Chapter Forty-Seven
Bakugo grit his teeth, setting off another explosion, hands spread wide to shove him backwards as a giant rabbit asshole tried to cave in his fuckin' skull. The dick smiled from behind his dumb fuckin' shades and charged, picking up speed, and it was all Bakugo could do to throw himself to the side, another blast ready, waiting for. . . now.
The second the other guy's leg came down, his body weight on it as he narrowly missed grabbing the Bombing King, the blast went off, catching the tall fuzzy dickbag right behind the knee. The blast sending the other man staggering as Bakugo used the force to roll away, right himself, and reach back to set off another paired explosions to throw himself towards his opponent, hands aching from setting off so many so fast.
Shooting forward, the other man turned, hand reaching back for a punch, but while the bunny bastard's Quirk let him multiply his own momentum, he needed to get started, and Bakugo wasn't gonna give him the fuckin' time. Glad to pull out a move he'd prepared for the sports festival, he sent himself spinning as he flew through the air, moving faster and faster, grinning as he overcharged a blast to send his flight path spiraling up and around instead of coming straight on as he yelled "Howitzer Impact!"
The blast wave he set off, a moment before he would've slammed headfirst into his opponent, cancelled his momentum completely, as the entire area before him lit up in an explosion that shoved the teen backwards, trying to land on his feet but falling on his ass, turning it into a roll that got him up on one knee as he watched, waiting.
No way he fuckin' survived that, Bakugo thought, and grinned as the dust cloud cleared, showing his opponent blasted almost fifty feet away, through one tree and leaning against another. The man's glasses were cracked and from beneath them bloodshot eyes glared back at Bakugo.
Okay, he did, but I can still do this, the Bombing King thought, shakily getting to his feet, but adrenaline surging through his veins let him move as the other man tried to get up too, only to fall back down, groaning audibly.
"Damn it, I give!" the sidekick announced, face-down in the dirt. "Where the hell did you get this kid, boss?"
"UA," Shishido remarked blandly, standing off to the side, along with the other sidekick.
"That'd do it," the rabbit-man agreed, wheezing a little, very slowly pushing himself up, getting to his feet, unsteady enough Bakugo was sure the sidekick hadn't let him win. "Almost had you, too, kid."
The explosive teen scoffed, "You wish, carrot-breath."
He had though. Bakugo had just thought that the heteromorph was strong, that his Quirk was his different appearance, like Arms-strong or Frogger, and then the asshole had gotten wound up and blew through the teen's blast like it was nothing at all. It was only Katsuki's reflexes that'd let him dodge the grapple the larger man had been going for, and which might've ended the fight right then and there.
Bakugo was strong, and he didn't have to wind up like his opponent did, but the other asshole was stronger, and backblasts fuckin' hurt if not managed right. He might be able to blow his way out of a hold, if his arms were free, but he was pretty sure the other guy wasn't going to let that happen if he got his hands on the student.
As the seven-foot tall lagamorph gingerly walked over to them, the sparring area a torn-up wreck, the explosive teen turned to his mentor. "So I kicked Jazz Jackrabbit's ass, and Puss-in-Boots barely rated. What's next?""
"Patrol," the Lion Hero, replied, voice a lazy growl. "Let's see if you can keep that pace up. Then lunch. Then you fight both of them."
"At the same time? How the fuck's that fair?" Bakugo replied, frowning. "Not that I can't kick both your fuckin' asses," he quickly added.
"I'm gonna make you eat those words, boom-boy, along with the dirt" the cat-girl sneered right back. "Ya mighta caught me off guard yesterday, but I got yer number."
He laughed derisively at the thought that she could take him, "Whatever you need to tell yourself, shitty-kitty." However, he'd barely taken down the other guy. If they were used to fighting together, not gettin' in each others way as idiots tended to do, this might be bad.
Fuck it, I can win.
Hare-brained would still be hurtin', but he'd be coming off a patrol, and if it was anything like yesterday's patrol they'd be movin' fast. That was fine by him, walkin' 'round like an extra was for chumps, but he wasn't gonna get more than a few chances to rest up. "So, two on one, how's that fair?" he reiterated, Shishido not having answered his question.
"Yeah, 'cause Villains are known for being fair," the Pro mused, and guy had a point. "You aren't gonna have time to prep, like the festival. You deal with it as it happens. You win, great. You keep the fight long enough, good. With your Quirk, help would come. You go down right away-"
"Like that'll fuckin' happen!" Bakugo sneered.
The Lion Hero nodded, agreeing that probably wasn't going to happen, but the hard look in his eyes reminded the teen of the way it already had.
"You go down right away, we've got something to work on. Now come on," he said, turning his back on them all and crouching down. "We've got a patrol to run." With a low growl, the man launched himself forward, jumping several dozen feet before sprinting towards the city in a loping run, not even looking behind himself.
Bakugo laughed, glancing at the other two. "Kick your ass later," he told them getting a running start before setting off his blasts to launch himself forward, hands still stinging, but manageable. Unable to help himself, he glanced back, to see tiger-girl flipping him off, while the other guy just watched him consideringly.
This is gonna suck. This is gonna be great, he thought with a feral grin, doing his best to catch up to Shishido, who had barely bothered to slow down for him.
And he wouldn't want it any other way.
Muscles aching, Ochaco hit the training mat, and laid there, unable to get up.
"Ooowwwie," she groaned, thinking, At least I learned to fall right, small points of stinging pain running down her face, arms, and back. Each one was a spot where she'd been hit, the Pro's Quirk dialed down to its lowest setting. "Are you sure this is helping, Snakebite-Sensei?"
Her mentor, a severe looking man in a synthetic snakeskin formal suit, made as if it was harvested from a single enormous anaconda, squatted down next to her. "It is. Tell me, young lady, how much physical training have you done?" he asked, words quick, precise, and measured. " Strength training, specifically."
"A bit," she groaned. "I mostly do cardio. My Quirk makes things weightless, so I didn't need that much," she shrugged, which didn't help. " Ow. That was a mistake?"
"That was a mistake," he agreed, reaching down and carefully picking her up, dropping her back on her feet once more. "Why?"
The gravity-negating girl thought about it for a moment, massaging the faint stinging from her arms. She knew it only lasted a few minutes, but she still didn't like it. "Because my Quirk doesn't matter if I can't touch you?"
"Part of it, yes," the man nodded. "Use it on me and try again."
"But," she argued, tilting her head. "If I used it on you, haven't I already won?"
Snakebite-sensei raised a single eyebrow. "Like you won against your classmate?"
" Oh, right," Uraraka sighed, but got ready to fight again, wondering what else she was going to do. Reaching out for her mentor's offered arm, she used her Quirk and the man started floating. He looked a somewhat unsettled for a moment, before pulling his arms and legs in a little, waving for her to start.
"Um. . ." she said, unsure, before she went ahead and tried to punch the man.
That was the wrong thing to do.
Quick as a, well, snake, Snakebite-sensei's arm darted out grabbing her elbow even as she punched him. Her limb went numb as he pulled himself down, using her as an anchor to hit her twice more, the blows fast and precise, punches that drove the air from her lungs before he flipped her, and she hit the ground, again, even as he was sent spinning away, catching himself on the ceiling and bouncing off, rebounding several times before he got himself under control, and stopped, upside down, on the ceiling, snakeskin boots holding onto the anchor of a punching bag.
"Owwwie," she groaned again.
Looking completely unbothered with being inverted, her mentor asked, "And what have we learned?"
"Being punched hurts," she replied, trying not to whine, and failing.
"What else?" he pressed.
Thinking through the pain, as it quickly faded, and she worked her numb arm, still lying on the ground, Ochaco went over her training with Snakebite-sensei. Of what happened, but more of what happened right before she started fighting. "I need a better plan."
The smile on her mentor's severe features was slight, but it was there. " Oh?"
Nodding, she used her Quirk on herself, the moment of nausea worth getting up easier, as she pushed herself up, spinning around, and pressed her fingers together with a murmured, "release!" She dropped to her feet, as the Pro fell, twisting mid-air to land lightly on the mat.
"I. . . I need more than my Quirk," she said, more thinking out loud than anything. "I accepted your offer, Snakebite-sensei, because, while I want to be a Support Hero, sometimes you have to fight." Like at the USJ.
She hadn't had to fight then, being one of those the dark mist guy hadn't sent elsewhere, but from what she'd heard form the others, it'd been bad. She wanted to believe she'd've been just as strong as Asui and the others had been, but some part of her wondered. That was why she'd wanted to train with a Combat Hero, but all she'd done was lose.
"I think I understand," the man said, walking towards the door of the training room, motioning for her to follow. She did so, wondering if this was when he'd tell her that she'd made a mistake. That she'd chosen wrong, and she shouldn't come back tomorrow. That she shouldn't even be a hero, that she- "Catch," he said, and she glanced up, panicked, as a water bottle flew towards her head. She tried to grab it, but missed, only managing to catch it with a single fingertip, and reflexively used her Quirk, stopping it mid-air. It floated and she grabbed it, letting it go with her power by tapping a finger to her thumb.
He motioned for her to sit at the chair next to his desk, and she did so, opening the bottle and taking a sip, which did make her feel better. Snakebite-sensei regarded her. "Your homeroom teacher is Eraserhead, correct?"
She frowned, nodding, wondering how he knew that, before remembering that Aizawa-sensei had needed to sign off on their choices, so his signature would be on her application forms. "He is," she added, when the other man didn't say anything else.
"And his Quirk, it stops other Quirks from working, correct?" he continued, and she nodded. "Good Quirk to teach new heroes with. In that case, though, he must need to be very careful fighting heteromorphs, since he's no stronger than a normal person."
She started to nod in agreement, then stopped. She'd seen Aizawa-sensei jump down fifty stairs at once, and he punched a guy made of rock, and the rock guy's face broke. "I, but, how?" Ochaco asked, confused, only now noticing the oddity. In the moment he'd been a Pro Hero, so of course he could do all that, but how? "His Quirk isn't. . . but he. . . I don't understand," she admitted, really confused.
"You are only a first year, so they might not have covered this. Everyone with a Quirk has a secondary power. The same secondary power, though it's hard to tell from the outside," Snakebite-sensei revealed. "Looking at the festival, without it, the explosion boy's hands should have been broken by his Quirk, Endeavor's child should have suffered from frostbite, and you, you have never been hurt in a fall, have you? Or, if you have, it was less than anyone else would've been?"
"I, yes, but, that's just our Quirks," she argued, blushing in embarrassment when she realized she was contradicting her mentor. "I mean, I thought it was just them. Like, we have the powers, of course we can use them. Are you saying it isn't like that?"
The snake-clad man shook his head. "They call it the Atlas Quirk, because it holds up our world, though the Americans say it is because of one of their heroes or something. If you have a Quirk, you are stronger than someone without one. You are tougher. Full stop. And that toughness and strength can be trained. Not just in the way your Quirk works, but in all ways."
The man, to prove the point, reached over and lifted his hardwood desk with one hand. He had to grit his teeth a little to do it, but the fact that he could, when his Quirk was Venom Touch, was surprising. Maybe his Quirk could make him physically stronger in his arms, but touch-based Quirks didn't do that She'd looked it up, since she had one. . . but he just had. . . That meant- "Are you saying I could get stronger?"
"Easily," he agreed, as if it were obvious, and, maybe it was? "Never as much as All-Might, or anyone with a power-type. A power-type that has trained their Quirk," Snakebite-sensei amended. "An untrained power-type you might be able to match, one day. But you have another Quirk, and both let you win. Along with experience."
She thought about it. "Then. . . then I could be as strong as Ida?" she asked, more to herself than her mentor.
"Ida? Ida. . ." her mentor mused. "Related to Ingenium?" he asked, and she nodded. "In arm strength, yes, or stronger, but. . ." he trailed off, holding both hands out, his left was just over his desk, nearly touching it, the right ten centimeters above it. "This is your strength level," he said, waving his left, which was depressing, but accurate. "And this is Ida," he waved his right. "If you both trained, at anything close to the same level, he will always be stronger than you," he told her lifting both hands at the same rate, before returning them to their original positions.
"If he only trained his legs, trained his Quirk," he instructed, lifting his left hand the same as before, the right half as fast, and it took a few seconds, but the left overtook the right. "But if he started training the rest of himself later," the man added, lifting his right hand, and soon enough 'Ida' overtook her. "You eventually hit diminishing returns, without a physical enhancement quirk. The green-haired boy and the electrical one will always be stronger than you, but the pink-skinned girl who defeated you? She has trained, it is obvious if you know what to look for. But you could train more if you want. Do you want to?"
The way it was phrased, it wasn't a challenge. The man was honestly curious.
Did she? Ochaco thought. She wanted to be better, to be a good hero so she could make enough money to pay her parents back for everything they'd given her, but she didn't need to train this way to do that. She could do great with what she had, and, if she said so, she got the feeling that Snakebite-sensei would nod and help her get better without training that way.
Only. . .
Unbidden, her mind went to a certain green-haired boy, about how he'd carried her through the Sports Festival. Literally. She wanted to help, and she had, with her Quirk, but. . . could she've helped more if she was stronger? Could she've done more than watch, when Villains had attacked? She could become a hero without doing that. Thirteen couldn't fight other than by using her power, and she was a famous Pro, but, if Thirteen had been able to, would she've been as hurt when the shadow mist Villain turned her own power against herself?
Ochaco knew she could play it safe. Make money. Live a good life without that much danger.
But would her friends?
Looking her mentor straight in the eye, she nodded. "I will!"
Running across the rooftop, launching himself up to come down on the next one, head on a swivel to look for the next attack, Midoriya wondered if this was what it was like to be a Villain.
He. . . well he didn't like it, obviously, being a Villain was bad, obviously, and he hadn't done the Villain part, where you hurt someone, because he wouldn't do that, but this part?
He had to admit, it was kinda fun.
"Get your head in the game, Midori!" Mirko yelled, launching herself off a another rooftop as she closed on him, foot leading in a telegraphed attack, but he'd seen this move before, so he stopped, waiting, and. . . there. Instead of the flying kick, she brought her foot down a couple feet away from him and used it to spin into a different kick, but where he expected a roundhouse, instead she turned it into a rising kick that almost caught him in the chin, the blast of its passing felt viscerally as the shockwave of air pressed up against his face through the holes in his costume's metal mouthguard.
A part of him wanted to run, to get away, but she was just so much more faster than he was that he couldn't, and, also, that wasn't the point of this exercise. So instead he turned his flight into an attack, as he threw himself backwards into a roll, coming up in a running stance and, with One-for-All at twelve, maybe thirteen percent, individual percents were hard to do, charged his mentor.
She looked really unimpressed though, so he pulled out the newest trick he'd thought of, about thirty seconds ago, and, right before he was going to reach her, he spiked his power a little, only to about eighteen percent, enough to hurt a bit but enough that he could use it sparingly, to launch himself forward with a burst of speed, messing up the timing of her counter-kick.
The look of sudden interest as he closed was worrying, but her leg was out of position to hit him, and her stance was wrong for another sudden rising knee out of nowhere, so she'd either run, and give him some space, and some more time to plan, or he'd finally hit her. His fist came up, telegraphing, but with how One-for-All worked that actually helped, and he closed, grinning, ready to, after a day and a half of fighting, get a blow in.
Then she punched him in the face.
Blasted away by the force of the strike, he flew back almost a dozen feet, face smarting. Without All Might's Quirk, he was sure his nose would be broken, but he'd discovered that, just as the Quirk stressed his body, it also strengthened it. All Might being All Might, it made sense his Quirk made the user strong in every sense. Several times the man had been shot with guns, only to barely notice, armor-piercing munitions only bruising at most, though he preferred to stop the bullets himself to prevent ricochets from hurting innocent bystanders. Midoriya didn't want to test himself against that kind of thing any time soon, but, one day, he would.
Now though, "You punched me," he commented, as she watched him get to his feet. "You punch people?"
"Why can't I?" she challenged, though, from what he knew of her, she hadn't in any of her public fights. "Yeah, my legs are awesome, but I'm more than just that."
She stopped there, and Midoriya could tell there was more, but she wasn't going to tell him. Working with Ms. Mirko, even if it had only been for a day and a half, he'd started to get a sense for her. She was strong, and brash, a bit like a nicer version of Bakugo, and wasn't that a thought, but she wasn't going to hold his hand. She'd give him all he needed, and just stand back, and it was up to him to figure it out. And, in a way, he liked that.
All Might was the best, obviously, but while his idol showed him how to be a Hero, he sometimes assumed Midoriya knew more than he did, and Midoriya should be able to fill in the blanks, that was on him for missing something so obvious , but Ms. Mirko didn't assume anything. It was only Tuesday, but he was already coming to appreciate her approach. In this case, though, he thought he knew what she was trying to tell him. "You train your whole body," he stated more than asked.
In response, she took a bit of a bodybuilder's pose, but one balanced to attack or evade if need be, flexing her arms. "These look like wet noodles to you?"
He shook his head, because no, they didn't, but there was another piece to what she was trying to tell him. "And when you move, you don't use all your strength, do you?"
"Pffft, no," she scoffed. "You know how strong I am, Midori. If I did, this'd happen!"
Crouching low, she launched herself upwards with so much force the concrete of the rooftop cracked, a blast of air pushing him back as he looked up, watching her rise several hundred feet in the air, just like All Might, and he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he watched her go, stopping at the top and turning with a flip, starting to come down close to a skyscraper which she kicked off of, careful to hit the frame and not the windows, sending herself off at an angle, bouncing off several more buildings as she got back to him in a way that was fast, but very different than All Might. However, she didn't stop when she reached him, but tried to hit him with a flying kick, and he waited for the feint but it wasn't one and he dropped to the ground with a yelp, the kick parting his hair as she laughed at his panic.
"So, got it?" the Pro asked, challengingly, and he nodded, thinking he had, charging her once more, arm pulled back for another punch, and she rolled her eyes, until, moving like she did, he launched himself upwards at an angle, arm still pulled back, and she looked a little interested.
Ready to counter his punch, she wasn't prepared when, with a yell of " Luna Arc!" he threw himself forward in the air, only possible because of All Might's Quirk, which was turned up to 20%, and spun around with his leg extended in a mid-air axe-kick on his Mentor, attacking her with one of her own moves.
The attack caught her off-guard, slamming into a hastily raised arm, which buckled, the heel of his shoe slamming into her shoulder, the blow driving her down to one knee.
She looked as surprised as he was that it worked, and they both froze, before she grinned ferally, grabbed his leg and leapt into the air, spinning and throwing him over a hundred feet away as he crashed into the side a dumpster in an alley, which was sent careening backwards with a massive clang as his costume took some of the blow, All Might's Quirk taking the rest, though it still hurt.
However, he was up and jumping in a second, Ms. Mirko stressing that 'Just cause you got knocked down doesn't mean the other guy's gonna give you time to get up', and, trying his best to copy her movements, kicked his way up the alley and back to the rooftops, to see her already coming.
Do I use another kick? he thought, as he started to run, trying to blend All Might's quick, direct movements with Ms. Mirko's arcing leap style to some success, buying himself time. No, it worked before, so she'll expect it. I'll use another punch, or, no, a grab! I haven't tried those yet, but if I do it fast enough, I should be able to throw her without her getting a hit in!
Plan set, he turned, and charged her, leaping to get close, but ready for a quick straight-line run when he was almost on top of her. This move wasn't going to have a name, it wasn't something that either hero had done, but it should work. He neared, and, switching from one movement to another, closed in an instant, hands outstretched as her leg came up, but not quite fast enough!
And then a beam slammed into his side, sending him sprawling.
"I've got him!" a man's voice called, as Midoriya tried to roll, a spike of pain running through chest, telling him he'd bruised his ribs.
"The fuck do you think you're doing!" Ms. Mirko snapped, jumping and landing right next to Midoriya, almost protectively. "You 'kay, kid?" she asked him quietly.
Struggling to his feet, he winced, but nodded. "I'm okay," he replied, having been hit worse, even in training.
"I'm arresting a Villain," the man, who floated in the air, glowing, said slowly, looking confused.
The Light Beam Hero: Photonic Midoriya realized, shortly followed by, I was shot by a Hero! But I'm not a Villain!
"You attacked my fuckin' sidekick, asshole!" she snarled, and the man backed up, hands raised.
"I, but, but you don't have any sidekicks!" he tried to defend. "How was I supposed to know?"
Taking a threatening step forward, Ms. Mirko sneered, "You coulda asked, or were ya tryin' to poach my catch if the squirt was a Villain?"
From the man's lack of reply, his mentor was spot on, and Midoriya just felt a little disappointed. Photonic was known for being flashy, but he'd really expected better from the man. "No hard feelings, kid," the guy asked Midoriya directly, and, despite the pain in his side, he smiled.
"It's fine," he told the hero, who smiled back, relieved.
Ms. Mirko, however, wasn't happy. "Fine, if the kid'll let it go, I will too. Just check your damn targets next time, or I might think you're the Villain, and you couldn't blame me from givin' ya a kick or three, could ya?" she asked, legs twitching as if in anticipation of doing that very thing.
"Ah, yes, of course, that'd be fair," the man quickly agreed, before turning and flying away, seemingly at his top speed, if Midoriya remembered the man's stats correctly.
After the glowing Hero disappeared, putting a building between him and them, Ms. Mirko turned to look at Midoriya. "You sure you're okay?" she asked, not really caring, but more. . . double checking.
The student nodded, "Yes, Ms. Mirko. I've had worse. I'm ready to keep going!"
Reaching more over than down, the Pro rustled the two rabbit-like 'ears' of his costume, styled after All Might's hair. "Least you've got spunk, though ya should've made him spar with ya. That way you coulda kicked his ass for that sucker-shot and gotten some experience against a ranged fighter."
"Oh, but it was a mistake," Izuku argued. "And, and I can learn that from another person another time, and I only have a week to learn from you, unless when you called me your sidekick you meant that as an offer, which I'd be happy to accept, unless you didn't mean it that way, which I'd completely understand, but either way you have taught me a lot already, and I want to learn more, to be a hero like you, but not exactly like you, because I want to be my own hero, but-"
"Kid, enough," Ms. Mirko interrupted, though she was grinning. "Tell ya what. Tomorrow I gotta run a patrol up in Hosu. I was plannin' on makin' ya do paperwork while I did that, but ya finally got me, so maybe we'll be doin' it together. Thing is, you need to learn how to move if you're gonna keep up with me, or at least come close, so that's what will be doin' for the rest of today. Keep impressin' me, and I'll swing by your place tomorrow morning. Don't, and you'll be writin' 'till your hand cramps. So come on, Midori ya," she said, booping him on the nose. "Tag, you're it."
Turning and leaping, she sped away as Izuku processed what just happened, a broad smile spreading across his features. Sending One-for-All circulating throughout himself, he took off running, leaping forward to try and catch up to his mentor, one thought on his mind.
She called me by my name!
Nearly three days had passed. Three fruitless days, wandering around Hosu, looking for the monster that'd nearly killed his brother, had killed his life's goal, to be a hero like their father, and their father before him.
It was all he could do was smile at Manual, who talked about something inane. No, you're here, you need to listen, Ida told himself, forcing himself to pay attention. Oh, it's the same thing as last time. Another talk on being friendly and approachable.
The Pro had not been ready to have Tenya accept his offer of mentorship, and he was trying, but that's not why the student was here. He wasn't here to be friendly, he was here to kill Stain.
I needed a plan. He thought he'd caught a flicker of movement up high, but it'd been green, almost a familiar green, not the blood-red of the Hero-Killer. He was feeling stupid, wandering around the populated streets, being 'seen' instead of finding trouble to stop. He needed a chance to break away from Manual, to look in the areas that his target haunted, out of the way alleys, where the monster could torture and murder without being stopped by the Pros.
For a moment, doubt crept into Ida's heart. If his brother lost against this monster what chance did he have?
No, you can't stop now, he commanded himself. His brother would have tried to capture the monster, to take the Hero-Killer in lawfully, and Tenya knew that it was harder to capture than to kill. It was why Heroes had to be that much stronger than Villains. Why they had to be that much better, to win, even with that handicap, where dirty-tricks and the like could only be used by one side.
But Ida had no such handicap.
Walking with the Pro, Ida maintained his façade of obedience, but the first chance he got, he was going to track down the Hero-Killer.
And then he would end him.
AN: As usual, the next three chapters are up on !