I stood on top of a roof that overlooked the entire city of Musutafu. Tall city buildings stretched out in front of me, all lit up as it was already late in the night.

There were still no signs of the heroes coming. Being outside, standing on top of an abandoned building on the edge of the city, I thought they would have at least have seen a sign of someone coming to stop these villains. Still, there was no one. No one was out here but the three villains, Ollie, and me.

A hand pressed on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Such a gesture would have been welcoming if it belonged to someone else, but my body tensed as I knew it was the very touch that made me fear physical contact for so long. My lips pressed together, afraid of what this man would want.

"Quarter til midnight," he said, "the time most people will be asleep. So peaceful, don't you think?"

If the man expected an answer, then he was sadly mistaken. I turned my head to glance over at Ollie. For the first time, he had stopped fighting the man, but that didn't help as his body was still contorted into a form that wouldn't let him move.

Seeing that I was looking at him, Ollie dropped his head, avoiding eye contact.

"Of course, there are a few night owls, usually heroes who have nothing better to do or kids who stay up well past their bedtime," Kannon continued. "But all are things I've already thought out. After all, every problem has a simple solution, and in the next year, crime will become nonexistent all over the world."

Again, I stayed silent, not really wanting to know his reasonings. All I wanted was for this to be over. The longer time had ticked by, the more I had started to lose hope that the heroes would even show up. Mr. Elastic promised they would come. All I had to do was distract them.

But how was I to distract them if they were holding Ollie's life against me?

"Your job is simple," Kannon explained as he walked me over to an odd piece of machinery. It looked kind of like one of those really old video cameras sitting on a kickstand, only the video camera part looked much bigger. The funnel in the front was wide, spreading out well past the box. On the other side was a keypad, with a scanner right next to it. "I need you to use your Quirk to turn into Nobu Eto, an exact replica of what he looked like before he came back to the public Quirkless."

I shook my head. "Why him? I-I-I don't even know him, erm, well, I-I don't know what he, uh, looks like."

The man turned me around until I was facing him. He still kept one hand on my shoulder, probably to prevent me from running away from him again. With his free hand, he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small photo and turned it, so I could see it. In it was a man with black hair and green eyes. While the first time I had seen him I didn't recognize him, I couldn't deny the resemblance he had to Hana Sakai. They shared the same green eyes and both looked a bit on the shorter side.

"He's five-four, weighs about hundred and thirty pounds," he told me. "Anything else you need in order to change into him?"

Distract. I just needed to distract him. Maybe I could buy some time asking some questions, and then the heroes would come. All I needed was to distract them.

I just wasn't sure how much time I could buy them.

"Just so I can, uh, just so I can understand this," I said, "You want me to—to turn into him and—and then what?"

Kannon smiled. "You're going to press the numbers on the keypad exactly as I tell you and have it scan your hand. Don't think about messing it up. We do have your brother after all. It'd be a shame if something happened because of you."

I turned my head to look back at Ollie. This time, Nightshade decided to kneel beside him, stroking his face as she was making baby noises at him. When she caught that I was looking at them, she smiled before leaning close to him. My body tensed as my eyes widened, worried what she was about to do, but instead of doing anything bad, she just giggled and tousled his hair some more.

When this all happened, I could see Ollie looked as if he was about ready to throw up.

"After you're done, I'll have Nightshade use her Quirk to make everyone in the city fall asleep. We'll be fine as we are in a ten foot radius of the machine. Everyone within a 1,000 mile radius of us, however, will fall into a deep sleep. You'll have to power up the machine again so that I can use my Quirk on it," Kannon explained.

My eyes were still stuck on Ollie and Nightshade, worried that if I looked away, she would do something to him. I couldn't let her do something to my brother.

"Why do people have to be asleep for you to use your Quirk?" I asked. "I mean, you—you used your Quirk on me when I was younger. All I had to do was close my eyes."

"Mmm, so you somehow remember that, huh?" Kannon hummed. "Let's just say, when someone's asleep, it's easier for people to forget important chunks of information. If people are relaxed or have their eyes closed, I can only twist the truth. Just one of my limitations, but don't worry. I won't do that to you. Yet. Just do exactly as I say, and this whole thing will be nothing more than a faded memory that floated away from your head."

For once, I tore my gaze off from Ollie and looked down at the ground. He wasn't wrong. My Quirk had many limitations. I had to memorize every feature of a person in order to turn into them. Once I was done, I couldn't change into someone else for another ten minutes. If I turned into an animal, then it'd be twenty-four hours.

Being aware of one's limitations was a good thing so that people could use their Quirk to their advantage. That didn't mean anyone felt good about them. Hearing Kannon admit to his own limitations just showed how confident he was with his plan. If that was the case, then we were already screwed.

"Once we get this done, the five of us will travel city to city, erasing all the Quirks until no one feels left out," Kannon said, glancing over towards my brother. "After all, it's unfair to those who can't seem to get a Quirk, don't you think?"

I turned my head to look at Ollie once again. My brother wasn't paying attention as Nightshade was pinching his cheeks, continuing to make baby noises at him. Goro, who stood behind Ollie, just shook his head. He didn't seem too happy that she was doing what she did to him, but no matter what he said to her, the pink-haired woman didn't listen.

Ollie struggled being Quirkless. He wanted nothing more than to have a Quirk and fit in with the rest of the other kids at his school. If everyone was like that, then maybe he wouldn't have felt so defeated. Maybe Ollie would feel as if he could be whatever it is he wanted and actually achieve it.

It wasn't impossible to get a job without a Quirk, but it was still nearly impossible to get a good one. The only thing Ollie could never be was a hero, not without a Quirk. That was all he wanted. He looked up to the heroes because they kept people safe.

His words rung in the back of my head. It was the same words he said to me the day I got accepted into U.A. One of these days, you're going to be a better hero than Mr. Elastic, right? Ollie had asked. When you do, you'll be my favorite hero because I'll know you're keeping this world safe.

He might have accepted the fact that I wasn't going to be a hero, but I promised him I'd be his hero. I felt horrible knowing I was going to break that promise.

"Now time's ticking, so if you will, please, get to it," Kannon said.

I looked up at him. "Nightshade has to use her Quirk first right?" I asked.

Kannon nodded his head in response.

"If I'm going to do this, I-I'll need her to be by the machine," I told him. "In case it needs her to use her Quirk quickly."

The man's mouth twisted upwards, gleaming against the moonlight. His shadow started to cast over me, causing my muscles to tense a bit, but I didn't stumble backwards. I needed to stand my ground and stop Nightshade from scaring my brother. I couldn't stand seeing him so scared that I had to do all that I could to help out.

"Glad you're finally coming to your senses," Kannon said before looking over at Nightshade. "Nii, come here. The start of a new era is about to begin."

Nightshade squealed with excitement as I heard her footsteps growing louder beside me. My heart started to race as I tried concentrating on my breath. Those heroes would come, wouldn't they? Mr. Elastic said I just needed to distract, but how much longer could I distract without these villains growing suspicious?

I honestly couldn't think of anything to distract them with. I mean, it wasn't like I could say my Quirk only worked once or that I could only change into certain people. They'd see right through it, especially since I remember Kannon telling me how they hacked into the school's camera system. Knowing that they did, they probably knew everything about me. If I tried anything, like turned into a rat, wouldn't they just take it out on my brother? Ollie shouldn't get hurt in any way because of me. I couldn't live with myself if he got hurt because of me.

As long as they had my brother, I couldn't do anything but listen. All I could do was hope those heroes would get here.

"Tami, you better make this quick," Kannon warned, "or I'll have Goro throw your half-brother off the roof. Do you think he can make that jump, being Quirkless and all?"

My heart raced as I turned back. Ollie was far away from us, so he probably couldn't hear what Kannon had said. That didn't mean he didn't have a clue. His face still paled as he started shaking, but Goro kept a tight grip on him, preventing him from escaping. It wasn't like Ollie could escape as he was covered in goo.

I looked down at that picture of Nobu Eto. For a split second, I thought of changing into someone else, maybe Hatsuko being that she could easily take out these guys without using her Quirk. The thought drifted away as I kept hearing Kannon's last question repeating in my head. I could never live with myself if something happened to my brother when I could have stopped it.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and started to transform into the inventor. When I opened my eyes, I felt myself standing a bit taller. I looked down, seeing my romper had transformed with me, turning into a suit that he wore in the picture. Even though Sakura and I had it detailed in the design that we wanted my costume to have the ability to change as well, I didn't think it was possible. My special outfit I had at home that would let me change just grew alongside with me. It didn't have the ability to change completely.

For a moment, I was distracted by that. How was it they could figure out how to do that? It didn't make any sense. I was amazed. Seeing it, I wished Sakura was here to see it as I knew she'd squeal with excitement, but she wasn't. Looking around me, the only two people to witness it up close were Kannon and Nightshade. Neither of them seemed to have cared about the outfit as much since they were impressed with other aspects of my transformation.

Kannon grabbed my hand, causing my eyes to widen as I looked at him. The older man peered down at the palm of my hand as he traced his one finger over my own, and inspected it very carefully. I froze as I wanted to run away, but his grip was far too strong.

"Good," Kannon said, releasing my hand. "Fingerprints and everything. I must say, I'm rather impressed by your ability, but imagine what kind of chaos it could bring to the world if someone were to use it for evil? If someone a few generations down the road would use it to trick and hurt others. At least now you're going to be the one to prevent that from happening."

My lips pressed together as I looked down at my hands. Was my Quirk really more villain material than hero? I wasn't planning on being either, but I could feel my stomach turn as I thought about what he said.

Maybe this was for the best that I eventually lost my Quirk. Ollie would be normal, not feeling like an outsider. If no one knew about Quirks now, maybe there'd be a chance that my Quirk wouldn't be used as a villainous one. The last thing I'd want was to know I was the cause of some mass destruction, or that someone had my Quirk and used it for evil.

Taking a deep breath, I curled my fingers into the palms of my hands as I slowly brought them closer to my stomach. "What's the code you need me to enter?" I asked.

Nightshade giggled while Kannon rambled off a series of numbers. He recited them so quickly that I didn't even have time to put my hand on the keyboard. I stared at him when he was done and blinked.

"C-could you repeat that?" I asked.

Once again, Kannon rambled off the numbers. This time, I could hear a few of the combinations. Thirty-six, forty-nine, zero, ninety-nine...but he still recited them so fast that I couldn't memorize them. Even if I had my hand on the keyboard, it would've been too fast for me to type.

"Slower," I told him.

Kannon let out a frustrated sigh. I wanted to smile, seeing that he was struggling for once, but it was short lived. The man grabbed my wrist and placed my hand on the keyboard.

"Sixty-seven," he said, waiting for me to actually type the numbers in before saying the next pair. "Thirty-six, fifty-two, forty-nine..."

He continued to give more numbers as I typed them in. With each number combination that was in there, I could hear the machine turning from inside. Every once in a while, some smoke would shoot out of it, but no one seemed bothered by it. Instead, from the corners of my eyes, I could see both Nightshade and Kannon getting very excited about it all.

"And finally, Eigh—" Kannon said before a green vine wrapped around his wrist. The man stopped and looked down at it. Before any of us could look back, he was hit with a beam of light, causing all of us to snap our heads towards the source.

While I should've been relieved, I felt my heart racing. Kaito, Sakura, and Raiden were standing on the other end of the building, all getting ready to fight. They all wore their hero costumes, something I wasn't entirely familiar with. Well, all except for Sakura's costume as she showed it to me once she was finished designing it. Seeing it on paper versus on her were two totally different things. The black jumpsuit clung to her body, causing her green boots to stick out a bit more. Over her shoulders, she wore an elbow length green jacket that was loose and flowed down to her knees. Two thin straps tied together around the waist. I remembered wondering how that jacket would look heroic, but seeing her stand with her hands on her hips, Sakura looked like a Pro Hero.

"Let them go," Raiden's voice boomed, forcing me back into reality. As I did, I noticed him cracking his knuckles while he glared at Kannon. "Or we will have to do this the hard way."

I was about ready to make a run towards Ollie, seeing that Kannon and Nightshade were distracted by my friends, but I was too late when the thought crossed my mind. No one had time to warn me as I felt the man grab the back of my neck, like a mother cat would do to her kittens, causing me to tense up. During that time I tensed up, I felt something sharp scratch underneath my chin.

"Hit me again, and you risk losing her. Can't have that, can we?" Kannon's voice taunted from behind me before Nightshade started laughing hysterically, clapping her hands.

"Oh! Wooksie wike we've got some bad kiddos who need a nappy poo!" Nightshade squealed.

My eyes quickly snapped over towards Goro and Ollie. The man took a defensive stance in front of my brother, not letting the goo come off of him at all. I quickly looked at my friends, catching Kaito's orange eyes looking at me. It was a long shot, but it was either his Quirk or Sakura's that could really help out. I glanced back at Ollie before returning my gaze at Kaito, hoping he would get the message, the message that I wanted them to worry about my brother first. Not me.

While I did that, Kannon let out a menacing laugh. "You honestly think playing hero will save your little friend now? Pathetic. You're all fools for thinking that! Besides, it's already too late."

I looked back at Ollie, pressing my lips together. My brother had given up as he hung his head over his meatball-like contorted body. Seeing him look so defeated broke my heart, but I couldn't give up. I looked back at Kaito, hoping he'd understand.

Without being able to say a word, I guess he couldn't exactly quite understand.

Like Kannon said, it was too late. He grabbed my right hand, Nobu Eto's dominant hand, with the hand that didn't have the knife in it, and pressed it on the last number on the keyboard before slamming my hand down on the scanner.

It was then I realized my friends were too late. It was over. They had won. The machine powered up, meaning all that was left was for them to use their Quirks on it. Then, nearly everyone in the city would have their Quirks erased.

All because I couldn't think of a way to distract them before my friends got here. I was right when I said I wasn't a hero. There was nothing I could do right. Everyone was going to suffer because of it.

As if knowing there was nothing I could've done, Kannon released the knife from my neck and pushed me into the ground. My hands skidded across the pavement as I lost focus on what Nobu Eto looked like, shifting back to my regular self. Without even looking at my hands, I could feel them being scratched up, but that was the least of my worries.

"Pathetic! You heroes never come on time. Back in my day, we were able to get to the sense of danger before any crime happened. Now, you just sit and watch, waiting for something bad to happen. Not anymore. You'll be the few to witness the dawn of a new era, one where there'll be no crime because there'll be no Quirks," Kannon gloated.

I pushed myself onto my hands and feet before I looked behind me, seeing Nightshade leaning into the machine, puckering her lips. The machine still needed them to activate their Quirks on it in order for it to work. Without it, the machine was just powered up. That was it.

We still had time.

"Sakura! Get the machine away from them!" I screamed as I looked back.

My friends snapped their heads from me to the machine, thinking the same thing at the same time. I was no longer needed. Not right now. With their eyes off of me, and their eyes on the machine, they wouldn't see anything coming their way.

Nightshade was about ready to kiss the scanner that Kannon forced my hand on when a green vine wrapped around the metal machine and pulled it away. I turned my head to see Kaito running towards Ollie and Goro, just like I had silently asked him to do earlier. Light flashed out of his hands as he used it to fling Goro's goo attacks away and hit him with it when he could. Behind him, I saw Raiden's muscles puffing out as he slipped past the white-haired man and started to tear off the goo from my brother.

Everyone seemed distracted, which meant one thing. I needed to run away and find out what was taking those heroes so long. If I couldn't find them, then I'd find someone or at least call the police. My friends couldn't do this alone, and without being able to use my Quirk for a while, I knew this was the only way I could help out.

However, my hesitation got the best of me. Right when I was about to crawl away, I felt something grab my arm and yank me up. I didn't even have a chance to fight as I felt a familiar sharp edge brush under my chin all while the man's hands wrapped around my wrists, pulling me close to his chest.

"You're not going anywhere," his voice hissed in my ear. "I warned you there would be consequences if you didn't listen to me."

The man didn't need to say any more as I felt the sweat pouring down my face. He pulled me away from the fight, so I only saw the beginning of it. Sakura used her vines to keep Nightshade away from the machine she had laying by her feet, but there was only so much she could do as Nightshade dodged each and every attack, getting closer and closer to the machine. On the other side, I saw Kaito shooting beams of light at Goro's sludge bombs. He kept the man distracted while Raiden tried running towards my brother. The guy would've too, but Goro kept an eye on him, throwing balls of goo his way as well.

My friends were struggling to keep up with two villains, and there was nothing I could do to help as Kannon pressed the knife underneath my chin as he dragged me through the door, leaving my friends to fight alone.

While they were in a battle of their own, I realized I was about to face something even worse.

Author's Note:

I'm back with the last few chapters of this book! Who's excited. Again, reason why this hiatus took so long was because initially this chapter was supposed to go into a totally different direction, but that direction would've been a very dull one. Luckily, the last set of chapters will now be updated once a week, probably on Thursday or Friday.

And...I'm just now realizing how little Tami can actually fight, especially since she never gave it her all in her training. Oof. Poor girl. So, for this chapter's question: in a fight or flight scenario stuff, which one do you usually turn to?

Character Spotlight: Kannon Smith
Quirk: Amnesia
Likes: Cigars

Song: Threat Incoming from My Hero Academia (Truth be told, I wanted to use more from the BNHA soundtrack, but I just couldn't find the perfect opportunity when I'm so picky...oof!)

Oh, and here is the jacket that inspired Sakura's hero costume. Keep in mind, it's only the jacket as I've found similar ones, and seeing it time and time again, it made me realize that Sakura would have something very similar to it for her costume.