A guttural growl broke the silence of the shattered forest.
"Oh!"
Muscular's voice, harsh and self-satisfied, echoed between the fallen trees. He wiped a trickle of blood from his chin—blood that wasn't his.
"Well, what do we have here! Guests!"
He turned, his movements slow, deliberate. Pure theater. His one good eye, bloodshot and vibrant with excitement, scanned over Ragdoll's crouched figure. He didn't even consider her a threat.
His gaze fixed... on Inko.
A muscle under his prosthetic eye twitched.
"And who are you supposed to be? The next one?"
Izuku lifted his head. Every inch of movement was agony. The paralyzing chemical had done its job. His muscles wouldn't respond, but the pain... the pain was everywhere.
"...Mom...?"
His voice was a whisper, a gasp of air choked by venom and panic.
Muscular tilted his head. His grin widened, a vision of stained teeth and sadistic pleasure. He looked from the woman kneeling in the mud to Izuku, helpless and broken at his feet.
"Wait... Seriously?" He let out a laugh that sounded like shifting gravel. "Is this your mom? You brought your mommy to the forest, little hero? This is too good!"
He glanced back at Ragdoll, who was tensed, ready to jump, though she was visibly trembling.
"Oh, a kitten?" he said, finally recognizing the green costume and ears. "How cute. Are you here to scratch me, or just watch me crush your little friend?"
"Get away from him!" Ragdoll's voice was sharp, but it lacked conviction.
"Or what, kitten? You gonna meow me to death?" Muscular sneered.
He ignored her completely. To him, she no longer existed. He took a deliberate step toward Izuku, savoring the moment.
"Enough games. I'm running out of time, and I still have to find the rest of these brats."
He lifted his foot, covered in red, pulsing muscle fibers, ready for the final blow.
"First the boy. Then the kitten. And after..." His eye landed on Inko again, who was still kneeling, motionless. "Well... the mom can watch. It'll be educational."
A pebble at Inko's feet moved. It rose an inch from the muddy ground. Then another.
Muscular brought his foot down.
"DON'T YOU DARE!" Ragdoll shouted, launching herself in a desperate leap.
Muscular didn't even look at her. A casual backhand hit her in mid-air, his arm muscles instantly swelling to intercept her. It sent her flying into the side of a broken tree. She collapsed in a heap, coughing.
"Stay still, pet. Your turn is next."
He turned back to Izuku. "Now, where was I...?"
The dust around Inko's knees began to swirl.
Ragdoll propped herself up on one elbow, wiping blood from her lip. She felt a strange pressure in the air. It wasn't Muscular's Quirk. It was something... different. Something that oppressed her senses.
"What... what is this?" she muttered to herself.
Muscular frowned, noticing the change in the atmosphere. "What the hell...? A wind Quirk? You, lady?"
He decided it didn't matter. She was a civilian. A nuisance. He tried to push Inko aside with a dismissive gesture, a simple shove to get her out of the way and get to Izuku.
His hand stopped in mid-air.
Inches from touching Inko's shoulder.
He blinked. "Huh?"
He pushed. His hand didn't move. It hit an invisible, solid barrier.
"What the hell...?" He pushed harder, his muscles beginning to swell from the effort. "I said, move!"
The barrier held firm.
Muscular took a step back, his confusion quickly turning to anger. "A force field? You? A simple lady has a barrier Quirk?"
Inko lifted her head slowly.
Mud dripped from her hair. Her eyes, normally warm and kind, were now glowing. They shined with a pale green light. A cold, flat light, empty of everything except intent.
"You..."
Her voice was low. Barely audible.
"...will..."
Muscular felt a chill. The pressure in the air intensified.
"...not touch him."
The power exploded outward.
It was an explosion of force.
A deafening crack filled the clearing as ten, twenty trees around the perimeter were ripped from the ground. Dirt, roots, and rocks flew with them.
"WHAT THE...?!" Muscular roared.
The trees flew through the air, straight at him. All aimed at Muscular.
"YOU'RE CRAZY!" he shouted, shocked by the sheer scale of the attack.
He raised his arms, his muscles swelling to grotesque limits, the red fibers covering his body to protect him.
CRACK!
The first trunk, a meter thick, slammed against his defense. Splinters flew in all directions. He destroyed the first one.
CRUNCH!
The second one hit him almost at the same time. He pulverized it, but the force knocked him back a step.
"TRASH! YOU'RE NOTHING!"
There were too many. From too many angles. A third trunk hit him in the side, where his muscle armor was thinner. The impact made him stagger, choking back a pained grunt. A fourth and fifth hit him in the back, driving him to his knees.
"Damn it!" he spat, jumping back to his feet. "Is that all you've got, mom?! You'll need more than a few sticks to—!"
Inko didn't answer. She held an open hand out toward him.
Muscular saw nothing coming. But he felt it.
An invisible, concentrated force hit him directly in the chest. The force was brutal and launched him through the air. The blow ignored his external muscle armor. He felt the pressure directly on his ribs, in his lungs.
He went flying backward, shattering the remains of a fallen tree and crashing against the edge of the clearing.
"ARGH!!"
He gasped, trying to catch his breath. The air had been knocked out of his lungs. He stood up, coughing.
"Telekinesis!" he yelled, finally identifying the power. "Damn bitch! That hurt!"
Ragdoll watched, frozen in shock. "What... what is that power...? Telekinesis? That scale is...!"
Muscular roared and punched the ground. "If you want to play rough, LET'S PLAY ROUGH!"
He ripped a huge chunk of ground out himself, dirt and rock, and threw it at Inko. "Eat this!"
She simply raised one hand, palm out.
The massive projectile stopped in mid-air, just a meter from her. It hung there, dripping dirt. It spun slowly.
"What?" Muscular gasped.
With a quick flick of her wrist, Inko threw it back.
"Shit!"
It was thrown with twice the force. Muscular had no choice but to destroy it. An uppercut that vibrated his own bones. The rock pulverized, raining debris down on him.
"You're pissing me off, lady!"
He charged forward, driving with his red muscle legs. "I'll tear you to pieces!"
The ground beneath his feet cracked.
"Oh no, not again!"
Large blocks of earth and rock, some with sharp edges, rose from the ground and slammed into him.
He roared, punching the first block, turning it to dust. He dodged the second. The third hit him in the shoulder, making him grunt.
"Keep trying!"
He managed to close the distance. He was only a few meters away. He raised a gigantic fist. "IT'S OVER!"
Inko didn't move. She didn't even blink.
Just as his fist was about to connect, an invisible pressure wrapped around him. Invisible vectors caught his arm in mid-air. Then his other leg. His torso.
He was frozen in mid-attack, suspended in a grotesque pose.
"What... what is this?" he growled, the strain making his muscles tremble. "Let me go!"
He flexed every fiber of his body. "My muscles...! I CAN BREAK IT!"
With a roar that shook the remaining trees, he broke the invisible vectors with sheer brute force. But the effort was visible. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His breathing was ragged.
"Ha... ha... You're... strong," he admitted, landing heavily. "But I'm... MORE!"
He charged again, this time leaping, trying to attack her from above.
Inko simply raised her hand.
He was ripped from the air.
"Hey! What...?! Put me down!" he yelled, kicking uselessly. He was suspended ten meters off the ground.
Muscular's head snapped toward Izuku, who lay helpless.
"Oh, you still here, brat? Don't worry! As soon as I get down, I'll kill your mommy very slowly!"
Inko's gaze hardened, if that was even possible.
The destruction in the clearing intensified. Shattered trees. Smoking craters. The ground itself rose up against Muscular.
Inko now floated a meter off the ground. Dust, leaves, and small pebbles swirled around her. Her appearance as a simple housewife was gone.
Muscular felt the invisible pressure again, this time trying to crush him from all sides while he was in the air.
"NO! YOU WON'T!"
He roared, his muscles swelling to grotesque limits, the red fibers nearly bursting under the inhuman strain. He resisted the pressure.
"I'm... stronger!"
Inko changed tactics.
Sharp rocks, ripped from the shattered ground, began to fly at him.
"Ow!" he yelled as a sharp rock cut his arm.
"Damn it!" Another hit his knee, right on the joint.
"STOP! STOP DOING THAT!"
They began to hit him from all angles. They weren't killing blows, but cuts, abrasions, and bruises.
"I'll... I'll kill you!" he shouted, trying to cover his face as the rocks pelted him.
Ragdoll watched, frozen. She tried to use her Quirk on Inko again. "Search... activate!"
Nothing. She couldn't read her. She couldn't find a weakness, couldn't find a limit. It was just... power. Pure. Absolute.
"I can't read it... it's just... power," she whispered to herself, pained and terrified.
She tried to attack Muscular while he was suspended, an acrobatic leap, a quick strike.
He batted her away with a casual backhand, even while being stoned, sending her crashing into a pile of rubble. "I told you to wait!"
Muscular, in a desperate fury, managed to free one arm from the pressure. He tore an enormous rock, bigger than himself, from the side of a nearby crater, and threw it at Inko with a roar.
"DIE!"
Inko barely glanced away from the floating man.
The massive projectile stopped inches from her. She held it in the air for an instant.
Then, she squeezed.
CRUNCH.
The rock imploded. It folded in on itself, collapsing with a sickening sound. It was reduced to fine gravel that fell harmlessly at her feet.
Silence.
Muscular stopped screaming. He stopped fighting.
He just... stared.
The display of absolute power, the ease with which she had undone his strongest attack, broke him.
And it enraged Inko even more. Her control became ruthless.
She lifted Muscular higher into the air with multiple invisible vectors. He kicked, punched, roared, but he was trapped, suspended and helpless.
Simultaneously, the crushing pressure returned. This time concentrated on his limbs.
"AAAAARGH!!"
A sickening, wet sound echoed as the pressure focused on his left arm.
"MY ARM! YOU BROKE MY ARM!" he shrieked, real panic replacing his anger.
The pressure released and focused on his right leg.
"NO! WAIT! STOP!"
CRACK!
"PLEASE!!"
It was then, as he was being torn apart, overpowered, helpless, that Muscular saw Inko's gaze. He saw the total absence of mercy. The cold, impassive intent to erase him from existence.
The icy thought hit his brain.
This woman... isn't playing... She wants to kill me! Heroes don't kill!
His instinct, honed in blood and violence, screamed a single word: DANGER.
Real. Absolute. Mortal danger.
"I WON'T DIE HERE!!"
He used the last reserve of his strength. A final muscular burst, an expansive shockwave that momentarily freed him from the vectors crushing him.
He attempted a massive leap, toward the darkness of the forest, toward escape.
"GOODBYE, IDIOTS!"
Inko didn't even move.
An invisible vector field, a wall he couldn't see, caught him in mid-leap. He stopped dead in the air.
"No... no... impossible!" he whispered, terror choking his voice.
With a sharp gesture, Inko slammed him into the crater floor that his own attacks had created.
The impact made the entire clearing tremble. The sound of breaking bones was unmistakable. Muscular spat out a mouthful of blood.
He was trapped. There was no escape.
Muscular lay crushed at the bottom of the crater. He tried to move. "Can't... get up..."
He was immobilized by an invisible pressure that threatened to break every bone he had left. He wheezed, choking on his own blood. His immense strength was useless.
Inko descended slowly, her feet touching the ground without a sound. She landed in front of him.
Her face was impassive.
She walked toward him. Each step was slow.
"Stay away..." Muscular whimpered. He tried to drag himself backward, using his hands. "Stay away from me!"
The invisible pressure held him in place.
Inko stopped right over him. She looked down at him.
Terror finally consumed him. Tears streamed from his good eye, mixing with the blood and mud. "No... please... mercy..."
She raised one hand, palm open toward him.
"I'm sorry!" he sobbed. "I didn't kill him! Look! The kid's alive! He's breathing! I didn't kill him!"
The air around Inko's hand began to vibrate. Space itself seemed to distort, concentrating unimaginable force into a single point.
Ragdoll got to her feet, limping. "Ma'am, stop!"
Inko ignored her.
"Mrs. Midoriya!" Ragdoll shouted, "Stop! You've already won! You've captured him!"
Inko's hand didn't waver.
"Heroes don't kill!" Ragdoll yelled, more out of desperation than conviction.
Should I stop her? she thought, her mind racing. She's a civilian! She's going to commit murder!
She looked at Izuku, who was breathing shallowly. But he was going to kill him.
She looked back at Inko. And what is she? This isn't right!
"PLEASE! I HAVE INFORMATION!" Muscular shrieked, his voice broken by panic. "I'll tell you where the others are! I'll do whatever you want! Just don't kill me! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE, MA'AM!"
Inko's hand descended slowly.
"NOOOOO!!"