Chapter 23: Mind of Evil
The girl shivered as she slept fitfully under the blanket, and Chronostasis didn't like the fact he didn't feel even a trace of disgust anymore.
She was still so young, so fragile, so defenceless. Two years had passed since the Boss had risen to power and put his plans in motion, but she was still only six years old as the harvest continued. There was no other word for it, Chronostasis had decided; it was repetitive and systematic, the way the Boss brutalised her and drained her of the valuable resource he needed to implement his plan to level the playing field and return the Shie Hassaikai to their former glory. When he had first seen Overhaul start his work, she had been four, and it had been a struggle to keep the bile down as he watched one of the most devastating Quirks in the world at work on a small child. After two years of getting exactly what he wanted, Hari Kurono was numb to the cries for help, the awful sounds, the sight of dripping red.
He just wished the girl was as numb to it as he was now. After two years, she still whimpered, cried out in her restless sleep, yelled and pleaded before every dreadful touch to begin the cycle again. He hated that he didn't react to that anymore.
Stood beside her bed, Kai Chisaki brushed a strand of unkempt grey hair, dirty and unwashed, off of her face to frame her ear. If it wasn't for the surgical gloves, and the look in the Boss' eyes, one might mistake the scene for a show of affection, but Chronostasis could see that look and knew it all too well. It wasn't tenderness that seemed to shimmer for a second in the bright yellow eyes; instead it was something far more malign, a sense of smugness that she was still proving so valuable to him as an asset. "A shame that we have to cut this short, Eri. Other people can't behave as well as you."
Chronostasis recognised the tone in his Boss' voice, the anger, the disappointment. The new arrival upstairs had caused a stir when he turned up for a number of reasons, but he couldn't say that he blamed Overhaul for feeling that way. Someone hadn't been careful, and now they had an audience with an unknown quantity because standards had slipped- he was angry too that everything could have been jeopardised. "Sir, he's waiting upstairs."
With a tut, Overhaul pulled the blanket up over Eri's shoulders and strode out of the room, not even stopping to pull the door shut behind him; Chronostasis found himself giving a frantic gesture to the grunt on guard duty to shut her room up as he struggled to keep up with his Boss' strides. "So the Hero was the loose end?"
"It seems that way, sir," Chronostasis confirmed, matching his pace now. Pinning the blame was relatively easy in this scenario, and if it kept the rest of the Hassaikai out of the head's bad books, he was all for it. "He was shadowed to one of our warehouses during a supply run, and was seen defending our men when another Hero tried to stop our transport convoy."
"And then he was tailed here," Overhaul continued, adjusting the mask on his face as he walked. '"So we now find ourselves with an unwanted guest, in the heart of our operation, seeking an audience with me about an opportunity."
"I apologise, Overhaul. I-"
"Suggested that we should recruit a Pro Hero to our cause?" The Boss shrugged. "It was a good suggestion. We have two others who do the job well. You aren't to blame for one failure, Chrono."
He tried not to show it, but inwardly Chronostasis breathed a sigh of relief. Being Overhaul's number two and assistant appeared to give him some level of protection from the young Boss' wrath, after all. "... Thank you. Are you going to allow our uninvited guest to make his proposal?"
"I shall. He shouldn't know of what we do, but if he's here he has some interest in the product. I can at least make the most of a bad mess."
"Of course. And I assume we will deal with the Pro Hero after our guest has been spoken to?" Chronostasis had learned survival at the cost of anything else was a priority; if he could guarantee that Overhaul wouldn't think ill of him by stabbing the Hero in the back, then he would happily pick up that knife.
Now there was a flash of anger in Kai Chisaki's eyes. "As soon as our guest leaves. It's like the old saying... if you want something done properly, do it yourself."
Chronostasis was left in no doubts as they approached the door what would happen to the Hero. There were enough private Heroes out there who had far looser codes of ethics after Incident Zero, and enough private agencies seeking wealthy backers to continue operating independently of the Hero Commission, that finding some willing to take money from the Yakuza had not been difficult. Having people willing to turn a blind eye and allow supply routes in and out of their turf had helped the Trigger operation grow beyond their expectations, but Kai Chisaki was a particular man, with particular standards, and one simple ask- secrecy. The Yakuza could afford to be bolder than they were, to make ventures out of the shadows and take on bigger jobs, but their operations and Overhaul's pet project with Eri were worth so much to him, so for someone to be so careless to get themselves trailed, to reveal the main site's location to a third party? That was a death knell by anyone's standards.
The question was what would happen to the man currently sat in their waiting area, behind the door that they were approaching and that Shin Nemoto guarded. What he was after was unknown at this time- whether Overhaul's patience would extend to letting him leave after making his proposal was something Chronostasis refused to bet anything on.
Nemoto saluted zealously as Overhaul and Chronostasis reached the door, and Chronostasis found himself sneering under his mask at the younger lieutenant. Nemoto was below him in the Eight Bullets and yet due to his devotion to the Boss, Hari knew that Nemoto would stab him in an instant if it gave Nemoto the chance to replace him at the Boss' side. "Overhaul, sir. They're both inside with Mimic."
"How is he?"
"He's... calm, sir. Although Mimic seems to be on edge around him. Even more than Rappa when you haven't fought him in a while."
"On edge?" Chronostasis asked, curious.
"It's to do with his Quirk. Confession gave me a lot of information." Hari tried not to roll his eyes at the smugness of Nemoto at the pride in his own Quirk. "His Quirk... he called it Anthropomorph. It allows him to create copies of another person out of an ordinary object, and control the copy."
"So Irinaka feels inferior," Overhaul mused, cutting over Nemoto before his lieutenant could say any more. "Because our guest's Quirk can do everything his can, but from a distance, with more objects. He would need Trigger to even begin to be on that level... thank you, Nemoto."
Chronostasis noted something in his Boss' rasping voice, a note of disdain at his conclusions, but didn't push it any more. "Please, Nemoto, go and check on the girl. We had to cut things short to come here."
"I'll stay here, thank you Kurono-"
"Nemoto." Overhaul's interruption was blunt. "The girl. If this guest brings trouble, I want to know she's safe. I trust you to look after her for me."
"Y-Yes Sir! Right away!"
Chronostasis found himself marvelling at how easily his Boss was able to get under the skin of his inner circle, to work out what made them tick and manipulate that so he could get them to do exactly his bidding. Nemoto's pride and self-importance made him stand up to Hari, but when Overhaul himself told him that what he was being asked was an important job to Overhaul, he would toss everything aside to go and do it. "I assure you, the other measures are in place sir."
Overhaul merely hummed to himself, as he replaced the gloves he was wearing with fresh copies. "Good. Then let's see what we're being met with."
The scene that greeted Chronostasis as he followed the Boss into the room was bizarre even by the standards he was used to in an underworld filled with weird Quirks. Mimic had chosen to possess the ghastly little suit he was so fond of, with the white bone-like plague mask that seemed to make him look like a grim reaper in miniature; he was sat on one side of the table at the centre of the room tapping his tiny leg in agitation, with two guests facing opposite him. Chronostasis recognised the Pro Hero, a tall man with a jet black fur suit that covered everything except his hands, but the newcomer was something else entirely; gaunt and lanky, a pronounced chin and nose jutting out from beneath long blank hair which covered his eyes with a fringe. The fact that he seemed completely at ease, even smiling as he lounged in their central base, was unnerving if only for a second.
The Pro Hero Kesagiriman bowed deferentially as Overhaul entered, his mask and visor hiding any emotion. "Overhaul, I am so sorry about-"
"Enough." The young Boss held up a gloved hand and silenced the Pro with one word, as he slid into his seat. "I'll deal with you later, Hero. Mimic?"
The rag doll form the general manager was currently occupying started. "Boss?"
"Quirk envy is unbecoming in our organisation. You would do well not to forget that. Or to let it cloud your mind when a business opportunity lies in front of us."
"My, my." The visitor smirked, a ghastly sight underneath that long fringe. "I heard good things about you, Overhaul, but I'm glad to see you have some business sense. I can't say that many of the other Yakuza would have the same reaction. Although..."
"Although?"
"Quirk is a dirty word, ain't it? You and I can both agree on that, Overhaul."
"Sir?" Chronostasis asked, uncertain about what their guest meant. "Who is this man-"
"Tomoyasu Chikazoku," Overhaul interrupted, pronouncing each syllable as if it left a strange taste in his mouth. "As far as I was aware, you were a board member at Feel Good Inc, selling computers and broadband to the whole of Japan. Respected as a businessman."
"Full names aren't necessary here, are they?" The man clenched his jaw. "You wouldn't want me calling you Kai Chisaki, so while I'm here you can call me Skeptic, and I'll stick to Overhaul like a polite visitor who wandered his way into the heart of your business. Sound good to you?"
"I can accept that." If Overhaul was fazed by how rude their guest was being, Chrono couldn't see it. "So you found your way here because of our Hero, I assume. Found out what we make our money from by following him."
"Fair assumptions. You should really get more observant staff- it wasn't hard to gather intel by following him around." Skeptic sniggered as the jibes made the furry Hero beside him stiffen nervously. "I must say, I admire what you're doing. Your product is higher quality than anything out there on the market. Tracking your shipments made me realise your Trigger is what caused the incident at Tatooin Station, among other high-profile attacks on Heroes."
Skeptic nudged the edge of the table with his shoe. "And you have survived an awfully long time under the radar without incident. The Yakuza have always been a relic of the old times, so when you all started to crawl out of the holes you'd been hiding in after All Might died, I wondered how you'd adapt to the new world order. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I found you. While other groups like the Abegawa Tenchu Kai suffered the wrath of the Hero Killer, or couldn't keep up with the rise in demand, you met it all and still stayed hidden in the shadows. Well... until I found you, anyway."
"And yet none of that would be of interest to your company. Feel Good Inc wasn't in the business of drug trafficking, from everything I was aware of. Which means if you're here to try to make a business proposition, and you're able to find us while we work in the shadows..." Overhaul's eyes narrowed. "You're part of our world too. And you're here on behalf of someone else."
"The goons I met around here said you were astute for a kid, taking over from his old boss. They weren't lying." Skeptic sat back and reached into a pocket of the long coat he was wearing, fishing for something. "I work with people who see opportunities if we fund your Trigger production, opportunities for our organisation to grow stronger and face our enemies. We can double your income from Trigger production in a month, and we get the opportunity to mobilise our forces more than we can at the moment."
Chronostasis had been quiet until that point, but something that Overhaul had said before spurred him to speak up. "If you're here on behalf of someone else, then there's no deal to be made now. We need to know who you're speaking for."
"Heh. You're like me, aren't you? Another monkey speaking for his organ grinder. I can see why he's picked you as a number two."
"Chrono," Mimic started up, from the sofa next to him, "don't you think the Boss should be the one who-"
"He's right, Mimic," Overhaul said, cutting off the general manager, and Chronostasis resisted the urge to smirk underneath his mask. "And I think Skeptic realises this. If you want to make introductions with your boss, give us a time and a place. We'll hear how much you have to offer."
"Very generous of you, Overhaul." Skeptic withdrew his hand from his jacket and dropped a file onto the table, containing a number of papers. "My contact is in that file, as are our proposals for what we want to do with your product and how we want you to provide it. You'll find a group like ours can be quite willing to meet even your highest financial demands, but of course, we can negotiate over supply routes, leasing premises for storage, and so on. I won't draw you into making a decision today."
"It appears we have a lot to consider," Overhaul replied, eyes darting to the file on his table but not moving to pick up the foreign object. "Mimic, please escort Skeptic from the grounds. We will contact you and your group when we are ready to talk further regarding your proposal, but for now, you will appreciate we need some time."
"Naturally."
"And I know I don't have to say this to someone as experienced as you, but the location of this base stays secret, and does not go beyond you or your superiors. If we find that Heroes target this location, that wouldn't be a good sign of a positive business relationship." Overhaul clenched and unclenched a fist, the sound of scrunching surgical plastic cutting through the pregnant pause. "It would be unwise to declare war on a Yakuza clan like ours with offices as... public as yours."
"Heh. There's a reason they call it mutually assured destruction." Skeptic held a hand to his forehead to form an L-shape in a strange gesture, and smirked. "I hear you want to change the world, Overhaul. Maybe with the backing we can provide you, you might make some of those dreams a reality."
Chronostasis watched the retreating back of the lanky man, Mimic waddling behind him in the black miniature costume and sliding shut the door with a knowing nod. "Boss, I have concerns."
Overhaul's eyes flashed to him. "Tell me. I want to see if you see the same thing as me."
"He said Quirk is a dirty word. He talked about mobilising forces, he freely uses a codename, and he knows your name, which means he's been gathering intelligence on us for some time. But the giveaway was that gesture at the end, the one he was so proud of before he left. I thought the rumours of the people making that gesture weren't true, but if they are... then Tomoyasu Chikazoku is a lieutenant for the Meta Liberation Army. And he wants us to meet his Grand Commander."
"So it would seem." Overhaul took a deep breath, and wiped his brow with a cloth he had kept in his suit pocket. "Another filthy group infected with the idea that Quirks are what make us all, and they come crawling to us to help them achieve their pipe dream."
"The only possible common ground between you and their Commander is that you both want the Heroes to be gone. Beyond that, their mission is everything we stand against, and when we both want to rule society after the Heroes are gone, conflict between us is... inevitable." Chronostasis paused, sensing the look on his Boss's face. "And yet you want us to go along with it for now."
"... I do. If we don't comply, then they can expose us to the Heroes and destroy the project, and if we go to war, we risk being outnumbered and overcome. My life's work with Eri will be for nothing. I... cannot afford that, Chrono. The mission must succeed, you understand that. The girl must bring an end to this wretched world of Quirks and Heroes."
"Overhaul... I'm sorry."
The voice of the other occupants of the room roused Overhaul, who almost snarled as he turned to look at Kesagiriman. "As for you... don't think I didn't forget."
"I swear, I didn't know-"
"I don't care." The Pro flinched at the anger in the tone of the Boss, who stood up from his seat. "You brought the Meta Liberation Army to our door. You nearly exposed my work. All you had to do was be careful, and you couldn't even manage that. You're not worth our time or our money anymore, Hero."
"No!" Showing some basic levels of self-preservation instinct at the look on Overhaul's face, Kesagiriman scrambled away from the table and towards the door, before he staggered and lost his balance, falling to the floor. "H-Hey, what the hell!"
The sliding door slid open, and the skinny man in the fur vest on the other side raised a skinny arm above his head, waving with the bottle of sake and cackling under his plague mask. "-hic! Heyyyyy Chrono! Got yerrrr message..."
"I don't think you've ever met Deidoro Sakaki, Hero," Chronostasis said, watching Kesagiriman struggle on the floor and fail to pull himself upright. "The first meeting usually throws anyone off their balance. Not that you'll get more than one meeting with him."
"You failed me," Overhaul growled, standing and moving towards the Hero. "I have no use for you anymore."
"Overhaul, please!" The Pro pleaded, stricken and unable to rise as Sloshed rolled over him in waves. "I'm sorry-"
Overhaul growled again, taking slow steps forward as he pulled the glove from his right hand. Years of passive exposure to Deidoro's Quirk had improved his tolerance no end, so even if he staggered very briefly, he was able to take deliberate steps towards Kesagiriman with a look of vengeance in his eyes. "Forgiveness is a luxury."
The hand fell, and Chronostasis didn't blink at its results. He never did, anymore.
(***)
"So just to wrap up this interview, a chance to give us a glimpse into your hopes and dreams for the future." The blue-skinned woman pushed a bang of lilac hair out of her face and fixed the man opposite her on the other side of the desk with a dazzling smile. "Where do you see the future of Detnerat in five years?"
Rikiya Yotsubashi gave his most optimistic, beaming smile directly down the camera, as he had practiced so many times. "Why, Kizuki, the sky is indeed the limit! These are trying times for all of us, but I have every confidence in the board and in our dedicated, diligent employees to pull through and deliver for everyone in our society! I have every confidence in saying to you right now that we will stand with giants in five years' time, that we will be known amongst the Heroes as the number one support item company, and that Detnerat will go from being the household name for ailment cures and resistant hardware in Japan to a global icon. We have a grand vision for all, and I want everyone to know that Detnerat won't rest until we make that vision a reality!"
"Bold statements, and an outlook for a bright future! I should ask you for sound bites more often," Chitose Kizuki quipped, prompting a hearty laugh from the man sat opposite her. "That was Rikiya Yotsubashi, CEO of Detnerat, and I'm Chitose Kizuki of Shoowaysha TV, signing out!"
She waited a second, for the gestures from Hideyoshi the cameraman and Fukukado the sound guy confirming that the recorded interview was done, and when they made their little hand signals she breathed outwards, flashing her two support crew a brilliant smile. "Lovely work all! I'm sure that interview will be a big hit, Mister Yotsubashi."
"One can hope," the CEO replied, his smile taking on a more glasslike quality.
"Boys, you can pack away now. I think we're done here." Chitose turned away from the two crew as they began to move to their bags, Hideyoshi lumbering his massive camera off of its tripod, and turned to smile wanly at Rikiya. "Unless there was anything you wanted to discuss further?"
"Pas devant?"
Chitose tried not to roll her eyes at the question in a foreign tongue. Rikiya was well educated and knew English, Spanish, Mandarin and French to name but a few languages- he claimed they were all good for PR- so the phrase was one she had heard before in their secret double lives. It was French, lifted from the question "pas devant les gendarmes?" which translated approximately to "not in front of the guards?"; Rikiya used the question around strangers to ascertain whether they could move onto more sensitive topics to see if they could be trusted with the truth of their existence.
She instead laughed, and clapped her hands together, ignoring the slight raising of the temperature in the room. "You can say whatever in front of these boys. Hideyoshi and Fukukado are my eyes and mouth for any interview- they know what I do when I'm not on camera by now, sir."
Re-Destro let loose the growl he had been storing up, and the black markings which blossomed up from the back of his neck and under his shirt sleeves. "Oh good. I wouldn't want to hold in any longer."
"Commander..." Curious stood up and took a step back, but she wasn't quick enough to get out of range of the lunge, the beefy black fist which closed around her throat and lifted her bodily off the ground. "Guh!"
"What did you think you were playing at, you little upstart?" Re-Destro threw her across the room, clattering into the tripod of her cameraman as she fell. "Did you think yourself above reproach? Did you care so little to expose yourself to everyone, to put us into the spotlight by failing to mask your words? Do you crave attention so damn much that you would risk us all in front of the Number One Hero?!"
Curious coughed, as her soundman Fukukado pulled her upright. "But sir! We gained so many more recruits because of that boy's words! I told you he would be an asset to our cause-"
"The boy Bakugo still could be, but Endeavor?" Re-Destro snarled, his arms bulging and mottled with black stains as he slammed himself back into the armchair at his desk. "You advertised your affiliation in front of him, flaunted it in order to taunt his apprentice, and for what? A few more foot soldiers with a chip on their shoulders about their Abilities? He will be coming after you!"
"Sir, I'm sorry, I really am," Curious said, bowing her head and trying not to dwell on how easily her Grand Commander had flipped the switch to let his Stress take over. Landmine was a Quirk she prided herself on but against someone with the raw power of Re-Destro, she could only thank whatever god was out there that he hadn't just snapped her like a twig. "But I swear, he won't be able to do a thing about me. A professional network like mine, the number of interviews I do? He'll be on a wild goose chase for years before he gets anywhere near the inner circle-"
"You had better pray you are correct," Re-Destro interrupted, clenching a glass with such force that it shattered in his palm while he sat there utterly uncaring about his punctured hand, or the blood dripping onto his desk. "I funded that maniac's Agency with a hope that we could bring him on side with our vision, but instead he tried to start his own investigation into us. Finally, finally, I thought that we had backed him into a corner, that he would find too many brick walls and dead ends to make any progress. And now because you were so bold as bait his Apprentice in public into giving us a manifesto speech, he will revive his search with all guns blazing, and there's no hope of getting him to see things our way now!"
"Sir, if I may... perhaps this could work to our advantage for how we handle both him and Bakugo going forward?"
Re-Destro growled at her response, his arms swelling again. "I know you're a journalist, Curious, and I know it's a default response of your peers, but self-justification is not a good look on you. This had better be good."
"I'm not trying to justify myself, sir. I know it's not to your vision, and I acted out. But now that we're here there is a chance to make the most of this... tension. To sow a divide between them. Maybe that could benefit us?"
The first indication that he was listening was the way in which the black markings of his Quirk seemed to fluctuate and die down from around his eyes and on his forehead, his arms shrinking down. "... Continue."
Curious took a breath to compose herself, aware that Hideyoshi and Fukukado were staring at her. "Every strategy we had made when Endeavor took on Katsuki Bakugo revolved around them working together. We wanted them to fight the Commission together, or for Endeavor to enable Bakugo's destructive nature to make them fall together, in the aftermath of a crisis of their making. But what if they aren't working together?"
"And why wouldn't they?"
"Because you heard what Bakugo had to say when I put him on the spot. When he poured his heart out about how unfair the system was, how people with strong Abilities shouldn't live in fear of using them. We have an Apprentice advocating for free use of Meta Abilities from the bottom of his heart, and a Pro Hero who took him on who wants to oppose those who call them Meta Abilities." Curious held out her own two hands in front of her, as if weighing the two up. "That's not a good working relationship."
"I..." For a long moment, Re-Destro huffed, before the black blotches on his face cleared up and a look of interest flashed in his eyes. "I suppose this has some merit, Curious."
She tried not to let her relief show, but smiled. "We can make it work. Endeavor is tied to the old system too much- as much as his Abilities are powerful, he hinders himself with the old code. Bakugo has already shown his frustrations with that system, and we can play on those to drive enough of a wedge between them."
"Bakugo can be played up as a poster boy for heroes under our new age," Re-Destro continued, staring at her, as her cameraman and sound technician scurried back to packing up now the fighting had paused. "Someone who will use his powers to their maximum, someone strong enough to beat anyone, someone willing to not hold back for them."
"And the fact he's so volatile... he would be so easy to tip towards our way of thinking. We can play on that emotional weakness of his, that desire to prove himself as the strongest, and show him that we can offer him so much more. Either the world reacts badly to him, and we offer him a refuge to use his Abilities without holding back, or we convince him that Endeavor is holding him back." Curious now allowed herself the smirk. "Endeavor thinks he can fight us, but can he fight those within as well?"
"Adversity is a great opportunity for change, as one of our sickly commercials once said." The CEO cracked his knuckles, and nodded to Curious, a brief nod all the acknowledgement she would get that she had redeemed herself to him. "Shoowaysha can run a campaign against Endeavor. Maximise the PR outlet against him, turn public opinion against the Number One, and we can see if he drops the scent to try to fix his image. As we turn the screw on him, Katsuki Bakugo is the one to watch. If he falls too, then we offer him refuge, but if he rises as a pillar while his supposed mentor fails as a Number One, then we drive that wedge even deeper, and tear that partnership apart."
"Either way, this can work to our advantage," Curious said, forming ideas in her head already. "And it leaves us to get on with our other projects-"
"For which I do owe you some thanks." Re-Destro gestured to his phone with a bloody hand, somehow intact despite the devastating tantrum he had thrown. "Skeptic used the intelligence you gained for him on the Yakuza to make contact. We should be mobilising on that front soon enough."
"This is going to be fun-"
"Calm yourself, Curious. Don't forget your place or your role at this time." Re-Destro brought an L-shape to his forehead, his face mottling black as he spoke with a hint of anger in his tone. "Do your job, drive that wedge, and don't draw needless attention. I won't tolerate it if you jeopardise our work again."
She returned the L-sign quickly, losing the bounce in her step. "Yessir! Come on Hideyoshi, Fukukado! We have a campaign to plan."
As she strode into the elevator, Curious watched Re-Destro turn his back on her and stride to the window, a surefire sign that he was looking to calm his blood pressure back down by gazing over the slumbering city below. She rubbed self-consciously at the mark on her neck, the bruise starting to form on her pale blue skin, and thanked whoever was up there that he hadn't tried to choke her, or clench harder. His temper was legendary, stronger than even his father's before him, and she was lucky to be out of there with his blessing to go on and continue the work of the Army, continue the work to the society they all dreamed of. A world of free Meta Ability use...
If Curious hadn't been so focused on the back of her Commander, she might have paid attention to the look on the face of her crew. Hideyoshi was nothing of note, a small and cowardly man with glasses too big for his head, and he stared at the floor to avoid confrontation, but Fukukado was... different. He was normally tired and sullen, drifting around with the heavy bags and seemingly uncaring about everything, but if Curious had paid attention to her two crew in the lift, she would have noticed how intently her sound technician was staring at Rikiya Yotsubashi through his tired-looking eyes. How he moved his straggly black hair out of his sight to get a good look at the Commander as if committing his face to memory, how his stubbly jaw was set tensely as if something about Re-Destro's very existence was setting him on edge...
The lift door shut, and Shota Aizawa found himself cursing the day he ever agreed with Nezu to let himself be pushed in this deep with the Meta Liberation Army.
(***)
"I've found you."
Three very simple words from the lips of Kyudai Garaki, and yet their weight was not lost on him. After so many searches, finally, something that seemed so innocuous and so inconsequential had made everything so much clearer. It had given him hope at last, hope that he had found the answers he had been looking for since the idea of All For One passing his Quirk on had been planted in his head.
Gaining medical records for the youth of today had been embarrassingly easy. Their Quirk Assessments were held as a matter of public record, accessible by the police, the schools, and all medical professionals. Striding past the security of the police into one of their stations was a task beyond the Doctor even with the unique talents of Kurogiri, and while public confidence in the school system had been eroded by the Hero Commission and their dispute with UA, no fool in their right mind would try to break into a hero academy and risk facing off with angry staff and students- at least, not with the resources they currently had to hand.
But medical records? Hospital admissions? All too easy. It helped when they hadn't even deleted any of his keycards or credentials from the systems they used. Garaki, Tsubasa, Ujiko, Akagi, Nakamura and more all still had access, and now he had information which had given him the enlightenment he had been looking for.
It was all the more sweet when he remembered this child, one who stood out among so many.
"Kurogiri." At the sound of his name, the misty spectre warped to the Doctor's side, catching the file which the Doctor had been reverently absorbing and had thrown to the side knowing where he would teleport to. "Consider the Quirk on this child."
"Aerokinesis..." The shadow in a suit read aloud. "Quirk allows the user to produce blasts of air from their palms, in blast patterns which can be varied by the user, and to use air currents to pull objects towards them. It sounds... convoluted. Overlapping elements of a standard telekinetic Quirk with air pressure manipulation."
"I agree. It sounds almost as if the user has two separate Quirks, wouldn't you agree?" Garaki didn't wait for the answer, turning to look at Kurogiri and failing to surprise the giddy smile on his cracked old face. "Only this child's Quirk was recently re-evaluated to that description. When the child initially developed the Quirk, it had a different form. Turn the page and read that aloud to me as well."
"Air Force..." Kurogiri's yellow eyes sharpened as he read, the look of a lion who has sighted a particularly lonely and vulnerable gazelle. "Quirk allows the user to produce blasts of air from their palms and arms, in a shockwave-like explosion. The blast can be varied by the user into a single column-like blast, smaller ball blasts of air, or a sweeping arc... my, oh my."
"Indeed. And the date of that child's Quirk Assessment is after Incident Zero. Look back further in that file and you will see the medical report from the day of Incident Zero, which tells you that this boy was there on the scene when the Master killed All Might, when the Master perished. That boy was examined after the fight and was found by paramedics covered in blood that wasn't his own, blood from both All Might and All For One."
"It... fits." Kurogiri paused, and the eyes widened with an evil look. "And his Quirk has since been re-assessed. The characteristics of it changed."
"Precisely. In fact, looking at the report, I would say that the new characteristics of this Quirk are strikingly similar to a Quirk that was whispered about in the underworld. The Quirk of Toya Setsuno which disappeared from his Quirk Factor, a Quirk which allowed its user to pull objects towards him from the grasp of others... all followed by a new description of this boy's Quirk which was entered no more than a week after the Larceny Quirk vanished. If I was a betting man-"
"I'd say that Air Cannon has been supplemented by the addition of the Larceny Quirk by this boy," Kurogiri finished, eagerly. "Can we be certain? Are we sure beyond doubt it isn't a fluke of nature that this child developed a Quirk late? That he developed it after Incident Zero and that its full potential wasn't known to him at the time?"
"I think we can be certain because of one very compelling reason." Garaki paused to lift his goggles, wiping them absent-mindedly with a cloth and ignoring the tear which threatened to drip from his eye. "I have lived a very long life, Kurogiri, and I never forget a face. I have lived under many names besides my own, Akagi, Ujiko, Tsubasa... and I never forget some of my patients."
"He was one of yours?"
"Look at the last document in the file. The document which examined the boy at the age of four to give him a Quirk Assessment. Tell me what it says." Garaki knew, of course, but the elation was something he was drinking up, and he wanted Kurogiri to revel in it like he had.
"He was Quirkless..." There was a noise, and only someone like the Doctor who was used to Kurogiri could tell that the spectre was smiling. "And he was assessed by Doctor Danjuro Tsubasa. He was one of yours?"
"I told you, Kurogiri, I never forget a face, even after all these years." The Doctor sat back in his chair and remembered the look on the young boy's face, the way the colour drained from his cheeks as the Doctor told him it wasn't going to happen. He remembered the way he enthused about All Might before the test, the way the All Might figurine he held in his hands dropped from his clutches in shock, the way the tears poured down his cheeks as every childish dream was destroyed by one diagnosis, and the look of resignation on his mother's face at the fate her son had that day.
Only fate had been more than kind to the boy. Fate had made him a champion, a successor. Fate had turned a snivelling Quirkless child into the most powerful being in the world, and the heir to a dynasty unlike any other.
"We've found him, Kurogiri," the Doctor said, gripping his cane and letting the tear fall down his cheek now. "We've found the Master's heir, and his name is Izuku Midoriya..."
Chapter 24: From Me To You
Looking in the mirror in his bedroom at the sight in front of him, Izuku Midoriya finally accepted for the first time since the Entrance Exam that he hadn't been dreaming, and had actually made it into UA to study as a Hero. The reality of what he was wearing had finally sunk in.
It had been just over a week since he had stood before Sir Nighteye in a Quirk Assessment, scared stiff that someone would see right through him and see his Quirk (or Quirks, depending on how you looked at them) for the truth. It had been a week since, to his great shock, he had been able to impress Nighteye and the teachers at UA, to the point where they felt they could offer him a place in this year's Class 1A. Since the whole of his squad of friends had made it in, despite Himiko's reservations about showing her Quirk off and Tenko's exam which he was still reluctant to talk about in any great detail.
He had just about managed to stop crying by now.
His mother had been beside herself when he and Tenko came through the door, Tenko withdrawn but still with a wry smile on his face, Izuku in floods of tears. She hadn't stopped clutching him and bawling her own eyes out with joy when Setsuna followed in behind them and just happened to 'slip' by mentioning what had gone on between him and Himiko before her exam. At that point Tenko had to pry his mother off of him to stop her frantic shaking of his shoulders from dislocating something, letting an embarrassed Izuku have a moment of respite before the maternal interrogation began. Setsuna hadn't been sorry one bit.
Still, though, they were all going to make it, and that meant none of them could afford to stop trying to improve. While the Yakuza visit had made their old secret training site in the abandoned warehouse a no-go, Izuku and Tenko had been given special dispensation by Aldera Junior High to use the school gym and train away from their classmates. Aldera didn't encourage its students to apply to Hero Academies anymore, and so the two of them had gotten more than their fair share of looks and whispers from classmates for what they were doing; whether it came from jealousy or incredulity that they had made it into UA despite the state of the world after Incident Zero, Izuku didn't know. He wasn't going to let it bother him, anyway.
Final tests had been and gone in a blur. It was bad for Izuku to admit that he hadn't given his last mathematics paper at Aldera as much attention as he usually would; his mind was well and truly on other things, and as much as he wanted to do the best he could, his mind was racing about being a Hero Course student to the point where he couldn't take in all of his revision anyway. He'd done enough to get through and be signed off by Aldera, who waved him and Tenko out the door and out of their hair without a backwards glance. Gone were the years of fanfare and celebration, claiming credit for the future success of the High School's alumni in the Hero world; now, it was almost as if the school didn't want the credit if something bad happened to them in the dangerous world out there.
There were too many bad memories tied up in Aldera Junior High for Izuku to feel sad about leaving. With everything that happened with Bakugo in the past, the panic among the students when his former bully Tsubasa disappeared, and with the years of being Quirkless and isolated to dwell on, Izuku was glad to leave it behind. There was a bright future ahead for him and his friends, and he was going to make the most of every second of it.
It was, of course, a bonus that now he had a new school uniform to wear. Even when his mother replaced the singed jackets with burn marks around the neck and on the chest, even when she sewed shut the ripped knees of the trousers, Izuku still felt the marks of years of bullying and being a target whenever he put on the black uniform of Aldera Junior High. Now as he looked in the mirror at the uniform UA had sent him, Izuku couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder. There was a time in his life he never thought he'd get to wear the famous grey jacket, when he could never have imagined the feel of the crisp white shirt, and it was taking everything in his power to not cry as he looked at himself in the mirror. It even still looked smart with his signature red trainers, the ones he would never part with, and it filled him with hope the more he looked at it.
If only you knew how to tie a tie properly.
Some things were beyond him though.
Izuku was shaken from staring into the mirror- he had no idea how long he had been there in a state of rapt wonder that it was actually real- by the knock at his bedroom door. "O-Oh, yeah! Come in, it's unlocked!"
He didn't even make it through explaining it was unlocked before the door handle clicked open and Tenko mooched into his bedroom, looking ever so slightly annoyed. "Please tell me yours doesn't fit either."
"What? No, I'm fine, I think? Why, does yours not..." Izuku trailed over as he saw the problem Tenko was referring to, and snorted, his line of questioning completely derailed by the sight in front of him. "Tenko, how did you-"
"Don't ask me," Tenko snapped, shaking his head as he reached down and tried to pull at the bottom of the dark trousers UA had provided them. Izuku had found his to fit like a glove, as if tailor-made, but Tenko's gangly and awkwardly-long legs were entirely different. The trousers came up to nearly two inches above his ankles, and it was clear from how Tenko was pulling at them he couldn't get them any lower. "Imagine getting to unlock the premium wardrobe option and they don't make it fit."
Izuku began to laugh, properly. "Tenko, you'll break them! Don't pull at them like that-"
"What am I supposed to do, dammit? I can't walk into class next week looking like this!" Tenko gave up clutching at the ankle of the trousers and collapsed backwards onto Izuku's bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Tell me why I don't just Decay them right now and wear my own shit to school."
"You can't do that!" Izuku was mortified at the suggestion. "They're UA uniform trousers! The school uniform for the school that made the world's greatest Heroes!"
"You're right, fanboy, that's a terrible idea." Tenko smirked. "Maybe I can sell 'em online instead. Collector's item, you know?"
"DON'T DO THAT EITHER!" As Tenko began to laugh his head off, Izuku shook his head, despairing at his best friend. "You don't need to get rid of them anyway, you just need to wear the right shoes."
"What shoes? It's not like I have any besides my trainers-"
"You do, though." Before Tenko could say anything, having opened his mouth in confusion, Izuku bounded over to the wardrobe and dug around in the bottom, looking for a box which he produced with a small laugh. "I... was gonna wait to give these to you until the first day at UA, but since your trousers don't currently fit maybe now's a good time."
"Heh, you got me shoes? Do I need to be worried that the guy who can't even tie a tie properly got me these?"
"Hey, you didn't even bother to put yours on!"
"And it's still smarter than you!" Tenko opened the box with a flourish before Izuku could retort back, and grinned at the sight of the red high-top trainers, in his size. "Wow, you're lame. You wanted us to match, huh?"
"J-Just put them on and stop complaining," Izuku replied, shaking his head and trying not to get embarrassed that Tenko had hit the nail on the head about wanting to match with his best friend. "They'll cover your ankle and now you won't look like you can't dress yourself."
"Bold claim from you," Tenko snarked, but a proper smile formed on his face as he slipped his feet into the trainers and tapped them against the floor as if testing the soles. "Thanks, Zu. Guess the shoes are like a party symbol, huh?"
"I... guess so." Izuku smiled faintly as he sat down on the bed besides Tenko. "What took you so long, anyway? I thought you were only going out to get food, you were gone a couple of hours."
"... Ah, yeah." Tenko paused, and laid back down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "I guess I should have expected you to ask about that, huh?"
Izuku realised that his friend's body language had completely changed, and that the smile that had been on his face when he slipped the trainers on for the first time had now dropped from his face. "Tenko? Is everything o-okay?"
His best friend sighed, long and drawn out, staring up at the ceiling from where he lay. "It's... well. I did some stuff while I was out. It... was about the shit I talked about with Sir Nighteye on the Entrance Exam."
Izuku stiffened when Tenko said that. Overall his friend had bounced back from whatever had happened in his Quirk Assessment with the news that he gotten into UA, and it hadn't stopped him throwing himself into getting some extra fitness training in with Izuku, or secretly working away at a Hero Costume design to send into UA for the remaining Support Course crew to work on for him. That said, the mention of Sir Nighteye usually changed Tenko's mood completely as it brought back the memories of what happened; Izuku and Setsuna danced on eggshells to avoid bringing it up, particularly after Tenko had got snappy and stormed off on the couple of occasions they tried to ask about it. The fact that he was willing to say anything at all about it now... that was a big step forward.
Izuku swallowed, and tried not to look at his friend as if it was a big deal for him to start to talk about it. "Tenko, y-you don't have to say anything about it if you don't want to. I won't mind if you-"
"Nah, I... need to stop running away from it all the damn time. What happened at UA happened and there's nothing I can do about that, and I was on my own at that point, but I'm not now. I..." Tenko glared at him, but there was no malice. "I don't know how you do it, ya know."
"Do what?"
"Care. So damn much." Tenko snorted, humourlessly. "I don't like sharing everything all the damn time when I'm down, and the fact that you care so much and keep trying to talk me through stuff... it should piss me off. But I just know you. You don't stop until you've done everything you can to help someone, and the difference between you and other people is that you do help. You did when you saw what happened to me that day I lost my family, so... I guess when I've got a best friend like that, I shouldn't keep stuff from you all the time."
Izuku didn't quite know what to say in response to that, and gave a very sheepish smile. "Just... don't feel any pressure, okay? I'm here if you want to talk but I'm not going to make you say stuff you're not comfortable-"
"Don't make me change my mind, Zu. I've already committed to the dialogue choice, I can't go back and pick again." Tenko closed his eyes, still lying down on the bed. "Nighteye mentioned about my family... I knew other people would know that they'd died, but I didn't think he'd know so much."
"S-So much?" Family was a sore subject for Tenko, and Izuku was hesitant about pushing it too far, but he had to know more if he was to help his friend after all. "What do you mean?"
"He knew about other parts of my family... my grandmother." Tenko's red eyes cracked open and he met Izuku's concerned look. "She wasn't in the house that day. She died years and years ago, probably before I was tiny, but Father never spoke of her. Apparently she... was a hero."
"A hero..." Izuku's inner fanboy couldn't resist. "Did you know her name?"
"Nighteye told me her name was Nana Shimura."
That name!
Izuku shook his head at that thought, the overwhelming sense of familiarity flooding his head and clouding his senses for just a second. "I... I recognise the name, for some reason, but... I don't know who she is."
"See, that's the thing, I shouldn't." Tenko frowned. "But... Nighteye showed me a picture and I don't know why but... I recognise her name. I... remember her face."
"Remember it?" Izuku asked, confused. "How do you mean?"
"I... don't know. I... remember it from Incident Zero. From the day my parents died. I don't know why, and I can't remember why, but on that day... I swear I saw her face. There's parts of my memories of that day I can't get back, like I saved over the cutscene and now can't replay it." Tenko paused, and shook his head. "I don't know. I don't like thinking back about them, so I don't want to. But today... I went away because I went to the library to try and learn more about Nana Shimura. I didn't find anything in the archives, but I'm... gonna keep trying. There's something more to her name and I wanna know why. Is that... weird?"
"... Not at all." Izuku stood up off the bed and held his hand down to the lanky blue-haired boy sprawled on the mattress. "Do you want my help? We might be able to get more research done if we share it up together."
"... Of course you'd offer that." Tenko smiled wanly. "Thank you. I'm not sure what we'd find, and if we're going to the library together you've gotta accept we'll be called nerds, but... if you wanna help I'd like that."
"I'm p-pretty sure people think we're nerds already. I'm not worried about that."
"Ha! I'm pretty sure people know you're a Quirk nerd, Izu." Before Izuku could protest in vain, Tenko grabbed Izuku's outstretched hand with his own skinny hand and pulled himself upright with the handshake. "But you're a good friend. Thank you."
Izuku smiled and was about to say something, before he heard the telltale click of a camera shutter from the bedroom door and groaned, flushing red in embarrassment. "Mom... I thought you said we'd take pictures downstairs."
Inko Midoriya, leaning on the doorframe with a digital camera in her hands, took in the sight in front of her, of her son and his best friend shaking hands in UA school uniforms, and smiled the watery grin of a proud mother. "You can't beat a good candid photo Izuku. And you both look so handsome! I couldn't resist."
"Remind me why I agreed to do this with your mother," Tenko said, grimacing and turning away from Inko so his face couldn't be caught in another picture.
"Because you're as good as a son to me, Tenko Shimura, and I swear if you think I'm missing this opportunity to be proud of you both for one second, then you're not as smart as you look." Inko wiped away a little tear that had formed during the little affectionate rant, and smiled sweetly. "Plus Setsuna asked me to get some pictures of you for her before she comes over in a little bit."
"That damn girl..." Tenko tried and failed to hide his flustered face from Izuku at the mention of his cousin's name. "Come on then, let's get it done before she arrives and wants more-"
"Actually... that's not the only reason I came up to talk to you. I..." Inko took a deep breath, and Izuku realised he had never seen his mother look quite the way she did at that moment, determined and loving and scared she was going to say the wrong thing all in one look. "I have a r-request for Izuku."
"A request?" Izuku was confused. "What do you mean, mom?"
"It's... complicated, sweetie." Inko sat down on the end of his bed and patted the mattress, inviting him to sit beside her. "I was thinking... about your Quirk. About all those things we discussed before the UA Entrance Exam, about how much of a Hero you can be with it."
Izuku swallowed and took a seat on the bed, as Tenko frowned and leaned against the desk by the window. "W-What do you mean, mom?"
"I told you before you went to that Exam just how much I believed in you. Just how good I know you are and how big your heart is. You didn't let it hold you back and you showed UA that you deserve to be there, deserve to be the next Hero we can all be proud of. And yet..." Inko squeezed his shoulder. "I know you. You're my son. You're still afraid of showing everyone your true powers, and someone seeing through them, no matter much Tenko and I reassure you."
"Mom..." She was right, and really he could do nothing to deny it. "I just... I can't shake it. I thought Nighteye would see a gap between Air Force and Steal, and I don't know how he didn't, but what if someone else does? What if Freezeframe comes out around my new classmates, or I read someone's mind, or I take someone else's Quirk?"
"I know, and I get it. There's only so much I can say or do to reassure you that everything will be okay if your Quirk flares up, or you take Quirks in front of people. Some of that isn't within my power. But..." Inko paused, took a deep breath, and nodded, as if reaffirming to herself that what she was about to say was right. "I've been thinking. About things that are within my power. Or, well, really, things that are my power."
"I don't know what the depths of your Quirk are, Izuku. I don't know what powers are hidden in there, I don't know how much more you have yet to discover, I don't know what will happen to you that may lead you to end up with even more Quirks from other people. All I know as a mother is about what you have now." Inko looked at him, and Izuku saw a sense of pride in her green eyes that shone as bright as the beacon on Might Tower back in All Might's heyday. "You love Air Force. It's your Quirk, the one everyone knows. And you've got Steal, or whatever it's actual name was before Tenko changed it-"
"Improved it-"
"But you're worried there's a gap. We combined the two as Aerokinesis on your Quirk Registry papers, but Air Force lets you make blasts, Steal lets you take objects others are holding. You don't have the ability at the moment to properly pull stuff towards you, without another person holding it. It's not currently within your power at the moment to do that..." Inko moved one hand down to clasp his own, shaking despite there being no tremble in her voice. "But it is within my power to be able to fill that gap for you. To let you be able to draw stuff to you and not be bound by the limits of Steal, to plug the gap and let you live with powers nobody would have any reason to question. It's in my power, Izuku."
... Surely not?
"Mom... what are you saying?"
"I'm your mother, Izuku Midoriya. I'd move heaven and earth to keep your safe, and I'd do everything within my power to make sure that you can fulfil your dreams, to support you like I should have done all those years ago. With your power you can change the world for the better, you can make people feel safe, you can become everything you ever wanted. With my power... you can keep yourself safe."
Izuku felt her squeeze his hand, and suddenly he realised what she was about to say. "Izuku... I want you to have my Quirk."
"M-M-MOM?!" Izuku was stunned by what she had to say. "But y-you'd be left Quirkless! There's n-n-no way I could ever ask that of you-"
"You're not asking," she interrupted, her smile serene. "I am. I want to help my boy however I can, and this... this is how I want to do it.
"You're actually serious..." Tenko's mouth was hanging open, left blindsided by the offer she had just made. "Wow. I knew your mom was hardcore Zu, but this is nuts."
"But that's insane!" Izuku let go of her hand just for a second, feeling himself begin to panic inside his own head. "W-Won't you need your Quirk, mom, how could I take it-"
"You're being silly, Izuku." She took his hand back again and squeezed it tight this time. "Attraction of Small Objects, in my hands? What am I going to use it for that's of any good to anyone? My whole life I've used my Quirk to pick up your toys, grab the phone or the TV remote, fetch a coat if it's raining. Why would I hold onto that when it could help my son complete his powers, your powers which he wants to use to be a proper Hero? Believe me, I've thought about this ever since you left the house to go to UA, and I know right now I'm making the right choice to offer this to you."
"You'd... give all that up?" Izuku loved his mother, but he was dumbfounded by the lengths she was apparently willing to go to in order to drive his success forward. "For me?"
"Without hesitation. And the fact that you hesitate so much about whether it's right... makes me know even more that my son has a good heart. The heart of a true Hero. It lets me know my Quirk would be in good hands with you."
"I..." This was beyond anything Izuku had ever imagined, and the gravity of what she was asking made him uncertain even in the face of such a strong offer. "I don't know..."
"I... thought you'd say that." Inko paused, and something in her smile flickered, some sense of sadness which Izuku couldn't immediately place. "Do you want to know how I decided that I wanted to give you my Quirk?"
"Wh... why?"
"It's a scary world, Izuku, and I won't always be with you when you're out there trying to make it a better place. I'm your mother, and I want to look after you, but I know that you have dreams to achieve and people to save, and I can't be there if you have to face the worst villains of all. Just... let me give you this one thing. Please. Take it with you and wherever you go... I guess in some way a small part of me will always be with you." She smiled at him, the smallest hint of a Midoriya tear in the corner of her eye, and in that moment Izuku realised just how much she meant it to make that offer to him; as terrified as he was by the thought of her even considering it, his mother had made up her mind wanted nothing more for him. "Please, Izuku. I won't force you if you don't want to, I never would demand it, but for me and for you... let me give you a piece of me for the rest of your life."
She's... something else.
How could he possibly resist when she made that offer with such love?
Although his mind was swaying one way, Izuku turned to Tenko, just in case his best friend would have anything to offer either way. He didn't expect to see a brief look of panic on the blue-haired boy's face at being considered for his counsel. "What? Don't look at me, I'm not giving you mine as well."
There was a snort from Inko, and Izuku turned to see her chuckling wetly, trademark Midoriya tears now falling down her cheeks despite the smile. "You boys... the world is going to be lucky that it found you when it needed Heroes."
That pride in her shaking voice, the look of love in her eyes, and the conviction of what she had said to him about her reasoning... Izuku made up his mind there and then. "Never mind that."
"Huh?" Inko wasn't expecting him to wrap his arms over her shoulders and bring her in for a hug. "Izuku?"
"I'm lucky I have you at all, mom." He kissed the top of her forehead and broke off the hug, somehow remarkably containing his tears so that only one had broken out. "It still seems crazy, and I can't believe you offered it, but... y-y-you really do want me to have it. And if you want me to have it, then... I a-accept. I'll show you and the world what I can do with it."
Inko caught her breath, a huge smile spreading across her face as she heard her son's acceptance. "Y-Yes! Izuku, I'm so glad! It should really make the difference with your Quirks and how you're able to control objects, after all-"
"Before you two muttering Midoriyas get into a storm talking about Quirk combo moves," Tenko interrupted, noticing the trademark signs from Izuku in how Inko was starting to ramble, "does someone want to talk about unlock requirements? Like, how are we even going to do this? The last time Izuku took one he kind of did by accident."
"I..." Izuku had to admit, Tenko had a good point. "I guess... Mom, can you hold your hands out for me? I want to try something..."
"Sure, sweetie." Inko turned to face him on the bed, holding her hands out palms up, and she didn't even bat an eyelid as he placed his palms on top of hers, gripping her wrists with his fingers. "You have something in mind?"
"Every time it's happened for the first time... there's been that black lightning. I don't know if it's excess energy from my Quirk, waiting to be filled by another Quirk, or a sign that my Quirk is trying to take from around me. I... just think it's linked to the taking of Quirks. So... here goes." Izuku closed his eyes for a second. "Mom, I'm sorry if this hurts, I-"
"Do whatever you need to, Izuku." She gripped him with her fingers too. "I'm going nowhere until my Quirks is yours. I swear it on my love for you."
"... O-Okay." With his eyes closed, Izuku felt the hum of energy that he always got whenever he activated Air Force, and focused on that in his arms. With a gasp from his mother, and a flash of light through his closed eyelids, he could only assume that his arms had begun to spark, but now... now he didn't know what to do about the Quirk.
Visualise. What does mom's Quirk look like?
He didn't know where that thought came from, but suddenly they all flashed clear in his own head: the memories of her drawing plates of food to her from across the kitchen, the memories of her pulling his backpack to him as he left it behind on the way out the door for school, the memories of her picking up his All Might action figures from the floor whenever he dropped them. Attraction of Small Objects wasn't a catchy name, but it was effective, and he could see it now...
He could feel it too.
In a flash, Izuku felt the strangest sensation, as if he had tugged his fingers without moving them and drawn an invisible fishing line towards him. Something smacked his lungs and made him take a deep breath at the same time as a spark of energy seemed to have connected with Inko, making her jump as she held his hands but apparently not causing her any pain. With a gasp, his eyes shot open and he looked at his mother with concern. "Mom, are you- did you feel that?"
"I..." Inko looked down at her arm, and then at Izuku's, where the energy had completely dissipated. "Wow. That wasn't what I was expecting."
"Did that..." Tenko looked like he was struggling to form a sentence. "Did that not hurt? That was a big spark between you both-"
"I barely felt a thing," Inko replied, examining her forearms and hands and finding no marks. "I felt a little jolt like you'd get from static but... otherwise nothing. Izuku? Do you... think it worked?"
"I... felt something. It felt like something got pulled to me, and like something... hit me." Izuku stopped himself before he fell down a Quirk analysis minefield like he knew he could, and looked down at his hands, seeing nothing different. "Do you think..."
Demonstrations usually help.
Izuku's realisation came in an instant, and he cursed not having that thought sooner. Looking around his room for something suitably small to test the power on, and see if he could manage to replicate what he'd seen his mother do, he saw the All Might figure alarm clock which he still kept besides his bed and held out a hand. For a moment, the plastic figurine didn't budge, before with a curl of his fingers it leapt into the air and shakily, juddering as it flew at a lazy pace, the alarm clock floated to him and landed into his palm with a satisfying weighty thud. "... O-Oh wow. I... think it worked."
"It definitely worked." He turned to his mother, who was holding out her own palm towards the books on the desk Tenko was currently leaning on. She flexed her fingers, looked at her own palm, and smiled like a wave of relief had washed over her. "It's really your power now, Izuku. Attraction of Small Objects. Now you have a piece of me wherever you go, okay?"
Izuku grabbed her hands again and squeezed, trying not to cry as he saw the huge smile on her face. "... I love you, mom. I'll make you proud that you gave me this, I promise."
"I know you will." She laughed softly as she wiped her face on her sleeve. "My son, the hero."
"Well this is all lovely, happy family moment right here, but what the hell just happened, cousin?"
Izuku, Tenko and Inko all leapt in alarm at the sound of that voice, and Izuku's blood ran cold at the sight of his cousin Setsuna, standing outside his bedroom with a look of complete shock on her face at what she had just witnessed. "S-S-Setsuna?!"
"You're early," Inko said, hesitantly taking a step back from Izuku and looking alarmed at the sight of her niece. "I swear, it's not what it-"
"Zuzu... you just took it. How... how did you just take Auntie Inko's Quirk?"
Well. Good luck explaining this one.
Sometimes he really hated his inner voice.
(***)
"Well, what do you think? Does it suit me?"
Shuichi Iguchi, reptilian eyes wide with confusion, looked Himiko up and down as she posed in the UA uniform by flashing a peace sign at him with a big grin. "I... still don't know how you did it. Seeing you in that uniform is gonna take some getting used to."
Himiko bounced up and down with a spring in her step, before looking at herself in the cracked mirror they had in the living room and frowning. "Hmmm..." She grabbed at the tie she had shoddily tied around her neck and clawed it off with a triumphant laugh, undoing her top button. "Much better! Ties just don't feel right, you know?"
"... Sure. Why are you even making me go over this with you?"
"I just wanna make sure I look good in it! I want Izuku to like me in it, big bro. You think he'll like me wearing this?"
"Why the hell are you asking me that?! How should I know what this new boyfriend of yours likes?"
"Come on, Spinnerrrr! You're useless if you can't help your sis out like this-"
"Gah! You're impossible!" As Himiko laughed at him and threw her UA tie at him, Spinner turned with relief at the sound of the door clicking behind him, and sought out the new arrival in the lounge with relief. "Boss, please, I'm begging you, send me out on surveillance! Anything to get away from the lovesick menace over here!"
Stain, stooping to pick up the tie from the floor, chuckled at the pleading tone from the Gecko-man. "Your sacrifice to the cause of educating Himiko on life's lessons is appreciated as always, Shuichi."
"Hey! I can handle myself, you know! After all-" Himiko span on the spot with a flourish. "I did get into UA by myself, didn't I? Don't ya think the uniform suits me?"
"I..." Stain paused to look her up and down, an intense look on his face for a second. "I can't say I ever expected to see you in that uniform. Nor can I say I have complete faith in UA. If they've become anything like the other festering Hero Academies in this nation, then there's no hope for our future. But..."
"But?"
Stain paused, and a little smirk formed below the ridges of his face where a nose had once existed in the distant past. "Somehow, I still feel proud to see you in that uniform, Himiko."
"YAY!" Himiko jumped over and latched onto his bony arm in a hug, practically vibrating with glee as she heard words she had been craving from him for years. "You see, Shuichi! Mister Stainy gets it!"
"... See what I've had to deal with while you were out?"
Stain very slowly and awkwardly raised a skeletal hand to pat her on the head, and pry her off of him. "Thank you, Himiko. Although since you're in that uniform... I might be a little reluctant to let you get blood on it."
"Huh?" Something in the tone of her mentor made her react nervously, the way he sounded resigned and uncertain- Stain never sounded worried, and to hear his voice lacking his usual ironclad conviction caught her off guard. "W-What do you mean?"
"You know that Spinner and I... took action, while you were away at UA on the Entrance Exam. The fake Hero, Mount Lady, was little opposition to us, but she also proved useful. We found her files from her local Hero work, the unsanctioned surveillance off of the Hero Commission's books, and it helped us find out more about the Yakuza filth in this city."
"The Shie Hassaikai..." Spinner sneered as he pronounced the name like a foreign dish on a restaurant menu. "Turns out when you were near Tatooin Station getting intel on the Heroes, the Yakuza were right around the corner shipping Trigger out of a warehouse. They've got their own little place in the heart of town, and they're looking to move a lot of stock out next week."
"Not only that," Stain continued, "but I followed one of their thugs two days ago. They've got a new customer, someone big, which means they're moving a lot of production to another facility. The shipment that's leaving their warehouse in a week's time is the last shipment before they close down."
"So it's the last chance to get them," Himiko realised, eyes widening as Stain filled her in. "So we've gotta move now, right?! You've got a plan for us to get in there and stop what they're doing, and-"
"I've got a plan, sure," Stain interrupted, reaching out with his bony hand to grab onto her arm and stop her. "But Himiko... I have to ask if you still want to come."
"Why?" Then she realised what he was referring to. "Because I'm now going to UA, right? You don't want me getting caught out with you guys and losing you the chance to learn what's going on at UA-"
"I don't want you getting caught and losing the chance to become the Hero you want to be." Stain cut across her, as firm as he'd ever been with her, and she could tell he was close to losing his cool as he said that. "That boy got you believing you could be a Hero, but you were still the one who decided to that leap and apply. You've more than earned your chance to prove yourself, and if you lose that because I dragged you along to take down some low-life Yakuza, because you got associated with the Hero Killer, I wouldn't forgive myself-"
"You're not dragging me anywhere!" Himiko didn't mean to shout, but she could barely contain her indignation. "Don't you get it?! I don't wanna risk what I've got at UA either, but how can I be a Hero if I let bad guys carry on doing what they want, without doing anything myself? It's not right!"
"Himiko..." Spinner's eyes had widened, admiring. "You really don't have to-"
"But I want to! People get hurt if nobody challenges scum like that! And hey..." She flashed her fangs to them, running her tongue over the canines. "Aren't you forgetting my Quirk?"
Stain paused for a second. "... We'd be using our last blood bags for you. Risking everything for you by hoping it gives your Quirk enough to last the night."
"And I'm prepared to take that risk." Himiko flashed a fierce look at the man who had given her a home when nobody else would, at the man who trained her how to fend for herself and taught her how wrong the world was that people like the Yakuza could profit from misery. She wasn't backing down. "Please, Mister Stainy. Lemme come with you!"
"... It appears I couldn't stop you even if I tried." Stain shook his head, smiling ruefully. "Fine. We go together. Consider it an extra class outside of your Hero education. But the moment anything goes wrong and you need to leave, you are leaving. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir!"
"Good. Then it's settled." Stain stood up straight and looked at his two young protégés, and Himiko felt awestruck at the aura of righteous fury that came rolling off of her mentor, the fierce edge in his tone. "This isn't going to be easy. There's going to be a lot of scum in this hideout that we have to clear out, and they're not going to go down without a fight. They will do everything they can to stop us from exposing them or destroying their filthy products, but they won't stop up from bringing an end to what they're doing."
"In a week, the three of us hit the Musutafu warehouse, and stop the Shie Hassaikai in their tracks."
(***)
"Bubble Girl?"
Kaoruko Awata snapped to attention nervously, clicking the heels of her white boots together. "Y-Yep!"
"Centipeder?"
Juzo Moashi folded his arms behind his back and nodded, his white scarf crumpling like tissue paper as he moved. "Sir."
Sir Nighteye leaned back in his leather chair behind the desk in his office, put the papers he had been reviewing down, and fixed his two sidekicks with a look of determination. "The intelligence report you've gathered is good. Well done. We now have enough to make a move."
Centipeder's stoic face didn't move a muscle, but when he next spoke the pride at a job well done in gathering the intelligence bled through into his tone. "You propose a raid, sir?"
"In one week. We can hit them as they move their supply from the warehouse near Tatooin Station, and with any luck we will catch a lieutenant in the process."
Bubble Girl clenched a fist. "At last! It's been so frustrating not being able to make a move against them, when we didn't know where their supply hub was!"
"I know. With the products they've been producing and flooding into the black market, they've been allowed to become a major player in the underworld and they've been unchallenged for too long. It's frankly unacceptable." Nighteye brought his hands together under his chin, as if pausing in thought. "It's thanks to the work of both of you that we have an understanding of the Heroes they have in their pocket, the manpower they have, and where they propose to move their stock. And now we know their moving date; finally we can make matters right."
Centipeder's mandibles clicked in agreement. "I couldn't agree more. Will we be notifying the Police in advance?"
"They know we will move already, but this operation is best served with minimal external involvement. The more components in a plan, the more one is likely to fail." Nighteye nodded approvingly to his sidekicks. "I trust both of you to do the best we can, for this agency and for the people of Musutafu."
"In one week, we strike a blow to the insidious supply chain of the Shie Hassaikai."