Hawks always found it easy to avoid being spotted, even more so at night.
The clouds gave him cover from below, and encountering another hero in the sky by coincidence was extremely unlikely.
He folded his wings in and plummeted from the sky.
The air stung his skin as he sped up, rushing towards the merciless concrete. He opened his wings, momentum carrying him forward across the water of the river like a bullet. He passed beneath the bridge, staying low, swooping and shifting midair to avoid any obstacles.
He made his way to the warehouse by the docks.
Glowing green eyes followed from the shadows under the bridge.
Hawks burst straight upward, twisted in the air and spun the window in the roof as he descended into the warehouse.
They were waiting for him.
"Always so flashy." Tomura Shigaraki hissed. "For someone who puts so many skill points into covert style, you sure do love being seen."
"What can I say?" Hawks smiled, careful to look nervous. "Some habits die hard."
The silence was heavy, thick with tension. Somewhere in the rafters, cloth like curtains fluttered in the wind, a sound like the flapping of giant wings.
"So..." Hawks broke the silence. "I met with the guy. The yakuza guy. He's open to a meet."
"Is he now?" Tomura scratched at his neck.
"Uh- yeah?" Hawks said. "He said he wants to meet. Somewhere neutral. He's open to negotiation."
Tomura watched Hawks unblinkingly.
"Is that so?" He rasped.
"He's not lying." One of Overhaul's masked henchmen spoke, his voice muffled by the rubber covering his face. "I just watched of course, but I can confirm everything went down the way he told it."
The clothes and beaked mask melted away, forming a puddle at Himiko Toga's feet.
"All that time posing as that Monoma kid made you too good an actor, Toga." Twice shuddered. "It gives me the creeps. It's fantastic! Do me Next!"
"Enough." Tomura silenced the rising noise. "So the mini-boss sees himself as a raid boss? Negotiate? Bah. Like we'd compromise with someone like him."
"The heroes are already clearing our allies from the streets, Tomura Shigaraki." Kurogiri noted. "We lost Moonfish in that battle with the Ryukyu Agency, and Muscular hasn't been seen in weeks. Our numbers are dwindling, and the heroes are only being strengthened. An alliance may be necessary, as unpalatable as it is."
Shigaraki just watched Hawks from between the fingers of the hand on his face.
"Fine." He snapped. "I guess I need to grind some more XP before I can continue the main story. Set up the meet."
"You got it, boss." Hawks saluted with two fingers. He burst upward and out into the night sky.
"I still don't trust him." Tomura growled.
"He did prove himself." Kurogiri noted. "He killed to be here. No agency would justify a hero like Gang Orca being murdered for a cover story."
Tomura just scoffed.
The wind picked up the fabric in the rafters again, rustling, flapping.
"You need sleep, Tomura." Kurogiri noted. "You cannot fulfil our master's wishes if you worry yourself to death."
"Fine." He stood up and made to the back of the warehouse. He moved down a set of stairs to a space unseen below.
Magne released a sigh of relief.
"He's just stressed." Kurogiri murmured. "Breaking him out of prison took a lot from this group, and the country wide chaos bought us less time than we had hoped."
"This is not what I signed up for." Spinner growled. "Hiding in a hole like some rat…"
"We are merely biding our time." Kurogiri reiterated. "Himiko, is your other mission progressing according to plan?"
"Not at all!" She whined. "I was so sure that green haired brat would be at Endeavor's agency, but it looks like he's on the run for real."
"Good for him! So annoying…" Twice interjected.
"And on top of that, I'm starting to think Endeavor's on to me." Toga shuddered. "I don't like him. Not even a little bit."
"I… see." Kurogiri hummed. "I must ask you to continue your mission there, Toga. It is of the utmost importance."
The fabric in the rafters flapped, harder now.
Kurogiri looked up eyes scanning the rafters. Nothing but hanging sheets of tattered fabric. His eyes narrowed.
Big Chill drifted outside the warehouse, his frigid heart pounding.
"Too close was that…" He breathed, gliding back down towards the water. "So, a mole Endeavor in his agency has… Complicated is this. Warn must I him…"
"Dude, you need sleep." Ben spoke in his mind.
"True is this." Big Chill sighed, causing snowflakes to drift lazily to the ground. "But been tracking that lizard guy for days have I."
"And it paid off." Ben pointed out. "But you're gonna get us killed if you pass out from exhaustion while you're in a fight."
"True that is as well." Big Chill agreed, turning intangible to pass through a grate below the bridge Hawks had passed under earlier.
Big Chill shifted, green light flashed and Astrodactyl blasted through the sewer tunnels.
With the Omnitrix granting him near perfect memory, Izuku had memorised the sewer system beneath the city, and used it to move unnoticed.
He was very glad Astrodactyl did not have a nose.
Green light flashed again and Ghostfreak cackled as he turned intangible. He pressed his body through the roof of the sewer tunnel, following the familiar paths of the lead piping upwards towards the sewer maintenance room.
Inside the maintenance room was a filthy sleeping bag. Thick metallic globs held the door shut in its frame where Heatblast had welded it.
Outside, Izuku knew a river bubbled beneath a red stone bridge. He could hear the water rushing from behind a grate, letting the pale light of the moon inside.
There was no flash of light, Ghostfreak twisted and his skin shrank, as if it was being vacuum packed around his skeleton, his body warped and folded back in on itself. His pale grey skin turned fuzzy and then sprang out in thick fur as his tail split into digitigrade legs. His eye doubled and pressed into the right positions.
"You're getting good at that." Ben noted.
Izuku had discovered that of all his alien forms, Fasttrack needed the least sleep. Ben speculated that this was because Citrakayah, the name of Fasttrack's species, lived such short lifespans that they evolved to require less rest.
Fasttrack curled up on his sleeping bag and almost immediately passed out. He slept lightly.
UA Class 1A stood assembled in front of Shota Aizawa. The open space where Midoriya should have been standing seemed to draw all the warmth from the air.
They wore their hero costumes, each decked out in gadgets made to enhance their unique abilities.
They had changed so much, grown so much since the USJ incident.
They were still not ready.
"Stay together." Aizawa said quietly. "You were assigned partners for this…"
His eyes found Katsuki Bakugou in particular.
"Remember, your hero licenses are only provisional." He said clearly, warningly. "If you abuse this responsibility, your license will be revoked and you will be unable to participate in your work studies, which count for a large portion of your grade. Keep that in mind and don't go too far."
No one spoke. All eyes were on Aizawa.
"Stay together." He repeated. "I know how capable you all are, I believe in you. Our objective is to take the city back, block by block. We have been assigned South blocks 1 through 16. If you meet any of your other schoolmates, do not interfere with their work. There will be second and third year students in other parts of the city. Stay in communication at all times. Report in, report back, update me."
Class 1A stood together.
"Go."
Bakugou moved first.
He exploded forwards, using his power to rocket away from the rest of the group. Rage burned in his eyes.
Aizawa sighed. He watched as Todoroki, Tokoyami and Kendo desperately tried to catch up to the enraged boy.
"KEEP UP, YOU DAMN EXTRAS!" Bakugou shouted as he blasted through the sky. "I WANT THIS CITY CLEANED UP BY LUNCH!"
"Good thing you had the foresight to group them together." He noted, glancing sideways at principal Nezu.
"This is no test." Nezu said evenly. "There will be no scores or point deductions for failure in these circumstances. Consequences for failure here will be severe injuries… even death. We cannot afford to assign groups that will not be powerful enough to handle a real threat."
Aizawa said nothing, though he clenched his fists.
"Most students were paired up in groups of five." Nezu turned, walking towards the control centre. "To be honest with you… I think those four could have been in pairs and still be on the same level as their classmates."
"You know where they are going, don't you?" Aizawa tilted his head slightly.
Nezu paused.
"There is a situation in East block seven." He said simply. "It's not getting out of hand just yet…"
Aizawa leapt into action immediately, eyes narrowing behind his goggles.
Endeavor ate quickly.
The sleeves of his costume were in tatters already, and the day had barely started. He'd singlehandedly dealt with 34 villains already.
Burnin, Kido and Onima were catching their breath nearby.
"Kido, take a break." Endeavor demanded.
"Sir?" Kido's bandaged head snapped up. "I-I'm fine, Todoroki-Sensei! I swear it!"
"I know." Endeavor said as gently as he was able to, which was about as gentle as a simmering furnace. "Your performance has dipped to less than 95% of what I know you to be capable of. This is not a concern under any other scenario, but with the country overrun by villains I cannot allow that. You will follow us along with the support group and rest for one hour, at which point you will substitute either Burnin or Onima. You will rotate actively to ensure your performance remains at its peak."
"What about you, Todoroki-Sensei?" Burnin asked. "Don't you need rest too?"
"Of course." Endeavor said simply, keeping his tone even and logical. "Yet if we reach a point where I become so tired that my performance begins to wane… well… let's just hope it does not get to that."
"Sir!" The support team captain called over Endeavor's earpiece. "We have reports of a group of those Noumu creatures causing havoc near you!"
Endeavor blasted into the air.
"Kido!" He shouted into his communication unit.
"Sir?"
"Your break will have to wait."
"Yes, sir!"
Endeavor rocketed upward, scanning the cityscape. He saw them immediately, a group of Noumu with long, spindly limbs and wide, gaping beaks. Each of the Noumu looked exactly like the last, down to the exact shade of grey-green skin.
"I have sighted our targets." Endeavor reported, sending up a flare of fire as he rocketed down. He turned in the air, holding his heels out to land directly on top of the nearest Noumu.
To his shock, it popped like a balloon.
"What?" He took a moment to collect himself, then sliced a lance of flame through the air that instantly vaporised two more Noumu.
"I may have spoken too soon." He chuckled. "These things have pathetic durability."
As he raised himself to his feet, he regarded the single remaining Noumu.
It opened its mouth and roared.
The soundwaves from the roar sent endeavour hurtling through the air as his ears rang. He smashed into the side of a building, cracking the concrete, as the sound continued building. The building's windows shattered in unison, sending a shower of glass shards down on Endeavor. He crossed his arms over his head and flared his flames, melting the glass as it rained down on him.
Endeavor's knees shook as he raised himself to his feet.
His eyes widened.
The Noumu bent double as it folded backwards, splitting into two. The second Noumu shuddered and squealed as another Noumu split its mouth open as it too cloned itself. The first Noumu's eyeball popped from its socket, then grew and warped, twisting into another Fully grown Noumu.
The Noumu moved in unison, forming a semi-circle around Endeavor.
"ECHO." The Noumu all chuckled in unison. "ECHO. ECHO. ECHO. ECHO."
Each word punched into Endeavour like a blow from All Might. He cried out in pain as his eardrums began to bleed.
Whips of green fire sliced one of the Noumu in half while two more popped from Simultaneous blows from Kido and Onima.
Endeavor tried to shout out that they needed to focus on the lead Noumu but his hearing was gone. He had no idea whether his words were coherent at all.
Judging by the way the sidekicks all turned and moved on the lead Noumu, he'd somehow managed.
Each of the lead Noumu's twelve fingers fell off, regrew and morphed upwards into fresh Noumu.
Endeavor hurled an arc of fire that managed to cut through a single of the thirteen Noumu before the others began their attack.
Onima slammed his fists downwards into the concrete while Kido expanded a bandage circle around their group, sending them straight upwards by redirecting the impact.
Endeavor did not need to communicate. They had practised this manoeuvre often enough that he could do it in his sleep He sent a torrent of flame downward that carried himself and his sidekicks away from the Noumu.
The roaring inferno below him was a mere buzzing in his ears, yet Enji Todoroki almost sighed in relief that his hearing was not permanently gone.
The Noumu below wasted no time, cloning themselves over and over, to create a ladder of bodies along the side of the building to catch up to Endeavor's group. Several Noumu popped from the heat of his flames alone, partially melting before they exploded with a sound like a dropped cat.
Burnin kept flinging darts of green fire, using the bare minimum fire required to form a projectile tat wouldn't burn away when thrown. It was enough. The darts thrown took out a Noumu each time they impacted one.
"The clones are weak!" Onima shouted, his voice thin and barely audible above the ringing in Endeavor's ears. "We just need to keep it up!"
Kido redirected them upwards as Endeavour sent a torrent of flame down towards the shifting mass of the Noumu clone horde. Each ember of fire turned into a twisting, curving beam that would impale and penetrate down towards the earth, nearly tinged white from the heat of his flames.
The Noumu created a sonic attack, and Endeavor accepted that he would die.
He could feel his fire being snuffed from the force of the soundwaves. He knew he could not kill them all, and their numbers were already overwhelming.
There was no deafening final blow, or overwhelming torrent of noise. No wall of sound.
There was silence.
Endeavor rolled as he landed on the concrete, panting and wincing from his wounds.
The Noumu were gone, gone as if they never existed. Yet Endeavor could see the dissipating mirage as the soundwaves evaporated.
A tiny, red feather fluttered through the air, doing a loop in front of Endeavor's nose, then speeding upwards towards the shattered building.
"S-Stay vigilant." Endeavor panted. "I will return shortly."
Then he flared upwards and followed the feather.
"That was a close one, Number 2." Hawks said quietly. "I don't wanna think about what would have happened if I was slow."
"Indeed." Endeavor tightened his hands into fists. "What is it, Hawks? I cannot afford to be idle long."
"You almost died." Hawks pointed out. "And judging by the volume, your hearing has been damaged. You can't dodge an attack if you can't hear it coming."
Endeavor scoffed.
"Anyway," Hawks stepped away from the wall he had been leaning on. "Sorry for the cloak and dagger. I can't afford to be seen right now. I'm sure you understand."
"So what is this?" Endeavor narrowed his eyes. He tried to whisper, but judging from the way Hawks winced, he expected that he was still too loud. "Do you want me to grovel and thank you?"
"Not at all." Hawks replied seriously. "In fact, I came to give you a tip."
Endeavor gritted his teeth.
"What advice can a child give me?" He growled.
"Not advice." Hawks shook his head. "Information."
He handed Endeavor a flash drive.
"They're called the Shie Hassakai." Hawks explained. "And under the cover of the villain breakout, they've become more powerful than we can afford them to be."
Izuku followed the man in the beaked mask.
He was hungry. That was never good. Not with his quirk and how much fuel the Omnitrix needed for moves like Quick Change and for staying transformed.
Still, these guys were the Yakuza. Old school criminals in a world that left them behind long ago.
He was confident he could handle whatever they could throw at him.
He'd been using the Omnitrix almost constantly since escaping from imprisonment, using the different alien biology even outside of combat, using Goop to melt and consume trash on the streets and inside dumpsters, using Fasttrack to sleep in as little time as possible and Jury Rigg to create equipment he used to tap into pro hero and police surveillance systems, to respond to villains as quickly and efficiently as he could.
He healed his injuries using Bloxx's regeneration, Big Chill's invisibility and intangibility for espionage and Ghostfreak… well… Ghostfreak's persona for interrogation.
Now he used his most underrated form of all.
"Hey!" Izuku Midoriya said clearly, startling the man walking ahead of him. "I've been waiting outside for hours now!"
"Get lost, kid." The man snapped. "Don't you know where you are?"
"Of course I do." Izuku insisted. "The boss asked for me. You don't want to keep Chisaki-sensei waiting, do you?"
The man in the beaked mask paused, hesitated. Izuku's clothes were tattered and filthy, and he seemed unwashed.
"Why are you here?" Shin Nemoto asked. He activated his quirk forcing the boy to answer his questions truthfully.
"I just told you, I'm here to see the boss." Izuku repeated. Unseen to either, the faceplate of the Omnitrix pulsed purple.
"Careful, Izuku." Ben warned in Izuku's head. "This guy just tried some kind of mind control on you. Are you sure this is a good idea?"
His quirk activated when he asked me a question… Izuku thought. Ben said it's some kind of mind control. He's probably testing me. I'm going to need to be careful how I answer his questions.
Shin stared at Izuku for a moment longer then shrugged. He activated the switch that opened the door to the base. Izuku walked with the man, passing several other figures in Beaked masks.
"Are you on the payroll?" Shin Nemoto asked clearly. "I know everyone we pay by name, and I definitely don't recognise you."
"No, I 'm definitely not." Izuku said. "Do I look old enough to have a job?"
"Fair enough, kid." Shin chuckled. "What exactly is it you do? For the organisation, I mean."
"Right now, not much." Izuku replied. "With the country in the state it's in it's all we can do to keep things stable."
"You don't need to tell me twice." Shin grumbled. "This is not the way things should be. We'll expand our influence when we can."
"How do you know the boss exactly?" Shin asked, activating his quirk again as he moved deeper into the base.
"I don't." Izuku said, perhaps too quickly. "Not personally, I mean. I was involved with the Itachizame before…. Well… I'm sure you know."
"That makes sense." Shin allowed, though his voice was still thick with clear distrust. "Using kids is more Tigershark's style."
"Don't I know it." Izuku didn't have to fake the venom in his voice.
"I'm gonna guess you did not like working for him much." Shin chuckled. He opened a door, revealing a plain room with a couch and a coffee table. "Take a seat. I'm afraid the Boss is out on business. I understand you've been waiting but you'll have to wait a while longer. You do have an appointment, don't you?"
"Of course." Izuku felt the Omnitrix pulse on his wrist again.
"I figured." Shin admitted. "We've been bringing in a few Itatchizame assets. Listen, I'll have them send you some food, okay? Don't get heated and storm out like the last guy. Just be patient for a little while longer, got it? I don't know what kind of operation Tigershark was running, but Chisaki is less tolerant of outbursts. And make sure not to make a mess, you got it?"
"Yeah yeah." Izuku tried to act the way he thought a young criminal would. "I'll stay put. I could use the break."
A graceful, masked lady brought out platters of food and Izuku had to force himself to act calm and try to eat slowly.
The food was cheap and common, yet it tasted like a feast to him. Despite using his transformations to keep himself nourished, he hadn't actually eaten any real food since… since before he fought All for One.
He realised he was starving. He inhaled the food, desperately. He felt his throat cramp and the muscles in his jaw stretch painfully.
He nearly gagged several times in his effort to eat as much as he could. He finished all the food, and an extra helping brought in by the graceful woman who seemed shocked at his appetite.
Footsteps.
Unfamiliar footsteps.
Izuku composed himself, leaning casually on the couch. He had to play this perfectly if he wanted to bring the villains down.
The door opened. A man stepped inside. He was much younger than Izuku would have expected for an infamous mafia boss, but he certainly carried himself with cold authority.
"Let's hope this meeting goes better than the last one." He spoke in a monotone, amplified to sound even more artificial by the beaked mask the man wore over his mouth and nose.
Izuku bowed deeply as the man entered, showing the utmost respect and when he raised his head again, he saw who was standing right behind Kai Chisaki.
Tanaka. Tigershark's second in command.
There was silence. Izuku recognised Tanaka and knew Tanaka recognised him.
His plan fell apart immediately. There would be no negotiating.
Four Arms exploded forward, a heavy fist sending Overhaul into the office room, crumpling to the ground unconscious. With two of his other hands he slammed the heads of Overhaul's other men together, tossing them aside as he barrelled through another wall. All pretence and subterfuge was left in the meeting room, now Four Arms had a single goal: Get out, and take as many of the villains down while he went
"I don't want to hear it Ben!" Four Arms insisted, his fists caught by a hulking brute. The momentary shock allowed the berserker, Kendo Rappa. Rappa broke his arm free from Four Arms' grip and sent a blow into the alien's face that sent him backward.
Four Rams roared as he retaliates, two fists grabbing and holding Rappa's hands in place while the other two swung for Rappa's head. They impacted an invisible barrier, created by another of Overhaul's henchmen.
Four Arms hurtled Rappa away, and another barrier was made to catch the massive berserker, preventing him from injuring the henchmen he was thrown at.
Another beak masked man, his body some kind of Crystal rushed forward, stabbing a crystal arm into Four Arms' side, where it shattered uselessly.
Four Arms spun, backhanding the crustal henchman and sending him flying with a sound like shattering glass.
He roared as he rushed forward, ready to shoulder through another wall only to slam into another invisible barrier.
Rappa was on him immediately and Four Arms held his arms in front of him as he was battered by a flurry of punches. The Crystal Henchman came from the other side and Four Arms freed up one of his arms to grab the man by the throat.
From the corner of his eye he noticed Kai Chisaki, Overhaul, stumble from the meeting room, bleeding from his head.
Four Arms guessed the man must be quirkless, since he was carrying a gun.
Four arms was bulletproof, so he wasn't too concerned and brought his attention away from the man with the gun and back on his fight against overhaul's henchmen. The two that came in with Overhaul were still unconscious on the ground by the meeting room, but the sound of rushing footsteps signalled reinforcements on the way.
Four Arms used the crystal man like a bat, snapping him like a twig over Rappa's head, then brought both pairs of fists down on Rappa's head. The berserker, overwhelmed by the force, crumpled.
A gunshot rang out.
Four Arms turned, his enhanced alien reflexes allowing him to bring his arms Up over his eyes and throat, which were the most vulnerable parts of his body.
The quirk erasing bullet clinked as its needle tip impacted the faceplate of the Omnitrix on Four Arms shoulder.
Izuku felt like he'd been hit by a bus as he was thrown across the room. He gagged, heaving for breath as if weeks of exhaustion suddenly impacted him all at once.
"W-what the hell was that, Ben?!" He gasped.
Silence.
"Ben?" He asked again, raising himself to his hands and knees.
Izuku's eyes slowly widened.
From his position on his hands and knees, he could clearly see both his hands and arms.
The Omnitrix was gone.
AN:
I probably cause a lot of my long time followers to panic at the silence, but I promise I'm just cooking. :)
With my job being what it is and the hours it requires, I can't commit to posting a chapter every week, or even every other week.
That being said, I am actively writing this story and I feel like I've got a lot of cool stuff to show you.
I'll try to do at least 1 chapter a month, which should be a relaxed enough pace that I don't burn myself out before the story is finished.
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Review Review
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2 Fast 2 Reviews
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CCSakuraforever
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Like I always say, I believe actions should always have consequences, especially in fiction. Izuku saving All Might was the right thing to do, but that doesn't mean there won't be unforeseen consequences because of his actions.
I'm very glad you like the direction the story is going. :)
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Sophiamay
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This review was really touching. Hearing that something I made had an impact on someone so much that they want to make art about it is an incredible compliment. I am honoured to have readers like you.
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MBS41
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Are those are the stories where characters from fiction read the fiction they are in? Like "Harry Potter reads Harry Potter"? I don't mind them, but it's not one of my favourite genres. I think I just haven't seen it done in a very compelling way yet.
If not you can DM me and explain what you mean. :)
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Pat9921
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Addressing your reviews here, just to save some space.
I completely understand that some parts of the story still stretch belief, and it's totally valid to feel things have changed too much from canon to make sense. Lucky for us, this story is no longer even close to canon so I guess we can just pretend this Bakugou got dropped on his head as a baby and mellowed out because of it. xD
I have never been called fast to update before lmao.
Yes! And unlike in canon, Izuku is actually a vigilante now, since he doesn't have a license, unlike in canon where everything he was doing was still legal, and they just called him a vigilante.
Yeah, the burnout gets real, especially with how little free time I have. I'll try to aim for consistent updates like I said earlier, rather than using up all my enthusiasm in a burst of content followed by long absence.
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Laitou
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Let me know how you like Echo Echo in this chapter. :)
In all seriousness, thanks so much for sticking with me on this journey this whole time. I appreciate you a lot.
From the jump I wanted to make it clear that the Omnitrix in Izuku's hands is a force to be reckoned with! So many "quirks" and abilities with Izuku's mind is a recipe for great action!
I love vestige Ben. I have big plans for him. :)
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TheRealD3lph0xL0v3r
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I believe death should have stakes and permanence, so don't worry, Tigershark as we knew him is dead for sure. :)
Hero society is very flawed, and that's something very interesting to me and something I intend to explore going forward.
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Thraggor
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Thank you so much! Reviews like your really do keep me writing. :)
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SonicMax
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I was a little let down by the vigilante arc in canon, so I'm very excited to give it a go myself. I'm hoping I can do the concept justice.
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Kings
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Izuku with One for All is pretty powerful, but I fully agree with you. Even by the end of Alien Force, I feel like Ben would be too powerful and UA Ben solos the MHA verse, even without Alien X in my opinion.
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