Agent Anna Dobinek held up a sign with the Japanese kanji that supposedly read "Midoriya Family". Next to her was the Pro Hero White Stripe, a man in his late thirties with a muscular build, as expected in a pro hero, with a section of his black hair coloured white. In his civilian clothes he barely stood out. Texas Red had partnered her with the hero for the whole Himiko Toga situation, while using her team and Flight Plan´s crew as staff and security. White Stripe was a very agreeable person, knowledgeable on a variety of topics and effective as a hero, so Anna was comfortable working with him. And the fact that his hero name was also a musical reference had started a certain understanding between them.
Their guys were there; the unmistakeable form of All Might after losing his power, a short woman, who had the easy confidence of someone who had recently found the motivation to better herself, and a young man with an athlete´s physique and medium height. His walk was confident, the stride of a person who had stared death in the eye and survived. Most heroes Anna had met, the disappointing ones, didn't walk like that. The short woman noticed the sign and pointed, and the trio rushed to the agents. "Midoriyas and Mr. Yagi, welcome to Florida."
Anna took the wheel of their dark blue sedan, driving to the outskirts of Orlando. On the backseat, both Midoriyas were ecstatic about visiting the famous amusement parks later, as a family. They drove the mother to the hotel the Agency had booked for them, a rather nice tourist hotel, and then drove both males to their destination. They made it without issue to the base, a rundown strip mall, with a second-rate coffee shop, a used books store, a mattress store and a shop selling phone accessories. Anna took them to the administration offices, which had a hidden door to a basement, containing a state-of-the-art operations centre, interrogation room and holding cells. The base extended underground well beyond the strip mall.
Led to Texas Red´s office, All Might and Izuku Midoriya met the deputy director. Texas Red grabbed All Might in a bear hug, saying "Man, it's been too long!". Midoriya extended his hand and introduced himself politely, in perfect English. Texas Red just bear hugged him too. "You are pretty much family, son. Now take a seat, please, and let me explain everything." Texas Red sat down on his leather chair and motioned to the seats in front of his oak desk.
"We are all with the Quirk Intelligence and Intervention Agency, or the Agency for short. I´m Holden Johns, Deputy Director. We handle Quirk related threats, foreign and domestic. The people who picked you up are heroes with the agency, White Stripe and Holy Diver. We also have two liaison officers, with the CIA and MI6 on the team. The project is pretty simple; we take a dangerous criminal off the streets and throw her at our enemies." "Sir, is this some kind of suicide squad?" "Only if the criminals die, son. And this is just the pilot test, so I am hoping for survival. Here´s how it will work; I want you, as Deku, to be Himiko Toga´s handler, and eliminate the target. She has some targets of her own, we have concluded as some sort of "programming" done to her during her childhood. They are not good people, so we will allow that. After that, we want you two to hunt down Pestilentia. You know his reputation. We can legally wash Miss Toga´s hands from the blood and get her the help she very much needs. We are basically asking for you two to do our dirty work and buy her life back."
The young Midoriya had a determined look on his eyes "I do not agree with killing, and if possible will arrest Pestilentia, but if this is the price for Himiko´s life, I will do it. Can I see her?" "Well, son, glad to have you on board. Sure, but keep it PG, the camera operators are not voyeurs." The slightly blushing teen followed Anna to Toga´s cell, guarded by a bored looking Anderson, who sniffed the air, intrigued at a new visitor.
Himiko Toga was trying to sleep, turning in her bed. It was no fun being in a cell and sleeping helped sometimes. She had had very few nightmares so far while imprisoned, so it was a worthwhile pursuit. Either that or exercising. She had read and re-read the newspaper she had been given, obsessed about the video on the UA graduation for hours on end, but finally she had been left with nothing else to do. Then the doorknob on her door started turning. Instantly awake, she focused on the entrance, sitting up. She wasn't in the mood for an interrogation right now, so she might as well not cooperate this time. Sergeant Bitchface, also known as Holy Diver, entered first. Toga expected Skunkman to come after, but she was in for a surprise. Her jaw dropped open and tears flowed freely from her eyes. He´s here! HE´S HERE!
Without thinking, she ran up to Izuku and tangled him in a hug. To her relief, he hugged her back. "Its alright, I am here." he said. He held her for a long time, and Toga felt safe, secure, home. She finally separated, and asked "What is going on, Izu-Izu?". Izuku explained what the agents had told him, how they could give her her own life if she killed for them. It's a sweet deal, I´ll give em that. Too bad the catch is they want me to kill a goddamn ghost. "But why are you agreeing to helping me kill someone for them? You are a hero, you said heroes don't kill." He looked her in the eye, even his eyes are so confident now, and said "I agreed because I want to help you. And I can't get you the help you need if you are condemned to a life sentence. I don't want to kill anyone, and if possible, I want to arrest that villain." "But why do you want to help me? I am not a…I am not a good person. I don't deserve saving." She sobbed "Shh…Don't say that." He softly grabbed her chin and brought her face up to look at him again "A hero helps people, even when they don't want help. I know there is good in you, and I want to see that!" His smile is going to kill me. Not if you kill him first. Never! I will keep him safe, from me most of all.
Toga had cried a lot more, and Izuku had held her close, comforting her. Eventually, she had been too exhausted, and Izuku had carried her to the bed and tucked her in. She grabbed his hand with the strength she had left before falling asleep. Izuku held it for a long time, before the agents escorted him out of the cell.
The drive back to the hotel was much happier, in Izuku´s mind. Himiko was safe, and even if he didn't agree with the plan the government had in mind, he couldn't bear the thought of Toga being convicted of murder and executed. If it was going to be to kill or be killed, then so be it, he knew she had good in her. He was still processing the American team the Agency had set to guard Toga. White Stripe was pretty famous, the youthful, easy going hero with a simple strength enhancer Quirk had quickly grown on him. Holy Diver and her team seemed capable and ruthless, government agents through and through, not actual heroes. The CIA attaché, Flight Plan, seemed a good spy and if he hadn't known, Izuku would have guessed he was in charge. He hadn't disclosed his Quirk yet, but Izuku planned to ask him next time he saw him.
"Miss Holy Diver, may I know your Quirk?" he asked their driver, to pass the time before getting to the hotel. "Sure kid, I´ve got some night vision, and I can hear underwater. Both are great for spec ops." "Ah, so it's a hybrid Quirk, like my friend Todoroki´s! That´s awesome!" "But write that in the hotel, the light of sunset isn't good for writing, and I don't want teens hurting their vision on my account." Izuku felt the agent was stern but ultimately a good person.
At the hotel, Izuku was given another key, for his own room. He was thankful, it would have been awkward. Holy Diver told him before leaving "We´ll pick you up at 9, be ready. You´re starting some training tomorrow. Don't worry about not going to the parks with your family, when this whole thing is done you´ll get some tickets. Oh, and this may be obvious, but no word of the operation leaves your mouth, understand? OPSEC." Izuku changed into his pijamas, a shirt that said shirt and his boxers, and threw himself on the bed. He was out right away.
Toga woke up with a start. Her Izu-Izu had been beside her, so her sleep had been mostly peaceful. She half-remembered a few dreams, mostly innocuous, meaningless stuff; eating a chocolate ice cream, seeing a camel jump through hoops, some blurry outlines doing tricks with some plates. But the last dream had been another nightmare, just as bad as the ones before her capture. It had begun innocently enough, with her walking along a non-descript street, in a foggy morning light.
Then she had felt compelled to look at a dark glass window. Her reflection was…distorted, something was off. The image wore her old schoolgirl outfit, the one she had used at first with the League of Villains. But the strange thing about the reflection was its face: instead of the usual smile Toga favoured, was a completely neutral expression, the mouth a horizontal line. And the eyes, instead of her golden, catlike eyes, were empty, blank. And beside her was a silhouette, the man she saw in the worst nightmares, the ones where they brainwashed her, standing beside All for One. She couldn't see the person´s face, and his clothes were obscured in fog.
The stranger spoke to her reflection, and Toga could hear the words just beside her "Do not forget who you are. You cannot escape." The Toga in the glass stared deep into her eyes, and leapt, breaking the window. She slashed at Toga, just narrowly missing. Toga was unarmed, while her double had her old knife and blood-collection syringes. The dream´s fog had invaded her body and she felt sluggish, and every movement was painfully slow. The double had danced around her attempts at defending herself. The fight felt real, too real for a dream, every slash hurt. Toga felt desperate; was this still a dream? She panicked and tried to run, but the ground had broken, and she tripped. Her double was on top of her, stabbing, stabbing, stabbing…
Then she was looking at everything from above. Toga felt light and airy. Below her, the double kept stabbing the body she seemed to have left. Is this how it feels after death? The double then moved away, revealing the body she had been hunched over. The body was not that of a short-ish teenager with messy blonde hair. The body belonged to Izuku Midoriya.
Agent Anna Dobinek heard the prisoner screaming from outside the door when she had come to check up on Anderson, her guard for the third shift. "Whoa, someone had a nightmare" said Anderson, adjusting her hearing aid to safer levels for her delicate eardrums "Whatever I may say, she´s got strong lungs!". Anna nodded in response, and said "Should we check on her?" "Wouldn't hurt to do that." Anna opened the door and closed it behind her.
The prisoner was weeping holding her pillow, hugging it against her chest. She sobbed "Izu-Izu" softly and muttered something in Japanese that Anna couldn't understand. "You okay, there?" she asked, trying to give her question a kind tone. "Is Izuku safe? Did I do anything?" the girl looked seriously affected. "Yeah, he is in his hotel. You are training with him at 9.30. We asked him to leave to let you sleep. It is 3.30 A.M. right now." The relief on Toga´s face was palpable. She murmured something else in Japanese, maybe some kind of prayer? Then she said "Can I get some sleeping pills or something? I don't want to dream…" "Sure, but we´re waking you up on time, you are training, no buts." The girl nodded and tried to get her bed in order. Anderson passed her some sleeping pills and a glass of water, and then both agents left the room. "It is Garcia´s turn in fifteen, then you get some shuteye, Anderson." Anna left her subordinate to the boring duty of guarding a sleeping prisoner. Her squad was eager to move on to the next task, being prison guards was a waste of their talents, however dangerous their prisoner might be.
Her bunk on the base was cosy and rather nicely furnished. She might have wanted one with windows, but it was by far among the best accommodations the Agency had provided her. A rack with her combat gear, a cabinet for her weapons, an actual living room and a well-stocked kitchen…much better than the van´s backseat and MRE´s. Her sleep cycle had been altered by her night vision since her early childhood into a series of naps throughout the day, so she wasn't particularly tired. She could do something while waiting for the three and a half hours she slept most days at these hours. Anna grabbed her tablet and added some new data to her own casefile on Himiko Toga. Her psychological knowledge, acquired at an Agency course for Intelligence gathering, wasn't enough to diagnose the teenager with any mental disease, but she clearly had some issues, as did Izuku Midoriya. But she wasn't updating that file yet, so she turned back to Toga. She had genuine concern for her green haired acquaintance, despite her history showing quite a few fights between her and Midoriya´s classmates, and one of the first things she had told the hero had been she wanted to "see him bleed".
Some of the signs of post-traumatic stress were there, but her documented history started at age thirteen, along with what she could remember, apparently, so they couldn't zero in on anything useful. Her psych evaluation had shown obsessive, anti-social and destructive tendencies on her responses to certain stimuli, but completely opposite response at other times. Perhaps she had some sort of personality disorder? Anna had little way of exploiting the complex psychiatric information, so instead she would focus on what truly made her tick; the nightmares, Izuku Midoriya, and All for One. Despite her record of being a member of the League of Villains, a very visible group All for One had used in Japan as a "successor", the girl had complete hatred in her face every time she mentioned the supervillain. The nightmares, she would never openly discuss, but at least some had to do with the Midoriya kid. The kid, who was a pretty good leverage for the Agency on Toga. They could twist her arm with the hero, and she would do the impossible. At least it seemed that way for Anna.
Anna added a new category, combat. On the compatibility training they had planned, she could judge how well the prisoner girl did when not stunned by a flashbang and rushed by four field agents.
Her notes on the new nightmare completed, Anna opened up the Pestilentia file. She was glad to be on that shit stain´s trail. The current number two on the most wanted list, Pestilentia operated a shadow network of drug cartels, weapons smugglers, armed gangs and groups of mercenaries and hitmen. His hand softly moved the strings of operations in South America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The only reason he wasn't the top wanted man in the world, was that he didn't have an actual country, which made Ndege Mweusi the number one. Anna felt the phantom threat Pestilentia posed was greater than a warlord, no matter how many tanks, planes and missiles Ndege Mweusi had.
They had a few leads on the shadow mastermind; some weapons found in a favela in Brazil; a crate of drugs in Afghanistan; a terrorist plot uncovered in Paris by two heroes, themed after a cat and a ladybug; the tenth most wanted villain dead with mysterious symbols on a note fixed to the rope he had been hanged from. Pestilentia flexing on a competitor, it seemed. Getting Toga to off the bastard was a stroke of genius, though Anna. The power vacuum it would cause could be useful in further weakening international crime, perhaps by breaking it apart and allowing the countries affected to mop up whatever successors lived.
And if it worked they might even give Toga a bit of a gift. Anna didn't think of herself as a particularly moral or ethical person, in the shades of grey her work took place in. Sometimes they had to do questionable things in order to protect the innocents. She didn't particularly believe in redeeming Toga, as the Midoriya boy seemed to think, rather in having her outweigh the bad she had done by damaging worse people.
Her attention turned to the new intelligence field agents relayed in real time from observation teams around the world, in a continuous feed that analysts turned into briefings and files. A good portion of the Agency was concentrated in the war on Africa. NM now holds Namibia, Botswana and is advancing on the South African border. His conscripts stormed Central African Republic positions. Quirkless death squads raid every village inside NM territory. Another resistance group just went dark. DEVGRU teams engaged in South Sudan, Marine Corps advance on Cameroon, meet heavy resistance but push on. Armoured divisions and close air support engaged. It was the biggest war since the advent of Quirks, and for once, US intervention wasn't completely reviled. Smaller scale conflicts also occupied the Army in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, but not full-scale war, like in Africa. In China, a private military company, one of the biggest in Asia, had gone rogue and declared their own state; the government were fighting them, but a few smaller groups had bolstered the first mercs, escalating the conflict even further.
Anna looked at her watch, a smart watch used by the agency for field work, and was surprised by the time. Almost 5 a.m. Time to hit the hay.