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So be it.

"Yui, talk to me?"

"I spotted three different Nomus attacking the area dad. Each one of them has a signature drastically different from the last." Yui's high-pitched voice sounds from the earpiece of his suit.

"Is support needed?"

"No, I think the heroes have it handled for now." She says a little hesitantly. "However, there's something strange going in the alleyway a couple of blocks from here. My scans spot three heat signatures. Two of them are down. You need to hurry, Kirito."

"Copy that." He doesn't need to be told twice before he's racing the streets towards the location ping she sends him.

_________________________

His body felt heavy. Unresponsive to his desperate need to move. To get up and do what he came here to do.

A wave of hot, searing anger boils through his veins. Making his pulse beat briskly against his skin. His vision is tunneling, spots of black filling the space not taken by the tears of frustration he inevitably lets out.

"W-why did you do it? Huh? What did my b-brother ever do to you?! That you had to ruin his life!" Iida cries out, voice breaking with every syllable he utters out in anguish.

"To me?" A cold voice says in return. Voice rough and low as he takes one step forward and crouches down. Amusement is evident in his tone. His sword comes up to hang threateningly over the figure laying prone on the ground. An eerie scraping sound emits from the blade as he draws it from the scabbard attached to his back. "Oh, he didn't do anything to me." The vigilante speaks slowly as if explaining the concept to a toddler. "To society on the other hand..."

"S-society?" The teen says, a little dumbfounded despite the icy fear that feels slithering into his insides. Shaking beneath his skin like a rattlesnake as he stared at the blade now resting directly about him. "My brother is a hero! An amazing, selfless hero! All he ever did was help society!"

"Your brother was a fake! A fraud! And I aim to purge every last one of them from this world!" The weight of the man's words echoed around them. It made him feel weak, and insignificant beneath this villain's power. "I'll do so by starting with you." Cold, so very cold.

He couldn't help but close his eyes. Feeling every inch of the coward he feared he was, he waited for his doom to come for him.

He could feel the wind shift above him as the blade sliced through the air. He was going to die down here, wasn't he?

Angry and alone.

A sharp, ringing sound startled him. Making him open his eyes involuntarily.

A blade had struck Stain's sword. Intercepting it before it made contact with Iida.

A boy stood between him and the vigilante, acting like a human shield. Protecting him.

His posture was assured, standing confidently and without flinching in front of a powerful enemy.

"This may sound cliché and all that," A familiar voice drawled. So familiar in fact, that Iida immediately recognized its owner. "But if you want to get to him... You'll have to go through me."

"Midoriya, what are you doing here?!" He asked, surprise and anger once again overlapping his relief.

"Iida, I'm glad I got here in time. But we'll talk later." His voice was lower than usual. More...serious. It made Iida's guts churn ominously.

"You can't! He's too strong! Run while you still can!"

"Look who finally decided to act like a hero! You were singing a different tune a few moments ago, brat." Stain snarled, taking a step back and retracting his sword slightly. Obviously weary of the new arrival. "Where was your heroic speech when I was dealing with this guy?" He asked, mockingly gesturing to the fallen hero, Native, to his left. A man Iida had admittedly, appallingly forgotten about.