explosion didn't even graze him.
Curious. Stain's line of sight switched, the woman's vain form stepping back to allow more pawns to stand in between them. Not that it changed anything, not with Stain's focus solely on Izuku being taken from him for what felt like the millionth time. The animalistic urge to cut the woman down to the thinnest ribbons swelled in his soul, but not even his thirst for revenge and justice could compete with the instinct to keep his kid safe.
And if he wasn't so damned focused, he might find these new priorities utterly shameful.
He gave the woman a hateful glare before he turned on his heel to chase after this 'Grand Commander' at top speed, but one step landed him on another hidden mine, the force sending him into another mindless follower that contentedly faced him before erupting into smoke. He wasn't brought down to a knee—not the Hero Killer, not in this lifetime—but he was forced to face the fact that he couldn't get away with his usual ease.
"You just insist on getting in my way, don't you?" He seethed, teeth bared with pure loathsome energy. His clothes and hair smoked from the multiple explosions, lending him a killer aura that, for once, could be seen as well as felt.
"I must say, I wasn't expecting to have a chance to speak to you, Hero Killer," The woman said with pure satisfaction, and Stain's head tilted to the side with the delicacy of a broken neck.
"If you wish to speak, I recommend you make your peace with your God for I have no interest in your words."
"Ohoho, this is wonderful!" The woman grinned, gracefully avoiding the debris—both organic and otherwise— left behind by her willing human sacrifices. She stepped back, her stance and mannerisms showing that she had no intention of fighting him, and accepted something metallic from one of her minions.
"This could add so much flavor to my piece!" She beamed, eyes a tad too wide for her expression to look normal. Stain wanted to gouge them both out, see if the black of the sclera did go all the way back. Maybe that would teach her something valuable before he killed her.
He allowed himself one inhale of preparation, muscles tense and pupils dilated with pure manic desire. He scanned his multiple opponents with indifference, knowing that none of them had any fighting prowess, not to mention their lack of interest in survival. He took into account the distance between the blue-skinned demon and himself, calculating what route would reduce his contact with any potentially explosive surfaces. And finally, he located the person he'd been sent to retrieve, and the girl Izuku had helped tag along with them; the young man was searching for his opportunity to escape and the girl was just clumsily sitting with her hands covering her already hidden face. He stashed a few extra plans into the back of his mind, his 'attack first, adapt later' mentality never one to think ahead by so much. That was Izuku's work. That last thought settled in his chest, and his knife grip tightened.
A moment later, he leaped forward with a sharp exhale.
Only needing the impulse his already planted feet gave, he shot forward in a blur of red and black that few people ever survived to remember. Slashing his enemies had proven inefficient, the explosions deviating his blade before they had the chance to cut through, so he settled for pushing them out of the way with all of his strength. Which, as some would know, was plenty strong.
He kicked the person closest to him square in the chest and used the impulse to give the person eyeing Hara a blow to the head with the hilt of his sword. Satisfied with the dry sound of bone meeting metal, he took the already unconscious person by the shoulder and twisted them both around, sending them both flying in opposite directions; his target right at the person pulling on Morse's ragged cape and himself towards his ultimate goal. Curious's eyes locked with his and he could practically hear the cogs in her head turning, neon green irises shining in the way Izuku's did whenever he analyzed a problem far too much. The very idea that he would compare his loyal student to this sham felt like an insult of the highest degree, and he used the sting of shame to push his final attack forward. Whatever she'd been handed prior was in her hand now, the metal box enveloping her entire fist, and she aimed it at him at the last second. There was no barrel, thus this was no gun.
Thus, the Hero Killer could take it.
The explosion that came from the contraption wasn't enough to push him back, but when he swung his sword to attack, he slashed nothing but smoke. Curious had propelled herself back, eyebrows high on her forehead as she clumsily managed to keep her balance on her heels. A few blocks over, the roar of a building taking heavy damage made Morse whimper.
"You're fast!" She exclaimed and Stain's face contorted into one of repulsion.
"Running like a coward, as expected," The Hero Killer spat.
"Why you haven't even let me get one word in," She gasped.
"As if trash could proclaim anything of value," Stain licked his lips, making the motion as displeasing to the eye as possible. Curious didn't as much as blink and Stain's anger increased.
"Well, you can't expect me to pass on the opportunity to interview you right after The Disciple,"
Stain threw himself forward again, eyes flashing in a blinding rage that he hadn't felt since Hosu. He easily dispatched another two underlings, but his final kick was stopped by an invisible barrier that did not crack even under the heavy hit. He reared back his blade to strike at the obstacle, but that also hit a barrier now behind the Hero Killer and before he knew it, he was caged. Five henchmen looked at him, the one he almost struck gasping for air, and so he didn't know just which one was using this new quirk against him. He wanted them all dead equally.
"Enough!" Stain roared, pushing against the sides of his prison but accomplishing nothing. "Face me directly, you weakling!"
"Oh, Midoriya does take so much after you, Hero Killer!" Curious exclaimed, her free hand digging around her expensive coat.
Stain slammed himself against his cage with so much force that one person jumped in surprise, the others taking a step back. One person steadied, brows furrowed in concentration, and Stain glared at who he assumed was keeping him in place.
"Do not speak of my student so casually, you viper."
She eyed him evenly and Stain noticed that there was a considerable amount of intelligence behind her dark eyes. This woman, this target no worthier than any other before, had run circles around them for days and now she had him locked behind bars that he couldn't even see. He wanted to snap her neck, but his lack of freedom made his animalistic side subside enough to admit that brute force would not be enough to win. She was different, more devious than any mark he'd taken out.
"I see now why Midoriya looks up to you so much," She commented, her tone turning formal. She took out her phone and pressed around at the screen for a moment before her eyes locked with his. Very few would dare hold the gaze of the Hero Killer, and yet here she was. "This gives so much depth to many of the things he told me."
Stain exhaled through gritted teeth.
Somewhere behind him, the sound of a scuffle started but ended quickly with a horrible scream. Morse whimpered loudly, mumbling names and words that Stain didn't quite care about at the moment.
"I thought my article on him was done, but… Perhaps I finished my investigation prematurely?"
"My apprentice is not your research subject," Stain interrupted. "Nor is he your experiment."
"You care for him." It was a statement and Stain found himself hesitating before he spoke. Curious smiled. "Your display of emotion in Hosu was genuine, like your words have always been. There's not much information about the contents of the speeches you gave in your youth, but I can imagine. Care to elaborate on them?"
"I've no reason to entertain your interrogation."
"Was I wrong to assume that you'd take any chance to share your ideology with a willing listener?"
"Even I have standards, and you are not inclined to learn."
"Touché." Curious chuckled, tapping her chin in thought. "I'm still inclined to take my chances if you don't mind."
Stain punched the divider between them at full strength and once again the people around them jumped back. His face contorted into one of deadly rage when Hara was dragged into view on his left, the man's body barely putting up a fight. The bandages over his missing eye were sunken inward, stained with fresh blood and some dark spots that were definitely something else and when his working eye looked at Stain, there was barely an inkling of awareness. Morse was crying behind him but he didn't turn to check, favoring the battle of wills he was having with the one person he truly wanted to assassinate. Just like back in Hosu, he found himself craving to do damage, to inflict lasting pain, and he struck his cage once more.
"There are things Midoriya wasn't too certain about, or he just couldn't quite get in your headspace to answer," Curious stated, ignoring how Stain thrashed around looking for a way out, clearly not giving her a crumb of intentional attention. "You can share whatever you'd like. We have time, after all."
Stain started to figure out that his cage was cubic, and he stabbed at one of the corners as he watched the person holding up the shield. Nothing.
"Why would you pick Midoriya, a quirkless child, to be your successor?"
Stain took another stab at his prison, placing all of his weight into it.
"Considering the type of individual you target, would a young boy like Midoriya not be at a considerable disadvantage?"
Stain turned like a caged animal, eyes scanning the outline of his prison that was steadily getting covered with dust and ash from the fight that Dabi could very well be losing.
"Or perhaps you knew that physical strength was not a priority? How did you learn that? Your voyage, or something else?"
Morse wailed in panic as she was dragged along the floor, her pale hands struggling to keep her cape in place as the fabric was pulled away. In flashes, Stain could see her wounded shoulder and frantic expression, her nose still bleeding.
"Midoriya said he was the first person you ever took in, but I do wonder if that is the truth. Perhaps your first attempt at molding a replacement failed?"
"Release me this instant!" Stain roared, stabbing at the surface to his right with a steel knife that splintered into nothing upon impact. The person holding up the unseen box blinked in amazement, taking the most minor step back. There was nothing to do except struggle, and drown out the woman's voice with all of the willpower he had.
"There is also much of the Hosu incident that MIdoriya doesn't personally recall, like the final strike that brought him down. Do you remember how you felt at that moment?"
His hands were bloody from trying to break through.
"Was killing the winner of the U.A's sports festival planned all along, or was it just a happy coincidence that he happened to be Midoriya's lifelong tormentor?"
Stain growled in frustration, finding not even a millimeter of open space between the transparent wall and the ground.
"Was it you that desecrated the young man's grave?"
The concrete beneath his feet cracked when he hit it, but the barrier just kept on going down below the surface.
"What makes Midoriya more special than your other, newer underlings? They could easily take his role."
Another hit, a piece of concrete the size of his head coming clean off the ground and crumbling in his hands. He lifted his head and saw how the people around them moved to stand by their superior.
"Or maybe Midoriya wasn't imagining your genuine affection for him?"
He screamed, the sound melting with Morse's shriek as her mantle of safety was finally robbed from her. She crawled pathetically towards Hara, the man looking at her with no discernible emotion.
"His attempted suicide must have been quite the shock, I can imagine."
"ENOUGH!" Stain threw himself forward, the transparent surface dirtied with blood and dirt. It was the perfect image of insanity, of violence. "YOU KNOW NOTHING!"
"Do I not?" Curious tilted her head. "Your pupil cares greatly about your opinion of him; I wonder if that goes both ways?"
Already an imposing figure when he stood in his normal hunched pose, Stain's back straightened to push him to his full height and he saw the person next to Curious give their superior a fearful glance. More people arrived on the scene, quirks and mutations at the ready, and they all hesitated once they saw the caged beast glaring daggers at their lieutenant. It was clear that there wasn't much holding back the hell that was the Hero Killer and they stared at him in fear and disgust as they shuffled into place around him.
"Midoriya looked… ashamed, whenever he told me things about your life together. But he tried with every word to uphold your beliefs. Do not think ill of your student for giving in to our demands," She added, turning her phone to face him as the newcomers slowly surrounded them. "He did put up a fight."
Stain wasn't great at any type of social skill. He lacked the interest to ask for names, let alone learn them, and he tended to look at faces and bodies as separate points to memorize, to find weaknesses in, rather than pieces that formed part of a person's identity. Clothes were reduced to civilian and hero costumes, expressions were diluted into basic concepts and words were turned into static. Most people were disposable, some more than others, and it made his job easier. Emotions, and relationships, only got in the way. It didn't matter to the Hero Killer who was who's friend or lover or family; the job was the job.
Izuku had changed that part of him much more than Stain was willing to admit, though he hadn't quite managed to derail his mentor as much as he could have. Izuku's face was something Stain had become unwillingly accustomed to, to the point where he could read his pupil like a book and recognize his features even in other people's faces. The Izuku from now, especially the one he'd just attempted to rescue, had scars on his skin, bags under his eyes, and a crooked nose from back in Hosu. Izuku's mother, on the other hand, looked just like the kid Stain had initially taken under his wing, round face and green eyes a perfect copy of one another.
"Your student went against his pride to keep a piece of his past, a stranger to your cause, safe." Curious explained formally, her phone going back into an inside pocket in her coat. She gave Stain a studious look, eyes scanning his every feature. "Will you?"
The upper corner of the building to their left exploded into smithereens, a pillar of ice colliding with the structure and sending debris raining upon all of them. A figure dressed in pale blue rode the frozen wave expertly, his arms surrounded by giant frozen constructs that allowed him to extend his limbs a good twenty feet each. In his right hand was a familiar, dark-haired figure of smoking flesh.
They couldn't see it from so far away, but neon blue orbs scanned the ground before zooming in on the boxed natural disaster that Dabi had full-heartedly sworn to follow. It took but a second, just an instant, but Dabi's smile cracked into something truly terrible, arms opening wide to point in vastly different directions. Geten, his enemy, gasped in realization and he hurriedly tried to split his ice to create a front that could protect his fellow lieutenant. But it was too late, the hissing of Dabi's scorched skin being the only prelude to the attack.
Stain had never paid much mind to the group of misguided strays that Izuku had grown attached to. He knew they were strong and able to hold their own for the most part, and he had subconsciously started to link Shoto's demeanor with that of Izuku himself, but the eldest Todoroki had mostly just settled into place without making a fuss. He didn't request validation and Stain was glad, for he had none to give.
But now the Hero Killer watched from the safety that his captivity offered as Dabi's flames shot out in opposite directions, two torrential fronts that enveloped and hit everything with the swiftness and destructive force of a tsunami, two wide wings of cerulean that painted the whole firmament with the tones of the underworld. People screamed, covered their faces in an attempt to protect themselves from a fate worse than death, and Stain watched.
Not bad, he hummed.
For a good ten seconds, all they could feel was the searing heat of the fire as it threatened to swallow them whole. The pitiful ice barrier that had been conjured in their direction swiftly melted but the person holding Stain in place managed—if barely—to put up a shield large enough to protect them all. The flame licked past the edges of the barrier, forcing the user to expand their quirk into a dome. The fire subsided and the person holding up the shields shuddered, their nose bleeding from overexertion. There was a pause, a moment of terror where no one knew what could happen next. People lifted their gazes to the sky just in time to see two smoking forms fall from the heights along with the ice that had miraculously survived the flames. The one in pale blue fell inertly, Dabi twisting in the air to maybe try and find a way to land without dying on impact. It was only five stories, but well. A fall is a fall.
With everyone's eyes glued to the blue flame user, no one but Stain saw that the new threat was coming from someone already amongst them.
A seemingly random member of the crowd locked eyes with him just in time for him to witness the quirk user that had held on against every odd get stabbed in the throat. The knife dug deep and pulled hard, the blade catching and stopping with some bone and tendon to ensure a gnarly, rough path. The shields flickered and dropped, the only indication that they were gone being the gentle shower of ash and debris that got in everyone's eyes. Curious blinked furiously, her brain clicking things into place and her eyes widening in realization. She turned, attempted to lift her arm to protect herself, to bark out an order, to use her quirk to detonate the few people that were around her. But the blade that the Hero Killer wielded hit her in the chin, cut her tongue and palette and nestled itself deep in her skull. It was far too late for her to do anything else.
Toga shed her disguise just as Stain shoved Curious' body down on the ground and, together, they disposed of the remaining minions in a matter of seconds. Granted, the fact that they were all in shock and openly grieving the loss of their two superiors helped, but Stain's mounting fury would have made short work of them regardless.
Finally, Stain exhaled, at last, his whole form covered in blood that did not belong to him. He tilted his face up, allowing himself one second of respite before the hollow gasps coming from Curious' body drew his attention.
Toga was crouched by her side, the innocent tilting of her head making her look like a creature that did not belong under the light of day; smile wide despite the fresh, deep burn on her lips and throat, her bare skin covered in blood and her yellow eyes unblinking. A knife balanced itself between her fingers as she dutifully watched the other woman's body convulse on the ground, back arching with every shallow breath that she tried to suck in, to no avail, past her amputated tongue.
"...She's already dead," Stain informed her, looking around the field of corpses for one that matched Toga's general size.
"I know, but I didn't get to cut her myself, so I'll take this~" Toga grinned, using the tip of her knife to move some lavender hair out of a face that moved only because the human body reacts weirdly to certain brain injuries. It wasn't his first time witnessing something like it, though he remembered how back in his younger years it used to make him double tap his targets.
Stain took the jacket off a body, throwing the corpse away like trash before handing the garment over to Toga wordlessly, eyes pointed towards where Dabi should have landed.
"That one's our objective," Toga drawled, blindly pointing at Hara's form. Then her finger moved a little to the right, to the trembling form holding onto the yakuza. "What about that one though?"
"That one's with Izuku. For now."
Toga nodded, poking at Curious' face once the body stopped twitching and then—only then—offering Morse a charming smile.
"My name's Toga, what's yours? Are you Izuku's friend? We can be friends too!" Stain shivered at the cheerful tone, glad to see Dabi's stumbling form coming his way if only because it gave him an excuse to get away from the blood maniac.
"You two okay?" Dabi asked, wincing as he touched his bruised ribs. Stain gave him a once over to assess the damage and found that the life estimate he'd given Dabi had just gone down by about half. Both his hands were completely purple now, the damage to his face now connected by the bridge of his nose and his left cheek to make a single, asymmetrical scar. The smell of burning flesh was almost too much to bear and Stain frowned.
Nothing could ever go right, could it?
"Did you find them?" Stain settled for asking, his focus already slipping to the one person he cared about.
Watching Dabi dig through his pocket with newly charred palms and fingers was skin crawling, but eventually, the man dug out a small black case and handed it over. Stain clicked it open to check, counting the small red items to make sure that they were done with this draining ordeal once and for all. They were all there, though two of them seemed to have been broken at one point, and Stain pocketed the box as he walked back towards Hara. The young yakuza was sluggishly pushing himself up as Toga pestered Morse with questions about herself.
"Carry him back to the rendezvous point," Stain instructed Dabi, picking Hara up by the collar and pushing him towards the other man. "Take her, too."
"What about you?"
"We'll get Izuku back and meet you there."
"Wouldn't it be better to attempt a rescue with more people?" Dabi wrapped Hara's arm around his shoulder, earning a confused grumble from the other man.
"You're done for now. Don't need you falling apart mid-mission." Stain commented, recovering Morse's cape and hastily wrapping it around the woman's face as Toga asked her for her name once again.
"Fair enough," Dabi's face scrunched in disgust when Morse all but clasped his arm as Stain shoved her forward. "Let go."
"Go." Stain ordered, watching as Dabi shuffled down the road.
He turned and Toga's wide yellow eyes met his.
"Where's Izuku?" It was a deadly whisper and Stain was momentarily tempted to strike down the one person that threatened to destroy his kid's life. She was right there, vulnerable and trusting in her own way. But time was not on his side and not even he could deny the use for a pawn at the moment.
Later, he reasoned.
"Get as much of Curious' blood as you can."
"I really don't wanna turn into her," She said, even when her lips were pressing against the dead woman's jaw, right where Stain had stabbed her. She morphed instantly and Stain had to also fight back the urge to kill Curious a second time. He turned, scanning the direction in which his student had been taken.
"Did you listen to her? Know how she talks?"
"Yup."
"Good," Stain nodded. "We're ending this right now."