-Rain of Sins-
-Trial of Fools: Ch 11-
Momo screamed as her bike made a loud "POP" sound and the smoke that had been billowing from the overtaxed engine erupted into full-on flames. In her moment of surprise, her hands jerked back, causing the front wheel to turn sharply to the right, which sent the entire machine flipping head over tail through the air.
But as she fell from her seat, as she smashed her helmeted head into the ground, as she skidded across the dirt, nothing could have kept the stupid grin off her face.
The crowd erupted into deafening cheers as Momo and her bike rolled into what was potentially the most unceremonious first place in the whole festival's history.
She'd done it!
Her! Momo! Who'd gotten into the school without having to take the entrance exam, had managed to beat all the people she knew would have outdone her on that test just a few months prior!
The cacophony of artillery shells that followed shortly behind her, was as good as a legal signature in telling her who had placed second.
Momo grunted as she pushed herself into a sitting position, ignoring how her sore muscles protested, and managed to catch sight of Todoroki sliding into third place, a fierce scowl covering his face. Following close behind him was Ida, then Ibarba, then a pink haired girl she didn't recognize.
She shook her head and pulled herself to her feet, panning her head around to see if she could find Bakugo, but despite being in an entirely empty courtyard, she couldn't spot him.
She couldn't help but sigh. He'd probably gone off to sulk somewhere about losing.
"And for the first time in UA History: We. Have. A. TIIIIEE! Down to the exact same frame on the recording!"
Present Mic's voice rang out, and Momo glanced at the giant screen that hung above the festival, and was completely unsurprised to see a picture of Mineta and Aoyama jumping across the finish line. Of course, only those two would find a way to tie on a camera that measures down to the millisecond.
"Wait, what's this?"
The picture changed to a live feed of the two talking to Midnight.
"I've just received word that both contestants have agreed to give up any claim to the 7th place position, and save us all the hassle of a drawn out argument, and split their position between them! Ladies and Gentlemen, give it up for contestants number 7.5nd's!"
Momo sighed and pinched her nose, ignoring how badly it irked her that her teacher had just tried to pronounce "7.5nd's", in favor of being somehow even less surprised those two would try and do something dumb like that.
Just wait until someone uses this precedent for an argument with a much more important position, like first, in a few years.
"Well now, with that out of the way, let's get onto round TWO! Of course, how you did in the race, how fast you'd be able to arrive at a crime scene, is still important, so with that in mind-!"
The screen flickered to display a large spreadsheet of contestants and point values.
"Everyone direct your eyes to the board, and see your new point value for the next game!"
Momo's head looked up, and her heart dropped down.
-Rain of Sins-
Mr Electricity sighed, and took a long sip of his drink.
It was just no fun anymore!
Ever since Stain took out Lava Lad and She Shark there had been no one to stop his crime spree! He could get away with anything!
But… There just wasn't that spark that there used to be.
They were his nemesises (Nemisissis? Nemisi?) damnit! HE was supposed to be the one to finally defeat them!
And… killing them?… wasn't that a bit… far?
The Villain sighed again, and slumped deeper into his chair. He turned his attention to his loyal companion, a little plastic bird toy that his mum had gotten him as a kid. It was orange, had a black top hat, a blue tie, and dipped up and down on the side of a water glass, miming taking a drink.
"I know, I know." He said to his friend. "Always thirsty, never satisfied. I understand you, little well-dressed bird. Purposeless, emptiness. It's a vacuum, isn't it? It's…What's your vacuum like?
I'm a Villain with no Hero. A yin with no yang! A bullfighter with no bull to fight. In other words, I have no purpose!"
But as he watched the little bird dip down again to take another sip, something occurred to him. His little bird solved its own perpetual problem of being thirsty by taking a drink, maybe he could shove his own problems by making a drink to quench his thirst…
Maybe… Maybe he could make a replacement! Maybe he could remake that lost spark! Remake his lost purpose!
He could picture it now! He would MAKE a Hero to face off against! One that the audience could ship him with! They would be Yin and yang! Light and Dark! Salt and Crackers! Shoes and Socks! Cats and Cheese Slices!
Their battles would be legendary! She would win some! He would almost win others! People would look on in unfathomable awe!
(Unfathomable. It's unf…with…without fathom!)
And she would be known as TITAN!
Mr Electricity hoped to his feet, eyes alight at his new genius revelation!
Quick! He needed two grandma wigs, a mechanical gorilla, a red cape, a kidnapped reporter, and a box of Churros!
But before he could take off to shoplift at the local supermarket, his phone rang, snapping him out of his… whatever he was in.
"What do you want!" He shouted into the phone, but his frown flipped upside down as soon as he realized who it was. "GIRAN! Buddy! How's it been!? I didn't recognize your number, you never told me you had'ta ditch your old one!"
Mr Electricity scratched his nonexistent beard and grinned widely.
"A party? Count me in buddy! I've been bored out of my mind recently!"
-Rain of Sins-
This was bad! This was really, really, really bad!
Momo frantically glanced left to right to left again, but every time she locked eyes with someone, they either glared at her or turned their heads away! Even Ida! And she'd thought that they'd at least formed an acquaintanceship from the times he'd helped her with class paper work!
No one would partner with her! She was screwed!
She took a step back, then another, as her breathing became more frantic. Everywhere she looked, others looked away. Mina, Tsu, Shoto, Ida, even Mineta! Everyone wanted to win.
Momo's breath caught in her throat. Would she be forced to play without a team? Could she play without a team!? Would she just be disqualified outright!? WHAT IF-
"Hey."
Momo yelped and jumped as a hand landed on her shoulder.
"Bakugo!?" She exclaimed in shock, as she whirled around, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Where've you been? I was looking for you!"
Worried he'd gone off and terrorized some innocent bystander in anger, more like.
But Bakugo didn't look particularly upset, a little rustled, sure, but anyone would be after that race.
"What?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "I was thirsty, am I not allowed to go get a drink of water or somethin?"
'He's not angry I won? Or about to go into a competitive rant?'
She shook her head, there were more pressing things at the moment.
"You want to partner with me?" She questioned. "I could definitely use your help, but you know I have the one million point headband, right?"
"Of course I know that, what, do you think I can't read?" He scoffed and flicked her on the nose. "I just know that between the two of us, keeping it safe will be a lot easier than trying to take the damn thing from you. Besides," He gave her a smirk, "It's only the second round, we both have to get to the finals, so I can beat you one vs one in a fair fight."
Momo couldn't help the laugh that bubbled to her lips, happy that her friend had gotten his spark back.
"HEY GUYS!"
A voice called it, causing them both to look over and see Ochako waving at them, a familiar bob of pink hair following close behind her.
"LOOK WHO I FOUND FOR THE TEAM!"
'Maybe…' Momo thought to herself. 'Maybe this isn't so bad after all.'
"Heh, just you watch, Momo." Bakugo grinned. "We'll get through this without a scratch."
-Rain of Sins-
Momo groaned as she dragged her very much scratched form down the medical hallways.
They'd done it. They'd been hit with ice, shadows, rocks, vines, and just about everything else you could possibly throw at someone, but they'd done it. They kept ahold of the 1,000,000 point band, and won first place.
It hadn't been a clean win, they'd gotten roughed up, lost most of Mei's "babies", and had to ditch their other bands as distractions, but it was still a win nonetheless.
Bakugo was being treated by Recovery Girl for a bad gash on his side, but she'd been sent down to a new assistant's office. Apparently she was mostly fine other than a bruise or two, she mainly just needed to refuel her quirk. And quirks, she'd been told, were this guy's specialty.
Momo took a moment to compose herself before knocking on the office door politely, and gently opening it.
"Hello? I was wondering if I could get some more carbohydrates before the combat starts?"
The man at the desk perked up as she entered, messy green hair falling back to reveal bright emerald eyes, and a face that couldn't be that much older than herself.
The moment his eyes locked with hers, however, an unnaturally wide grin split his face, and she reflexively took a step back at the look in his eyes.
He wasn't looking at her, he was looking at what she was, and not even in the disgusting way that those thugs back at the USJ had. It was the same look you'd give a bug on the ground. You didn't think about the life of a bug before you squashed it, or who it could have been, because it was just that, a bug, a thing.
But then she blinked, and that was all gone. Instead there was just a friendly doctor smiling at her from his desk.
"Oh that would be no trouble at all!" The scientist smiled as he put his clipboard to the side, and placed his hands on his desk, gesturing for her to take a seat. "Please take a seat, Ms Yayorosu, and let's see how we can help each other."
"Thank you," She said as pulled out the guest chair across from him, discreetly glancing at his name tag, "Mr Midoriya."
The assistant winced slightly and scratched the back of his head. "Please, just call me Izuku, 'Mr Midoriya' makes me feel old, and I only really use that name at work."
"Izuku, then." Momo shook her head, trying to forget whatever tricks her starving brain had played on her when she'd first entered. "I suppose I should be quick, considering the third round of the tournament starts soon. My quirk, as you probably know, requires me to burn through vast quantities of lipids to operate at my full capacity, and I'm running dangerously low."
"Yes, you are. But then again, this really shouldn't be a surprise to you, considering you entered the tournament at a dangerously low stockpile." Izuku hummed pointedly as he rolled a critical eye over her body, raising an eyebrow in a mixture of disdain and complete unimpressment.
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"W-What's that supposed to mean!?" Momo covered herself with her hands, suddenly much more conscious of just how much of her sports outfit she'd taken off or ripped to use her quirk.
"It means that your quirk's only limit is how many lipids you have at your disposal, but your medical records say you've never had a fat to body mass ratio that's even worth mentioning. So unless your quirk makes you unnaturally dense…" He noticeably paused and glanced at her, uhm, generously endowed assets. "Which… might actually be a possibility. But even if that's the case, I heavily suspect you've been critically malnutritioned in regards to what your quirk demands."
Izuku jotted a few more things down on his notepad, before tearing out the paper and handing it to her.
"That is both a note to the kitchen staff to give you multiple servings of the highest calorie meal they can legally prepare. As well as a referral note, from me, with what little legal power I have from my position here, that you go and meet with a nutritionist as soon as possible, to get your diet properly balanced with your quirk."
The creation quirk user hesitantly took the note from her doctor, and grimaced as she skimmed over it. "Do you really think my diet is that bad?"
Izuku gave her a sideways glance and raised an eyebrow. "What did you have for lunch yesterday."
"A umm," Momo took a moment to rack her brain, "A ham sandwich with a glass of lemonade."
"And you use that to make motorcycles?" Izuku's other eyebrow rose to meet his first. "I'm surprised you're not dead."
A loud shout from the hanging television in the corner of the room drew their attention.
On the top of the low budget screen hung the words [Round 1, of Round 1, of Round 3], and two figures stood across from each other on the central arena for the tournament.
On one end was a tall young man with luxurious blond hair, he had taken off his sports jacket and hung it from his shoulders, over his shirt, like a cape. Both his hair and the cape/jacket billowed in the wind, like he was a movie actor or something.
"BROTHER!" He cried. "I will not fight you!"
"YOU MUST, BROTHER!" The purple haired dwarf across the stage shouted. "For your Dreams! For OUR Dreams!"
Izuku frowned and swiped the remote off his desk, turning the screen off with a click of a button.
"Anyways, your fight is one of the last rounds in round one of the three round brackets of round three of the tournament- it's such a dumb and confusing naming convention."
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"I said we have plenty of time, so before you head off, we might as well have you take a basic medical checkup." Izuku stood from his desk and motioned for Momo to follow him, as he walked towards the back part of the room. "The government requires you Hero course students take one at least once every six months, and I want to make sure your health hasn't been impacted by malnutrition."
There was a worn down metal chair with cheap green cushions, and Momo immediately recognized most of the equipment surrounding it. There were weights, scales, a stethoscope, a blood pressure measurer, and even one of those things you used to look in someone's ear.
Realizing that it was just a normal medical setup, and somewhat embarrassed that she'd feared otherwise even if only for a second, she took a seat in the creaky chair and quickly fell into the somewhat braidead relaxation of a doctor's appointment.
Say "ahh", turn your head, do you have any allergies? Etcetera, etcetera, just going through the motions.
But as Izuku padded some gauze on a small burn she didn't even know she had, a thought occurred to her.
This guy was hired on because he was a quirk expert, right?
"Hey Izuku, can I ask a question?"
"Sure." He grunted as he finished with her burn, and turned around to mess with something else.
"Well I was wondering, you're a quirk expert right?" She twiddled her thumbs, unsure how to phrase what she wanted to say. "Is there a way I could, uhm, improve my quirk somehow?"
…
"Huh?"
"Well, y-you know." She stuttered, suddenly embarrassed. "Because I have to go up against really powerful quirks, like Todoroki's, or Fukoyami's, and mine's, you know… not."
Izuku paused and looked up at her from the machine he'd been fiddling with, and blinked a few times as he looked at her. And Momo had an unnerving moment of realization that it was the first time he'd actually looked at her, the person, this entire meeting.
"Huh?"
"I-I'm sorry! That was probably rude to ask, even with your expertise, all I have is a staff, a-and there wouldn't be much you coul-"
"Stop, stop, stop." Izuku sighed and pinched his nose. "…you're joking, right?" He looked at her as though she'd just grown a second head. "You're easily the most logical choice to bet on in this whole competition."
Seeing Momo's blank look, he just sighed again.
"Think of it like this, humanity has spent the entirety of its existence trying to make more efficient ways to kill each other. Thousands of years of warfare development spearheaded by pure Darwinism, and perfected by the brightest minds in history." He held up a hand, pinching his fingers together. "You have all that at your fingertips, and any opponent is a snap of your fingers away from staring down the barrel of any number of weapons that have killed off entire nations."
Momo blinked and shifted slightly in her chair, as she came to the uncomfortable realization that what Izuku was saying was true, but the scientist didn't relent.
"You seem to favor the staff for some reason, but with just a single adjustment you could have a spear, a halberd, or a lance you could use from a vehicle. But there's no reason to stop there, swords, longbows, canons, rifles, machine guns, artillery, explosives, napalm, chemical weapons, hell even radiation, and you could always literally just make a tank." Izuku paused and scratched his chin in thought. "Actually, there's nothing stopping you from making a gas mask, and then just pumping sarin gas everywhere."
"Okay! Okay! I get it, can you please stop talking about how I could kill people!"
"You were the one who asked." He shrugged, and went back to fiddling with his device.
"Not to mention, you always have the perfect counter to any opponent. And because you build everything from the atomic level up, you can make some of the strongest materials known to man- such as graphene or borophene, considering they're dependent on nano-scale structures to disperse force rather than just relying on the overall density of a material for strength. There are theoretical super materials that require such precise design all the way down to the atomic level, that even our best machinery struggles to make it in any usable amount, and your quirk uniquely allows you to create those without hassle."
Under his breath he added, "At least that's what I'd use if for… among other things."
"A-And all that's great," Momo said, flustered at her argument being so thoroughly dissected and deconstructed, "But I'm not the best at thinking on the fly, and that's kinda the most important part of fighting." She admitted, halfheartedly.
"Then make time for you to think." Izuku walked over with a cotton ball, and a small needle, but didn't stop talking even as he poked her arm with it. "Stalling tactics, armor, flash bangs, voice recordings, sandbags, walls, and entire obstacles you could just drop in between you and whoever you hate. You can buy plenty of time to make something that could take down any opponent."
Momo stopped to think, really think, about what Izuku was saying, and after running it through her head a couple times, she came to the slightly horrific realization that he was right.
She had the potential to be really terrifying in a fight, maybe even morso than even Shoto or Bakugo.
"Your quirk is a heavily intellect based one, it requires absolute memorization and precise measurement, as well as the ability to recount all of that on the fly. But unlike a strength based quirk, yours doesn't have a clear limit. A strong punch can knock out a crook, but a tactical nuke can topple a nation."
"You're right." Momo brought a hand to her head, her brow creased in thought as her mind whirled with possibilities. Back at the USJ, she'd had Bakugo kick up dust, but she could have just made an actual smoke screen. "You're entirely right… How could I have not realized?"
"It's not entirely your fault, your entire life you've been educated by a system that teaches you to stay in your box, to refrain from anything that could be potentially 'dangerous' to yourself. Damning progress for the sake of safety."
"Izuku… Thank you for your advice, I… I think I might be able to win this." Momo said, too mentally busy to pick up on the dangerous undertones of his latest comment.
"It's no problem, Ms Yayorosu, I'm just doing my job." Izuku smiled in a way that stretched just a bit too wide as he slowly drew a sample of Momo's blood.
"No, I'm being serious." Momo grinned widely at him, a hopeful glint in her eyes that was only tempered by a firey resolve. "You've really helped me."
"It's really nothing." The scientist chuckled as he turned around and slipped the blood vial into his coat pocket, where it fit neatly alongside several identical ones.
"After all," He muttered under his breath, "It's nothing compared to how much you've helped me…"
-Rain of Sins-
Ochako quietly made her way through the narrow halls of the coliseum's underbelly. She really should have been up top, cheering on her friends to do well, but…
She'd been put up against Fumi for her first match, and while she'd been nervous, she'd thought it was a pretty even matchup. He had more reach than her, and could hit harder, but she only needed one solid slap to send him floating out of the ring.
It should have been a good, close, and fun fight that they both gave their all in. They even shook hands before the match and everything!
But then the gun fired its blank to start the match, and she was sprawled out on her back, outside the ring.
…how?
How had she been so thoroughly destroyed? And on the first match too? She hadn't expected to win the whole tournament, not when she was so outclassed against people like Momo, but… the first round?
…she hadn't even thrown a punch.
…She'd been useless… again…
…
"You are my sunshine~! My only sunshine~!"
A familiar ringtone startled her, from her pocket, and she quickly silenced the call, not wanting to talk to her parents right now.
She knew they were calling her because they were worried, and wanted to cheer her up after her loss, but she just… couldn't. Couldn't talk to them, not after showing how useless she was
Her phone buzzed again, this time a blank notification popped down from the top of her screen, not from any app, and not appearing again if she swiped to look at recent notifications. Recognizing what it was, she opened her email to see an opened draft that she hadn't written.
Ochako's eyes widened as she read it.
"Hello, O. I wanted to thank you for the ticket, it was just what I needed. I also wanted to thank you for how cooperative you've been, and how useful you've proven yourself to be. As a sign for how much I value our partnership, I have decided to double the agreed upon amount, all directly deposited into your parents bank account.
If you ever need anything, just text.
-Your friend."
A small smile broke on her face as she re-read the message.
Useful.
She'd helped provide for her parents. She'd been useful.
But as she reached the end of the message, for the second time, she bit her lip and traced her thumb down the edge of her phone.
"If I need anything…" She muttered under her breath, as the word "useless" danced again and again in the back of her mind. It was a long shot, like a really long shot… but what did she have to lose?
No!
She was taking combat classes at the most prestigious Hero school in the country! Some shady hacker online wouldn't be able to do anything more for her, than what she already had! It didn't matter how much money they had at their disposal!
She shook her head and pocketed her phone, as she marched off down the hall.
But in her pocket, her phone seemed to weigh just that much heavier.
-Rain of Sins-
There was an ever so soft sound of metal scraping against metal, so quiet he wouldn't have even heard it if he hadn't been listening for it. Then the sound of something falling to the floor, light and soft, like a stuffed bear being dropped.
"It's time."
Izuku hummed to himself and took a sip of coffee as he spun around in his chair to come face to face with the single most feared serial killer of modern Japan.
The man was stained red- hence the name, but the name really failed to do it justice. He was drenched, his head, his hair, his skin, his scarf, his shirt, his pants, his blades, all covered in RED, all stained.
How he wasn't leaving a crimson breadcrumb trail behind him, was beyond Izuku, and a joke bubbled to his lips about increased viscosity of liquid and how he would need to quarantine and study Stain as a scientific phenomenon, but it died as he realized Stain probably wouldn't "get" the science joke. Plus: saying that to a serial killer was probably a bad idea.
Instead he just said "No." as he took another sip of coffee.
"No?" Stain hissed. "What do you mean No?"
"I mean no." Izuku sighed. "Did you enjoy your little hunt? It doesn't take half an hour to drop a box in an empty hallway. Normally I'd be annoyed with your detour, but the cyber security's been tougher than I anticipated, so I haven't gotten in yet."
The lies rolled smoothly off his tongue. His program had gotten into the screen controls back when he was talking with Ms Yayorosu, all he'd have to do is push a button, and he'd change the feed from Present Mic, to the camera he'd given Stain.
"If we wait, they'll notice that people are missing!"
"You made that problem, you can solve it." Izuku said as he turned back to face his desk, his laptop showing blueprints and outlines of various experiments that UA would probably fire him for if they were to see.
…actually, now that he thought about it, his work probably broke several international laws, didn't it? Do people actually care about what the UN says is illegal? He knew that the US had lax laws on clean trigger production, and kind of just ignored the UN's complaints.
Izuku was a Japanese civilian, so if he was ever arrested, he could probably demand to be tried in a Japanese court, and since the UN's laws weren't Japan's laws, would they even be able to charge him for some of these things?
He'd never really bothered to read about laws and all that.
Hmm. Food for thought.
"Watch yourself spook, I applaud you for finally growing a backbone, but you're forgetting who you're messing with." Stain's voice hissed over Izuku's shoulder with enough potency to rust metal, accompanied by the sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath. "And what I'm capable of."
The room became deathly quiet, punctuated only by the droning of an old ac unit, and the flickering of a fluorescent light in the corner of the office.
In this quiet, the sound of Izuku drumming his fingers on his desk was perfectly audible.
"You must know, Stain, that I am perfectly aware of what you're capable of." The scientist hummed and resumed his work on his laptop, not even deeming the killer behind him a glance. "But you must have also realized by now, that you aren't aware of anything that I'm capable of."
Ujiko's successor paused to take a sip of coffee, quite satisfied with the fact he was still alive.
"You bled your cards early, Stain, I get that it helped spread you notoriety, and quasi urban legend status, but I'd recommend keeping them close to your chest next time. You'd be surprised how much use something has when no one knows you have it."
A cold pressure suddenly pressed against the back of his neck, but the Scientist refused to so much as acknowledge it, instead continuing to work on his computer.
One second passed.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
After five whole seconds of soul crushing silence, Izuku's bravado finally cracked and he spared a glance over his shoulder.
The room behind him was empty.
Slowly, he brought a shaking hand to the back of his neck, and had to stamp down on a terrified cry as it came away red with blood.
He'd been right. The combination of his bluff, and the fact that Stain still needed him to pull off his plan, was enough to make him untouchable no matter how far he pushed. But God Damn it! That was fucking terrifying!
Don't get him wrong, and forgive him for his language, it was bad ass as fuck and made him feel like something out of a CIA movie! But Holy Shit! He almost pissed himself.
That was a million times worse than any intimidation the kids of his junior high had ever put him through. No, scratch that, this wasn't even on the same fucking ranking scale as back then!
And he'd fucking come out on top! Holy shit!
Izuku shivered, shaking his head and pulling his coat a little closer around himself as chills racked his body, but even that couldn't fight off the smile that threatened to split his face.
1: He'd just fought off Japan's most wanted serial killer without so much as lifting a finger. All Might had told him he'd never be a Hero, that he couldn't fight Villains, and he'd just proved otherwise in the coolest way possible. That combined with the adrenaline flooding his system had him feeling like a million dollars.
2: It had been worth it. Even if he likely wouldn't be able to sleep for a week, it had been worth it.
Gently, he ran a finger along the inside of his coat, delicately tracing over the vials of blood that hung inside it, all identical save for the numbered paper label on each one. He had amassed quite a few from the students he'd been sent, as well as from a few Heroes he'd been near when Stain took them down, but the two on the far right were the ones he truly cared about.
A blood vial of Momo Yayorozu, and one of Recovery Girl.
Recovery girl had taken some time, some creativity, and even with that the vial was quite low. It'd been from a cut from when he'd "accidentally" startled her while she was using a scalpel. But he'd gotten it.
The quirks Create and Heal.
Number 3 and 5 on the list of the quirks he wanted.
Stain had taken his time to have his fun, he could tough it up and wait for Izuku to have his.
He'd collect the rest of the quirks on his list, then, well…
Then it was time for the real show to start.
-End Chapter-