ATOMIC STRUGGLE

8「only one」0

Eventually, the two children and Izak made it down the side of the cliff and headed straight onto the somewhat walked trail that Kota had made whenever he left to go to his secret hideout. During their walk, Kota had come to terms with what had happened. 

A lot had happened. Some guy had wanted to attack them, that guy was the person that killed his parents, and then when Mihoko cut herself, Izak had shown up and somehow killed the guy that had been threatening them. Oh, and the forest was on fire, or something. There was a lot going on, and Kota's head was still spinning a bit. But there was one thing he was sure of: the real hero wasn't the hero in training, it was Mihoko. 

A hero is someone who sacrifices themselves for others, and Izak hadn't sacrificed jackshit. Mihoko had sacrificed her comfort by cutting herself and putting herself protectively in front of Kota, who had been too scared to even move. Kota now glanced at their intertwined hands and forced himself to relax, knowing that he was safe with his friend and that everything would be okay. 

Suddenly there was a rustling sound, causing all three of them to stop and look towards the sound. Kota felt another wave of fear approaching, but before he could let it consume him, Mihoko squeezed his hand. Looking at her, she was giving him an encouraging smile. 

The source of the rustling appeared, and instantly, Mihoko and Kota relaxed. Izak, on the other hand, stayed vigilant. "Morgan, what are you doing here?" Aizawa demanded, coming to a stop when he saw the maroonette. 

"You don't want to know," He replied, then continued before his handler could respond or process fully. "Now that you're here, if you could take Mihoko and Kota back to camp, I'll go meet back up with Koda and make sure everyone is alright from there."

"...We are going to have a very," Aizawa gave Izak a pointed look. "Very long talk when this is over. But for now, I'll take care of Mihoko and Kota, so go help your classmates. I will allow," The pointed look grew sharper. "Nonlethal quirk use, understood?"

"Yeah," Izak nodded, and then disappeared. Forming back next to his partner, who luckily hadn't moved far, Izak was about to ask the person to have the animals check on all of their classmates when a flash of movement made the maroonette harden the air in front of Koda, quickly deflecting whatever had been coming for them. 

Whatever it was landed with a bit of a slide, and as the dust settled, was revealed to be a girl. Neither of the heroes in training got much time to actually look at her as she charged at them again, only this time, Izak didn't feel like playing around. So, he snapped his fingers, triggering all of the girl's pain receptors at once. 

Immediately she cried out, falling to her knees and almost convulsing. Somewhere nearby, Art halted at hearing one of her teammates' voices: Reiki Kasai.

"Not good! Reiki's pain levels just went off the charts, what the hell just happened?!" The health inspector of their little group demanded, slapping away at their devices to try and see if it was a problem with them or if it was actually happening. 

"Getting turned to blood and turning on all pain receptors," Art clenched her jaw as she rocketed in the direction of the cry. "There's only one person in this world that can do both of those things." She murmured, and even though her jaw was set, her lips still managed to quirk upwards. Looks like our intel wasn't wrong. So you were in Japan, being forced to go to one of the hero schools. 

But now I've finally found you, Art thought to herself as she came upon the trail where Reiki was located. As soon as she laid eyes on Izak, and his eyes fell on her, Art fell to one knee and bowed her head. "Please retract your wrath, Lord, and allow us to converse civilly." She said in English. 

At first, Izak only narrowed his eyes, but then he turned to fully face the newcomer. "Sorokodin," He addressed, causing her to incline her head further. "What are you doing here?" He asked in English.

"Myself and some of the other Neudachi had managed to escape before the FBI agents could capture us, and I would like to offer my apologies to you for abandoning you then. However," She raised her head to look at Izak, then immediately put it back down. 

Izak didn't usually show much emotion on his face, but having practically grown up with the guy, Art knew how to tell his emotions apart, especially the big ones. At the moment, his anger was very prominent on his face, and leniency was not. "We have been searching for you all this time, which is part of the reason we are here. I understand that it goes directly against the reason we were created, but," She risked another look up. "We have joined All For One."

"And yet you wish to ask me to spare yourself and your team?" Izak asked, his voice as hard and unnerving as his expression. Koda, on the other hand, was looking between them and shaking violently from how scared they were of this interaction. They didn't know what they were saying since English wasn't one of their strong suits, they didn't know what to do now either; all they could do was flit their eyes from Izak, to the person with sharpie drawings all over herself, to the girl who had collapsed from pain but was now just panting heavily rather than writhing in agony like she had been. 

"You know we would never go against you, Lord," Art said decisively. "When you face All For One, neither I nor any of the other Neudachi will stand in your way. All we---all I want is to help you achieve your goals, no matter what those goals may be. Please," She bowed her head once again. "Show mercy this once and allow us to retreat so that we may aid you when the time comes to take All For One down."

"And how exactly would you go about assisting me?" the maroonette questioned, causing Art to glance over at a certain other hero in training. 

"We have already begun making the preparations to do so."