(MHA x OC) The Lizard and the Phantom

Chapter 3

The explosion echoed throughout the city. Where'd it come from? Downtown? Smoke started erupting from the west side of the city. Kamui gazed at the smoke then back at Ryuhei.

"I'll check on that explosion, but wait here and don't do anything!"

He raced away towards the explosion, using one of his arms to swing from a nearby lamppost, which sent him flying through the air towards the danger.

"Wait here?" Ryu protested "We should be out there, checking out the danger and fighting villains!" he crossed his arms with a sigh.

Shiozaki tapped his shoulder "No worries, we could always keep exploring the city while we wait!"

Ryuhei had the urge to disobey Woods' orders and fight alongside him - but Ibara's words seemed to convince him to listen to him.

It was the least he could do for Woods' after disobeying his orders before.

Ryuhei wanted to be angry to disobey orders and fight villains - that's what being a hero was about, right? However, Ibara's words got to him.

Patience is one of the core characteristics of a hero. He wasn't patient when he charged into battle against the nomu. He wasn't patient when he charged back into battle against the nomu again in an injured state. Besides, it's the least he could do. Kamui had been through hell because of him, only fair to not cause trouble this time.

"I should show you the Shining Star Karaoke Bar in Hosu Plaza!" Ibara chirped with excitement.

Ryuhei raised an eyebrow "Shining Star?" He chuckled at the name. Aren't stars supposed to be shiny?

"Yeah, and the original one of a famous karaoke bar in Japan! Tsuno-san told me about their wonderful cuisine and karaoke rooms!" Ibara's eyes sparkled, like a star.

He had to admit, Ibara looked really cute at that moment.

"Well, care to take me there then?" He replied with a nod.

Ibara squeezed his wrist with joy as she led him through the empty streets.

As they paced through the city, it had grown silent. Too silent.

"This doesn't feel right. We were at this corner a minute ago. Is this town starting to loop?" she asked Ryuhei, but something in the alley caught his eye. Something shiny. Swinging in a half-circle, almost...hypnotic.

Ibara tugged at his sleeve, but he seemed to stop in his tracks.

Then, while distracted, a figure shrouded in darkness in the alleyway behind Ibara made their move, striking and cutting off her beautiful vines with a small shuriken.

She let out a wince of pain which snapped Ryuhei out of his hypnotic state. Using his gauntlet, he shielded Ibara from yet another attack. After scooping Ibara into his arms, he leapt away from the alleys.

"Villains? Here?" Ibara asked with a shocked expression. She was still in distress about her vines being cut off.

"Well, Kamui did say some stuff about villains in hiding." Ryuhei shrugged as two figures revealed themselves from the alleyway.

One looked like a tall man in a black suit, wearing a surgical mask and brandishing a katana at his waist. In his hand, he held a golden pocket watch. Upon closer inspection, his eyes bore a startling iris of swirls and his hair was bright white, which he hid under a top hat.

The other resembled a girl, with long brown braids that trailed down her back and her shoulders. A black bandana adorned her head and she wore minimalistic black clothing. Her pants were baggy, her shirt seemed to be a tank top (and she was quite flat) but the most startling thing about her was her right arm. In other words, she possessed a deformity on her fingers, causing them to grow extremely long with sharp steel blades at the end of them, resembling shurikens.

"I thought there were supposed to be no heroes here." the girl whispered loudly to the tall man.

"Things don't always go to plan, Michi-chan," he replied to the girl then turned his attention towards Ryuhei and Ibara.

"Why are you guys here? You're totally draining my mellow, this was supposed to be an easy job." spoke the man, with fancy moves, who unsheathed his katana.

Ibara stepped forward, ready to use her vines but Ryuhei stopped her "Your vines are cut, let me handle this." he reassured Ibara and turned back to the villains.

"What kind of job?" he raised an eyebrow while checking quickly on his gauntlet.

"Why'd we tell you-" the man tried mocking Ryu but the girl cut him off.

"Well, we were trying to cover for some kind of assassin while the nomus caused mayhem on the west side of the city. But I guess you guys decided to come here. Tis a shame.." the girl started off explaining her motives rather calmly before branding a wide grin on her face, almost monster-like.

"..that we have to kill you!" the man said, moving with enhanced speed towards Ryuhei.

It was in a flash as the man's blade and Ryu's gauntlet collided with each other. It was like a fever dream, they were so strong...

Ryuhei knocked back the wicked man with a quick jab. The girl lunged over and tried slicing Ryuhei, but he evaded the blow after diving away.

The girl brought her foot down on Ryuhei. He had accounted for this by blocking her attack with his gauntlet but her strength astonished him. For such a young girl to nearly break his guard...

The girl could've gone with a follow-up attack. A kick to the chin. Anything. Instead, she used the force of her kick to propel herself into the air and barrel towards Ibara.

Ryuhei's eyes went slim at the sight of it as the man kicked him to the ground with a single kick. He saw as Ibara's eyes were drained of all hope.

It was like time was going by slowly for him. Someone he loved was about to die. He could not stand that feeling, not then and certainly not now.

He vanished right under the man's grasp and into the void. It was instantaneous, as he reappeared dashing towards the girl and sent her flying back with a single strike. Even if she was strong, she was as light as any other child.

Ryuhei rushed back towards Ibara and shielded her from the villains.

The man caught the girl in the air and snatched her into his arms. In his ears, a black earpiece he had been wearing the entire time.

"Pull back for now, the Hero Killer's compromised." a voice on the other end of the earpiece commanded the man. The man nodded as he carried the girl and rushed back into the shadows of the alley.

"Shiozaki, are you alright?" he turned around, noticing the blood on her arm and hands.

"Yea, I'm fine. It's just an open wound, but I can still move," she replied, trying her best to seem alright. In truth, her wound hurt like hell. But she did not want to worry Ryuhei more than he had to.

Ryuhei looked back at the alley where the villains appeared. What were they doing here?

Wait, about what that girl blabbered out before..

There's nomus on the other end of the city? Oh no, Kamui and the others! It took All Might a helluva time to defeat that bird nomu from USJ; the heroes on the west side of the city are screwed! He had to do something, he had to help them!

He turned to run back, but Ibara caught hold of his hand before he could move. Ryuhei stared back at his friend, wondering why she had stopped him, but her face was awash in emotion. Her eyes filled with tears.

"Please, stay with me for a while. Stop putting yourself in danger for once.." she begged him.

"But...Kamui and the others- they'll die if I don't help them!" He tried protesting against her but to no avail.

"And what about you?! You almost died before! I'm not gonna stand by while you run off towards danger again! Let the pros handle this.." she pleaded with him again.

He contemplated for a moment then nodded at her.
"Ok, I'll let them fight their battles. I'm..sorry." he hugged her tightly.

"It's alright, Ryu-san." she smiled, wiping away her tears.

Ryu's phone vibrated with a text from Izuku. He took it from his pocket and checked Midoriya's recent message. He just sent a screenshot of his location.

Wait...it looked like he was in an alley! And he was also in Hosu City!

Ryu instantly figured out what it meant. Cryptic messages like these, he must be signalling for help!

"Izu's in trouble. Or at least, I think he is-" Ryuhei showed Ibara the screenshot.

"It would be good to check up on him. But if we encounter any villains, we have to run. I do not want to endanger our lives anymore tonight." She made an agreement with him.

Ryuhei noticed Ibara's attitude as he walked from street to street towards the location in Izuku's text.

Ryuhei was trying to concentrate on Izuku, but he couldn't help but notice that Ibara was still mad at him. She had been walking with her arms crossed and her eyes looking away from him for some time now.

He was about to tap her shoulder when his phone rang. He answered, surprised to hear Tsuyu's voice.

"Hey, Ryu. You haven't called back in the past few hours. Are you in the middle of something?"

Ibara looked back at him with a puzzled look but he gestured for her to continue on.
He walked to a nearby kiosk and sat in one of the empty chairs.

"Kinda. Kamui dragged me out of here to deal with some villains in hiding. He considered that it was better to keep me under his supervision than to leave me back at the agency to get into who-knows-what kind of trouble."

Tsuyu paused for a moment and replied,

"Okay, just be careful out there. I have to go deal with something right now, so I'll talk to you later. Cya~ kero-"

she ended the call with him. He put his phone back in his pocket and caught up with Ibara.

"Who was that?" she asked, still crossing her arms.

"It was just a classmate of mine." he prevaricated about the truth. I mean, she might get jealous if he told her he was talking to his girlfriend.

As they drew closer to Izuku's location, they saw an alley. An injured Izuku was lying on the ground next to a helpless pro hero beside him and Tenya (Izuku's classmate) was battling a guy in an assassin-esque costume. This guy had tons of blades and a scarlet red scarf, which was the colour of blood.

Ryuhei and Ibara only seemed to stand there in horror of what was depicted infront of them.

"Inari-san! Help Iida, I'll be fine!" Izuku called out to the phantom hero.

The assassin glanced back at Ryuhei, which stunned him on the spot. The assassin's glare was ice-cold as if his quirk turned anyone who looked at him into a statue.

It was a complete moment of silence. Unlike those poser thug villains from before, this assassin seemed like a threat. A threat that could defeat Ryuhei with just a single slice.

"Ryu-san! I'll get the green-haired boy and the pro! You get the other one!" Ibara acted quickly as the vines on her hair extended down to the ground to wrap around Izuku and the pro. Ryuhei disappeared into the void and ran at the assassin without a second thought, reappearing out of nowhere.

The assassin, however, predicted Ryuhei's attack beforehand and parried, cutting through Ryuhei's gauntlet.

The man took a lick of Ryu's blood then looked at him perplexed "Your blood is abnormal...what are you?" the assassin turned back to Ryu and pursued him slowly, blades still out.

"Not gonna answer me? That's fine, that proves that like these fakes, you're just a pretender. A fake hero." The assassin proceeded to stab and slash at Ryuhei, but he managed to escape relatively unscathed. Although quite close, the blades only cut through the brick walls.

"You are agile, I'll give you that. I thought those lackeys were supposed to stop you." he gloated, taking another swing of his sword at Ryuhei.

"Lackeys? Those villains from before were his lackeys?" Ryuhei had no time to think.

He could only buy time. Eventually, the assassin outsmarted him and slashed at his shoulder, causing an eruption of blood from his shoulder.

Izuku's classmate stood up slowly and kicked the assassin away.

His wound was serious, he was losing blood fast. So he slipped away from the fight and made his way to a nearby hospital. Time was running out for him, with every step he took taking more and more of his life away from him.