Countdown

"Squad A, head North, Squad B, check the West side!"

The sirens blared around him, but Chizome Akaguro could hear his target's voice quite clearly. Chizome stepped forward a few steps, and as he planned, the target ran past the alley he was standing in. Oh, it wouldn't take long now… It never does.

3…

He heard the footsteps stop before turning around.

"Back there!"

2…

He pulled out his katana and a dagger, an excited grin ghosting his thin lips.

"No doubt about it, it's him!"

1…

The target landed in front of him, as he predicted, and said boldly, "I've found you! Hero Killer!"

Chizome pretended to be caught off guard as he stayed faced away from the voice. "Wrong, false hero…" He heard the footsteps coming closer, and grinned. Looking behind him, his eyes glowed red. "It is I, who have found you."

Chizome spun around fully as the hero put a hand on him, and let the blades spin with him. As the unworthy 'hero' gasped and stumbled back, Chizome brought the blade to his tongue, letting the very metallic taste fill his senses. AB… how… delicious. 8 minutes left.

The man went still as Chizome's quirk came over him, tipping over. Far enough from the walls, he hit nothing as he fell, landing face first on the floor where 'heroes' like him belonged.

"You haven't even noticed it yet, have you?" Chizome hissed as he drove the short blade into the fake hero's legs. He patiently waited for the screaming to stop before he continued. 7 minutes left.

"This warped society mired by hypocrisy and vanity." The giant screen broadcasting the UA Sports Festival would cover the hypocrite's screams, just as he had planned when he chose this day. "That's fine. I'll open your eyes, 'hero'... You will see the world that you've created."

He drove the katana into the target's other leg, relishing in the response as the blood pooled around him. 6 minutes left.

"Fame… money… that's all heroes like yourself are really after. But you bastards are not heroes. You're just like him. The most corrupt of them all… So tell me… Where is Skyline?"

"I-I don't know!" The hero yelled, panting from the pain.

"Tsk… Don't try to play the hero now, Ingenium." He twisted the blade, talking over the sceams. "I found out about your rescue from another false 'hero' like yourself. Selling rescue victims information to the press… In it for the money, just like the rest of you."

"I know you remember him… After all, he took down your rival, the Bat Villain, just to impress the cameras. So don't tell me you didn't recognize his own flesh and blood when she was in your arms!" Chizome slammed another blade next to the target's head in anger, before slowing his breathing, shaking his head. "So I'll try again. Where. Is. Skyline." He twisted the katana, relishing how his screams were drowned out by the center's giant screen. 4 minutes left.

Chizome raised a blade high, ready to strike, when he heard it.

"Star Skyline in 17th pl-"

Chizome glided to the end of the alley, focusing on the screen from the shadows as the blood dripped from his original blade.

"Olivia has been withdrawn from the competition!"

It was just the briefest second, but it was enough.

So, the key to the most corrupt hero of them all, was at UA… He had expected this, had waited at the entrance exam's gate to take her, but was thrown off when the second offspring didn't appear… Someone must have pulled strings to get her in, just like her excuse of a father. Chizome snarled, his knuckles going white against the knife's handle. 2 minutes left.

Chizome walked back over to the panting man, smashing the lit up phone on his way.

The screams elicited a vicious grin from him as he pulled the katana and blade out. He put it back in its sheath, and pocketed the blade that he had embedded next to the false idol's head. "I guess you're in luck, 'hero'. It wasn't you I was hoping to kill anyway..." 1 minute left. Tsk. He kicked the helmet covered head, sneering as he heard the pained panting stop.

As sirens closed in, Chizome leapt onto the roof, then to a water tower to watch from above. He watched as the cops closed in, knowing he was safe.

Afterall, Ingenium wouldn't be running anywhere anytime soon…