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Izuku steps out of the alley he waited in and falls into step next to Endeavor.
“I’m giving you the chance to turn yourself in, Enji, and end your career with some dignity.”
The hero scoffs, not even bothering to stop his patrol. “Get away from me. And take off that ridiculous mask.”
So he’s made his choice, then.
Izuku reaches in under his coat and pulls out the assault rifle hanging over his shoulder from a strap. Endeavor isn’t fast enough to dodge the spray. He catches three bullets, tight grouping, in the chest before he can propel himself into the air. Izuku puts the rifle to his shoulder then uses the scope to track ahead of Endeavor’s flight path. He wings him twice more, disabling one arm, left side. Now spiraling and losing control, Endeavor races downwards to the rapidly clearing street. The crowd has devolved into screaming and panicked running. Traffic has come to a halt as people leave their cars to give room for the Hero Fight.
Endeavor crashes to the ground, cratering the roof of an empty car. When he tries to get up, Izuku clips him three more times in the back and side. Endeavor slumps off the car to the ground. Izuku drops the rifle; it slides on the strap and falls to hang behind his back while he throws his coat off. He runs at Endeavor, clacking his knuckles together as he does. The sparkers strike and ignite the gas flooding out of the emitters on Izuku’s knuckles.
Dicyanoacetylene. Burns at a temperature of 4990 degrees Celsius.
Endeavor leans against the side of the car, pulling himself up with his one good arm and staggers to his feet.
Izuku sprints.
He jump-steps up onto the hood of the car and with the next leap, he wraps his thighs around Endeavor’s neck, legs crossing over the man’s chest in a tight choke-hold. The momentum swings them both onto the ground. Endeavor struggles against the leg lock while Izuku aims his own flames at the hero’s head. Using his standard retinal controls, he engages his own overheat countermeasures through his HUD. Smoke from the liquid nitrogen seeps through the fabric of his oversuit.
Izuku is wearing four layers.
Bottom layer: an undersuit insulted against cold.
Second layer: an undersuit lined with tubing, two bladders filled with liquid nitrogen mounted to his back, a small pump mechanism tucked under the back of his helmet.
Third layer: an undersuit made of the same fire-retardant fabric as Endeavor’s suit, lined with tubing, a bladder on either thigh filled with the dicyanoacetylene, strung through the top layer to his gloves.
Top layer: another suit made of Endeavor’s fabric.
While wearing three layers of hoods and four layers of gloves is admittedly a pain, it is unfortunately a must, lest Izuku get boiled alive in his own skin.
Endeavor struggles; Izuku squeezes his throat tighter and raises his gas flow. The pale blue and bright white flames have the hero’s temperature climbing steadily. Izuku drags the infrared filter into view. Past the stark white of Izuku’s flames, he can watch Endeavor’s body creep closer to his limit.
He unballs his fists and kills the flames. Endeavor still struggles against choking from Izuku’s tightly locked legs. Izuku draws the knife sheathed on his thigh and stabs down at the hero. One; punctured lung. Two; severed ligaments, right shoulder. Twist the knife; shoulder dislocated. Endeavor roars. Both his arms are unable to move.
“Prominence Burn!”
Fire consumed them both. Izuku grits his teeth and ups the pressure of his pump, nitrogen circling faster.
He ignites his fists again and aims them back at Endeavor.
Endeavor’s flames begin to peter out as his temperature sky-rockets.
Izuku releases him and stands up. He kills his own fire again. Endeavor gasps and chokes for air. The punctured lung won’t be just incredibly painful, it will also be leaking air into the chest cavity and compressing the other lung, making him feel like he’s suffocating. With every gasping breath, blood will fill both lungs through the puncture, basically drowning him in his own blood as well. The more he feels like he’s drowning, the more he gasps for air, the more blood pools in.
“People say you can’t fight fire with fire, but when it comes to you, they couldn’t be more wrong. Trying to super-cool you would only help you. You could easily normalize your core temperature again with some fire. So what is your weakness? Simple. Fire. Even your body can only handle a certain amount of heat, though your limit is much higher than an average person’s.”
Izuku crouches down next to Endeavor’s head, in the middle of the growing pool of blood.
“Three minutes to take you down, start to finish. Pathetic.”
Blood bubbles out of Endeavor’s mouth.
“Don’t worry. You’ll survive. Heroes will be here in forty seconds, ambulance ten seconds after that. Plenty of time for us to have a chat.”
Thirty-eight.
Thirty-seven.
Thirty-six.
“Turn yourself in to the police. Confess your crimes. If you don’t, I’ll have to do it for you. I gave you a chance to go out with your dignity intact, but you made the choice to fuck around. You found out. Keep fucking around, keep finding out.”
Thirty.
Izuku monitors the crackling radio waves of hero communications and police band with one ear. They’re just on time.
Twenty-seven.
Twenty-six.
“You’re a coward, Enji, who beats on his wife and kids to make himself feel better. It’s no wonder you could never take All Might’s Number One spot. A coward like you doesn’t deserve it.”
Twenty.
Nineteen.
Sirens are approaching. Still thirty seconds until then, but heroes will be joining them soon.
Izuku removes the .50 caliber bullet from his pocket. He holds it over Endeavor’s face; the man’s eyes struggle to focus on it but widen once he realizes what he’s looking at.
“This is what Touya wanted me to use. Be glad I talked him down from murder to maiming.”
He presses the bullet into Endeavor’s hand, curling his massive fist around it.
“Keep that in mind.”
Fourteen.
Thirteen.
“I hope you make the right choice, Enji.”
Izuku stands up. He starts running.
Now all there is to do is wait. Either Endeavor shows some strength of character for once in his pathetic excuse for a life, or Izuku will be forced to expose him for the fraud he is.
Izuku is confident in the prediction he’s already made concerning the situation, but the unexpected has of course been known to happen. He can’t wait to see how things turn out.