Chapter 37: Hosu
There were certainly times when Kyoka despised her quirk. Now, in the middle of the disaster zone that was Hosu, was certainly one of those times. With HeroNET down, Gang Orca had had her focus on where the screams and sounds of combat were most intense so they could help at the epicenter. It was one thing to know that they were running towards where they were needed most, but it still felt awful having to hear so many frightened people as they passed by.
Thankfully, none of the collapsed buildings were anywhere along their route towards the docks. Kyoka wasn't sure if she would have been able to keep her composure passing by a site where people actively needed rescue.
The Port of Tokyo was the second busiest port in all of Japan, second only to the Port of Nagoya to the west. The piers in Hosu were by far the most trafficked of all of the one in the Port of Tokyo, more so than any other individual pier in the country. Docks stretched across an area the size of several city blocks with dozens of berths for loading and unloading. The location of the danger was immediately obvious despite the size of the docks due to the fires scattered around one particular berth.
"I need a sitrep!" Gang Orca bellowed as he and Kyoka approached. While there were roughly a dozen heroes in the area, most of them were currently surrounding the villain, although none seemed eager to engage him directly in combat. Kyoka stared at the villain, his stone skin and massive size tickling something in her brain that she couldn't quite place.
"Onemu Shinya, Team Idaten sidekick." The nearest hero introduced herself, immediately deferring to Gang Orca's rank. Kyoka listened with half an ear, trying to place where she had seen the villain before. It wasn't until the villain turned to the side, using all eight of its hands to pick up a cargo container that she realized.
It was a nomu.
The exposed brain in the back of its head was a dead give away. With that little jiggle to remind her of the USJ, Kyoka remembered seeing a villain with four arms and very similar stone-like skin amongst the ones fighting Eraserhead.
Having such blatant confirmation of where nomus came from froze Kyoka where she stood. She watched, stunned, as it hefted the cargo container as if it weighed nothing at all before hurling it at a tanker ship docked at the berth.
"Get down!" Gang Orca yelled out, grabbing Kyoka and diving to the ground, his body on top of her. The tanker exploded in a massive fireball as the cargo container impacted it and Kyoka felt the massive wave of heat as it rolled over her and Gang Orca.
Her ears screamed in protest at the sudden noise. Kyoka didn't even have to look to know that she was likely bleeding from the ears. Even after the cacophony of the explosion died away, her ears continued to ring so loudly that she could barely hear what was happening all around.
Gang Orca lifted himself off of Kyoka, eyes set in grim determination, while Onemu Shinya slowly pushed herself up as well, costume singed and charred and tears in her eyes. When Kyoka looked over to where the nomu was standing, she could see why.
The majority of the heroes who had been surrounding the beast had been caught in the explosion and were now lying prone and unmoving at the nomus feet. Fires raged across the pier, throwing flickering shadows across the nomu that made it look positively demonic. Kyoka couldn't hear much at the moment, but she didn't have high hopes for most of the heroes who had been caught up in the explosion. She felt sick, and found herself wanting to look away.
"Heartsong." Gang Orca's voice was just barely a whisper that came through over the ringing in her ears. "I need you to use your quirk to find survivors and help Onemu Shinya evacuate them. I will deal with that… abomination ." The hero took the moment to take off the cape that he wore as part of his costume, as it had been nearly ruined from the blast. Now dressed in just his white suit and pink tie, he clenched his fists tight, popping his knuckles as they contracted.
Kyoka watched as Gang Orca purposefully strode forward, righteous anger emanating from his every step. The nomu noticed the whale hero coming towards it and turned to face him. With just a handful of steps between himself and the nomu, Gang Orca launched himself forward almost too quickly to see, throwing a devastating haymaker at the beast.
With two of its arms and four hands, the nomu caught Gang Orca's punch inches from its head. A blast of air from the sheer speed and power behind Gang Orca's strike rushed outward from the two combatants, dampening the fires around them slightly.
With a start, Kyoka realized that Onemu Shinya had climbed to her feet and was talking to her. "Heartsong, we need to evacuate anyone we can. Is anyone over there rescuable?" Thankfully, the ringing in Kyoka's ears was beginning to die down. The sounds of Gang Orca fighting the nomu were loud, but nowhere near as loud as the earlier explosion. Kyoka plugged her earjacks into the ground, listening first for anyone near the ongoing melee.
Despite Gang Orca working to move the fight away from the bodies of the heroes lying about the pier, Kyoka still couldn't hear a heartbeat or breathing from any of them. She shook her head at Onemu Shinya, mouth stretched tight into a grim line. "Nothing."
This wasn't how Kyoka expected to have her first experience with casualties in hero work. She knew that if she let herself dwell on it now, she would be liable to let it ruin her focus and lead her to making mistakes. With the nomu appearing evenly matched with Gang Orca, that wasn't something she wanted to risk right now. Instead, Kyoka focused all of her attention on searching out for signs of life nearby, pushing thoughts of death for later. Hopefully much later
Somewhat surprisingly, there were still a number of civilians around the pier for her and Onemu Shinya to evacuate. The port was busy enough for loading and unloading of cargo to happen at all times of day and night. There was a nearby warehouse that was holding a good half-dozen longshoremen that had been hiding, waiting for the villain to be defeated. At Onemu Shinya's prompting the six of them took off towards the rest of the city, grateful to be able to escape the chaotic fight between Gang Orca and the nomu.
Kyoka's further attempts at listening for nearby civilians was interrupted by Gang Orca deploying his hypersonic blast at point blank range into the nomu's face, or what was left of it. The two were standing locked together, Gang Orca's hands pressing into four of the nomu's hands attempting to force it backwards. The granite-skinned nomu raised its other two arms, four hands interlacing their fingers to prepare to be brought down onto the whale hero's head.
Instead, just before the nomu could drop its hammer blow, Gang Orca unleashed another hypersonic scream. Kyoka winced at the volume that only she and Gang Orca could hear. The nomu, on the other hand, began to crack, granite shards falling from its skin as the sonic attack reverberated through its body.
The shock of Gang Orca's scream was enough to put the nomu off balance, and the hero slid to one side as the hammer blow came down, turning a debilitating strike into a glancing blow. From there, Gang Orca swept the nomu's legs out from under it, sending out yet another sonic scream to keep the beast disoriented. The whale hero reached down to grab the nomu and, with an audible shout of effort, hurled it into the water nearby.
The nomu sank like the stone its skin was apparently made from.
With her earjacks plugged into the ground, Kyoka could clearly hear Gang Orca panting from the effort of the fight, although he seemed uninjured. Just a moment later, though, two of the nomu's arms shot out of the water, hands grasping at the edge of the pier.
Each of the arms, however, was now split into three at the elbow. Six hands in total searched for purchase on the pier to help lever the stone beast back out of the water.
Gang Orca was on top of the situation, quickly sending another soundwave at the arms, causing several of the hands to lose their purchase. It didn't seem to matter, though, as an additional four arms, each with three hands, shot from the water to grab Gang Orca himself. Each of the arms was far longer than any of the nomu's original arms.
It was a simple matter for Gang Orca to break free from the nomu's grip, but in the time it took for him to do so, his opponent had leapt back onto the pier. The beast looked slightly more muscular than before, now with six arms and eighteen hands in total. Gang Orca rushed once again, and the two reengaged in their melee. The hypersonic blasts from Gang Orca were the only thing keeping him in the fight, and he used them with abandon. Kyoka knew that there was no way she could be of any use in a fight like this, and was more than happy to keep her distance.
She had identified another group of dock workers that needed evacuation when suddenly, the ring tone that she had assigned for Izuku chirped on her phone, cutting through her focus on the fight in front of her and listening for more civilians. Onemu Shinya had gone off to assist the dockworkers, so Kyoka stole a glance at her phone.
Izuku's message was just a simple location. Very odd for her boyfriend.
On further inspection, the location was shown to be Izuku's current GPS location, and it was in Hosu.
Izuku wasn't supposed to be in Hosu!
But, thinking about it a bit more, Kyoka wasn't surprised that he had somehow managed to get caught up in a villain attack like this. He must have had some sort of undiagnosed danger attraction quirk, because he kept ending up in potentially deadly situations like this.
Kyoka realized that Izuku's location wasn't that far from her. Onemu Shinya was still occupied with the evacuation of the dock workers, and Gang Orca was still fighting the granite skinned nomu. A well-timed hypersonic blast had allowed him to tear off one of the beast's arms, and he was using it as a club to keep the nomu at bay.
It appeared to be working better than his own fists, as it was actually able to crack the nomu's stone skin every now and then.
Quickly rationalizing her behavior as following Gang Orca's orders, Kyoka stole off towards Izuku's sent location. After all, Gang Orca had told her to use her quirk to find survivors and help evacuate them. That was all she was doing: helping Izuku evacuate.
She kept telling herself that over and over as she ran towards Izuku. She'd deal with the fallout from Gang Orca once she was sure he was safe.
---
Denki was amazed at how fast Endeavor could run. He was such a big guy that it seemed only natural that he should be slow and plodding. Not so. Denki was sprinting nearly as fast as he could just to barely keep up with the hero.
It wasn't as if their haste was unwarranted, of course. Hosu was under attack, and Endeavor was making every effort to get to the apparent center of the attack as quickly as possible. Denki wasn't clear on the specifics; Endeavor hadn't seen it fit to tell him or Shoto exactly where they were going, but they had already passed two collapsed buildings and not stopped to aid in rescue efforts.
Endeavor's quirk may not have been the most useful for rescue operations, but Denki would have hoped that he wouldn't have ignored people in need without a very good reason. As it turned out, though, Endeavor did have a very good reason for hurrying back to the city center.
Two hulking villains stood roughly a block apart from each other, on opposite sides of a wide open plaza that traditionally functioned as a popular gathering space. Shoto let out a breathy, "Nomu…" on seeing the villains. So that's what nomu looked like. Denki hadn't been jealous of his sister class like many of his 1-B classmates, but he had been decidedly curious about what they had gone through at the USJ.
Now that he was getting a close up, in-person look at real life nomu, Denki was rather regretting his earlier curiosity.
On the far side of the plaza, a white skinned, red striped nomu that didn't appear to be wearing any clothes was directing a jet of water from a nearby fire hydrant like a water cutter, slicing through a nearby building. The bodies of several civilians and an odd hero or two lay near its feet, often in two or more pieces. Even as Denki watched, sickened at the violence on display in front of him, the water suddenly dispersed, the jet widening to the point where it wasn't doing any serious damage to the building.
Denki wasn't the biggest hero fanboy, so he didn't immediately recognize the hero in a blue costume with a fin topping his helmet, but he apparently had some form of water control quirk as well and was stepping up to take on the nomu. Hopefully he was strong enough to take the nomu down, or at least hold it off until backup could get there.
On the near side of the plaza, just a few meters from where Denki, Shoto, and Endeavor had arrived, was a skull-faced nomu crackling with electricity. Stray arcs of electricity skittered across the beast's skin, and every so often reached out to a nearby building, causing small fires all around it. The was holding a hero dressed in brown furs by the head, and even from here Denki could sense the immense current flowing through the man, arcing to the ground from his feet. A moment later and the nomu tossed the obviously dead hero to the side. The body hit a nearby building and slumped to the ground, smoking. The nomu turned towards the newcomers, dead eyes staring out from the skull on its face.
"Shoto, help with the evacuation." Endeavor's voice, unstrained from the sprint to get here, cut through the chaos around them. "Chargebolt, with me. Absorb the lightning to give me a shot at that beast."
Denki panicked. Endeavor wanted him to run towardsthat beast? The one that was literally throwing heroes to the side as it killed them?! He was an intern, only in his first year of hero school. He wasn't ready for this yet!
"My ice can help against the white one." Shoto spoke up, and Denki's head whipped around in surprise. He was standing here terrified about going after one nomu with Endeavor with him, and Shoto is volunteering to go against another one by himself.
"No. We don't know if that thing's hydrokinesis extends to ice." Shoto's expression didn't change, but Denki could feel the frustration rolling off of him. "Help any remaining civilians escape. Chargebolt, let's go!"
Endeavor took off at a run towards the lightning nomu and Denki was somewhat surprised to find himself matching his supervisor step for step. He knew that his ability to absorb electricity was necessary in this situation, but it wasn't clear to him if his capacity was greater than what the nomu could put out. He'd seen what that nomu had done to the previous hero, and he didn't want to suffer a similar fate.
But then again, Denki didn't want anyone else to suffer that fate either.
So Denki ran.
As they closed the gap, the skull split open into a terrifying facsimile of a grin, and the nomu raised a hand towards Endeavor. Instinctively, Denki sped up and juked to the side to separate from Endeavor, protecting the man from the attack by making sure there was distance between them.
When electricity flowed from the nomu's hand, Denki was ready. He threw one hand into the air, finger pointing to the sky, calling on his quirk.
The lightning from the nomu bent unnaturally towards Denki. For a moment, it felt like it would arc towards Endeavor instead, and Denki pulled on it even harder. There was a snap and the electricity flowed to Denki as it should, striking him in his raised finger.
The electricity barely tickled. For just a moment Denki was confused; if it had been enough electricity to fry that hero until his body was smoking, he should feel something more than a tickle.
Then Denki's feet left the ground. The lightning was pulling him off the ground and towards the nomu. He only had enough time to see Endeavor's eyes tighten in disbelief before he shot towards the nomu, its hand closing around his head.
And then the pain started.
Whatever amount of electricity the nomu had been putting out before had obviously not been anywhere near the beast's limit.
But Denki could handle it. If anything, it felt like less than he himself could put out if he tried.
The nomu's eyes narrowed in something resembling confusion, and the grip on Denki's head tightened. That hurt a lot more than the electrification and was only getting worse. Denki screamed, but couldn't hear himself. The pain was too intense. Instead, he did what was natural.
He pushed back against the electricity from the nomu and used his own quirk to fight back, sending one million volts of electricity through the beast. He felt a little lightheaded as he hadn't pushed his quirk this hard in a while.
Surprisingly though, it looked like the nomu felt it, and the pressure on Denki's skull lessened slightly. Perhaps it didn't have the same resistance to electricity as Denki himself did.
Hoping that that was the case, Denki let his quirk go a little more, pushing three million volts into the nomu. That got more of a response, the nomu's muscles locking up at the sudden jolt. In an abrupt spasm, that hand holding Denki's head released its grip and he found himself falling to the ground.
An instant later, Denki realized he was half a dozen meters away from the nomu, being held by a hero in silvered armor: Machina. The engine hero had caught him and carried him away, engines in his back purring.
"Hell Spider!" With the nomu temporarily stunned and alone, Endeavor was free to cut loose. Dozens of tendrils of flame erupted from the hero's hands and arms, each as thin as a hair and wriggling like something alive. With a harsh gesture towards the nomu, the flames whipped and sliced through the nomu, cauterizing the cuts as they opened.
Denki watched, mesmerized, as the nomu that had been decimating the other heroes fell to pieces, having spilled not even a drop of blood. Part of him wondered if this was the instant cauterization that kept the kill clean, or if there simply wasn't any blood flowing through the nomu's veins in the first place.
"Are you alright, kid?" Machina's baritone mixed even tones of command with concern as he let Denki retake his feet. "You shouldn't have jumped into the fight like that."
"Just doing what Endeavor said." Denki got out. Words were escaping him at the moment due to pushing his quirk too hard, and so he left it at that.
"Really now?" Machina turned a steely-eyed gaze towards the approaching flame hero.
"We can discuss this later. We have another nomu to deal with." Denki turned towards the second nomu at Endeavor's words, and was surprised to find that the hero from earlier was no longer fighting it. Instead, he was quite some distance away, nursing severe wounds to his legs and torso off to the side while the nomu itself was encased in ice. Obviously this was Shoto's work.
"I suppose you told your other intern to do that, as well?" Machina needled Endeavor, who responded with an exasperated huff.
"No. No, he did that on his own."
Despite having apparently dealt with the nomu on his own, Shoto was nowhere to be seen. The three hurried over to where the hero lay to better understand what had happened.
"Endeavor, your son…" The hero managed to gasp out. "He froze the nomu… then ran off, saying he had to save someone. He left his phone… with the location." True to his word, the hero held out a cell phone that Denki recognized as Shoto's.
"Thank you, Manual. Chargebolt, dress his wounds. I need to go find my errant intern." Endeavor began to stalk off, but motion from the nomu caught Denki's attention.
"Endeavor, watch out!" Machina had apparently seen it too, as the ice surrounding the nomu exploded with a splash of water. Endeavor barely had time to react before a new jet of water shot out directly at his head.
Thankfully, Machina's warning had been enough, as a gout of flame from Endeavor's arm met the water, exploding into steam. Machina sped forward, attempting to kick the nomu before being forced to dodge another stream of water that would have otherwise cut him in half. Endeavor strengthened his flames and grimly marched towards the nomu, reducing all of its attacks to steam.
Manual had, unfortunately, slipped into unconsciousness, unable to help redirect any of the water. Denki began working on first aid as quickly as he could, wanting to get away from the clash of Endeavor with the nomu as quickly as possible. He'd had more than his share of action for the day. Shoto probably had the right idea by running off. After all, it's not like he would be in more danger than Denki was here with a nomu just meters away.
---
Izuku had never expected that fighting Stain would be easy. After all, the man was a widely feared serial killer who had managed to kill at least eighteen pro heroes and wound dozens more. Despite Izuku having access to One For All, his entire focus was on surviving until backup could arrive. He never even once considered being able to subdue Stain entirely by himself.
Even with all of that said, though, Stain's speed and ferocity still surprised Izuku. For a killer that operated more as an ambush predator than anything else, Stain had more than enough skill with a sword to immediately put Izuku on the defensive. He sprung forward, katana slashing in a wide arc that forced Izuku back and down to avoid having his head taken off.
Izuku had been hoping to delay even longer so backup could arrive, but in doing so allowed Stain to take the initiative. One For All roared through his body at twelve percent, making Izuku decidedly faster than the serial killer and allowing him to skip a few steps backwards, away from Stain's blade.
His advantage in speed didn't matter, though. Stain was still fast and had a massive reach advantage over Izuku thanks to his katana. If what Awase had said was true, then even a single cut from that blade could end the fight in an instant.
Izuku didn't particularly want to find out exactly how true that was.
With a fierce two-handed grip on his sword, Stain continued to press after Izuku. No matter Izuku's advantage in speed over him, Stain always seemed to be just an inch away from connecting with his sword. Izuku didn't dare try to strike out at Stain on his own, fearing the blade leaving him paralyzed while he was still closing the distance between the two of them.
Eventually, Stain leapt backwards, evaluating Izuku with a critical eye. With a moment to catch his breath and his thoughts, Izuku noticed that Stain had shifted to a more casual, one-handed grip on his sword. Before he could imagine why that was, Stain began to speak once again.
"You are fast, I will give you that. But a True Hero would not fight so cautiously. A True Hero must be Willing to do whatever it takes!" Stain pointed his sword at Izuku. "So! A Test!"
Izuku wasn't sure exactly where Stain drew the throwing knife from; it wasn't one of the many sheathed hunting knives on his person and there were precious few places where a knife could be hiding under his body armor. Ultimately, though, it didn't matter where it had come from, only that Stain was winding up to aim it at Rock Lock's unmoving form.
On instinct, Izuku mixed fifteen percent of One For All with half of his stored Fa Jin energy for moving forward, leaping towards the serial killer in a blur. Stain's eyes only had a chance to widen slightly before Izuku caught the man's wrist in his own hand, just before Stain had been ready to release it. The shock of the impact opened Stain's hand, and the knife flew off limply, not closing even half the distance to Rock Lock.
The serial killer wasted no time, transitioning smoothing to abandon his throwing motion and lean in towards Izuku, mouth open ready to bite at his arm. Part of Izuku's brain filed that away, noting that with one arm grappled and the sword ineffective at short range, a bite was not the worst option, but it was not an ideal attack unless the man's quirk was involved in some capacity. If and how that related to his quirk would have to wait until later.
Instead, Izuku continued to let his instincts do the work and threw his own head forward in a headbutt. He'd never been taught how to headbutt, only knowing the basics of having the hard parts of his head hit the soft parts of Stain's face, trying to get where his forehead met his scalp to impact with Stain's nose.
Or rather, where Stain's nose should have been. Izuku wasn't sure how, but it was only during the headbutt that he realized that Stain was missing a nose.
And then their heads connected.
Izuku's aim had been true, but the shock of his head running into Stain's sent a jolt of pain through his entire body, his jaw clicking shut uncomfortably fast, and causing him to release his grip on Stain's wrist. Thankfully, Izuku had avoided the man's teeth and didn't seem to be bleeding from anywhere. His head was screaming at him now, however, and he forced the pain down once again.
Stain, on the other hand, had dropped his katana in shock and stumbled backwards, both hands grasping at his face. The bandages that had covered his face had fallen off, revealing the hole where his nose had been. Now, though, the sides of that hole had been caved in, blood leaking from the side at a steady rate. The man's left eye was bloodshot all the way through, the skin around it already swelling to obstruct his vision.
As he had hoped, Izuku recovered from the headbutt much faster than Stain. The fact that the man's katana lay on the ground was beyond what he had expected from his attack. Izuku reached down to the handle, stepped on the blade, and pulled, snapping the metal at its junction to the hilt.
Tossing the now useless handle to the side, Izuku looked up to see Stain grinning at him from across the alleyway. Between the bloodshot eye, the missing nose, the blood quickly covering the bottom half of his face, and his wide, toothy grin, Stain's visage was purely demonic.
He threw his head back and laughed, a braying, hacking roar. "Yes, yes! True heroism! You have it, boy! You alone, amongst all that I've Tested, you and only you are fit to stand next to All Might as a True Hero!" Stain lowered his head, eyes wide and fanatic as his long tongue ran over his lips staring at Izuku. A shudder of revulsion ran through Izuku's body at the man looking at him like that.
"Unfortunately, there is still Work to be done. I will not allow even one such as you to prevent me from completing my Task. Take heart, boy. You will not die this night!" Stain raised his right forearm towards his face and snaked his tongue out to lick the bladed bracer around his wrist.
Izuku collapsed to the ground, legs unable to hold him up any longer. As he fell, his mind raced, trying to figure out what had just happened. He landed awkwardly on his left arm and felt a pinprick of pain float over the terror of suddenly losing control of his body.
Awase had been right; it was a blood-based quirk. When he went to catch Stain's arm from throwing the knife, he must have cut himself on Stain's bracers. As soon as Stain ingested his blood, the paralysis took effect. It was unfortunate that Stain's quirk obviously didn't work on himself, otherwise the blood running down from his ruined nose would have ended the fight immediately.
Stain was unhurried in walking towards Rock Lock, drawing a machete from a sheath held low across his back. He stopped next to where Izuku lay for just a moment and spoke softly. "Bastion. You are a True Hero. One day, either you or All Might will kill me. Until then, keep your Flame of Heroism alive."
And then Stain was moving again, bare feet barely making a noise on the alleyway floor. Izuku couldn't see what was happening and could only steel himself against the fact that he was about to listen to Stain murder a hero and one of his classmates. With every fiber of his being he pushed his body to move, but it simply wouldn't listen to him.
His heart raced faster and faster as he waited for the sound of a blade ending Rock Lock's life. No matter how he rolled his eyes, he couldn't see anything that Stain was doing, and the delay was simply ratcheting his anxiety higher and higher. Izuku strained as hard as he could, grasping at One For All to try and break through Stain's quirk. He could feel One For All roiling just beneath his skin, itching to break through but unable to.
Then Stain's footsteps stopped, and Izuku's stomach dropped. His only job had been to buy time for reinforcements, and he had failed. Izuku listened as closely as he could, as if he could do anything at all to help. His head pounded behind his eyes as he waited for the machete to fall.
The sonic boom that echoed down the alleyway nearly deafened him on the spot, but he heard the metallic clink of Stain's machete hitting the ground. Almost immediately after, Stain leapt back into Izuku's line of sight chased by a series of frozen spikes that emerged from the ground.
"You know, Green, you could have been a little more detailed in your text."
"This is roughly what I expected out of him." Izuku's emotions were all over the place. Relief that Kyoka and Todoroki were here to help against Stain and to save Awase and Rock Lock. Terror that Kyoka might be targeted by the serial killer as well.
Either way, he had bought enough time that backup had arrived, even if it seemed like neither Gang Orca nor Endeavor were here. They'd certainly be here soon, though, so Izuku focused on trying to move, to find a way out of the paralysis quirk to help his girlfriend and classmate.
---
"Don't let him cut you! He can paralyze you with just a taste of your blood!" Yosetsu hadn't been positive about where the paralysis had come from before Midoriya had arrived, but seeing Stain drop his classmate from a distance from just a drop of blood on his bracer had made it obvious.
"I wasn't planning on letting the angry serial killer anywhere near me," Jiro deadpanned. "But thanks for letting us know." Her statement was punctuated by another blast of ice from Todoroki, forcing Stain further back down the alley and forming a wall of ice across the entire alleyway.
"I'll keep him at a distance, you go get Bastion out of the way, then we'll get Rock Lock." Todoroki was already shivering somewhat from using his ice, and Yosetsu realized he was no longer sure exactly how long he had been trapped here in the alleyway or what was happening in the rest of the city. According to Rock Lock, there were at least three nomu across the city. Had Todoroki run into one before now? Were they still out there?
"Go now!" Todoroki said, more strain and worry in his voice than Yosetsu thought he had ever heard from him before. His classmates hurried forward, Todoroki holding his right hand forward to ward against Stain.
When they arrived at Midoriya's fallen form, Jiro knelt down next to him and while Yosetsu couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, it sounded for all the world like she was scolding him. Why Midoriya should be scolded for saving Rock Lock's life (and probably Yosetsu's as well) was beyond him, though. Despite what she was saying, though, Jiro was already in the process of lifting Midoriya into a fireman's carry to get him further away from Stain.
Said serial killer, however, was not willing to let something like a wall made of ice deter him, forcing Todoroki to focus on active defense rather than being immediately able to help Rock Lock. Stain was relentless in attempting to climb the sides of the alleyway to get up and over the wall of ice that kept him from their small group. Everytime he showed his face, Todoroki let loose another blast of ice to knock him off the wall and back to the ground.
Every further blast of ice, however, was slower and smaller than the one before it. It was obvious to Yosetsu, and probably to Stain as well, that Todoroki was letting his temperature drop too much, just like in the sports festival and at the USJ. Yosetsu knew he had seen Todoroki use his fire in controlled training situations since then and wondered why he wouldn't do so now.
Suddenly, Yosetsu realized that he was regaining feeling in his body, once again able to move more than just his face. He cautiously flexed the fingers on his left hand and shook out his right leg, waking his body up from the uncomfortable position he had been paralyzed in.
The downside of the paralysis wearing off was that now Yosetsu once again felt the full pain of the knives embedded in his knee and hand. Beyond that, his head was still throbbing from overusing his quirk, and even the thought of trying to catch Stain with it once again sent daggers through his brain. In all, Yosetsu could move, albeit slowly, but wouldn't be of any use in actually fighting Stain.
Jiro arrived, dropping Midoriya onto the ground in a sitting position by the wall, before she looked at Yosetsu in confusion. "Paralysis is wearing off." He said in response to her pointed glance. "Go help Rock Lock. Even if his paralysis is over too, he was injured much worse than me."
For just a second, Jiro paused. "Make sure this idiot is alright, I'll be back in one second." She scrambled away before Midoriya could protest, even though he looked like he desperately wanted to.
"Why is all of this my fault, again?" Midoriya said as he watched his girlfriend head towards Rock Lock.
All Yosetsu could do was shrug and decided to change the subject. "Are you ok, aside from his quirk?"
Midoriya grimaced. "Yeah, he didn't touch me aside from a scratch with his bracer. How long were you under?"
"Just a few minutes, but Rock Lock got hit before me. Stain ran him through, but if I'm free he should be, too."
"Not necessarily." Midoriya replied. "Stain's quirk could depend on a lot of things, like how much blood he ingested, for example." He swung his eyes back towards Yosetsu and narrowed them. "I should probably be asking if you're ok. You still have a pair of knives in you."
"Yeah, but that's better than pulling them out and bleeding to death." Yosetsu replied. "I'll be fine until we get away."
"If you say so." Midoriya didn't sound convinced, but didn't push the topic. Instead he turned his attention to where Jiro was gently carrying Rock Lock towards them in a pack carry. Todoroki followed close behind her, frost visibly forming on the right side of his hero costume.
"Rock Lock's alive and conscious, but barely, and still paralyzed." She announced.
"We need to leave." Todoroki managed to get out through chattering teeth. "The wall is going to melt enough for him to get through soon, and I don't have the control to heat myself up in such tight quarters without putting you in danger." That was a reasonable explanation as to why he hadn't used his fire yet. It was one thing to use it in the safety of U.A in a relatively open space. It was quite another to use it in the heat of disaster with injured classmates nearby.
"I can move myself, but I'll be slow." Yosetsu said. It turned out having a knife in your knee really limited your mobility.
"Well, I can carry one of Bastion or Rock Lock." Jiro said. "Do you think you could carry the other, Shoto?"
"Probably, but…" Whatever objection Todoroki had died on his tongue as Stain once again vaulted to the top of the ice wall. This time, however, Todoroki's ice was not quite fast enough to force the serial killer back, as Stain bounded forward, flinging a trio of throwing knives at him.
Despite being caught off guard, Todoroki was still able to catch two of the knives with hastily constructed pillars of ice. Unfortunately, the third pillar that he created simply did not grow fast enough to catch the last knife. Todoroki tried to twist out of the way and managed to avoid the knife sinking into him. It did still score a long, bloody gash on his left shoulder, something that Stain immediately zeroed in on. Before there was even a chance to react, Stain launched himself towards Todoroki, tongue lolling from his mouth.
Yosetsu was in the perfect position to watch Todoroki's eyes widen as Stain approached him before flames burst from his entire left arm. Fire so bright yellow that it almost appeared white bathed the entire alleyway in an eerie light. It burned so hot that even from where Yosetsu was leaning against the wall, he felt uncomfortable in the heat, sweat beading on his forehead.
For a moment, time slowed down. Yosetsu could see the madness in Stain's eyes as he lunged for Todoroki, could hear and smell the gash on Todoroki's shoulder as it was cauterized in the flame, could see Jiro preparing a sonic blast to knock Stain away once again, could even hear the soft curse from Rock Lock.
And then a gout of fire shot from Todoroki's left arm straight at Stain, pushing him back to the ice wall. As the serial killer landed, it was obvious that Todoroki's attack had set most of the man's clothing on fire, forcing him to roll about on the ground to attempt to smother the fire and prevent further burns.
"I… I…" Todoroki stared at his still outstretched hand as surprised as anyone else at the outburst.
"It's ok, Shoto." Midoriya's voice cut through the stunned silence. "Remember, it's your quirk." Despite the reassurance though, Todoroki continued to stare at his left hand, wide-eyed.
"I'm able to move now." Midoriya announced, quickly standing up and stretching his arms and hands. "I'll carry Rock Lock. Heartsong, can you help Synthesis?" Jiro nodded at him, seeming somewhat calmer now that he was up and about again. "Shoto, are you good to leave? We won't ask you to use your fire again."
Todoroki gave the barest nod, finally tearing his eyes away from his own left hand to look instead at Stain. The serial killer had nearly put his clothing fire out and was glaring at the assembled students and Rock Lock. Yosetsu wondered just how much it would take to get him to stop pursuing them.
Green lightning flickered back to life around Midoriya, and he carefully picked up Rock Lock, putting him in a pack carry. "We need to get out of here, now. Let's go!"
Jiro snaked her way under Yosetsu, offering him support to his injured left leg. Todoroki put up yet another ice wall to block Stain from immediately following them, making it even taller than his previous one. Frost formed once again on his right side and his breath frosted in front of him, but he turned and followed the other four without any sign of stiffness.
Stain's furious roar of frustration chased them down the alley as they burst onto the deserted street. Yosetsu had never been so happy to see an empty street in his life.
---
Himiko had stuck close to Ochako's side the entire time they were walking back towards Yoroi Musha's agency, somehow managing to appear as if wearing handcuffs the entire time was her choice rather than a requirement. She had been willing to share nearly anything and everything with the heroes, as long as Ochako was the one asking the question. One of the few things that she refused to share was her family name. Given the anger that crossed her face when they asked about it, Ochako could only guess at what her family had done to her.
They did find out, however, that Stain had in fact been camping out nearby before moving on to Hosu, and that Himiko even had an idea or two about where Stain's lair in Hosu might be located. They also found out that Himiko's quirk was a blood-based shapeshifting quirk, which explained much of her ability to hide from local heroes and police for the past few months. She didn't appear too happy about Yoroi Musha and Wash knowing about that, though.
Even though they didn't ask her anything about it, they found out much more than they wanted to about Himiko's love of blood. The girl loved everything about it: the taste, the look, the smell. Himiko made it clear that she knew people thought it was odd; she just didn't care. Part of Ochako wished that she could have that level of confidence about anything in her life.
It was odd that she would talk so freely with Ochako while glaring at Yoroi Musha and Wash the entire time, though. In fact, half of the things that Himiko talked about were likely admissions to greater villainry than they already suspected her of. Something told Ochako that the girl wasn't anywhere near a stable mental state.
Hopefully whatever plan Yoroi Musha and Wash had would help her get back on her feet.
After all, not only was she obviously somewhat mentally unwell, but she had only attacked people for food and water when she had no other choice. Obviously it would have been better if Himiko could have found sustenance without resorting to violence, but no one that she had attacked had died. If anyone were to ask Ochako, she would be completely in favor of leniency.
Himiko never did share exactly how she ended up on the streets, however. It didn't take a genius, though, to read between the lines and figure out that she likely didn't have a healthy home life growing up, perhaps to the point of violence. It wouldn't be the first case of child abuse that led to homelessness, after all.
The first time that Himiko allowed herself to be more than three feet from Ochako was after the five of them had arrived back at Yoroi Musha's agency. The very first thing that the hero had requested was that Himiko take a shower and get in some clean clothes. Apparently whatever plans he had for her would be jeopardized if she showed up a filthy mess wearing only rags.
It had been quite an argument before Himiko relented and actually went along with Yoroi Musha's request, and even then it was only because Ochako agreed to sit outside the bathroom while she bathed.
"You doing alright?" After a little while, Honenuki sat next to her to keep her company while their supervisors discussed what to do, leaving his helmet open so she could see his face. "You haven't had much in the way of personal space since we picked her up."
"I'm doing fine." Ochako chirped, as much to convince herself as to convince Honenuki. "I think I'm the first person to show her any real kindness for a long time. It makes sense that she'd gravitate to me."
"There's a difference between that and actively growling at anyone who looked at you funny on the walk back."
"She wasn't growling." Honenuki leveled an unimpressed stare at her and eventually she broke down. "Fine, you have a point. I'm just worried about her. You heard what she said on the way back. She's been through a lot."
"Can't argue with that." There was a brief silence before the two of them slipped into a more comfortable topic of how their internships had been going so far. Honenuki's reveal that Wash's gimmick was to hide his absolutely filthy mouth made Ochako burst out laughing. She was somewhat disappointed that she didn't have something equally entertaining to share, just the experience of training in hand-to-hand combat for at least eight hours a day.
Eventually, Wash came by to gather Honenuki. Apparently he had been called to help with urgent rescue operations in Hosu. Ochako pulled her phone out of her uniform to check the news and see what was going on in Hosu, but before she could check anything, Himiko emerged from the bathroom, looking more her age now that she had washed the filth off of her body and was no longer wearing a middle school uniform.
"You're still here!" Ochako's heart broke a little more at how surprised Himiko sounded at that fact.
"Of course!" Ochako smiled broadly to try and ease the girl's nerves. "Let's go talk with Yoroi Musha. He said he knew of a way to get you some help." Himiko latched onto Ochako's arm, pressing her entire body into Ochako's side as they set off towards Yoroi Musha's office.
According to the elderly hero, there was apparently a poorly advertised HPSC program that would provide shelter and food for the children of villains while searching for long term placement. Yoroi Musha said that even though Himiko's parents may not technically be villains, the stories that she had shared on the walk back to his office should be enough to get her into the program.
Himiko was initially strongly opposed to the idea despite the only other option available to her at this point being jail. She seemed remarkably sure of her ability to find her way back to the streets and stay away from hero patrols moving forward, especially for someone who was currently in handcuffs in the middle of a hero's agency.
That got a frighteningly detailed litany of each and every way that Yoroi Musha could take her down within fifteen seconds if and when Himiko were to attempt to escape. Ochako didn't think that it fully convinced the girl that trying to escape was impossible, but it was at least enough to get her to at least consider Yoroi Musha's proposal.
Said proposal sounded like a good idea to Ochako, at least. Free room and board in HPSC facilities until outside housing could be secured, in-house high school education, quirk counseling for those who needed it, and more. Ochako's family wasn't hurting for money as much as they had been, but she could appreciate just how much value there was in the HPSC program. It would give Himiko a massive advantage in getting back on her feet.
At the same time, Ochako could very easily understand how someone's pride might lead them to reject such an offer. After all, she had very nearly rejected Mr. Yagi's training plan simply because it had included a stipend for food purchases. She wanted to know that she had achieved everything she had on her own. It had only been once Mr. Yagi had sat her down and explained that this was just putting her on the same starting line as everyone else that she even considered accepting his help, even if it had taken her some time to really internalize it.
Ochako had never considered herself the most eloquent of speakers, but just offering her point of view was enough to get Himiko thinking. After a few moments of deep thought, Himiko reluctantly agreed to the HPSC program with a few caveats.
The primary demand that Himiko had was, surprisingly enough to Ochako, that she be able to speak with Ochako as often as possible. It was… somewhat flattering, but given how intense the U.A course load was, Ochako made sure to warn Himiko that she might not have as much time as Himiko would like. That didn't seem to be a major obstacle, and with Ochako's promises in hand, despite Yoroi Musha's eye rolling, Himiko agreed to join the HPSC program.
At that, Yoroi Musha led Himiko off to bring her to the nearest HPSC office and get the ball rolling on getting her enrolled into the program. That left Ochako with nothing to do, but a pleasant sense of satisfaction from knowing that she had helped a homeless teen get help. She had never heard of the HPSC program that Himiko was about to join before tonight, and since she had nothing better to do at the moment, she decided to do a little research on it to see what her new friend (hopefully) could expect.
Immediately after Ochako pulled out her phone, however, all thoughts of Himiko and the HPSC fled her brain.
Hosu was a complete disaster zone. All manner of news websites were showing live footage from the city, scattered shots of collapsed buildings and nomu attacks. One news site had a helicopter over the docks in Hosu, zooming in on Gang Orca roaring skyward amidst a massive fire, the body of a stone-skinned nomu laying at his feet.
Another news site showed the aftermath of another nomu attack near a McDonald's, fires and upturned cars scattered across an entire city block. Several heroes including what appeared to be Sir Nighteye lay injured in a make-shift medical center in the parking lot nearby. A replay of earlier in the night showed the nomu from the McDonald's, and a spike of anxiety ran through Ochako.
It was the same one that she, Honenuki, and Todoroki had faced at the USJ. There were some minor changes to its arms, but there was no doubting it. The commentators spoke about how the nomu managed to hurt Sir Nighteye with one of its arm spikes before running off, but Ochako wasn't listening. All she could focus on was the eyeless nomu that had nearly killed her just a few weeks ago.
As a defense mechanism, Ochako exited out of her news apps just so she wouldn't have to look at the beast's unnerving face, or lack thereof. Tapping into her messaging app, however, wasn't any help at all.
Midoriya had sent his location to the entire group chat, and it was located right on the edge of Hosu, unnervingly close to the McDonald's where that nomu had been sighted. Many of her classmates were having a panicked conversation about if Midoriya was alright, but Ochako noticed that neither Jiro nor Todoroki, two students that Ochako knew would be in Hosu, had commented yet.
Ochako only hoped that all of them would come back from the city safe and sound.
---
They were safe and sound, at least for the moment. No one wanted to move Awase or Rock Lock too far to avoid aggravating their injuries, but they also hadn't wanted to stay too close to the alleyway where Stain was presumably still lurking. Kyoka was completely fine with Izuku's decision to lead them down to the end of the block but no further. Between Awase's two stab wounds, Rock Lock's impalement, and Todoroki's apparent dissociation, they were really the only two in any position to make decisions at all right now.
Both Awase and Rock Lock were looking a little pale by this point. While Awase's wounds were still obviously bleeding, it seemed as if Rock Lock was suffering from internal bleeding as well as a punctured lung. In whispered breaths, he told Izuku that he had simply used his quirk to prevent spilling blood all over the alleyway and bleeding out on the spot, but that it wouldn't fix any internal damage.
Unfortunately, the only first aid lessons that they had received had not covered dealing with such serious injuries, so Rock Lock walked them through it slowly and quietly, blood occasionally dribbling from his mouth. Izuku carefully laid the man down on the sidewalk. From there, Izuku raised the hero's legs onto a nearby planter box and made incisions at the neck and sleeves of his hero costume to ensure that as much blood as possible remained in his core. It was a minor aid, but hopefully it would be enough to stabilize Rock Lock until medical professionals were on site.
Izuku and Kyoka were about to begin helping Awase when two local heroes showed up. One was a blonde woman with short hair wearing a green jumpsuit with white highlights and a bright red neckerchief, while the other was a man in a full body yellow jumpsuit with black highlights, the mouth area torn away, and circular protrusions on the back of his hands. Kyoka wasn't able to put a name to either of them, or even say if they were sidekicks or not, but they quickly took over the first aid, claiming that it was the least they could do as professional heroes. The woman cleaned and bandaged Awase's wounds while the man squatted down to speak with Rock Lock.
And then, all of a sudden, Izuku and Kyoka had nothing to do. Todoroki was still somewhat insensate, leaning against a nearby building, staring at his hand, but he was obviously physically healthy. Izuku made a move to approach him, but Kyoka grabbed his hand first. He turned to look at her, confusion in his eyes and she wrapped her arms around him, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes.
She hadn't realized just how worried she had been about him. Only now, as the adrenaline wore away, was it clear just how close Izuku had come to dying.
Yes, Todoroki needed help and support, but Kyoka was going to be selfish for a moment. She hadn't betrayed a self-imposed, stupid oath, but she had nearly lost a person she loved. There was no force on the planet that would stop her from hugging him.
From making sure that he was really there.
For one brief shining moment, Kyoka could forget that they were in Hosu, in the middle of a nomu attack, and that they had just escaped from a serial killer. She could just ignore how close both of them had come to dying. Beyond that, Kyoka could even push aside the fact that she was almost certainly going to hear no end of it from Gang Orca for running off with no mention as to where she was going.
She and Izuku were both alive. That was all that mattered. For all of one, brief moment.
Then she heard Stain's voice, and an icicle of fear shot through her body.
"Bastion!" Kyoka and Izuku separated in a flash, turning to face the alleyway as Stain exited it. The man had obviously seen better days, his hair burned and singed to his scalp, while his scarf and facemask had been completely consumed by Todoroki's fire. Angry red burns were clear on his shoulders and face, but they did not seem to phase him at all.
"Get away from those Fakes! You sully yourself simply by spending time with those Frauds. My Crusade is all for the sake of a better society! One Purged of Fakes and Shams, both Hero and Villain!" The fear in Kyoka's body continued to build as Stain stalked forward, freezing her in place. He spoke with such conviction and intensity that he seemed to be surrounded by a bloody aura. Distantly, Kyoka realized that she wasn't the only one petrified by fear, but that all of them, classmates and professional heroes, were frozen by the intensity that he was displaying.
"If I don't fix it, if someone isn't Stained with blood, then there is no hope for society!" Stain took a step forward, and Kyoka felt herself unconsciously take a step backwards. Behind her, someone fell over entirely. "So come at me, all of you all at once, you Fakes! The only one allowed to kill me is a True Hero! Among you, only Bastion is worthy!"
The savage aura from Stain flared in intensity as he took yet another step forward. Kyoka's hands and earjacks were shaking and she took another step away from the serial killer. They had two more pro heroes with them, but why had they ever thought they could stand against Stain. The intensity in his eyes was clouded with madness, and Kyoka knew that he would not stop until he either died or slaked his bloodlust.
Then Kyoka saw something that simply redoubled the terror she was feeling: Izuku took a step forward, putting himself between Stain and everyone else. He was trembling, she could see it in his hands and his wide-eyed stare. His heart was racing, as fast as Kyoka had ever heard it. But still, Izuku managed to take a step forward.
Stain smiled, wide and grotesque.
And then all hell broke loose.
A nomu came barrelling down the road, directly towards the stand-off between Stain and Izuku. It wasn't just any nomu; Kyoka could swear that it was the same eyeless nomu from the USJ.
The beast didn't ever pause in its charge, instead rushing by the gathered heroes and grabbing Izuku by the neck, lifting him with just a single arm. Everything stood still in the aftermath of the sudden intrusion, the only noise being the roar of fires and sirens in the distance.
Then green lightning sparked and Izuku began to fight back, pounding on the nomus arm with his fists. Each attack obviously broke bones in the nomus arm, but the nomu refused to loosen its grasp on Izuku, and the bones reknit themselves as quickly as Izuku could break them.
The nomu took a single step, Izuku still held firmly in its hand, when Stain of all people leapt at the nomu. The serial killer landed on the shoulders of the beast, straddling its head, and drove a hunting knife deep into the exposed brain of the beast.
The eyeless creature roared, whether in pain, frustration, or anger, Kyoka couldn't tell.
Stain pulled the knife out of the brain, and drove it back in again and again, hacking away with reckless abandon. The regeneration, however, was more than enough to immediately repair any damage that he had done. Further, and much to Stain's frustration, there wasn't a single drop of blood to be had. Either the nomu's regeneration quirk was even stronger than Kyoka had thought, or there simply wasn't any blood flowing through its brain.
A single hand reached back and plucked Stain off of the nomu's shoulders, holding him by the chest in the same vise grip that Izuku was held by. "You are an abomination!" Stain screamed in the nomu's impassive face, or lack thereof, blood-flecked spittle flying from his mouth. "I will not let you kill the only True Hero in the city!" At some point, Stain had somehow managed to get a knife in each hand, and drove them both into the nomu's forearm. This time the blades were coated with black blood as Stain withdrew them, and he prepared to lick them and use his quirk on the nomu.
He never got a chance.
With the sound of metal scraping on metal, the protrusion at the back of the nomu's arm shot forward, into its elbow. The other end immediately made itself clear, as a thick, metallic spike shot itself forward through Stain's chest. At its widest point, the spike was at least four inches across, making a fist-sized hole straight through the serial killer
Stain's eyes shot wide, and his knives dropped from suddenly powerless hands. "I… must…" The words slipped through his lips as his lungs deflated, and blood poured from his mouth. "Cure… society…" The spike in the nomu's arm retracted before shooting forward once again, punching a new hole in Stain's torso, silencing the man for good.
The serial killer's grisly demise had distracted Kyoka from the growing purple mist around the nomu's feet. As Stain fell silent, the nomu disappeared into the same sort of portal that she had seen already at the USJ.
And then the street was empty. No nomu. No Stain.
And no Izuku.
Izuku had been right in front of her. And she had frozen. She had come here to save Izuku, and she had let him slip through her fingers. She might never see him again.
Kyoka screamed at the sky, cursing everything and everyone under the sun for Izuku's kidnapping, but herself above all else.