I’ve got my Eye on You

“-Tensions between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan continue to escalate following the destruction of a fishing vessel within contested waters between the two nations. The vessel was of Taiwanese origin and had legal right to fish where they were. However, the Chinese claim is that the vessel traveled beyond the agreed zone for the nation and refused to turn back despite several warnings from local military presence. The Taiwanese government has contested this claim, stating that no attempt was made to contact the vessel before it was fired upon by a Chinese destroyer. This is just one in a line of many provocative incidents that raises the question of war in the pacific, with the President of the United States making their support of Taiwan in an armed conflict well known. Tensions also increase in other parts of Asia, with activity on the Korean DMZ sudenly increasing. It’s unknown how much longer the North Korean dictatorship can still stand after decades of famines and civil unrest. No comment has been made on this issue by the US government, though the Japanese Prime Minister has encouraged peace to continue between the two nations despite their differences. In other news, over the last few days a number of Villain groups were recently stopped in the midst of several turf wars. The up and coming Hero known as Spartan was the one to take them down, fighting the groups and then leaving them to be taken in by the police. His hard work ethic seems to have reinvigorated some of those who lost faith with Heroes after the incident at the Kamino Ward, as such his popularity in polls has been steadily increasing despite still being relatively new. However, many are uncomfortable with the ferocity that Spartan is displaying against these Villains.”

“...Sure, he’s doing a good job at rounding up the Villains and handing them over to the police,” an interviewee said, “But have you seen what he does to them? What the Villains he deals with looks like? The ones that are lucky to survive are completely blooded, with missing teeth and broken bones. He’s even ended up killing a few of them, intentionally or unintentionally. Really, it’s sick. If he can’t hold himself back while fighting then he’s no better than them. That’s why people believed in Heroes like All Might. Because no matter how tough the fight was, he always did it in a respectable manner.”

“Not everyone holds these views, however, as some suggest that the brutality that he uses against Villains is justified.”

“You have to realize that even while All Might was around,” the second interviewee began, “Crime never stopped. It only stagnated. Even while All Might was around, doing his job, major incidents still occurred. Kamino was just the last one in a long line of previous incidents. Personally, I don’t like to see people being scared or hurt. Bbut that’s what Villains are after. To me and others it looks like the only way to really put an end to the threat that Villains pose is to give them a taste of their own medicine. And if that means knocking out a few teeth, then so be it.”

“It sounds like you think he’d be doing a much better job than other Heroes. Don’t you think Hawks can bring something to the table as the current number one?”

“Hawks? He’s a good Hero, but I don’t think he’ll be able to replace All Might. He’s a great guy, strong, likable and dedicated, but that really isn’t enough to put him in a position to replace what All Might stood for. Even then, as good as All Might was I’m not sure what we need is another symbol of peace. A symbol of strength maybe, but I don’t think enough has happened to really justify passing judgment.”

“Spartan was unavailable for comment. In local news, a new pet shop has opened up downtown. With exotic animals and breeds from all over the world, people are clambering to-“ Aurdel shut off the TV.

“Looks like you’re making a big impact on the Hero scene, huh Mr. Aurdel?” Kirishima said, “Usually all that new Heroes get are one or two news articles, maybe an interview with a local outlet if they're lucky. But you’re already going nationwide!”

“I don’t care for the attention, I’m just doing my job.”

“That’s pretty manly!” He gripped his fist.

“If that’s what you want to call it,” Aurdel said, standing at one of the tables. “I heard that you had a third year come in yesterday to talk about the upcoming work studies, how did it go?”

“It was informative, and gave us a pretty bad sense of Deja Vu,” Kaminari said, holding his gut like he could still feel the punch he’d received.

“So long as you know what to expect,” he shrugged, “Personally I think that the work studies are a good idea given the line of work you’re all pursuing. The more experience you get now the more you can prepare yourself for the future, rather than having to learn on the fly while you’re in a do or die situation.”

“How did you learn all that you did?” Midoriya asked, “You haven’t told us very much what your training was like.”

“I started my training young and worked ferociously, it was just what was expected of us. We learned what to do from trainers, practicing with them over and over until we eventually were capable of beating them individually. Then once they thought we knew enough, they made our teams fight each other to make sure that we knew what we were doing. It was tough, but it sure did work well as a teaching aid.”

“Did you ever win in those fights?”

“Did I win? Not individually. I can count on my two hands the number of times that I reached the top positions in our individual tests, the top three positions were almost always the same with some variance in the following positions. I tended to land in the middle. But when we fought as teams, it was an entirely different story.”

“Then… You did really well when on a team?”

Aurdel hid a small grin behind his helmet, “That would be putting it lightly. Let’s just say that Green Team had the perfect mix of brains, brawn and gut intuition, and a nearly undefeated reputation.” The smile faded, “But that’s history now, and fate has its way with things.” He shook his head, “Have any of you been considering what agencies you’ll be approaching for your work studies?”

“We have,” Uraraka said, “But we don’t have nearly as much choice as we did for our Hero internships.”

“Our choices are restricted to well established agencies that would be guaranteed to protect us in case of a Villain attack. Ribbit.”

“I can see why that would restrict you. After all, I’m not sure how many agencies are willing to take on UA students given how often Villains seem to be attracted to the school.”

“Don’t say that, we can at least hope!” Kaminari wailed, “Besides, even if we get lower ranked agencies it can’t be much worse than what Mineta has to do for his internship.”

“Don’t remind me of my dark, tragic fate!” Aurdel had heard what his internship was like, and while it couldn’t be called a success it was far from the worst outcome.

“Right… The reason I ask is because some of you have already been scouted for Work Studies by a few agencies.”

“Damnit!” Bakugo shouted, slamming his fists against the table in front of him. The reason he was angry was that he, alongside Todoroki, had failed the licensing exam several days ago. During the first part of the exam where they had to fight other students, they performed nearly flawlessly. In fact it was almost absurd how the first portion of the test had turned out, with UA students performing a heavy stomp on most of the other teams. It was the latter half in which the two had choked. Since Bakugo was… well, Bakugo, he lost large amounts of points in failing to properly rescue civilians and reassure them of their safety. Todoroki on the other hand failed because he got into a fight with another student, nearly jeopardizing the rescue operations in the second half of the exam for a number of students. Failing the exam meant that they didn’t receive their licenses, meaning they could not participate in the work studies.

“Tokoyami, you remember how you went to Hawks’ agency for your internship?”

“I do.”

“Well he wants you again. Uraraka and Asui, Nejire Hado wants to talk to you about joining her for work studies at Ryukuu’s agency.”

“Really?!” Uraraka said, excited.

“Yes, really. Kirishima, Tamaki Amajiki is going to bring you to Fat Gum’s agency. Don’t overwhelm him over it.”

“Awesome!” Kirishima shouted.

“And Midoriya. You wanted to go to the same place as your internship, right?”

“I did… How did you know?”

“Intuition. They won’t be able to have you, but you already have an offer from another Hero. Sir Nighteye.”

“I’m going to Sir Nighteye’s Agency?!”

“That’s right. I’ll be following you on your first day there, since I and Sir Nighteye are doing some work together.”

“You’re going to be working with Nighteye?!” The others exclaimed, “That’s amazing, he was All Might’s sidekick!”

“Damn it!” Bakugo slammed against the table once more, this time because Midoriya was both going to be taking part in the work studies and working with one of All Might’s former sidekicks.

“How’d you manage to get someone like that to scout you out now Midoriya?” Kaminari complained, “You didn’t get any offers during the sports festival, I don’t know why someone like him would change his mind now.”

“I’m not sure,” Midoriya said, looking deep in thought. “Mr. Aurdel, did he give any reasons as to why he wanted to take me in?”

“Nothing that he told me, it was just suggested to him and he decided that to go through with recruiting you,” Aurdel said, nonchalantly.

“...Did you tell them anything to make him consider it?”

“The decision was ultimately up to him, I didn’t hold him at gunpoint.”

“I’m grateful that you were able to get him to consider me for the work study, but I would prefer to prove myself to him than to have his decision influenced by someone else.”

“He still has the option of getting rid of you on the first day, and given his disposition it’s entirely possible.”

“I’m not sure if that makes it any better…” he looked up, “But, thank you for being considerate and talking to him for me. I’m not sure how I was going to reach out to him without All Might.”

“I’m sure you could’ve, but there’s no harm in getting a little help.”

“But wait a minute,” Ashido said, “Didn’t you say in one of our lessons that it’s better to do things by yourself? That makes you a hypocrite!”

“I said it’s usually better to do things by yourself, but that was for the sake of not unnecessarily involving others. Even if I was a hypocrite, that wouldn’t make what I said any less correct. Besides, if we want to go by that logic you’d be a hypocrite too since you went to Yaoyorozu for help for the midterms.” She let out a little squeal in protest, then went quiet. “Regardless, it’s just like I said before. If any of you need help then I’m willing to give it to you, so long as you can put aside the time and put in the respective effort to justify helping you. You won’t make it to the top if all of your good fortune is solely because I helped you.” He looked around, “Now all of you, I suggest you get some rest. Especially for those who are going to be doing work studies. Unlike your internships you’ll have a lot of practical work on your plates. That may mean fighting Villains. Understand?”

“Yes Mr. Aurdel!” The class said.

“I don’t know if I can wait until tomorrow to talk to Amajiki, I’m going to go see him now!” Kirishima said, standing up.

Aurdel sighed, “Fine, you can go talk to him now. But don’t stay out too long, otherwise you may accidentally set off the building’s security.”

“Yes sir, I’ll make sure to be quick!” Kirishima ran off.

“Midoriya, there was something else that I wanted to discuss with you privately before you went to bed. Do you have a moment?”

“O-of course, did I do something wrong?”

“No, I just want to talk to you about something. Something I need to know.” He led Midoriya to his room in silence, waiting until they were inside to begin speaking. There were few murmurs from the other students as he walked away from them. Once inside the room he closed the doors, and he looked around. The walls were almost entirely coated in All Might memorabilia, practically every inch. He let out a sigh as Midoriya sat down on his bed.

“What was it that you wanted to talk about?” Aurdel stayed standing, not wanting to break any furniture by accident.

“Midoriya, is there any kind of secret that you’re keeping between yourself and All Might?” The moment he asked that question it looked like Midoriya’s heart sank.

“N-n-no! W-why do you ask?!” His panicked reaction was more than enough to tell Aurdel that his questioning had some merit..

“Because I did some digging, and I have reason to believe you do.” He folded his arms, “I looked into your records, and ever since you applied to UA and got in you always seemed to be receiving special attention from All Might. Even some of the other students noticed it. And while student preference isn’t something out of the norm, he does it much more often than others. You would often have lunches together, usually in the staff area where no one else would be around. And given that All Might was trying to hide his deflated form until Kamino, it makes sense he didn’t want anyone else to be present.” He could see that the ideas he had were all clicking together based off of Midoriya’s reaction. “So I looked into both your quirk and his, they’re both extremely similar in terms of use and sheer power. Not to mention, you’ve almost directly copied many of his own moves. Names included.”

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“I-I’m just a big fan of his. That’s why I wanted to copy his moves, so I could be like him.”

Aurdel shook his head though, “That’s not all though. When I spoke to Nighteye and mentioned your name, he sounded like he already knew about you. He didn’t seem happy either. That was when I remembered something about the fight at Kamino.” Midoriya stood up straight, “All For One mentioned you being the successor during Kamino, I heard while he fought All Might.” He gestured towards Midoriya, “And then I saw who one of Nighteye’s sidekicks was, Mirio Togata. After that I figured out why he wasn’t happy to initially consider taking you on.” He looked him near dead in the eye. “All Might chose you to be his successor, but Nighteye didn’t agree with the choice. So he took on Togata, a boy who he thought was just like All Might at that pinnacle of his youth, and trained him.”

Midoriya’s head looked down, a look of despair stretched across his face. “You… You can’t tell anyone about this… If anyone knew that I was All Might’s successor…”

Aurdel put a hand on the boy's shoulder, comforting. “I won’t tell anyone about it, I promise you. I just wanted to know for your own sake. After all, you remind me of someone else that I know.”

Midoriya looked up, “Who?”

Aurdel paused, “Maybe I’ll tell you another time, for now I suggest you get some rest. Your absences from class have already been planned so you make as well act as if you’re going to be doing your work studies.”

“You’re so sure that I’ll get accepted that you already did that for me?”

“Something like that, I did the same for the others too. It’ll be a lot easier for you all to focus on your work if you don’t have to worry about paperwork,” Midoriya gave him a grateful smile.

----------------------------------------

“It’s not often that Sir picks out someone to join him for a work study,” Mirio said. The three of them were walking down the sidewalk to Nighteye’s agency together.

“Mirio, why do you think that he chose you to work with him?” Aurdel asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear what he himself thought.

“Well, I know that it wasn’t my grades or my skills. At the time Sir took me in I could hardly be called an academic success. Heck, I even performed horrible at the sports festival! But I always kept working to improve myself and to cheer up those around me, a smile on my face the whole time. I think that’s why he took me in,” the Mirio explained, wearing the same smile that he spoke of. “After all, despite the fierce exterior that Sir puts up he actually is a kind man. And whenever he has us do anything, he makes sure that we do it full of energy and vigor. He holds it all in really high regard.”

“I can understand why, being All Might’s sidekick afterall. It’s always easier to push through something difficult if you know that someone else can do it smiling.”

“Exactly! But there’s one thing that he holds in especially high regard, and that’s humor.”

“Humor?” Midoriya echoed.

“Yep, humor! If you really want Sir to consider you as a work study, then you’ll have to leave an impression on him. And there’s no better way to do that than to make him laugh.” That… seemed like an odd way to do things. But the man had his own agency, so he was free to run it however he wanted. They turned around the corner. “Anyways, here we are! Sir Nighteye’s Agency!” The three of them looked forward. The building had a lot of glass paneling on its walls, meaning that anyone who walked by could see in easily. It was a big security risk.

“I still have mixed feelings on the way this building looks. A lot of the cities where I come from have buildings similar to this, but this one looks even more like it came from a postmodern hellscape.”

“Don’t be so harsh on the way it looks, Sir personally oversaw the construction and made every choice. Besides, when you’re running a Hero agency it’s good to be transparent.” … “Not funny?”

“It was, it’s just that my sense of humor isn’t what it used to be,” the three of them then walked in.

“Centipeder, is Sir in his office? I brought the kid and Spartan.”

The person he spoke to was one of Sir Nighteye’s sidekicks, a Hero that had the appearance and abilities of a Centipede. “He is, but currently he is in the middle of going over reports with Bubble Girl. But he anticipated that it would turn out as such, and said for you to simply bring the boy up when you arrived. As for you, Spartan,” the sidekick turned to him, “He prepared a folder of information for me to give to you once you arrived, alongside some additional info for you to make use of.”

“Sounds good, I’ll catch up with you two once you’re done in his office.”

“Right!” Mirio said, leading both himself and Midoriya up a spiral staircase through the building and idly discussing something as they walked.

Centipeder pulled a folder out of his suit jacket and handed it to Aurdel, “Inside the folder is a list of the Villain groups that the Shie Hassaikai have made contact with, alongside the individuals that make up those groups and their quirks. The reason we felt it necessary to assemble such a list was the fact that their numbers were increasing dramatically. The previous waiting period of accession into the Yakuza has been abandoned, instead they’ve simply been cutting deals and gaining entrance.”

Aurdel flipped through the folder, glancing at the files and quickly looking through them. “Then they have something big in mind, maybe going to war with another clan. But who? Normally if one group was preparing to go to war with another, we would see the opposition doing the same.”

“That is what we find concerning. Neither us or any other Hero agency was able to find evidence of other criminal organizations building up their forces. The only other organization that could’ve been to blame would be the League of Villains, but I’m sure that you more than know that they aren’t in any position to threats at this moment.”

“Right… Then I suppose I’ll have to look into what they’re actually preparing for, since we have no leads.”

“Unless you manage to break into one of their compounds, it is very unlikely that you will be able to find anything. Until we come up with a lead for you to pursue, it is Sir’s suggestion that you simply continue with your Hero duties as usual.”

“But that’s all it is, a suggestion.”

“It is. We may be an agency, but we have no authority over Heroes besides our own. Sir Nighteye simply thinks that it would be best for them to make the first move, that way we can prepare accordingly and respond without error.”

“I can understand preparedness, but that’s a sword that cuts both ways.” He closed the folder, “Can I look at all that you have on Shie Hassaikai locations as of now? I might be able to find something you may have missed.”

“Another perspective is always welcomed.” Centipeder led Aurdel to a server room in the back, where he was able to tap in directly.

“Off the network… Smart.” Nighteye’s agency had an on site intranet, meaning that it prevented anyone who wasn’t physically there from accessing the data. For keeping investigations into dangerous groups secure and in house, it was incredibly useful. Aurdel plugged himself in. With his wrist mounted data pad and visor HUD he was able to see the data they had collected. There were dozens of Shie Hassaikai hideouts across the country, many he’d seen in police files and others not. With his systems he was able to quickly compile the list and begin making notes on each location about their numbers and suspected purposes. It wasn’t hard to do, but it would be a much quicker task to do so if he had an AI with him like John had been given for Red Flag. He shook his head, clearing the thought.

At the same time he was attempting to narrow down the possible locations that the Shie Hassaikai might be willing to keep a little girl prisoner and be able to experiment on her. For that there were two primary mindsets to go through. First, that one would want to keep their cards close to their chest. It was what the average person would do. It meant that of the locations, it would be the one the fewest people knew about while still being easily defendable from any opponent. For that there was a branch headquarters of the Shie Hassaikai, nestled on a private villa in the countryside. Compared to the surrounding area there wasn’t too much to take notice of, but there were some odd signs. For example, the unusually great deal of security. Walls surrounded the villa, with armed guards constantly patrolling. But that didn’t mean it was guaranteed to be the true target. Because there was the second mindset, one that ONI by and large taught and preferred. Hiding in plain sight. To the unacquainted, hiding in the first place you’d think to look is a fool's errand. Most people would expect that if they were to do as such, then they would be discovered in a matter of moments. However, that isn’t true. Something like the truth of the Spartan program is evidence of that. With how seemingly open the appearance of Spartans had become throughout the war, many had not even thought to look into the history of the Spartans. And even if they had, would they really expect what they saw as saviors to have come from such a dark program? No one would want to believe it. And because they didn’t want to believe, they would never accept it. The mind is a powerful thing after all. As for which facility would apply to that idea, it would be the main HQ of the Shie Hassaikai in the suburbs. The place was already known as a hotbed of activity, with people constantly going in and out. There was even a complex set of tunnels dug underneath the building, one that did not officially appear on any maps but was known to the police and this agency. As such, the place was constantly under surveillance.

But there was a third mindset for the unconventional, a secondary one that was often dismissed for its irrationality. However, it was one that he personally believed in. It was an odd one, and to the outside observer it would make very little sense. He began tracing the routes between the Yakuza hideouts along his HUD, comparing them with the known tunnel systems beneath the city and those of the Yakuza hideouts. For the paranoid, the best place to be is to not be in one. Rather, you stay on the move and make no patterns. He ran the calculations in his head, looking for the paths that were both the longest and shortest before ruling them out to make alternative routes that someone was likely to take. If someone looked at his work it would appear random, and that was exactly the point of it. Confident or paranoid, the human mind will almost usually go with whatever gut feeling it has. Not some predetermined course from several days ago with the least calculated risk or most concealment. And with that mindset he eventually found it, the path that the Yakuza should be taking. It crossed from the underground and above ground multiple times, ensuring that they couldn’t be ambushed at any one spot. He took copies of all the files and stored it on his data pad, then unplugged. “Have you found what you need?”

“I have. There’s a likely route that some of the Yakuza may be walking down, I’m going to see if I can’t eavesdrop on them.”

“I see, then I wish you luck on your mission.” Centipeder gave him a small bow, Aurdel returned the courtesy before leaving the server room. When he came back out he found Midoriya back inside the main room, a mix of unease and happiness on his face.

“Did it go well?”

“I think- No, it did go well. Sir Nighteye did approve my work study, so I will be working here.”

The two of them walked in the lobby, Mirio waiting outside of the building for Midoriya as they presumably were supposed to go on patrol.

“But you look a little down.”

“I… Yeah. It’s about what we talked about, how Nighteye didn’t think I was right to be the successor. And when I look at Mirio I can’t help but think that-“ Aurdel put a finger up, hushing him.

“If All Might chose you, that should be reason enough. It’s up to him to decide who succeeds him, not his former sidekick. And if Nighteye really does still believe in All Might, then he will have to believe in you.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Midoriya perked up a little bit, Aurdel ruffled his hair playfully.

“By the way, there’s something I want to give you.” Aurdel opened one of his hardcases, “Since you’re working as a Hero, you need at least a little bit of gadgetry. So I’m giving you this to use in case you need it.” Aurdel placed the small device in his hand. It was about the size of a tick and designed to look as such, meaning it could be easily. “It’s a tracker, a small one at that. If you come across anything that you need to keep track of, just press the button and stick it on. It’ll send me the position, then I can send it to your phone.”

The boy nodded, “I’ll make sure to make good use of it.”

----------------------------------------

Another two days passed, Aurdel was out on the streets again. He’d spent some of the previous days searching the route that he’d decided for Yakuza, but found nothing. In fact all he’d were figurative and literal mole people living underground. They were too impoverished to afford a home stay in, so they made their homes in the underground instead. He spent some time talking to them, hearing their stories. Most of them were people who’d fallen on bad times, but many were just people who never had a place to stay to begin with. Eventually he had to leave since he couldn’t stay all day, but he remembered their names. Today he would be checking a different set of routes since the previous day hadn’t come up with anything. With a map of the underground and the streets on the inside of his HUD he walked down the sidewalk, looking it over again in case there was anything he’d missed. The spot that he felt would be most likely used was one that cut through an abandoned metro and used a service ladder to reach the surface, before coming out into any alleyway that allowed them to cross into the opposing metro system that wasn’t connected. However the entrance point was some distance away, meaning that he still had some ground to cover before he could get into position to make an ambush. Unfortunately, he knew that several people were following him.

None of them had tried to make it obvious, but given his training and own experience of trailing people he’d known the signs. Not wanting to lose his chance at some intel he would give them the confrontation that they wanted. So he led them down an alleyway, one that he knew would come to a dead end. There was only one way in and out, meaning they’d have to take him on all from the same direction. There were three of them, each of them dressed in casual wear but with glasses on in a way that obscured the identifying portions of their faces. “Spartan. Despite what you may think, it is not safe for you to stay here in Japan. We have been authorized to take you back to the States by any means necessary. Force included. You will only be given one chance to go with us peacefully now.” Two men, one woman. One of the men seemed to have a quirk that allowed them to turn their arms and individual fingers into long coiled lengths of what looked like steel cables. The second man was significantly more bulked up compared to the others, he most likely had a quirk that increased his muscle mass or general strength. As for the woman, he couldn’t tell what power she might have. Whatever it was wasn’t visible, or she was hiding it incredibly well.

“If you’re from the states, then that means you’re a bunch of CIA spooks.”

“We can’t confirm or deny that.” In cloak and dagger terms, that was a plain yes.

“I chose not to make landfall in the United States for a reason, this almost exact reason if I’m going to be perfectly honest. You want to control everything. I am not going to be leaving with you.”

“Then you leave us with no choice, we will carry out our orders.” The spools of steel cable unrolled, quickly flying out before wrapping around Aurdel. From the stress on the face of the user, he was trying to knock Aurdel out by squeezing him as tight as he could. But even if he didn't have his armor on, the man wouldn't be able to do it. “James, get him!” The second man charged forward, winding up to strike Aurdel. His fists changed into what looked like sledgehammer heads, winding up a strike to hit his helmet from both sides. He wouldn’t let him land a blow though. Aurdel easily tore through the steel cable around him, causing significant pain to the man who’d tried to restrain him. Then as ‘James’ came running towards him Aurdel dove into him, headbutting his chest and throwing him back. From there he was able to easily handle him, driving his fist into his stomach about ten times. After doing what felt like pulverizing his internal organs, Aurdel threw him face first into the nearby wall. A number of bricks shattered along with the man's face. The woman then charged at him from behind and leapt onto his back, putting her hands on his visor. Flashes of light rapidly went off as if her hands were exploding a constant stream of flashbangs. So that was her quirk. Unfortunately for her, his visor could polarize. Her attacks were completely useless.

Aurdel threw her off his back, slamming her into the side of a dumpster. It was then at that moment that something in the back of his mind began to nag him, pushing him forward. Something to do with the woman… The first man charged at him again with his damaged cable limbs, trying to kick Aurdel down. Aurdel easily slapped him down, leaving him with a number of broken bones. The nagging feeling kept pushing him forward as he walked over to the woman. “What the hell are you doing?!” He crouched over her. His hand… He put his hand on her head, something instinctual telling him to do so. So he did. Placing his hand on her hand somewhat quelled the feeling, but he felt the urge suddenly squeeze. And he did. Squeezing her while also avoiding crushing her head entirely. After that she reacted in pain, somewhat spasming like she was being exposed to a debilitating shock of electricity. After a moment she fell completely limp on the ground, her eyes still open. Checking her pulse he could tell that she was alive but very much so unconscious. Then he turned his hand around, and again on an instinctual level something seemed to click. With what felt like a flick of a wrist he was able to produce those same flashes of light. The exact same.

He looked at her and took a step back. Had he copied her power? Taken it? He couldn’t know for sure, nor did he know what the instinct in the back of his head driving him to do it was. He thought back… Could it have something to do with All For One? He remembered that during the battle at Kamino the man had done something almost similar, with what he presumed was a similar pain. After the pain it felt like something had been left in his body. Was it some kind of power? He looked back at his hand, then squeezed it shut. Forget it, there was no time to dawdle on this. He needed to focus on finding those Yakuzas, then he could take the time to figure this thing out. Then once he was done with that he’d prepare a reprisal against the Americans for trying to get in his way.