Black Wings

Twenty-Nine

"Miruko! Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I was unable to pursue the doctor any farther, though. He's... gone."

The rabbit hero's ears dangled depressively, the defiant and excitable spring in her step gone in defeat. Her ears dangled low, and she barely managed a glance at the minor hero who had ascertained to her well being.

He looked at her with concern, but didn't have time to ask any more questions.

For it was then that sirens blazed down the street, and the strobes of red and blue flooded the vision of everyone on the street. Police cars marked with the symbol of the Tokyo Police Dept. flooded in one after another, surrounding the building in which the villains were inhabiting. Even though they were a distance away, Miruko could hear the sounds of guns being cocked and order being shouted, signaling the upcoming takeover of the building.

If only the frontal primary assault hadn't failed.

Miruko and her companion rushed to greet them as officers spilled out onto the street, the faces of men and women hardened with the stoniness of battle. They whipped into position just as a figure erupted through the rusted doorway; broad shoulders and the bright orange of flames adorned his figure like a halo.

Miruko exchanged a look with him that spoke louder than any words.

His assailant had escaped too.

"Number One! Number Five! What's the situation?"

A commanding officer slammed the door of his car and interrogated both heroes, each looking as helpless as possible.

"No captures, two escapes. The villain Twice fooled us with his doubles... we couldn't catch them in time."

The officer looked at their weary faces, clearly dumbfounded, then asked a secondary question as concisely as he could.

"...any word from Wings?"

"...not one."

*    *    *

"Your quirk really blossomed in that last battle... now it's not only the object you touch but also the things that are connected to that object that get destroyed as well. You've come to embody absolute destruction... I have to ask, why do you seek even more power?"

"When someone offers me something, I take it. It's true, I have no more need for delicate moves, but I doubt this boost has made me unbeatable. Just ask CEO Baldy. He's alive and kicking. And look at this arm... I went all out one time, and this is what happened. How many of them are we going to have to face, huh? I'm done taking the heroes lightly. I'll use everything I've got to obliterate the dregs All Might left behind, and the next time we meet, I'll finish them off."

"So all this is to make your enemies miserable? Like master, like student, I suppose. My research here was originally intended for All For One. With each passing generation, quirks became more mixed, more complex, more ambiguous, more powerful, and more numerous. Though our memory expands faster and faster, our hardware doesn't evolve quickly enough to keep up. There will eventually become a point where people lose control..."

"I call this concept the Quirk Singularity, though nobody accept All For One took it seriously. Unless we can tweak the hardware to accommodate our expanding memory, the human race will become unsustainable. We started seeing early signs of this back in the fourth generation, and since AFO held multiple quirks, he saw this problem as a grave one..."

"Blah, blah, how long is this story going to take?"

"You're like some impatient kid at Christmas! I am too, though, all filled with hopes and dreams."

"I've worked on this project for so long... and failed to create so many potential masterpieces. But now, the time has finally come."

"For the next four months, you'll endure hellish agony; but if you can overcome it, you'll find that you'll have everything in the palm of your hand. Even One For All, the power that didn't behave as he saw fit."

"...One For All?"

*    *    *

Four Months From Now.

Rise to Action.