BNHA: Force Within

They made it home without incident. The train had been crowded with people heading home for dinner, forcing Ben to hold his All Might purchases close to his chest.

"Your mom's probably still at work," Ben said as they reached Anakin's apartment. "Want me to stay until she gets back?"

"I'm not three anymore."

"No, you're not." Ben smiled, but something seemed off about his expression. "Tell her I'll bring her lunch tomorrow at the hospital."

"She'll be sleeping after her night shift."

"Then I'll leave it with Recovery Girl." The familiar grin returned. "Your great-grandmother can't say no to me."

Anakin watched his grandfather head back to the station, All Might merchandise tucked under his arm. Ben had been acting strange since that moment in the shopping district, but he couldn't pin down why.

His mom was already gone for her hospital shift. He heated up dinner and worked on some homework before going to bed early. The shopping trip had worn him out more than he expected.

At 11:42 PM, a Force Vision jolted him awake.

He saw his grandfather standing in a dark parking lot. The office building loomed ahead, windows black except for security lights. Ben clutched a folder under his arm, probably work he'd gone back to finish.

A figure stepped out from behind a car.

Anakin tried to shout a warning, but this was just a Force Vision - he could only watch as events unfolded in real-time.

The figure said something. Ben turned.

Anakin saw the flash of recognition on his grandfather's face. Ben knew his attacker.

Then came the attack. Ben fell.

Anakin snapped back to consciousness, drenched in sweat.

His phone nearly slipped from his trembling hands as he called Ben's number. No answer.

He tried again. Straight to voicemail.

Mom was at work. He called anyway.

"Ani? What's wrong?"

"Have you heard from Grandpa?"

"Not since he dropped you off. He mentioned stopping by his office later to-"

"Call him. Please. Call him right now."

He heard her dialing another phone. Silence. Then: "No answer. Anakin, what's going on?"

"Something's wrong."

A pause. "I'm calling your grandmother."

Anakin pulled on his shoes, his phone ringing again - Grandmother.

"Ben's not answering." Her voice was tight. "He said he was just running to the office for some paperwork. That was two hours ago."

"I'm going-"

"No. Stay home. I've called the police."

But Anakin was already running down the stairs. The last train had left, but he didn't care. He channeled The Force through his body, propelling himself forward faster than he ever had before.

He reached the office building too late. Through The Force, he felt the exact moment his grandfather's presence vanished.

Then he sensed them. Three presences lingering nearby. They were watching from the shadows.

Anakin raised his arm. Through The Force, he grabbed all three figures, lifting them from their hiding spot. He pulled them toward him, their feet dragging across the pavement.

The street lights illuminated their faces as they struggled against his hold.

"Kill yourselves," Anakin said. Their eyes glazed over as the words took hold.

One raised his hand, quirk activating. The second reached for a knife. The third's skin began to glow.

"Young Skywalker!"

All Might landed between him and the attackers, the rush of air from his arrival scattering loose papers across the street. The three figures collapsed, freed from Anakin's control.

"Your great-grandmother sent me," All Might said, his voice carrying a familiar concern. "This isn't what your grandfather would want, young man."

Anakin's arm was still outstretched. Behind All Might, the three attackers lay unconscious.

Police sirens wailed in the distance. But all Anakin could focus on was the empty space in The Force where his grandfather's presence should have been.

The police cars pulled up one after another, their lights painting the street in red and blue. Anakin watched as they took the three attackers into custody. All Might stayed between him and them, like he knew Anakin might try something again.

"Your mother's on her way," All Might said. "Recovery Girl too."

Anakin didn't respond. His arm had finally dropped to his side. He'd never used The Force like that before, never known he could make someone's mind bend to his will.

More police arrived with questions. Where had he been earlier? Why did he come to the office? How did he know something was wrong?

He answered mechanically, leaving out the Force Vision and what he'd almost made those three do. All Might stood nearby, his usual smile gone.

Then his mom arrived, still in her hospital scrubs, running past the police tape.

"Ani-"

He let her pull him into a hug. Over her shoulder, he saw them wheeling out a covered stretcher. His grandmother stood by the building entrance, Chiyo holding her arm.

The three attackers were already gone, taken away in separate police cars. Anakin hadn't gotten a good look at their faces, but he'd remember how they felt in The Force.

The police station smelled like coffee and old paper. Anakin sat in an interview room while detectives took his statement. His mom hadn't left his side.

"And you came to the office because...?" The detective let the question hang.

"I had a feeling something was wrong."

"A feeling?"

"His quirk sometimes lets him sense things," his mom cut in. The detective nodded, writing something down.

They asked more questions. Simple ones about his day with Ben. Harder ones about why he was at the scene. He stuck to basic facts, leaving out how he'd used The Force.

All Might had already given his statement about finding Anakin confronting the suspects. But he hadn't mentioned what he'd stopped from happening.

Dawn broke by the time they left the station. His mom drove them home in silence. Exhaustion pulled at him, but sleep meant dreams, and he didn't want to see what The Force might show him next.

The apartment felt empty without Ben's voice filling it with bad jokes and worse puns. No All Might merchandise waiting to be displayed.

"Try to rest," his mom said softly.

He lay in bed, staring at his ceiling. Using The Force felt different now. Maybe it was what he'd done with it - reaching into those minds, making them obey.

His phone continued to light up with notifications from Mirio, Nejire, his grandmother, and Chiyo. He ignored them all.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw those three figures under the streetlights. Saw what he'd almost made them do.

Evening came. His mom brought food he didn't eat. The TV played news he didn't watch. Reporters had their story - local businessman killed, suspects apprehended, investigation ongoing.

They didn't mention Ben's awful jokes or How he collected All Might figures. How he'd moved back from America just to help raise his grandson.

A knock at his door. His mom with more food.

"The police called," she said. "They're charging all three suspects. Multiple witnesses saw them in the area."

Anakin nodded.

"All Might asked about you. So did Great-Granny Chiyo."

Another nod.

"Ani... what happened before All Might arrived? What did you..."

"I don't want to talk about it."

She sat on the edge of his bed, squeezed his hand, then left.

Anakin stared at his ceiling. Part of him wished All Might hadn't shown up when he did.

***

Three separate holding cells. Three different police stations. Detective Tanaka watched each security feed while reviewing the preliminary report on the Skywalker murder case. Four screens showed different angles of each suspect.

The first one hadn't stopped pacing since processing. He kept running his hands through dark hair, muttering something the cameras couldn't pick up. Temperature control quirk, the file noted. Could manipulate heat at will.

Cell two: a woman who could turn her skin to metal. She sat perfectly still, staring at the wall.

Cell three: a man with an explosion quirk. Small-scale blasts only. He'd been talking to himself for hours.

"Sir," an officer stepped into the monitoring room. "We got an ID match on suspect one."

Tanaka took the folder. "Kenji Tanaka. Any relation?"

"No sir. Missing persons case from almost three years ago. Worked at-"

The guard's words cut off as all three suspects suddenly grabbed their heads, screaming. The detective leaned forward, watching in horror as their skulls seemed to bulge outward.

"Medical to all cells!" Tanaka shouted into his radio. "Something's-"

The first head exploded, painting the cell walls red. Before anyone could react, the second suspect's head burst like an overripe melon. The third followed immediately after.

Alarms blared. Guards rushed to each cell, only to stop at the doorways, faces pale. Blood and brain matter dripped down pristine white walls. Three bodies lay crumpled, unrecognizable from the neck up.

"What the hell?" someone whispered.

Tanaka watched the footage again. Three suspects. Three different locations. Three heads exploding at the exact same moment.

"Get me everything on the first suspect's missing persons case," he ordered, trying to keep his voice steady. "And find his next of kin."

The file showed an employee photo from three years ago - a smiling young man in an ice cream shop uniform. Kenji Tanaka, age 22. Missing since October. Sister still worked at the same shop.

Hours later, Tanaka sat at his desk, staring at the phone. How do you tell someone their missing brother turned up as a murderer, only to die in custody? That the happy kid who served ice cream had become a killer before his head exploded in a police cell?

"Sir?" An officer appeared in his doorway. "Forensics finished their preliminary report. They've... they've never seen anything like it. All three victims' brains just... detonated. Same pattern, same time, down to the millisecond."

"Any explanation?"

"None sir. No poison, no external trauma, no sign of quirk use. Their heads just... popped."

Tanaka looked at the security footage frozen on his screen. Three people who might have explained why they targeted Ben Skywalker. Three loose ends, now tied up in the most brutal way possible.

The morgue photos showed the aftermath. Clinical images of headless bodies in police custody. Evidence markers next to chunks of skull. Blood spatter analysis showing identical patterns in three different cells.

Someone had reached into three separate police stations and executed three people simultaneously. Someone with enough power to make heads explode from a distance.

"The sister's here," an officer said quietly.

Tanaka gathered the non-graphic photos. The smiling employee ID. The missing persons report from three years ago. How do you tell someone their brother came back as a murderer just long enough to kill an innocent man before his head exploded?

Mai stood in the waiting room, still wearing her ice cream shop uniform. She must have come straight from work.

"Did... did you find him?" Her voice shook. "Did you find my brother?"

The detective looked at the file in his hands, at the photos of a smiling young man who served ice cream, who disappeared for three years, who helped kill Ben Skywalker, who died when his head exploded in a police cell.

Behind his desk, the security footage played on silent loop. Three heads exploding in perfect synchronization. Three bodies falling. Three loose ends, tied up with brutal efficiency.

Somewhere in the city, someone had that kind of power. Someone could reach into police stations and make heads explode. Someone had used Kenji Tanaka and then disposed of him like garbage.

"Please," Mai whispered. "Just tell me if you found my brother."