"I promise this, Ingenium won't be the one to defeat you. I will."

"Then so be it. Die."

Iida tries rushing forward but is easily countered and pinned to the floor. By the time Raijin can do anything, he watches Stain lick his blood, Iida struggles, but both of them notice Iida's unable to move.

"Hey, Native. Did Stain lick your blood too?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Tells me all I need to know." In a flash, Raijin has a cord wrapped around Iida and drags him back behind himself.

"You're a weakling, just like he was. You aren't heroes. You have no right to be called that. Both of you are nothing but fakes."

"Oh shut it." Raijin interrupts. "While I don't like this idiot behind me, I can't exactly say the same for his older brother. You made a mistake attacking Ingenium. Unlike most, he was a proper hero. He didn't care for the fame or the wealth. He did it to serve and help people. He was a true hero." Raijin's body begins to crackle with energy, the slow blues becoming more vibrant reds, while also increasing in speed and power. "Third Evolution." Raijin mutters the Lightning Cords start to vanish. Stain moves forward, he and Raijin on a collision course ready to attack, Raijin leaps back as he watches a green blur pass him and punch Stain in the face.

"Smash!"

Chapter 14: Break

Raijin watches in surprise as Izuku Midoriya is the first to land an attack on the hero killer. "Deku?!" Raijin shouts with wide eyes as he grabs Midoriya and pulls him back to stand next to him, the wounded Iida, and Native.

"Midoriya? How?" Iida says through tears.

"Don't worry, four eyes. We'll save you." Raijin says, Midoriya nods standing side by side with Raijin. "Let's go back towards the street. We have to get help from the pros."

"I can't move my body." Iida says through tears.

"So that's what it does." Raijin mutters as he crouches down, and uses his electricity to try and cauterize Iida's wound. "This'll hurt by the way.

"Since he cut me, I've been paralyzed." Iida grunts against the pain of the wound being cauterized.

Midoriya nods. "That's the kind of quirk people on TV said the Hero Killer might have. So cutting somehow activates his power, huh?"

"There's more. He has to ingest the blood. After he cut Iida he licked the blood off the blade, it was then Iida stopped moving."

"Midoriya, Raijin, please! Don't get involved. This doesn't have anything to do with you." Iida pleads.

Midoriya glances back. "Iida, What are you saying?"

"You both choose to save your friend's life. You even made a big entrance. But I have a duty to kill him and this so-called pro. When your friend chose to fight me, it guaranteed that the weaker of us would be culled. So what will you do?"

Raijin turns to face the Hero Killer. "Then I guess it's your day to be culled. My work isn't done. I'll stop you, then I'll save those civilians from Nomu. But saving my friend takes precedence right now."

"Listen to ｍe. Stand down. Run away. I told you, this has nothing to do with you." Iida shouts.

"If you really believe that, then why are you trying to become a hero in the first place?!" Midoriya shouts at the blue-haired boy.

Raijin scoffs. "The Tenya Iida I know, from Somei academy, would tell me what I'm doing is wrong, and that I should always aspire to be like a hero, doing right and just. What happened to him Ingenium?" He chuckles and brushes his hair back a bit. "That Tenya, he was something, he might've gotten on my nerves a lot, but he was my friend. And he helped me in a bad spot, now it's high time I return that favor. "

Izuku nods. "All Might was right though, meddling when you don't need to is the essence of being a hero!"

Stain smirks as they prepare to fight again. Midoriya and Raijin run forward, dodging the blades efficiently. Raijin notes the batteries located around the area surrounding Stain, he starts bouncing electricity between them. As Midoriya gets a solid blow, the pair jump back as Midoriya's movements suddenly stop.

With a growl Raijin rushes forward watching his movements carefully so as to not get a single graze before grabbing the handle, he rotates to follow the inside of the blade and drives the point of his elbow into Stain's stomach dodging an attack from his spiked shoes and jumping up evading another attack from his blades.

"There are countless false heroes around here who are all talk, but I think you're worthy of staying alive, both of you. You're different from these two."

Stain goes to kill Iida but before Raijin can interfere a blast of flames launches for Stain forcing him to retreat away from the Hero in training.

"Midoriya, you need to give more details in times like this. I was almost too late to stop this guy. And why didn't you, Raijin?" Todoroki steps forward from behind Iida.

"Uh, Hello, kinda up here. Not as fast as Iida or Deku over there." Raijin scoffs as he uses his electricity to cling to a wall Spider-Man style.

"You, too, Todoroki?" Iida asks, still on the ground.

"IcyHot, we need to get them out of here." Raijin orders as he lands next to Todoroki, the pair stand together in front of Midoriya, Iida, and Native. "Don't let him ingest your blood, it appears as though he can paralyze you by doing so."

"He ingests blood to keep people from moving. That explains the blades. All I've got to do is keep my distance."

A knife goes flying by and cuts Todoroki across the face as Raijin catches it, he quickly uses the electricity he's stored to remove the blood from the blade by zapping the blood.

"You have good friends, Ingenium. Or you did!"

Todoroki defends himself from Stain and his blades as Raijin uses the time to gather the three paralyzed allies into a pile to better keep track of them.

"Stop it. Why are you doing this? His fight is with me! I Inherited my brother's name. I'm the one who should stop him. The Hero Killer is mine!" Iida shouts.

Todoroki hums. "You're Ingenium now? Strange? The Ingenium I knew before never had that look on his face. You've got a dark side. Guess my family isn't the only one."

Stain then breaks through and targets Native, Raijin tries to defend them, but a green blur bursts past and Midoriya grabs Stain chucking him to the other side of the alley.

"What the devil?" Raijin mutters as he lands on the floor kneeling next to Todoroki.

"We need to go." Todoroki says softly.

"Soon, watch the injured."

"Midoriya!" Todoroki calls out.

"I'm not sure how, but I'm able to move now!" Midoriya smiles as he stands next to Raijin & Todoroki.

"So he has a time limit?"

"No. that kid should've been the last one free." Native comments.

"I still can't move a muscle." Iida says, on the floor still.

Midoriya is able to get back to the others quickly as Todoroki looks at him and he starts explaining. "I've got three different guesses as to why. His quirk could be less effective the more people he uses it on. The amount ingested could play into how long it works. Or there could be a difference based on a person's blood type."

"If it's the last one, my blood type is B." Native comments.

Iida looks down. "I'm type A."

Raijin shrugs. "O."

Stain stares at the trio. "So you figured it out. Bravo very impressive."

"It doesn't really help us that much to know how his quirk works, though." Midoriya mutters.

"I thought we could carry those two out of here, but it's no good. He's too fast. He can avoid ice and fire. I'd have to leave myself unguarded. Our best option is to hold until the pros arrive and avoid close combat. "

"No, you know you've already lost way too much blood. Raijin and I can distract him while you support us from behind. Sound like a plan?" Midoriya asks glancing at the electric redhead.

"That's a pretty big risk, Deku." Raijin glances at the others behind him before he turns back to Stain. "Okay, I'm in."

"Three against one, huh? This fight won't be easy."

Raijin crouches down, red electricity covers his body. "Don't plan to make it easy." Midoriya and Raijin move forward going to battle Stain again as Todoroki supports any time Stain looks to have a clean strike on either.

The three work together until both Midoriya and Raijin are stuck as he gets a cut on Midoriya's leg and there's a sharp pain on Raijin's left arm. Raijin growls in anger as he's made to be stuck against a wall when Todoroki's fire blocks Stain from a fatal blow, Raijin feels himself lose control of his body.

"D-Damn it... sorry, Todo." Raijin grumbles from just ahead of the others. (Being stuck here... it's hell, being forced to watch as someone else fights for your safety... especially knowing that that person could lose their life because they were guarding you. It's agonizing...)

Once Iida can move he saves Todoroki and stands against Stain. "Todoroki, Midoriya, And you too, Raijin. This has nothing to do with you. I apologize."

Raijin scoffs. "Not this shit again..."

"I'm okay. And I won't let you three shed any more blood for me!"

"It's no use trying to pretend you're a hero now. A person's true nature doesn't change in just a few minutes. You'll never be anything but a fraud who prioritizes his own desires. You're the sickness that's infected society and ruined the name "hero." Someone must teach you a lesson."

Todoroki scoffs. "You're a fundamentalists lunatic. Iida, don't listen to this murderer's nonsense."

"No, like Raijin he is correct. I have no right to call myself a hero... at all. Even so... there's no way I can back down. If I give up now, then the name "Ingenium" will die!"

Stain frowns. "Pathetic." Native tries to tell them all to run.

But that won't do, Stain's changed, suddenly Raijin's leg moves and he smirks as he flips the switch on his battery pack. "Static Shock, Shock and Awe!" All of the batteries in his clothes and around him are drained rapidly as electricity bounces directly onto and off Raijin.

Midoriya and Iida blast towards Stain from in front, Raijin with a burst of speed, his electricity switching rapidly from red to green, then white.

(If I just use my strength... that's all I need to beat this guy!)

Midoriya slams his fist into Stain's face as Iida and Raijin slam their legs onto Stain's midsection. Stain gets another slash on Iida as Raijin slams a second boot onto his jaw launching him backward before his head is engulfed in flames thanks to Todoroki and Stain seemingly is captured by Todoroki's ice.

Midoriya takes several deep breaths. "He's gotta be knocked out after all that... right?"

"If he is... then we should restrain him and take them to the street. Hopefully, there's some rope around here." Raijin takes one deep breath, he starts to fall back but is caught by Yui who deactivates the switch in his battery pack.

Todoroki nods. "Yeah. And we should probably take all his weapons too."

"Good idea." Raijin comments settling down against the wall.

As a group they find some loose rope and tie him up, working together to remove all his weapons. Afterward, they drag him, to the street as the others talk. Raijin grabs his arm briefly. He looks forward out of the alleyway to see Edgeshot standing there with Yui.

Raijin's eyebrow perks up as he sees an Old Man approach. "Ugh? What are you doing here boy?!"

Midoriya panics for a moment. "Gran Torino! I was only-!" The old man slams his boot into Midoriya's face as Raijin watches them stunned.

"I thought I told you to stay on the bullet train!"

"Who're these two?" Todoroki asks.

"Hello, Edgeshot." Raijin says trying to hide his wound. "Hi, Kodai."

Midoriya tries to fake a smile. "Gran Torino, the Hero I'm interning with. I don't get it how did you find us?"

"I was told to come here by someone else. I have no idea what's going on, but I'm glad you're not dead, at least."

"So? Was he?" Edgeshot loos to Raijin.

Raijin sighs as he grabs at his arm slightly, a small, grunt of pain. "No. Stain didn't kill Mother."

"Hm?" Torino looks at Raijin."Who's he?"

Edgeshot closes his eyes. "Kyoreki Raijin. He's Livewire's son."

"Around the corner?" A hero is heard from a distance.

"Endeavor told us there was a request for help here, but...?"

"Children?"

"Those injuries look bad. I'll call an ambulance right away!"

A fifth hero's eyes widen. "Hey, look."

"Is that... the Hero Killer?"

Gran Torino finally notices Stain behind Raijin. "What?"

"I'll get the police on the line."

Raijin sighs as Yui hugs him and Edgeshot places a hand on his shoulder. "Don't scare me like that again, kid."

Raijin shakes his head looking down at the road. "He's not the one. Whoever did it, is still out there."

Iida walks over to Raijin, Todoroki, and Midoriya. "You guys. You all were hurt because of me. I'm truly sorry. I was just so angry. I couldn't see anything else. Is this how you felt, Raijin?"

"Yeah..." Raijin admits bluntly. He glances over to Yui who is speaking to Edgeshot and several of the other pros explaining the situation regarding the students being here. "Except I gave up on heroes. You didn't. You're stronger than I am."

Midoriya steps forward. "I'm sorry too, Iida. You were going through so much by yourself. But I couldn't tell anything was wrong. Even though I'm your friend."

"Hey, pull yourself together. You're the class rep." Todoroki comments.

Iida nods through his tears. "Right."

(All things considered, the fight with Stain was maybe ten minutes. But for us, it felt like we were in that alley forever.) Raijin sighs when Torino shouts for everyone to get down but before Raijin can get down he feels something wrap around himself. He looks up to see a Nomu grabbing himself and Midoriya. The creature trying to carry the two teenagers away from the others.

"Let go, damn it!" Suddenly the Nomu stops and starts descending with Deku and himself falling with it.

"The word "hero" has lost all meaning in this society. The world is overrun by criminals and fakes like you who chase petty dreams. You must all be purged." Stain declares as he slaughters the Nomu. Raijin looks up at Stain. To Raijin, he looks like an animal while he speaks to the Nomu. "Everything I do... is to create a stronger society. " The heroes prepare to fight when Endeavor appears and seemingly angers Stain. "Endeavor. You false hero. I'll make this right."

(His bloodlust, it's... it's suffocating... is this, is this the strength of a true villain?) Raijin thinks to himself as he tries to get up, he tries to do anything. (Move damn it!)

"These streets must run with the blood of hypocrites. Hero! I will reclaim that word! Come on! Just try and stop me, you fakes! There is only one man I'll let kill me. He is a true hero. All Might is worthy!" The bloodlust from him stops suddenly as does Stain, he's out cold.

[I wouldn't know until much later what had happened. A quirk didn't stop the Hero Killer. One of his broken ribs pierced his lung. He hadn't managed to lick anyone's blood, but everyone, Endeavor, Torino, Midoriya, Edgeshot, and even I in that moment, were unable to bring ourselves to stand against him. Only the Hero Killer had any fight left. However, this was my greatest learning experience.]

Hours Later, Hosu General Hospital

After the fight, we were taken to Hosu General Hospital and the four of us had to share a room.

"Did you get any sleep, Midoriya?" Todoroki asks as the four of us students are forced to stay in the same hospital room.

Midoriya shakes his head. "No not really."

"I figured, me neither. You, Raijin?"

"As if." I exhale. "Being that close to him. I'm kinda scared. But... just thinking about it, we did something pretty damn cool."

Todoroki nods. "Yeah, I agree."

"Yeah. After everything that happened back there, it kinda feels like a miracle we're even alive. With my leg messed up, I was an easy target. He probably could've killed me if he really wanted to."

"Yeah. Seems to me he let us three live on purpose. I'm impressed by you though, Iida. He was actually trying to murder you, but you stood tall."

Iida looks down at the floor. "That's not true. I was..." The door opens and we look over to see Pro Hero Manual, Edgeshot, Yui, and Torino standing there.

"Oh, so the injured youngins are awake." Torino jokes.

"Gran Torino!" Midoriya says excitedly.

"And Manual, too." Iida mutters.

"Edgeshot, sir." I stand up, Yui walks over to me and helps prop me up.

Torino looks to Midoriya. "Idiot. I could yell at you for hours right now."

Midoriya stands before he bows. "Yeah, I'm sorry."

"But before I do you've got a visitor. This is Hosu's chief of police, Kenji Tsuragamae."

Oh, I don't like where this is going...

We all stand as he enters and prepare for what he has to say. "No, please, stay seated, woof." Woof? "So, you're the UA students who brought down the Hero Killer, Huh?"

I nod still standing. "We are, sir." The chief of police, came all this way, I have a bad feeling about this.

"Stain has some serious injuries. Severe burns and several broken bones. Right now he's in the hospital under strict guard, woof. Here's a lesson you should have already learned. When quirks became the norm, the police force sought to maintain the status quo. They decided we wouldn't use quirks as weapons. That's when heroes came in. They could do what we couldn't. If they were licensed, of course, woof. It would be impossible for the police to condone the use of deadly quirks. After all, we're here to stop such harm from being done. The only reason pros can use their powers now is because of the strict code of ethics that the early heroes chose to abide by. That's why it's against the law for uncertified people to use their quirks to cause injury. Whether you were up against the Hero Killer or not, none of you had the authority to harm the villain. That means the four of you and your supervisors Endeavor, Manual, Gran Torino, and Edgeshot, should receive harsh punishments for this gross abuse of your powers."

"Hold up a second." I say pushing myself on my hurt leg. "If Iida and I hadn't stepped in, Native would be dead. And if not for Midoriya, Iida and I could be dead. No one else even realized that the Hero Killer was in Hosu. Are you saying that we should've just stood by and watched people die? Cause if that is the case then maybe the early heroes were just as stupid as most modern ones."

Midoriya raises an arm panicked as he turns to me. "Calm down..."

"So it's okay to break the law as long as it goes your way?"

"What, no. It's a person's job not only a hero's job to save people in need."

Kenji exhales, closing his eyes. "This is why you're not a full-fledged Pro yet. It's obvious U.A. and Edgshot haven't been teaching you nearly enough. What a shame."

"Why you damned-!"

Iida grabs my shoulder holding me back. "Raijin listen, he's right."

"Kid, that's enough. Just let him finish."

I stand directly in front of him and stare down the chief refusing to believe that bullshit.

"What I've said is the official stance of the police department. But any punishments would only be necessary if this went public. If it did you'd probably be applauded by citizens everywhere, but there's no way you could escape from being reprimanded. On the other hand, we could say Endeavor, and Edgeshot saved the day. Stain's burns would support this story completely, and we could pretend you weren't involved, woof. Thankfully there were very few witnesses. This could be the last you hear of any punishments. It would mean no one would know about you, though."

I cross my arms. "That's how I like it. Fine, I'm down. You four?

"You'd receive no acclaim at all. The choice is yours. Personally, I know where I stand. I don't wanna damage any promising young careers. Not for a mistake like this."

Manual brings a hand to his head, rubbing the back of it. "Either way, we'll need to take responsibility for being negligent as supervisors."

Iida bows to his supervisor. "I'm sorry, I should've listened."

"Yeah! You caused us a lot of trouble. Remember that, and don't do it again."

"Kid, I need you to promise me that you'll stay safe. Don't let your anger take hold." Edgeshot speaks bluntly to me.

With a sigh, I wave him off. "Yeah. Yeah." [I lied, at the time my thoughts were that if I ever found the people who killed my mother, I'd kill them, however, that's a long way off...]

"And... I apologize as well." Midoriya says to Gran Torino, his mentor.

Todoroki nods. "Me, too. We'll leave it to you"

"I know it's not fair. You won't enjoy any of the fame or praise you probably would've received otherwise. But at least, allow me, as the chief of police, to thank you."

"You know, you could've started with that." I say, fully sarcastically.

"Raijin." Midoriya speaks up to me.

No one else would know of what we did. And that was fine by me... however, the implications of that battle would follow us, even if our wounds had healed, but Hosu must've been perfect for you, huh, Akashi.

"So, why'd you break Mami out of jail?" A woman asks as she sits on the deck of a boat riding the waves she looks at the three people riding with her.

"You're strong. And you've beaten Fox before."

"Awe, you want me to defeat Fox Abadon & that bitch who me in jail this time?"

"No. Livewire is already dead."

"What?" The woman's eyes widen. "Who the hell killed her? I was supposed to damn it!"

"I did." Akashi says stepping forward from the back of the trio. "You beat my father once before. Now you'll join us, and we'll crush my father, we'll crush Livewire's kid. And we'll destroy Japan. What says you, Hyoka Yukina."

Yui & I were the first to be let out of the hospital, before the end of our 5th day at our internships we returned to Edgeshot's agency. Many of the heroes there praised us. Edgeshot himself decided it'd be best to take us on patrol with him. After the incident, it was unlikely any major crimes would be committed so close to a recent battle, with too many heroes in the vicinity. The rest of the internship went by without incident. Yui and I spoke once after the battle, and it was brief, just a simple check-in on how I was doing with my wounds. But by then, they had fully healed so there wasn't much to report on.

"Hey, did you hear about the Hero Killer? He might be linked with that League of Villains that attacked UA a few weeks ago."

"Seriously? You don't actually think that bullshits real right?"

"Come on big bro, what if they are?"

"Then I say we find this League of Villains, and we increase the hunt for Livewire's legacy."

"So smart as always big brother."

"No, it's simple strategy, Katsuryu. However, you stay back. I'll join them and once everything's over. You can do whatever you want to Livewire's legacy."

"Okay. Good luck, Kizoku." Katsuryu smiles, her bright red eyes closing as she feels her brother leave the room, leaving her alone in their house. Kizoku however would exit the house and upon doing so he'd spot Sana Yuki, as she sat on her front porch, today was one of her days off, and instead of helping at Link's agency she decided to stay home and watch her younger brother.

"Hey Kizoku." Sana waves as her neighbor slightly waves back to her before he walks away. His motives are unknown to the hero-in-training who lives next door to him.

Two days after the Hosu Incident, the Hero Killer's identity and motives started being dissected from various angles. Some idiots would even make videos idolizing him. They were quickly shut down, but it's the internet, no way they weren't going to spread like wildfire. And those villains will buy it hook line and sinker. Unfortunately, the Nomu's attacked when they did. Now everyone believes Stain was connected to the League. Villains will flock to their banner. That minuscule threat... just became a problem. Everyone on the news is obsessed with the Hero Killer. The story being reported is that seven pro heroes and five high school students stumbled upon him. Then Endeavor and Edgeshot rushed in and took care of the situation by themselves. That's the official cover from the police department. The chief was true to his word. Midoriya, Todoroki, Yui, Iida, and myself were never named in connection to the Hero Killer. Midoriya and Iida's injuries were explained as being caused by accidents that happened during their internships. Iida went back home after he got his results. Todoroki, Yui, and I had minimal injuries so we resumed our internships. Midoriya stayed at the hospital. But... I wonder how everyone else's internships went. So, I asked them once classes resumed.

Bakugo would join Best Jeanest on patrols. He hated his internship
Uraraka seemed to have gained some proficiency in hand-to-hand combat. Her training with Gunhead seemed to be fruitful.
Yaoyorozu's internship alongside Itsuka Kendo from class 1B was less than ideal, following around Uwabami as she did media appearances, nearly nonstop.
Kirishima and Tetsutetsu (squared) did more civil service cleaning up parks and doing minor hero work under Fourth Kind.
Kyouka Jiro would work closely with Death Arms, acting as his reconnaissance in hostage rescue operations.

Aka Bokasu stands next to Fumikage Tokoyami, the pair stand on one of the tallest buildings in the Tokyo area as they overlook the city.

"Did you hear?" Bokasu glances over to Tokoyami who remains staring at the city beneath.

"Hear what?"

"Apparently, Midoriya, Iida, Todoroki, and Raijin were involved in the capture of the Hero Killer."

"I thought the official report said they were injured in accidents at their internships."

"That's not what Raijin's saying." Bokasu brushes some hair back. "From what he said when we spoke on the phone last night, the four of them were the ones to defeat Stain. Endeavor's getting the credit because it was technically illegal for them to save the Pro Hero Native."

"That's..."

"Dumb?" The teens look up as their Pro Hero, Hawks floats above them coming to land next to the pair.

"Sir?"

"Don't call me that, Reddy."

"Please stop calling me Reddy." Bokasu frowns.

"Well, then you need to be ready to get back to work."

"Right." Tokoyami and Bokasu both nod and run off to get back to street level to resume their internship.

"Heh, kids." Hawks chuckles, with a flap of his wings he's already launched away, headed off to his next mission.

Chapter End.