Glowing specks of fire flashed accross Neito's eyes while he stared at the burning building, whereas Ochaco rose from the car's back seat, aghast.

Crawling up the building's facade, the three Nomus let out high, inhuman cries.

One of them caught fire. He kept on crawling.

One floor above, a woman pushed open her balcony window, holding a boy on her hip.

Acrid black smoke rushed inside her apprtment, swirling around her. The woman coughed then covered her nose with her bathrobe's sleeve

The Nomus all turned to her.

The woman looked down as if to gauge the distance between her and the ground.

Neito bit his cheek, his eyes darting between her and the Nomus.

The fire was only one apartment away.

Oblivious to the danger, the woman held her child close to her chest and swung a leg over the window.

"Don't do it", Neito muttered

His worried eyes darted between her and the other three.

The burning Nomu climbed diagonally towards them.

Wind-driven smoke swept into the woman's apartment, hiding the Nomu in its wake.

She would not see it coming until it was too late.

Neito stepped forward then froze : his nails dug in his palms, leaving crescent creased flesh behind them. The fire cast shimmering shadows that flickered across his face.

If he shouted, he would draw the creatures' attention to them. If he made no movement, she and her child would die.

Neito clenched his jaws. His legs stiffened as if he wanted to move forward but his mind prevented him to do so.

Three Nomus...

He had seen what only one of them could do. He wasn't Todoroki : he obviously wouldn't be fast enough to pierce and destroy the heart of even one of them, let alone three nearly simultaneously.

The woman's foot slipped. She barely held on the windowsill in time.

Neito was on edge.

The only relevant Quirk he had at his disposal-

"He's dead"

Ochaco's voice snapped Neito back to reality.

He blinked, tore himself from the sight of the struggling woman and looked at her.

Her head was bent over her bloodied hands.

"The baby's dead and it's my fault..."

She met Neito's gaze.

She was crying, tears running down her cheeks.

"He was only supposed to go after Aizawa, do you get it ?"

Neito's blood ran cold.

"He said that no one would get hurt and that once he had what he wanted-"

She hiccupped and buried her face in her hands, shoulders twitching.

Had she just confessed to him ? Had she really fucking confessed to him ?

Fury ran through Neito like lightning.

Was she truly responsible for Yaoyorozu and Iida ? Was it her veritably her fault Kaminari and Hagakure had died ?

"What did you just say ?, " he said slowly, anger making his voice shiver

Neito's fingers clenched in a fist, his Quirk instinctually activating.

This time it was All Might's power that swelled his muscles and shook his body.

"What have I done ?" she cried. "My God, what have I done ?"

The woman screamed.

Neito caught her distorted reflection on the rear window of the car as the blazing Nomu hurled himself at her, screeching, disappearing with her inside her smoky apartment.

Rage overwhelmed Neito's thoughts, smothered his lucidity, awakened all the resentment and frustration that Nezu and his damned 'don't do anything' had forced him to bury deep in his gut.

"Fucking traitor", he spat.

Ochaco lifted her head from her hands, eyes wide.

Neito, strength increased tenfold, punched her square in the jaw.

The wind whistled : Ochaco slammed in the wall in which the car was embedded.

It collapsed on her.

A cloud of blasted cement and dust engulfed them.

Between them, in the background, the fire was spreading.

Neito bit his lip and shook his fist to get rid of the tingling pain, eyes shining like steel.

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He'd learnt to regulate his strength in order to hurt without breaking his own bones in the process, but he couldn't hit as hard as All Might did and remain unscathed.

Then again, no one needed to hit as hard as All Might when it came to dealing with regular people.

She coughed.

"You killed Kaminari, didn't you ?"

Stunned and shell-shocked, Ochaco was unable to answer.

It was as if pure fire had shot up from her jaw to her skull, throbbing painfully in her bones.

Dust hung like a curtain between them despite the pouring rain.

Neito stepped on the edge of the broken wall.

"Is that why you got out of his room when I was in the corridor ?"

The more he spoke the angrier he got, his wrath fiercly burning in his chest.

He was far from dumb : one Nomu was already far beyond his abilities but three...

He hadn't applied to Yuei because he wanted to become a Hero. Rather, he was interested in the perks of the job.

With his Quirk, Neito would have no trouble breaking into the top ten : fame and influence would be a boon for his family. They'd be able to run their business in utter peace whereas Nezu would cover for them as long as his uncle worked for him.

His uncle who, moreover, had raised Neito as his own son and had drilled into him that there was no worse vice than disloyalty.

He'd eaten his heart out when Nezu had told him to shut up and swallowed his frustration and anger every time he saw that Uraraka bitch strutting through the corridors of Yuei as if nothing had happened.

"What did you truly think I was going to do when you confessed being All for One's whore ?"

He clenched his fist, muscles bulking, shadows creeping up his legs until they wrapped around his neck, threatening to spill on his face.

The dust cloud cleared.

Ochaco lay on her back on a broken piece of wall, rubble scattered around her.

Pieces of wall shrouded in a pink halo hovered over her body.

"Tell me what he's going to do to Aizawa" Neito growled

Ochaco propped herself up on one elbow and shook her head, new tears drawing clear furrows across her dirty cheeks.

"I can't"

Even if he was unable to stop the Nomus, he could at the very least deprive All for One of a pawn.

Neito raised his hand : shadows shot out of his palm like arrows, aimed at Uraraka.

She widened her eyes and threw herself on the side, the flying stones intercepting the shadow arrows.

The rubble burst in a shower of yellow dust and pebbles.

Neito saw Ochaco's shadow spin to the left.

Probably hoping to get around him and escape through the hole they'd just come through.

He spun around to follow her, silent shadows shooting out of his outstretched hand wave after wave.

They pierced her from all sides.

She collapsed.

Neito walked quietly to her, his soles kicking up mushrooms of dust every time they hit the ground.

He stopped before Ochaco's inert form, yellow dust still floating between them.

The shadows whispered in his ear : he spun fluidly on his heels and raised his arm to shield his face, a wall of shadows joining his gesture and blocking the stones hurled at high speed.

Neito did not need to look over his shoulder to know that it was her jacket he had stabbed : she had played the same trick at the tournament.

Ochaco, standing inside the building, wiped her cheeks one by one.

Her voice was now clear of tremolo.

"I won't let you kill me"

Neito smiled wickedly, the shadows completely filling his eyes until they were nothing but black holes.

The tone of his voice thickened as if several people were speaking simultaneously.

"Too bad you have no say about it"

Ochaco bent her legs, resolute : a pink halo wrapped around the debris of all sizes scattered around her. Pebbles and broken bits of wall hovered around her like planets orbiting around their center of gravity.

Neito noticed she didn't need to touch them.

He wondered how many other things she'd lied about.

The shadows climbed up Neito's legs, curled in the creases of his clothes, seeped on his body until they covered the last bit of his skin.

His hair turned black from root to tip.

He looked like a shadow, his body was the embodiment of midnight.

He raised his fist : the very air shimmered, the shadows swayed, and even the flickering light cast by the fire could not lighten this dark corner of the street where the shadows grew and deepened.

Ochaco, jaws clenched, prepared to-

Someone grabbed Neito's wrist.

"Why are two Yuei kids fighting ?"

Neito raised his head at the individual, lips curled over his gums like a wild beast.

"Hey, calm down kid, you don't have to look at me like that"

Hair disheveled as if she'd just rolled out of bed, clothes rumpled and a toothy grin on her face : Mirko stood before them.

*

A/N : If you want to read ahead of schedule, go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG