Burning Blood: Ch 2
Reminder, this fic is rated T, not E. Just reminding you of that because Stain's in this chapter and there's blood. If you're really squeamish, then here's your warning.
Actually, this is your warning for the rest of the fic. When Stain's involved, things will more likely than not get pretty bloody.
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
Now.
Finally…
FiNALLY!
You don't understand.
Two hundred thousand words of buildup (more if you count the scrapped scenes I've written), of fleshing out characters, and putting all the little dominoes in place. Meticulously setting everything up.
The main cast is developed and on their main tracks, I have constructed lenses from every perspective in the future conflicts so that I can flip between them and show off the butterfly effect in all its glory!
I have various side characters fleshed out, so they can add depth to scenes without seeming out of place. All the plot threads that have been strung all throughout the last 35 chapters, are in place.
The stage has been set for Izuku to take the center role again, and have a living, reactive, world respond to him!
Everything's been set up just in time for it all to come together, and I'm so fucking HYPED!
I feel like Skeletor, sitting on my throne, drumming my fingers together and cackling while muttering about how "It's all coming together" because it is , and dear God, I love writing!
And all this in a chapter where I also get to have Izuku finally show his hand, and Stain go nuts? Dude. This was an absolute blast to write!
Reminder: The different factions we have at the festival right now are-
UA & The Heroes, two Safety Commision operation teams, Izuku & Stain, Gentle & La Brava, and Tomura/League of Villains.
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
And Here. We. Go .
-Rain of Sins-
-Burning Blood: Ch 2-
Izuku sat in silence, deep in thought as he stared at his most recent blood vial.
The secret to Shoto Todoroki's quirk, total energy nullification, and potentially unlimited energy creation, was locked away in the crimson liquid. The ruby life essence glistened in the light as he held it up loosely in the air.
It was… an odd feeling to say the least.
All his life he'd been looked down upon for being powerless, yet now he held one of the most powerful quirks in all of Japan in the palm of his hand. To such an extent that not even its original wielder truly grasped it for what it was.
…
And yet it was potentially even more powerful than that in Izuku's hands.
He turned the vial, and watched blankly as the liquid sloshed slightly, bending the light that shined through it, while troubling thoughts of what were once mere fantasy played in his mind.
If… If he gave himself this quirk, which he was fairly certain he could do without too many drawbacks thanks to the advancements in his research, would that change how the world looked at him?
Would it turn him from shunned outcast to a shining prodigy? Would the tragedies of his past turn from being comfortably overlooked to a "horrible mistake"? Would it bring light to the plight of the quirkless in a superhuman society? Would it finally cause people to rethink how much of a person's worth is determined by their quirk?
Or would it cause people to double down on what they "know" is true?
Would they demonize him and his research, and paint him as a new horror story to tell rebellious children? That there's someone out there who can steal what makes you special, and replicate it in mass like a lifeless factory line? Would they outlaw any further study into the field of quirks, terrified of anyone being able to give themselves any kind of power they want? Would the Hero society back these changes in full- worried they would lose their place at the top of the social pyramid?
…
To hold a heavy rock in one's hand while standing upon a bridge of glass.
…
..
.
What to do?
…
Izuku was slowly drawn back to reality by the sound of his burner phone buzzing on the desk.
Stain was ready.
Izuku sighed and pocketed the vial, pushing his troubled thoughts to the back of his mind. He flipped open his black laptop, putting in a different password than the one sticky-noted to the screen, which brought him to the "real" home screen. He closed a few blueprints that he'd been working on, and connected to his two devices. The jumbotron he'd hacked into, and the machine he'd put in the ventilation room.
He put on his black rebreather, and then clicked the button.
[enter]
-Rain of Sins-
"What do you mean he's not getting on the stage!?" Nezu shouted at one of the various paper pushers he employed to keep everything on schedule, his voice more panic than anger. "I can understand forfeiting the match- actually, no, I don't, at all! But it's technically in the rules, so whatever! But you can't just retroactively forfeit everything before that! You can't un-win second place!"
The little mouse pulled at his ears like a human would their hair, while he made a sound vaguely similar to a dying rabbit.
"Sir." The assistant tried. "I don't know what to tell you, but-"
"But nothing!" Nezu screeched. "Look down there!" He pointed a fluffy finger down at the arena, which now held a very large and very empty ornate podium, designed to hold four people, with All Might standing awkwardly beside it. "There's no one on the thing!"
"Between insurance, food, payroll, security, facility rent, advertisement, and all of this-" He gestured wildly to the giant roman-style coliseum they were sitting in a room at the top of. "UA spends well over fifty million dollars on this convention every year!" Nezu grabbed the man by the collar (thanks to his very tall chair) and shook him. "We spent almost a hundred million dollars, rent out several city blocks in every direction, and no one's on the podium!"
"We're gonna lose all our investors! That's part of the reason we do this! They're the only thing giving us the autonomy we have! The moment we're majority dependent on the government's funding, we're dependent on the HPSC, and then we're screwed!"
Aizawa sighed and pinched his nose, trying to ignore the commotion to his right. The private overlook room, used for Staff and VIP guests, was rather nice- even had its own coffee machine, but this was giving him a headache.
Nezu was overreacting. It didn't happen often, but whenever there was a 'plan' of his that he'd put a lot of thought into and it failed without outside interference, it was almost guaranteed.
He was right about the lack of people on the podium, unfortunately.
Bakugo, their second place, refused to receive an award- said he didn't want it. Momo and Ibara were both tied for 3rd place, but Momo was too injured, and Ibara refused to be on the stand with Shoto. And speaking of Shoto, the boy was despondent, and when they'd put him up on the stand, he'd nearly had a mental breakdown and started crying.
It was quite the mess.
Suddenly, the lights flickered, and the huge jumbotron screen they had hanging over the stadium sputtered to life, displaying an empty announcer box. Neither Aizawa or Mic were in their chairs anymore, the tournament had ended, and there was nothing left to comment on.
Aizawa sighed, his headache growing worse.
Great, now he had to complain to IT, and figure out if there was a problem in the system. Probably some faulty wire hidden God-knows-where, in any of the countless walls that made up the enormous building.
The screen descended into static, and Aizawa could feel the IT meeting getting longer.
…
Then the static dissipated to reveal a dark room, and a blood stained grin.
"NEZU!" Aizawa bolted to his feet, headache forgotten. "GET EVERYONE ON RED ALERT! NOW!"
-Rain of Sins-
The crowd gasped, in shock and fear as the Hero Killer- the boogeyman of modern Japan, appeared on the screen. Many screamed, and at least one old lady fainted for dramatic effect, but the speakers were designed to be heard over a crowd of screaming people.
"People of the world, hear me! I am exactly who you think I am, I'm the Hero Killer, the red death, the butcher!" The villain grinned wide and held a blood stained hand to his chest. "I am Stain, and I come with a message!"
"I am not here to hurt you, the civilians, the people on the ground! No! I'm not here to hurt you, because I am of you!'
At this, and the fact they weren't all dead yet, a large portion of the crowd's panicked screaming dimmed into a confused silence.
"Yes I am one of you, someone forced to live on the same rotten floor of this disgusting feudal structure that has been built atop us! So I am here to set the record straight! I am not here to kill you, I am not here to hurt you! I am here to set you FREE!"
"You heard me right, I'm not here to kill the innocent, I am here to kill those who profiteer off our struggle! Who feast from our misery! Who gain glory and profit every time tragedy befalls us!"
"WHY IS HE STILL STREAMING!" Nezu screamed into a phone, voice filled with panic. "HOW HAVE WE NOT GOTTEN CONTROL BACK!? SHUT OFF THE POWER AT THIS POINT! GET HIM OFF THAT SCREEN!"
"I kill the FALSE HEROES who live as parasites, who have built decadent lives of fame, luxury, and vainglory, dependant on our suffering- dependant on the destruction of our livelihoods- dependant on our friends and neighbors falling to villainy- dependant on our society never again being a peaceful one- dependant on death and destruction- dependant on our pain to support their luxury!"
"The False Heroes of today don't serve the people they're supposed to protect, they serve themselves! They don't care how many die, or how much is destroyed, so long as they get the glory for throwing the Villain in jail, only for him to get out and do it all again next year!"
Stain spread his arms wide, a fanatic grin splitting his face, and his eyes gleaming with barely suppressed glee.
"I am the Hero Killer Stain! And I will rid Japan of the ROT that has festered!"
With a maniacal laugh he let go of the camera which must have been attached to a rope of some kind, causing it to swing back and reveal the rest of the room.
Red.
People screamed.
Red.
Many Pro Heroes stared at the screen in abject horror, some vomiting, and others crying.
RED.
Heroes. Dozens of Heroes, barely recognizable from how badly they had been mutilated filled the room.
Some hung from the ceiling by wire, their headless necks oozing blood that flowed to the floor in rivers. Some were slumped over each other in piles of crimson, discarded like sacks trash- their faces still frozen in their last moments of terror. Yet more still covered the room, chopped into chunks of meat and left to rot in the pool of blood that soaked the room from floor to ceiling.
Friends, family, and acquaintances all reduced to a single color.
A permanent Stain of RED.
"LET THIS BE A DAY LONG REMEMBERED IN THE HISTORY BOOKS OF THE WORLD!"
Stain roared with righteous fury that was heard from television screens and radios all around the Earth.
"THIS IS THE DAWN OF A NEW AGE! WHERE THE CORRUPTION AND CRIMES OF THE HEROES WILL FINALLY BE PAID WITH BLOOD! THE ROT WILL BE CULLED AND FROM THE PURE AND INNOCENT WE SHALL GROW ANEW! UNTARNISHED! AND UNBOUND BY THE FALSE PROPHETS OF GREED!"
Stain grabbed the camera and dragged it closer so that his bloody face took up the whole screen, but right before he could say anything, the screen flicked off.
"THANK YOU!" Nezu shouted. "Finally, why did that take so long!?" Nezu flailed his arms in frustration. "That's my screen! Why was he even on it in the first place!? Now, somebody go FIND HIM!"
"U-Uh, sir?" The assistant looked up from his digital pad, his face sheet white. "We don't have control of the system anymore." He looked between Nezu and Aizawa, his voice trembling with panic.
"That wasn't us."
As if hearing those words, the screen flickered back to life, revealing… and empty hallway?
"Uhh…" The feed bounced slightly as a girl's voice came over the speaker as she fiddled with the camera. "Oh! I got control back! We're on!"
"Brilliant work La Brava! You're the MVP of this mission!"
"Aww, Gentle~"
The camera feed tilted as whoever was holding it physically swooned.
From the left side of the screen a white haired man stepped into view. He was dressed in expensive clothes, with a long black dress cape hanging from his back, and a very elegant mustache.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Gentle Criminal, here with my partner in crime La Brava. and I… I apologize for my tardiness." He spoke with genuine sincerity in his voice. "If only I had been just a few minutes faster, perhaps we could have taken control of the screen and spared you from that grizzly and uncivilized sight." He pulled a frilly handkerchief from his cape and dabbed water from the edge of his left eye before bowing to the camera. "Please forgive me."
The crowd, which had previously been screaming their heads off, was dead silent.
"Oh Gentle…" The person holding the camera sniffed, tears evident in her voice. "I-It's my fault we lost control of the system, a-and you weren't responsible for any of what that psychopath did."
"Nevertheless, I am a gentleman before I am a criminal, and as such it is my obligation to step in and stop such brutish behavior." He stood back up to full height and brought a strange metallic cylinder out of his cape, about the size of a basketball. "We found this device strapped to the ceiling of a tunnel underneath the Hero stands, clearly a weapon of some kind! But my brave partner in crime, La Brava, managed to hack into the contraption and disable it!"
At this, someone in the audience whistled loudly and started clapping.
Then another.
Then a few more.
Gentle, right under the stands, clearly heard it as his head perked up at the ceiling above him in surprise, and a smile of awe ghosted his face.
"YES!" He spun the device on a finger and smiled dazzlingly at the camera. "Not only have I outmaneuvered the Heroes, but with the help of my partner, we have also managed to outdo them at their own Job!" He tossed it up and caught it in an outstretched hand to show to the audience. "Can you believe it? A bomb, slipped through security, planted under the stands, and set to go off- only to be foiled by I, Gentle Criminal! And La Brava!"
Now, there were many people cheering- definitely nowhere close to a majority, or even half, of the people in the crowd, but even a fifth of a million people was still a lot of people.
"Check out our Youtube channel! And keep your eyes open ladies and gents, because this is just the beginning!" He pointed at the camera, unintentionally parodying Stain's words. "Gentle Criminal and La Brava will have more criminally good content in store for you in the future!"
Gentle jumped slightly as a metal door was kicked off its hinges further down the hall, causing a loud clang. The camera pivoted to reveal Stain, covered in blood, glaring at them with all the hate in the world.
"Well everyone, that's our queue to get going!" Gentle's voice came out in a restrained panic. "Time to bounce!"
And bounce they did. Literally. The camera bounced backwards, away from the killer like the floor was suddenly a trampoline.
Stain blurred into a streak of red as he lunged at them, but smashed headfirst into some kind of barrier, the air bending around him like Laffy Taffy, and dragging him to a standstill. He roared in anger, and slashed viciously at the invisible wall with his knife until he was able to claw his way through. But it had delayed him long enough, and the criminals had gotten the head start they wanted.
The camera kept rolling, and as countless civilians remembered they should be panicking, and Heroes scrambling to do something, the chase was on.
-Rain of Sins-
Nezu had hired double the security staff for the festival this year, after the USJ, and had personally contacted many of the top Hero agencies in Japan, many of whom were former UA students, about the possibility of them "volunteering" as security for the festival.
It would reassure the public, act as a huge PR boost to them, and because they were "volunteers" the rat wouldn't actually have to pay them anything.
But with more people that meant exponentially more organization was required.
Oh, Nezu had undoubtedly prepared extensively and had all the organization required and more, but with a killer on the loose, their systems compromised, and communications not working, it was all falling apart.
People stampeded around in fear, the new overlapping security sectors had different Heroes trying to evacuate the same groups in different directions. The Heroes in the stadium couldn't contact the Heroes underground in the tunnels. The Heroes at the rest of the festival didn't even know something was wrong in the coliseum unless they were close enough to hear the screaming. No one knew where anyone else was. Nezu was scrambling to get the comms back online, but that meant he was too busy to give out orders, leaving everyone scrambling to do whatever they saw as important.
And many of the Heroes who had signed up as the extra low-paid security were either rookies looking for an easy first assignment, or low ranking and inexperienced Heroes who wanted to use it as their chance at a claim to fame, which only made the situation worse.
Security groups Echo, Delta, and Yank, all tried to evacuate different crowds of people down the same exit hallway. Once they realized their mistake they tried to pull back, but the panicking civilians ignored them, rushing towards the exit, pushing, shoving, and cramming each other out of the way to try to escape- leading to hundreds of people being crushed against each other like human sardines. God protect, if anyone were to fall or be knocked over, lest they be suffocated or slowly crushed underfoot.
Ten different security groups were trying to break through the same door to get into the announcers box and shut off the screen, but the guy with the keys couldn't even get through the hallway to open it.
And as people flooded out of every available opening, there was no way for the police or anyone else nearby to get in to help. Then there were the countless people from the rest of the festival who were beginning to crowd around, drawn by the commotion, which just made the situation worse.
"This is all a fucking mess!"
Mirko ran through the halls, bouncing off corners to avoid slowing down, and pushing her legs harder than she had done in a long time.
Those two clowns on the screen had told everyone where they were- underneath the Hero stands, and since Stain was with them, that meant she knew where Stain was.
"I'm gonna make that fucking bastard pay!"
She'd kill the fucker! She recognised most of the costumes in that room, known most of those people, even if not all that well.
"Mirko! Wait!" Death Arms shouted as he, and a bunch of other Heroes who weren't as fast as her, were left ever further behind her. "You can't fight him alone!"
"Watch me!"
But then, as she landed on a wall, the lights flickered again, and people screamed in terror as the entire building shifted. The entire structure groaning, its supports threatening to snap, as it tilted to the side.
Mirko yelped in surprise, as the wall she just tried to jump off of gave away under her feet like sand, messing up her jump and sending her tumbling down the hallway.
Looking behind her she watched with wide eyes as the entire wall, and every adjacent wall attached to it, crumbled away into gray dust- revealing several hundred thugs and villains crammed shoulder to shoulder in a large alleyway.
"Mirko!" Death Arms, as well as the rest of the entourage, rounded the corner, only to freeze as they saw the Villains.
"Heroes!" The man in the front, with light blue hair and, wait, was that a Hawks merch jacket? Pointed at them. "Get them!"
-Rain of Sins-
Izuku sighed, a long, drawn out sigh of deep frustration as he watched the TV hanging in the corner finally go black- someone had finally decided just to cut the UA broadcast's power.
He massaged his face with a gloved hand, trying desperately to calm himself down. When that didn't work, he resorted to punching the wall, causing the plaster to crack.
"Of course the virus didn't work!" He hissed. "Nothing easy ever works! There's a reason Ujiko's constantly micromanaging all his labs!" He typed a command into his laptop, before slamming it closed in frustration, and picking it up. "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."
He picked the tube with his teleportation nomu up from where it had been leaning against the desk, and attached it to his back.
The scientist pulled the trigger and disappeared into foam, just as a prototype gas version of Entropy started pouring from the air vents all around the facility.
-Rain of Sins-
"Gentle, watch out! The vents!" Manami cried, pointing up as a thick black smog erupted out of the various ventilation system openings throughout the hallway.
"Don't breathe it in La Brava!" Gentle said as he pulled his cape over his mouth, and bounced them down a different hallway. "It's far too suspicious! It might be poisonous!"
But it didn't take long before the smoke began to pour into that hallway as well.
"Confounded!" He tsked as they skidded to a stop.
At that moment Stain came skidding around the corner with a blood frenzied look of hate on his face
"Fame addicted pigs! You're no better than the Heroes! Saving a demon, for cheers from the choir!"
"We're trapped!" La brava looked up at Gentle in panic. "What do we do?!"
"Nonsense La Brava!" He forced a laugh as he scooped her up, causing her to yelp. "The Gentle Criminal always has a fashionable escape plan!"
Stain lunged, and Gentle bounced up and sideways- the killer missing the pair by inches as they flew out a window.
But Stain was the Hero Killer for a reason, he hunted fools who did this sort of nonsense, and if these two chumps thought that jumping out a window was something new, then they were dead wrong.
Stain caught himself on the side of the window frame, using his momentum to swing and throw himself after the criminals. He flew through the air after them, his blade gleaming as the sunlight reflected off the blood coating its length. Down below people screamed, both those who had just arrived, as well as those who had thought they had just escaped the mayhem.
Gravity gripped the three of them, as they began to fall, their horizontal speed rapidly being caught up to by their vertical one. But it didn't matter, he was closing in, and as soon as he was near, their glory filled heads would be removed from their shoulders.
The world would be cleansed of two fake Heroes.
Of course, Stain only realized his mistake once Gentle smirked at him.
Right as he was about to reach them, Gentle Criminal and La Brava bounced off an invisible platform, over his head, and back towards the coliseum.
And Stain, stuck mid air, without any leverage, could only rage as he fell.
"GENTLE YOU DID IT!" La Brava cheered as they landed safely on the roof. "You're my Hero! You're my Hero! You're my Hero!" She repeated again and again as she kissed him on the cheek.
"Was there ever any doubt?" He chuckled as he set her down, the weight of suppressed panic slowly beginning to fade from his chest.
The two took a moment to collect themselves before turning back to the commotion below.
"Villain! You're under arrest!" A man in a blue getup with goggles and a pointy mustache shouted at Stain. "I am Sporti-man, and while you could no doubt beat me one on one, I am not alone!" He held out his arms as various Heroes began to form a circle around Stain. "We have you surrounded!"
"Surrounded?" Stain scoffed as he pulled himself to his feet, rising to his full height, blood dripping from his blade to the floor. "I'm surrounded by nothing but fear and dead men."
The small crowd of Heroes collectively took a step back, just as unnerved by the bold declaration as the way he had said it, like it was a foregone conclusion. Many glanced at one another in worry.
Stain stepped forward, mirroring their step back, his sword's tip sparking slightly as it traced along the concrete.
He smiled, a cruel, revolting grin, as he took in his opponents, and then he charged forward.
There was a villain ranking system put in place by the HPSC, one eventually adopted by several other countries overseas, most notably the USA. This wasn't because it was the most detailed system, but rather because of how simple it was to learn and use, even across different languages and cultures.
Villains were run through a quick tally counter, that counted the "danger" they posed, be it through sheer power, or considerable influence over others. And depending on their score, they were ranked a letter starting at D as the lowest, usually consisting of common street crooks, and progressing to C, B, A, S, and finally the illusive SS, of which only All for One had ever qualified for- though because he was relegated to old wisetales and kept as a need to know topic in the government, SS was seen more as a hypothetical than a reality.
It was a rather barebones system, but did its job well enough. It outlined the danger any certain Villain posed, and set a rough recommendation of how strong a Hero should be before taking them on.
Stain, the boogeyman of modern Japan, was ranked A.
And all the combat Heroes suited to fight him were all running towards the last place the camera had shown him at, before it had cut off.
In other words. None of the top Heroes were outside the colosseum.
And Stain was left as a wolf in a den of bear cubs.
A shrill scream of pain died in a wet gurgle as Stain slid past a punch and stabbed his sword into a Sporti-man's gut, pulling it upwards, fileting him like a fish, only ending as he ripped open his throat.
He ducked under a kick, and a second later the leg fell to the ground with a splat.
A large yellow spear ending in the shape of a lightning bolt stabbed at him, but the wielder watched in shock as Stain swiftly jumped out of the way without even looking, landing on top of the spear with such ease you'd think he was a circus performer.
Stain swung out with a foot, his metal boot cracking bone as it impacted the side of the Hero's head, but the blade that shot out from the sole of the shoe was what did him in.
A woman with blond hair, wearing a red & blue suit with an 8 sided star on it, brought her hands together and shot a gold cosmic beam towards him. But Stain nimbly spun in mid air, snatching the spear he had been standing on as it fell and launched it at the blond. It smashed into the woman's chest with so much force that the blade, intentionally dulled so as not to cut anything, skewered her through.
As he landed, Stain was forced to dash back as two huge brothers in karate uniforms punched the ground he'd been, smashing it into a crater.
Almost lazily, the red killer swiped his sword horizontally, and both their heads fell from their shoulders.
He didn't have any time to relax, as he was forced to leap to the side to avoid a whirlwind of punches from a young girl that appeared to be made of springs. Her smirk as she missed was the only warning he had, before a fireball smashed into his side, sending him skidding across the ground.
There was a sound similar to glass shattering but backwards, and Stain had to roll to the side to avoid a huge glowing and semi transparent hammer that crashed down where his head had just been.
Gripping his sword, he lashed out, severing the Hero's hands at the wrists before they could lift the hammer for a second attack.
The pained screaming stopped when the blade came back around.
Stain flicked the blood from his katana and scowled at the spring girl from across the street, her face wrought with fear, and dashed at her.
Another Hero, this one an older man, stepped into his path, a look of rage on his face. But his punch was deflected to the side, and he only slowed Stain down by a few seconds before falling to the ground in two pieces.
"DAD!"
An anguished scream ripped through the air, and Stain slid under the fireball that accompanied it- this one much larger than the first, and flicked a dagger off his belt, throwing it at the pyromancer where it landed right between her eyes.
At this point the spring girl had gone white in terror, backpedaling in a desperate attempt to get away from him.
But Stain lunged at her, ducking a desperate punch and sliding under her legs, where he bounced up and grappled her from behind, just in time to pivot and slam the girl's head into the charging horns of a bull mutant, blinding the horrified man with gore.
Stain's sword came down, and the bull would never get the chance to wipe his eyes.
From the distant rooftop, Gentle and La Brava could only watch the horrific slaughter with horrified expressions, La Brava's hand clamped firmly over her mouth as she tried not to puke.
"He's… He's killing them." Gentle whispered, his voice equal parts terror and revulsion.
But then a frightening realization came to them like a metaphorical lightbulb.
Stain was getting closer.
The crimson killer roared as he cut a bloody swath through the crowd of low ranking Heroes.
"YOU DISGRACED FILTH SHALL DIE LIKE THE FATTED WORMS YOU ARE! YOUR TARNISHED, ROTTEN BLOOD TAINTS THIS SACRED GROUND! HOW DARE YOU DESECRATE OUR BEACON OF HOPE WITH YOUR PRESENCE!?"
With Stain's declaration, the bloodied body of Rock Lock fell to the ground. Dead.
With the highest ranking among them dead, the shaken morale of the Heroes completely shattered, and the group- now barely half its initial number, routed.
"COWARDS!" Stain yelled, as the Heroes ran away as fast as they could. "WHERE IS YOUR CONVICTION!? WHERE IS YOUR IDEALS!? YOU ARE NO HEROES!" Slowly Stain's gaze drifted from the repeating backs of the broken Army, and upwards to the two criminals. "And neither are you."
"La Brava… run." Gentle whispered as he grabbed her shoulder and began backing away from the edge. "Run!" He yanked her back, barely dodging a throwing knife as it cut through the rubber-ified air barrier like it wasn't even there.
Far below Stain scoffed and charged forward, blurring as he began to really pick up speed, then he leapt. He hit the wall of the festival's coliseum feet first, and kept running, taking full advantage of the building being tilted slightly.
As he neared the top, he sneered at the thought of the two he was chasing. The rot had gripped society much deeper than he'd thought, that accursed famished thirst for fame and glory had permeated far beyond just the Heroes it seemed.
Now people were turning to Villainy just to lick from the rusted tap of poison! He must cleanse this! Now! Before these two could spread it any further!
But just before he crested the top, the window beneath him exploded outwards, as something crashed into him and sent him careening through the air. He closed his eyes to shield them from glass shards, but was able to distinctly make out the feeling of a hand touching his arm for a brief moment before he slammed into a rooftop.
The moment he had leverage on solid ground, he began moving. He rolled the impact off before jumping to his feet, and using the momentum to slide backwards to avoid any potential attack.
But when no attack came, and Stain was able to balance himself without a follow up, he glanced across from him and locked eyes with his aggressor.
Stain's eyes widened.
"Stain, Villain rank A, and one of the most wanted fugitives in all of Japan." Sir Nighteye stepped forward, his eyes glowing purple, and a very displeased expression on his face. "Stand down. Now."
"All Might's sidekick…" Stain whispered in reverential awe, as though an angel had descended from the heavens themselves to confirm his religion. "You… You could be a REAL HERO!" He grinned in glee, eyes wide as if drugged, as he unsheathed his old katana from his back, holding it in parallel with his new one.
"SHOW ME YOUR CONVICTION!"
-Rain of Sins-
A pillar of flame bloomed like a hellish flower on the impromptu battlefield, wiping out three villains, and forcing more to scramble back in fear. But despite the awesome power displayed, Endeavor seethed in anger.
This blasted mist! It was making him sluggish, and even worse it was dampening his quirk! (Well, it was also dampening everyone else's quirks too, but his was the most important!)
There were hundreds of petty Villains swarming into the coliseum, trashing everything in sight and turning the entire main floor of the building into a warzone as they clashed with security, students, and Heroes alike.
Normally the top Heroes (especially himself!) should have been able to sweep these gnats away regardless of the numbers, but with this stupid gas keeping them from fighting at full capacity it was turning the fight from a decisive victory into a slow meat grinder.
Of course it wasn't helping that a good chunk of their best, All Might included, were emergency evacuating the far too many civilians still in the building upwards towards safe floors, away from the fighting. And something was happening outside that was making the civilians they had gotten outside, start to run back in!
"Enough!" Endeavor shouted, grabbing the flame inside of him and forcing it to flare to its brightest, no matter how much it didn't want to. "I am the next number one Hero! Surrender or D-"
But that was all he managed to say, before the metal floor underneath him gave away, and "the next number one hero", fell into darkness.
He yelled in fury as the light above him quickly became a pinprick, air whistling by him, and pipes occasionally scraping into his sides that he couldn't see.
Down.
Down.
D
o
w
n
.
.
.
He crashed into a concrete floor with enough force to crack it, his natural size working against him.
Slowly he pushed himself to his feet, the light from above now long gone. The floor around him, dirty, old, and falling apart, illuminated only by his weakened flames. But even then, he could barely make it out, the gas that had been terrorizing them up top was everywhere down here, blanketing the floor in a thick fog, drifting upwards in thin whisps that broke from the main body. Beneath the fog was a small bit of standing water, about an inch deep that, since it wasn't flowing, seemed to extend the entire room.
Even the "clean" air was heavy in his lungs. It felt as if it were stale, expired almost, if air could even be that.
And it was cold, not a normal cold, but a chill that gripped you with rotted hands, and sunk down to your bones. He, Endeavor, the hero of flame who could rival the sun, was cold.
And his eyes… They played tricks with the darkness and swirling fog. Shapes seemed to move in the corners of his vision, but everywhere he looked, there was nothing
This entire place felt unnatural.
He extended his hand, and conjured a ball of fire, this one far weaker than even the ones he's used up top.
The warm glow bathed the center of the large hallway he was in, dancing in tune with the flowing mist. It revealed broken bits of ceiling that had fallen, streams of sand slowly dropping from above, and several broken pipes, one of which was leaking water.
"The bottom of the maintenance tunnels." He said aloud as it dawned on him where he was. The things must have been damaged pretty badly after that Momo girl's match, and the building lost one of its walls, causing it to tilt. But still…
"Where is everyone?" He craned his head, squinted into the distance, and listened for anything, but it was deathly quiet. "Did they evacuate?"
"HELLO?" He shouted.
But no one responded.
Not even an echo.
Endeavor scowled, crushing down the overwhelming feeling of wrongness in his gut, and glared harder out into the darkness.
There was something wrong about the darkness in front of him, almost as if… it were solid.
Wait.
He held his hand out farther, and his eyes widened as the light outlined a form barely ten feet away, revealing just how compromised his vision really was down here.
The figure chuckled softly and stepped closer, enough for the flare to illuminate the barest ghost of their features.
They had a thick black coat that hung down to the floor, into the fog, dark unkempt hair, a black mask over the bottom of his face, and sharp green eyes that almost seemed to glow in the low light.
"Eveavor." The figure said, his eyes gleaming with cruel mirth. "I… have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Even if it is not how I originally intended."
"Villain." Endeavor sneered. "You're the one behind all this!"
"I'm afraid it's not so clear cut, few things truly are." The man hummed. "I have no authority or true control over Stain, nor of the criminals, or the Villains." He pulled one of his hands out of his pocket and held it up as if weighing something. "But I am the one who wants you dead, and luring Stain here to kill you isn't exactly above my morals… no, not when it's you."
"So you admit it!" Endeavor's sneer morphed into a cruel smirk, and his fire flared, illuminating more of the hallway. "Congratulations then, you're going to boost me past All Might. I'll drag your corpse to the commision and they'll make me the new national figurehead!"
The man in the coat simply stared at him, unperturbed, and tilted his head slightly. "I don't think you understand the position you're in."
The fire hero just scoffed at that and began to walk towards the Villain, but then that's when he saw it. The walls were moving!
Immediately he forced his fire to flare as bright as it could, and it was only by his countless battle hardened years of active duty that he managed not to scream.
The walls, the ceiling, every inch was covered in things!
Some were vaguely humanoid, with exposed brains and dead eyes. Others were writhing masses of flesh that stared at him in hunger. Some had no limbs, others had far far too many.
They were stacked on top of one another, layers of meat and things that should never exist, all looking at him. Surrounding him. Angry. Aggressive. Hungry.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" The man chuckled as yet even more began to rise out of the smoke that covered the floor up to his knees. "It took me a while to get them all here, and a fair number probably won't survive the week after this stint outside of a sterilized environment, but for this… it's worth it."
"I believe a short introduction is in order." The scientist gave a short but sarcastic bow.
"My name is unimportant, I am not but a simple scientist. A geneticist with no quirk, or power beyond my means. But you… you killed my mother."
Izuku locked eyes with Endeavor, the windows to his soul burning with cold hatred.
"And for that, you will pay."
-End Chapter-
Note: Izuku's hair isn't magically black, it's just the lighting.
Note 2: No, I will not stop referencing random series/franchises whenever it comes to small side things that don't impact the plot.
Note 3: I usually don't do really vivid gore, but I felt Stain kinda needed it here for his character. He was never really shown off or flushed out in the show, and I always thought that was a shame. (Or maybe I've been playing too much bloodborne? I dunno at this point.)
Note 4: I'm really happy with all the positive feedback about Bakugo's development, thank y'all for that! Feedback always gives me motivation to write more!
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
HUGE shout out to AlphaStryke on the discord server for spell checking these chapters!
Speaking of the discord, Join! We have memes, Vtuber video links, and Charnel keeps dropping h*ntai in the off topic channels, if you're into that.
Https://Discord.gg/Hy7g6UqGQd