Chapter 43 - Attack on the Streets (2)

Meanwhile, as Mirko and the villain fought, Hiro had already arrived at the entrance of a burning house. His brief surveillance along the way had already clued him in on which houses needed more urgent attention. At the same time, his keen hearing allowed him to detect if there’s someone inside.

“If I had Todoroki’s Quirk, this would have been so much easier.”

Hiro commented with a sigh. He could have frozen the whole street and doused all the flames. 

Oh well, no use wishing for something that’s not there. He’d just have to improvise.

He produced a flame-retardant gel from his palms that clung to his skin and clothes- courtesy of Mina’s Acid Quirk. Then, he pushed open the door along with the debris blocking it, not flinching even when a burst of flame spewed out and covered his body. 

He confirmed where the crying was coming from and rushed over. The burning debris didn’t hinder him as he pushed them all to the side and arrived before a locked room. 

He pulled the door away from its hinges, and found a man and a woman huddled on the tiled bathroom floor, a little girl crying in-between them.

The parents looked up when they heard the noise, their desperate and hopeful gazes making something inside of him twinge.

“A-are you here to rescue us?”

“That’s right. Don’t worry. You’re safe now.”

Hiro said with a gentle smile. He helped them up while quietly diagnosing any injuries. The scrapes and bruises he found were silently treated by him. Then, he covered them with a similar gel to his own and carried them out of the burning house.

The trio instinctively flinched as a tendril of flame lapped at their faces. But they relaxed when they only felt a slight warmth.

“Now, hold on tight. The whole street is burning. Before the gel wears off, I need to carry you to safety.”

“Alright. Thank you, Genesis.”

The man said gratefully. Hiro carried him on his shoulders and did the same for his wife. Then, just as the couple were confused, he grew two more arms under his original one to carry the little girl. 

In a flash, he left the burning street and arrived in front of the surprised firefighters and medics.

“I am Genesis, a hero intern of Mirko. Please help me look after them. If you have info on trapped civilians, tell me later. I’ll rescue the rest first.”

Hiro said as he took away the gel covering the trio. After getting a shaky affirmative, he continued his search-and-rescue.

Most of the civilians had already evacuated the moment the villain attack began. Only the unfortunate ones, like the earlier trio who had their doors blocked shut, were trapped in their houses.

He found two more families in the same condition and delivered them to the paramedics. 

“Those are all I can find. Except for the ones in the apartment, is there still someone who failed to evacuate?”

“Yes, sir! A man reported that his wife and son still haven’t evacuated. Their house is in Kura street in that direction.”

The paramedic said seriously and pointed somewhere north. 

Hiro frowned. He already passed by that location once and heard nothing. Still, he closed his eyes and maximized his hearing, enduring the throbbing pain as he listened for any signs of survivors in that direction.   

He filtered the cheering crowd. Mirko’s shouts of glee and the villain’s angry howls. The crackling of the fire. The whistling of the wind. The beating of the heart.

There!

Hiro’s eyes snapped open. In a house that had already become a bonfire, a very faint heartbeat caught his attention.

He didn’t hesitate. His figure blurred and appeared in front of that house in an instant. He pulled the door open and was greeted by roaring flames and smoke as soon as he stepped inside. 

He quickly adjusted his eyes to take a reduced amount of light and restored his vision to normal. At the same time, he relied on his powerful hearing and navigated towards a pile of burning wooden planks and rubble.

That was where the faint heartbeat came from.

He carefully removed the debris, inwardly cursing at the scene under.

A woman whose whole hair had been singed lay motionless on the floor. A wooden cabinet lay on her back, trapping her in place. Gripped tightly against her chest, was a baby fully wrapped in clothes.

Hiro immediately knelt down and touched the bodies of the two. The baby was fine. He only needed to guide the carbon dioxide trapped in his body that made him unable to breathe, as well as treat some bruises. However, it was a worse case for the woman.

Her lungs were also filled with carbon dioxide, which he promptly took care of. But in addition to that, her pelvic bones were crushed. Her upper back had third-degree burns and she was losing blood due to ruptured intestines.

Unless Recovery Girl came to help, even if he brought this woman to the paramedics, she won’t survive with this world’s current medical technology. Not unless he…

Hiro’s face flickered with indecision. He glanced at the innocent sleeping face of the baby that was still tightly gripped in the woman’s arms, and sighed.

“And here I was thinking I needed to find villains first for a more rigorous experiment.”

He said with a self-depreciating chuckle, before his face turned serious.

He carried the bodies of the two outside the burning house, and then began the treatment. 

Flesh extended from his palms until it covered the whole woman’s body. He returned the blood that had leaked inside her body and had them flow according to the normal route. Then, he repaired the gaping hole in her intestine and made it as good as new. 

At this point, the woman was already out of critical danger. But since he already began treating her, Hiro decided to finish the job. He fixed her pelvic bones, removed the burns on her skin, regrew her hair, and even treated her asthma.

Hiro did everything as carefully as possible. But even so, the whole process only took less than a minute. 

This point made him realize something. Unless he wanted to modify others at the cellular or genetic level, controlling them with his Quirk…seemed to be just as easy as him controlling his own body. 

Now all that remains to be seen is whether there would be side-effects. He checked, and found no abnormalities in the woman’s body even at the genetic level. But whether that remains the case needs further and more thorough observation.

Shelving that thought for later, he covered the woman and the baby with fire-retardant gel and carried them to the ambulance. 

The crowd had already noticed his actions during his second rescue. When they saw him return with a woman and a baby, they cheered.

The woman’s husband, who had rushed home from work after seeing the news, wept and profusely thanked Hiro when he saw his wife and daughter’s condition.

“No need to worry, citizen. As long as I, Genesis, am here, no innocent life will be lost.”

Hiro said in a heroic tone as he patted the man’s shoulder. At this point, only the people from the apartment building still needed to be saved. 

The fire had already reached the fourth floor. But seeing as it goes up to the seventh, Hiro had plenty of time to rescue the people inside.

He glanced at the battle between Mirko and the villain. It doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon. 

Mirko had a clear advantage. However, the villain’s surprising durability and recovery, as well as his Quirk and the surrounding sea of fire, allowed him to hold his ground against the Rabbit Hero.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he jumped to the rooftop of the apartment. All the tenants had already gathered here, making his job easier.

“I am Genesis, an aspiring hero. Everyone, you’re safe now.”

Hiro said with a gentle smile. 

…

“Luna Rush!”

Mirko shouted. She launched herself towards the lava bastard and delivered a series of kicks.

Sounds of crunching could be heard as her attacks caused countless cracks throughout his body. But at the same time, her feet were set ablazed with every contact.

Mirko leapt back and causally stomped out the fire, her eyes focused on the villain. When she saw his body beginning to recover, she clicked her tongue.

It was fun at first. But when her opponent just continued to scream and rampage without even an ounce of fighting instinct, it got boring pretty fast. 

His body was a good punching bag though. Just the heat made it slightly irritating.

“Y-you can’t stop me! My love for Alicia will make me rise for as long as it takes!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever big guy. At least do something more interesting than just lobbing fireball.”

“Wretch! You dare insult-!”

Hmm? Mirko raised an eyebrow. The villain’s eyes had bulged wide open. The fire above his head dissipated and his red-rock body began to dim, turning into a normal rock.

Mirko frowned and caught the villain before he could collapse to the ground. His fire-resistance seemed to have disappeared as well as as his rocky body began to  get scorched.

She opened his mouth. When she saw his blackened tongue, she shook her head.

“As expected.”

She murmured and dragged the body away from this burning street and towards the ambulance. Though when she arrived, her intern greeted her with that annoying smile on his face.

“Great job taking him out. I just finished rescuing the civilians too.”

“So? What’s your point?”

“Nothing? Just stating my observation. By the way, why does he seem so…different from earlier?”

Hiro took a step closer and patted the villain, his eyes seeming to light up as he did so.

“An after-effect of the drugs he used. Anyways, get out of the way. This guy probably has some info on the prey I’m after. It’d be bad if he kicked the bucket too early.”

“Oh yeah. Your target. By the way, I still don’t know their name.”

Hiro walked beside Mirko, asking casually as he glanced at the unconscious guy in her arms from time to time. 

“Hah! You wouldn’t know even if I told you. He’s the leader of a gang though, so I can give you a chance to fight his minions if we find them.”

“Is that so? I look forward to it then.”

Hiro said, a look of curiosity flashing across his face.