----Ryuu's POV
He descended the fire escape as fast as his exhausted body would allow. Hands sliding down railings, feet barely touching steps. Above him, he heard the sound of combat beginning.
Fire erupting with a roar. Barriers forming with crystalline chimes. The Collector's cold laughter echoing off metal and concrete.
And his father's voice, defiant even in the face of overwhelming odds.
"GO!"
So Ryuu ran.
His feet hit solid ground. The industrial district stretched before him, a maze of warehouses and shipping containers. The morning light was stronger now, shadows retreating as the sun climbed higher.
He ran between buildings, through narrow alleys, over debris. His lungs burned. His legs threatened to give out. But fear and adrenaline kept him moving.
Behind him, the sounds of battle continued. Explosions. The scream of metal being torn apart. His father fighting for his life against a monster who could copy dozens of quirks.
Ryuu's mind raced almost as fast as his feet.
That moment with the guard. When his Resonance had felt different.
His father had said he could do that. Use Resonance on himself. Boost his own speed, his own power.
Could he do it now? Make himself faster? Put more distance between himself and the collapsing facility?
He tried to activate his Resonance the way he did with others. Reaching for that familiar warmth in his chest, trying to direct it inward instead of outward.
Nothing happened.
His pace didn't change. His breathing stayed labored.
'Not now,' he told himself. 'I'll figure it out later. Survive first. Get to the extraction point. Let the heroes—'
BOOOOOOM!!!!
The explosion was massive.
Even from this distance, the shockwave hit Ryuu like a physical force. He stumbled, nearly falling. Turned around despite his father's orders not to look back.
The facility was collapsing.
Not just one building. The entire complex. Multiple structures falling in on themselves, creating clouds of dust and debris that rose into the morning sky like a funeral pyre.
And somewhere in that destruction was his father.
Ryuu's Resonance, still active from earlier, suddenly felt wrong.
The connection he'd maintained with Kenji during the amplification, that thread of emotional feedback that let him sense his father's determination and love and desperate hope...
It went dark.
Not fading slowly. Just... gone. Like someone had cut a wire.
"No." The word came out as a whisper. "No no no no..."
Ryuu took a step back toward the collapsing buildings. His father was in there. Fighting. Maybe buried. Maybe...
"Dad!" The scream tore from his throat. "DAD!"
Nothing. No response. No flicker of connection through his Resonance. Just empty air where a bond had been moments before.
His legs gave out.
Ryuu collapsed to his knees on the cracked pavement, staring at the destruction in the distance. Dust clouds billowed higher, blocking out the morning sun. The sounds of combat had stopped. Only the groaning of metal and crumbling concrete remained.
He'd run away. Again.
When he was nothing but a kid, his father had disappeared to protect him. And Ryuu had been too young, too powerless to do anything about it.
But now, his father had stayed behind to fight. Even when he thought he could handle himself pretty well...his father had to buy him time to escape. And Ryuu had run like he was told.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to the smoke-filled sky. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm—"
"There you are."
The voice came from behind him.
Ryuu spun, hands coming up defensively despite his exhaustion.
But it wasn't a threat.
A woman stood at the mouth of the alley. White hair pulled back in a ponytail. Red eyes sharp with concern. Rabbit ears twitching slightly as she assessed him. She had an athletic build covered in a hero costume that had clearly seen recent combat.
Mirko. The Rabbit Hero.
"Kid," she said, taking a cautious step forward. "You Kazama Ryuu?"
Ryuu's voice wouldn't work. He just nodded.
"Good." Her expression softened slightly. "We've been looking for you. The whole hero network's been mobilized since you got snatched from UA." She glanced at the destruction behind him. "That the facility you were held in?"
Another nod. His throat was too tight for words.
Mirko seemed to understand. She moved closer, crouching down to his eye level. "You're safe now. I've got you."
"M-my dad," Ryuu finally managed. "He was in there. Fighting The Collector. The building collapsed and I... I felt the connection break and I don't know if he's..."
He couldn't finish.
Mirko's expression turned serious. "We've got search and rescue teams inbound. If he's in there, we'll find him." She pulled out a radio. "This is Mirko. I've got the kid. Industrial district, sector seven. Requesting immediate medical evac and search teams for possible survivor in collapsed structure."
Static crackled. Then a professional voice: "Copy that. Evac ETA three minutes. Search teams deploying now."
Mirko clipped the radio back to her belt and looked at Ryuu. Really looked at him. Taking in the exhaustion, the prison clothes under the oversized jacket, the chains marks on his wrists, the thousand-yard stare of someone who'd been through hell.
"Hey," she said gently. "Look at me."
Ryuu met her eyes.
"You're alive. That's what matters right now. Whatever happened in there, whatever you're feeling, we deal with it after we get you stable. Okay?"
"But my father—"
"If he went down fighting to get you out, then the best way to honor that is to stay alive and let us help you." Her voice was firm but kind. "Don't waste his sacrifice by collapsing here."
The words hit hard. Sacrifice.
That's what his father had done. Sacrificed himself. Again.
Eight years of hiding. Eight years of sabotaging a villain organization from within. Eight years of watching from a distance, unable to reach out, just to keep Ryuu safe.
And it had ended with him buried in rubble while Ryuu ran away.
"I should have stayed," Ryuu whispered. "I should have fought with him."
"Then you'd both be dead." Mirko stood, extended her hand. "Come on, kid. Medical team's almost here."
Ryuu looked at her hand. Thought about his father extending his hand in that cell. Asking for trust after eight years of absence.
He'd taken it then.
He took Mirko's hand now.
She pulled him to his feet easily, supporting his weight when his legs threatened to give out again.
In the distance, sirens were approaching. Medical teams. Search and rescue. Heroes responding to the emergency.
It was too late to save his father. But maybe, just maybe, not too late to save whoever else was trapped in that destruction.
"Ma'am...what's your name?" Ryuu asked quietly.
"Mirko. Rumi Usagiyama." She kept a steadying hand on his shoulder. "And you're going to be okay, Kazama. I promise."
Ryuu wanted to believe her.
But as he stared at the smoke rising from his father's final battlefield, all he could think was that nothing would ever be okay again.