Chapter 2

Accelerator's back would have been broken if he wasn't using his ability right now. The bloody cupboard weighed far more than it looked. He was sure his hag of a neighbor had left one of her book loads inside of it, too lazy to take them all out, but he couldn't complain since she did cook for him when he didn't feel like going out. After climbing almost three flights of stairs down, he placed the cupboard on the sidewalk with a bang.

"Brat!" a voice shrieked right next to his ear. "Be careful with that!" A woman huffed next to Accelerator with a look of annoyance. "I'm getting paid big bucks for that piece of shit, got it?"

Accelerator gave her an unimpressed stare. The woman was around her thirties, but she had a good figure, good enough to pull off the skimpy clothing she wore daily, although she always wore too much makeup.

"Who in their right mind would pay anything for shit like this?" he grumbled.

The woman gave him a hard stare. "I'll have you know my grandaddy was some big-name tycoon back in China. That cupboard happens to be one of the shits he brought all the way here that was actually worth a fuck."

Accelerator rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Saki."

She just glared at him harder. "That's Saki-San to you, brat."

"I'd better still be getting paid for this," he grunted.

She smirked. "Don't you worry your pretty little head over it, brat. You'll get your money. Once those uppity city folk give me what I'm owed, I'll give you a nice clean cut of the money, since I'm such a nice person."

There was a greedy smirk on her mouth, making Accelerator feel slight pity for whatever poor sap she managed to scam. Shrugging his shoulders, he shook his head and walked away. "Whatever." He needed some fresh air. Saki could be a bitch every now and then, but she was reasonable to some extent. As long as she kept her messes far away from Accelerator and didn't bother him too much, he didn't see much of a problem working for her every now and then.

Their first meeting had been odd, to say the least. It had only been a few days since being in a different dimension, and Accelerator had found himself in trouble… sort of. A group of druggies was surrounding someone who was screaming and cursing so loudly and violently that even Accelerator couldn't help but wince. What struck Accelerator as ironic was that in a world where literal heroes existed, not a single bystander made the move to intervene or try to help. With a roll of his eyes, Accelerator approached the group with a sigh. He really did try to stop them without starting a fight, but maybe that hero bastard's luck rubbed off on him or something. Well, it was barely a fight, logically speaking. They practically took themselves out. As for the 'victim'… that was how he met Saki. She thought he was some punk teen who'd run away from home or something and offered him a job and a place to stay. Accelerator now knew with absolute certainty that it was not done out of the goodness of her heart. The crazy bitch could practically smell money on him.

His job was basically to become her muscle and security, keep idiots from causing trouble around her apartment complex, and make it 'safer'. The money wasn't much, but Accelerator didn't have his 'unlimited benefits of a Level 5' here, and it was a job that made the least amount of waves in this world of powers. Accelerator looked up at the cloudy night sky. Not a single star was in sight. He reminisced about the crazy bitch, thought about Academy City, and everything he left behind… but it still felt like he brought something over with him. He scowled. He was never this philosophical, nor was he ever this cheesy. It felt like that damn hero might have punched a few of his functioning brain cells, along with getting shot. Maybe he lost more of his old personality or some shit like that.

Accelerator let out a tired sigh—

"Oomf!"

He stood still as a statue. Something hit him, or more specifically, his vector shield. It was weak, too weak for it to be some kind of attack. Looking to his left, he saw… a kid, a girl, probably no older than five or six. She had light blue, ash-colored hair with a horn protruding from the right side of her forehead. She was staring up at him with frightened, wide red eyes. But what made her stand out was the old, ragged hospital gown she was wearing and the multiple bandages tied tightly around her arms and legs, stopping at her wrists and ankles. Accelerator was no fool. No matter how different this world was from his own, there was one thing it would have in common with his own world: the disgusting disregard for human morality and ethics when it came to researching an individual's ability or, in this case, quirk. Human experimentation. The girl was trembling, but Accelerator didn't move. He had no idea what to do. A reluctant part of him thought about calling the authorities, but in his personal experience, that rarely ever went well. Not to mention he was trying to avoid them, being a literal alien here.

As cold and heartless as Accelerator was, he'd feel like shit if he left the kid the way she was. "Tch," he clicked in annoyance as he reached one arm out to lift her but stopped in his tracks as the girl fearfully flinched away from him. "Don't move," he grunted. "Or do you want to keep laying in the cold, dumb brat?" The girl didn't say anything, so Accelerator took that as her agreeing. A normal person would have held the girl in a normal way, like close to their chest, but not Accelerator. He could barely start a normal conversation without bringing up blood, gore, and the corruption of politics. He held the frail, malnourished, and clearly abused girl by the back of her gown and held her at a distance. With a sigh, he groaned, "What a pain."

Deciding it was safer to hold the girl a bit closer, he shoved her under one arm, using his ability to make sure the girl wasn't uncomfortable or in pain—not that he'd ever admit he did it—and walked back to his apartment. 'It's way too late, and the police station is way too far. I'll dump the brat there tomorrow.'

Eri didn't know what to think about the man in front of her. She was sitting on his couch while he talked to the woman called 'Saki', or more like the woman was shouting at him for holding Eri the way he did. Eri didn't understand it. She'd been held like that before, and it had always hurt, but when the man, Accelerator, as Eri learned from Saki's yelling, hadn't hurt her at all. She watched with keen interest at them and all the things around her. This was her first time outside in a long time. Her memories of her last time out in the open were vivid and clear. She remembered everything. She always did. There was never a thing she couldn't recall in perfect detail. She remembered everything from sight to sound and all the way to smell. Eri always remembered. She remembered her mommy screaming, crying, and pointing a finger at her. 'Cursed!' she had said to her as her father disappeared right before her in a bright golden glow. She remembered the pain she felt when Overhaul hurt her, when he said cruel things to her, when he—

"Hey! You listening, brat?"

Eri looked up in surprise. "I'm sorry," she whimpered on reflex. Accelerator looked at her with an unimpressed stare. Sighing, he continued, "Do you have a name?" he asked.

Eri fidgeted a bit before meekly answering, "I'm… Eri."

Accelerator was not fazed in the least at her adorable demeanor, while Saki, on the other hand, was gushing at her 'cuteness'.

"All right, Eri… where do you want me to drop you off?"

Eri looked even more confused. She had to leave? Why? She didn't want to go back! Couldn't she… "Can't… I… stay here?" she asked hesitantly.

"No," Accelerator said fast with a bored expression on his face.

Tears gathered in Eri's eyes.

"DUMBASS!" came a loud shriek as Saki appeared in a rage. "Don't be so blunt with kids, you dick!"

Accelerator looked like he was stuck between killing Saki or just leaving himself. "I'm not keeping a kid I don't know shit about," he groaned.

Saki rolled her eyes. "Idiot, relax. I'm not asking you to adopt the kid. Just let her stay here till we can find her a safe place to go."

He glanced at Saki, and then they shared a strange look with each other. Turning back to face Eri's tearful, puffy face, he groaned, "Whatever… I don't care."

Eri felt a bit bad, but Saki laughed. "Guess you're a bit of a lolicon, aren't ya?" she gleefully grinned at him.

He scoffed. "Just get out. I wanna sleep, dumb bitch."

Eri was on the bed. She tried her hardest to sleep, but she really couldn't. When she had tried refusing the bed, the man, Accelerator, had grabbed her by the back of her or his shirt, which was given to her by Saki, Accelerator may have underestimated how difficult it was to dress a kid. Eri was struggling to push her head through one of Saki's sister's old shirts, but her horn kept getting in the way. Only after, with great reluctance, helping her did Accelerator realize her head was where her right arm was supposed to go. He seriously contemplated asking Saki for help and risking her unfiltered, annoying teases, but the kid managed to pull through by herself. Accelerator figured he'd buy some extra ice cream. Kids liked that, right?

Eri walked as close to him as her tiny, short legs would take her. Accelerator wasn't touching her any more than he had to, so he walked at a fair pace so she could keep up with him to some extent. It was only after almost 40 minutes of walking that he heard a rather strange gurgle. Looking at Eri, slightly shocked that such a loud noise came from someone so small, he watched the young girl blush bright red in embarrassment while whispering out a quiet, "Sorry."

Sighing, he realized he had forgotten about the food... again. Luckily, there was a fast-food restaurant close by. "If you were hungry, you should have said something, dumb brat," he said in an exasperated tone. They were sitting outside, Eri fidgeting, looking down at her hands. "Sorry," she murmured.

Accelerator sighed. Right, an abused kid with little to no confidence in herself, much less a backbone. "You don't have to apologize for everything, you know," he said, trying not to let his annoyance show. But the girl was strangely intuitive. "Sorry—I mean... okay," she responded. Accelerator sighed again; he was doing that a lot lately. "…Whatever…" he groaned to himself as the waiter set down a plate of fries at the center of the table and a kiddie meal burger and soda in front of Eri, who eyed the food with a strange look in her eye.

"What is it?" Accelerator asked as Eri kept silently staring at the plate in front of her. She looked at him, then at the plate, and then at him again, shaking her head. Carefully, she took the burger in her hand, putting it a distance away from her face, like it was some sort of animal. He gave her an expectant look, which made her swallow her saliva hard and open her mouth comically wide as she placed as much of the burger as she could in her mouth. Biting down hard and chewing slowly, it didn't take even a minute before her eyes began to shine. Accelerator watched with curiosity; the girl's face, which had always seemed so dull and sullen, had changed in a way he couldn't quite explain. Though she wasn't smiling, her face was glowing.

"Is it that good?" he asked numbly. Eri vigorously nodded her head. "It's the best thing in the world!" she exclaimed. Accelerator looked at her curiously. "Never had a burger before?" he asked. Eri shook her head before taking another bite. As Accelerator watched her, his thoughts drifted to a certain 10-year-old clone, her cheeks stuffed full, complimenting the food at every chance she got while asking Accelerator for help. Then, an image of older versions of the girl flashed through his head, bloodied bodies and dull eyes, making him take a deep and shaky breath. "Hurry up and finish; we've got to get to the station before dark," he said in a low tone as he started picking at the plate of fries at the center of the table.

Eri nodded, though she seemed too focused on the food to have actually heard him. Before he could even take his first bite, a shadow fell on them. Looking up, a woman was standing at their table, close to Eri. She had a polite, wide smile on her face as she looked at Accelerator, but he could tell it was fake. There was an eerie feel to her smile that made it seem almost inhuman. "Hello there!" she greeted gently. "I'm sorry for the interruption, but I couldn't help overhearing you… You said you were heading towards the station, as in the police station?" she asked, lowering her sunglasses slightly as she looked Accelerator in the eye.

Accelerator eyed the woman. She looked to be around her mid-twenties, with wavy blonde hair with hints of strawberry pink in it. She was wearing a pair of black shades that looked equally as expensive as her suit and skirt. "…And who the hell are you?" he asked, this time not even trying to hide the annoyance in his voice. The woman just smiled even wider. "I'm April J'nele. I am actually a hero," she said sweetly as she pulled out a laminated plastic card from her breast pocket. "I heard you were on your way to the police station. May I ask why? Perhaps I may be able to assist; after all," she closed her eyes as she smiled sweetly at Accelerator, "that is the job of a hero." Accelerator was quiet, and so was Eri. Although she had some vague idea of what a hero was, she was still nervous. She knew that Accelerator was going to give her to someone else, and she couldn't say anything to him about it. She already felt so selfish, asking so much from him as it was.

But the thought of leaving him... was rather saddening. Though he was vulgar and rude with his words and attitude, his actions showed her otherwise. He was gentle with her, he didn't treat her like she was incapable, and most importantly, he was kind. Having lived almost three years surrounded by cold walls, cold gazes, cruel hands, and harsh words, she could instantly spot the quiet and subtle gestures of kindness he showed her.

"I think you misunderstood," Accelerator's smooth voice made her look up at him in surprise. "I was talking about the closest train station." Accelerator's eyes stared up at the woman as she gave him an odd stare before making a faux expression of surprise. "Oh! My bad, it seems I was a bit too quick to judge," she smiled goofily at Accelerator, then turned to Eri. "Silly me," she laughed as she lightly bonked herself on the head. "Well then, guess I should get going. I'll get going then before I embarrass myself any further," she gave a small wave as she turned away. "I'm sorry," Accelerator called out, "but I don't think I got the name of the hero agency you work for."

She was still for a moment before facing Accelerator with a smile, eyes still closed. "I'm sorry, I don't think I mentioned it at all…" Saying nothing else more, she walked away at a casual pace. But her fists were hidden as they were tightly clenched. Accelerator watched until the woman completely disappeared from sight.

"Eri," he said, dragging the girl's attention towards him, "What do you say we take a little trip?" She looked at him in surprise.

Accelerator knew something was up the minute the woman approached them. He'd noticed her following them for a while, but when she made contact with them, it confirmed his suspicions: the woman was after the kid. The whole time she was following him, he only ever felt her eyes fall on him briefly for every minute or so, but they were almost always trained on the kid as if waiting for a chance to snatch her.

Eri didn't give much of a reaction when the woman approached, so maybe she wasn't the one who was... doing... anything to her, but she may just work for them. Accelerator watched as Eri knelt on the seat, amazed and dazed as she watched everything rush by on the train. Accelerator remembered how he'd let Last Order go, how that had been one of the worst mistakes he'd ever made, a mistake out of many, but one he hoped to, whatever god there was out there, that for once he managed to fix his mistake. Eri looked at him, her cheeks were a pale red with excitement and her eyes were glowing as she stared at Accelerator with an eager expression… He wasn't going to make any mistakes this time…

Getting off the train, Accelerator still felt eyes, now trained on him more frequently. He walked on like he wasn't being watched and kept Eri in his line of sight, which wasn't hard, the girl was practically hanging on him. Eri had never seen so many people in one place before. There weren't that many people, like around 17 or 20, but even so, it made her feel nervous. She tightly gripped onto Accelerator's pants. "Let's go," Accelerator grunted as he guided Eri while walking beside her. Eri was in his vector shield; there wasn't a lot that could hurt her while she was with him, but even so… he stopped walking. Eri looked up at him in confusion. He sighed and turned to her, picking her up in his arms. 'Better safe than sorry,' he thought as he took off running.

It was an empty street, not many would come here, since the criminal activity was pretty high, for Japan at least. Accelerator could still feel eyes on him. While he wasn't going as fast as he actually could, the fact that they could still keep up with him made him realize that he wasn't dealing with someone skillless. 'How annoying,' he thought, irritation clear on his face. Eri was gripping onto him tightly, eyes closed. She had sensed the tense atmosphere when Accelerator and the woman had been conversing, and she could feel Accelerator's tense attitude. Something bad was about to happen.

And it was all her fault.

Accelerator pulled to a stop in front of an old, abandoned factory. 'I'm being cornered,' he realized, noticing how there were little to no bystanders, much less any heroes that could intervene. He smiled viciously. 'Fine by me.' Entering the factory with a twisted grin on his face, he kept close to the walls, sensing any approaching or incoming vectors. "You're quite intuitive, aren't you," a voice echoed throughout the building.

Accelerator tilted his head down, long white bangs shadowing his eyes. "No, you're just that obvious," he remarked, "your intentions were practically screaming. Pretty sure even 7-year-old kids aren't that obvious." Accelerator had a wide, deranged smile on his face. It looked odd to Eri, it looked fake. While the lower part of his face was showing a different expression, his eyes had an intelligent look on them. Eri swallowed her nervousness and pressed her head into his chest, taking a shuddering breath as she tried to calm her beating heart. "And here I thought I got my hero persona down to the 'T,'" she sighed dramatically. Accelerator scoffed, "Hate to break it to ya, but heroes don't go introducing themselves with their actual names… everyone knows that," his eyes narrowed at her.

A soft, dry chuckle echoed through the air, "Seems you're not as gullible as I thought… you know what's going to happen, don't you?" The woman appeared from the shadows, standing on a platform above Accelerator, looking down at him with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Give me the girl and walk away, and I swear no harm shall come to you." Accelerator was quiet, Eri looked terrified. 'It's me again… someone else is… going to die because of me!!' Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself against Accelerator, who then began to chuckle.

Then his chuckle turned into full-on laughter, "GHAHAHAHA!!!" his eyes looked deranged, a wide and abnormal grin on his face, "YOU! Are seriously saying that I need to be afraid of some washed-out, old hag like you?" he asked her, arrogance dripping in his tone. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING OLD BRAT!? I'M IN MY TWENTIES YOU PUNK," nerves on her forehead throbbed as she shrieked at Accelerator, who didn't pay her any mind.

"hahh! What a shame," the woman groaned before looking at Accelerator with a haughty and faux pity look on her face, "guess I have no choice then," she muttered, "don't worry, I won't kill you," she said in a reassuring tone, "but I can't guarantee that this won't hurt." Thrusting her arm out fast, the shadows around her began to flux and move before shooting out in barely a second of the time she moved. 'I'll just restrain him, as much of a punk as he is, there's no need to kill when it isn't necessary,' she thought to herself, 'by the sound of it, the name of his quirk sounded pretty annoying, and there wasn't much detail given about it.' The shadows swarmed Accelerator and enclosed him inside a small dome of shadows. 'First I'll separate the girl from him, and then I'll knock him out.'

"Are you fucking serious?" a slightly muffled, bored tone came from inside the dome, "Is this seriously the best you can do?" The dome then began to shake, flux, and bulge from place to place, like someone was struggling against a tightly placed cloth. "So, you can manipulate shadows, big whoop," the dome burst open like a balloon, revealing an unfazed Accelerator holding an awe-stricken Eri in a princess hold. April looked at him in shock before schooling her expression, "Oh my, seems you're a bit stronger than I imagined." "And you're a lot weaker than I thought," Accelerator gloated. Inside the dome, for a split second, Eri had almost been pulled from his hold. The shadow had vectors, so it was easy to hold it at bay, even if it wasn't what he was normally used to.

But there was something else there… vectors of an energy he'd never seen before, vectors that were completely foreign to him. It was like they were merging with the shadow vectors. If he had the time, he could probably run the right calculations and figure out how to control them too, but he had Eri with him, he couldn't fool around or take any time to figure out what they were. He had to use what he could to beat the woman here and now. He learned the hard way that underestimating your opponent can lead to fatal mistakes. The image of a spiky black-haired hero flashed in his head.

"Arrogance will lead to your undoing, young man," she sneered at him, annoyance showing on her face. "I suggest you be careful of what you say to me." He only smirked in return, "Trust me, there's no arrogance when it comes to stomping on an ant… just humor." Her eyes hardened, "I warned you!!" she roared as she raised her left arm into the sky, a dark void began to shroud the entire building, and the shadows in every dark corner almost seemed to grow. "I gave you the chance to walk away; you have no one to blame but yourself." Her hard voice echoed with no hint of regret in her tone. From behind Accelerator, the shadows shot out like spikes, attempting to penetrate him.

'The ability to reflect means that this attack may not do much damage,' April thought to herself. 'I need to learn as much as I can about his quirk. Quirks are like body parts; there is a limit to how much they can take, a limit to how much he can do. For an untrained civilian, no matter how powerful he is, there's no way he'd able to-'

BANG!!!

She froze. Raising her hand and brushing it against her cheek, her gloved hand touched something slippery… blood? The shadow spikes aimed at the boy from behind were horribly bent and some broken. Glancing behind her, she saw a rock, deeply embedded into the iron walls. "A… rock?" she muttered to herself. She turned back to him, her guard raised. 'It wouldn't be all that uncommon for him to have listed his quirk under a false name. In fact, now that I think about it,' Accelerator's eerie, wide smile seemed almost demonic now, 'as long as you register that you have a quirk, there are no laws saying you have to list them down accurately.' She smirked, 'Kid's a lot more clever than I gave him credit for then.'

"You intrigue me," she said with a smile, watching, studying his expression, which never once changed. "Tell you what, kid, how about you come with me."

Accelerator tilted his head, "Sorry, but hags aren't my type," he smirked. "Grgh!!" April groaned in frustration. "Listen, punk, either way, the girl will be acquired. If not by me, then someone else," her eyes turned hard and cold. "Trust me when I say that the next one to come for her won't be as nice as me." Accelerator chuckled, "Now you've got me twice as intrigued. Say, the hell do you even want from the kid?" he asked her. April's smile fell, "I'm afraid that's classified information, kid," she said, "but I can assure you… she'll be in better care than how she was treated by her initial captors."

"So, you're going to be her new captor, only you'll be nice about it, huh?" Accelerator looked at her with an unimpressed look, "heh!" he scoffed, "Yeah, I don't think so. I refuse any and all offers you're setting on the table. Now you're going to listen to mine." He looked at her with a deranged look in his eyes, "You're going to tell me everything about your little organization and you're going to tell me what the hell you want with the kid," Accelerator felt Eri's tiny hands clutch onto his shirt tightly, "otherwise, I'm going to beat it out of you." He glared at April, who no longer looked amused. "That's my nicest offer. Now… what's your answer?"

Everything was still for a minute. Before the shadows began to swirl from beneath him, "I'm afraid I as well shall be declining your offer," she watched him with an indifferent expression before smiling a polite and casual smile, "Now… die!" From beneath him, the gathered shadows attempted to skewer him but were simply dispelled. Accelerator had made no movement at all. "Guess it's time to play then," he smirked. Stomping his left foot on the ground, the floor began to crack and creak as it was dislodged from its place, causing the entire building to shake. April looked shocked. Accelerator disappeared from sight before reappearing right next to her, Eri in one arm held tightly to his chest, with her face hidden in his chest, and his other arm raised as a fist aiming straight for April's face.

'Fuck! I didn't even see him move!', she thought in a panic, but was quick to raise her own arms into an 'X' formation and protect her face just in time. But… CRACK!! "Grgh!!" she groaned in pain. 'What the hell? I didn't think such scrawny arms could pack such a punch… he didn't just break my bones, he completely splintered them,' she thought to herself, wincing in pain as she realized her arms were hurting so much that they practically felt numb. '…And what was with that ridiculous speed? I'd say he was as fast as All Might, which shouldn't be possible.' She jumped away from him in an attempt to put distance between them. 'It seems like I may have no choice.' She pulled her right arm's glove off, revealing her pale arms and a strange sigil tattooed on top of her hand.

"To think I was forced to use this so early in the fight. You really are something, kid," she muttered in amazement as Accelerator charged at her, free arm outstretched. Shoving her hand in front of her, she roared, "Now you die, kid!!!" A shadow-like creature emerged from her hand. Accelerator's eyes widened in surprise as the monstrous, wolf-like creature snapped its jaws at him.

to her surprise, instead of getting chomped in half, Accelerator pushed back mid-air. She looked shocked. Accelerator manipulated his own vectors to avoid being snapped in half. Unlike with the shadows she used earlier to attack him, this shadow thing was made of more of the strange energy's vectors than shadow vectors... and something else… an odd form of vector. He couldn't get a proper read of it at all. It would have been difficult for his vector shield to defend against the foreign energy vectors. While it probably wouldn't kill him, he still had Eri in his arms, and he couldn't take the risk without her getting hurt.

Looking down at the girl in his arms, who was still tightly clutching onto his shirt, he thought to himself, 'I need to get her out of here. I can't fight freely while she's here.' The shadow creature attacked, jaws wide open, but Accelerator kept dodging it at every turn. "You can't dodge forever," April snuck behind him, a shadow spear solidified in her hand. "You should have taken my offer when you had the chance." Accelerator smirked, "Fool," he muttered.

Just as her shadow spear made contact with his shield, he pulled back just enough so that it wouldn't kill her, but it completely shattered every single bone in her body. "GRAAAH!!!" She roared in pain before Accelerator quickly gave her a good roundhouse kick to the face, knocking her out and definitely breaking her nose, possibly fracturing her skull as well. She fell to the ground, while the shadow creature crumbled to dust right after. "Well, that was interesting," he muttered to himself.

Eri looked up at him in disbelief. Accelerator was so strong, he protected her… and he won. He managed to keep her safe… safe… something she never thought she would ever be.