Mark Allen had always wanted to go to Japan.
Being a big anime and manga fan, he'd always wanted to visit the land whose comic and animation industry outproduced every country on the planet many, many times over. He'd wanted to see the cherry trees in spring, its beautiful mountains, it's countless shrines, and the breathtaking view of watching the light rise over the land of the morning Sun.
Instead, he got to visit it during the summer, in a bog-standard city like any other on any continent he'd ever been on, right after the sun had set.
"Man, I really had some shitty luck with this rotation didn't I?"
His companion, the brain dude from the Japanese side, did not answer. Instead, it just flipped over another bus.
He groaned. Then he set the thing aflame. Screams and cries ended immediately as golden flames turned everyone inside to ashes.
As they continued further down the street with people running away scared, he cursed his own bad luck.
Not only was he stuck here in this city on a surprise outing, his only company was this… Brain thingy. This creepy, creepy long-limbed, and silent brain thingy with chainsaws for limbs.
He'd had some bad partners in his years, but this guy was up there, even by his standards.
At least the various Goblins he'd been forced to work under liked to talk, sometimes to incredibly annoying degrees, but even the worst of that was better than working alongside this animal.
And, as the final cherry on top of this terrible sundae, he didn't even have a real objective here.
His orders were literally "Cause destruction and mayhem alongside the Japanese".
He hated that kind of job, for several reasons.
The first was that it generally involved just walking around and killing people, something he'd never been… Comfortable doing.
Oh, it had been a long, LONG time now since he'd been squeamish about killing, but… He generally preferred there to be a REASON for it. A heist, an attack on a person or organization, or just to send a message.
This had none of that. He was just killing every single random pedestrian… Because.
The second reason he was not fond of it, was that this tactic had a major strategical flaw. Namely, that going around and causing a firestorm generally drew A LOT of attention to yourself.
Usually in the form of either the police or Heroes.
That point was illustrated rather spectacularly as while he was setting a crashed car on fire, the weird nameless guy with chainsaw for arms, suddenly lost his head.
Not that it was severed from his neck mind you, instead something hit the entire thing with enough speed and force that for a brief moment it looked like it had vanished out of existence.
Then, every single limb was severed from the body, legs and arms both, and the body bisected on top of that.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
It spoke to his experience that Allen managed to get his arms up in a peekaboo style guard before the follow-up kick from the blood and guts-covered boot slammed into him and sent him smashing into the concrete wall of the nearby building.
It did not crack his skin, but as he forced himself out of the man-shaped crater in the wall, he felt the sting in both arms.
"Oh, it's just you."
The tone was partly relieved, partly angry, partly murderous.
"CRACK!"
A white boot slammed down on the remains of his "partner", who despite the catastrophical damage still amazingly enough still tried to put himself back together again.
To the side, the rather rotund occupant of the car he'd just set ablaze had been freed from a broken door by way of it having been ripped off it's hinges and was currently busy running away quite fast for an old, fat geezer.
"Hardy. Can't say I expected you here. Shouldn't you be off taking care of your grandkids or something, like a good old bat?"
Black Cat was much as he remembered her.
Long white hair, eyes hidden behind the lensed mask, cocky, playful grin, and a leather-like black suit with white fur trimmings along with boots and gloves in the same color.
Yes, she did not look 20 years older than the last time they met. The benefits of having a quirk that included slowed aging. Something he rather wished he himself had as he cracked his neck, and felt all the kinks in his back flare up from the blow.
His skin was golden, burning steel, but his insides told a very different story.
He really was getting too old for this.
There was one change in Felicia Hardy since the last time they had met though.
The younger Black Cat had not been acting in regards to how playful she looked. She liked fighting, drawing it out for her own amusement.
Allen did not need to see the broken and still regenerating remains under her feet, to see that this Black Cat was a different sort of warrior. She WOULD kill him if it came to that, he had no doubts.
"Shouldn't you be in a special needs school somewhere?"
The spot where Black Cat stood was engulfed in a massive firestorm, courtesy of a stream of golden and orange flames from Allen's palm.
He kept spewing forth flames for a good 10 seconds before he finally stopped.
"Thanks for burning the Nomu to a crisp by the way."
He spun around, intent on setting the entire building behind him aflame… Only to be met with a kick to the back of the neck so hard that he actually flipped before landing on his back on the street.
"Glad to see you're still the same idiot as always. You know, I was actually kinda worried there for a second when I saw those flames."
As he got back to his feet, he groaned, once more feeling pangs of pain shoot through his spine.
"I hear old Lincoln actually got himself a real-life Akainu, and I was wondering if it was him here. Instead, it's you."
"Fuck… You… It's just that I happened to be on duty tonight is all…"
He spat to the side, as he got into a stance.
"Oh, so this wasn't planned? I suppose I should have known, after all, clearly, he's not taking this very seriously if you're the one he sent."
He could practically feel the bloody veins on his forehead bulge in rage. Not entirely due to Black Cat's annoying words though.
"Wasn't planned!!! Course it wasn't fucking planned! The boss doesn't even know we're here! We were just called up by that damned Shigaraki out of nowhere to come help him with some work!"
"Really? And what would that be?"
"How the hell would I know? All I was told was to rampage down the street."
"So, you are absolutely useless to us then, "Molten Man"?" A loud, deep voice said to his side.
He turned his head to look at the newcomer.
He barely got a glimpse of a face covered in flames, before a white boot once more took him straight in the back of the head, and sent him flying.
That was really, really starting to get old.
This time, however, he did not get to hit the ground as something hit him before he even hit the ground. A bright light engulfed him, and he was sent flying, all the while feeling something.
It took him a few moments feeling the sensation before he realized what it was. It burned.
Yep, he really was getting too old for this shit.
---
"He's still alive after that?" Endeavor exclaimed in an honestly surprised manner.
And he was. It had been a while since he had met someone who had survived his "Flashfire Fist", even in its subdued form.
"Yeah. He's got decent firepower and an 82 IQ. Allen isn't anything to write home about as a fighter. But holy shit, he can take a beating. Only reason someone hasn't broken his neck after everyone he's pissed off over the years."
Black Cat looked around for a moment.
"I see you didn't bring any sidekicks."
"They are working in the rest of the city, to subdue the clones of the Nomu guy or… Whatever the hell these guys are. I assume your own are doing the same."
"Yeah, something along those lines."
For his part, Todoroki Enji did not take his eyes off his foe as he staggered to his feet again.
He did, however, take in the bodies by the side of the road.
Some were burned to a crisp, and some had been violently torn apart, but not a single survivor was left. Everyone that had been attacked had either been killed or had managed to flee.
It filled his heart with rage and wrath! He would destroy this monster in human skin, and leave naught but a golden pool of liquid, as he sent his soul to HELL!
...
If you want to read ahead of the public release, or just want to support me.
You can join my p atreon :
[email protected]/Huvnn