Viridescent

Chapter Forty-Five: Contact

"A shocking incident took place yesterday by the Sasaki Ferry Line when the notorious villain Heat Viper engaged a group of Pro Heroes," a rather pretty reporter announced. "Pro Hero Sir Nighteye's agency was investigating recent villain activity when they came into conflict with Viper, who appeared to be investigating the same activity with the League of Villains member, Dabi. Nighteye's U.A interns, Mirio Togata and Izuku Midoriya, Viper's son, drove Viper to the riverside with assistance from Nighteye, as well as Pro Heroes Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady. The skirmish lasted for just two minutes before Viper made the river explode into steam with an enormous heat blast and escaped. Dabi also eluded capture, but thankfully nobody was badly hurt. Nighteye was kind enough to grant us a brief interview before he was forced to return to the scene of the crime."

The screen shrunk and shifted far to the side as camera footage of Nighteye took its place front and center. The hero looked immensely serious as ever, though not overly grim.

"What were Heat Viper and Dabi doing in the abandoned warehouse your students located him in?" A reported asked.

"It appears through some unfortunate coincidence that he was also looking into the same villain my agency has been investigating. He captured said villain in the warehouse and appeared to be interrogating him when my interns arrived on the scene," Nighteye replied, his sharp features giving nothing away. "We had no information prior to the encounter about this pursuit of his. It was a tactical anomaly."

"Why did your interns engage the enemy without backup?"

"They called me just one minute before they entered the warehouse to say that they heard what seemed to be the villain screaming," Nighteye answered without missing a beat. "According to their report, they quite simply peeked around a corner to get a look at the situation and found themselves face-to-face with the League of Villain's member, Dabi. They went on the defensive in an attempt to escape and call for backup when Viper revealed himself. From there, Izuku made the difficult call to give Mirio a chance to escape so he could call in the Pros."

"For what reason did Viper not go on a rampage this time?"

"I suspect he intended to buy time for Dabi to retrieve the villain they'd captured, as he escaped their custody during the battle. This was not an ideal time for the villains to put forth a full-frontal assault, it would seem as well. He made himself the main focus of our pursuit before finding an escape route and fleeing the scene with as low an impact as possible," the Pro paused for a moment and turned when a police officer called him from the background. He looked back to the reporters. "Forgive me, I must return to my duties. The rest of your questions about this incident will be answered at a later date."

"Sir Nighteye! Is it possible that Heat Viper chose not to go on a rampage because he's been in contact with his son, Izuku Midoriya?"

Nighteye stopped in his tracks for a second and his head turned to fix the reporter with a particularly stern glare. "Is that an attempt at humor? If so, it's a complete failure."

"It wasn't meant to be—"

"You're asking me seriously if the man who nearly killed his own child the last time they encountered one another has been in friendly contact with that same child. That in itself is a joke in poor taste," Nighteye snapped. "The last 'contact' as you so put it that they had with each other was a rather well-executed kick courtesy of Izuku roughly an hour ago. That is the nature of their relationship. Thank you for your time."

Twice muted the tv as the main reporter took center screen again, showcasing footage on a side screen of the brief, but furious battle. He shook his head as they replayed a shot of Izuku flipping forward and hurling Hisashi into the concrete below with the infernal whips around his arms, then the narrow miss of his axe kick when the boy's father managed to escape his son's grasp.