Unfortunately, Shoko does in fact manage to find Stain before I catch up to her. Stupid alleys having so many branching pathways. I intentionally ignore the fact that Himi and I have played many, many enjoyable games of 'what kind of jerk can we hunt' wandering down alleys very similar to these. But that's not the point right now!
I look down on the scene from the edge of the rooftop I'm crouched on: Stain aiming his sword at my friend, who's standing in front of the downed form of a mini-Ingenium sans-helmet, revealing the face of said hero's younger brother. Oh, and Native is leaning against the wall with blood staining his side, but I don't care about him at all. A sentiment that seems to be shared by the heroes and villain below.
"Tell me, girl," Stain says with narrowed eyes, "why do you protect these fakes? Should they survive this day, they will simply go on to further sully what the term 'hero' means. The world will be better off with them gone."
Shoko, face impassive, answers his question as bluntly as I expect her to. "Because a hero protects people. The fact that I don't like Iida doesn't change that."
Everyone ignores the glasses wearing idiot yelling about how Shoko has no right to be here and that Stain is 'his'. Which, yeah… not really helping his case. Sure, vengeance isn't really a bad thing to want, but rushing into a situation with almost no training, no support, and with absolutely no regard for his own safety? If it was up to me, I would have let Stain finish him off. But that's why Shoko is the hero and I'm the villain~.
Though the smug smirk that slowly grows on Stain's face is annoying me for some reason, the gleam in his eyes while staring at Shoko makes his face seem even more punchable than it already was. So, when he opens his mouth and looks to the sky - probably to monologue about her being a 'true hero' or whatever his deal is - he's quickly met with a metal-shod boot planted where his nose would be.
I click my tongue in annoyance while using his face as a springboard to flip in front of Native. "Stupid noseless prick. I wanted to break something." Then again, I probably shouldn't use 'noseless' as an insult given the fact that All For One also just so happens to be noseless. Then again then again, after calling him 'the inspiration for Mr Potatohead' I don't think I can really stoop any lower for insults without coming off as crass or insulting the function of his genitals. I could insult his sexual preferences, but I personally feel that sort of thing is in poor taste. Love is love and nobody has the right to tell you otherwise. If they do, feel free to stab them!
What was I doing? Oh yeah, ignoring Stain's ranting about how he won't fall for my lies about All Might and that I won't get away with 'endorsing the fakes'. Bruh, take a chill pill. Get a life. All that stuff. Oh wait, I should probably say some of this out loud, huh? "Sorry, what was that?" I make a show of leaning forward and cupping my ear in his direction, a mocking smile on my face. "I couldn't hear you clearly with your lips planted so firmly against All Might's ass."
I get an amused snort from Shoko and an enraged yell from Stain, quickly followed by a lunge with his sword that I'm quick to sidestep.
…Which causes the sword to embed itself into the fallen Native's head. Whoops? Sorry not sorry, sucks to be you. "Oh no," I deadpan while hopping backwards to avoid Stain's backswing, blood and brain matter splattering across the green jumpsuit they stuck me with as a hero outfit. It's pretty ugly, but if they'd at least put a hood with rabbit ears on it I could make do. But noooo, that's too much like my villain outfit! Jerks.
"A hero has died, killed by a prolific hero killer. I am so disheartened by this development. Really. Look at my face." I duck under a thrown knife before transitioning into a side-roll to avoid a spiked boot to the completely unimpressed face, which I point to after popping back up. "This is my sad face. Look at what you've done."
He brings his sword down on me from an overhead strike, so I flick my wrist to get my knife in my hand and bring it up to deflect the serrated blade, but it's unnecessary because Shoko throws an ice wall between us, forcing Stain to jump back to avoid being engulfed. He glares at the hero applicant and points his sword at her, snarling. "Why are you protecting him!? He's a villain! As well as allowing the one you wished to protect to die! If you are a true hero, then you should be attempting to arrest him!"
Shoko gives the man a casual shrug. "I told you, a hero protects. But heroes are only human, and you can't save everyone." She gestures down to Iida… who she's frozen to the floor with a strip of ice covering his mouth? Boy, he looks angry! "If I'd gone to try and protect Native, you would have had the chance to kill Iida, and there's no guarantee that I would have been able to get to him in time anyways, leaving the possibility that both of them might have died. I made a choice to prioritize the life of the person I could save, just as I would in any other situation."
Stain shakes in rage at her declaration, his sword rattling in his hand. "You…" He lunges forward, cutting through the initial wave of ice she sends at him in an effort to freeze him in place, barely even slowing. "YOU ARE NO HERO!" He doesn't dodge the flames she sends at him, allowing himself to burn in an effort to get to her, shocking Shoko long enough that he manages to get close enough to slice at her. Thankfully she manages to lean out of the way, a shallow cut opening on her cheek as he rushes past.
The man whirls on his heel to face her once again while he brings his sword to his face, quirk elongated tongue slithering from his mouth towards the blade. From the one meeting the LoV had with him, I know that he has a type of paralysis quirk. And now my previous suspicion is confirmed about it being blood activated. That only leaves one thing to do.
My thrown knife separates an inch of his tongue before he can lick Shoko's blood from the blade, causing him to scream while it zips back into his mouth. He glares at me while blood flows from his lips, an injury like that will need serious medical attention, though it won't be fatal if he doesn't get it due to the amount of tongue he actually has. Still, it's a distraction that will inhibit him until we manage to take him down. Stubborn bastard.
Said stubborn bastard spits out the blood pooling in his mouth before dodging another shot of flames from Shoko's hand, though she does manage to get rid of her blood on his blade, making him scowl. His eyes dart between the two of us; me with my knives and Shoko with her quirk. It should be clear to him that he's outmatched, he's not stupid, after all, apart from being a zealot religiously devoted to All Might. But he won't be able to leave either. Yes, Shoko's wound is small, barely enough to really call it a wound, but I still find it aggravating that he dared to harm my first real friend. So I'll be hounding him the entire night simply for that, if nothing else.
Seeming to come to that realization, he snarls and stabs his sword into the ground, his hands grabbing knives and whipping them through the air at us. Sadly for him, knives are a specialty of mine and I simply parry them from the air and let them clatter to the floor while slowly walking towards him. Meanwhile Shoko makes a shield of ice on her arm that she uses to block them, though a few do end up stuck inside it.
Regrettably, Shoko is, in fact, a hero, which means that when Stain aims a knife at Iida - who hasn't been able to break free of Shoko's ice still freezing him to the floor despite Stain's paralysis wearing off on him - she drops to a knee to cover him with her shield, leaving her upper half unprotected. The hero killer takes the opportunity to switch his target from me to her and picking up the pace, more knives flying at her at even faster speeds.
It only takes a moment for me to readjust, but by the time I do he's already launched half a dozen knives at her and Iida. The unexpectedness of the action manages to also take her off guard, though it takes longer for her to adjust due to less familiarity in real life combat situations. Meaning when she expands her shield horizontally to fully cover Iida, she's left with a pair of knives burying themselves in her shoulders. But she doesn't react to the pain other than gritting her teeth and bringing her shield up into a full wall of ice to catch the follow up knives.
"Full dome!" I shout at her, hoping that she'll listen, while glaring at Stain. I lazily lift my knife to point at him, the grip held loosely, almost arrogantly, in my hand. I say my next words plainly, like they are nothing more than a simple fact. Because, really, what else can they be? He hurt my friend. "I am going to kill you tonight."
The man sneers as he pulls his sword from the alley floor and flicks it free of the gravel sticking to it before spitting more blood to the side. "Bold words for someone lacking conviction."
I sneer back. "You don't have conviction, you have faith. Faith in heroes. Faith in what they can be. Me?" I draw a second knife, crouching into position with them held out in front of me with a reverse grip. "I suppose that if I lowered myself to your level, my conviction would be that I will live for myself and those I care about. Something that you've never had, nor will ever know."
He stares at me for a moment, silent except for the blood continuing to pour from his open mouth. Then it grows into a wide, bloody grin, red-stained teeth glistening in the flames from the burning city. "So, you do have convictions."
I snort, my legs tensing. "You talk too much."
Stain has the nerve to laugh. And then he darts forward, sword aiming to take my head from my shoulders. I duck down under it, feeling it catch some of my hair as I push forward and slash at his side, which he dodges just as easily as I did. Then things move too fast for conscious thought to be a real consideration.
Blades flash around us, blood staining both of our clothing from close calls without either of us landing a decisive blow. Sparks fly as blades clash, blood drops flying through the air, sweat from drenching our clothes. Dodging, slicing, deflecting. We both act on instinct alone in an effort to put an end to the other. But I have an advantage. Despite how little I think of the heroes or the situation I'm in with currently being a student of UA, it does come with the advantage that I know I'll be getting medical attention after this. Stain doesn't have that privilege.
Gradually, I start to overcome him, intentionally taking injuries that I could have avoided to deliver worse ones to him. He's being forced back, his steps heavy, becoming unsteady from blood loss. It's compounded by the distraction of needing to empty his mouth of the blood constantly filling it, which is also preventing him from simply disengaging to use his quirk on me. Not that I would allow him the opportunity anyways. He isn't going to get away.
And then, he stumbles, unaware that we'd gotten so close to where he killed Native. His sword wavers and I take the opportunity presented, lunging forward with my knife aimed at his face. He manages to lean his head away enough to keep me from burying my knife in his brain, though at the cost of his left eye. He screams as he twists, his sword arcing down at me at an awkward angle but powered by his will to live. It buries itself into my shoulder, cutting deep into my collarbone, maybe severing it entirely.
I drop my knife and grab the blade, keeping it there while bringing my other hand up -noting with surprise that I somehow lost the knife it wielded- before punching him in the stomach. He leans forward, blood pouring out of him in a mockery of All Might's condition, which strikes me as a delicious bit of irony.
We stand there, both panting from the exertion of our fierce battle. We reach for one of the knives on his belt at the same time, whoever gets there first is the one who kills the other, but before we can, we're both engulfed in ice from the neck down. Out of the corner of my eye I see Shoko with an expression on her face equal parts worried and exasperated.
"Men."
…I suppose I can agree with that sentiment.