Rise of the Master: You've been through worse

"WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!"

Ashley Fox never thought of herself as a confrontational person. It's why she chose to be a doctor in the first place; helping people instead of hurting them. That's why she never could become a crime fighting hero like her little brother, all the crazy battles and megalomaniac villains were just too much. But even so she couldn't help but be proud of Hephaestus and his choice to go into UA. Sure, she was scared that he could get horribly injured but that was a given when one chooses to be a hero and she trusted her brother enough to know that he'd be safe. That's why once she heard about all the craziness going on at UA she almost fainted from the stress. Villains attacking her little brother and all of his (hopefully) new friends? It was like her greatest fears came to life! So once she learned about UA's sports festival she booked the first plane ticket to Japan to see her brother in action and to be sure that he was as safe as he said he was.From him being paired up against his friend Uraraka to his fight against that kid Bakugo she realized that she underestimated just how capable her brother had gotten in her absence. For the first itme in a long time she truly believed that Hephaestus would be safe without her having to be there.

Then she turned on the news and saw his house in flames.

Ashley still isn't completely sure what happened immediately afterwards. All she has are gaps in her memory. Faint flashes of her leaving her home and rushing to the airport to get one the first plane to Japan. Ashley tried to recall what exactly it was that she did but anytime she tries those memories just fade. But what didn't fade were the emotions she felt. The emotions she is still feeling. She remembers feeling.....something. Fear, confusion, hopelessness, and anger.

So much anger.

Someone had attacked her brother. Someone had directly attacked his home. Someone wanted to see her little brother dead.

So she would find that someone and make them pay.

After learning that UA had no idea where her brother was Ashley figured that the next best place to get information was from the off-site lab that he had created for all the scientists and inventors that he had working for him. What Ashley was expecting was to meet David Shield, the head researcher at the facility, and get as much information from him as she could; with all that technology there had to be some way to track her brother. What Ashley did not expect to see was some maniac choking a teenage girl to death while Shield was tied up by these strange tendrils coming out of said maniac's back who mentioned knowing who it was that was after her brother. So knowing that the woman in front of her was not only trying to kill her only lead but also had connections to whoever it was that attacker Hephaestus, Ashley did the only sensible thing she could think of.

She picked up a giant metal container and threw it at her as hard as she could.

Dusting herself off Ashley looked to the side and saw David Shield next to a teenage girl looking at her with shock in her eyes.

"You're Ashley Fox. You're Hephaestus' older sister!"

"You know who I am?" said Ashley as she spared a glance at the crushed woman before walking towards the duo.

"Of course, Hephaestus told me about you. I'm his friend, Melissa Shield and this is my father David Shield. Thank you so much for saving us."

Now it was Ashley's turn to be shocked. Hephaestus had made even more friends? That was absolutely wonderful. But what was even more wonderful was that she was a girl. First Uraraka, then Toga, and now this Melissa girl? It seems that her little brother was a regular casanova just like she thought despite his constant protests. "Well it's good to meet you. Same for you Mr. Shield, I actually came all the way out here to Japan to find you."

If the good doctor was surprised that someone would travel all across the world just to find him then he didn't show it. "It's about Hephaestus isn't it." It wasn't a question but more of a statement as even David knew that there would be only one reason for his employer's sister to come all this way.

"Yes it is. Please, I would have gone to UA if I could but as far as I know they're just as in the dark as I am. My brother wouldn't have hired you if he wasn't confident in your ability. Please tell me you have some idea as to where he is?"

To her disappointment David simply sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I truly am. But we really have no idea where he is, it's like he's dropped off the face of the Earth."

No. That couldn't have been the case. She had put all her hopes into finding Shield so she could get her brother back. But hearing that even he had no idea where he is shattered what little hope she had left. All the rage in her body disappeared and was replaced by grief. Ashley fell to her knees as tears threatened to leak out and cover her face.

Or at least, they would have if it wasn't for the sound of something really heavy being lifted up into the air.

All three looked to the side to see a terribly shocking sight. The woman who Ashley had thought she knocked out was lifting up the container with dozens of her fleshy tendrils coming out of her body. From her back to her arms to her legs came out more and more of these fleshy appendages that were slowly lifting up the container off of her battered and bruised body. Her pristine black clothes were tattered and torn, revealing more of her pale and lifeless skin. Her hair and face was painted red with her blood that was coming out of her skull. But the most terrifying sight was her mouth which had lost the red mask covering it, revealing torn skin and cracked teeth.

With one last final grunt of effort the woman threw the container to the side and stood straight up as the many tendrils retreated back into her body. She looked towards Ashley with pure rage in her eyes and a frown that looked even more terrifying due to her exposed mouth. "You! Who the hell do you think you are!? Do you have any idea what you've just done!? This was supposed to be a simple job but you had to come along and FUCK IT ALL UP!"

Nearly frozen in fear it took everything Ashley had to not take a step back in the face of such anger. The woman's red eyes had dilated and were focused entirely on Ashley, seemingly forgetting about Melissa and David.

"So now hehehehe! Now, I am going to tear you apart you until you look JUST! LIKE! ME!" And with a scream the woman charged right at Ashley with a near blinding speed. Crossing fifty yards in only a second Ashley barely had time to scream before the woman launched tendril after tendril at Ashley's face, each one in the shape or a knife or axe or sword. Anything the woman could think of to cut Ashley to pieces.

Ducking under an overhead sweep Ashley began to backpedal to avoid an uppercut from a tendril that transformed into a sledgehammer. Moving her head to the side to dodge a stab aimed right for her face Ashley grabbed at the tendril at pulled with a hard tug much to the surprise of the woman. Giving a hard head-butt Ashley had disoriented her before grabbing the woman by the leg and throwing her towards the wall. But before she could slam into it the woman quickly manifested sharpened tendrils from her spine and used them to anchor herself to the floor. "Sooooo, you're not just a pretty face. I thought you used one of the doodads around here to launch that container but it turns out that you got some muscles hidden beneath that shirt."

"Yeah and you got some uh crazy beneath your-your face!"

"Oh darling, don't try so hard thinking of a comeback, you'll just hurt yourself. Here, let me hurt you instead!" said the woman before cutting one of her own tendrils off with another and throwing it right at Ashley who barely managed to dodge it and got a shallow cut near on her neck in return. Wanting to keep on the offence the woman closed the distance between the two once again with a jumping slash that Ashley barely managed to dodge which only put her in position to get hit in the face by a tendril in the shape of a frying pan.

Disoriented from the blow Ashley could do nothing but cover her face with her arms as as side slash came and cut up her arms. Pressing her advantage the woman gave cut after cut on Ashley's arms and legs in a tornado of blades. Thinking quickly Ashley grabbed one of the tendrils, cutting her hand up in the process, before wrapping it around her arm and lifting the woman in the air before slamming her back into the ground. Before the woman could get up Ashley lifted her in the air and slammed her into the ground once again on the opposite side, cracking the ground beneath her. Attempting to break free the woman launched another blade toward Ashley's face only for Ashley to grab it inches away from her face and pull the woman towards her and into a kick right in her face breaking the woman's nose. Keeping up the pressure Ashley continued to life and slam the woman into the ground over and over again, each time creating more and more cracks in the floor.

Thinking quick the woman created a dozen harpooned tendrils from her back and stabbed them into the floor to keep herself grounded. Ashley used her titanic strength to pull the woman off of the ground but she just created even more tendrils to prevent another slamming. The two fighters pulled with all their might and it began to look like Ashley's pure strength had prevailed before the ground the woman was attached to ripped away. Suddenly not having any more resistance Ashley was not prepared for the slab of concrete flying at her and could only watch as both it and the woman slammed into her, making her lose her grip on the tendrils and fly off into the wall. Not questioning her sudden luck, the woman released her grounded tendrils and ran towards Ashley who was only on her hands and knees when the woman had come upon her again. With every slice, stab, and smack Ashley could do nothing but fight defensively as she was slowly being whittled down by her opponent.

Off to the side Melissa and her father had been watching the exchange with bated breath as their sole protector began losing her fight. Realizing that they had to help fight off their attacker Melissa quickly checked her pockets for more gadgets that she brought back from school only to realize that she had used everything that she had against the woman who tore through them like wet paper. Panicking Melissa looked around the destroyed lab for anything that may be of use before she remembered the destroyed drone that had been launched earlier.

"Papa, the drone! We can use the drone!"

Snapping out of his stupor David looked towards his daughter and followed her finger which pointed at one of the destroyed Arsenal Drones that protected the facility. "The drone? What about the drone? It's busted."

"No, no, no, come on I got an idea." said Melissa before she ran towards the still smoking drone.

Sparing one last glance at Ashley who had many more cuts than she had before, David followed his daughter who began to fiddle with the drone. "What's going on? What do you have planned?"

Pulling out wires and reattaching them Melissa worked like a woman possessed. "Hephaestus asked me to help him design these protection drones so that they could continue to work even after being broken apart like this. I know these things inside and out." Pointing at the still glowing chest piece Melissa continued, "See this? The power core is still working, that means that we can still use it."

"My god Melissa you're right. Now that you point it out I can see how the wiring can be used to redirect the power. And if we can redirect the rest of the power to the weapons systems-"

"Then we can get one big blast at that maniac over there." interrupted Melissa, a smile on her face as her father began to follow her instructions. "Just a little more papa and we can end this."

Meanwhile Ashley wasn't faring so well in her fight against this maniac. Her clothing was torn apart, her breathing had gotten shallow, and she was bleeding all over her clothes. Most of the cuts were shallow but there we so many of them that the sheer quantity of them began to take their toll. But despite it all she still kept fighting with all that she had, her will to find her brother keeping her going. Ashley's world began to go dark as more tendrils emerged and wrapped around her throat, cutting off her air flow. Realizing that Ashley still wouldn't go down woman gave a scream of pain and rage as her back seem to burst open and even more fleshy tendrils emerged and wrapped around Ashley's arms, pulling them further apart.

By now the woman seemed more monster than human as tendrils had come out from every part of her body's backside, all the way from her legs to her skull, her face covered in her own blood as she pushed her quirk to the limit. Breathing heavily the woman leaned her head closer until her mouth was equal to Ashley's ears. "Look at what you've done to me! You've ruined the beauty that my Master gave me and turned me into a hideous beast!" At this she tightened the tendrils around Ashley's throat, suffocating her even faster than before. "Who the hell do you think you are fighting against me you bitch?! I won't lose to some blonde bimbo like you! I've killed plenty of people before and I'll kill even more after you're nothing but worm food!"

Straining to bring her arms up back in front of her face Ashley tried to ignore everything the woman had said in favor of keeping herself together. But no matter how hard she tried Ashley's arms were being pulled further and further apart, her strength being overpowered by the sheer number of tendrils pulling against them. And with a final tug Ashley's arms were pulled away from her face and to the sides, exposing her neck to the air. Ashley could only look on in terror as two final bladed tendrils came out of the back of the woman's skull, both aimed right for her neck. But just as the woman began to thrust them towards her exposed neck she was blasted in the face and knocked off of Ashley, releasing her arms in the process. Shocked by the sudden save, Ashley looked at where the blast came from and saw David and Melissa shield supporting a machine that looked like one of her brother's suits. Melissa was holding the arm towards her and it was no mystery that it was her that had saved her life.

Turning around Ashley saw the woman's face was smoking from the full powered blast, the left half of her face having been horribly burned, all of her tendrils having retreated back into her body as she tried to stand up only to fall onto her hands and knees. Not wanting to have a repeat of their fight Ashley walked over to the woman and lifted her foot as high as she could before slamming it into the back of the woman's head as hard as she could. Flipping her over Ashley grabbed her by the face before lifting her up off the ground and slamming her back down over and over again. The floor cracked from the force of each slam and blood began to pool where the woman's head met the hard concrete. After being content with the damage done Ashley lifted the woman up by her throat and looked her in the eyes as the woman desperately tried to hold onto consciousness. "You lose." said Ashley as she threw the woman high up in the air and and wound up a punch as she came back down crashing down, launching her across the room with the force of a speeding car.

Melissa and David quickly ran towards Ashley who had fallen to one knee and was breathing heavily. "I'm alright. I'm alright. Just really tired."

Not wanting to argue with the woman who just saved them, David offered his hand to Ashley which she gladly took as he pulled her up. Almost falling back down as she tried to balance on shaky legs, Ashley was saved from embarrassment by Melissa who used her body to help Ashley steady herself. I can't believe we did it, that was so intense!" said Melissa.

With a proud look on his face David simply shook his head and replied, "I think you mean you did it, Melissa. It was your plan to use the drone and you were the one who knew how to use the weapons system. I was just following your lead."

Shocked by the sudden praise Melissa was speechless as Ashley looked down toward her and agreed with her father. "He's right, if it wasn't for you then I would've been a goner. My brother is really lucky to have someone like you by his side."

Not being able to handle the praise Melissa simply blushed and mumbled something about being modest to the amusement of the two adults. But before all three of them could continue their celebration the roof of the lab burst open as a figure fell down, shrouded in smoke and debris.

Thinking quickly Ashley moved off of Melissa and stood in front of Melissa and David on shaky legs, ignoring David's protests. Ashley had expected another villain to attack them and had raised her bleeding fists up, ready to throw a punch except once the smoke cleared Ashley did not see another freaky looking villain but instead a muscled and dark skinned woman wearing a sleeveless white leotard with a yellow crescent moon on it, purple thigh-high boots with weird shaped toes at the end, white gloves, and......bunny ears?

"I got here as quick as I could once I got the alert that the silent alarm went off! Now where's this villain that needs a good old pounding?!" said the woman with a manic grin on her face that slowly went away as she looked around the lab. Seeing a damaged Ashley in front of Melissa and David Shield made the hero Mirko wonder where this supposed villain was before looking to the side and seeing what was the freakiest chick she had ever seen all bruised and battered with a broken nose and missing teeth. "Damn it! Did I really miss the fight!? Aw man, I was looking forward to this! They tell me to watch over a boring lab and miss out on all the action but the one time something actually happens I miss it?! Gahhhhhh!"

Realizing that this strange woman speaking Japanese was most likely not another attacker, Ashley let out a sigh of relief and put her hands back at her sides “I may not know many Japanese heroes but I'm going to assume that she's not here to kill us."

"No she's not. She's Mirko, a top tier hero." said David.

As her father began to explain to Ashley that the government had assigned heroes to protect any of Hephaestus’ associates, Melissa noticed that her laptop, which had somehow survived the chaos, was displaying some sort of alert on the screen. Walking over to the laptop Melissa lifted it up and saw that she had gotten some sort of encrypted message that had bombarded her screen. Working to break the encryption Melissa ignored the three adults and began to go to work.

"Hey, you with the glasses." said Mirko as she walked towards the scientists. "You're the one I was told to protect so what exactly happened here?"

"Oh we uh got attacked by that woman who wanted to kidnap me. She used these weird fleshy tendrils to constrain me and was about to kill my daughter if it wasn't for Ashley here."

Rubbing her chin in thought, Mirko looked over to Ashley who felt as if she was being interrogated from her gaze. "And who are you exactly? You don't look like any hero that I've seen."

Not expecting to be questioned Ashley tried to answer to the best of her ability despite her adrenaline wearing off. “Uhhh, I’m the older sister of Hephaestus Fox. I came to Japan to find him.”

“Sheesh, everyone is panicking over this kid super hardcore. Well by the looks of it I can't do much here. I missed out on the fight and rebuilding isn't my kind of thing. You should call for someone to take that creepy chick," Mirko pointed at the downed villain, "and I'll go report about this break in. See ya."

As Mirko prepared to hop out of the hole she made she was interrupted by a yelling Melissa. "I KNOW WHERE HE IS!"

"WHAT!?"

"Huh?"

"You do!?"

Melissa quickly ran back to the group with her laptop in hand. "I got an encrypted message from Hephaestus! It says his location right here, see?!" said Melissa as she pointed to the location of the Saitama Prefecture on her laptop. "It says that he's at the Master's Industries building there! That's where Hephaestus is! He must have sent the message himself! We need to go to him!"

"Thanks for the tip kid. Now watch as I got find this friend of yours and save him in record time." With a smirk Mirko walked under the hole she made and stretched her legs and prepared to jump out only to stop herself when she felt a strong grip on her arm.

With a look of determination on her face Ashley looked Mirko right in the eye. "You're taking me with you. He's my brother and I will help save him."

Raising an eyebrow Mirko looked at the blonde in doubt. "Look lady, this is dangerous enough as it is and you're not looking too hot. You can meet up with your brother later, just let me-" she was interrupted as Ashley tightened her grip on the rabbit hero.

"You're taking me with you. Now."

Seeing the pure determination in her eyes Mirko couldn't help but chuckle as she realized that this woman, like her, would not take no for an answer when she set her sights on something. That and she really wasn't in the mood to argue with some chick she just met. "Alright, you can come with. Just don't blame me if you fall off on the way there. I won't be going back to pick you up."

With a nod Ashley got onto Mirko's back and held on tight as she bent her legs and looked up. Ashley looked at Melissa and David as the two of them stared back in apprehension. "We'll get him back. That's a promise." And with that Mirko jumped out of the lab and away from David and Melissa.

As Mirko hopped across buildings at extraordinary speeds, a thought came to her head. “You know you speak Japanese pretty well for an American.”

“Oh uh thanks. I decided to up my studies after the language barrier embarrassed me the last time I was here.”

“What’d you say?”

“Well I maybe sort of kinda called my brother’s best friend best his greatest lover instead.”

“Hahahaha! Oh man, oh that’s just rich! You must looked so stupid! Hahahahahaha!”

“Just keep jumping.....”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earlier

If I had any doubts that I was dead they were quickly dashed when the very first thing I felt was a sensation of soreness all over my body and an overwhelming urge to return to the blissfulness of being unconscious. I try to open my eyes only for sunlight to blind me and force me to close them again before pulling a blanket over myself.

Wait what? Blanket? Sunlight? Where the hell am I?

I quickly throw off said blanket and look around to see that I'm in some kind of hotel room all by myself. This revelation is beaten by the realization that I'm also wearing completely different clothes than what I was wearing before I got turned into swiss cheese by that psychopath Brutale.

"Obviously someone saved my life since I remember that bitch getting her hand blown off by the gun that I dropped. But where did they bring me? And how long have I been out?" Looking around the room I notice that the remaining vials of healing serum are on the bedside table. "No way they don't know what they do since they gave me one but why would they just leave the rest here?"

Hearing the sound of someone touching the doorknob I quickly turn to the door and raise my fists, ready for a fight. Instead I'm greeted to the last person I was expecting to come through that door. "Oh Heppy-kun, you're finally awake! You looked so peaceful in your sleep that I didn't want to wake you up. I got here as soon as classes ended and Tetsutetsu is covering for me so the teachers won't suspect a thing." says Toga before closing the door and rushing over to hug me. "I was so worried that you weren't gonna wake up but you're perfectly fine."

Breaking away from the one sided hug I look at Toga in pure confusion and disbelief. "You? It was you that saved me? How did you even find me? Where did you take me? How long was I out?!"

"In order: Yes. Yes. I copied Mr. Hound Dog and used his quirk on that shirt you gave me then used my own skills to find you when that transformation wore off. We're in a hotel in Tokyo. Aaaaaand about 10 hours." she responds nonchalantly, still wearing that unflinching smile. "Oh and I stole some blood from a hospital to inject into you so you wouldn't die. Oh you looked sooooooooo cute covered in all that blood but I couldn't just let my Heppy-kun die like that."

"10 hours?! I've been out for 10 hours!? Oh fucking hell on a stick. Not only have I lost the only lead I had on who's behind on this but I learn that I was in a mini coma from how close to death I was. Oh my god."

I can't help but panic and pace back and forth in the room. How did everything go to shit so quickly? I was finally making progress and in a single night it all falls apart. God damn it what am I supposed to do now? I thought I was safe but I got proven wrong really fucking quick and with how long I've been missing it won't be long before the police declare me dead. And to top it all of whoever wants me dead is still out there and most likely knows that I'm still alive so its only a matter of time before they send someone after me especially since Toga bringing me to this hotel means that my face has shown up on all kinds of cameras. Crap crap crap crap. Think Heph, you gotta think.

"Oh I almost forgot, I picked this up from that warehouse." says Toga as she takes out a wallet from her pocket. "I guess she dropped it when you punched her through that crate with that weird super strength you had."

Quickly grabbing the wallet out of her hands I look through it and see what may be a saving grace to this whole debacle. An ID card! Doesn't look like a government ID but its the closest thing I've got to a new lead and I am not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. "Toga this is great! This may be just what I needed! You have no idea how great this is." Looking back towards her I sigh in relief. "I would totally hug you if that was something I did.

"W-Well you can still do it! There's nothing stopping you."

"Nah, I'd rather not-wait a minute." I say as I give her a inquisitive look. "You said when she dropped this after I punched her through a crate."

Suddenly looking much more nervous than before, Toga tried to look anywhere but at me as she feigned innocence. "Oh did I? Pffft, must've been a mistake. I meant that I assumed that's what you did since the crate was knocked down, yaknow?"

"Oh my fucking god. You were watching me fight her weren't you!"

"Well maybe just a teeny tiny little bit."

"Are you fucking kidding me!? I was getting cut up every which way and you just sat on the sidelines and let it happen? What the hell Toga?!" I can't believe I was so happy to see her when she let me get in this situation in the first place. God damn it if it wasn't for the fact that I had a bigger problem to deal with then I would've tore into her for hours over this.

"I-I'm sorry. I just thought you had it under control so I didn't wanna get in the way. And you looked so cute with that blood on you that I just-I'm sorry." says Toga, tears appearing in her eyes.

“You’re sorry?! I got stabbed a dozen times and you’re sorry?! Fuck your apology, fuck whoever is behind this shitshow and fuck me for letting my guard down which I will never do again!”

Pausing my rant to take a breather I see that Toga has been wiping away tears with her sleeves and refusing to look me in the eye. “Oh god damn it.” I’m still infuriated at her but screaming in her face isn't gonna do any of us any good and at this point I need all the help I can get.

"Alright, you wanna make it up to me?" I say as she frantically nods in return. "Then look at any card in this wallet and point out any that look interesting. I'm gonna see what I can get from this ID in the meantime so give me your phone so I can do some searching." I can’t believe I was actually grateful for her saving me when she could’ve stepped in at any time. I even said I would've hugged her! Me! Ashley was right, these friends of mine are making me soft. She must’ve meant that as a good thing but considering the situation I’m in becoming soft is a complete and utter death sentence.

Quickly taking out her phone she hands it to me as I had her the wallet to look over. Though my search is quickly halted as the very first thing I see on her phone is her background which is a picture of me. .....Without a shirt. Alright just gonna ignore all the questions that brings up and continue on. I open up google and look at the woman's name on the card which is Makiko Asamiya which is more than likely a fake name but it's a start.

As I try search after search I'm reminded that basic internet is completely god awful compared to what I'm used to and that this isn't going to be as easy as I thought it would be. I would go on more illegal websites but not only do I want that kind of history on a regular person's phone, which would almost certainly lead to legal trouble, but I'm pretty sure it would just help them track me down again. Last time I searched up someone related to this big boss of theirs the laptop got skewered and I almost died, an experience I would rather not repeat. “Hey this card is all in English. That’s weird.” says Toga looking over a silver card with green highlights.

“What? Let me see that.” I say as I put down the phone and grab the card. “Why would she have an English........card.”

“Heppy-kun? What’s wrong?”

“This......this isn’t some ordinary card. This is a Masters Inc. Access Card.”

“Masters Inc? I think I’ve heard about that company before, didn’t they rebuild a bunch of water pipelines or something? So that card is for some kind of gift shop or something?”

Grabbing Toga by the shoulders I look her straight in the eye to make her realize how serious this is. “Toga you don’t understand. This card is only given to those with some of the highest security clearance in the company, they don’t just give them away! These are given by Isaac Masters himself! I know because I used to have one of the damn things!” Letting her go I fall to my knees and throw my head into my hands. “Isaac, oh no Isaac. This can’t be true. Not like this, god no not like this.”

Looking extremely worried Toga does her best to comfort me by putting a hand on my shoulder. “Heppy-kun what’s wrong? What’s happening? Why is this so bad?”

“.........I think my old mentor is trying to kill me.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. And to find out if this is true I’m going to have to meet him face to face” I remember reading that he came to the company’s headquarters in Japan but I never thought it would be so he could kill me. If I still remember correctly then the HQ will be in the Saitama prefecture which, considering we’re in Tokyo, is about a half hour drive. I can’t risk staying here any longer than I already have so I got a little over 30 minutes to figure out exactly what my plan will be when I face him.

“So then what are we waiting for? Let’s go kick this guy’s butt!”

Standing up in pure disbelief from what I just heard I reply “We? No no no, there is no we in this. You are going to go back to the dorms while I handle this.”

“Oh come on Heppy-kun let’s just skip to the part where I whittle you down and you stop being so grumpy and let me come with” Toga says with a groan

“......Fine, let’s get a move on. If you’re coming with then I think I got a plan for how we can do this.”

“Alright! To the train station!”

I really am too soft around my friends. .....Though I guess it’s not all bad. Still gonna eviscerate her for watching me getting stabbed a bunch though, I’m not that soft.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting comfortable in his office Isaac Masters began to wonder just how long he would have to wait before he managed to track down Fox once again and finally end this tiring affair. The longer his former apprentice was alive the longer he would have to wait before enacting Project Purity and finally giving humanity back the power that they lost so long ago. Not something as ridiculous as quirks, oh of course not, but the power to live in peace once again. Those with quirks were a detriment to the human race, each one of them nothing more than a living weapon that could let loose at any time. How could a man sleep in peace when at any moment some fool could destroy an entire neighborhood with a snap of their fingers? Or could knock down a skyscraper with nothing but a punch? No, these so called people were disasters waiting to happen.

But before he could continue thinking of all the benefits that his plan would bring the intercom in his desk activated. "Sir, we found the boy. He's currently on a train headed to the Saitama Prefecture. We believe that he is on route to the building, what should we do?"

So the little bastard finally figured it out or at the very least has a suspicion that Masters is involved. Masters was tempted to simply order that the train be derailed and get rid of the pest that way but he hesitated. He wanted the kid dead but he also wanted to enjoy it. Sending agents to do the deed felt like a nice compromise but after their complete and total failure, he really needed to find better henchmen, he began to think on other methods. And as he began to think his eyes once again came upon the Olympus Protocol and the beginnings of a plan began to fall into place. He would kill Hephaestus, there was no doubt about that, but he would do it with his own two hands. "Let him come. And evacuate the building as well."

"Sir? Are you sure?"

"Positive. Tell the employees that we've discovered a gas leak and that we are evacuating the building for their safety."

"Very well sir."

"Oh and do me a favor and enact contingency 133-F45. I don't want any heroes getting in my way, understand?"

"Of course,sir."

"Good, make sure you don't screw this up. Oh and one more thing, what of agent 601, has she arrived yet?"

"Negative sir, she has not arrived with the package and she isn't answering her communication device either. We assume that she has failed in her mission."

Typical, you really can't trust anyone to do their jobs in this day and age. Not even a little brat that was designed for such a task was able to succeed. Another failed experiment to throw in the garbage Masters thought. "Unfortunate, but we will continue as planned."

With a press of the button the intercom was shut off and Masters stood up from his chair. Looking over to his two top bodyguards at the door he stood in front of his table and addressed them both. "Gentlemen, the time is at hand. If everything goes well then when next we meet it will be in a world born anew. But should that not happen then I need you two to follow the orders I've given you should this company fall, is that clear?" Getting two nods in return Masters smiled before sending them off with a wave of his hand.

Now alone in his office Masters walked back to his table and pulled out a large case from one of the drawers. "The fools truly think that I'd let them live just because they work for me. Top men? Ha, there's nothing human about their ilk." Inserting a code into the case Masters opened it, revealing a retinal and finger print scanner. Placing his hand on the scanner and letting the red light scan his retina Masters was pleased to hear a quick ding before pulling back his hand as the case closed itself. He once again walked to the front of his desk as the floor in front of his gave away and a large object rose up and came face to face with the man. Masters looked it over and grinned at the shiny metal face that glistened under the room's light, a permanent imposing frown staring back at him. A large crooked smile covered his face as he clenched his fists in excitement at what he was about to unleash. "I took you under my wing years ago Fox. I taught you everything that you know and look how you wasted my gifts. Despite everything that you've gone through, despite everything that you've learned, you are still nothing but the student and I will always be The Master."

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"Alright, let's go over the plan one more time. We can't afford to get anything wrong because we only got one shot and limited time."

"Oh don't worry so much Heppy-kun." says Toga as she continues to rock back and forth in her seat, looking out the train car's window. "Trust me, I'll follow the plan perfectly."

At that I can't help but give her a look of total disbelief. "Really? You want me to trust you? Well that's gonna be pretty hard to do since and trust I had in you had completely disappeared back at the hotel." I rub my eyes in frustration, something that I feel that I've been doing a lot when dealing with Toga's antics. The girl means well but as far as I can tell she just can't take much seriously unless something pisses her off. Couple with her weird fascination with me, which I honestly have no idea how she doesn't realize that I know considering how obvious it is, and my patience is at my absolute breaking point.

To her credit Toga does actually look guilty and stops rocking to look at me. "I said I'm sorry Heppy-kun! I just had faith that you'd be fine and I thought that if I stepped in then I'd screw you up. I'll make it up to you, I promise." Seeing tears threaten to leak out of her eyes I let out a sigh before once again rubbing at my eyes. Despite her absolutely idiotic decision to stand by I can tell that she really thought it was a good idea, though that just makes me question her decision making skills. I can't exactly ignore her for the rest of my life considering she's friends with Uraraka too and I really don't want to go through the headache that would cause. I don't really have much of a choice here and frankly I need all the help I can get right now and berating my only ally isn't going to help me deal with Masters.

"Alright, look how about this. I'm not exactly willing to let bygones be bygones but if you want to get back in my good graces then you're going to have to earn it. Follow my instructions to the letter and make sure you do your part as fast as you can."

"Of course! I'll do anything for you Heppy-kun. Just tell me who needs to bleed and I'll make sure they do."

Not exactly the response I was hoping for but I'll take what I can get. Her obsession with me has its uses and it would be stupid of me not to abuse it. Does that make me a bad person? Probably but I was never under the impression that I was a good person in the first place and in this case I think I'm justified in treating people like tools.

"Good enough. Now, we go over the plan one more time." I manage to bring up a small hologram of the Master's Industries building before adding two dots to it, a blue one and a red one. "Now, see these two dots? These are us, you're red and I'm blue, got it?" Receiving a quick nod I continue as the blue dot begins to rise up to the top of the hologram. "Isaac has a habit of making his buildings identical when building them so his office will most likely be on the top floor, something about looking down on the world seems to be to his liking he told me. Said it made him feel powerful. So knowing that I will be heading up there using the Masters Card that we got from Brutale." As the red dot began to head to the center of the building I continue. "As for you, you're going to be heading to the private server room to get info on why Master's tried to kill me in the first place. The place is heavily guarded and has loads of security measures but with your quirk you should manage to get past them. As long as you're quick and efficient then you should be able to take out the guards stationed there and use your quirk to copy them so the scanners will accept you. You think you can do that? I won't lie to you, it will be really difficult to get through there and the guards won't hesitate just because you're a kid."

With a smug grin Toga puffs out her chest before turning into a copy of me. "Please, who do you think you're talking to? I'm the master at stealth, how else do you think I managed to sneak past your defenses for so long?" she says in my own voice before dropping the disguise. Though once she sees my unamused face she quickly drops the smug look at goes back to looking serious. "I mean yes, yes I can sneak past there."

With a roll of my eyes I continue. "Well for your sake let's hope so, since a certain someone left behind any weapons I had when this certain someone dragged me out of the warehouse." All I got in response was Toga trying to look anywhere but at me as she whistled innocently. "Anyway, once you do get in there you're going to use this" I slap my wrist computer "to get into those systems. Don't worry about any of the hard parts, I've made the hacking system mostly automated and it'll allow Atlas to do most of the work once I reconnect with him. Just make sure you do this fast, I'll be keeping Isaac busy while you do this and chances are that he knows I'm coming."

"But wouldn't he know that you're planning to do something like this?"

"That's the thing, he's expecting me to be the one getting into his systems. He doesn't know that you're with me which means that as long as I'm talking to him he'll think that he's stalling me instead of the other way around."

"Ohhh, that's so smart. But wait" says Toga before scratching her head in confusion. "How are you going to protect yourself up there? I don't want to leave you when you're all on your own."

Guess that means that she doesn't know about my enhanced strength. From her perspective Brutale must've just been a glass cannon for me to knock her around like I did. Good, the longer I keep that a secret the better, it'll give me an edge in the future. "Don't worry about that. I managed to escape with a suit when my house first got blown to bits. Atlas has been on standby to fly it to me once I give him the order, so the second we reach the building I just got to send out the signal and he'll be on his way in time for me to give Isaac a nice beatdown."

"Haha yeah!" Toga gives a cheeky grin as she mimics punching someone over and over again. "That jerk will regret ever going up against my Heppy-kun!"

Well at least she's eager and I'd rather have her ready to fight then the opposite. As much as I'd rather have Uraraka or Melissa by my side I can't see either of them so ready to jump into the lion's den like Toga is. Though thinking on Toga's resourcefulness does make me think about something she said back at the hotel. "Toga, when you said you used your own skills to find me after your Hound Dog transformation wore off what exactly did you mean?"

Apparently she wasn't expecting the question because she suddenly stops her punching and begins to look more embarrassed then I think I've ever seen her. "W-well when my transformation wore off I was pretty close to where you were so I looked around and tried to find you through the crowd. It was kind of hard to find you in that big a crowd but then I remembered a conversation I had with Uraraka about you and your uh nice looking butt." I honestly had no idea how to respond to this and from the look on Toga's face she wasn't sure how I would respond either. Toga's face was completely red at this point and it was more than likely that mine was at red. Whatever answer I was expecting it sure as hell wasn't this. "So I started looking at people's butts and that's when I found you in the crowd with a disguise."

"..........."

I miss how simple my life was before I got involved with all this superhero shit.

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High above the streets of Tokyo, the rabbit hero Mirko had been hopping from building to building at startling speed. Hanging onto her back with a death grip was Ashley Fox who was really starting to regret asking to come along to get her brother. Her previously flawless face was now covered in dried blood and scraps of her clothes had fallen off from the sheer speed that they were moving at. To make matters worse each hop that Mirko had done was giving her a massive amount of nausea, giving her face a green tint as she struggled to not lose her lunch.

"Please tell me we're almost there. I don't think my stomach can handle much more of this."

"Hey hey! Don't you go vomiting on me or else I'll drop you myself!" answered Mirko, he own face twisting in disgust at the idea of becoming covered in puke. "I'm not going to wait around for you to get better either! So either you get off and let me go on my own or you keep your lunch where it belongs."

Not having the energy to argue Ashley merely nodded her head and she tried to focus on anything but the constant rise and fall that came with each leap that Mirko did. "F-fine, I'll keep myself together for a little while longer. Just please tell me that we're almost-"

Whatever Ashley was going to say was drowned out by a giant explosion nearby that caused Mirko to stop and look for the source of the blast. Eyes landing on a nearby bank that had was burning down as villains were running out with bags of cash. Shaking Ashley off of her back, who immediately leaned over the building's edge to empty out her stomach, Mirko punched her fist into her palm and gave a manic grin. "Finally, some action! Don't worry, we'll head on over to the kid just as soon as I take down these-" Mirko was interrupted as another explosion rocked the area a few blocks down as smoke rose into the air. But before she could say anything else two villains with gigantification quriks had appeared back from where they came from and were currently fighting it out, destroying building after building.

Civilians ran and screamed in shock and terror as more and more villains appeared all over the place, some attacking buildings while others tried to murder anyone they saw. Finally done puking her guts out Ashley looked around in confusion as to where all these villains had come from. "W-what is this? What's happening? Is this the League of Villains? Did they do this?" Looking towards Mirko for answers Ashley was shook as the grin on Mirko's face had gone from manic to completely psychotic in its look as the rabbit hero cracked her knuckles.

"Ashley, right?" Gaining a nod in return Mirko simply shifted her eyes towards her. "Something tells me that all these bastards didn't just come out of nowhere, it probably has to do with that brother of yours." Pointing behind Ashley she continued. "The building we were going towards is in that direction, if you hurry then you should make it in about 10 minutes. This building has a ladder that you can climb down with, use it to get to the alleyways and keep away from the villains."

"W-well what about you? What are you going to do?"

Bending her legs Mirko prepared herself for a large leap. "I'm gonna go pummel these bad guys and make them regret getting in the way. Go ahead, I'll catch up." And with that the rabbit hero jumped high into the air towards the closest villains and began to do what she did best, leaving Ashley alone on the roof.

Acting quickly Ashley took Mirko's advice on moved toward's the building's ladder, using to to climb down. Keeping to the alleyways and avoiding the veritable menagerie of villains that were causing havoc all across the city, Ashley kept moving towards Masters Inc as fast as she could, passing by hero after hero who were too busy fighting the sudden influx of villains that were keeping them occupied.

"I'm coming Hephaestus! Your big sister is coming!" said Ashley. But she was so focused on the path in front of her that she failed to notice the suit of armor flying in the air right past her at supersonic speeds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leaving the train station the two of us walked in silence as we made our way to the Masters Inc building where this entire nightmare would finally end. As much as I wanted to deny it, the simple truth was that Isaac had tried to kill me. Too many pieces fit together if he was the mastermind behind this entire thing. How he managed to get past my home's defense system, how he's been able to track my location, and how he has access to contract killers that think a million dollars is chump change. Isaac had the means, the connections, and the intelligence to be behind all of this. But what I still don't know is why he had done this in the first place. Why try to kill me? What reason could the man have to put so much effort into making sure that I die? By now the entire country knows what happened so its not like he wasn't expecting for this to go quietly; Isaac knew that his attempt on my life would be a big news story. So what could be so important that he's willing to risk so much just to see me dead?

Ever since the USJ attacking I've been feeling more in the dark that I'm used to and this is just another mystery to add onto that pile. And it certainly didn't help that by the time me and Toga reach the front door of the building the entire front lobby was completely abandoned.

"Ummm Heppy-kun, is this place supposed to be empty?"

"No, no its not. I don't like this, we need to leave." Grabbing Toga by the arm I make way for the door before blast shields come down and block every possible exit to the building. Looking around for any hope for escape all I see is every door and window covered by steel. Suddenly a voice I know all too well comes over the building's intercom.

"Now where do you think you're going Fox? You have only just arrived and already you're trying to leave? I daresay I feel a might insulted." If his voice hadn't given him away then his smug attitude would. Only Isaac could make someone feel like a rat in a maze with just his voice. But the worst part is that my fears were confirmed, he knew I was coming here. Any advantage we would've had is gone and now Isaac is in control of how things will go.

"You're the one who tried to kill my Heppy-kun right? Get out here so I can watch you bleed face to face!" says Toga.

Unfortunately all she gets is condescending laughter that seems to echo throughout the room. "You must be Himiko Toga, the blood loving freak who saved my former apprentice from certain death." Shit, he knows about what happened at the warehouse?! Fuck, my plan is falling about in mere seconds. That's it, I'm not taking anymore chances. Quickly turning on the wrist computer I send out the alert to Atlas in hopes that he gets here in time.

Releasing the clamps on the wrist computer I hand it over to Toga who stares back in confusion. "We stick to the plan as close as possible. He may have evacuated the tower but he couldn't have had time to change the location of the primary server. Get there and follow Atlas's instructions to the letter. I don't know what you might run into so be ready for anything." Receiving a determined nod in return I hand over the wrist computer before placing my hand on Toga's shoulder. "Take this with you, you might need it more than me." Reaching into my pocket I take out the final healing vial and hand it to her. "Make sure you make it back in one piece alright?" I say with a smile. Gaining a faint blush Toga smiles in return before quickly hugging me and running off to the main server room.

"Alright Isaac, let's see what else you've got up your sleeve." I announce as I head on over to the staircase and began making my way up the building to the top floor.
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Running through the dark and empty halls of the building, Toga brought up her arm as a holographic copy of it brightened up the area in front of her, making her stand out in the suffocating emptiness that she felt. The area she was in was supposed to be full of dangerous guards that she was supposed to sneak past, so why wasn't there anyone else there but her? With how much Heppy-kun hyped up this Masters guy on the train ride here she was expecting to face a lot more resistance. Maybe he had underestimated the two of them? It seemed plausible, Masters thought that something as simply as rockets and some hired killers would be enough to kill her Heppy-kun. As if her love would be beaten by some no name losers, especially that disgusting BITCH who dared to make her Heppy-kun bleed. How dare she do such a thing! Only she was allowed to make her Heppy-kun bleed! To see his handsome face covered in that sweet delicious red. To hear that drip drip drip as it would pool beneath him. To drink every last drop of his-

"Ms. Toga, you do realize that you are talking out loud, correct?"

Not expecting the sudden interruption Toga screamed in fear as spun on her heel to deliver a swinging kick that only hit air. Eyes darting around the place Toga tried to find where the voice came from before her wrist lit up the room even more than usual an a familiar robotic figure appeared in hologram form.

"Are you done trying to murder the air or should I give you more time? Master Fox is counting on you to complete this task."

"Atlas? Oh, you scared me. R-Right I'll hurry up to the server room."

Cheeks now burning red Toga rushed to the server room as fast as she could, trying to ignore the immense feeling of being judged by the sentient AI. Despite not having a face that could emote she could just feel the absolute shit eating grin on his metal face. If it wasn't for the fact that Atlas was only an AI then she'd have threatened to stab him the next time they met. Maybe she could ask Heppy-kun to give him a body for her to stab? He'd do something like that for her, right?

"We are nearing the server room Ms. Toga. Simply follow the instructions given to you by Master Fox and I will handle the rest."

Coming up on two big glass doors that seemed to be locked, Toga began to bring up the wrist computer up to unlock the doors using Atlas only for the twin doors to slide open on their own once she got close to them. Not expecting the doors to open, Toga simply looked around in confusion before slowly walking through and entering the server room. "Um, Atlas? Was that supposed to happen?"

"My records indicate that Mr. Masters routinely makes use of state of the art security. By that metric, the lack of security measures can only mean someone is already in here."

"And who would be in here before me?" Toga asked. Having walked further into the room Toga began to feel the strange sensation of being watched from seemingly all directions at once. As she inched further and further towards the startlingly giant server at the end of the room she faintly heard a sound that she was very familiar with. The sound of flesh being cut open by something very very sharp. Her breathed hitched in her throat as the sound suddenly stopped and was replaced by the sound of something moving through the air.

More specifically, the sound of something moving towards her.

Thinking quickly Toga moved to the side as the object flew right past her head, cutting off her left hair bun like it wasn't even there. Reaching towards the side of her head where her bun had rested Toga cradled the left side of her head in shock. That shock quickly turned into anger as Toga instantly turned back around, pure rage coursing through her veins. Before she could identify the culprit 3 more objects flew towards her that forced her to dodge backwards as each object stabbed into the ground where she was standing just seconds before.

Looking at the objects, Toga expected to see knives or some other kind of blade but was confused when instead she saw pieces of.....glass? It took a second for it to click but once it did Toga's eyes widened in realization as she stared upwards and saw a very familiar figure partly hidden in the shadows. Said figure walked out of the shadows, revealing her new appearance to Toga, a sadistically smug smile on her face. She looked different than from the last time Toga had seen her, though lacking a few key features.

Where her hair was previously a mix of red and black it was now fully red, a bright red that stood out among the darkness of the room. No longer did she have her jacket, now all she had was the white tank-top underneath, revealing the multitude of tattoos and cuts that covered her arms and chest. But the most stark differences were ones that Toga had caused herself. Brutale's left ear no longer adorned her head and now the left side of her face was completely smooth and her right hand had was completely gone, leaving nothing but a stump behind.

"Awwww now why would you go and move out of the way? We could've been twins." said Brutale as she rubbed the left side of her head where her ear would have been. "The boss wanted me to kill the kid so he was pretty pissed when I came back without him. But once he said that I had a new person to cut up? Well....." Once again the sound of flesh being cut open filled the room as Brutale's stumped arm began to shudder and shake as a giant jagged glass shard began to rip out of the stump. Giving the sword arm a once over, Brutale smirk turned into a scowl as she locked eyes with Toga.

"I’d have to be crazy to say no."

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The last time I set foot in one of Isaac’s buildings was when I learned that he wasn’t the great man I thought he was and I cut ties with him after three years of seeing him as a father figure. Now, four years later, I’m confronting that same father figure who’s all but said that he’s been trying to kill me over the last week. And people wonder why I never trust anyone; bet they never had to deal with shit like this.

Despite Isaac’s voice on the intercom recommending I take the elevator to save some time I continue to move up the stairs, floor by floor. I wouldn’t put it past him to boobytrap the elevator to explode or simple drop me down 40 floors. By the time I reach the top floor two minutes have gone by and yet Atlas hasn’t shown up with the suit yet and I can’t exactly ask what’s taking so long since I gave Toga the wrist computer (really gotta workshop a better name for that thing).

Taking a deep breath I stretch my neck before opening the doors in front of me and walking into Isaac’s office where I see the smug son of a bitch sitting at his desk without a care in the world. He looks just like I remember from when I was a kid. His stylish raven black hair, those calculating green eyes, the caucasian skin and his trademark silver suit with a green shirt and silver tie. Despite being in his 40s there’s no sign of aging and from a glance one would think the man in front of me was a fresh and clever tycoon in his 20s ready to make the world his bitch: exactly the image he wanted to sell. The image he actually did sell when I first met him and so foolishly fell for.

“And so the prodigal son returns. I am truly impressed that you’ve made it this far.” Isaac states. I ignore his jab and make my way towards him before stopping five feet away from his desk. “What? Nothing to say? No heroic declaration of justice? Not going to rant about I am the true embodiment of evil and that you will bring about peace with my defeat?”

Clenching my fists hard enough to turn them white I simply glare at the man. “Why are you doing this Isaac? What could you possibly have to gain from doing something so drastic?” Closing the distance between us I slam my hands into the desk so hard that part of it shatters, launching small fragments of wood onto the floor. “Why the fuck have you been trying to kill me?!”

But instead of answering my question he simply yawned before leaning back in his chair with that same smug look on his face. “That desk was expensive you know. It’s pure mahogany.”

“God damn it Isaac don’t you get it?! You failed! It’s over! Now answer the damn question!” I was practically fuming at this point. I was getting sick and tired of his apparent need to act as mysterious as possible and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with any more of his shit. So with a single motion I leaned forward and tried to grab him by his tie.

Or at least I tried to grab him by his tie. Instead my hand went right through him like he wasn't even there. Completely baffled, I stared at my hand in confusion before looking back at Isaac only to see him turn completely blue and disappear right before my eyes.

“How did you like the hologram?”

Hearing the voice behind me I turned around ready to throw a punch only for a metal hand to grab me by the throat and lift me into the air. My confusion turned to shock as I realized what I was looking at.

It was a suit of armor, similar to mine but with some stark differences, the most notable difference being the face. Where my helmet only coincidentally resembles a human face, with eyepieces and a mouth slit showing the point where the face plate meets the jaw, this one seems to purposely look like a face with a clear and obvious mouth and eye holes; eye holes that let me see two familiar green eyes. As for the rest of the body it looked like someone took one of my suits and mixed it with medieval armor. Instead of one connected suit, this one seemed to be multiple parts put together to make one suit with the hands and arms looking like gloves pauldrons and the feet and legs looking like boots and greaves. Over all of this was a green tunic with a green hood over the head which was attached with yellow clasps on the chest and a brown belt with a yellow clasp around the waist.

But despite the changes I could still see design decisions that I made with my armor. The way the suit seemed to move with each breath as if it was simply a set of clothes, the dexterity of each of the limbs, the fact that this thing had a power source strong enough to even make the suit work in the first place! This wasn’t some random suit, this was repurposed Arsenal armor.

Before I could even say anything the hand around my throat tightened and I was lifted up higher before being slammed through the table, shattering it. Before I could retaliate a hand grabbed my leg and threw me into a wall, causing cracks to form on the stone.

Trying to ignore the immense ringing in my head I looked up and saw the suit of armor slowly walking towards me.

“It’s over? Oh Hephaestus, I’m just getting started.”