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-nine: From the horse's mouth
Izuku was visiting Bakugo over at his agency, both men discussing a new potential lead that would help with the Fine Wine case. As the two of them talked, one of the younger sidekicks that was employed at Bakugo's agency came bounding in, a panicked look on his face. "There's been a kidnapping, Dynamight!" the sidekick exclaimed, his eyes wide with alarm, "Evidence on it points to Fine Wine being the lynchpin behind it!"
Bakugo pounded a fist into his hand. "Damn it, Fine Wine took another one of the kids! Who the hell does he want us to-"
"Umm, actually, sir," the sidekick interrupted, looking nervous, "It wasn't a kid who was taken." The sidekick gulped nervously. "It...It was Rocketti and Uravity who were kidnapped."
"FINE WINE HAS MY WIFE?!" Izuku and Bakugo exclaimed in unison. The two men turned to face one another, both of them knowing what to do. Their respective wives had been taken by the criminal gang lord in charge of the largest active criminal gang in the country, being held hostage for one reason or another. As such, they had to 'rally the troops', as it were, because they had their wives to save from the clutches of Fine Wine.
Izuku was worried that his wife and his sister-in-law would also be under the watchful eye of Fine Wine's elite thug Entreri.
Later at a warehouse at an undisclosed location, thugs forcefully carried Ochaco and Pony inside, where they sat them down in chairs and tied them down. The two women both wore quirk suppressing collars, and they were rather outnumbered, so there wasn't much that either of them could do as the thugs sat them down in the chairs. Besides which, Ochaco and Pony were both concerned about something else that caught their eye.
The criminal Entreri, Fine Wine's elite thug, was there in the warehouse as well.
One of the thugs in the warehouse, a mixed heritage woman with light cocoa colored skin, gave the two hero women an amused look. "Well, well, well. I still can't believe that nabbing the wives of Deku and Dynamight was as easy as that."
Ochaco and Pony both glared angrily at the mixed heritage female thug. "So what is it that you plan to do with my sister-in-law and I, huh?" Ochaco asked bitterly, "Kill us in cold blood and leave our bodies for our extended family to find?"
"If the boss wanted the two of you dead right away, would we have bothered with making off with the two of you both alive?" the female thug asked. Ochaco and Pony both took pause at that notion. "...Yes, you see ladies, the boss has a total of a dozen men of his, spread out over four jails all over the country," the thug explained, "He's going to demand for all twelve of them to walk out as free men."
"...Just like how he had Komaru kidnapped to use as bait to force the release of Big Beef," Pony said grimly, knowing now what was going on.
The mixed heritage female thug shot Pony an amused grin. "Ding-ding, we have a winner." To the two pro hero women, the female thug said, "Here's the deal. Once we get the call telling us that the boss's demand has been sent in, the both of you will have an hour left guaranteed. If after the hour passes and not all of the men Fine Wine wants freed are out of jail, then my good man Entreri will be given the cue to introduce your throats to his hunting knife."
Ochaco and Pony both turned to look at Entreri, his crimson red eyes glaring daggers at them. The two pro hero women were admittedly nervous, scared by his overall appearance. Those red eyes, red hair, red hooded jacket, black scarf mask worn up. Entreri was bar none the scariest criminal that both Ochaco and Pony had ever run into, and was easily somewhere the top five list of the scariest persons they ever saw. It was safe to say that Entreri, just by standing there silently, had both Ochaco and Pony cowed.
What made this even more heartbreaking was that Entreri, unbeknownst to everyone save for himself, is Fuyuki Midoriya. Ochaco's son, Pony's nephew. The runaway teen that everyone in the entire extended family, plus many friends and even other unrelated pro heroes, were desperate to find and bring back home, so that they could begin apologizing to him and at least begin to try to make up for what all they had done to drive him away.
But chances are that Fuyuki, or as he now goes by Entreri, would not exactly be open to hearing any sort of apology. Not from two women who fully thought him guilty of an act he knew full well that he did not commit, women who refused to so much as give him a chance to speak in his defense. His own mother even slapped him hard across the face before sending him up to his room in a stern tone, threatening him with his father when the man got back home.
That night was the last time that he saw his mother, as well as his aunt, before today.
The disguised, runaway teen took up his dry erase board and marker and proceeded to write a message on the board. When he was done with writing, he turned it around so that the two pro hero women both saw what the assassin-style thug was trying to say to them. What Uravity and Rocketti saw written shocked the both of them with disgusted surprise.
Is Invisible Girl suffering? How about Vine?
"...Yeah, I would certainly say so, you bastard," Pony spat bitterly, glaring angrily at the person she had no idea was her nephew, "You killed their respective husbands, and one of your friends killed Toru's daughter by bashing her head in with a bludgeon."
"Izuku was able to confirm that it was Ryumaru who did it, Pony," Ochaco explained, "Some blood samples recovered from that kanabo match up with Rem's blood. The rest of the blood had come from Aoyama."
Pony's eyes narrowed a bit. She then turned back to look at Fine Wine's elite thug. "...Yeah, I would say that they're suffering." The disguised, runaway teen wiped his dry erase board, then wrote something else before turning it to show his captured mom and aunt what he had written to show what he wanted to say. What Ochaco and Pony saw written had sent shivers down their respective spines.
Good. They deserve to suffer. You deserve to suffer. ALL OF YOU deserve to suffer.
"You...you think all of us pro heroes deserve to suffer... " Ochaco said, her horrified tone barely above a whisper. The way Pony's eyes widened a bit out of surprise made it clear that she felt that her sister-in-law's guess was spot on. Fuyuki allowed his mom and aunt to think that, not wanting to bother correcting them on how he really only meant their entire extended family plus all of the women in the legendary year of UA's hero course.
...At least for the moment.
The assassin-style thug wiped his board as Ochaco spoke. "...What, does your boss not like how the heroes have been getting in his way constantly? Does he want everyone to just roll over and allow him to what he wants, where he wants, when he wants?"
"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up," the mixed heritage female thug said with an amused smirk, "But then again why would anyone want to get in Fine Wine's way? He's the biggest name in the country right now, so trying to oppose him is just plain stupid."
"It's a pro hero thing," Pony bitterly spat back, "You wouldn't get it. Entreri wouldn't get it. Fine Wine wouldn't get it."
Fuyuki narrowed his eyes at his aunt, wanting to tell her that she had no idea. But that could potentially hint to the pro heroes not only who he is, but also that Fine Wine is really their former classmate Mineta. It wouldn't do if the pro heroes got a lead that would allow them to finally take down the criminal empire that Mineta had spent a little bit over the past decade and a half trying to build up. That could potentially ruin everything, and it would lead to Fuyuki losing the one place where he felt he still belonged in the world.
As Fuyuki continued to glare viciously at his mom and aunt, a male thug with long straight black hair came walking on over. "I just got the call that let us know that the demand had been sent in just now," the long haired thug said, "So starting now we got an hour to wait until we can go on ahead and allow Entreri to introduce the business edge of his hunting knife to the throats of the two lovely ladies that we have here."
Ochaco and Pony tensed up a bit as they heard that they were being given an hour most before either Fine Wine got what he wanted or the two of them would be killed. Being tied up, bound to chairs, heavily outnumbered and with quirk suppressing collars having been placed around their necks, there wasn't anything that either of them could do even attempt to escape. What would end up happening to them depended on the actions of those outside, if they were willing to play ball with Fine Wine.
Knowing their respective husbands, Ochaco and Pony would bet that they would do everything to try to get the two of them back safely, although the women wouldn't want their safety bought by giving in to Fine Wine's demands again. It was bad enough they had to give in to Fine Wine when he got Komaru, since that allowed for Big Beef to be freed. Who knows what damage will occur if those twelve men were allowed to return to Fine Wine's employ.
Ochaco and Pony didn't want to think about it, so they both silently hoped that they would be found before either they would be kill by Entreri or even one of the twelve men that Fine Wine is demanding ends up being set free. There was no other option for the two of them, as they saw it that Fine Wine had everything right where he wanted it. Slowly, the two pro hero women both looked to Entreri, who was still glaring daggers at them.
"...I hope you're happy, Entreri," Ochaco said bitterly, "You did make Toru and Ibara suffer. You've made a lot of people suffer." The disguised, runaway teen arched a wry eyebrow at his mom as he took up his dry erase board and marker again to write something before turning the board around to show what he wanted to say.
Good.
Ochaco and Pony were wondering just who Entreri was, why he wanted to make them and all of the pro heroes suffer so badly. They both still had no idea that they were actually overestimating what the mysterious criminal before them actually wanted. They also had no idea that said mysterious criminal who was standing before them was actually the very teenage boy that they were desperatly trying to find and bring back home.
But the odds of him being willing to hear them out at this point were very low.
Meanwhile, people at Bakugo's agency were in a bit of a panic as they were scrambling around, trying to figure out how to track down where Fine Wine's men had Uravity and Rocketti held in their grasp. They were given the ultimatum by one of Fine Wine's men, who had called it in with an untraceable phone call; the pro heroes and police had one hour to release a total of twelve of Fine Wine's men who were spread out over four jails, or Uravity and Rocketti would be killed and their bodies would be left to be found.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Bakugo exclaimed, "That sorry shit Fine Wine is now demanding that we let twelve of his men that we have go, or he'll murder my wife?!"
Izuku was indeed worried as well, given that Fine Wine's men also had Ochaco. And now they had been given one hour to give Fine Wine what he wanted or Uravity and Rocketti would be no more. To make matters worse, the call that was made to deliver the demand said that Entreri would be the one to kill the two pro hero women if the hour passes without all twelve of the men that the criminal gang lord is demanding going free.
"So Entreri is there," Izuku thought, hoping that the pro heroes and police could somehow get ahold of the location where Ochaco and Pony were being held. If they could get that, then a stealth operation could be conducted to rescue the women without having to give in to Fine Wine's demands again. What's more, they could potentially capture a few of the thugs who work for Fine Wine.
Especially the assassin-style thug himself.
As Izuku and Bakugo were both worrying about their respective wives, one of the newer sidekicks who worked at Bakugo's agency came scrambling in. "Dynamight, sir!" the sidekick exclaimed, "We managed to find the van that Rocketti and Uravity were shoved into before driving off! It's parked outside of a warehouse located on the edge of town! We haven't made any moves yet as we're waiting on your call!"
"Smart move," Bakugo replied, "We can't afford to make any mistakes." To everyone present, Bakugo declared, "Here's what's going to happen! We're going to do a quiet sneak over to the warehouse so we aren't caught on the way. When I given the signal, we burst on them, take them by surprise, get Pony and Round Face out of there, then we kick their thuggish asses!"
"Once we get our wives to safety, we ought to prioritize capturing Entreri since he's there," Izuku said, "Not only will it get Fine Wine's elite thug off of the streets, but we could potentially get a lead on Fine Wine himself out of Entreri." Bakugo nodded in agreement with his step-brother, not minding how Izuku was sort of stepping on his toes here.
Either way, the game plan was set, and when the heroes got the location of the warehouse where Ochaco and Pony were being held, they moved out.
A short while later over at the warehouse, Fuyuki and the other men were still keeping an eye on Ochaco and Pony. "...It's been half an hour since the demands had been sent in, and I got no word on any of the guys that the boss is demanding to be released walking free," said the mixed heritage female thug.
A male thug with shoulder length dishwater blonde hair turned to smirk at the women. "...You hear that, ladies? If your fellow pros outside don't act soon, the both of you will be sent to party down in hell with the others that the boss had sent there on his word."
Both Ochaco and Pony glared angrily at the male thug, but Ochaco soon relented. "...You might as well have Entreri kill at least me now. Aside from how there's no way the commission will permit twelve thugs to be released just to save two heroes, I pretty much have my end coming at this point. Given what I did, I deserve it."
"...Yeah, I've been just as horrible," Pony admitted sadly, both her and Ochaco looking like they were going to tear up, "Just do it."
Fuyuki was surprised by how his mom and aunt, very clearly radiating guilt, were now basically asking for him to kill them. Although a (very large) part of him would be glad to oblige them in their request, another (equally large) part of him was curious about the sudden shift in tone. As such, he took up his dry erase board and marker, wrote something, then turned it around so he could show what he had written.
Interesting, and quite curious. I want elaboration.
Both Ochaco and Pony were surprised that Entreri of all people wanted to hear their story. Why would the masked, hooded assassin-style elite thug working for Fine Wine want to hear the tale of their gravest mistake? Regardless, they figured that, if anything, distracting Fine Wine's men here might buy them a little bit of time. Both pro hero women sighed, and it was Ochaco who had begun to regale the person she had no idea was the very person she had wronged.
"...A while ago," Ochaco began to explain, "My son was expelled from UA because he had been found to have a box of indecent items, mostly the undergarments of his female classmates. He was accused of being a perverted panty thief."
"We assumed that what was seen on the surface level was the truth, and decried my nephew so," Pony further elaborated, "The night he was expelled, he ran away from home. We haven't seen him since."
"Then recently," Ochaco went on, "My husband Deku, backed by Commissioner Naomasa who was checking things himself, both went to UA to properly investigate things, given that no actual investigation was conducted. Naturally, my husband and the Commissioner discovered that my son had actually been innocent the entire time, and that what he had been accused of was the doing of a jealous classmate who had set him up."
The thugs who were listening were somewhat surprised by the story that the two pro hero women had just told them. Fuyuki was especially surprised, and especially pissed although he did do a good job at hiding his anger. Ochaco and Pony looked over to Entreri when they saw that he was writing on his dry erase board. When he had finished, he turned the board around to show what he had written.
You ladies say that Uravity's son was framed by a jealous classmate. I confess a curiosity as to who said jealous classmate is.
"What will you do if we tell you who it was?" Pony asked defensively. The disguised, runaway teen wiped his board before writing a short response that he showed to both Pony and Ochaco.
Just tell me.
"It's bad enough you've killed so many people," Ochaco spat, "How do we know you won't kill the student responsible for getting my son kicked out of UA? Despite how bad said action is, the student in question does not deserve to be killed!"
"Why would you even care who it was that framed my nephew?" Pony asked. If the pro hero Rocketti knew just who it was that hid underneath that costume, both she and Ochaco would then understand just why Entreri would care about the identity of the jealous classmate who had framed Fuyuki to get him expelled from UA. Mostly because Entreri is Fuyuki.
Fuyuki was close to losing his patience with his aunt and mother, when he heard someone outside of the warehouse yell, "DIE!" Memories of stories from the past came flooding back to the forefront of Fuyuki's mind the moment he heard that yell, causing him to on instinct jerk back and run out of the warehouse. The rest of the thugs were all confused by Entreri suddenly turning tail and running away.
But Ochaco and especially Pony were relieved, especially so when a large portion of the wall was busted down, and a bunch of pro heroes and police, all led by Izuku and Bakugo, swarmed in. They even blocked off the door Fuyuki fled out of before any other thug could escape, so there was nowhere for the thugs to run. Soon enough, all of the remaining thugs were defeated and rounded up, the mission to save Ochaco and Pony a complete success without having to give Fine Wine even one of the men that he had demanded to be set free.
As all of Fine Wine's men at the warehouse were being rounded up, Izuku and Bakugo had their now freed wives with them as they talked to Commissioner Naomasa. "Wait, wait, wait," Bakugo said to Pony, "You're telling us that you were able to buy time for us to rescue you and Round Face because Entreri took an interest in what happened to our nephew?"
"Why would some early twenties thug care about that?" Izuku asked.
Letting out a sigh, Ochaco said, "I'm pretty sure it's due to him simply being curious."
"We were able to not tell him exactly who it was that had gotten Fuyuki expelled," Pony added, "But I don't think he'll let that stop him from trying to find out on his own anyway."
"Well regardless," Naomasa said, "You ladies being lucky enough to find something to buy time with helped to allow us to act before you were killed." To everyone with him, Naomasa said, "I feel like we ought to call it a day since we were successful in stopping Fine Wine's latest act of criminal activity. We finally got another shot or two fired off at that bastard, so he ought to be less devil-may-care towards the police and pro heroes."
The others nodded in agreement and, as soon as paramedics on scene cleared Ochaco and Pony, the extended family took off to go back to their respective homes.
Fuyuki was steaming as he sat alone in his room at the primary warehouse hideout. Not only did he ultimately fail to get revenge on some of his family, but he had been able to learn that they all now knew that he had been right the whole time, that he really was innocent. Granted, it took Naomasa getting involved for them to uncover the truth, but now Fuyuki's family all knew that he had been innocent all this time.
To make matters worse, Fuyuki learned that the reason why that box of lewd content was found in his former dorm room at the now destroyed UA was because a jealous classmate had set it up in there ahead of time to frame him. What the disguised, runaway teen wanted now was to learn who it was that had framed him and why they had done so. He could have gotten answers if it hadn't been for his Uncle Katsuki ruining the moment for him.
It was at that moment Fuyuki decided to prioritize investigating the matter personally. He would first have to confirm if everyone knew of his innocence, then after that he would act depending on what he found out. Fuyuki was determined to get his answers one way or another.
No one was going to be able to stop him. Not even Mineta himself.
END, CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Author's notes;
Here's the chapter that I've had in mind for a while now, where Fuyuki learned of his exoneration while he had his mom and aunt held hostage. I was originally planning to also have Ochaco and Pony confess that it was Inko who had framed her cousin, but I decided to eighty-six that because one, it wouldn't make sense since Ochaco and Pony had no idea who they were both talking to so they couldn't predict what he'd do with the info, and two, I figured that Fuyuki finding out later would make for some good drama later on down the line, especially with what I have planned over the course of the next few chapters.
Speaking of future chapters, Fuyuki will be taking actions over the course of the next few chapters that will have a big impact on the story as a whole. Take care.