Power Without a Quirk

36.Heroes Rising Pt.2

"I hope it really is nothing but I still have to check," Izuku thought as he ran. But his hopes were not to be as he found destruction and communications were out. "And with how things are, the others are probably also aware and dealing with them now. So I should find the Shimano siblings and make sure they're safe." With that thought, he changed direction. While he did not know where they lived exactly, he had a general idea and so he headed there. Ahead of him, in the direction he was headed to he saw smoke and dust be thrown up by what might have been a building being destroyed and went straight there. And then there was a large pink beast that disappeared right away. "That must be Mahoro's quirk, no please, don't let me be too late."

He burst through some bushes and saw the two siblings cowering in front of a tall man in a suit and wearing a mask. He quickly threw down a smoke screen before picking up the kids and running away.

Once he put some distance between them and the villain he set them down. "Are you okay, think you can run?"

"Yeah," they both answered.

"Good, then I need you to get out of here quickly."

"Run away with us-"

"No can do, doesn't matter what you say, I am a hero. And so, I will not allow that man to get to you." Nodding his head, Katsuma ran off dragging his sister along, trusting that Izuku would be able to protect them. Nodding his own head, Izuku stood up and turned to face the man as he walked through trees towards him. "Stop. Why are you targeting those kids?"

"Move, you cannot hope to even slow me down. I can see it, you don't have a quirk. My goal is the kid and his quirk."

"See it, does that mean he can tell the quirks of others just by looking at them, and what does he mean he's here for the kid and their quirk," Izuku wondered. "In that case, he must be armed and/or strong in martial arts. Though why underestimate me if he too does not have a combat quirk?" Something felt off to Izuku, he had a bad feeling he couldn't shake off, nor did he want to. He was taught by Zatoichi to never disregard a gut feeling and that doing so could get you killed. It could be from the appearance that seemed almost reminiscent of AFO, it could be his demeanor, or something he just couldn't explain. He felt it would be wise to try and end this as fast as possible and so he pulled out his tranq gun and fired off two shots, but before hitting him, the man raised a hand and they seemed to bounce off an invisible wall. Then his fingers began glowing before shooting out lasers that Izuku barely dodged before jumping behind a tree and bushes. "What! Even if he somehow had gear that could see what my quirk was or lack of, how did he do that. A barrier and then lasers. Those are two different quirks that aren't related at all. Multiple quirks, a resemblance to AFO, could he be connected to him and the League somehow? No activity has been seen from them for the longest time and then all of a sudden a villain with multiple quirks appears!" He stepped out from his hiding place and threw a couple of explosive pellets but they were stopped by the invisible barrier just like the tranq darts. "This isn't looking too good, who knows how many quirks this person has. I might just have to try and hold out until backup arrives. Come on Izuku, think, analyze, survi- no, protect, no matter what I have to protect those two. I don't know why, but he seems to be targeting them. Let's see, it seems in order to use his barrier he has to use his hands, same with the lasers. If I can pin the-"

Suddenly a strong gust of wind came and threw Izuku into the air and once he was there, the villain fired lasers at him. Izuku twisted mid air to avoid the initial attack and then used his mobility gear to avoid the rest and get to the ground.

"I knew it, multiple quirks, now the only question is how many? With an unknown opponent like this I can't just wait and see." Izuku pulled down his visor and threw up his hood. Then he grabbed his drone and threw it up into the air before sending it to return to the "agency" to request any help there might be. Until then, Izuku drew his swords to fight the villain before him. Using his mobility, leg, and arm gear, he went flying through the air towards the man at high speeds, blurring and seemingly becoming a flying high speed saw. "Typhoon Lightning!" And while Izuku couldn't see very well during that move for obvious reasons, he already knew what would happen and so right before hitting the villain's barrier that he knew would be put up again, Izuku let go of his blade, letting them fly straight at the barrier while he used his gear to stop his rotation. Then he grabbed a flashbang and threw it at the ground, bouncing it up from under the barrier. While grabbing his swords from mid air after they bounced from the barrier, he closed his eyes as the flashbang went off. And then, he swung down at the villain. But right before the blades connected, Izuku was sent flying backwards, slamming into a hill. "W-what was that, did he push me with his barrier? Wind? Both? Something new altogether?"