I'm starting this Sunday night so I can have it done by Monday, I need to work faster than normal because I have to finish something to upload for Code Bakugan Brawlers this week, and I got two uploads on Friday, the first being More Then you Think, and the other being Golden Ending. And that doesn't take into account that I still got schoolwork…so I'm going to be so fucking drained by Friday.

As for this chapter, story notes can only take you so far, and while I made more last December, even now, some of the points and ideas I had are invalid because of changes, slight as they were, made in previous chapters. So, really, I'm working with more of what I can come up with on the spot that fits and that I can build on later.

Chapter 53: Rescue and Retaliation

(Previously)

'Stain,' Iida felt his breath increase, his heart beating faster. 'He tried to kill Midoriya…' He nearly screamed when he saw it.

'Focus, Iida. Don't lose yourself, don't let it consume you.' No, he couldn't let anger guide him again. That wasn't what his brother would want; it wasn't the example Midoriya set. "Midoriya, you'll remain our frontman; your quirk is a perfect counter for him. Todoroki, you keep range support, and I'll get the injured hero out of here."

The two nodded as Iida turned and ran towards the alley, Stain giving chase. He had pulled out his knives, knowing that his sword was useless. "It's not wise to talk about plans when I can hear you."

"He did it because it doesn't matter what you hear; we'll stop you!" Todoroki declared as he fired off a blast of fire, which Midoriya matched.

Rushing into the alley, Iida immediately felt the intense heat of Midoriya's flames. However, by good luck, Midoriya hadn't bathed the entire place in them, only the entrance as a deterrence. That didn't mean that there weren't other smaller fires raging in the cramp, smelly alley that Midoriya and Stain had been fighting here, but as he got deeper, they decreased in number till they were practically gone, Iida suspected that it was proof that Midoriya hadn't entered the alley from the entrance, though the how would come later.

"Hello! Is anyone here? I'm here to help!" Iida called out, as the place was dark, making it hard to see. He prayed that he would get a response, which told him that Stain hadn't added another soul to his blade, but he didn't hear a response. Or at least, he didn't hear a human one.

It was faint and hard to hear, but he heard something over the crackling flames and the fighting that was taking place further away. It sounded too sync, too…he didn't have a word for it, but it didn't sound like something you would expect in an alley or some unrelated sound.

"Hello? Can you please repeat that!" Iida called out again, slowing down so his costume's boots wouldn't overshadow the response. He heard it again, a loud, continuous hiss. Heading deeper in, he finally found the source, which threw him off. Wrapped around what looked to be a corpse was a large yet familiar snake, their yellow-slitted eyes on guard from the moment he stepped into view.

"Hold on, aren't you Midoriya's...?" Iida started to ask, as her name escaped her, but he shook his head, that could come later. He kneeled at their side. "Is he still alive?" He asked, to which Koharu's eyes lost some of that guard. She nodded, gesturing towards his wounds, Iida noting that his hero costume had been burned, not in combat but seemingly in Koharu's efforts to tend to his wounds. He saw that she had burned shut two large wounds, one which looked to be a stab wound to the chest, and another was a stab wound to the liver, or at least where he was pretty sure the liver was.

Other wounds remained open and bleeding, but they were of little concern. Iida recalled the lessons he had heard in class and from Manuel about first aid and checked the man's pulse. As he searched for it, he noted that the man was terribly cold and not because of the weather.

He sighed in relief when he managed to find a pulse, weak as it was, listening to his breath, Iida was able to also tell he was still breathing, but it was shallow and, which, considering the wound to the chest, only confirmed his worry that a lung was damaged.

"Thank you for your services, brave serpentess. You might have brought him valuable time." Iida honestly stated that Midoriya might have drawn Stain away and kept him busy, but it was Koharu who seemed to have seen to the man's injuries, burning shut the worst of them and keeping him warm. Iida didn't know where Midoriya found her, but he was glad he did.

He heard the familiar shriek of Todoroki's ice, followed by an intense blast of green flames. Iida turned back the way he came, seeing the flashes of orange and green. He wished to rejoin the fight, to be part of the team that finally took down Stain, but his brother would have chosen to protect life, and so would he.

As carefully as he could, and with assistance from Koharu, they managed to cautiously slide one of Iida's arms under the unconscious hero's, using it to guide and support their upper torso, having chosen their left side to avoid potentially aggravating their liver injury. Burned shut, it might be, but he had no idea if the wound wasn't still bleeding internally. Using his free hand, he supported their hip and pivoted so that most of their weight ended on his shoulder.

Getting up, Iida did just that, moving their weight onto his shoulder, and the man let out a weak groan, which Iida apologized for. "I apologize, but this is the best I can do now; please bear with it till we get you proper medical attention," Iida stated as he had to change the traditional fireman's carry.

Hearing the battle continue, Iida turned to Koharu. "You fight with Midoriya, right?" He asked, to which the snake nodded once more. "Then you should return to his side; I'll go find someone in an ambulance," Iida told her. He turned and dashed down the alley; he would find another means to return to the main street far from the fighting.

From Todoroki's right side, he covered the road in a thin, slippery layer of ice to try and catch Stain. Still, he took to the air, jumping over it. However, Hebimi had expected that and jumped into the air as well, his fist cocked back to punch the hero killer, who bent backward to avoid it, slicing at Hebimi's side, but his Ka-Bar didn't do nearly as far as his ruined sword had, cracking the stone scales just enough for lava blood to squirt out, drop-lets hitting Stains hand as he narrowed his eyes.

He grunted in irritation when Hebimi's snake-like hair shot out, and he had to cut at it with his kukri, which was larger and heavier than the standard one. He managed to cut some, but others got through, so he had to kick off the boy to avoid being ensnared.

Landing, he barely had a moment to think before Todoroki let loose a blast of orange in his direction, to which Stain rolled out of the way and bounced back to his feet. Hebimi's landing proved easy, his volcanic form melting the thin ice before he could slip up.

Stain frowned. They didn't know his quirk; at least he had no reason to suspect they knew of it, so this formation was less to defend against and more to counter him overall. Hebimi, that was what the ice and fire user had called him. He had both severed a hand and impaled him through the chest; his sword must have surely pierced his heart, and yet, all he had to show for it was a lost sword and a foe that stood up from both, a new limb regenerating in moments.

Stain was now primarily relying on his ka-bar and kukri, the latter being better at slicing through Hebimi's stone outer shell. However, the kid had picked up on that and avoided whichever side held it.

'Even so, cutting him is problematic.' Stain glanced at his burned left hand, spots where the lava drops had landed visible even with most of the lights in the street gone.

'We're keeping him contained, but is that our goal? Keeping in locked here till the others can arrive?' Todoroki thought, as their plan was working that Hebimi was an ideal tank against a foe like Stain, but the street was too wide for them to get a critical hit in. 'Neither of us have the time to make the call, maybe Iida? But he has his own problems right now.' He hoped Iida could inform the rest of the heroes about the situation.

'He's going to try and go for Todoroki; it's the only real play he has left. His style of combat can't work on me, and if he tried stabbing me again, he'd be risking one of his best knives to do it.' Midoriya kept his gaze on Stain, his stone mask giving nothing away of what he was thinking, his fingers twitching as he itched to fire off a hand towards Stain, but he was too fast for that to work; he needed a distraction of some kind, but it couldn't be Todoroki.

That came when out of the alley, Koharu came barrelling out, roaring as her form was engulfed in flames, growing larger till she was a supersized burning skeleton, her jaw unhinged as she sucked in air and fired off a shot towards Stain, who looked at it in shock. "What the-!"

Instinct took over as the map evaded the attack, jumping forward. Still, Stain wasn't the only one with instinct as Hebimi's right shoulder exploded and rapidly formed an air intake vent, same with his right arm below the elbow as he quickly formed a cannon.

Hebimi aimed it towards Stain; the hero killer barely had time to breathe before a spiral of scorching hot green flames came barrelling down on him. Todoroki cut off on means of escape by sending out a wall of jagged ice to Stain's left side, while Koharu, who was to his back and still in this fight, moved in a way that, in his gut, he knew would block the right.

With no choice, he had to charge straight into the flames. His tongue hanging out, he let out an angered war cry as he charged the spiraling flames. Diving through the center of them, he avoided the worst of the flames, but being surrounded by them even for a few moments felt like spending minutes inside a blistering oven.

Coming out the other end, he didn't need Hebimi to have eyes to know that he was surprised. It showed in his reaction as Stain gripped his kukri and kicked him right in the chest. The boy cried out more from shock than pain, as his tail meant that he didn't fall over, but he bent far back far enough for Stain to use him as a launch pad, jumping into the air towards Todoroki. In the same motion, he tossed a throwing knife toward Todoroki.

The duel fire and ice user barely had time to react; seeing something glinting in the pale moonlight racing towards him, he lifted a hand to block it, only to let out a hiss when the blade dug deep into his forearm. Todoroki hardly had a moment to realize that it could have landed in his chest if his arm hadn't been there before Stain pulled up, swinging his kukri at him maliciously.

Todoroki blocked it with a jagged stump of ice, but Stain's smile warranted alive. "Above you!" Hebimi warned him, Todoroki looking up, seeing Stain's other knife spinning, almost as if trapped mid-air.

'When did he throw it when he threw the other blade?' Todoroki thought, his mind moving a mile a minute as the knife fell almost into Stain's reach. Hebimi refused to let him get it, and while in an awkward backward bend, he took aim for it and fired, not his canon but his other hand, which managed to grab the blade while in mid-air. It should have been a counter.

But Stain had known that the two would react like that. He had been wrong about Hebimi's nature before and wouldn't make the same mistake twice. With Hebimi as the tank, he knew that he would move to defend his teammate over attacking him, as that could have easily been a rocket-propelled punch to his back. He also knew that Todoroki produced fire and ice, but only from one side each and never the other.

With his first strike, he purposely aimed for the boy's left side and followed it with an attempt to carve into his right, knowing he would block it. Hebimi's position would also mean he would see the thrown Ka-Bar and naturally warn his teammate about it. Combined with the fact that they didn't know what his quirk could deceive them into moving as he wanted them to.

Todoroki saw him move, but it wasn't to try and stab him, draw another knife, or pull back. Instead, Stain leaned in and licked at his bleeding arm; as soon as his blood touched Stain's tongue, Todoroki realized his game and why he used bladed weapons as he fell backward, having lost all motor control.

"Todoroki!" Midoriya called out. He didn't know what had just happened. One moment, Todoroki was fine; the next, he was going down. Was it the blades? Did they have some sort of paralyzing agent? Was it a quirk? The reports Endeavour told them about detailed the suspicion that Stain's quirk could paralyse targets that he cut. Still, none of his living victims could confirm that.

Capitalizing on their surprise, Stain went for Midoriya's arm, severing the line between it and his body, causing the limb to crash into a wall to the side of the road. He raced towards it to retrieve his blade. Still, a blast of fire from Koharu stopped him as the quirked serpent raced towards him, its eyes ablaze as it tried ramming him into a building. Stain countered by throwing his knife into his other hand and charging her; when close enough, he leaped over her and swung at her.

The hero killer fought through the pain that came with plunging his hand into her fiery body as, unlike the other pyromancer, she didn't have a stone outer shell. It was worth it as his blade cut deep into her skull, drawing a surprised and pained hiss as she crashed into the side of a building.

Finally retrieving his blade, he had to dodge a blast of fire; the boy had already regrown another arm as he charged the hero killer.

"You stay away from him!" Hebimi cried out as he bent his head forward, launching forth dozens of fiery stone snakes like he was Medusa. Stain sliced through most of them, evading the worst of the lava splatter as he dashed forward, sending a devastating knee into Hebimi's face, cracking his stone face plate but rapidly retreating when Hebimi's tail come around and whipped about where he just had been.

All the while, he heard the wall of a nearby building cracking and shaking as Koharu pulled herself free, now pissed that she had been injured and made to look like a fool. She didn't care what her human said; she would make this Stain character pay for that.

With Hebimi, his cracked mask shifted back into place, lost fragments filled in and repaired good as new as he let out a hiss akin to rock being superheated and forced through a small hole. Working with Koharu, she sent him a heads-up on what she was planning, allowing them to work without Stain hearing a thing as they charged him. All the while, Todoroki remained paralyzed on the ground, struggling to get up, use his quirk, or even turn his head to the action. Still, he found that he couldn't even lift a finger.

"Damn it," Todoroki grunted, as it seemed the only things he still had control over were his speech and eyes. Stain turned after landing a brutal strike that severed Hebimi's right hand at the wrist, about to jump back to Todoroki to finish him. Still, a rocket-propelled fist from Midoriya found its mark, digging into his side and plowing him through a storefront's window, where Koharu sent in a fireball to add to whatever damage he took.

Hebimi trusted she would keep an eye out and quickly ran to Todoroki. "Todoroki, are you okay?"

Todoroki hadn't stopped trying to move even just a finger but was having no luck. "I'm fine…just can't…move."

Hebimi sighed, though his voice came out gravelly and hard in his current state. "So, the reports were right; he can paralyze his targets."

Todoroki thought the same thing, but thinking back on the moment, he realized that there was something else. "We missed something, his quirk…whatever it is, it only worked after he licked my wound." Stain wouldn't have needed to taste his blood if it was just a delayed thing. But as soon as he did so, that was when the effect came into being. That was far too convenient to be something like Stain, just having a strange habit.

"So that's it then. He needs to ingest blood to affect someone." Hebimi mused, looking at his fist and clenching it, the hard smack of stone heard by the two. "So Koharu and I are his worst opponents; as long as we stay transformed, there's no blood for him to drink."

Hebimi turned and pulled the knife out of Todoroki's forearm, healing the wound before pulling the blade into the barrel of his gun arm, shooting out a quick jet of intense fire; when he pulled it out, it was red hot and already losing its shape.

"He can't lick blood off a blade superheated into slag." Hebimi tossed the useless knife to the sound, where it deformed when it came into contact with the road. At that same moment, he heard a warning from Koharu and directed his attention to the smoking storefront.

"Correct, my quirk allows me to nearly completely paralyze anyone whose blood I've ingested, though you're missing some details." Stain emerged from the smoke, covered in cuts from his impact through the glass and soot from Koharu's blast, but just like with everything else, the man was still combat-ready.

Koharu hissed at him as Hebimi shifted, putting Todoroki to his back. "Why tell us that?"

"People who are all talk are a dime a dozen, fakes that pervert the meaning of the word 'hero'." Stain started, flipping his Ka-Bar into a reverse grip, a fanatical grin forming as he looked directly at Hebimi. "But you? You seem to have the right idea of what a hero means. That is something I can respect. You're worth letting live, but knowing you're a powerful regenerator means I don't have to worry about hurting you too badly before I return to the hunt."

"Your hunt ends tonight, Stain. We're make sure of it!" Hebimi declared as he and Koharu unloaded into Stain, bathing the street in an emerald inferno.

Hosu was still in chaos, which pulled most emergency services to the main action. It was logical and practical, even as you wanted those who could help and were ready to jump when they could. But right now, Iida wished that one of them had slacked off.

At least, he had been jogging for a few minutes now, what a speedster like him called jogging. He had long since left the dirty and admittedly confusing alleys behind and rejoined the main street, having now put several blocks between him and his…friends? He didn't know, and their fight with Stain. So much so that he could hardly see their attacks. He kept an eye out as he went, both for danger and aid like a doctor's office or clinic. Most would remain open in a crisis like this, and with the action in the distance, they would have more reason to do so to wait for potential patients.

'I've been patrolling with Manuel for three days now. I recall seeing a few in another part of town. There has to be some here,' Iida thought, needing to slow down to adjust his passenger as gently as possible. He worried for them; he really did, but he didn't have the means to treat them. He just had to do his best to find help.

With no luck, he had no choice but to run towards the danger. It would be risky, but where they were heroes or police, there was bound to be help. So once he made sure his hold on the man wasn't loosening, he was off again, picking up speed as he raced down the empty streets towards the fires and God-awful screeching. Were they still monsters in the field? 'No, focus, Iida. Leave them to the fighters, you're on rescue.'

Turning the corner, he spotted a small crowd of people. There were no heroes with them, but a few policemen acted as security and tended to them, keeping them calm. One such saw him. "Halt!" one of them yelled, but Iida only increased his speed.

Before they could react, they saw that he was in costume and assumed he was a hero, allowing Iida to approach with the wounded man still in his grasp. "My apologies, but I need assistance! This hero is in dire need of medical treatment. Where is the nearest ambulance or doctor?"

"Hero?" One of the people asked, looking up from where they were seated on the floor.

"Understood," an officer quickly nodded before reaching for his radio and calling it in. "Dispatch, this is Unit 12, a…hero student, I think just arrived with an injured hero, unconscious and in need of medical attention. What's the ETA on that?"

The response came quick: "Unit 12, this is dispatch; there's an ambulance and crew about four blocks east of you. Can you make it there?" The man near cursed. Four blocks wasn't a cake-walk; it wasn't like they could just assign it to people; that would leave them undermanned in case something happened.

"Understood, thank you!" That was not an issue for Iida, who took a moment to recall which way was east before he bolted. His speed made it so that he covered the distance in a fraction of the time it would have taken someone else. As he neared the fourth block, he saw the mercifully familiar white vehicle, a thick red strap going around it.

"There he is!" One of the EMTs waiting outside called out, and the other flagged him down.

"Over here, kid!" she called out as Iida booked it. With the end in sight, he put the pedal to the medal until he skidded to a stop before them; the EMTs had already wheeled out a gurney.

"Okay, gently put him down, " they instructed him. Iida wordlessly followed their commands before stepping back to allow them a chance to look the man over. One of the two frowned as they got to work, checking the man over.

"What happened?" The woman, probably the senior of the two, asked.

Iida took a breath to organize his thoughts and reply as concisely and quickly as possible. "He was attacked by Stain, my class. Hebimi was sent after one of the monsters by Endeavour and came across him. His wounds were burned shut to stop the bleeding."

"Kid!" Others arrived on the scene, and Iida recognized them as pros who had been present fighting against those Nomu things. "You good?"

"We heard the dispatch and figured it was one of you kids. Where are the others?" the blonde woman with a red scarf said, gesturing to her earpiece.

"Holding off Stain, quickly, if we rush back now, we can lend aid. They should still be in sector 17. I'll lead the way!" With his priority of getting the wounded man to help, Iida turned around and raced off to rejoin the fight.

"Wait, hold on!" One of the heroes called out, but Iida was already putting distance between them. With a sigh and mutter about kids being too energetic, he gave chase, followed by the others.

"Dammit, call it in. We might someone like Endeavour or this." One of them, who looked like a ragged sock puppet, called out.

"Report." Endeavour picked up quickly, as they expected, as the man had been finishing up with the other Nomu when they left.

"That Iida kid managed to get the injured hero to some paramedics; we left them treating them. However, we don't know what's happening with Stain, only that the other two were left fighting him." The blonde reported, being chosen for the role by the rest.

"That explains why neither is responding," Endeavour replied, as neither Shoto nor Hebimi had answered them. "Location."

"Sector 17 still. Iida already jetted off, and we're chasing him, " she replied, to which Endeavour grunted.

"Understood, we'll make our way over as soon as possible. Don't let that villain escape." With that, he cut the line, leaving them to continue to chase down Iida, who was so far ahead it was embarrassing.

Shigaraki and Kurogiri had shifted positions, having lost interest in the rest of the attack. The leader of the League of Villains focused on the night's boss battle between Stain and that pyromancer and his summon. He even brought support, but he was stunned locked. Kurogiri could recall that feeling well. Right now, Stain was putting up a pretty good fight, despite the fact that his opponent had an auto regen so high-levelled that he could recover faster than Stain could damage him.

"Stain's a real skilled player, isn't he? He got the wrong kit for this dungeon, and he's not been killed yet." Shigaraki mused. Watching as Stain dodged a lunge from the fire snake and a swarm of stone snakes, it was still surprising to see that the brat had a second form.

"Stain's a proficient fighter; he might prefer ambush, but he's exceptional at situational awareness and adaptation," Kurogiri replied as Stain quickly stabbed the boy through the gut, withdrew the knife, and kicked him in the side. Midoriya didn't go down or falter; instead, he countered with a snap backhand, which Stain barely dodged. This allowed the snake to blast him with fire, forcing him back from the two.

The fire and ice user he recalled from the festival remained paralyzed on the ground.

"Makes me angrier that he wasn't willing to join my party," Shigaraki muttered, as he could have done so much with a guy like that. But he was far too annoying, wanting to make real heroes? What a load of crap. He killed heroes and, in turn, spawned more of the 3-stars and below he hated. Didn't he understand rarity? "But that's how it works; some guys just don't like co-ops."

"Perhaps it's fate then that he's facing off against a 3-man team then," Kurogiri called out as Stain was blind-sided by a burst of ice, Todoroki getting back up.

"I hope so, I want to see that self-righteous asshole get what's coming to him. You think the kid will roast him like he did our Nomu?" Shigaraki replied as Todoroki started to lay on the pressure, his ice creating barriers and obstacles that slowed Stain down, the man dodging or weaving through them, only to be grabbed by Midoriya's rocket hand, which Shigaraki had to admit, was pretty cool, even if Stain cut through the cord for the 6th time, it gaze the kid's summon a chance to fire off a wave of fire which Stain had to rush through, coming out smoking and with embers falling off his gear.

Kurogiri shook his head. "Doubtful, I suspect that he wasn't in his right state of mind then. Heroes tend to avoid killing or seriously injuring villains after all."

"I don't care, as long as I get to watch what I hate getting destroyed." Shigaraki's red eyes gleamed with murderous excitement. He hated Midoriya, too, but he wouldn't turn down the chance to see the kid roast someone he hated.

Overhead, a news helicopter flew. Emblazoned on its side was the logo of NHA, the mark of a respected news agency. Aboard the helicopter, the pilot steered them clear of the worst while still allowing the cameraman reporter duo he was carrying to capture the chaos.

"-from the news chopper to the studio, I'm reporting live from the skies of Hosu City! I was despatched here to report any new reports or clues on the hero killer Stain, but have a different story!" The reporter relayed as her cameraman captured the city below them. It would have normally been a quiet place, but not tonight.

"There is fire and smoke rising from 3 different locations on the streets, " she stated as he focused on those 3 clear signs of trouble. Are these from accidents, or from rioting villains? We are not getting any information on which it could be, but I will continue to remain on the scene to report on them as soon as we know!" She looked at the camera dead in the lens.

"Okay, cut!" her cameraman called as he ended the link, but she turned back to the city, frowning.

"Keep shooting, " she said as the man looked at her. Having worked with her for as long as he had, he figured it wasn't worth asking for details and just did so. They'll probably look over the footage later for things they could air come morning.

The reporter kept her gaze on things, as she knew that the odds of this being an accident were slim, incredibly slim. But it also wasn't likely that it was a villain attack. It didn't match, as most villains avoided making such a scene, and for three of them to occur like this could only mean it was a group, but which one, and why?

Off in the distance, she spotted a billboard and would have ignored it if not for what she saw along with it. "Wait…what's that?"

"What?" Her cameraman asked as she pointed a well-manicured finger where she was looking.

"Over there, by the billboard for that Hawks line of watches." Her cameraman still took a moment to spot it. Still, when he did, he ignored the large image of the number 3 hero to focus on the two objects he saw standing in its shadow.

"There are people! Two of them!" He confirmed, zooming in, his brow creased. One dressed pretty plainly for someone who liked the color black or whatever dark color that was. Were they a goth? They might be as he could see something on their face, a personalised mask? The second was hard out, namely because they seemed to be heteromorphs with smoky-like skin. He could see how smartly dressed they were, which was a weird contrast to the first one.

He relayed all that to his partner, who was just as dumbfounded as he was. "Curious onlookers? But…what's even over there? They're not facing any of the fires."

Her reporter senses went off. Maybe this was nothing, but she wouldn't bet on it as she looked towards the pilot. "Head in that direction."

The man gave a thumbs up. "God it."

And we're done! I had some more stuff planned, namely the end of the Stain fight, but with how that was going, I saw it would pass the limit, and I'm already working on a tight schedule, so I'll take the chance to end things here.

The next chapter will be out April 1st

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