Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing.
Humming to themselves in class, Hatsume and Midoriya tinkered away working on Mirio's hero suit, adding padding and shock absorption into the lower body. It had eaten up most of their morning, and they had only an hour and a half after classes to make adjustments to the suit before needing to report to Sir Nighteye's for the evening. With what they had, they were able to make improvements to the shin and ankle areas of the suit to assist with running with One for All, but for the rest, it would likely take another day.
"I hope we're working fast enough for Sir," Midoriya sighed, eying the clock. "These aren't exactly modifications that usually only take a day. Even for professionals."
"Even if this were the only thing we were dedicating ourselves too, we've gotten a lot done in a short amount of time," Hatsume shrugged. "The guy's a nut anyway. And we ARE professionals."
They began to pack up their things to take to Mirio. "A nut with connections. Imagine if they have us working for Mirio with his quirk full time in the future!" Midoriya smiled.
"Talking moooneeeeeeey," Hatsume sang as she packed the suit in a special containment bag.
Power Loader, who had been experimenting with something of his own design at the front of the lab, scoffed. "Don't count on that. Once he gets used to the Power of One for All he won't need much in the way of gear."
As the students were leaving the lab, they were surprised to see Aizawa outside of it. Waiting for them, it seemed.
"I thought I'd find the two of you here."
Something about the way he looked at them made Deku's knees tremble and sweat form on his brow. "Y-yup, just heading to the work study."
They went to move past him, but in a flash, Hatsume and Midoriya found themselves wrapped in the teacher's bindings.
Power Loader was on his feet immediately. "Hey! Shouta! What do you think you're doing?!"
Aizawa glared at the teacher and turned to the students as he released his scarf.
"I need to ask these two a few questions." He deadpanned. "Alone."
Aizawa turned to leave, but Power Loader shut the door first, a loud slam emanating in the studio. "Excuse me?" Eraserhead replied, voice raising slightly.
"These are my students." Higari said, arms folded across his chest, "if you need to ask them anything, ask them here, without restraining them like criminals."
Midoriya had never been happier to have Power Loader as a mentor than he was at that moment.
"That's part of why I'm here." Aizawa sighed. "Interviews with the civilian rescued the night Tokoyami escaped describes a vigilante using tech similar to Midoriya's."
This had not come as a surprise to Midoriya. Over the weekend after the rescue, the police had come to ask him the same thing, but he, Hatsume, and Tsuyu all acted as each other's cover stories, that they had gone to play laser tag that night. Hatsume had found that forging receipts was easier than she expected.
"We gave our alibi to the police," Hatsume said, smiling.
"Have you been making unlicensed gear that leaves the campus?" Aizawa questioned. "Anything go missing? Or, have you made something for someone unlicensed?"
Midoriya and Hatsume shook their heads.
Power Loader sighed in exasperation. "These two, like all my other students, log everything they make. Midoriya was a finalist in the Sports Festival, Shouta. More than likely, someone decided to copy his tech for illegal activities."
"That may be so," Aizawa snapped, "but ever since Stain was captured, vigilantism has been on the rise, and some of these captures resemble Midoriya's products. We need to make sure he's not supplying vigilantes illegally."
"I would never sell vigilantes my tech!" Midoriya objected. Technically this was true. I just make it for myself.
"And I will be happy to show you their records," Higari added. "Now, these two are helping Mirio, so unless you can back up these accusations, are they free to leave?"
Aizawa let out a deep breath. His eyes shifted between the two students twice before he relented. "...I'll be watching the two of you."
As he skulked away, Power Loader grumbled, "That guy rubs me the wrong way..."
Midoriya and Hatsume left hurriedly, but not before thanking their teacher. It wasn't until they were safely aboard the bus, they made it clear how displeased they were with what had happened.
"I think you have to change how you fight, Deku Scrub," Hatsume whispered, "it's easy enough to manufacture an alibi but now you've got a Pro suspicious of you."
Midoriya frowned. "I hate to say it...but you're right. If I'm going to be advertising the spider legs and the glue grenades, I'm going to have to use the hover pack and freeze grenades in my fights."
His mind race though, and he began to mutter, "but if I change right away, will it look more suspicious? Will it tip off Eraserhead that he spooked us? Aizawa is a stealth hero, I'm going to need to watch who is around..."
"Midoriya." Hatsume said.
"But if I keep using them does it play into his hand more? He's a Pro for a reason and I'm sure he knows what he's doing getting into my head like that..."
"Midoriya!" Hatsume repeated, voice growing.
"Could these be mind games?"
"IZUKU!" Hatsume shouted, making him jump.
"Uwhah?" He yelped.
"We're here." Hatsume pointed as the bus screeched to a halt.
"Er...sorry, I did that mutter thing again."
"It's only okay if it's about babies," Hatsume sighed. "Look. We don't have any targets. Chill out. We can lay low for a bit and adapt your fighting style. Find some new things to throw Pencil Tip off your case."
As they filed into the building, Mirio and Nighteye seemed to be discussing something rather serious but got quiet upon seeing the two tech developers; whatever it was must have been confidential.
"You're late." The Pro snapped.
Hurriedly, the first years bowed in apologies. "S-sorry sir!" They both stammered.
"We're about 60 percent through the improvements Mirio asked us to install in his suit yesterday!" Hatsume added, quickly going into business mode. "The shock absorption on the ankles and calves are complete and ready for testing."
Nighteye furrowed his brows together and took the suit from her hands, inspecting it, briefly. "Your work ethic is as good as Power Loader says it is. Mirio, go test this before we begin our patrols."
Mirio took the suit to change, and Midoriya and Hatsume went to the basement to wait for him.
"Nice save," Midoriya breathed.
"Like hell I'm letting some crusty old teacher get us fired for being late," she chuckled.
They quietly began discussing possible alternatives for the spider legs and weighing the pros and cons of trading them out for something else. They hushed as Mirio emerged, looking more concerned than his usual plucky self.
"Something got you down, Mirio?" Midoriya asked.
"It's not the babies for your suit, right?!" Hatsume asked, beaming.
This drew a chuckle from the Top Student of UA. "The suit feels great. Let me get a few laps in and see if they can contain One for All."
Deku blinked and the Mirio was gone, dashing across the training facility in the blink of an eye. Deku marveled at the sight; he was reminded of All Might as the blonde blur zoomed back and forth across the room. Hatsume was more impressed how well their baby was holding up against the strain of Mirio's power.
Mirio finally jogged to a stop in front of them. "This is perfect!" He grinned. "That definitely lifts my spirits."
"So," Midoriya narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin, "something WAS wrong?"
The grin on the older boy's face faltered. "Well...I'm not supposed to tell you guys about the mission, but we haven't been able to get eyes on our target."
"Maybe I can help?" Hatsume asked, pointing to her yellow crosshairs, "I make an excellent lookout."
Mirio considered this for a second before grabbing his cell phone. "Well. It can't hurt for you to keep an eye out, I suppose. This is the man we're looking for...calls himself Overhaul."
Midoriya and Hatsume leaned in and looked at Mirio's phone, only to step backwards and inhale sharply in unison.
"Something wrong?" Mirio asked as he withdrew his phone.
"We...we ran into that man on Friday!" Midoriya exclaimed. "Plague doctor mask and everything!"
Mirio dropped his phone. "You WHAT?!"
"They WHAT?!" Sir Nighteye shouted. He rounded on Midoriya and Hatsume, "and you didn't mention this suspicious activity to me sooner?! Thank goodness you were smart enough to reject One for All."
Midoriya flinched; that was like a punch in the gut.
"Sir," Mirio interjected, "they didn't know anything about the mission or who we were looking for."
"There was nothing about the guys behavior that screamed, 'yakuza,' or, 'associated with the League of Villains.'" Hatsume explained.
Midoriya nodded, "he just seemed like a weird guy. We didn't get a good enough look..."
"Enough," Nighteye sighed. "You are correct. I shouldn't have lashed out, but time is of the essence. Take us to the area you saw them in. Now."
Midoriya and Hatsume shrugged to each other and led the Pro and his agency employees out the doors and down a few blocks to the general area. They passed the cafe they had eaten at under the pinkish hue of the setting sun and stopped in front of the store.
"She came barreling out of the store. His daughter or whatever," Hatsume explained, "crashed right into my thigh. Still have a bruise!"
Nighteye nodded. "Thank you. Again, I should not have scolded you regarding this, but time is of the essence. I will go question the employees about what he had seen, and I will give the rest of you your scouting assignments."
He turned to Midoriya and Hatsume. "You are dismissed. Mirio will drop off his suit in the morning for more work."
The two nodded and began to leave, but when they were a few blocks away, Hatsume looked to her boyfriend and couldn't help but notice how crestfallen and restless his expression was. "You want to help, don't you?"
"Of course I want to help!" Midoriya blurted out. "We left a child in the care of a yakuza, League of Villain guy! I was right there, and I didn't save anyone..."
"That's all well and good, but we have no babies right now." Hatsume replied, "and we didn't know that guy was villain material. He could have just been a germaphobe for all we knew Besides, we can't scope out this area and risk running into Sir Nighteye and getting outed."
"I know," Midoriya relented. "I can't resolve this situation the way I did with Todoroki or Stain. Whoever this guy is actively has other people on his tale. Real, licensed Pros. If I come near, I'm finished."
"So, we don't go near." Hatsume's wild grin returned, cluing Deku in that she already was hatching a plan.
"What do you have in mind?" He asked, a smile on his face.
"Come on, we need to get back to the dorms!"
Before he could ask further, his rambunctious girlfriend snatched him by the hand and pulled him down the street.
Once safely in his room, Hatsume shoved Midoriya's laptop into his hands. "You scan the dark web for this Overhaul guy, I've got hacking to do."
Midoriya nodded. "Been awhile since I've had to do anything like this, good thinking."
It was true. When hunting down Stain and the Sludge Villain, he would spend hours each night doing recon work. But ever since abduction of Todoroki, things had been happening so fast in his life that he was a bit rusty at hunting villains down. Mentally, he scolded himself. He worked best in the element surprise, with his ranged weapons; he had to operate more like Eraserhead and stop trying to emulate All Might.
Still, once he hit some of the shadier areas of the web, he found some interesting connections.
"I can't see much about the guy himself," Izuku muttered, "but his name comes up in all these drug deals..."
"What kind of drug deals?" Hatsume asked, leaning over from her laptop.
He tilted his screen towards her. "Take a look. Two kinds of drugs: one is a syringe type bullet that will nullify someone's Quirk for a few hours. The other is an injectable drug which boosts Quirks for roughly an hour or so."
"You sure it's the same guy?" Hatsume asked.
Midoriya nodded. "Seems like it. The yakuza has been small time for a while. But drug deals are up their alley. Check out this post. Overhaul is name dropped a few times."
Hatsume's eyes darted back and forth over the screen. "Damn...these drugs are moving quick."
"Right?" Midoriya confirmed, turning the screen back to himself. "But no known substance can do that. Quirk Boosters have always been a thing, but nothing like this. And Eraserhead is the only one I've heard of being able to negate Quirks."
"Too bad we didn't have anything like that for Todoroki," Hatsume deadpanned.
"Inventions are more fun." Midoriya argued.
"OF COURSE THEY'RE MORE FUN!" She bellowed. "But it would have made it easier.
"If only we knew where these drugs were coming from, we could help Mirio and Nighteye..." He sighed.
"Yeah too bad no one could track him down by hacking into traffic cameras - oh wait. That's me." Hatsume grinned. "I did that."
Deku's jaw dropped. "You managed to get in?! We tried that for days with Stain!"
"I've been kicking around some ideas since we failed, and they proved to be winners," she beamed. "Come take a look what I've found, and let's see if we can't piece this detective work together!"
She turned her screen and bragged, "I spliced the videos together, so you can get a clear picture of where he went."
Izuku studied the grainy video. It showed the two of them in a corner, but he could see the man in the mask walking away from them, and turning a corner with the small girl. The video jumped to another shot, which showed the two of them walking down a street. There were multiple jump cuts in the video, but finally, the two turned into an unassuming building just off of a main road. It looked like any nondescript apartment building one could find anywhere.
"That can't be far!" Midoriya cried.
"It's not, it's in the normal patrol route for Nighteye's people." Hatsume agreed. "But look. I focused on that building...and that guy, Overhaul, is rarely the person who ever leaves. Whatever he's doing, he's laying low and letting some crony go out and do everything. Watch."
Hatsume opened up videos from the same location, but the time stamps showed they were from the days following their encounter with the yakuza leader. Very rarely did any ever go in or out of that building, it seemed, but it was never the same person twice. However, they always left carrying a box of something, and whenever they returned...
"They're carrying toys...?" Midoriya questioned. "For the girl?"
"Gotta be." Hatsume shrugged. "Weird, right? But they're clearly up to something."
The videos showed three different men had come and gone from the time the two students had encountered Overhaul, to yesterday evening. All at different times of the day, all gone for different amounts of time.
"Well, that gives us a location." Midoriya rubbed his chin. "We need to get this to Nighteye...but he can't know we're the ones who got it for him. We're not licensed for this."
"Yeah, we didn't exactly obtain this information through legal means either," Hatsume agreed.
Midoriya thought a moment, but grinned. "I'll screenshot some of these drug dealing details. Including some future ones. Save your videos. We'll put them on a flash driver and figure out a way to get it to the agency. Unless..."
"Unless...?" Hatsume echoed.
"What if that girl is in trouble?" Midoriya wondered aloud. "Why would these yakuza be keeping her there if she's just someone's kid? That's the least safe place for her to be, you'd think."
"You think she's part of their plans?" Hatsume asked. She thought about it herself. "She was...pretty banged up."
"What if she has a Quirk-destroying Quirk?" Midoirya responded. "If she's getting hurt, we need to hurry. Maybe...maybe we should just give it to Mirio."
Hatsume looked at her boyfriend incredulously. "Are you feeling okay? Remember that whole, you know, not getting caught thing we talked about?!"
"I'm not going to tell him about any of the vigilante stuff!" Izuku hissed. "We'll just say we got curious and wanted to check surveillance on the area."
"That still doesn't change that we got the surveillance illegally." Hatsume deadpanned. "Did Todoroki hit you in the head? Is this a concussion side effect I didn't pick up on?"
Midoriya rolled his eyes. "We'll ask him to keep it anonymous."
"The day after we get let in on the investigation?" Hatsume argued. "Too suspicious. Let's just use a drone. Attach it to the building. Less suspicious, and we get to use babies."
"Then we have to do it tonight." Midoriya insisted.
Hatsume pulled back a bed cover to reveal she already had a remote for a drone hiding under it.
"Why is that there?!" Izuku cried.
Hatsume grinned. "I just wanted to use the drone!"
She's going to be the death of me. Deku sighed, smiling all the same. I love her, and she's going to be the death of me.
Bright and early the next morning, Pro Hero Sir Nighteye walked up to his agency building, frustrated with the lack of progress on the Shi Hassaikai case. The gentle sway of the breeze, the bright sunshine of a warm morning doing nothing to improve his mood.
But what did catch his attention was a small flash drive taped to the handle of his front door. Carefully pulling the device away, he flipped it in his hands, finding a small note attached. Unfurling the paper, he found a single word typed upon it.
Overhaul.
Eyes widening slightly, he opened the door to see one of his sidekicks, Centipeder, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Morning boss, h-" Centipeder started, but was cut off by the flash driver being placed in his hands.
"Run this through our security to make sure it's free of viruses and open it immediately." Nighteye commanded.
"Uh...alright..."
Within an hour, Nighteye, Bubble Girl, and Centipeder had reviewed the contents of the video a few times.
"This matches up with Fatgum's account of a shooter temporarily removing Tamaki's Quirk!" Bubble Girl exclaimed, reading through the articles about Quirk removing drugs.
"It also bears resemblance to the two Size-Shifting villains who were taken down earlier in the week." Centipeder added.
Sir Nighteye leaned back in his chair and weighed his options. He looked at his All Might poster, one of the most prized possessions of his, and sighed. This would be so much easier with you here.
The office chair under him creaked as he finally leaned forward, resting his elbows on the dark oak desk. "We're going to need some help. Make some calls to the following Pros..."