Meanwhile, approximately one hundred miles from Kyoto. BOOM!!
A deafening explosion rolled across the industrial district.
The shockwave rattled windows for several streets before a massive figure came crashing through the side of an abandoned warehouse, buried beneath several tons of shattered concrete.
"...Guaaagh!"
The giant villain barely had time to raise his head before another figure descended from above. CRASH!!
A black combat boot slammed directly into his face, driving the criminal several meters deeper into the crater. "It's that one from TV."
"Dammit! Scatter." The gang of trigger users who hadn't injected themselves and lost their collective sanity yet, immediately realised how screwed they were and promptly retreated.
Unfortunately, they had barely gotten far when they discovered their paths had been blocked by another figure.
"Dark Shadow."
Dust billowed into the morning sky. The battle didn't last long after. "...That should keep him down."
Several nearby police officers stared with open mouths before quickly rushing forward.
"C-Cuffs!"
"Hurry!"
The officers swarmed the area, quickly securing the defeated villains. Watching the scene unfold from several rooftops away...
"...Man."
A blond man lazily rested both elbows on the edge of a billboard.
His crimson wings hung loosely behind him while one leg swung idly over the side of the rooftop.
In one hand .... A convenience-store sandwich. In the other, a steaming cup of coffee.
"Hunting villains this early in the morning..."
He took another bite.
"...Youth really is terrifying." It had barely been five minutes since the altercation began, yet the enemies were already defeated. The best case scenario?
He didn't have to lift a finger. This was exactly why he loved having competent interns.
Why work...
...when they could?
"Hah..." A satisfied grin spread across his face. "I really picked the jackpot this year."
Just then.
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
The relaxed smile immediately disappeared. "...Hm?"
His communicator vibrated continuously against his belt. Only one type of call ignored normal priority channels like this.
He swallowed the last bite of his sandwich before answering.
"Hawks."
The cheerful tone he'd used moments ago had completely vanished.
"Make it quick please, I'm right in the middle of supervising the kids' practical routing—"
"Hawks! Priority Alpha-One directive from the Commission! A convoy transporting criminals has been utterly decimated on the coastal bridge at the outskirts of Kanagawa."
"Kanagawa?" He scratched the back of his head and looked toward the police officers who were still hauling unconscious villains into transport vehicles.
"Whoa, hold on a second." He laughed awkwardly. "That's... pretty far, isn't it?"
He glanced at the skyline stretching into the distance.
"I mean, shouldn't there be, I don't know..." he waved a hand. "...literally dozens of heroes closer than me? Besides," he continued with a grin, "I've got very important work to do over here."
He gestured proudly toward the scene below despite the person on the other end not being able to see it.
"My interns are busy catching villains."
"I'm supervising."
"...From a safe, educational distance.
"The convoy prisoners were the League of Villains. Approximately five minutes ago, a high-intelligence, black-winged Nomu attacked the convoy and retrieved Shigaraki and the core members."
'Come again? .. no, when were the League Of Villains even caught?'
Hawks' eyebrows twitched.
"...Status?"
"Multiple Pro Heroes severely injured. League of Villains successfully recovered. Current pursuit underway."
Hawks' eyes narrowed as the lazy, laid-back demeanor vanished entirely. "...Who's pursuing?"
"A work study student is currently maintaining a visual tail, but the target is moving Southeast toward the mountain sectors at hyper-velocity. While you are farther, you and your intern are the only assets within the prefecture capable of an immediate intercept!"
'Hmm, so it's for the kid huh?' Hawk's eyes drifted downwards. A high intelligence Nomu? Within seconds, he had gone through everything he had been told and guessed that this Nomu's strength was likely terrifying. There was every likelihood that the one they wanted wasn't him at all.
'Heh. To think the next generation already has to bear such burdens.'
"I've got it."
Hawks cut the transmission.
"..." He stared silently toward the morning sky.
"...Seriously?" He sighed. "...Couldn't you people give me one peaceful day?"
It had barely been a few days since his recovery from getting scorched at Tokyo, nearly losing his life.
Under normal circumstances, he should have paid leave for a full week.
Standing up from the ledge, he casually brushed the crumbs from his jacket.
The sandwich wrapper drifted lazily into a nearby trash can.
"Guess breakfast's over."
WHOOSH!!
His crimson wings unfolded to their full length as he glided downwards. Landing, he saw several officers moving rapidly in all directions arresting criminals. The warehouse the criminals previously occupied was practically wrecked all over.
"Nice work."
He said. Two figures turned toward him. "You guys wrapped this one up quicker than I expected."
One of them bowed. "It was no trouble sir. I merely provided support and prevented escapes."
"It wasn't much."
Hawks chuckled. "You guys really are good picks." Saying that, he continued walking past them. "Come on. I'd treat you to breakfast but we have somewhere else we need to get to."
He turned his head and smiled. "The League Of Villains were captured ... Then were broken out. Now we need to go get them before they escape."
Tokoyami's eyes widened, then turned his gaze to see Yuta whose good was gone from his head, revealing a mess of red hair.
"Huh? ..The League escaped?" Hold on, forget escaped. When were they captured in the first place?
Hawks nodded.
"...Yeah. And from the sound of it..." His crimson wings spread wide.
"...they've brought something nasty with them."
BOOOOOM!!
The Number Two Hero shot into the sky like a crimson missile.
"Come on. We've gotta hurry. I'll fill you in on the way."
Yuta frowned and turned to Tokoyami. "You perfected that flying technique yet?"
Tokoyami remained silent.
Yuta sighed. "Fine then." He reached to grab him, then with concentrated energy, he kicked off the ruined pavement, rising into the sky to match their ascent as the three figures sliced through the early morning clouds at breakneck speed.
Several prefectures away. The morning sun had fully risen.
The mountainous forests below had long since given way to dense urban districts. Cars flowed through intersections, pedestrians filled sidewalks, and office workers had only just begun their commute.
High above them...
A black-winged monster carved across the sky.
BOOOOM!!
Compressed air exploded behind Hood with every pulse of his jet propulsion. His enormous frame cut through the clouds while seven restrained individuals were secured tightly within writhing tendrils.
Far behind ..
"...Hah..."
"...Hah..."
Inasa Yoarashi forced another burst of wind beneath his feet.
BOOOOOM!!
The gale propelled him forward, narrowing the distance ever so slightly. His body still had pain waves from the ultrasonic attack earlier.
But his speed had mostly returned. His eyes never left the shrinking black silhouette ahead.
'Just... don't lose him.' At that moment ... Hood slowly turned his head. Yellow eyes met black ones across nearly half a kilometer of open sky.
"..."
"...Still ...following." The High-End's expression twisted with visible irritation.
"Stop following me..."
"...Weak Hero."
BOOOOOOOM!! The jet vents along his back propelled with even more power, causing his speed to increase violently.
A violent pressure wave ripped through the surrounding clouds as the distance between them widened once again.
"...!"
Inasa's pupils shrank.
"So fast—!"
He immediately increased his own output with everything he had.
"I'M NOT LOSING YOU!"
BOOOOOM!!
Far below...
People began pointing toward the sky.
"Hey..."
"What's that?"
"...Is that... flying?"
A businessman stopped in the middle of a crosswalk. They barely had time to make out what it was before it shot into the distance.
"Hey! Slow down. You're going too fast now." Toga screamed with displeasure. Hood didn't care.
Stopping would mean engaging this weakling, which wasn't the doctor's orders. Hence, his current actions to temporarily not engage was to ensure the safety of the people he was supposed to bring. As for why he hadn't shaken off that pro hero chasing him. .. It was simply to accommodate the retrieved subjects.
Seeing they were entering populated areas, Inasa's eyes darkened. 'No way. This thing is too fast. If things keep going like this .. I might lose them.'
'No. This can't go on.' Making up his mind, a massive, swirling vortex of compressed air began to gather violently around his gauntlets, tearing the surrounding clouds into jagged wisps.
The memory of Hood's ultrasonic attack flashed through his mind.
'I'm operating at nearly full output. As long as I don't let him line me up...'
'As long as I keep moving...'
'I can buy enough time for reinforcements.' The vortex condensed further until the surrounding air visibly distorted. 'Or... I'll just bring him down myself!'
His eyes narrowed, locking onto the giant, fleeing creature opening up the distance. 'In that case, taste my ultimate move.'
"Slicing Gust: Fury." He thrust his arms forward, unleashing a colossal, concentrated column of twisting wind that tore through the sky like a horizontal tornado, aiming straight for Hood's blind spot.
Up ahead, Hood sensed the massive displacement of atmospheric pressure. The pest was still chasing, and it was getting even more annoyed.
With a brutal twist of his jet propulsion vents, Hood banked sharply to the left, letting the slashing wind blast pass harmlessly by, though the sheer force of the gale rattled the restrained subjects. Angered by the persistence, Hood's neck snapped backward a full one hundred and eighty degrees while still propelling forward at hyper-velocity. The blowhole on his chest split wide, prepping the devastating ultrasonic wave All For One had transplanted from Gang Orca before his death.
But Inasa had already anticipated a counterattack. The moment Hood's head turned, Inasa violently cut his own updrafts, executing a flawless, vertical dive straight toward the urban landscape below to break the line of sight and avoid the invisible blast.
Hood saw the maneuver. If the sonic wave wouldn't reach, brute force would.
SPLIT-SQUELCH!
Multiple black, muscular tendrils erupted from Hood's shoulders, lengthening at a terrifying rate as they shot downward like a volley of living harpoons.
Inasa's eyes widened as the black spears of flesh plummeted toward him. He threw himself into a frantic, spiraling roll, the tip of the primary tendril missing his torso by mere inches.
CRASH!!
The massive limb didn't stop—it drove straight through the upper floors of a commercial office building, shattering concrete, blowing out walls, and ripping through the structural pillars as if they were wet cardboard.
Inasa scrambled to fly upward, desperately trying to regain altitude, but the extended appendage shot after him like a heat-seeking missile. It tore upward through the roof of the skyscraper, completely obliterating a massive steel water tank in the process, sending thousands of gallons of water exploding into the air.
Inasa successfully escaped the thrashing mass of flesh, but a jagged piece of flying debris sliced a deep, bloody gash across his right cheek. He broke through the spray of water, gasping for air as he looked back down.
"What the..." He stared at the distant figure in the sky, then down at the partially destroyed building where water was cascading over the ruined concrete.
The half ruined building was well within his sights. There were no screams coming from within, and the young hero couldn't tell whether there was anyone inside or not.
Cold sweat formed on his brow, turning his blood completely cold at the sheer thought of what would have happened if that thing had caught him cleanly.
"It's... That was just a single tentacle... so how is it so much faster than me?!"
He couldn't understand it. Due to the Work study initiative, his teachers at Shiketsu had gone through a lot of things. He himself had meticulously studied the news reports of the Nomu incidents.
The main ones ever shown to the public were the mindless beasts at Hosu and the ones that briefly appeared in Tokyo. Those monsters had been terrifying...
...but they'd eventually been defeated.
By a student.
A first-year from U.A high. And that guy had fought against more than one simultaneously.
'Is this the same kind?' Down on the streets below, the civilian populace going about their early morning commute had ground to a complete halt. Thousands of people stared up at the sky in absolute horror, listening to the deafening shockwaves and the sudden destruction of the skyscraper roof. Panicked screams began to echo through the intersections as traffic locked up.
Civilians were already running and screaming in all directions. "Run! It's a villain attack."
"Who's that?"
"Shit woman. Get outta here." High above the growing chaos, Hood watched the lone hero keeping a large, cautious distance away. The High-End's jaw clicked in deep irritation.
It was severely limited, unable to use its full strength or its maximum velocity due to the fragile passengers secured in its hands.
"Why... Why won't these pests leave me alone?" Hood rasped, his muscles bulging as he resisted the urge to turn back and slaughter the boy. "I want... to fight..."
"Do not fret, Hood," Dr. Garaki's cackling voice suddenly echoed clearly through the receiver inside its ear.
"Doctor..."
"You have done very well. Thank you. The retrieval phase is complete."
The moment those words fell, a thick, foul-smelling black sludge suddenly erupted from the mouths of Tomura Shigaraki, Dabi, Toga, and the rest of the captured League members inside their restraints.
__
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