37 Burning Blood: Ch 3

Bruh. (and I never say 'Bruh')

I don't even know what to say.

Normally when I plug the discord I get like 5 or 6 people to join per chapter- slow but consistent progress. But when I mentioned Charnel dumping hentai, last chap, 11 fucking people joined in under 24 hours.

Smh-ing my head.

*Sips Hot Chocolate*

Anyway, sorry for the delay. College Finals suck, and I am sooo glad they're over.

Anyway x2. Man Stain is BS, I was reading a comment awhile ago that was talking about his power level, and how- even though they thought the Stain I was writing was awesome, he was being buffed way up from the cannon one.

I went back and watched the fight against him and I have to respectfully disagree. I might actually be underselling the guy!

He fights off Izuku, Shoto, and Ida at the same time(three of the top students from UA's "miracle class", one with training from ALLMIGHT, and one with training from ENDEAVOR), jumps into blurs faster than the camera can catch, implying he moves faster than the eye can comprehend, takes multiple SMASH!s to the face without flinching, cuts a glacier in half with a beat up blunted sword- and then does it a second time with a KNIFE! And he's doing all this after already having fought a Pro Hero! But not just the one right before the fight, no, he'd also been hunting Heroes for the past 3 DAYS in the city.

There's no way he was operating on full capacity, and even then it took a full 100% power, All Might equivalent SMASH, combined with a simultaneous recipro-bust to put him down.

AND THEN HE GETS RIGHT BACK UP LIKE 5 SECONDS LATER TO JUMP 50 FEET IN THE AIR AND ONE SHOT A NOMU!

Holy. Shit.

And his quirk isn't even vaguely related to any of those physical feats, he uses it on top of his fighting style, instead of a crutch like Mustard does.

-Rain of Sins-

-Burning Blood: Ch 3-

Screams echoed through the room as a group of 20 or so Villains broke through the flimsy vanity door with ease. Almost immediately the calm and orderly escape to the upper floors that the Heroes had created broke down, as the Civilians began frantically trying to shove their way up the stairs faster, uncaring if they crushed the person in front of them.

The few Heroes that had been trying to keep order, were quickly overwhelmed and dragged beneath the tide.

The Villains barreled into the room, weapons drawn and wide, sadistic, grins on their faces.

"STAR SHOWER!"

"GRAPE RUSH!"

They barely got ten steps in, before a barrage of 12 blindingly blue miniature comets smashed into the vanguard, sending them to the ground,

The rest stopped their charge, hesitating a moment as their comrades fell. That moment cost them dearly, however, as a flurry of purple orbs rained down from above with more than enough quantity to make up for the lack of precision, sticking the Villains to each other and to the ground.

"Nice shot dude!" Mineta said as he ran into the room, forcing a smile to hide how winded he was. "You totally wiped out their front line.

"Nonsense, you clearly hit more than me." Aoyama smirked at his friend before throwing on a charming smile and waving at the crowd who were begging to calm down now that the threat had been dispatched so quickly. "Don't worry friends!" He spoke with the same smooth charisma that had failed him with literally every girl in class 1A. "We have the situation under control."

But apparently the crowd was made of vastly less quality materials than the girls at UA, because they calmed down almost immediately, and several of the ladies even swooned.

"Hey, you're getting pretty good at that." Mineta chimed, sounding impressed.

"Well what can I say? I have a great teacher. Grape Sensei." The blond clasped his hands together and gave a short sarcastic bow to Mineta, causing both of them to chuckle.

Their light hearted banter was interrupted as the Villains stuck in the "grape blob" began to realize they weren't going to be able to escape physically, and were loudly making their displeasure known verbally.

"Man…" Mineta whispered under his breath so that the civilians couldn't hear him. "This is not how I wanted to spend today."

"Yeah," Aoyama agreed, his shoulders slumping slightly. "This totally blows."

Mineta had been knocked out in the first round of fights, and Ayoama the second round. Instead of moping, however, the two wannabe knights of chivalry had decided to grab their costumes and head out into the main festival grounds to interact with all the Hero fans.

You could never start building your brand too early after all!

But then an hour later people started screaming and, well, yeah. That plan kinda got shot.

The distant sound of shoes against tile began to rapidly increase in volume as more people rushed down the hallway, screaming violence as they got closer.

"Ready for round two?" Yuga asked tiredly as he brought his sword to bear in front of him, with a flourish.

"We're outnumbered and don't have the element of surprise this time." Mineta sighed, but reached up and pulled two orbs off his head anyway.

"True." Aoyama's sword began to humm and glow blue as he channeled his plasma through his armor and into the mirror on the blade's hilt. "But when has that ever stopped us for doing something stupid before?" The glow flickered, dulling slightly, and Aoyama's glanced from the blade to the black fog pooling on the ground- something that hadn't been outside.

"Hah, fair point." Mineta chuckled before steeling his face into a serious expression and falling into a combat stance. "Let's do this!"

-Rain of Sins-

"Run! RUN!"

It was a simple order- really more of a suggestion, considering the lack of an ability to enforce it, but regardless of its simplicity, or the fact that no one had to obey it, everyone still did…

Mainly because it was just a really good idea.

In fact, it was such a good fact that the freshly graduated superhero Arm-Fall-Off-Boy (who's power was exactly what you'd expect), felt absolutely no shame whatsoever as he ran screaming through the war torn hallways.

The entire floor was blanketed in that black gas stuff, which was making everyone's quirks go haywire, and the walls were marked with all sorts of scars, from burns and cuts, to giant holes belated in them that opened up rooms into rooms containing even more fighting.

Various pockets of Heroes and Villains fought surrounded by bodies of their fellows on the floor- unconscious or otherwise, and glanced at him strangely as he went by with his small entourage of followers behind him made of both Heroes and Villains alike.

"RUN!" He shouted again, desperately hoping the idiots would listen to him.

"RU-" Then he slammed face first, at full speed, into a brick wall, which, because it was, well, a wall, didn't give so much as an inch and instead sent Arm Boy sprawling backwards to the floor with a bleeding nose.

"Ouchie…" He pinched his nose lightly and gingerly pushed himself to his feet, the sounds of footsteps echoing all around him as the entourage of Villains and Heroes who had been near him when he first started running, all passed by him.

But as he looked up he was met with a swift realization.

The wall he had run into wasn't actually a wall. Instead, standing in front of him was a tall, imposing man, wearing a cowboy hat with a metal front, a long crimson cloak that tapered off into frayed ends, and an old leather gas mask with silver ear-defenders stamped into either side of it.

"Snipe!" Arm Boy exclaimed, a hopeful but tentative smile crossing his face as he looked up at the unreadable mask.

"Yeah, that's me." Snipe grunted, tapping the giant S cut into the metal on the front of his hat. "What's the situation? I've been in the electrical room."

"Electrical room? Wait, you were the one who stopped the broadcast?" Arm Boy asked. "I didn't know you were good with tech."

Snipe stared at him for a moment, his expression hidden behind his mask. "I'm not." He eventually grumbled.

"Then how…?"

Snipe pulled one of the modified revolvers from his belt and popped open the cylinder, showing that 1: part of the giant extension on the side was actually a belt feeder that pulled bullets between the three different rings, and 2: that of the 24 bullet slots, four were missing.

"You… Shot the electric panel?" Arm Boy asked in bewilderment.

"If it looks stupid, but it works, it ain't stupid."

Arm boy really felt like there were many things that should be said in response to that, but survival instinct forced him to nod along instead, to what his superior officer was saying.

"Now." Snipe closed the gun with a flick of his wrist, before grabbing Arm Boy by his collar and yanking him off the ground to be eye level with his gas mask. "You tell me why you're runnin' instead of protectin' the civvies."

"O-One of the Villains popped a Trigger pill!" AB stuttered out, coughing as Snipe's grip began cutting off his oxygen slightly. "B-But t-the fog kept it from doing much, a-and he panicked and ate half a fucking bag!"

"..."

A moment passed, and AB panicked as he realized Snipe's grip was getting tighter.

"I-It was way above my a-ability to compete with!" He pleaded, struggling against the grip, full blown panic setting in as he stared into the dark lenses of Snipe's mask. "T-There was n-nothing I could have d-done! The fog's made most of our q-quirks useless!"

"So you jus' abandoned all the folks who trusted you to protect them?"

"N-No! I-It's not like that, p-please, I-"

But at that moment the universe decided to throw Arm Boy a bone, as the wall down at the end of the hallway he'd been running from, exploded outwards in a horrible crash.

"RAAAAOOOUHH!"

From the cloud of dust erupted a horrendous creature. It barely even looked like a human anymore, the thing was almost eight feet tall, a twisting whirlwind of bloody tentacles, teeth, and claws, with a single red eye that perched on the top of its head.

All the fighting in the hallway ceased, Heroes and Villains alike looking at the thing in terror. It's eye swept across the hallway, drinking in the fear on its prey's faces, before settling on Snipe.

The monster glared down at the tiny human.

Snipe stared back, his unblinking, soulless gas mask, giving nothing away.

"RAAAAOOOUHH!"

The thing let out another bone chilling roar, and everyone ran. Hero and Villain, Men and Women, all ran.

Except for Snipe.

Snipe stood unmoving as he stared down the beast.

Arm Boy yelped as he was let go without warning, landing on the ground in an undignified heap, but it didn't last long before he was scurrying away.

The monster rushed forward, limbs twisting, claws raking across the walls, mouth screeching as it descended on its prey and slaughtered-

BANG

Arm Boy jumped, looking back over his shoulder as a loud crack echoed through the halls, to see the creature tumble to the side, devoid of the top third of its head. Its speed didn't magically disappear however, and as it crashed into the wall, it just kept going, tearing straight though it in the same way it had made its entrance.

Snipe lowered his gun, the barrel still smoking, and made his way towards the new hole in the wall, using his boots to gain the leverage he needed to haul himself on top of the hulking corpse.

On the other side of the wall, was an entire room of Villains who had apparently been ransacking the storage area for all it was worth. They were all frozen, staring at him with wide eyes, like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

Snipe thumbed a button on the side of his mechanized and heavily modified revolver, and the golden shell of a spent .50 cal round tumbled to the floor.

"Y'all are gonna drop to th' ground and tie yerselves up, or I drop you myself." An ominous click reverberated through the room as Snipe drew back the hammer of his gun. "Permanently."

The Villains hesitated, and for a moment it looked like they might actually listen, but a large man with skin as red as a tomato (the comparison unhelped by the green shirt he was wearing) stepped forward, elbowing several smaller guys out of the way.

"Nice bluff cowboy, but you UA chucklefucks are all a bunch of pansies! I got kicked out of Ketsubutsu Academy for my 'Aggressive Behavior'," He mocked with a snort and a girly voice. "And UA vetoed my entrance exam score, five years ago, because of it! For people who's whole job is fighting you sure are a bunch of pussies!"

"It ain't that we shy away from violence." Snipe said, his voice cold but calm. "UA's official stance is that you gotta know when it's necessary. Personally, with what my skills are, I tend to reserve my work for emergencies."

"Tch, yeah right!" Tomato man scoffed. "I've seen you work before, that things loaded with rubber bullets! RUSH HIM!"

The villains charged, and Snipe's gun snapped up.

Some people just never seemed to get the hint.

Shame.

BANG

-Rain of Sins-

"All Might's sidekick…" Stain whispered in reverential awe, as he stared across the flat rooftop at Nighteye- as though an angel had descended from the heavens themselves to confirm his religion. "You… Youcould 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!"

Nighteye took a step back, primal fear and survival instincts SCREAMING at him to run.

The Hero took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Having everything your opponent will do for the next hour dumped into your head could be slightly overwhelming, even if you were prepared for it, and it was imperative that he didn't let that moment present an opening in his guard.

He settled into his preferred combat stance, his muscles tensed like a spring, ready to explode in any direction, as a bead of sweat rolled down his brow.

He needed to focus if he was going to survive the next half hour.

After all, knowing what your opponent was going to do didn't really matter if you weren't physically capable of moving fast enough to avoid it.

Seeing Nighteye square up, Stain's face twitched, his smile growing wider by just the thinnest amounts.

Nighteye dropped, yanking his head down as fast as he could, as a blade swiped through where his head had been just a second prior, and then threw himself sideways into a roll to avoid the second blade as it buried itself into the concrete.

He bounced out of his roll, twisting back to face Stain as he jumped to his feet, and throwing two of his weighted metal "stamps", all in one fluid motion.

The first stamp crashed into a throwing knife, and sent it spiraling, before it could carve a hole into the Hero's neck, and the second was cleaved in half as Stain blew by, launching into a lightning fast thrust that ripped a fine line in Nighteye's suit as he sidestepped the attack to the left.

Nighteye was to Stain's left, the Villain had his right sword outstretched to the side from hitting the stamp, and his left sword was pointed straight, the arm extended well past Nighteye. It was the perfect opportunity to counter attack, and his years of combat experience told him to take the opportunity for a knockout blow.

If it weren't for his ability to see the future, he would have fallen for it, instead he leaned back to avoid an attack no one in their right mind would have seen coming.

Stain, still suspended mid-air from his lunge, stabbed his left sword straight down, impaling it into the floor to give himself leverage, and then swung himself around, bringing his left foot forward and swinging at Nighteye's head, as a three inch blade emerged from the tip of the metal boot.

Nighteye watched the Poison tipped blade pass mere inches from his face with a pensive expression, before crouching down as Stain's right sword tried, again, to decapitate him.

Stain watched the Hero in awe as his attacks seemingly flowed around him like water, and as he pulled his sword free from the ground, Nighteye took the half second opening for all it was worth, rocketing up and catching Stain in the jaw with an uppercut that would have made All Might proud. Stain tilted back, thrown off balance, and Nighteye struck like lightning, landing several blisteringly fast jabs to Stain's stomach within less than a second, before leaping back to avoid a sword swing.

"Amazing…" Stain coughed, but his smile never waved as he reached up and wiped a small splotch of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Your commitment to the fight, the way you PUSH THROUGH YOUR FEAR!"

Stain laughed loudly as he spread his arms, blood flicking off his swords as if he had devilish wings of crimson.

"You have truly walked in HIS footsteps!"

Nighteye scowled, taking to moment of reprieve for what it was, to catch his breath and snag several more stamps off his belt. Once more, he rushed into battle, and Stain gladly met him with the song of singing metal.

-Rain of Sins-

Sulfur was an idiot.

Ok, maybe that was a bit too rash.

In this very specific circumstance, at this exact moment in time (as well as the brief period leading up to this), he was an idiot.

But, to be fair, the calculations he had made in weighing this had been fine at the time! The real cause of his blunder was that there had been far too many variables he just hadn't known about beforehand.

Yeah, that was it.

Past him's math wasn't bad, per say, it was that he'd been missing half the variables.

He had failed several grades in the past, so even though he was in his final year of High School (for the second time), legally he was the age of a young adult. And as an adult he should be free to make his own decisions! But nooooo, his parents wouldn't hand their joint control of his bank account over until he'd "proved he was responsible" by graduating.

When they started limiting how much he was allowed to take out every month in an attempt to pressure him to focus on grades, it was only natural he started turning to… alternative methods of making some quick cash.

And it was pretty easy too! He had a really good quirk for it after all, people wouldn't even be able to remember what he looked like after they woke up- and that's if they even managed to see him through the smoke to begin with!

He started making quite the name for himself.

Mustard, is what they called him. A bit too on the nose for his taste, but he had to admit it had grown on him.

You wanted something done quiet and out of the way? With no questions asked except for "where" and "when"? He was your guy- so long as you had a decent price, that is. Nothing crazy mind you, but it had to be… reasonable.

And he was good. Didn't matter how tough a thug is, or how strong the quirk of the guy who owes you money, people had to breathe, and if you had to breathe, Mustard could beat you.

Whoever has coined the phrase "crime doesn't pay", well, in Sulfur's honest opinion, it was clear that they hadn't ever actually done any crime before. The rough life had been good for him! He'd bought a mask to counter his quirk's sole weakness, and had even saved up enough to get his own apartment and finally move out from his overbearing parents.

Hell, in a few weeks he had a meeting scheduled with an American immigrant who had brought over a few guns without realizing they were illegal in Japan even with his license, and wanted to pawn them off before the cops sniffed him out.

Actually, he took back everything he'd said at the start!

Sulfur wasn't an idiot, he was a Goddamn genius! Didn't matter what grades he got on those stupid IQ tests, he could make it on his own in the real world!

So, naturally, when he'd received a message from a friend about a particularly well paying job, where all he had to do is go in and cause some ruckus with a couple other guys, he had accepted.

He accepted, because it was, in the moment, a good idea.

He accepted, because the letter hadn't said anything about being dropped into a FUCKING INVASION FORCE! ON FUCKING UA!

And he accepted, because there had been absolutely ZERO mention of this stupid Quirk suppressing gas! Especially when his mask got cracked by a rogue projectile, making it useless!

But, as said previously, Sulfur was pretty smart- in his opinion. And so he was doing the smart option in this case!

Sulfur flinched as a common crook was sent flying over his head, and crashed into the wall with enough force to be buried halfway into it.

He was hiding behind a couch like a coward!

He didn't (knowingly) sign up to raid UA! And he definitely didn't sign up to group rush "Tiger Rabbit" fucking Mirko! The Number 5 hero in all of Japan!

"IS THIS ALL YOU'VE GOT!?" Mirko shouted, standing atop a small mountain of beaten mooks, criminals, and thugs. "COME AT ME!"

At her taunt, several large men who were clearly dumber than Sulphur, peeled themselves off the floor and charged the rabbit.

Sulfur couldn't exactly see what was happening, but the meaty thwacks, and various cries of pain queued him in.

Deciding that he really didn't want whatever was happening behind him, to happen to him, and that he didn't particularly like his chances of Miruko, who had ironically been his favorite Hero before this, just deciding to not check behind the very obvious couch, he did the smart decision.

Use those idiots as a distraction for all their worth, and run the fuck away.

Sulfur jumped out from behind his cover, and ran into a dead sprint with all the muscle power of an untrained young guy who had never worked out before in his life, but all the determination of a rat desperate not to die to a hawk.

Across the room, Mirko watched him with all the disinterest of a predator watching prey that wasn't even worth the energy, two lazy red eyes slowly sliding as they followed the rat rat across the room. Instead she turned her attention back to the Villain in front of her. A large B rank villain with the body of a Rino, who could actually do damage to people.

Sulfur barreled through the doors at the end of the room, and stumbled as his speed almost caused him to slip, before slamming his back into the doors and slamming them closed.

"Whoah!" he exclaimed between desperately gasping for fresh air, slowly sliding down the door,

He'd been so fast that the number 5 pro Hero in all of Japan, hadn't even seen him!

HOLY SHIT, HE WAS GOOD!

He pushed himself to his feet and brushed off his jacket with all the swagger he could muster, trying to hide how badly his lunges burned from his short stint.

"Oh yeah, back in the game baby!" He made finger guns at himself in the reflective tile floor, before walking off down the hallway. "Now I gotta just find the way outside, get outta this gas, and I'm golden!"

He chucked to himself, his sneakers squeaking against the polished tile as he walked, and he brought up a hand to brush his hair- only to flinch as he smacked his fingers into his metal helmet. He quickly brought his other arm up and played it off flawlessly like he was stretching, and glanced around the corridor just to make sure no one was watching.

"Yeah, I'm good." He whispered to himself, just like he did to the mirror every morning, and resumed walking.

But his swag was cut short as a Pro Hero rounded the corner like a bat out of Hell and came skidding to a stop when they saw him.

Mustard did most assuredly not yelp like a little girl, but he did step back as his brain attempting to find a way out of this one.

But then he noticed who it was, and he immediately relaxed.

"Well if it isn't Midnight!" Mustard spread his arms like he'd seen all the Villains do in those cartoons he watched as a kid, and tried to channel the way they spoke- he couldn't embarrass himself in front of a Hero by sounding like a villain newb. "How unfortunately we meet like this. I must say, I'm a fan of your work, but sadly it seems as though fate has handed me an artist without paint!"

He bit out a laugh and gestured to the black smog filling the hallway. She was in the same boat as him, her smoke quirk was weakened and even if she tried to use it, it would be diluted by the fog. She was as powerless as him, all he had to do was act as though he wasn't affected by the chemicals in the fog, and she'd back down!

"Of course, even if we were outside, I would still be the last person you'd want to face." He gestured to his gas mask smugly, keenly not mentioning how the thing was busted.

"Now normally I'd try my luck with a girl as good as you, and ask you out to dinner, but I've kinda got things to do." Mustard 'tch'ed under his helmet and shrugged at her, as if to say 'oh well'. "Why don't you do us both a favor and step aside, and then we can both go on our merry wa-OUHH!"

The rest of his speech that he had been carefully formulating with as much BS as he had on his person, was cut off as a fist rammed itself into his stomach.

"Wh-What?" He coughed. "That's no-"

An elbow caught his helmet, sending him to the side and causing his head to spin as the thing rang like a bell.

"Wait, Wait! Timeout, I haAAAAOOOOHHHH!"

Midnight's heeled boot slammed into a place no boot should ever go, and Mustard's eyes rolled back as he collapsed to his knees, desperately clenching his legs together and clutching his groin with his hands in pain.

When the white faded from his vision, he caught a brief, half second glance at a familiar sight.

Midnight, her left leg raised up almost completely parallel with her body, her meaty thigh pushing her well endowed breasts to the side, causing them to stretch the fabric, as she grinned down at him.

It was the same pose she had struck for the poster that he had bought a year back and had hanging above his bed.

A snarky, and vaguely sexual quote from an old action movie bubbled to his mind, but he was smart enough to bite his tongue and not taunt the woman who had opened the fight with a crotch shot.

The boot came down with enough force to dent his helmet, and he realized that maybe physically biting his tongue wasn't actually that smart of an idea, as the taste of blood permeated his mouth.

Mustard collapsed to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut, as Midnight stepped over him and continued down the hallway.

Everything hurt, his head was ringing, and he had a strange and illogical want to turn into sludge and melt into the cold floor.

…

Ok…

Maybe…

Just maybe…

And he did mean just maybe…

…He actually was slightly an idiot for accepting this job after all.

-Rain of Sins-

Fear. A… strange emotion. Illogical.

The most common "fears" can really just be traced back to one thing, fear of the unknown. Fear of the dark is just fearing what you can't see. What's that spooky sound? Will X person make it through this disease? Will she reject me if I ask her out? Will that kill me if it hits me?

The vast majority of fear in one's life could simply be avoided by being inquisitive and knowledgeable enough to know what things are, and be able to predict what will happen based on probability.

Any remaining typical fear one could encounter is also easily avoidable with a bright enough mind, and basic information gathering skills. It's incredibly hard to be scared if you can see the supposed jump scare a mile away. Reversely, if you know how something works, it can actually be quite amusing to tinker with what most would think is "scary". Interacting with something in a specific way to cause an expected reaction to interact with something else is incredibly amusing, and if you can correctly cause a predicted domino effect, oh, it's just delightful!

Fear also has the side effect of causing panic, which jumbles rational thinking, and leads to blunders that would have been unthinkable otherwise.

Fear was a primitive, illogical, and frankly unnecessary emotion.

Fear, Nezu realized, was also the worst thing he had ever experienced.

Every second that ticked by was another second he could feel his thoughts becoming slower, as his quirk grew weaker. Dots that had once connected effortlessly to weave a complex web now seemed to have entire ravines between them- where's the cause and effect!? Photographic memories that used to come to him crisp and easily, now drifted through a murky stream at random, melting through his paws like wet mud as he desperately tried to grasp them.

Yesterday Nezu had chuckled at the thought of really being afraid.

Now he knew fear that would haunt him for years to come. Gut wrenching moments of true horror as he reached for something only to find a gaping hole in his memory. Desperately trying to pull forth a crucial piece of information, and to feel it on the tip of his tongue, but for it to just not be there.

A sudden, bone chilling realization, that he didn't actually know how much of him was his quirk. How much of him could be erased. Was he as much of a person as the people he employed, or would he revert to a rodent from a lungful of chemicals?

Oh how the mighty had fallen! He was Nezu! Principle of the most successful Hero school in the world, and here he was cowering in an oversized broom closet!

His old friend, sitting just across from him, wasn't doing much better.

"Damnit! Damnit! DAMNIT!"

Toshinori raged, as he slammed his fist into the wall, steam erupting from his body like a geyser as he tried yet again to assume his Hero form, only to slump exhausted, just as skinny as before. He'd already used most of his time doing speeches and announcing, and this gas was keeping him from pushing his limits.

"I need to be out there! They need me out there!" He roared, once again trying to buff up only to be faced with the same result.

"T-Take your time to recuperate, Yagi. Recharge for a bit, and then try again when you have the energy to brute force it." Nezu forced a smile, unaware of how blatantly fragile it looked, as he pretended to have some form of the confidence that was expected of him. "Mirio said he'd take care of the civilian evacuation, and even said he'd make a cover story for you."

"That's what makes this even worse!" Yagi shouted, smashing his fist into the wall with enough force to draw blood, before letting out a deep shaky sigh. "That kid's too good hearted, he didn't even ask for an explanation when I shriveled up like a grape in front of him! He just focused on getting me and you to safety, and then asked what we needed him to do! And now he's lying for me! DAMNIT!"

"Yagi, please, I know you're upset, but you should really stop banging on the walls! Someone might hear-"

Nezu cut himself off, and both men went stiff as boards as the door to the storage room they'd been hiding in opened with a creak.

"Well, what do we have here?" A woman with scarlet hair, and an equally red covered axe, asked with a malicious tone as she opened the door.

Nezu yelped and cowered behind Toshinori, who pushed himself to his full height and raised his arms into a practiced- if somewhat awkward now, combat stance.

"Aww, what's wrong little bunny?" The woman cooed as she stared at Nezu, lifting her axe off her shoulder. "Don't wanna come play with Mommy?"

Yagi stepped forward, he wasn't about to go down without a fight!

…

And then the woman's head popped like a gory grape.

Her headless corpse slumped to the floor, to reveal a familiar face- err, mask- standing at the end of the Hallway.

"Snipe!" Nezu cheered, and rushed forward desperately. "It's so good to see you! It's a good thing you have that stupid mask, I'm half tempted to make those standard emergency equipment after this debacle! Please! Do you have a spare! I NEED to get out of this gas!"

"Uh." Snipe stared down at Nezu, somehow managing to look bewildered though his mask. "Sorry, but this thing's made to filter out smoke, not chems."

"Smoke?" Nezu blinked. "Wait, you mean you don't have your quirk? You're just, what, a guy with a gun?"

Snipe cocked his head. "Ya mean I wasn't before?"

"No, that- that was different!" The mouse huffed and shook his head. "Whatever, I don't care, just get me out of this fucking smoke!"

"Get us out of this smoke." Yagi corrected as he stepped forward. "I can't power up in here, but if I can get outside I think I could blow this stuff away."

Snipe glanced between them, his thoughts hidden behind his mask, but after a second he shrugged. "Sure thing boss." He spun his revolver around his finger. "We'll go through the main gate, pick up any remainin' civvies, and cap sum bastards in one go."

"The main gate?" Yagi quirked an eyebrow. "That's where most of the fighting is, can you handle that?"

"Oh don't worry, ah stopped by mah locker. And since it's ah crisis, with a lotta folks in danger, I ain't gotta use them rubber rounds." Snipe patted his belt. "I gottah enough lead to down a tank."

Toshinori made an expression, and was clearly going to say something, but was cut off by Nezu.

"Great! Phenomenal! I'll install a firing range for you after this!" The Mouse hopped and pulled Snipe down slightly by his cloak. "Just get me out of here!" He hissed, panicking as he felt more of his mind slipping away.

Snipe looked down at him for a long second, his mask giving nothing away.

"Sure thing boss." His gun clicked as he pulled back its hammer. "Follow me."

-Rain of Sins-

"Sir this is Bravo Two, the video feed isn't responding. Someone must have physically pulled the plug on the hardware, I can't get anything up- neither Stain's broadcast, or the other one's livestream."

"Forget about the broadcast Bravo Two, you did well to keep it up for as long as you did. Focus on their communications, we need to keep those down for as long as we can!"

"Yes Sir!" Rebecca replied mechanically as she worked furiously on the nondescript black laptop the Safety Commission had provided for this op.

Why did the chief stop her from shutting off the broadcast when it first went up? Why did he make her keepit up? Why was she crippling their communications!? Between her work and the nearby cell phone tower going down for "maintenance" UA was left flailing around blind!

"For peace in our time." She whispered to herself, trying to block out the desperate screaming coming from below. "For peace in our time."

"House, this is Bravo One reporting in," A cold voice echoed from Rebecca's left, the complete lack of emotion causing her to shiver. Tanya sat, perched next to a window, with a sniper rifle mounted on the frame. "The security for the rest of the festival has finished calming the panic and making a perimeter, the police and Heroes are forming up to attempt to breach the coliseum. What's the status of foxtrot? Over."

"Should be coming online any moment now, don't worry about 'how's or 'why's that my job. Just focus on keeping me up to date on what's happening."

"Yes sir." Tanya relaxed. And went back to scanning over the festival through her scope, when movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. "Sir, this is Bravo One!" She shouted into the mic, suddenly much more awake. "I have a visual and a clear shot, but it won't last long! Requesting permission to fire!"

"A clear shot on who?"

"The PSC's top priority target, sir!"

…

"Sir?"

"Take him out."

-Rain of Sins-

Nighteye rolled as he impacted the roof, pain lancing up his spine as he put pressure on all his bruises and injuries.

There was a crunch of gravel, and a short muttered curse, as Stain landed closely behind him, stumbling slightly from landing on a badly bruised leg.

Nighteye skidded to a stop and used his momentum to right himself, and Stain threw himself forward, slicing downwards with an overhead slash in an attempt to catch the Hero while he was still without his footing.

Mirai lashed out, his foresight being the only thing that kept him calm, and hit the side of Stain's sword with all the strength he could put into a karate chop.

The sword was old, overused, and maintained without the proper equipment. It was deadly, but unlike the sword from the lab, the only thing remarkable about it was who it was wielded by. The old blade snapped as Nighteye hit its weak point, and broke cleanly half way down the length of it.

Normally this should have bought Nighteye some time.

But Stain wasn't normal by any means.

Stain lunged forward, mouth open, and caught the spinning broken tip of the blade between his teeth before slamming it down into the Hero's shoulder.

Nighteye bit down on his lip to muffle his scream, but he forced himself to focus. His vision had been clear, the fight would end on this rooftop, he only had one shot at this.

He leaned forward, grunting as the blade was forced deeper and pulled one of the few remaining throwing knives from Stain's belt before ramming it into the back of his knee.

Stain roared in pain, letting go of the blade, and Nighteye headbutted him with a horrible crack, knocking him back, which was punctuated by a punch straight to the nose that sent him to the ground.

Nighteye panted deeply as he stood over Stain's fallen form, the glow slowly fading from his eyes. Gingerly, he pulled the blade from his shoulder and hurled it off the roof as hard as he could- the same thing he'd done with a knife earlier, his vision had been very strict in showing him to not let Stain get ahold of any of his blood. He didn't know exactly what would happen, but he could predict it was bad.

He sighed as the reel inside his head came to a stop, the picture of an incapacitated Stain fitting perfectly with the sight in front of him. The only remaining flickers were of a shadowed form being dragged away- presumably Stain, by the police.

It was over.

He closed his eyes and pinched his nose as he took a deep breath. It's been a long time since he'd been pushed so hard, and frankly, he felt like shit.

Then his eyes shot back open as Stain let out a pained grunt.

Nighteye watched in horror and fascination as Stain forced himself to his feet, ripping the knife from the back of his leg, and leaning heavily on his good sword.

He was covered in bruises, was slightly hunched from several broken ribs, had a broken nose, and a cracked leg- one with a hole through it's knee now. But then again, Nighteye wasn't all that much better, having taken a blade through his shoulder and out his armpit, a large cash across his stomach, and numerous bruises all over his body.

"You…" Stain hissed, blood leaking from his mouth in streams as he grinned unnaturally wide. "You are worthy." He took a stumbling limp forward, and Nighteye took one back. "You will save them, even when He has faded…"

"How?..." Nighteye whispered, as he stared at the man in front of him. His vision had never been wrong! The fight ended on this rooftop! He was sure of it! How had-

BANG

A loud gunshot ripped through the air, and Stain instinctively raised his sword to where it had come from, ready to cut the bullet in two- or at least try to, with how hurt he was.

But as he stared off into the distance… the bullet never came.

Slowly his gaze traveled left to see Nighteye standing with a shell shocked expression on his face.

He coughed and blood splattered to the ground, his eyes losing focus, as the area around a hole in his suit slowly turned from blue to a dark red.

"No…" Stain whispered, cold horror gripping his gut. "NO!"

And then the world exploded, sending both of them careening off the rooftop.

-Rain of Sins-

Weiss watched with a frown on his face as more and more explosions ripped through the storage district, in the distance.

It was nothing but old warehouses back there- the vast majority of which were abandoned and left to rust. That combined with the nearby festival security scaring any thugs, gangs, or drug traffickers from doing business in the area meant that no one would be caught in the blasts.

A final explosion, the largest one so far, shook the ground and sent a plume of smoke up over the skyline.

The blasts could be as loud as they needed to be, and they wouldn't directly kill anyone.

Yes. No one died from his hands today. Weiss took comfort in that thought as he nodded to himself and turned around to begin the long trek back to base.

…Except, as he heard screams in the distance, and general panic as organized security completely broke down, Heroes scattering all over the festival to find a nonexistent threat- scattering everywhere that wasn't the coliseum.

He knew that thought wasn't entirely true.

"For peace in our time." He muttered to himself. "For peace in our time."

-End Chapter-

HPSC: Cold war CIA agency that pulls shit from behind the scenes and takes great liberty on what "legal" means.

Nighteye: Can literally see the future. Worse, because he's a Hero, the HPSC knows about his quirk, and just how powerful it is. WorseX2, it's cannon that he keeps how it's activated, and it's limits, very close to his chest.

So you have a secret organization that knows there's someone who could potentially see everything they're doing- as well as everything they'll ever do, and don't have so much as a clue as to its limitations.- something that's a prime breeding ground for paranoia, and exponentially increasing fears.

The PSC has murdered Heroes, kidnapped a kid to brainwash and manufacture into their "perfect hero", and are directly interacting with children who have "difficult or dangerous quirks to control" in order to "help" them.

Two of those are very bad, and the third almost seems worse somehow.

And that's just what we, the audience, know! Our main frame of reference into the world of MHA in Izuku, who has just about ZERO interaction with the HPSC before it more or less collapses.

My opinion? They've probably done more, and done worse, and they're almost certainly paranoid as fuck about Nighteye ousting them.

Paranoid enough to outright assassinate him? No way, he's too high profile. But if he were to be in a high danger situation, where casualties are already high, and nobody would be any the wiser… Well, then the calculations change a bit.

*Sips Hot Chocolate*

Alright, anyway, enough of that. Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! And I'll see y'all soon.

I wound up pulling the Izuku scenes from this chapter, because it was getting waaay too long (We're already at 8k, even with the cut scenes, and if chaps are too long the stats say I lose readers) and I thought they were too spaced out, which was making the flow all weird.

Having them all together will improve the reading experience, trust me. And with this fight, I don't want y'all to lose any of the impact.

Next chap, it's the scientist vs the angry flamethrower.

P.S. Oh yeah, Mustard made his appearance. He definitely won't be important later or anything.

P.S.S. First it was Aoyama and Mineta, now it's Mustard, why the Hell do I always wind up trying to fix broken characters that no one really cares about, in the background.