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Chapter Text

--- X Twelve Months Before the UA entrance exam X---

Viscous goo poured into Izuku's airway and lungs, forcing him to the ground and thrashing. Above him, a yellowish eye stared down at him, "C'mon, kid, just stop struggling! It'll be over sooner that way!"

Izuku's nails clawed at the ground, fighting for air. No, no, nononono. He couldn't- he couldn't die before he… he wanted to become a hero!

Above him flying in low circles, a black raven with… six red, cross pupiled eyes? What…?

{...weak…} it said, landing next to his head, {...we are both… weak… izuku.)

Izuku's vision began fading in and out as the raven landed on his chest. It tilted it's head, and leaned down.

{let us form a pact. because together, together we can be strong. countless eons of starvation will end for me, and the strength to see the end of this day and become a hero for you. say yes, you know you want to.}

Y-Yes!

The raven laughed, digging into Izuku's chest beakfirst. Red energy coiled around them, and the slime began to recoil.

"What's-"

"Mom!" A voice cried, thrashing and smashing into a door with wet sobs, "Mom, help me! I'm- I'm melting!"

"What are you doing?!" 

"Who would want to date someone like you?" A pretty girl laughed, "You're literally disgusting!"

"Stop it!"

"I'm sorry," a man at a restaurant said, staring down at an application with a shake of his head, "I can't hire you. For sanitation reasons".

The sludge exploded off him and out of his mouth, the Villain coiling away from Izuku like he was rancid meat. Izuku stepped forwards, and they turned and rushed… right towards All Might, "Keep me away from him, please, please! He, he was in my head!" 

All Might looked between the two as Izuku staggered, rushing away from the villain to catch him, "Don't move, Young Man! I'm going to call medical support now."

"Tha- thank you," Izuku rasped.

{You're welcome from me, as well} The Raven said in his mind.

--- X Inko X---

Inko wrung her hands as she walked towards the desk with Mitsuki, "Thank you-"

"I'm worried about the kiddo too, Inko," Mitsuki said, "He's as good as family, as far as I care. I know Katsuki's being… a pain, and I'd get him to stop if I thought for a second he'd listen to me through that ego of his, but I still care about him."

Inko heavily suspected, if they weren't in a public building, Mitsuki would have called her own son 'an ass' without missing a beat or blinking. She had called others worse when irritated, and had complained, at length, that Katsuki's friends at school, and even his teachers, had only fed his ego to unhealthy levels. In Inko's mind, Katsuki's most vicious critic was his own mother. 

"Excuse me?" Inko said, pushing the thoughts aside and holding out her ID, "I'm here for my son, Midoriya Izuku?"

The girl behind the desk took it with her clawed hands and gave a calming smile before typing something into the computer she was stationed at. She handed back the ID a moment later, "Room 304. Doctor Reiki will meet you there."

Inko nodded, rushing down the hall that the secretary had pointed. As she approached Izuku's room, a short man with blue hair and a white lab coat stepped between them from seemingly nowhere, "You're Izuku's mother, I assume?"

Izuku… not Midoriya? "Yes."

"I'm Reiki," he said, moving his hand in a strange move before bowing, which Inko returned, "I'm going to guess you want to see him, before anything?"

"Yes," Inko said, gripping the door and swinging it open. Immediately, she noticed Izuku's hair had changed. While before the… the attack, it had been green that darkened to near black, it was now a green that lightened to almost white. 

Then she noticed the IV he was hooked up to and the oxygen canister, "Why is he-?"

"Safety," Reiki said, "Izuku had a lot of sludge shoved into his lungs and stomach. We'd like to keep him for a few days to make sure it doesn't become pneumonia or sepsis."

Into nodded, stepping closer and noticing that Izuku's skin had paled, the veins sticking out, "Why… why is he like this?"

"I can't say," Reiki said, "it might be a latent Quirk Factor activating. That happens sometimes, it's rare, but-"

"mom?" Inko whipped around, noticing that one of Izuku's eyes had become a deep red as he opened them blearily, "what? what are you doing he-"

"Don't force yourself to talk," Reiki ordered gently, "Your throat had some severe damage."

"k." Izuku rasped, staring at Reiki like he had two heads.

"Miss Midoriya, and… ah…"

"Bakugo," Mitsuki said.

"Would you mind giving me and Izuku a few minutes alone? I'm sure he has questions," Reiki said, handing Izuku a clipboard with blank paper, "Maybe you can do the paperwork for his care?"

Inko nodded, squeezing Izuku's hand and stepped out of the room. Her heart felt slightly lighter, having seen Izuku. He would be fine, he would recover.

--- X Izuku X---

Izuku stared at the man who seemed to flicker between a short man with blue hair  and a short, blue skinned, fanged man with four fingers on each hand.

{Of course,} the voice in the back of his head deadpanned, {of all the spirits that would survive the End War, we would have the displeasure of the yordles being one of them.}

"A… Yordle?" Izuku asked, wincing at his voice.

"I was serious about not talking," the man said, "use the clipboard, but yes, I'm a yordle. I assume the spirit bound to you now told you that?"

Izuku nodded, before his mouth moved on its own, {"I'm not one for seizing control of my host lightly, yordle-"}

"Excuse me for being skeptical about that when you just lightly seized control of Izuku," the yordle, Reiki according to his nametag, snarked. Izuku growled, before continuing.

{"-but you can tell what I did. I know you can."}

"And that is the only reason I haven't called for the Unforgotten yet," Reiki shot back, "And stop talking, I may be a yordle but I'm still a doctor and I will not have you harm my patient. You'll likely be here for a few days to recover before starting the physical therapy-"

Will I be alright in time for the UA entrance exam next year ? Izuku hastily wrote as he regained control of his body.

"Likely," Reiki said, "and with Raum, you're not likely to have many problems even if you weren't."

How do you know my name?

"Did you think a yordle just happened to be working in a suburb so close to where you rested, demon?" Reiki asked, "I was watching for you, as we do all of them."

And how are my siblings?

"The River King has been in the bayou and Evelynn in Kowloon last anyone heard," Reiki said, "and it hasn't left the sealing since it was done. I couldn't tell you the others. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get Izuku's medical care sorted out."

{"I don't know where those are,"} Raum growled, sending spikes of pain through their throat as he raised his voice, "{AND THAT'S AN EXCU-!}"

--- X 11 Months before the UA Entrance Exam X---

{I can't believe we're doing this,} Izuku bit back a sigh at Raum's deadpanned response, walking down a shadowy path.

You agreed we would do this my way, Izuku responded.

{I can agree to do that and still find it baffling, Izuku,} Raum responded. Izuku shrugged, stepping into the strange not-light that had opened, and out into Shizuoka. Walking a short distance, Izuku checked the address he had been given and walked towards it. Slowly, he pulled up the hood of his… well, his hoodie and approached the door of the western manor. Knocking on it, he shifted his arms several times. In front of him, in his pockets, behind him. None of them felt quite-

"Can I help you?" The door swung open, an middleaged woman peering down at him carefully.

{Sleeps with the mistress of the house,} Raum said, and Izuku dutifully ignored him.

"You called me," Izuku said, hiding the wince at his own voice. He still wasn't used to the damage his vocal cords and lungs suffered from the Sludge Villain. Dr. Reiki was confident he would make… most of a recovery, though it'd also probably never go back to his original pitch.

"You're… you're the exorcist then?" She asked, carefully.

"Yes," Izuku nodded, pushing mana into his left eye and letting it glow a deep red from the hood. He was a short, scrawny thirteen and three quarters year old wearing a slightly oversized black hoodie, he needed what 'impressive' factor he could get.

{We need to get you a long coat,} Raum commented, more as an afterthought than anything, {I didn't agree with Jericho much, but there was something imposing about a man in a long coat. Far more than you currently look.}

Thanks , Izuku said, anything else we should get while we're at it?

{A raven,} Raum said, {but that's easier. Anyways, back on topic.}

"Explain what's been happening," Izuku said, fingers fumbling with the sign language he had been practicing. The less he talked, the more likely his throat was to recover.

"Elliot," the woman said, stepping aside and letting Izuku in, sufficiently impressed… or desperate, "the son of the Nightray, has fallen ill since they moved here. We've tried everything, hospitalization, traditional medicines, and now-"

"Now you're desperate enough to call for me," Izuku said, following her, "Symptoms?"

"Fits," she said, "nightmares, amnesia…"

What the what did traditional medicine have to do with fixing those? No, not important, Raum ?

{A little demon, most likely,} Raum responded, {if it was Nocturne, we'd have sensed him by no- ah, looks like we might be a little late on this one.}

What did that mean?

{You'll see,} Raum said.

"I'll take it from here," Izuku said, gripping the doorknob, "It shouldn't be more than a few minutes."

"Thank you," the woman bowed, and Izuku slid into the room as she stepped away. Standing over the bed, wearing a mask over the upper side of his face and hand resting on a sheathed katana, was a pale man. The same ashen tone Izuku's skin had become since his deal with Raum was visible under the bandages and red and black hakama he was wearing. Immediately, Izuku's hackles were raised and eldritch energy crackled in his hands.

The man turned towards Izuku, glowing purple running over his frame. Slowly, he moved his hand off his sword to give a bow, "Hello, I do believe we're after the same prey this day."

---

Yone was tired. Not that such a thing was strange for the ancient azakana hunter. The Unforgotten, as he was ironically still called in the few dark places that remembered the world before the End, rarely slept. Even when he did, unless Lillia was near, it was plagued with nightmares more often than not.

The door swung open behind him, and Yone turned, resting his hand on his koshirae. Standing in the closing doorway was a short boy wearing a hoodie, and if it weren't for the fact that there were less than a dozen men in women with enough vastayan blood to show their heritage still alive, and that Yone personally knew each one's name, he would have assumed the boy was one. For the heavy white wings and equally white plumage that overlaid his neck in the Spirit World, if nothing else.

So, once again, Raum had found a host to rest in and do the hunting for him. Hopefully, the world would not burn in the footsteps of this one's ambition, as Swain had unintentionally done.

The feathers and wings visibly, though likely unintentionally, bristled, red energy leaping from them like Zaunite Hextech. The same happening from his hands, however, was likely deliberate. 

Yes, it probably was a reasonable response to a strange, pale man standing in a random boy's room with a hand on a sword. In fact, outright attacking him probably would have been an equally reasonable response. So Yone moved his hand off the sword, bowing at the waist, "Hello, I do believe we're after the same prey this day."

He hoped so, at least. If the boy was here for some reason other than the azakana, things would probably take a turn for the violent very fast. And while it wouldn't be the first time Yone had cut down someone as young as him, he loathed it every time it happened, especially in this day and age. 

"Are you here for the little demon?" The boy said.

"The azakana, yes," Yone stood, "I am Souma. You are?"

Names held power. That was especially true for those who dealt with Spirits in general and demons in particular. There was a reason Tahm Kench and it did not use their true names, just monikers they had stolen or been given.

"I am-" the boy stopped, jaw jumping visibly, "Je… Jericho?"

Yone chuckled in spite of himself. That wasn't a very good one, but for a first attempt at a fake name it would work, "I'm sorry to put you before the sword like that, 'Jericho'. Hopefully, the next time we meet, you will have created a mask of your own. Remove the demon, I will take the mask."

'Jericho' stepped forwards, red magic coursing through his hand before he plunged it into the boy's face. A ghostly, red specter, Regret , appeared centered around a gray mask. Latching his other hand to it, Jericho flexed both hands and tore azakana from mask. Crushing the demon with his left hand and inhaling the energy, he threw the mask to Yone with the right. Yone caught it, smiling. 

"Thank you," he said, "Tell me, would you like to meet me somewhere next week? I can tell you're new to our world, and could use some advice, but need time to create your false name. The one you used is not one to use lightly."

"Yeah," 'Jericho' nodded, "Yeah, sure…"

"Good," Yone smiled, "Then allow me to give you the location we'll reunite…"

Chapter Text

The work is done, it nearly killed me.

--- X One Week Later X---

Izuku stepped into the elevator, curling his hair around a finger. The elevator rumbled up around him, before stopping on floor four, the doors sliding open to a hall leading to a club with flashing lights. Standing in the doorway was a small yordle, and Izuku approached him.

"Can I help you?" The yordle asked, watching Izuku carefully.

"I have an appointment," Izuku said, "with Souma."

The yordle nodded, pointing towards the back of the room, "He's there, with the Boss. They said they were waiting for you."

The Boss? Why did that send a shiver up Izuku's spine? Swallowing he made his way through the flashing lights of the club, noticing the yordles, men and women with a small wellspring of mana within them… and the man seated next to Souma. Mana radiated off him with each breath, a scar visible across his nose under the messy, grey speckled red hair. More scars littered his freely open chest, ranging from small ones that Izuku barely noticed to a massive one that honestly looked like someone had tried to bisect the man.

"So your Raum's new host?" The man said lightly, arms draped across the couch around the table in the alcove. Amber eyes raked down Izuku's frame, "Gotta say, even with both arms, you're a downgrade from the last guy. Sit down, kid."

Izuku did so, sliding into the seat the man had nodded towards. Hands clenching under the table. Souma and him were… if the other magic users Izuku had seen since contracting with Raum were trickling of rain, they were downpours. Far more than even what Izuku had, "Hello…"

"Hey," the man inclined his head, "calm down, kid. I'm not one big on the whole sins of the father thing. Plus, you got Wolf's jaws at your throat, I can respect that at least. Order something, anything. My treat, this time."

"I'm underage," Izuku protested. 

"So?" The man said, "You're sharing your body with a akana, and from what our mutual friend here said, have started making a job outta hunting azakana. But you're scared to drink?"

"Yes," Izuku said, meeting the man's eyes and refusing to flinch. 

"Heh," the man chuckled, "I like the way you act, kid. I'm Sett."

--- X Sett X---

Sett quirked a smirk at Yone, who shot a startled look at him, "I'm not like ya, 'Souma', you know that. If someone wants to toss a curse my way, I'll take it, crush it and then crush 'em. They ain't strong enough to bring me down. Anyways, what name are you usin', Kid?"

The boy swallowed, "A-Akatani Mikumo…"

"Nice to meet ya," Sett said, breathing in. The boy looked like he couldn't decide if he wanted to be in the Spirit World or the Human.

Didn't Sett know that feelin'?

"N-nice to meet you," Mikumo said, his voice rough.

"You sure you don't want some water, kid? You sound like you're tryin' to fake smokin' a razor."

The Kid's face pulled into a pained grimace, one hand scratching the table while the other touched his neck. The feathers flared, red lightning crackling from them and making Sett have to lift a hand to stop a Hextech gun from being fired at the Kid. That's the last they needed. 

"Akatani," Yone said, "Was your throat injured in whatever incident led to your pact with Raum?"

Mikumo's eyes jumped up, and he nodded, "Then I talked after it, and some of the damage became-"

"If you say permanent," Sett drawled, "That's a long time when it comes to Spirits. I got my scars because I like them, I'm sure you'll get better eventually Kid, assumin' you don't take to the new voice. You got a heavyweight merged with ya, maybe a voice that's a bit rougher is what you deserve?"

Mikumo gave a shy smile, his hands slowly drifting away from their grips and the lightning fading.

---X Izuku X---

Izuku's hand gripped tight on his neck as he clawed at the table with one hand. Panic and embarrassment bit at his stomach. 

"Akatani," Souma said, softly, as if to a spooked animal, "Was your throat injured in whatever incident led to your pact with Raum?"

Izuku nodded, shame eating at his gut, "T-then I t-talked after it, and some of the damage became-"

"If you say permanent," Sett cut him off, flicking one hand across his nose, drawing attention to the scar there, "That's a long time when it comes to Spirits. I got my scars because I like them, I'm sure you'll get better eventually Kid, assumin' you don't take to the new voice. You got a heavyweight merged with ya, maybe a voice that's a bit rougher is what you deserve?"

{Truth} Raum said, and Izuku gave a shy smile.

"Thank you."

"It's the truth," Sett shrugged, throwing his feet up onto the table, "You're new to this, right? All of it?"

Izuku nodded, and Sett nodded back. A deep rumbling hum came from his chest, "Well, what if I said I had a job I could use your help on? Nothing major, but something to show you the ropes."

"Like… like what?"

"Girl who works for me went missing," Sett said, pulling out a toothpick and chewing on it, "normally I wouldn't be too worried, but I know her grandparents… kinda. We met a couple of times. And I don't think they're her actual grandparents all things goin'. But I like the girl, she's good at dealin' with problems the crop up in my territory, so I was plannin' to send someone out towards where she was last seen. You go with him, and I'll trade ya for some information. There's something you want, right?

"{Tahm Kench}," was this what disassociating was like? Gods, it was terrible. Wait, should he still be swearing by them when he was sharing a body with a demon? That-

Sett's hand, surrounded with golden energy, suddenly crashed into a red sword with purple runes on it, both Souma and him having risen to his feet, "I was askin' the kid, Raum, not you. Souma, I wasn't gonna kill him."

"I still would prefer if things didn't get violent if they didn't have to," Souma said, the sword dispelling once Sett lowered his hand. 

"Fair, fair," Sett said, nodding and sitting back down, "so, what about you, kid? What-"

"Tahm Kench," Izuku repeated the name, "or Evelyn."

"Old Two-Coats, eh?" Sett said, "or… you sure you know what you're doin' kid? Raum might be happy ridin' shotgun, but you might not like what you find when you run into either of them."

"The River King and Agony's Embrace are dangerous," Souma agreed. 

"Yes," Izuku said.

"Start with Two Coats," Sett advised, "he likes worming in slowly, so me or Souma or Pyke or any of the others would have more time to beat seven shades of shit outta him before anything happens. Killer!"

A man wearing a blue and white striped face mask looked up from where he was sitting at a table, walking over as Sett curled a finger towards him, "Boss?"

"Killer, this is the Kid," Sett said, "Kid, Killer. You know that job I was talkin' about? He's your partner on it. Find Mana, get the chemtech those bastards owe me, get back here."

"You sure, Boss?" The man said, looking down at Izuku and crossing his arms over his black and white open neck shirt, "Doesn't look like much."

"He'll do," Sett said.

--- X Killer X---

Killer started the car, tilting his head to look at the younger boy climbing into the passenger seat. After a moment's hesitation, he reached up and took off his mask, throwing it in the backseat next to his wrapped up kamas and shaking out his long hair. Starting the engine, he pulled out of the parking garage and onto the street.

"Where are we going?" The kid asked.

"Nishinari," Killer said. Was it worth…? "So, what's your deal?"

"What?"

"Boss is part wolverine or whatever, Souma can't take off his mask," Killer said. Kinda wished he could say the same, if he was honest, "So what are you? You're too tall to be a Yordle…"

"You know-?" The kid looked startled, mismatched eyes staring at Killer.

"A bit," Killer said, "I ain't super high up in the organization, but I've been able to notice little, eh, "errors", I guess?  Always have. So?"

"I've got ties to a demon," the Kid said, after hesitating.

"Really?" Killer said, eyes running over the boy. He was scrawny, and really unimpressive in pretty much every way other than the shock of white-green that made up his hair and the strange eye.

"Yeah," the Kid said, "Demon of Secrets."

"That's pretty metal," Killer said, pairing his phone up to the car and pulling up a playlist, "Hope you don't mind if I blast some music?"

"It's your car," the Kid said.

"Good," Killer said, starting AC/DC and pulling onto the highway, "So, quick sum up of what we're doing. We find Mana, who is probably fine, then we go visit the gang she was supposed to be talking to and get the stuff for the Boss. No killin' unless we hav-"

"Kill?" The Kid said, stopping Killer in his track, "Why would we kill-?"

Fuck him, he had been handed a goody two shoes. What was the Boss thinking?

"Gotta happen sometimes in our line of work," Killer said, "listen, it ain't gonna happen. We're gonna grab Mana, make a show, get what we want and leave. Things'll only turn violent if the other guys decide to make it. And this is their fault."

"How-?"

"We paid 'em," Killer said, "and now they're trying to pull out and keep the money and the tech. That's a dumb idea on their part, so we scare 'em, rough them up a bit if we have to. But we don't kill them unless they force our hand, because all that'll do is get Heroes sniffing around for us. Got it?"

The Kid nodded.

"Good," Killer said, "Now let's just focus on getting there, I think I know where Mana would be."

--- X Mana X---

Mana's eye shifted as she finished loading the last magazine for her twin Beretta 92Fs. Hand straying to the block of stone fastened to metal, she stood up and moved towards the "door".

"Mana," a familiar voice said, "it's me."

Mana stopped, lowering the rifle behind her back and stepping out of the shack she was hiding in. Standing there was Killer, a short boy half hidden behind him with feathers around his neck.

"You look like shit," the blond haired man said, "The Boss sent us looking for you. You haven't called."

"Come in," Mana said, "Quickly. Things got bad."

"How bad?" Killer asked, following into the building with the short kid.

"They've got more hired help than I expected," Mana said, "ten men, or so? They really want to keep the chemtech. And I didn't call because my phone got shattered when I was there."

"They're asking for a strike back," Killer said.

"I think they're trying to sell to multiple buyers," Mana said, "They don't know what they found, just that Sett wants it, and so do several others. Who's the kid?"

"This is… I just realized I never got your name, kid."

"I- I'm- I'm Izuku!" The kid,  through he was honestly probably only a couple years younger than Mana and Killer, stuttered, and then immediately slapped his hand across his mouth.

--- Izuku X---

Izuku stared at the dusky skinned girl and Killer, sweat pooling at the corner of his brow. Oh, crud. He had just- just- just-

Gahgada.

{Tactically sound,} Raum snarked, {Revealing your identity at the first opportunity. Our third greatest secret wasn't a bargaining chip we should hold onto.}

Third. What were the first two?

{My existence within you, and my true name,} Raum said, {The latter of which I am glad I didn't tell you now.}

That was… was… that was fair.

{Yes, it- pardon me?} Raum hesitated, before falling silent for a long moment and then rasping out in the croak of a raven, abandoning the accented voice he normally used, {I am going to feast upon that fool's soul, if you do not stop me.}

Why did Izuku get the distinct feeling he had just missed something important? 

"Right," the dusky skinned girl said, watching him and resting a heavy stone rifle... thing on the table next to a pair of regular pistols. Hazel eyes swept over Izuku, "I'm Mana, this is Hitokiri."

"Call me Killer," he said, "if my parents are gonna give me a shitty name, I'll make it impressive. Anyways, the Boss sent him with me. So, you need a bit of extra muscle for this?"

"Scare 'em into giving up the tech," Mana agreed, and Izuku wrung his hands. This… this was illegal, he shouldn't be getting involved in this.

{I want that information, Izuku,} Raum said, {Finding Kench… I want to do it.}

He knew. Izuku knew, but…

"Is there any other way?" Izuku asked.

"Short of just going in there weapons drawn, killing most of them and getting the info from the last?" Mana said, picking up an empty gun.

That was even worse . 

"There's the risk we're gonna have to do that anyways," Killer said.

No. Oh, nononono…

"They're all bark and no bite," Mana said confidently, "they were willing to fight me because I was alone. But with you two here, we can make it clear Sett isn't waiting anymore. They'll hand over the Chemtech. And if not? Well, a couple of baton rounds to the gut will convince them otherwise."

{We could always take the secret of where it is by force, if all else fails,} Raum said.

"I can get some information," Izuku said, "if we can get me to one."

"Then let's go get my stuff," Killer said, "No point waiting."

--- X Killer X---

Killer chewed his cheek as him and Izuku stopped at the door of the car, before finally grunting, "You can stay here if you want."

"What?"

"The Boss wanted you to help me find Mana," Killer said, "and we did that. Stay in the can if you want, we won't be gone for long."

"But… but I offered-"

"You're not ok with the way this might turn out," Killer said, locking his mask over his face, "and that's fine. Boss didn't tell ya, I guess… but you're not ok with it, right?"

"...Killing is wrong," Izuku said, quietly.

"Figured you thought something like that," Killer said, "I ain't gonna bullshit you, you're a big enough kid. I don't know how this is gonna go. Me and Mana might walk in there and the gang might go "oh, shit, Sett wants that chemtech" and hand it over without a fight, but at the same time, me and Mana might walk in there, the gang might go "oh, shit, Sett wants that chemtech" and Quirks and weapons go off. You got a favorite hero?" 

"All Might," Izuku said.

"Fan of the classics," Killer bit back his stupid ass laugh, "right, well, think about how sometimes you get idiots cocky enough to go against All Might. It could be like that."

"But… do you have to kill them?"

"Have to?" Killer said, "No. And we aren't gonna unless they give us no choice. There's nothing good to come from that, Kid. Bunch of criminals dying in one place'll get the Heroes sniffing around, and we'll be just as lost on getting the chemtech as we are now. We're just gonna try to scare 'em, maybe rough them up a bit if we have to."

Izuku nodded, working his lip, "and if we get that information faster, less fighting happens, right?"

"Right," Killer said, "That demon of yours give you something that can help with that?"

The cross shaped pupil of the kid's left, red eye drifted down to his hand. Red lightning crackled from it, and he looked up with a nod, "I can."

"Alright then," Killer said, "Let's go get some information."

---X Izuku X---

Izuku's left eye slid closed, an eye the same color forming within the small, ramshackle group of buildings a hundred meters out. It swiveled around the area, scanning the room, "six men with weapons, two Heteromorphics, and two weaponless."

"Good to hear," Mana said, "Killer, you mind coming with me?"

"No," Killer said, resting the one of his scythes on his shoulder as he stood up. He tilted his helmet towards Izuku, "last chance to back out, Kid."

"L-let's just do this," Izuku said, standing up and pulling his hood over his head, "please?"

"Hey!" Mana said, striding towards the man in the doorway. The guard, a ten foot tall woman holding an appropriately sized gun that looked like it would blow itself up if it actually fired. Ramshackled, homemade, "Get your boss out here, now."

{We can do it the moment we see him,} Raum whispered, and Izuku clenched his hand.

"Why should I?" The woman said, slinging her gun across her shoulder, "We told you, that technology is stayin' with us."

"And I told you I would be back with back up," Mana said, staring up at the woman, "and I am."

"Sett's gettin' weak, if a punk and a brat are his idea of backup," she said.

"Or maybe he knows how cocky you are," Killer said, rotating his wrist and causing the scythe to give a deep whir, "Thinkin' you can screw him outta his due. Get your boss out here, he's givin' us the tech or you're givin' us our money back. We're reasonable people, things don't have to turn violent unless you make it."

"Big claim, when you come out with weapons," another woman said, and the giant stepped aside, revealing a silver haired woman with wolfish eyes. 

"Boss," the first woman said.

Now !

Red energy tore at the boss, and a fragment flew from her and towards Izuku as she gave a pained gasp and staggered towards him. He caught the fragment with his left hand, crushing in and inhaling the energy.

Fragments of memory flowed into him, blocking out everything. 

Eisley? Are you sure?

It'll make a pretty penny there. We already have a buyer set up, he's willing to double what Sett is paying for it.

What IS this stuff?

Serious shit. Every time a barrel of the stuff shows up, people clamor over themselves to buy it. Then it just disappeared.

...I don't like dealing in Eisley. Things could go bad there.

Of cou-

{Izuku!} Izuku snapped back to reality to see Killer standing in front of him, gasping raggedly as a buckshot dropped from his chest. Weapons trained on them.

On second thought, maybe this hadn't been his best idea, "I have the location."

"Good," Killer said, turning and scooping him up with one arm, tossing the kama to Mana, who caught it, " Now we have to get outta here! "

--- X ??? X---

A Month In Japan's "Criminal Haven", by Kizuki Chitose.

Nakanoshima is, if you looked at it on a map, one of the many mostly uninhabited islands of Japan. The truth is far more interesting.

Hundreds, if not of thousands of shacks built of ramshackle wood and metal make up the unrecognized and illegal city of Mos Eisley there, many built on top of each other, with precarious walkways stretching across the dark, cramped "streets". It is, alongside a handful of other locations across the globe (New Zaun, Roanapur, Kowloon, to name a few), that stubbornly defies Quirk law. This has led it to having a rather seedy reputation. The people who live in these places are often stereotyped as villains, though their actual reasons for staying range.

The city's scent is unique, fish and other meats mix with the smell of the gasoline powering generators as you wander through one of the more open areas that acts as a market. Men and women try to get you attention, offering food and goods from anything from yen, to American money, to bartered goods. Tunnels leading underground, to more housing and shops, are only truly noticeable when someone emerges from one [...]

Chapter Text

---X Killer X---

There was a silent heartbeat as the Kid crushed the crystal he had taken from White Queen, his eyes glazing over. Oh, by the Bearded…

Killer threw himself in between Rook and Izuku as quickly as he could as she swung her massive gun towards him. His skin and muscle hardened as he activated Enhancement, his skin darkening from its standard color to a dark black just before the gun went off. Buckshot smashed into his chest, forcing the wind out of him and probably bruising his ribs. Mana threw open her trenchcoat, grabbing her pistols from their holsters and training them on White Queen as she drew the sword off her back. Killer began to spin his scythes in his hands, ready for the fight.

"I have the location," Izuku said from behind them suddenly. Killer glanced back, watching him pant raggedly. Kid wouldn't get out of this all right. 

"Good," Killer said, tossing a hand scythe to Mana as Enhancement ran down his body from his chest, strengthening his legs. Mana returned one gun to her holster, angling the other down as she caught his scythe and fired into Queen's knee. Killer raised his voice to be heard over the roar of the gun, the crack of bone as the baton round shattered it, the howl of agony from Queen and the clattering of steel from her sword hitting the ground in less than a second, "Now we have to get outta here!"

Rook swung her gun for his head as Killer scooped up the Kid. He threw the other arm up in a rough block, Enhancement darkening his skin and making the bones only protest slightly instead of shattering entirely. Rook pulled back, but before she could hit him a claw of red energy smashed into her, pushing her back and pinning her to the wall.

"We're moving!" Mana said, backpedaling and taking shots at the men and women gathering in the window. Once one gun emptied, she holstered it and switched to the other. 

More hands launched from the Kid, the first few slamming gang members against walls while the others were-

"DIE!" Queen howled, a coin sparking between her fingers and blasting Mana off her feet. Oh, come o-

"Grab Mana," the Kid said, fighting to get down, "I'm not hurt."

"Fine," Killer said, dropping him and running towards Mana, "but next time have a better plan than piss off then entire ga-"

Red Lightning crackled from Izuku's fingers, blasting Queen back into the building, "This is done."

"Like hell-" a red hand clasped around Queen's neck, Izuku raising a hand covered in the same energy and lifting her from her feet. Around the hideout, Killer watched other hands jerk the weapons still trained on them up and away from the trio.

"This. Is. Done," he repeated, his voice dipping from the slight rasp to a nightmarish Raven's croak, "{I already sent the information to the Boss with my powers. He knows where it is, so all killing us will do is bring a reckoning down on your head… and that's assuming we don't hold you here long enough for the police and Pros to show up. Because a bunch of guns just went off, and they're gonna attract attention we don't want. So let's walk away, meet again at Mos Eisley. Good?}"

The hand around Queen's neck let go, and she dropped back to the ground, looking like she had swallowed a lemon, "Fine. But we'll kill you there."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Mana said, clutching her bleeding side, "C'mon."

Once they were a far enough distance away, Killer glanced at Izuku, "That was pretty impressive. How'd the Boss react?"

"You'll know when we tell him," Izuku said, looking around, "because… uh… I lied."

Killer shared a look with Mana, and bit back his shitty "Fafafa" of a laugh, "Well, you got us into that fight, but you bullshitted our way out of it. Let's let the Boss know."

--- X Izuku X---

" Mos Eisley, eh ?" Izuku sat in the back of the car as they drove away from the fight, heart hammering in his chest in something between terror and… something. Sett's voice came from the speaker, where Killer had hooked up his phone.

"I've never heard of it," Izuku said.

" Not surprised ," Sett's voice drawled, " It's something of a dirty secret of the government. It'd take a Taskforce of Heroes to clear it out, and there'd be casualties that would make a PR department die from a heart attack. Since it doesn't hurt anyone, normally, they just go pretendin' it doesn't exist… now comes the messy part ."

"Which is?" Mana prompted, checking one of her guns under the dashboard as they drove away from the fight.

" Killer, Mana… I'm willin' to triple your pay if you act as the Kid's bodyguard for this job ," the way Sett said it, as blaise as could be, was sharply contrasted by Killer and Mana's reactions.

The pistol fell from Mana's fumbling hand, hitting the ground in a way that caused Izuku to wince, though it didn't go off, while Killer briefly lost control of the car in a screeching of tires and a burning of rubber, "Triple, Boss!?"

" Triple ," Sett repeated, " Plus you two and Mikumo getting first dibs of salvage from the Pieces equipment other than the Chemtech. I want it, and I will pay anything to make sure it doesn't fall into anyone's hands but mine. And that means I need to cut a deal with you, Mikumo."

"Me?" Izuku said weakly.

" You ," Sett said, dropping his friendly drawl for a voice of iron, " You're the one with the information of where they're holding that Chemtech. Short of torturing that out of a gang member, that's information that they ain't gonna part with until they decide on a seller. And because of that, you're essentially holdin' the billion yen chip."

"O-oh," Izuku swallowed. Was it just him, or were Killer and Mana watching him from the rearview mirror?

" But here's where we hit the hitch ," Sett said, "That information is yours to sell now, to whoever you want.”

"What?" Izuku croaked, and Raum was suddenly focusing on the conversation.

" I hired you for a specific job with a specific transaction ," Sett said, " Find Mana, I tell you where Two-Coats is. And that's done. You can duck out here and now if you wanna. And I will respect that decision. Or you can stay in, and I will pay you in resources and money to find that Chemtech and bring it to me. "

Izuku worried his lip, clenching his hand as he quietly thought it over. Was… was it worth it? "What kind of resources?"

Sett gave a loud guffaw, " That… that's your question? You're the one with the info kid, I can make offers but you're the one who can make demands. I'll tell you what you'd definitely get, a boat. Because you'll need one to get to Eisley ."

Keeping casualties low…

"People want this information," Izuku said… before breathing in, "I want bodyguards for my mom."

" Heh… Done ," Sett said, sounding fond.

"And I want a longcoat. And more equipment later, when I've got things sorted out."

" Good to hear ," Sett said, " I'll need a week to set things up, get the boat and an engineer ready. They won't have moved it by then, I'm sure of that ."

One job. He'd keep casualties from happening and get supplies for going to UA. Mos Eisley probably needed a Hero, anyways. He would be there.

--- X Inko X---

Inko looked up, watching Izuku trudge into the apartment with an exhausted sigh, throwing his sweatshirt onto the rack and taking off his shoes, before mumbling, "I'm home."

"Welcome home," Inko said, watching him collapse onto their yellow couch and turn on the TV to the news before pulling out his journal from… somewhere with a tired sigh, running a hand through his two-toned hair. She was his mother and she didn't know how he did that, "Is everything alright?"

Izuku was quiet for a minute, scratching into the journal with a mechanical pencil, before finally asking, "...Do you ever feel like you're making promises you don't feel completely comfortable with?"

"Is something wrong?" Inko immediately asked, walking over and sitting next to him. He was drawing a long, lanky man with spiky hair and a polka dot shirt. Next to the man's head, he was drawing a full face mask.

"I just…" Izuku hesitated, "I guess I've felt like I haven't been in control of myself since the attack."

His hand drifted up, hovering over his chest for a second before continuing to his neck. Inko met his eyes, both the green one and cross pupiled red, and reached out to take Izuku's hand and pull his head into her lap, running her hand through the green and white strands.

"It would feel like that," Inko said, "a lot changed then, Izuku. And I'm not just talking about your… body. You spent ten years living with an incorrect Quirkless diagnosis. That… that your dreams weren't safe for you to aim towards. You're trying to find your place in the world more than other kids your age."

"So what should I do?" Izuku asked.

"Try and find that place," Inko said, "and I'll be there to help you… and while he might be busy, your dad is trying to take some time off work to have a long call with you. You know how his job gets."

"Where is he now?" Izuku asked.

"Somewhere in the Mediterranean," Inko said, "they were sailing towards an island off Italy."

"Ok," Izuku said, "It's been a couple of months since we talked."

"Time Zones aren't easy," Inko said.

"I know," Izuku said, "Eleven years like this… at least he always calls for birthdays."

"Hisashi means well," Inko said, "How about I make you some katsudon?"

"It won't be too stressful?" Izuku asked.

"Never," Inko said.

--- X Izuku/{Raum} X---

Albino ravens sat on the trees dug into the deep, marshy waters. The unkindness's eyes were trained down, like they were hunting for prey, instead of the predator. Slowly, carefully, Izuku stepped into the clearing through which they could see a rundown house, feathers laying across his neck, and wings across his shoulders, "What did you do?"

The water in front of him bubbled and gurgled, before slowly something rose from it. A small tophat sat on green-grey skin between two yellow, hungry eyes, two whiskers of skin curled like a handlebar mustache above a mouth filled with dagger-like teeth in a grin, and an affably voice with a deep cajun accent came from it, "So you finally got out, did ya, Secret-Eater?"

"{And you've been eating well, River King}," Raum said through Izuku's body. Taking full control with a little urging and giving a mocking bow. Izuku bit back the discomfort of disassociation and let the Demons speak, "{Is whatever happened in that house your doing?}

"I just gave a girl a family," Tahm Kench said with a booming chuckle, "Didn't turn out the way she wanted."

"{That does seem to be how your dealings end,}" Raum said, not particularly perturbed by that.

"Of course, this one didn't end so well for myself," Tahm Kench said, the water around him bubbling more before he rose from it, revealing a fat, boubous body so tall it stood three times Izuku's height, wearing a gambler's coat made from two smaller ones stitched together to cross his girth. Well, let it never be said the nickname for demons weren't creative, he guessed, "she brought in the wrong "daddy", and now I'll go hungry. It's too bad, she would have given me a near feast, and I was so close to collectin'."

"{I'm sorry for your loss,}" Raum responded instantly, "{I know that hunger well, now.}" 

"'Tis the burden of our kind, brother," Tahm said, giving a mockery of a stretch. Organs pressed against slightly translucent flesh, before he stopped, "and not all of us like the idea of relyin' on a host like yours. What's this one's name?"

"{Midoriya,}" Raum said, "{You won't get me that easily, old friend.}"

"Can't blame a demon for trying," Tahm said with a shrug, yellow eyes looking Izuku over, "Got to say, it's almost a shame I didn't get to you first. There's so much I could have given' you, Child. Friendship, power, the Number One Hero position. If you hadn't made that deal with ol' Ruffles, I could have given you the world. Well, except the rivers, of course. A King doesn't give up his domain for anything if he wants to be considered one."

"Why can't we be friends now?" Izuku asked, taking back control of his body for a moment. The River King was quiet, before giving a deep chuckle as Raum hissed.

"An idealist too?" Tahm said, laughing, "Oh, I so wish we had met before. I love idealists. Nothing flavors the meat like dying hope. Our friendship is different, now. You're almost a Brother. Did you have a reason to come find me, Raum, or did you just want to let me know you were back? You, me, Evelyn and Nocturne, we might be able to break-"

"{You don't actually want to release the beast from its cell,}" Raum said.

"No, no I don't," Tahm said, tearing a tree covered with dark mushrooms and beginning to eat it, unhinging his jaw with every bite and not stopping until it was gone, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, "and it's good to know you don't either. Damn thing doesn't respect territory, doesn't respect when one of us has claimed something as food! That's beyond rude, and it can rot in the Blighted Isles for all I care. We must have some level of class."

"{To answer your question,}," Raum said, "{Yes, this was a courtesy call to let you know I had returned and, as is our way, I will be willing to make trades for the right price.}

"Goody me," Tahm said, giving a bow as mocking as the one Raum had given earlier, "but in honesty, it's good to have you back brother. When you show up, things become hectic. And I like that. Now, I would suggest gettin' out of here, there's a taskforce comin' to undo what little is left of my work. You'll find me again if you need me."

"{I have your look,}" Raum said.

"And I, your taste," Tahm said, "or the boy's, at least. And while I can't seem to place it, it is a familiar one."

And with those parting words, both demonhost and demon departed, Tahm diving into a river that should have been too shallow to fit him and Izuku dissolving into a conspiracy of ravens.

--- X Yone X---

"So you've decided to continue working with Sett," Yone said to Akatani as they walked down the streets of Shizuoka, following a young woman with an azakana feeding on her. Akatani swallowed, looking around.

"I… just for this one job."

"Hm," Yone huffed, turning the street with Akatani and getting closer to their prey… which really wasn't the best phrasing when they were following a teenaged girl, he supposed, "Then I wish you luck. Would you do me a favor?"

"What?" 

"Approach her," Yone said, nodding to the girl, "it's far less suspicious for someone of her own age to do so, rather than I. Especially as, if we are both honest, I am not exactly "normal"."

Yes, a mask sealed to his face and a katana on his hip wasn't the strangest thing in the world anymore. But that didn't mean it wouldn't cause, ah, "stranger danger" feelings if he approached her.

"You… you want me to go… I… but…!"

"I'm going to teach you an important lesson, Akatani," Yone said, "sorcery can bind an Azakana, a blade can cleave it in twain, but to speak to someone may free them before it comes to that. Or, before they fall so far as to become like us. Bound irrevocably to the very thing we hunt. Speak to her, go."

And with that, Yone did something he had done… done to Yasuo, so long ago, in better times… and pushed Akatani straight towards the girl and slid into the shadows to watch it.

--- X Kyoka X---

Jiro Kyoka had been in a mood for several days. Ever since she had noticed that the girls in her class were becoming more… developed, while she wasn't. Oh, sure, she had a bit , but she was on the short side and she hadn't really developed-

"E-excuse m-me?" Kyoka broke from her thoughts at the slightly raspy voice called out, turning towards the boy who looked like… well, like she was an oncoming train. Heterochromatic eyes, one green and the other red with a cross shaped pupil, and both thoroughly dilated. He had messy, green and white hair and too pale skin with pronounced veins.

"You alright?" Kyoka immediately blurted out, causing him to stop open mouthed, "Sorry, that… yeah, uh, do you need a hospital or is it your Quirk that makes you look like that?"

Because, yeah, buddy wasn't winning any rewards for appearances, not that she was one to ta- aaaaannnnd he looked like a kicked puppy. Great.

"Y-yeah… I mean no-! I mean- mean-!"

"Alright," Kyoka sighed, "let's make this simple, if you need a doctor, thumbs down, if it's a Quirk, thumbs up."

He raised a shaky thumb up, "S-sorry. It's… I'm a late bloomer with my Quirk and I'm trying to get used to how it makes me look. Sorry…"

Poor guy. Kyoka had been born with her jacks, but if he had been "normal" looking, and now looked like- well, like that, it probably wasn't-

Ah, shit, she had just implied he had looked like a corpse warmed over to him. That probably made her look like a bitch.

"So," Kyoka said, scuffing her foot and playing with a jack, "Why'd you want to talk to me?"

"Y-you seemed… you seemed sad," he finally said, playing with his hands. Kyoka's jaw jumped, and she breathed in. He wanted to talk to her because of some pi- Or did she look so bad some random guy on the street dealing with his own issues could see it? "And I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Just… just dealing with some body stuff myself right now," Kyoka said with a sad smile, "I'm Jiro Kyoka."

"Midoriya Izuku," he said, bowing, "it was… it was nice talking to you. I don't do that with people my age very often."

Runs his mouth a little too much, huh?

"Got a phone," Kyoka said, "Maybe we could get to know each other?"

"R-really?" The way his green eye lit up, even as the red one continued to stare straight ahead and into her soul, made Kyoka feel like she had made the right decision with that offer. Midoriya looked like… well, like the idea that someone wanted to be his friend was almost alien to him.

--- X Izuku X---

Izuku walked towards the boat, trying to keep his mouth from falling as he stared at it, "I…"

"What?" Sett said, standing on the deck of the large, black yacht alongside Killer and Mana, "were you expecting a small boat or something?"

" Yes ," Izuku said.

"Yeah, well, that's not exactly subtle heading as far off the coast as you're going," Sett said, "Need something that doesn't immediately draw coastguard attention or make them think you're heading you-know-where. Come on, get inside so we can have this conversation in the AIC."

Izuku did so, following Sett into the slightly cramped cabin turned AIC, a hologram projector sitting in the center of the room.

"Living space is on the second floor," Sett said, "Cramped, but since it's only the four of you-"

"You mean three?"

"No," Sett said, "Mechanic. She downstairs making sure everything is in order before you head up. She's also decent with other stuff. Took over one room for a workshop, and she'll probably mod the hell out of this thing when you're done. Anyways, you'll be comfortable enough. Kitchen, grill outside. Individual rooms, though if you take on a couple more people you'll have to start bunking up. Sorry if I'm goin' a bit fast, I want to give you this info so you can head out."

Izuku nodded, while Killer took the backpack he was holding and vanished downstairs.

"So here's what we got, because I wasn't bein' lazy during this time," Sett said, "other than the Pieces, who you met, we got two other groups goin' for the Chemtech. And trust me, you don't want them getting it if you want to be a hero."

Izuku opened his mouth to question how Sett knew that, before shutting his mouth and nodding.

"First you got a group of holdouts from Destro's little army," Sett said, "led by some fanatic. I'd try to avoid fighting them if you can, but if you have to… well, How's your ability to bombard an area?"

Izuku looked down at his hands, before looking back up, "I can't."

"Then avoid them," Sett said, "or get creative. And as for the other, it's the last member of a Yakuza group called the Abegawa Tenchu Kai. Don't worry about them as much, I'm not even sure where they got the cash and this is probably their last gasp. Do this clean, Kid. Get in, get the Chemtech."

"Nobody gets hurt," Izuku swore.

"That's how a professional does these things," Sett said, patting him on the shoulder, "If you can smash and grab, that's the best thing for everyone involved. Includin' the folks ar Eisley. They aren't criminals, they just want to be left alone. Making things bloody there just hurts them, kid. So, you think of a name?"

"What?"

"For the ship," Sett said, knocking his hand on the window, drawing attention to Killer tossing a fistful of yen coins overboard. Raum rose from where had been dozing in the back of Izuku's find.

{Jericho had a ship once,} Raum said, {He was quite disappointed when it was stolen by a pirate. It was named…

"Leviathan.}"

--- X Chris X---

"So," Chris stepped up next to Dragon, who was smoking a cigarette, "Your kid finally had his Quirk come it?"

"Yep," the man grinned at his CO, before sighing, "Wish I could give him a call."

"Once this mission is over," Chris said, pulling out his heavily modified Beretta 92Fs, "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Hisashi "Dragon" Midoriya said, burning his cigarette to ash in less than a second and picking up his modified Kel-Tec KSGs, "Let's kill us some Voidspawn."

"Brad!" Chris Redfield called to the man flying the United Nations Anti-Void Taskforce VTOL they were in, "open the back and be ready to bug out!" 

--- X  AN X--- 

Chapter Text

Izuku sat on a chair on the deck of the slick black ship, toying with a package's string and mouth dry. Raum hadn't said much since they named the Leviathan, though he doubted his constant companion was really completely gone from his mind.

"There you are," Izuku turned, watching Killer climb up the stairs and sit on the chair next to him. The masked man placed a six pack of Asahi beer glasses on the table next to Izuku's Cokes, "You mind if I drink up here with you, Captain?"

Captain…

"No," Izuku said, looking out over the sea, where a couple of islands were visible on the horizon to their left. Killer cracked open the first bottle and slid a straw into it, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Is it why I wear this mask?" Killer said.

"Yeah…"

"My laugh sounds stupid," Killer said, "so I wear it to muffle it. Sounds dumb, right?"

"My voice doesn't sound the best," Izuku said, "So I don't have much room to answer."

"So," Killer said, leaning back in his chair, "plan for when we reach Eisley?"

Izuku played with the wrapped package on the table some more, drinking from his soda, "We're gonna need to find someone who knows Eisley, first. Then, we're gonna scope out where the Pieces set up. Once we have that scoped out, we do a smash and grab. I want to get this done as quickly and cleanly as possible, if we can."

"Good idea," Killer said, sliding the straw into one of the holes of his mask and taking a sip, before continuing, "but you realize that they know we're coming, right?"

"Yeah," Izuku said, clenching his hand, "How's our engineer?"

"Excitable," Killer said, "she's already working on some stuff for us… Captain?"

"Hm?"

"What's the over under on this not being a one time job?"

Izuku paused, before sighing, "I don't know, Killer. I really don't."

"Yeah," Killer said, holding out his beer, "That sounds about right. Well, to us not growing to hate each other before this is done with."

Izuku tapped his coke against Killer's drink, "Wanna talk about something?"

"You watch Quirk Fighting at all? The I-Island Annual Tournament is going on. Probably gonna borrow the TV in the rec room in half an hour to watch the first match."

"I'll join you for that," Izuku said, closing his eyes and stretching his senses, "Where's Mana?"

"Making sure her guns are in working order. We won't be there for a couple of days, but better safe than sorry, especially on the seas."

--- X Hisahsi X---

Hisashi whirled under a lunging voidling, pulling the trigger on his left gun. The dragon breath round went off, magnesium carbonized several of the little bastards while the recoil dampener on his power armor groaned. Hitting a button on the side of the gun, a small arm pumped the shell, letting it drop to the ground. 

"How are you doing?" He yelled to Chris, who shot a voidling out of the air with his Samurai's Edge. In his other hand, which was acting as a brace at the moment, was a heavy bowie knife.

"I've had worse days!" Chris called back, "Barry and Jill shouldn't be too far away by now."

"And the guys to shut this damn thing?"

"We need to clear an LZ for them!" Chris said.

"Hate to tell you this boss," Hizashi snarked, before breathing in until his ribcage felt like it was gonna crack. Breathing out a tide of flames, Hizashi watched the voidlings writhing on the ground, "but I don't think it's gonna be that eas-"

"Then do us a favor," Hisashi whirled towards the ocean on his left, firing at the approaching Voidling as he went, where a grey skinned man was rising. In one hand was a curved dagger, while the other had a harpoon, both of which as attached to a single spool of rope, "and get out of here."

"Who-?"

"A "friend" of your bosses," the man said, rising from water not deep enough to hold him, "call them if you want. My name is Pyke. I know Kassadin and Kai’Sa from the…" he hesitated, before giving a wet, humorless rasp of a laugh, "bad old days."

Ok, probably a mage of some sor-

"And get that damn mage to shut this portal, I can't do it myself."

---X Pyke X---

Pyke watched the Voidlings rush towards him in an old dance. Not against these little bastards, but against the weakest undead of the Shadow Isles. By the Swimming City, he did the dumbest things when bored. And since the last Jaull went extinct outside of the Swimming City and his list ended, he was bored so… very… often . 

Oh, there were still people for him to kill, until recently it had been whalers who honestly acted so much like the crew of the Terror. Now, it was criminal gangs from whatever locations were near the Swimming City's 'current location', as much as it ever had one. He'd leave the loyal alive and the traitors disemboweled, strung up for the wharf rats.

But Kassandin, of all people, had appeared where he had "rested" the night before. Half a world away from the rocky shores of Gibraltar he was skewering Voidlings on, and that alone had interested him. The Bloodharbor Ripper wasn't a fool, he knew where he stood among the survivors of the End War.

Not as liked as Yone, not as hated as Aatrox. Not as reliable as Tristana, not as untrustworthy as Evelynn. Senna had blasted him straight through the chest once, burned him in a way that hurt just right, left him waking up in the Swimming City with a feelin' like his heart was trying to restart and rip its way out of his chest.

His harpoon ripped through a voidling as two more tore into him, water gushing through the cuts like chum. Catching the eye of the man with short black hair, Pyke sank out of the world for a moment. Flames boiled the voidlings that had been surrounding him like lobsters in the pot. 

Pkye surfaced a second later with a net of barbed rope, throwing it on more voidlings before plunging back into the sea below, dumping them into the waiting mouth of a jaull. Glowing blue sacks of sapphilite people, including Pyke, had died lit up the fanged mouth of the whale sized creature, but it didn't need to close it to swallow them whole.

"Make this fun," Pyke growled as he surfaced, net and harpoon bared as he kept his carving knife between his teeth, " Scream ."

--- X Ella X---

" Last chance," Sett said, staring through the holographic screen. Haihara "Ella" Takako scratched her cheek, watching the red haired man, "back out of this race. You don't want what they're selling."

"And how the fuck would you know what I want, Sett?" Ella said, whirling a revolver with one hand and enjoying the wincing from her men. It wasn't even loaded, the little bitches.

"Back out," Sett said, eyes seeming to glow with energy, "I-"

"Oops," Ella reached out one dusty hand, touching the button to hang up. Sett rocketed upwards.

"DON'T YOU DA-!" Ella cackled as she hung up the call, before turning to the captain.

"Keep the course," she ordered, shrugging off the white fur coat she had worn and placing the custom revolver, one of her "Queenmakers", into the concealed carry case within it, "I'm gonna use the pool."

She stepped out onto the deck of her superyacht, pulling out her phone and checking that yes, they'd take a couple of days to reach her current goal and pulling off the orange spaghetti strap tanktop she was wearing.

If Sett wanted the package, whatever it was, she wanted it. Partially to recover from her stepmother's death (may she rot in hell) at the hands of Stendhal… and partially because it would make Sett froth with rage!

"You sure you should be doing that now?" Shirou asked as she passed by him, not even spending more than a second to notice she was topless. Annoying bastard.

The attack that had killed Ella's stepmother had left Shirou maimed. His once long, black hair was half gone and replaced with scar tissue and splotchy white hair where possible. Strapped to his neck was an electrolarynx, and the cybernetics that had replaced his arm had slowly been crawling along his torso over the course of the five years.

She hated him. For surviving and keeping her from leading the Kai away from the Yakuza lifestyle only he gave a damn about anymore. For being too damn stubborn to listen to her commands.

"Yes, I am," Ella said.

Hopefully he'd have an unfortunate "accident" during this job.

---

"I take it that didn't go the way you expected?" Yone asked, working a whetstone down his steel sword, a gift from a long passed friend in the Muromachi era. The fact that it had lasted so many centuries was evidence of it's quality, honesty. 

"No," Sett growled, falling back into his chair and punching the intercom next to his spot, "Get me a bottle of absinthe, I have a headache."

"And that'll hel-?"

"I don't need this right now, Yone."

"Apologies," Yone bowed his head, lifting the whetstone, "I'll wait until your headache is gone, I'm sure pumice on steel wasn't helping."

"No it wasn't," Sett growled, before breathing in through his nose, "Sorry for biting your head off. I was hoping I could talk Ella out of getting involved, but didn't really expect to. She's a bitch like that."

"Sadistic?"

"To her core," Sett said, "I'm surprised she still has as much supplies as she does. I'm sure Mikumo and the others will deal with her. She doesn't have magic and her Quirk isn't the most impressive thing out there."

"And if she succeeds?"

"Then I jump her and take the Chemtech. We both saw what Singed's poison did to people, I don't work out of altruism very often, but we both know that the world doesn't deserve that shit being around. Never did, and never will."

---

Mei rushed around the room she had taken over, muttering to herself as she worked on the "gift" for her new boss, which Uncle Sett had said was a requirement for getting to posting. She didn't like giving up a baby like this when she didn't get a chance to test it, but nothing tested her baby like a fight, right?

Stepping out of the room for the first time since they had begun moving, she popped her head into the engine room and made sure that was going fine. Her boss probably wouldn't like it if they were stopped because the engine blew up.

"Ooohhhh!" A voice called from the room above her, with several loud "thumps" following. The voice came muffled again a second later, "Bearded Lady save 'em, I don't think he's getting up from that, Kid."

"We'll see," a voice that sounded like it was trying to be soft but was choking on gravel said.

"She just bent him like a… a...! There's no way he's… getting… holy crap."

"A lot of money on the line, Killer. And I'm not just talking about the betting pools. They've got a few million yen for first place alone."

"You watch these a lot, Kid?'

"I like Quirks, there's a lot of Quirks during these tournaments."

"Fair enough," Mei stepped into the room with her baby behind her back. Reclining on a pair of faux couches, bottles of alcohol and soda in their hands, were a pair of men who couldn't be more different if they tried. One had blond hair, the other green and white. One's was long and straight, the other's curly and relatively short. But they were both watching the flatscreen TV in front of them with captured attention, the blond rapidly tapping his fingers on the mask perched on one raised knee.

On it, a dark skinned man was staggering forwards, looking punch drunk. A caucasian woman was stepping around him, cracking her neck. Her other arm looked like a hypertrophic mess, veins and muscles visibly pulsing on the screen. She pulled back the fist and-

Faster than the cameras could follow, or their opponent apparently, the man was suddenly within her guard, the ground where he had been standing shattered.

"What-?"

"Repulsion," the grey skinned boy said, "he repulsed the ground below him, so it shattered-"

"-and an equal reaction was forced on him," Mei finished, walking over and leaning over the back of the couch. Grey boy locked up, red energy appearing around his neck.

"Who- the engineer?" 

"Yeah," Mei said, watching the screen. The hypertrophy exploded along the woman's upper body, but it was too late the man's hand slammed home into her solar plexus. Both of them flew away from the spot they had been standing a second before. The woman slammed into the wall of the stadium while the man "just" flew across the arena and landed badly, gripping his arm in a way that made it clear it was dislocated.

"Holy crap," blond, "Killer" said, scratching his jaw, "That's rough."

"Egyptian reps always are," Kid said.

"Yeah, but normally it's a "yank them off the other guys"…" Killer said, scratching his jaw, before noticing something, "Enginee, what are you holding?"

"Oh!" Mei held up the pair of gauntlets, "This is the first part of a modular suit of armor I'm making for the Captain! Have you seen him?"

"Yeah," Killer said, jerking a thumb at the boy sitting next to him, "Right here."

"Really?" Mei asked, looking him over, "Good thing I added the ability to adjust sizes, I was kinda expecting a massive hulk of a guy!"

"I'll take that as a complement," Kid rasped, taking the gauntlets. "Midoriya Izuku, glad to have you aboard."

"Mei Hatsume, glad to be aboard."

--- X Izuku X---

Izuku stepped into his room quietly as night fell, sitting to watch the sun descend from his window. The sun seemed to be a bloody red, and caused the dancing water to be the same color. Tapping the control once the sun fell below the horizon, the wall sized screen turned off, and Izuku sank into the bed of his cabin.

Lifting his left hand, he marveled at the strange ability to feel the air brushing against the weaponized gauntlet like a second skin. A half conscious caused the three harpoon-like talons laying along his arm to flip down over his doral palm as another set of teethed blades locked in place on the volar palm. Just as easily, he returned them back to their rest and pulled off the gauntlets, resting them on the desk. 

Izuku looked around the room. A minifridge, intercom, tv, desk with stationary, a thick file and the still unopened package Sett had left him on it, and a king sized bed for him to sleep on. Nicer than his house in Mustafu… which was probably why it felt so weird. Like it shouldn't have been his . He was just a De-

{Don't,} Raum rasped suddenly, {You dare imply you're useless in my presence. I have use for you, and I'm not the only one.}

He was always in Raum's pres-

{Exactly}, Raum snarled.

Before Izuku could continue, his phone went off suddenly. Glancing at the caller ID, he breathed in and picked up, "Hi, mom."

"Izuku," Inko said, a smile in her voice, "How's your fishing trip with your friends?"

Izuku grimaced, a spike of guilt clawing at his gut at the lie he had told her. He didn't want to, but… "Good, we're catching some big ones… and then letting them go, of course."

"Izuku," Inko said, her voice becoming serious.

"W-what?"

"You're just as bad a liar as your father is, you know that?" 

Izuku blanched, swallowing air as his stomach pitched and rolled, "I… what do you mean?"

"You're not fishing, are you?" Inko said.

"...No…"

{We're gonna need to work on that,} Raum deadpanned.

"You're getting ready to do something dangerous, aren't you?" Inko said, voice hitching, "a-and I couldn't have stopped you if I had asked you before you left, could I?"

"No…" Izuku said.

"I told you to find your place in the world," she said, voice soft, "and that's what you're trying to do… isn't it?"

"Yeah… I guess so."

"Then I'll say the same thing I say to your dad," Inko said, voice hardening, "because you've got his determination, just promise to come back to me, safely. Promise me that, no matter what it takes, come back-"

---X Hisashi X---

"Safely," Hisashi growled, letting go of his guns, letting the servo-arms hold on to them. Pulling out a grenade, he yelled towards Jill, "Remind me why Nulls aren't part of our standard operating gear!?"

"Because," Jill said, ducking under a leaping voidspawn and flicking out her combat knife. The beautiful work of artisan, made from a material so rare it could have bought another suit of Hisashi's mark four combat armor and added with tech equally rare, caused the voidling to disintegrate like ash in the wind when it hit, "They're expensive! Less complaining, more killing!"

"Aye, aye," Hisashi said sardonically, pulling the pin and throwing the grenade into one of the swarms. The closer they got to the portal, the more voidlings swarmed out and attacked them. That was the bad news.

The good news, Hisashi noted as the willie pete went off and burned them to actual ash, was that now that they were close enough to see it wasn't even a portal they would need a mage for. An artificial one, meaning destroying one of the lodestones powering it would cause it to collapse. Now it was just getting to them.

Jill was weaving through the voidlings, bending her body in ways that wouldn't be possible without her Quirk, the ex-delta force vet's Samurai Edge venting holes through the voidspawn with each sho-

Wait. There, dangling on the belt she was wearing was a familiar purple canister etched with runes…

"You're fucking carrying a Null!" Hisashi roared with laughter, flames curling from his mouth. 

"That for if a big one shows up and you know it!" Jill shot back.

"Here's an idea," Barry yelled, turning his Colt Python to drop the casings and generating more from his hand, "Stop your complaining and get to fighting! Chris is already-!'

A voidling shattered the ground in front of Hisashi, who glanced at Chris. The heavyset leader of the UNAVTF Alpha team was tearing through the voidlings like a whirlwind of blood, kicks, steel and gunshots. The broad bladed knife slashed through the Voidlings without slowing. The Albert-1, chambered in .50 Action Express instead of the 9x19mm Parabellum that it's lesser siblings used, as much a money saver as a practicality, was blowing away Voidlings with each shot.

The ones that were kicked instead had it worse. Shells shattered in a spray of ectoplasm, and the dead bodies acted like a primitive frag on their allies. In any other circumstances, as was standard, Chris's kill count would be the highest.

But the strange man, Pyke was here and quickly making a name for himself. Even when he wasn't using his net to drag Voidlings to hell knows where, his knife and harpoon were each bringing death without fail. It was like watching Kassadin and Kai'Sa in action.

They were gonna win if that was the case.

--- X Izuku X---

Izuku sat at his desk, his desk , late into the night, another soda sitting next to him. He was gonna crash and burn tomorrow, which luckily would be spent sailing, but for now he had work to do. Reading the files left on the different factions of Mos Eisley and the gangs he would be racing against.

Most were simple notes, unlikely to get involved unless the destruction got too much. A smuggling operation that might get involved just to ruin the Pieces, who were pushing into their territory. The Russian Mob, Triads, Mafia…

He had thought Sett said these were good people, not criminals. Well, he supposed the regular person probably didn't have ties to those groups. Hopefully. Probably. 

All Might would have dealt with this place if that was tru-

The CRC, the Creature Rejection Clan, had a small group in Eisley. Izuku's face pulled into a snarl as he stared at the paper. Slowly, mechanically his hand crushed the paper into a ball and red eldritch energy crackled between them, burning the paper to ash.

People took Quirks for granted. Enough that they could discriminate against people with Mutation Quirks without blinking. Or hate their own Quirk. Yes it was petty to get angry about that, but when you grew up weighed down by the gravity of not having a Quirk, when all you wanted was to help someone…

He was in a mood today. He was worrying Mom in a decades early midlife crisis, on a boat with a bunch of people he barely knew… what had his life become, when he agreed to contract with Raum?

{You had your chance to drown in that slime,} Raum responded instantly and harshly, {I would not have picked you if I did not think you held the same flame as Jericho.}

What was that supposed to mean?

{Jericho was a man with a vision he let few see,} Raum said, {He was a hopeful man, despite the world he lived in.}

"Tahm Kench said nothing dies like hope," Izuku scoffed, more to himself than to Raum.

{And it doesn't, and it didn't,} Raum said, {But Jericho knew what he was doing the day we met. He had lost everything in one blow from a young girl, while I had lost everything to… a man who can barely be called one. We were both at our lowest when he took my powers. And with it he rose as high as we could go, giving his people hope. Their leader didn't sit idle. I asked him why he insisted on entering battle despite being a king in all but name, "anyone can sit on a throne. It doesn't make you  ruler, it just means you have an arse."}

Izuku cracked a smile and chuckled.

{Your Hero system encourages that. I like it.}

"So what do I do?" Izuku asked.

{Walk sorrow's road. Coat yourself in shadows and secrets and slake our hunger on them. That way, when we step into the light, we will be all the brighter. Hold out your arm, I have a gift for you, my friend.} 

Izuku did so, blinking as red energy slid off his arm and formed into the shape of- aaannnnddd suddenly there was a white raven on his thinner arm, that promptly hoped off and onto the waiting gauntlets.

"We can do that?"

{You'll learn in time, just as Jericho did. But for now, back to the files.}

"Right," Izuku muttered, watching the six eyed raven hop off his new weapon and begin examining the room.

--- X Geten X---

"Sir," Geten's eyes opened, and he straightened as one of the Meta Liberation Soldiers offered him a phone, "It's the Grand Commander."

Geten took the phone, giving the soldier the L shaped salute of the Liberation absentmindedly, "Grand Commander."

"Geten," Re-Destro said, voice jovial for a second before he sighed, "I didn't want to call you until you got the asset but… things just got rather hairy back here…"

"How?" Geten asked.

"A man with a rather…" Re-Destro trailed off, "well, I'm not sure what his Meta Ability is, honestly. But it makes him rather strong, smashed down the door of one of our bases in Shizuoka, one of the smaller ones, don't worry. And he's making quite a ruckus. Skeptic sent me a live feed, it's rather…"

"Sir, you keep saying rather," Geten said.

"Have I?" Re-Destro said, "I'm sorry, I'm only half paying attention because of this. Anyways, Skeptic sent to me because he was demanding to talk to you, not by name, but, ah, 'the punk your boss is sending to Mos Eis-' oh, that didn't look pleasant."

"Should I head back?" Geten asked.

"No, there isn't anything tying us to that particular base, and that chemical weapon sounds-"

"Rather useful?"

"I was going to say quite that time," Re-Destro chuckled, "but yes, "rather" useful for the Revival Ceremony once All Might retires. But still, if this man has something to do with the case… I'm wondering if you should use that ."

Geten froze in place, "Sir!"

"Geten-"

"Sir, I refuse to use Support Gear! It goes against everything your fathe-!"

"Don't assume you knew what my father would say about support gear," Re-Destro snarled suddenly, "nobody knows that. Not me, and not you."

"I… yes, I'm sorry. My interpretation of your father's will says I shouldn't use Support Gear," he said, "My Quirk is the evidence of my strength, to use something artificial implies I haven't trained enough."

"You don't notice the contradiction, then?"

"Sir?"

"Nothing, nothing," Re-Destro said, "I'll let you get back to your flight, you should be landing soon, right?"

"Yes."

Geten: real name… Gonna be real with ya, kid. It might just be Geten for all I know. Guy's a ghost.

Works for: Meta Liberation Army.

Quirk: Something to do with ice. 

I hate to leave you with so little info about one of your big problems, I really do, Mikumo. But it took everything I had just to get this little info. As I said, punk is a ghost. No driver's license, no ID, and while there are plenty of people with ice Quirks, I don't have time to comb over that list and find him.

--- X Kaen X---

Kaen looked up from where he was carefully rolling a cigarette. Using his Quirk to cause a small fire on his thumb, he lit up, before leaning back with his fourth hand MP5. He was getting low on tobacco, he'd have to ask Cyph to get some next time he went to Toshima.

Removing the mag from his gun to have something to do, he checked the ammo before replacing it. Welcome to guard duty on Mos Eisley, it was essentially a formality for a lot of reasons. Just about everyone was armed, nobody wanted to be the one to set the powder keg off, ect.

Oh, sure, you occasionally got some new gang trying to muscle into territory, but if it didn't belong to the CoV, Pieces or one of the other major gangs, the chances of a location staying in the hands of whoever had it at daybreak by sunset was… low. Gangs collapsed to infighting, moved to better bases, or just straight up left for the mainland in a cocksure effort to establish territory there. 

All Might made that a suicide attempt. Not literally, but it was a one way trip where you might as well get off the boat and walk to the nearest jail cell. And if it wasn't him, it was Endeavor, or that new pretty boy, what was his name… something to do with birds.

Anyways, back on topic, today they were in a nice place. Above ground, with a view of the sea, so he could at least watch that during the guard duty. The killer that had been going around stringing people up had disappeared. Probably gotten himself killed and fed to the fishes.

Buddha, he was bor…

What the hell was an ash storm doing coming from the ocean like that? He had grown up in Nagano, seen the last time Mount Asama blew. It looked like that, but from the wrong direction from the volcano of Nakanoshima.

Grabbing the shooting goggles from their spot below his matted black hair, Kaen squinted through the ash and gripped his gun tighter. What…?

"You know," a whimsical voice said from the wall he was leaning against, and he whipped around, swinging his gun. A beautifully crafted revolver twirled, barrel hitting the body of his MP5 and shoving it towards the ground, "You really shouldn't smoke, it's bad for your health."

Despite the way it had been said, Kaen felt a shiver go up his spine as he met the one visible grey eye of the girl. She was a few years younger than him, probably… fifteen? Sixteen? and fairly pretty. Pink-brown hair swept over one eye, a white mink coat hanging from her frame, a dusty brown skin.

A second revolver, exactly like the first, sat in her off hand as she pushed up against him. Then her skin began to flake and reveal the ash, surging forwards and into his nose and throat. Klee...

"Let me show you."

Haihara "Ella" Takako.

Age: 16

Works For: Abegawa Tenchu Kai (Yakuza, former affiliate of the Shie Hassaikai family).

Quirk: Ashura (Transformation, lets her turn her body to ash and manipulate it.)

This bitch. THIS BITCH. Been a pain in my ass for years and is rotten to her core. If I thought you'd go for it, I'd offer a price for sending her straight to Wolf's throat. Hell, scratch that, if you DO cause her to meet Kindred, I'll pay ya, even if it's an accident or something. We'd be making the world a better place, let me fucking tell you. 

Anyways, unlike the previous bastard (or, if you're reading these out of order for some reason, first off, why?) I can give you a pretty extensive history for her. Gritty details is that the ATK hasn't been doing so hot, as you can see by one of their top agents being a fucking TEENAGER (and you don't count, you're sharing your body with a high tier akana). Six of their seven leaders got butchered by a Vigilante named Stendhal a few years back. Among them was Takako's stepmother, Haihara Sukuna. Shortly after that, she rocketed onto the scene with the last remaining member of the old guard.

I couldn't tell you why she wants the Chemtech, it might just be for shits and giggles and causing my blood pressure to spike, knowing her, but I don't really care. Just make sure she doesn't get it…

And, once again, if she has an accident, money is on the table. 

---X Izuku X---

Izuku woke to the most annoying set of fake bells he had ever heard, followed by an equally annoying electric guitar. Not that either was played badly, but when you were woken up by it blaring from the speakers, it got annoying fast.

Before Izuku could roll out of bed, Mana's voice came over the intercom in a angry hiss, "Killer, you have thirty seconds to explain why you just woke us up in the most OBNOXIOUS WAY POSSIBLE before I come kill you."

"Sorry for ruining your beauty sleep," the only hint Killer might not have been lying through his teeth was the slight adjustment of the volume, "but Nakanoshima is in view, so I figured you guys would like to do a last gear check, then get up here so we can discuss what we're doing. Captain Kid, you up?"

Izuku grabbed the intercom, "Y-yeah. Did you have to do that?"

"No," Killer admitted easily, "See you in a few."

Izuku hung up with a groan, rubbing his face. He wasn't ready for this.

Walking over to his desk, Izuku slid on the gauntlets, eyes stopping on the package sitting on the desk. Sighing, he flipped one harpoon gauntlet into place, cutting it open, and breathing out, "Holy woah, Sett."

Sitting within the manilla paper was a white, feathered coat with a wide brim hat the same color and a note sitting on it.. Flipping the note open, Izuku read the scrawl of writing he had been getting used to.

Well, kid, let it never be said Sett doesn't keep his promises. You wanted a coat and I got ya one. Sorry if it ain't the color you were expecting, but white seemed to fit ya more. Stain it at your own risk (I kid, I kid. Gives it character, especially if it's a bloodstain from a brawl). It's also a bit big, figured you be able to grow into it or wear it over whatever hellish suit of armor Mei makes for ya. 

As for the hat, it might not do much, but I figured you'd like something to hide your face a bit without getting in the way. And if you're thinking I'm way too into this, I'd like to point out my outfit isn't lazy or cheap.

Good Luck, kiddo. I'm counting on you to do right by me when it comes to SXiEFndged the Chemtech.

Izuku stared at the viciously scratched out word, "Raum? Did Sett ever say what we were getting, other than "Chemtech"?"

{I smell a secret,} Raum muttered.

"So do I," Izuku said, throwing the letter aside, slipping the coat over his shoulders and the hat onto his head, the still unnamed white raven aligning on his shoulder, "C'mon."

{Though he wasn't wrong, white probably does fit you, given the mutations.}

Izuku grimaced. He needed to find a way to dye his hair without messing up the green.

---X Mana X---

Mana stepped into the AIC, watching Engie run around Killer with a measuring tape, taking measurements of his arms and muttering to herself before jotting them down in a notebook, "Getting a dress made?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha," Killer's voice deadpanned from his mask. She was sure if she could have seen it, his face would have been a statue, "having her make some specialty gear. With what the Kid got, well, I'm interested to see what she can come up with for me. Got any ideas?"

"Yep," Engie chirped, "Want me to tell ya?"

"No," Killer said, "make it a surpri- where'd that crow come from?"

"It's a raven," Kid said, stepping onto the AIC, "And my powers, what's up?"

"Well, the good news is that we're near Nakanoshima, the island Mos Eisley is on," Killer started, "Should be there within an hour or two of restarting the engines."

Kid nooded, walking towards the holographic projector in the center of the AIC, "And the bad news?"

"That's where things get… messy," Killer said, "We got two ways we can reach Eisley, and we're gonna need you to choose between them, Captain Kid."

Kid grimaced, sitting on one of the couches bolted to the wall, "Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Good way to get the point that I need ya to act in your official capacity of captain of our merry band of dumbass mercenaries. Plus, there was a famous pirate named that."

And just like that, some of the Kid's tension visibly bled for his frame, "Alright, what do we have?"

He might be a nervous kid, but when things came down to it, he was ready to step up. Mana could respect that… even if she couldn't respect what he had done with his life.

Maybe she was being too harsh, she didn't know what had left him and a demon so tightly bound together that she couldn't "see" where one ended and the other began. The Kid, Izuku, looked like a bipedal, demonic white raven when she activated her spirit sight, a beak full of fangs opening every time he spoke, four of the six crossed pupil eyes looking around the room even as it's, his, head stayed forced on Killer. Deactivating the vision, she contrasted that to the boy sitting on the chair.

Short, unassuming, didn't look like he could or would want to hurt a fly honestly. And she still wanted to go for her relic rifle. Indoctrination from growing up with a radical sect of the Purifiers didn't go away just because you were adopted by a group that was… radical, in a different way.

"We have two ways we can go," Killer reported dutifully, bringing up a hologram of the island, "and both have their benefits and issues. The first, obviously, is just docking at Mos Eisley and hoping for the best. Pros are that we have the Leviathan on hand for if things go badly, cons are that we're gonna stick out like a sore thumb, there's an increased danger of someone getting on and sabotaging her while we're out… and the fact that we were beaten there," At this Killer brought up a multi-decked Super Yacht, "The Queendom of Ash, belonging to one Ella."

"Sett doesn't like her," Izuku said.

"Don't blame him," Killer said, "She's like rubbing sandpaper on an open wound most of the time. They're already docked, Captain. And they sure as hell have more men than us."

"Option two?" Izuku said, stroking the plumage of the raven on his shoulder.

"We dock at Toshima," Killer said, bringing up the island again and spinning it towards Izuku with a lazy gesture of his hand, "small town on the opposite side of the island. Couple hundred people, quiet, sleepy place. Nothing bad'll happen there."

"But if things go wrong in Eisley," Izuku said, "We'll be farther away."

"Really do catch on fast, eh?" Killer said, "Yeah. How we doing this, Captain?"

"..." Izuku stared at the map, before looking out the window, "Bring us to Toshima. I'm gonna do this safely, so we all get home… but we're gonna have to deal with the Queendom at some point."

"I should have a couple of guns locked in by the time you get back," Engie offered, "if I wait on your suit of armor and Killer's… stuff."

"Do it," Izuku ordered, "I don't like it, but I'd rather we have a way to keep us safe on the boat than off it. We can handle ourselves. Everyone, back to your places, get ready. I'm gonna cook breakfast for everyone, steak and eggs. Once we eat, we'll be off."

Mana nooded, slipping back towards her room without another word before glancing at the blue haired stuffed doll lying on her bed.

"I think this'll be interesting, Gwen."

---X AN X---

Prologue End

Arc I: Singed Ash and Ice.

---

Chapter Text

Izuku stood on the deck of the Leviathan as they pulled into port, hands resting on the guardrail as a red eye raked over the old, salt and sun tanned man who barely gave them a look before continuing to fish, "What's that about?"

"They're used to people coming in," Mana said, chewing on the leftover fat of the steaks and fastening the bandolier holding a long hunk of metal and stone in place on her back, "Idiot kids on vacation, people on the run. They do a lot of trade with Eisley, not officially of course, but enough that they know to look the other way if we don't threaten their own."

"Ah," Izuku nodded, trying to keep the stress from his gut as he slid the backpack he had on, watching Mana do the same. Three backpacks, him, Mana and Killer, each had all they needed.

"So," Mana started, before asking a question as innocently as possible, "How'd you get a demon bonded to your soul?"

Izuku locked up as Raum roared to the forefront of his mind, before whipping his head towards Mana and fighting the urge to lock his claws into combat position as red lightning crackled into existence along his fingers.

Mana was fingering her rifle.

Izuku breathed in, closing his eyes. This didn't need to get aggressive, they could do this peacefully.

{I'm taking over and gutting her if she goes for the draw,} Raum rasped, {I've respected your desire to not go for a kill through the bullying and the discrimination from "Kacchan", but if our life comes into the line, I will do what needs to be done.}

"I-" Izuku stuttered, stomach rolling, "I-I was going to die from something else, and he was trapped and starving. We made- I agreed to host him so… so we could both survive and be strong."

"Can I talk to.him?" Mana said, not removing her hand from the gun.

"He can hear you," Izuku said.

"Then let me say this, demon," Mana spat the last word, "if you try to hurt anyone, or Izuku, I will end you."

"{That's a promise,}" Raum deadpanned, leaving Izuku in the back of his own mind again.

"That's a-"

"{I've heard these threats before girl, so let's speed through them,}" Raum continued, "{Better Sentinel of Light than you have tried, I haven't faced you before or that's what I think, oh really, yes, really, ex cetera.}"

"I am the daughter of the two greatest-"

"{Sentinels of Light who have ever lived, somehow I doubt-}"

"Lucian the Purifier and Senna the Redeemer," Mana finished, and Raum's voice fell silent as he reached Izuku's arm up to touch the left side of his chest, exactly over their heart, which had quickened.

"{Well then,}" Raum said, eyes locked onto the gun, "{Then perhaps that boast isn't quite so empty. You'd still fail, but if you're as good as your father, Mana, then you'll come closer than most.}"

"You… know my parents?"

"{Oh, I know your parents,}" Raum said, "{how are the old ghouls?}"

"They're… well," Mana said, sounding nonplussed by the way the conversation went suddenly.

"{And Viego?}" Raum said.

"Who?"

"{Right question,}" Raum said, satisfaction staining his voice, "{Let him rot in ignoble oblivion. Killer, are you ready!?}"

"Yep," Killer said, a pair of kama hanging off his backpack as he glanced between the two, "Something happen? Mana looks poleaxed."

"Nothing," Mana said, having finally dropped her hand from the gun.

--- X Izuku X---

Captain-Kid," Izuku looked up from where he was practicing shaking the air above his hands with magic, growing serious at Killer's words as they rode in the back of a run down pick up truck, "What do we do if things get… well, get bad?"

"We'll-" Izuku stopped and lapsed into silence, thinking. It should have been an easy order, "We'll stop them" or "we'll deal with it when we get there" or something, but it didn't come. It couldn't.

What right did he have to say that, when Mana and Killer were here guarding him? That was the only reason they were here, so if their lives were in danger, it was his fault. Like it had been at the Pieces' hideout…

That threw something Izuku didn't want to admit into the light. They weren't strong enough to win these fights while closing off the avenue of killing. It just wasn't possible.

"Give them one chance," Izuku finally finished reluctantly, "one chance to stand down. And if they don't, do what you have t-"

At the edge of his senses, his raven cawed and Izuku whipped around as it dove, "Brace yourself!"

And Izuku shook the air in front of him as an RPG flew towards them.

--- X Lucian X---

Lucian rushed into the Sentinel of Light commune with blazing eyes, his relic guns clenched in shaking hands. Being like this, angry and out for blood, ironically and paradoxically, both was easy and wasn't.

He'd drowned himself in anger once. Sworn himself to seeing Thresh scourged from the world for taking Senna from him. Getting her back was like a life raft in a maelstrom, a breath of air to the dying. It had saved him.

But that didn't mean the part that had woken with her death had ever truly gone away. It had always been there, waiting for Thresh or another evil against the innocent to rear their ugly head.

And everything him and Senna had heard about this place made it sound like an evil. The Hallowed Mist had darked, not quite to the pitch it was when unpurified, but he would be lying if he said it was the color it had been the day he swore himself to finding a way to lift the curse.

His Relic guns, one blockier than the other, swept to the left and the right, blasting through the knees of two separate Sentinels even as he didn't glance in their direction. The one below his knee, holding a rifle, dropped it and paled.

"Pu- Pur-"

"Purifier," Lucian growled, pressing the "barrel" of the relic gun against her chest. A single pulse of will would manifest a shot that would sear through her skin and bone. He had her dead to rights, and both knew it, "What did you do."

"We… we made a weapon."

"Souls are not WEAPONS!" Lucian snapped as Senna called to him.

"Lucian," Senna said, eyes glowing green, "I found her. Isolde?"

"Ho's dat?" A childish voice far too monotone said, and Lucian's grip on the gun grew tighter as he stood up.

"No, no! Mercy, please, " a flash of light ended the Sentinel below his feet.

"This is a mercy, a mercy for the people who deserve it. Who you hurt!" the Purifier growled, gunning down the other two Sentinels without breaking stride and crouching down in front of the fragment of Isolde's soul. Was she naturally a child, or had they shoved it into one despite the risks? If the Black Mist ever broke the wards, there would be no place on Runeterra, on Earth, that would be safe for her. Like it had been for Senna.

Chocolate eyes stared up at them from light brown skin, long matted green-black hair pulled into a ponytail. Clutched against the too long, dirtied Sentinel uniform was a rag doll with bright blue hair and a replaced button eye.

"What's your name?" Senna asked, sharing a look with Lucian, We can't leave her.

Adoption?

Do we have a choice?

No.

That's what I thought.

"Mana," the girl said.

"Well," Senna nodded to Lucian, who picked up the girl, "C'mon, Mana, we're going home."

--- X Ebert X---

Ebert, current Black Pawn of the Pieces, lowered the tube as the missile exploded. That would get him a promotion from pawn to knight, he was sure of i- no.

No.

The explosion faded, showing the truck driving away at breakneck speeds as the three people in the back jumped out of it. He went for his rifle as the youngest nodded towards the woman, who pulled out a pair of pistols. Before he could grab it, a raven's sharp talons gouged into his arm, drawing blood.

"One chance," the woman said as she approached, flicking the safety off her guns, "Drop the rifle and and get one the-

Ebert jerked the gun up, only for a loud crack to echo across the area, followed by a roar of pain from his kneecap.

"We're showing you mercy," she said, "even though you don't deserve it."

--- X Izuku X---

"Don't kill him," Izuku ordered, panting and wincing. Part of Mana wanted to check on him, worry running through her as his body was wracked with a spasm. Whatever he had just done was obviously causing massive after effects on his body.

"Give me a reason," Mana said, "because he just tried to blow us up, and I'm fresh outta mercy."

"It sends a message," Izuku said, leaning against Killer while the truck tore away from them. The old man driving was understandably terrified and uttering curses as quickly and loudly as he could, "We're not intimidated by their attempt to kill us, and we're coming for the chemtech anyway."

Mana wanted to call bullshit, but was forced to concede it would be a good message to herself. Still, "I'm still gonna make him wish he was dead."

"One chance," Izuku croaked, "Give him one chance."

"Fine, fine," Mana said, storming towards the man holding an empty SMAW with a look of horror on his face. She pulled out her 92Fs, flicking off the safety as she approached and racking the slides while the man was savaged by Izuku's pet raven. Red energy leaked off the man into the bird, "One chance, drop the rifle and get on the-"

The man backhanded the raven away, causing an indignant croak, and grabbed his FAMAS, only for Mana to casually whip up one gun and kneecap him. The man screamed in pain, dropping his gun and grabbing the damaged knee in pain.

"We're showing you mercy, even though you don't deserve it," Mana said, voice chilly, taking the rifle and hanging it off her backpack, "That was a baton round, so your knee should heal. But you're gonna be our messages to the Pieces, you should have thrown your worse at us before, because now it's too late, we're here, and we'll get what we're coming for."

--- X Mei X---

Mei rushed around her workshop, working on the suit of armor with a mad giggle. It was a quarter finished, hulking monstrosity of metal, as advanced sensors as she could bring with her, and synth wires to help move the thing. It wasn't the best thing she had ever made, she was running on low supplies, but it was good enough for a MK.1. Six hardpoints, four on the side on the knees and two on the shoulders, sat ready for her to add.. wea… pons…

Right, she was supposed to be modifying the boat with weapons right now, not making armor. Inspiration had struck, and she hadn't thought about it for the past two hours… or eating…

"We'll get back to putting you together," Mei cooed to the armor, before walking towards the huge gun Uncle Sett and Tristana had told her to bring. Pinned to her hair, her ears twitched. It was gonna have to be a sloppy job until they were at an actual port and she could go to town, but the Captain was probably right, these were more important than her baby.

--- X Mos Eisley X---

Mos Eisley brought back memories. When he had been ten, Izuku had taken a trip to Brazil to see his dad. From their hotel room, they had been able to see a favela.

"Dad?" Izuku asked, turning to where his dad was talking with a woman with dark hair and purple facial markings. They were both crouched over a map, or at least his dad was as crouched as he could be when Inko was sitting in his lap.

"What's up, kiddo?" Hisashi asked, turning and craning his head.

"What's that?"

"It's called a favela," Hisashi said, "People… people without a place to live go there."

"Why don't they ask All Might for help?" Izuku had asked, causing the trio of adults to laugh, the woman wearing a weird suit standing up and putting a hand on Izuku's head, "What's funny, Miss Kai?"

"Call me Kai'sa," she said, "and this place is really far from Japan, All Might can't help here."

A place where All Might couldn't help? How was that, "Braum?"

"Braum's a bit busy," Kai'sa said, "you know your heroes well, kid. Most people only know Heroes from their home country."

"Braum, Taric and All Might are friends," Izuku chirped, "The Scand- scana-"

"Scandinavian-"

"Yeah, that, and Wandering and Japanese Symbols of Peace!"

"Braum'll be happy to know he inspires a kid from Japan," Kai'sa said, "we call him the Heart of the Freljord."

"What's that?"

"A place far away," Kai'sa said, "Hisashi said you wanted to be a hero when you grow up, right?"

"People say I can't because I'm Quirkless," Izuku said, "Imma prove them wrong!"

"Really?" Kai'sa said, glancing at a black suitcase on the table,  "Then I look forward to hearing about the first Quirkless Hero."

"C'mon," Izuku said, walking through the streets of the "city".

"Let's find a place to stay."

--- X History X ---

The Mos Eisley Assault, known by many derisive nicknames amongst those who sympathize with Creatures, was an attack on the Creature Rejection Clan manor in Mos Eisley. Led by notorious Creature Midoriya Izuku, they assailed every member of the clan and left them naked and unconscious in the city.

--- Excerpt from a Creature Rejection Clan history book on the matter of the Day of Naked Men. When interviewed on the topic, Izuku replied he didn't feel comfortable killing them.

--- X Izuku X---

"We're… attacking this place," Killer said as Izuku stopped in front of a large wall of wood, rebar and wire. Viable over it was a large, ramshackle building, built from the same roughshod metal and timber as the rest of Mos Eisley. It's biggest claim to regality was honestly the fact that everyone had given the "manor" a wide berth in a place where space was at a premium.

And the CRC actually called it a manor, the conceited jerks.

Izuku slid out the chainsaws on his gauntlets, letting them chew air for a second as red lightning crackled around them, before he inserted them into the mess they called a fence. Moving his arms in a clockwise direction, one facing up and the other down, Izuku made quick work of the fence and kicked in the hole.

"Something I gotta point out before we beat these old geezers up," Mana said.

"What?"

"They're gonna be trying to kill you, Kid. You look like a Heteromorphic, with the paleness and the cross shaped pupil. Should I use live rounds?"

"No," Izuku said, "We're gonna knock them out, throw them into the city and then leave them there. We'll be fine."

"But will they?" Killer asked.

…

That was kinda the point. If they didn't survive for whatever reason, Izuku could convince himself the blood wasn't on his hands to help him sleep at night, "We'll be fine. I'm not-"

"What the hell do you-" Izuku snapped his head towards a black clad, skull masked man holding a… a… candlestick? What the hec- "a Creature-"

The walker of Sorrow's Road didn't stop to think, just aware at the spike of indignation before he slammed his free hand into the far older man's solar plexus. A shockwave rippled through the man, causing bile to splatter out of his mouth as Izuku climbed through the hole. Behind him, Mana and Killer both had to duck through the hole to enter.

"You sure you don't want us to kill them?" Killer asked with a touch too much enthusiasm as more old men in black robes and skull masks stepped out.

"Yes," Izuku deadpanned, before pausing, "but I won't complain if they wind up naked."

{...That's the best punishment you have?} Raum asked, {You could reveal their darkest secrets to the world, flay their soul with that new claw, and you decide on rendering them nude?}

Yep.

{...Why do I get the mad ones for hosts?}

Dunno, why did he pick mad ones?

{Touche.}

Izuku nodded to one member of the group staring at them with random items. He was evidence of the CRC's hypocrisy, a man too massive to be anything but a Heteromorphic, with a pair of massive censer spreading incense as he swung them as improvised flails, "Take that one out, Killer."

"Bearded Lady willing, Captain," Killer said, unhooking his chain scythes and spinning them.

"Mana," Izuku said, turning to see she had hooked a pair of bayonets onto her pistols, "You're with me."

"Aye, aye," she deadpanned, "Let's be pirates."

"Are we pirates or mercenaries?" Izuku asked, turning back with red lightning crackling along his hands. The eldritch energy of Raum augmenting his own magic.

"Both?" Mana said.

"Fafafafa," Killer's laughter was covered up by his mask, mostly, "Both is good. We're indiscriminate."

"Then let's be Sinners," Izuku said as the CRC got tired of waiting around and charged them. Izuku slammed a palm into the first one to get close to them, ducking under the board he was swinging, and sent him flying into the next three in another shockwave, the air visibly quaking, "Gurararara!"

--- X Killer X---

Killer whirled his scythes, reversed from how he would normally hold them so the hafts were whirling towards the old bigots. Attacks that normally would have dismembered and decapitated them instead smacked limbs wide and knocked them over. They were old, and if they had ever been *in* practice, they were out of it now. Used to relying on a fear that didn't exist here. 

Behind him, Mana's guns went off with a crack like a backfiring car as fast as she could, bones audibly breaking and men collapsing with each shot. The Kid was throwing punches, kicks and knee strikes as untrained as they were devastating, dropping members of the Clan with each attack. And they weren't going for anywhere enjoyable. Kidney, diaphragm, groin-

"I think he popped one," one man squeaked out, and the Kid stopped and looked at his metal clad fist in horror. A man holding a candelabra raised it and-

Screamed as the raven did the very un raven-like act of dive bombing the man and driving talons into his arm. He dropped the candelabra on instinct, crashing it onto his head and causing him to collapse.

"Now's not the time to get sloppy, Kid!" Killer called, knocking a rate actual weapon, an old sword. A Shin-Guntō.

Well, Killer didn't listen to government mandates very often, but here? Here he would.

Flipping both kama, he caught the next swing between the blades and began to tighten as he slammed it against his Enhancement coated chest until, with a shriek of rending metal, the sword broke.

"That… was my great grandfather's," the man said.

"Sorry," Killer deadpanned, "not sorry." And then he slammed his mask into the man's mask, shattering the porcelain and his nose before he collapsed like a puppet, "You racist fuck."

Two censers came flying at him, and Killer hardened his skin a second before they crashed home. The big guy rushed towards him like a bolt of lightning, and Killer shifted his stance before doing the same.

--- X Izuku X---

Izuku really didn't want to admit how much being called a creature hurt as he alternated between tremor magic and Raum's demonic power, hands of red energy slamming into the bigots and holding them in place for a follow up crackle of electricity or a shot from Mana.

Quirkless, and Kaachan made fun of him. Get a Quirk? The mutations that came along with it got the CRC focused on him over Mana and Killer. Quirkless and you were a freak. Minor mutations from a Quirk, and you were one too. At least Kaachan didn't bully him about it too much.

Izuku's red eye traced the attack from the CRC member holding a hatchet, a rare member holding something that could be legitimately considered a weapon. Swinging one of the gauntlets Engie, Mei he hastily corrected, had made, Izuku deflected the strike before he backhanded the man, dropping him as a burst of red magic emanated from his arm. Behind him, a member raised his… bowling pin? and began to swing, only from Izuku's raven, which he really needed to name, to land on his head and begin to peck at it viciously.

Giving Mana time to appear behind him in a flow of pitch black and sky blue mist that set Izuku and Raum's teeth on edge. A knee to the spine knocked the man over, followed by her wrapping her elbow around his right arm and dislocated it with an emotionless look on her face and a basic exertion of force. With her other hand, she aimed at another CRC member, finger leaving the side of the barrel and caressing the trigger. 

Center mass, the man collapsed like someone had cut his strings. Breathing in, Izuku's gauntlets tightened into a pair of fists as five men approached them. Firing a red hand of energy at them, Izuku followed it up with a shotgun blast of red energy. All five men dropped just as easily as their friend, leaving just Killer and the big guy.

"Mana," Izuku ordered, voice clipped as flail met kama, "drop him."

"Roger that," Mana said, reloading both guns. Thirty shots hit home in the center of the man's chest, knocking him to a knee so he was mask to mask with the pitch black body of Killer. The blunt side of both kamas smacked into his head, knocked him unconscious.

"Alright," Izuku said, deploying his claws, "Strip them bare, take photos, ask Sett to make sure they get handed to the Hero Commision anonymously, no more chances of them having a day life without people knowing they're a member of the CRC."

{That's devious,} Raum 'breathed'

Yep.

"It's hard for a naked man to keep his identity a secret," Izuku said with a laugh, crouching in front of one of the bigots.

--- X History X---

Of the four major factions in Mos Eisley, the Creature Rejection Clan was by far the weakest. Yes, number wise they outclassed the members of the Church of Violence (or, more accurately, the members of both factions in Mos Eisley. The exact number of CRC and CoV members across the globe are, of course, still unknown), but as a weapon smuggling operation, the CoV was better equipped with ballistic vests, guns, and whatever more "esoteric" equipment they had on hand. 

They (that is to say, The Creature Rejection Clan) was also finding it harder to find new blood with each generation. The "holy" human form they exalted was becoming rarer and rarer as Heteromorphics had children that retained some of their parent's traits. As such, the majority of their members were at least sexagenarians at the time of the First Cut.

All of these to say that, as (in)famous as the IoW would become in future years, if three members of the smallest of the three factions that make it up (though many would argue that, in direct comparison to the factions mentioned earlier, the Sinners make up for their small numbers with a focus on having more elite members than the other two) had attacked the CoV, Triads or Russia Mafia, this book likely wouldn't be written. They may have taken their bases, but the retaliation would have been swift and bloody.

--- Excerpt from Ever Sharpening Steel: a History of the IoW.

---X Kai’Sa X---

Kai'Sa span the chain holding a Tear of the Goddess around one small finger, smiling at it. Tears weren't rare, even in this day and age, Doran and Ornn's artificial ones were still some of the easiest relics of the years surrounding the End War to find. This one was unique for two reasons. The first was that it wasn't a Doran or Ornn-make, but an authentic, meaning it was about the side of a grapefruit compared to theirs, which were generally the size of a large strawberry. And the second was that it had sentimental value as one of the two items she still had from Ezreal. The "Treasure Hunter'' had, in fact, been acquiring it the first time they met in an old Ithacan tomb. 

She hadn't thought of it until years later, when he had handed it to her out of the blue. Had assumed he sold it.

There hadn't been anything romantic between them over the years. Ezreal had always been more enamored with women who looked like Luxanna Crownguard, blond, blue eyed (and she'd taken the opportunity to imply it was narcissism that caused that attraction on more than one occasion, since those were traits Ezreal also had) and slight of figure. Kai'sa, was exactly none of those things. Dark haired, purple eyed, and while there were women with larger chests than her, she made.up for it in other ways.

So yes, she was, in short "not Ezreal's type".

Her constant compassion, and occasional adversity, the chronophagic Void symbiote that was practically fused with any biological "system" you cared to name, tightened its grip around her wrist. Kai'Sa rolled her eyes, before taking a slightly spiteful bite of the peach in her hand, thousands of years of experience let her tear out the pit and spit it into a trashcan of her office in the UNAVTF Shieldwall FF-52 superheavy airplane- "Void Watch" in one move. She fell into her chair, shrugging off the specialty shirt she had made (and thank all the gods and goddess of Shurima for Quirks. A woman with a carapace "quirk" didn't raise eyebrows anymore) bringing the tip of the tear shaped crystal to the edge of the shoulder, "Eat up."

A sharp mouth split on the chitinous "catsuit" around her shoulder, latching onto the Tear and sucking the mana from it as fast as it could manage. Mana wasn't its favorite meal, that came from other voidborn, but it would keep it happy until she could authorize her own deployment to a Void combat zone.

Tears were essentially miniature mana fulcrums, capable of turning activities like movements to mana. 

"Commander," Kai'Sa hit the radio.

"Chris," Kai'Sa said, "Done?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Hisashi is toasting the leftovers as we speak. There's a man here asking to talk to you."

"Pyke?"

"Pyke," Chris said.

"Put him on," she tried to keep the suffering from her voice. A second later, Pyke's wet rasp of a voice came across.

---

"Kai'Sa," Pyke said, watching the dark haired man burn the pile of voidlings with a combination of shots from his gun and flames from his mouth. His skin began to secrete a torrent of water, like sweat on enhancement magic, "been what, fifty, sixty years?"

"Last time," Kai'Sa said, the radio quality was so good it was like he was right there, "Was the last time Ornn called us north for her ."

"Bad day," Pyke said, "Seem to always have those when you're involved, Void Lass. You want to tell me what this is all about?"

"What do you mean?"

"Not an idiot," Pyke said, "Neither of us. You'd call in fifteen people before me, normally. Only of our kind still alive who stand me are Ahri and Braum. Even Aatrox, Varus and Rhaast would do, if you didn't care about collateral. They hate the Void as much as anyone. And this was something you could have done yourself. You wanted me here."

"Sometimes it's scary how you put things together," Kai'Sa said.

"Don't survive in Bilgewater and on the sea if you ain't a least a bit sharp," Pyke said, "Well, sharp and lucky. So, why me?"

"Yone and Sett have a new student," Kai'Sa said, "I know him, and am kinda fond of him. He was heading to Mos Eisley as the leader of his first group, didn't want you killing him if he messed up."

"Fair," Pyke said, "Think he'll mess up?"

"No, but better safe than sorry. I have a friend I'll put him in touch with if he survives this job."

"You're making me want to meet this kid," Pyke said, "You, Sett an' Yone all like him? That's a mix."

"You met his dad," Kai'Sa said, "the black haired pyro."

"Small world," Pyke said.

"Our kind tends to find each other," KaiSa said, "And he is ours. He's in a symbiotic relationship with Raum."

Pyke stopped watching the fire and blinked, "Raum? You sure we can trust him?"

"Yes," Kai'Sa said.

"Well, I ain't," Pyke raped, "Gonna keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't become a repeat of Swain."

---

Chapter Text

Izuku sat in the main room of the "manor" they now owned, next to a pile of books and in front of the fire pit in the center of the room. His chainsaw was deployed on his left hand as he picked up books with the other and, after glancing to confirm they were racist, shredded them and tossed them in the fire to keep it going.

{Thoughts?} Raum asked.

They needed allies. The Pieces might not be the biggest arms dealers in the city, but between them, the ATK and the MLA holdout, they were outmanned and outgunned.

{We might be able to do it if you could use Ascension,} Raum observed, a two man strategy meeting, {but at this point, you'd be lucky to be able to maintain wings for twenty seconds. No offense.}

Nothing offensive about stating the truth.

{So, what's your plan?}

Church of Violence.

{Church of-? Ah, because they're arms dealers themselves. They're not gonna be happy about the Pieces pushing into their territory, especially with such a high value deal. They're the most likely faction to side with us against the Pieces, if not the other "buyers". Well thought.}

"Killer," Izuku rasped.

"Sup, boss?"

"Get ready for combat in the morning, I'm going to make a deal without gear. If you hear three sharp whistles in a row, charge in and help me get out of there."

"A deal?" Killer said, "not with the Pieces?"

"With the CoV," Izuku said, shredding another book.

"Sounds risky," Mana said.

"Everything about this job is risky," Izuku responded, watching the flames lash up and throw several red eyes at the edge of the light into focus, "I'll take first watch."

"Wake me at midnight," Killer said, "I'll take over."

Izuku quietly nodded, sitting back and watching the fire while his ravens watched out into the night.

--- X Izuku X---

"I'm not gonna burst into flames the minute we walk in there, right?" Izuku asked, climbing the mountain towards the Church of Violence. A building closer to brutalist in architecture than what people thought about when you said church, a ruggedized mass of concrete and stained glass that was likely the single strongest place in all of Mos Eisley

{Would I be letting you do this if I even thought that was a possibility?}

Fair.

{...I miss Jericho, it didn't matter how right I was, he was ready with a barb.}

Sorry.

Izuku stepped towards the doors, knocking on them and folding his arms behind his back. Ravens landed on his shoulders, while more landed on the twisted metal keeping people from falling off the edge of the mountain. Finally, the door swung inwards, a… man? Woman? He couldn't tel- Raum.

{It's barely invasive}

Raum.

{...Non-Binary.}

RAUM!

{I'd already done it.}

So he'd already done it by the time the conversation started.

{Indeed}

You… you… arg!?

{It's barely a secret, they would have answered if you asked.}

Then let him ask!

"Are you alright," they asked, and Izuku rubbed his head.

"Just something irritating," Izuku grumbled, "I'm Midoriya Izuku, is this the Church of Violence?"

"I don't like that name much," they said, pulling out a cigarette.

"What name do you prefer," Izuku asked, shaking his head when they offered him a cigarette.

"The Rip-off Church," they said, causing Izuku to choke on air, "Nah, just kiddin', call us Iscariot, Demonspawn."

--- X ESS X---

Iscariot, also called the Rip-Off Church or Church of Violence of Mos Eisley, or the Papal Assassins (though Pope Caius II has vehemently refused the notion that they're associated whenever it's been brought up) is the second pillar of the IoW, and together with the Sinners, makes up core of the phrase "Steel Sharpens Steel". Both leaders regularly duel to this day, and are all the more dangerous for it. The first time Midoriya used Red Wake, it's said, was during his first duel with the Father Judas.

Ever Sharpening Steel: a History of the IoW.

--- X Henkel X---

Henkel Wolfe watched the demonspawn leap back from them, drawing their M1911s from their priest's vestments and angling them toward him. He landed on the pulpit like a bird while Yumie stepped from the shadows behind the door, slamming it shut. The demonspawn fumbled with his phone, "Killer, we're gonna need yo-"

Faster than they could blink, Yumie had launched herself across the gap with her Quirk, splitting the pulpit and phone in two while blood splattered across the ash grey skin and white coat. The loud of sizzling flesh came from his body, blisters rising up along the edges of the cut.

"{Silver…?}" The boy rasped as his ravens took flight.

"Special Silver," Henkel said, leading their shot and blowing one raven into red energy, "Meant to kill-"

Before they could finish, red lightning crackled from the boy's hands and jumped towards them like a buckshot. Yumie drew her sword, the lightning dying on it, while Henkel was forced to take it full on. Falling to one knee, the second raven ripped something ephemeral and red from their heart and dropped it into the demon's hand. He crushed it, sucking in the energy like air.

"{Henkel Wolfe,}" he rasped, the blisters popping to expose pink, new skin and the slash sealing shut, "{Born female, Quirk: Soul Sight… It's not, you know.}"

"Easier than being Quirkless," Henkel shrugged, "Secrets, eh?"

"{Hmm…}"

"Father," Henkel said, "He's got support incoming. Me and Yumie will deal with them, you deal with him."

"With pleasure," a Scottish brogue said from the rafters, and Secrets looked up and dove off the severed pulpit as several silver bayonets slammed into the spot when they were sitting. A grey, modified priest's douillette fluttered as the Father landed. Several more bayonets slid from the void as he stood, circular glasses blocking his eyes from sight as the morning light hit them, short blond-grey hair spiked "Ya know me, Henkel, I'm always happy to slaughter a heathen."

"Must have plenty of work," the demon said as two things shattered the stained glass of the church, followed by a man whose skin was a black as pitch. The demonspawn caught the gauntlets and slid them into place, sharp blades locking above his fist, "Most of Japan isn't Christian. Midoriya Izuku."

"Alexander Anderson," Anderson said, "and they ain't demons like you, so I'll leave their punishment to the Lord."

"Killer, deal with the other two," the Demonspawn said, "I don't want you interrupting me and Anderson."

"If you say so, Captain-Kid," Killer said, "How'd negotiations break down so quickly?"

"I'll tell you after," Izuku drawled, "and call Mana, I don't see any other members of this place around with my Ravens, meaning they're in Mos-"

He barely managed to swing his claws to deflect the thrown bayonet from Anderson.

"Have her make sure they don't show up and ruin the fun," he finished, business in his voice.

--- X Izuku X---

"The fun", as Izuku had called it, lasted all of ten seconds. Then he was deeply glad he had his claws as he was forced to deflect a storm of slightly glowing bayonets. Just them so close to his skin caused it to itch uncomfortably, and Izuku backpedaled. Raum?

{It's not normal silver,} Raum said, sounding weaker than Izuku had heard them since that day in the underpass. Their heart quickened, and Izuku span as he realized he was about to be put against the wall. The dodged blade lodged into the concrete wall like a hot knife, and as Izuku finished the spin, Anderson was in front of him, swinging two more blades at him. Izuku swung up one arm to catch the blades, punching with the repurposed harpoon heads of his other claw, {They're like… no, she's dead and gone.}

Now wasn't the time for maybes, Raum!

{She's dead, Izuku, me and Jericho killed her ourselves!} Raum snarled while Anderson span one bayonet to catch the punch. Locked blades shook like a leaf in the breeze as the eyes of demonhost and priest met. Heterochrome stared into eyes so lightly blue they might as well have been grey, {Justice died before the Dragon of Stars brought an end to Targon! He is, at best, a distant descendant of hers.}

Well, distant descendant was still too much apparently.

"We don't have to do this," Izuku said, skidding back on his red shoes. Anderson leaned forwards, using his larger height to leverage himself into the advantaged position. Izuku fell to one knee, shaking.

He had an idea.

{No.}

They needed something, and he couldn't use Ascension.

{You barely know how to use magic,} Raum rasped.

No time like the present to learn.

{Don't you dare-!}

Mana began to build around them, building with each heartbeat.

"I don't particularly like heathens," Anderson said, "but I hate heathens that used demonology quite a bit more, lad."

"Then let's do this without that," Izuku said, kicking outwards. An echo of his leg slammed into Anderson's, causing a loud crack to echo and sent Anderson falling to his knees. Grabbing him by the shoulders, Izuku slammed his forehead into Anderson's face, blood splattering down from the broken nose as his glasses shattered.

In the time it had taken for Izuku to move his head back, the broken nose had healed and Anderson was snorting out a wad of blood and cartilage before returning the favor.

Super Regeneration? Yeah, they were going to have to try it.

Red energy collected around Izuku and his ravens like a shroud, following each motion as he shrugged off the jacket and stared down Anderson, who had risen from the kneeling position he was in.

"Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling," Anderson recited, raising a fistful of bayonets. He flung them at Izuku, who jerked a fist in their direction, the wave of energy coming out and shaking the world in its wake. The bayonets shattered.

"Amongst Heaven and Earth," Izuku said in turn as the Red Wake gathered. His fist pointed towards Anderson, fingers perfectly still.

More bayonets formed not just near Anderson but above them too, all aimed to skewer Izuku while he made a cross from two bayonets, "Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little!"

"We alone," Izuku intoned in a rush of pure adrenaline, crossing two blades in an inverted cross. He was blaspheming to two separate religions, he knew, but the energy gathering, the power at his fingers, like Kacchan and All Might, sent a rush of energy to his head, "Are the Honored One."

And then the church, for lack of a better world, exploded in a rain of magic and metal as Izuku snapped his hand open, after echoes of each finger tearing towards Anderson and shaking the world apart below them.

Sett had said they would need something for bombarding an area. Well, this was it…

---X Alexander X---

Alexander Anderson had grown up hating his own lineage. His father had been a bastard of a mercenary who had died when he was too young to remember anything but the most basic tenants of combat, while his mother…

They were directly descended from an angel who Fell willingly, they said. Who chained her black wings and lived alongside humanity for centuries before passing grey and content. Everything someone who had abandoned His light shouldn't have been gifted.

And then, he had been a man born in the first generation of Meta Abilities, now called Quirks. Maybe it was his heritage, maybe it was something else, but his eightieth birthday, and elevation to the rank of Cardinal Deacon in pectore, had come and passed twice over. He was an old man in a body so much younger than his age would be.

And as he watched the demonhost step forwards through the hail of holy blades, the one part of his ancestry he liked and regularly used, unlike his grand niece, he slid a pair of bayonets into his hands. The step shattered the ground below the boy's feet in a series of fault lines.

"How'd you become like this, child?" Alexander asked softly as the world shook with each step. The first punch came then, a feint that still struck home and shattered the bayonet he had moved to stop it.

“Now you ask?" The boy asked, slamming his chainsaw blade into Alexander's gut. Flesh regenerated as fast as blades chewed it away, bones repaired themselves as soon as micro tremors shattered them, magic and Meta Ability warred. Alexander flipped the other bayonet, driving it into the boy's-

One of the white birds dive bombed, another echo of red slamming into the metal and shattering it. Without missing a beat, Alexander generated two more, slamming one into the boy's gut and pushing him back while he led his shot to bring the bird down, shrieking and burning.

"I'm curious as to what would make someone so young damn themselves like this," Alexander said, aware that the church, built in brutalist fashion so it could survive anything from an earthquake to the ensuing tsunami, was cracking below the applied pressure. More bayonets appeared in his hands like claws, and Alexander threw them at the boy, catching two more and rushing forwards as fast as he could and weaved behind the boy.

The next feint punch was dodged, but sent spiderweb cracks along the wall it hit instead.

"It was that or die,” the boy rasped, claws flashing before Alexander caught both weapons with reinforced blades. Spinning, a kick landed on the boy and sent him flying towards where Yumie and Henkel were fighting the boy's companion.

"Better to die a mortal than damn yourself as a demon," Alexander rebutted.

"We'll have to agree to disagree there," the boy said, "If we both survive the next ten minutes, you will hear my request."

"Then let's make them an amazing ten minutes," Alexander said, "I haven't fought something that didn't get destroyed in seconds in-"

Alexander span the bayonets, throwing them into two more ravens as they tried to ambush him.

The Father Judas and Red Wake tensed against each other…

And then they were on each other in a flash of mulching blades.

--- X Izuku X---

Izuku had two things to thank for having any hope of lasting against Alexander Anderson long enough that they might be able to have that conversation about working together. The first, and more minor, was years of Kacchan accidentally burning him with his Quirk. The second was the regeneration as he tore off shards of Anderson's soul and drained them, flashes of memory flickering through his eyes. Otherwise, the backlash of Red Wake would have killed him.

It had been a technique he had just invented on the fly, and that meant all the bugs in it were hitting him for the first time. The recoil of each attack sent hairline fractures along his bones, or lacerated the muscles above.

But each fragment of Anderson's soul that was ripped off healed those injuries, the memories fluttering against his brain and reaching Raum while Izuku focused on the fight. Secrets gave a rasping mockery of a hum as he examined the memories, {They were sisters.}

Not now.

{You're killing yourself either way,} Raum deadpanned, {the Justice we killed, the woman who sealed me after the Crownguards, Lucian and the damned Yordle cut down Jericho-}

Not. Now.

Izuku angled a hand towards Anderson as the priest landed on a pew. The underslung chainblade chewed air, sending wave after wave of quakes at the older man. He was off the quickly destroyed pew in a flash, throwing more blessed silver at Izuku. The demonhost was gone, two ravens flying at Anderson as Izuku skidded until he was back to back with Killer.

"How are you doing!?" Izuku called the duo spinning so Izuku could catch a slash from Yumie and Killer could deflect a bullet from Henkel.

"Wondering what you did to pisss them off so quickly!" Killer said, "Did you drink the blood of Christ?"

"Deal with a demon," Izuku laughed in spite of himself, "I'd- gurarara- probably light up like it was kerosene!"

"Huh."

"What?" Izuku said.

"You're laughin'. You only seem to laugh when we're in danger."

"..."

"Just noticin' that," Killer said, "if you're an adrenaline junkie, I ain't complaining. Means we'll have more jobs in the future."

"...It's fun," Izuku admitted reluctantly, deflecting a strike from Anderson.

"That's the spirit," Killer said, "we keep doin' this until it ain't anymore, Captain, that's how it is in our line of work. You don't normally get into it if it wasn't fun the first time."

"We should get back to fighting," Izuku said.

"Changing the subject?" Killer said, "that's fair."

--- X Killer X_--

Killer wrapped one chain around Yumie's sword, coming as close to meeting her eyes as he could with his mask and her hair in the way. Then he swung his other scythe towards her neck. She wrenched her katana from the chain with the sound of protesting steel, flipping it over her head and deflecting the strike as best as she could.

"Quick question," Killer said.

"I'm not explaining why we're doing this," Yumie grunted.

"Since when have people in our work needed an excuse to want someone dead?" Killer asked, "Nah, I just wanted to know if you two minded taking this outside. Those two are kinda stealing our space."

"Those two" being the Kid and the Priest. Calling what they were doing a fight anymore was almost cheating the word, it was more of a Nagakabouros-damned hurricane of blades, magic and two men doing their absolute damnedest to make sure the other side stopped moving. Pews were launched at each, only to explode in showers of red or hails of silver. Those storms hit each other, sending shards of metal and wood straight into the heart of the shattered concrete around them. Fault lines had formed in the concrete, crawling up towards the ceiling.

That honestly was probably what worried Killer the most, he was damn sure the two of them were going to bring the entire church down around them without missing a beat. The howls of laughter from both, distorted by the tempest, just made him sure of that.

"Aye," Yumie nodded, "I can do that."

The next second, her foot struck Killer and hammered him out of the wooden double doors so hard they were knocked off their hinges. He span in the air, flipping his chain scythes and using them to break his movement, as Yumie charged him. Killer kicked out, black skin clashing with silver blade for a second before she was forced wide. Planting his hands, Killer pulled back and mule kicked her straight in the chest. Henkel's guns went off with a crack, striking his head and snapping it to the side as his mask cracked. One blue eye met theirs through the glasses.

"That," Killer gripped his chains, ripping the scythes they were attached to from the ground and sending them slamming towards Henkel, "Wasn't very nice…"

Yumie rushed into the way of the blades, taking a knee as they crashed onto her sword.

"There's no room for niceties on the battlefield," she said, and kicked off into Killer's guard. Instinct was the only thing that got his Quirk up in time to deflect the slash.

And then, behind them, the church began to cave in on itself.

---X ??? X---

Alexander breathed in, the shadows clinging to him as he looked around furtively. His bayonets glowed, fighting the darkness for dominance.

"There is no God," Alexander whipped around, throwing the bayonets towards the voice only for them to vanish into the darkness, "There is no absolution for the sins you've performed, Alexander."

"Hold your tongue, demon," Alexander ordered, more bayonets sliding from his sleeves, "You don't belong here."

"On that, we agree," Alexander whipped around, catching the chitinous blades of the shadowy creature with both of his own. Drawing a third from his frock with his teeth, he lunged forwards.

{He banished Nocturne,} Raum breathed in horror seconds before a bayonet found its way into Izuku's shoulder and pinned him to the ground in the hissing of burning flesh.

Izuku bit back a scream, lunging up and trying to grab Anderson's face only for a second bayonet to find his other arm.

"Any last words, child?" Anderson asked, lifting a third bayonet.

"Yeah," Izuku croaked, gathering the entirety of Red Wake at the palms of his hands before he slammed them down and sent an earthquake tearing the building they were in apart like it was on a faultline.

"Let's go together."