Chapter 19: Analysis
"Okay, here goes..."
As he sat on the cold hard floor of the main entrance lobby to UA, one arm over Himiko's shoulder, Izuku saw the look on her face and realised just how much what she was about to tell him weighed on her shoulders. There was no anger on her face, no fury flickering in those soulful yellow eyes of her that were staring right through him- this was a look of pain, as if repressing the knowledge of what she could do was the only thing she knew how to do.
Izuku loved Quirks. He was a fanboy and an enthusiast, a spotter, a nerd; he wouldn't disagree with anyone who tried to tell him that he was obsessed with learning about other people's Quirks and marvelling at the potential of some. But he had never seen anyone who felt this way about their Quirk, anyone who was so reluctant to say what their power was capable of.
He had run after her in a heartbeat when she raced out of the classroom in a panic, because Himiko was one of his group no matter how recently she'd joined them. He had meant everything he said when she saved him and Tenko from being attacked by the Yakuza all those weeks ago, and held on to the firm belief that whatever she thought of herself, she too could be a Hero. But they had made it to UA and the idea that her Quirk would be on display had clearly terrified her. Whatever the reason was for that, Izuku had to try to help.
If there was anything he could do at all to restore her confidence in herself, and let her know how honest he had been with her about his faith in her, he had to do it. It wasn't a question of what it meant to be a Hero- it was a question of what it meant to look after the people he cared about. Himiko was hurting, and he had to try to help her with that.
Anything for a friend.
Himiko took a deep, shuddering breath that Izuku felt wash over her skinny body as she sat there, curled into his side with his arm over her shoulder. "Izuku you've gotta bear with me if this takes a lil bit. I-I'm not used to telling people what I can do..."
"I know..." His response was to squeeze her shoulder and look her in the eyes, shooting her a small smile in the hope that it would reassure her that he wasn't going anywhere. "However long you need, p-please take it."
Despite the negative emotion that was currently charged up inside her, Himiko found the energy from somewhere to flash Izuku a small smile, her fang-like canines seeming to sparkle for a second. "T-Thanks Izu. I... guess the name would be a good start, huh? My Quirk... is called Transform."
Izuku tried not to make a big deal of the fact that she had let out a big breath when she said its name, as if it was the first obstacle she had overcome. "Okay... how does it work?"
She paused for a second, before nodding to herself; he took that as a good sign, that she had decided in herself that for her to have said this much, she was willing to let Izuku in on the whole truth. "I... can turn myself into other people."
Incredible. What a gift of a power.
Izuku ignored the rogue thought that coursed through his head- he didn't know if that was his inner Quirk nerd talking, but it was clear things weren't that simple. "O-Other people? So... could you turn into me?"
"I-I guess I could. But..." Her eyes flashed with something, a sense of alarm. "Izuku, p-please, I know you promised you'd tell me if it changed how you felt, but I d-don't wanna lose you-"
"Then I promise I'm not going anywhere too." He squeezed her other hand, the one he was still holding, and his inner teenager tried not to flush bright red that he'd been holding her hand for a while. "You're p-part of our group, Himiko. Whatever you s-say, you're not gonna lose me."
For a brief moment a blush crept back onto Himiko's face. "... thank you, Izuku. I... yeah, okay. My Quirk lets me transform into other people but... I need s-something from them before I do."
"Something from them?"
"Y-Yeah... I need some of their blood, Izuku."
Izuku had not been expecting that as her confession, and from the way in which her back tensed as she said it, the way her voice went so small, he could tell that she had just revealed to him the secret she had been holding back on for a long time. "Woah... how does that work?"
"Huh?" She tilted her head on her side, almost curious that he had responded like that. "You're not... scared of me?"
"Sh-should I be?" Izuku squeezed her hand again and felt himself fail to control the colour creeping onto his cheeks. He didn't care though- what he had to say was important and if in some small way he could stop the hurt she was feeling, he would do his best to make sure he could help. "You're you, Himiko. I... I don't worry when I'm around you. None of us do. I just... want to understand."
Himiko bit her lip, before nodding. "I... I need to drink someone's blood so that I can turn into them. Whatever I take in turns into energy, so... The more I drink the longer I can hold onto the form."
"A time limit?" Izuku's eyebrows creased into a frown as he processed this. "H-How much do you need to make it work?"
"I... only need a little bit," Himiko replied, sounding hesitant as she revealed more and more details on how it worked to him. "One cup lets me look and sound like someone for about... maybe a day?"
"Maybe?"
"It's..." She fidgeted beside him. "It's been a while since I had that much."
"You limit what you drink?" Izuku asked, not necessarily understanding that comment.
"I... try to." Himiko took a deep, shuddering breath. "If I go without it for a while it drives me crazy, though. I get... withdrawal symptoms. I get a lot more reckless."
"How do you-"
"Rare steak," she said, with a dark chuckle. "And... my guardian knows a guy who can get blood bags for me, you know, like the ones you get in hospitals? There's a lot more in the system these days because there's more villain fights happening, so if some goes missing every so often, I guess you now know where it goes, huh?"
"So..." Izuku's mind was racing at the possibilities. "Do you have a limit to how many people you can do?"
"Not that I know?" Himiko said, although she sounded unsure. "I think... the most choice I've had was four or five at a time? But I can't copy their Quirks, just their appearance. And that includes clothes, but... oh god this is embarrassing-"
"Embarrassing?"
She looked at him with a slight rosy tint to her cheeks. "I kinda... need to get naked before I transform because their clothes layer on top of my skin. Otherwise I end up looking like a copy of that person in my clothes and it ruins the illusion."
Izuku gulped. "O-Okay, yeah, I can see that might embarrass you if y-you have to get n-naked-"
"I don't suppose you'd mind-"
"GAH!"
Himiko giggled, despite everything, before her smile faded. "You've... taken this better than I thought you would-"
"It's.." Izuku shook his head and focused on her with a faint smile. "It's a really cool Quirk, Himiko."
"Wait, for real?"
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"You're not bugged by the idea of me needing to drink people's blood at all?" She asked him, looking a little lost.
"I mean..." Izuku paused, thinking about the words he next used. He had to get them right. "I'm not... used to the idea of someone needing something like this for their Quirk. I-I didn't think it was possible that Quirks would develop like this, but it makes sense for how you would become like someone."
"You're..." She looked at him, and he couldn't read her face. "You... don't think it's disgusting?"
"N-No! I know it's different but... you could do so much with it, it could be a gift for you!" He smiled at her, gently, and squeezed her shoulder again. "You'd be a great Underground Hero with a Quirk like that. All the undercover work you could do with different people's faces- so many groups and gangs you could get into and break up. You'd be amazing."
"... huh." There was a strange look on her face. "There's... only one other person who has ever said something like that to me. My... guardian. Others... didn't see it-"
"Why would they ever-"
"Because not everyone thinks like you!" Her cry was sudden, and took Izuku by surprise. "My parents, t-they thought I was a monster before they died. They tried to get me to go to therapy and the doctors told me I was all wrong because of what I wanted for my Quirk, the vicious little vampire-"
"But you're not wrong." Izuku didn't mean for his voice to be so firm but it had the effect he wanted, as Himiko snapped out of the panicked cry and stared at him. "I-I mean, none of what you do is wrong. Your Quirk is different to others, but-"
"Sometimes I wish I never had it, Izuku," she said, voice trembling as she looked at him. "People think I'm a monster because of it."
You could help her with that, Izuku.
Izuku tried not to show it, but he stiffened just a little at the dark little thought inside his own brain as Himiko told him what she thought of her Quirk. He had no idea where it came from, but it... it was an idea. He hadn't revealed his true powers to anyone besides Tenko and his mother, but he... he felt he could trust Himiko. He could show her, offer her the chance to take her Quirk from her like he had taken the Quirk from the Yakuza. She had opened up to him, so maybe he could do the same, and give her the choice to live without the Quirk that made people call her a monster...
"No..." he muttered to himself. That wasn't an option. If he offered her that, then what he would be saying to her is that he agreed with all those people. That her Quirk was monstrous and a burden, that she should be ashamed of it and look to find a way to live without it. That's not how he felt about her, and that wouldn't help her.
How could he ever hope to be a Hero if he did that to her?
"Izuku..." She looked at him, eyes wide. "What did you mean, no?"
"I don't think you're a monster, Himiko. A monster... would have left me and Tenko to be hurt by that Yakuza. A monster wouldn't have believed me when I said you could become a hero. A monster wouldn't be sitting here in UA with me." He looked at her and settled his voice. "Your power is a gift, Himiko. And I really do think you can become a hero with that power."
Her response knocked the wind out of his lungs. They had been sat against a wall with his arm over her shoulders, but now she turned and buried herself into him in a hug, deceptive strength in her skinny arms. Izuku could do nothing but awkwardly pat her on the back and feel his green hoodie get slightly damp as she seemed to cry into his chest. He really, really hoped he had got it right with her.
It could have been thirty seconds, or five minutes, or five whole years, but after what seemed like an age and was probably just a moment, Himiko lifted herself off of his chest and blinked tears out of her bright yellow eyes, meeting his gaze. "... thank you, Izu."
"Are you... cry-"
"Happy tears, promise." She sniffed. "Sorry for getting them on your hoodie."
He chuckled nervously. "I d-don't mind, honest. Ask Tenko and he'll tell you I cry too much anyway... I'm just glad you're okay."
"I am..." She stared at him, fondly. "You're something else, Izuku. Thank you. I'll... I'll show them what I can do, for now. And then maybe we can see what they think-"
"Do you have enough blood?" Izuku asked, before realising he interrupted. "Sorry, I just... if you wanna show them do you have enough to show it off?"
"Hmmm..." Himiko poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue and pulled a face. "I think I've got enough for a couple of faces, yeah. Why, what do you-"
Izuku's idea in his head was one which a few days ago his brain would have screamed at him for doing. Something about it still seemed alien, unusual, but after all that Himiko had told him and trusted him with it felt right. He made up his mind, and in response to her question he rolled up the sleeve of his hoodie and held out an outstretched bare arm. "... do you want some?"
Himiko blinked, and stared at him. "Izuku, wait, you're-"
"I'm serious." He smiled again, not flinching under her gaze. "If that's how you can show off your Quirk when you're being assessed and it helps then... why wouldn't I? I trust you, so..."
Himiko looked from his face to his arm, and back to meet his gaze. "Izu, I don't know what to say... thank you."
"It's the least I can do right?"
"I would never have asked you but if you're happy for me to do it, then..."
"Sure!"
"Only... do you mind coming with me into my test when we do it?" Himiko asked, shuffling awkwardly. "I just... I'm worried. If I say it's your blood I've used to do it, then-"
"You don't want someone to have the wrong idea about it," Izuku finished, working out why she was worried. "We can ask Present Mic, sure, if that helps?"
"Okay." Himiko blushed, and brushed some of her blonde hair off of her cheek. "There's one other thing-"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Um... it's easier for me to get blood from elsewhere." She rubbed her hand against the side of his neck and moved some of his messy green hair aside, and Izuku's own face went red. "So if you're happy then... I can start here. Although if your mom's never seen a love bite before, she's gonna ask a few questions."
Izuku froze. This girl was going to be the death of him if she kept doing embarrassing stuff like this. "... Oh man. Tenko and Setsuna are gonna love this."
"And you won't?" Himiko teased.
He could feel himself going practically crimson at this point, as he realised that from the hug earlier they had ended up with her straddling his lap. "H-Himiko..."
"Don't worry, I won't tell." She rubbed at his neck with a delicate hand and then breathed on his neck, sending a shiver up his spine and setting the hairs on the back of his neck on end. "Just... relax, okay? It may tingle a little, but trust me, it won't hurt-"
"I trust you-"
"Okay." She flashed a smile at him and Izuku took a moment to appreciate just how much happiness seemed to be in those bright yellow eyes in that moment- it had surprised him how quickly her mood had swung, but he was relieved he had made the difference. "T-Thank you, Izuku..."
With the slightest of nips that briefly made Izuku wince, he felt her pierce the skin and felt the flow of something wet on his neck. It was strange, and as he sat there on the floor he knew what a sight it would be for anyone if they came out into the corridor and saw them both there like this, Himiko in his lap and humming as her tongue lapped up the small bit of blood she was drinking from him. But even if anyone got the wrong idea, or didn't understand, somehow Izuku was okay with it. He knew the truth, and he was happy with it.
He could see the look on her face as she sat there and shifted to nibble at him again, to tease more of the red liquid that fuelled her power from Izuku. That look of happiness as she drank made it all worth it. The willpower it must have taken to confide him would have been immense, and he was so glad she did; he vowed then that he would do what it took to help her, to help show all those who said the most awful things about her how wrong they were.
Taking her Quirk was never an option. Her Quirk was not a burden she had to carry or live in spite of, and her Quirk did not change who she was. Himiko Toga had a gift, and the potential to be a Hero, and Izuku couldn't wait to stand beside her on that journey.
She lifted her mouth from his neck, delicately brushing her lips against his skin to make sure it was clean and ensuring that no mess was left behind; Izuku felt the tingle from that contact run down that spine. "... Heh. I really owe you, Izu."
"That..." He brought his hand up to his neck and brushed where she had punctured the skin. "That doesn't hurt like I thought it would."
"I'm glad," Himiko said, smiling at him with the most shy smile he had seen on her face. "You... don't feel too tired? I tried to limit how much I took so I wouldn't affect you for your test-"
"I'm fine, I just..." Izuku nodded at her, determined. "I just hope you have enough."
She giggled, and any question in Izuku's mind as to whether what he had done was the right thing evaporated. It was worth it just for that smile. "I'll be fine, Izu! I've got you with me, haven't I?"
"All the way!"
"Right! Now we can both go Plus Ultra!" She flashed him a peace sign before stretching like a cat in his lap, a sensation Izuku's teenage brain found far too enjoyable before an exam. "Come on, we better get back before anyone thinks we fled or something!"
"R-Right! Let's do this!" Izuku took her hand as she leapt up ahead of him, and as they walked back to class he couldn't help but notice the way in which she was suddenly bouncing with each step, humming under her breath, as if the Atlantean weight of her Quirk was no longer crushing her. Maybe his actions had shown her that she would be accepted, that she shouldn't fear her own Quirk; if he had done that even a little then Izuku was over the moon. And maybe, just maybe, they'd make it through the exam together after all...
"Say Izuku, I wonder how Tenko's getting on?"
(***)
"I'm here to see what the future holds for you."
For a moment in the small UA classroom where his Quirk Assessment was due to take place, Tenko Shimura stood defiant under the implacable stare of Sir Nighteye, the Pro Hero brought in by UA to assess him and the others. "You wanna know what the next mission looks like for me, huh?"
Nighteye's yellow eyes, framed by his glasses and always giving nothing away, blinked. "Something like that. If I were to use your interesting sense of analogy, consider me the gate guardian, checking that you meet the minimum rank requirements."
"You game?" Tenko frowned. "Probably gonna sound rude, but you don't seem the type."
"I wouldn't say that I am, although I must confess, I do play a fair bit of All Might: Texas Smash."
"Huh. Unexpected." Tenko allowed himself a little smirk. "It was better than Missouri Smash, I'll give ya that. Nothing beats Detroit Smash though."
"I see you're a fan of the classics." Nighteye pushed his glasses further up his nose and steepled his fingers, a serious look never leaving his face. "But that's not why we're here to talk."
"Right. You wanna see my Quirk."
"Precisely," Nighteye confirmed, looking Tenko up and down. "I've read the notes in your file. Decay seems to be an interesting Quirk, in principle, and one I can't say I've seen in a Pro Hero before."
"First time for everything, right?" Tenko replied, although there was something about the way Nighteye looked at him that made him a little nervous.
"I'll be the judge of that." Nighteye gestured to Tenko's hands. "I note your gloves aren't entirely fingerless. All five fingertips have to touch something in order for Decay to be effective, and you've made yourself gloves which prevent you from normally being able to touch anything with all five fingers."
"That's right..." Tenko said, hesitant. "What are you-"
"Take them off." The blunt way in which Nighteye said it made it clear he wasn't making a request. "I want to see your Quirk at work without limits."
Tenko complied, but there was something about the way in which the Pro Hero appeared to be staring at him that made him feel deeply uncomfortable. "Fine, what do you-"
"What I want is simple." Nighteye strode behind the desk that he had been sat down at when Tenko entered the room, and Tenko was briefly in awe at the height of All Might's former sidekick, a tower of a man. When he got over this, he realised only now that Nighteye had a number of objects lined up along the edge of the desk. "I'm going to see how quickly you can respond with your Quirk, and the level to which you can make it take effect. There are a number of items here of varying size and weight to test you on, which I will throw to you, and assess your speed in being able to decay them with your Quirk. Does that sound simple enough?"
"Maybe too simple." Tenko couldn't help how wary he felt. "Where's the catch? There's usually some easter egg or hidden requirement in a challenge like this, what gives?"
"That's all I ask, Tenko." Nighteye flexed his fingers and brushed over one of the objects. "I will ask some questions, but ultimately I am not going to ask you to fight me, or do something utterly extraordinary. UA is here to teach you how to fight, to bring out the best in you. I am not foolish enough to expect you to already be at the level of a fledgling Pro Hero without any formal training."
"R-Right." Tenko wasn't reassured at all by the man's blunt tone, but he nodded. If this was what it took to get in and support Izuku, he could do it. "Then let's get this done."
"Quite so. First object." Nighteye nodded to himself, selecting a small eraser and throwing it underarm at Tenko. "Does your Quirk have an instantaneous effect?"
Tenko caught the eraser, pinched it between his fingertips, and smirked to himself as Decay turned it to ash in a mere second. "Does that answer your question?"
"Hm." Nighteye didn't respond immediately, instead making a small note on the paper in front of him. This time he selected a plastic ruler, larger and thicker, and tossed it like a boomerang. "Do certain objects hold up longer under Decay?"
This time when Tenko caught the ruler in the middle, the plastic cracked and eroded through, meaning that two halves of the ruler fell from Tenko's grasp to the floor, no longer continuing to corrode into dust without him holding them. "Most stuff decays at the same rate but... you can see what happens depending on size, width, mass, y'know."
"Interesting." Nighteye's eyebrows scrunched slightly, and this time he threw a larger tape dispenser underarm to Tenko. "I see that your Quirk does not continue when you are no longer holding the object. Are you able to cancel at all? Perhaps with the dispenser, you could cancel before the tape?"
Tenko shook his head, as the whole object crumpled into oblivion. "As long as I touch it, Decay destroys it."
"So there is a limit..." Nighteye scribbled something further, and then hefted what appeared to be a sealing stamp in his hand. "I'm currently holding one of my trademark High-Density Seals. I use these in my Hero work as a means to incapacitate villains. Their mass is far greater than their size would suggest, so perhaps this may provide some challenge."
"Got it." Tenko caught the Seal and tried to act nonchalant, despite the weight surprising him and nearly making him take a step back. "What's the question this time?"
"Do you consider your Quirk to be dangerous?"
"Uhh..." Tenko was taken aback, especially as he had to concentrate to give Decay a little boost to its usual strength, so that he could rot through the Seal in his hand. "Yeah of course I do. I have an OP destruction-type ability in my fingertips that could really hurt someone, why would I ever think it's not dangerous?"
"Do you think you can be a Hero with a dangerous Quirk?"
Tenko frowned, as the Seal succumbed to his Quirk at last. "All Quirks can be dangerous depending on who uses them. Endeavor burns people alive on a monthly basis and he's still our Number One."
"Regrettably I can't argue with that assessment. Although I am not here to assess Endeavor." Nighteye scribbled something again, not looking at him. "Do you think Decay is too dangerous for a Hero to possess?"
"... Why would I think that?" Tenko was trying not to let this piss him off, but the anger was creeping into his voice now. "My friends believe in me, and I wanna make a difference. I'm tired of Heroes not doing enough to make people feel safe and I wanna help. If I can use Decay to do it, then I will-"
"But will you use Decay, or will it use you?"
"Hey, what gives?" Tenko asked, balling the hand he wasn't using into a fist. "What is that supposed to mean, you old-"
"Scrutiny is an important part of the admissions process to this school," Nighteye interrupted, before Tenko could insult him. "But to answer your question more succinctly, I want to be sure you're in control of your Quirk."
"In control?! Hell yeah I'm in control-"
"And yet you wear your gloves all the time, to prevent you from touching anything with all five fingertips unless you desire." Nighteye scribbled another small note, and grabbed a metal ball the size of an apple from the desk. "How do you control Decay without your gloves?"
Tenko caught the ball as it was thrown underarm and made a point to leave his pinky finger pointed away from the ball, and gestured at the Pro Hero with the intact metal sphere. "All five fingertips, remember? Yeah it's easier with the gloves, that's why I choose to wear them, but I can hold back without them."
Nighteye sat back in the chair as Tenko tossed the metal ball to the side, watching it thump to the floor with a clang. "Hm."
"Anything else you want me to destroy before we're done with your little tutorial quest?"
"Not... something to destroy, per se." Nighteye looked over at the last object on the desk, and picked it up. "Don't use your Quirk on this one. I want you to look at this and tell me what you see."
Tenko frowned as Nighteye passed him the object, and stared at it in confusion. What he had been handed was a medium-sized picture frame, no bigger than the average tablet, but containing a photo of... a woman. What was strange was that there was something nagging at the back of Tenko's mind as he looked at the woman, a wide smile on her face, soulful black eyes framed by black bangs sticking out of her otherwise straight black hair. "Who... who is this?"
"Interesting... you don't recognise her at all?"
"... Should I?"
"Perhaps. She's a former Pro Hero from a number of years ago. She wasn't necessarily one of the top Heroes, so I wouldn't blame you for not knowing immediately."
"What was her Hero name?"
Nighteye paused. "... I never knew her Hero name. I just knew of her and her real name, and I knew that she was one of the greatest Heroes the world never knew of. Her name... was Nana Shimura."
Nana...
At the sound of that name, Tenko didn't know why but he started shaking, hands trembling as he held the picture frame of the beaming woman. Something ached inside, and he didn't know what. "No... no no, surely you're not-"
"Nana Shimura had a child," Nighteye continued, rising from the desk and striding over towards Tenko, a cold pillar of emotional indifference. "She gave her child up for adoption in order to fight a villain who took her life, and he never forgave her. All his life, he lived resenting Heroes, spreading that message to his family. To his children... to you. Tenko Shimura, son of Kotaro. Grandson of Nana."
"What... what the hell is this-"
Nighteye loomed over Tenko like an iceberg in a suit, cold and imposing. "Only your father is no longer alive. Nor are the rest of your family, Tenko Shimura. Only you."
"Why the hell would you bring up my family-"
"Because you're all that's left of the Shimuras now, aren't you?" Nighteye folded his arms. "You are the last Shimura left alive, and I find myself concerned by your existence. I have no doubt that you never knew your grandmother, but... no trace of your family was ever found after Incident Zero. And yet, here you are, Decay at your fingertips, the sole survivor."
Tenko was shaking so hard he didn't realise that his pinky finger had now touched the picture frame, the photo of Nana Shimura beginning to corrode in his hands. "Get away from me-"
Nighteye moved to take a step forward, but with only a fraction of a second of warning Tenko tipped his head back and cried out as if in pain, as the remains of the photo frame clattered to the floor. The older Pro took a step back and frowned as the air itself seemed to vibrate around Tenko, and Nighteye realised almost immediately that something wasn't quite right. The hard floor underneath Tenko cracked and withered as if it had been touched by his fingertips, and as the desk in the room shook, a pencil which fell off the edge seemed to hit an invisible barrier in the air and crumbled to dust.
"A field..." Nighteye murmured to himself. "His Quirk... reacted to me?"
"Don't you... DARE TALK ABOUT THEM!" Tenko yelled, anguish palpable in his voice, and the floor splintered again with a horrible crack.
"Tenko Shimura!" The shout from Nighteye was barked as if it were an order, demanding his attention. "The past is not my concern."
Tenko blinked, as the air rippled around him, and seemed to shake off some of the anger that had surfaced in that moment. "Then why would you give me a flashback prompt-"
"I'm not here to deal with your secrets, Tenko Shimura," Nighteye said, raising his voice as Tenko grit his teeth and struggled, the air still vibrating as if there was an aura around the boy. "Whatever happened in the past will remain a mystery to all of us, and the truth is something I doubt we'll ever fully know. But if you are a threat to anyone in the future, then I cannot allow you to start at this school. Nor can I allow you to leave this room. That is why I'm here, after all."
"It's as I said to you." Nighteye's yellow eyes suddenly glowed purple as he met the gaze of Tenko, completely distracting Tenko from the thoughts of his family. "I'm here to see what the future holds for you."
Darkness...
A lone man clutching a sword of terrible edges stood under lamplight, and held the sword to the neck of a blue-haired boy...
A green haired young man with freckles and wide green eyes stood by the side of the boy, as a black mass opened a horrendous beaked mouth and screamed like a banshee...
The blue-haired stood in the rubble of a wrecked city, tatters in his school uniform as other students stood beside him and tried not to cower in the wake of an aura of overwhelming evil...
Bright lights twinkled like stars and sang like angels...
"I won't let you... All For One!"
Darkness...
Nighteye blinked and staggered, as the air around Tenko seemed to settle and the boy collapsed to his knees, gasping in breaths of air. "Ah. I am... apparently out of practice."
"What..." Tenko was in shock, and trying to get his breath back under control. "What just happened to me..."
"A downside of my Quirk, I'm afraid." Nighteye composed himself, straightened his tie, adjusted his glasses. "I... cannot go into details, as my Quirk is kept from the public's knowledge, but it may have caused your own Quirk to respond in stress. My apologies... I did not mean to push you too far."
"... Whatever." Tenko had got his breath back now, and glared at the Pro. "That better have been worth it. Are you happy you dragged up my family now?"
"I am... satisfied," Nighteye responded, eventually, before he picked up a pen and scribbled a note on his page. "You may go back to the others and await the results of the assessment. Thank you for the demonstration."
"Am I calling the next one in?"
"No, thank you. I'll do that myself."
"Fine. Just do me a favour and spare that person the interrogation, will ya?" Tenko grimaced. "Weirdest minigame ever."
As the door clicked shut behind Tenko, who couldn't have left quicker if he tried, Nighteye slumped into the chair and groaned, reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket for a bottle of eye drops. "I... should have practiced before I met with him." Eye drops in, he picked up his mobile phone from the edge of the desk, noting with some relief that it had survived the carnage and not been touched by Decay. "I'm not what I used to be."
Within a couple of rings, the phone was answered. "Mirai! You are done with the Shimura boy already?"
"Nezu," Nighteye acknowledged, grimacing as he blinked his eyes. "My apologies that I have not been able to get as clear a vision as I used to manage. It appears a lack of practice on my part has clouded my Foresight."
"... I feared this may happen. Were you..."
"I was able to get some details."
"And what did you see?" If Nighteye didn't know better, he could have sworn he heard Nezu lean forward in his chair over the phone. "What happens to Tenko Shimura?"
"He comes to UA. That much I can be certain of. He... wore your uniform."
"So he's safe enough?"
"I'm... not sure." Nighteye frowned. "He seems aligned with your students, but... he is fated to come face to face with evil. The Hero Killer, and some awful unknown creatures."
"I see..." Nezu was silent for a second. "Very well."
"There's more, Principal. I... heard the name we both feared. His name." Nighteye let out a breath. "He names All For One in the vision I saw."
"He's still alive." Nezu seemed unsurprised, and resigned to this revelation. "After all All Might did for us, it pains me to hear this."
"I share the sentiment, believe me."
"Alright. Thank you, Mirai. It appears if your visions are correct-"
"Set in stone, as always-"
"-then Tenko Shimura must be one of my students this year. That said, I cannot say I hold much comfort in the knowledge that sooner or later, All For One will come for my students. To place them into conflict with an individual like that... I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
"I cannot offer you my services at UA. Not with my investigations into the Yakuza continuing as they are-"
"Nor would I ask you to forego your work on those, Mirai. Your work in tackling them is a great service to all."
"Thank you. But as much as I must continue, I will not leave you to face fate with no assistance at all." Nighteye pocketed his pen. "I have an assignment this week with a targeted operation towards the Shie Hassaikai. Perhaps we can meet after my work there is done?"
"I would welcome the opportunity to meet." A clink of china came from Nezu's end of the call, and it was clear the chimaera had just taken a sip of tea. "Please, old friend, take some rest for yourself before you assess any more students. I am grateful for your help, but I know that Foresight will have taken a toll."
"I will gratefully take a break before the next one. Thank you, Nezu." Nighteye hung up the phone before hearing from the Principal, and just for a moment he took a look at the devastation in the room which had been caused by Tenko, the small piles of ash on the floor, the cracks in the concrete.
"Well now," he said to himself, turning over to the next page and circling the name of the next student he would be assessing, "first Tenko Shimura, and now his friend. I wonder how you will fare, Izuku Midoriya..."
(***)
Chapter 20: Master Criminal
The blood dripped slowly into the sink full of water as he fiddled with the staples, and the red bloomed in the water like a flower in spring.
Dabi had gotten used to the need to do this the more time he had spent living independently, and the more he had overstretched himself with the use of his power. Cremation had tremendous power and tremendous backlash, as he had learned one fateful day under his father's tutelage, and he had long resigned himself to the knowledge that he would bear the scars in the burned skin of his arms and neck for as long as he lived. But every now and then, the crude staples he had used to stitch burned and peeling skin back together needed replacing, and one thing he hadn't gotten used to was administering this care to himself; no matter how many times he did it, the stitches and staples left more marks, added to the scars he wore.
He was a patchwork man, of his own making and because of his Quirk. So be it.
It hadn't been long since their group had agreed to the heist on Uraraka Construction Limited, robbing the company who had picked up the tab to repair so much of the damage done by Endeavor, and all their preparation had gone relatively smoothly; despite this Dabi still found himself a little out of his comfort zone. The company's head office was in some newly-developed city in Mie Prefecture, one of the backwaters of the Kansas region, and Dabi was already sick of the local accent. Mercifully, Gentle had taken to the task with good grace and had found them a temporary base in an abandoned apartment block, with separate flats for all of their crew, and Dabi couldn't have been more appreciative of this.
While he was grateful that Shoto had come to him all those months ago, the opportunities he had been presented with to tend to his scars and to replenish the dye he drowned his head in had been limited. Shoto knew the truth, and so the fact that streaks of white had started to appear in Dabi's hair hadn't phased him- there was still a time he remembered his older brother's natural hair, after all- but Dabi hated every moment he caught sight of a hair like that. The sooner he could hide that from the rest of the world, and the sooner he himself could eliminate that callback to his life as Touya, the better.
So Dabi stood and dressed his arms, making the most of having the room to himself and replacing what needed to be replaced. He was so used to it at this point that he didn't wince at all when cold water splashed over the raw skin around the staples, and he was practically numb to the coarse feeling of rubbing the water over the burned skin of his neck and jawline. It was a fact of his life now.
The TV had been playing in the background, and Dabi had been grateful just to have some background noise besides the slosh of the water, now stained fully red with the aftermath of his own DIY-surgical work. The news headlines seemed to reflect the situation across the whole of the rest of Japan, growing crime rates, local Heroes being attacked, questions around shady underground deals which some locals turned a blind eye too. Gunhead was by far the most well-known Pro Hero in the region, but Dabi made a mental note of some of the other names that had cropped up; when all was done here, they may be the sort of people he and Shoto might have to visit.
He stared into the mirror above the sink, sunken eyes staring back at him and a shine to some of the newer staples in his jawline. "Too much work to do and too little time."
As he let the water out, gurgling away down the drain, he caught a brief snippet of build-up of the last story of the news report, from the TV behind him. "- despite not being willing to answer questions, the Number One Hero found himself a spectator as his new Apprentice made his thoughts clear on the Hero Commission and-"
"New Apprentice?" Dabi asked aloud, turning away from the sink to glare at the TV. "You moved quickly, father."
He shook his head, irritated at the reminder of the fact that Endeavor continued to operate as the supposed pinnacle of their society, the Hero everyone should aspire to. However as he moved over to try to grab the remote and shut off the noise, before Endeavor's awful voice could get under his skin, the Apprentice opened his mouth, identified as Katsuki Bakugo.
What followed was the most incendiary piece of television Dabi had ever seen, and he couldn't take his eyes off the screen.
Dabi had seen enough Heroes come in front of a camera and flash a glimmering smile even before he had given up his Todoroki name. There was a way in which they dealt with the media which was almost enshrined in their psyche, a copycat of All Might's way of reassuring the public that he was there, as he had learned from the great Heroes before him. No matter how crooked some of the private Heroes had got after Incident Zero, even they were able to flash a dazzling grin at reporters and pretend that all was forgiven, that everything would be fine. Either the true Heroes smiled, and lied that the world was all right in their hands, or the fake Heroes smiled, to cover all manner of blood that stained their hands.
Katsuki Bakugo did not smile- he screamed. It was clear that the kid had anger issues and short of painting it on a billboard behind him, nobody in the world could miss that of the new kid on the block. He fell for the snide tricks of the woman interviewing him left, right and centre, and he ranted like an animal off of its leash for the first time in its life, but it was clear he didn't care- he just bulldozed his way through the interview and let his sheer, unbridled fury bleed into every answer he gave.
"He's just like you, Endeavor," Dabi had muttered, as the most feral growl had come from Bakugo in response to one particularly vicious line of questioning. The anger was practically causing him to vibrate, and Dabi could tell the sort of Hero that Bakugo was going to be; one of rage and pride, one who valued the glory of the victory above anything else. "Finally you got someone who didn't break and liked the way you thought."
And yet... Dabi couldn't turn it off. Dabi couldn't bring himself to look away from the boy who had been chosen as a surrogate to both him and Shoto. As he watched and listened to what Bakugo was saying, he heard something different somewhere in the middle of the bile being spewed. He slated the Heroes, the Hero Commission, the idea that a vigilante was someone to be hunted and criticised. He attacked every concept of what their society had become, and the worst part of all of it was...
That Dabi didn't fully disagree with everything he said.
He should have done. This was Endeavor's chosen one, his third-time charm, the kid who he was projecting all of his misplaced desires for both him and Shoto onto. There was all manner of rage in Bakugo's nature, and Dabi should have been disgusted with everything about Endeavor's new heir. But despite this, this was the same kid who had got himself banned from UA and the Hero Commission for that fight at Tatooin Station. This angry young man had taken on a villain when the Hero Commission and private Heroes were too busy fighting each other to claim the credit, had risked everything and flew in the face of the law to do the right thing and protect people. No wonder he was angry at the world, and if he had been punished for his intentions while fakes were allowed to fail those they were supposed to protect, Dabi was with the kid on that one.
There was no hope for Endeavor; Dabi was certain of that and had been certain of that for a number of years. Bakugo looked like he shared so many of the characteristics he despised in Endeavor's nature, and Dabi vowed that if he turned out the same as the Flame Hero, Bakugo would have to go too. But maybe...
"Don't stop thinking like that, kid," he murmured to himself, as the questions concluded and Bakugo was hauled off by Endeavor and that damn annoying sidekick Burnin. "Maybe you might turn out alright in the end."
"Compelling viewing, isn't it?"
Dabi shook himself at the sound of that voice, and glared at the doorway at the sight of the newcomer. "You're supposed to knock, Compress."
"Yes, but as much as Gentle would disagree, sometimes there is benefit to catching people off their guard." The dramatic thief who had agreed to accompany him and Shoto did a little bow with a flourish, from where he had stepped through the doorway into Dabi's flat. "He's certainly rocked the boat, that boy."
"Still looks like the sort of guy who would sink the boat as well." Dabi jerked with the remote and turned the TV off. "These Heroes look more and more like villains each day."
"Whereas we vigilantes look exquisite as always." Compress was wearing a mask, so Dabi couldn't read his face, but his jovial tone dropped ever so slightly. "I wanted to talk to you about our youngest member of the party."
"Juhyo?"
"Please. There's no need for codenames around each other. As much as it's a clever name, Shoto is so much easier." Compress strode past Dabi, ignoring the glare he shot his way, and slid onto the battered sofa. "Do you honestly think he can cut it with us?"
Dabi paused, and felt his blood begin to boil. "... What are you asking?"
Compress shrugged, totally unfazed that Dabi was as incensed by this question as he was. "I'm simply concerned for our upcoming job-"
"We've been over the plans a hundred times, Compress," Dabi interrupted testily. "We don't need to be concerned. The kid knows what he's doing-"
"And yet he may not understand why he's doing it." Compress wagged a finger. "You've limited his role to one of supporting us and covering in case someone discovers us, a cameo in the grand scheme of things. The likelihood of anyone turning up that we haven't already accounted for is so low and yet you want him out of the firing line. Shoto Todoroki, with perhaps the strongest Quirk of all of our little quintet, relegated to a minor credit in this performance."
"Get to the point." Dabi balled a fist and let Cremation light a ball of blue fire in his palm. "Say what you've come here to say, or don't say it all."
"You want me not to sugarcoat? Fine by me. I'll say this once, and only once." Compress turned to look at Dabi, and despite the mask not having slits for his eyes Dabi could sense the older thief's gaze boring through him. "You're protecting him too much, Dabi."
That hadn't been what Dabi expected. "... Huh?"
"What we have planned is a heist on a large construction company with ties to Endeavor, the Number One Hero. This is a company which we suspects does contract work for some fairly shady private Heroes in the business, and may even have links to the underworld, to people like the Meta Liberation Army. This will make us powerful enemies, not least Endeavor, Shoto's own father." Compress shook his head. "You can't protect him from all of that. Nor can you protect him from having to do what needs to be done forever."
"You mean to kill," Dabi realised, thinking out loud. "To damage, to hurt, to kill people who get in our way-"
"It is... a potential outcome of our job," Compress replied, something hesitant in his tone. "Dabi, I know what you can do, I know what you have done. Shoto doesn't know your body count, but I have some idea."
"That's my decision and my burden," Dabi said, trying to keep his anger under wraps. "Shoto doesn't have to bear that too."
"Quite so. You and I are used to the darker side of this work, and I'm sure that's why you've planned for us to be the front line. Neither of us will shy away if we have to fight someone from going all out, while Gentle and La Brava will." Compress tapped his foot twice. "But if we need him to, then we need to be able to know that Shoto can back us up, that he won't hesitate. If he did, then he'd risk himself and us."
"I won't have him become like me," Dabi interrupted, bluntly, and he shocked himself with how forcefully it came out. "The kid still wants to be a Hero-"
"As he holes up with us, ready to take on a grand corporate theft?" Compress scoffed. "And you still think he can be a Hero."
"I gave up on that idea a long time ago." Dabi paced to the other side of the room, picking at one of his fresh staples which had started to flare up as his blood pressure rose. "He doesn't have to. He still wants to do the right thing, and I know that if he could, he wouldn't join us on this."
"Strong principles. You must be so proud of his character."
"He'll go far. If this is what it takes to take on Endeavor, then he and I will both do it, we just... we don't have to go to the same lengths." Dabi stopped picking at the staple and stared at Compress. "He can still be a Hero."
"If this were any other situation, I would call you unbearably naive to believe that."
"And why is this any different? Why not just come out and say it?" Dabi was aware that his flames had intensified in his palm now- he would need to dress this after Compress left.
"Why is this different? Oh, I'm far more forgiving when I see a relationship like yours." Compress clapped his hands, and something in his tone became almost smug behind the mask. "The bond between brothers can be thicker than blood, after all."
Cremation fizzled out in his palms out of shock. "... What did you say?"
"Oh my, did I strike a nerve?" Compress asked, leaning back and putting his booted feet on a coffee table. "I merely wished to state how much I admire your fraternal instincts. I didn't know you had this side to you."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Please, let's not pretend as if I'm a fool, Dabi. Why else would Endeavor's son seek you out when he ran away from home? Why else would you, a hardened vigilante with a body count the length of my arms, take in a fresh-faced boy with no experience of our side of the world and let him tag along with you? Why else would you be so determined to shield him from the worst of what we have to do, and why else would you both share such an ardent hatred of Endeavor that can only come from blood?"
Compress shrugged, overly dramatic in his gestures, as if what he was saying were a pity. "Gentle is easy to misdirect, since he's so fixed in his ways and his own ideals. He'll overlook anything if you make it easy enough, but me? I'm a performer, so I can tell when there's something below the surface of a character, something I'm being led to not see. I do it enough to people myself."
"..." Dabi struggled to respond. "I knew you were a fantasist, Compress, but-"
"I'm also very astute," the older man interrupted, with a sound that could only be the huff of a smirk. "Let's not do this dance all day... Touya Todoroki."
Dabi couldn't help it, but the ball of flame in his palm from Cremation erupted, and with a cry he threw it across the room to incinerate a wardrobe rather than let the rage at the sound of that name on another's lips push Cremation to uncontrollable levels. "I'll show you how to dance, Sako-"
"Whoa, easy!" Compress displayed impressive reflexes to jump upright from the sofa and back away from Dabi as he advanced. "No need to take it out on me or any of the furniture, I don't mean harm!"
"..." With a titanic effort, Dabi quelled the anger burning inside him and clenched his fist to prevent sparking up Cremation again. "... Fine."
"Now, your reaction tells me all I need to know." Compress stretched himself as if he'd just woken up. "You don't need to worry. As far as I'm concerned, your name is your name-"
"Dabi is the only name I need," Dabi growled, aware how much anger was creeping into his voice now. "The only one who gets to call me otherwise is Shoto, and if anyone does find out I'll burn you where you stand."
"Code names only, strictly professional, I assure you," Compress replied, although some of the smugness at his discovery still lingered in his voice. "But I have to give you a reality check, in the interests of being professional with you. There's only so much you can do before you fail, Dabi."
Dabi folded his arms and huffed. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that the world we're in is not kind. You may wish to preserve Shoto's kindness, give him every chance to become a Hero the other side of this, but the world might not let you." Compress clapped a hand onto his shoulder, and Dabi couldn't help but inwardly flinch that at any point the older man could activate his Quirk and turn him into a marble on a whim. "That might not be a bad thing for both of you, in the long run."
"How?" He glared at the thief. "Why shouldn't I try and protect him?"
"You both want to get back at the same man. You have become a scourge in the underworld to fake Heroes, and an ally to dangerous criminals. You could bring him so much shame anyway by the very virtue of your existence, but... Shoto could do it tenfold. If he became just like us, willing to perform a different role to the one Endeavor wanted for him, then the shame and agony that both of you could cause your father may destroy him anyway."
Dabi opened his mouth to reply but paused, as what Compress had said sunk in. He hadn't thought about it that way when he had agreed to take Shoto in, but there was at least some merit in what their co-conspirator for the heist had said. Maybe it would have been for Shoto's benefit to see things in that level, to not get the chance to shy away from having to make the tough decisions or do the dirty work. Maybe if he learned what it took to make it as far as Dabi had in a world like this, Shoto could be every bit as ruthless and efficient and dangerous. That really would hurt Endeavor more than anything.
But... this was Shoto. His brother.
"No."
Compress' mask gave nothing away, but if he could see the man's face (not that he ever have) Dabi would have put money on him raising an eyebrow at that. "You don't think so?"
"I think you're right. But-"
"Because it's your brother, you don't want me to be right." Realisation dawned on the well-dressed thief. "Or rather, you don't want to see it at all."
"Yeah. That." Dabi never felt nervous, or embarrassed about anything, but for a brief moment he looked out of the flat window over the city below, and turned his back on Compress. "I want to hurt Endeavor. He deserves to pay for what he did to us, let alone what he's done to the rest of Japan since he became Number One, what he's turned a blind eye to."
He picked at one of the older staples on his left arm, and realised he would have to do it again in a week's time. "If Shoto wanted to go that far to hurt him too then I... would be okay with it. But the kid wants to be a Hero, still, despite everything. He ran to me because he was tired of being hurt, and because he wants to get back at dear old dad, but y'know, he doesn't have it in him to kill someone, or hurt them like we can."
"He's going to find out the hard way, sooner or later," Compress warned, fiddling with a cuff on his hideous orange blazer and walking towards the door. "At some point he will be exposed to a choice he can't run from, and there's nothing you can do about it. Even as his brother, you cannot spare him from every evil in this world, or every dent to his morality."
"I know. But I can at least try for now." Dabi didn't say it but he left it hanging in the air. Whatever it took to keep Shoto on the cleanest path through life, he would do it. No matter how much hard work or what he would have to do himself, Shoto had the gifts and the desire to make a great Hero even despite his circumstances, and while Dabi would willingly accept his assistance as a vigilante, he knew he had to go to the ends of the earth itself to keep Shoto from crossing the lines he had a long time ago.
Shoto deserved a way back, and a hopeful future. If he could at least give that to his brother, then it would all be worth it to Dabi.
Mr Compress stared him up and down for a second in the doorway, before nodding, a gesture which threatened to dislodge the obnoxious top hat he wore. Dabi still didn't understand why he was fully dressed up in smart clothes, mask and hat around the rest of the crew, but he didn't waste energy questioning his eccentricities. "Alright. Warnings aside, it's clear you would do whatever it took for Shoto. I trust he does the same for all of us when the chips are down."
"He will," Dabi replied, convinced. "Shoto really hates losing. Trust me, he won't hold back."
"I'm rather glad to hear it." Compress beckoned. "Come now, my friend. If we are to do this tonight, I'm sure one last run through our plans can't hurt anyone."
He had a point. The plan had been something which had been examined, reassessed and amended consistently for over a week, but it was one Dabi was proud of for its simplicity and for maximising the potential of all of the members of their little crew. The one thing it needed was certainty, certainty that everyone understood it- Shoto had never done anything like this and he had never worked with Gentle and La Brava before. It couldn't hurt to ensure they all went over their roles one last time. "... Fine. Lead the way."
With a nod, Compress bowed out of the apartment, holding the door just long enough for Dabi to duck out and let it click shut behind him. "The last I saw when I left them, Gentle was trying to educate young Juhyo. I'm sure he's been in good hands."
"Compress?"
"Dabi?"
Dabi nodded at the use of the correct name, and tried not to let his satisfaction show. "I meant what I said."
"Which part?"
"If you tell anyone that name I will turn you to ash."
"I don't doubt it. Although..." There was a hint of mirth in the rogue's voice now, and if Dabi could see his eyes he knew they would be twinkling. "I would like to see you try and get the drop on me. We both know I'm faster."
Dabi rolled his eyes, trying not to let the small smirk escape onto his face. "Don't think you want to test that any time soon."
"Perhaps not." They rounded the corner at the end of the hall and slid through the door into the apartment Gentle and La Brava had claimed as their own, only for Compress to come to a complete standstill. "Oh. Well. This is not what I expected."
"Huh?" Dabi asked, confused. "What do you-"
When he looked into the apartment, the site that he was met with was something that would never leave his head as long as he would live.
"I'm... not sure I get this," Shoto said, hesitantly, holding a fine china cup of steaming hot tea out in front of him, holding his ring finger out and looking completely nonplussed.
Gentle's moustache quivered, a look of agony on his face as La Brava rolled on the sofa laughing her head off. "Pinky finger, Juhyo, not ring finger! How do you even manage to hold a cup of tea and drink from it with that finger out?"
"I just... Why?"
"What do you mean, why?"
"Why do we raise our pinkies if we're drinking tea?"
"Class, my dear boy! Class is everything!"
"... Sure." Shoto put his tea down and stared into its contents as if searching the universe for its soul. "... But why the pinky finger?"
"GRAH! La Brava, help me out here for goodness sake!"
"What the hell is going on?"
Gentle jumped at the sound of Dabi's voice in the doorway, and Shoto nearly spilled his tea as he tried to pick it up again. "Dabi! Capital timing, I'm trying to teach Juhyo some proper manners but he just can't get the hang of it-"
"I just don't understand." Shoto took a sip of his tea, ring finger still pointed out. "And why is it called Earl Grey?"
"Ah, you see-"
"I'll help both of you out now," Dabi interrupted testily, snatching the cup of tea from his younger brother before any further damage to his sanity or Gentle's could be done. "We're not talking about tea now."
Compress chuckled behind him. "As much as I was enjoying it, Dabi is right. We came to talk tactics. We're going over the plan again."
La Brava groaned like a petulant high schooler from the couch. "Seriously? We've done this ten times in the last few days, our roles haven't changed a bit! You're the one who we're all counting on anyway, Compress-"
"Do you doubt my performance capabilities, young lady? I feel offended-"
"Please," Dabi groaned through gritted teeth, staring at the madhouse that was their little crew and his bewildered little brother. "Not the time. Okay?"
"Right, got it!" La Brava responded, almost a little sarcastic with how chipper her response was to him. "So, Juhyo, want to start us off?"
Shoto blinked at the use of his name, seeming to come back into the room. "Right. Okay. So if I'm right on this, the whole plan starts with Compress..."
(***)
Shoto blinked, pacing the corridor he had been assigned to patrol within Uraraka Construction Limited, and tried to make sense of the blur that had been the execution of the plan that had got him to wear he was right now.
Touya had introduced him to the thief Mister Compress as an old acquaintance, but Shoto knew of his powers even before reuniting with his long-lost brother. Atsuhiro Sako was renowned for a series of high-profile thefts carried out with bombast and glee by a man who loved the spotlight, and his Quirk (as Compress called it, his "finest magic trick") had been finally cracked by some of Endeavor's sidekicks, who had fruitlessly pursued the thief before losing him off the grid completely. His power had been the key to all of it.
Compress had the ability to turn whatever he touched into a little blue marble-like sphere. It turned out this power worked on people pretty well. Compress could turn marbles back into people by clicking his fingers and snapping them back into reality immediately. Breaking into Uraraka Construction Limited had been child's play when using a power like that.
Shoto had helped the nice girl, La Brava, track the security guards in the week before they planned to strike. Working out a rota of who started when had been very easy even without the analysis training he had received from Kido and his fath- Endeavor when he was growing up. One of them who Compress said looked very similar to him (Shoto had never seen under the mask, so he had no clue if this was right) had been easy to track to his home, a solitary apartment where Gentle and Touya had ambushed him and taken his uniform and key card.
From that point it had been easy. For a company so large and with such substantial turnover, their security detail was tiny; Shoto found himself asking why they thought they were so safe that they only needed three guards in the whole building on the night shift. Ambush had not been a difficult task even for him, with no field experience of this sort of thing, and it had made their job ten times easier when they executed their plan that night.
All he had needed to do was let Compress's hand came down on his shoulder, and all of a sudden with a click of fingers Shoto suddenly found himself inside the building with his brother and their crew half an hour later. It was as easy as that. His brother and Gentle had taken a guard each and knocked them out cold, and he had watched intently as Compress had stashed them away as marbles. Best to keep them away until we're done, the older thief said, and Shoto could almost hear the wink.
It was okay though, Shoto reassured himself. Compress would let them out when they were done, so that was good. The guards wouldn't be harmed.
The plan from there had been simple. Touya had accepted early on that La Brava and her computer knowledge would be the lynchpin of their plan; getting her into a secure location was the most important thing, so that she could act undisturbed and hack the company networks. By sheer luck, the large vault for the company and their central computer link terminal were on the fifth floor, the same floor; that made the next bit even easier.
As La Brava wormed her way into the camera feeds and shut them off, Gentle had used his Elasticity Quirk to turn the stairs to some form of slippery rubber, effectively creating slides which couldn't be climbed up. Compress had used his Quirk on the one elevator that ran up the office block, blocking off that route to get to the fifth floor, and then they had presumably got to work. Gentle was to protect La Brava as she downloaded data from their files, while Touya and Compress made their way to the vault to break it down. That was the plan, anyway.
Really, Shoto didn't know what was going on up there. Touya had told him to patrol the downstairs after the stairs were elasticised and the lift stopped, and alert them if any guards came to check on their colleagues, or if the police had been called. He didn't know why patrolling an empty building was necessary when they had Compressed the two remaining guards, and he couldn't get the earpiece they'd given him to work, but Touya seemed to think it was important he was down there, and that he had iced up the bottom of the elasticised stairs. If it was important, he was doing it.
At least he was out of the way here. Touya and the rest could get on with what they needed to do.
Shoto grunted as he walked along a long corridor on the third floor, and scratched at his scalp. There was still a bounty on his head, so Touya and Compress had insisted he wore something to hide himself- Shoto found himself in a white mask left spare by Compress which covered his face, and a ragged black hoodie over the top of his hair. The mask didn't fit his face properly, being made for another person's features, and the hoodie itched like nothing else. Shoto was not comfortable.
"Not long now," he muttered to himself, hopefully. La Brava's only response when he asked how long she would take with the Uraraka Construction computer security was to laugh, so he assumed that was a good thing. Maybe that meant they would get out of there sooner rather than later. He hoped so.
Shoto didn't feel comfortable at all, and not just because of the mask. He wanted to get back at Endeavor, truly he did. He wanted to stop people from seeing Endeavor as some sort of pinnacle of Heroes, and see the scumbag he knew and had been raised by. And their plan was good, because it would help with that- if people knew the extent of damage which had been covered up for Endeavor, how much hurt he had caused by going overboard fighting villains, then Shoto was all for it.
He just didn't know how to feel about this way of doing it. Breaking in and attacking guards? Stealing whatever money they could get their hands on? He didn't want to talk back to Touya, because Touya had taken him in when he ran away from home and had kept him safe, but Touya was willing to go a lot further than he ever thought his brother would do. It was... complicated.
"Eurgh, dang it!"
Shoto's head whipped up as he heard a very unfamiliar voice coming from the large conference room on his right. He didn't recognise that at all, and nobody else was supposed to be in the building besides the security staff. He should probably check out the problem; Touya would not be happy if someone got in the way or stopped them from doing what they came here to do.
Shoto inched over to the door and tried to peer through, but predictably the mask he had been wearing preventing him from making anything out through its tiny eye sockets. He didn't know how Compress saw anything out of it, so Shoto lifted the mask off and clutched it to his side, his finger very briefly running over that all too familiar scar on his face. On the plus side, finally he could see.
He was very confused at what he saw though.
There was a girl in there, brown hair framing a wide face with big brown eyes gazing intently at a number of objects. These objects, Shoto realised, were a variety of bits and pieces of DIY equipment, and she had them all levitating in the air, hovering off the ground between four and six feet off the floor. There were paint cans, a full toolbox, individual tools and even a stepladder in amongst the cloud of objects. Was this a Quirk?
She had her hand outstretched, and Shoto could see some strange shaping to the end of her fingers, almost like pads, and was intently concentrating on the nearest object to her, a floating handsaw. "Okay. You can do this. You can make them float, so you can make them fly, right? How hard can it be?"
Her country dialect was thick, and Shoto found himself leaning into to concentrate on what she was saying. Her Quirk was making these objects float in the air? She was training herself after hours it seemed, and from what she said she wanted to see if she could do more than just float them- did that mean she was permanently able to leave them hanging in the air? Could she not apply force to them like some telekinetic Quirks he had seen? Curiosity at seeing this strange new Quirk puzzled him.
Shoto chose that moment to lean heavily on the door and unfortunately for him, it chose that moment to decide it was enough to open further. With a treacherous thunk and the creak of hinges, it slid forward to open more; Shoto tried and failed to not go with it, but found himself stumbling forward into the room with a crash. In response, the girl looked up and panicked, slapping her hands together with a cry- somehow Shoto caught that she slammed all of her fingertips together, an act which seemed to release the objects in the room from their hovering and send them earthbound with an almighty clatter.
Now he had her attention. This was not good. "Um... hi."
She giggled. "Hi to you too! Sorry, ya kinda surprised me there!"
"I... think I surprised myself too." What was he thinking? He had no idea what to say to her and shouldn't be speaking to her anyway- why was he carrying it on like a normal conversation.
"Are you one of the new guards here? I thought you guys were either supposed ta' be downstairs or on the fifth floor!"
Shoto hesitated. "... Yes. I am new. I am lost. This building is confusing on my first shift." He hated improvisation. "If you can point me to the stairs, I'll leave you."
"It takes some time! Don't ya worry. I still get lost trying ta' find the right department when we have meetings!" She blinked, and looked him up and down properly for the first time. "Wait, didn't ya say you were a guard?"
"I did?" Shoto asked aloud. "I mean, yes, I did."
"Um..." She trailed off, and the smile on her face seemed to fade, her flushed cheeks beginning to pale. "Then... where's your uniform?"
"I..." Improvisation really was not his strong point. "I left it at home in the wash. Yeah."
"You're, uh..." The girl's country accent was thick, and her eyes were wide now with fright. "You're not a night guard, are ya?"
"Um, no." Shoto shuffled awkwardly under her stare. "I'm..."
"Wait..." The girl's eyes flicked down to the mask Shoto had been clutching in his hands, and Shoto only then realised he'd shown his face to the girl. The horror he felt then increased tenfold when her gaze flicked up to his face. "No way. I've... seen ya on the news. They ran all those stories about you. You're... Shoto Todoroki? Endeavor's son?"
Shoto knew with a scar like his he couldn't lie. Nobody would leave him. "I am."
"Oh help. Why is Japan's most famous fugitive breaking into our office, what is going onnnnn-"
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Shoto asked, out of genuine confusion. He had no idea who this girl was.
"Ochaco Uraraka!" She announced, before clamping a hand over her mouth in shock at the fact she had answered him without hesitation. "Oh gawd, why did I do that? Some guy just breaks into our office and I'm gonna give him my name like it doesn't matter-"
"You're... an Uraraka?" Shoto asked, light dawning on him. "But you're my age... your parents, are they the chairman and chairwoman?"
"I..." Ochaco hesitated, but it seemed her honesty was unfailing. "... Yeah. Mom and Dad don't know I'm here but this is our company."
"... I see."
"Please don't hurt anyone, you don't have to do anything. If you want any of the blueprints or any of our archive data to take to sell, it's on the fifth floor-"
"I'm... not here to harm you," Shoto interrupted, trying to reassure her and stumbling over his words slightly. "Please, I... I don't want to hurt anyone."
"Then how come you're here? Endeavor's son, the one they have bounties out for, breaking into our office? This is so weird!"
Shoto's brain screamed at him that enough was enough. This Ochaco girl had already seen his face and identified him, which would be trouble for Touya and everyone else if she was able to get clear and call the Police. He had already made enough mistakes showing himself, engaging with her, letting his guard down; for all he knew Touya and the rest
Despite this and against all better judgment Shoto's big heart, the one that screamed at him how much he wanted to be a Hero, told him that she seemed nice. She seemed like she would be good to talk to. It screamed at him and made him sit down cross legged on the floor in front of the girl. "How long do you have to talk?"
"Huh?"
"I'll tell you everything I can." Shoto patted the floor and immediately questioned why in his own head. "If you tell me why you're here and what you're doing here, I'll tell you what happened to me and what I'm doing here. Does that sound fair?"
It was a stupid idea. It made no sense. He had no idea why he had suggested it when he had already told her enough, and yet, he found Ochaco sitting down hesitantly opposite him. "... Okay. Are you gonna go first or me?"
"Um..." Shoto hadn't planned that far ahead. "I can go but I just want to warn you. It's quite a long story..."