The sound of the engines deafened Endeavor's ears, even as he spoke over his shoulder towards the reporter who had come along to interview him after his successful operation. He refused to spend any more time outside of Japan, and he had likewise declined the conference interview for questions.
The helicopter back hatch was fully open.
He had just finished notifying his children's caretaker, and had sent off two sidekicks to his family residence. The rest would meet him at the outskirts of central Tokyo. Due to the fact that his agency was located in Shizuoka. It would roughly take them an hour to get to the Minato ward but by then their aid would be welcomed in the relief efforts.
"You won't have to worry, because I am here." He gruffly spoke to the reporter seated at the end of the cabin. Just when he had finally finished chopping off the head of the issue regarding the human trafficking of mutants from the United States to China. Another had cropped up when he was away. Normally this last crime would have nothing to do with his agency, However there were Japanese hands within that pie as intermediaries, and it was his luck that his agency had been tracking the trail from the end to its head. So he had to personally deal with it.
The view of the edge of the Tokyo landscape filled his vision, and he spoke to his newest intern, Burnin. Most of his sidekicks had to prove their worth and he normally would not have considered the younger girl. However, although she had yet to graduate from his alma mater, she had a quality to her that he rarely saw in others, even if she was a bit of a whiner.
His heels slipped off of the edge as he crossed his arms. "If you're ready to test out your aerial skills follow me, the same restrictions apply. Stick close and do not engage with a villain, unless lives are at stake and you have no other choice." The young girl wore a face of panic as she jumped after him, she quickly opened her mouth to ask him to wait. But wisely aborted the action mid-sentence as she joined him out into the open air. His two other sidekicks, Kido and Onima snickered as they followed after them, parachutes slung on their backs.
The wind buffeted his ears, and his eyes strained against the air resistance, but he had gotten used to the problem over the years. He activated his quirk factor and accelerated his pace downwards. He looked back to the green trail that was following his back and then he turned back. Endeavor could make out a villain in the distance, he'd been scanning the notifications on the Hero Network as grew closer to Japan. Like the ones he had seen that had been taken into custody, this heteromorphic villain also sported a cartoonish likeness. He wouldn't be surprised if the individual in question adopted a childish namesake for a moniker.
Endeavor aimed his feet at an angle to kill his momentum, releasing the quirk factor so that he could stop a short distance away from the individual. The optimal reach so that he could end this farce. He would have started and ended this interaction with words, however Endeavor had already noted the craters in the rock faced mutant's wake. Where were the other heroes? He'd have some words with any inept colleagues he could find. Enji could see that the villain was emitting a dark glowing quirk factor, for what he wasn't sure. But he wouldn't allow it to continue.
Discarding the thought, the flame hero charged a spear of flames. He cocked his fist back and aimed, less with any real thought and more with the honed instincts and muscle memory of the years as a hero. His flat expression morphed with a sneer and he let loose with a sharp pivot and a short yell, the spear was hurled and curved in its trajectory to both pierce the materialized emitted meteor at the front of the villain. And slamming into the heteromorph with a loud thunk, the force of his quirk was displaced harmlessly as it dissipated into an explosion that was more cosmetic than it was lethal.
But he could see now that it wouldn't be enough as the villain ignored the attack and effortlessly charged another emission with even more quirk factor. Based on the fact that the light was stronger in its intensity. He'd have to increase the intensity but that was fine with him.
Endeavor angled himself as he emitted his flames to boost his trajectory to intercept the villain. He couldn't chance the next attack and to mitigate the damage, he'd have to make use of Hellfire Storm. Just as the Heteromorph activated his quirk, the Number two hero made it to his destination right under the villain. The propulsion of his Hellflame was useful as he cocked his fist and then he released the pent up energy into a devastating uppercut. The power of his quirk coalesced into a spiral of flames that overtook both the villain and his emitting quirk.
Within the tornado of flames he could make out the still form of the villain, but he noticed a stark detail from the lack of writhing. And just as he squinted his eyes, a rock the size of a small meteor shot out from the tornado of flames. It was hurtling right above him, for a second he thought about letting it pass him by, but he remembered that it would no doubt cause destruction down below. With less time than he would have liked, Endeavor shot off with a flip. His left hand and the heels of his feet found purchase on the uneven surface. With a cocked his fist and a turn to give the attack the attention it deserved, it was enough leverage for what he was about to do!
"Vanishing… Fist!"
His knuckles rocketed towards the rock and his quirk aided him as the offending stone exploded outward into smaller chunks. His feet kicked off on the debris and he rushed onwards as the Villain made its escape in the opposite direction towards his intern. His arms were empowered by his quirk into spiral like flames that aided his flight and he was at eye level to the heteromorphs back just before he reached the fleeing girl. Both of Endeavor's elbows were raised and he slammed them down onto the man, the full body impact was heavy and a loud thud resounded, it would have brought down any other crook.
The heteromorph gurgled and turned mid-flight, but he was done with this charade. He gripped the shoulder of the opposing man and forced him into his direction with a sharp tug.
"Jet…"
Mid-turn, Endeavor found it to be the perfect opportunity for his raised fist to rattle the heteromorphs' jaw. Audibly the rush of the flames and the smashing of his knuckles created an ugly sound of creaking and cracking. The resulting flash effect blinded him momentarily
"Burn!"
The heteromorph at last spasmed and fell down listlessly into unconsciousness, Endeavor's grim expression continued even as his sidekicks finally reached him. He turned to them, Burnin would have been too small to aid him. Kido and Onima lacked any form of flight, and so Endeavor held the villain by his arm before he could crash into a building down below. They landed onto the empty streets, it was eerily quiet.
"Kido, Onima, bring out the Iron Maidens and rendezvous with the local authorities. Once the unnamed villain is taken into custody, meet up with the rest of the Flaming Sidekickers." The two young men pulled out the briefcase and answered him with a resolute 'understood!; Endeavor nodded to them and continued. "Burnin and I will continue making our way further into Tokyo through Ota City."
As they opened the briefcase and began to restrain the criminal, Endeavor turned to her. Although this was her final year and her first internship under him he noticed that she was still capable of following him even under their short stint in between China and America. He wouldn't slow down, not even as an opportunity to use it as a learning experience for her. Not when there were innocents who needed his help.
"Burnin, match my speed or you'll be forced to walk back to my agency in shame." Words of encouragement were lost in the wind in this line of work. The thin teenager however let his comment slide off her back without any issue, knowing now that it wasn't personal.
The propulsion of his arms sent him up into the air, the asphalt was singed but he knew how much heat he could let out before any long term damage was applied to the public property. Endeavor boosted himself further so he wouldn't waste any time. He continued his journey and before long, he caught sight of a series of floating shapes in the air. A larger shape was bull-dozing its way away from Tokyo and towards Setagaya. With a lateral turn he rushed to deal with the problem.
Upon closer inspection he could make out that the shapes were vaguely humanoid in nature, he would have chalked it up to unruly mutants but their appearance was too uniform and too numerous for that to be the case. Their visible brains would have unnerved him had it been years prior when he was a fresh hero. Aiming his arms downward, Endeavor touched down onto the rim of the building and he used it for leverage, propelling himself up from the makeshift springboard and under the large flock of villains.
With a yell he charged up both cocked fists back, his closed hands rushed forth into a devastating.
"Hell's Curtain!"
A blanket of flames illuminated his vision, the criminals were cooked by the move. And he was forced to let them fall into the ground as his next target made itself truly troublesome. Its sheer size forced the criminal into being more of an issue than any other part of its existence. He noticed the fleeing civilians rushing out towards the back alleys, the lone hero who was dealing with the behemoth lacked a quirk that could take it down. He was a thin man and he would have taken him for any of the other incompetent heroes around him. But he could see that the man was simultaneously hitting the behemoth, yelling out to the civilians to move away from certain specific spots in the street, and guiding the beast into precise deflections that mitigated the damage that the otherwise barbaric criminal would have inflicted onto the surrounding area.
In spite of that Endeavor knew that he couldn't let this stand, with a frontward roll off of the edge of the building he had landed on. Endeavor shot up into the air, his trajectory was aimed directly into the beast's path. But at the halfway point he was too fast to see that a hidden flying creature had intercepted his path from the shadows. He heard the call from Burnin before he could see it, he aborted his action, but before he could do so fully. The flying creature's head was caved in by a small projectile, and it fell downward. Enji's eyes widened and he searched for the good samaritan. From a distance he could see the far away hero nodding to him as he drew closer to the behemoth.
He doubled his speed and finished his frontward roll, the hero cut his arc prematurely. It was the perfect distance for his next attack. His arms were pulled back and his chest burst forward, he grunted out and the full power of his quirk factor reached its peak with a flash.
"Prominence… Burn!"
The beam of concentrated power shot outward into a wide arc aimed entirely on the giant. The heteromorph's figure was impossible to see within the light of his ultimate attack. Endeavor cut the move down before it became too deadly for common biological sense. The giant was wobbly on its feet, smoke wafting off of its frame and then it fell with a loud thud. The quake almost left him shaky on his feet, if he wasn't ready for it. With easy steps Endeavor met up with the thin man, he'd finally have the chance to question someone in person on the current crisis.
"Endeavor." The clipped tone of the individual's greeting was nonplussed and likewise Endeavor met him with the same indifference as his eyebrow rose in question. However the hero in business attire jerked his head in the villains direction, Enji caught the small movement of the heteromorph lying prone on the ground. "I've already taken it down three times. I'd suggest your Flare Circle would finally do the trick." Endeavor finally recognized the hero, or rather… the sidekick who was at his side. And his distaste grew at the current circumstances, his eyes closed as he blew fire out of his nostrils.
He rose up into the air aided by his quirk, flames billowing out of his back. Endeavor concentrated the flames around him and whipped out his hand into a tight circle around the rising giant. Cutting groves into the street, and then with the max output of his move, the number two hero let loose with a loud annoyed yell. He was so annoyed that he refused to call out the name of the move. Even as the villain was engulfed in flames yet again, however this time the villain in question was moving in resistance and it forced Endeavor to increase the output of the attack. Momentarily changing the color of his flames from its familiar orange to a brighter blue.
Finally after what felt like too much time wasted, the large figure fell. This time the heteromorph lay prone and to his interest the villain started shrinking in size. Even under the somewhat charred state of the person he could make out the planet styling of his head. His intern jumped down from the top of the building. It looked like she had been busy as she finished directing the rest of the civilians away to safety, he nodded to her satisfied that she was willing to aid in other ways.
Nighteye met him as he inspected the fallen villain "I take it that you'll be making your way further into Tokyo?" Endeavor grunted out a gruff yes. His intern was looking at him as if he had grown a second head from his rude attitude but his mood was too down in the gutter for him to deign her questioning gaze with an answer. "I have some business back in the Minato ward. If you don't mind, I'll be joining you both. My name is Sir Nighteye sidekick to All Might, pleasure to meet you." Enji answered that greeting with a rude blast of flames as he propelled himself down into Shibuya.
His intern answered for Endeavor as she followed after him, "Oh cool, Your Sir Nighteye! I'm Burnin, no title and this is my current boss Endeavor." They were using the empty streets to aid in their quick rush instead of hopping over the buildings. He'd have to conserve the rest of his reserves as he had no chance to replenish his stamina from the long flight. Nighteye was running alongside them much to his annoyance, he was matching their speed. Which wasn't a surprise, Endeavor would have been gobsmacked if the sidekick couldn't even do this much. Not when he was All Might's sidekick. He noted the street's condition, it was devoid of the familiar marks of a rampaging giant he had seen before in other gigantic villains. Instead any marks were technically placed areas of damage that looked to be more superficial and cosmetic than the hallmarks of foundation supporting destruction.
His gaze was questioning as he looked to the sprinting sidekick down below.
Was he not capable of sheer power that All Might was known for?
He had not spoken to the Number One in three years, the man's bravado was too much to stomach. And after his son… He couldnt—
But from what Endeavor could see from the fallen individuals in question, he more than made up for it with his precision. Police officers were cuffing downed criminals and it appeared that the lanky man had used the giant's unwieldy nature as a makeshift extension of himself. He'd begrudgingly respect the man if he wasn't employed under the blond show-off.
As they neared the Minato ward and the destruction that further filled his vision, Nighteye stopped to inspect a broken down ambulance. He would have left the man behind, but Endeavor could see that the fallen rubble that had crumpled the vehicle would have been too much for the sidekick. Enji angled himself and Nighteye propped a hand in aid, and they pushed the wall up and back towards the precarious building. Burnin inspected the broken windshield and the air bags, the EMT driving the vehicle was knocked out. However the yelling of the individuals inside was what caught Nighteye's ear. With the rubble finally removed Endeavor pulled the broken doors off of their hinges. The metal screeched in his ears as he turned the reinforced doors into bent open panels.
Enji peered into the back of the ambulance and ignited a flame for a better view. Two standing EMT's held an unresponsive child who was strapped to the bed of the gurney met his sight. He would have left it at that and moved on if it wasn't for Nighteye who had looked at the child in recognition. The suited man spoke out to the two men in the cabin.
"Do either of you two know where the other children are? I was charged with safeguarding them but the giant heteromorph stopped me." The EMT's shook their heads and explained to them that they had rushed out of Chome Shibakoen once a villain dressed in a police uniform had set off a widescale attack. The other emergency vehicles spread out across Tokyo. And when the earthquake hit, they were trapped and unable to escape. Endeavor crossed his arms, a villain that could do such damage, He'd need to work fast.
A whoosh was heard overhead and he turned to look up at the new possible enemy, however he could barely make out the familiar figure of the Number One hero soaring in the sky. A bright light blanketed his vision for a second and he was forced to close his eyes. His teeth ground and he turned to leave, but not before Nighteye grabbed his upper arm. He shrugged it off in anger and got closer to the man face to face, his dark shadow looming over the sidekick.
Burnin was panicking from the corner of his eye as she waved her hands between them, not knowing what to do. Endeavor's eyes were blazing as his gaze burned holes into the other man's face, Nighteye was not affected by the sheer heat of his flame mask and he opened his mouth to speak his peace.
The next set of words that left the lanky man's lips caused Endeavor's ears to ring out, his eyes opened fractionally. He couldn't hear and it forced the thin man to repeat his sentence.
"A boy claiming to be Tōya Todoroki was among the children when I last saw them."