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Kaina felt something on the winds as she dialed in the biomechanical scope of her rifle. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite place what it was. She’d been free from hell—from Tartarus—for a little under a week, now, though the way she’d been freed was… less than ideal.
Kaina burst through the door of her cell to find anarchy. All around her, various criminals raced through the hallways. Some ran in sheer panic, afraid of going back to their collective hell, while others giggled and gloated about the things they’d do now that they were released. Once, it would’ve been Kaina’s job to take care of evil like this. She shook her head to return herself to the moment. Now wasn’t the time to be lost in thought. These people were unpredictable and dangerous.
“Quirks aren’t tripping security.” Kaina noted to herself as she took off down the corridor. She glanced at the cameras armed with automatic rifles; locked in place and inactive, without even the red recording light flashing to signify it was operational. Looking directly above, Kaina could see the dimmer emergency lights were still on, so the facility had to have some power. “What’s happened to the world?”
KLANG! KLANG!
Kaina skidded to a stop next to a cell that still had its door closed. Through the porthole, she saw a head of black hair repeatedly surge forward in time with the clanging coming from the room. Was someone trapped inside? She shook her head and turned to leave; it wasn’t her problem. She wasn’t a ‘Hero’ anymore. Her only obligations were to herself, and the wife and son she’d left behind the day she’d killed the previous HPSC President.
KLANG!
A guttural growl escaped Kaina’s throat. She thought of the day she’d left her son. He’d been three; old enough to remember her, though it must be a vague impression by now. She remembered her wife replaying a true Hero’s debut over and over again on the family computer. Remembered how his eyes shone with wonder and hope as he expressed his desire to join his idol and mother. ‘FUCK, I can’t do this right now!’
KLANG!
She balled her hands into fists, teeth clenched and eyes squeezed shut.
KLANG!
“FUCK IT!” Kaina whirled around and spun the valve until the mechanism thunked audibly. She tugged the door open with some amount of effort—years locked in a cell didn’t allow her much opportunity to maintain her physique—and gaped as the person inside stumbled past.
“Hah… BOSS!” The man had a crazed look on his face, gold eyes wide in shock and dismay as his sleeves fluttered loosely behind him.
The first misting before the rain fully started pulled Kaina back to the present. She quickly re-aimed her scope and clicked her teeth once her crosshair landed on her quarry. He was a kid about the same age her own kid must’ve been, and held a heavy duty cell phone up to his ear. It was muscle memory that allowed Kaina to swiftly form a bullet from her blue-and-purple hair and load it into her rifle arm.
‘Something’s wrong…’
She fired.
It took Kaina what felt like hours to haul the despondent man through the bowels of Tartarus and onto the surface. Though many of the prisoners were flooding off Tartarus’ artificial island, many were still rampaging in the prison courtyard. Infernos raged despite the rainstorm hammering the area as various buildings around her exploded.
“Ah.” Kaina spun her head to see the floating forms of All-For-One and the machinery that seemed to be keeping him alive. She felt a wry smile form at the thought of the boogeyman needing an iron lung. “The Treacherous, Lovely Lady Nagant. An honor to meet you once again!”
Kaina scoffed at the man’s theatrics, but decided to play along. It wasn’t like she was coming into this interaction from a position of power, after all. “There was a time when you were a target of mine.”
“No matter.” The towering villain waved a dismissive hand, “I have a simple request, for someone of your skill-set; to capture a certain student of UA High. In a few days’ time, I predict he’ll leave the school to operate solo. More or less. At any rate, I’d like you to capture and deliver the boy to a to-be-determined location. There’ll likely be a number of Big Shots from the Hero Community watching over him.”
“And what’s in it for me?” Kaina set her hands on her hips and gazed up at the Demon Lord as if he were an annoying school teacher. “The others get to blow this joint with only the promise that you’ll let them ‘go wild’. Why do I get the homework assignment?”
“Why, isn’t it obvious? I’ve come to collect!” The man spread his arms in a gesture that was probably meant to seem magnanimous, but Kaina knew all too well what he was capable of. “You’ll be free! Free to watch this rotten society fall! Free to see your family! And all you’ll have to do is deliver me a single. Little. Boy.”
Kaina narrowed her eyes as she studied her would-be benefactor’s face. There was something about that smile of his… It was a bit too wide. Too knowing. Before Kaina could dwell on that, however, the man reached forward to place a palm onto her forehead. Her vision clouded as an indescribable power flooded her body almost to bursting. It left an airy feeling in her chest that she knew hadn’t been there before. What had this Demon done to her?!
All-For-One’s voice was silken and sickeningly sweet in her ears as he whispered, “Consider this Quirk a deposit.”
She’d intentionally missed the shot, aiming for the boy’s phone, in the hopes that the move would both allow her a chance to speak to him and delay any reinforcements that may have been lurking nearby. She lifted a microphone to her lips and spoke softly into it. “You, boy in green, you’re coming with me. Do what I say and you keep your limbs attached.”
Kaina sighed as she watched the boy slowly turn his head to look at the phone she’d shot out of his hand. She stood up straight, aiming directly above herself, as the boy sparked to life with green lightning and used some weird ropes of black-and-green energy to traverse the skyline. She fired again, her rifle loaded with a bullet that was designed to curve in the air.
“Don’t think you have a choice in this, kid.”
She cocked an eyebrow as she watched the young boy catch her round just before it could bury itself into his abdomen. In a flash, Kaina loaded another bullet and carefully took aim before firing. Her eyes widened when he spun in the air, shaking off her first shot and batting away this second round with the back of his lower arm. The shot did little more than tear away the boy’s reinforced gauntlet and leave him with a bloody scrape.
“No wonder All-For-One has his eye on you.”
The boy recovered quickly and started zig-zagging between and over buildings towards her, but Kaina was already on the move once the bullet had left her barrel, bouncing through the sky with her newly-acquired [Air Walk]. She took a moment to stand still in the air, molded two new bullets, took careful aim before firing them in quick succession from her new position and taking off once again. Between the boy’s sheer speed and her own new maneuverability, Kaina was closer to her target than he’d anticipated. He reacted with a speed and ease she’d thought improbable. He somersaulted in the air, kicking away the first round with a reinforced combat boot. The second round, however, caught the boy completely off guard. It delivered a glancing blow to the front of his abdomen, momentarily stunning him and sending him hurtling toward the ground as the lightning suffusing him died off for a brief second. In an instant, the boy righted himself and landed on his feet before letting off a massive smoke cloud that covered the crossroad he’d landed in.
“He’s got multiple Quirks, too?” Kiana used [Air Walk] to bounce even higher in the sky and get a clear view of the cloud below. Strangely, the smoke didn’t disperse as quickly as she’d expected. “Kid’s got secrets for days, huh?”
The cloud wall furthest from Kaina burst and she fired a shot into the protrusions’ center mass. The cloud was blown apart by the force of the round to reveal a lone yellow cape fluttering off the end of another of the boy’s black-green energy tendrils. ‘A decoy… What’re you up to, kid?’
BOOFBOOFBOOF!
Three more protrusions shot out of the smoke cloud simultaneously, each on a different street connected to the intersection. Kaina rapidly molded and fired three bullets that took each protrusion in its center. The rounds connected with more accessories hanging from black tendrils.
Kaina clicked her tongue in annoyance. “You got some nerve. Hide in the smoke all you want, kid. You won’t escape me.”
“AS IF I’D HIDE!” Kaina’s eyes widened as an all too familiar head of green hair shot up beside her and latched onto her left arm.
‘It couldn’t be… could it?’ In the back of her mind, the rational part of Kaina was aware that he’d tricked her. Sent out decoys from the smoke that were meant to misdirect her while he made his way into and up through the building under her. Her rational mind, however, wasn’t the one fingering the trigger.
Kaina moved on instinct, her years of training with the Commission kicking in despite her protesting mind. She retracted her rifle before spinning and deploying it. The barrel took Izuku her target in the abdomen, though he managed to use a burst of air pressure to push himself out of the way of another of her bullets.
“All-For-One’s planning to take everything over! Why work for him?!” Her son The boy dodged a flurry of bullets as they rained down on him from all sides. Kaina screamed at herself to stop. She begged and pleaded, only succeeding in a twitch here or slight maladjustment there. Even still, it was all her target boy could do to dodge the gunfire. It broke her worse than anything the Hero Commission had put her through.
Memories flashed in her mind’s eye. Bloody missions, dead bodies, and the reality of a system held up by murder and lies. She remembered the fragile dreams of her adolescence; slowly crushed by the weight of what they trained and ordered her to do. And she remembered the loves of her life. A woman with long, straight green hair and wonderful deep-green eyes. An infant that shared his mothers’ green locks and deep blue swirls.
“I was so… so tired…” Kaina was surprised to hear her voice. The words were pouring out of her, unbidden. And she couldn’t find it in herself to deny their truth. “I was… exhausted. Terrorist groups, Heroes colluding with Villains for personal gain, even those who were known to be thinking about committing acts of villainy; so much killing. All for their sham society. I did my duty as the Hero Commission’s good little pet… until I couldn’t, anymore…”
“And, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit,” All-For-One, the Demon Lord himself, sat at the table across from Kaina and sipped some tea, “Lovely Lady Nagant?”
“I’m… not here to carry out a hit, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Annoyingly, the man- if he could even be called that- laughed in genuine mirth at her statement. Kaina’s brows knit themselves into a scowl.
“Forgive me, Nagant.” The monster before her cleared his throat and a black, misty figure in a butler’s suit came out with a teapot. After his cup was filled, All-For-One took a sip before setting it back down. “I assumed there was a better reason for this interaction than an ill-advised attempt on my life.”
Kaina nodded, choosing to ignore the barb thrown at her, and set down the address of a hospital written on a napkin. All-For-One’s red eyes scanned the page as his grin widened to a sickening degree. He turned his dead gaze back to Kaina before resting his elbows on the table between them and steepling his fingers.
“Giving or taking?” He asked, his voice laced with a level of avarice Kaina hadn’t even heard from Endeavor.
She gulped thickly. “Taking. Your price?”
Kaina felt her mouth grow dry as she watched the Demon Lord stare her down while he considered. After an agonizing moment, he leaned back in his seat.
“To be determined.”
“Maybe I was ignorant.” Izuku’s voice dragged her back to the fight and she found herself staring at the sad, yet hopeful, expression he wore. “The world isn’t black and white, it’s filled with fear and anger and shades of grey. But that’s exactly why I need to lend a helping hand!”
“Izu…” Kain’s rifle arm went limp at her side and Izuku stopped a hair short of coming into contact with her. Surprise and confusion filled his expression as she looked at him with a sad smile. It wasn’t a surprise to her that he’d found his way into gaining a Quirk; into entering this hell of a life. She wanted so badly to reach out and touch him but she couldn’t quite muster the strength. So, instead, she confessed His plans.
And everything became a blinding, burning white.
“You fought your own son?”
The voice was small and distant, as if the owner were young and hiding. Kaina spun around in the darkness, trying to find the source of that voice. Instead, there were only empty plains as far as the eye could see.
“WHO SAID THAT?!”
“I’m sure he’ll forgive you.” The same voice, only this time it came from directly behind her. Kaina spun again, this time deploying her rifle, and her breath caught as her gaze landed on a small boy with black hair and red eyes. His eyes were haunted. Tired.
“Who…”
“I don’t think that matters. Not anymore.” The boy looked up into the sky and pointed. Kaina’s eyes followed the gesture and she saw what appeared to be a shattering orb made of blood red glass that was wreathed in black lightning. Kaina gulped thickly as her throat and mouth rapidly dried.
“What is that?” Rather than answer her, the boy grabbed hold of the hand that wasn’t currently a rifle and they both began to softly glow a faded neon pink. He let go of her hand and, without turning back, started jumping. Sparks that glowed the same faded pink flew from the bottoms of his feet as he pushed off the empty air.
‘[Air Walk]…’
Who was this boy and what did he have to do with this place and her new Quirk? Kaina grit her teeth and decided the only way she was going to get answers was to play along. So, she activated [Air Walk] and followed the mysterious boy. After a few minutes, she finally caught up to him and they soon stopped a short ways away from the orb. Strangely, the lightning coursing around the broken object was silent despite how close they’d gotten.
“The demon corrupted my Quirk when he transferred it to you.” Kaina looked to the side to see the boy staring up sadly at the massive orb. “He set this core of power to explode in the event you turned on him.”
Of course he did. Kaina felt a bit stupid for not thinking of that possibility. Even with the Hero Commission’s vast resources, she’d never quite believed the information on All-For-One. Oh, she knew he existed. After all, she’d sought him out to make a deal. She could just never believe he was as smart as he and the Commission claimed. It seemed she’d been wrong.
Kaina coughed herself awake to find what seemed to be a pristine hospital room. She had no idea how long she’d been out but judging from the clean sheets and patient’s gown she wore it’d been at least a day or two. With a groan, she pulled her hand away to see the bandages wrapping snuggly around it and trailing all the way up her arm. The outer surface was stained with fresh blood and she could see more soaking through from the wounds they covered. She could only vaguely remember the last few moments prior to losing consciousness.
She wished she couldn’t.
A soft swish told Kaina that the door to her room had opened and she looked up to see some B-List Pro Hero wearing a yellow-and-green jumpsuit, white boots, and an ineffective yellow domino mask. He had dark brown skin and curly black hair that seemed to stick up in every direction.
“Who the fuck are you?” Kaina couldn’t hide the surprise she felt at the raspy, broken voice that exited her throat. How had she survived that explosion? The other hero just scoffed and reached up to turn on a TV that was mounted to the wall of her room. Was he another plant by All-For-One? Maybe another of the Commission’s pets? With a raised eyebrow, she cautiously turned to see an amateur broadcast capturing what seemed to be the warzone that Japan had recently become. “And why’re you—?”
Kaina was struck dumb by the sight of her son fighting a demon straight from the gates of hell. The thing convulsed as overgrown hands and fingers endlessly grew from the misshapen lump of flesh that had to be its main body. “T-Tell me…”
“What?”
Kaina was out of her bed and in the man’s face before she knew what she was doing. She could feel his shaking through the cloth wrapped in her fist and she absently noted there were beads of sweat pouring down the sides of his face. With a single strong tug, Kaina pulled the man close enough their noses were touching. “Tell. Me. Where. My. Son. Is.”
The walk from Kaina’s hospital room to the building’s roof was a blur of pain and fatigue but she’d long since decided nothing would stop her from doing what she could. She barely registered the direction the younger hero pointed her in before she’d unbound the bandages holding her [Rifle] arm together. With a painful squelch that told her how bad of an idea this truly was, she extended the barrel and prepared to turn her Quirk against her former employer. Rage and worry were fighting for dominance inside of her and Kaina found it nearly impossible to push them aside. So she used them.
She took aim and saw the falling UA Coffin come to a halt midair. Shigaraki, dirty white hair billowing in the hurricane force winds, reached down to begin decaying the ground beneath him. Kain found her hands moving faster than they’d ever gone before as her left reached up to rip a chunk of hair free and form it into a bullet that wouldn’t miss, even in weather like this.
‘I’ll come fully clean next time I see you… I just hope you and Inko will forgive me… I might not ever make up for what I’ve done to you, Izuku, but I’ll start with this!’
She fired and the pain caused her to blackout all over again.
Kaina woke up hours later to see a set of faces she thought she’d never see again. And was instantly trapped in a wet, bone-crushing hug. She joined her wife and son in their silent weeping.
After what felt like an eternity, the three separated and Kaina saw Izuku’s hair had returned to the swirls of dark green and blue she remembered from his infancy. He’d become so handsome, so strong and so smart. Smarter than she’d ever been. It was a trait she’d become convinced had come from Inko. The woman in question reached forward and brushed the trails of tears from beneath Kaina’s eyes and turned to their son to do the same before finally wiping her own.
“Inko…” Kaina’s voice was a hoarse rasp that barely qualified as a whisper. Still, she was heard and the two women locked eyes. Kaina saw that same resolute strength she’d first fallen in love with. And she saw the anger. Before either woman could speak, however, Izuku claimed the room’s attention by clearing his throat. She couldn’t help but smile at the way he clung to the brown haired girl in the pink and black bodysuit that stood beside him.
“M-Mom told m-me… e-everything…” Kaina smiled as Izuku, sixteen years old and still the shy and polite boy she remembered, shuffled as he stared at his feet. “Everything she knew, a-anyway…”
Kaina didn’t miss the emphasis Izuku had put into that. How could she? There were secrets that she’d been so sure would tear them apart. Another chance meeting of Inko’s eyes convinced her that coming clean was right. So she did.
And they stayed.