Eijirou
We resumed our hunt for the wolf-man the next day, once I'd recovered up. I was pretty determined to find that villain and catch him, to make up for being so useless before.
According to Fatgum, they'd traced and figured out the villains' origin.
"His real name's Okami Otoko. He used to be a pretty ordinary fella - just about average in all kinds of ways, working yer average job - but his quirk started manifesting weirdly. Initially, it was just that his abilities were wolf-like, imitation an animal - kinda like Tamaki here does, but without the eating, and only one animal. But his quirk kept growing out of control as he grew up and it developed, until it pretty much took over his whole personality. Now he's pretty much out of control - a mindless animal."
"That's awful," I murmured. "Isn't there any way to help him control it?"
"I'm sure he's tried everything," said Fat. "At this point, it's for other people's protection; we've got to bring him in and send him to prison. Maybe they'll be able to help him, and if he can learn to control it, he'll be able to get out and live a normal life again. But till then - we'll be working on tracking him down."
"ROGER THAT, SIR!" Said Tetsutetsu. "We'll gang up on him this time!"
"I wish we had Jirou or Shoji here," I murmured. "They're great at tracking."
"Classmates of yours?"
"Yeah. They're with Gang Orca."
"Maybe next time we have a stealth mission, we'll reach out to them on HN. Hold up -"
He turned his head.
"Screams."
We followed the sounds of screaming and saw the Wolf Man, who was wrestling with what looked like a whole crowd of innocent civilians. He kept stopping to scream at the moon. He looked pretty dangerous. Unbreakable hadn't been enough last time…
"Let's circle him!" Said Fat. "Red, you evacuate!"
I felt a bit like maybe, just maybe, he was giving up on my quirk in battle -
Stop that, focus on what you need to do.
"Come on!" I called, as Fat, Tetsutetsu, and Amajiki formed their circle around the wolf. "This way!"
The people nodded and came alongside me, as I directed them towards a nearby alleyway.
"To the streets - try and find shelter."
Behind me, Fat had trapped the Wolfman's leg, Amajiki was tying him up with tentacles, and Tetsutetsu was hitting him. Again and again…
I ran back to them, as the wolf man was screaming.
Man…he's in pain. And it's not even his fault…
But there was no time to dwell on that as the guy managed to twist free of Fat. He was coming at Tetsutetsu again, who was taking the blows…but I still…
"Hey, Okami!" I shouted, before he could put a real dent in Tetsutetsu's armor.
He actually turned.
"Red, watch out!" Said Fat as he came towards me. But he wasn't running. He'd recognized his name.
"It's ok," I told him, coming forward, reaching out my hand, my quirk deactivated. "You're gonna be ok. We're not here to-"
Tetsutetsu and Amajiki's fists came down on his head at the same time, and he let out a scream as he hit the ground.
"Nice distraction, Red!" Said Fatgum, as they started tying him up for transportation.
I wasn't trying to distract him…
I knew there was no helping it, but I couldn't help but feel kind of sad as I watched him getting loaded into the truck. He had enough time to look at me as he woke up.
I didn't like the look in those eyes.
Ashido:
Oh, no. No - no - Butterfly - Goggles -
Our two mentors were lying on pools of blood.
Musha and Splatter were hanging from the ceiling, strung up like animals. They were breathing still.
The others weren't. And they were missing limbs.
"Oh my god," I breathed. Aoyama had begun to hyperventilate.
"Calm down, Can'tstoptwinkling," I hissed at him. "Let's untie them."
I readied my acid and threw it at the ropes. Musha seemed to be conscious, or waking up slowly, as I held him up, and Aoyama used Naval Laser to release Splatter.
"Cho…" Musha moaned, staring at Butterfly. "Megane…"
"I'm so sorry, sir," I whispered.
But I could hear it. The buzzing of chainsaws. Plural. We weren't alone.
"We gotta move - can you walk? Sir?"
"Are they…"
He couldn't finish. The door was kicked down. AT least three of those creeps with chainsaws had stormed in. The lead, the one who'd attacked us in the woods, had chainsaws for hands. The others were just carrying them, but they all had the same t-shirts. They looked like some kind of cult. And they were all making nosies like the one in the video.
"Move!" I shouted. I mean, it wasn't very heroic, but we weren't exactly in a good position to fight.
But sometimes…
The villains were pretty fast. And It was all we could do to duck as they swiped at us with those things.
I had to toss Musha out of the way. He seemed to be struggling to his feet - Aoyama was using Naval Laser to propel one of them, to protect Splatter.
There was one coming straight for me.
"Hm Hm hm!"
I was throwing acid his way, but it didn't seem to be bothering him.
Shield - protect - I need something -
I need something like Eiji's quirk!
Eiji…Red Riot, Unbreakable…His quirk all over-
I threw up my hands, just in time.
The Chainsaw had touched me - and it was melting.
My acid had, like I told it to in my head, come out of my entire body, like a cocoon. It was covering me from head to foot, at maximum viscosity - like Eiji's unbreakable move. And the Chainsaw couldn't get through it! It was melting off the guy's arm!
Now he was screaming in agony, stepping back from me and cradling his burnt and smoking arm. I pressed forward and reached out with two big acid globs to seize those big chainsaw arms and shove them down, melting through the saws.
Musha was holding his own against the third one. But Aoyama was starting to look queasy - it was dark in there, and the villain was getting ready to cut him in two -
A bright blinding light came out of nowhere -
No, not nowhere! Tooru was there!
"Wrap Refraction!" She shouted. The lights came blindingly; I wheeled around so my back was to her, and I was still facing the chainsaw villain. It sounded like she'd blinded the other one.
I reached out and shoved my foe with my acid hands, and he went backwards and toppled against a wall.
—
Later, as we were loading the villains into the truck, I came to sit with Musha and Splatter. Aoyama and Tooru were with them. They both looked pretty haunted.
I'd never had anyone I worked with die before. Eiji and Midoriya had, along with Uraraka and Asui, on their mission to save that little girl. But this was my first time. And it was so horrible.
"I really liked them," was all I could say, and it felt so useless, looking at Musha and Splatter's faces.
"Sometimes I wonder," said Mr. Musha after a long silence, "if the age of heroes is truly coming to an end."
I blinked at him. What?
Heroes, being over? No, he couldn't really mean that…even with something so horrible, it was just in the moment, not really how he felt, not really true.
Right?