19. The Symbol Of Peace!

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"You, you are – O'Clock!"

With that declaration, the hooded man tore into our formation with renewed vigor. He sent attacks flying wildly as O'Clock struggled but parried them cleanly, weaving through attacks and feinting when needed to mess up the enemy's precision.

While the man fought like a master martial artist, the lag time between his swings was too long. He fought like he had trained all his life but was unfamiliar with his quirk. Rio would have dismissed it as being some martial art fanatic who was reluctant to break the law by using his quirk. There were many professional fighters like that in the world, but for someone who was engaging in some shady dark net business, Rio doubted a restriction like the law could stop him.

While this lag was mostly unnoticeable for the untrained, a speedster's reaction time would make any gap as wide as a fully opened gate. It wouldn't be something he could miss.

"UUUGH!" With a loud groan, O'Clock was sent tumbling backward as he rolled on the ground and sprang back up.

"That guy is one tough customer," O'Clock spat out in frustration. Right—this environment wasn't ideal territory for O'Clock to fight in. Unlike my 'Speed Force' that used up stamina and body fat to increase my speed and senses dramatically, O'Clock's 'Overclock' did the same as mine, but it relied on breathing to generate energy. Large amounts of oxygen needed to be diverted to his brain for every use. It wasn't a strain he could keep up for long when he needed to be conscious of holding his breath.

"Do you need any help, mister?" It was good to see that Tiger Bunny was still kicking. It seemed like that kick earlier hadn't done much damage—she boasted some insane durability.

"It seems like we'll have to stick to Plan B, then. I'll buy you some time, Bunny," O'Clock said as he charged right back into the fight.

Yeah, Plan B. Earlier, I asked what he'd do if he couldn't bulldoze his way through, and O'Clock said it was something he considered as well. The plan of action was to let out our most (second most) dexterous person to alert the cops outside and call out Number One… We'd have All Might crash the scene.

"BUNNY ON THE RUN!" an unknown guard screamed out. Before anyone else could react, Tiger Bunny was seen sprinting through the premises. Dashing and jumping over people and obstacles alike, she made her way forward without hesitation, her destination the exit. With an inspired dash, she weaved through the large number of guards and leaped above them all. The coast was finally clear, and now she had a clean run to the gate.

The hooded man wasn't having it, though. With a stretch of his hand, it went flying towards Tiger Bunny at insane speeds. O'Clock quickly tried to distract him as he lunged in with his knife raised, ready to plunge it into the man's side. The hooded man just swatted him away, though, like a fly.

"Hey, d'you forget about me?" Rapper charged straight for the hooded man's joints, sending a barrage of punches to the stretching hand. The punishment was so great that the arm slowed. Tiger Bunny immediately vaulted towards the door. With an impossibly grotesque display, the hooded man's arm turned into a layer of spikes as they thrashed wildly at her. Tiger Bunny did her best to evade, but a spike flew at her ankle, stabbing straight through her leg.

Tiger Bunny screamed out in pain—an action she quickly suppressed with a groan as she crawled towards a corner to recuperate.

'Oh shit, there goes Plan B.'

"Did you think you… get rid of me, easily… O'Clock?" the hooded man hissed as he sent his arm in a wide arc at the Rapper, who managed to hold up his arms in defense this time, soaking up the blow and jumping backward to disperse the impact.

"Shit, they got Bunny. What do we do now?" Rapper turned to O'Clock and asked. O'Clock had a bead of sweat running down his forehead, the fight starting to affect him.

"Well, let's pray that Tanuma figures out something's wrong or we're all toast."

"Y… you people… fun, fun!" The villain laughed in excitement like a child who just got his newest toy.

"Oh, you down to rumble too? Just my kinda guy!" Rapper mirrored his excitement, all caution long since thrown to the wind. He probably didn't care that we might end up dying in this situation, immersed in the excitement of this dangerous game.

"It seems Bunny failed to make her escape. I'll try to hold him off. Do your best and make your way outside. If you do, we can still get All Might here in time."

"Blah blah blah! I ain't here on the job. That piece of work over there is coming for my head—who would I be if I didn't indulge?"

The hooded man hunched as he started to deform, his body bulking up on the fly as he went into his second form, arms growing longer as sinewy muscles and tendons grew on his body, and his arms and legs stretched longer. His upper body also grew deformed as he swelled up, growing over a meter tall. A veritable beast of a being stood in front of the trio, the obscured face of their enemy spread in a menacing grin.

"Whoa! This thing's pumping itself up big time! How could this get any better?" Rapper exclaimed in excitement.

"If there's a time I need to step out, it can only be now. Let me help you, O'Clock," Rio said as he stood face to face with his teacher. Their enemy still stood there transforming, growing more dangerous as time ticked by. Everyone knew you didn't interfere with a transformation sequence—that was just rude.

Rio had been observing the fight ever since and believed he understood the man's quirk completely. It was an extreme form of high-speed cellular propagation, the type that lets centipedes regenerate entirely severed body parts completely. He healed himself and altered his body's structure on the fly. Rio couldn't even imagine how painful it would be to keep that up continuously; the hooded man's fortitude was admirable.

He had already planned out a course of action to defeat him with the least possible harm caused; he just needed permission if he was going to get out of this without any trouble.

O'Clock studied Rio for a moment intensely before relenting and nodding to his request. "Did you carry your pills?"

Rio just pointed at his belt, where a small vial was attached. In there lay three round pills.

Rio popped his knuckles in excitement as he stared down his opponent. This would be the toughest fight of his life so far—his enemy a master combatant, while he could only be described as a fledgling with nothing but speed going for him. It didn't matter, though. Like Bruce Lee said, "In martial arts, only speed is supreme."

The hooded man had now become a monstrous presence, standing at nearly four meters tall, with the muscles to match. This guy was built like a tank.

Rapper wasn't intimidated in the slightest. He jumped towards the monster as he released his signature barrage of blows. The monster punched out once, and Rapper went flying. O'Clock used that chance to sever the tendons in his outstretched arm, while Rio used the cover provided to make a diving kick straight to the monster's knee.

The monster lost balance, and Rapper continued with the barrage. Whenever he tried to focus on an opponent, the other would interfere, giving each other the time to wear him down.

It was a simple strategy. Cellular propagation wasn't magic; it was a quirk that relied on the body's natural reserves of energy. Ever since the fight began, Hood had already started running out of energy. His regeneration was slowing down, and his swings lacked thought behind them. If they kept this up, he would be down in no time.

Hood picked up one of the doors of the cage. Swiping at Rapper like it was a flyswatter, he sent Rapper flying.

'I think I jinxed it.'

The hooded man was now using his head and already had O'Clock cornered. Rio didn't plan on using this, as it took too much from him to achieve. Squaring up, he activated the Speed Force aura as a formless and invisible shield shrouded him. Speeding towards the hood monster, he dived in for a kick.

'Infinite mass kick.' The force sent the monster flying and gave them all precious time to regroup.

Quickly popping a pill and checking to see if Tiger Bunny was there, Rio quickly became relieved when he could not observe her figure. It seemed she finally made it out—backup was imminent, All Might would be here to save the day.

At Might Tower.

All Might had just returned from another stressful day saving civilians. He put on his star-themed pajamas and held a pillow as he headed for his bed. Before doing that, though, he made a quick stop at his sidekick Sir Nighteye's office for a quick update.

"I'm ready to take a nap, but any more urgent jobs?" All Might said as he suppressed a yawn, the bags on his eyelids more pronounced than ever.

"Even if there were any, I would refuse them." Sir Nighteye was having none of it. Dressed in an immaculate suit and glasses, he attended to all affairs related to Might Tower, answering calls and tending to updates. Even as busy as he was, his concern for his master's state of being was evident.

"Going for 72 hours straight constitutes severe overwork. Your only urgent missions now are rest and relaxation."

"Haha, you're right. Don't push yourself too hard either, okay?" All Might smiled as he observed his sidekick. "Let's just hope the world remains at peace for at least half a day starting now. Ah, not because I need my beauty sleep or anything. I meant that world peace is a good thing in general," All Might explained in a fluster.

"Just get some rest, All Might. I don't require excuses from you," Nighteye said harshly as he tended to the hefty workload that needed to be sorted through. The HSPC required reports on every case that a hero attended to, and he did not trust All Might to attend to such delicate work.

"Hmmm." All Might stilled as his Might Sense and Might Ears were picking up some unusual activity. Nighteye observed his screen, the blaring red of an emergency dispatch request shining through.

"It's an emergency dispatch request!" Nighteye exclaimed. It was something that only popped up when villains that were impossible for the normal heroes to face on their own appeared—especially when hundreds of lives were at stake.

"Coming from... Yes, Osaka!" All Might confirmed as he strained his Might Ears to pick up the activity. With a quick swoosh, he put on his iconic blue and red costume, his cape billowing in the non-existent wind as he jumped straight to Osaka. It was a short distance from Tokyo to Osaka; he would be there in under a minute.