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Ingenium is dead.
That’s the first thought Tenya has as he hangs up the phone. Of course Tensei isn’t dead. No, of course not. But Ingenium was.
Paralysis tends to do that to a hero. Sure Tensei wasn’t dead, but his legacy was.
When someone in the streets mentions the hero Ingenium, it won’t be praise. It will be ‘Oh isn’t that the hero who was paralyzed by the Hero Killer’.
The goddamn Hero Killer. This is what he wanted. This is what he wants. He wants to ruin an innocent man’s career to get his name out there. To get the name of his…. fucking movement out there.
The phone in Tenya’s hands is slowly being crushed, but he can’t be bothered. If he had Midoriya’s strength or Bakugou’s quirk this phone would be destroyed by now. It was a shame, really, that his quirk had to be centered around his legs. Sure, he could run into someone at incredibly high speeds, but really, what was that proving to anyone. Where would that help with anything important.
He puts the phone down on a table before he cracks the screen. He wasn’t sure if he could do that, but it was best to be safe than sorry. With the cost of the medical bills their family was going to have after this… whatever this was, he didn’t want to burden them with having to buy him a new phone.
Plus he liked this phone.
Wait… he should go see Tensei. Isn’t that what he was supposed to do? Go see Tensei, pretend like everything was okay.
Pretend like he didn’t want to kill the Hero Killer.
What a legacy that would be. Hero Killer slain by a hero in training. Hysterical. What he wouldn’t do to get his hands on that man and show him the same pain he inflicted on Tensei.
No, no, no, no, no. Iida Tenya, was not a killer. He was a hero. Hero. And he would not be killing anyone today. Not today. Not ever.
-
Tensei looks worse than expected. No, throw that phrase right out the window. Tensei looks dead.
He’s not dead, he’s clearly speaking, but he looks dead.
Tensei could’ve died.
Tensei apologizes.
He’s not a hero anymore, and Tenya feels a piece of his soul die.
Ingenium is dead, and there’s not a damn thing Tenya can do about it.
Unless…
No. He wouldn’t dare.
He would. He would dare, and that’s the entire problem.
He would kill a man for revenge.
“Tenya? You okay?” Tensei asks. His voice is practically gone. He shouldn’t be talking. He should be resting. He sounds like he’s been through a war because he has and Tenya was at school… Participating in foolish games.
Of course he wasn’t fucking okay. Tensei had nearly died. The title of Ingenium had stopped right there in that moment. Ingenium was no more. Tensei’s legs were no more.
There had been times when Tenya was a child, probably about five years old, where Tensei would lift him up and make him feel like he was flying.
There were times when Tensei would pick him up, even now, after Tenya had fallen asleep studying and carried him to bed.
There were times where Tenya would wake up and look out his window to see Tensei on a quick jog around the property.
All of these memories were useless. Happy memories turned sad by the actions of one selfish fool.
What was the point of such memories if Tensei could never use his legs again.
No more morning jogs… no more falling asleep in the living room and waking up in his bedroom. No more Tensei.
Sure, Tensei was alive, but was he truly alive when he could no longer do the things that made him happy.
Tenya looked up at Tensei, looking in his eyes for the first time since he’d arrived in the small hospital room.
“Tenya?”
“Of course, Tensei. I’m fine.”
Liar…
-
Tensei had wanted him to take on the name Ingenium.
Would he?
He held up his whiteboard at the front of the class.
TENYA
Of course he wouldn’t take on the name Ingenium…
Because Ingenium is dead.
-
He knows what he’s doing when he picks it.
Hosu City Hero Office.
Of course he would stoop this low. Of course
He couldn’t just let this go, could he. He had to inject himself into the situation more than he already was.
Leave it up to him to take the situation into his own hands.
Aizawa-sensei tells him there were better options.
He knows this. He absolutely knows this. He did this for a purpose.
No. He didn’t do this for a purpose. Not that purpose.
He just wanted to… keep up with the news of the Hero Killer in a place where he knew the Hero Killer was.
Yes, that’s it. Of course that was it. He wasn’t seriously thinking about… killing the Hero Killer. Was he?
No, this was just a fantasy drawn up in his head by the grief he was experiencing over his brother’s injury.
Of course that was it.
Ingenium is dead, and he, the rookie hero known as Tenya, needed to get over it.
After all, Tensei was alive.
That’s all that matters… right?
-
The day comes and Midoriya sees right through him. Of course he would, he always does. Midoriya sees right through everyone except for maybe Bakugou.
Leave it up to Midoriya to once again make him question his motives for going to Hosu City.
He told himself- he convinced himself that it was because of the training he would get. He honestly believed that…
What a fool he was.
He was going to Hosu City to kill the Hero Killer. Of course he was. That was the only ending to this, wasn’t it.
Nobody else would do it. Nobody else cared.
“If you need to talk, we’re here” Midoriya says, gesturing to him and Ururaka. Of course they would say that. They were his friends.
They were his friends, weren’t they.
Would they truly be asking him to talk about it if they were his friends?
Tenya, knock it off. They’re your friends. They’re here for you.
No they weren’t. They wouldn’t understand. Nobody would.
If they knew. If Midoriya knew what he was dealing with, he’d report him. Most likely to All Might. Those two were uncomfortably close.
Yes, if anyone knew he was experiencing the desire to kill someone, he would be reported. He would be reported and kicked out of the hero course. No. He would be kicked out of U.A., and not without good reason.
He would kick himself out too if he were the U.A. staff.
He didn’t deserve to be a hero…
“Ok. I’ll remember that,” He says.
He won’t.
After all, he’ll probably never see them again after this.
He would either slay the Hero Killer where he stands or die trying.
That was just the way things had to be, because Ingenium was dead, and there was only one way to fix that.
-
“I was surprised when I found out you hadn’t taken on the name Ingenium,” Manual says while the two of them are out on patrol of Hosu City.
“Why would I have? Ingenium is dead.”
He says it as if it were obvious. There’s no taking over a position which no longer exists. Everyone should know that.
“What do you mean? Aren’t you the next Ingenium. According to tradition-”
He has to interrupt him. Manual is a good man. He knows this. He knows he’s just trying to understand, but Tenya is not Ingenium. He would never be Ingenium. He would always be Tenya.
He would always be the hero who was once led astray by the Hero Killer’s actions taken against his brother. The hero who someone empathized with the killers, as he had once had the desire to kill too, however he, unlike them, had never acted upon it.
He would be fine, but he would not be Ingenium.
“I would prefer if the title Ingenium died with my brother,” he says. He almost sounds dignified.
“But-”
“No. My brother is- was- a great hero, who was taken out of the hero business too soon by an unfortunate accident. I am not worthy of the title Ingenium. He, however, is, and I would like to keep it that way.”
He walks faster. Manual would never understand.
Nobody would understand.
Shit.
He was doing so well…
-
“You’re in Hosu City to avenge Ingenium, are you not?” Manual asks.
“No, of course not.”
Another lie… It was sad to say that this was almost common these days…
-
Everything is on fire, and Tenya only sees red.
Literally
A red, tattered scarf disappears down an alleyway, and in his heart Tenya knows that this is it.
It’s him…
It’s the Hero Killer.
‘Don’t follow him,’ his brain screams.
Of course he doesn’t listen. Of course not.
He follows as silently as he can with a giant metal suit. It works.
The Hero Killer doesn’t see him.
In the alleyway, the Pro Hero Native lies paralyzed, much like Tensei.
He doesn’t have time to step in before the Hero Killer’s sword goes through Native’s chest.
He can’t bring himself to care. After all, that’s not what he was here for. He could do without all the blood, but he had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the only blood covering the alleyway tonight.
After all, now that he had the Hero Killer in his sights, he wasn’t letting him get out alive.
He makes his presence known by stepping out of the shadows where he hid.
“Hero Killer.”
The Hero Killer looks over at him, looks away, and looks back.
“Ingenium is dead” he says to someone. Maybe himself.
“Ingenium was dead,” Tenya says before activating his engines and charging.
The Hero Killer doesn’t move. He underestimates him, clearly, or else he would move to fight. A foolish move.
Tenya throws his leg up and lands a solid kick to the Hero Killer’s face. That would leave a nice bruise. Its a shame the Hero Killer wouldn’t be alive tomorrow to see it.
The voice in his head still yells at him to stop. Nothing will be gained from this.
He begs to differ. The high he gets from seeing the Hero Killer spit out a mouthful of blood from damage he caused is much greater than anything he’d ever experienced in the hero course.
He manages to land another solid kick in the Hero Killer’s stomach, before he draws one of his other knives. The sword was still embedded in Native’s chest. Apparently the Hero Killer didn’t have enough courtesy to remove it before he’d attacked- No. Before Iida attacked him.
What was he doing. This was a mistake.
He didn’t have time to ponder his life choices, as he saw the Hero Killer’s blade heading towards his face. He silently thanked the gods that he hadn’t taken his armor off. He would’ve been toast if he had.
While his armor is mostly made for wind resistance, it could repel a blade or two before collapsing. Thank god, because there was a blade colliding with the entire side of his helmet at the current moment.
He could tell the Hero Killer was shocked. Hah. Fucker. Bet you weren’t expecting that.
“You’re not Ingenium. My blade pierced his armor immediately.”
Tenya didn’t care. He fucking didn’t care anymore. Fuck being the good boy his parents wanted him to be. Fuck Aizawa-sensei. Fuck Manual. Fuck Midoriya.
Midoriya didn’t know what it was like. He wouldn’t understand. ‘No, Iida. Don’t kill the Hero Killer who took a person you love and shattered him to pieces. Don’t do that’
Fuck that
He was killing this bastard tonight, and nobody could fucking stop him.
If they did, well...
He looked over at Native, collapsed against the wall.
He deserved it… He did.
Anyone who can’t stop the Hero Killer deserves to die.
Not Tensei. Everyone who came afterwards.
Ingenium was alive. He was right here. And he was going to take down the Hero Killer no matter what the consequences were.
The Hero Killer says something about striking a nerve, and Tenya begins to walk away. A fake out. Villains do them all the time.
The Hero Killer follows. A foolish move.
Tenya fires up his engines again and quickly makes his way to the back of the Hero Killer before he even realizes what’s happening. Dumbass.
The back of the Hero Killer, to the naked eye, looks normal. However, if you look harder, there are knives and swords lining his body as if they were a makeshift chest plate. Not a very good one. A knife could slip through any number of holes left by the shapes of the knives.
While the Hero Killer is still confused, Tenya grabs one of the knives. It will be handy later.
He has no other way of killing the man. It's either this or blunt force trauma via leg exhaust pipe, and Iida would rather choose the method guaranteed to kill. That was an entire lesson in the hero course. Villains tended to accidentally choose the method which left the victim alive for a longer period of time. Not him. Not today. The Hero Killer would die quickly.
He hides the knife in a compartment in his armor. There was no need to use it right away.
He takes the Hero Killer’s hair in his armored hand and slams his face against the wall. Tenya hears a crack and a cry of pain. Immediately he knows that something on the Hero Killers face is broken, and he smiles. He shouldn’t be smiling. He shouldn’t be.
Why is he doing this…
Tensei’s face, covered with the oxygen tube flashes in his mind, and before he can even think he’s slamming the Hero Killer’s face into the bricks once again.
This is satisfying.
No its not…
Yes it is. It really, really is.
Why hadn’t he done this sooner.
The Hero Killer spits out another mouthful of blood, and this time a few teeth come with it.
Tenya doesn’t give him time to recover before kicking him in the back. He’s surprised it doesn’t crack his spine. He’s almost disappointed.
He kicks again. Still no crack.
He uses the hand which isn’t holding the Hero Killers hair to punch him in the back. Still no crack.
He fires up the engines. A super speed blow to the back has to do it.
He kicks, and he doesn’t hear it. He doesn’t hear the crack still.
“GODDAMMIT.”
He kicks and kicks and kicks. At least the Hero Killer’s screams of pain make it worth his time.
If only he had Midoriya’s strength.
He could bend this motherfucker in half, and then he would know.
He kept kicking. He had to be cracking it a little…
Tears filled his eyes as he continued to kick the Hero Killer in the back.
“Why won’t you fucking break…”
The Hero Killer silently reaches for a knife, as if that will help him.
The Hero Killer blindly swings the knife at everything and anything behind his back. He’s aiming for Tenya’s arm. The one holding his hair. He never gets close.
“You know, if you keep doing that, I’ll have to break your arm.”
“Fucking try it.” The Hero Killer says.
Tenya grabs the arm holding the knife and twists it backwards. There’s a snap, and a scream, and Tenya is laughing.
It’s a laugh he’s never heard come out of himself before. The type of laugh you’d only hear in movies. A villain’s laugh.
It sounds beautiful, if he does say so himself.
He flips the Hero Killer around, certain that he is at least temporarily paralyzed. Nobody could take that many kicks to the back and still be able to move.
The entirety of the Hero Killer’s face is bruised and bloody. He’s holding a large chunk of the Hero Killer’s hair. There is fear in the Hero Killer’s now blood filled eyes, and nothing has ever been more beautiful.
“Do you regret what you did to my brother?” Tenya asks. Even through all of this, a part of him still wants to be rational. He can tell his rationality is fading. He knows. He knows that no matter what the answer is to this question he’s killing the Hero Killer tonight.
He would kill more. He wouldn’t stop. He was fine with this.
This is who he was supposed to be.
“Your brother was a fool to take me on.” The Hero Killer says, and Tenya draws the hidden knife.
He holds it between the Hero Killer’s eyes, and he knows that this will kill the man almost instantly when he stabs him. It’s a fascinating thought.
The Hero Killer doesn’t flinch.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
He would dare.
“What is your name?” Tenya asks.
“Stain”
“Try again.”
“Stendhal”
“Your real name.”
The Hero Killer hesitates.
“Akaguro Chizome”
Tenya takes a moment to remove his helmet, and smiles.
“Iida Tenya.”
“Your brother would not be proud.”
Deep in his heart Tenya is hurt. No. Tensei would be proud of this.
After all, he was doing this for him.
“I know.”
“You are just like me.” Akaguro says.
He’s wrong.
Well…
No he’s not.
Tenya can’t bring himself to care. This is far more satisfying than being a hero.
He draws the knife back.
“I know, Akaguro Chizome. I know.”
He plunges the knife into Akaguro’s skull. The man is dead in an instant.
Tenya can’t stop laughing, even as he dips his fingers in the blood running down Akaguro’s forehead.
He writes a message on the wall. One for any hero who finds the corpses in the alleyway.
The blood is sticky, but not unpleasant. He loves it. This is what he was missing.
He looks back at Akaguro’s corpse before walking away.
He truly was like him…
How amazing.
He kicks the discarded helmet towards Akaguro’s broken arm, and bends down to position it as if he was using the helmet as an armrest. He might as well make the scene look pretty.
As he’s about to get up, he looks at Akaguro’s face again.
He wants the red scarf. He wants the white mask.
There’s no reason he can’t take it. There’s no reason he can’t wear it.
Akaguro is dead. He isn’t using them.
He unwraps the now bloody scarf from around Akaguro’s neck, and wraps it around his own. It makes his armor stand out. At least he thinks it does. He won’t be sure until he sees himself in the mirror.
He knows he’s never taking it off. It’s a part of him now. A trophy, some would say.
He unties the mask next. He wears it as a headband instead. The mask would look asinine with his glasses on.
He could care less about the blood smeared across his forehead.
His thoughts were interrupted by a green glow approaching him from an alley over.
Midoriya.
He doesn’t know why he thinks it’s Midoriya. Midoriya never had a green glow before. He just knows he has to run.
He stands up.
“Goodbye Akaguro.”
And he runs.
-
As Midoriya turns the corner to the alleyway he sees the back of a red scarf go down the next alley.
The next thing he sees is the corpses. He assumes one is the Hero Killer. The other is a pro hero. He assumes by the clothing that it’s Native- was Native.
He looks up to the wall. There was blood splattered in what looked to be the vague shape of a face. That wasn’t the worst part of it.
Above that, in Iida’s handwriting.
INGENIUM IS NOT DEAD.
He was too late…
Iida was gone.
And the worst part.
The worst part was, he knew he’d just missed him.