As the smoke billowed into the sky, the afternoon sun cast an orange glow in the grey clouds making it look as if some flame was still flickering inside. The desperate yell of police and firefighters that were running through the building making sure that everyone was out filled the air.
The uncomfortable warmth of mid-summer added to the heat that the flames had given off.
To the side stood class 1-A looking at their classmate. Nicklaus Hendrix as he leaned forward, body slumped forward as he explained something, Hawks sometimes chipping in. Gang Orca was unconscious, laying on a stretcher as medics moved him towards an ambulance.
Not knowing what was being said they could just look at the building with heavy hearts and nervous gazes.
Another villain attack? Was their class cursed or were they just born at the wrong time…
Looking back at Hendrix many thoughts sprung up about him. From his antisocial, somewhat nasty personality when he first joined the class to his slow change into someone more reasonable.
His advice to all of them.
It is not a quirk that makes a person great, it is the person that makes the quirk great.
Even now he had been once more in the thick of it, having saved a pro Hero and stabilized the falling building.
He was different.
---
Sitting on the steps Nick looked as Aizawa made his way back to the police leaving him in the care of the medics. Despite the blood running from his ears and his slurred speech, he was fine. He was putting it on…
Hawks had backed up his story that their minds had been affected heavily, Nick seeming to have got the worst of it as their quirks were sluggish and hard to control and their bodies were heavy like they were weighed with lead.
The story was believable and with the lack of evidence, the only words they had was from Nick and Hawks right now who told their versions of events, which only the start was comparable.
The word of the number 3 hero carried weight as well and soon everything was being wrapped up as the investigation carried on by exploring the building.
They wouldn't find anything, Nick had made sure of that.
Hawks had watched the mechanical suit that he just defeated melt itself into sludge when he tried to take a closer look.
Gang Orca didn't even know what hit him in the pit.
And Masato…
Was dead.
---
Nick had thought that the Hero Public Safety Commission wouldn't do something like this… it was sloppy. And he was right. His ability to read brain signals was limited, but he could manage.
He had seen how the guard outside the Underground Masquerade used his quirk. And let's just say replicating it was the best idea that Nick had ever had, at least for moments like these.
The Commission didn't know what was happening, Masato was trying to gain more influence by making Nick his subordinate. He was on the edge of being fired. So he was trying to hire strong people under just him, a private team one could say.
But that didn't explain why Hawks and Gang Orca would help him, if anything that made just more questions.
He was acting recklessly out of desperation, but it wasn't right… something was still wrong. No matter how reckless it was still just… sloppy.
It also didn't explain why he couldn't read some parts of Masato's mind.
At first, he thought it was because the quirk he was using was a crude replication, and while it didn't help. It wasn't the main problem. Some memories were blocked off.
Mind quirks were rare, which was why he was shocked to find the person outside of the Masquerade when he first met them, although they lived a very solitary life and were used to disappearing. It was still surprising.
Something else was at play here and Nick had a suspect.
Shigaraki… was different.
A kind of madness that leads to the world burning around them.
His mind was broken but he was holding it together.
He was scheming far more than the original and that was worrying Nick, someone that would dwell in the darkness and be willing to use venom and suffering as tools. He was willing to watch the world burn but even more so than the original.
Things would have to be dealt with.
He assumed Shigaraki was trying to hinder or control Nick somehow. But how had he gotten in touch with a committee member and then at that how had he managed to get them to work for him. Desperation was a strong tool… Nick knew that much.
Shaking his head Nick looked out the window. He was in the hospital, looking out of the window. The streets below were filled with bustling lights of people moving around. Unaware of the new dangers that Nick might have created…
The sun had just fully set and they were going to check on him again soon.
He had heard from Aizawa that he was getting his license so it seemed that Masato was either fibbing or had not put the order through yet.
The doctors had looked over his mind as well as Gang Orca's and Hawk's, and they were indeed all tampered with, Nicks more so than the others. They had been confused by the signals of his brain because it was different than a normal humans but they were not able to read why. Which was interesting.
So they had decided to keep him under watch for a bit longer, he would transform the brain in his head when they came to check on him later. when he wanted it to be normal.
Aizawa wanted him back at the dorms so he assumed they would let him go pretty easily.
But Nick heard something interesting, they had found traces of a quirk reading in Hawks and Gang Orca's minds. Nick had never done anything that would leave a quirk reading. He had just affected their minds. Slowing down and blocking some signals.
But a quirk reading… that wouldn't be left behind by what he did.
They also hadn't found it in his mind.
Masato was already dead… so he couldn't try to pry further.
Putting his hand on the window he felt the structure under his fingertips, the feeling of glass… he remembered it.
The first time he had fought Aizawa, how much he had grown between then and now.
He remembered the flickers of flame in his memories, the building he had just made explosions in, and the burning forest that he had run through. The billowing pillars of smoke.
The fire that coiled from his body, the heated rage that had flowed through his fingers. That burning fire that he had stolen, the desire to set the world ablaze, the flickering flames that made shadows weave and dance. He felt the second quirk factor in his body, it wasn't merged with his like normal. It was separate.
It's own thing, another quirk in the same body as his own. The flesh that he knew was Toya's around it. A new thread tied to his soul. A second quirk. Sitting down on the bed he closed his eyes and dived into his mind. Taking parts of the quirk factor of Yoarashi and various other quirks and weaving them into the quirk of Dabi.
Giving the fire force, body. Will.
Inspired or mad. He devoted himself to the flame, not power or strength. But devotion to the flame itself. He would let it grow.
And he felt it coil through his body, the warmth spreading from his core and out into his arms and legs.
He needed to grow, and overhaul was his main weapon, but he needed this, he needed more brute firepower.
The world was changing, becoming more dangerous. He would become more dangerous too… he would become stronger.
Fire given form.
Fire given focus.
Fire, given, purpose.
---
He had been let out just before the night really started, they had come to examine him and he had been confirmed to be okay. They based it on the abnormal speed at that he healed.
Being let go back to the dorms he was soon there, joined again by his classmates that were going to bed. Seeing that Bakugo and Midoriya were still gone he just looked out the window. They must have gone off to have their fight, something that was still like canon.
Curious as to how it was happening and if it was any different Nick went under the floor, travelling towards the city area that they had their first training lesson in.
Feeling the air above him he felt the shifting, the vibrations of people walking around above him. Traveling up through a building he sat on a building in the distance. His gaze watched as Bakugo and Midoriya walked deeper into the city.
Watching them he just stood there.
The wind blowing through his hair, the warm summer breeze, and fire now begging to be released. To be free.
Watching as they started to fight, the yelling of Bakugo as he asked Deku the important question.
'why won't you fight me.'
Watching in from a distance Nick just stood there.
As the battle carried on and Midoriya started to fight back Nick saw that the will to win was there. He spoke, about how he was chasing Bakugo all this time and now he saw that there were heights even higher than him.
Nicklaus Hendrix shows that, the peak that could be achieved at such a young age.
Scoffing Nick shook his head, 'peak?' He had taken another step closer to that peak tonight but he was not there.
This wasn't a moment that he needed to be involved in though.
Watching as All Might came in and gave a talk he just tilted his head to the side. His gaze followed Bakugo who despite sitting down instead stood up straighter. His voice raising, his eyes burning with a passion. He was not backing down, whatever All Might said had a clear effect, but it was different from Canon. He seemed to say something, listening closer Nick caught his voice carrying on the wind.
'You made your quirk great. So I'll make mine better. I don't need your shitty quirk to reach heights even greater than that fucking bastard Hendrix. I will be greater than any hero! And I will achieve victory with my own power and nothing but my own!' His voice rose as he clenched his fist in front of him.
"I WILL MAKE MY QUIRK GREAT! ME! KATSUKI FUCKING BAKUGO!"
Smiling Nick turned away, he had seen enough. The enemies might be growing too. But it was clear that so were the Heroes. He was changing things, and this world was shifting.
Some young Heroes shone so much brighter than canon. But they would cast darker shadows in response.
Dashing with all the speed he could he soon found himself at the training spot of the Big Three. Standing on top of the broken building, so far out of the way that no one would see what he was about to do despite the spectacle.
Spreading his arms he let his fire spread from his body, the flames flickering and travelling from him out into the air. The heat rose as he floated off the ground. The gentle control over the quirk, the fire that now had force.
He gave it form.
He shaped it as the fire flowed from him and through the whole building. Rising higher he felt the heat increase. The light casting from it banishes the shadows.
As from the building rose golden flames.
The golden blaze crackled with lightning that flickers and spread through the flames. The dancing inferno grew as the entire building was reduced to ash and cinder. The air ignited to such a degree that the heat climbed.
A golden blaze became like a second sunset.
Compressing the fire down he focused it down into his chest. The glorious golden flames rushed back to him from the crater that he had burnt into the earth. The fire rushed towards him as the wind that was mixed in helped drag and compress it.
Using overhaul he compressed it further, forcing the air into a smaller space as the fire shrunk down the inferno settling in front of him a tiny glowing ball. A blaze the size of a baseball floated between his hands as the burning light was like a miniature sun. So hot that no air was able to get close to him. The light was so bright that even those in the city saw it that night.
A brilliant glow radiates from deep within the forest. As if a second sun had fallen to earth.
Golden light poured from Nick as he looked at the ball before him. Such condensed heat and power that the air shimmered around him. And he wanted to release it. So he did.
He held it around him, however.
The sudden explosion encompassed his skin as he felt his flesh start to burn faster than he could regenerate it but he felt so so free. His threads became visible in the fire as golden light coiled around his body. Letting out a laugh he stood in the inferno of his own creation. Refining his body as he burnt away what wasn't needed. Freeing his soul and his threads as he wove them through his flesh.
The fire was so hot.
So freeing. He didn't know why he did this but he felt like he was being reborn.
As the light dimmed Nick stood there in the middle of the glassed crater.
With a thought, he rebuilt the entire building and the trees around as if nothing had happened. Before clenching his fist. He felt stronger. That matter that was being scorched he had taken and condensed down, refining his body. One step further. Burning away the impurities that were not needed.
He felt reborn…
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Thanks for all the support guys and the advice on last chapter! I know that it seemed a bit weird what the HPSC was doing hopefully it all makes a bit more sense now.
Let me know what you think of this chapter, I felt in a weird mood when writing the last bit haha. Been super tired from work, I like it but I don't know if it goes with the story haha. As normal any advice is more than welcome!
Comments and reviews are always welcome! Let me know how to improve and give me any advice you have! Thanks for the support!