"Yes. Though I don't think she's made contact with Iida yet. I'm gonna be sticking around until she does."
Felicia nodded, suddenly feeling very, very relieved that she had made sure Izuku and Mina got a better, and more importantly different hospital than the Iida boy.
...
"Sooo… About that prophecy, Izuku heard… The man with red eyes… That's Aizawa, one of the teachers at Yuei."
"Really? You're sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure… As for the other guy… White Hair and Red Eyes… That's probably the Japanese League of Villain's current leader… All for One's heir, or whatever he is… If we Kill him before the day of doom… That'll probably derail this entire thing."
Matt didn't answer.
Oh right. He had always been the staunchest anti-killing of their entire group. Somehow she'd… Forgotten that as she drank.
"We weren't able to derail the Clone Saga before it started." Matt pointed out.
Felicia snorted.
"If I have to remind you? Madam Web also predicted that Peter would live well into old age, have 3 kids, Marry Mary Jane Watson, and die on a space station saving the world. She was wrong on every account. Her prophecies aren't set in stone."
Peter had died middle-aged, he'd only had one kid, he had ended up marrying his on and off girlfriend Black Cat rather than his high school sweetheart, and he'd died on George Washington's bridge.
Wrong on every account.
"True… But she has a tendency to be right, more often than she's wrong."
"Mhhhmm…"
After that, they sat in silence for a bit. Quite a fair bit of silence in fact.
"Hey, Matt…"
"Yeah?"
"Does it… Does it ever feel weird to you… That WE were the ones who outlived all the others? Well… Us and Riley, but who cares about him?"
"Sometimes… Yeah… It does."
They both just sat there, two old heroes beneath the night skies of Japan, so far, far from home.
Wordlessly, both pulled out a beer each, and after opening them they wordlessly clanked them together before drinking.
Suddenly, Felicia felt OLD. Old, and tired, and far, far beyond her time.
"Ever wondered… How things would have been if you stayed in New York?"
"Nah... I like Japan. It's a good place for my kids to live and grow up in. Not to mention that I don't have to deal with nonsense like… Like… Like endless Clones… Or supervillains that wanted to turn everyone in the world into reptiles… or… or… The Spear of Destiny, Holy shit! That was an actual thing! The fucking spear that stabbed Christ! That was actually something that fucking happened. Do you remember that?"
"I was there." Matt replied dryly.
"Yeah…"
It was time to go.
She rose up.
"I'll… I'll get into contact with All Might on my end… Lay it all out for him…"
Matt turned sharply.
"Wait… You can do that?"
"All Might? Yeah… Should be fine… The man isn't too stuck up about vigilantes, and he knows when to keep his mouth shut to the government. In any case… Having the strongest Hero around on our side, ain't gonna hurt."
"Well, that… Thanks, Hardy."
"Don't sweat it… It's been… Well not fun, but… It's been nice seeing you again Murdock. But I don't think it'll be long before we're in touch again."
She clapped his shoulder.
"Same on my end. Goodnight Hardy."
"Night Murdock."
And that was that. Unceremoniously, the two last members of an old, old group that had once done what it could to clean up the Hell Hole that was New York. A group that had saved the world, yet history as a whole would not recall.
It had had a number of names, though as it had never been an official thing, they had ranged rather severely. From the generic "The Defenders" to the rather silly and derogatory "Spider-Man and his amazing friends".
But it was all gone now though. A brotherhood of the past, of which only an Old Blind Man, a Former Thief, and a One-Legged Clone remained.
---
Todoroki Enji was not in a good mood, as he began undressing from his hero costume.
Not only had his son Shoto stubbornly refused to study under him, which was the thing that annoyed him the most, but on top of that, he was going to get upstaged in the news.
That was something he bitterly hated… But making it sting even more, rather than it being All Might, or even Black Cat, instead, he was about to be upstaged by her still first-year interns.
A couple of kids, who had been at the right time and place to reap all the glory while the adults were dealing with other things.
The Molten man had a frightening reputation… But the man was clearly far, far beyond his golden years.
If All Might was a pillar of unshakable stone, then this man had been gold. Soft, Shiny, Ultimately only worth the value others assigned him.
Eji gave an annoyed sigh of frustration, closing his eyes for just a moment…
And then, when he opened them again, a woman was there in his hotel suite.
Immediately fire burst from his hands ready to ignite the intruder to ashes… Only for Enji to be completely, totally engulfed by the fire.
The fire was all around him, and burned! It burnt him! And the world around burned as well! Everything! This house, Japan, his family… All of it ashes and…
Suddenly the fire went out, and Enji found himself in a floating void.
"Shit!"
He tried to summon his fire but… It would not come… Even his beard was gone.
He turned around, his teeth gritted, he looked for his opponent… Then… Music.
A strange, melancholic sound began playing in a void, all around him.
He opened his mouth to scream in defiance, to call the woman out, only to find his voice gone.
Panic.
No, don't panic. Panic only leads to mistakes. Analyze the situation Endeavor. What's going on here?
He forced down his panic, as he considered. Ultimately, there were only two possibilities he could see. Illusion, or teleportation.
And given all the stuff with music, the fire, his voice being gone… Illusion. She's hitting me with an illusion-based quirk.
Alright… Second question. What to do to break free?
And all around him, the sad music continued, until finally… A song joined the song.
Along with the music, a massive, all-encompassing stained window suddenly materialized in front of him.
The window showed a figure he recognized. It was Midoriya Izuku and the black creature that was his quirk.
The two of them in this mural, rather than the boy wearing it as a suit, instead the black creature was like water, trying to drown the desperate boy whose hand reached to the sky.
This one's a nobleman, this one's a squire!
Both shall sing in the heavenly choir!
Or both will descend into hell's licking fire!
But to tell which is which would take better than I!
The mural burst to pieces, and Enji raised his massive, muscular arms instinctively to protect his eyes against glass shards that of course did not come.
This time, as the glass formed anew, rather than showing a single image, instead it showed a series of events. He recognized the two of them as Black Cat and her daughter from the Sport's festival.
In the first image, they were screaming at each other, both angry and enraged, both of them having tears in their eyes.
In the second, they faced monsters. The girl faced a man in tattered black clothing, with hair as white as snow, and eyes like blood, while Black cat was facing an enormous, brown giant.
The third, and final image, the two women lay together, hand in hand, surrounded by blood, their eyes closed to the world.
This one's a mother, and this one's a daughter!
One woman was right and the other was wrong!
But both of them died in the maddening throng!
Carry them home, boys, to where they belong!
For a second time, with crackling sounds, the great glass exploded… then reknit.
This time though… This time… This time the image didn't show something he did not understand.
He fully understood the scene in front of him.
He recognized both players.
On one side… Himself. But he did not care for himself. Not when the other side was… Someone he wanted to see again above anyone.
He recognized his son, his white hair, his… His blue eyes… But no… Toya had been a passionate, bright boy… His eyes had never been cold as these.
Cold as the lowest level of hell.
These two were blinded by jealousy's flame
One pointing fingers the other to blame
One lived in rage and the other in shame
But which was the better of what they became?
As that final bit was sung, for a brief, brief moment, the glass changed shape into something else, as both him and Toya exploded into flames, both becoming nothing more than black silhouettes against orange and blue firestorms!
This time, the new glass did not form some complicated scene, just three sets of eyes, that Enji knew in his heart was him, him, and his sons. Enji, Shoto, and Toya.
War between brothers!
Sire fighting son!
Only division where once there was one!
War between brothers!
Son fighting sire!
Kin laid with kin in the funeral pyre!
Then… One final time, the glass burst apart and reformed… This time it was far, far more complicated than any of the others, with so much detail behind it.
It was a scene, where two figures stood against each other.
One side was the girl Uraraka Ochako, standing tall and defiant as she glared across the field, no, a wasteland filled only with corpses. So, so many corpses.
Rising up behind her, as an ethereal figure, was All Might in all his glory.
On the other side, as a mirror to those two, stood a man with pure white hair, and red eyes like blood ! He was wearing nothing but a set of black, ripped, and ragged pants, and he looked at Uraraka with a cooky, confident, malicious grin.
And up behind him was… Darth Vader? No… The figure wore a mask and it had clearly been designed after the old fictional Sith Lord, but it was not him. It was a tall, ethereal man in a black business suit with a huge, imposing-looking mask on his head.
This one's a bastard , and this one's a king …
All four fought for power and what it would bring…
But fighting each other they lost everything…
Over the scene… Up above them… Rose… something. Something so large that it's wings blocked out the sun! So all covering was it, that the field and all 4 were immediately encased completely in shadow leaving nothing but glowing eyes…
And then, up above… It opened it's eyes… And Enji Todoroki felt a primal fear that no mortal man had felt since the last time a GOD had walked the Earth.
Enji found himself on the floor. He blinked.
Then, slowly, he rose. Ready to fight
The thought that it might have been a sudden hallucination was immediately wiped away, as he found words written on the wall in front of him.
March 17th - 2218 - Save the ones you can warn
...
If you want to read ahead of the public release, or just want to support me.
You can join my p atreon :
[email protected]/Huvnn