"Come on!" Nana teased with a smirk. "I hit like a girl!" She taunted.
Yagi stared at her with a look that was almost a glare. "A girl that can bench press a car!"
She gasped in mock outrage. "Are you calling me manly!"
He spluttered and she took the opportunity to sweep his legs out from under him.
Hitting the ground like a sack of brisks, he hacked as the air was knocked out of him. Laying there for a bit, Yagi wheezed and tried to catch his breath.
She didn't let him, reaching down with a smile, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. "Up and attem'! One more lap!"
"Another one?!"
"Heroes need cardio." She chirped in response, beginning to jog in place to emphasize her point.
Bless his heart, the boy did try, getting up and pushing on; though his jog was more a shambling trudge than a true jog.
She jogged beside him, all but jumping in place as he forced himself to move along.
Finally, after an excessive amount of time they completed the lap.
She barely got the 'Ok-' out of her mouth to tell him to rest before he collapsed, all but wheezing out his breaths.
Nana chuckles, somewhere low in her throat as she knelt beside him.
They've been training for eight months now, and every day Yagi keeps progressing. He now had actual muscle tone to his physique and was doing a fairly good job of getting through half her regiment consistently.
He still had a long way to go. But she knows he'll get there.
"Just a few more months until the UA entrance exam."
Still lying down on the ground, Yagi nodded "Yeah… think if I can finish one full day of working out with you, I'll pass." It's not a question.
And it damn well shouldn't be. She was more thorough than any test. Hmpf.
"You'll get through it." She says.
They fall into a comfortable silence for a moment. Taking a deep breath, Nana wondered when it'll be a good time to tell him.
She'd have to do it soon. She could feel it, not just because of Yagi and his own progress, but also because of All for One.
He was drawing closer.
She, Sorahik,o and the Bat had been pushing him, breaking down more and more of his forces, dismantling ever wider networks of his criminal infrastructure. What had just been three districts became six, then nine, now finally up to almost seventeen different city wide areas where his organization had lost its firm hold on power.
Others came in to fill the void, muscle in; of course, they did. But they didn't have the wide supporting infrastructure, they didn't have their claws quite so deep into the cops, the politicians and the local communities.
They weren't invincible. Not in the way All for One was.
They could be and were rooted out by others, heroes or cops; it didn't matter.
The crime rate, finally after god knows how long, was going down.
They were known now, the reports were too numerous to keep quiet. Too consistent.
People knew them gave them names.
Batman had already been known as "Batman" in the underworld and it was simple enough for the media to pick the name and run with it. Though they did add their own little flare.
"The Shadow Hero Batman" was the title that had gained the most traction.
It made her laugh remembering the look of utter distaste on his face when she told him about it. Like he'd swallowed a lemon.
Guess the Batman wasn't meant to have a media presence or whatever.
She herself had been dubbed "The Unbreakable heroine Titania".
And Sorahiko was "The blur hero, Blink"
They were hella corny and more than a little stupid, but it did bring a smile to her face when she heard them. Because if she was hearing them, people were talking about them. And if people were talking about them, they were talking about heroes.
And if you had heroes on your mind, maybe, just maybe, you had a bit of hope.
Kids were talking about them on the street, too and that was more than a little flattering. They wondered which one would win in a fight between herself and the Bat.
More often, than not she heard her name come out on top. Smart kids.
But still. It was dangerous.
With all the attention she had to recognize the reality that he was also looking for them, actively searching. Just last month Sorahiko had gathered rumors of one of his top lieutenants being brought in. Some kind of monster. And the Bat had almost been ambushed by a prepared group of his enforcers before he'd slipped away.
She'd have to tell Yagi soon.
"Why not now?" a small part of her asked.
It made her stop.
'Why not now?"
Hmm?" Yagi questioned, facing her.
She realized she'd spoken aloud at the sound Yagi made,
She looked at him, staring at his curious expression, then smiled.
"I think it's time I told you something."
(X)(X)(X)
"You're sure?"
The Bat's voice crackled through the earpiece and Sora finds himself nodding. "Positive. He's committing his right hand man. Gigantomachia."
"The Source is trustworthy?"
"As much as any of these sources can be." Sora grumbles.
"Where are you now."
"On my way to Shadda. My sources are pointing the finger there on where that monster's being smuggled in."
Someone of that size and power can't move inconspicuously. Keep going, I'll contact you soon and see if I can narrow down the list of wetwork agents in Shadaa that can possibly pull something like this off."
Incredulously, despite his best efforts, Sora let slip his kneedjerk reaction, "Since when do you have network resources in Shadaa!?"
The line went dead without a response. Because, of course, it did.
(X)(X)(X)
By the time she's done with the story Yagi is sitting beside her, his exhaustion long since forgotten as he sits on the bench; taking everything in.
"You can just… give me your quirk? Just like that?"
She nods. "All the users have found a successor to pass it on. I want you to be mine. And I think, you'll be the one to finally finish the mission the first wielder had. You'll be the one to take down All for One."
"But- but you're fighting him right now!"
"I'm doing what I can…" she corrects with a wry smile. "But you'll be the one to do it, I'm sure of it."
"But if I accept… if I take your quirk, won't you be too weak to defend yourself? To fight him?"
She shrugs. "The power won't disappear from me all at once. It'll stay behind for a bit… like a residue. Dissolving over time."
"How long?"
"Few months. Maybe a year." She answered easily, still smiling.
His brows were scrunched in worry and she pushed her fist into his shoulder to bring his attention to her.
"I wouldn't offer if I wasn't sure. And I'm pretty damn sure."
She hoped he'd accept. If she died without a successor… without passing it on, that'd be it. And she wasn't sure she had time to find a new one, especially not one with a heart like Yagi's.
He would be a good Hero. The Best. Quirk or not. She was damn sure of it.
He looked at her, eyes searching hers for a moment.
"I want to be a Hero." He finally said. "I want to give people hope, to be a symbol for the world… but not, if it means you'll get hurt."
His features crumpled. Looking crestfallen. "Does that make me selfish?"
Nana was touched, and she almost found herself fighting back tears at the thought. "No kid." She answered gently. "It makes you human."
He didn't say anything. And she let him have his thoughts, sitting on that bench for a long time until he finally spoke.
"I'll accept… but only on one condition."
"Hmm?"
"You can't get hurt." He said. "Against this… All for One, or anyone else. You can't get hurt. Promise me, or I won't accept and you'll just have to find someone else."
She couldn't promise. Not really. Like so many others he just couldn't grasp who and what All for One was. The kind of odds she was dealing with.
If she did, she'd be lying.
But she'd lied before.
Maybe that made her cruel.
Maybe it was a little villainous.
Stil, she smiled and promised, "I promise kid... I'll kick his ass."
She smiled a smile that took work, effort.
But it did the job.
(X)(X)(X)
Sorahiko didn't enjoy this part of being a hero.
It's necessary, crucial even.
He's good at it, one of the best. He's always had an instinct for it, putting the pieces together, dissecting what they're saying and what they're not saying.
But that didn't mean he enjoyed it. Especially not when he has to deal with people like this.
The ports on Shadaa have always been a wretched hive, but the Bat's information seems to have led him to the most wretched place of all of them.
He hears the squeak of rats as he passes by sewer grates, can see the grime on the walls, old bloodstains that were never cleaned, bootleg clinics that barely try to hide what they are.
The villain's, the big ones, the real ones, aren't on every corner, but the lowlifes are, the pushers, gangsters, enforcers. The low level grunts crawl around and are everywhere like little ants and swarming.
Sora isn't in costume. That was a fast way to get the whole damn neighborhood to fall on him like a sack of bricks. He doesn't need that. He just needs one guy.
Finding him isn't hard. The man isn't subtle.
He's too valuable to touch in these parts. Everyone needed him. Everyone paid him.
When Sora steps into the club, it's too early for a crowd, and he's grateful, the chairs are up on the tables, the lights are off and there's no music.
The only one here is a man at the back of the booths, a laptop glowing in front of him.
He steps close, and he eyes two bodyguards make themselves known, one by the bar, the other at another booth, fiddling with his phone.
They don't move to stop him.
"You Sanada?"
"That'd be me." The man says, looking up from whatever he'd been looking at smiling a smile that reminded him of a weasel. "Who or what do you need transported and where?"
The files were unclear on his quirk. Something to do with teleportation, but he needed exacting coordinates, details.
"I hear you're gonna be transporting something big"
"I transport a lot of big things my friend. Be specific."
"Gigantomachia."
The smile slips from his lips, and his glasses almost shine with the refracting light. "I'm sorry my friend. But I'm afraid that's none of your-"
Sora doesn't hesitate.
He grabs hold of the man and with a burst of his jet engines before his guards can even move to draw their guns, he's up and out, bursting through a window and soaring straight up into the sky.
Sanada shouts, squirms in his grasp and latches onto his wrist with all his strength.
Sora fires off into the air, high, higher, high enough to reach the clouds. High enough that feet and distance had no meaning.
Then he stops.
Sora hovers in the sky, his jet boots bursting with air to keep them both aloft as he holds out his victim in one arm.
"You need exact coordinates to work that quirk of yours huh? Right down to the foot. Can you tell how high we are right now? How about on the way down?" He said. "Maybe you'll get a lucky guess before you splatter all over the side walk.
Sanada cursed. "You're crazy. He'll kill you and me if I talk!"
"I'll drop you right now if you don't." He was only half lying. And wasn't that the scary part. Guess the Bat was rubbing off on him more than Sora thought.
"To hell with-"
He let go.
The man's scream was drowned out by the rushing wind, and Sora gave him a solid three seconds before he shifted his feet, shooting straight down to the ground at full speed, quickly accelerating past terminal velocity to snatch the bastard right out of the air.
Sanada screamed, long and loud, eyes wide and terrified.
"Wanna try again!?" Sora goaded. "You might guess right this time!"
(X)(X)(X)
When Nana is flying back home, her earpiece rings.
She's taken to wearing it with her hero costume, it's become an outright habit. The damn things have obscenely good range, in fact they've never been out of range and the fact that she can chime in with Sorahiko and the Bat at a moments notice to corroborate, collaborate and be made aware of sudden changes and emergencies these last few months has been an out and out godsend.
So when it chimes in her ear, she instantly answers, pressing down once on the piece. "Yeah?"
It's the Bat that answers her, not Sora.
"Where are you right now?""
"Well hello to you too." She says, only half mockingly. "On my way home. Why?"
"Torino is tracking down a potential lead. If it pans out, then All For One is finally moving after us, with a real asset this time."
That got her attention. "Who?"
"His top enforcer, Gigantomachia."
She sucked down a sharp breath.
She'd heard the name before. And that said a lot when you considered All For One's secretive nature.
"You're sure?"
'Reasonably' He answers. "I need to make certain you're on standby, this might develop in a few days, or immediately, we'll know more when Torino contacts-"
There was a chime and a crackle on the radio as another line jumps into the conversation-
(X)(X)(X)
He's up in the air when he makes the call, at least a kilometer.
"I've found him."
They both answer, he knows that, they always answer.
But they don't.
There's static on the line, and Sora knows that's not right. The Bat's earpieces never have interference, doesn't matter what the hell the weather is or where they are.
He taps at his ear. "Bats? Nana?"
Something's wro-
"Found you."
The voice makes him stiffen, a snake hissing in his ear, a scorpion crawling on his spine. Sora feels a cold tendril of something that isn't fear, nothing so simple, coiling in his gut.
His every instinct screams at him every primal urge to flee is dialed up to its maximum, and he feels himself suddenly trembling in cold sweat.
And he's not in the sky anymore.
He's at the bar. The bar he'd just been in.
But he's not either.
The bar is destroyed, the chairs and tables shattered, the lights broken, sparks bursting out of torn wires, bottles are smashed everywhere.
And there are bodies.
So many bodies.
The place is a charnel house, the stink hits him like a sledgehammer blow as flies buzz and he can smell the stench of blood, decomp and feces.
Slowly, fearfully, Sora turns.
It's Sanada… but not. The weaselly smuggling villain smiles at him, a smile too wide with too many teeth, his flesh hanging off his bones, stretched thin.
Then it starts to tear, and he begins to stand.
His flesh starts flaking off him, bits of skin crumbling like dried leaves and wet blood sloughing off the body like a layer of gel.
He straightens his jacket and that too falls away to reveal a suit jacket and tie, pristine as the wearer wipes the sleeves of some imaginary dust.
"I must say the three of you have put on quite the merry little chase."
The voice warps, becoming flanging and dualed. One is Sanada the other… something else then solidifies into just one, something recognizable.
The last bits of dead flesh fall away, revealing the smile beneath.
And Sorahiko knows he's staring death in the face.
He wasn't bringing in Gigantomachia…
He'd been baiting them…
This was him.
The man in the suit leans forward, hands in his pocket, and he's closer, closer than he should have been, the table between them disappearing as he looks into Sora's eyes.
"But I'm afraid the chase is over now."
And Sora runs.
The burst of speed from his quirk is unreal, enough gravitic force and momentum to nearly snap his own neck, with the acceleration. He surges up to the window that he'd used before ready to get away, ready to escape.
The window isn't shattered, isn't broken, like he'd never left in the first place.
His fist, his whole body, comes to a dead, instant stop, barely touching the surface of the glass.
Sora's jet boots scream like a tea kettle, high pitched and wailing as he forces more force into his quirk than ever before.
It hurts, it burns at the soles of his feet, his lungs are screaming as he forces the breath in his lungs to fuel his quirk.
And he doesn't move a single millimeter.
Then, suddenly, violently, he's hurled back down, like an invisible hand grabbed him and smashed him into the ground.
He hits the floor, shattering tables and bodies and glass and blood across the room. He can't breathe.
He shoves the debris off him and stumbles to his feet.
He's there, standing at the other end of the blood drenched club.
The Monster's hands rise, metal twists, bends warps and snaps off the places where it should be before hurtling towards Sorahiko.
The jet quirk user moves fast; dodging and weaving; his body acting on instinct as he rushes through the air, avoiding the deadly hail of metal as he banks twists and turns.
Not enough.
A metal rod skewers him straight through the thigh, mid burst. He screams, his body stumbling and then there's another hit and another, nails through his palm, a vent cover slashing across his back a cut across his stomach.
He hits the floor, adding his own blood to the mess.
His body is in agony, and it's all he can do as he raises his trembling hand, reaching as it clicks the earpiece. Hoping they can still hear.
"S-stay… away-" He coughs and tastes iron at the back of his throat.
"Oh I think we both know they won't be doing that."
The voice is too close, the black shoes in front of him are polished to a mirror sheen, pristine even as they walk over the blood soaked carpet. Sora can see his own reflection in them, blood trailing from his mouth, his mask cracked, red staining his clothes and spattering over his face. He's not sure if it's his.
The monster reaches down, caressing the side of Sora's face gently before plucking the earpiece out of his ear.
N-No!
Sora finds the strength to stand, lurching clumsily to his feet as he grabs a single jagged piece of glass and lunges.
One finger.
The glass is caught by a single finger.
Then there's glass inside of his arm, an explosion of shards cutting through sinew bone and flesh.
He screams.
All for One, smiles bringing the earpiece to his lips.
"I trust that I'll be seeing the two of you very soon."