As time crept by, Izuku couldn't help but feel more and more anxious. Eri definitely picked up on his nerves, and she responded in kind.
The good news, though, was that they were making real progress with Eri's quirk. He'd had his suspicions about the details of it, but Chisaki wasn't very forthcoming about the nature of her quirk, and Eri herself knew almost nothing about it.
It definitely had some correlation with her horn, more specifically, the size of her horn. It fluctuated in size between her appointments with Chisaki, which led Izuku to theorize that the horn worked as a sort of storage for the power of her quirk. At first quirk training had mainly consisted of Izuku trying to ask Eri questions about it that she couldn't answer until he actually saw the quirk in action.
Izuku had found a potted plant that he gave to Eri to take care of. It was supposed to teach children responsibility, or so his favorite parenting blog said, but it was also something Izuku himself had done; he'd adopted his own bonsai tree when things with Kacchan first got really bad. It had been calming to know that there was something that depended on him. He mattered, even if it was only to a plant.
Ironically enough, Katsuki had exploded said bonsai tree one night the Bakugous had come over for dinner. Izuku had nearly - actually, none of this was relevant.
Eri had been enthusiastically tending to the plant when her horn began to glow. Izuku was alerted when Eri murmured, "No, please no!"
The plant was shrinking, and the look of terror on her face was heartbreaking. When Izuku moved to help her, she flung herself backwards. "No, I'll hurt you. You have to stay away! Go get him, he needs to disassemble me."
So this was Eri's quirk, the power to rewind. He'd never seen anything like it, but he and Dr. Meiji had discussed conditions like this, where the user seemed completely disconnected from their quirk.
"I'll stay over here, Eri, okay? But you need to listen to me. Can you do that?" The little girl nodded, eyes fixated on him in desperation. Taking a deep breath, he continued, "I need you to focus, Eri. What feels different right now while you're using your quirk?"
"I… I don't know!"
"That's alright, it will be fine. I know you're scared, but you'll be fine, and I'll be fine. Do you know how I know that?"
"How?"
"Because this quirk is part of Eri. Eri would never hurt someone on purpose, and she would figure out a way not to hurt me." The light coming from Eri's horn seemed to be dimming, so Izuku kept talking. "It's an amazing quirk! You could help a lot of people with it one day. It's probably not registered, so we could pick out a really cool name for it! It's definitely an emitter quirk, and…"
It seemed to calm Eri the longer he talked, and gradually the light from her horn went out. Deeming it safe, Izuku moved to Eri, crouching down to give her a hug.
"Did you mean that, Mr. Deku? Do you think I could help people one day?" Eri asked, so incredibly small. "Is that why he is experimenting still?"
Unconsciously, her arms tightened around the girl. "Things won't always be like this, Eri. I promise."
Afterwards, Eri's quirk training moved rapidly. She was an excellent student when she wasn't so scared of her quirk anymore. It wasn't a perfect thing, she definitely had a limit to how much she could use her quirk, and it would spiral out of control when she was emotional. But Izuku would definitely have to thank Dr, Meiji for forcing his classes to learn the basics of quirk control.
As things moved, Izuku couldn't help but concentrate on Eri's quirk training. He knew everyone was doing all they could to make this a successful operation, and he needed to do his part as well.
No matter how much he prepared, though, Izuku couldn't escape his anxiety. He couldn't help but feel like something was going to go incredibly wrong. He trained himself and Eri and hoped it would be enough.
It was midday when the heroes struck. As deep in the compound as Eri's room was, Izuku was completely unaware anything was happening until he felt something shake the ground.
Wide-eyed, Eri looked at him. "What was that?"
"I don't know," Izuku said, chills running down his spine. "If we have to leave, is there something you want to take with you? I'll see if I can fit it in my fanny pack.
It took her a moment to decide, but Eri finally settled on the paper where she successfully wrote her name for the first time. After securing it in his fanny pack, Izuku paced, wondering how best to prepare. He could just take Eri and run, but it was doubtful that he would survive.
The choice was soon taken out of his hands when the bedroom door opened, revealing Chisaki flanked by Chronostasis.
"We're under attack from the heroes. Brin Eri, we need to go."
Taking ahold of Eri's hand, Izuku followed Chisaki wordlessly. The compound's lights were flickering and in the distance the walls and floor moved, a sign that Mimic was busy with whatever heroes he was trying to slow down. He could faintly hear the strains of fighting throughout the compound, and from what he could hear, the infiltration team was putting his information to good use.
Izuku had made a contingency plan for every member of the Shie Hassaikai. They all felt incredibly solid and doable except for Chisaki. The man was just too powerful, too many things could go wrong.
"We're going to escape, just the four of us," Chisaki said, unconcerned. "You've done an excellent job at getting the child to trust you, to comply with you, so you'll be valuable for what's to come."
Eri whimpered and Izuku's hand tightened around hers. He couldn't risk comforting her in any way, so he just led her down the hallway. They had made it quite a ways when a voice crowed, "I've found you!"
Izuku whipped around to find a furious Lemillion staring at him.
"So one of the hero filth has found us," Chisaki said lightly. "No doubt thanks to your disgusting quirk."
"We need to have a chat, gentlemen," Lemillion said with a sharp smile.
"Nemoto and Sakaki will be here shortly. Take the girl and go on ahead, Deku," Overhaul said without looking back.
Izuku nodded, picking Eri up. Lemillion's eyes focused on him with recognition. "You! How can you let them do this to her? You looked like someone who cared!"
Not yet.Izuku turned his back on the hero, walking away without a word. This hero coud do and think what he wanted, but Izuku couldn't reveal himself yet.
He heard the scuffle behind him - Overhaul and Chronostasis were struggling against the hero. He'd never expected the kid to make it past those two, so Izuku startled when the boy lurched out of the wall, hand outstretched. Deku was able to lunge backwards, so the boy's fingers only snagged his medical mask, ripping it free from Izuku's face.
So Mirio Toogata had improved this much since the last Sports Festival. He was definitely a force to be reckoned with, but he'd been analyzing this hero for years, and there was no way he would last against Overhaul.
"Where are your friends, hero?" Izuku finally asked, staring down the student. "You'll never be able to handle all three of us at once."
Who the hell let Lemillion out here on his own? This was in direct opposition to what Izuku had told them!
Panic welled in his chest, and Izuku could feel that it was affecting Eri too. This hero was going to die in front of them in a few moments if Izuku didn't do something, and if Izuku did do something, then he would be the one to die.
He could only see one potential pathway where they both made it out alive, but it required Izuku to do the one thing he'd sworn to himself he wouldn't do: let Eri go.
"Sir, there's no reason for you to sully your hands with something so simple as this boy. If you would take the girl, I'll meet up with you shortly." When Chisaki nodded, Izuku crouched down, leaning towards the girl's ear. "Listen to him for now, I'm trying to keep you safe. I will protect you."
They had to finish this before Nemoto and Sakaki came, things were already rapidly spiralling out of control.
"I don't think so!" Lemillion moved to grab Eri, but just before he could grab the girl, Izuku swung his katana at the boy's wrist. The sword cleaved right through the appendage, but without damage thanks to Lemillion's quirk. He attempted to get around him a few different ways, but each time Izuku targeted whatever body part was tangible at the time. It was a dance of blades and limbs until he was sure Chisaki and Chronostasis were out of earshot.
Mirio cradled his hand to his chest, blood barely visible on his red gloves. It was little more than a scratch, but it seemed that the young hero wasn't used to getting hit anymore. His smile was absent, and he glared at Izuku with the same hatred that burned in Izuku.
"How could you just hand her off to them?!" Mirio demanded. "You were our informant, I thought you had some heart!"
Neither one expected it, but Izuku's fist met with the aspiring hero's jaw with more force than any of his sword swings had held.
Shocked, Mirio stared at the younger boy that faced him, chest heaving, eyes bright with tears.
"I wasn't going to let Eri see them kill you, she would have blamed herself," Izuku said, every word dripping with acid. "I've had to play along with every terrible thing they had me do these past weeks because I knew she and I both might die if I messed up. And now when the time comes to save her, I had to hand her to them because you can't follow directions! Where the hell is your partner?!"
He was crying and shaking. Izuku felt completely unhinged. He didn't realize his hands were on Lemillion's shoulders, but he was shaking the boy vigorously. He had to stop. He was Deku right now, Deku didn't cry. Letting go of the hero, he stepped back. "If I see you again without a partner, I'll make sure you can't interfere."
Turning away, Izuku felt the chill of Nemoto's quirk - he was questioning someone nearby. Without looking back, he instructed, "Go find a partner or hide somewhere, people are coming."
As a precaution, he placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. Chisaki and Chronostasis were waiting for him, admittedly somewhat impatiently.
"So you made it out alive," Chtono said, sounding the slightest bit disappointed.
"That hero won't be an issue anymore."
"Excellent. He seemed particularly troublesome," Overhaul said. "Come, Eri. Your beloved Deku is fine, let's go find our new home."
Eri turned her red eyes to him, and Izuku gave her what he hoped felt like an encouraging nod. He trailed behind the other three, hoping for some kind of distraction. Surely someone would find them and Izuku wouldn't have to fight Chrono and Overhaul alone.
His hand tightened on the hilt of his sword as he looked at Eri. She seemed to tiny and fragile. In the hallway it sounded like Nemoto and Sakaki were fighting. Lemillion was either being incredibly stupid, or backup had arrived.
It didn't matter much who was out there, without the element of surprise they would likely die. Chisaki's quirk was just too powerful. Izuku needed to act.
"Overhaul, sir, I have a question," he said, doing his best not to let his voice waver. He could feel the urge building, it was almost at its peak. He just had to hold off until - yes, Chisaki was turned his way.
Still unmasked, Izuku sneezed.
Right in Chisaki Kai's face.
The shock on Overhaul's face would have been comical if it weren't going to be one of the last things Izuku ever saw. Taking advantage of the man's surprise, he ducked down, arms outstretched for Eri. He wrapped them around her tiny body, barely noticing her extra weight as he sprinted towards the nearest exit faster than he knew he was capable of.
He had a few precious moments, and Izuku was crazy enough to think he might actually make it when the ground erupted.
Chisaki was overhauling the entire floor as it undulated, tendrils and spikes aiming to kill him. The yakuza boss howled with animalistic rage as Izuku dodged a series of savage, brutal attacks, doing his best to safely transfer Eri to his back. "Hold on tight," he told her, drawing his sword.
"Deku, what are you doing?" she asked, clinging to him desperately.
"I'm saving you," he said, sword slicing through a spike aimed at his head. He was doing okay, but it was disorienting to fight when even the ground was attacking him.
"No, he's going to kill you! Just give me back!"
"I promised to keep you safe!" Izuku said, making the mistake of meeting Eri's eyes. In that brief moment Chisaki struck, a concrete spike impaling his thigh.
It would have pulled him farther towards Chisaki, but Izuku cut through the spike, leaving him free to move with the end embedded in his thigh.
At the sight of blood, Eri grew warm on his back. Based on the light shining above him, Izuku would guess her quirk had activated. That was confirmed when his wound closed, his leg perfectly fine - aside from the spike now embedded in his healed flesh.
Recovery Girl was going to kill him.
"If you hand her over now, Deku, I'll make your death quick and painless. Either way, you'll die soon," Chisaki said, stalking toward him as the ground started to settle. "Eri's quirk can be used for a lot of things, including erasing people from existence."
"That doesn't mean I should let you continue like this." In his periphery he saw one of Chrono's locks of hair speeding towards him, and it gave Izuku a wicked satisfaction to slice it off.
Meanwhile, Izuku's continued evasion left Chisaki absolutely enraged. Seeing this made Eri even more nervous, and her quirk spiralled even farther out of control. Izuku could feel it slowly feeding off of him, and it was painfully distracting enough that he didn't see Chrono's minute hand coming, sinking into his shoulder with more force than was strictly necessary. Time slowed down for Izuku, his mind screamed at him to move, but his limbs were so heavy, they wouldn't move beyond an excruciatingly slow pace. With a wicked gleam in his eyes, Chisaki let the ground around them settle, stepping forward and pressing a bare hand to Izuku's face.
Caught between the two quirks, Izuku felt more pain than he'd ever imagined possible. As Chisaki attempted to Overhaul him, it felt like his very cells were ripping themselves apart while Eri's quirk forced themback together. He was simultaneously freezing and burning, both dying and more alive than ever.
He could feel the moment Chrono's quirk wore off, but Izuku couldn't move if he'd wanted to. He wasn't sure if he was even breathing anymore. He almost wished he wasn't just so there was a chance for this to be over.
Then, somehow it miraculously stopped.
Izuku immediately collapsed to his knees, then the ground, using what little control he had left to fall so he could cushion Eri's fall.
He would have thought he was dead if not for the weight of Eri on him. His eyes were still open, and they tracked the movement of what was going on in front of him. Processing any of it took more effort than Izuku would have ever thought necessary.
A red glow caught his gaze, and Izuku was met by the comforting sight of a very pissed-off Eraserhead. Behind him, a number of officers and heroes swarmed the place.
Chrono was waving a gun around, and it even went off a few times, but he was swarmed before he was able to pose much of a threat. Chisaki savagely attacked several officers, but ironically enough, without his quirk he didn't make for much of a threat. A familiar figure rushed forward, landing a solid punch to Overhaul's throat.
Eri shifted on his back. "Deku, are you okay?"
The world was closing in on him, rapidly growing dark. His body didn't want to, but he managed to say, "We're safe," before he saw no more.
Kit's Korner
"I know how you feel, Tsukauchi, but you're the most reliable person I can think of that isn't essential to the Shie Hassaikai operation. I really need the backup."
Naomasa sighed, running a hand over his face. He could see Gran Torino's point, it was a valid one. Logically he knew that he was most needed for investigating whatever this new threat was, but everything in him wanted to deny the man's request, say no and go make sure Midoriya made it out okay.
"You're right, Torino. You're always right, I just… This is my officer's first major operation. He's undercover, and I can't look his mother in the eyes and tell her that I wasn't even there when her son got hurt, or even died." Naomasa felt heavy, kneading his temples. "I just need to talk to someone to make sure they'll look out for him, make sure he doesn't try to sacrifice himself."
"You wouldn't have sent this officer if he wasn't capable," Gran Torino said, crossing his arms. "I'm sure he wouldn't do anything stupid."
A shiver ran down Tsukauchi's spine. Midoriya was brilliant, surely he wouldn't… He couldn't think of this anymore, he was going to drive himself crazy. "Sir Nighteye specifically requested this officer, I'm sure he has some sort of plan pertaining to Midoriya's safety."
He just hoped the words were true.
"You'll find the teams you've been divided into on these papers," Sir Nighteye said as a way to close the briefing.
"Wow, that was… not much of a plan," Saito said, trading looks with Sasaki. "At least he's mostly following the suggestions Little Midoriya gave us."
"These teams are kind of terrible, though," Detective Kimura said, looking through the list. "First of all, who decided that this was a good first mission for first-year hero students? Look at them, they're babies!"
"They're the same age as Little Midoriya," Kondo said, disapproval coloring her voice. "Who is also definitely too young for things like this."
"Wait!" Sasaki crowded the others, her wings unconsciously fluttering as she craned her neck. "That one over there, that's the Uraraka girl that Little Midoriya likes!"
"What?" Collectively, the officers' heads swiveled to where Sasaki pointed.
"Oh NO!" Detective Kimura wailed. "She's even more precious than you said! She needs to be protected at all costs! Now we have two kids to watch over!"
"Are any of us in her group?" Sasaki asked, suddenly pouring over the paper.
"I am," Kondo said, "as well as Officer Tokusei."
Saito scoffed. "Enjoy Rock Lock, Tamakawa. I've heard he can be a nightmare."
"I'm in one of the other first year's groups," Sohma said. "Red Riot? That's the one that was on the news a while ago, wasn't it?"
"Eraserhead, weird hero name," Saito said. "Wait, Tsukauchi's done some work with him, right? He works at U.A.? He shouldn't be too bad, I think he knows Little Midoriya."
"Lemillion. U.A. might train the best heroes, but they don't pick the best hero names," Sasaki said. "It looks like Lemillion and Eraserhead will be working together, and I'm assigned to Lemillion, so we're basically partners!"
Detective Kimura shook her head. "Sir Nighteye really should have consulted one of us about these arrangements."
While Kimura admittedly participated in her fair share of antics at the station, she felt somewhat responsible for her officers as they were sent to their various groups. Saito and Sasaki in the same group was a disaster waiting to happen - if the yakuza base was destroyed, they probably wouldn't get fined for the damage, right?
This was her first mission back after becoming a mother, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. She couldn't help but worry over what would happen to her baby if she weren't able to come back, and the hero she was assigned to didn't necessarily inspire confidence.
He was a sweet kid, but he was a kid. Suneater was one of the most promising U.A. students, but he currently looked like a stiff wind would knock him down. It was a little painful to watch, actually, she just wanted to give him the confidence he should have at this point.
She'd heard great things about Fatgum and his little sidekicks from various police officers, and she hoped that they were able to live up to the hype. It still enraged her that hero students were allowed on such a dangerous case at all, and it was even more frustrating when Suneater asked that they leave him to deal with three upper-level yakuza alone, and the older heroes agreed.
Sure, Eraserhead had done quite a bit to help the kid, but Kimura wasn't about to leave the child, especially with Midoriya's express instructions ringing in her mind. For whatever reason the kid thought it was important not to be alone, and she trusted Midoriya more than was probably logical.
"Go on, I have this," Suneater said, not actually making eye contact.
"I believe you, but I'm not leaving you alone," Kimura said, strapping anything of value or of use to her body before buttoning her jacket. She'd read the files on the Eight Expendables, and she refused to help them in any way.
She recognized these three. Kimura couldn't remember their names, but she remembered the quirks with vivid accuracy: Crystallize, Larceny, and Food, which were all problematic in their own ways.
Eraserhead had knocked out the Food one, and it seemed like Suneater was handling the Crystallize one fairly well. Larceny was problematic, though, because he was so unpredictable. Kimura did as she'd agreed, hanging back for the most part as the fight progressed. It seemed the villains didn't even notice she was there, one of the advantages of being police.
People often underestimated the traditional methods of keeping the peace.
Suneater was being overwhelmed. The odds weren't great to begin with, and these were men with nothing to lose. She wanted to let the kid handle things, but when Larceny stole his food packs, Kimura's instincts were screaming to help the child.
"Hey blondie, catch this!"
Along with her shout, Kimura tossed her wallet at the startled man. While his eyes were trained on her wallet, she rushed him, roundhouse kicking him squarely in the chest. His shock made it easy to wrestle him into a pair of handcuffs, and the Food guy was only beginning to stir, so his were even easier to slap on.
By the time she'd retrieved her wallet, Suneater had finished things with the Crystallize man, and he was staring at the ground even more determinedly. "Th-thanks for your help."
"Don't worry about it, kid, you did well." Kimura couldn't resist ruffling his hair, even though he turned bright red at the action. She was going to say more when something shiny on the boy caught her eye.
Her hands grabbed his hand, covered in crystals. "Did you eat one of the crystals from that man's quirk? What if it was toxic, or poisonous or something? I understand your quirk, but you can't just go around eating everything you come across, it's not safe! What if you choked? You can't-"
Kimura cut off when a cough sounded from the doorway. Nakamura stood there, looking serious as ever. "Detective, I believe we should stop mothering the hero and catch up with the rest of the group."
"Ah," the detective said, turning the slightest bit red. "You're correct, Officer Nakamura. We should get going."
Suneater was a little slower to leave the room, instead looking at the ground like he wished it would swallow him without a trace.
"She's like that at the station, too, if it's any consolation," Nakamura said, not looking at the boy. "Detective Kimura just had a baby, so she's especially… maternal right now."
Sasaki knew that joining the police force was bound to come with a level of derision, especially considering what she looked like. Modelling agencies had tried recruiting her for years thanks to her "angel wings" granted to her from her quirk, and she was tiny all-around. Little Midoriya was already taller than her, which she was used to. People tended to be protective and demeaning, it was just a fact of her life.
She didn't need it from the heroes too, though.
Lemillion clearly had talent, he was a promising young hero that she was sure would break into the top ten in no time. But the second he smiled and told her that he would make sure she was safe, it had taken all of Sasaki's willpower not to claw his eyes out.
Their group was the largest thus far, delving directly into the compound to hopefully extract Little Midoriya and Eri. Sir Nighteye was acting like the police officers didn't exist, and Eraserhead seemed to be the only of the heroes who was communicating effectively with his team. Why did Gran Torino have to poach Detective Tsukauchi? Naomasa would have definitely kept everything in line, especially with Little Midoriya's life at stake.
Eraserhead and his team headed the group, and they were moving along fairly well until the building started moving like it was alive. Catching a glimpse of something in the distance, Lemillion ran off without even sparing a glance at the rest of them.
"I'm going to find Lemillion," Sasaki said to Eraserhead, wings unfurling. "He shouldn't be alone."
The hero nodded, and she was off.
She probably shouldn't have gone off alone, and finding him in the maze of the compound was a nightmare, but luckily Sasaki's quirk provided her with an… intuition when it came to directions.
She left her phone tracker on, knowing that Saito would direct Eraserhead. It took longer than she wished to find Lemillion, and when she did, he was just pacing in a length of hallway looking like he was in the middle of an existential crisis.
"You! You know that we were assigned teams for a reason, right?" she demanded. "What's wrong, why did you stop?"
"I… sorry about that, I got too caught up in my head, it won't happen again," Lemillion said, eyes downward.
Something had happened there, but there was no time to decide what brought about the change in the hero. "Come on, we should keep moving. It's not safe to stay-"
She was cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps. On instinct she positioned herself in front of Lemillion, wings fanned out and one hand on her gun.
"What's this? A police officer protecting a hero? How truly entertaining," a man in a long black trench coat said, waving around a gun. This would be the man with the Confession quirk.
A wave of dizziness hit Sasaki, and by the looks of things, it was effecting Lemillion as well. Ah, the drunk. She'd almost been looking forward to meeting this one.
"Officer, I can handle-"
Two gunshots ripped through the air, felling the drunk from the ceiling, and leaving the confession man - was he supposed to look like a priest? - collapsed on the ground clutching his leg.
Sasaki barely noticed the effects of the drunk's quirk fade. "Some people just don't know how to handle their alcohol."
If you asked the entire station who the least worried during missions was, they would probably agree that it was Kondo. If you asked who was the least serious during missions, they would doubtlessly say Saito.
During this mission, though, she couldn't find it in herself to joke.
She found herself on edge the entire time, Saito couldn't help but picture all of the things that could go wrong, all the ways that Little Midoriya could get hurt. Just for fun, her mind occasionally threw in the mental image of Inko sobbing over her son, but she needed to focus.
Admittedly, her role was fairly minimal for the most part. She directed Eraserhead according to Sasaki's directions, but she didn't engage with any of the yakuza. At least, she didn't until she saw Chisaki forcibly trying to dismantle Little Midoriya.
Her blood boiled, and Saito roared, "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" She had a vague recollection of propelling herself over the uneven floor, and then her fist was plowing into his esophagus.
She could only hope it made Little Midoriya proud.
A/N: Welcome back! I was really tempted to stop where Izuku sneezes on Overhaul, but Kit convinced me that that was too cruel. Anyway, this is the longest chapter of Detective Midoriya to date, which is partially thanks to the fact that my state was just recently quarantined for Coronavirus. I actually wrote this fairly quickly, and I would've had it out days ago, but I was lucky enough to help my family fix some of our septic pipes. In the words of my brother, it was a pretty crappy job.
I got more fanart! You can check it out on my tumblr (same handle as I have on here). Kit almost cried when I sent it to her. We also had some rousing debates on marginalization and the way it's handled in My Hero Academia. (In reality it was just me ranting at her and Kit telling me that I've been an English major for too long.) Why am I saying any of this? Who knows!
To get down to business, I'm going to write one more chapter before the time skip, and we all know what happens after that. I was wondering though, if you guys wanted anything extra. I could do a sort of Q&A, or a side story or something, or I could just go straight into the time skip. Let me know what you guys think, and I'll announce what's going on after next chapter! Keep yourselves and others safe, guys. Stay inside, read fanfiction, whatever it takes.