Waves gently lapped against the bright red hull of the 'Diving Support Vessel' Van Gogh as she sat at anchor in the North Atlantic Ocean, to most this area of the world held nothing but a watery expanse with nothing of true interest save the underwater life. Yet something had brought the Van Gogh out to these waters, along with its current mixed crew or Pro-Heroes hailing from a mix of nations for a single purpose. To follow up on a decades-long string of missing person, well more specifically children, reports that had plagued the coastlines of several nations.

While initially the disappearances had been written off, primarily due to the victims quirkless nature, and with no signs of anything to truly reveal highlight anything sinister behind such disappearances beyond the normal high number of quirkless vanishing before puberty it came as a surprise when proof of something darker happening came to light. It had been a single interaction between Japan's most effective underground hero and an aquatic female villain mid kidnapping did things begin to fall into place.

A villain fight that had resulted in the structural damage to several buildings along the Takoba Municipal Beach in Musutafu structurally unsound, as well as a dozen dead citizens that had been unfortunate enough to be in the area when the costal villain had snatched a young five-year-old quirkless girl from her mother's arms. It had been the screams of the young child and mother that had not only gained an immediate response from the only hero in the area at that time of night but had also drawn the gawking camera's of citizens seeing a way to gain overnight internet fame for a recording of the ensuing fight.

With footage of the 'Erasure Hero: Eraser Head' partaking in a lengthy villain battle by himself, only managing to keep the villain from running him through with the long needle-like weapon attached to her left arm. While it did not take long for other heroes in the area to respond to such a blatant threat to the citizens, as well as the difficulty one of their own was having against a remarkably skilled villain. None of them had arrived in time to stop the villain from making their escape into the murky waters of the Takoba coast-line with their kidnapped victim still screaming and crying desperately for help.

Such a blatant kidnapping had resulted in a massive nationwide manhunt for not only the kidnapped child but the villain responsible for the kidnapping, it had been during this manhunt that the decades-long string of missing children from all across the coast of Japan had come to light. From the similar police reports about the kidnapped victims and how they had been kidnapped right down to near-identical descriptions of the kidnapper, it sparked major concern through both Japans judicial system and the heroics industry as it revealed how they had failed at a minimum twenty-five million citizens of Japan. Or a more statistical way of looking at it the twenty per cent of their population that was quirkless, it was a dark realisation that steadily over time the quirkless had become marginalised to such a point that any faith they once held in the system had eroded to the point they didn't hold faith that the system would help them for their lack of quirks.

This was nowhere more evident in the massive amount of missing quirkless children all across the country, the plague if missing quirkless children become even more of a horrific realisation when Japanese Heroes reached out to the international heroics community for aid in tracking down the kidnapper as they could find no trace of them anywhere within Japan or Japan's coastal waters. When they had reached out for help in tracking down this kidnapper, or as they had been speculating ring of kidnappers, it was soon realised that not only had Japan suffered from a string of kidnappings but so had almost every nation with a coastline during various periods of history spanning back almost two hundred years. Each kidnapping carried out in a near-identical manner by a similarly described kidnapper and always the victim being a young quirkless girl.

The scale of such an undertaking that had been ongoing for two centuries was horrifying with its implications that right under the entire heroics industry, both domestic and international, that a major villain organisation had been able to flourish in whatever dark and twisted means they used. It was the surfacing of such information that had lead to the formation of a joint heroics operation between multiple heroes ranging from different nations to track down and bring an end to whatever the end game motive of the kidnappers was.

For two years every single lead or possible that had surfaced ended at the waves on the beach, it starting to look like the kidnappers would again slip away and allow the cases of kidnapped children to once again slide back into obscurity. That was until an American villain turned informant, King Shark, had struck a bargain for his freedom with information about the sightings of the villainess responsible for the latest disappearance. What King Shark had revealed was that the father of the most recent kidnapped child had spent his entire wealth, even to the cost of his marriage, on information only the criminal underground could get their hands-on. It was this information that had given the determined parent a location out in the North Atlantic Ocean, a single shred of hope for where his missing daughter had been taken. It had been these geographical coordinates of 63° 2' North, 29° 55' West that King Shark had traded as his part in the bargain for his freedom, and it was the reason the Van Gogh was now at anchor above the coordinates with a mixed crew of heroes from across the globe.

Aizawa stood resting his arms against the port side railing of the Van Gogh staring down into the blue depths of the ocean that surrounded the large boat, his mind wandering back to the kidnapping and how he'd failed to save the young girl. Her screams had plagued him for two straight years, keeping the underground hero up at night and impacting his very teaching style to the point he'd gained a reputation in the last two years for expelling more students than any other teacher. Why allow subpar heroes who relied solely on their quirk to become heroes, it would only lead to more failures like his own.

"Penny for your thoughts?" A heavily Icelandic accented voice rang out behind Aizawa as the heavy footfalls of someone in a heavy costume walked up behind him to join him in looking out over the ocean, clad in a dark blue boilersuit worked with dull steel grey steampunk-themed diver. Aizawa only knew this particular hero by reputation as one of the best underwater heroes alive today, Kristofer Gunnarson or as he was better known in the heroics industry and to the public the 'Water Pressure Hero: Challenger Deep'.

Aizawa turned to look his Icelandic heroic college over, the names Japanese was surprisingly good even with the thick accent. "Something about all this doesn't seem right to me, we why a bunch of villains kidnap quirkless children and bring them all the way out here?"

Kristofer hemmed in thought as he stared down into the water below, the sun's light reflecting off the oceans calm surface, "It is not something for us to worry about Eraser Head, all we should focus on is finding the lost young ones." Pushing himself off the railing her gestured for Aizawa to follow, "We just had the probes come back up with footage of something on the seafloor, hopefully, it's good news."

Turning to watch the Pressure Hero walk away Aizawa likewise pushed himself off the railing following behind, the likelihood of something being down that deep and not being a wreck was astronomically small. But this was the lead they'd been given, even if by a villain looking to buy their way out of prison time they had a duty as heroes to follow up on the lead.

Entering the Von Gogh's sizeable briefing room Aizawa took a seat next to one of the few Japanese heroes beside himself that had volunteered for this joint operation, earning a nod in acknowledgement from Kugo Sakamata better known as the 'Killer Whale Hero: Gang Orca' he returned the gesture before sliding down into a more comfortable position in the chair. "So have they revealed any information they have gained from the probes they sent down?" His voice as always was both an odd mix of tired and inquisitive.

"Nothing so far," Kugo spoke as he unscrewed the top of a water bottle before gently splashing his drying skin with the fluid inside, "They're still waiting for the rest of the heroes on this boat to turn up."

Over the next few minutes, the briefing filled with a vast variety of heroes from across the globe many seemingly specialised in aquatic hero work as well as the odd hero with a high ranking in their countries respective heroics rankings. When the final hero had filtered in, the captain of the ship stepped to the front of the room the lights dimming as he stood behind a lectern.

"From the data collected from the deep-sea probes along with video recordings, we can say with confidence that the information provided by King Shark that there is something on the sea-floor," Pausing briefly the captain gestured to the t.v screen behind him that flickered to life to show the slowly rolling footage of the dark murky depths played for the assembled heroes. As the footage rolled slowly the shadowy outline of tall structures began to come into view from inside the thick murky fog found at the bottom of the sea, illuminated by lights coming from inside the structures and around almost as if they were staring at an underwater replica of New York as it was in the nineteen-fifties. "Something far larger then what we were expecting to find at such a depth."

Slowly the murky fog broke away to give full view to a city built onto the seafloor, a city that while power still ran in a vast majority of the structures looked like it had suffered from not only a structural collapse from water pressure breaking its way inside but internal explosions from the likely use of quirks. The very sight of such a city had the heroes around the room murmuring at the marvel and sheer ludicrous nature of such a place existing, Aizawa was no different in his thoughts yet he was not entirely focused on the fact a city under the sea existed but he began connecting the dots between the city and the outfit worn by the kidnapper.

He could see the logic behind the kidnapper's costume now, a suit designed to handle the extreme pressures of such depths with ease while giving the wearer access to their full range of manoeuvrability. But one thing that troubled him and probably many of the other heroes present was that if this underwater city was currently in such a state of disrepair then what condition would the kidnapped girls be in if they were even alive.

"While the site of such a sprawling structure was a shock," The captain continued before being interrupted by a hero wearing nothing but a pair of red speedos with a matching red Lucha mask, exposed gills running up his chest flexing as he spoke.

"That's a little bit more then a structure amigo," The heroes thick Spanish accent carrying his words across the room, "That is a city."

"Yes," The captain continued glossing past the interruption, "Well with the size of this underwater city it stands our original plan to send in a small recon team to assess the hazards, we have had to reassess this plan." The Captain paused as the footage panned about the city, showing more collapsed sections and areas flooding, "While we will still be sending in a small scout team with that objective, they will also have to locate a securable and safer entry point."

While paying attention Aizawa kept his gaze on the footage watching every frame as the grainy murky recording played, taking in the sights of a ruined underwater metropolis and paying close attention to any unflooded section looking for signs of life. His vigilance paid off, as their on the screen and shrouded by a combination of the murky water and shadows cast by the light was a small shadowy figure skipping across the inside of the glass window. At seeing this Aizawa shot up from his chair a finger pointing towards the screen.

"Pause the footage!" His loud shot momentarily stunning the room into inactivity before the captain withdrew a remote from his suits breast pocket to rewind the footage slightly to pause it at the exact moment Aizawa had seen something. As the footage sat paused on the still image of a rocky seaweed cover rock before catching one of the large glass windows looking into a ballroom was the grainy shadow he had seen, the sight of the small humanoid shadow had left the room so silent a ping could have dropped on the fair side of the boat and it would still be heard.

"That can't be one of the missing children can it?" Kristofer spoke up finally breaking the tense since that had settled, "It has to be a trick of the light?"

"If it is then that means this is where they are," Aizawa's voice was full of certainty, leaving no room for argument.

"Then it is crucial that the recon team leaves as soon as possible, so we can bring any surviving kidnapped children home," The captain spoke, finality in his voice as he looked around the room at the various heroes before looking between Kristofer, Aizawa and Kugo giving them a nod, "Those of you on the recon team who need breathing equipment head to the dive preparation room, the rest of you you will find a folder containing a full brief of your assigned duties underneath your seat, now dismissed heroes we have children to bring home."

With the meeting coming to an end and the various heroes picking up the folders containing their full mission briefings, Aizawa turned to make his way out of the room heading to grab the diving gear he would be needing as part of the recon team. Mentally preparing himself for whatever villains lurked in that sprawling underwater city.

-LINE BREAK-

"Now Tenenbaum would have you turn that Sister human again. You'll get just enough ADAM for our purposes, an' the girls'll likely try to repay ya somehow. But Rapture's a high-stakes town, son, and she is a jackpot. You just have to be willin' to take it all. You'll harvest more ADAM than the price of one Plasmid... so the rest is gravy. Think about it... down here, it's your survival or hers." The southern tones of Augustus Sinclair echoed within his fully sealed helmet as Subject Delta trudged towards one of the bronze vents that the little sister, much like the one currently rubbing her tired eyes in his free arm, used to move around Rapture.

When Sinclair suggested the idea of harvesting the tiny child in his arms, Delta entertained the idea for all of a millisecond before a spike of rage shot through his brain. He didn't remember much of his life before being bound to his little one, only to be forced to endure her watching as he was hypnotised and commanded to murder himself. As he had floated in the abyss that was death he had relived that moment, again and again, the sound of her distrust scream of "DADDY!" on a constant loop would have broken his heart if it was still beating during his eternal punishment for failing to keep her safe.

Yet by some force beyond his control, Delta had been brought back to life expending the last of the Vita-Chamber energy within Rapture. Upon taking his first waking breath once more Delta had been alone and disorientated, stumbling about the Adonis Luxury Resort trying to get his bearings only to be visions of his little one as he approached an Electro Bolt plasmid. Picking the plasmid up while allowing its power to flow through his hands it had caused him to briefly pass out, only to regain consciousness as another little one holding one of their hand made dollies stood before him, the sweetest and most innocent smile on her face.

"Daddy was sleeping... for such a long time... and Eleanor has missed you... Find her and you'll be all better." Her voice had been soft and echoed eerily, a common trait of the little ones, as she bounced happily in place holding a hand out towards him.

Yet before he could take her hand, bring her close and keep the little one safe something lithe and fast with an odd similarity to himself had grabbed the little one before sprinting off with her. Rage had flooded his body, pure unbridled rage made worse by the little one screaming out in fear for him. Delta had surged to his feet only half paying attention to the woman talking to him over the radio as he gave chase, intent on keeping the little one safe.

As he sprinted after the figured who had swiped the little one, Delta had run across several groups of the cities now insane inhabitants all who seemed intent on killing him. It had been a massacre. A bunch of insane middle-aged men and women suffering from various mental psychosis only lightly armed even with the odd plasmid among their group, against a seven-foot-tall behemoth clad in what could only be described as a tank turned diver suit armed with a fist full of thunder and a drill meant for turning rock to dust.

Subject Delta had torn through every single Rapture citizen that dared get between him and tracking down the stolen little one, he showed them not a single mercy as his mind remembered it had been people just like these that had tried to hurt his little one Eleanor and now sort to keep him from a little one in danger.

It hadn't been long after turning at least a baker's dozen of the insane citizens of Rapture into smears on the floor and walls, that the rest had decided that they prefer life and fled from Delta's wrath, had he entered the Grand Foyer to the sound of the same little one happily humming as she jabbed a fresh corpse with her ADAM syringe to extract the fluid that gave birth to plasmids. At the sound of the little one's happy humming Delta had made his way towards her, joy filling his heart as she turned to face him bouncing happily lifting her arms to be picked up.

That was until an ear-piercing scream echoed the grand foyer causing the little one to whimper in fear before moving to cling to his leg and mumble "Big Sister doesn't want you playing with me." The fear in her voice had once again put Delta into a cold rage, how dare this so-called 'Big Sister' make this little one or any little one feel so frightened. Gently Delta reached down picking the little one up and taking her over to one of their vents placing her inside and ushering her along before turning to come faceplate to faceplate with a pair of boots slamming into him, propelling him backwards into the nearby reception desk splintering it.

Rising back to his full height Delta saw something he had never seen before, a lithe and female protector. So that was a Big Sister then, the female answer to him and the other protectors. Not that it made a difference, she'd scared the little one so for that Delta was more than happy to let this Big Sister get well acquainted with the business end of his drill.

The fight between himself and the Big Sister had been tough and educational for Delta. It had turned out that not only was the Big Sister fast and nimble, but much like him she could utilise plasmids. The fight had only been brought to an end when Delta had hurled the Big Sister into the huge bay window of the Foyer giving her ample opportunity to leap from side to side raking her much larger ADAM syringe along the glass causing it to crack and flood the Foyer.

This had lead to Delta finally listening to the voice on his radio, instructing him to make his way towards the Atlantic Express station. It had been here he had met Doctor Brigid Tenenbaum, a woman on a mission one she had been doing since the first fall of rapture. One she implored Delta to help her with, a mission to save the little ones and bring them home.

She had not even needed to ask such a thing of Delta, to him something deep within his mind drove him to protect those that couldn't protect themselves. It spurred him into motion before his brain could even think of an action, truly this made him the ultimate protector for the little ones as nothing short of death would stop him now.

It had been a combination of this and Tenebaum introducing him to her alley Augustus Sinclair that had led to Delta making his way through the nearby Ryan Amusements in search of enough ADAM to get the increase plasmid to melt the ice blocking the way ahead. Delta's search had led him to find another little one, but this one with a joke of a protector. He needed no more proof of how unfit this protector was then how the little one called him 'Mr.B or Mr Bubbles' instead of 'Daddy'.

Watching the little one cry after he had driven his drill through the chest of 'Mr Bubbles' had wrenched at his heart, no little one deserved to cry like that. But her tears had not lasted long as when Delta had crouched down placing a gentle comforting hand on the crying child's shoulder she had turned to face him. The tears in her glowing yellow eyes drying almost instantly as her look of sadness was replaced with pure joy, the little one thrusting both her hands up towards Delta making a grabby motion to be picked up as she spoke. "Is it really you, Daddy? I missed you!"

Picking the little one up and placing her protectively on his shoulder, Delta had settled into the old comfortable routine he had once done with his little one so many years ago. he had listened to the directions the little one on his shoulder gave to were her 'angles' were so that she could extract their ADAM, yet this had not gone unnoticed by the citizens addicted to ADAM. The splicers had come seeking to steel the little one and harvest her for the ADAM she held, by simply approaching her with this idea they had earned the wrath of Delta.

Like any enraged guardian, Delta had turned any member of this so-called 'Rapture Family' into piles of broken bones and mulched flesh while the little one harvested the ADAM. This had happened a total of twice within Ryan Amusements before the little one had yawned tiredly and nuzzled herself into the crook of his arm before looking up at him rubbing an eye and saying "No more angels, Daddy," Only pausing to again yawn "Let's go home."

It was here Delta currently found himself, listening to Sinclairs horrific suggestion to harvest the sweet little girl who was fighting to stay awake in his arms, he could not bring himself to do it she was too much like his Eleanor. A child who put all her faith in him, all her faith in Daddy to keep her safe and bring her home something Tenebaum had returned to Rapture herself to do.

Something Delta would help her with, this little one didn't belong here, she had been stolen by the Matriarch of the 'Rapture Family', Sophia Lamb, for some vile purpose and if freeing this little one hurled a wrench into those plans that was just an added extra to freeing this little one of ADAM's influence.

Gently bringing himself down to one knee, Delta removed his right hand from his drill and brought it around to rest on the little one's head. A smile across his lips as she giggled at his touch, gently he pulsed the ADAM within his own body flowing it into the little ones separating her from the ADAM sea slug implanted in her stomach willing the slug to die within affecting the host. As he pressed on separating the slug from the young girl a golden light shone out as she gasped for air before slowly fading.

There in his arms instead of a grey-skinned yellow-eyed gatherer was now a normal pink skinned little girl, a little girl who looked up into his oval visor with a thankful smile on her face before pulling herself towards Delta to wrap her tiny arms around as much of his faceplate as possible and mutter a soft nearly inaudible "Thank-you". A smile on his hidden lips Delta gently lifted the little girl up to the vent so she could make her way inside with ease, once she had safely crawled into the vent and out of his sight, Delta turned and began making his way to collect the incinerate he would need to make it past the ice wall.

"Well, our tin man had a heart all along. Personally, I call that a liability — but you have enough ADAM now... barely. Head to the an' splice up with Incinerate." Sinclair's voice crackled across his radio, Delta just let out a groan in response the only real sound he could make, he didn't care if Sinclair saw saving the child as a liability he'd do it every single time without fail as it was what a Daddy did. Protecting their little ones from the monsters, fixing their falls and scrapes but above all else Delta, like any Daddy would make sure the little ones got home safe.

As he trudged along the glass corridor towards the Gatherers Garden something caught his eye, stopping Delta turned to watch as three figures descended from above towards the airlock, that if his memory was correct, was connected to Pauper's Drop. He watched them descend studying the three of them and committing how they look, even with the murky water obscuring them slightly, to memory in case he encountered those three later on.

The largest of the three bore a resemblance to a large bipedal wale, likely the most psychically strong of the bunch if Delta had to guess. The one in the middle didn't stand out much other then the suit he was wearing for his decent in the water looked like nothing Delta had seen within rapture before. Yet it was the third one that worried Delta the most as even from the distance he was at and how murky the water was, Delta could make out how this one bore a striking resemblance to a protector. It was enough to bring his blood to a boil as if this one another fake then he'd meet the same fate as Mr Bubbles had.

-LINE BREAK-

Aizawa glanced around at dull metallic bronze and silver colour of the airlock as the water drained around him, Kugo and Kristofer. With the exposed pipes, ancient-looking leavers and fails, along with the exposed cogs of the doors leading out to the ocean floor and the same on the interior door the room had an odd steampunk feel. If he had to draw a comparison this room and likely the rest of this underwater city felt similar to Kristofer, what with the steampunk feel. Speaking of the Icelandic hero, Aizawa was grateful he'd volunteered to be part of not only the rescue mission but the recon team as he doubted both himself and Kugo would have made it down to the seabed, without his quirk, in such a short amount of time without suffering any health problems.

As the water finally drained out of the chamber the door leading into the city creaked and groaned as it began to lower. Taking the opportunity Aizawa removed the scuba-mask and oxygen tank and clipping them to his belt before moving out into a poorly lit corridor looking from left to right, checking for any signs for anything that would pose a threat to himself and his two partners. With no sighs of anything, he gestured for Kugo and Kristofer to join him out in the hallway.

"Well, this place is a dump." Kristofer snorted a large anchor themed sledgehammer held on his shoulder as he kicked at a large pile of rubble lying on the floor before looking down the wall directly opposite them studying the graffiti gesturing towards it, "What is that even supposed to mean?"

Both Aizawa and Kugo turned to study the graffiti on the wall, there before scrawled in large white letter sat the words 'Ascension is Near'. The words made no sense on there own, they likely had some meaning to those within the city but without finding and questioning someone on that the heroes would have no way of knowing.

"That's something we can chase up later," Kugo snorted turning back to look down the right side of the corridor they had stepped out into, "Right now we need to move," Kugo glanced around before letting out a deep low rumbling noise. While most just assume his quirk gave him some of the aspects of a killer whale and the hypersonic waves, it also had gifted him with the ability to use echolocation something Kugo did not actively advertise he could do.

After a few minutes of looking left and right making the low rumbling Kugo looked at both Aizawa and Kristofer, "If we want to avoid whoever is down here then we go left, otherwise, there is a group of about six potential villains possibly seven down the right corridor inside a large open area."

"Considering our objective is to scout and find a more secure entry point it looks like we'll be going le..." Kristofer began only to stop as a speaker built into the alcove above sparked to life, the voice of a well-spoken English woman crackled across the air.

"Attention. Subject Delta is now trapped in Pauper's Drop. All railcar travel is suspended until he is found. Remember – the enemy is alone. We are the Family."

Looking between each other the three heroes shared concerns about that statement, Aizawa more so than the other three. From the way, the woman announcement sounded they could easily believe that someone had escaped experimentation and was fleeing into an area full of whoever this 'Family was'. If Aizawa had to guess it sounded like some type of mafia, but without any further information he couldn't be certain.

"So that now means we are going to the right?" Kristofer rolled his shoulder a finger pointing down the right towards a closed vertical door. "Eraser Head you better take point then, I doubt me and Gang Orca are the quickest of heroes."

"That is a rational suggestion," Aizawa responded slowly making his way forward, keeping low to the ground as he looked out around the slightly open vertical door. As he looked Aizawa was greeted to the sight of what looked like a tightly packed city street form the nineteen-fifties, a street that had not only been the sight of a major villain and hero fight but had also been set on fire. In all honesty, the place looked like a mess.

Slowly Aizawa stepped moved out into the street to look around, a cackling echoed from above. Spinning around trying to locate the noise he caught sight of what he assumed to be a woman in a masquerade mask and tattered dress doing an upside-down spider crawl, into a hole on a nearby highrise.

"You see something Eraser?" Kugo asked as he forced the half-open door before fully stepping through himself, flanked by Kristofer who was glancing around trying to see if he could spot any threats.

"Possible villain," Aizawa spoke gesturing up at the hole he'd seen the cackling woman crawl into, "Wasn't able to get a good look at her, seemed like she was far more flexible than a normal person, likely some multi-joint or flexibility quirk."

Before either Kristofer or Kugo could respond giggling echoed from all-around them, soon the giggling of a single woman was joined by another, then the laughter of a man. This continued until a mismatched mix of several men and women giggling and laughing flowed around the heroes, slowly dying down as the sounds of an unhinged woman singing began to replace the laughter.

"Three blind men. Three blind men. See how they run. See how they run. They all ran after the plumber's wife. Who cut off their tails with a carving knife. Did you ever see such a sight in your life, As three blind men."

Looking around trying to spot where the singing was coming from the three heroes moved to stand back to back looking around trying to pinpoint the singer, shadows of moving figure flashes on the orange light from the street fires against walls. The sound of a paint can rolling across the floor slowly broke the silence that had settled as the singing had stopped, slowly a misleading silence settled across the street.

"Looks like we got fresh ADAM!" The unhinged voice of a man in a tattered three-piece suit and bunny-themed masquerade mask that looked to have fused to his faces skin echoed across the street as he lept up onto an overturned bin, a lead pipe held in his left hand. "Let's see what theirs tastes!"

Not wasting any time, the suited man screamed out before charging towards the three heroes the pipe held high above his head, yer he wasn't alone as the second he screamed and charged from all-around the three heroes a sizeable group of men and women dressed in summarily tattered clothes and masquerade masks lept free and charged.

Aizawa spun around to face a brutish looking man in a tattered boiler suit charging towards him swinging a large piece of rebar towards his head, rolling to the back as to avoid the rebars swing Aizawa glared towards the man before unfurling part of his capture weapon scarf and launching it forward wrapping it around the man's arms and head before yanking down sharply. The motion of the yank causing the man's arms to fly back into his face, slamming the piece of rebar into his face breaking his nose and knocking the man out cold.

A scream to the left alerted Aizawa to a woman lunging towards him with her hands outstretched, aiming to claw out his eyes. Yet before she could even reach him, Aizawa watched as Kristofer's sledgehammer slammed into her back a deep thumping sound reverberating from the impact point as she hit the floor with a groan of pain as the effects of Kirstofers quirk forced her body to suffer the effects of both a rapid increase then decrease in pressure. With a nod between the two Kistrofer turned back around swinging his sledgehammer in a wide arc smacking several charging assailants at once, catapulting them into a far wall, all while his quirk sent similar effects of rapid body pressure change across their nervous systems.

Turning to the right Aizawa ducked slightly to the right avoiding the swing of a lead pipe, being aimed by a twitchy woman in a tattered waitress outfit who was aiming to cave in his skull. Not letting the woman get in a second swing, Aizawa darted forward slamming his left fist into her throat causing her to begin chocking before delivering a right hook into her temple knocking the woman out.

Out of the corner of his eye Aizawa watched as Kugo had been charged by a man who bore a similar feature to a gorilla, currently, Kugo held both the man's hands in a wide grip stopping him from doing anything. This had, however, had the effect of leaving him wide open to the two women armed with butchers hooks flanking him on either side.

Spinning on the spot to face the women, Aizawa flung his capture weapon out wrapping the left woman up and using the mention to swing her into the right-hand side woman before releasing her and sending both women tumbling over each other and into a heap on the floor. While he had dealt with the women, Kugo had brought the large mans head close to his own before unleashing a hypersonic wave at near point-blank leaving the gorilla-like man unable to move as he slumped over on the ground.

For the next several minutes the three heroes were beset by the insane local population of this strange underwater city, all of them screaming about drinking on their 'ADAM'. Slowly the number of crazed people trying to assault the three heroes trickled off, even those they had previously knocked out had come to only to quickly run off into the shadows of the decrepit street. Now alone the heroes could take stock of what they had seen.

"Those," Kristofer spoke, his voice soft almost haunted by what had seen, "Those people did not look normal."

"They likely all had mutation-type quirks, Deep," Kugo offered as he panted in exhaustion, reaching down into a nearby water puddle and splashing himself in the face as a way to rehydrate.

"No," Aizawa shocked his head looking down the street the vast majority of their attackers had fled, "I doubt that so many people have the same quirk, it's more likely they are all suffering from a genetic deformity brought on by whatever ADAM is."

"Jesus," Kristofer whispered, his mind trying to come up with why someone would subject themselves to a drug with that kind of side effect, "That's one hell of a side effect."

Before either Aizawa or Kugo could respond to Kristofer a shrill scream of a young girl filled the silence that had settled over the street, a scream that was followed by the same young girl yelling out in an eery voice "A stranger!". Without a single word between the three of them, they took off rushing towards the young girl's screams.

Sprinting through the winding buildings linked from one to another by large holes in the walls, the three heroes continued to follow the girl's screams as they become more distressed "No strangers, no!". The next time she screamed the three picked up their pace, Kristofer lunged towards the solid wall blocking their path with a roar in effort slamming his sledgehammer into the wooden structure and using his quirk to splinter the faded wood making a new hole for them to use to keep going.

Coming to a stop before a large glass wall of a diner, the three heroes could see on the other side something that chilled them to their cores. Trying to desperately hide underneath one booth's was a small girl no older than six with waist-length brown hair in two braided pigtails a lilac-coloured dress with white stripes. She was curled up in the farthest corner of the booth shaking in fear with her eyes screwed shut as a man with a similar build to the gorilla-like man from before was trying to rip the booth's table off the floor with three more of the tattered clothed citizens stood around watching and laughing at the sight.

"You're mine now, Lil' girl." The brutish man chuckled as he finally ripped the table from the ground and hurled it off to the side and reached towards the young girl. "Help me, Daddy, please!" she screamed as the man's large hand grabbed her by the pigtails as he attempted to pull her out from where she had curled up.

Not wasting any time Kirstofer swing his hammer into the glass trying to shatter it, while Kugo unleashed a sonic wave in an attempted to shatter the glass. But deep down the knew that they'd not get into the room quick enough, and would be forced to watch whatever sick act the brute and his 'friends' had in store for the young girl.

Or they would have until one of the brutes three friends screamed out in pain, the tip of a large drill poking out of his chest as a large seven-foot behemoth of a man strode into the diner, from the other side, a red glow emanating from the oval visor in his bronze drivers helmet.

-LINE BREAK-

Another obstacle between him and his little one Eleanor brought an angry growl to Delta's abused voice box, he wasn't new to this concept now, as it seemed everything and everyone, but Sinclair and the other little ones were opposed to him being with his daughter. He'd cut his way through the residents of Paupers drop to get the codes he needed to reactivate the train and continue towards his little one, he'd already left a trail of destruction and dead back in Ryan Amusements, the Atlantic Express station and the Adonis Luxury Resort so turning Paupers drop into a graveyard didn't phase him in the slightest.

One person he would take some measure of joy in turning into mulch was going to be the so-called 'governor' Grace Holloway, she'd claimed he'd stolen his little one from her and turned her into a monster. The very idea that he'd made Eleanor a monster-filled him with boiling rage, how dare she even imply he'd done such a thing and he'd make her pay for that. If she wanted to be the last thing he saw if he hung from the light here, then Delta would make sure he was the last thing she saw as he ripped her head from her shoulders.

Already he'd turn a good percentage of the citizens, or splicers as the last little one he'd saved called them, into corpses. Steadily carving his way through whatever members of the 'Rapture Family' operated under Grace down here, yet right now all of that had fallen to a secondary concern as right now his primary concern lay in finding a lost little one.

While scouting the streets around The Sinclair Deluxe hotel, looking for a way inside, Delta had come across several splicer corpses with large rivets guttering out of their chests as well as the slumped over body of one of the protector much like himself if only more bulky and in place of a drill a riveting gun. The sight of the dead protector surrounded by at best count six dead splicers and no little one nearby filled Delta with a sense of dread, had one survived and made off with her? Had she escaped to the safety of a vent? Or was she nearby crying for help?

These questions looped in his mind as Delta searched around the area letting out low rumbles hoping for a response, and with each loop, he grew more concerned for the lost little one. After several agonising minutes of searching, Delta felt a pit drop in his stomach as the also acceptance that she'd been taken and likely killed. While this little one had not been his Eleanor, she was still an innocent that needed a protector like him or her old fallen one.

A Scream broke Delta from his melancholy, the scream of a little one in danger. Wasting no time Delta stormed towards the direction in which the scream had come from. Hoping it was the lost little one and not another little one in danger, but it did not matter either way as whatever threatened the little one would become very well acquainted with his drill. Delta smashed his way through wooden doors and walls as he followed the screams for help before dropping down two stories to land before landing in front of the class does to a building with a neon sign above that read 'FishBowl Diner'.

Inside Delta saw three splicers milling about watching as one of the more Brutish ones ripped a booth table from the ground before chuckling and reaching down to the floor between the booth chairs. Delta could just make out the brute chuckling words, "You're mine now, Lil' girl." as he pulled the struggling form of a little up by her pigtailed hair.

Rage boiled up once more, a pure uncontrollable ferocity flooded Delta's veins made all the worse as the little screamed out "Help me, Daddy, please!", these animals would suffer for even touching a little one.

Ripping the door open Delta lunged forward ramming his drill threw the back of the splicer closest to the door, the impact driving it right threw the spine, central chest cavity and out the sternum. Only giving the splicer a single breath as he screamed in pain Delta grabbed the man by the head with his left hand and squeezed popping it like someone would a grape before letting go and flicking the lifeless corpse off the drill and striding into the diner.

This got the attention of the two remaining splicers and above all else the brute, who dropped the little one and started to chuckle, ignoring the small girl as she scrambled across the floor and towards Delta. "Don't let'm get me, Daddy!" She quivered in fear gripping the back of his leg, a low rumble of reassurance left Delta's throat as he bent down picking the small girl up and placing her protectively between his helmet and the two tanks fixed to his back before he turned back to face the splicers. Slamming a foot forward Delta roared in anger, fire spanking in his left hand as the drill on his right revved up to speed, these monsters had not only frightened a little one but meant to hurt her for that they would suffer.

"Oh, he wants a tussle." The brute chuckled cracking his knuckles before pointing a finger towards Delta and jutting his head at the other two splicers, "Get'em boys!"

But before either of the two surviving splicers could move Delta had fallen upon them like a tsunami on a beachside resort. His drill slamming into the right splicers upper torso, a woman wearing a tattered pin skirt and blouse, ripping it apart before she could even scream the flesh, bones and organs being turned into a fine red mist by the rotations of the drill. Likewise, before the left splicer, a name in a tattered chefs outfit, could even so much as move Delta had bathed him in a jet of flame from his left hand. He kept the jet of flame going until the splicer stopped screaming falling to the ground a burnt husk of a corpse.

"She's gonna watch me do ya, son!" The brute roared as he knocked the bowler hat on his forward before charging towards Delta a fist raised to slam down in his head, only for Delta to swing around with his left hand and grab the brute's arm tightening his grip and bending the brute's hand backwards snapping his wrist. The brute's eyes went wide in shock at his now broken wrist as Delta glared hatefully from behind his faceplate the little sister poking her head around from behind Delta's to stare at the brute and giggle.

"Daddy's giving you stars and birdies!" she giggled, a wide grin on her face as her yellow eyes bore into down into the brute's as Delta brought his drill up him into the air revving it up to full speed while keeping a right grip in the brute's shattered wrist.

"Oh fuck." Was all the brute could get out before Delta slammed the rapidly spinning drill down into his face, the force behind the impact combined with the drills rotation speed turned the splicers head into chunks scattered across the room.

Snorting once as the anger flowed out of him, Delta let the limp corpse fall to the floor before reaching onto his back, taking the little one off his shoulder to look her over and make sure she wasn't hurt. Her beaming face told him she wasn't hurt but she had some blood plastered across her cheek and a pigtail that had come loose, Delta rumbled once as he reached into one of the pockets on his waist pulling free a cloth and gently wiping the giggling girls face clean.

"Daddy! You always save me from the monsters!" The little one happily proclaimed hugging Delta around the waist as her gently set about fixing her pigtail with his free hand. Seeing that Delta had fixed her pigtail the little one giggled happily bouncing around in place before seeing something outside one of the nearby glass walls. "Look, Daddy!" She pointed bouncing in place as Delta stood, turning to see what she was pointing at. "It's a big fishy, a stinky man and a skinny Daddy!"

Looking beyond the glass wall Delta saw what she meant, a large whale looking man, a short man who didn't look like he was a splicer more resembled Sinclair in that he lacked mutation and finally someone how looked like he was wearing a skinner version of his own protector suit. An odd-looking bunch, yet as Delta studied them he saw the cracks in the glass from their side signifying they had been trying to break into the diner. Picking up the little one and returning her to his shoulder, Delta pointed to the dead splicers then at the three of them to the little one gesturing that he would protect her.

Watching as the large whale man nodded in agreement took Delta by surprise, they were not protectors so why would they want to keep her safe. He'd have to find out, as nothing he had ever seen in Rapture match the three of them. Pulling his fist back delta slammed it into the glass, the final blow was enough to shatter the large wall causing the glass between them to fall to the ground.

On one side stood three heroes from the surface here on a mission to find and save kidnapped children, while on the other stood the last real protector of the little sisters left in Rapture. Both side with a goal that intertwined without even realising it. A silence hung between the three heroes and Delta, one that remained for several long minutes until being broken by the little one poking her head around Delta's and waving happily at the three heroes.

"Are you friends with Daddy?" her simple innocent question was enough to earn smiles form the heroes and a rumble of mirth from Delta.

It was a sign that now these three heroes would truly know what their chosen career truly meant, as they had been baptised in Rapture by combat. Both their own and being made to see just how truly brutal the real protectors of the cities most valuable children could be.

If nothing else it was a complete Rapture Welcome.