Hiro sprinted down the empty road, the black SUV roaring behind him. He kept his eyes focused in front of him; looking back now was death.
Rubber squealed as the man made a sharp turn into an alleyway in an attempt to shake off the driver, who was trying his best to kill him. Bjarkan mode was still only at twenty per cent, but he couldn’t risk cranking it up prematurely just to outrun a car.
Silence fell after the car screeched past the alley outside.
Hiro looked around the deserted back alley, praying for someone to show up. A friend… The police… Hell, he’d take a hero too, even if they weren’t on his side for now. These Yakuza thugs weren’t much of a threat on their own, but they were annoyingly persistent.
He had been ambushed by a small group of gangsters the moment he left Yamato’s office. It probably wasn’t premeditated since he was quite sure Yamato hadn’t noticed him, but they were lounging around, nevertheless. And unfortunately, he was careless enough to let himself be spotted.
Another stretch of asphalt greeted him as he stepped out of the narrow alley’s other side. All was quiet now, except the sound of crickets chirping under the moon. Hiro slowed as he approached the road again, although his heart did not. His hand patted his pocket again to make sure that the thumb drive was still with him.
Alright, think it through.
It was right after midnight on a weekday night, so not many people would be out and about at this time. That meant a much lower chance of collateral damage if he engaged in a brawl.
Unfortunately, the more commotion he made, the higher the chance of attracting the attention of a prowling night hero. They could help him chase away his pursuers, but he was a wanted man as well. And it was going to be a lot harder to shake a trained hero off his trail.
But dammit, he couldn’t get himself caught yet. He still needed to check the contents on the thumb drive—
Rubber screeched against concrete as headlights nearly blinded from the side. Crap, there wasn’t any more time to think of a plan. That damn SUV was dead set on running him over tonight. Hiro stood his ground, facing the vehicle head-on. They had two tons of metal. He had Bjarkan Mode and a grappling hook.
It should be enough.
Time slowed as the vigilante increased Bjarkan Mode to seventy per cent. He had roughly ten seconds in this mode before his already exhausted body would succumb to its strain.
The SUV closed the distance within five seconds. It was so close now that Hiro could see the pale face of the driver, along with two of his friends in the back. A part of him wondered what kind of life they must have led to be willing to sacrifice themselves so brazenly just to kill one man.
The other part told him to stop giving a shit.
Hiro stepped to the side as the car roared past him, as though it was infuriated at missing its target yet again. A grappling hook burst out of his palm, fixing itself onto the underside of the vehicle.
With nothing more than a hiss, Hiro swung around and dug his entire fist into the ground with the metal rope still attached to his palm. He gritted his teeth and anchored his body in an immovable stance, bracing himself for force about to slam into him.
The tortured sound of twisting metal filled his ears as the car practically did a front flip, tripped by a taut metal rope strong enough to lift a truck. A second later, the earth shuddered beneath him as the SUV crashed unceremoniously on the road, completely flipped over.
Gravel cracked as Hiro pulled his fist out of the ground and let Bjarkan Mode drop back to zero per cent. He glanced behind him. A thin trail of smoke was winding out of the car engine, and it continued to make weird jittering noises like some kind of grandfather clock.
He decided against going towards the wreck. Partly because he had places to be, but also because the car looked ready to blow any moment, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near it when that happened. The people inside were probably already dead from the impact, anyway. And if they weren’t, then good for them. Hiro had no intention of finishing them off.
He shook the numbness out of his right hand one last time for good measure before turning to the highest building he could see. It was a windy night, and his house was about twenty kilometres away. With any luck, he should be able to ride the breeze with his wingsuit and reach home in about an hour or so.
“You there! Stop where you are!”
Hiro froze at the voice. It was familiar, yes. But it wasn’t because he knew it personally. It was because he had heard it on TV one too many times. The vigilante turned around slowly.
The hero standing in front of him was one of the more famous, if not the most famous in the whole of Japan. Dressed in an imposing dark green metal, the green-haired hero stood confidently as the minuscule pieces of his armour shifted ever so slightly with every breath he took.
“Don’t make another move, vigilante!” Deku repeated himself, approaching Hiro cautiously. “By the order of the Hero Public Safety Commission, you are under arrest for murder.”
Even though Deku was now quirkless, his specialised armour was still able to simulate the arsenal of quirks he used to wield five years ago. Being the core focus of the civil war back then, Deku— Or Izuku Midoriya— sacrificed his extremely powerful quirk, One For All, to defeat the supervillain and end the war.
Hiro’s heart raced. It wasn’t going to be easy getting out of this. Not only was Deku an experienced hero, he was also known for being extremely tactical and strategic when analysing his opponents. Even with a quirk back then, his biggest asset was still his brain.
A gust of wind whipped up the dust on the road as another cape-wearing hero descended gracefully, carried by some sort of updraft.
“Hoho! I see you’ve cornered the vigilante all by yourself!” Gale Force exclaimed, patting Deku hard on the back. “Hell yeah, this is awesome! So, are we going to stand around all night? Or are we going to fight?”
Deku shot his colleague a doubtful look for some reason before glancing at Hiro again. “A major villain is out to get you, but we still haven’t confirmed his identity. Come with us peacefully, and you’ll be safe. Leave the fighting to the heroes. That’s our job.”
Hiro remained motionless, observing his surroundings for a moment before realisation dawned upon him. Of course Deku didn’t want to fight here.
Facing two top-tier heroes, Hiro would be knocked flat within seconds in a straightforward brawl. But unfortunately for them, their orders were to capture him. Given the narrow alleyway behind Hiro, Gale Force would have trouble using his aerokinesis to its maximum potential. On the other hand, Deku could probably subdue Hiro by himself. Unless, of course, his ally got in the way.
And that was exactly the opening Hiro needed.
“Are you heroes just slaves to the HPSC?” Hiro said, backing away with every step Deku took. “Do you ever question why you’re here to capture me?”
“You assume wrong, Takehiro Kazuma. I have seen all the good you have done for this city; I know you’re not the bad guy.” Deku raised his fists. “But we have orders to capture you, and this city is filled with too many prying eyes. I can’t let you go without a fight.”
Hiro narrowed his eyes, noticing an unusual glint in the hero’s eyes. Understanding dawned on him.
“Is that all you’ve got?” the vigilante smirked, turning his head towards Gale Force. “All show and no go. I thought you heroes enjoyed passionate battles. Do you really think you can end this with a simple talk?”
Something flashed in Gale Force’s eyes.
“Like hell, I’ll go down without a fight!” Hiro roared, charging forward and slamming Deku away with a riot shield.
Deku staggered, but not before tossing out several black strings that looked like whips. Hiro flipped stylishly and dodged all of them. Metal bloomed in his palms as he threw two batons at the quirkless hero.
Steel clanged as Deku deflected them into the walls. The vigilante seized the opening to sweep his opponent’s feet, but Deku simply borrowed the momentum to kick off against the walls instead.
A flurry of motion assaulted him as the hero spun his body in the air as though he were weightless, kicking him at least four times in the chest. Hiro stumbled back, and the hero continued rushing forward.
The vigilante’s eyes narrowed in apprehension as Deku chased after him with a volley of punches. That guy really wasn’t a pro hero for nothing.
Hiro somersaulted away like a seasoned gymnast, eyeing Deku’s colleague eagerly. Deku had him on the backfoot with every attack and was cutting down his potential escape paths at an alarming rate. It wouldn’t take long before there was no conceivable way for Hiro to get out of this dead end.
Fortunately, Gale Force had uncrossed his arms and was already charging forward with a wide grin on his face.
Finally.
“Amplus, activate!” The hero dug his hand behind his body as air pooled around it. “Take this, Whirlwind!”
Deku stepped to the side, keeping silent.
Here’s my chance!
Hiro leapt towards Gale Force with his arms outstretched, feeling the first breeze beginning to hit his face. The gust of wind quickly exploded into a powerful gale under the amplification of Amplus as the aerokinetic hero swept his hand forward.
The vigilante opened up his wingsuit.
Inertia slammed into Hiro like a wall of bricks as the column of wind caught the flaps under his arms. And it might have been just his imagination, but he could’ve sworn he saw a small smirk form on Deku’s face.
Everything smeared into a blur instantly, and the temperature dropped drastically soon after. An incredible view greeted him as he found himself more than twenty kilometres in the air.
Hiro took a few more seconds to admire the sea of clouds against the twilight background before angling his body downwards. Weightlessness caught him gently as the man began gliding back to Earth.
He laughed out loud as Musutafu City came into view again. That over-zealous hero had practically thrown him twenty kilometres in the direction of his house within less than two seconds.
After a few more minutes of gliding, Hiro landed neatly right outside his apartment. He patted imaginary dust from his suit and prepared to enter the building—
“Kazuma.”
He turned back, finally noticing the car parked at the curbside. Had that car been waiting outside his apartment all this time? Was his house still safe? Dammit, was it a bad idea for him to go back home after all?
“The police and heroes are watching your house, if you don’t already know. Bold of you to come straight home after going missing like that.” Melissa Shield leaned out of the car, resting her hand on the open window pane. “Or perhaps you’re just plain reckless like your partner. Either way, I’m here for you now. Get in the car if you don’t want to get caught.”
Hiro stared at her. “How do I know you’re not one of them? How do I know I can trust you?”
Melissa thinned her lips into a wry expression, before throwing up her hands in mock defeat. “You’re right. I can’t make you trust me. But I think you’ll trust her.”
The dulled window at the back of the car rolled down, and a familiar face peeked out.
“Takehiro, please. We need you,” Kanna Shimizu pleaded. “You’ll be safe with us, I promise.”
Hiro looked at his apartment again. If it really was being watched at the moment, he didn’t have anywhere else to go anyway. Going on the run pointlessly wasn’t going to help clear his name, either. What other choice did he have?
The vigilante pulled open the car door handle and stepped into the car. If these two turned out to be trouble as well, he’d just have to roll with the punches and fight his way out of it as usual.
But he had a feeling he wouldn’t need to.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1oQ90dDSP5
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