Ok, back to the grind. Honestly I was tempted to hold off on this chapter in order to work on the Konosuba fic(interesting things are coming!) But that would set me on a slippery slope, working on original content is always more exciting than working on reactions tbh.
Oh well, this shouldn't take too long anyway(watch it take a month just to screw with me) so let's get onto it!
After everyone recovered from that Mime universe we sat back down and continued on where we left off. Specifically with the golden trio of the night sitting in a hospital room. They were covered in bandaged, some more than others.
"That must have hurt a whole lot huh." Satou said to himself not really expecting a reply.
"It was some of the worst pain I ever felt. Physically anyway." Iida answered honestly. Getting a sword to the arm along with a few other significant injuries was nothing to scoff at, it seriously hurt especially once all the adrenaline wore off.
"It was a little rough but I was fine." Todoroki answered, earning him some questioning looks. "Pain tolerance training." He explained, besides the most he got were some knives in his arms. They hurt like hell sure but they weren't too dangerous.
"Meh." Izuku was used to pain by this point, besides the worst he got that day was a particularly deep cut on his leg. Basically nothing. People didn't even question him on why that was. Some even shivered when they remembered the state of Izuku's fingers during the sports festival. Yikes.
"Did you sleep, Midoriya-san?" Todoroki asked his current roommate, checking to see if they were on the same page.
"No, not really." Izuku replied simply, nobody could really blame them for that, it was a rather crazy night.
"I figured. Me neither." Todoroki said.
"No kidding. Who could sleep after that?! That creepy aura around Stain alone would probably keep me up for weeks!" Toru shivered, remembering the terrifying killing intent that came off the man..
"Looking back at that fight now, we did something pretty amazing. It seems like he could've killed me if he really wanted to." Izuku said, thinking back on the fight.
"Yeah, it seems as though he let us both live on purpose. But I'm impressed by you, Iida-san. He was really trying to murder you, but you stood tall." Todoroki complimented.
"So the youngins are awake. I could yell at you for hours! But before that, you have a visitor." Gran Torino said as he and a dog-man in a suit walked in.
"This is Hosu chief of police: Kenji Tsuragamae." Gran Torino said. The kids stood up in respect.
"No no, stay seated, woof." Tsuragamae requested.
'Woof?!' Izuku thought.
'Quirk based verbal tics are weird.' Most thought in unison. Now the only question that remained was...What would a fox mutant say?
"You're the U.A. students who brought down the Hero Killer. He has burns and several broken bones. He's currently under strict guard getting medical treatment. Here's a lesson you should have already learned. When quirks became the norm, the police hoped to maintain the status quo, so they decided not to use quirks as weapons." Tsuragamae said.
"A very stupid decision when you think about it.." I said grabbing everyone's attention. With the looks the adults gave me I decided to elaborate. "Limiting your people, especially emergency services like policeman does nothing but help the criminals. Why should society's defenders limit their options while giving criminals free reign to outgun them?"
Sure if they had ridiculously powerful quirks like a certain firecracker then caution was needed, but to just ban quirks altogether? Completely illogical, at that point your handing villains the victory on a silver platter.
"That's when heroes came along. They could do what we couldn't, if they were licensed, of course. We couldn't condone the use of deadly quirks. That's why it's against the law for uncertified people to use their quirks to cause injury. Whether you were up against the Hero Killer or not, none of you had the authority to harm the villain. So, the 3 of you, Manual, Gran Torino, and Endeavor, are sure to receive harsh punishments for this gross abuse of your powers." Tsuragamae said.
Absolutely nobody looked comfortable at that, even the adults were just agreeing without really putting effort in it. Hell All Might wasn't even looking anyone in the eye, obviously uncomfortable with how that law was phrased.
"So in short. If you aren't a licensed pro you should let the villain murder you. Utterly ridiculous. Don't you guys have Good Samaritan laws? Citizen's arrest laws? Or do the villains control parts of the government? Because that's the only group that truly benefits from that law." A few eyes widened at that, it seems I wasn't the only one who thought it was likely(1)
"And didn't Gran Torino literally say "we're going out to fight some villains"? The only difference is the level of the villain they fought, so Deku-kun did have permission to use his quirk, unless his later order to stay on the train superseded it?." Melissa backed me up along with asking a good question. If Gran Torino really wanted to he could have legally helped Izuku by claiming that he had permission to defend himself and others during the crisis.
"Now wait a minute! If Iida-san had not stepped in, Native would've been murdered! And if not for Midoriya-san, both of them would be dead! No one else even realized the Hero Killer was in Hosu. Are you saying we should have just stood by and watch people die?!" Todoroki said, his voice rising.
"The law is meant to protect people is it not? So then shouldn't laws that actively harm people be ignored should the situation call for it? Laws are written on paper after all, not stone." Well they were mostly digital nowadays but the point stood.
"Fair point." All Might agreed, he did his own fair share of rule bending, especially in his youth. Then again America was far more flexible with it's laws, and it's law enforcement for that matter. Tsukauchi would love it over there.
"So it's ok to break the law as long as it goes your way?" Tsuragamae asked.
"Isn't it a hero's job to save people?!" Todoroki yelled, quickly getting angry with the dog-man.
"This is why you're not a full fledged pro yet. It's obvious that U.A. and Endeavor haven't been teaching you near enough. What a shame." Tsuragamae said, at this point it was obvious he was using the worst possible words on purpose.
"Ok, that was way out of line! It's because of their training that they were able to beat Stain! He had no right to say that about our school and Endeavor!" Kirishima yelled, defending his friends, though complimenting Endeavor left a bad taste in his mouth.
"He's a scumbag, but he's still an efficient teacher." Todoroki agreed begrudgingly. He wouldn't say good teacher. The phantom pains in his stomach wouldn't let him. The bastard was a sadist as far as physical conditioning went.
"You damn mutt!" Todoroki angrily walked towards him.
"I can't tell if that was a racist insult or a cartoonishly campy one." I said, looks like neither could anyone else. Where did the line lay? Would calling Mina pinky be racist? Apparently not since it's her hero name. And Froppy is just two letters away from Froggy so that one's out too...Questions for later.
"Stop there kid. Listen to the end of this first." Gran Torino stopped him.
"What I've said is the official stance of the police department. But any punishment would only be necessary if this went public. You'd probably be applauded by citizens everywhere, but there's no way you could escape from being reprimanded. On the other hand, we could say Endeavor saved the day. Stain's burns would support that story and we could pretend you weren't involved, woof." Tsuragamae offered, hoping that the promising young heroes took it.
"But that must've been hard, kero. Especially for Todoroki-san, he had to give the credit for something that important to a person he hated." Tsuyu said sadly, patting Todoroki on the shoulder, who just stood there awkwardly.
"It's fine, really. Though I would have loved to give credit to Gran Torino too, I mostly just hated the fact that the story made Endeavor out to be the sole hero in the story." Todoroki clarified, especially since he doubted that his father would have won a 1v1 fight against the villain. Not if he was caught by surprise like they were.
"But you'd receive no acclaim at all. The choice is yours. Personally, I know where I stand. I don't want to damage any promising young careers because of a mistake like this." Tsuragamae gave them a thumbs up.
"Mistake? Did he mean a mistake on the student's part or in the law itself?" David voiced the same question echoing through the minds of the more attentive viewers.
"Probably both, it wouldn't be the first time that law enforcement sees the inherent flaws in a law, or a situation and bend the rules to a certain degree. If anything the mistake that he thought the student's made was not thinking on how to cover up the legal issues beforehand!" All Might exclaimed, explaining himself after he got some strange looks.
"like young Melissa brought up, if sensei had thought to mention that little fact then young Midoriya might have gotten out of that scott free." All Might commented, losing himself a bit in nostalgia and relief that the police weren't a bunch of pencil pushing robots, and at least the chief had some basic empathy.
"Either way, the 3 of us will have to take responsibility for being negligent as supervisors." Manual lowered his head.
"Well, Iida-san has a speed quirk. He couldn't have really stopped him. Besides the situation would make it difficult for anyone to think clearly, some leniency would be called for." Nezu defended the young, if mediocre hero. Not that it was an insult, it was effectively his niche to be the most 'normal' guy around.
"I'm sorry. I should've listened." Iida bowed his head, knowing that he was most as fault for going off on his own.
"That's right. You caused us a lot of trouble. Don't ever do that again." Manual said scolded, though there wall little heat in it.
"I apologize as well." Izuku apologized, angry with himself for not thinking faster, or coming up with a better plan ahead of time.
"Me too. We'll leave it to you." Todoroki agreed simply, not happy with the result but accepting things as they were.
"Nobody's perfect Izuku-kun, remember that. Especially teenagers, use this experience to learn and improve as a hero." That fight would have ended very differently if Izuku had landed his first smash at a higher percentage. He might have broken his hand, or maybe just sprained his wrist but it would have also meant a quick victory for him. Risky but worth it when facing such a dangerous opponent while seemingly alone.
"I know it's unfair. But at least allow me, as the chief of police to thank you." Tsuragamae bowed his head.
"You know, you could've started with that." Todoroki said, a little embarrassed at his earlier outburst.
"*Snort, he probably did it on purpose just to mess with them. It's hard to tell with the dog head but he probably had a grin hidden under all that fur." Present Mic smirked, recognizing a prank when he saw one.
'None of us knew we would be fighting in that back alley. But nobody would know what happened that night.' Izuku narrated.
"Until now, and I gotta say you definitely deserve the credit. Just know that we all recognize your accomplishment for what it is!" All Might praised his three students, even ruffling Izuku's hair a bit, further cementing his role as Dad Might.
The scene changes to a news reporter talking about the incident.
"Who arrested him? Endeavor? Just what I'd expect from the number 2 hero." A civilian exclaimed.
Many an eye rolled that day.
The screen showed a man with black spiky hair looking at the big TV before it showed a blonde girl with a knife.
"?" The unasked question was left in the air as the others stared at me.
"Future villains, can't say much without spoiling things which I'm not allowed to do unless it shows up in a multiverse viewing or something. I can't answer general questions but specific questions about certain people are fair game." I explained my limitations, the higher ups didn't want me to change the future too much.
The screen shifted to Shigaraki and Kurogiri in their bar.
"He's all they talk about. What about my Nomus? We didn't even make the front page!" Shigaraki whined, fuming over the attention Stain was getting.
The screen showed Bakugo and Best Jeanist. As Jeanist was giving his sidekicks a pep talk, Bakugo was wearing jeans without his gauntlets and he looked pissed.
Nobody was brave enough to laugh at him with the look Bakugo had on his face. That or they just didn't want to go for the low hanging fruit.
'I'm so ready to get out of this place.' Bakugo thought. Next was Fourth Kind's agency.
"Huh, Midoriya-san wrote me back. Turns out him sending me his location was an S.O.S. Man I'm glad I passed it on when he sent it." Kirishima picked up his phone.
"Hey, Put that down before Fourth Kind sees! We're gonna be late." Tetsutetsu closed his locker.
The screen shifted to Uwabami's commercial with Momo and Kendo. You could easily tell that neither of the young heroines wanted to be there.
Mineta was having a minor freak out over the effects of the hair spray while the two former interns were silently waiting for this part to be over.
"Please make this stop." Momo practically begged, blush on her face from having the commercial be seen by her classmates.
"Heroes.. We're supposed to be heroes." Momo said in a gloomy face.
"So, how about we go patrol?" Uwabami asked as she walked out, making the girls excited.
"I have a feeling they're getting their hopes up just for them to come crashing down." Kaminari predicts the future. The girls could do nothing but groan once again, it was too true.
The screen changed to Ochako talking to Izuku over the phone. "Oh that was so scary! I got really nervous when all you sent was your location!" Ochako said, happy but a little anxious that her friends were ok after what happened.
"Uravity, we're about to start." Gunhead called out to her.
"Oh, right. I'll see you back at school. I hope I didn't bother you much, bye." Ochako whispered before hanging up, this only fueled Gunhead's teasing further.
"A love interest?" Gunhead asked with a happy voice.
"Wow, one conversation and he nails it on the head. You realy are that obvious." Jiro teased, Ochako didn't even try to deny it at this point.
"It's not like that!" Ochako exclaimed with a deep blushed. Nobody believed her, not even herself.
'I can't believe I just talked to a girl on the phone!' Izuku thought as his hands shook with a blush on his face.
As the Izuku on the screen unknowingly committed social seppuku the rest of the watchers couldn't help but giggle to themselves at the wholesomeness, it would have been a little sad if it wasn't so hilarious how inexperienced Izuku was with girls. Meanwhile said mighty green lad was slowly dying of heatstroke caused by his rapidly overheating face.
Izuku went back to the recovery room with Todoroki and Iida. He still had a bit of a goofy look on his face but it died quickly as Todoroki began to speak. "Iida just got his test results back." Todoroki said, anybody who was paying attention could tell he wasn't happy about them.
"Both my arms were pretty torn up, but the damage to my left arm was especially severe. The damage was to my brachial plexus. Which means it could be fixed with a nerve transplant surgery." Iida explained, clearly in deep thought over what happened.
"I hate him so much, but I can't deny that Stain spoke the truth. So until I'm able to call myself a real hero, I'll use my left arm as a reminder." Iida swore to himself while staring at his cast.
'I use my hand as a reminder too.' Izuku thought before bringing his arm to Iida, telling him that he felt the same way. "Let's get stronger, together." Todoroki noticed this when realization hit him like a truck.
"Scar buddies?" Mina blurted out, Izuku, Iida and Todoroki caught that and looked at each other before going for a three way fist bump. "Yes! Scar buddies unite!" Mina hyped them up to the exasperation of some and the continued cheers of most.
"Sorry, whenever I'm involved, someone's hand gets all messed up. Is something wrong with me? Am I cursed?" Todoroki asked, sweating bullets while staring at his hand. Izuku and Iida gasped and then laughed.
"Looks like even Todoroki-kun can make a joke" Izuku laughed.
"This isn't a joke. I'm like the Hand Crusher or something." Todoroki said kept going only increasing the laughter further.
The watchers were quick to follow up but I was less enthusiastic. "Oi, it's a legitimate concern! Curses like that exist all over the place! There was even this one organization where if their uniform was destroyed it meant certain death!" That stopped their laughs instantly, whether it was from genuine concern or from the sheer stupidity of what I said was left unknown.
The next scene was at U.A as All Might got a phone call from Gran Torino.
"A phone call is here! A phone call is here! A phone call is here!" All Might's ringtone went off in the teacher's lounge.
'He can't possibly be serious with that ringtone.' Aizawa thought incredulously.
The laughs started up again, ending with All Might in his most recent favorite pose. Izuku though remained silent, poker face on not wanting others to realize that he had the same ringtone.
"You could've warned me about Izuku Midoriya. Thanks to him, I'm getting a pay cut and my teaching license has been suspended for 6 months!" Gran Torino said
"Hold on, didn't it say earlier that heroes were paid on a case by case basic? Does this mean that the government is cutting his pay on every single heroic act from here on out, regardless of the situation? That 'villain's control the government' theory seems more and more likely." I point out the bullshit as it comes up, though the teaching license suspension at least seemed sensible.
All Might took out a small notebook that he got from...Somewhere. 'Note to self have Tsukauchi look into this...And plan to go international just in case.' Little did he know that Nezu had similar thoughts on his mind, albeit with much more elaborate plans already being made. Just in case.
Meanwhile Todoroki was taking out his own notebook. The title? "Love Child Theory: Evidence/Hisashi Midoriya = Elaborate ruse?... His name did seem rather suspicious. 'It has been a while since I last saw you' Coincidence? Highly probable, but still!
"His tendency to jump into situations without thinking is just like yours, Toshinori." Gran Torino said, though there wasn't much heat in his words since the situation did call for it.
"I humbly apologize sir. I'm sorry my protege caused you so much trouble." All Might said, fear overwriting any other response before he walked into the break room.
"I don't care about my teaching license. You're the only reason I got it so I could keep the promise I made to Shimura." Gran Torino said, not caring about that little detail.
"It's because of your teachings that I'm the number one hero today." All Might said, though this earned him a bit more heckling about how he never mentioned Gran Torino to his successor until his internship.
"I called to talk about the Hero Killer. I met him briefly but he shook me to my core. I'm not praising him, but he's got the same determination as you. You both have charisma." Gran Torino said, fearing what may come of his ideals coming out.
"The most dangerous villains are those that have understandable goals. They are much easier to sympathise with, and even the most idealistic hero could fall to their honeyed words under the wrong circumstances." Aizawa commented, remembering the gauntlet wearing Izuku. That one still sent shivers down his spine, mostly because he agreed with over half of what he said.
"I'm concerned because his ideology may inspire copycat villains. They may try to join the League of Villains. If that evil gathers under one banner, it could swell to unstoppable proportions. If the villain in charge knew this, then he is a brilliant strategist." Gran Torino said, hinting at who he thinks is behind all this.
"When Tsukauchi said that Nomu had multiple quirks, I got a really bad feeling." All Might said confirming his sensei's suspicions.
"You're afraid that the one who killed Nana Shimura, your master, my friend, is back. The one who opened that hole in your stomach. You're afraid that the villain named All For One is on the rise again." Gran Torino said.
"But to have survived such injuries." All Might said, hardly believing it. The man lost his whole face! Who could survive something like that? All for One apparently.
"Toshinori, that child admired you so much, he deserves to know the truth." Gran Torino finished as the screen shifted to 2 dealers inside an empty room.
"Wow, talk about the dictionary definition of shady. They've got the eyepatch, the revolver, and even the diabolical mustache cliche!" Jiro broke down the admittedly generic scene, getting a good few chuckles for he troubles.
"I'm telling you, I can't sell a single damn thing. I miss the days before All Might. Criminals were wild and impulsive. Everyone thought they could take over the world." The guy with an eyepatch reminisce over the 'good ol days' while contemplating retirement.
"Hold on now." Giran tried to dissuade his fellow criminal before he could think on it further. "This is between you and me but I got the opportunity of a lifetime for you. Have you seen this yet? It's a video of the Hero Killer. He's hot right now." The guy with glasses held up his phone.
"The Hero Killer. Real name: Chizome Akaguro. As a child, he was inspired by All Might's debut. He enrolled in a private hero high school, but was dismayed by what he viewed as the educational system's fundamentally corrupt understanding of what it meant to be a hero." The news reporter went on, the screen shifting to show Stain's silhouette as he ranted over his views, nobody bothering to give him the time of day.
"Throughout his teenage years, Chizome advocated for the return to the old days of heroes. But he discovered that words had no power. For the next 10 years, he trained in killing techniques for his self-appointed duty. During this time his parents passed away in a tragic accident."
"Ouch, no wonder he turned out the way he did. The guy had some bad luck, and it's not like he didn't make some good points." Satou the general opinion of the room. Most couldn't help but feel pity for the guy, if only he'd gotten help earlier on it might have ended differently.
He believed heroes shouldn't seek compensation and should epitomize the idea of self-sacrifice. He believed that modern day pros were frauds. Through his violent purges, he hoped that society would eventually side with him." The video narrator concluded as the video ended.
"Tsk, just great. I can assume that this media fiasco greated a good deal of the villains we'll face in the future?" Aizawa asked me. Thankfully it was vague enough that I could give an answer without spoiling much.
"Actually no." I said surprising everyone. "Of all the villains created in the following weeks, only one of them was an explicit follower of Stain's ideology. The rest were already villains at that point, most of which were unrepentant in their ways." It was a bit more complicated than that but I couldn't allow them to keep blaming the appearance of so many villains on a single person.
"Can't you feel it? It's infectious. His ideology will inspire others. The heroes have no idea what's awakening. Many on the run felons will seek out the organization that the Hero Killer was connected to. The League of Villains." The guy with glasses said as the screen showed Toga, Dabi, Mustard, Spinner, and some big buff villain.
"So. I think that's enough for right now. Next up is the final exams for you guys, along with some obligatory comedy so it shouldn't take too long. There's also the big reveal of All for One's backstory but considering the fact that we already know who the guy is we can skim over that bit. Sound good?"
While they were a bit put out by the fact that I would be skimming over AFO's story they took it rather well. No need to worry though, I was only going to skip out on the obvious stuff, all the relevant details would remain. And who knows, maybe I'll give them a little something extra for their patience kukuku.
And there we have it lads, this one didn't take me as long to write thankfully, even with the extra work I have this week I was able to bust this one out in a relatively short amount of time. This means that the next chapter of The Gamer should be coming out next.
Let's see what Deku's been up to ever since he started going down the rabbit hole known as the Nasuverse. I don't envy the lad since he's going to have to compress quite a bit of info in a considerably shorter amount of time than I had.