Disclaimer: I do not own Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
My Hero Academia: Entreri Gaiden
Chapter twenty-six: Bizarre actions
Police cars and an ambulance were parked outside of the warehouse where Bakugo, otherwise known as the pro hero Dynamight, had confronted Akio Takemoto, the villain Big Beef, who had been the one to cripple him into retirement a few years ago. Bakugo, as he stood with his three interns, were talking to the greenhorn female cop that occasionally accompanies Commissioner Naomasa on police work when Bakugo's step-brother Izuku came running over.
"Kacchan, are you alright?" Izuku asked, "I came here as soon as I had heard that you got out of a confrontation with Big Beef."
Bakugo nodded in the affirmative. "...Yeah, I came out of it a hell of a lot less injured than I did the last time I confronted that sorry son of a bitch," Bakugo replied. The fresh out of retirement pro hero let out a resigned sigh. "...I'm going to be honest. The girls and I are lucky to even be here. Things could have gone way worse, all things considered."
Izuku perked up at that a bit. "...What do you mean by that, Kacchan?"
The greenhorn cop turned to face the number one hero. "Umm, Deku, sir," the greenhorn cop began in a nervous, worried tone, "Not only was Big Beef there, Entreri was there as well."
"He's long gone by now before you ask, Mr. Midoriya," Hikari said as she looked up to the number one hero, "He turned tail and ran, after killing the villain but before the police and pro hero back-up that Inko's dad called for showed up."
"Entreri..." Izuku said, clearly sounding surprised, "...He killed Big Beef?"
Bakugo nodded in confirmation. "That bastard was threatening to kill Inko and the other girls before Entreri showed up out of nowhere and stabbed his knife into Big Beef's throat before pushing the blade out."
Izuku, a contemplative look on his face, held a hand over his chin. "...Those killed by Fine Wine, either by his men or Fine Wine himself, are always adults. He had never killed anyone under eighteen years of age." Looking up at Bakugo, Izuku said, "You think that Fine Wine has some sort of 'no killing minors' rule that he strictly and harshly enforces, and Big Beef was about to break said rule?"
"If that's the case Uncle Deku," Inko began, "Why did some of Fine Wine's men kill Rem, most of the other girls in 1-A, and many other UA students during the siege on UA?"
"Oh, that's right," Izuku replied, smacking himself in the forehead, "I can't believe that I forgot about that."
"Well whatever reason that Entreri had for killing Big Beef," Bakugo said, pounding a fist into his hand, "We'll figure it out when we track that bastard down, capture him, and make him talk." The number one hero nodded grimly in agreement before going about helping the others that were at the warehouse with covering things.
Over at Mineta's primary warehouse hideout, Mineta was sitting in his office, watching the TV. It was playing a parody news show on a channel that specialized in comedic programming. As the criminal gang lord watched the TV, there was a knock at his door. "Umm, sir," the voice from outside began, "Entreri is here to see you. He's got a grim look to his eyes." Curious, Mineta had Fuyuki come in after turning the volume on the TV down.
The disguised, runaway teen entered the office and sat down in a chair in front of the desk. "Is there any problem, Entreri?" Mineta asked, prompting his silent elite to write on his dry erase board. After some writing, Fuyuki turned the board around to show Mineta what he had written.
Bad news, sir. I was forced to kill Akio.
"Wait a minute," Mineta began, clear shock in his tone, "You were forced to kill him?! What the hell did he do or was about to do?!" Fuyuki nodded once before he took out a folded up sheet of paper and tried handing it to his boss. Curious, Mineta took the paper and unfolded it. It ended up being a letter that his elite thug had written ahead of time, explaining everything.
When I was out looking for Dynamight like you said, I came across him while Akio was threatening three interns who was with Dynamight. One of said interns was your daughter Ichigo, although I have no clue what she was doing there. The moment that I came upon what he was doing, Akio was vocally declaring his full intent to kill all of Dynamight's interns, and he was also intending to start with Ichigo. There was nothing else that I could have done to prevent Akio from killing your daughter. Not without giving the pro heroes and the police a big hint as to who you really are.
"...Ichigo was with Dynamight... " Mineta said. As he considered what was going on, a female thug came into the office.
"Umm, sir, you may wanna see the news," the female thug said, "Entreri apparently just-"
Waving the female thug off, Mineta said, "Yeah, yeah, I know he killed Akio. He just told me about it himself just now." Mineta turned to face the TV in his office and turned it on, and was surprised to see a live news report that was going on about what had happened between the pro hero Dynamight and Big Beef.
"Breaking news," the live news reporter said as she was on the scene, "An earlier confrontation between the pro hero Dynamight, who had just recently come out of retirement after surgery restored his ability to do hero work again, and the villain Big Beef, who had put Dynamight into retirement in the first place, ended when the villain was killed by the criminal Entreri, who like Big Beef works for the still at large criminal gang lord Fine Wine."
The news then cut to Bakugo, with his daughter Inko plus the girls Hikari and Ichigo standing behind him. "Yeah, I swear that's what happened. Big Beef had the girls and I trapped, and after he threw me against a wall, he made his way towards the girls while declaring he was going to kill them. Then Entreri dropped in out of nowhere and takes Big Beef's throat out, before leaving right before backup had shown up."
The news went on to say that Entreri is still at large, and that the reward being offered for info that leads to his capture and arrest had increased, but that's about it. Mineta let out a troubled sigh as he turned the TV off. Gesturing to the female thug, Mineta said, "Please leave. I need to speak with Entreri alone." The female thug nodded in obedience before she bowed and took her leave, allowing Mineta to speak with the disguised teen.
Mineta considered Fuyuki silently for a few moments. "...The situation being what it was, I can't blame you for what you did. Hell, if you didn't show up in time and Akio really did end up killing my precious little princess, then I would call for Akio's death myself as soon as I could. I'll have to look into the matter more thoroughly, but chances are that Akio heard that Dynamight was close by and decided that he wanted to do things on his own without checking in first. You can rest until I get more clarification."
Fuyuki nodded in obedience before he took his leave, heading to his room at the warehouse hideout and closing the door behind him. He laid on the bed in his room and looked up at the ceiling, a contemplative look in the glare in his eyes. The disguised, runaway teen was very mad at what had happened during the earlier confrontation between his Uncle Katsuki and Akio.
He could have gotten some measure of revenge against the family that had betrayed him, that had made him out to be an outcast. If things had gone as Fuyuki had intended, then he could have killed his Uncle Katsuki at an absolute minimum. Additionally, since his cousin Inko was there as well, Fuyuki could have killed her as well, not only killing one of the girls in his former class who had singled him out, but also adding to the suffering that his Aunt Pony would suffer as a result.
However, two things messed this up for Fuyuki; one, Akio was there by the time Fuyuki showed up, and two, for some odd reason the boss's daughter was there as well. There was simply no getting around any possible physical harm to Ichigo, which undoubtedly would piss Mineta off to no end, not without either killing Akio or doing something that would potentially leak Mineta's identity as Fine Wine.
He had been denied a shot at getting some measure of revenge against his family. Fuyuki was pissed off to no end because of that. He wanted to know exactly what Akio was up to, what the daughter of Fine Wine was doing there. Fuyuki wanted answers to why he had been denied the chance to get some revenge against his family.
Later, over at Faerun High, Bakugo had his three interns with him as they talked to the Faerun High principal, as well as Sekijiro and Hizashi who represented UA. As it turned out, Hizashi did not think that Ichigo would be able to test into the UA hero course. In fact, he was surprised to learn that Ichigo wasn't even a UA student, even though he saw her walk around while wearing a UA hero student badge.
Right now, the meeting was discussing how this all even happened. "...Alright, I admit it," Ichigo said bitterly, "I was making out with a boy from UA that's in the hero course, I think he said he's a second year student, when I saw his badge. I asked him if I could wear it and he said okay, so I put it on. I left the classroom we were making out in to go use the restroom, and I was coming back from that when I came across Hizashi-sensei here."
"Young lady, why didn't you correct Mr. Yamada when he assumed that you were a UA student because he saw you were wearing one of those badges?" Principal Mithral asked.
Looking down at her lap, Ichigo said, "I...I wanted to know what it was like to be a hero. To try and become what my father tried to be before that dream was ripped from him. I figured that it would make things up to him if I was able to accomplish what he wasn't allowed to accomplish himself."
"Young lady," Sekijiro began sternly, getting Ichigo to turn to face him, "Your father had thrown away his future of his own volition. He has no-one to blame for him being expelled from UA but himself." Sekijiro was certain that Minoru Mineta's expulsion from UA in the past was wholly justified, as well before it happened Mineta had regularly acted very much in a way that made it clear that he was a lewd and dirty pervert.
"We had also done an investigation into your father's case back when it occurred," Hizashi added in a regretful tone that showed he held some measure of sympathy for Ichigo, "We got what we needed to do what we did."
Ichigo looked bitter and pissed that the people of UA were cutting her no slack, were cutting her father no slack. The strawberry girl knew that her dad, even with him having confessed to have been a bit dirty in his youth, couldn't have done what he had been accused of that got him kicked out of the top hero academy in the country. She believed that her father was innocent, as per what he had always told her when the story came up.
But they, those who are the powers that be, decided that Minoru Mineta was not worthy of being allowed the dream to be a pro hero. They had decided his fate, and now they were having a hand in deciding her fate. "...At an absolute minimum, Principal Mithral," Sekijiro began as he addressed the Faerun High principal, a look of consideration on his face, "Miss Mineta here has got to return the UA hero student badge that she...had borrowed for longer than she intended."
Bakugo understood where his wife's former homeroom teacher was coming from; given how sensitive the situation was right now, as well as considering the fact that he had previously botched a few sensitive situations within recent events, Sekijiro was probably worried about doing way too much damage. The blood hero was trying to avoid straight up slapping Ichigo with a label that called her a thief, he was picking his words carefully.
Luckily, Principal Mithral agreed with Sekijiro, and only further required Ichigo to, as punishment, write a letter of apology to the UA staff for all that she had pulled. Granted, Hizashi did get the ball rolling without knowing that Ichigo wasn't really a UA student, and he was indeed made to apologize for his role in all of this, but Ichigo did allow the ball to continue rolling as she did not try to stop Hizashi from acting on his assumptions.
...
After the girls had been dismissed, the adults were talking amongst themselves. Sekijiro let out a tired breath. "...Do you guys think that I had acted properly?" the principal of UA asked, "That I had shown sufficient restraint and fair judgment all things considered?"
"You're trying to make up for you hasty actions in expelling my nephew from UA," Bakugo said dryly as he turned to face Sekijiro, "Aren't you, Sekijiro-sensei?"
Sekijiro nodded in confirmation. He let out another tired breath before saying, "I'm trying to break myself of the 'act now, think later' mindset that I had allowed to run a lot of my decision making when it came to making big moves."
"If Sho were here to help out instead of resting at Hitoshi's place while recovering from his ordeal at the hands of Fine Wine's men," Hizashi said, "He'd probably make a quip about how I don't think period."
Bakugo nodded in agreement. "I'm probably going to have to apologize to Grape Head about how I had taken his kid into a dangerous situation, without her being an actual UA hero course student who was being trained to the effectively handle dangerous situations like that." The pro hero Dynamight gently shook his head. "...Seriously. The girls and I are lucky to have all gotten out of that mess alive. With both of those bastards Big Beef and Entreri being there, it was very much possible that all three of the girls, as well as myself, could have been killed."
"There's just one thing, though," Sekijiro said, "Why did Entreri kill Big Beef? With the siege on UA serving as a precedent, it's clear that Fine Wine ultimately has no issue with killing minors, whether he or someone acting under his orders does it, if things come down to it. There has got to be some reason to explain why Entreri did what he did."
Shrugging, Hizashi replied, "It's a damn shame that Nezu was eighty-sixed by Fine Wine. I say that we really could have used that awesome brain of his to help us figure this puzzle out." The others all nodded in agreement with the loud pro hero, and with nothing else to keep all of them there, the men decided to call it a day.
The following day over at the primary warehouse hideout, Mineta had just gotten back from talking to his daughter, getting details from her while, as always, keeping hidden from her and her mother that he was a criminal gang lord. Furthermore, Mineta also got in contact with the thugs who were with Akio before he confronted Dynamight.
Mineta got it that Akio did indeed act of his own volition when he decided that going after the pro hero he crippled the first time would be fun. Furthermore, Mineta got it from Ichigo that she was indeed being targeted first out of all of the girls that were with Dynamight. And all because she went around with some special badge that UA students wore, as well as not bothering to correct one of Mineta's old teachers on the matter when he assumed that Ichigo was a student of UA high school.
In his daughter's defense, she had no idea that she could have ended up having a run-in with Entreri, not to mention how Akio acted of his own accord and got there before Entreri could've gotten there and took care of things himself, as per Mineta's orders. Entreri would know better than to harm Ichigo, and he could easily come up with an excuse to spare Ichigo without letting her know the actual truth of the matter.
"Given how everything that was in play had played out," Mineta thought, "I can't blame anyone for what had happened." Mineta also got it from Ichigo why she had gone around pretending to be a student from the school that had kicked him out, had seized the chance to become a hero. He was actually a bit touched by his daughter's reasoning. She wanted to try to do what he was not allowed to do, because she wanted to honor him.
Mineta allowed himself a dry, mildly ironic chuckle. "...Ichigo really is the best daughter that a man could ask for, huh?"
Later, Bakugo was relaxing in his office at his agency, just having finished getting all of his old personal decorations set back up. In Bakugo's absence, his office was used by Mina who, out of all of Bakugo's old 'squad' members that worked at his agency, is the highest ranked overall, with only Kirishima who has his own agency being ranked higher. But now that Bakugo's right back where he belongs, he had to set up his personal knickknacks to truly make his office his.
The way Mina had it decorated while she was the captain...just didn't sit right with Bakugo.
As the explosive hero sat at his desk, there was a knock at his office door, which was followed by Bakugo hearing his daughter Inko call out, "Hey dad, are you in? Mom's here and she wants to talk to-" Inko's call was cut off when Pony opened the door and walked on in.
"...I'm not in trouble, am I?" Bakugo asked.
Pony let out a resigned sigh as she gently shook her head in the negative. "...I'm just a bit upset about how Inko was in a situation where she encountered both Big Beef and Entreri. I know that you had no way to predict encountering them Katsuki, but that still doesn't change the fact that our daughter could have been killed!"
"The other two girls could also have been killed," Bakugo pointed out dryly, "I could have been killed. It's one of the risks of the job, Pony." Bakugo let out a troubled sigh before he spoke up again. "...But I agree with you. We're lucky that Entreri decided to bail right after he had killed Big Beef. I still want to know why Entreri did that, though, kill one of his fellows."
Inko shuddered as she recalled what she, the other girls and her dad had witnessed while they were dealing with two of Fine Wine's elite thugs. "...That was the first time that I had ever seen Entreri up close and personal like that. There's something about him that just strikes me as...as unsettling." Inko looked to her parents. "...I also got the feeling that he was pissed that he had to bail before anyone showed up to help me, dad, and the girls."
"He's a murderous criminal, sweetie," Pony explained, "He has committed all manner of crimes while under Fine Wine's employ thus far."
Bakugo nodded in agreement. "Yes, Inko. As a matter of fact, he's killed a lot of pro heroes, many of which were schoolmates your mom and I had back in our UA days."
Inko nodded in confirmation. "...Yes, dad, I know. Entreri has even killed both Gevaudan and Jack Mantis, who were in the top ten at the time." The daughter of Dynamight and Rocketti gave off a frightened shudder, one that she wasn't able to help. "...That bastard is scary as all get out if you ask me."
"What I would like to know," Pony began, "Is what could have driven someone like Entreri into the life of being a criminal thug working for Fine Wine in the first place. I mean, what exactly could of happened to compel him to go down the path that he went down on?"
"That stuff will be covered by a psychologist if and when the pro heroes and police get a hold of his sorry ass," Bakugo replied, "Although I think grabbing Entreri's boss has got to be of far more importance than getting just Entreri." The explosive hero then got up from his desk, walked to stand before his wife and their daughter. This was something else that Bakugo loved about how the surgery that he had gone through had restored him.
To his family, Bakugo said, "Pony, Inko, there is ultimately nothing to worry about. Both the pro heroes and police will capture Fine Wine and Entreri. The whole gang will be taken down. We are going to be seeing this through."
Pony couldn't help but smile as she gently threw her arms around her husband. "...Yeah, I mean you're back to work, and knowing you I bet that Fine Wine, Entreri, and the entire criminal gang is all frightened of you."
"Heh, it's kind of funny imagining Fine Wine laying in bed, and you come crawling out from under the bed like a boogeyman to frighten the sorry turd," Inko remarked, drawing an amused bark of laughter from her father. The ladies of the Bakugo family felt confident that Fine Wine, as well as all who are in his employ, would soon be brought to justice. After all, Dynamight was back to active duty now, and he's too full of piss and vinegar to back down from confronting thugs.
Fine Wine's days were numbered. Pony and Inko were both confident of that.
Fuyuki was just a tiny little bit absolutely livid right now. After all, because of a twist of fate, he had been denied a chance at getting revenge against the family that had sided against him for something he had no idea how it had even happened. He could have tried to kill his uncle and cousin, but that would risk physical harm to Fine Wine's daughter who was present, as there had been no way to know if she would try anything against him or not if the subject was pushed.
Harming the boss's daughter was a very big no-no.
The disguised, runaway teen would just have to hope that Ichigo wouldn't be present next time. That way, he'd be able to get a measure of revenge. Then his family would begin to know some of the hurt that he had been made to feel because of them. With that thought in mind, Fuyuki, who was in his room at the main warehouse hideout, turned over as he laid on his bed and went right to sleep.
END, CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Author's notes;
This chapter shows some fallout from Fuyuki killing Akio in the previous chapter, as well as leave the pro heroes and police wondering why exactly Entreri would want to murder one of his own allies. Anyway, the next few chapters will lead up to something that's a long time coming.
Peace out.