Hello all and welcome back to A Hero's Creed! I know it's been a long while... What, six weeks? Seven? Sorry about that! America's just a shitshow and after having a politician be killed in the last chapter (for things outside their politics, mind you!) and then what happened here the week after... Well, that kind of soured my mood to write despite knowing where I wanted to go with it. For the record, this story is a work of fiction and the actions of the characters should not be recreated in model or spirit in any way. True assassination is NEVER okay, no matter your feelings on the person in question.
Anyway, I'm not going to talk about my politics and you're not here to read such. You're here for the shadow war. Onward!
Gamelover41592: Thank you.
LEGOBRICK13: I'm glad you enjoyed the scene between All Might and Aizawa. I'm sure that won't bleed over into anything. As for Compress... well, let's see where this goes, shall we?
maxperseus130: Behold, the next installment! I hope it meets expectations.
Monkey D. Conan: Here are the answers to... most of your comments. I hope you enjoy!
Monster King: Thank you.
nbjdawe2001: 1. Maybe. 2. Afraid not; there are no "half sages". 3. You'll have to read to see. 4. No comment. 5. Honestly, the Canon ending being disappointing was part of my reason for writing this story in the first place.
Prihiko-Baltazar: I can't answer most of your questions, but Dabi is currently a bartender for the Yakuza and Jiro doesn't understand the true history and meaning of the battle, so of course she'll think her words will have an impact.
pj6778457: Wait no more!
shadow23442: Surprise! There's more! And more planned!
stevenpiskunov2: They don't know. At least, not yet.
Wizardwolf 1020: I've been keeping up with the controversy. It's been... funny in a sad way. I hope they course-correct, but I'm not holding my breath.
Guest: Those are all interesting ideas. We'll just have to wait and see.
Chapter 65:
Sigma Team
"…Assassin Aiba?" Izuku questioned warily, keeping the corner of his eye on the slight red haze around the red-haired returning detractor. They were sprinting over the rooftops, thankful that pro Heroes did such things so often that no one below gave them more than half a glance if they noticed at all. They'd been traveling for the past ten minutes or so after a fruitless search for Mr. Compress in the immediate area of the safehouse and the surrounding sewers. He wore his red hoodie while Minami word a tan cloak she had filched from the safehouse.
"What?" she grunted, the student's words pulling her from her thoughts.
"Where are we going? What situation are we running into?"
"We are going back to mine and Gentle's apartment," the rogue Assassin answered. "There's some stuff there I need. After that, we're going to storm Sigma Team's base."
Izuku screeched to a stop, nearly falling over. "WHAT‽" Aiba turned at his shout. "The two of us aren't enough to storm the base of Sigma Team!"
"Why not? Clearly you're skilled if you're running missions without supervision—"
"I'm not supposed to! I got separated from Master Usagiyama during the assassination and we agreed to that I'd meet her back in the Den this evening. I'm also a Hero student! If I get caught raiding a building and killing people, my life will be over!"
"You? A Hero student?"
"And it's Sigma Team! You know, the group specifically trained by the Templars to hunt us like rats in our own homes! I don't have my robes or my swords! All I've got are my hidden blades!"
"They have my Gentle!" Minami screamed, rounding on Izuku. Tears streamed down her face, but whatever the red aura around her was, it was hot enough that her tears turned to steam before reaching her chin. "He's one of the best thieves in Japan! If they brainwash him…" She choked on her words, but Izuku couldn't tell if she was more horrified by what the Templars would do with Gentle Criminal or just of losing him to their enemy.
"…Look," he said, trying to keep his voice calm. His heart twisted; he was an Assassin-in-training and now a third hit had made him a bona fide serial killer, but he still felt embers of the child who wanted nothing but to be a pro Hero. He was still a Hero student by day, albeit one whose rose-tinted glasses had been shattered. He couldn't not try to help an ally. "I have to at least send a message to my teachers telling them what we're doing and giving them time to come up with a plan."
"We don't have time for intricate plans. They could kill Gentle or find a way to brainwash him or any number of other things! I won't let Sigma Team take another of my loved ones! Gentle's all I have left!" Her voice broke at the end, red haze around her flaring.
Izuku raised his arms, trying to placate her. "It can wait until we reach your apartment. I, at least, need my weapons and we could use the backup."
Minami accepted that, turning on her heel and charging forward again. Izuku had no choice but to follow, splitting is attention to send an SOS with his location to the secure Hephestus system. The trip at their speed took 15 minutes or so, probably 14 minutes too long in Minami's opinion, but Izuku had no control over that. The apartment building was pretty run down from the outside.
"No time to deal with pleasantries," Minami muttered to herself, foregoing the stairway from the roof and, instead, jumping over the edge. Izuku rushed there to see that she had latched onto the sill outside one of the apartment windows. Minami held herself with one hand and friction, her other rearing back a fist that shattered the glass.
"Assassin Aiba!" Izuku gasped. She didn't listen to him, climbing through the broken window. Izuku looked around before following in the same method.
Minami was not there when he entered the apartment, but he could hear her moving into another room. He traced the sound, entering the bedroom as Minami overturned one of the two beds, a bed it did not look like she should have been able to flip with her body type. The frame hit the floor with a bang, flinging mattress and sheets aside.
Where the bed had been was a simple box, the top sealed with packing tape. Minami reached into her shoe and pulled out a pocketknife, showing that even with her previous casting-off of the Assassin mission, the training and habits had not left her. She cut the tape, opening the box.
Out of it she drew the garb of an Assassin. It was burnt pink, striped in places with something closer to wine or burgundy. She donned the robe quickly, strapping it down in record time. She tied her hair back, taking it out of the pigtails to braid it down her back and tuck it out of the way in her robe. In the box were also a bandoleer of knives, smoke bombs, and even two pistols. She finished by strapping two hidden blades onto her wrists.
"I really thought none of this would see the light of day again," she muttered, sliding the magazine out of one of the guns and checking her ammo. She did the same to the other, then checked the knives and smoke bombs. "Five bullets, eight throwing knives that are still sharp, and three smoke bombs with reduced effectiveness." She flicked her wrists, only one of the hidden blades deploying. "And I didn't keep up maintenance. Not ideal."
"Nothing about this is ideal," Izuku commented, reminding her of his presence. "I got word from Master Usagiyama. She's acting in her day job as a pro Hero dealing with the fallout from my actions earlier, but Master Nekoi will meet us and Master Akaguro is sending Assassin Toga and his other student. Master Nekoi will have my stuff with her."
"Backup. Good. Send them to this address." She listed off a series of numbers more akin to coordinates than an address, but Izuku relayed them anyway. Minami nodded, taking a look around the apartment. "Come. We must go."
The pair jumped from the window, catching themselves partway down the buildings and doing controlled falls the rest of the way. Minami led Izuku through backstreets and over lower buildings, staying out of sight as best they could,
"Er, Assassin Aiba?"
"Yes, Apprentice?"
"Could you tell me what happened? I mean, why you left?"
Minami slowed slightly. "…I lost my reasons for living," she finally said. "It was four years ago when I finally received the rank of Assassin, and that was the start of the end, but the dominoes were falling long before that. I was born into the Assassins and had three siblings: an older sister, a twin sister, and a baby brother. For a while, everything was perfect, until my twin Minayu and I turned ten. That was the day we learned of our family's mission. We started training alongside Tamerai. She was a year older than Minayu and me, but she always made time for us when we didn't have to babysit. We trained together, regularly going camping to practice our skills away from the threat of cameras and the like. They tracked us down when Minayu and I were 15. We'd been out on one our camping trips. Everything was normal, but when we got home…"
Minami sniffled, having to stop to wipe away her tears. "Our house was gone, burned to the ground. There were Hero Assassins there, covering the Brotherhood's evidence while claiming an official investigation. We had to call the whole thing an accidental fire, but… But I saw the bodies. Mom, dad, even our baby Brother Happi… They'd been tied up in the living room, every one of their fingers removed, their mouths open screaming…" A sob wrenched its way from her throat and she fell against a wall. Her tears fell like rain. "They'd been tortured for information and then burned alive in our home. Happi was eight. He didn't even know about the Brotherhood."
Izuku covered his mouth, fighting the urge to throw up. "The ones who did it…?"
Minami's voice hardened to steel, the red aura flaring around her with renewed strength. Her tears dried. "The head of Sigma team, a despicable wretch who had done such things before. His name was Chikara Sako, and he had two sons whom he was training to take his spot. He was basically a serial killer. Tamerai, Minayu, and I… Public life, school, sports, we dropped out of everything and dedicated our lives to the Creed… and to our revenge.
"We were emotional, so many Masters and Assassins were wary of our rate of training. Our emotionality was… ironic, I suppose, given our Quirks. Tamerai's Quirk was Indifference. If she had no opinion about someone, if she could shut down her emotions, then no outside force could affect her. If she had no emotion, no fear, no happiness, no hatred, then not even a bullet could damage her. Minayu and I, we shared a Quirk. I always told Gentle that my Quirk is Love, that I can empower those whom I love with my Quirk, but that's only half of it. This" —She gestured to the red aura— "is the other half: War."
"People say love and hate are opposites, but that was the power Minayu and I shared. Love and War made it so we could empower those we loved or empower ourselves with our hatred. When we trained, I tried to focus on my sisters, making them stronger. I'd shut down after the tragedy and started late, but Minayu took to the War part of our Quirk. She reveled in a new hatred of the Templars for what happened, and it made her powerful. It took us a few years, but we became a powerful trio: the emotionless Tamerai, the raging Minayu, and the caring support making them stronger, me."
"All of us were promoted to the rank of Assassin four years ago, and everything was… certainly not peaceful, but steady. Normal. We lived as Assassins, hunting down anything we could find about Sigma Team. We tracked connections to France, family lines, sources of grunts. We learned that Sigma team has a tendency to find young children with Assassin ancestors and then orphan or kidnap them, especially if they had powerful Quirks. They brainwash Sigma Team's soldiers, literally raising them to hunt us with our own tactics. It took us two years, but we found him.
"We found Chikara Sako when he returned from France with his sons. We tracked them to Sigma Team's headquarters. We launched an attack. We slaughtered the Sigma Team personnel on site." Minami closed her eyes. "…We got emotional."
Izuku connected the dots in the following silence. "You said your older sister's Quirk made her invincible if she didn't care—"
"Tamerai lost it when we met Chikara Sako in person. She was used to fighting without defense…" She swallowed. "He killed her as we watched by making her skin shrink until it tore. Minayu went mad. I don't remember too much of the fight, but we won. Minayu and I killed Chikara and his oldest son and we set fire to the building, but Minayu was mortally wounded. I carried her out. I tried to save her. I tried."
All at once, that night flashed through Minami's mind, leading up to the moment that was the focus of her nightmares for months afterward. She saw Minayu, her twin, leaning against the brick wall in the alleyway. Her dark red robes ripped, torn, and burned in places. The right sleeve was gone with the arm itself and her left eye was missing, lost defending her twin from what would have been a mortal wound. The worst part was the hole in her stomach, a pool of crimson growing under her. Compared to Minayu, Minami's injuries were only scrapes and bruises. Thunder rumbled from above.
"Yu…" Minami sniffled, holding her remaining sister's remaining hand. She was surrounded by the pink glow of Minami's Love, trying to increase her healing factor, but it didn't seem to be doing anything, "Yu, please."
Minayu smiled a bloody smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Mi, we got the bastard."
"We lost Rai, Yu. A-And your arm. Y-Your eye."
"But we got him." Minayu chuckled for a moment before flinching. "Fuck."
"M-Maybe we can get you back. Maybe we can—"
"No, Mi. I let War control me. This is my fault."
"You protected me, Yu. This was my fault."
"No, you survived. You escaped." Minayu grabbed her arm, her grip painful. "Leave, Minami. Get out. Live your own life."
"But I can't, Yu. W-We lost Rai. Without you, I don't know—"
"I'm going to die, Mi. We both know it."
Tears blurred her vision, Minami blinking as hard as she could. She couldn't stand the thought of not being able to see her sister in her last moments.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, her words making her choke. "I'm so sorry, Yu. My Love wasn't enough. I'm sorry!"
Minayu's smile softened. "Take mine, Mi. Go and live your life for yourself. Find someone who deserves your Love. Someone better than we ever were." The pink glow of their shared Quirk surrounded Minami, wrapping her in a warm feeling that warred with the cold weight in her throat and stomach. Despite the rolling thunder, the drip drop of starting rain, the hole in her stomach, Minayu smiled. "I love you, Minami. I love… you…"
Minayu slumped over, her smile now frozen, her one eye empty of life. The pink glow of Love faded, leaving only the cold air outside and emptiness inside. Minami choked on a sob. Lightning flashed, bringing the world into sharp contrast for only a moment before the heavens opened and unleashed the rain.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, reaching into her late twin's robe. Minami stepped back, a moment's wait all there was before Minayu's body went up in flames. Tears mingled with rain as they soaked Minami's robes. "I love you, Yu. Rest in peace."
She ran.
"I lost my sisters that night," Minami said. "And now I know that Chikara Sako's second son survived the fire and took his father's place. Our mission that night was left unfinished, and it's taken my Gentle."
"We'll get him back."
"You can't promise that, Apprentice. Our lives don't have happy endings."
The words hit Izuku like a hammer. His mind flashed to a thousand different scenarios, each worse than the last: his death in a hundred different ways, his secrets getting friends, classmates, even his mother killed.
"S-Some of them do," Izuku tried to argue. "The great Mentor Ezio—"
"You have one example," Minami hissed. "One against a thousand. Mentor Altair lost one of his sons, killed by a rival out of hatred. Edward Kenway was killed in a strike on his home by Templars who sold his daughter to be a harem girl and raised his son to join them. Jacob Frey was killed by his own student who tried to destroy his network, dying in his sister's arms. Those are only the famous ones. That doesn't include the countless Assassins like my parents and sisters! For god's sake, the Desmond Miles the Brotherhood practically worships was forced to kill the woman he loved and then sacrificed his life saving the world and releasing the digitized spirit of an Isu! We live tragic lives and die tragic deaths! We don't get happy endings!"
"Then why are you still here?" Izuku demanded. "If we don't get happy endings, then why are you fighting so hard for yours?"
"Because I can't live without my Gentle!" Minami screamed. "If I can't live with him, then there's no reason for me to live at all!" She panted, her chest heaving.
"…I want to prove you wrong," Izuku said, turning Minami's attention on him. His fist clenched, the boy looking away from her. "I know I can't. My classmate lost her dad on a raid. An American Assassin gave his life to give me an alibi. Another Apprentice I trained with was killed investigating a human trafficking ring. More often than not, we die with dreams unfulfilled, leaving friends and family to mourn for us and pick up the pieces. I know that, but it doesn't mean we can't hope for a better tomorrow. It doesn't mean we have to give up hoping we'll be one of the lucky ones. A tragic life doesn't always mean a tragic death."
"…You're an idiot." Izuku turned at her words, but there was no heat in her voice. "Only idiots believe in a ray of light in the world of shadows. It doesn't matter if you try to escape, it will always drag you back in. It dragged me back in, but…" Minami turned away, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Maybe I'm an idiot too, for wanting to believe."
Izuku smiled. Maybe it was possible to be a Hero even as an Assassin.
"Come on, Apprentice. We solve nothing standing around like this."
"Yes, Assassin Aiba!"
Master Nekoi, Assassin Toga, and Novice Garcia were waiting for Izuku and Minami on top of a building, the sky starting to turn red with sundown. The cat-woman was the first one to hear them, turning in their direction in her purple robes as the pair landed. She walked over, offering Izuku his white, green-trimmed robes and swords, her face a purposely-neutral mask. The boy took them with a nod, quickly shucking off his reversable hoodie and donning the robes over his other clothing. Himiko and Nascha made their way over, each in their own robes.
"Assassin Aiba," Nekoi said, turning to the redhead. "It's been a few years. I was under the impression you were dead."
"I wasn't going to correct the misunderstanding," Minami admitted. "I only came back because a target of mine and my sisters' last mission survived. He's kidnapped the man I love."
"So that's how it is." Nekoi glared. "And why should I not execute you as a deserter and a security risk right now?"
"Master Nekoi, I—" Izuku began.
"Silence, Apprentice. You're already in hot water after we learned about what you've been up to."
"I want to rescue Gentle Criminal, my partner in crime," Minami said, keeping her voice even. "The leader of Sigma Team took him with the expressed reason of brainwashing him into being their personal information thief. Both are apparently descendants of Harima the Bandit King."
"Uh, who?" Nascha questioned.
"The Bandit King, also known as the Peerless Thief, was one of the first Villains to come out of the time after the Dark Age of Quirks. His most famous heists stole from government officials and some of the first recognized Heroes, typically to the benefit of some considered less fortunate."
"So, a Robin Hood type of guy," Nascha summarized. She looked at Nekoi. "I take it there's more to this story?"
"Harima was one of us," Nekoi said. "He didn't like killing according to the records. Supposedly, he only killed for his advancement tests. He was still a brilliant thief, though."
"I'm sensing a 'but'…"
"A rat in our organization sold him to the Templars. We thought they executed him and that was the end of it. If he has descendants…"
Both Izuku and Nascha flushed red, Himiko even turning a little pink. "…Oh."
"Yeah, oh," Minami grunted. "Obviously, they used his DNA to enhance the genetics of the Japanese Sigma Team head family, most likely augmenting their training with sessions in an Animus."
"An Animus?" Nascha asked again.
"A machine that can recreate the memories of an individual's ancestors up to the moment those memories are… passed on," Himiko offered. "One can pick up the muscle memory of a person by reliving those memories… with a few possible side effects."
"[Holy shit,]" the American muttered in her native tongue.
"Yeah. It's been a pain in the ass for us since the late 1990's."
Nekoi sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Back on topic, please."
"My Gentle's real name is Danjuro Tobita. His Quirk is Elasticity, allowing him to make surfaces and even the air bouncy. Our target's name is Atsuhiko Sato, Quirk: Compress. He can shrink all matter, organic or inorganic, down into marbles. That's how he got Gentle after shooting him in the knee."
"He carried weapons that way," Izuku supplied. "He pulled a pistol on me from a marble up his sleeve. He also fights with a hidden blade he took from an Assassin at some point."
"I see," Nekoi nodded. She turned her eyes on Minami. "I understand you're emotionally invested in this mission, but I am the Master Assassin here. I am in charge. Is that clear?"
Minami's fist clenched but she didn't respond immediately. She took a deep breath and turned away. Her hand loosened. "…Yes, Master Nekoi."
"Good." She directed her attention to the building across the street. It was grey, first glance suggesting it was an office building of some sort, the company name Sigi's Pest Control written in red neon over the front door. "This is Sigma Team's headquarters?"
"At the least, it is the location of the last one," Minami replied. "To my knowledge, it was never sold to another company, so my money's on yes."
"Oh, I know this one, at least," Nascha commented. "Sigma Team is the Templar hit force, right?"
"Yes. They're the ones that murdered my parents and baby brother, then killed my sisters during our revenge raid, and now kidnapped the man I love."
"Oh… I'm sorry?"
Minami cracked her knuckles, staring at the building.
"Okay, but we can't just charge in without a plan, Assassin Aiba," Izuku said. "We have no information. We don't know the floor plan, enemy numbers, prisoner location, anything. And between the five of us, we have three Quirks and none are sensory in type."
"But you have your Eagle Vision. What can you give us?"
Izuku turned to the building, activating his Isu gift. The world's colors faded as he opened his senses. Lights appeared within the building, above and below the ground.
"I looks like there are barracks underground," Izuku reported. "I'm counting maybe 60 enemies. Twenty are below ground, the rest are scattered throughout the rest of the floors. I can't tell where Compress or Gentle are."
"They'll be underground," Minami said, certain. "It would be too risky to keep Gentle where he could break out a window and jump down."
"About 60 enemies. One Master, two Assassins, an Apprentice, and a Novice…" Nekoi muttered. "We have no information and as soon as their security goes off, we'll be on a time crunch as well. We'll need to cover as much area as we can in a little time as we'll have… I think we have to split up."
"Master Nekoi?" Himiko queried.
"You and Novice Garcia will work as a pair. I understand she is already bloodied and you have experience working together. Apprentice Midoriya, you're in the doghouse, but you clearly have the skills we've trained you in. You will cover Assassin Aiba who may be rusty after her… time away."
"What about you, Master?" Izuku asked.
"You two pairs will need a main distraction to divert their forces while you search the floors."
"Midoriya and I will take the underground," Minami growled, her voice leaving no room for debate even as the red glow of War surrounded her.
"Fine," Nekoi agreed. "You, Apprentice Midoriya, and I will break through the front door. Assassin Toga, do you want to infiltrate before or after?"
"Nascha and I will go in first," Himiko offered. "We'll draw some of them to us. Between that and your distraction, Izuku and Assassin Aiba should have the time to find their way to the basement."
"We don't need to find it," Minami hissed. "I'll make one."
"Whatever works," Nekoi nodded. "Assassin Toga? Novice Garcia?"
Nascha stepped up to the edge of the roof, aiming at the third floor of three with her right hand. Her wrist whirled for a moment before a launcher mounted on her bracer fired, shattering a window and sticking in a wall in the Sigma Team base of operations. She secured the other end to the rooftop.
"Keep up, Nascha~" Himiko taunted, jumping onto the zipline and sliding down the rope. The American narrowed her eyes before grabbing a piece of leather, using the zipline as it was meant to be used. The remaining three watched as they reached the broken window, Himiko's rather dramatic flip into the building involving an arial assassination of the first man to respond to the destruction. She yanked a pistol from the body as Nascha arrived, the Japanese native firing into the floor.
"They did promise a distraction," Izuku muttered.
"Let's get to street level," Nekoi ordered, heading to one of the alleyways. The two Assassins and Assassin-in-training kicked their way down the walls to the ground, skulking through the shadows.
"This street isn't a main road, but it's not exactly hidden," Izuku noted. "Heroes will be here soon enough."
"Reaction time in this area was about 12 minutes during our raid a few years ago," Minami reported. "Any Heroes that show up will most likely be Templars."
"There is no guarantee of that," Nekoi said. "Let's do what we can to get in and get out before they arrive. Ready?"
"Ready, Master Nekoi," Izuku nodded before flipping on his voice changer.
"Itching to go," Minami replied.
"Then on my mark. Three… two… one…"
The trio took off, traveling across the street in a triangle with Nekoi on point. They reached the front doors, a pair of sliding glass ones, Minami surging ahead. War flared around her and, with a punch, she blasted both doors off their hinges. Nekoi stepped around her.
"Greetings, Sigma Team," she said, smirking at the half-dozen people in the lobby. "Your deaths have arrived."
A man behind a desk reached for something, lifting a pistol to aim at Nekoi. He lost his grip on it as a throwing knife buried itself in his forehead courtesy of Izuku. The gun bounced off the desk, clattering to the floor.
"Go," Nekoi ordered, deploying her hidden blades. "I'll handle things here."
"Roger that," Minami replied, War flaring around her as she punched the floor. The tile cracked and shattered, opening a hole just as other Sigma Team agents, slower on the draw, started aiming their weapons. Nekoi surged forward toward the closest one. "Apprentice!" Minami yelled.
Izuku threw himself toward the hole, sliding over the tile into it. Minami followed him as Sigma Team agents started to scream and the lights shut off, red lights flashing. A metal shutter rattled in Izuku's hearing, but he didn't see it come down. Eagle Vision flashed as his instincts screamed.
"Shit!" he yelped, rolling out of the way of a bladed tail that tried to take his head off.
"Assassin!" he heard someone yell, as if they didn't have confirmation this was a Templar stronghold. Izuku came out of his roll, counting seven Sigma Team agents in full gear. One had a tail covered in sharpened metal that whipped the air behind him, another with claws ready to reduce him to a pile of bloody mush. The other five had pistols.
"Aw, fuck," Izuku swore. "This is not how I wanted to spend my weekend."
He dodged the first bullet by flinging himself into the wall, the groves on the soles of his shoes helping him find enough traction to flip to the opposite wall, utilizing his movement lessons from Master Usagiyama. In doing so, he held the agents' attentions as Minami landed.
Izuku yanked his swords from their sheaths, his wakizashi blocking another swipe of the man's bladed tail. The verdet grit his teeth as the force drove his feet into the floor, his tanto having to join the other blade to keep the man's tail in place. His arms strained.
"Assassin!"
"On it, Apprentice!" Minami shot forward, whipping out her own pistol. The sight of it caused a couple of the agents to backpedal, reaching for riot shields, but Minami was on one of them before he could. She snarled, almost animalistic, blowing a bullet under his facemask that was subsequently painted red from the inside. The crowd faltered.
"Hold your ground!" Claw Woman yelled, slashing downward. Her scratching formed cutting winds from her claws that raced toward Minami. The assassin in question jumped off the falling corpse, firing two bullets toward the woman who was protected by another with a riot shield.
Izuku used this distraction to redirect the bladed tail to his side, charging forward with his swords still scraping against the biological metal.
"You Assassins are a disease," Tail Guy hissed, pulling his own pistol from his hip. "Die, worm!"
Time seemed to slow as he pulled the trigger, but Izuku refused to let the man's wishes come to pass. He jumped, rotating around where his swords still held the man's long, prehensile tail in check. He spun as he landed, flinging his tanto with all his might. It stabbed into the man's armored chest, making him stumble back with a gasp and a bloody cough.
"You bastard," the man growled, yanking the tanto out of his armor. Blood dribbled from a shallow wound left behind on his chest. "Who the hell do you think you are to kill indiscriminately?"
"No one has the right to do that," Izuku replied, ducking under the tail that slashed a gash into the wall. He charged forward. "Who the hell do you think you are to defend a shadowy elite oppressing the people?"
"The Templars—!" That was as far as the man got before a body fell in front of him, said body trying and failing to stop the bleeding from the throat painting the floor red. Tail Guy turned slightly, just in time to see the red miasma of War flash as Minami twisted Claw Woman's head 180 degrees. His tail retracted as he spun, ready to cleave the offending Assassin in twain, but Izuku was fast. The teen jumped, stabbing his Wakizashi into the gap his tanto had made earlier. Tail Guy froze with a cough, his head lowering as blood dribbled from the corners of his mouth. He stared into the face of the boy who had killed him.
"I take no pleasure in this," Izuku told him. "I'm sorry. Rest in peace."
The man fell to his knees, the light leaving his eye. Izuku yanked his sword free and took back his tanto as the man's tail went slack. As much as he wanted to stop and pray for the man, he was still in the middle of a battle. The verdet flicked as much blood from his swords as he could and resheathed his swords, commandeering the dead man's pistol.
Of the original seven agents, Master Aiba had dispatched four of them compared to Izuku's one. Of the remaining two, one had a sort of electricity Quirk and the other was puppeting a corpse with strings attached to it from her fingers. As he watched, Minami aimed her pistol and emptied her clip, the puppeteer using the corpse as a shield.
"Tch," the Assassin grunted. She ran down the hallway, dragging the agents' attention with her. Izuku used this to his advantage, walking in the darkness toward the pair of agents. He deployed his hidden blades.
"Kill her!" the puppeteer yelled in a feminine voice. "Kill her, dammit!"
"I'm trying!" the other replied, gathering electricity in his palms for another, larger shot at Minami.
Izuku didn't say anything or give them any warning. He stabbed forward, his blades sinking into the backs of the agents' necks where their armor gave way to helmet. Both gurgled, hands shooting upward toward their throats as if that would stop them from drowning in their own blood. The stored electricity exploded as the man's hands hit his helmet, sending out a rumble like thunder, the dying body jerking as it fell. Izuku flicked the blood from his blades.
"No time to celebrate, Apprentice. Come on."
"Right!" Izuku followed her past the blood-covered hallway deeper into the underground base.
"Apprentice, how many are left down here?"
"Twelve, I think," Izuku reported, activating his Eagle Vision. "I'm seeing lights two levels down. I think that's where they've got Gentle."
"Then that's where we'll go." War flared around her again as she punched the floor. Izuku heard, amongst the noise of the shattering concrete, the horrid crack of bones snapping from Minami's arms, but the diminutive woman made no outward sign that she'd felt anything. She jumped into the hole.
"Assassin!" Izuku called after her, but she was already on the floor below. He jumped down the hole. Two agents were already dead by the time he landed, their bodies flung against the walls on either side. Minami was rifling through their pockets, stealing bullets for her pistol. "Assassin Aiba, please."
"Which way is Gentle?"
"We can't keep going forward like—"
"Which way is Gentle, Apprentice?"
"…He's in a room one level down, about 50 meters to 10 o'clock. it appears most of the remaining agents down here are blocking the entrance."
"I see. I suppose we'll have to fight our way through."
"Assassin, if I could recommend a more underhanded approach? You still have those smoke bombs, even if their efficiency is reduced."
"I see what you mean. If most of the agents are in one place, all the better for us." She stepped away and punched the floor again, this time with the opposite hand from before. The floor dented but did not break, requiring two more hits, causing another horrible crack from Minami's arms.
"Assassin, Aiba, are you okay?"
"I'll be fine, Apprentice. Focus on the mission." She jumped, forcing Izuku to follow. The lowest underground floor was dark without flashing lights, the pair of intruders taking a moment for their eyes to adjust. "This is a bad sign. We operate in the dark. When the Templars use it, they tend to have night-vision on their side."
"…crap."
"Chin up, Apprentice. We're not going to let a little darkness get in the way of our mission. Come." Minami strode forward, already palming the smoke bombs from her tool belt.
"They are around the corner, at the end of a long hallway," Izuku reported. "I suspect the hallway is to prevent any Assassin that came in from having a hiding spot."
"As likely an explanation as any," Minami agreed. "Too bad we're just better than them."
The pair saddled up to the corner, peaking around it as much as they dared in the dark. A total of ten agents in full riot gear stood outside a door of solid steel, the hallway itself about 200 feet, two-thirds the length of an American football field. The agents were scattered, covering different positions within the latter half of the distance.
"Throwing knives will be inaccurate individually at that range without even mentioning their armor," Izuku muttered. "They're armed with rifles that severely overpower our pistols, too. We'll be fish in a barrel."
"Not if we move and attack at the same time," Minami replied, loading her pistols. "Bullets first. Use them up fast while closing the distance. Switch to throwing knives once we're closer. After that, we will fight in the smoke. Remember, never stop moving."
"Yes, ma'am." Izuku accepted her extra bullets since reloading would be impractical at their planned speed, stocking his own stolen pistols. "On your mark."
"Three…" She mimed the last two numbers before pointing. All at once, she and Izuku raced out from behind the corner, Minami running on the floor while Izuku opted for wall jumping. The agents in the lead called out as the pair of Assassins pulled their triggers in a spray down the hallway. Most of the bullets missed, but they did manage to wound three and kill another two before their weapons were empty. "Evasive maneuvers, Apprentice!"
Their movements became more erratic, the pair jumping from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, in seemingly-random spurts. Return fire whizzed down the hallways, missing the Assassins by millimeters at times. Several grazed Izuku, ripping into his robes but leaving his skin with nothing but friction burns at most. He flipped, throwing his few remaining knives in a gambit that managed to sneak under the facemask of one agent, dropping him instantly. Minami's knives took two more with well-angled throws.
The force of ten was cut in half, but neither Izuku nor Minami could relax. They closed the distance, as light on their feet as feathers. Minami spun, using that momentum to propel her three smoke bombs. One of them fizzled, failing to go off, while the other two blanketed the back half of the hallway in white. The Assassins darted into the manmade cloud.
"Two targets at close range!" one of the agents warned. "Activ—!" He went rigid, his eyes rolling as Izuku pulled his wrist blade from the back of his neck. He flicked the blood away, splattering it on the floor, and vanished into the fog again.
"Captain!" another voice yelled. "Shit! These dogs are— Guh!"
Izuku rolled, appearing in front of another agent. Said agent panicked, trying to bring his gun around with a scream, but Izuku was too close for a rifle of that make. He grabbed the barrel jacket and pushed the weapon to his left, the gunshots happening right next to his ear. He all but ripped his tanto from its sheathe, sliding the blade up under the agent's breastplate and into the soft flesh below.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, pushing the agent against the wall. He pulled the tanto free and cleaned it on the armored vest. "I understand you were given no choice in this life. Rest now. Be at peace."
The agent slid down, blood trickling from his mouth as he died. Izuku pitied him for only a moment before more gunfire in the hallway reminded him that there were still two agents left, though he was willing to bet that number was down to one now.
The smoke began to clear, revealing a scene of carnage. Izuku stood on one side over the slumped agent, slowly replacing his tanto. Minami stood on the other, an agent with her head turned 180 degrees toppling over. Seven other dead agents littered the hallway in pools of blood, the crimson a stark contrast against the white tile. Only one agent remained, a mousy little man with beady eyes shaking in his armor. He had his back pressed against the door, his rifle practically rattling in his grip.
"Look, Apprentice. You'd think he'd never seen a real Assassin before."
"I suspect they were new recruits who had never seen combat. I almost feel bad."
"Yes, their training was probably entirely inside an Animus."
The white-dressed boy turned to the cowering agent. "If we told you to drop your weapon and to abandon this life, would you?"
"Yes!" he squeaked. "Yes! God yes! A thousand times, yes! Just don't kill me, please!"
Izuku glanced at Minami before nodding slowly. The agent took that as confirmation to flee, practically flying between them. He made it most the way down the hallway.
BANG!
Izuku's eyes widened as the agent fell forward, the verdet's eyes tracing to the smoking rifle in Minami's hand. She lowered the weapon, her face a mask of impartiality.
"If we didn't do it, Master Nekoi probably would have. Besides, we don't need any survivors. Survivors are nothing but risk." She turned to the steel door the agents had been guarding. She walked over to the access panel on the side and, without pause or hesitation, shot three bullets into it. Sparks flew with a whiff of ozone, the panel turning red. The doors hissed but did not move. Minami sighed. "The hard way it is, then."
"The… hard way, Assassin Aiba?"
"Yes, the hard way." She positioned herself before the door, War flaring. She punched.
The steel crunched with another bad crack from her arm, one that saw Minami flinch noticeably. Izuku's trained eye saw her right arm shaking. Even as he opened his mouth to ask if she was okay, the steel door she'd punched creaked and fell off its hinges.
The room beyond was covered in technical equipment, the walls hidden behind unpolished metal. Gentle Criminal laid in a leaned-back chair of red satin, his hands and feet cuffed to the seat. The knee that Gentle had shot was wrapped in what looking like a high-tech sort of bandage and his head was encased in a shaped pillow, his face pointed upward toward a curved screen that flashed with lights.
"I didn't think you would make it this far," Compress admitted, standing from his desk beside the set-up. "I figured the more experienced agents would get you upstairs and the fresh hires would see no action. I take it they're dead, then?"
"To a man," Minami confirmed, aiming her stolen rifle at the Sigma Team leader. "Shut it down and give Gentle back."
"Did you really think it would be so simple after all that, Minami Aiba?" His hand hovered over a big, red button. "If you make any move toward me or pull that trigger, I will press this button. Would you like to guess what it does?"
"I don't like the implications," Izuku admitted.
"Listen to the boy," Compress agreed. "This failsafe crashes the Animus system. If that happens with a subject inside…" His other hand formed a marble by surrounding air itself. He held the marble for a moment before crushing it between his fingers, turning it to blue dust. "Well, that, to the individual's mind."
Minami froze, her grip on the gun tightening as she warred with herself. Her teeth gritted. "You bastard. You're lying."
"Are you willing to risk if I'm not?" Compress waited but took Minami's silence as the go-ahead to continue. "I will make you an offer, Minami Aiba. I know how much you care for Danjuro and it is clear your skills have not waned as much as I had suspected, so I will give you one chance to get him back. Offer yourself up, and I will allow him to leave with your little friend after you have taken his place in the Animus."
"I…" Minami trembled, the stolen weapon in her hands shaking. "Gentle…"
"Don't believe him," Izuku warned. "I've heard what they do to Assassins. Brainwashing, information extraction, torture…"
"You make us sound like barbarians," Compress chuckled. "It's just a little mental manipulation for a switch of loyalty."
"I should just kill you now," Minami hissed. "One bullet to the brain is all it would take—"
"Ah ah ah," the man chastised. "Unless you want me to hit the bu—"
Minami twitched, the bullet ripping into Compress' arm. He screamed as the force made him stumble backward.
"Apprentice!" Minami barked as she charged forward. "Get Gentle!"
"Roger!" Izuku ran for the Animus, his eyes scanning over the machines and systems. He tracked the wires to a computer tucked between a couple other machines. He ran over, finding a screen he assumed showed whatever Gentle Criminal was seeing in the Animus. His consciousness was trapped in a stormy ocean, apparently in a panic as he tried not to sink below the choppy waves. Izuku's hands flew to the keyboard, but the first button push brought up a prompt. "Assassin! It's password protected! It won't let me interfere!"
"Fuck," he heard Minami swear. "I should have known."
"Did you think rescuing your precious Gentle would be so simple, Minami Aiba?" Compress laughed. He flicked his wrist, a sword growing from a marble that had been up his sleeve. Minami grunted, catching the sword with her stolen rifle. "He belongs to the Templars now."
"He's not yours!" She pushed, emptying the stolen gun's clip, but the range was far too close to be effective. Compress slashed, the blade sinking into the now-empty rifle. Minami grunted, bending the metal with a jerk before throwing both useless weapons to the side.
Compress flicked his wrist, deploying his stolen hidden blade. He lunged with it, Minami quickly activating her own. Steel scraped against steel with a ringing SCREE, sparks falling from the point of contact. Compress flicked his other wrist, producing a pistol. Minami dove to the side as a pair of bullets pinged off the remaining steel door.
The screen before Izuku flashed red at his third failed password guess. He wasn't as tech-savvy as, say, Samedare and his UA classes meant he wouldn't have time to spend with his mother if he wanted to also take the Assassins' hacking classes, too. In the image of the electronic world of the Animus, the storm worsened, Gentle desperately treading water as every swell threatened to submerge him.
"Help!" His voice was small, barely eking out from a pair of headphones on the table. "Somebody, please!"
"Assassin!" Izuku called. "The storm's getting worse! What do I do?"
"You'll die like all Assassins is what you'll do," Compress hissed, turning his pistol toward Izuku. The boy dove as bullets zipped over the monitor, sinking into old, inactive technology behind with a pingpingping.
Minami weighed her options. Hopefully, the Apprentice —as a self-proclaimed Hero Student— had what it took to stand against Compress until she managed to hack the system.
"Apprentice, switch!"
"You're going nowhere," Compress said, reaching for her. "For my next trick—"
"Die!" Compress jumped back, his movement removing him from the path of the tanto while his hidden blade deflected the wakizashi. Izuku didn't let that deter him, spinning around to maintain his force.
"How annoying," Compress muttered, trying to aim his pistol as Minami ran to the computer. Izuku jabbed with his tanto, forcing the man back. "Can't you see, boy? She is using you for her own gain. She doesn't care about you or your Brotherhood. She ran from it. For all you know, she may decide to just kill you when she has what she wants, just to keep the rest of your kind from knowing she's alive."
"She won't," Izuku replied. "They already know. Did you think we'd assault this building alone?"
Izuku imagined the man's eyes widening behind his mask. While Compress comprehended the statement, Izuku dashed, dodging left and right as Compress emptied his clip.
"Gentle?" Minami questioned, a glance her way showing that she was wearing the headphones. "Gentle, it's me. The kid and I are here to rescue you. We just need to crack this password."
"You rotten boy!" Compress snarled. "Can't you see I only want to give my cousin purpose for his aimless life?"
"I think he already had purpose before you showed up," said boy rebuffed, jumping to swing his swords down at an angle. The taller man threw his empty pistol in the verdet's face, flicking his wrist to summon a rapier from another marble. Izuku stumbled back from a combination of the gun hitting his forehead and the force of the parry. Compress moved in for a repost, Izuku's screaming instincts making the deadly blow only stab his side rather than the squishy vitals. "Fuck!"
"A shame one of your age and skill chose such a path," Compress said, drawing the rapier back. Izuku screamed, each blood-covered inch of pointed blade sending fire through his side. He reached out, grabbing Compress' arm through the sleeve.
"We're not done." He stabbed with his hidden blade, Compress catching it with his own.
"Dammit, boy! I don't have to be your ene—"
Hands grabbed Compress' arm holding the handle of the rapier, the fingers digging down to squeeze the skin below. There was a terrible CRUNCH and a nasty ripping, tearing sound. Compress screamed in pain, staggering backward, holding the stump that used to be the middle of his forearm. Minami held the rest of the arm, breaking the fingers off the handle of the rapier before tossing the arm to the side. Izuku held the sword in place, grimacing. He remembered enough first aid to know you don't remove a weapon that was keeping most of the blood in. Numerous blue marbles scattered from the ripped sleeve of the appendage, some of them cracking to reveal guns, swords, and other dangerous things.
"Assassin…" Izuku muttered. "Is Gentle…?"
"I have a virus trying to locate the password," she replied, not taking her eyes off Compress.
"Damn it," the Templar hissed, blood from his stump arm dripping to the ground. "God damn you, you Assassins! Your fight is in vain, only delaying the contented happiness of the world!"
"Ignorance may be bliss, but it's a hollow existence," Izuku grunted. "Those who would trade freedom for safety deserve neither."
"Don't paraphrase Benjamin Franklin to me, boy. You know nothing. The mission of the Templars is no temporary safety."
"Of course it is," Minami denied. "It's slavery wrapped in a cage of fool's gold doomed to eventual revolution. Forced compliance is no path to peace."
"If it is all the human race knows, then it can be. All your so-called freedom is just chaos, death, and destruction! Subjugation alone is order and peace!"
"Lambs to the slaughter guarded by the wolves that devour them," Izuku grunted.
"…Fine," Compress growled. "I see it was foolish to think either of you could see reason." He sighed, his remaining hand gathering a number of marbles from his sleeve. "Take your freedom and see what it gets you!"
He threw the marbles, each one breaking for their contents to expand back to their original sizes. A quarter of them turned out to be—
"Grenades!" Izuku yelled, yanking the rapier out of his gut and tackling Minami. The grenades exploded in flashes of light, the flashbangs' echoes bouncing around the room, making the Assassins' ears ring. Pellets and pebbles rained down on them, bit Izuku barely registered this as warm blood dribbled down the sides of his face from his busted eardrums. He tried to push himself off the small Assassin, unsteady, his vision blurry, but he fell onto his side. Through the pain, he could tell the lights were flashing red. He assumed there was a siren too, but it was only muted fuzz to him if so.
"Gentle‽" Minami yelled. Or, Izuku suspected she yelled, considering everything was still so garbled. The female Assassin stumbled to her feet but mostly crawled toward the man in the Animus. Compress was nowhere to be seen, a trail of blood leading to a wall. "Gentle!"
Izuku stood, his hands over his ears as he fought off the vertigo and the urge to vomit. Minami had the headset on again, one hand holding her up even as it looked like her legs were trying to give out. The computer screen before her, however, was blue. Izuku's eyes drifted to the big, red button Compress had pointed out when they arrived. There were rocks strewn all over the panel, the button and several others pressed.
It seems he hadn't been bluffing.
"Gentle‽ Gentle, can you hear me‽ Answer me!" The pink glow of Minami's Love surrounded the man's body, but there was no visible change.
"Assassin?" Izuku tried, though it was clear she didn't hear him. He raised his voice. "Assassin Aiba!"
"Not now, Apprentice! Gentle, please—!"
"He's gone, Assassin!"
"He's not gone!" Minami whipped around, tears carving lines down her face. "He can't be! Not when we're so close to my happy ending! Gentle!" She was openly sobbing now, clutching at the silent headset. Her Love flickered. "Gentle, please… I need to hear your voice…"
Izuku more or less crawled over to the Animus itself, finding the release switch. He turned it, the machine hissing as the now-blank screen over the white-haired man pulled away. He was still breathing, his chest quietly rising and falling, but there was no awareness or life in his eyes.
Something loudly ground above them, the room shaking.
"Assassin Aiba, we need to get out of here!"
She didn't respond other than stumbling to her feet. She grabbed Gentle's arm and started trying to pull him out of the machine, but he was dead weight and she was short. A section of the ceiling fell, hitting the ground with a CLANG.
"We need to go!"
"I'm not leaving without my Gentle!"
"His mind's gone—"
"I DON'T CARE! HE'S ALIVE AND I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT HIM!"
"Shit…!" Izuku grabbed his swords, sheathing them, before taking one of Gentle's arms and throwing it around his shoulders even as his stab wound flared. Together, he and Minami dragged the taller man out of the Animus. The lights were flashing in the hallway as well, the pair pulling the spotlight-chasing Villain along, his feet dragging along the floor. They were unsteady, their balance shot, but they leaned on each other for support.
A rope dropped down the hole they'd used to get down, Assassin Toga sliding down it as the pair rounded the corner. Her robes were covered in blood, some of it her own based on the blood trailing from her hairline and the new black eye she sported.
"What the hell happened?" she demanded. Minami looked at her, tears still leaking from her eyes. Toga didn't need more of an answer, the three silently cooperating the get Gentle up.
"Average police response time is coming fast," Nekoi said, her eyes taking in the scene but filing the information for analyzation later. "Novice Garcia has readied our escape route."
"What about all the agents?" Izuku asked. His emotions tried to rebel, but he pushed them down. There would be time for breakdowns and mourning later. "Are they dead?"
"The fled when we cut down some number of them," the Master Assassin answered. "We'll have the debrief later. Run now."
And so they ran, a flick of a single box of matches starting a fire that would consume the building.
The fire was only the Assassins' cover, the five watching as a sinkhole from the collapsing underground tunnels —presumably— swallowed the burning building just as the first responders of police and fire department arrived. With nothing else for them there, the five Assassins carried the limp man away.
They had Gentle back, but this mission could not be called a success.
Compress swore to himself, the blood loss making his vision blurry as he used the wall for support. The escape tunnel was covered in dust, a great shake telling him that the failsafe collapse had gone off without interruption. He panted, pushing open the wall at the end of the tunnel.
"Those damned Assassins," he hissed. "The next time I get my hands on them—"
"Oh, good. You're already planning for a next time."
Compress' head shot up at the voice, a blonde girl with horns and a reedy man in too much make-up staring at him in what was supposed to be an isolated basement. She girl was dressed in casual clothing, a white shirt under a blue jacket and tan pants.
"Who the hell—?"
"I see they really did a number on you," the girl said, gesturing to the man's missing arm. "Atsuhiro Sako, head of Sigma Team Japan?"
"What's it to you?"
She grinned. "My name is Pony Miles-Tsunotori, and I have a proposition for you. Come to my family's ranch and we'll prepare you for another shot at the Assassins that did this."
"You want to help me?"
"Retrained, rearmed, Symphony will make you better than ever. We're in need of generals for Japan, after all. The local Templars don't have to know."
Mr. Compress, Atsuhiro Sako, only needed a moment to consider it. He would've been as good as dead after this failure anyway.
"Deal."
"Stupid! Irresponsible! Reckless! We trained you better than this! You're smarter than this!"
Izuku bowed his head, accepting the verbal tirade. His self-assigned mission had spiraled into something so far out of his control that he had no defense for his actions. Yes, it would have gone off without a hitch if not for Mr. Compress' meddling, but that was beside the point.
"I'm sorry, Master Nekoi," he muttered. "I thought that there would be no interference from the Templars, much less Sigma Team."
"Of course Usagiyama would okay this," Nekoi growled under her breath. "She always preferred action over words as a training method."
"This is my fault," Izuku said. "The blame lies with me."
"We'll see what Mentor has to say about all this. Come."
Izuku got to his feet, following Nekoi like a man to the gallows. The walk to Mentor's office was a short one, but thankfully it was only painful emotionally. Physically, the Den's Medic Fai had patched him up, a stretching and rearranging of his skin patching his eardrums and filling the stab wound in his side. Nekoi knocked before opening the door, gesturing Izuku inside.
Minami was already there, kneeling before the Mentor, her head down and her forearms in casts. Izuku knelt at her side, bowing to the aged man.
"Apprentice Midoriya, Mentor."
"Yes, the other hot-blooded youth of this escapade," Mentor acknowledged. "You may go, Master Nekoi. I shall handle their discipline."
"…Of course, Mentor." The cat-woman gave Izuku another look before closing the door. Oshoto Aizawa stared at the pair, as if waiting for one of them to break and speak first.
"…This was my fault," Mentor," Minami said after a couple minutes. "I should have killed that bastard the moment I knew who he was. My cowardice—"
"What is done is done," the man interrupted. "Look at it this way. Sigma Team's Japanese base is in pieces, a good number of their forces dead and the rest scattered. Even their head was made to flee."
"He's still alive," Minami growled.
"But routed and crippled according to your report," Mentor noted. He turned to Izuku. "And all this from your actions, Apprentice. Would you care to explain what you were thinking?"
"I was thinking that immoral people were skirting and hiding from the law while their actions ruined and destroyed the lives of others, Mentor," the verdet replied. "They were not innocent. Their statuses as non-Templars meant nothing to me. Just because Templars are the greatest threat does not mean everyone else gets a free pass."
"…I see." The Mentor sighed. "I understand you carried a braindead man to our doorstep?"
"A Villain named Gentle Criminal, Mentor," Izuku replied. Minami beside him was grateful; she would have choked up. "He and Assassin Aiba were partners during her… absence."
"Having heard the reports from Master Nekoi and Assassin Toga, I would say the outcome of the mission is punishment enough," the man said. "Apprentice Midoriya, despite the… nature of your self-chosen missions, your skill is clear to see. Hopefully, this mission has taught you the importance of relying on your fellow Assassins rather than attempting the bear some burdens yourself."
"Yes, Mentor…"
"Good. Sad though it may be, you returned a lost Assassin to us, and this we do not take lightly… The official ceremony will have to wait, but I think you have earned this for your growth. Go finish your recovery, Soldier Midoriya. You still need to attend school on Monday."
"Thank you, Mentor." Izuku bowed and rose, accepting the dismissal for what it was. He didn't feel like he'd earned the promotion, not after giving Minami the hope of a happy ending only for it to slip through her fingers at the last moment, but we wasn't going to argue with the leader of the Osaka Brotherhood about it. As the door closed, the older man turned his attention back to Minami.
"Assassin Aiba. You abandoned us for two years, and now circumstances have driven you back. Even so, there is something different in your eyes. As such, I will offer you a deal."
"A deal?" the small woman echoed.
"You will return to active service. As long as you remain active, we will care for this Gentle Criminal in the hopes of his eventual recovery. Do you accept?"
Minami stood, instantly laying her hand over her heart and bowing. Her voice was cold and determined.
"Assassin Minami Aiba ready for duty, Mentor."
End of Chapter 65
This chapter turned out so long, but there was nowhere to stop it. Oh well. I hope you all enjoyed the raid!
Izuku kill count this chapter: 8
Total Izuku kill count: I don't know, probably 30-something.
Total kill count of named characters: 73.5 (if you include Gentle's brain death)
Total kill count of Canon/movie characters: 28.5
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-SwordOfTheGods