#also she kicked the furnace and immediately had a heart attack

[clickityweasel]

my sister is trying out disco elysium blind and i am drawing alongside her struggles

[kingreywrites]

You’re always there, mon frère

Fandom: Tangled

Word Count: 3004

Summary: "Flynn! Buddy, do you hear me?!" The voice was directly above him now and it was- Flynn was pretty sure that it was Lance, but with the rain, his friend sounded weird. A little choked up, perhaps. And how could he be above him? "Flynn!" Lance called desperately, "Flynn! Answer me buddy!"

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Note: Happy Teengene Appreciation Day!! Thank you @carlyrider for organising it, I hope you’ll enjoy this!

Flynn was cold. That was the first thing he noticed, but it wasn't enough to wake him up fully because, after all, he was used to sleeping in the cold. And the wet - it was wet too, he realised, but once again, not the worst conditions he had slept in. Well, most of the time, he and Lance would- not cuddle, he wouldn't say cuddle, but they would manly share body heat and Flynn would often snuggle- uh, get closer to Lance because he was a literal human furnace, and things would be okay.

Lance wasn't there, though. He was cold, and wet, and Lance… Where was Lance?

"...ynn! Bu…"

It was raining, Flynn understood, a little more conscious now. It was raining heavily, and there was thunder, and he was wet because… he didn't find a roof? It was weird. He always managed to find a roof in these circumstances - he hated the cold with a passion and once, Lance got so sick that he feared-

Yeah. He hated the cold. Where was Lance? Was he cold too?

There was some noise above his head, and he felt something that was definitely not rain fell on his face. Pebbles? He should really find a better place to sleep, but he was too tired and too cold to move now. His head hurt. And he was tasting dirt, somehow?

"Flynn!" someone called from faraway. "Flynn, where are you?!"

Flynn groaned, and got more dirt in his mouth for his trouble. With all of this rain, his hair must be a mess now, he would have to take care of it thoroughly. Would Lance accept to go steal more hair products? It was a vital necessity, for sure, Flynn just had to convince him of that - and considering Lance didn't exactly have hair, it would be difficult, but Flynn Rider wouldn't back down from a challenge. Except if that challenge was getting up because, for now, that wasn't happening. Maybe he could borrow something from Stalyan? Nah, not worth her anger, Flynn thought with a frown that he regretted immediately as a flash of white hot pain made him groan once again. Ouch. His head hurt. Where was- where was Lance?

"Flynn! Buddy, do you hear me?!" The voice was directly above him now and it was- Flynn was pretty sure that it was Lance, but with the rain, his friend sounded weird. A little choked up, perhaps. And how could he be above him? "Flynn!" Lance called desperately, "Flynn! Answer me buddy!"

Flynn grimaced and opened his mouth, but no sounds came out. Why was Lance screaming in the middle of the night? Why were they both outside? His head hurt more and more as he woke up progressively, and Flynn had half a mind to simply go back to sleep. It would be less cold, less wet, and definitely less painful.

Then again, Lance sounded really scared. Maybe Flynn would stay awake a little more - just to check that it wasn't another spider related incident.

"Flynn! Fly- oh come on, Eugene Fitzherbert!" Lance yelled, his voice echoing sharply inside Flynn's head.

"Hey," Flynn groaned, louder this time, "don't call me that." His exclamation wasn't that loud, but thankfully, Lance heard it anyway.

"Sorry, sorry, I just wanted a reaction," Lance apologised, still sounding far away.

Flynn shifted and regretted it immediately, stars bursting behind his eyelids as he cried out. He might have lost some time, because when he finally felt like he wouldn't be sick, Lance was back to calling his name frantically.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm awake," he coughed into the dirt, before taking a deep breath and - finally - turning entirely on his back. It hurt, to say the least. Gasping, the rain falling right into his mouth, Flynn finally realised that Lance wasn't above him because he was flying, but because he was down in a… ravine? Random crack on the Earth? Anyway, not good.

And, if he had turned the other way, he would have fallen to his doom. Further down to his doom, exactly.

"Flynn, buddy, please stop moving," Lance pleaded, his head popping up a few feet above him. "I'm coming to get you, okay? Just- stay put!"

"Not sure… where I would go," Flynn breathed in answer, but Lance was already gone. And, it was still raining. What a day.

Honestly, he didn't remember how exactly he managed to fall here - he assumed he fell, since his entire body was screaming at him, most of all his head. Gingerly, he tested his hands and feet, and thankfully, he didn't seem to have anything broken. Being a thief didn't really allow for broken bones, and Stalyan would have probably been angry with him for being incapacitated - even now, she would probably blame him for his injuries. To be fair, he didn't remember how he got them, but innocent until proven guilty - it was not his fault until he discovered it was. Sadly, Stalyan often assumed the reverse stance, blaming him for things he didn't even do until he apologised for it. He was already imagining the argument about this in his head, and how he could try to calm her down, when it struck him.

He wouldn't argue with Stalyan. He- he left her at the altar.

Suddenly, everything came back to him in a rush - his decision to leave her, supported by Lance; taking part of the Baron's treasure for themselves as a goodbye gift; being chased down by his men, fighting under the rain, being pushed… being pushed to his death by The Weasel.

He remembered falling, and thinking that this was it. He was going to die. And the worst thing? He didn't even regret leaving Stalyan behind. She- they- Lance had been right about her since the beginning. Then Flynn hit the ground and didn't think about it anymore. He had been lucky to fall on something midway, instead of all the way down the ravine, because that was probably the only thing saved his life.

Well, lucky wasn't exactly the word here, but he would take it.

"Flynn! Still awake down there?" Lance yelled before leaning over the edge again.

"Yeah," he answered half-heartedly, shivering from the unrelenting rain.

He wasn't sure Lance heard him, but he must have seen him move enough to be reassured, because he turned back for a moment. Flynn waited in silence, feeling oddly numb as he thought back over everything he did to get them in this situation, his head still pulsating painfully with his heart. Gently, he put a hand above his ear, but took it back with a hiss. Between the darkness and the rain, he wasn't exactly sure that it was blood on his fingers, and decided to act as if it wasn't. If he didn't see the problem, there was no problem, for sure.

Lance threw a rope down. He pulled it harshly three times, but whatever he had anchored it on held.

"Lance," Flynn called, trying to sit up and failing miserably, his arms too shaky under him.

"Flynn, don't move, I'm coming!"

"No, no, Lance, it's too wet," he yelled back, "you'll slip!"

Even from down there, Flynn could see the glare Lance threw his way. "If you think I'm leaving you here, you're wrong!"

"The rule is-"

"I don't care about the rule! Jail is one thing, I won't leave you to die here!"

It was rare for Lance to sound that angry. Flynn closed his mouth, biting back his answers, because he knew he wouldn't be able to convince his friend not to do it. Which didn't mean he wasn't scared off his wits when Lance started to make his way down as carefully as possible. Lance nearly lost his grip at one point, and Flynn nearly had an heart attack at the sweet age of sixteen, but, thankfully, Lance caught himself and only kicked down pebbles into Flynn's face. On purpose, he'd bet, because he thought Flynn was being an idiot.

Lance jumped the last few inches, immediately going to Flynn's side, hands hovering above him.

"Are you okay? Is anything broken? How many fingers do you see- wait, I'm not supposed to hide my hands behind my back, I-"

"Lance, Lance!" Flynn interrupted, bating his hands away feebly. "I'm fine, help me up."

Lance nodded, put one arm under Flynn's and yanked him upright which- bad idea.

Very bad idea.

When he came back to himself, Flynn was on all four, heaving, and Lance had one hand around his waist to keep him off his face, and the other doing soothing circles on his back. It would have been sweet, if not for the nearly constant hysterical babbles in Flynn's ears as Lance panicked. Flynn didn't know where Lance heard all this stuff about head injuries that he was reciting, but it did sound grim worded this way. He really didn't want to slip into a coma either.

"So," Flynn croaked, "what a break up, huh?"

If he hoped his joke would calm Lance down, he hadn't anticipated the tears in his best friend's eyes as he looked at him sadly. Flynn sighed and - carefully - sat up, Lance steadying him.

"I thought- I kept searching for you, but I thought-"

Lance swallowed, unable to finish his sentence, and Flynn thought he understood. Falling in a ravine didn't have the best chance of survival. He would say he was sorry, but he didn't think Lance would appreciate it, so he patted his arm feebly instead. His head was pounding right up to his eyeballs, which was weird sensation in itself. Lance rubbed his eyes to get rid of his tears, and Flynn didn't even tell him that it wasn't useful since it was still raining on them - he was nice like that. And tired. Very tired.

"C'mon, don't fall asleep on me," Lance said, jostling Flynn enough to make the pain flare up again. "Sorry, but we need to get out of here."

"I- I don't think I'm climbing up that rope, buddy," Flynn answered, shivering a lot more now that Lance had gotten up again.

He also felt woozy and since, despite all appearances, he wasn't a complete idiot, he knew his hands were shaking way too much to have some sort of grip. Especially under this rain. Take that, Stalyan - he did know how to think before he leaped. Which wouldn't help him out of this situation but at least he could finally have the last word on that argument. Why was he thinking about her again? His head hurt a lot.

"Yeah, we'll find a doctor, don't worry," Lance said, and Flynn realised he must have talked out loud. He wasn't sure any doctor would accept them as patient - they didn't have any money left - but it was a nice sentiment. "And you won't have to climb up, I'll take care of it."

Before Flynn could wonder what that meant, Lance was back before him and, in one swift movement, got him on his back. He would have sputtered a protest immediately, if not for his spinning head.

"A piggyback? That's your grand idea?" Flynn hissed through his teeth as he breathed against the nausea, arms tightening unconsciously around Lance. 

"You've got a better one?"

"No! Doesn't mean this one isn't stupid!"

"Well we can't stay here! You need help and we need a warm shelter and-"

"If you slip we're dead!"

"Don't let go and I won't," Lance snarked back, squaring his shoulders and jumping to start climbing up. Flynn yelped, and tightened his legs around his waist, not about to deconcentrate him now that their fates was in his hands. Quite literally.

From his vantage point, Flynn could see how Lance was straining to get both of them out of here. He could see him palms get hurt against the rope, could feel the rain running down his hair, could hear Lance's grunts and realised that he was glad to have him in his life. Maybe Flynn was an idiot - but at least, he had a best friend.

"I'll miss Stalyan, though," he whispered vaguely, forehead on Lance's shoulder.

"Hey, hey, you promised you wouldn't let go Flynn," Lance said in a panic, feet slipping against the rock.

"Didn't promise anything."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too! You've got a concussion, my word is worth more than yours," Lance concluded harshly, "so don't sleep."

Flynn hummed, Lance grunted, and thunder roared above them - it was all very dramatic. Once Lance was less freaked out about it all, he'd probably appreciate the setting of his daring rescue, since nothing was cooler than appropriate scenery. It would be a story for the ages... if they didn't die.

Lance cursed under his breath as he heaved himself up for the last few inches, falling heavily on the ground with Flynn still on his back. He crawled to get them both further away from the edge, before sprawling entirely on the ground. Flynn though he should try to move, since he was essentially squashing Lance, but his head was pounding and he really didn't want to.

"We're alive," he drawled ironically, and Lance snorted in answer. They were alive, and soaked to the bone, his head was still hurting, and he was pretty sure that Lance's hands were too, from the friction. Ah, and the Baron's men were probably still on their tails - or Lance's, at least, if they thought he was dead already. Yeah team.

After a while, Lance helped him lie down on the ground as he sat back up, and Flynn looked at the sky, trying to stay very still. The clouds were still dark and menacing, but he felt like the rain was falling a little less heavily. Flynn raised his hand to his head again, still flinching when he made contact, but with this new light, the fact that he was bleeding was undeniable.

What was the protocol in use when he did see the problem? He didn't remember right now, but it wasn't good.

Lance leaned over him and Flynn realised that he was talking, but he hadn't listened. He felt dizzy, as if his head was slowly floating away from him and that- that was weird. Lance frowned, moved away, and Flynn nearly asked him to stay, before he caught himself. Huh. The head injury was really messing with him. That, and Lance was the best way to keep the rain out of his eyes. Yeah, that was totally it.

Flynn closed his eyes but Lance immediately shook him, trying to keep him awake. Sadly, it only heightened Flynn's dizziness and pain, and he thought he mumbled something that made Lance look scared, but he didn't remember what - he closed his eyes again and lost consciousness before he even understood what was happening.

------

Flynn was warm and dry. That was a nice change from the last time he woke up, though he didn't realise it immediately, still too groggy. His head still hurt but the pain was dulled now, something faded in the back of his mind. Right here and then, as Flynn woke up slowly, he could have swore he hadn't been this comfortable in years…

If it wasn't for the elbow digging in his ribs.

Once he felt it, Flynn was unable to ignore it. He tried to shift away slowly and, when that didn't work, he pushed the arm away. At first, he thought he won that battle, but the arm came back with a vengeance, covering his stomach in a heap as a loud snore escaped its owner.

"Lance," Flynn growled, already missing his sleepiness, "move."

"Shut- Flynn?!" his best friend yelled, startled awake, while Flynn cringed away from the loud noise. "Flynn," Lance said more softly, "you're awake!"

"Yeah," he grumbled sarcastically, something that Lance obviously didn't get as he started talking fast about how worried he had been. Though, Flynn knew his friend - he totally got that he was being annoying, only, he liked to be.

Now that his eyes were open, he saw that they were both on a bed that Flynn didn't recognise at all. His hand climbed to his head but only felt the bandages that were on top of his wound.

"Told ya I would get you to a doctor," Lance winked, proud of himself.

"Yes but how are you planning to pay them?"

"I... uh, have my ways?" he answered nervously.

Flynn frowned, and saw that weird tick Lance always had when he was feeling guilty about something - his eyebrows took this strange position on his face and it outed him as a liar every time. His thought process was slowed due to his head injury, but it didn't take long for Flynn to understand what exactly Lance could be feeling guilty about.

"Oh I can't believe you," Flynn complained, "you stole from our stolen treasure?! We said we would do fifty fifty!"

"See, I wouldn't say stole, exactly-"

"Of course you wouldn't!"

"It helped you in the end! That has to count!" Lance insisted, and Flynn punched his shoulder in answer - not too strongly, but Lance was a big baby and whined about it anyway.

Then, he settled back on the bed, ready to go on with his nap.

"Isn't this my bed?" Flynn grumbled half-heartedly, getting comfortable again.

"Hmm."

"And you- ah, doesn't matter," he sighed, accepting his cuddly fate.

Only because Lance was a warm presence beside him and that he was still feeling cold. And maybe because he seemed to have scared Lance back there, so he wanted to make him feel better. And perhaps it made him feel a little better too, to have his best friend with him - because, despite their ups and downs, he knew that Lance would always have his back, even if it meant going to pick him up from a ravine.

Lance snored and hugged him closer - and Flynn smiled and went back to sleep warm, dry, and happy.

[marvelslut16]

Like a virgin

Synopsis: (Y/N) is an old college buddy of Sam’s, and after they meet up for the first time in a few years she joins him and Dean on their hunts. Your old feelings for Sam fade and stronger new feelings surface for the older Winchester.

Word count: 2271

Warnings: Swearing, talk of death, alcohol(?), brief unwanted advances, slight nsfw moments. I think that’s it. Oh, and talks of virginity and the hymen. 

Authors note: I just finished writing this and it’s like 4 in the morning so I’m sorry if it sucks. Also, this takes place in season 4 right after Dean comes back from Hell. I took a brief conversation between Sam and Dean from the episode monster movie where Dean claims to be a virgin, hence the title. Absolutely no hate to Genevieve Cortese (Padalecki) for the one offensive comment I make about Ruby’s appearance. 

You had bumped into the Winchester’s when they came to your house to ask about the mysterious deaths that were happening in your neighborhood. Dean came to your door first claiming to be from the FBI, but his partner soon followed. Your face went from a courtesy smile to straight anger, which was rolling off of you in waves.

“Shit,” Sam muttered as he stepped up onto your porch. 

“Do you get kicks from impersonating federal agents?” you glared at him. “Last time I checked that’s illegal Samuel. You would think you’d know that though, considering you were pre law.” 

Sam Winchester, your Chemistry partner for a semester, and eventual best friend. He was your first real friend at college and made sure to include you when he went out with his friends. He started dating Jessica and that's when you realized that you had feelings for him, always too late. The longer he was with Jessica you realized that she was a good and genuine person, that they were destined for each other. Sam asked you for advice on how to propose to her, because ‘you’re a girl right?’ Let's just say you were not amused by his phrasing. But then Jessica died and Sam left without a word. 

“(Y/N/N), I can explain,” he promised. 

“Two and a half years of radio silence warrants more than just some empty promise that’s supposed to make me feel better,” you crossed your arms and let out a huff. He may have been taller than you, but in that moment he had never felt so small before. Not even with his father. 

You begrudgingly let the two into your house, well your parents house, to explain. They swore up and down that they were supernatural hunters and they were going from state to state killing monsters. They said that there was some vengeful spirit in your town going after atheists, some dead priest or something. You did the only logical thing and laughed in their faces, because that was beyond ridiculous. Sure you believe in spirits and such, but they said that witches and vampires were real too. 

“You don’t want to tell me the truth?” you were fuming. “Fine, but don’t insult my intelligence by lying to my face.” 

“It’s the truth,” Dean said gruffly. 

“God, you’re both delusional,” you throw your hands up in the air and let out a humorless chuckle. 

“I told you back in college what my family did,” Sam desperately tried to get you to believe.

“We were wasted when you told me that story Sam!” you practically yell, good thing your parents weren’t home.

“We’ll take you with,” Sam jumped up from the couch and walked over to you, grabbing your wrists. 

“Sammy,” Dean warns from his seat. 

“Please (Y/N), you’ve gotta believe me,” he gave you his perfected puppy dog gaze. 

“Fine, but you better not be lying to me Sam,” you sigh and lean into his chest. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too beaker,” he teases you.

“I broke one beaker!” you defend.

“Yeah, right after Dr. Keck had just told the class to be careful while carrying them,” he laughed at the memory and you couldn’t help laughing with him. Something felt different this time around, like everything would work out the way it was supposed to.

But that was just under two years ago, and nothing has changed between you and Sam since. He even said you were like his sister to some demon named Ruby. And if that weren't insulting enough, he left you with Bobby after Dean died before running off again. Dean, poor sweet Dean, you missed him more with every day that passed. The two of you had gotten close over beers after hunts, he was different from Sam. A good different.  

On the bright side, Dean was brought back from Hell and you’re out getting drinks with him again. But Sam was running off with that damn demon. 

“A demon Dean, he’s fucking a demon,” you say over what you think is your fifth beer. “Have you noticed how her lips are too big for her face?”

“I’m a virgin,” Dean says thoughtfully to himself, completely ignoring you.

“Excuse me?” you laugh and almost spit out your beer. 

“Well, look at me. I mean, I came back from the furnace without any of my old scars, right?” Dean tries to convince you. “No bullet wounds, knife cuts, none of the off-angle fingers from all of the breaks- I mean, my hide is as smooth as a baby's bottom. Which leads me to conclude, sadly, that my virginity is intact.”

“That’s not how that works,” your laugh is so powerful it shakes your entire body. It's so loud that a few customers turn to glare at the two of you. 

“I've been re-hymenated,” he insists, before taking another swig of his beer. 

“No amount of trips trips to Hell could ‘re-hymenate’ you,” you shake your head and take a giant sip of your beer. 

“Why are you so hung up on Sammy anyway?” he changes the subject as if you two never strayed from the original topic. 

“I don’t know,” you sigh, knocking back the rest of your drink. “Maybe it’s because he was my first friend in school, or maybe it’s because he was so smart without being a stuck up ass. Or maybe it was because he was dependable when it came to partner work-”

“So he was loyal to a fault, dependable, and your friend?” Dean cuts you off. “Are you explaining a dog or Sam?”

“He does do some killer puppy-dog eyes,” you scrunch your nose as you imagine them. The song in the bar switches to one that you like and you get excited. “I’m gonna go dance!” you leave before he can respond. 

You're awkwardly dancing to the music when you feel a body press into your back. You immediately assume that it’s Dean and giggle at his 

“Hey there little lady,” a voice that definitely didn’t belong to Dean whispered into your ear. You let out a little squeak as you tried to push away from the man. He was stronger than you, but your hunting skills should have helped you get away. And they would have if you weren't so damn tipsy. 

“Hey!” Dean’s deep voice rattles off the walls of the bar as he angrily walks up to you two. “Let her go.”

“Or what?” the man taunts. 

“Or you won’t live long enough to find out,” he growls. 

“You her brother or something?” the man laughs. You see the rage on Dean’s face grow as you wait for him to agree with the man. 

“No, she’s my girlfriend,” Dean’s voice raises along with his anger. “So I suggest you take your hands off her.” 

You’re heart pounds as you make eye contact with Dean, no one had ever stood up to a guy for you. Not even Sam had, surprisingly. As the man released you, finally, all you could think about is how your lips would feel on yours. So that’s exactly what you do. 

You just throw your arms around his neck and pull his lips to yours, they mould perfectly together. He tastes like beer and and the slice of cherry pie you two split earlier. The faint smell of gunpowder and car oil washes over you, and you feel completely calm for the first time in a long time. The kiss is a perfect mix of the fiery passion you two feel for each other in this moment, and slow and savory to help ingrain the feeling of the others lips in your brains.

A low whistle coming from a bar patron causes you to break apart. And when you do, you can see that the entire bar is staring at the two of you. Dean grabs your hand and drags you outside. He pins you to the door of the Impala and kisses you again, this time his tongue invades your mouth. You moan into his mouth and he kisses you with more fervor. You groan as he pulls away, but he quickly helps you into the car before running to his side. You spend the entire ride back to the motel cuddled up to his side and kissing his neck, he almost runs off the road once or twice. 

You’re ripping at each others shirts before the motel door can close behind you. He takes your shirt off before kissing you and gently leading you back to his bed, he shared a room with Sam while you got your own. You were busy taking off his many layers of shirts as he was admiring your shirtless form.

“Wait,” he pants and pulls away as you kiss him again. He gets up and paces the room, running his hands through his hair causing it to stick up in different directions.

“Why?” you pout. You start to get self conscious, do you not live up to the other girls Dean had been with? “Am I that bad?”

“No, God no,” his lust-blown green orbs meet your worried ones. “You’re perfect (Y/N), and that’s the problem. I don’t want this to be a one time thing to get your mind off of Sammy or the guy in the bar.”

“It isn’t a one time thing,” you admit softly, standing up and walking towards him. “Somewhere along the way I forgot about Sam and all I saw was you. I was just too scared to admit it, and then you were gone. It was easier to tell myself that it was always Sam instead of you.”

He doesn’t respond, not verbally at least He lunges at you and his mouth attacks yours. His lips detach themselves from your lips and gently kiss down you neck as he leads you back to the bed. 

--

You wake up the the sun seeping in through the cheap motel curtains. You blink away the sleep in your eyes and see yours and Dean’s clothes thrown haphazardly throughout the room. You smile softly before cuddling back up to his bare chest, his anti-possession tattoo stands out on his blemish free torso. You lightly trace the lines of the said tattoo, causing Dean to groan softly before shifting and pulling you closer to him. You're crazy messed up life had never felt so good before. 

You must have fallen back asleep because next thing you know, a loud what the Hell is waking you up. You blink quickly to adjust to the light, and see Sam standing at the foot of the bed. You quickly make sure that the sheet is pulled up high enough to cover your chest while slinking back behind Dean, who is now sitting up. 

“My best friend and my brother,” Sam says incredulously, reminding you a bit of Ross from friends when he finds out about Chandler and Monica. Maybe Dean was your Chandler. No, he is definitely a Joey. 

“It’s not like that Sammy,” Dean defends. God, that extra raspy morning voice is so sexy. 

“Not like that? Not like that?” Sam’s voice rises with every word. “I come back this morning to see my best friend and brother lying naked in his bed with your clothes everywhere. And it's somehow not like that? I come back-”

“From fucking a demon,” you roll your eyes. Both Winchesters turn to look at you; Dean in shock and Sam in rage. “I said that out loud, didn't I?”

“Yeah sweetheart, ya did,” Dean gives you a wink before turning back to Sam. “Sammy it’s different with (Y/N), she took my virginity.”

“Why?” I sigh, slamming my head into the flat space between his shoulder blades. 

“What?” Sam asks, more aggravated and confused than before.

“I came back from Hell, I was re-hymenated,” Dean says for what feels like the thousandth time in the past twelve hours. 

“Dean,” you groan into his back, wrapping your arms around his bare waist. 

“Dean, maybe angels can pull you out of hell, but no one could do that,” Sam frowns at his older brother. 

“Virgin or not, it’s different with (Y/N),” he leans back slightly in your arms. “I never want to let her go.”

“So don’t,” you whisper into his ear before nibbling on the lobe. 

“We’re gonna need our own room from now on,” he turns his head to capture your lips in another passionate kiss. 

“Can you guys not?” Sam asks in disgust. The only response he receives is an annoyed grunt coming from you. “I don’t fully support this, Dean’s going to hurt you.”

“I’ll give her a safe word,” Dean smirks as he pulls away from your mouth. He slowly eases you back onto the bed, hoping that Sam gets the idea and leaves. 

“(Y/N), listen to me-” Sam starts.

“I’m finally happy Sam,” you can feel the blood rush to your head as you grow angry. “I was a mess after Dean died, but you wouldn’t know that. You dumped me at Bobby’s and then ran off with the demon. Just let me be happy.”

“If it’s really what you want,” Sam says unsurely. You would respond with an affirmation if you could, but Dean’s lips were already back on yours, this time with the hint of a smile. Dean grabbed a pillow you aren’t on and chucks it, with surprising accuracy for someone not paying attention, at Sam. After Sam gets smacked in the face, he takes the hint and leaves, finally leaving you and Dean alone again.

permanent tags:  @crimson-knuckled-queen​ @rexorangecouny

[saikostories]

MHA - Rhythm of the War Drum pt1

Flames crackled. Scraps of smoldering ash danced in the blast wind like playful insects. They drifted higher into the night sky before blinking completely out of existence. The fire was spreading. Already it was beginning to reach the next block away from the demolished train station. Screams drifted on the night breeze. Where they came from it was impossible to tell. The world around him had dissolved into hellish chaos.

Bakugo stared up at the one above him. He lay on his back, half buried in a foot deep crater. His hands were held in a steel-like grip on either side of his head. No matter how hard he struggled he couldn’t shake the vice-like hands holding him captive. His gauntlets were long gone, shattered by incalculably hard blows. The bones in his wrists creaked under the pressure of his captor’s grip. In this position he couldn’t ignite the nitro-sweat on his palms close enough to inflict any damage on his opponent.

How had the bastard become so strong?!

As Bakugo angrily kicked against the ground the one straddling his chest leaned down lower, digging his knees deeper into the muscles of Bakugo’s upper arms and immobilizing his futile struggles. Pain shot down the length of Bakugo’s arms.

“You fucker! Get off me!” Bakugo screamed. He writhed in helpless rage. Sparks crackled across his palms but did nothing to help him. “I’ll kill you!”

“Oh, Kacchan,” the one above him grinned. “Stop being so charming.”

Firelight danced in the dominant boy’s eyes, giving him a demonic look. Wind the same temperature of a blast furnace ruffled the shaggy locks of dark green hair. “We’re only starting to have fun…”

Bakugo glared murder at the other boy, his mind desperately trying to connect the image of the one above him to the one he remembered from his childhood.

That boy Bakugo remembered – the one who called him Kacchan and used to always follow him around like an annoying shadow – was completely different from the one currently pinning him to the ground.

The boy from his memories had never looked at him with that sadistic grin, or had that crazed look of madness in his eyes. Small bubbles of saliva foamed at the corners of his captor’s mouth. The mouth guard of his costume dangled from his neck as he leaned over Bakugo, like the broken muzzle of a rabid animal.

“Deku, get the hell off me!” Bakugo raged, thrashing uselessly.

Izuku Midoriya grinned his unsettling new grin.

With deliberate slowness, Midoriya shifted one finger from Bakugo’s right wrist to underneath the captured boy’s index finger. A line of crackling gold-laced energy shot across Midoriya’s hand. With an almost careless flick Midoriya sent Bakugo’s finger flying backwards. The sound of his breaking bones reminded Bakugo of dry kindling snapping.

The pain was immediate and intense. Bakugo couldn’t stop the startled scream that ripped from his mouth. Bakugo stared at his shattered digit. It hung backwards from his knuckle like a drooping hot dog.

A low chuckle sounded above him.

Midoriya craned his upper body away from Bakugo. His unkempt hair swayed in the hot backdraft. Flames danced in the gutted remains of the train station behind him. The image reminded Bakugo of a painting he’d once seen as a child at the local temple – one of a demon standing before the gates of Hell.

Midoriya’s lips curled away from his teeth in a deranged Cheshire grin. His eyes stared down in open bloodlust.

“That was fun, Kacchan. Let’s do that again.”

His finger moved underneath Bakugo’s middle finger.

Bakugo stared up at Midoriya. For possibly the first time in his life fear – true, unadulterated fear – washed over him like an icy wave. With sudden, blood-curdling certainty Bakugo realized he was completely at his former childhood friend’s mercy.

It was a picturesque summer day. Class 1A couldn’t have asked for a better day for a group outing. The outdoor mall was a hive of activity. People moved from store to store in search of bargains. Most moved in pairs, sometimes small groups of three, except for one girl standing by herself by one of the upper level’s glass railings that overlooked the center courtyard below.

Stupid, Uraraka admonished herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Why did she run away from Midoriya like that? After their group had broken up into smaller pairs to pursue their individual economic conquests Uraraka had had the perfect opportunity to be alone with the boy she admired more than everyone else in their class. It was stupid. She’d run away because she’d been caught off guard by the unexpected opportunity. Why did she have to be this shy around Midoriya?

She already knew the answer to that: she had a crush on him. Aoyama had realized before even she had. It wasn’t that surprising really. The sweet, almost deceptively quiet boy had won a place in the hearts of almost everyone in their class. Just the thought of his shy smile made Uraraka’s cheeks burn hot and once again curse her cowardice.

With a surge of resolve Uraraka decided she had to go back and at least apologize for her abrupt departure.

Making her way back towards the escalator, Uraraka scanned the courtyard below. Surely Midoriya wouldn’t have moved too far away from where she’d left him. At first she couldn’t see any sign of him, but just as she came to the top of the escalator she spotted his familiar mop of green hair. He was sitting off to the side of the courtyard on a bench.

Good. He hadn’t gone far. There was still a chance for them to walk around together.

As Uraraka stepped on to the moving steps she noticed another sitting beside Midoriya. From a distance, it looked like a man in a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. They seemed to be sitting very close to each other. The man’s arm was thrown over Midoriya’s shoulder in a friendly embrace.

Uraraka wondered who the man was. Maybe Midoriya had come across an old friend while walking the mall.

The two were lost from sight as she neared the bottom of the escalator. As she stepped off the last step and turned towards where she’d seen Midoriya and his friend, a high-pitched scream pierced the air.

Everyone in the vicinity instantly froze, heads instinctively swiveling around towards the source of the scream. Uraraka couldn’t see where it had come from. Another scream sounded, followed by a swell of panicked shouts.

People began to run. One man bumped into Uraraka and almost sent her crashing to the ground. She somehow managed to keep her footing and stared in the direction everyone was running from. Between the moving bodies she saw what had caused the panic.

There, about a hundred feet away, a man in a black sweatshirt held a woman by her neck. He held her high. Her feet uselessly churned the air below her for purchase, her toes barely scraping the ground. As Uraraka watched, the woman’s gurgled scream abruptly stopped and she dissolved into a cloud of ash. The man’s sadistic cackle echoed across the courtyard, chilling Uraraka’s blood.

That man… wasn’t he the same man Uraraka had seen sitting with Midoriya?

People everywhere were running. Another person – this time a mother with a young child clutched to her chest – clipped Uraraka and sent her sprawling backwards. She hit the ground hard.

Another scream followed by a cloud of ash.

Uraraka stared in horror at the scene. She tried to look away but couldn’t seem to make her body respond to her brain’s commands.

The man tilted his head back and let out another laugh. His hood fell back from his face. Uraraka gasped. It was Shigaraki – the man who had led the attack on their class at the emergency response facility. He was the leader of the League of Villains. He was also the one that nearly killed Aizawa with his pet monster and their teacher in bandages for the better part of that semester.

Shigaraki’s eyes found Uraraka across the courtyard. His gaze bore into her. Uraraka inwardly cringed back from the psychotic joy she saw gleaming in those depths. For a split second, she feared he was going to rush her and turn her into a pile of ash.

Instead he cackled another laugh.

“My work here is done,” he grinned. His dry, cracking lips curled up the sides of his face. “Be a good little girl and tell everyone what you saw here today. Tell them the League of Villains is just getting started and that no one is safe anymore. The age of heroes – especially All Might – is over. You can tell him I’ll be seeing him again soon.”

A cloud of transdimensional black smoke swirled into being behind him. With one final, almost mocking, wave to Uraraka Shigaraki stepped through and disappeared. The warp gate shrunk behind him from existence. His departure was so abrupt Uraraka momentarily wondered if she’d really just seen what she did.

The screams of the panicked crowd seemed strangely far away now. She could hear the faint warble of police sirens in the distance.

Uraraka looked around. The mall was almost completely deserted now. It was weird that barely ten minutes ago this had been a humming spot of human activity. Now it reminded her of a ghost town.

A soft breeze drifted through the courtyard, stirring the piles of ash that littered the ground. In a stunned daze, Uraraka scanned the area. All those people… just gone. She counted at least a dozen piles of charred carbon that had once been human beings.

As she took in the quiet devastation left in Shigaraki’s wake, Uraraka spotted something laying off to the side of the courtyard. It lay halfway underneath a bench where it had probably been kicked by a scared civilian in their rush to escape.

It was a bright yellow backpack.

While not necessarily an uncommon item, especially considering the amount of students that had been there celebrating the end of the semester, it was the color that made it stand out to her. Uraraka recognized it. How could she not from all the afternoons walking with its owner to the train station after class?

That was Midoriya’s backpack.

A trill of horror gripped Uraraka’s heart. Where was Midoriya? She’d just seen him. Was he somewhere nearby?

The warble of police sirens was getting louder.

No matter how desperately she scanned the empty shopping area Uraraka saw no sign of Midoriya. All she saw were the shapeless piles of ash that marked the spot of Shigaraki’s victims.

In the wake of the mall attack, police and heroes alike were scrambled to the scene. Police statements were taken from all those present. Besides Uraraka, though, no one had been close enough to give a description of the man who’d attacked the mall goers. When the police had found her, the young heroine was standing in the middle of the empty mall surrounded by piles of ash and clutching a yellow backpack to her chest.

Due to Shigaraki’s destructive quirk, it was impossible for forensic teams to properly ID those who’d fallen victim to his touch. His quirk seemed to disintegrate items on a molecular level, eliminating any chance of DNA analysis. Search parties were formed to scour the surrounding areas, but besides eye witness reports and next of kin looking for friends and family they’d been separated from during the attack, there was nothing to definitively say who was missing.

Finally, after two days, with no word from the boy and no definitive proof to say otherwise, Izuku Midoriya was officially listed as killed in the League of Villain’s attack. It was the general consensus of those that had known him that when Shigaraki began his assault, Midoriya had probably rushed in to help and been caught in the villain’s rampage.

A small memorial service was held for Midoriya at UA high school. The majority of his classmates and teachers were in attendance. The most notable, of course, was All Might who spent the majority of the service standing by himself on the side of the room in a somber black suit. Although his trademark smile was in place – “As a tribute to young Midoriya who once told me he wanted to make the world a better place with a heroic smile!” – it was noticeably forced. Uraraka could never say for sure, but at one point during the service she thought she saw a single tear appear in the corner of All Might’s eye.

In the days following the attack, news stations couldn’t seem to agree on an official death toll of the shopping center attack. Estimates were put anywhere between seventeen to twenty-two people. The one thing they all did agree on was who was ultimately behind the attack – the League of Villains.

Everyday the newscasters ran reports on the organization and the slow but steady increase in criminal behavior around the city and across the country as a whole. Tokyo and all the surrounding cities were placed on high alert. Heroes from every agency in every municipality were called into action. A number of public events were cancelled. Even those that weren’t – sports games, concerts, and festivals – were poorly attended. Once thriving, active areas became eerily silent. People began to avoid amusement parks, shopping centers, and recreation areas. If one small shopping mall wasn’t safe from a villain attack what other public space was? A series of small attacks from low level villains around the city only served to increase the public’s anxiety.

UA’s first-year summer training camp was cancelled, though none of the students of 1A really protested. The loss of one of their own had hit too close for many of them.

So it was with heavy hearts 1A began their second semester at UA.

“So what did you do over summer vacation?” Tsuyu asked conversationally.

It was several minutes before the start of homeroom on their first day back for fall semester. The girls of class 1A were huddled together in a circle around Yaoyorozu’s desk. The boys were clustered in their own individual cliques of twos and threes.

“I visited my grandparents in Shimane prefecture,” Mina offered. “After they cancelled the camping trip and the city went on alert my parents wanted to get away for awhile.”

“Can’t get much farther away from everything than Shimane,” Jiro said.

“You said it,” Mina agreed with a sigh. “I spent three weeks doing nothing but staring at rice paddies. It was enough to almost make me wish they hadn’t cancelled summer classes for the ones that failed last semester’s finals.”

“At least you got to go somewhere,” Yaoyorozu said. “My parents barely let me leave the house all summer after what happened at the mall.” As though realizing what she’d just said, Yaoyorozu trailed off uncomfortably.

“How about you?” Tsuyu asked, glancing at Uraraka desperately to shift the focus of conversation. The shopping mall attack had unspokenly become a taboo topic. “What’d you do?”

Uraraka couldn’t bring herself to meet the frog girl’s gaze and stared at the top of the desk.

Uraraka’s heart tightened painfully in her chest. Even now almost two months after the attack just the mention of it made her have to fight back tears. How could the rest of them talk so casually about what happened? After all that death they had seen up close?

“Nothing special,” she murmured. “I was kind of in the same boat as Yaoyorozu. Just stayed home…” If she sounded unconvincing she didn’t care. How could she admit to her fellow classmates that while she had spent the majority of summer break at home, it had been spent fighting back tears every time a news report reminded her of the attack that killed her friend and created this culture of fear currently gripping their society?

The other girls seemed to sense the ill-veiled grief in Uraraka’s voice. Before any could say anything about it the homeroom bell chimed.

“Everyone to their seats!” Iida unnecessarily ordered. All of them were already sitting attentively.

“Alright, alright, settle down,” Aizawa groused as he slouched through the door and took his place behind the teaching podium.

The students sat straighter in their seats as the Erasing hero tapped a stack of papers together on the podium. Aizawa had never been a particularly warm and welcoming teacher, but he seemed even more unapproachable than usual.

“Class rep,” he said, holding out the stack of papers to Iida. “Pass these out.”

Barely a minute later everyone had a syllabus for the new semester. The class was quiet as they digested the information written there.

“As you’ve probably noticed, there’s not a lot of typical classes listed this semester as compared to last,” Aizawa mumbled, glancing around the room with blood-shot eyes. “Classes like mathematics, English, and Japanese Literature have been removed from this semester’s schedule to make room for more practical application classes for hero track students. I’m sure all of you are aware of the threat the League of Villains is posing. All hero agencies and police forces have been placed on high alert by the national government. Due to the heightened security in almost all public areas, the national government has requested UA to lend its hero track teachers and students to the roster to help patrol the city. In a way you can consider this an extension of your original internships from last semester.”

Uraraka quietly digested this information. The classroom rippled with excitement but it was noticeably subdued compared to previous announcements like this. Just two months ago nearly everyone in the room would have been writhing in excitement. Now, all of them knew the true threat criminal organizations like the League of Villains posed.

Uraraka couldn’t stop her eyes from sliding to the side of the room where an empty desk sat immediately behind Bakugo. Despite it being a new semester, no one had felt it right to take the seat of their missing classmate. Midoriya’s place remained unfilled despite an untold number of students in other tracks vying for the coveted spot in the hero track.

“This is a great honor,” Aizawa continued. “The national government is putting its trust in you as future heroes to help protect this city. I know this is a huge responsibility to place on first year students, but you have all already proven yourselves capable in the past of meeting such a challenge. That’s why the government is issuing all of you provisional licenses to use your quirks in emergency situations. This is the dawn of a new era of villainy. We must all be ready to do what we can to help combat it, whether we think we’re actually ready for it or not. That is what the true spirit of being a hero is.”

Aizawa changed the topic and began lecturing on how that semester’s curriculum was to be structured. Uraraka didn’t miss the way his eyes drifted towards the empty desk behind Bakugo and lingered there a few moments longer than a passing glance would have warranted.

Less than a week later found Uraraka on a school-sanctioned patrol in the heart of the city. After a day of classes the students were randomly paired together in groups of two with a UA teacher or sidekick from a local hero agency acting as their supervisor. Everyday their patrol areas changed. Typically their teams were spread out every two or three miles to cover a different ward. While technically working as heroes, their mission was to observe and report any suspicious behavior to the pros that were also on patrol.

On this particular day, Uraraka had been paired with Bakugo. Their team leader was Midnight. It was getting close to dusk. Their shift was to end in the next hour. Their mission that evening was to watch the Shibuya-area Hoth train station.

As most of the villain attacks thus far had been centered on public areas, places like train stations, subways stops, and major commercial plazas were the focus of the heroes’ patrols. The three were stationed on the rooftop of an office building located directly across from the train station’s main entrance. The night air was warm with the final lingering traces of summer. Several stars had already begun to peek out against the darkening backdrop of the twilight sky. Every so often Uraraka smelt the whiff of grilled food from one of the many eateries that lined the streets around the station.

“God, this is so boring,” Bakugo groused from his perch on the far side of the rooftop. “It’s been a week of patrols and no one’s seen any trace of a villain. It’s like they’re hiding from us.”

“Now, now, young man,” Midnight admonished with a sultry purr. “Heroes must be patient. While boring at times, surveillance can be quite thrilling when one’s prey finally emerges. In any case, we’re on a strictly observe and report mission for these patrols. Student engagement is highly discouraged.”

Bakugo said nothing, but the way he whipped away from their teacher to glare down at the train station – as if daring a villain to make an appearance – Uraraka knew he was gritting his teeth together in silent rage. Uraraka could almost feel the waves of frustrated energy rolling off him. It only made Uraraka more uncomfortable to be in his presence. She’d never been a fan of the hot headed fire-starter, but being teamed with him with none other than Midnight of all teachers made Uraraka feel like a fish completely out of water. Could she have been teamed with any other people that were less like her? She didn’t necessarily dislike Midnight, but her almost vulgar display of sexuality made Uraraka extremely uncomfortable and self-conscious.

The teams were chosen at random and only lasted a day, so Uraraka at least had the comfort of knowing she only had about an hour more of this.

“You two stay here,” Midnight abruptly announced. “I’m going to check on the station’s other entrances. Report anything suspicious to me immediately.”

With a flip of her hair and a snap of her whip, she leapt away into the darkness.

Uraraka stared after her for a long moment of silence before turning her attention back onto the ebb and flow of human movement below. Bakugo stood on the other side of the roof, almost out of her side-vision. It was almost hypnotic watching people going about their everyday lives – coming home from work, heading out to meet friends for a drink – completely unaware of those watching them from afar. Did those people ever stop and think about the ones that watched over them? Did they ever wonder how much effort went into keeping them safe?

“Look at them all,” Uraraka softly murmured. “Do you ever wonder if they think about all the heroes working to keep them safe?”

“Hell if I care,” Bakugo snorted. Not that Uraraka was really expecting any other response from the blond firebomb but a part of her had secretly hoped she could have had a civil conversation with him to pass the last hour of their patrol together.

She knew she should stop while she was ahead but there was something she’d been wanting to ask Bakugo since the end of last semester.

“Hey, Bakugo. I know you probably don’t want to talk about it but I wanted to ask you… Why did you come to Midoriya’s memorial service last semester? I mean… I always thought you hated him.”

The boy’s reaction was expectedly violent. “Why do you care if I was at that pathetic nerd’s service?!” He turned hellfire eyes on her. With the lights of the train station under-lighting his features Uraraka regretted voicing her thoughts. “I wasn’t going to go but the teachers made it sound like it was mandatory. I wasn’t about to lose my number-one spot in class by being docked points by not going. It was that nerd’s own damn fault he died! He always wanted to be a hero. Always running into fights he couldn’t win. If he had had any sense he would have run away and let someone else like me who could’ve actually done something about that guy fight! But no! His stupidity had to get him killed!”

Bakugo whipped away from the roof edge and stormed away into the darker shadows of the roof. He reminded of Uraraka of a caged animal. His back to her, Bakugo growled, “It’s not fair… I never got to properly kick his ass one last time.” Shooting a glare over his shoulder towards Uraraka as though blaming for the unwanted memories, he snarled, “Why did you have to bring up that pathetic dweeb, huh?! I don’t want to talk about him anymore. So shut you mouth for the rest of our patrol or you’re gonna be sorry!”

With a snarl Bakugo stalked across the roof as far away from Uraraka as he could. He stood looking over the edge of the roof, refusing to look in her direction.

Uraraka stared after him. Despite his harsh words and ever harsher personality, Uraraka heard the regret in his voice. In his own warped way he was still mourning their missing classmate, same as her. Bakugo, whether because of his psychological hang ups or his inability to talk about Izuku Midoriya in any other way than violence – used anger as a cover for how he felt. He and Midoriya might have had a complicated past, but it was obvious the hot head missed the freckled boy.

Uraraka wasn’t sure how she felt about the revelation. In some ways it made her feel closer to Bakugo. Even Bakugo had been effected by Midoriya’s death. But at the same time, his emotional immaturity made it nearly impossible for Uraraka to hope she’d found a kindred spirit in Bakugo who she could share her pain with.

Uraraka wiped at the moisture that had gather unbidden in the corner of her eye. She hadn’t even realized she’d begun to cry. It just proved how raw the loss of Midoriya still was to her.

Before she could worry about Bakugo seeing the evidence of her grief a sudden explosion sent a plume of fire and smoke billowing up from the train station’s entrance. The rooftop shook with the force of the blast. Uraraka involuntarily cried out and shielded her face from the intense heat as a second explosion rocked Hoth train station. She was knocked backwards from the edge by the force.

“What the-?” she heard Bakugo scream from across the roof. His voice was barely audible over the deafening crackle of fire.

Shakily pushing herself to her feet, Uraraka looked over the edge of the roof. What she saw below barely resembled a train station anymore. The walls of the building looked like the charred skeletal remains of some ancient giant that had been eaten from the inside out by hellfire. She could see people amongst the flames. Some ran. Others stumbled away from the inferno as if in a daze. Others lay among the charred debris, eerily motionless. Screams were the soundtrack of this hellish scene.

Uraraka was so stunned by the carnage she was only startled out of her trance by Bakugo suddenly appearing beside her.

“Look! Villains!”

Uraraka followed his gaze and that he was right. Far below, a large warp gate had opened in front of the ruined train station. From its inky depths several figures emerged. Uraraka counted five – no six! - as the warp gate coalesced into the League of Villains’s member – Kurogiri’s – ethereal black form.

Two of the villains were ones she’d never seen before. Low level thugs by the looks of them. Another two looked like the mindless genetically modified quirk monsters known as Nomus. Both of them had exposed brains with bulging, vacant eyes. One of them – it had four extra arms sprouting from its hunched back – gave a terrifying shriek.

The last member of the group took his place beside Kurogiri. Disembodied hands the color of dead flesh gripped his arms and shoulders. One hand was wrapped across his face like the newly hatched space monster of a classic horror movie Uraraka remembered watching as a child. The extra hand and his unkempt grey-blue hair obscured his face, but Uraraka instantly recognized him.

She must have involuntarily gasped because Bakugo speared her with a glare. “What?”

“It's…” Uraraka struggled to form words. Her throat was constricted by a violent rush of fear. “It's him.”

“Who?!”

“The villain that killed Midoriya!”

A strange look lit Bakugo’s eyes as they swung downwards towards the cluster of villains.

“That’s the bastard that killed the nerd?”

“Yes,” Uraraka breathed. Her heart was hammering against the inside of her chest. “I’d recognize him from anywhere.”

“Then I’m going to kill him!”

Before Uraraka could register Bakugo’s words, the hot head was airborne – flying over the side of the rook with a fiery blast from his palms. His eyes were locked on the villains below.

“Bakugo, no!”

He was already gone.

Uraraka stood frozen for a long moment of indecision before her training finally kicked in and she remembered their mission.

“Mayday! Mayday!” she screamed over the radio-comm nestled in her ear. “Mayday! Villains spotted at Hoth train station, Shibuya! Multiple civilian casualties! All units, please converge, immediately!”

“Uraraka!” Midnight’s voice crackled across her ear piece. “Remain where you are! Heroes are in route!”

Uraraka stared over the edge of the roof. Bakugo had reached the ground. The two thug-looking villains charged him. With a fiery blast from Bakugo’s open palms they fell to the ground screaming. Their clothes were smoking. Even so far up Uraraka smelled the scent of grilled meat again.

“Bakugo!” she yelled. Whether he actually heard her or not, Uraraka couldn’t say.

“You bastards! I’m gonna kill you for what you did!”

Uraraka knew she should follow Midnight’s orders - to stay back and not engage. But there was Bakugo charging into battle to face off a group of super-quirk villains. She might not have really liked Bakugo as a person but in this instance he was her teammate and she wasn’t about to lose another classmate to the League. For Midoriya she would do what she could to keep Bakugo alive long enough for the pros to show up.

With a surge of anti-gravity, Uraraka vaulted over the rooftop in pursuit of her classmate. She land on the ground with a small jolt.

As Bakugo neared the last several dozen yards that separated him and the assembled villains he abruptly skidded to a stop and whipped one gauntlet-heavy arm around towards them. A pull pin dropped from the side of his gauntlet.

“This is for Deku!” he screamed as he pulled the pin and unleashed a hell storm of flames towards his foes.

Uraraka was several yards behind Bakugo and saw the warp gate appear in front of the villains. Before she could shout a warning, another warp gate appeared in the air only several feet to Bakugo’s right. A wall of flames erupted from it. Bakugo was momentarily lost behind the flash of deadly fire.

Uraraka skidded to a halt. The heat from the redirected blast was suffocating. Even twenty feet away she could feel the flames lick at the edges of her costume. A billow of smoke followed, temporarily blinding her. She coughed and wiped at the ashy tears clogging her vision.

Bakugo had been knocked down by his own blast. For a moment, Uraraka feared the worst. His costume was charred black in places. His upper arms and neck where his top didn’t cover were a painful looking welted pink. Gathering his strength, Bakugo slowly, painfully, pushed himself to his feet. Despite his self-inflicted injuries his eyes hadn’t lost any of their murderous intent.

“You bastards think some cheap trick is going to protect you?” he spat. “By the time I’m done you’re going to regret ever being born!”

“You hear the mouth on this one?” Shigaraki chuckled, glancing at Kurogiri. “Knocked over by his own attack and he still has the balls to threaten us.”

Shigaraki took a step forward. One eye stared from between the thumb and index finger of the hand covering his face. “I recognize you. You’re one of those brats from the UA facility. You know you caused us a lot of trouble back there.”

“You just wait!” Bakugo snarled, smearing a streak of sooty blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his glove. “I’m going to cause you a lot more than trouble for what you’ve done!”

“And what’s that?” Shigaraki quired as though genuinely confused. “The USJ attack was months ago. You can’t still be this upset about that little skirmish.”

“I’m going to kill you for what you did to Deku, you sick bastard!” Bakugo screamed. “You killed him! That nerd was mine to take down! Not yours! I’m going to make you pay for taking that away from me!”

A startled laugh erupted from behind Shigaraki’s face hand.

“Kill him? Oh no, no. You’re entirely mistaken. I never killed that boy. Quite the opposite you see. I took him to help him… improve his abilities. He might have pissed me off at the USJ attack but after some consideration even I realized what a powerful tool he could be against that phony hero All Might.”

Uraraka and Bakugo stared at Shigaraki in startled silence.

“W-what?” Uraraka breathed in disbelief. Did she actually hear him right? Was Midoriya somehow, somewhere still alive?

Shigaraki motioned to Kurogiri. “Kurogiri, let’s bring out our secret weapon. I was going to wait until the real heroes showed up but the brat’s friends seem eager to see him. They’ll be a good warm up for him.”

“As you wish,” Kurogiri intoned.

A warp gate opened beside Shigaraki. A figure slowly stepped through into the flickering firelight of the train station.

Uraraka gasped. Bakugo seemed frozen in place. He stared at the newest arrival.

“The fuck is this?” he weakly stammered. His rage had been completely replaced by shock.

Although skinnier and his hair longer than how she remembered, Uraraka recognized him. She’d recognize those endearing sprays of freckles anywhere! Her heart swelled with an almost heady rush of relief.

It was him. It was-

“Deku!”

***

The cry rang out over the roaring fire of the gutted train station. Uraraka could barely contain the joy that washed over her at the sight of their missing classmate. Almost immediately that joy was replaced by uncertainty and then dawning realization.

While it was definitely Midoriya that had stepped through Kurogiri’s warp gate she sensed something different about him. Midoriya was dressed in a green jumpsuit, white gloves and boots that were almost identical to his old school-issued costume. A metal mouth guard even hung from his neck against his chest. His hair was longer than Uraraka remembered. It hung around his face in unkempt curls. Midoriya was also noticeably skinner. There was a hollowed look to his cheeks as if he hadn’t had a proper meal since he’d disappeared in Shigaraki’s attack at the shopping mall. Most striking, though, was the change to Midoriya’s eyes. Half-hidden by overlong bangs, they seemed shadowed and empty, almost like the boy was in a trance. He stared listlessly ahead, not even glancing in Bakugo or Uraraka’s direction. It was like he didn’t even realize they were there.

The rotten feeling in the pit of Uraraka’s stomach worsened.

Something was wrong.

“Bakugo! Uraraka!” a voice called out. Midnight had returned. She swooped down from the rooftop of the building across the street. She was closely followed by Aizawa with Mineta and Todoroki. Uraraka vaguely remembered them being teamed together for that evening’s patrol and being assigned the district just over from her and Bakugo’s. They must have responded to Uraraka’s distress call and met up with Midnight on the way there.

“I told you two not to engage!” Midnight angrily yelled. She snapped her whip as though in promise of the punishment she was already formulating in her head.

Neither Uraraka or Bakugo fully acknowledged her threat or the newcomers’ arrival. They were still too in shock from Midoriya’s arrival.

It was only then that Aizawa, Midnight, Todoroki, and Mineta seemed to recognize the one standing next to the Shigaraki and Kurogiri.

“Midoriya?” Todoroki gasped. He took a step forward as though ready to go to the other boy. He was stopped by Aizawa throwing a restraining arm out.

“Stay back,” Aizawa ordered. He was glaring daggers at the small huddle of villains. “Is this some kind of sick joke?” he demanded. His hair flew up from around his face, his bloodshot eyes narrowed to slits. The strips of cloth around his neck undulated in the air like angry cobras.

Shigaraki let out a mocking laugh. “You think this is really someone with a shape shifting quirk, don’t you? I’m so happy to tell you this really is your former student.”

Aizawa continue to stare, unconvinced. But as the seconds ticked by and the green-haired boy’s face did not dissolve into another person under the Erasing Hero’s quirk, Aizawa finally broke his gaze.

“What have you done to him?” Aizawa demanded. Whether consciously or not, Aizawa took a step closer as though ready to snatch his missing student back from the two villains.

Shigaraki chortled behind the disembodied hand clutching his face. “I knew All Might had a soft spot for the kid, so I decided to take him to hurt All Might where it would hurt the most.” With no warning, Shigaraki grabbed Midoriya by the jaw and roughly tilted his head backwards. Midoriya barely reacted to the rough handling. He just stood there and let Shigaraki do what he wanted. “Imagine how All Might will react when he finds out this brat is my pet now. It took us awhile but we finally broke him. Aizawa, you would have been so proud of his fighting spirit. He reminded me of you at the USJ complex. But we eventually crushed him just like we’re going to do to all you pathetic heroes.”

Shigaraki finally released Midoriya’s face. The boy quietly bowed his head but did not shuffle away from the villain or do anything else to indicate he wished to escape. His empty eyes stared at the ground.

Shigaraki motioned to Midoriya’s body. “Like his costume? We thought we’d deck him out like how he dressed when he was still All Might’s pet student.” He roughly ruffled Midoriya’s hair. “Won’t he be surprised when he sees you?” He cackled with delight at the idea.

Unable to watch anymore of the villain’s abuse, Midnight snapped her whip. “Midoriya, get away from them! Come back to us! We’ll protect you!”

It was like Midoriya didn’t even hear her. She might as well have been calling to one of the mindless Nomus flanking Shigaraki and Kurogiri. He obediently remained where he was, staring with empty eyes.

Shigaraki laughed at Midnight’s failed attempt. “What do you think, Kurogiri? Should we give them a demonstration? Let’s show them what we trained the brat to do.”

Shigaraki pulled a small device from his pocket. It was a simple plastic black box with a single button on it. Holding it up as though to give all of them a clear view, he slowly depressed the button.

A barely audible click sounded from behind Midoriya. It was only then that Uraraka noticed, hiding underneath his hair and the strap of his mouth guard, a small metal box about the size of a deck of cards attached to the back of Midoriya’s neck. Three small tubes sprouted from each side of the device and disappeared into the sides of his neck. As Uraraka watched, the tubes jumped and a pulse of red liquid shot into Midoriya.

Whatever the liquid was had an immediate effect on Midoriya. He curled against himself, his body hunching into a trembling U. His breathing became labored. One hand clutched at his heart. Crackling waves of energy exploded across his back and down his arms. As the waves of energy subsided, he lifted his head. Uraraka took an involuntary step back. Midoriya’s lips were curled back from his teeth in the manic parody of a smile. But the most disturbing change of all was to his eyes. Eyes once lifeless and empty were now filled with a madness that reminded Uraraka of Bakugo when he was in the throes of one of his fits of battle lust. It scared her on a level she never thought the soft-spoken Midoriya could ever scare her.

“What did you just give him?” Aizawa snarled.

Shigaraki shrugged. “A little of this, a little of that. Let’s just say it’s a special concoction one of our members came up with to make sure the brat does what we say while also enhancing his abilities. It basically turns him into a mindless attack dog that feels no pain or fear. Call me dramatic, but I’ve taken to calling it Berserker Serum. I assure you, it lives up to its name.”

Shigaraki leaned down to Midoriya. “You remember your friends now, don’t you?”

Midoriya gave a short, definitive nod. The manic look in his eyes shined brighter.

“Very good,” Shigaraki nodded with approval. “Now go rip them apart.”

Midoriya’s deranged grin widened. Crisscrossed tracks of glowing red energy appeared across his face and down his arms. With an inhuman howl, Midoriya charged the closest person to him - Midnight.

Faster than any of the assembled heroes had ever seen Midoriya move, he covered a distance of almost twenty feet in less than the blink of the eye. Midnight had no chance to defend herself before a supercharged punch to the midsection doubled her over and sent her flying backwards into a building. She limply slumped to the ground at the base of the wall, unconscious. An impact crater marred the brick façade where she’d hit. Fractures ran in a spider web design almost five feet in all directions from the impact point.

Uraraka stood frozen in shock. When had Deku become so fast? It was impossible. He had been starting to get more control of his quirk in the weeks leading up to the shopping mall attack, but for him to have improved so much in almost two months? It was unnatural. His speed and power were now at top-rated pro levels.

A screech from one of the genetically modified Nomus startled Uraraka back to the present. One of them – the one with four extra arms sprouting from its back – charged her and Bakugo. The other went after Aizawa and Mineta.

Aizawa’s hair lifted from around his face. His eyes glowed red. But it didn’t seem to have any effect on the beast. The Nomu was too powerful even without the use of its quirk.

A deafening explosion flashed around the eight-limbed monster. “Come at me, you bastard!” Bakugo screamed over the crack of ripping air molecules. The Nomu gave a terrifying screech in reply.

Uraraka hesitated for a moment. She wanted to go to Midoriya – to call to him again, perhaps help him recognize her and snap him out of whatever hold Shigaraki had over him. Another explosion of flames erupted from Bakugo.

No, Uraraka told herself. As much as she wanted to, Deku had to wait. She had to help Bakugo with this Nomu first and then she would help Midoriya.

She just hoped there would be enough time to do so.

“Get back!” Aizawa cried as he pushed Mineta out of the way as the bug-eyed Nomu charged past them. “Find cover! Do not try to engage either Nomu or Midoriya! Send a mayday call for more reinforcements! We need as many heroes and support teams we can get here, now!”

Mineta didn’t need to be told twice. “Yes, sir!”

Scrambling to the right he dodged a clumsy swipe from the Nomu’s clawed hand. Before the Nomu could follow after Mineta, Aizawa sent several lines of reinforced cloth wrapping around the monster’s wrists and neck and physically pulled the beast’s attention back towards him.

“Go, Mineta!” he yelled over the monster’s angry roar.

Stumbling over the chunks of concrete and strewn debris Mineta dove behind an overturned taxi halfway down the street from where Aizawa fought the Nomu. One side of the taxi was charred black. Mineta assumed it was from the initial explosion that had devastated the train station. The boy pressed his back to the taxi’s side, hyperventilating.

This wasn’t how he was planning the evening to unfold. Their patrols weren’t supposed to be combat! They were supposed to be strictly surveillance! How had he had the bad luck to be assigned near an area the League of Villains had decided to attack? They had had less than an hour to go for their patrol too! It wasn’t fair! This kind of battle was something pro heroes were paid to deal with.

Reaching a shaking hand to his ear he activated his wideband comm-device. “T-the League of Villains is at Hoth train station!” he cried over the shriek of Nomus and explosions in the background. “We need backup ASAP! Heroes, police, support units - everybody! Hurry!”

Nothing but a burst of static answered him. Whether it was the fire or something else, he wasn’t getting a signal. Dread ran down the length of Mineta’s spine like ice water. Units were surely already in route from Uraraka’s initial distress call, but how long would it take for the pros and police to arrive? And even when they did, would they be enough to go up against the League of Villains?

Mustering some small shred of courage, Mineta timidly peeked around the side of the overturned taxi.

Across the street, Bakugo and Uraraka were working together to fight back the other Nomu. As Mineta watched, Bakugo shot a fiery blast into the Nomu’s misshapen face. The Nomu reared back with a fearsome screech. While the beast angrily wiped at its eyes, Uraraka levitated a large chunk of concrete and sent it flying at the monster. The projectile knocked the Nomu to the ground.

Closer to the burning remains of the train station, Shigaraki and Kurogiri were watching the fights unfold. Shigaraki had a delighted look in his one visible eye that made Mineta’s stomach churn. He unconsciously ducked lower behind the taxi.

Why did his luck have to suck so much?! He hadn’t been planning to die tonight!

Carefully peeking around the taxi’s back wheel he watched as Midoriya turned to face Todoroki. Mineta’s hands were physically shaking now. He was so afraid he felt frozen in place. He couldn’t have forced himself to move even if there was somewhere for him to run. All he could do was watch as Midoriya - class 1-A’s quiet self-proclaimed fanboy – stalk towards Todoroki like a berserker demon from the deepest pits of hell.

“Midoriya, stop this!” Todoroki cried as he sent a wall of ice shooting out of the ground towards the other boy. “I don’t know what those villains have done to you, but I know you’re stronger than them!”

Midoriya dodged the sheet of ice before it could ensnare his feet and slammed a fist through the resulting wall of ice that appeared between him and Todoroki. The ice wall shuddered and crumbled under the force of his blow.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that to defeat me this time,” Midoriya snarled. Wild eyes glared at Todoroki from underneath overgrown bangs.

“Midoriya, snap out of it! I know this isn’t you!”

Mineta might have only been imagining it, but he couldn’t help but think that Todoroki was pleading.

The green-haired boy grinned his manic grin. Tracks of energy again appeared across his face and down his body.

As though realizing words weren’t going to work, Todoroki’s left side erupted into a plume of dancing flames.

“That’s more like it,” Midoriya purred. With an explosion of energy he rushed the other boy.

Todoroki raised his flame-wreathed arm towards Midoriya as though to fire off an attack but visibly hesitated.

Midoriya did not. He swung his fist in a haymaker punch. From a distance of over twenty feet, Mineta heard the impact of Midoriya’s knuckles against Todoroki’s jaw. Todoroki’s head snapped around. The taller boy was knocked off his feet and sent flying backwards several feet. Todoroki hit the ground hard and didn’t move. The flames on his left side abruptly sputtered out.

Mineta dropped back down behind the taxi, his heart hammering against the inside of his chest. He pressed his back to the overturned car door and clamped trembling hands over his mouth. A scream was bubbling up inside him and he didn’t know if he would be able to stifle it. Midoriya just took Todoroki – one of the most powerful students in their class – out like it was nothing! Not to mention Midnight, a pro hero! That monster wearing Midoriya’s face and old costume was nothing like the boy Mineta remembered. Did Midoriya know where Mineta was? Did he see him duck behind the taxi before? Maybe if he was able to get his legs moving he could sneak away without Midoriya or any of the other villains seeing. Maybe…

The creak of twisted metal shifting sounded behind Mineta. He looked over his shoulder just as the overturned taxi he leaned against was lifted off the ground and almost casually tossed aside. It sailed across the street and smashed through the front plate-glass window of a convenience store.

Standing over him, the flames from the train station framing him like hellfire, was Midoriya.

“Hello, Mineta. Long time no see.”

The seemingly friendly greeting coupled with the bloodthirsty look in Midoriya’s eyes chilled Mineta to the bone. Midoriya’s crazed grin widened.

Mineta felt his bowels turn to ice water. He instinctively tried to scramble backwards from the other boy but Midoriya’s arm shot out and grabbed him. Fisting the front of Mineta’s costume, Midoriya effortlessly lifted the smaller boy off the ground. He pulled Mineta close until they were almost nose to nose. This close up Mineta realized a spray of fine blood droplets streaked one side of Midoriya’s face. It was probably from when he’d punched Todoroki out. Energy crackled down the length of Midoriya’s right arm. His fist drew back in a punch. “I’m going to see how far I can make you fly,” Midoriya smiled.

Mineta desperately clawed at the steel-like fingers gripping his shirt but he might as well have been trying to dig through concrete with a toothbrush.

Looking into Midoriya’s eyes, Mineta knew with a sudden, terrifying certainty that he was about to die. Another wave of energy ran down Midoriya’s arm. Mineta clenched his eyes shut, unwilling to be witness to his own death.

An explosion followed immediately by a blast of suffocatingly hot air burst somewhere just behind Midoriya.

Mineta opened his eyes to see that Midoriya had lowered his arm and was looking over his shoulder in the direction of the explosion.

“You bastard! You should have come at me first! I’m the one you should be paying attention to!” Bakugo screamed, stalking across the rubble-strewn street.

Midoriya’s grip on Mineta loosened and the smaller boy hit the ground at Midoriya’s feet.

“Kacchan,” Midoriya grinned, turning towards the approaching boy. He sounded excited. The gleam of madness in his eyes shined brighter.

Mineta sat there, stunned by the sudden turn of events.

“Don’t worry,” Midoriya said, sparing Mineta a parting glance. “I’ll be back for you later.”

As Mineta watched Midoriya go to meet Bakugo in the middle of the street, the dam inside Mineta finally broke and he dissolved into a shaking mess of frightened tears.

By some miracle, Uraraka and Bakugo had managed to hold back the eight-limbed Nomu. Between Bakugo’s fire attacks and Uraraka’s anti-gravity they had somehow not been killed. It was weird, Uraraka thought as she looked back on the fight, she and Bakugo had actually made a pretty good team. While Bakugo distracted the monster with one of his nitro-blasts, she had been able to dart in close enough to brush her fingers against the side of the Nomu’s leg and send him spinning off the ground. The monster thrashed uselessly in the air – out of the way and unable to pursue any other attacks against them.

As Uraraka focused on keeping the struggling monster airborne, she suddenly realized that Bakugo was no longer by her side. She only realized where he was when she heard the explosion and his angry challenge to their missing classmate.

“Bakugo, no!” Uraraka screamed.

She might as well have said nothing because Bakugo wasn’t listening. The hot head’s attention was focused entirely on Midoriya.

Uraraka gritted her teeth. She couldn’t go after him. With the Nomu suspended in the air she couldn’t risk breaking her hold. It had only been by sheer luck that she’d managed to snag it with her quirk. Until more heroes showed up, Bakugo was on his own.

“So you’re a villain now, is that it?” Bakugo shouted as he stalked across the street. “You always said you wanted to be a hero, Deku! If you still want to be one you’d better snap out of it right now, or so help me gods, I’m going to smash your head so hard against the ground I’m going to make you remember who you really are!”

Midoriya grinned. “I guess I’m just as useless as you always said, Kacchan.” His eyes flashed mockingly in the firelight.

With a howl, Bakugo charged Midoriya. Midoriya met him head on. The ground shook with the impact of their simultaneous explosion and punch. Through the shifting veils of smoke, Uraraka saw Bakugo thrown backwards. His right grenade gauntlet had been shattered.

Before Bakugo could fully recover, Midoriya was on him. This time he swiped an energy-laced leg at the other boy’s head. Somehow, Bakugo managed to dodge and hurriedly backpedaled. Even from a distance, Uraraka saw the first hint of uncertainty flash across the blonde’s face. Although quickly masked, Uraraka was sure Bakugo was beginning to realize what kind of perilous situation he was in. Midoriya was incredibly fast and his attacks devastatingly strong. If that kick had connected, Uraraka was sure Midoriya would have taken Bakugo’s head off his shoulders. This Midoriya was not the same boy they had known two months ago. It was obvious that Midoriya outclassed Bakugo now in both speed and sheer strength.

Midoriya lunged at Bakugo again, this time with a punch. Bakugo instinctively raised his left arm to block. Midoriya’s fist crumpled the side of his other gauntlet like it was made out of flimsy cardboard. It fell in pieces to the ground between the two boys.

Midoriya whipped his other fist at Bakugo’s face. Bakugo twisted his body to the side. The punch just grazed his face but it was still enough to send Bakugo staggering backwards. He seemed momentarily dazed. Faster than Uraraka’s eyes could track, Midoriya’s hand shot out, gripped Bakugo by his throat and slammed him into the ground. She felt the shockwave of the move vibrate through the concrete underneath her feet.

Bakugo lay on his back in a deep crater. Grinning madly, Midoriya straddled the dazed boy’s chest with his knees digging into his upper arms. He leaned forward and grabbed both of Bakugo’s wrists and held them immobile on either side of Bakugo’s head.

“You fucker! Get off me! I’ll kill you!”

“Oh, Kacchan. Stop being so charming. We’re only starting to have fun…”

“Deku, get the hell off me!”

Explosions danced across Bakugo’s palms but they did nothing to dislodge the other boy from overtop him. Bakugo’s futile struggles only seemed to make Midoriya grin wider. As Uraraka watched in a horrified trance, energy crackled across Midoriya’s hand and a soft, almost muted snap rang out across the devastated remains of the street.

A cold chill ran down the length of Uraraka’s spine at the shriek of pain Bakugo let out as he stared at the shattered remains of his right index finger.

Midoriya gave a low chuckle. “That was fun, Kacchan. Let’s do that again.”

There was another crackle of energy across Midoriya’s hand followed by another scream from Bakugo.

“You know, Kacchan,” Midoriya mused over the other boy’s ragged breathing. “I’ve always wanted in some way to get back at you for all those years you bullied me in middle school.”

Another snap of breaking phalanges and metacarpals.

Bakugo howled in helpless, agonized fury. Bakugo visibly tried to twist his body to dislodge Midoriya but he might as well have been a mouse trying to toss a cat from him.

Another snap and a scream.

“I just never acknowledged how much I wanted to until now.”

Another crack.

All five of Bakugo’s fingers on his right hand were broken. They hung limp from his knuckles in different directions. With a queasy lurch, Uraraka was reminded of used twisty ties from a bread package. Bakugo’s breathing was uneven and labored. His eyes were bright with barely contained agony.

“It’s freeing really,” Midoriya chuckled. The psychotic gleam in his eyes shined brighter. “I just needed someone to show me how to be my best self. I bet you never thought you’d ever be at the mercy of someone like me.”

With a sharp twist, Midoriya corkscrewed Bakugo’s hand around so that it faced the opposite direction the human body was designed to move.

The scream that erupted from Bakugo was unlike anything Uraraka had ever heard before. It was horrifying. It made her sick to her stomach. This was nothing but wonton torture. This wasn’t anything like the sweet Midoriya she remembered. What did those villains do to him to turn him into such a heartless monster?

Bakugo uselessly writhed under Midoriya. His shattered hand hung backwards over his forearm. How he was still conscious was a mystery to Uraraka.

Midoriya looked at Bakugo’s other hand.

“Let’s see how many more bones I can break before the pros gets here. The average person has 206.”

A visible look of panic washed over Bakugo. What little color remained in his face drained away.

“D-don't… Don’t you dare,” Bakugo ground out between gritted teeth.

Midoriya grinned. His eyes gleamed in the shadows of his overlong bangs. His thumb moved underneath Bakugo’s left index finger. Veins of gold-shot energy raced through his hand.

“Unhand young Bakugo right now!” a loud voice rang out over the crackle of fire and distant screams.

Midoriya looked back over his shoulder. His deranged Cheshire grin curled almost to the corners of his eyes.

“All Might,” he greeted with a purr. “Finally.”

***

All Might leaped from one rooftop onto the next. His cape snapped behind him in the wind. In the distance, fire rose above the dark silhouette of rooftops. Plumes of thick smoke billowed hundreds of feet into the night air. Even from half a kilometer away All Might could smell the acrid smoke. He and his patrol team had received Uraraka’s distress signal several minutes ago. If it was just him, All Might would have already been at the train station. Three, maybe even four, power leaps would have immediately brought him to the scene of the explosion. But he wasn’t alone. His student patrol was with him. For as fast and agile as Iida and Asui were they would never have been able to keep up with him bounding across the city as he normally would.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t pushing them to keep up though. All Might was determined to be one of the first response teams at the train station. It was taking every ounce of self-control he had not to speed ahead and just leave his students behind. They had to hurry. Uraraka had said the attack was by the League of Villains. He had to get there and stop them.

In the wake of Izuku Midoriya’s death, All Might had made it his mission to see that the League of Villains was permanently taken down. “Revenge” was too strong and selfish of a word to describe the emotion that drove him. He was All Might – the Symbol of Peace. Revenge was something that went against everything he stood for. Revenge was something born from anger and hatred. Even if a tiny, secret part of him deep, deep down wanted to mete out violence in retaliation for his student’s untimely death, he would never let himself stoop to such a base instinct. Midoriya would have been disappointed in him if he did.

But there was no denying his newfound obsession for dismantling the League. It was because of the League of Villains that his student Midoriya – and with him One For All – had been taken away from the world. It was because of them there would be no new Symbol of Peace after him. It was because of them the power that had been cultivated and passed down for numerous generations was no more. All that remained of One For All was a smoldering residue of it in his own declining body. With what little time he had left before those dying embers faded away he had to make sure the League took no more innocent lives. Ending the League of Villains was his only mission in life now.

It had been extremely difficult to find meaning in the days immediately after Midoriya’s death. He had locked himself away from the rest of the world for almost a week. All Might hadn’t been able to bear the thought of facing packs of hungry reporters or appearing in public. How was he supposed to put a smile on his face when all he wanted to do was find a dark corner where he could be alone and mourn? All he’d been able to think about was losing Midoriya. Although he would never admit it to anyone out loud, he’d come to see the boy as a son. He still remembered meeting the scrawny little bookworm what felt like half a lifetime ago. Thinking about how far the boy had come since then just made those memories even more painful. All Might had had such hope for Midoriya. He’d reminded All Might so much of himself at that age – an idealistic quirkless kid who only wanted to make the world a better place.

Even though All Might knew there was nothing he could have done to directly prevent Midoriya’s death – who could have foreseen a busy shopping mall becoming a slaughterhouse on a Saturday afternoon? – he couldn’t shake the feeling that Midoriya’s death was somehow his fault. He’d gifted the boy with an incredibly precious gift. It had been his responsibility to protect Midoriya. He should have been keeping a closer eye on the boy outside of school. They all knew the League was gaining power and making plans. Was there something else he could have said or done that could have better prepared Midoriya for such an attack?

The could-haves and might-have-beens literally made All Might sick to his stomach.

Because he’d not only let down his protégé. He’d also let down his predecessors - the long line of previous holders of One For All. He knew that when the day finally came when the Symbol of Peace disappeared from the world and he crossed over to whatever waited for him on the other side, he would have to answer to them for his failure.

It was these and so many other thoughts that haunted him in the days after the shopping mall attack. It had only been Gran Torino the day before Midoriya’s memorial service who finally dragged him out of mourning. The old hero had burst into his home with little reverence to his grief and all but physically forced him to listen.

“The boy is gone, Toshinori. It’s not a pleasant thought, but it’s the truth. And you sitting here alone in the dark isn’t going to bring him back.”

“I should have done something… I could have-”

“There was nothing you could have done. There were no warnings the League was going to attack that shopping mall. It wasn’t your fault the boy died.”

“But it’s not just Midoriya,” All Might sorrowfully croaked. “One For All is gone too. I don’t have enough power left to pass it on to someone else. Midoriya was the new holder. When he died One For All disappeared too. It's gone. There’s no possibility of there being a new Symbol of Peace after me. It’s all just gone.”

Gran released a heavy sigh, staring at the disheveled wretch his former student had become. “So that’s it then? You’re just going to give up?”

“What do you mean?”

“The boy is gone. One For All is gone. But does that mean the idea of Heroes and Justice is gone too? Those ideals were around long before All Might or even One For All existed. You might not be able to give someone else your power, but does that mean you can’t help mold a new generation of heroes that can carry on what you stand for? Don’t you owe it to that boy to continue working so that his death wasn’t meaningless? Do you think Nana would have wanted you to just give up now? You just took a hit – a big one, admittedly – but that doesn’t mean you have nothing left to offer those still here.”

Call Gran what you will – tough, rough around the edges, and maybe even a bit insensitive at times – but he’d always had a way of snapping All Might back to where he needed to be. If it hadn’t been for his old mentor All Might was pretty sure he’d still be in his house wallowing in despair right now. That talk had been his turning point. He’d pulled himself together after that and found the strength to force a smile on his face (even if it had felt hollow) to attend Midoriya’s memorial service. That wasn’t to say he still didn’t have moments when he was alone, away from the weight of prying eyes, that the sting of his loss didn’t creep up on him and he was unable to completely stem the flow of tears. But at least now he had a new mission. He would continue to help train a new generation of heroes. Maybe not with a transferable quirk, but he would do what he could to make sure the idea of a Symbol of Peace would not be lost. He would not let the League of Villains win. For Midoriya, he would keep fighting.

Leaping from the edge of the last rooftop, All Might soared through empty air before landing in the middle of the street below. Asui and Iida followed close behind. A block ahead the gutted remains of the train station stood like a fiery gateway to hell. All Might had seen his share of destruction over the years but even he was momentarily taken aback by the sight that greeted them.

The buildings immediately around the train station were charred black. Several other smaller fires were spreading among themselves. Windows and storefronts along the street were shattered. Glass, twisted metal, and chunks of concrete littered the street. Off to the side, a half-burned taxi protruded from the plate glass window of a convenience store.

“This is so much worse than I was expecting,” Iida murmured behind his helmet.

“At least there don’t seem to be any civilians in the area,” Asui noted.

All Might sincerely hoped the frog girl was right. If there was going to be a battle – as there most certainly was – the less civilians he had to worry about the better.

“Stay sharp,” All Might ordered, making a visual assessment of the area. “The League of Villains is here.”

Farthest away, closest to the raging inferno, stood two figures. All Might recognized the League’s leader, Shigaraki, from the attack at the USJ and numerous intel meetings since. Beside Shigaraki stood the League’s warp gate specialist, Kurogiri.

In the half-block between Shigaraki and All Might, Aizawa was fighting a Nomu. Across the street from him Uraraka held another Nomu suspended in the air with her quirk. Off to the side, All Might saw two figures laying motionless on the ground. One of them – Midnight – was slumped against a wall. Above her a deep crater marred the brick wall like a dent. The other figure All Might recognized as Endeavor’s son – he’d know that red and white hair anywhere. He couldn’t be certain in the flickering light of the fire but he thought he saw a small pool of blood forming underneath Todoroki’s head.

Closest to All Might, several meters away, another student lay on his back in a deep impact crater in the middle of the street. It was Bakugo. Another knelt over him, holding Bakugo’s hands over him by the wrists. As All Might took in the scene the one on top of Bakugo made a sharp twisting motion with one hand. Bakugo gave a sharp scream of pain that made the hairs on the back of All Might’s neck stand on end. It was then that All Might saw the boy’s hand silhouetted against the firelight. His hand hung at an unnatural angle from his wrist. Every finger appeared to be pointing a different direction.

“Unhand young Bakugo right now!” he roared at the assailant.

The one above Bakugo went still, then slowly turned towards him. A psychotic Cheshire grin and eyes bright with madness greeted All Might against a backdrop of flames. “All Might… Finally.”

All Might froze, the blood freezing in his veins. Behind him, All Might heard Asui and Iida’s own startled gasps. For a split second All Might’s trademark grin almost slipped from his face.

There… there was no way this was possible. He almost didn’t recognize the boy, but there was no denying who it was!

“Midoriya!” Iida exclaimed. “You’re alive!? B-but how?”

The green haired boy ignored Iida. His attention seemed completely focused on All Might.

“I was wondering when you were going to get here, All Might,” Midoriya chuckled. His voice was low and dangerous. He slowly got to his feet and stepped out of the crater Bakugo lay in. He hungrily eyed All Might like a predator. “I was starting to get bored playing with Kacchan…”

Behind Midoriya, Bakugo bit back a scream of agony and curled around the twisted remains of his hand. Midoriya didn’t even glance at him. He seemed to have already forgotten about the other boy. His attention was riveted on All Might.

All Might fought to try and make sense of what he was seeing. He was still too stunned to try and say anything. The boy he’s spent so long believing was dead was here – alive! Yet obviously not the same boy he remembered. The Midoriya he remembered didn’t have that psychotic gleam of madness in his eyes or sadistic grin. It was all too much for All Might to comprehend.

A delighted cackle echoed across the devastated remains of the street from Shigaraki. “Are you surprised, All Might?” he called out. “Are you happy to see your little pet again? I thought you would be!”

“All Might!” Aizawa cried from closer to them. He leaped backwards several feet, putting some distance between himself and the genetically altered creature he fought just as the Nomu swiped a clawed hand at his midsection. “This isn’t a trick! That really is Midoriya! But they’ve done something to him! He’s not himself! Be careful!”

Before the erasing hero could elaborate in any way, the Nomu gave a frightening screech and lunged at him, forcing his attention back to it.

“He’s right,” Shigaraki cackled. “The boy’s my pet now. He listens to me. It took an awful lot of work but I finally broke him and made him my ultimate weapon against you.”

All Might struggled to process everything he was hearing. None of this made sense. How was Midoriya still alive? Why was he fighting with the League? Surely they must have done something awful to the boy to make him choose to fight his friends and classmates.

Finally – years of training and experience kicking in – All Might managed to pull himself together. “Midoriya, I don’t know what the League has done to you but I swear on all that is good that I am going to help you.”

A mocking laugh erupted from the green-haired boy. “Help me? Help me?! It’s your fault I’m here, All Might. You had your chance to help me before and didn’t! I’m going to pummel that self-righteous grin off your face and then tear everyone else here apart.”

As if to emphasize his plans, tracks of crackling red energy appeared across Midoriya’s face and body. The boy’s eyes were wild, his smile manic. Danger radiated off him in physical waves. All Might did not doubt the murderous intent behind Midoriya’s threats. The boy was out for blood.

All Might instinctively stepped forward, placing himself as a physical barrier between Midoriya and Iida and Asui behind him.

“All Might,” Asui hesitantly croaked. “What should we do?”

All Might didn’t dare take his eyes off Midoriya but he could feel the horror bubbling off the students behind him. He understood their feelings too well. To suddenly have their classmate returned from the dead, but as someone they barely even recognized and who seemed to be working with the enemy was a horrifying thought.

All Might fought to keep his voice calm. “You and Iida are to help Aizawa and Uraraka with the Nomu. Then assist with evacuating the injured. Your only mission right now is support and rescue. I will deal with Midoriya. Under no circumstances are you to engage him. If he somehow gets past me, evacuate the area immediately.”

“Oh, I was hoping you’d say something like that!” Shigaraki laughed. He held up a small plastic device in one hand. Slowly, as though making a show of it, he depressed the only button on it. “I wanted to give my new toy a good test run.”

A small click sounded somewhere behind Midoriya. The waves of energy surrounding him immediately intensified, lashing the air like miniature cyclones. All Might felt the familiar static charge of One For All fill the air. The manic look in Midoriya’s eyes sharpened. Saliva frothed in the corners of his mouth like he was a rabid dog. All Might was having trouble connecting the terrifying monster in front of him with the sweet boy he remembered in his mind.

“Asui! Iida! Go! Help deal with the Nomu and get Bakugo and the other injured away.”

Iida and Asui obediently snapped to his orders. With a flash of tongue, Asui sprang away towards Uraraka. A low turbine roar built in Iida’s legs before he darted away, leaving only a cloud of dust in his wake. He swung wide around Midoriya before zipping in towards the impact crater. Within the blink of an eye, he was gone again, dragging Bakugo with him away from All Might and Midoriya.

Midoriya didn’t even seem to register their departure. All his attention was locked on All Might. All Might was admittedly unnerved by Midoriya’s unblinking stare. Coupled with his psychotic grin the boy was the living embodiment of madness.

Just what did the League do to him?

“Midoriya, we don’t have to fight,” All Might tried to reason. The last thing he wanted to do was fight his protégé. “I don’t know what the League’s done to you but we can help you. I can help you. I swear to you I will do everything in my power to undo whatever they’ve done to you.” He still held onto the belief he could somehow reach the boy he used to know inside this demonic entity.

The energy around Midoriya crackled louder. “I already told you, you can’t help me. The League didn’t hurt me. You did. This is all your fault! My only mission right now is bringing you down. To make you pay for what you did to me. Once I do, they promised me I can finally sleep.”

With nothing to warn All Might, Midoriya rushed him in a blur of crackling energy. All Might barely managed to raise his arm in time to block a blow to his face Midoriya moved so fast. The shock wave of Midoriya’s punch rumbled the ground between them like an earthquake. All Might’s forearm shuddered under the blow. Despite the devastating power behind his attack, All Might could tell Midoriya was not fighting with 100% of One For All. He estimated Midoriya’s output somewhere around 30%. It wasn’t enough to knock All Might back, but it was definitely enough to make All Might widen his defensive stance. Despite the lingering remnants, All Might no longer had the full backing of One For All inside him. Midoriya had it. Even if he didn’t know how to fully harness it, Midoriya had a full reservoir of power at his disposal and that made him extremely dangerous.

Using the momentum of his initial attack, Midoriya spun midair. A super-charged leg lashed out at All Might’s head.

All Might dodged the kick. He darted backwards away from the train station. He had to try and lure Midoriya away from everyone else. He had to give Aizawa and the other students room to fight the Nomus and get away.

Midoriya followed like a rabid attack hound.

A punch. Then a kick, followed immediately by another punch rained down on All Might. He blocked each attack. His bones shuddered under the impact. He didn’t known how it was possible, but Midoriya’s attacks felt more honed then he remembered. Every blow felt more powerful and focused.

The shock waves of the blows radiated outwards, shattering windows and cracking concrete. All Might reassessed Midoriya’s power closer to 35% of One For All’s full strength. How was that possible? Before his supposed death the highest level Midoriya had ever been able to manage without shattering his body was around 20%.

Midoriya fought as if possessed. He darted in and out of All Might’s reach. Back and forth, back and forth. In and out, almost taunting him. All Might managed to block a majority of Midoriya’s attacks, but several got through his defenses. Buildings shuddered around them. Each blow Midoriya landed felt extremely calculated. In a way, Midoriya’s movements reminded All Might of Gran Torino’s fighting style. Again and again Midoriya came at him. It was only by sheer chance All Might tracked Midoriya’s attack fast enough to deliver a counter blow. His punch caught Midoriya in the side of his face.

Midoriya went flying backwards into the side of a building. All Might took the moment to catch his breath. The boy was fast. Incredibly so. When had he become so fast? All Might could feel his stock of One For All beginning to dwindle. He and his student patrol had been out for several hours. He was beginning to get close to the end of his three hour time limit. Although All Might couldn’t say so with absolute certainty, Midoriya appeared to be waging a war of attrition against him. He didn’t seem to be fighting to physically overpower him. Even in his deranged state the boy seemed cognizant enough to know he wouldn’t win an actual full frontal assault on All Might. He was fighting to constantly chip away at All Might’s defenses and deplete his stamina.

All Might silently chastised himself. He’d almost forgotten how smart Midoriya was. He needed to end this soon or he would run out of One For All and be powerless to defend himself.

“Getting tired, All Might?” Midoriya called, eyes ravenous with bloodlust. A thin trail of blood snaked from his nose to his lips where All Might’s fist had connected. He didn’t even seem to feel it. An unnerving grin split his face, revealing blood stained teeth. Once again, All Might was taken aback by the monstrous change in the once sweet boy he’d taken under his wings.

Dammit. He needed to end this soon. He couldn’t continue to fight Midoriya like this. Despite his mental state the boy was fighting smart. He knew all of All Might’s weaknesses and would undoubtedly use them against him.

All Might briefly wondered if Midoriya had told the League about any of those weaknesses while he was in their captivity. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to contemplate such a scenario before a new wave of One For All washed over Midoriya. The boy released a murderous howl and lunged at All Might again, renewing their fight.

00000000

“Ochako! Incoming!”

The frog girl appeared beside Uraraka in a blur of green.

“Get ready to release!”

Asui’s tongue unfurled from her mouth and snapped towards the incapacitated Nomu floating above Uraraka’s head. It wound around the Nomu’s ankle. Asui pulled her head back and snapped it to the side, flinging the Nomu away up over the surrounding buildings.

“Now!”

With a shuddery gasp, Uraraka let her hands drop to her side. “Release!”

The Nomu gave a fearsome screech as it sailed away out of sight over the buildings.

Uraraka almost fell to her knees at the rush of nausea that assaulted her. For a moment she was sure she was going to vomit.

Asui studied her face worriedly. “You okay, Ochako?”

“Yea,” Uraraka weakly assured her. She swallowed against the press of bile in the back of her throat. “You got here just in time. For a second I thought I was going to drop my quirk and have an angry Nomu fall on my head.”

A sudden rumble beneath their feet made both girls look in the same direction. All Might and Midoriya were going head to head farther down the street. Shock waves shook the ground. Gusts of debris-filled wind whipped their faces from the intensity of the super-powered blows being exchanged.

“Asui! Uraraka! Over here!” Iida’s voice shouted over the concussion thumps of All Might and Midoriya’s fists.

Uraraka squinted against the hail of debris to see Iida waving at them from across the street. He had ducked into a side street branching off the main road that led to the train station. By his feet, Bakugo sat propped against the side of a building. Uraraka wasn’t sure if Bakugo was conscious or not.

Down the main street All Might and Midoriya were a chaotic blur of motion. They moved so fast Uraraka could barely make out who was who. She imagined this was what a battle between gods looked like. Shielding her face against flying debris, Uraraka hurried across the street towards Iida. Asui followed.

Ducking into the side street, the girls huddled against the side of the building out of the wind next to Iida, breathing hard. The brick wall shook against their backs with the force of All Might and Midoriya’s fight.

“H-how is this possible?” Iida wondered out loud as another concussion wave rippled down the main street. His voice was one of stunned shock.

“Is that really Midoriya?” Asui croaked. “I thought he’d been killed…”

“No. That’s Deku, alright,” a weak growl sounded from below. Bakugo sat with his head tilted back against the wall. “The nerd’s still alive…” Bakugo clutched his crushed hand to his chest. He was visibly trembling with pain. How he was awake Uraraka had no idea. The amount of pain he was in had to be incredible. There was also a feverish glint in his eyes.

He must be going into shock, Uraraka realized with a lurch in her stomach that had nothing to do with overusing her quirk.

Asui seemed overwhelmed. “But why’s he attacking All Might? Why is he working with the League of Villains?”

“Because they’ve turned him into a goddamn monster, that’s why!” Bakugo snarled between gritted teeth. He glared up at them with feverish eyes of hellfire. “They kidnapped and brainwashed him! Just look at what he did to me! Do you think that nerd would ever attack us like that if the League hadn’t done something to scramble his brains like an egg?!’

"Whatever they’ve done to him we can’t risk getting caught between him and All Might,” Iida darkly announced. “After seeing what Midoriya did to Bakugo I get the feeling he wouldn’t hesitate to attack us as well. And… while I am hesitant to admit it, if Midoriya is able to keep pace with All Might like this I doubt any of us would be much of a challenge to him…”

As if to emphasize Iida’s observation, another concussion wave of power thundered down the main street from the battling titans. The buildings shook around them. Several windows exploded in a shower of broken glass. The four huddled tighter against the wall. A chill went down the Uraraka’s spine. She knew Midoriya’s quirk gave him unnatural strength, but it startled her how closely matched he seemed against All Might – the strongest hero in the world! How could heroes like her or her classmates ever hope to defend themselves if he somehow got past All Might?

“We can’t just stay here,” Asui said. “Mr. Aizawa is still fighting that last Nomu. And we still need to get Bakugo and the other injured away.”

“I don’t need anyone’s help getting out of here!” Bakugo snarled. Any intimidation was lost behind the pained warble in his voice. The way he slumped and trembled against the wall also belied his protests.

Uraraka took a deep breath to focus her thoughts. “Ok. So what should we-?”

An inhuman screech cut her off. Like a charging bull, the last Nomu appeared at the head of the side street. It clawed at its head, swinging its body wildly back and forth. Perched on the monster’s massive shoulders was Aizawa. How he had gotten up there, Uraraka could only imagine. Their teacher had his capture weapon wrapped around the creature’s head. The beast roared underneath the coils of cloth-like alloy blinding it. Massive hands swiped at its head as if it were trying to swat away a fly, but it couldn’t quite seem to reach Aizawa.

The four students could only watch in stunned awe as their teacher dodged the creature’s claws – all the while keeping his footing on the creature’s shoulders. Using the ends of his capture weapon like reins, Aizawa sharply pulled the left side back which forced the Nomu’s head down towards its shoulder. The monster seemed to lose its balance and staggered into the building directly across the street from the four teenagers.

The Nomu hit the wall hard, going face-first into the bricks. The wall crumbled inward under the weight. Uraraka felt the impact reverberate across the street and underneath her feet. Aizawa leaped from the Nomu’s shoulders and landed in a graceful crouch in the middle of the street. The Nomu fell to its knees with its head still half buried in the wall. It struggled for a moment as though trying to force itself back to its feet before finally going still.

Aizawa continued to stare at the genetically altered monster for several more moments, unconvinced it was actually down. Finally, with a weary huff, the erasing hero let his shoulders relax. He reclaimed his capture weapon from the unconscious beast with a flick of his wrist and returned it to its rightful place around his neck.

“Mr. Aizawa!” Asui called. “Are you alright?”

Aizawa turned towards them. Although slightly battered around the edges, the erasing hero did not appear to have any visible injuries. “I’m fine,” he murmured. Bloodshot eyes swept over them. As he did the sound of super-powered shock waves reverberated down the main street. Even from a distance All Might and Midoriya’s fight sounded like a barrage of heavy artillery fire.

“You four need to get out of here. It’s not safe.”

“Mr. Aizawa, why is Deku fighting All Might like this?” Uraraka demanded, desperate for some sort of explanation for what was going on. “He’s always looked up to All Might as his favorite hero.”

Aizawa shook his head. “The League’s obviously done something to him. He sees us as his enemies right now. Until we can figure out what they’ve done to him and undo it we have to treat Midoriya as though he’s a villain.”

The four teens froze at the word.

A villain?

The sick feeling in Uraraka’s stomach returned. No. There was no way she could think of her friend as a villain. Midoriya was not a villain!

Aizawa dug into the folds of his capture weapon and wrestled his eye guards free. Settling them over his face, the erasing hero glanced back at his students. “Todoroki and Midnight still need recovered. Iida, you’re the fastest. I want you to get them back here and then all of you are to evacuate the area as quickly as possible. I sent Mineta ahead to resend a distress call. Support teams and emergency crews should be on their way. Get Bakugo and the other injured to them.”

“What about you, sir?” Iida worriedly asked.

Aizawa adjusted his goggles over his nose. “I’m going to try and help All Might deal with Midoriya.”

00000000

All Might dodged a kick and immediately swung his forearm up just in time to block a punch to the face. Midoriya released a feral growl. Energy crackled the air around him as if it were an outward manifestation of his hatred. All Might swung a fist at the boy’s head. Midoriya sprang backwards before All Might could connect. He barely touched the ground before he was coming at All Might again. He moved so fast All Might could barely track his movements.

He didn’t dare take his attention away from Midoriya for even a second to see how the other students and Aizawa were fairing. The boy was too fast to take such a risk. It was taking everything All Might had just to keep blocking Midoriya’s attacks. Even a split second distraction would be all it took for Midoriya to take advantage.

All Might couldn’t take any risks. He could feel his reserve of One For All dwindling. The end of his time limit was getting close. He had to find a way to end this soon.

Midoriya darted at All Might, moving low to the ground. All Might instinctively turned his body to the side to minimize the strike zone. He lashed a fist out towards Midoriya right as the boy came up with a punch of his own towards All Might’s midsection. All Might’s fist connected first.

Midoriya went flying backwards into the side of a building. The impact drove Midoriya through the brick wall and into the dark store space beyond. All Might took the brief reprieve to catch his breath. His body was noticeably slowing down. He had to end this soon. He didn’t know how much longer he had before One For All gave out on him.

Like a crazed demon emerging from a cave, Midoriya appeared in the jagged hole of the decimated storefront. His psychotic grin still split his face, almost as if he were mocking All Might with it. The boy didn’t even appear fazed after being sent flying through the side of a building. Anyone else without One For All or some other power-enhancing quirk would have been left crippled by such a blow. Even All Might was sure he would have been momentarily stunned. But Midoriya seemed oblivious to any sort of pain or fatigue. The only thing All Might saw in Midoriya’s eyes was bloodlust.

‘He’s quite something, isn’t he?“ Shigaraki’s voice tauntingly drifted to them from down the block. He still stood by the train station with Kurogiri beside him like a silent sentinel. "I can see why you took such an interest in the boy. Shame he’s going to be the reason for your death. Let’s amp this fight up a little bit more. It looks like you still have some fight in you the brat needs to beat out.”

Out of the corner of his eye, All Might saw Shigaraki depress the button on the device he held. Like before, All Might heard a muffled click from behind Midoriya. The storm of energy around Midoriya suddenly intensified. As the streaks of red cowled Midoriya in a shroud of pure energy he bent forward, one hand clutching at his chest. His hair fell forward. Between the overlong locks of green hair All Might caught the glint of a metallic device attached to the back of Midoriya’s neck.

Was that what the League was using to control Midoriya? Was that what was giving Midoriya these strange power boosts and amplifying One For All?

All Might had no time to ponder these possibilities. With energy crackling off him in visible waves, Midoriya let out a savage howl that sent a chill down All Might’s spine. The buildings on either side of the street shuddered. Windows shattered under the onslaught of raw power.

Like a feral monster, Midoriya rushed All Might. Blows rained down around All Might from all directions. The boy was nothing but a green and white blur, darting in and out of All Might’s reach. There was a new sting behind each blow All Might blocked that hadn’t been there before. Whatever Shigaraki just did to Midoriya seemed to have pushed Midoriya onto a new fighting level. Although still devastatingly powerful and well aimed, Midoriya’s attacks felt more wild than before. In a way, Midoriya reminded All Might of a Nomu now – a mindless attack beast.

It was getting harder to keep up with Midoriya’s attacks. Midoriya fought as if possessed, never giving All Might a chance to counterattack. He was just so fast.

Without warning, Midoriya swung a wild haymaker punch at All Might’s face. All Might didn’t even have time to try blocking it it came at him so fast. In the half second it took for All Might to realize his mistake, he braced himself for the blow. However, when Midoriya’s knuckles connected with All Might’s jaw All Might was startled by the complete lack of strength behind it. Even with only his dwindling store of One For All, All Might would have said the blow felt like little more than a sharp slap to his cheek – not a punch that could level buildings. He might have only been imagining it, but he thought he actually heard the bones in Midoriya’s hand crunch under the pressure.

Midoriya seemed just as startled and hastily sprung backwards away from All Might, growling like a beast.

It was only then that All Might noticed the lack of churning energy around Midoriya. The tracks of bright red energy of Full Cowl had disappeared from his face and limbs.

What happened? One minute Midoriya was coming at him with the full intent of killing him and the next One For All was gone. Almost as if-!

All Might swung around and did a quick scan of the area. There, several meters away, All Might spotted Aizawa near the storefront he’d sent Midoriya flying through just a few minutes ago. Aizawa’s hair floated around his face. His eyes glowed red as he stared down his former student.

“Kurogiri!” Shigaraki screamed. “Get him! I don’t want any interferences! This fight is between the brat and All Might!”

A swirling black warp gate appeared in front of Aizawa, forcing him to break his gaze and scramble away into the rubble of the gaping storefront.

Energy once again crackled to life around Midoriya. With a savage howl, the boy charged All Might.

A flurry of brutal blows rained down on All Might. There was no longer any strategy or finesse to the boy’s attacks. His sole goal seemed to be hammering through All Might’s defenses.

Then, just as suddenly as it happened before, Midoriya’s blows lost their strength. The energy around him disappeared like a flame being blown out. All Might didn’t know where Aizawa was but he knew the erasing hero had the boy in his sights again.

“Enough of this! Finish him, brat!” Shigaraki screamed. He began to wildly press the control device’s button. “Kurogiri! Stop Eraserhead! NOW!”

The clicks coming from Midoriya’s neck sounded like morse code Shigaraki was pressing the control button so fast. Midoriya threw his head back and released a monstrous roar.

More warp gates sprung into existence around them. A storm of energy once again engulfed Midoriya. Like a super-powered bullet train he charged All Might.

All Might was almost thrown off his feet Midoriya barreled into him so fast. Whatever Shigaraki had done to Midoriya had amplified the viciousness of his attacks several times over. The power behind Midoriya’s punches was even stronger than before. All Might estimated his power usage now around 50% of One For All’s full strength. But the wildness of his attacks detracted from the overall effect. Despite his weakening state, All Might was able to sneak several of his own blows through Midoriya’s defenses. The boy barely seemed to feel them.

The energy around Midoriya once again disappeared. Midoriya was so strung out on whatever Shigaraki had injected him with he didn’t seem cognizant of anything else except mindlessly attacking All Might – with or without the backing of his quirk.

All Might sprang on the opening Aizawa just gave him. Ducking underneath a punch to the face, All Might grappled Midoriya and spun the teen around into a bear hug. Midoriya screamed and thrashed in All Might’s grip. All Might gripped him tight. If Midoriya got away from him he might not get the same opportunity again.

Somehow, All Might managed to find the edges of the device on the back of Midoriya’s neck with one hand. Midoriya thrashed against him in blind fury. With a sharp twist of his wrist All Might ripped the device from Midoriya’s neck and threw it aside. Midoriya howled with rage. Blood splattered the front of All Might’s costume.

More warp gates appeared in All Might’s peripheral vision. He thought he saw the blurred outline of Aizawa darting away again like a ninja.

One For All came roaring back to Midoriya with the full force of a tsunami. All Might felt like he’d just been transported into the middle of a tornado.

He desperately tightened his hold on Midoriya.

The boy clawed at All Might’s forearms. Screaming in unbridled fury, Midoriya balled his left hand into the palm of his right and viscously drove his elbow back into All Might’s left side – right where a massive gnarl of scar tissue covered All Might’s ribs and stomach. The concrete between them buckled under the shock wave. All Might’s grip on Midoriya almost faltered. Spots danced across the Symbol of Peace’s vision. Midoriya pulled his arm back and buried his elbow into All Might’s side again. The force of the blow shook All Might all the way down to his skeleton. The taste of blood rose in the back of his mouth.

He should have known that even in his drug-addled frenzy Midoriya would think to target his weakest point.

It took all of All Might’s strength not to lose his grip on Midoriya. Midoriya pulled his elbow back again. But this time when it connected with All Might’s side there was no superhuman force behind it. Aizawa had caught him in his quirk again.

All Might shifted his grip on the struggling teen so that one arm caught him across the throat in a choke hold. He squeezed.

Midoriya’s struggles became frantic. He thrashed back and forth in All Might’s arms. Fingers viciously clawed at All Might’s forearm. His howls of rage became gurgled grunts.

“I’m so sorry,” All Might whispered. He struggled to keep his grip on the boy. “But you have to go to sleep now.”

“No!” Shigaraki screamed from somewhere behind them. “Kill him! Don’t you dare lose, brat!”

Very slowly – agonizingly so - All Might felt the tension in Midoriya’s body relax and drain away. The hands clawing at his arms stilled, then slowly dropped away to swing limp by Midoriya’s sides. He felt Midoriya slump unconscious against his chest. All Might released the tension on Midoriya’s throat. The boy remained dead weight in his arms. Carefully hugging Midoriya close All Might lowered them both to the ground. He knelt there in the middle of the demolished street, hurting and sore. His breath was coming in short painful gasps. His time limit was almost up. He cradled Midoriya’s upper body to him. The boy’s head hung over his elbow. Unconsciousness had softened his rabid features. Like this All Might could almost see the boy he once knew again in that face.

“NOOOOO!” Shigaraki screamed from the direction of the burning train station.

For a split second, in the wake of his victory, All Might had almost forgotten about Shigaraki. He wearily tore his gaze from Midoriya to regard the League of Villain’s leader. He didn’t say anything. He hoped the dark set of his expression was enough to let Shigaraki know who he blamed for his student’s current state. His ever-present smile felt, even to himself, like an angry snarl.

“Impossible,” Shigaraki spat, visibly shaking with rage. “Impossible! I trained that brat to kill you! He was my ultimate weapon!”

“Shigaraki,” Kurogiri darkly intoned. “The boy is defeated. It is time for us to retreat.” A black warp gate appeared behind them.

Shigaraki hesitated, glaring murder at All Might from between the fingers of the disembodied hand on his face. Even from a distance, All Might could feel the villain’s rage radiating from him. Snarling behind his face hand, Shigaraki threw the useless control device away on the ground.

“Don’t think for a second you’ve actually won, All Might,” he warned with a snarl. The warp gate grew and began to swallow the two villains in a tunnel of darkness. “The boy’s mind still belongs to me. I’ll be back for him. And when I do I’m going to sic him on you. But next time he’s going to finish the job.”

The warp gate closed around them and shrunk away out of existence.

All Might released a shaky breath he hadn’t even been aware he’d been holding. Fire continued to crackle in the gutted remains of the train station, but in the wake of battle the sound seemed strangely muted and far, far away. The only thing he could truly focus on was the faint rustle of Midoriya’s breath against his chest and the sluggish thump of the boy’s heartbeat under his hand.

As he knelt there, the full magnitude of everything that just happened came crashing down on All Might.

Midoriya was still alive. He was right there in his arms. By some miraculous turn of events the Universe had returned the boy to him.

But he was not the Midoriya All Might knew. Whatever the League of Villains had done to him had warped the sweet young boy he’d come to see as a son into something monstrous and nearly unrecognizable.

So consumed by these thoughts, All Might only shook himself back to the present when he felt a hand land heavily on his shoulder. He wearily craned his head back to see Aizawa standing beside him. The erasing hero’s gaze was on the unconscious boy in All Might’s arms. Although his quirk wasn’t activated All Might could tell by Aizawa’s body language he was ready to spring back onto the offensive at the slightly hint of movement from Midoriya.

For a moment Aizawa said nothing, as if he too were struggling to come to terms with his student’s unexpected resurrection. Finally, heaving a heavy sigh, Aizawa pulled his capture weapon away from his neck.

“Come on. We have to get Midoriya secure before he wakes up. Rescue teams are in route.” Somewhere in the distance the warble of approaching police sirens and emergency vehicles began to grow.

All Might wordlessly nodded. Aizawa was right. If Midoriya woke up All Might didn’t think he would be able to take him on again in his current state. Midoriya had truly beat it out of him. If Aizawa hadn’t been there to nullify the worst of One For All, All Might wasn’t completely sure he would have been able to subdue the boy. Fighting Midoriya had been like fighting a force of nature. In the aftermath, he felt utterly beat and exhausted. But not just his body. His soul as well. The months since Midoriya’s supposed death had been difficult. He’d spent so long wishing he could somehow bring the boy back. So to suddenly have him back in this deranged, animalistic state made All Might feel like he’d been given emotional whiplash.

Aizawa finished coiling his capture weapon around the motionless body. With a sharp snap of his wrist he pulled it close, securing Midoriya in a tight cocoon. Midoriya didn’t stir. All Might gently pulled Midoriya back into his arms. He felt an indescribable urge to keep the boy close. No matter what the League had done to him Midoriya was still his protégé. He would protect him until they were able to reverse whatever the League had done to him.

The sirens were getting closer. Somewhere overhead he thought he heard the thump of approaching helicopter blades.

Hugging the boy close, All Might sent a silent prayer to the Universe for strength. They might have won this battle, but All Might couldn’t help but feel like the war was just beginning.

[adamsquareone]

HADADUNIA

Book One

Introduction

From the very beginning, there has always been a higher power, a divinity, a God. Over the ages many have tried to understand this idea of a creator, some even aspired to confirm it. Whilst many others avoided and attempted to disprove and explain away such a notion. All however, neglected the attentiveness to confront a simple truth, which had been unblinkingly staring at each and everyone of them.

The truth that, whether or not there is a higher power.

Evil exists.

Prologue

It is told that at the Great Break out of Damascus, an event in which many slaves lost their lives. The nomadic tribe known as the Outbreakers was born. The leader of the tribe Hakim, now named Free Hammer by his people, was just another slave, amongst the hundreds of diminished souls.That fateful day however, Hakim would rise to take the opportunity that would have never presented itself again. On that day the Metalminds attacked Damascus, with their monsters of Steel. Giant constructs, shining rays of light that showered on all things beneath them. The Djinn defended their territory, showing their true strength. Using a magic that mankind still claims to be myth, the Djinn seemed to have no problem fighting of the tenacious Titans. Until a rain of steel began to fall upon the city. Metalmind monsters came thundering from the sky. The Djinn, taken by surprise, started to lose control over the battle. It was at this point where Halim, took advantage of the attack his oppressors were under. He freed the slaves and they made their escape over the city walls. But not before He saw something that changed history.As he lay on the wall about to leave with his people toward freedom, he looked back at the battle. He watched as a Metalmind monster crashed upon a Djinn and held the demon down by its chest. He stared on as it began slashing at the demon’s throat, which rapidly turned to hacking.Once finished, it collected the Djinns head and took to the skies it had fallen from.Halim could not believe his eyes. He had just watched a Djinn die. This was unheard of, thought to be impossible, until that day.He slid of the wall and ran after his people. When he caught up, he told them of what he saw.Just as they started to question him, the sky filled with sparkling lights. It is said to have been as though the stars were out, at day.He told his people that it was the Metalminds, they knew how to kill the Djinn. He vowed that day, to himself and his people. That they too would learn of how to kill the demons that had enslaved them.They gave him the title Free Hammer, as it symbolised them as a people. And him as the bringer of justice, to their past oppressors.

The FreeHammer Nomads A.K.A The Freehood

Halim “Freehammer” Harbi

The day is dry, the air thick. The heat of the summer sun, warming my skin. I turn back and do a headcount, five have already been lost to this Yellow Sea.

Three days now we have been walking and all around us it looks just the same as it did on day one. Sand, sand, more sand. I swear by all the lords, sand is the devil’s making.

“Halim, the people are becoming restless. They are hungry and thirsty.”

My best friend Ikra, he is a good man with a very sharp mind. If it were not for him, we would still be slaves.

“Yes, I am aware my brother, but what am I to tell them? Should I say that we might all become feed for the birds?”

Ikra scrunches up his face, letting me know of his disgust towards the idea. He has always had an expressive face. It was the first thing I liked about him. The fact that I could tell how he felt without having to ask, made him one of the easiest people to understand.

“Well brother, what do we say?” He asks.

I pause, look at the desert horizon. I notice a figure quite a length away. I fruitlessly squint trying to make the distant shape clearer for my eyes to see.

“Ikra! Tell me you can see this!”

He too begins to strain his eyes, attempting to identify what I hoped was not our imagination.

“I see it, but…”

He stopped mid sentence and his jaw began to drop.

“It is moving! Brother that is life!”

The best words to ever come out of Ikra were those.

“Are you sure!? Please do not tease my emotions.”

I could feel a joy rise within my chest. If there is life ahead, it would mean we are nearing the end of this merciless ocean.

“We are nearly there! Tell the people to rest, I will go on ahead and make sure it is safe to approach.”

Ikra nods at me with a smile only he can give. His huge upper teeth eclipsing the row beneath. I have only seen that smile once before, during our escape from Damascus.

I approach the silhouette thinking that the closer I get the easier it will be to identify. This god forsaken environment however, has a habit of making everything a challenge.

As I start to make out the colours, the heat distorts its shape.

With each step I take I struggle with my sight, until I see a woman.

She is a goddess in this hellish landscape. She is fair skinned, with dark hair that reflects the light, like silk does the moon.

As I drew near her, I noticed her eyes. Eyes as bright as the smokeless fire, and as blue as the above.

I'm not sure if she is ignoring me as I moved toward her, or if she presumes me to be a figment of her mind.

“Hello my dear!” I call out.

Immediately she stops and fixed to the spot she covers her face. Is she frightened?

“There is nothing to fear, and from what I could see you have nothing to hide”

I walk to her and offer her some water. She seems to be wary of me, so I drink first to show that the water is clean. As soon as I swallow the first mouth, she leaps up snatching my bottle. Furiously she begins to drink.

“Do not rush or you will be sick.” I advise.

She looks up at me with those eyes, and hands me back my bottle.

“No, no. This is for you.” I try to explain.

She doesn't seem to understand me though.

“What is your name?” I ask.

Pointing at myself I tell her,

“Me, Halim.”

Then pointing at her I ask.

“You?”

Ever so softly she sighs “Rosa” before falling to the sand.

Rosa

“Forever.”

“How is it that such a pretty girl is all alone, in such an ugly world?”

An eerie voice cascades from the surrounding darkness. I can almost feel it wash over me as it reaches my ear.

“Forever.”

“My pale faced child, you are wonderful to look at. Humble, fragile, innocent. Look up at me child.”

I raise my head towards the voice

“Forever.”

“You are purity. Yet you are also a curse. That which makes you so wonderful, is what makes you so poisonous.”

I feel fingertips so cold, it burns as they run down my face, between my bosom, and finally rest upon my navel.

“Forever.

The fire does not cause you to cry. Making you, the hardest of clay.”

My hair is slowly pulled to one side and the voice whispers evils into my ear.  

“Forever.”

“You shall kill him. You shall feed him his seed, then feed him to the sands.”

I try to speak, but the moment I open my mouth. It is filled by a scorching hand.

I choke, unable to gasp for my life. An agonising, blistering sensation floods the insides of my cheeks and forces its way down my throat.

“Forever.”

“You my child, shall spit your poison upon the fires.”

My chest is like a furnace, my heart the coal. I am unable to scream, unable to breath.

I sense myself losing awareness.

Am I dying?

“Forever.”

“You have to fulfill your destiny.”      

I awaken with a sickly feeling churning away in my stomach. A foul stench fills my nostrils.

I widen my eyes, to realise that I am slung over the back of a beast.

A beast in much need of a soak.

“She has awakened! Halim! Halim! The woman is awake!”

I have been captured, yet again. Was it foolish to flee?

Using the little strength I have in me, I throw myself from the back of the beast.

I hit the scorching sand. Like shards. the grains enter my nose and mouth as I breath in.

Coughing up the dirt, I feel a shadow loom over me.

I raise my head to see a large man with a golden hammer slung over his shoulder.

“So my darling, you are feeling better?”

He asks.

I quickly remember him giving me water before I had passed out earlier.

“Halim?”

I asked looking up at him.

He then replied,

“yes I… Me Halim. You Rosa yes? “

Why he spoke to me as though I were lobotomized made no sense. Had he been lobotomized?

“Yes my name is Rosa.”

I told him.

“Do all your people speak so slow?”

A little man with large teeth began to laugh aloud.

“She thinks you are stupid Halim. Hahaa!

Whilst simultaneously slapping his knee.

“Good start my friend! Hohaaha!”

Who are these people? Where are they taking me?

“Rosa”

Halim spoke again.

“You have no need to be afraid or worried. We are the Freehood and you are welcome to travel with us, for as long as it pleases you.”

There it is.

Fate, luck, destiny. Call it what you will.

Either way, it’s yet again kicking me whilst I’m down.

These people, “the Freehood”. I’ve heard stories of their barbarism.

They say that they’re a tribe of savages, lead by a black giant and his warhammer.

They are said to be animalistic, as wild and deadly as the snakes of the desert.

“What will you do with me?”

I ask, barely able to keep the still sickly feeling from rising.

“Will you sell me, or have me work?”

I look up at Halim’s mountainous silhouette in way of the sun.

Awaiting to hear what my future will hold.

“You can not own a person in the Freehood. Every man and woman is the master of him or herself.”

He must think I’m as naive, as I am hopeless. There is no way such a collection of people exists.

Although, if he speaks true. Then this can not be the barbaric tribe I have heard so many frightful songs about.

I ask the shadowed “Halim” lumbering over me,

“Is this the tribe that was said to have escaped Damas?”

The enormous man knelt down. Bringing his face so close to mine, that I could smell the mint he was chewing.

“My darling, the songs are not true. I know this because Iqra sang them first.”

I am so confused.

“Who is Iqra?”

I asked.

He pointed to the small man with large teeth. Who was now breaking into song.

“When the night falls, the giant starts to move.

Him and his tribe, march beneath the moon.

Like animals are wild, they’d love to eat your child.

So little ones best hide, and their parents tooooo!

For when the night faaalls,

the Freehood come for yooou!”

Brilliant.

I’ve been captured by bandits, who strike fear into the hearts of men by spreading lies.

Halim still on one knee began explaining the conditions, if I choose to remain with them.

“You will for the first few moons be cared for by Saha, our most trusted warrior.”

He points to a woman with blonde hair, far larger than myself. She carried two blades and a bow.

If this was my carer, then I was a prize.

Halim continued his explanation.

“Once you are settled, you will be able to decide on how you will help the tribe.

Giving you a purpose greater than yourself, just like the rest of us.”

Why does it feel like I’m a hostage and that he wishes to own me?

The People’s Parliament

Bree “the careless” Masous

They call it the city upon the hill, the centre of the world. I remember my father telling me that if this was a city, then the Quarters were its treasury.

I stare upon the hundreds of homes from my so called temple, finding my aba’s words have lost all humour.

I miss his jokes, it wasn't so much what he said, rather the way he said it. He knew how to make me laugh, ‘called me his careless creature. I remember him telling me how untethered I was from the worries of the world.

I wonder would he say the same, if he were still breathing?

The chambers door opens behind me. I turn to see my son, my beautiful boy.

Tall and broad shouldered, with the body of a titan. My Katal eclipses all other men in this city, they drown in his shadow as he tours the markets. I hear of peasants telling fables of my boy, they claim him to be the offspring of a demon. That on the darkest of nights he becomes more fierce, and larger than any man, beast or monster. So terrifying, that even the moon goes into hiding.

They tell that on such nights he goes beyond the walls, taking with him any child deserving of punishment. How the people do love to scare their children, as if there isn’t enough to be frightened by already.

No, my son is no demon, no demon could have such a face. Lips and nose of his father, his hair of mine. But his eyes, brow and lashes, they were of my aba.

“Oumi, they are ready.”

Even his voice is like that of my aba.

“Yes, I am sure your father can not wait to replace mine.”

“Oumi, you mustn’t say such things so loud. Do not worry about aba’s legacy, I will honour him.”

A smile rises from the corner of my mouth, I can not control it. I look up at my Katal, place my hand upon his heavy chest.

“Never let anyone doubt you came from me.”

He returns a smile as crooked as my own, as we begin to make our way to the hall, for his father’s ceremony.

Entering the hall I approach the centre, looking around at the beauty of the walls. Intricate designs of diamonds, stars and squares. Even the central pillars are covered with shapes, that come together creating the illusion of harmony.

I proceed past the current parliament members.

To my left stands Zahrat, a weak woman, who places far too much faith in her ethics and others. Her dark bangs hid her eyes, her exotic pale skin as usual, white as the clouds.

To the right Akhlas, the trades master and conniving little shit. Behind him his shadower, Baldwin the faceless. The young man always wore a mask. I have been told it is to hide disfigurement, but if I have not seen his face, how can I be sure?

Standing ahead was Juda “lion mane” Asbagh. The man who likes to think he rules the city. Some sheers to that name of his would be nothing short of justice.

If it were not for his son, my aba would still be with us. This sham of a ceremony would not be taking place and the lion’s mane would still be indebted to my aba.

Lion!?

More like deluded cat.

He thinks I won’t claim what he owes, because he does not know.

I was of 82 moons, when my aba taught me to skin a cat.

Baldwin

“The faceless”

The temple of gold, temple of salvation, to me it is nothing but a hollow house.

Poor Bree, how I pity the woman. First married off to the man she bullied as a child, then having to bury her father.

And now made to look on, as her weasel of a husband takes the title of Major General.

A title which her father had spent his life bringing honour to.

If only I could tell her of the thoughts I must keep deep under lock and key.

For if I were to unleash them, they would lead to ravishing impulses.

Impulses that would gradually become barbaric, uncontrollably perverse.

Regrettably unethical.

My master will undoubtedly benefit from this ceremony. I am sure he has something on the weasel Masous. Either way it needn't concern me. It may take me some time, but soon I will have required the necessary information and begin to take the first steps towards phase one.

Maybe it is true what the people whisper. Maybe beneath this mask, I am nothing but a monster?

On the subject of monsters, Juda the Lion speaks.

“Today. We hand over the heavy duty, responsibility and the safety of mankind. Today we give, but we also take.

Fuiar Masous. What will you give?”

This is all a game to them.

The safety of mankind. It's as if they believe the lies they've spread.

Oh here we go. Now we get see what the weasel has for tribute.

“I Fuiar Masous, give the city my Son. Katal Masous.”

That was unexpected.

The last major general gave the city his unbreakable steel and talents for strategic planning.

The one before, his knowledge of the M.S prototype.

The one before that, gave us the generator.

And this shrew offers us his son.

As fond as I am of my friend, in no way does he compare to that which has been previously given.

“Fuiar explain yourself or be removed!”

Aha the lion roars. Now this is an expected response.

Look at the rodent squirm in the spotlight. What excuse will it excrete this time?

“Lord Juda, my son is more than just a man. To me, my son is my life.

Giving my son to the city, is me giving the city my life.

Not only is the giving of my offspring a sign of sentiment, but also a great addition to Stronguard.”

This is a very smart move.

Not only is he selling himself. Which is something he has always been good at. He is also confirming Katals position in the Stronguard.

“I Juda lord and watcher of the last city see your offering.

At first sight it seems to offend.

However, upon second glance, it is clear that your offering is a noble and sincere one.

Fuiar Masous kneel before me.”

And now continues the charade.

Fuiar will kneel. He shall be blessed by Juda’s will, and bestowed the badge of honour.

As the ceremony follows its path. From the corner of my eye, I notice a smile take root and bloom its way across my master's face.

As I read the other faces it becomes clear. They see Fuiar as nothing more than a temporary obstacle between them and their ambitions.

They are already plotting, playing out their options and calculating how they may turn out.

My master's face is not the same as all the others however.

This is not the face of a scheming man.

He must have already made his play.

He seems to truly be happy

What has he done?

Katal  “the beast” Masous

Weakness is like a disease. It infects and spreads, consuming everything that makes the man.

Take my father for instance. After only one battle with a tribe of nomads, he has kept himself from the frontline.

Cowardly, dishonourable, disgusting.

I will not succumb to so such sickness.

Three moons have come and gone since he was given the badge and honour of Major General.

What has he done with the time? Nothing.

I swear, if it were not for me the men might just start a revolt.

I know the men fear me.

After all I am the one who leads them into the wastelands each time there is need.

I know that mother is planning to overthrow Juda. Which would mean betraying my father.

Though as weak as he is. He is still my father.

“Katal my man beast!

Over here!”

Man beast... That can only be Dalila, granddaughter of the naked the noble.

It is clear that she is after something, she thinks me dull witted.

I only play along in the hopes she does favours for my cock.

“Dalila, how are you? It is a warm day, need you be covered so much?”

“Oh beast boy, calm your loins. I am in no mood for adolescent fantasies.

I have been wanting to ask you about your father and his business with the trades master.”

“Sorry, I have no idea what you are speaking of.

Believe it or not, I am a warrior. Not my father's maid.”

“Yes yes, you are a warrior.

Though still a warrior that has never seen war.”

What sort of game is the britannic bitch playing now?

“Listen Katal, you know I am the bee keeper of the city. I produce the honey that we trade.

I should be involved in any business that centres around my honey.”

Does she think that I might sway my fathers ear for her?

“Could you talk to your father for me? After all they do say that children are the fruit of love.”

If that’s the case, then I must have been born rotten.

“I will speak with my father for you. So... What do I get in return?”

She smiles, and brushes a hand through her long red hair.

Leaning in, she kisses me on the chest.

“I know what it is you desire my beast boy. Do this for me and you will be fulfilled.”

So, she has chosen the games of a whore.

Very well. I shall play.

Bree “the careless” Masous

Baby steps.

One after another, baby steps.

The closer I am, the nearer I feel I am to my aba.

The sun sets again on the center of the world. I prepare to rest, but the cogs.

The cogs still turn, for the death of the lion.

A loud thudding at the door.

“Mother!

Mother open this door!”

My son has come.

“What is it my child?

What could cause you to hammer upon the door to she who gave you breath?!”

The banging and shaking of the door halts.

“Step away from the door mother!”

I step back and to the side knowing what is to come.

The door is struck again,

and a second time.

With the third strike the door is forced from its hinges and frame.

A storm of broken wood and metal flies across the room.

The door thunders as it slaps the ground...

Then nothing...

Nothing but a cloud of dust and dirt.

My son steps through the filthy mist, and he is marvelous.

Truly the form of a man. The sight of a king.

“Mother, it pains me to say that you are to live out the rest of your life in the cells.

For conspiring and plotting to overthrow, and kill the Lord and Watcher of the last city.”

I take a deep breath and look into Katal’s eyes.

Looking directly back at me his eyes sharpen, as if they are smiling at me.

He and I both know it has begun.

Rishad “Lion Cub” Asbagh

The city walls.

Do they truly protect us from the monsters dwelling in the deserts?

Or are they a cage, ensuring that we never learn more than the parliament wants us to know?

Than my father wants us to know.

“It better rain soon.”

I turn and look upon the curves of Dalila’s body as she lay on my bed.

She smiles as she responds.

“It better not.

Think of my bees and all the honey it will cost.”

“Oh yes of course your honey.

Well I guess someone will have to go without won’t they.”

I walk over to the bedside and take her hand.

“So long as It’s not me going without that is.”

Dalila laughs and pulls me into bed with her.

She puts her arms around my neck and begins to whisper in my ear.

“I dare only say this once.

Katal is about to kill your father and you must escape the city now.”

I push her away and myself out of the bed.

Even though I had thrust her away from me seconds ago, Dalila leaps towards me.

Grabbing me by my wrist and throat, she leaned in and spoke into my ear again.

“If you do not leave the city, you will die alongside your father and any others who oppose Katal and his StronGuard.”

“His StronGuard?!

Katal’s StronGuard?!

How… How is this possible?

Those are my men. I trained them, I taught them, I trusted them!”

“Rishad. You must go. Now.”

Bree “the careless” Masous

Those summer eyes. I wonder how many have suffered for those eyes to want them.

“You know I’ve never known why it is you dislike me Bree.”

How dare she speak as though she knows me.

“Did I give you the impression I give a shit about you?”

“No not really.”

Those staring eyes. I could gouge them, from blue to red.

“Why do you stare?”

“I am thinking.”

“Of?”

“Of how not long from now, I will walk away from this cage.

And as I do. You will mourn.”

“The wishes of a witch.”

“I am a witch, am I?”

“Indeed. It is known by all the city.”

Her eyes still upon me.

“Your father was a good man. I tried to stop Juda from giving the order. I warned him of your vengeance.”

“You aim to lie your way into my favour now.

Wasted effort I’m afraid.”

“I care not for what you think. Only of what it is you do next.”

“You said I would mourn.”

She nods.

“Who will pass?”

“As a mother, I beg that you will forgive me for baring this information.”

Bree It’s your son.”

“FUCK YOU! You dare curse my Katal! MY BOY!”

Were it not for these chains, I would have my hands wrapped around her pale pretty neck.

“No Bree, you played a part in this too. You raised him, made him the blunt witted killer that he is.”

“I made my boy strong. I made him powerful.”

“You made him stupid. For that he will suffer at the hands of a Queen.”

So that is it. She wishes to be queen.

“You arrogant bitch. You’re not even from here. What makes you think you can take what is mine?”

She finally looks away, at her hand. What is that she is holding?

“This is my way of an apology. Your son will die but you don’t have to.

This metal stone will take you far away from here. To a place where you can start a new life.”

She places the stone in my pocket.

What on earth is this witch doing?!

“No. No. No, no, no. You are not using your magic on me!

My son will force his father to hold Juda captive, and then he will free me!

We will hang the fucking cat by his balls!”

The witch raises her head and looks me dead in the eyes.

She starts saying words..? Words I can not make sense of.

“Emoh llac I serif eht ot em nurter.”

“Emoh llac I serif eht ot em nurter.”

“Emoh llac I serif eht ot em nurter.”

…

…

Where in the shit am I?

Practice Makes Hermit

Baba Eli

It has been far too long, I've lost count of the moons passed. His face is all I see, not even sleep offers me comfort. I dream of him calling for me, I try to find him.

When I do, I see that he hasn't aged a day. He is unshaven and his clothes, in tatters. He is in turmoil.

I see his eyes full of uncertainty, frustration and anguish.

He approaches nearer. Drawing his face beside my own, he places a kiss upon my cheek. A kiss so sincere, I sense his forgiveness.

I am the reason for his suffering. Or rather the lack of me and my presence.

Nightmares, premonitions, call them what you will. All I know is that my son needs me!

He needs me, and I can not save him. I do not know how much longer I can lie in wait. My endurance is running thin.

Had I known I would end up alone,  bitching about myself, in the isolated cave I call home. I would never have left.

At least I have Meek, hopefully he brings back some meat for us tonight.

As I rise from my damp corner, I hear voices outside.

“Just here, they say that the boy has a cave he stays in.”

They can only be after Meek, that child has let us be discovered yet again. Now even this hole in the wall isn’t safe.

I step out to into the light, so as to introduce myself. My first observation, these are not men.

Second, I may have made a mistake, in choosing to confront the two of them alone.

“Oi you! You’re the man, the boys handler!”

How do I respond, I could say something, but I doubt the almighty would appreciate, a man conversing with the Shay. Although…

Am I even worthy of being appreciated?

“Fuck it.”

As I approach, the Shay to my left grunts the words, “No, fuck, you!”

The grunting Shay charges at me, I draw my blade. As I step to my side, I raise the tool with which I work.

“Why do we have to live away from people, the boy asks!”

I rant as I strike the grey beast to the back of its neck. Having only cut two thirds of the way through however, the job is not yet done.

Again I lift my blade. Again I rant.

“Why do we have to live in a cave, he wishes to know!”

This time it’s head hits the stone and rolls.

I turn to face the remaining Shay. This one is big, as in, call me a bitch, I think I might just shit myself, big.

It’s large rusting face as miserable and grim as the storm the Shay were promised to bring. I could run, but if Meek were to return..

As I talk, “So beast, it seems I may die this day.”

I pull my second blade from its sheath.

“How about I don’t make it easy though?”

I take stance. The demon responds by barring its teeth.

“Very pretty,” I tell it.

“I think I’ll wear them around my neck.”

If this is my last day, I’ll bathing in blood one last time.

Though I can't help but wonder. Will my son ever forgive his dead father?

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 54, On The Town

City News:

Invasion of the Cyber Snatchers?

One of the Tipster Army sent in a disturbing tip. The tipster, who works as a Doc Wagon medic, was wandering out in the Barrens at night after an evening of blowing off steam and headed into an alley to relieve himself. What did he find there? A dead body. That isn’t a big deal, it happens all the time. The body belonged to an unidentified human male, age unknown. The man had nice, expensive clothes, something a bit rare in the Barrens, and that is what caused our tipster to take a closer look. The man was certainly dead, and hadn’t been dead long. He was also missing an arm, a leg, and an eye, all on the same side. The body parts were not ripped off as if by some berserker, but carefully and precisely cut off. The tipster had to leave quickly because the sounds of Knight Errant sirens where quickly approaching. For a body in the Barrens.

We all know what this means. First off, the victim probably had a SIN. But more importantly for SSN readers: There is a probably a cybersnatcher in town. If you have cyberware, be careful, there seems to be someone dangerous on the loose.

 In Three Seconds—(by demmalition1)

It’s cold up here.

I’m alone above this city, sitting over the roof looking down on people as I write this. The wind is biting over 10 stories up, and the ledge that this neon billboard hangs off of isn’t the greatest. The crisp night air crackles with the hustle and bustle of Seattle’s nightlife community. I see so many people below going about the night, perusing through the numerous vices that entrap us in our daily loop.

One person below me stands out from the crowd, her bright pink mohawk cuts through the crowd with a dazzling display of bio-fiber patterns shifting through her spiky mane. She meets a man and goes around the corner to buy a few hits of bliss “for a friend.”

I see a man walk into a well known strip club, my AR display flashes his SIN in front of my eyes, showing he’s married with two kids. A bit of digging shows he visits here at least once a week,  he’ll be out a few hours from now hammered with his best buds.

The store below me a few doors down has kicked a couple out from their shop. Attempted shoplifting apparently, but the couple had money and was willing to pay for the items they had in their hands. The shopkeep goes on to claim that their money was no good there, he needed cold hard nuyen and their corp scrip wasn’t enough to buy the items. They’re going to go home to their kids empty handed again.

A block and a half down a woman screams out of view from an alleyway. Looking over I see a small crowd forming, looking on and shooting trids with their commlinks or cybereyes. After tracking their feeds I see the woman, she’s just been mugged and blood runs down her face and is pooling on the ground below. No one is going to help her, no one has thought to comfort her or call Knight Errant. The reason why?  She’s SINless and likely can’t pay for their help. After all, why would anyone have any decency in their hearts to help someone in need?  It’s not their commlink that got stolen, it’s not their credsticks that got lifted. She would be lucky to make it home tonight. I do the responsible thing and pay for DocWagon to cart her away. They arrive 15 minutes late, no rush to help someone who’s not even considered a person in the eyes of some.

On the other side of town a police raid on an “abandoned” apartment complex is being formed. This is a well known Cutter territory and, officially, no one lives there. Word has it on the street that illegal BTLs are being moved through here, with personafixes being wired into the heads of some bad men as they beat on bunraku puppeted people. It’s all well and good that Knight Errant go in and rescue the people there, but their actions in doing so are the crux of the problem. See, all this torture stuff happened on the top floor of the complex, and the tenants there knew to stay away in exchange for not being roughed up in their shithole “apartments”. Well when the cavalry went in and saw no SIN on “John Q. Public” they shot them dead for being in a “gang controlled zone”. In total 6 gangers were killed and 19 bodies were sent to the furnace. The bunraku puppets had their personafix chips taken out then sent on their way. No SIN, no support. They will live with these memories for what's left of their lives, all they could do was watch and feel pain.

Next up on the chopping block of this fair city is a man by the name of Miles Coltrane Parker. He was too poor to afford anything of value and often walked throughout the city at night to take in the sights and sounds. He wasn’t homeless, he wasn’t mentally ill, and he wasn’t a troublemaker. He just walked everywhere he went. Well, reports say that he was killed on the spot when he crossed into unmarked corp territory, their land their laws as is provided in their extraterritoriality agreement. A little talking to a PR rep later and she said he walked past multiple warning signs and might have been a runner. That’s right everyone, you read that correctly. The man who had no electronics, no team, no magical aura, and no sense of urgency in his step was a potential runner!  I ask where I could go to see the warning signs and I was directed to a warehouse a bit outside of town near his place. I walk up and, what do you know, no warning signs!  You can do this yourself readers, just walk up and see the complete lack of warning signs. Oh, wait, you got to turn on your AR feeds to see them. See, Miles was too poor to afford an AR overlay for his daily life and he was legally barred from purchasing one due to his lack of SIN. That’s right folks, he was too poor to see his own death. Many SINless can’t legally buy or afford AR displays and thus can’t see the warning until it’s too late. I wonder how many bodies they put away with this little trick. After all, those they legally kill aren’t legal people according to the law.

The final story for tonight concerns an ork kid, I’m using the letter “X” to protect his identity. X couldn’t be more than 8 years old and was walking home to his parents after spending a night out playing hooky with his friends. X, like his parents, has a SIN and is a legal member of society. The police report released the next day tells it from his point of view and the slightly blurred traffic cam footage released backs him up as well. As X was rounding a corner a group of four kids grab him and shove him into an emptied out trash bin before slamming the lid shut on top. They then take a set of pre-placed baseball bats and crowbars and proceed to beat on the can over and over for a few minutes, scattering like a breath in the wind when they see a car rounding the corner. Knight Errant agents tracked the boys down and drag them in for formal booking and interrogation. Guess what?  All four kids have parents who belong to the Humanis Policlub. As of press time no formal charges have been filed.

All of this happened in three seconds one cold night in Seattle.

 Entertainment News:

Garfield High Production of Les Miz opens this Friday

Garfield High’s production of Les Miz opens this Friday and will star a number of children who are part of our community. Look out especially for young Gavrosh, a star on the rise if there ever was one.

 Aztechnology’s PR Image Dips after Aztech-Cola Ad Debacle

Last week Aztech-Cola released a new ad. It was tailored specially for us. It was supposed to catch the zeitgeist of Dzhugashvili’s Seattle. A hologram of now deceased megastar Christy Daee was inserted into the Aztech-Cola commercial. The scene was of a crowd of SINless protesting and Knight Errant advancing. It was reminiscent of the SINless protest that took place a few months ago (See SSN 44), but rather than violence, Christy Daee presents the Knight Errant forces with Aztech-Cola and everyone bursts into song…a newly remixed version of her hit “Sunny Daee.” The ad immediately caused outrage. On one hand, SINless rights activists found the ad trivializing of their struggle for equality as well as the violence they have had to endure in that fight, on the other hand, Sunny Daee fans found the use of her image and remix of her song disrespectful to their beloved, departed star.

The ad was almost immediately taken down and Aztechnology issued a prompt apology. But will it make a difference?

 Features:

Once More 14--(by Breach)

Aztlan now possesses technology capable of killing the Great Dragons, and some of you might be wondering “Why didn’t the Dragon Council do anything about this?”  Well, they were a little busy with a problem of their own.

I don’t think any metahuman could possibly claim to understand just how the Dragon Council works, but what we do know is that it is headed by a position called “Lorekeeper”, who has traditionally been the dragon that possesses the Jewel of Memory, a record of the collective history of dragonkind. Dunkelzahn possessed this artifact until his death, when his Will bestowed it upon the Great Dragon Lofwyr (perhaps hoping to teach the ambitious golden wyrm some wisdom?)  Lofwyr held the title of Lorekeeper from that point on - until recently.

The Dragon Civil War is complicated, and scholars debate over when it actually started, but I’m going to cover only the most important parts. Sirrug’s attacks on Aztlan were one opening salvo, which was followed by Hestaby’s address to the UN on July 23, 2073 in a speech where she spoke of things dragons do not speak to metahumans of, and condemned Sirrug’s actions as war crimes, which helped lead to his condemnation and escalation of the Amazonia/Aztlan war.

Hestaby’s speech contained a lot of suggestions, both on the part of dragons and metahumanity, but few listened to the whole and chose to focus on only the parts that most enraged them; for the dragons, it was her concessions to metahumanity—most of dragonkind, particularly the Great Dragons, view metahumanity as pawns and playthings, pets at best, unworthy of a seat at the negotiation table. Her condemnation of Sirrug was a betrayal of dragonkind.

The strife between Hestaby and Lofwyr was the greatest; I’ve heard rumours that Hestaby actually defeated Lofwyr in some sort of draconic test of strength and would have claimed the Jewel of Memory for herself, but she rejected the continuation of dragonkind’s old ways and allowed Lofwyr to keep the Jewel and the title. If this rumour is true, Lofwyr has been stewing over the humiliation for years; there’s nothing more dangerous than a humiliated dragon.

Immediately after her speech, the head of Hestaby’s Shasta Shamans, Elliot Eyes-of-Wyrm, was killed by a sniper. While no one is sure who called the hit, Lofwyr was a prime suspect, and clearly the one Hestaby blamed; a week later, Hestaby and a veritable army of spirits appeared in Dubai over Saeder-Krupp’s Middle-Eastern headquarters and disassembled the entire complex - without a single metahuman fatality and only a few minor injuries to the staff there.

This led to a year of shadow warfare between the Great Dragons, with alliances being fostered and formed and attention being focused away from other affairs; Saeder-Krupp’s businesses have suffered for Lofwyr’s distraction, and in the wake of the chaos, a greater threat would emerge when Lofwyr’s brother, Alamais, seized the GeMiTo sprawl as his personal demesne. Believing dragons the true rulers of Earth, Alamais and his followers turned GeMiTo into a feeding ground, beginning a year of terror for all those metahumans unable to flee.

Despite his disagreements with Hestaby, open warfare with metahumanity was not part of Lofwyr’s agenda, and the Lorekeeper’s attention switched instead to the predation of his brother; gathering an alliance of dragons and metahumans to oppose Alamais. As typical in draconic battles, they started with his hordes, raiding the wealth of Alamais with the help of most of the Dragon Council. Attacks against the allies of the Loremaster escalated in response.

In early November, 2074, it was reported by magical experts that a great accumulation of magical power was detected around Mount Shasta; at 0139 on November 3rd, the energies released; at the same time, a massive explosion occurred in Alamais’s GeMiTo compound, though the Great Dragon himself survived. Shortly the same day, Alamais’s loyalists descended upon GeMiTo; what had been hunting for sustenance became retaliation as the dragons wreaked wanton destruction upon the life and property of GeMiTo’s residents.

This was the final straw for Lofwyr, who had to bring his brother to heel. Gathering an army of mercenaries and shadowrunners, as well as the efforts of several dragons including, reportedly, the Great Dragons Lung and Arleesh, Lofwyr descended upon GeMiTo. In a battle spanning two days (November 5 and 6), Lofwyr’s forces made their way towards Alamais’s lair, where the two brothers engaged in open battle above their gathered loyalists. Lofwyr came out triumphant, tearing his brother’s heart from his chest and securing his place in the hearts and minds of the world. Lofwyr had saved the world from Alamais.

The aftershocks were largely political; for two months the Dragon Council met in secret and the world was free of draconic meddling. The repercussions of this assembly are still being felt: Sirrug was imprisoned away from the world as punishment for his open warfare on metahumanity; Hestaby was banished from the affairs of dragonkind, her horde forfeit, as punishment for defying the traditions of dragonkind; and the Black Lodge, a secret society in Germany, was unanimously condemned and its destruction vowed by the Council.

The hordes of Hestaby and Alamais were divided among the Council, with Lofwyr’s loyalists receiving the bulk of the largess and Hestaby’s friends receiving the least. But one more shock was left - Lofwyr surrendered the position of Loremaster (though not, as best I can tell, the Jewel of Memory), recommending Celedyr as his replacement. The Council, eventually, agreed.

Celedyr’s first act was to call a truce upon violence between dragonkind and metahumanity; giving a year for affairs to be settled (and a bloody year it was), since December 26, 2075, the dragons of the world have been forbidden by the power of the Loremaster and the Council from waging open warfare upon metahumanity.

By decree of the Council, dragonkind has no further conflict with metahumanity, and the Great Dragon Civil War is behind us. Hestaby has not been seen since January 9, 2074, when she was spotted conducting one final survey of Mount Shasta, now empty and lifeless.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Corp News:

Kidnapped NeoNET Exec Rescues Herself

SSN got a special tip with a video attached. My tipster sent this message:

"Seen this trid on Kappa yet? A dog running after a mouse in a park. After thirty minutes it starts chasing its own tail instead, running in circles. The rest of the trid is just three hours of this scene interspersed with three-second sequences of a small planet rotating around a giant K. Boring stuff right?

It’s the story behind it that’s interesting. According to my source, it shows the VR battle between NeoNET’s Gaeaca and Pluto, the rogue NeoNET AI that had got her abducted for her own protection. Looks like she managed to jack into the Matrix from her isolated gilded prison. Then she hacked into Pluto and harnessed the resources of NeoNET’s Kappa host to get Pluto to literally run after itself. It helped that Kappa is as much a piece of Gaeaca’s mind as can be.

It was just a matter of time, after that, for Gaeaca to bring her guards back to their senses and for NeoNET Security to shut Pluto down. Gaeaca’s current status is a close-kept secret but I was assured she's alive and recuperating from her ordeal." 

It looks like we have one of our kidnapped Execs back in Seattle, and it looks like this one was kidnapped by her own company, or at least a part of it. But the bigger news is that NeoNET has a Rogue AI kidnapping its execs. What is happening over there at NeoNET?

 Aztech Promises Increased Security at Their Gyms

In light of the footage revealing the attack on Krund Yuste Alfonso in the downtown Aztechnology gym, Aztechnology PR reps held a press conferenece addressing the embarrassing incident. Their RP rep insisted the attack was an isolated incident and that they are having their top security expert Grace Castillo retrain all Aztechnology gym security personnel. Seattlites and been assured that Aztechnology gyms are completely safe and an excellent place for all of your fitness needs.

 Gang News:

Lone Wolf Attacks on Gangs on the Rise

One of the Co-Leaders of the gang Iberis, “Flower” and two other gang members were attacked recently by an unknown cybered-up assailant, reportedly with razor fingers. Flower was badly injured, but a hospital tipster says she is recovering quickly and will be back in action shortly. A tipster familiar with Iberis told SSN that Flower and her lieutenants were attacked by an elite professional, but were still able to hold their own, evidence of the strength and power of new gang Iberis. Members of The Lost Boys were also rumored to be attacked by the Razor-fingered Attacker.

In another part of town, near the newly renovated Crowne Hotel, there has been reports of an “Angel in a Black Duster” murdering gang members on a massive scale. Tipsters note that bodies have been found scattered like so many toys, shot, burned and beaten. This angel seems to be some sort of mage, with reports that they merely point at gang members and they catch fire.

There are continued reports of a troll and an orc ambushing and attacking Trollkiller gang members.

This is a lot of violence against gang members including death. I think it is time that the SSN says a few words about gangs. Gangs, like runners, fixers, blackmarketeers, and all the rest, are denizens of the shadows. They are part of our community and they are not all the same. Sure, some are Trollkillers, sociopathic racists who don’t contribute to the community, but not all of them are. Some are just SINless kids trying to find community in the middle of a crappy situation. Gangs are sometimes violent and sometimes they are blights. But sometimes, they keep the community safe when Knight Errant wouldn’t dream of entering the neighborhood. Sometimes, they are the only after school program these kids have.

All you Lone Rangers, before you go off murdering gang members, remember, some of them are children just trying to make it in the 6th World.

 Runner News:

On the Town and In the Shadows

This was a great week for Shadow Watchers, many of our favorites were out and about on the town, and tips were coming in at a furious pace. Disgraced underground fighter 'Pretty Boy' Floyd was spotted around the Columbia area. Plotting a return to the ring perhaps? The runner Legs was seen smoking cigarettes and drinking vodka at Le Chat Noir. She was cynical as usual. MMFEC was out an about: Firepower was seen boxing at the Renton gym (a gym that seems to have some serious management problems), Electronics was on a date with one of our favorite VR personalities…one we’ll call “Princess” (we hope that went well, what potential power couple!), Conversationalist was seen at the Frozen Yogurt place where the Faces meet…all the Faces? They are one good-looking group! But isn’t that always the case? Lastly, one VR tipster told us the Cloud was seen at a new VR hangout: Studi0 54. Word has it, Studi0 54 is the new hotspot for the denizens of the shadows. SINless are welcome.

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

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