Work Text:
Midoriya hurriedly climbs up the fire escape on the side of an apartment complex. His heart beats louder and louder, fire is spreading across the city, screams echo from every direction, but most importantly he can see the hero killer in plain view. His palms slip on the ladder and leave a trail of sweat on each rung. Heaving as he goes, panicking as he stays in the vicinity longer and longer. He needs to get this shot, he has to, this will be the best footage anyone has gotten of Stain.
Doubt and fear fills his mind as he gets to the roof top and starts up his camcorder. ‘What if Stain sees me? What if I’m attacked?’ He shakes away the thoughts and reassures himself, He’ll be okay, Stain only kills heroes, right?
Midoriya connects his camcorder to his phone as he’s done multiple times now, thankful for the city-wide Wi-Fi he loads up Youtube and hits ‘Go Live’. The view perfectly fits The Hero Killer and his newest victim as Midoriya zooms in on the alleyway. Midoriya holds the cam as steady as possible, taking deep breaths he gets himself in the zone.
“Welcome, and sorry for the impromptu stream this fine night. Can’t believe I'm saying this but today, we’re here with Stain, better known as, The Hero Killer. Quirk: unknown, blood type: unknown, affiliation: unknown, but it is rumoured that he is working with the league of villains.” Midoriya eases up as he falls into his routine and begins doing what he does best. “For any of you viewers out there that have been saying I support Stain or sympathize with him… well here’s your answer.” The camera zooms in on the hero laying in front of Stain, bleeding out. “NO, THE FUCK, I DON’T!! That right there is Native, a proud hero from an undisclosed indigenous background who donates a large percentage of his sponsorship revenue to many campaigns and organizations that protect sacred lands and displaced clans that have lived in Japan for centuries and has even gone to America to on a campaign to raise awareness of the forgotten indigenous tribes there.”
The chatbox on Midoriya’s phone is scrolling too fast to read, even if he was paying attention to it. Most messages shouting praise for both Native and Midoriya but some still defending Stain and some realizing what’s to come.
Just as Midoriya finishes his rant his heart stops, feelings of helplessness and despair fill his heart as he watches Stain raise his sword to put down the unarmed hero, there’s nothing he can do but sit there and watch. He begins trembling, frozen between whether he puts the camera down to hide this from the viewers or keep recording to show that heroes really do risk their lives everyday. Panicking and speechless, the camera is locked dead center on Stain, barely picking up his frantic ramblings.
Midoriya comes back to his senses to the roars of an engine, and just in time Stain’s focus on his prey is interrupted. A flash comes flying down the alley and Stain’s instincts kick in. In one long slash of The Hero Killers sword, a hero clad in shining armor is toppled and his helmet clatters beside him. Ineffective at attacking the villain, Native has been given another moment in this world.
The Hero Killer doesn’t move to attack the armored hero any more than he already did. Midoriya zooms in further onto the new hero and begins muttering theories about who he may be. “Unidentified hero, quirk: seems to be some kind of engine in the legs, body parts replaced by machinery is not a common quirk expression, only a few come to mind. I can only think of one currently in this area of japan but not only is his quirk in his arms but he’s also out of commission because of The…”
Midoriya is cut off by the armored hero’s raised voice echoing in the empty streets, “... Listen up villain! I am the brother of a hero you cut down! The brother of the finest hero! And I have come to put a stop to you in his stead! Don’t ever forget the name: INGENIUM!” The boy’s words carry his emotions with weight, he shouts the name of a hero with conviction and stands confidently against The Hero Killer.
It finally dawns on Midoriya, “That’s a UA student! He was at the sports festival! Quirk: Engine, hero name: Ingenium. UA hero course student, and I’m assuming he’s on a work study right now.” As Midoriya begins identifying the student, Ingenium trades blows with The Hero Killer and very shortly finds himself lying on the ground still shouting about carrying on his brother’s legacy.
“HE’S ATTACKING A STUDENT!! This is the reality of heroes versus villains, there is no grey area, no excuse, that villain is going to kill a child! This is what heroes are fighting for!” The hero killer takes his blade from the poor student and runs his eerily long tongue along its edge. In the same moment the Ingenium’s body goes stiff, Midoriya’s mind races and he begins rambling again, hardly loud enough for the stream to pick up his voice. “… the moment Stain took his blade from Ingenium, he went cold, did he die? Is he silenced? No native is still obviously alive, and assuming he did the same thing to native must mean Ingenium is still alive. Neither of them are moving, not even trying too, does that mean that his quirk is to-“ his monologue is cut off by another hero entering the scene just before Stain finishes what he started.
“CREAMSICLE SLAM!!” An amorphous blob stretches to the length of a car then freezes mid-swing towards Stain. The Hero Killer jumps back, out of the way, disgusted with how many inconveniences he’s had tonight. “Another false idol for this land of blind sheep.” The loathsome voice chills Midoriya to the bones as it rings through the air. Stain, about to go on another long-winded rant, is interrupted again by a flash of green lightning bouncing between walls followed up by a flurry of blows. The Hero Killer strikes about, swiping his sword in every direction, the green flashes continue to twirl him around but finally, the electricity goes dark revealing a young girl that drops swiftly to the ground with a loud thud right beside Ingenium. In the confusion the same amorphous blob slams Stain against the wall, making an opening to quickly help the fallen heroes, “LUNCH RUSH!?!?” Midoriya is baffled seeing his school’s chef take part in a fight against The Hero Killer.
The deft cook rushes in to scoop up Ingenium and the other hero and gets some distance between them and the villain. Midoriya is stumbling over his words in awe of seeing the best cook in Japan take a battle-ready stance, “H-h-h-hero name: Lunch Rush? Quirk: unknown… They don't really like having students in the kitchen. Currently a support hero working as a chef at UA highschool, there’s no way they’re here responding to an emergency in Hosu.”
Midoriya steadies his mixture of excitement and confusion and focuses on the fight happening, “The hero with the green lightning is now in the same predicament as Ingenium and Native, she was moving too fast so I didn’t see her get cut but I’m sure she did, it looks like Lunch Rush is administering improvised first aid to both her and Ingenium. And that hero with the big blob, I recognize her as well from the sports festival, hero name: Strawbs & Cream, quirk: Cream, she has a sentient blob of cream living inside of her much like Tsukuyomi’s Dark Shadow from the same class at UA. I can’t get a good view of the green lightning hero but I think it’s best to assume she’s also from the same class.”
Strawbs & Cream is keeping her distance well, using Cream to slow down and knock back The Hero Killer, from this vantage point it’s obvious she’s trying to get him into the street and away from Native. Lunch Rush follows her lead and tries to maneuver around Cream's current area of attack. Cream stretches just a little further to give Lunch Rush partial cover as they make a break for Native. Stain’s battlefield awareness seems unparalleled when two knives are flung at Lunch Rush, one just catching their jacket and the other sticking right into their leg, all the while maintaining focus on Strawbs & Cream.
Lunch Rush stumbles as he removes the knife from their leg and expedites Native’s rescue. Midoriya is scrambling to form a thought “Wait! Lunch Rush got stabbed, shouldn’t they be paralyzed? Unless there's some other factor that has to be in play, maybe The Hero Killer needs to be holding the weapon, or he has to see them get stabbed, or by proximity?" Just as Midoriya is piecing all his observations together, Stain breaks away from Cream and bolts for the dropped blade. Not even bothering to grab the knife, an insanely long tongue whips out of his mouth grazing the steel edge, the moment he swallows a splash of Lunch Rush’s blood, The Cook Hero stumbles to the pavement motionless.
“That’s it! Ingesting a victim's blood causes them to be paralyzed, but how long does that last?” Midoriya continues to watch intently, almost forgetting to keep the camcorder focused. Strawbs abandons her calm at the sight of Stain taking advantage of the pro-hero’s now defenseless self. In those excruciating few seconds the heat of battle seems reality from a powerful blast of Ingenium’s engines, the young hero closes the distance at a speed that would be missed in a blink. Stain’s bloodlust clouds his vision and a hefty boosted kick from Ingenium saves Lunch Rush’s life. Strawbs & Cream collect themselves, more confident now with The Turbo Hero by their side.
“Wow, it's crazy to see how much stronger these students have gotten since I saw them at the sports festival.” Midoriya finally acknowledges his own stream again, “This is the next generation of heroes, everyone. Fighting a villain that has slain many heroes already, standing strong to protect people even when it wasn’t their fight to begin with. It’s just like something I heard a while back, ‘Meddling where you don’t need to is the essence of being a hero.’ and that's what these heroes here are doing today.”
Ingenium and Strawbs seem to be discussing a plan while Cream keeps The Hero Killer at bay. Stain is disoriented from that surprise attack giving the heroes that extra moment to formulate a plan. Midoriya zooms in on the two heroes and sees Strawbs stretching a small bit of Cream onto Ingeniums legs, using the same technique as her ‘Creamsicle Slam’ she cools Ingenium’s overheated engines and he begins charging up for another boosted kick. Strawbs & Cream begin attacking Stain with a heavier barrage of swings using the lasting effects of their creamsicle technique giving Ingenium time to get to full power. The Turbo Hero’s engines are blazing through the frozen sweet treat coating flaring up Midoriya’s camera lens. In a flash, Ingenium launches the Hero Killer into the air with one kick and blasts himself up in an attempt for a follow up move. In the same moment the lens flares again as the same green lightning from before bounces between the buildings to meet The Hero Killer mid-air. Blinding light illuminates the alley as green lightning and Ingenium’s engines meet at the same point above the street and two powerful attacks connect at the same time, slamming The Hero Killer down to the ground.
The battle is finally over, the green lightning hero secures the villain with a rope she had in her pack, Midoriya turns the camcorder to face him and he begins rambling on about quirk usage during that fight and his disappointment at not getting to really see Lunch Rush in action. A group of pro heroes come rushing down the street. Mostly sidekicks and solo patrol heroes. “A little late for them to show up but at least it seems they’re helping with first aid. It's nice to see Native and Lunch Rush are able to stand again, though I don’t think Lunch Rush should be using that leg much.” The calmness of Midoriya’s voice eases him into his routine of an outro for his stream, but he gets cut off by the heroes below gasping and into view comes a monstrous beast flying through the sky. It’s grey, winged body and lifeless eyes matched with an open cranium sends shivers down Midoriya’s spine leaving him speechless but aware enough to know he needs to get this on stream.
The creature swoops down with speed, spooking the heroes below, it snatches up Strawbs & Cream. It gains height steadily and with all eyes to the sky The Hero Killer undoes his bindings and in one swift motion slurps from the trail of blood the beast has left, pounces on the stiff monster as it falls from the sky and with a hidden knife he finishes what he didn’t start.
Stain, The Hero Killer, stands above its corpse now speaking loud enough for the camcorder to pick up, “The fakes that have overrun society and the criminals who so aimlessly sprinkle around their ‘power’. Those are the targets of my purge! ALL OF THIS IS FOR THE SAKE OF A JUST WORLD!” His voice, full of disdain, conviction, and pain, resonates through the streets, the power of his words make the heroes freeze up both out of fear and from an overwhelming presence. Torn from reality, Midoriya’s heart drops and his blood runs cold as he finally realizes The Hero Killer was staring right at him when he made his speech loud and clear for anyone listening. Tension builds as Stain and Midoriya lock eyes, the camcorder shaking ever so slightly pointing right at this menace, complete silence carries the weight of his words, finally broken by a flaming hero blasting down the street.
“Why are you all standing around? Where’s the monster? One of you had to have seen it!” The Flame Hero, Endeavor, pauses his scolding of the group of shaken heroes as he sees his prize, “THE HERO KILLER!” With a confident smirk running across his face he readies an attack but no sooner does Stain make his mark, “ANOTHER FALSE IDOL! The FAKES must be RECTIFIED! Someone, SOMEONE MUST STAIN HIM IN HIS OWN BLOOD! The word ‘HERO’ MUST BE RESTORED!” The presence the heroes feel has projected itself onto Endeavor who is now stunned like the rest, frozen in this moment. The Hero Killer takes long, powerful steps towards Endeavor, making sure to share his attention with the camera so conveniently trained on him. “COME!! JUST TRY TO STOP ME, YOU PRETENDERS!” Now, entirely heedful of Midoriya’s stream, The Hero Killer gives his final tenet, “THE ONLY ONE WHO IS ALLOWED TO KILL ME, WILL BE ALL MIGHT!”
The would-be-feeling of shock is softened by the lasting unnerve Stain had wrought to all present this night. Moments pass, the tension straining, Stain stands there with empty eyes and gaping mouth, as still as his victims. Is he dead?