ASHIDO:

"Keep it going,"Musha mouthed to me, gesturing to the officers. I had to keep him talking, in some way, long enough for them to trace the call.

"Yousoundsexy," I said into the phone, trying not to feel horribly gross. "I bet you're a real stud."

"Nice try."Click.

I shook my head and put my phone down. "Sorry. I bet he's watching us right now." I shuddered. The sheer thought of this creepwatchingus..."

Hagakure came up close to me and whispered, "I'll do some scoping."

"Be careful," I whispered as she removed her gloves and boots and handed them to me.

Musha sighed. "We shall have to patrol to keep the girls inside safe. If he calls you again, the police will keep a tap on your line. That should enable us to find this villain."

"Oui - and treat him to my latest attack!" said Aoyama.

I nodded. "I'd love to give him a good taste of my new special move!"

"That move you pulled to stop the- the last villain we fought," said Musha, trying not to sound too pained over the fight that had cost us two of his friends. I wanted to reach out and pat him on the arm, but it felt too awkward. "That was a striking ultimate move. What is its name?"

"I dunno yet," I admitted. Eiji's move was called "Unbreakable", and I'd been trying to think of some variation on it, or something that worked with my hero name. Unmeltable? Pinkish? Hard to say.

"Best think of one. Your ultimate move needs to inspire trust and faith in those you use it to protect."

We were making the rounds of the boarding house, and I was trying not to worry too much about Tooru. I guess ever since what happened with Musha's friends - and with All Might - I was starting to worry real easily. That old reassurance we'd had, that the heroes would win out in the end, and the bad guys would lose...ever since Kamino, that just wasn't there anymore.

Then from inside, we heard a scream. From inside, where Splatter was stationed.

"Crap - how'd he get in?" I cried, as we hurried for the door.

"Cause he was already in there!" Hagakure had joined us from behind, and I hadn't noticed. "I scoped and found him - he's been hiding in the attic! He called you from there, and he made tons of calls to the other girls from there. He wasin the house!"

"We must hurry!" said Musha, and his voice had lost its old composure.

We burst in the door; the girls were screaming and crying. At the center of the house, lying dead was-

Oh, no.

Splatter...

EIJIROU:

We ran below her, prepared to catch her - but it wasn't fast enough. Fatgum was inches from getting to her, but it was a second too late. She hit hte ground.

We all just stood there in stunned silence for a moment. No way - no way -

Then looked up. The villain was getting away. He had some kind of wing quirk.

"No way," I snapped, and ran after him.You're not getting away, you monster.

Above me, Amajiki was flying towards him, manifesting wings for the first time since I'd met him. He seized the villain in tentacles and pulled him down to the ground. I ran forward, seething and angrier than I'd felt in a long time.

"You're gonna pay for that!" I shouted at him. The villain looked like an enormous bird of prey, an eagle or a vulture, with a long beak and great wings; he was writhing in Amajiki's clutches and didn't seem to be responding to me.

"We got him, Red Riot," said Fatgum behind me, gently and quietly.

"But sir!" I started.

"There's something up with him, something funny, weird," came Amajiki's muttering behind me.

"I don't care!" I snapped at him, and he turned away and shoved his head into the wall. "He killed that woman!"

"Red," said Fat. "There's nothing more you can do."

Tetsutetsu had joined us. He was looking as angry as I felt. "We were close, darnit!" He shouted. "So close!"

"REECH!" the villain shouted. I turned and stared. He didn't sound...human, almost? Like, he was a heteromorph type, but still...

The eyes looked really freaked out, like he didn't know what was going on.

Even though I was still furious, I kinda felt for a moment - I dunno, sorry for him?

As we wrapped up for the day, Fatgum explained on patrol,

"Seems like he was hopped up on some of those drugs soaking through the market. People looking to enhance their quirks, get a boost. He thought he'd boost himself, but it enhanced his bird of prey quirk so much he pretty much forgot he was human. He basically became convinced he was an animal, like the Wolf guy we met. As far as he knew, that woman was just - prey."

"So an innocent person dies, just like that?" I asked. "A woman who was doing nothing wrong, someone who was just trying to go about her day...she just loses her life because someone wanted to be, I don't know, more powerful? That's it?"

"Sometimes that's what happens on hero patrol, Red," said Fatgum. He was trying to be nice, but I just felt so sick.

"I can't believe people will do this kind of thing," I murmured, looking away. "It just seems like too much."