Khan stuck to his schedule for the next month, and it bored the hell out of him. Wake up. Coffee. UA. Smiles. Paperwork. Conversations that mattered only because he made them matter. Go home. Someone waiting. Someone kneeling. Someone needing to be told they did fine.
He was still weak. Not helpless, but nowhere near the monster it kept hinting he could become. No flashy buffs. No sudden god-mode. Just small nudges that felt petty and passive aggressive.
He'd taken risks already. Real ones. He dealt with two heroes. He killed the first and got money for it. And second was a gift to Toga.
Toga... that bitch could bail anytime. She knew his face, even thought he applied make up to change his face a little. He'd changed his hair, his clothes, his walk, but faces stuck. Worse, heroes going missing made people nervous. Patrols doubled. Eyes sharpened. The city got twitchy.
He couldn't rush it.
So he didn't.
Until internships started and ended, Khan lived clean on paper. He showed up. He smiled. He listened. He did his job well enough that nobody looked twice. Hana or Sakura visited most nights. Quick fucks. Just enough to keep them hungry and pliable.
Sakura always tried harder.
She cleaned. She cooked. She dressed how she thought he liked. Khan never corrected her. Correction implied investment. He let her chase the shape of something that was never going to solidify.
Hana was easier. She liked being fucked hard. Liked hearing she was doing fine. Liked that he never stayed long enough to blur the lines.
And Toga.
He visited her daily. He'd set her up with supplies, blood packs, clothes that didn't scream murderer. She could walk around freely as long as she fed.
Khan sat with her on the floor sometimes. He listened to her ramble. He answered questions. He let her touch his face, his hands, the edge of his throat. He told her stories that were mostly true with the important parts edited out.
Mental imprinting took time.
That was the routine for a month. Then... May 15 arrived.
Khan was home, shirt off, leaning back against the couch while Sakura knelt between his legs. She was eager. Too eager. Teeth scraped where they shouldn't.
He grunted and tapped her cheek.
"Careful."
She froze, eyes wide, then nodded and adjusted.
The TV was on. Volume low. Showing Hosu. Smoke. Sirens. A reporter yelling over chaos while the screen cut between scenes too fast to process properly.
Two Nomu tearing through a street. Police lines breaking. Pro Heroes scrambling.
Then another shot.
An alley showing stretchers.
A young hero student getting hauled out, suit torn, helmet cracked, face hidden under an oxygen mask.
Khan caught the suit. He grinned.
"So long, Iida," he muttered.
Sakura didn't hear him. She was focused.
He let her finish. Pushed her back gently when it was done. She stayed on her knees, breathing uneven, waiting for the next instruction.
"Go clean up," he said.
She nodded and moved.
Khan pulled his pants back up and turned the volume on the TV a notch.
The reporter kept talking. Words tumbled out. Hero Killer. Vigilante interference. Student involvement still unconfirmed.
Khan leaned back and watched.
Nice while it lasted.
**
The news cycle ate Hosu alive.
By morning, the footage had been replayed so many times the violence lost its edge. Analysts argued. Talking heads speculated. UA released statements full of concern and cooperation.
Khan read them all while sipping coffee.
Iida's name came up around noon. Dead.
Khan laughed so hard he had to clamp a hand over his mouth. It tore out of him in bursts that made his ribs hurt. He leaned back in his chair, eyes squeezed shut, shoulders shaking. If anyone walked by his office right now, they'd hear it. If anyone checked, he'd have to explain why a counselor was losing his shit over a news ticker.
The screen kept replaying the same footage. Hosu. Fire. Sirens. A shaky zoom into an alley where a sheet got pulled up over a body that still wore a hero course uniform. The name crawled across the bottom of the screen in clean white text.
Iida Tenya. Deceased.
Khan slapped the armrest.
'Oh man,' he said in his mind. 'You really went all in, didn't you.'
He wiped his eyes and laughed again, quieter this time. The laugh faded into a grin that stuck.
This was real now. No takebacks. No heroic recovery arc. No redemption sprint through rain and blood. Iida didn't limp back wiser. He didn't learn restraint. He didn't get a second shot framed as growth.
He got a memorial.
Khan leaned forward and muted the TV.
[ Fucked-Up Karma Update
Major Canon Interference Logged
Target: Iida Tenya
Status: Deceased
Event: Hosu Incident
Cause: Vigilante engagement with Hero Killer
Outcome: Fatal trauma
Canon Anchor: Destroyed]
Khan snorted through his nose. "Yeah. I noticed."
The text kept scrolling.
[ Secondary Canon Effects Detected
Stain: Escaped
Hero Killer Narrative: Unresolved
Public Perception: Destabilized
UA Accountability Index: Strained
Primary Ripple
Target: Midoriya Izuku
Hero Course Entry: Re-opened
Status: Awaiting
Reason: Absence from defining incident. Lost catalyst.
Timeline Anchor: Severed]
Khan's smile widened.
"Oh that's cruel," he said. "I love it."
He leaned back and folded his hands over his stomach.
The System chimed again.
[ REWARD ALLOCATION INITIATED
ABILITY UNLOCKED
Name: Vector Swap
Type: Active
Limit: Once per day
Effect:
You may swap the direction of force between two moving objects you can see.
Mass remains unchanged.
Restrictions:
Requires clear visual confirmation of both vectors.]
Khan went still. He stared at the description and replayed it in his head.
A punch redirected into a wall. A bullet trading paths with falling debris. Someone charging forward suddenly thrown sideways into their own ally.
Once a day meant he had to save it. It meant when he used it, something important was supposed to break.
He nodded. Filed it away.
The screen shifted.
[ ITEM UNLOCKED
Name: Shock Ring
Category: Equipment
State: Bound
Function:
Absorbs one electrical discharge or energy shock.
Stored charge can be released through physical contact.
Limitations:
Holds one charge at a time.
Overloading causes internal damage to the ring.]
Khan flexed his hand slowly.
One hit stored. One hit delivered.
Simple. Brutal. No confusion about intent.
"Good for reminders," he said. "Or punctuation."
The text paused. Then resumed.
[ SYSTEM TAG ACQUIRED
Tag: Soft Authority
Status: Toggleable
Rank: I
Effect (Active):
Your presence subtly establishes you as a point of reference in groups. Others defer before realizing they are doing it. Interruptions favor you. Consensus drifts your direction.
Effect (Inactive): No influence bleed. You blend normally.
Rank increases through sustained leadership moments and institutional reliance.]
"Oh," he said quietly. "That's dangerous."
Toggleable was the real prize.
He could turn it off. Let rooms breathe. Let people talk over him. Let himself vanish.
Then flip it on and watch conversations bend without raising his voice.
That was the kind of thing that ruined meetings. Committees. Boards. Classrooms.
He liked that it didn't force obedience. It just made people listen first.
One final line appeared.
[ TRAIT UNLOCKED
Trait: Impact Posture
Type: Passive
Effect:
Your body instinctively adjusts to incoming force to reduce structural damage. Blows land cleaner. Falls distribute better. Sudden hits hurt less where it counts.]
Khan rolled his shoulders, then leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk.
It wouldn't save him from a killing blow.
It would save him from the stupid ones.
He sat back, eyes on the darkened screen.
Vector Swap for disasters.
Shock Ring for close work.
Soft Authority when the room needed steering.
Impact Posture to walk away from messes intact.
Not loud. Not flashy.
Useful.
"Yeah," Khan said. "I can work with this."
He stood and stretched, joints popping.
'I didn't even have to touch him,' he said. 'Still got all these juicy rewards.'
The door down the hall slammed. Voices rose. Someone was crying. Someone else was swearing about Hosu and idiots and kids who thought they were grown.
**-**
This novel is completed. I'm currently editing the chapters and uploading them to Patreon. If you'd like to read the full novel and support my work, feel free to check it out. Available up to Chapter 80 so far.
patreon.com/EternallyPoor