Chapter 28: Hero Killer: Part 1
Despite their… activities last night, Izuku woke up before anyone else so that he could go back downstairs and train.
The cold hallway made him shiver and want to go back so he could sleep next to Himiko, but getting stronger as quickly as possible was for both of them, not just him.
When Izuku returned to the ground floor, he studied the footprints Gran Torino had left in the walls each time he had bounced from one to another.
'How did he do it? Like… this?'
Izuku filled himself with One for All at eight percent and sprang left toward the wall. His feet impacted, but he hadn't calculated the split second needed to spring again to the next wall, so when he tried, his foot slipped, and he ended up flipping end over end.
He slammed into the other wall at an awkward angle and slid painfully to the ground, folding like a lawn chair.
'That hurt.'
He slowly got back to his feet, rubbing his back. There were so many marks on the walls, ceiling, and floor that Izuku couldn't fathom how the older man could handle such speed and properly orient himself so that he could fight effectively.
'I guess it's a matter of how much training and practical usage of his quirk he's had. Gran Torino is a pro, and he's pretty old, so he must be excellent.'
Izuku tensed again, and the crackling of One for All lit the room in green light. This time, he sprang at the wall, instantly shifted midair, planted his foot, and sprang at the wall across the room.
'Yes!'
He repeated the process, getting a feel for how much force he needed each time to clear the distance properly. It was slow going, relatively speaking. One for All at eight percent wasn't slow by any means, but this was nothing compared to the speed Gran Torino had used against Himiko. Even so, Izuku knew he could go faster, but he really didn't want to make a mistake and give himself a concussion just because he got carried away.
'I can't believe I didn't think of this before! I mean, I used One for All during the battle trials when fighting Kacchan, but if I'd used it like this, I would've been a lot more efficient. I wouldn't have had walls to bounce between, but I would've moved a lot more.'
Izuku just continued to jump from wall to wall, trying to speed up slowly as the time dragged on.
Izuku groaned. He had spent the better part of the morning just getting the footwork and positioning down for what he thought could become a special move. Sure, it would require tight spaces to work, but he'd develop another special move for more varied circumstances later.
But now Izuku was at the breakfast table with Himiko and Gran Torino, and the atmosphere was extremely awkward.
Izuku blushed from ear to ear every time he met Himiko's eyes. He couldn't believe how he'd acted the previous night. He'd gotten used to Himiko taking the lead during intimate activities, but something had flipped his proverbial switch, and he'd just gone wild.
And then there was Gran Torino.
He looked like he was oblivious for the first half of the process Izuku took to make them all breakfast. But when they'd all sat down, he gave both of the teens a very dry look every time their eyes strayed to his.
Izuku cleared his throat, "I, uh, woke up early and practiced your technique."
Gran Torino scoffed and gestured between the two with his fork, "That's not the only thing you practiced."
Izuku's entire body nearly combusted with how embarrassedly hot he felt, "I— uh— I mean—"
Himiko gestured flippantly with her own fork, "I'm not apologizing."
"H-Himiko!"
Gran Torino laughed, "Well, if nothing else, you've got nerve, crazy girl!"
"I-I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't intend to have anything like that h-happen while we were staying here! I'd never want to give you the wrong impression about us and make you think we're just immature teenagers! We want to get stronger really its ju—"
Gran Torino slammed a hand over Izuku's mouth, "Jeez, kid! I was just messin with ya! Who cares if you little delinquents fuck in your off time? Save the excuses for that big dope All Might. And in the meantime," he smiled very evilly, "show me what you've learned since you've been practicing."
Izuku really didn't want to let the matter go. Why were so many people thinking they were delinquents and problem children? First, it was Mister Aizawa, and now it was Gran Torino.
Izuku suppressed a tear, 'I'm not a delinquent! My girlfriend just doesn't know when to hold back, and I get carried away because of her.'
"A-Alright," Izuku's shoulders slumped, and he trod toward the entry room so that he could show the old hero what he'd been practicing.
Izuku jumped from wall to wall with as much speed as he could; the strain of keeping eight percent active was becoming less and less obvious as he adjusted to it. He was finally putting himself through his paces, going as fast as he could, when Gran Torino told him to stop.
"You're thinking a little more, and it looks like you've even started to get a grasp on how mobile you can be with One for All. But ultimately, you're just copying me. Look," he gestured at Izuku's shoe marks on the walls, and without realizing it, Izuku had almost exactly followed the path Gran Torino had made the other day, "honestly, it's scarily impressive how accurate you are at copying without realizing it. But I'm not teaching you so you can copy my moves; I'm teaching you so you can learn from them."
Izuku thought hard, 'How can I make it my own without just copying Gran Torino? What exactly does he do? Is it just the maneuverability and speed? No, he needs to go that fast because he can't deliver as much force with just a single ricochet! So he needs to keep moving so that his impacts deliver more force, but I don't necessarily need to do that. I could deliver a lot of force if I mimicked him, but it isn't strictly necessary every time.'
Gran Torino grinned, "You got a good look in your eye, kid! If you've got an idea, then don't bother explaining; just come at me!"
Izuku shot upward, pivoted, and then jumped to the right wall. He bounced between the walls three more times and then dove at Gran Torino.
"Really?" Gran Torino disappeared and suddenly spoke from behind Izuku just as his feet touched the ground, "You're just doing the same exact thing."
Izuku tensed his legs and shot away again. He was jumping at random intervals: left wall, right wall, ceiling, floor, right wall.
He passed close by Gran Torino cocking his right leg back to deliver a sideways axe kick right at the hero's exposed neck.
The old hero shot up into the ceiling and came right back down.
Izuku barely dodged the attack; Gran Torino's boot had cut a thin slice right down the middle of one of Izuku's freckles. Izuku's back slammed against the ground, knocking the wind out of him.
"This is disappointingly sad. I think you're a bigger idiot than All Might," Gran Torino crossed his arms and glared down at Izuku.
He panted, rolling to his stomach and lifting onto all fours. Despite hitting the ground fairly hard, Izuku had managed to keep One for All active, so now that he was in an impromptu runner's stance, his plan was in place.
Izuku shot forward again, swiveled, planted his foot into the wall behind Gran Torino, and looked up to trace a path he could take next.
"You really are a fo—"
But instead of jumping to build momentum, he shot right back at the hero. Izuku twisted his torso and swung his leg into an overhead strike that would slam into Gran Torino's shoulder and send him to the ground. Of course, the hero dodged this by moving his shoulder slightly to the side.
Izuku could see Gran Torino tensing to jump for a counterattack, but instead, he continued the strike that had missed and slammed his foot into the ground, sending concrete spraying up in all directions. The debris slowed the old hero's reaction time just enough so that Izuku could use the firm foot he'd planted to swivel into a right hook.
His fist passed just an inch away from Gran Torino's face, slicing a horizontal line.
Izuku stumbled and fell flat on his face, "I… guess it… wasn't good enough."
Gran Torino wiped the line of blood on his cheek away, "that was good. You used my expectations against me, kept using movements that I had said weren't good enough, and turned it completely around when I got comfortable. Not bad at all, but let's keep that up! You aren't allowed to stop until lunchtime."
Izuku paled, looked at the clock, and then gulped. This was going to be a long day.
The dim lights of the bar hummed quietly, and Shigaraki sat lazily on a bar stool. Kurogiri stood, tense and alert, staring hard at the guest they had brought.
"I get it… you're the ones who assaulted U.A.," The Hero Killer Stain licked his lips with a nasty-looking tongue, his eyes trained fixedly on Shigaraki, "and you want me to join your little gang."
Shigaraki grinned from behind his father's hand, "Yeah, exactly. When it comes to being evil, you're a pro."
Stain glanced at Kurogiri and then back to Shigaraki, "And what're you after?"
Shigaraki scratched absently at his neck, tilting his head, "Ultimately, we want to kill All Might, but I also just want to destroy everything I don't like. Oh, and if there was one other thing, I want these kids to join the league."
Shigaraki's scarred hands held up a picture; in it was a green-haired boy with freckles and a blonde girl leaning against him with a large, fanged grin spread across her face.
"They're in U.A. right now, but I have a feeling they'd make good allies, the girl especially. We're in need of a rogue for our party, and the green-haired kid should make an adequate DPS."
Stain grit his teeth and glowered at the two villains. "It's ridiculous that you really had my interest for even a second there. You're… the type I hate the most."
The Hero Killer slowly and methodically drew two knives from their sheaths on his ribs," as if I'd team up with some temper-tantrum-throwing child. Bloodlust without conviction is meaningless."
Kurogiri tensed, "Sensei, shouldn't I stop him?"
The crackling static of the TV in the corner drew Stain's attention for a moment, but his eyes snapped right back to Shigaraki. "No," a deep crackling voice spoke from the TV. "Tomura needs to figure this out for himself. Being a teacher means guiding your students in the right direction and letting them figure out the answer for themselves."
Shigaraki scratched harder and harder at his neck; flecks of blood and flesh stained his cracked nails, "who cares what you think? I just thought you might want a crack at killing some heroes and some hero-wannabes, but I guess you're more useless than I thought you'd be."
Stain lunged forward faster than Shigaraki could react; he had buried one of his knives into the man's shoulder. The other knife was poised to slit Shigaraki's throat, "only those who have a strong will and conviction can accomplish anything. Without those, it is only natural that you will be culled. Just another fool in the long line of my crusade."
Shigaraki laughed but winced as the blade in his shoulder dug in a bit further, "Owwwww! Kurogiri, send this guy away."
Kurogiri grunted; his shirt sleeve was torn, and out seeped a thin trail of blood, "I-I can't move! It must be the Hero Killer's quirk."
Stain sneered menacingly, his deep red eyes piercing through the man he had pinned to the ground, "the word "hero" has lost its meaning in this corrupt society, rife with fakers and shams. Even you criminals who aimlessly throw their weight around are all targets of my purge."
The Hero Killer moved his blade ever so slightly, and the razor-sharp blade dug Into the hand adorning Shigaraki's face, "not this hand… not this one."
Shigaraki grabbed the blade with his right hand, and when the last digit met the metal, it cracked and corroded, "you sure talk a lot… conviction, huh? Nah, I can't say I have anything as grand as that. But if I had to say what drives me. I'd say it's All Might." The blade shattered, and Shigaraki stared up at Stain, his eyes a vortex of insane hatred and hunger, "that piece of garbage and the society that worships him! I wanna turn them both to dust, but first, I want to corrupt those kids he seemed to care so much about and see the look of despair on his face as they rip his guts out."
Shigaraki lunged up at the Hero Killer, but Stain leaped away and grinned, "Our respective goals couldn't be further apart… but destroying the status quo; that's the one thing we have in common."
Shigaraki rolled his shoulder with the stab wound, grunting as blood flowed down and stained his shirt, "and I was just getting over my wounds too. You know we don't have a healer in our party yet, right? Whatever, get out of my face! Go back home and die; I'm the type you hate the most… or whatever."
The Hero Killer crouched down to get a closer look at the blade that had been disintegrated, "I was just testing your sincerity. You're an odd one, but you have the seeds of what could lead to conviction. I wonder what that seed will yield? Either way, I'll deal with you when the time comes, and the answer is made apparent."
Shigaraki glared hatefully, "Deal with me? I don't think I really want a crazy guy like you joining our party."
Kurogiri seemed finally able to move because he was wrapping a bandage around his wounded arm, "Tomura Shigaraki, he'll add some much-needed firepower to our efforts. Our negotiations were successful, so there is no need to refuse an ally."
"This guy just plans on killing my ass if he decides he doesn't like whatever "conviction" I find or whatever," Shigaraki looked at the TV, but when Sensei didn't say anything, he sighed, "But I guess we need him."
Stain turned away and looked at Kurogiri over his shoulder, "Send me back to Hosu. There's something I have to take care of there."
Izuku, Himiko, and Gran Torino all stepped outside of the dingy apartment/office. It had been two days since they'd arrived, and now that they were on their third, Gran Torino had decided they should finally go on patrol. The sun was slowly setting overhead, and by the time night had fallen, they would most likely have arrived in Shibuya.
"Uh, sir? Are you sure it's fine for us to go out already?" Izuku tugged worriedly at the strap of his chest armor and adjusted his fingerless gloves a bit.
"Fighting me all of the time will only give the two of you bad habits, and besides, patrolling isn't as dangerous as you might think." Gran Torino walked maddeningly slow, and his stride barely let him cover the distance from the doorway to the outside of the fences that ringed his building in five minutes, "the villains you've faced so far were, for lack of a better word, exceptional compared to your average street punk. I'm sure the crazy girl can vouch for that."
They limped along, following the elderly hero at his sedate pace. At their current rate, it would take them an hour or more to get to the train station, and Izuku didn't even want to think about how slow patrolling like this would go.
Himiko padded along in her dress-like costume, grinding the clawed tips of her gloves against each other. The noise sounded like a blade being sharpened on a wet stone.
Izuku balked when he looked down at the girl's feet. "Himiko! Why aren't you wearing any shoes?!"
She looked down and then pouted, "Because those idiots tried giving me high heels. I drew this outfit with shoes like yours, but the note that came with my case said something dumb, like it would clash with the outfit."
He tried imagining the elegant dress with a pair of sneakers, but the image just seemed ridiculous, "I… kinda get what they meant, but heels are bad for a completely different reason. Uraraka's costume had heels too, but the tip had a cushion for when she lands, and the heel is a shock absorbing spring, so those are a little practical."
Himiko drew closer, uncomfortably close. Her face was inches away from his. Her eyes glowed with a warning light, "Oh? And why do you know so much about another girl's costume, huh, Izu?"
Izuku gulped and fumbled with the black utility belt around his waist, pulling a small notepad he'd used during the first team battles class 1-A had, "I w-wrote down and sketched stuff about almost everybody's costumes during training."
His girlfriend took the notebook and flipped through the pages. The data was more condensed than he usually preferred because of the small pages with notes on their quirks, and the sketches of student in their class were less detailed than in his other notes, but they put extra emphasis on costume specs, "Izu."
"Y-Yes?"
She looked up at him with a grimace, "I don't think you should let anyone in the class see this. I think they'd find this kinda….. creepy."
Izuku sighed, "Yeah, I figured they might, but it's a habit I can't quite kick."
Himiko handed him the notepad and looked off to the side, arms crossed behind her head, "Do you have any notes about me?"
Izuku would really rather not answer that. The first time he had dreamed about her during middle school, he had filled a page of a new notebook with sketches of her as a child, and then when they'd met again, he had slowly filled the pages with sketches of her along with scattered notes. A few of the early ones had been analytical, like his typical notes about her characteristics and how they might tie in with her quirk. They slowly started to stray to very embarrassing daydreams that he'd absently written down and, for some reason, he hadn't bothered erasing.
'I think I need to burn that notebook before she finds it. Otherwise, I'll never hear the end of it.'
Himiko's wide grin nearly split her face, and she teasingly pocked Izuku's sides with her fingers, "Ah, so you do have some!"
Gran Torino seemed fed up with them because he turned sharply to the street and whistled at a cab, stopping it and climbing inside, "Get in! I'm not walking all the way to the train station with you two acting like that."
Himiko smiled innocently, "Okay!"
Izuku climbed inside behind her, "I'm sorry, sir."
"Just sit down and try to be quiet." Gran Torino shook his head, "Toshinori might've been dense, but I never had to deal with any girlfriends."
The taxi pulled away toward the station, and Izuku buzzed with the excitement of finally being able to do hero work. This was the entire purpose of everything he had been through, and it was exciting to finally experience what he had aspired to be.
He just hoped his luck wasn't as terrible as usual and nothing bad would happen while they were out.
Chapter 29: Hero Killer: Part 2
The city lights passed quickly as the bullet train carried them closer and closer to Shibuya.
They were currently passing through Hosu, and Izuku had texted Iida to see if he was doing alright, but he had gotten no reply. In addition to Iida's lack of a response, he felt strange and out of place wearing his hero outfit on a train full of people.
He got looks from older people and uncomfortable admiring stares from younger children. It was like they thought he was greater than he actually was.
Izuku looked out the window at the city, "are you sure it's okay we're going to get in so late?"
Gran Torino waved flippantly and reclined in his seat, "There's sure to be more incidents at night. It'll be fun!"
Izuku thought about that, "I don't know about fun, but I think I get what you mean."
Izuku smiled, but his worrying got the better of him, and he checked his phone.
No text from Iida.
"Are you okay, Izu?" Himiko squeezed his hand gingerly, "worried about Mister Glasses?"
Izuku nodded, "I am. He hasn't said a thing in the group chat or responded to any of my texts."
Himiko smiled reassuringly, "I'm sure he's just busy with his own inter—"
An ear-shattering *BOOM* sounded from somewhere deeper in the city outside, and the train suddenly slammed to a stop.
"Passenger, please remain seated. We are making an emergency stop. I rep—"
The side of the train suddenly exploded inward, and through the debris came the body of a hero. Thankfully, he got up almost immediately after being thrown in.
"Who is this guy?!" The hero yelled as a large and lanky figure peered in through the hole that had been made in the train.
It was large and hunched, with thin, gangly arms and legs. It had four eyes and… an exposed brain.
'Nomu! Protect Himiko!'
Izuku's body moved on autopilot. One for All roared to life, and his heart pounded. He slammed into the train's roof and then right at the creature.
His bone-shattering kick met Nomu's jaw, and it was sent tumbling down to the street below.
Izuku blinked, "what?"
Gran Torino and Himiko stepped up beside him and looked down at the creature.
"Damn, kid. I think you knocked it out cold. Good instincts." Gran Torino smacked him so hard on the back that Izuku was almost thrown out of the hole in the train.
Izuku just looked down in awe, "I just… moved. I could only think that that thing looked like—"
"Nomu," Himiko grimaced and met eyes with Izuku. "It looked like Nomu from U.S.J. That was what you were thinking, right?"
She reached out her hand, and with a start, he realized he had been shaking. Had he really been so frightened? Something had just come over him, and he had acted instinctually when he saw that creature—like he had to get it away from Himiko at all costs.
"We're lucky it wasn't as strong as the one from back then," Izuku planted a foot on the edge of the train and looked to Gran Torino, "What should we do?"
The town was in chaos. Off in the distance, he could hear sirens, people screaming, and the sound of battle. He could see more Nomu in the distance.
Gran Torino looked down at the Nomu Izuku had incapacitated. "For now, you two should focus on helping with civilian rescue. I'll help handle whatever this is. You got it?"
Both Himiko and Izuku nodded in unison, "Yes, sir."
Gran Torino shot away from the train.
Izuku looked at Himiko, and she seemed to be thinking the same thing as him, "You want to make sure Mister Glasses is okay, right?"
He crouched down and let Himiko up onto his back, "I'm worried. The Hero Killer was spotted around Hosu a few days ago, so what if Iida uses this confusion to go looking for him? It might be nothing, but I think we should ask the hero he was interning with, Manual."
Izuku jumped from the train and along the tracks. One for All shot boots of static out from him as they zipped along and then jumped from rooftop to rooftop. The city square wasn't far, and it seemed to be where the most chaos was focused.
On the roof of a bank, Izuku and Himiko got a good look at the commotion. There, in the center of town, were two more Nomu. They were fighting a dozen or more heroes, and it seemed there was no rhyme or reason to their attacks; they were just lashing out indiscriminately.
Fires raged, civilians cried out in fear, and a few heroes even fell to the floor bleeding. Izuku couldn't tell if they were dead or just injured.
And through it all, he heard it.
"Tenya!"
Izuku looked down and found the man he had been looking for; it was the Normal Hero: Manual. But Iida was nowhere in sight, and even the pro hero seemed to be searching for him.
"Damnit! Himiko! I think Iida ran off already."
Himiko scanned the field and seemed to come to a conclusion, "if the Hero Killer is here, and Mister Glasses is after him, we'll need to find a place far away and removed from all of this. Stain never operates out in the open; we need to search nearby back alleys and hope we get lucky as we comb the area."
"Got it!" Izuku leaped from the roof of the bank and made a wide arc around the fight to start searching alleys.
'Please be okay, Iida!'
Stain glowered at the boy in front of him. Because that was exactly what he was: a boy.
He didn't know the first thing about truly being a hero, about duty, honor, or sacrifice. If he did, he wouldn't be trying to stop him from carrying out his work. And he wouldn't be foolish enough to be seeking vengeance for his false hero brother, Ingenium.
Sure, the man had seemed heroic on the surface, but dig even a little under the surface, and Stain had found his true nature. He was a vain and materialistic man unworthy of the title of hero.
And it seemed his brother was no better.
The boy charged at him, screaming in anger. Stain leaped over the upward kick the child had thrown and dug his metal spiked boot into the boy's shoulder.
"Ingenium's… brother? I used him to get the rumors going. But you. You're," blood splattered across Stain's boot, and he used the foothold his boot had made out of the boy's shoulder to slam the sole of his other boot into the back of the boy's head, "so weak!"
Stain drew his katana from its sheath and slammed the blade down into the hero-wannabe's shoulder, "Both you and your brother are weak! It's because you are posers."
"Shut up, evildoer!" Stain glared down at the boy and let him have his piece. After all, even fakes were allowed some last words, "the damage you did to his spinal cord means he's probably going to be crippled for the rest of his life! He'll never be a hero again! My brother… he saved so many people… he's a leader. He's a great hero! There's no good reason you could possibly have for crippling him!"
'How pathetic.'
The boy started to lift up along the sword that was pierced through his shoulder, "he's my hero… he's a great hero… who inspired my dreams! I'll kill you for what you did!"
Stain sneered down at him and pointed over to the fake hero he had been about to cull, "save him first. Forget about yourself for a second and try saving others. Don't wield your power for your own sake. Getting trapped by your own hate and acting out of self-interest… makes you the furthest thing from a hero."
He pulled the blade from the wannabe's back, drew it up to his cracked lips, and licked the blood. This was turning out to be a most bountiful harvest indeed; not only had he caught the fake hero, but he also had the chance to prune the weed that was sprouting in his carefully maintained garden.
He drew his sword up to cut the weed beneath his boot.
"Consider yourself a humble offering… to the betterment of society."
Tears welled in the boy's eyes, and he grit his teeth, "Shut up, shut up! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU SAY NOW! YOU'RE STILL THE CRIMINAL THAT HURT MY BROTHER!"
The blade came down, but before he could kill the sniveling wretch, something small slammed into him. It planted two feet into his side, spun in the air, and threw two knives that narrowly missed Stain's chest and arm.
Before he could regain his footing, another object slammed into his face, "SMAAAAASH!" He was sent tumbling down the ally.
"M-Midoriya! Toga-San?!"
"We're here to save you, Iida!"
Stain looked up and saw two teenagers. One was a girl with blonde hair in an out-of-place elegant red dress. She wore gloves whose fingers were tipped with dangerous-looking claws and had knives all around her body, not unlike Stain himself.
The other was a boy a couple of inches taller than the girl. He looked small, but that hit had dislocated Stain's jaw. He had green hair, freckles, and a relatively plain costume with metal plates in various places that would guard vital areas.
'They look… familiar.'
"That piece of garbage and the society that worships him! I wanna turn them both to dust, but first, I want to corrupt those kids he seemed to care so much about and see the look of despair on his face as they rip his guts out."
'So these were the children Shigaraki was interested in,' Stain realigned his jaw, snapped it back into place, and readied the katana he had managed to hold onto, readying for a fight, 'if they aspire to be heroes, then I should test their metal, but if they fall short… let alone giving them to Shigaraki… I'll just kill them here and now.'
"Himiko knew a majority of the Hero Killers victims were discovered around blind corners in deserted areas… so we've been scouring the back alleys near the Normal Hero Agency, close to the center of all the trouble… looking for you!" The green one, Midoriya, pointed at Stain.
The girl, Himiko, looked down at Ingenium's brother, Iida. "Can you move, Mister Glasses? Izu might be strong, but we'll all need to work together if we want to survive fighting the Hero Killer."
The little hero wannabe grit his teeth, "I can't move… he cut me… that's likely his quirk."
"They were talking about that on the news," the green one shifted between Stain and the girl, "so he needs to cut you to get his quirk to work. I think we can deal with that. Right, Himiko?"
The girl padded over, her feet bare, and she drew a knife from a holster on her left forearm. "Oh yeah! We train in knife combat all the time, so we're a bad match for him."
The green one looked behind him and seemed to catch sight of the hero Stain had been moments away from culling, 'good spacial awareness, but this is the real test. What will you do, boy? Save your friend and run, or stay and fight to save everyone?'
"Midoriya, Toga! Don't interfere. This has nothing to do with either of you!" The brother of Ingenium grit his teeth and glared up at the two teens.
"Shut up!" The green one glared right back down at the other boy. If you're too stubborn to accept our help, then you don't have to! Just shut up, and let us save you both!"
"Your friend shows up and says, 'I'm here to save you,' and you have the nerve to deny his kindness? But either way, it's my duty to kill these two." Stain glowered down at the little hero wannabe and hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the man slumped against the wall behind him, "And if we're forced to fight, the naturally… the weaker of us will be culled."
Izuku shuddered. This man leaked malice by the gallon, and he looked just downright freaky. He didn't look like a heteromorphic type, so why was his nose so flat? And that stare… Izuku didn't want to admit it, but it leaked a certain horrific charisma like a twisted version of All Might's presence.
"So," just one word was enough to make Izuku's spine tingle and his knees to go weak, "what now?"
This was it. The moment that would make or break Izuku as a hero, but could he stand up to this monster? He was different compared to the guys at U.S.J. He was, for lack of a better word, more driven. There was real conviction in his eyes, even if it was twisted.
Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku could see Himiko shivering, but she shifted forward as if she were ready to spring and protect Izuku.
That broke him out of his indecision. If Himiko would fight, so would he!
Izuku crouched down into a runner's stance, tensing his leg muscles for a sideways jump toward the alley wall.
"No! I told you to run! This is none of your business!" Iida shouted, barely managing to shift even a millimeter as he did.
Izuku glared right back at the Hero Killer, "How are we supposed to leave after you say crap like that? Didn't you know?"
Himiko stepped up behind Izuku and flipped her knife in her hand, "Giving help even when it's not asked for…"
They both sprang into action, shouting in unison, "is what makes a true hero!"
The Hero Killer broke into a maniacal smile, his ghoulish face and matted hair adding to the grotesque look, "Ahhh! Good!"
Izuku watched as Stain readied his blade to cut Himiko's head off, but he wouldn't let him. Izuku's feet planted into the wall, and then he was shooting right for the Hero Killer.
"You're both trying to close the gap against my long blade… good judgment," he reached for a knife on a thigh holster.
'Think outside the box like Gran Torino said! What can I do? One for All enhances the muscles and nerves to superhuman levels, and my brain is a nerve, so maybe…'
It was difficult, but Izuku imagined the crackling electricity of One for All supercharging his brain.
His mind seemed to open up, like a sports car that had been trundling along on a rough road, and suddenly found its way onto the freeway. Everything seemed to slow down to a crawl; the Hero Killer's hand moved centimeter by centimeter for Izuku. Himiko's foot seemed to move through molasses as she was already preparing to dodge the katana swing he was aiming at her.
Izuku turned his attention from the blade near Himiko. She was skilled enough to evade without his help, so Izuku used One for All to allow his body to keep up with his thought processes. He brought his hand up. It felt like an eternity to him, but compared to the Hero Killer's movements, Izuku's hand would be up first.
Stain drew the knife out and threw it straight at Izuku, but he was prepared. Izuku's hand was already up; he spread his index and middle fingers and closed them like a steel trap around the knife. With his enhanced reflexes, Izuku flipped the knife in one fluid motion and threw the blade back at the Hero Killer's right arm, the one he held his sword with.
But Izuku wasn't done. He was still mid-jump and would collide with Stain if he didn't act, so he used the opportunity to ready a sideways kick at the man's temple.
His foot was just an inch from the man's head when the world returned to normal. Izuku's head throbbed, his vision swam, and he shot right past Stain and Himiko.
Izuku landed in a heap next to the pro hero Stain had been targeting originally, 'I don't think my brain can handle more than a couple seconds of the strain One for All puts on it.'
He looked up to see how the fight was going now that time had resumed, but everyone in the alley was staring at him in awe. Himiko had forgotten to follow up with an attack, and even the Hero Killer stared at Izuku in shock.
"Izu!? How did you do that? I never trained you to catch knives?!"
The Hero Killer glanced at Himiko momentarily and then back to Izuku. His shoulder was limp, and blood trickled from the knife that stuck in the joint, "you're better than I expected."
He pulled the knife out of his shoulder with his free hand and licked the blood from the blade," so many fools out there are nothing but talk, but you… are worth keeping alive."
"Now," he turned to Himiko and picked his katana up from the ground where it had fallen, "it's your turn to be tested!"
Izuku tried to fill himself with One for All, but he couldn't move, 'what!'
A slight twinge between Izuku's fingers alerted Izuku to a small cut he had gotten when catching the knife earlier, 'a cut that small can even paralyze you?! No, think about it! I could still move even after I'd cut myself, but I wasn't able to move after he licked the blade… blood!'
"It's blood! He needs to ingest blood like you for his quirk to activate, Himiko!" Izuku tried struggling to his feet, but no matter how hard he tried, his body wouldn't respond, and One for All just wouldn't activate.
Himiko and the Hero Killer clashed. Himiko's blades were far too small to challenge the much larger katana properly, but with the added handicap of Stain using his off-hand, she somehow avoided his blade with practiced ease.
"I always liked you, Stain, but you threw a knife at Izu! So I'm going to cut you," Himiko dodged under a vertical swing, leaped over the follow-up horizontal slash, pirouetted in the air, and launched three knives at the Hero Killer's legs and remaining arm.
He angled his shoulder away, avoiding the knife meant for his other arm, and swung his sword in one move to knock the knives meant for his legs away, "your accuracy is good, and you're agile, but you're certainly not very heroic. I can see why that man wants you, but I don't get what he saw in the boy. He's far too heroic to be consorting with filth like you and Shigaraki."
'S-Shigaraki?!' Izuku started to panic, 'no wonder there are more Nomu here! It's all because of Shigaraki. But does that mean the Hero Killer is working with him?'
He needed to break free of this paralysis soon. How did the Hero Killer's quirk work? Was it manual? Did he have to release them himself? Did the amount of blood he took in matter, or was it down to just getting any of the target's blood?
Himiko glared at Stain. Her usually feral grin was gone, and in its place was a predator's stare, "You aren't wrong. Izu is way too good for someone like me. He's kind, thoughtful, protective, and downright noble… but I love him, and he loves me. So I'm not going to leave him just because of some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle reject with a poor sense of fashion told me to."
She threw another set of knives at him and charged forward.
The Hero Killer deflected the projectiles and then paired the blade Himiko had aimed at his leg joint; their blades locked together. Stain stepped to the side, throwing Himiko off balance. Then, he spun in place and swung his katana down in a decapitating swing, "You are an attachment that boy doesn't need. If you are near him, either he will succumb to the taint you are spreading to his soul, or Shigaraki will take you both and corrupt him by using you. Before that happens, I will set the boy free of you."
The katana was little more than a glint in the air as it swung down with tremendous force. Izuku could see the air parting around the blade, see Himiko's foot slip on a patch of water that she had stepped into, and see that she wouldn't be able to dodge because of the slight mistake.
His finger twitched.
"Now!" One for All lit up the alleyway, his muscles tensed, and Izuku could feel the restraint of eight percent being dialed up even further.
He shot forward and cleared the ten feet between himself, Himiko, and the Hero Killer in an instant.
His muscles had grown accustomed to eight percent, and now he was pushing them with the strain of ten. The speed differential seemed like night and day in this instant. The increase was negligible at best, but it had been the difference between life and death.
The flat of his foot slammed into Stain's chest. The sound of breaking bones echoed in the alley, and all Izuku could do was grin.
The Hero Killer tumbled away and slammed into a wall nearly thirty feet away. Izuku stumbled as he came to a stop next to his girlfriend. "Don't ever threaten Himiko in front of me! Or I'll kill you!"
Izuku could feel the burden of One for All at ten percent. It felt similar to eight percent, but his muscles seemed to have reinforced and grown as taught as a bow string. He felt like he could shoot off in any direction with great speed at the slightest twitch.
He stooped down to help Himiko up, and it was the most difficult thing he'd ever done. It was like the quick twitch muscles in his body were all dialed up to eleven, and he could snap at any moment.
Himiko grinned toothily at him, "Why, Izu, I never knew you cared so much."
Izuku held her hand in his with great care. Under the power of One for All, she felt lighter than air, and he barely registered the weight of her hand as he held it.
Somehow, Stain had managed to pull himself up to his feet. Whether it was through sheer willpower or just a stubborn unwillingness to go down, Izuku didn't know.
Stain stumbled forward, clutching his chest, "You've gotten faster and stronger, too. Were you holding your power back? No, judging by the way you were moving, you were just as taken off guard by your speed as I was."
Izuku glared, "And what about you? Your power barely even lasted that long on me. I have a few theories about your quirk. The others didn't break out of their paralysis, even though I did, so it's not that you lost focus. There can't be a time limit; otherwise, the others would've broken free before me. Most likely, it has to do with the amount of blood you ingest, the number of people you're using your quirk on, or it's down to the blood type of the affected victims."
The hero Stain had intended to kill grunted. Izuku recognized him as the hero Native, "If it's down to blood type, mine is B."
"Mine is type A," Iida tried to move again, but it seemed he was still under the Hero Killers quirk effect.
Izuku looked at Himiko, briefly nodding; he readied himself for another charge, "I'm type O."
"And I'm AB," Himiko drew more knives from her thigh holster and nodded back.
"Haaaaah," the Hero Killer exhaled heavily, picking up his dropped katana and readying himself for their charge, "you're sharp. That's right, my quirk's effectiveness depends on the blood type of my target, but that does you little good in a fight like this, where a moment can be the difference between life and death."
Himiko shifted toward Izuku and whispered, "he isn't wrong. The more drawn out this is, the greater our disadvantage will be. You can't handle One for All at that output for very long, and I can't fight without making a mistake forever."
Izuku pulled his phone from his utility belt and held it behind his back. He heard the light click as he unlocked the screen. He hoped he was scrolling to the proper screen.
He tapped on the phone several times and heard a *whoosh* come from his phone. Their location had been sent, and hopefully, someone in their class would understand his cryptic message. It wasn't a perfect backup plan, but it would be their final lifeline if they couldn't stop the Hero Killer soon.
"Throw me at him."
Before Izuku could fully register what she'd said, Himiko leaped into the air, and Izuku had readied himself as if he were bumping a volleyball. His muscles tensed, and Izuku sent Himiko rocketing toward Stain.
Chapter 30: Hero Killer: Part 3
Himiko shot straight for the Hero Killer, throwing her knives as she did. Izuku leaped to the left wall and went wide to attack his side. Himiko's knives came right for Stain, but suddenly, he threw his katana straight at Izuku and caught the knives Himiko had thrown.
He might have been impressed with the man's speed and skill… if there weren't a katana flying right at his face.
Izuku didn't think his brain could handle another burst of high processing power, so he opted to use his costume to his advantage and deflected the katana with his metal forearm guards.
The blade spun away somewhere behind him, and Izuku could see Himiko and Stain were in a fast-paced knife fight.
Himiko sliced up at the Hero Killer's eye. He leaned barely far enough back to avoid the strike and followed up with his own slash he aimed at her abdomen. Himiko was just as fast as she grabbed his wrist and turned it so that he was forced to drop the knife, but then he leaned into her wrist hold and did a cartwheel that brought his spiked boots dangerously close to Himiko's face.
Izuku had cleared the space between them and aimed to sweep Stain's feet out from under him, but he seemed to anticipate Izuku's move and managed to stomp down on the boy's leg.
"Ahhh!" Izuku cried out in pain as he felt the joint in his leg snap.
"Izu!" Himiko closed the distance even further, seeming to forget her knives and opting to try and gouge the Hero Killer's eyes out with her clawed gloves, "I'm going to rip your eyes out, cut your belly open, and strangle you to death with your own intestines!"
Stain seemed to find her remark unsatisfactory, "If I wasn't sure about you before, that remark sealed it. You are no hero… you're just a parasite latching onto something far greater than you."
Himiko swiped her claws at Stain, but he easily avoided her wild and frenzied swings. She had given up on all of her skill with bladed and sharp weapons in her anger and was just lashing out blindly.
Stain avoided a heavy swipe, making her overextend, and then punched her in the face.
Himiko fell to the ground.
Izuku tried to stand, but white hot pain shot up his leg, and he collapsed to the concrete, "H-Himiko! Leave her alone!"
Tears of pain and frustration rose to his eyes, and he slammed a fist into the ground, bloodying his knuckles and cracking the pavement as Stain kicked Himiko in the ribs.
The spike on the tip of his boot pierced her side, and blood sprayed across Izuku's face.
His vision blurred, and he could hear the sound of his heart hammering in his ears. Suddenly, all the pain in his leg disappeared.
"Hey."
Stain turned from the girl beneath his boot to the green-haired boy. Somehow, he had managed to climb to his feet despite the broken leg, whose bone jutted out from beneath his pants. Something was… different.
"Get the hell away from her."
He sounded strangely calm but also furious at the same time. The blood from the girl had stained his face red, his eyes glowed with a strange light, and static crackled across his body.
The air around him felt heavier.
"Oh? Are you showing the seeds of conviction? Is this the advent of a hero?" Stain grinned madly, feeling goosebumps rise on his arms as he looked at the boy.
"Shut the hell up. I don't care about whatever you're saying right now," the boy stepped forward, and despite the broken leg, he didn't waver even slightly. "All I care about is helping Himiko and beating you within an inch of your life."
'He's… different."
The girl shifted.
Stain looked down at the girl and then back up at the boy, but he wasn't there anymore. He had disappeared in the instant Stain had looked at the girl. All he could see was the empty alleyway, the hero wannabe still trying to break free from his quirk, and the immobile form of the fake hero Native.
The Hero Killer looked all around, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. It was like he'd just disappeared.
A foot slammed into the back of Stain's head, sending him flying down the alley again.
He righted himself and came to a skidding stop, 'how did he—'
A fire escape squeaked from above; its walkway was bent in, and the metal was hanging by a thread.
'Ah. He jumped and then used the fire escape as a springboard to deliver a powerful overhead blow. Not a bad idea.'
"Himiko," the boy cradled the girl's head, pulled bandages from the belt around his waist, and silently wrapped them around her wound.
"I-Izu," she reached up and stroked the boy's cheek, "j-just leave me. You're already h-hurt."
"I'm fine. You're the one who's hurt, so don't waste your energy talking. Just wait for me; this won't take long."
Stain drew one of his combat knives from his boot, "ah, another very heroic line, but… I'm afraid you've already been led astray by that girl. It truly is a shame, but—"
The boy glared at the Hero Killer, "Didn't I tell you to shut up? Just fry."
'What? What does he me—'
A tidal wave of fire washed over him, and all he knew was searing hot pain.
Izuku fell to the ground beside Himiko, "that didn't take you very long, Todoroki."
Todoroki shook the fire from his hand and looked down at the Hero Killer, smoldering on the ground coldly. "Well, I would've been here sooner if you hadn't sent such a cryptic message."
Iida stood to his feet. Izuku figured Stain's quirk had lifted when he had passed out, but when he caught sight of Native still immobile on the ground, he panicked, "Todoroki! Iida! His quirk is still active, so don't let your guard down!"
"You," Stain stood to his feet, his skin smoking from the heat of Todoroki's flames, "are the child of the number two hero, Endeavor."
Todoroki's left side ignited, bathing the otherwise dark alley in light, "Hey, Iida, are you ready to help me take this guy down!"
Iida stepped forward and jerked Todoroki's right shoulder toward him. "No! This villain is mine! I must kill him and get revenge for my brother! It is the only way I can live up to the name he has entrusted to me, Ingenium."
"Ingenium?" Todoroki shrugged Iida's hand off and passed a cool stare over him. "That's strange. I don't remember Ingenium ever making a face like that."
Iida's eyes were set and grim, his brow was furrowed in rage, and his teeth were clenched. But at Todoroki's words, his expression shattered, and he clenched his fists, "I—"
"Todoroki, look out!" Izuku shouted, trying to get to his feet again, but all of his strength was truly gone. His leg ached, and he nearly collapsed on top of Himiko.
Todoroki looked back at the Hero Killer, instinctively sending a blast of fire at him, but a pair of knives flew through the fire.
The blaze obscured Izuku's vision, but he thought he heard Iida cry out. A wall of ice shot through the flames, immediately shattered by a kick from the Hero Killer, and Iida was thrown over to Izuku and Himiko.
"Iida! Are you alright?"
His friend adjusted his glasses and turned away before Izuku could see his expression, "I… am sorry you, Toga-San, and Todoroki were dragged into my problem."
"Iida… we came here because we were worried."
Himiko slapped Izuku's side blearily and mumbled under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear, "Izu was the one worried about you."
Izuku chuckled, "Yeah, okay. I was the worried one."
"Thank you for being my friend, Midoriya. You are truly a good person," Iida smiled sadly at them and rejoined the fight with the Hero Killer.
Stain seemed enraged by Iida; his eyes were bloodshot and crazed, "those words are waisted coming from a person like you. You're a fake who prioritized his own selfish desires! A cancer on this society warped by false heroes."
Iida crouched down into a runner's stance, "I know that this situation is entirely my fault, and I have a long way to go before I can even stand on the same level as the three of them. But if I give up here… then Ingenium is truly dead."
Stain gave him an unimpressed look and pulled out yet another hidden knife, "pathetic."
'How many of those things does he have?' Izuku caught sight of something a few feet away from him and Himiko, 'his katana.'
Slowly, painfully, Izuku drug both himself and Himiko toward the blade. He didn't know if it would come in handy, but he would rather have something to keep the man at bay if worse came to worse.
Todoroki sent a wave of frost along the ground, aiming to restrict Stain's movements, but he leapt into the air right at Todoroki. Iida had been prepared; he burst into motion and intercepted the Hero Killer just before he could cut Todoroki.
The knife scraped across Iida's metal-plated forearm, grinding and sending sparks shooting out. Iida aimed a high kick at Stain's head, but he just ducked under it.
"Stall however you like; in the end, I will kill you, that fake, and the girl so that I can build a better society," Stain stabbed at Iida's unarmored side.
A blast of fire drove him back, allowing Iida some breathing room. Todoroki stared at him coolly, "Don't count on it. The pros'll be here soon; I made sure of that."
Izuku and Himiko had reached the forgotten katana. A trail of her blood followed them the few feet it took to reach the blade, and she groaned as they came to a stop.
"I'm sorry, Himi-chan. It's almost over. Iida and Todoroki can handle him. He was already roughed up because of us." Izuku tried to smile down at her, but all he could do was grimace and try not to stain her face with his tears.
He was failing.
Himiko reached up and smiled through bleary eyes, " 's fine, Izu. I've had worse."
"You're a novice," Iida came tumbling toward Izuku and Himiko. Stain's boot crushed a thin wall of ice Todoroki had put up to keep him away, "don't you know? Relying on your quirk too much will only hinder you."
"I won't let you! Recipro Extend!" Iida shot forward faster than Izuku could follow, but he didn't need to.
All Izuku had to do was look at the Hero Killer.
The blade Stain had aimed at Todoroki was coming down toward Iida now.
Izuku turned the katana in an icepick grip and reared back, 'Can my body handle this? Will I make it in time?'
One for All answered his call, but he couldn't feel his body tearing, feel the muscles unraveling under the new strain of ten percent. But he didn't need his whole body for this—just his arm.
Izuku threw the katana.
It sliced through the air faster than Izuku could second guess himself. The blade stayed straight despite the heft of the handle, and it found its mark. The tip of the blade pierced Stain's knife hand, jerking it away from Iida.
Iida turned his entire body with his own attack. His leg came up with insane speed, and the tip of his booted foot slammed into the Hero Killer's chin.
Stain was thrown backward, but the force of the Katana Izuku had thrown pulled him backward and embedded the blade into the brick wall behind him.
The Hero Killer hung there, suspended in the air by his hand that his own katana had impaled.
To add insult to injury, Todoroki froze Stain to the wall, "He's definitely not going anywhere now."
Izuku collapsed to the ground, panting. His shoulder hurt. It felt dislocated.
Iida knelt down to help Izuku and Himiko, "thank you, Midoriya. It seems you had to save me again."
"N-No problem." Izuku winced as he rolled to his side to look up at the boy. "You were the one who knocked him out."
Todoroki came over. He was the only one with almost no injuries. He had a small cut on his left cheek, but that seemed to be it. "You and Toga held him off really well. I'm impressed, Midoriya."
Izuku laughed weakly, "Yeah, but I got careless."
Native, the pro hero Stain had been targeting, to begin with, finally seemed able to move again as he came to help Izuku up.
"No," Izuku looked over to Himiko, "help her first."
Native frowned, "you should really worry about yourself more, kid."
Thankfully, despite his admonishment, Native stooped down and picked Himiko up.
Iida hoisted Izuku to his feet, and Todoroki got to work restraining the Hero Killer. Todoroki pulled the Katana out of the villain's hand, melted the ice that pinned Stain to the wall, and let the man fall face-first onto the ground.
Todoroki didn't even blink when the man slammed down to the ground face-first, "Does anyone see any rope around here?"
Native turned around and gestured with his head at his back, "I've got a bag under my cape with some supplies; I think I still have some rope left."
Todoroki tied Stain's hands behind his back with the rope Native had provided and dragged him along haphazardly as they exited the mouth of the alley.
The night in Hosu had grown significantly quieter, but Izuku could see the flickering light of flames over the tops of buildings. The number of voices he could hear screaming was far fewer than when they had started their search for Iida, and the warmth of the fires drove a bit of the night's chill away.
Izuku winced as his arm slapped against his side, and he nearly cried out as his leg scrapped the ground.
A foot slammed into his face, but somehow he barely felt it, "you damn problem children! Didn't I tell you just to help evacuate people?!"
"G-Gran Torino!" Izuku looked down at the older man very ashamedly.
He glared at Izuku, looked at Himiko, who was grinning weakly at him from where Native held her, and sighed heavily, "Well… I don't know what happened here, but… glad to see you're both still alive."
"Is this the alley he mentioned?!" Another pro hero with a scarf and bodysuit hurried over toward them with a group of other heroes.
The heroes fussed over them, "we got a backup request from Endeavor. But… kids?"
"Hey, they're badly hurt! Call an ambulance!"
The woman in the scarf and bodysuit started in surprise when she caught sight of Stain. "Hey, is that… the Hero Killer?!"
Izuku smiled sheepishly, "uh, yeah. We kind of… ran into him and had to capture him."
Todoroki turned to the woman, "So… Endeavor's still fighting over there, then?"
"Yes. Those of us whose quirks had no effect on those villains came to help you guys."
Izuku looked around. There were five heroes, not counting Native or Gran Torino. It wasn't a huge number, but they were greatly appreciated… even if they had come far too late.
Himiko had been hurt, and it had been because he didn't think they would need any backup right away.
Izuku glared down at the ground, 'I'm such a damn idiot.'
"All three of you!" Iida passed Izuku to Todoroki and hung his head. His shoulders were hunched and shaking, "Midoriya and Toga-san were both hurt terribly because of me, and you were even forced to help, Todoroki. I am so terribly sorry!"
Izuku shifted uncomfortably and winced when his leg hit the ground. "No, I should be apologizing. I could tell something was wrong, and I didn't try to talk to you about it. Not really."
Todoroki stared, his ever-impassive face not changing even a fraction, "I probably should have helped too. I should have known better than anyone that you were suffering with thoughts of revenge."
Himiko groaned and looked at the three of them, "I've done literally nothing wrong, so I'm not apologizing."
The three boys all looked at each other and laughed. It was nice being able to have a moment of levity despite everything that had happened.
"Are you alright, Himiko?" Izuku steered Todoroki over so that he could lean his forehead against hers.
"Yeah, 'm just a little tired, and you know, low on blood. I think we'll need a hospital… or maybe Recovery Girl." She smiled up at him and licked a patch of her blood from his face, "by the way, that blood on your face makes you look super sexy."
Todoroki cringed, "Can you both please quit flirting in front of me?"
Izuku was about to make a crack at the boy's expense, hoping it would make Himiko smile more, but he was suddenly sized from the boy's hands. He was lifted ten feet into the air in the blink of an eye.
A pair of clawed bird-like talons gripped his shoulders, sending jolts of white-hot pain up his dislocated arm and stars shooting across his vision on supernovas that nearly filled his vision.
"I-Izu!" Himiko struggled in Native's arms, but she was too weak to do anything but hold out a limp and weak hand.
"Midoriya!" Gran Torino shot toward him, but the buildings were too far apart for him to use so that he could build speed or height. He could only go so far before his quirk would be useless, and Izuku was entirely out of range.
"Huh?" Izuku looked up through the blinding pain and saw that a winged Nomu had grabbed him; its left eye was bleeding, and some kind of metal plate had replaced its jaw. But something about its wings was… familiar.
Suddenly, the Nomu's wings froze mid-flap, its limbs went rigid, and they plummeted to the ground.
"Both this sham-filled society," a knife slammed into the exposed brain of the Nomu right as it and izuku hit the ground, "and the criminals who wield their power in the name of petty mischief… are targets of my purge."
Izuku wheezed and glared through bleary eyes at the Hero Killer, 'how did he get free?!'
Stain's breath came out in heavy sighs as he yanked the knife from the Nomu's brain, "All for the sake of a better society."
The heroes who had come to save them all shouted in a jumble.
"He saved the kid?!"
"No, idiot. The boys a hostage."
"This is an unprecedented murderer we're talking about."
"Enough already! Assume battle positions!"
Izuku tried to pull himself up with his one good arm, but the Hero Killer pushed himself back to the ground with one hand.
"Why're you all bunched up together?" Endeavor came from an alleyway that Izuku had spotted connected to where the main fight had been happening. He didn't look particularly exhausted, but Izuku figured he was a pro for a reason… even if he was an asshole, "One of those creatures should've headed this way!"
He scanned the crowd of people, and then his eyes landed on Izuku and, more importantly, the Hero Killer, who was standing over him.
"Wait… is that?" He smiled menacingly and prepared what looked like a huge windup attack, "The Hero Killer!"
Stain stood, and finally, Izuku was free. He rolled over and resolved himself to sacrifice his good arm with one hundred percent of One for All if he could just splatter this guy against the building behind him.
"Endeavor… you fake!"
The man's mask ripped from his face, and Izuku was horrified to see why he looked so strange when Izuku first laid eyes on him. His entire nose was missing, and a vacuous hole and his exposed inner nostrils were in its place. His zealous eyes stared unblinkingly at Endeavor, and the burns Todoroki had given him were red and raw.
Izuku shuddered. It felt like the Hero Killer's whole demeanor had changed. If he had been playing with Izuku and the others before, he was entirely intent on murdering Endeavor. The night seemed to grow darker around him and cast his face into ghoulish dim light.
"If I don't fix it… if someone isn't stained with blood… then this society will never recover! So come," Stain took a step forward, and suddenly he seemed as large as All Might, "just try me, you fakes! The only one allowed to kill me is All Mignt! A true hero!"
The entire crowd was frozen, and Izuku shook from his spot on the ground. He thought he had faced all manner of people at this point, but the Hero Killer truly was different from the rest. He wasn't childish like Shigaraki and wasn't brutish like the man he had saved Eri from.
He was a true monster bent on the destruction of society as a whole.
Everyone sat shivering, and then Endeavor spoke, "This guy, he's… out cold on his feet."
Shigaraki stood atop a building, watching the situation unfold as paramedics and police showed up on the scene. The Hero Killer was being carted away in an ambulance surrounded by police escorts, and those kids were taken in another ambulance.
"This is so frustrating!" Shigaraki scratched furiously at his throat, "If that idiot had just left well enough alone, we could've had at least one of those kids, but he just had to go and kill the Nomu."
"Other than that failure, did you achieve the result you were hoping for, Tomura Shigaraki?" Kurogiri watched Shigaraki carefully as if he were expecting an outburst at any moment.
"Idiot. That all depends on tomorrow."
They disappeared through Kurogiri's portal and left Hosu in chaos.