"THE EXAM IS OVER!!"
Izuku covered his ears. Ouch, that was loud.
It was so loud that it took a second for the words to register. Over. The exam was over. He didn't know how many points he'd gotten with his wrecking ball stunt, or how many would be given to Shoji instead. If he actually managed to crush fifty robots like Shoji said, depending on their value it could be as much as 75 or as little as 25 points for it. Combined with his previous takedowns, that meant a minimum of 49. Was that enough?
It was almost enough to make him panic until he realized that he didn't have time to panic. If the exam was over, then his father's countdown started. There was no time to worry about the exam when it was time to talk to the heroes. Turning his legs into springs, Izuku launched himself straight up and on top of the wall and right next to the Voice Hero, startling him.
"Whoa, listener, you're not supposed to be up here," Present Mic said with crossing his arms in an X. That was, until he looked at Izuku's face and seemed to recognize him. "Hey, you're the kid, right?"
"Yeah, I'm Deku," he greeted. "Nice to meet you again, Present Mic."
"Kid!" Mic grinned from ear to ear, an infectious smile that brought up Izuku's spirits. "Eri's doing super well, squirt. You'll be surprised how good when you see her, I swear. And she's taken to that piano you got her like a pro! That's probably 'cause a pro is teaching her, right my man? Haha, take my word for it, she'll be playing for the crowds in no time."
At least one UA professor didn't seem to hate him. As much as he wanted to talk about Eri, though, he really couldn't. "Thank you, sir, but I don't have much time. An hour at most. Is Nezu ready for me?"
Izuku activated Super Hearing, listening to Mic's headset. Ah, Nezu.
'We're ready. And bring Mic with you, if you would.'
Izuku actually smiled at that. That mouse really was as smart as they said.
"Present Mic," Izuku offered his arm, "you will need to keep contact with me if you don't want to get lost. It will be disorienting for you, but will you trust me?"
"Sure, kid," Mic linked arms with him. "Let's go!"
Izuku wished he had a moment to breath, but he couldn't. He needed to give them as much information as he could in as little time as he had before his father noticed he wasn't coming out of the school. He needed that time, he needed it to convince them he wasn't a threat.
So he held onto Present Mic, thought of the coordinates on his test ticket, and jumped them through the portal.
"AAAAIIII!!!"
Izuku covered his hand over his ears the second they landed in the conference rooms, because, damn, Mic's yelling hurt even at human volumes. Only once the hero stopped screaming could he properly take in his surroundings.
It was a conference room of sorts. Monitors lined one wall and were only just being shut off by some of the pros. The largest part of the room was a conference table lined with well-used but well-maintained leather chairs.
The coordinates they'd had him portal to had him standing closest to the door and across the table from the seated heroes. From left to right, he identified them: Best Jeanist, Hound Dog, Thirteen, Ectoplasm on the left; Nezu and the dog-headed Chief of Police Tsuragamae were in the center; and Aizawa, Midnight, and—Izuku immediately averted his eyes and stared down at the floor, trying to ignore the pit in his stomach—All Might, on the right. He couldn't bear to see his hero in his buff form, still not smiling just the same as when he'd tried to …
Izuku forced himself to look up and adopt a small smile, the most he could muster, to show the people seated so professionally in front of him. It occurred to him that Present Mic had already started to move to his seat just by Aizawa, and so the only person on his side—literally—was an ordinary-looking man in a chair right by him. His quirk instinctively reached out to identify something about the man and came back with a disturbing reading—a truth quirk, based on touch.
They didn't trust him.
"Greetings on this wonderful day, Midoriya Izuku," Nezu greeted cheerfully, waving a paw, "or should we call you Deku?"
The familiar name did little to soothe his stomach, but it at least reminded him of what was at stake.
"Midoriya, please," Izuku smiled back with faux cheer. "I'm not a bunny right now, right?"
Nezu chuckled. "Right you are. Midoriya it is, then. Welcome. Do you need any introductions?"
He turned and looked at the ordinary man again. "I'm sorry, you're the only one I don't know."
"That's alright." The man gave a timid smile and shook his head. "I'm Detective Tsukauchi. All Might and the Chief have asked me to sit in on this meeting."
All Might called him in. It shouldn't have hurt so much, but it did. Izuku looked away from the detective to hide his face. He knew it was too expressive, knew it would give too much of his pain away.
"That makes sense," Izuku said, trying to keep his voice from feeling too hollow. "Thank you for coming. I guess it's for the best that you're here, right?"
"Midoriya?" Nezu called, the question in his voice obvious.
"Nezu, do you really think I can't tell what his quirk is?" Izuku bit out, a bit angrier than he would have liked, facing the room again. "What were you thinking of telling me, that I just had to hold a stranger's hand for no reason? You don't trust me to tell you the truth, so you had to bring in someone to confirm it. It's fine. Just don't lie to me and ."
Nezu stood in his chair, arms wide and his smile soft. "Midoriya, it's not what it seems. Yes, we were hoping the detective would confirm your words, but it is not because I or the other faculty here distrust you. This is so the Chief of Police here and All Might can share the confidence we have in you, and so that the detective's report can help to clear your name after this is done. I do trust you, Midoriya, but it is not only me that you have to convince."
The wind was knocked out of his sails and his anger lowered into shame. Nezu was absolutely right that they shouldn't believe him, but it still hurt. Especially since All Might was the one who initiated it.
"Hey, at least my hands aren't sweaty," the detective said with an awkward smile. Honestly, it worked. Izuku found himself moving forward until he finally took a seat next to the detective.
"Umm, before you actually touch me," Izuku hesitated as the detective took off his gloves, "I think your quirk only activates with touch but is almost like synesthesia, right? The truth colours the words I say, there's not truly a mental link?"
The detective blinked hard at him, then nodded. "That's incredibly accurate."
Izuku gave a slight smile. "Quirks are something I'm good at. I just wanted to make sure your quirk wasn't an affecting emitter, that's all. It wouldn't look good if I accidentally stole your quirk."
The room seemed to go more silent, and Izuku wished he had chosen to stay the same. He coughed awkwardly.
"Here, just," he offered his hand helplessly to the man, "if I'm going to have to explain that sentence, I want All Might to believe me."
It was admirable how little hesitation the detective showed when he clasped hands with him. It made Izuku respect the man just a little bit. But the action of being touched like that made his skin itch unpleasantly for an unknown reason. Like when All Might had hugged him the first time. He didn't know what the expectations were with having this physical contact, what the man thought their relationship would be, what he wanted it to be, and Izuku hated it.
But he also felt the quirk activate in the man, suddenly taking on a certain colour similar to Izuku's own quirk. Like it was a radio tuned to the right station. For a moment, Izuku was entranced.
"Good, woof," the Chief of Police barked. "Midoriya Izuku, first, tell me you won't take any quirks in this room today."
"I won't," Izuku promised, although perhaps a touch absentmindedly as he watched the detective's quirk light up to his words.
He could see what the detective saw, the way the words coloured, because his quirk coloured too. Each piece of the words dispersed into the quirk and added a different vibrancy of the same hue, ringing more absolute than others. The whispers around the room filtered like black and white without the contact to colour it, but his own words were the ones he could see falling to one side or another of the detective's quirk in a colour spectrum from warm to cold. His were a vibrant orange, which must mean red was truth. But it wasn't all the way red because he had to clarify, it seemed, based on the context. Something tugged inside him, the detective's quirk urging him further push it along the spectrum. It wanted to believe him, that was certain.
He must have been mumbling because Nezu knocked on the table to break him out of it. One look at the pallid face of Detective Tsukauchi told him he had been.
"If you please, Midoriya," Nezu prompted, "perhaps you could focus on the question instead of on the quirk? I doubt the detective wishes for everyone to know how his quirk works."
Izuku nodded, a little embarrassed at being caught out.
"Right, sorry. It's just...so interesting." He nearly zoned out again to look, but his nerves and the caution he felt from the detective kept him from further exasperating the situation. He turned away from the detective. "Sorry, it's not—I don't mean in a bad way. I do the same thing with every quirk, dad likes me to talk about them, and yours looks beautiful—no, that sounds too weird when you can't see it, I mean—"
"Midoriya," the Chief barked, silencing him. "Tell us what you meant by accidentally taking a quirk."
Grateful for an exit, he accepted the question. "I do usually have control over what quirk I take or don't. I can promise not to take almost everyone's quirks, but if Eraserhead uses his quirk on me, I can't guarantee anything."
The room's eyebrows rose collectively, except for Hound Dog and Thirteen, who didn't have those facial features. Izuku was quick to defend himself. "That's what I was talking about with affecting emitter quirks, the quirks that work inside someone else. If someone uses an affecting emitter quirk on me, my quirk will almost instinctively take it. Like a defense mechanism. I try to keep it under control, I'm pretty good at it, but if I'm too stressed or if I'm taken by surprise then I can't do anything."
Dad had certainly tried it before, but they soon discovered it was like putting light right next to a black hole—nothing escaped. His quirk's internal gravity sucked in anything it touched, and affecting emitters tried to touch as much of you as they could.
"That is interesting," Nezu said, smiling. "Thank you for the warning. I'm sure Aizawa will make sure to behave."
Eraserhead gave a tired sigh from his side of the table but nodded anyway.
Tsukauchi's hand was still on him, and he noticed the man nodding to the Chief of Police.
Izuku bit his lip. He didn't have time for all of this pussyfooting around. He already looked bad for everything around the detective, from getting angry that he was here, to mumbling a mile a minute about his quirk. He just needed to hunker down, give them as much information as he could, and then go back to his dad before the other kids all left. "Can I touch something you can transfer data from? I can give you everything. Locations, names, schematics … I'll give you everything I can right now."
Nezu beamed at him. "Of course, Midoriya."
The principal offered up a small tablet to him and Izuku leaned forward to touch his hand to the screen. "Just, give me a minute or two, okay? And, detective, I promise that everything I put on here is true, at least as far as I know. Tell them that."
Without waiting for an answer, Izuku dived in and copied.
It was a difficult thing, copying information that you'd stored inside one quirk to a computer using a completely separate quirk. Memory quirks were also tricky things, usually focusing on one aspect of memory instead of the entirety, so it needed to be multiple memory quirks working together and then just glancingly touching the techno quirk to transmit it. He struggled for a minute with the task before the thoughts managed to translate properly. Once he had managed the feat once, though, all the information poured out. Every base they needed to attack, who to expect, quirks, and their analysis, everything came out. Except …
"My father doesn't keep a pattern for where or what he's doing, just when," Izuku told Nezu. "I gave you the location of where he does most of his work besides the lab so that you don't have to fight the nomu and father in the same place, but you will have to coordinate with me so you know when my father is there. We'll have to work together."
He straightened up after transferring everything, seeing everyone in the room give him incredulous looks.
"Ah," Nezu nodded sagely, "it is important to you that we do not go forward without you."
Izuku shuffled a little. "You need me, Principal Nezu. Not just for the when and where, but with my father's abilities. I think…I think my quirk might be strong enough now to help."
"Lie," Tsukauchi said automatically, and the room froze. The detective looked embarrassed. "Sorry. You just don't really believe you're strong enough to help."
Izuku glared at the detective. "Well, I'm the best chance they have!"
He coughed awkwardly into his other hand. "True."
Nezu chortled. "Well, at least we know it's working. Why don't you tell us about your quirk that we so need, Midoriya?"
Izuku took a deep breath.
"I have a variation of my father's quirk, All for One." He heard All Might suck in a large gulp of air, and it made him sick. "Father says mine is more powerful than his. And more selfish. I can take people's quirks, and I don't even need to touch them like my father does. I can take as many quirks as are in my immediate area in just a minute."
"Immediate area, meaning…?"
"Around 40 feet now, depending on the type of quirk," he responded automatically. "I have to be closer for transformations, and I can't take mutations, although neither can dad. It's not indiscriminate, I do have to target the quirk specifically. I could clear you all of your quirks, except for Hound Dog and the Chief of Police's, in two seconds. It's not hard."
Some of the heroes shifted awkwardly, so Izuku continued. "An unfortunate side-effect of that extra power is that, while my dad can steal quirks and give them away, I have a much harder time with the giving part. Some quirks that I take I can't return, even if I want to."
"Oh?" Nezu leaned forward now. "Even to your father?"
Izuku shook his head. "Especially not dad. We think it's some sort of provider-dependent issue derived from me being his son, that his quirk sees mine as the dependent and doesn't want to take anything from me, like how an octopus will let themself waste away if it means protecting their eggs long enough to hatch, you know? Biologically doing its best for the offspring to survive. He can't take any quirks from me, and I can't give any to him. He can't even sense my secondary quirks unless I'm using them. And, well, my quirks find me more compatible than him, so they stay with me."
"Compatible?" the beagle chief prompted.
He nodded slowly, trying to think of how to describe the feeling of just rightness that comes with finding that quirk match. It just felt like harmony.
"Like attracts like with quirks," Izuku explained. "They appreciate someone who will put them to good use and so they prefer to match the person they're going to. It's like … somewhere in a person's DNA is a predisposition to certain strains of quirks. I can't give a quirk to someone if it's not compatible with them. Dad can and I can't. Oftentimes the only quirks I can return are a person's original quirk, but if the person didn't use their quirk to the fullest before I took it then even the owner could have too little compatibility for me to return it. So even if a quirk is okay with leaving me for someone else, I only manage it maybe 10% of the time, 50% when returning it to the owner. It's mostly because it takes too much energy to do it; I usually faint by the end of it, so if the quirk isn't back to the owner before I faint, they don't get it back."
"Interesting." Tsuragamae's paws folded under his chin. "Why did you send us the list of stolen quirks, Midoriya?"
Izuku pinched his eyes closed. His quirks trembled with him from the guilt gnawing at his insides. "I . . . Those quirks were only taken because I made my dad angry. They were all my fault. If their owners are still alive, I at least want to try giving them back. I can't promise that I can, because I fail more often than I succeed, but I never wanted anyone to lose their quirks for me. And if I can't, maybe I'll find another quirk they might be able to use? Or maybe when I'm older and have more stamina I can try again? I don't know. It could be useless, I just want to at least have a chance to make it right."
"Midoriya," Tsukauchi smiled over at him, "that would mean the world to some of them. Don't sell yourself short; that's a really selfless thing to want."
Izuku's heart rose and tears pricked his eyes, blurring out the detective. "Th-thank you, but you don't have to say that just because I'm helping you. I'm not exactly innocent. I know that."
The Chief of Police straightened after a beat, moving a paper in front of him. "Midoriya Izuku, while, Nezu goes over the information you've provided us, I have some questions for you regarding your involvement with All for One. Choose to answer or not, but it will help us determine what to do with you."
Izuku gulped. "Er, if I have a say, can I ask UA to submit a petition to foster me?"
Nezu looked up from the laptop in interest. "I was correct? How wonderful!"
The detective's hands might not have been sweaty, but Izuku felt guilty for all the nervous sweat building on his own hand.
"That was one of our questions, woof," Tsuragamae said, leaning back in his seat. "Why did you come forward when you did in the manner you did? Why UA and Principal Nezu, specifically?"
Izuku nodded in the direction of the Principal who was smiling encouragingly. "First, I needed someone who could organize everything in a place that I could access regularly without suspicion. My father only accepts school or his field trips as a reason to leave the house, so it had to be a hero school. Second, Nezu is recognized as the smartest known being in Japan and is slightly less well-known for his soft spot for children. If anyone would want to help the son of an extremely dangerous villain, it would be Nezu."
"So, you're trying to manipulate him?" All Might sniped from the right.
Izuku grimaced against the hurt. "No, no! I know I'm not likely to get out of this without some kind of negotiated punishment, but . . . maybe I could fight less if I was talking with someone willing to listen to a kid?"
Nezu chuckled. "Well reasoned, Midoriya, and correct. I don't blame you for that. In fact, I'm very glad my reputation brought you to me. The chance to help the next generation is the very reason I became a principal."
"Thank you." Izuku sighed in relief.
At least Nezu seemed to think he was alright. The Chief of Police was simply sitting there like some impassive observer. Unless he used his quirks, he wouldn't know how he was feeling.
"I know . . . I know I've done terrible things," he admitted out loud, "but with everything I've taken, I've promised myself that one day it would be put to good use as a hero. I can't do that if they put me in Tartarus with my dad. I was hoping UA would, maybe, help me."
Nezu nodded. "You know I'm not the absolute authority in these matters."
"Of course I do." He winced as All Might glared at him. "But private schools with on-site housing and advanced accredited quirk counselling, especially top hero schools like UA, can volunteer to foster children with exceptionally dangerous quirks and criminal records if they decide the child can be rehabilitated. If I do end up with criminal charges, you could put in that petition and then it just has to be granted by the courts. I've checked, UA is the only school whose petitions have never been denied. I want you to promise to put in that petition if it comes to it."
Nezu smiled cheerfully. "That is certainly something I can do."
"Depending on your cooperation, I can see about recommending that course of action as well," Tsuragamae interjected. "Help us and we'll help you."
Izuku cringed back from the detective's callous words. "I don't—just ask something else, okay? I don't have a lot of time before dad realizes I'm not coming out with the other examinees."
With a slow look, like he was considering asking about his words, Tsuragamae turned to his paper. "Midoriya, how many quirks do you currently have in your possession aside from your own?"
Ouch. That question hurt, like a punch to the gut. He cast a glance at All Might's white-knuckled fists and scornful frown. Telling them how many quirks he had, how many lives he'd ruined, putting a number on his sins in front of his mentor would only make him hate him more than he already did. But, he should answer, he needed to answer. He tried to open his mouth, but the words got stuck in the back of his clenching throat.
Nezu drew his attention back to him with a wave of his paw and a soft smile. "I promise, Midoriya, no matter how large the number, it will not change my decision to help you. I'm asking you to trust us."
Tears popped up into his eyes. He had. He had given All Might all of his trust. And now, the man wouldn't even look at him. But, Nezu was promising, and he really didn't have a choice anyway. He felt foolish to give in to hope again, but he couldn't resist its pull.
"You promise?"
Nezu nodded. "On my life, Midoriya."
"912."
The familiar sputter of blood came from All Might, and many of the other heroes looked at him as if trying to find out where he was hiding all that power, but Nezu looked undisturbed by the figure. Something in his heart both ached and released at the way Nezu still gave him that soft smile. He isn't disgusted? Angry? Sad? Nezu's smile gave him hope.
"Thank you," was Tsuragamae's only answer to that number. The dog looked unruffled by the figure as well, although he still wore a stern countenance. "How many of these quirks are a direct result of your theft compared to how many are from your father?"
That was a good question, at least. "On my own and without dad telling me to, I've taken fifty-seven. I've taken two hundred and twenty-two from, er—" Izuku didn't want to talk about The Room right then. "—or, I guess, because of dad's threats. The rest are from dad giving them to me or me pulling from him. Half of those quirks came to me in the last ten months."
From the right, he heard All Might sputter incoherently.
The Chief of Police simply nodded. "Thank you. Next part: does your father ask you to take part in illegal acts?"
Izuku smiled a horribly self-deprecating smile. "More often, recently, but not usually. Dad always gives me a choice. If you're asking if I've done illegal things, you know the answer to that. Not just quirk theft either. And, well, I chose to. I try to avoid it, but sometimes …"
Sometime dad makes me, was on the tip of his tongue, but that was a lie. He had a choice, every time. He could have always chosen to do nothing, he just never did. The hand clasping his own reminded him of what he had to lose by lying.
"No, dad gives me a choice." He banged his head on his fist, as if he could pound the right thought into his head. I'm not innocent, I'm not good, I'm not doing things because I'm forced to. "It's my fault if I do something illegal, it's not his. I'm not going to try and tell you I'm innocent because I'm not. Dad almost always gives me a choice. I don't have to do anything illegal. He doesn't make me."
"Why not?" Nezu asked. "He doesn't appear to have any qualms about involving you in those affairs at your age, and he has some influence over you. Indeed, it's undoubtedly something he wants if he's giving you the choice. Why not simply force you?"
"That's a funny question, you just don't know it," Izuku fell back in his seat, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "Yes, he could make me. He knows he could. But he's over a hundred and fifty years old and I'm fourteen, Principal Nezu. Age is different for him. He wants me to go with him, but I'm not even a tenth of his age. I'm still a baby in his eyes. Like, dad still prefers I sit on his lap when I get home from school, that sort of thing. He even bathed and dressed me this morning."
Tsukauchi next to him decided he had to clarify. "True."
So many red flags went up in the teachers' minds, and All Might shuddered at the image. The principal, however, held his peace for the time being so as not to discomfit the child in front of him. It was clear that, while the loss of freedom was a punishment, he didn't see anything wrong with his father's enjoyment of it. That would have to be addressed carefully in the future, Nezu knew, but for now it did no good to dwell on.
He shared a look with Tsuragamae, however, indicating that they would continue this discussion later.
"I see," Nezu nodded along. "It's not that he doesn't want you involved; it's that you're too young for any refusal to be truly offensive to him. He doesn't take you seriously, does he?"
Izuku peered out of tired eyes, looking at the rodent with a little hurt at how accurate his words were.
"You're not wrong." He slumped into his chair. "He thinks I'm capable of fighting but not ready to make decisions. He's seen so much, lived so long, I don't blame him for thinking I'm too young for things, and it has helped me avoid hurting people so I don't try to tell him otherwise. He just doesn't see age the same way everyone else does. If I disagree with him then it must be because I'm too young and naïve, at least in his eyes. Time will fix it, he says. I'll agree with him … one day. At least that's what he thinks."
"Fascinating," Nezu hummed a little. "This does explain why he is letting you apply for the hero course, doesn't it?"
"Heh, again, you're not wrong," Izuku gave a sardonic little laugh. "My applying here, becoming a hero, he has always treated it like he's indulging me. He pretends he understands, that there is some villain-centric motive that would justify it, but it feels like I'm just playing with dolls while he watches from behind. Like he's letting me see the world only to prove that he's right, indulging me until I fall back on him and admit defeat."
"Does he ever get angry with you?"
Izuku thought about that for a long moment. "Not...at me. Not really. The only reason he will ever get upset with me is if, if I might hurt myself. If I threaten to, or if I go somewhere he says is dangerous, or if I meet with people he doesn't know, or something like that. Anything that he thinks might hurt me. He doesn't trust me to take care of myself. To him, I will always be a child that doesn't know what's best for him, and . . . I will always be his little boy."
"That sounds very deliberate, if you don't mind me pointing out," Nezu prodded gently. "Do you mean to say your father is possessive over you?"
It had just slipped out, something he said to try and convey just how his father saw him. But it wasn't a wrong description of things, either. Izuku folded his hands together, keeping his eyes low.
"Yes," he admitted softly. "He … really loves me. Too much, sometimes. If anything tries to come between us, he will destroy it without hesitation."
That one stung. He had made sure no one else had the right to remove him. His mother . . .
"You know about Kacchan, right?" Izuku looked over to Best Jeanist this time, who simply raised a brow. "Oh, umm, I mean Katsuki. You know about him?"
Best Jeanist nodded. "As my employees, his parents got in contact with me about his involvement in this, yes. I understand he challenged your father yesterday and that you believed, after that encounter, he was in danger."
Izuku nodded furiously. "He is. And not just for challenging him like that. I mean, if he sees that Kacchan's being protected by a hero he will kill someone, but it's mostly because he knows I care about him."
With a bite of his lip, he continued. "I've made him promise not to hurt Kacchan, but I don't know what else he plans on doing. He said he would protect him as a 'gift' to me, but I don't know what that means. Please, please take care of him."
Nezu tilted his head questioningly. "You said he would protect your friend, 'as a gift' but you also say that your affection for your friend is threatening to him?"
Izuku bit his lip. "I, well, I tagged him in front of dad. I don't regret it, but it made dad even angrier. I guess you want to know about the tag?"
The heroes nodded sagely.
"It's a funny quirk. I never thought I'd use it," Izuku admitted. "It's a mark that represents a connection with someone close to you. You can feel their location and how they are physically. The limit is that you can only do it to maybe two or three people at a time, and you share some effects of quirk attacks, mostly emitter types like Eraser's, but that turns into an advantage with me because those quirks are easily negated by my quirk. That means it actually protects Kacchan from dad's more nefarious mental quirks. I needed to give it to him so dad knew that I would feel if anything happened to him."
Izuku gave a self-deprecating smile to the heroes. "See, that's why Kacchan's in the most danger. Dad knows I'd never forgive him if he hurt Kacchan, he knows that I love Kacchan. And I told you, he destroys anything that gets in the way of our relationship, Principal Nezu."
The heroes held their breaths, even as Tsukauchi nodded confirmation at his side.
"It's because I care for someone that isn't him." He let the words slip out, but he felt dirty admitting it. Like he was cheapening something his father had given him. Yet nothing he was saying wasn't true. "He sees anyone I love as a threat to him. I can't love anyone else. I can't admire them. I can't have favourite heroes because he finds them and takes their quirks for me, or … he rips out their stomach in front of me."
His eyes met All Might's briefly before the hero looked away.
"I've wanted to say sorry for so long, All Might. I-I told you before, right, that you were always my hero?" No response, not even a tick. Izuku pressed on anyway, squeezing the hand of the detective at his side. All Might had to at least trust him. "I'm sorry that my dad hurt you, All Might. It was my fault. I mean, he wants you quirk, obviously, but your fight wasn't about that for him. It was because I made him jealous. I'm sorry he came after you. I'm so sorry you got hurt because of me. I'm just … sorry. I don't know how to make it up to you, but … is there anything…?"
All Might was still sat with his back to the boy. There were no words of comfort coming from the number one hero, so Midnight decided to speak up.
"Hey, kid, you're not to blame," she said. "If your dad decided to go after a hero just because you liked them, that's nobody's fault but his."
Aizawa nudged All Might harshly, and the man sighed.
"All for One and I have a history," All Might said lowly, not meeting his eyes. "Our feud goes back long before you were born. To Nana. That fight was not because of you."
"But it was because of me!" Izuku pushed, guilt coming out. "He could have avoided you forever! He's too smart not to! He was already hidden as Midoriya Hisashi, he didn't need to do anything else to hide, but then he went after you anyway because of me! Everything he does is for me, you don't get it! He steals quirks for me because of my power! He opened more businesses in England because I wanted to visit, he bought out an anime studio because they were going to stop making my favourite show! That's why he attacked you, he attacked my favourite hero because I refused to sleep without my All Might plushie! Everything he does, everything is my fault!
"It's all my fault! Everything! You don't understand, it's me, it's only me!"
Heroes watched as Tsukauchi switched his hand out for his right, using his left to throw it around Midoriya. While he didn't lean into the embrace, the child didn't push him away either, and the detective proceeded to hush him gently even as he shot a concerned look at All Might over his shoulder. Nezu was deeply contemplative.
"You sent me your first message the day you met All Might," Nezu noted, head still tilted. "Why? Why not earlier? Why then at all?"
"I . . .wasn't planning on this happening so fast," Izuku admitted, scrunching up his shirt in his fist as he admitted his flaws. He felt so exposed. The detective's quirk was guaranteeing his honesty, and he'd never examined his own actions so closely before. "That sounds bad, I know, I should have come a lot earlier, but I wanted to wait until I became a hero before doing this, I wanted my quirk to be stronger than it is right now, and I wanted to be completely ready before getting All Might and fighting my father. Then I could build trust with other heroes, classmates, teachers, people I intern under and then they could help me without hating me. But then . . . I saw All Might's injury. I didn't have time anymore to plan, I had to get help quickly before All Might had to retire.
"My father gave me a pair of technology quirks that day, ones that he decided I wanted," Izuku shivered at the word. "I still had to hide, but I thought, maybe, I could at least give you guys a warning from the shadows."
"Cowards hide from heroes," All Might sniped.
The heroes watched flabbergasted as the number one hero essentially shot the boy in the heart without mercy or hesitation, and Midoriya wilted back into a puddle of tears. Tsukauchi looked in disbelief at his friend.
"Yagi," Nezu glared at him from down the table, "we agreed that you would give the child a chance. This is unprofessional and certainly unwise of you. Apologize."
Izuku shook his head. "Nezu, please, he doesn't have to. I was a coward, okay? I should have come to you months ago. My dad has killed so many people in the time it took for me to come forward, I should be sorry, I am sorry, I'm so sorry I waited so long."
"Don't be," Midnight encouraged from across the table. "It's not easy for you to be here, is it? You were very brave to reach out at all. It doesn't matter how you did it or how long it took, this is a heroic thing you've done."
Izuku's arms itched, but not from any ailment. He hadn't hugged his father or Kacchan in a bit, and the kindness from Miss Midnight made him want to hug someone badly. No offense to the detective by his side, but he wasn't really comfortable enough with the man to actually like the arm over the chair behind him.
"We need to keep going," Izuku deflected instead, using a quirk to remove the tears from his face. It soaked them right back into his skin, subtle but effective. "Once dad reaches out, I'll have to leave."
"Yes, let's continue," the Chief of Police pulled the papers towards him once again. "I want to know exactly what kind of crimes you have committed with your father. A short list, perhaps, since our time is so constrained."
"Oh." Izuku sank into his seat. If only he could decline, but All Might still wasn't looking at him, not in the eyes. Each look at his mentor killed any selfish hope in him. Whatever they needed, Izuku knew he'd agree until All Might could stand the sight of him again, until All Might could even look at him and see someone who was not All for One.
So he spoke. "There are normal things. Little things like using quirks to fight or attending his business meetings to discuss some more illegal ventures. Public quirk use, vandalism, breaking and entering, light vigilantism, accessory to all sorts of crimes, that sort of thing. There's been some corporate sabotage and espionage too, because those types of companies have cameras everywhere, so it's more training than anything, but dad still uses the information I get if there's something he wants. And we definitely had a role in destabilizing Israel, but I'm not sure how."
The room wasn't sure what to make of that blasé comment, but they let him continue.
"I've started going with dad when he works so I know what's legal, illegal, and what needs to be shut down when my father is, er, gone," Izuku admitted, rubbing his neck. "I-I told Nezu that I killed Chisaki Kai. That's not the first time I've had to kill someone, but that's only happened a few times. I watch him kill people, but I usually get sick when I have to do the killing, so dad doesn't ask me too often."
He knew that sounded bad, that him getting sick was more important to his father than the murders themselves, but it was true. It was more important to him.
"Umm, there's also the, umm, human experimentation," he whispered. The room leaned forward and he could feel their oppressive interest. "That's something I'm still doing and probably will until dad's in prison. Dr. Garaki, dad's longest friend, likes to include me in his quirk experiments. Dead people, especially dead heroes, are taken and dissected. If they're lucky, that's all that's done, but some end up being reanimated and turned into nomu. They're dad's army of bioengineered super-weapons. I know how to make them and Dr. Garaki uses me to help with the operations and selecting the right quirks to stack inside of them."
His eyes slid over to Eraserhead and Present Mic guiltily. Now wasn't the time to tell them about Kurogiri, but his stomach clenched at the thought. They were key staff members at UA, how would they react knowing that Izuku had helped to desecrate their friend's body?
The Chief of Police waved his paw for him to continue. "And the quirks?"
"They're his gifts," Izuku said hollowly. "He'll bring me quirks, have me pull them from him, and I stopped asking where they came from a long time ago because I know they're usually dead. Heroes, villains, regular people. I'll know if it's a hero's quirk, but he stopped bringing me too many of those when I tore down my hero posters as a kid."
Izuku swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. "I did steal quirks on my own before. I didn't know taking quirks it was wrong for a long time. Those 57 I mentioned, I'd take them from people on the streets, just pull them away without them even noticing. I thought … he called it rescuing the quirks. If a quirk didn't feel at home in someone, I would take it. I would do it whenever I thought the quirk would be better off with me, like stealing is okay if you like something more. And dad said it was our job, our duty to do it."
"A duty?" Nezu prompted, waving a paw. "Why, if you don't mind my asking?"
Izuku's mouth went a little dry. "It-it's just, quirks are getting stronger all the time and, well, dad and Dr. Garaki don't think it's going to plateau like some people do. They believe in the idea of a quirk singularity; you've heard the theory before, haven't you?"
The room turned to Nezu as if he had all the answers.
The mammal placed two paws under his chin. "I have, yes. It's not a very popular theory, but it has some merit. I believe the argument is that quirks aren't evolutions for humans rather a form of disease, at least in some respects. And diseases are meant to hurt the subject. The main debate stem around the question of what a quirk truly is. If, for example, quirks have a divine origin, most practices would say they are solely for our benefit. If quirks are an evolution, they would stop when the evolution peaked, so to speak, and stopped being a benefit to the average human. Although there is also the argument that evolutions can be to a species' detriment as well.
"However, if quirks were not something good," he continued, "if they were some genetic disorder or a disease that was introduced, for example, then that would mean something quite different. It would mean that what we've seen of quirks becoming stronger down the generations will ultimately end in quirks too powerful for their users and an assured destruction of society. Especially if said society does not take the time to study quirks and learn to 'treat' them as we do such things."
That impactful statement was finished with a small smile from the principal. "Is that the theory your father puts his faith in?"
"H-hai," Izuku nodded quickly, bowing it away. "So, if having powerful quirks and, er, getting married and mixing quirks makes the population a higher risk, then taking powerful quirks, like dad does, is a favour? A public service? I-I didn't understand it, as a kid, and I understand it even less now. There's so much that's just assumption and guesswork, but dad and Dr. Garaki have been studying quirks for so long there has to be something to it. Dad knows quirks better than I do, and Dr. Garaki dissects them, so they would know better than me. It wasn't until I found out he was killing people …"
Izuku shook his head, stopping the tangent before it started. "It doesn't matter. No matter what he said, I should have known better. I should have told him I wanted to stop before then, but I didn't, not until dad had me dissect one of my classmates with Dr. Garaki. I didn't want to do it anymore."
"I'm guessing your father didn't respect your wishes," Nezu surmised.
"No," he gulped. "He's brought home at least one quirk a week ever since I turned four, and then he's been throwing them at me this past year. Like I'm … Dad always compares quirks to wine or drinks, their taste and how intoxicating they are, and … I don't like the metaphor, but if we go with it then dad's definitely been trying to turn me into a drunk."
Ouch. Why was he doing this? Why was he explaining so much? Izuku didn't know. He just was looking anywhere but the heroes and saying anything that came to him, it didn't matter if he hadn't planned on telling them. His mouth always ran when he was nervous and it seemed even now was no exception. But no one was stopping him, so he just kept talking. Tsukauchi's quirk wasn't helping, practically acting as a beacon for truth and encouraging him to open his mouth to clarify or rephrase or anything else to give it more clarity. He cursed that quirk a little in his mind.
"He..., I, I … try to say no, sometimes, but it doesn't work," he tried to explain, licking his lips to wet them as they'd gotten dry during his long monologues. He felt his face heat up and pressure build under his eyes. "My worst crime is probably from that. All the people who die because I do something stupid or disobey dad. If I say no, people die, I know that, but I still try and still end up getting people killed."
Nezu was up and out of his chair in a second, and Izuku didn't realize didn't realize his tears were falling until the principal was sitting on the desk in front of him with a handkerchief, holding it out to him. Just one small gesture and Izuku started to crack. More tears streamed down his face and he held back the sound of the small sobs trying to reach his throat. Now isn't the time to cry.
He accepted the handkerchief and used it to dab his eyes while he sniffled helplessly.
"I'm sorry."
"Midoriya," Nezu's smile looked sad, "it's alright to make mistakes as a child. I believe no one has ever told you that."
Izuku shook his head violently, shaking off all his thoughts in the process. "It's not the same, you know it's not the same, it can't be the same if someone ends up dead because of me."
"Because of him." The mouse's tone brokered no debate, even though it was soft as his fur. Izuku shuddered helplessly in his seat. "We will continue that discussion another time, but I want you to at least know my opinion on this. Especially since this seems to be hitting on a very recent trauma for you. Whatever it is he did, it was not your fault. And if you want to tell us what it is, we will listen."
There was no escape from the principal's keen intellect and understanding of human psychology. Izuku finished rubbing his eyes and slumped low in his seat.
"All for One, dad, sensei, whoever he is has this . . . room," he started again, voice breaking every few words like he needed to clear his throat of tears too. "It's somewhere close to Dr. Garaki's lab, but I don't know where exactly it is in the facility. He collects people there whenever I'm not happy with his gifts. It's made of metal, electrical pulses, and reinforced one-way glass. We can see in, the people can't see out, and most of their quirks are disabled by the field. There's a control panel on the outside so dad can control the air."
"Air?"
Izuku nodded, eyelids closed against the judgement he felt coming from All Might. "I have to take their quirks. It's the only way to save them. He doesn't like letting them go if they still have them, either their quirks are too strong, or they're threats to him, or he thinks the way they use their quirks is a personal offense to him, but whichever reason he has it means I have to take them or he'll start taking away their air."
After one beat, the eyes around the room all widened. Thirteen was the one who spoke this time. "He suffocates anyone you refuse to make quirkless?"
Izuku felt faint, his breath coming more in gasps now. He could see those people. The woman with green eyes asphyxiating before him.
"It's not, not about making them quirkless," he heaved. "It's-Dad doesn't let people ignore him, say no to him. I-I made a mistake, a few weeks ago. I-I thought, maybe, maybe my dad would understand. Maybe he'd understand now that I'm not a kid anymore."
He gulped for air between the hated words, all of them hurling out of his mouth like a runaway train. "He had the room full. I told him that I didn't want to. I told him...I told him that he was wrong. I told him 'no,' I shouldn't have, but I did. But it was when I told him it wasn't right that he decided, decided to kill them."
His hands fisted his shirt. "I just wanted him to let them go, just that once. I was an idiot. Maybe doing this and hiding things from him made me too hopeful, but I made him so angry that he pushed the button."
Izuku looked up, desperate to defend himself. He hadn't wanted that, they needed to understand! "I tried to save them, I tried! I told him I'd take the quirks if he stopped it. But when I did what he wanted and took them, he started it up again!"
Izuku looked pleadingly at the Principal, who sat with rapt attention but inscrutable features. "Please believe me, I didn't want them to die! I tried to save them, I tried to fight back, but I can't win, I never win against him! Please, I didn't mean for anyone to get killed for me! All I wanted was to save people!"
He ripped his hand from Tsukauchi's and buried his face into them both, nearly screaming his sobs into the air. Suddenly, he had a lap filled with a soft rodent. Paws pulled his hands away from his face until he could see the cheery face of the UA principal looking up at him.
"Forgive me for standing on you, but do you perhaps need a hug?" the principal asked, as if he was asking for the time. Izuku's eyes were soaking the principal's paws. "I've noticed you appreciate physical contact and yet you shy away from the others. Do you need to hug me, specifically?"
Izuku nearly screamed to withhold his sobs. "Y-you hate human contact."
Nezu just smiled up at him. "Normally, yes. But I do find that children are a welcome exception now and again."