His hand touched his face.
— Damn it... — TN, staggering from exhaustion, realized his mask was gone; it must have slipped off during the fight in the water.
The silence that settled after the brothers' clash was deceptive. The air in the park suddenly grew viscous, and the morning mist turned an unnatural, sickly gray. TN, still standing a few steps from Kuinn and Taiko, was the first to feel it. His Quirk Vision sent a sharp spike of pain through his temple as a flood of familiar signatures washed over him.
Out of the depths of the park, snapping young maples like dry matchsticks, it emerged.
The creature moved on all fours, yet a sense of intelligent cruelty radiated from its gait. Black skin with orange stripes seemed to absorb the very light around it, and the exposed, pulsating brain on its crown looked like a macabre alien control organ. The Nomu-Tiger came to a halt twenty meters away. Its mere presence weighed on the psyche more heavily than Taiko's gravity staff ever could.
— Kaito! — TN rasped, not daring to look back. — Take them. Fast. Get in the car and drive until you run out of gas.
Until this very moment, he hadn't wanted to involve them in this battle. A battle against his past—a past that clearly wouldn't let him go until he was dead.
Taiko, whose consciousness had just merged back with his body, forced his eyes open. His gaze was hazy, but he saw his older brother's back, a lone silhouette blocking the monster's path. He saw TN trembling from overexertion, yet refusing to retreat a single inch.
— Brother... — Taiko's lips barely formed the word.
— Leave! — TN ordered, hissing through his teeth. — If I twitch, he'll spring. If I run, you're all dead meat. Get her out of here!
Kaito, sensing the lethal gravity of the situation, grabbed Kuinn and the semi-conscious Taiko. Kuinn turned, casting one last look at "Nomura-san," who stood alone against a nightmare she recognized from the shadows of their own house. In her eyes, a mix of confusion and pure horror flashed before the car doors slammed shut.
TN prayed to whatever gods were listening that the creature wouldn't react to the car—that it would keep standing there, scenting the air and assessing the threat. Their gazes locked: the amber, predatory eyes of a mindless killer versus the exhausted purple eyes of TN, like a cornered animal. The Tiger recognized him, snorting loudly to clear its nostrils. TN's knees threatened to buckle, but he held firm. He knew there would be no winners here. On one side was a man willing to do anything to survive; on the other, a monster built by Kyudai, ready to die at a single command.
His thoughts, previously racing at light speed, suddenly slowed like freezing molasses.
Tonight is the night I die.
The thought made something inside him snap. A nauseating lump rose in his throat, and his head spun. The wounds from the fight with Taiko began to scream; Nomu blood isn't a miracle cure—it takes time and rest to knit a body back together. But sleep was a luxury he couldn't afford.
As soon as the engine's roar faded into the distance, a mechanical, rattling voice echoed from the Nomu-Tiger's chest. It didn't come from vocal cords; it was a speaker implanted in the beast. The voice of Doctor Kyudai Garaki.
— You have always been too sentimental, my dear project, — the doctor's voice sounded almost affectionate. — Look at yourself: wounded, drained, the stolen Quirk you hold has exhausted your last reserves. Frankly, you have little chance of opposing me at all.
His mind was a tangled mess, but TN managed to catch one vital detail: Kyudai only knew about his Quirk partially.
— Let's make a deal. You come with the "kitty" voluntarily. I swear to leave your... "family" alone. I will even pay you enough to buy your own island. Just one small manipulation in the laboratory, and I will let you go.
TN smirked crookedly, spitting out blood that tasted of iron. Damn it, he'd even lost a tooth from Taiko's hit, and his cheek was already swelling. He knew the value of Kyudai's oaths. Trusting him was the absolute last thing he would ever do.
— A small manipulation? Like the one that turned this guy into a striped rug with his brains inside out? — He was stalling for time, feverishly scanning the beast with Quirk Vision.
What he saw made his heart skip a beat. If his chances were low before, they were approaching zero now. He needed to change his approach. He had to rewrite his survival strategy on the fly.
— I will give you one last piece of advice, though I doubt you'll survive long enough to use it. Strength is the only thing that levels the playing field against the injustice of the world. You and I are miserable insects compared to this world, TN. It will digest us and spit us out! To survive, people like us need the patronage of the strongest. I was born without a Quirk, yet I survived the era of societal collapse because I understood that truth.
— Strength should be used to build and protect, not to destroy, — TN countered. He had no strength left even to move. His whole body felt numb. Damn it. Come on, move...
— Like a bulldozer, strength is needed to demolish the "wrong" buildings to build something new, something of one's own, — Kyudai continued, sounding almost philosophical. — Your hesitation is the strongest signal for me to act. You are on the edge, TN!
The Nomu-Tiger began to huff, its muscles bulging in anticipation. It seemed even Kyudai's vocal command might not be enough to hold the beast back if things turned sideways.
Through Quirk Vision, TN detected a device buried inside the Tiger's ear. It was almost certainly a high-frequency sound relay—the key element allowing Kyudai to beam commands directly into the Nomu's brain. If he could destroy it, he would cut the leash. The creature would become an agent of pure chaos, but Kyudai would lose his "remote control."
— Kaito, — he whispered with just his lips, noticing a silhouette returning in the shadows of the trees. The odds shifted. — Be careful. He has a second Quirk—regeneration tied to blood.
— Okay, Kyudai! You win! — TN raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, sighing. — I'll go with you. You wanted my Quirk, right? It's true—I can steal a Quirk and use it. But what do you need it for?
Kyudai knew TN wasn't stupid. In fact, the Doctor had once hoped to raise him as a successor. Approaching him was dangerous. Is he bluffing? Have you prepared a trap for me, you little piece of shit?
— I will tell you only once we are back in the lab.
The "hit and run" tactic had worked against standard Nomu, but this creature was too agile, too fast. And he was out of time. He had bought just enough seconds for Kaito to get into position. He pulled the remains of a chocolate bar from his pocket and forced himself to swallow it, activating Sugar Rush once more.
Kaito attacks from the rear. I destroy the relay.
— How sad to see such limitless potential thrown in the trash... though you never really stood a chance. You lasted surprisingly long, only to end up as simple raw material. Ha! If you do survive the fight, the backlash of your Quirk will be agonizing. You might even die of shock. Either way, your story ends today, — the speaker hissed.
— That's not your problem anymore. — TN's muscles began to swell. His blood pumped with newfound violence, forcing energy into his limbs. He swayed, already dreading the excruciating crash that would follow. He had ten minutes. Ten minutes to destroy the relay, escape, and move the fight elsewhere.
The Nomu's second Quirk was blood-based regeneration. Likely a form of vampirism. Kyudai had specifically engineered an ultra-hunter that fed on flesh to regenerate—a creature designed to hunt people.
When Kaito saw the signal, he didn't hesitate. He saw that "Nomura" had changed—he had become someone else, someone more formidable. For Kaito, who had lived through his own tragedy and hated his own past weakness, this was the ultimate spark. His body transformed in a flash: bone blades, as sharp as mantis razors, erupted from his forearms. He leaped high, aiming for the Tiger's jugular.
Blood erupted in a fountain. Kaito acted on the assumption that he was fighting a man—tall and strong, yes, but human. He was wrong.
The "hit and run" plan crumbled against the monster's primal power. As soon as Kyudai's command rang out, the air exploded with movement.
Kaito's jump was precise, his blades biting deep into the monster's neck. A sickening crunch echoed as skin burst and thick black blood splattered the grass. But the Tiger didn't even flinch. To the beast, this wound was nothing more than a mosquito bite.
Before Kaito could push off for a second strike, a massive, clawed paw swiped him out of the air, crushing his ribs. With a wet, gagging roar, the Nomu pulled him close. TN watched in horror as the creature's jaws unhinged.
Crunch.
The Tiger tore a chunk of flesh from Kaito's shoulder. The scream of pain was swallowed by the monster's roar. Right before TN's eyes, the wound Kaito had inflicted on the Nomu's neck began to knit together with impossible speed, fueled by the fresh blood.
— No! — TN gasped.
Under the effects of Sugar Rush, his perception was sharpened to a razor's edge. He saw every capillary, every twitch of the creature's fibers. He lunged forward, closing the distance in a fraction of a second. His target: the right ear.
First strike—Miss! The Tiger, even while occupied with its "meal," instinctively jerked its head. TN's fingers only grazed the stiff fur, leaving a shallow furrow. The Nomu tossed Kaito aside like a broken doll and turned its full, murderous attention to TN.
Second strike—Do or die.
TN ignored the massive clawed paw swinging toward his temple. He poured every ounce of his desperation into this single thrust. His fingers entered the creature's ear canal with a wet, squelching sound.
C-crack!
The metal of the relay snapped under the localized pressure. In that same heartbeat, TN's fingers erupted in white-hot agony—the bones couldn't take the recoil and shattered, twisting at an unnatural angle. Pungent, bluish smoke billowed from the Nomu's ear, and the speaker in its chest emitted a deafening, dying whistle.
The Tiger howled. The feedback from the destroyed device struck its exposed brain directly. The creature collapsed to its knees, clawing at its own head, tearing its skin in a frenzy of pain.
TN knew he had to choose: save himself now or secure a future. He used his Quirk to steal the Tiger's Blood Regeneration, discarding Taiko's Body Swap. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice a pawn to save the king.
In his laboratory, Kyudai Garaki leapt from his chair, staring at the static on his monitors.
— Impudent brat... — he hissed, feverishly flipping switches. — You broke the leash. But you won't get away.
The control signal was dead, but the visual feed from the Nomu's face remained active. The Doctor saw the Tiger beginning to recover. It was no longer a tool; it was a wounded, enraged beast whose instincts demanded the death of the one who caused it pain. This creature had always been difficult to break; now, its wild spirit had completely taken over.
Garaki hovered his finger over the immediate recall button but froze. He imagined this infuriated "project" and an equally dangerous TN bursting into his sterile sanctuary. In their struggle, his priceless equipment—the work of decades—would be reduced to rubble.
— Johnny! — Kyudai shouted into the empty lab. — Teleport the Tiger immediately! Not here! I need him alive, but I won't have him tearing my lab to shreds... Send him to the Port of Hosu! Now!
For Johnny Nomu, Port Hosu was a standard "drop point."
A viscous, foul-smelling black ooze began to pour from the Tiger's mouth. TN recognized the Quirk—Warp Gate. The slimy mass touched his skin too, dragging him into the icy trap. But Garaki deliberately delayed the transition. He wanted the disorientation and the crushing pressure of the void to squeeze the last drops of resistance out of TN.
— Kaito!... — TN managed to scream, but his voice was swallowed by the dark.
The world collapsed. The sensation of falling into the abyss lasted longer than usual. Every second in that dense darkness sucked the glucose out of his system, accelerating the Sugar Rush burnout. The fabric of reality pressed against his chest, crushing his remaining strength.
Finally, salty, humid air scorched his lungs.
TN collapsed onto the hard concrete pier. Everything was a blur. Sugar Rush was incinerating the last molecules of fuel in his blood. His broken fingers pulsed in time with his frantic heart. His body began to shake from hypoglycemic shock. The Doctor had achieved his goal: the fighter was now a half-dead shadow.
Enormous cargo containers loomed around him, forming a cold, echoing labyrinth. The dark water of the bay stretched out ahead. Ten meters away, breathing heavily and dripping black blood onto the concrete, the Nomu-Tiger was rising.
Now, there was no Kaito, no Kuinn, and no orders from the Doctor. Just a predator driven by pure rage and its exhausted prey in the silent graveyard of Port Hosu.