The Emperor's Dragon II

The New Pillars

Inasa was glad he'd taken the few precious seconds to grab the earpiece. It meant he could hear a running commentary from the heroes. It was mostly UA teachers, coordinating what they were doing.

Except what they were doing seemed so inadequate and he had to resist the urge to tell them to hurry. They had already lost All Might. They couldn't afford to let Izuku get away. If he did then they had nothing.

The villain was All For One. All Might said he didn't care for anyone or anything but power. Inasa wasn't so sure, but even if All Might's belief was true, they could test it. If they could capture Izuku, then maybe All For One would trade All Might for his son. All the evidence said that the villain had invested a lot of time in his son's upbringing.

And even if All For One wouldn't trade, they would have at least captured Izuku, which would mean today wasn't a complete loss. They could then work on giving back the other's their quirks and they would have an information source on All For One.

But it all rested on capturing Izuku.

Snipe was closing in and the sniper had taken several shots at Izuku. The other teen had deflected them somehow, but Inasa had seen the first shot hit. Izuku had healed that wound. Even if Snipe couldn't injure Izuku again, deflecting the shots had to take some concentration.

Aizawa was also positioning himself. The underground hero was heading to the tallest building and would position himself on the rooftop. It was a risk. Izuku could, no doubt, collapse the building but Aizawa needed the height. It gave him a better line of sight. So long as Eraser Head could see someone, his quirk worked. There was obviously a distance limit, but it was far more than a few metres. The exact details of Aizawa's quirk were secret. Inasa was honoured to know what he did.

Once Aizawa was in position, Inasa would have to drive Izuku into the open and then they could capture him. There was no evidence to suggest that Izuku would be immune to Aizawa's quirk, especially since Aizawa could use it on groups. So even allowing for Izuku to have multiple quirks, Aizawa would just erase them all. Inasa was ready for that. It was one of the reasons he was being allowed to attack. If Eraser Head had to erase his quirk as well, he was physically larger than Izuku so he should be able to hold the other teen long enough for assistance to come.

Heroes didn't always show it, especially with the billboard and ranking and everything else, but teamwork was one of their greatest advantages.

"He's not reacting," Snipe reported. "I know I hit him."

"He has a regeneration quirk," Principal Nezu reminded them.

"Head shot?" came the immediate question.

It left Inasa chilled. A head shot would probably take out Izuku, but it was permanent. And Inasa couldn't help but think what it would mean if UA became known for killing a 16-year-old. A villain, yes. But not an adult.

"No. I'd like to avoid that," Nezu replied before anyone else could voice their opinion.

Inasa was glad. Even now, a headshot felt like a step too far.

"I'll confront him," he said, bracing for the blow up from the teachers.

"If you are sure," Nezu replied, again pre-empting complaints.

"I'm sure," Inasa replied immediately. "It will give Aizawa time to get into position and I can hold him off that long."

"How?" the question came from someone. They sounded doubtful.

"I'll talk about the past. Our past," Inasa replied. It was the truth, even if it wasn't the whole truth. While the network was meant to be secure, he didn't want to spread the word beyond those who knew.