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 forty-three: Family, part two

The pro heroes were hard at work trying to track down Makoto's faction, the last group that consists of the remnants of the Fine Wine gang that is still at large. The faction is led by Makoto Veldora, who wants his former boss Fine Wine, aka Minoru Mineta, freed from jail so that he can kill him to avenge the suicide of his little sister Kolulu, who had been driven to it by Mineta. It's the last thing the heroes want, despite how at least a few of them have made the arguement that Mineta might actually have it coming.

The heroes had their hopes of a sound capture of Veldora renewed when they heard that Deku, the number one hero in the country, had come up with a plan that would make capturing the first born child and only son of the Veldora family's main branch as peaceful as possible. They had also heard that a change was made to the plan when Deku's son Fuyuki, going by Antigrav since he had picked his hero alias now, came up with an idea that would augment the chances of the plan succeeding.

But first thing's first; they had to actually find where Makoto and his faction were hiding out at. That was going to be a task easier said than done, especially considering how the heroes at the moment have no solid leads as to the location of Makoto's faction's hideout. And there would be look outs, so trying to sneak up and surround them to catch them unawares was not going to be all that easy to pull off.

They would have to first find the place but keep a distance, then when they see sights of at least one notable member of Makoto's faction to confirm the faction's presence, they surround the place then rush in. Then when Makoto is spotted, his little sister Hikari and his cousin Ichimichi would go in and try to talk him down; the idea here would be that the girls would try to appeal to Makoto's love for their family to convince him to stand down from his mad quest peacefully as opposed to continuing down that dark road.

This is where Deku's son Antigrav came in; his plan to augment the odds of success of the plan to make Makoto peacefully surrender required him to accompany Ichimichi and Hikari, known respectively by the aliases War Oni and Kolulu (Hikari took her late older sister's name as her hero alias to honor her), when they confronted Makoto in their bid to appeal to him. The idea to augment the plan was known only to a select few, but Deku as well as his wife Uravity were both going to trust their son on this one.

Uravity was especially keen on wanting to show her son that she trusts him.

Eventually, a few days after the capture of Takuya Moononi and the forming of Deku's plan to capture Makoto, the hideout of the lone remaining faction leader and his posse had been found at long last. This was done because Junichi Kitaeru, one of the family servants that Makoto had taken with him and also a distant blood relative of the Veldora family, had been seen entering a warehouse located on the outskirts of town and not coming out for several hours.

Later at night after Junichi was seen going into that warehouse, loads of heroes could be found having gathered around the warehouse hideout, hiding in various spots for the eventual ambush that they were going to be pulling on Makoto's faction. "War Oni," Izuku said into a com device so he could speak to Ichimichi, "Are you, Antigrav and Kolulu ready?" Since it was official hero work being done, everyone had to use their hero aliases.

"Yes, Deku," Ichimichi replied. She turned to look at her younger cousin and said cousin's crush. Ichimichi turned back around to face forward. "We're all ready to go as soon as the signal to go is given."

"Good," Izuku replied, "We can't afford to mess up here. Capturing Makoto and taking down his faction will be the last thing needed to be done on order to remove any and all influence of the Fine Wine gang that's still left in Japan."

Fuyuki shrugged, even though his dad wouldn't be able to see it due to being too far away and in an alleyway hiding. "I'd make the argument that all influence had already been removed since Makoto and his faction are actually against their old gang's boss."

"We still need to stop Makoto and take his faction down," Izuku replied, "But I do see the point that you're trying to make, Antigrav." Fuyuki appreciated how his dad understood him, saw the point he was trying to make, took him seriously by showing him no special treatment due to how he (Fuyuki) is the son of the man (Izuku) leading the expansive team of pro heroes on the mission to subdue and capture Makoto.

Soon enough, Ochaco who was with her husband spotted Jun, a notable member of Makoto's factiion, walking out of a door in the warehouse while carrying a garbage bag, tossing it into the nearby dumpster, then turning around and walking back into the warehouse. Ochaco lowered the pair of binoculars that she had been using to spy on the warehouse. A grim look of knowing appeared on her face. "...We've now confirmed that two notable members of Makoto's faction are in that warehouse," Ochaco said.

Izuku turned his com device to the setting so all persons could hear him. "Alright everyone. We've got enough to at least move on in. We got Junichi and Jun confirmed to be there at the very least. Go." With that simple prompt, all of the heroes rushed in, intending to capture the last faction leader and his men.

Inside of the warehouse, Makoto was sitting at a desk in what looked to have been an office once used by the warehouse manager. He was looking at a photo that he held in his right hand as he rested the side of his face against his left hand. The photo showed Makoto standing with both of his younger sisters, as well as Ryumaru Okami who stood next to Kolulu; going from left to right, one could see Ryumaru, Kolulu, Makoto and Hikari standing in a line side by side.

A sad, melancholy look adorned Makoto's face as he looked at the photo, a symbol of happier times from well before his family had been irrevocably scarred by the shallow and indifferent carelessness of the very man who Makoto had worked under for years. He still couldn't believe that his old boss Fine Wine, one of the greatest threats Japanese society had ever known, had turned out to be Minoru Mineta, the man who drove Kolulu to suicide and the very man Makoto sought to decapitate with his odachi.

Makoto sighed as he looked down at the photo. He never wanted this. He never wanted any of his family to hurt. Hell, if it hadn't been for Mineta, then Kolulu wouldn't have taken her own life that tragic day, and in that case then Ryumaru, similar to Makoto in either case, would not have become a villain. In fact, if Kolulu were still alive, then Makoto could realistically see Ryumaru marrying her; his best friend would have become his family! That would have been cool as all get out had it occurred, at least if Makoto was asked for his opinion.

But no. No, because Mineta is a manipulative little turd, he got Ryumaru at his beck and call as well, and was able to avoid Ryumaru getting revenge on him by sending him to take part in the siege on UA, getting killed by Deku in a fight. Makoto was miles away on a lesser job at the time the siege on UA had taken place, and didn't get any details on it until after he got back, after the siege itself had come to an end.

His younger sister had taken her own life years ago. His youngest sister could have gotten killed the night of the siege on UA. His best friend, who he didn't know was also in the gang until after he got back from the lesser job, was killed in said siege. Too much had occurred to cause pain to Makoto's heart. And it was all squarely on Mineta's head, which Makoto intended to make roll on the floor after he took it off with his odachi.

Yes, Makoto knew full well that the only medicine that could ease the pain his heart felt was seeing Minoru Mineta's head roll. Hell, if Ryumaru had survived the siege on UA, then Makoto would have reached out to him, got him to party up with him, then they would have been together in the same faction when shit ended up hitting the fan; after Makoto ended up taking Mineta's head off, then Ryumaru could have smashed it as if it were a watermelon on the beach during a hot summer day.

Talk about a perfect day at the beach.

Right as Makoto slipped the photo back into his wallet then slipped said wallet back into his pants pocket, he heard some surprised cries from outside of the office, then Jun came rushing in, a panicked look on his face. "Makoto!" Jun exclaimed, "The heroes found us! We're being attacked and we're surrounded on all sides!"

"What?!" Makoto exclaimed as he got up from his desk. Right away, Makoto grabbed his odachi, which had just finished being checked by Junichi to make sure it was in good condition. Now armed with his massive katana, Makoto rushed out of the office to help his fellows fight off the heroes who had them surrounded.

...

Even though a small number of the thugs under Makoto's command were arrested at the training camp, most of the numbers that were working for the first born and only son of the Veldora family's main branch had gotten away. Even though all of the remaining thugs in that case were all present at the warehouse, they were actually slightly outnumbered by the heroes, although a fair number of the heroes were sidekicks and a few interns.

Right away, Chargebolt and Cellophane located and bound Junichi and Kanehira, with the former zapping the two captured men a bit to beat them down to keep them from escaping. As for Chargebolt's and Cellophane's respective wives Earphone Jack and Pinky, the former tried to chase down Juri while the latter fired blobs of acid at Jun who had sprouted his wings and was now flying around while firing his dragon's fire breath at Pinky and other random heroes.

A stray breath weapon attack from Jun struck Earphone Jack, making her lose track of Juri and allowing the goblin-like girl to get away. "Damn it!" Kyoka cursed out loud up to Jun, "You made me lose track of that green-skinned Himiko Toga knockoff!"

As Jun flew in place with a look of mildly dumbfounded confusion on his face, he was smacked on his right flank by a blob of acid, making him fall down mostly out of surprise. As the winged humanoid lizard scrambled on his feet, Mina rushed in and struck him really hard on the side of his head, knocking him out. "Woowee!" Mina cheered, "I took him out similarly to how I had won against Aoyama during the sports festival of our first year in UA, Kyoka!"

Kyoka allowed herself a bit of an amused smirk. "...Yeah, although back then you struck his chin, not the side of his head. Either way you did good. Oh, and it's Earphone Jack right now, Pinky. We're on official hero business right now, remember?"

"Oops, sorry," Mina replied with a bit of an embarrassed giggle. The two women were then caught off guard when a stream of black and purple flames flew over them, and they saw that the big boss himself, Makoto, come charging at them.

Another blast of his Kijin Flare fire sent the two women backing up quickly, allowing Makoto to gather the knocked out Jun and support him with the lizardman's arm over his shoulders. The two women tried to confront Makoto, but three thugs rushed in, with two confronting the ladies and the third relieving Makoto of the unconscious Jun. As the third thug left to take Jun to a safe place, Makoto rushed off to see where he could help.

Elsewhere in the warehouse, Fuyuki was following along behind Ichimichi and Hikari. The three of them were looking for Makoto so that they can try carrying out the plan to make him step down peacefully by appealing to his love for his family. "So Antigrav, after Kolulu and I start on Makoto, you come in with your planned bit when I give you the signal," Ichimichi explained.

Fuyuki nodded in understanding. "Got it, War Oni."

"I still can't believe that Makoto is a villain now," Hikari said in a sad tone, "That he's fallen as badly as he had."

The son of Deku offered his horned, nerdy classmate a sympathetic look. "...There's no denying that there is still plenty of good in him. His reason for becoming a villain, when you get right down to it, is to avenge your sister's suicide because the man he's after had driven her to it. Also, my mom pointed out that while he has killed, your brother only killed other thugs and a few villains, so no innocent persons. Hell, he said back at the training camp that he wouldn't even kill Ichigo despite how she's related to Fine Wine."

"We just need to talk to him, cous," Ichimichi said in a likewise sympathetic tone, "He's in a bad place right now, but I'm certain that he would be willing to come around if we convince him hard enough to stand down from his quest to kill Mineta."

"So you don't want Kolulu's suicide to be avenged," a familiar male voice spoke up, making the three good guys turn and see Makoto walk up to them. The odachi and sinister fire wielder had a somewhat sad and resigned look on his face. "...She was your cousin, Ichimichi," Makoto said, his tone taking on a bit of a troubled hint, "How could you not want what she had been forced into by that little turd to be avenged?"

"Breaking the law and springing Fine Wine from jail is not the way to go about avenging our sister, Makoto!" Hikari cried out, tears running down the sides of her face, "Why can't you allow the law to punish him for us, for all of Japan?"

Makoto, with a small ironic smile on his face, gently shook his head. "Little bastards like Mineta have an alarming tendency to ultimately get off if the law is the only voice in deciding how to punish those who have committed evil. As sad as it is, the only way to ensure that Mineta pays for what he did to our family is to take matters up ourselves."

Hikari and Ichimichi both shook their heads. "...No, you don't have to do this, Makoto," Hikari said, "Ichimichi and I don't want this. Our entire family doesn't want this. Kolulu if she could see what you're doing would say that she wouldn't want this."

Makoto gently shook his head, a small but sad frown on his face. "Then what am I supposed to do? Surrender to the heroes and police, who will throw me in prison before their incompetence ultimately allows Mineta to walk out of his punishment a free man?" Placing a hand over his chest, Makoto went on, "And what am I supposed to do with the pain that I feel here? Allow it to grow because no one is ultimately going to do what has to be done and make Mineta pay?"

"My father started up this one program, you see," Fuyuki spoke up, catching Makoto's attention. "It allows willing villains who want to turn over a new leaf to be rehabilitated, molding them into legit heroes. I'm certain that we can convince my father to put you, as well as any of your fellows in your faction who are likewise interested, into the program to help break you from the path you had fallen onto and put you on the right one."

Makoto gave a single huffing chuckle. "...I technically have a kill count. Will society be willing to accept a hero who has been confirmed to have killed before?"

"Given that all of those you've killed thus far were other criminals and a few villains, I'm pretty sure people would be agreeable to the idea of going easy on you," Fuyuki pointed out. Shifting his tone a bit as he blushed a bit out of embarrassment, the son of Deku went on, "Also, there's something that I feel you should be made aware of, given that you're Hikari's older brother."

Makoto's eyes narrowed a bit on Fuyuki as he mentioned his sole remaining little sister by name just now. "...What about my little sister?"

He knew this part would be difficult for him mostly due to how embarrassing it would be, but Fuyuki figured that it would be very effective to if anything catch the attention of Makoto, given how deeply he cares for his family. There's also the fact that neither Ichimichi nor Hikari knew of his augmentation to the plan to make Makoto stand down peacefully, so the both of them were going to be in for a surprise, Hikari especially so. Taking a calming breath, Fuyuki answered the demand that Makoto made.

"I'm in love with Hikari."

The three members of the Veldora family who were present all looked a mix of shocked and surprised at Fuyuki. Hikari was especially surprised, and was blushing furiously as she did just hear that the boy that she's in love with confess that he is in love with her in return. Although it was embarrassing to admit his feelings for Hikari, regardless of setting and circumstances, the son of Deku saw that confessing he was in love with Hikari to her older brother's face was doing the job that was expected of it.

Makoto was sputtering out of surprise, even shook his head in a somewhat twitching manner as he tried to process what he had just heard. "W-What?!" Makoto exclaimed, "You're telling me that Hikari caught your eye?!"

"Well I've always thought that she was cute," Fuyuki began to explain, continuing to blush a bit out of embarrassment, "Even back when I first saw her when the two of us were still elementary school students. And I really like how she's the highest scoring girl in our year in terms of our academic subjects. I prefer that the girls I take an interest in be intelligent, and given that Hikari is very much comparable to me and our classmate Tengoh, she certainly fits the bill."

Makoto couldn't believe what he was hearing. Likewise, Hikari couldn't believe it. "Y-You've really liked me for all of that time?" Hikari asked as she turned to look at Fuyuki, "Even though I was chubby during all of that time?"

Turning to look at Hikari, Fuyuki replied, "To be honest, I fail to see why you being chubby is important one way or the other. I never minded that it was there, but it wasn't something that I was focused on." The son of Deku offered the nerdy horned girl a gentle smile. "...What I was focused on was you as a person."

Hikari was about to speak up, but she got cut off when Makoto burst out laughing in sincere amusement. "Hot damn!" Makoto proclaimed, "My baby sis is getting boys to look at her now!" Giving Fuyuki a stern look, Makoto said, "Oi, I don't want to ever hear of you doing wrong by her, do I make myself clear?"

Fuyuki was surprised by the implied threat, but given that it sounded with playful amusement and sincere care, it was actually one of the very reactions that Fuyuki was hoping for. Makoto clearly had calmed down, and would most definitely be more amicable to hearing out pleas for him to back down from his quest to kill Mineta. All that had to be done now was to actually ask Makoto to step down from his-

"GAAAHHHH!" Fuyuki and the Veldora girls stopped short when Makoto's head looked like it was being forcefully jerked up, as if an invisible hand placed over his chin pushed the head back to expose Makoto's neck. Then a hunting knife floated up and placed its cutting edge against Makoto's throat.

"...No funny business, Veldora," the voice of Toru Ojiro, otherwise known as Invisible Girl, said in an eerily calm tone, "You so much as try anything, and I'll do to you what that bastard Entreri had done to my late husband."

"Mrs. Ojiro, what the hell?!" Hikari exclaimed, freaking out upon seeing her older brother being held at knife point, "We were going to ask him to surrender peacefully! This is going way too out of line!"

As the situation got tense, Ochaco, Mina and Kyoka came onto the scene. "...What the hell?" Mina said, "Toru, the hell are you doing?"

"Ensuring that Veldora surrenders," Toru said coldly, "One of you girls have a pair of quirk suppressing cuffs, right? Put them on Veldora and confiscate his sword as well." The invisible pro hero pressed the knife slightly harder against Veldora's neck. "He'll play nice if he knows what's good for him."

Makoto snarled a bit in pissed anger. "...You invisible bitch. You just had to go and ruin a family reunion between me, my cousin and my baby sister, didn't you?"

Although it's not how they had wanted to do things, Ochaco, Mina and Kyoka saw that they would be able to capture Makoto. With a slight hint of reluctance, Mina and Kyoka approached where Toru held Makoto at knife point, with Kyoka taking Makoto's odachi and Mina placing a pair of quirk suppressing cuffs onto Makoto's wrists. With Makoto captured, Toru backed away and held the hunting knife casually at her side.

"There, we caught the last faction leader," Toru said, "The rest of his faction should be following along very shortly."

The other women, although Toru's stunt did technically get the job they wanted done taken care of, still looked at her with mildly bemused look. "...We're going to have to bring this up during the post mission review meeting, Toru," Kyoka said in a mildly exasperated tone, "We wanted to get Makoto peacefully, and from all appearances that would have been the case before you jumped in and forced the matter violently."

Toru scoffed, replying, "Why do you care if I threatened Makoto into yielding? No one ended up getting seriously hurt, and we got the job we wanted done taken care of! As far as I can see, it's a win-win situation!"

Kyoka was about to speak up again, but she was cut off when all of the people present heard a female voice cry out, "You let Makoto go! He's still got a little sister to avenge!" Everyone saw that Juri, armed with a pocket knife, was rushing in, her arm pulled back suggesting that she was going to stab the first person that she got to. From the way it looked, Juri was going to end up stabbing Fuyuki.

When it was abundantly clear she was making a beeline for the son of Deku, Juri screamed, "I guess I'll have to make some of you heroes bleed to get my point across!" Given how Juri had caught him by surprise, Fuyuki had very little reaction time to work with to avoid her attack. He was thankful for what he had developed in his time as Entreri, giving him faster reflexes that were trained and fine tuned. But even so, Fuyuki was figuring he'd take at least a slight cut from the goblin-like girl's knife.

However, right as Fuyuki began trying to move out of the way, someone got in the way and took the stab from Juri in the side instead. Juri looked surprised that someone had jumped in front of her to take a hit. "...You Toga-types are all alike," Ochaco Midoriya said in a labored tone as she kept a hold on Juri's arm that had the pocket knife stabbing into her (Ochaco's) left side, a bit below the left side of the rib cage.

Everyone present was shocked by what had happened, Fuyuki especially so. After all, his mom had gotten stabbed because she threw herself in the way of Juri who was charging at Fuyuki himself because she was going to stab him. The pro hero Uravity was sweating a bit, and she was bleeding from where Juri's pocket knife was stabbing into her. But despite all that gave her pain, Ochaco was smiling a bit.

"...And that's why you made a big mistake," Ochaco huffed to Juri, "You got between a mom and her son."

END, CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Author's notes;

This chapter continues the theme of family loving one another, showing that they care despite what an unknowing outside may draw assumptions from. There's also how Toru jumped the shark there, but that will be covered in a future scene in a future chapter (if one thinks about it, they could probably guess why Toru acted so out of character).

There's also how Juri tried to get the heroes to release Makoto, only to end up stabbing Ochaco who leapt in the way to take the hit in Fuyuki's place. There's not much else one can do to show that they love and trust someone better than to take a grievous injury like that in their place. But a certain teen girl will have to go through a far greater trial for her (attempt at) redemption.

Stay frosty.