My Hero Academia: The Promises We Make

Chapter 6: The Hunter

My back ached as the shadow tendril slammed me against the hard cavern floor. Again.

"You aren't focusing Connor." The gravelly voice was thick with frustration, which ultimately gave way to a fit of coughs.

As I picked myself off the ground, I couldn't help but notice how the wrinkles had deepened across his face and around his scar, and how the coughs had become more frequent.

I tsked in anger, brushing the dirt off my jeans.

"It's not about focus! It's just not possible, okay? I don't have that kind of power." I sighed as I looked over to my sister in the corner of the hall.

As she stood with her arms outstretched to the cavern wall, I noticed how her hair was now well past her shoulders, and her body at least a foot taller. In the blink of an eye, she had grown up. And that was to say nothing of the power she had harnessed. Something clicked with her while we trained, and over the last few years she had nearly doubled the size of the tunnels across the city, carving them out with her own two hands.

"You see, that right there is your problem!" The shadow man's shoes clicked against the cavern as he walked closer to me. "How do you expect to do something, when you have already decided in your mind that it's impossible?"

I looked down in embarrassment. He was right of course. I had resigned to my defeat before it had even come.

Clay grunted as she released her hold on the wall, her hands going to her knees as she caught her breath. She had made a decent size dent through the wall already, having just started that section today.

"Nevertheless..." The shadow man started as he walked closer to Clay, handing her a cup of water and a towel. "I have a mission for you."

My eyes lit up. When he had given Clayra her commission of building the tunnels I would be lying if I said I wasn't the slightest bit jealous. I wanted to be useful. He had spent so much time training us and guiding us... protecting us... and I had given him nothing in return. I wanted to make him proud if nothing else.

"Come with me."

Before I followed him into the darkness of the cavern where we had yet to hang the fluorescent lights, I shot a glance to Clayra who reassured me with a smile. Even after all this time, even though I knew that she was more than able to take care of herself, I still found it hard to leave her side. I had made a promise after all, no matter how long ago, that we would look after each other.

As we walked the tunnels, I stumbled more than once, my vision black amidst the absence of light. That was one thing I noticed with the shadow man. He never seemed to have a problem seeing in the dark.

He led the way through the darkness before ultimately guiding us to a ladder which opened up to the city above.

I turned my head away and squinted as the light shot through, piercing the utter blankness.

We emerged in middle of an alley of which vague familiarity shot through me. The alley where it had all began. Right across the way was the convenience store still standing, looking if only slightly more run down than I remembered.

The shadow man's arm landed softly on my shoulders, drawing me close to his shuddering chest.

"Look up my boy." Obeying, I followed his line of sight up to the tips of the street corners where small specks of light glistened off cylindrical black bodies.

"The street cameras?" I asked, verifying that this was indeed what he intended for me to see.

He nodded, stifling another cough.

"Do you know the difference between predator and prey?"

I squinted my eyes in confusion. "Eat or be eaten."

His arm shook slightly as he chuckled. "Such a succinct answer. Yes, one is the hunter and one is the hunted. Each with a role they were born into down to their very physiology."

Drawing his attention away from the distant cameras, he looked down to me. "One with razor sharp eyes, forward set to better track its prey. The other, with broad eyes and keen hearing to better see its surroundings and approaching danger."

Removing his arm from my shoulders he walked closer to the edge of the alley at the tip of the last bit of shadow.

"We find ourselves in a rather unique position wouldn't you agree? Born predators turned prey to the rules of society." His fist clenched, and the full brunt of his rage reached me in a cold wave.

Slowly, he started to uncurl his fist. "Well, it's only natural that we adapt to our new roles as best we can."

I walked closer to the edge of the shadows to meet him. "So what is it that you need me to do?"

He shook slightly as if snapping back to the present. "Simple! I want to broaden our field of vision."

There was a rustling as he dug into his pockets, and after a few moments held it out to me. I felt as cold circular disks collected in my palm as he dropped them.

"Place those on every camera you can along these streets, without being seen. Even in the store fronts if you can. The broader our vision is the more prepared we can be for incoming danger."

I looked out at the passing cars. The groups of people laughing, talking...living. In the light and warmth of the sun. Free of the despair and anguish and fear that Clay and I had known for so long. I owed this man so much for taking us in. Giving us a home, even if it was amidst the dirt. And as much as I hated to admit it, we were prey. The minute our father died. The minute we ran away from that god forsaken foster home. We were prey. But we were not prey that would go down easy.

I closed my hand around the small electrical disks that I had been gifted. "Are you sure I'll be fast enough? I'm still not...I can't even..."

There was a warmth, as his wrinkled hand landed softly on my head. "Remember. The only limitation you have... is here." His other hand came up slowly, tapping the side of his head.

I nodded, determination flooding within me.

There was a creak as I heard the manhole open again. "I'll leave this to you then."

As the cover slid back seamlessly over the hole, I stared once again out across the street covered in sunlight. Closing my eyes, I willed everything to slow, and I tried to imagine a world where there was nothing but stillness.

I felt a jolt of energy, and as I opened my eyes, I was greeted to a world frozen.

I smirked out of pride.

A hunter can't kill what it can't catch.