They did it. They actually did it.
Nana didn't need her quirk to feel like she was floating on cloud nine. Her smile was ear to ear, even as she longed to bring the power of One for All back to full under her flesh. It'd been so long she'd forgotten just how much of a rush it was, and hadn't realized how much power it had actually built up by now.
It still wasn't ready. She knew that. But holy hell if it didn't feel like anyone who wasn't All For One would need to either move or get run over if they were in her way.
"Where are we going?"
The Bat's voice chimed through her earpiece, sounding clear enough that she could swear he was flying right beside her. She looked down, eying his silhouette gliding through the streets below, cape flared out around him. Every now and again, he'd use his grapple to get some altitude but on the whole he was doing a damn good job of keeping up which was surprising.
Sorahiko was above her, after keeping up with the villain speedster his quirk was rather strained, the thinner air up above made it easier to fly, less innate resistance but he knew where they were going.
"It's not far," She answered. "Actually it's just five more blocks."
She began to descend and spied Sorahiko doing the same.
A minute later, she was opening the window to her apartment.
She floated in first, Sorahiko right after her, she looked out the window to see the Bat eyeing the window with what she assumed was an incredulously raised eyebrow beneath his cowl.
"Your apartment?"
She rolled her eyes. "It's not like you didn't already know where the hell it was Mr. No sense of privacy. Get up here. We can talk privately and see what our next move is."
He frowned, then, quietly, shot a grapple above her window, swooping up and in a smooth motion that seemed way too easy when he did it.
Sorahiko was already on the couch, grimacing in a bit of pain as he removed his boots with a sigh. Looking closely at the soles of his feet where small holes were spread out for his quirk, there were small circles with an irritated redness to them, indicating burgeoning blisters.
"You alright bud?" Nana asked.
Waving her off, Sorahiko poked at the red circles, hissing in pain, "I'll be fine. Just need to let 'em rest for a few minutes. Keeping up with that guy was murder."
"Was it speed or time that stressed your quirk?" The Bat asked.
"Speed. I can use this damn quirk all day, but it's rare that I have to actually start cracking Mach-1 just to try and keep up."
"Hn."
Nana peeled off her cape, or what was left of it. Now that she had a chance to see it the lion guy really had done a number on it. The once pristine white cape was half burnt at the edges, the lower half torn completely off with burn holes dotting the rest of it.
Marching to the kitchen she smiled as she pulled free a bottle of something from france she couldn't even pronounce along with three glasses.
"The heck's that?" Sora asked.
"Celebration!" She smiled. "Bruce got this one. Tasted amazing, knowing him it probably costs a month's salary or something.
"Bruce?" the Bat asked.
"How's that guy doing anyway?"
"He's a friend. And he's fine last I spoke to him, which was yesterday so unless something major's changed like he got into a villain fight and didn't tell me about it he should still be just fine."
She poured them three generous servings, taking one glass for herself before marching over to the two men currently in her living room and handing them theirs.
Or she tried to in the Bat's case. He eyed the drink and then her as though he was asking her if she'd even met him at all in the last couple of months.
She rolled her eyes and pushed the drink into his chest. "It won't kill you to actually celebrate. Bruce has good taste. I doubt you've tried a better wine."
"I doubt that." He said skeptically, but did take the offered drink regardless.
She decided to ignore him being his usual difficult self. She was in way too good a mood after today to have anyone spoil it. She held out her glass to Sorahiko, who smiled and clinked his glass against hers and then to the bat, who, didn't, make it seem like an alien request and actually obliged her.
She took a drink and so did they.
"Oh that is good." Sora groaned, eying the bottle on the counter with a newfound appreciation.
She smiled turning to look at the bat and seeing that even he was enjoying the drink a bit.
Curiosity tingling the back of her mind Nana reached for the remote, flicking on her TV and changing it towards the late night local news.
They caught it mid story.
The camera was blurry, the spotlight from the helicopter almost too bright.
But it did the job.
Nana saw herself on TV, grappling with a monstrous, flaming lion, tearing through parts of the building.
She watched for a moment. Apparently, big Hero vs Villain fights were rare enough to catch on camera that they'd simply put out the story as quickly as they could in its full glory.
Finally, the cameraman lost sight of her, its focus remaining on the bloodied, beaten Lion villain before finally panning quickly across the construction site to find Bat standing over a body. One whose arm *definitely* shouldn't be bending that way. Or that other way. Or…
"Jesus, did you want him to not use that arm again or something?"
"Not my problem if he doesn't." The Bat drawled, sipping at his drink.
The camera stilled there with Bat standing over the bad guy, then the anchorwoman was back on the screen. "Whilst as of this reporting, no groups have come forward to take credit for the attack, local officials believe it is the work of the three heroes, or vigilantes that have been campaigning hard against organized crime within the city districts of Nant-"
She shut it off, taking a breath. "Well alright. You guys wanted to make a splash. So whaddya think? This good enough to get All for One's attention?" She asked, eyes darting between the two.
"More than his attention." The Bat said
"It'll get him angry." Sora said with a nod.
"He'll want to move now. Hit us back. One of his lieutenants was an expected casualty, two an irritation, three would have started to venture onto grounds he's not comfortable with."
"And four?" She asked, looking to the bat.
"Four makes him seem weak, incompetent."
"So he's coming for us. What do we do now at this stage?"
"He wants a fight." Sora said, drawing her eyes to him. "So we don't give him one."
:Wait, I thought the whole point of this was to draw him out."
"It is, but we also want for the damage we cause to outlive us, just in case." The Bat explained. "If we fight him now, and he wins, it's back to business as usual. If we don't and instead, keep hitting him, keep avoiding the fight he wants-"
"We cripple the organization as a whole." She concluded with a nod. "And we do it long term. Because his people are only afraid as long as he seems invincible."
The Bat nodded.
"We'll keep hitting targets. Everything from low groundside criminals to higher level operations. Eventually, he'll be so desperate for a fight, so desperate to re-establish his image he'll do something stupid. Then we'll hit him with everything we can."
"And how long will that take?"
"Months." Sora answered quickly.
"Maybe even a year." The Bat amended. "If the profile holds, while image is important to him, patience is one of his strengths, one of the benefits of living for effective immortality. He can afford to wait, even if he hates every moment of it."
She took another sip of her wine, letting her thoughts roll around her own skull for a moment. "Alright. That's the short term, what's the long game plan though?" She asked, turning towards the Bat. "You keep saying 'hit him with everything we can' but what is that exactly. No offense to either of you, but All for One is punching above everyone's weight class, even mine and I could flatten the both of you if I really tried.
"You could." The bat conceded with a nod. "But there are plenty of ways to even up the 'weight class' beyond just punching it really hard."
"Those mystery pills have anything to do with it?" Sora asked from his place on the couch.
"Oh yeah." She remembered. "The not-roofie pill." She smirked.
"Cute." He replied, in complete deadpan. "But yes, to answer your question, they do."
"So what do they do?"
"It's a trump card. Since I don't know if All for One has some kind of mind reading quirk, I won't be telling either of you what it does so you can stop asking. When it becomes necessary, you'll know. It's something I intend to use on him."
He had a point. For all any of them knew, All For one could have a goddamn crystal ball quirk or something.
Best for him to play it safe if it really was a potential weapon.
Irritating, anti-social, pain in the ass, stuck-up, killjoy or not… he had proven trustworthy so far. Which was a damn sight better of what could be said about a lot of people, heroes or otherwise.
"For the next week we'll lay low. Play it safe, see what the lower rungs of his little ladder do and how they move, then we'll start hitting them again."
Sora nodded where he sat on the couch, nursing his glass.
"Sounds good to me." She said.
The Bat brought the glass to his lips, taking one last, long gulp before holding out the glass to her.
She took it, turning to place it on the kitchen island.
She turned around to look into the room again. "I assume that we're-"
He was gone.
She blinked staring at her living room, which was absent one very large, vey dark, broody, rude and annoying pointy eared bat… with a window that was fucking closed!
"BULLSHIT!" She shouted, making Sorahiko jump where he sat. He'd had his head laying on the seatrest, eyes closed as he kept his sore feet propped up on her coffee table.
He looked at the empty, closed room. "Alright. I will say that's actually pretty impressive."
Still glaring at the spot where the Bat previously was, Nana snapped an accusing finger at Sorahiko, "DON'T YOU FUCKING ENCOURAGE HIM!"
(X)(X)(X)
"You need to be careful."
Nana paused halfway through slurping up a mouthful of ramen noodles as she eyed Bruce across the table from her who casually ate a bowl full of eel fried rice.
"How so?"
"Your quirk thief." Bruce said, holding up a newspaper with images of herself, in the distance fighting the lion man, the Bat looming over the fallen lieutenant and even Sorahiko, who'd apparently been caught in silhouette just as he left on another camera.
None of their faces were clearly visible but it was definitely all three of them.
Bruce placed the newspaper on the table between them.
"You've hit him hard." he said, calmly blowing on a bit of rice. "He'll move against you soon and if you go about your plan to keep attacking his holdings when he eventually moves against you he's going to do so very harshly."
This really wasn't a conversation she wanted to have over food. She was just enjoying the hot noodles and ruining it with this talk was not on her list of priorities.
But still… This was her responsibility. And any tool that she had was another weapon to use against All for One…
She took a deep breath through her nose. "What're you thinking?"
"He already knows you personally." Bruce said. "I'm guessing he'll use that, he'll go after people you care about, people close to you, family."
"I have no family." The words came out sharper than she intended, almost a reflex. Blurting themselves out before she could stop them.
Bruce noticed, and she saw his eyes soften.
"Is that… how he knows you?"
She didn't answer, eyes going down to fall on the still warm ramen in her bowl.
It was answer enough.
"I see." He said. "I won't pry… and I'm not trying to pick at an old wound but-"
"You're gonna say that he'll do it again. Or try again." She looked up, smiling a smile that felt like jagged glass on her lips. "You're smarter than me... " She admitted. "But I'm not stupid. He won't get to use that again."
It was said with conviction, with belief. Because it was hard enough surviving that already, hard enough going through the pain of losing her husband and her son in one fell swoop.
If she had to go through it again… frankly, she wasn't sure if she could.
Bruce said nothing for a moment, his eyes were closed, food abandoned now as well.
"When you face him-" He finally said, breaking the quiet. "-and you will. You can't let him use that against you. He'll use your history, twist it. Make it hurt more and spin lies. Get you off your game. His profile says he likes to talk. Don't listen and power through it no matter what it is."
She didn't answer, looking down at the table.
Then, his hand reached across, planting itself firmly on her shoulder.
"Look at me."
She did.
Bruce's blue eyes glared back at her, almost demanding she understand.
"Every word he says, will be a lie."
She nodded.
"Say it."
She opened her mouth and felt her throat close up.
She blinked, struggling with this… thing, this… hold on her mind she never even realized he had.
"Say it." Bruce demanded again, though not impatiently, as though he'd expected this somehow. "Every word he says will be a lie."
"E-every-" She almost choked, her throat feeling dryer than bonemeal. "Every word he says will be a lie"
Bruce nodded, his hand pulling back. "He'll want that to be his weapon. He'll want to use it. But what happened in your past is your past. Its your weapon. Not his. Don't let him use it or you will lose."
She looked at him, and knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that somehow he knew what he was saying and believed in the absolute truth of it.
She didn't know what to say.
Thank you didn't seem to fit, and even if it did… she wasn't sure if it was warranted, or even if he'd accept it it seemed somehow personal.
"L-lets talk about something else." She ventured; again, forcing a smile onto her face. "Got any new projects you're working on to keep raking in the big bucks?"
His face remained neutral for a moment before his expression shifted into something… easy, simple. A mask like hers that slipped on like an old glove.
"Something I think most will appreciate." He said. "A medical compound that should help seal all manner of wounds in the field."
(X)(X)(X)
The application form sat in front of him.
Both of them.
Yagi Toshinori sat at his desk and tried not to pull his hair out.
Shinjuku university was a place where he could forge his future. Where he could follow a career path meant for someone quirkless.
U.A. was not.
It was a new school, one of the many cropping up now, calling itself a Hero University. A place to train future heroes.
It was stupid. It was dangerous.
And he was quirkless.
But still he couldn't help but think…
What if.
That's a nice dream Nana had said, her soft smile and kind eyes looking at him with what Yagi couldn't really identify, only liken it to other things. Hope. Admiration.
Peace.
"But nice dreams only go so far on their own. If you want to follow that dream, and make it real. Then I want you to show me."
And this was how he could.
Apply to U.A.
Him. A quirkless nobody from Gifu.
She said she'd help him, that if he wanted she could make sure he would become a hero.
He believed her.
The two applications stared up at him.
He'd filled them both out.
But his heart truly only wanted to put his signature on one of them.
It was crazy.
It was stupid.
And he was quirkless.
He signed anyway.
Hours later, as the sun was dipping under the horizon Yagi stood by the beach, watching the star cast its bright orange glow across the sky.
"Hey kid."
Nana's voice surprised him only in how close it was and Yagi turned to find her marching up to him, smiling. She wasn't in her hero costume. Blue jeans with a light green button up blouse and next to her-
"Ahh Miss Shimura hello. And-"
The man stood beside her, hands in his pocket. He had an easy air about him, with a smile that Yagi could tell did not truly reach his blue eyes. "I take it this is the young man you wanted me to meet Nana?"
"Yup!" She chirped. "Yagi Toshinori, meet Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne, Yagi Toshinori."
"Toshinori… you mean that boy that helped you against the crazy vigilante?" Now the smile was a bit more real, eyes twinkling with amusement but Yagi didn't think it was directed at him per se. At the quirkless boy biting off more than he can chew.
"You do remember my ramblings." Nana smiled. "But yeah. Anyway-" She looked to Yagi. "Your call sounded important."
"I applied for U.A." He blurted out the words rushing out of his lips in a rush. "I did it. I…"
Nana's smile shifted then becoming something truly happy. It lit up her eyes, and burned with an assured conviction.
"U.A.?" Mr. Wayne asked, looking to her
"One of the new Hero Universities. A place to train heroes" Nana answered, turning to Mr. Wayne
A look passed between them, almost a whole conversation taking place in silence as Mr. Wayne raised an eyebrow and Nana's expression assured him she knew what she was doing.
Yagi shifted where he stood, hands on the sea wall railing. "You… said you'd ahh-"
"Oh I'll definitely help." She said. "You want to follow your dream, and I wanna see you reach it."
She looked out to the sea, falling into silence for a moment before she turned back to Yagi. "Alright then. Tomorrow morning, Six A.M. sharp you're gonna meet me here and we'll get started alright?"
Years later, Yagi still wouldn't be able to describe the feeling that welled in his chest, standing there looking at Nana's smile full of promises, an assurance that told him that he could do it.
He could become a hero.
He felt like crying.
When he bowed, he bowed low at the waist "Y-yes ma'am"
"Go home and rest for tonight. You're gonna need it kiddo."
(X)(X)(X)
As they watched Yagi leave minutes later, Nana and Bruce stood atop the sea wall quietly.
"He seems like a good kid."
"He is." She answered. She'd been certain before. Now there was absolutely no doubt.
"You told me he was quirkless."
"He is."
She expected condemnation, criticism, even questioning.
She didn't get those.
"It's not an easy life."
"No." She agreed. "It's why I wanted him to meet you."
Bruce looked to her, asking without asking like he sometimes did.
Nana took a deep breath, steadying herself "In the next few months… things might happen. You yourself pointed that out. If anything happens to me… well… I think Yagi would be a good one to kinda… pick up where I leave off. Ya know?"
She turned, facing him fully and Bruce offered her the same courtesy.
She fidgeted. "I know I don't have a right to ask but… I mean. Could you help him? Like you've helped me?"
Bruce's features turned almost gentle, and it was such a shocking change she realized that she'd never actually seen that expression on his face. She'd seen amusement, she'd seen content, she'd even seen kindness. But never gentle.
"You'll be fine. I'll make sure of it."
She smiled.
It was a nice thought. A nice little dream really.
But a stupid one.
A quirkless guy somehow protecting her from the frankensteinian monster that was All For One and his myriad quirks like some knight in gleaming white armor?
He'd just die, and it'd be her fault.
"You don't have to." She said, with as much of a rebuke as she could force into her voice, which wasn't much. "Just… promise me you'll help him out when the time comes."
Bruce said nothing for a moment.
Then, he half scoffed half laughed, as though recalling a private joke.
"Alfred always did say I had a penchant for collecting troubled kids."