Muscular's fist flew forth, fast as a bullet and heavy as a car... but only hit the air. The villain's eyes widened, and widened even more when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Aaah... nope. You missed." The blonde turned, growling and trying to swat the giant like he would do a fly, but Philip almost seemed to collapse on himself, as his legs did a perfect split to avoid the strike.

"Awww, you tried again, and again you missed!" Muscular slammed down his fist in the cement, the street cracking like crystal under his blows... but nothing, to his angrier and angrier disbelief, Philip's body seemed to have dissolved in thin air. "WHERE ARE YOU, YOU DAMN CLOWN?!" He shouted, frustration in his voice rising... and he felt a weight pressing on his back.

"I'm here, chilling like a villain... wait weren't you the villain? Hahahahaha!" Philip laughed mockingly, laying on Muscular's hunched back like he was on a lawn chair. Muscular screamed and started a barrage of strikes, attempted grabs and more, that lasted tens and tens of seconds... Muscular couldn't hit one hair on the giant's head, who zipped around him like a pesky fly. Every observer was getting more and more shocked. Izuku himself, who had trained with Gran Torino, couldn't believe at the moves Philip was showing: a man of that size, bigger than All Might himself, being able of such swift movements. "He... he's faster... faster than I can think!" He thought bewildered despite the pain in his body.

Muscular soon had to stop. He was panting for the immense strain, and sweating through his enlarged muscle fibers. He had crushed practically everything in a 12 foot radius, including the cement below him... but nothing: he giant with a stone in his head was still looking at him, grinning mockingly from ear to ear while sitting on a heap of rubble. The villain snarled.

"WHO... Who... who the hell are you?!"

"Me? Heh...You know what, pal? You earned this much." Chuckled the brunette standing up. He cleared his voice, and like a character from a fantasy... he started a full on presentation, posing like an action figure in front of both the villain and the shocked onlookers

"I have wrestled with alligators... I have tussled with a whale! I handcuffed lightning, and put thunder in jail! Wanna know how bad I am?" Philip picked up a piece of cement, and crushed it in his hand, easily reducing it to dust. "Just right now, I have murdered a rock! Injured a stone, hospitalized a brick! I'm so bad... I make medicine sick."

From the people looking, a small snicker was heard at Philip's quip, which he took as a sign to keep going: "My friend, I'm so damn fast! I can run through the hurricane and not even get wet! You wanna mess with me? You'll pay your debt. I can drown a gulp of water and kill a dead tree... get ready for Philip Maze... because that man..."

While Philip was busy monologuing and making a show, Muscular grinned... and dashed. He aimed further than the giant... and jumped to slam his strike into the Midoriyas. Izuku tried to move, struggling and only managing to lift an arm towards inevitable doom, while Inko could only hug him in tears. He was scared... was... was this how it was going to end? His dream? His mother? Everything just gone?

... The answer to those questions... was destined to be a sound "No". Before the villain could even swing, Philip practically appeared in front of him.

"... Is me!". The giant limited himself to touching Muscular's chin: A single touch with his orange knuckles, not truly a fist. This time, however, the villain didn't have the time to even think about how much this mockery was angering him, because before his neurons could even connect enough, Philip's fist moved forward, fast like thunder. The sudden move made the Villain's head swing violently to the left, snapping back like a rubber band. His muscles could take such a violent movement... but not his insides: Muscular's brain slammed against the walls of his skull, bouncing like a pinball in his cranium.

The blonde's eyes rolled back... and he fell down, face first, victim of a concussion like no other. Philip smiled at the sight, turned towards the shocked greenettes, and shrugged. "Seems he tried to pay his debt, but couldn't afford it, eh?"

Izuku was shocked, both his and his mother's jaws slacked open. He had to say something, ask about him, anything! And yet... as he took one single breath, hearing the crowd begin to cheer... the world faded away, and he slumped forward, the last thing to greet his eyes being the floor

Several Hours later at the hospital...

Izuku laid on his hospital bed, still... actually, he didn't really know what he was feeling in that moment, actually. Was he shocked? Scared? Bewildered? Mesmerized? Maybe all of the above at once. He sighed, and held his face in his hands.

"I messed up big time..." Izuku had indeed had a very rough couple of hours after being brought to the hospital with his mother. While he was still passed out, the doctors had to set his bones back in place before putting him in casts, and that's not counting, after he finally woke up, the fear he felt when Gran Torino came to see him at bedside, only to yell at him for his unruliness. Lucky for him, the old hero understood his motives (also thanks to Inko's Good word)... but that didn't stop him from both giving his student plenty an earful and promising a second, more in depth one the following day, after he would have come back to the academy. He looked at the ceiling, sighing...and decided to think about something else. His Mind of course, went back to the person that had in fact saved his life, filling itself with unanswered questions...

"Who was that man?" He thought "Was he a hero? No, impossible, I know practically every hero, I would remember one like him... maybe he was making his debut? But... one capable of doing something so impressive would have been somewhat famous already at the very least! Maybe someone from abroad? Or incredibly underground? Or... a vigilante, maybe?!"

"Izuku... you're mumbling"

"Huh?" Izuku sat up, shaken away from his rambling, and noticed his mother had just entered the room, and was looking at him, apprehensively.

"Ah! Sorry mom... my habit is stronger than my own will..."

"That's ok, sweetie..." She sat near his bed, sighing. "Today was... peculiar enough to justify it, after all."

"Yeah" He sighed, moving back to lay on the pillow. And so the two stayed for minutes, in almost embarrassed silence that they wee unable to break. For months, Izuku had been so focused in his training, so hellbent on becoming a hero, that it had been a while since the last time he and his mom could actually spend some time together, except for meals of course. Izuku had realized this, and... kind of started berated himself over it: He loved his mother, and in his eyes she didn't deserve to be 'practically abandoned' by her only son, on the contrary He turned his head towards her, and opened his mouth to speak.

"Mom... I'm so-"

"No, Izuku. Don't excuse yourself, please". The woman caressed her son's head, her fingers running gently through his shrubby hair.

"I know how you feel, Izuku, and I want you to You don't have to excuse yourself because you worry me. You are pursuing your dream, and that's what's important."

"B-but-"

"But nothing. As your mother, it's my duty to sustain you, and to care for you" She pecked his forehead, drying his eyes threatening to cry, and her own.

"And I do it because I love you, my baby. I'll always be worried about you. But this is the path you chose, your dream. And I wouldn't have it any other way"

"Thanks, mom. I love you too". He couldn't help but smile at his mom. She was indeed the person that had sustained him the most, his dear and protective mama. She looked at him with loving eyes.. but then a question popped out her mouth:

"... Oh! Izuku, on another note... do you have any idea on who that man was?"

"No idea. It's... strange to me too: one that can do what he did should be famous, but... nothing!"

"That is strange. If even you don't know who he is, with your obsession with heroes-"

"Hey!"

"It's the truth, Izuku. You know practically every Hero, quirks and statistics included."

"Gaaah... I'm not obsessed, mom"

"Sure you're not" Inko giggled, seeing her son pout, then smile with her. She stood up, sighing and flapping her hand a bit towards her face in search of air.

"Gosh these hospital rooms are always so closed off. The air is warm, and it smells, ew."

"I think you can open the window, mom. I saw a nurse do it, so..."

"Oh good!" the small woman opened the window, and sighed in relief, feeling the fresh breeze of the evening barge in the room. "Haaah... much better already, isn't it?"

Izuku smiled, feeling fresher... but suddenly he saw something... or rather, someone: a huge figure, standing on the windowsill behind his mother. His eyes widened, and he shouted in fear

"MOM! BEHIND YOU!"

Inko turned, and almost screamed in terror as the figure gently walked down from the window... and smiled at her. She shook her head, and recognized the man who saved her and her son, gasping in surprise.

"Wait a... It's you!"

FINALLY. Sorry to have kept you all waiting. Things go slwo, and my mind is dull... But I hope You enjoy! See Ya!

Lurkerbelow
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