The dust settled, the last villains secured by Dad's sidekicks. Banos, Clayface, Calculator, the whole motley crew—they were all out of commission. I exhaled, the battle fatigue finally catching up to me. My vision swam for a moment. The constant exertion of my super strength, the endless punches, the desperate rescues—it was all starting to blur. Still, I had to check on Dad.
Leaving the clean-up to the pros, I took to the sky, reaching his office in record time. The penthouse level was quiet, almost unnervingly so. Then I heard it: the crackle of electricity, the roar of flames, and a cacophony of angry shouts. My heart plummeted.
I burst through the door, and the scene before me was a punch to the gut. Dad, my father, the usually stoic and powerful Hizashi, was bruised, burned, and bleeding. His normally vibrant white hair, tipped with black, was matted and singed. In the corner, Kenji, Dad's old friend, the hero Electros, buzzed with crackling electricity, while across from them stood Enji Todoroki, Endeavor, wreathed in an inferno of angry flames. They were locked in a brutal dance of power.
"You should have stayed down, Hizashi!" Endeavor roared, his voice a guttural rasp.
Dad barely managed a retort, his voice strained, "You... you won't touch him, Enji! Stay away from my family!"
My breath hitched. I wanted to leap in, to slam Endeavor through the walls, to shield my father, but the memory of the villains, my own exhaustion, and Kenji's frantic, almost pleading look stopped me in my tracks. He shook his head quickly, his eyes warning me, Don't. Stay out of it, Anos.
I knew what he meant. Getting involved with Endeavor would be a PR nightmare, not just for me, but for Dad too. My U.A. reputation would be tarnished, maybe even get me expelled. We could all get in trouble.
I stayed rooted, my fists clenched, as I watched, helpless. Then, Endeavor laughed. A cruel, mocking sound that sent shivers down my spine. "So, the great Superman Jr. is here, huh?" he sneered, his eyes glinting with malicious amusement. He turned toward me with a sinister smirk. "Want to know a little secret, kid?"
Dad's face paled. His eyes widened, fear flashing within them, a stark contrast to his usual stoicism, "Stay away from him, Enji! Just stay away!"
I was confused. What did Endeavor want? Why was Dad so afraid? But before I could even begin to process, Kenji moved fast. He unleashed a surge of electricity, hitting Endeavor in the back of the head while he had his back turned to him. Endeavor crumpled, his fire sputtering into nothingness. The room was plunged into unnerving quiet.
The only sound was Dad's heavy, ragged breathing. I was beside him in an instant, my hand hovering over his ruined shoulder. "Dad! What happened?"
Kenji sighed, his electric aura diminishing as he knelt beside Dad. He was already working to assess the damage, wrapping the worst of the burns. "He's lost a bit of blood, but nothing too deep. Just… bad."
Mom is going to skin us alive if she sees this, I thought, the image of her fury from when Izuku was hospitalized flashing through my mind. Dad went limp only moments later. Kenji began to work faster, but Dad was quickly losing conscious.
"He's going to be ok, right?" I mumbled, my eyes fixed on Dad's pale face. "What was... what was Endeavor going to tell me? Why was Dad so protective?" I looked at them both, my voice barely a whisper. "Why are they so hateful? Weren't they friends once?"
Kenji sighed again, looking at me with a mixture of pity and understanding. He continued to wrap Dad's arm carefully, his movements slow and deliberate. "Yes," he replied, his voice low, "They were, once. It was a long time ago. Things happened; choices were made. They aren't the friends they used to be," he paused. "Hizashi and Enji have a complicated history."
The words cut deep. I could feel that unspoken truth in them. I listened intently. Some part of me knew there was more, much more, to this story than I could even imagine. It was a dangerous truth.
"It all ended badly," Kenji added. "Things spiraled way out of control. You should not be asking these questions unless you are ready for war, Anos."
War? What war? The words hung in the air, heavy and ominous. A dark dread settled in my gut, a feeling I knew all too well from my past life in DC. I had faced down gods and monsters, but the implication in Kenji's words, the dark history between my father and Endeavor, filled me with a fear that was unlike anything I'd ever experienced.
This wasn't just a hero rivalry. This was something far more personal, and I had the terrible feeling that it was about to pull me straight into the crossfire.