Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida
46. False Masks
"A man who trusts everyone is a fool and a man who trusts no one is a fool. We are all fools if we live long enough."
― Lews Therin, The Wheel of Time
The next morning Izuku was up early, hitting the gym with Mei and some of the others, then a quick breakfast and over to Endeavor's Agency. He headed to the conference room, picking up the day's schedule and assignments.
"Looks like you and I got early street patrol," Shinso said as he looked over his own schedule. "Great, now I can be overshadowed by the giant walking tin can."
"I think I'm just going to use the Power Suit," Izuku said. "It's more personable and easier to approach than the Ultra Armor."
"So I'll be overshadowed by a small tin can. That somehow doesn't feel better," Shinso sighed. Izuku knew him well enough now just to smile and go get changed.
"I'm heading out on patrol," he told Mei as he jogged into the support area. "I'll be taking the Power Armor this time I think, shouldn't need the Ultra Armor."
"Good, I'll take the time to do maintenance on it," Mei agreed, coming over and giving Izuku a quick kiss. "Our baby was pretty beat up from your fight with Iceman and I haven't finished with it yet. Hari's on command duty, she'll keep you safe."
Mei helped Izuku take off his prosthetic and load into the Power Suit, which had a detachable arm in the latest model. That way, Izuku could take it with him if the rest of the suit was damaged, but he didn't have to worry about damaging his regular use arm.
"I'll see you when I get back," Izuku said, giving Mei a hug, then jogging out of the Support Bay. He found Shinso waiting for him, already dressed in his costume.
"We're supposed to patrol downtown and through the business district," Shinso said, tapping at his phone then tucking it away. "Hari's got a route set up for us. You ready?"
"Yeah, let's go," Izuku agreed. "Can you hear me, Hari?"
"Loud and clear. You two keep your eyes open. Word is, the MLA is pissed at us right now," Hari warned.
"Of course," Izuku agreed. "We'll just put on a show. Who's on standby today?"
"Endeavor's out with Shoto on a father son bonding mission. Friggin' finally! Been telling that stubborn fool he needed to spend some more time with his dad. He wanted to bring someone else along but thank God Momo talked some sense into him. Anyway, her, Ochako, and Bakugo are on standby with Burnin for now. Mina and Mashirao are on deck for patrol after you, along with Tsu and Rocky."
"Got it, we'll let you know if anything comes up," Izuku promised.
The patrol was a routine now for Izuku and Shinso. A major part of it was just making the presence of the heroes felt on the street. With rising violence and crime, along with attacks by the League of Villains and the Meta Liberation Army fresh in people's minds, it was becoming harder and harder to keep the peace. As was quickly evidenced.
"We've got a report of a robbery at the corner store a block ahead of both of you," Hari reported only 20 minutes into their patrol. "I'm on the line with the police, they say early indicators are at least three robbers, and a driver. At least one mutant type, quirks unknown."
"On it!" Izuku said, grabbing Shinso under the arms and lifting off into the air. They flew the short distance, to where Izuku could hear shouts and screams ahead of them. There was a dingy white truck illegally parked in front of a gas station, with a masked man with three odd red blade-like horns coming out of his forehead.
"We see them," Shinso reported. "We'll handle this. Hey you! You can't park there!" Shinso shouted as Izuku dropped him towards the truck.
"Screw you man, we're Team-" the driver fell silent, his eyes glazing over as Shinso rolled onto the ground, Izuku landing beside him.
Unfortunately, his companion, a man in a blue headband with long ears pointed ears, smacked him hard immediately, breaking Shinso's control. "Shit! Heroes! Yellow, hurry the hell up!"
Shinso flicked out his capture weapon, grabbing red while he was still disoriented, and jerking him roughly out of the van. "Should have worn your seatbelt!"
Izuku rushed the criminal in the blue headband, who dove away into the store.
"Back off man, I'll kill this girl, swear to god I will!" the man babbled, reaching for a little girl with blue hair who was clinging to her father, who wore a medical face mask and dark gloves. They were both standing to the side, while a large mutant type villain with a yellow pointed nose was ripping an ATM out of the ground.
Before the long eared villain could grab the girl though, the man in the medical mask grabbed onto his arm. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, friend," the man said quietly. "I wasn't going to intervene, but if you try to hurt her-"
"Screw you!" a fourth villain, this one green mask and red hair shouted, raising a gun, pointing at the man trying to defend his child.
Izuku didn't think, he just reacted. He fired his laser out of the palm of his hand, slicing it clean through the villains arm. He screamed in pain as his forearm and gun clattered to the ground, clutching at his stump that was spurting blood.
"What?" the yellow mutant said, spinning around. He saw Izuku, and swung the ATM he was carrying with both hands at him. Izuku braced himself to take the hit, interposing himself between the man who was still struggling with blue.
Instead of connecting with Izuku, however, the ATM dissolved into smoke, passing harmlessly through Izuku when the civilian man reached out and touched it. Then it reformed, crashing through the window of the gas station and tumbling into the street, narrowly missing several cars.
Izuku didn't pay attention to that though. He fired a stream of capture foam at yellow, who cried out and tried to struggle against the substance, only for it to harden and trap him. Then he spun to help the civilian, only to find blue lying on the ground and groaning, the man standing over him, his gloves on the ground. His daughter was weeping, clutching to her father, her face hidden.
"There there, it's alright, Eri," the man said, picking the girl up. "Don't worry, we'll still get you a treat. This hero saved us. Do you recognize him? It's the Quirkless Hero, Power Suit. Remember? Izuku Midoriya?"
"I mean, I helped too," Shinso said. He was standing over green, having handcuffed him and was administering first aid. "Everything good?"
"I think so," Izuku said, stooping to spray blue down with capture foam as well. No need to take chances. He looked up at the man. "Thanks for your help. Don't worry about the police, I'll let them know you just used your quirk to save me."
"I was just taking out the trash," the man said. He glanced at green, his eyes crinkling in disgust. "I suppose I could help him as well, but perhaps he deserves to be punished."
Izuku briefly glanced at his own arm. "If you can somehow help him not lose the arm… do it. Speaking as someone who's lost an arm himself, that's not something I'd wish on anyone."
"Hmm. Eri, do you think I should help him? He did scare you," the man asked his daughter.
Eri nodded, looking up briefly to glance at Izuku, then burying her face in the man's shoulder again.
"If you say so, I do so hate blood," the man muttered. He walked over, picking up the severed hand, and tossing aside the gun.
"Hey! Don't touch that, it's evidence, and they might be able to reattach it!" Shinso barked.
"Relax, I'm going to help this worthless scum," the man said. He placed green's detached arm on the stump, then passed his free hand over it. Amazingly, the arm immediately reattached itself. Green stopped screaming, staring in amazement at his hand.
"What, how?" the criminal gasped.
Instead of answering, the man viciously kicked green in the jaw, causing him to spit out a tooth and fall over, groaning.
"Hey!" Shinso snarled, standing and readying his capture weapon. "Sir, I need you to calm down!"
"Mister, I need you and your daughter to step outside," Izuku ordered. "We appreciate your kindness, but the violence is uncalled for."
"I'm sorry. I just got a little carried away is all," the man said, going over to the counter. He set his daughter down on it, then carefully used some napkins to wipe the blood from his hands. "I'll be in the bathroom. I need to wash. Eri, stay here. The heroes will keep you safe."
The little girl nodded, putting her hands in her lap and looking down, clearly still terrified. The man went into the back, and a moment later Izuku heard the sound of running water.
"The heck is up with him?" Shinso grumbled. He glanced at Izuku and shrugged. "Oh well. At least this was an easy one."
"Yeah." Izuku went over to the girl, removing his helmet and tucking it under his arm. He smiled at the girl. "Hey there. I'm Midoriya, the Quirkless Hero, like your dad said. You were very brave, Eri."
Eri suddenly looked up, her eyes wide. Her hair was blue and puffy, a bit like Shinso's actually, but she had a single horn growing out of her head on the right side. Tears filled her eyes, and she suddenly leapt into Izuku's arms.
"Keep me safe," she whispered. "Please."
"Shhh, hey, it's OK," Izuku whispered, giving the girl a gentle squeeze. "You and your dad are alright. The police will be here soon."
"Ok," Eri said, nodding quickly. "I hope I'm helping."
Izuku chuckled. "You were a big help, you and your dad. He really saved me."
"That's good. I want to help you, and be a hero too someday," Eri said.
"Eri? You're not bothering the heroes, are you?" the man asked, coming out of the restroom and pulling on his gloves again.
"She's no trouble at all, sir," Izuku said, handing Eri back to her father. She seemed reluctant to go at first, but with a stern look from him she quickly jumped into his arms. "Thanks again."
"Holy hell, Overhaul?!"
Izuku turned to see an older, somewhat overweight policeman looking at the man, sweat dripping down his face.
"It's Chisaki," the man said firmly. "I'm glad it's you, Wairo. I was a bit worried things could get awkward. I was just out with Eri. She's not been feeling well, and I told her she'd earned a treat for her hard work. Then these idiots tried to rob the store. Thankfully, these brave heroes were nearby. I'm glad I finally got to see the Quirkless Hero in action myself. He's Eri's favorite, you know."
Izuku glanced at the girl, who was wearing long sleeves and pants. He noticed bulges under the sleeves that had to be some sort of bandage. Was she sick, or suffering from a disease? He decided now wasn't the time to ask.
"Yeah, I guess so," the officer said, shaking his head. "Look, you two get in my cruiser. I'll um, handle you myself."
"Thank you," Chisaki said. He paused, extending a gloved hand to Izuku. "Thank you for helping us. I greatly admire your work. It gives me hope for a better world. One where Eri can live in peace."
Eri nodded, tears coming to her eyes. "Don't let the Meta Liberation Army stop you! Their quirks are bad, just like them!"
"I don't think anyone's quirk is bad, Eri," Izuku said gently. "Just how it's used."
"No," Eri huffed, looking away. "Quirks are bad. My quirk is bad. I wish they didn't exist!"
"Shhh, don't say anything else. We'll go with Officer Wairo, and we'll find a way to get your treat. You've been working very hard, and this was a tough day. But daddy will take care of everything," Chisaki promised.
Eri nodded, resting her head on Chisaki's shoulder, silent tears leaking down her face. The policeman took them outside to his waiting cruiser, where he gently put them inside. To Izuku's surprise, the officer drove off after getting in. Maybe Eri had a delicate medical condition and needed to go to the hospital? It wasn't his job to second guess the police, so he didn't worry about it.
A short time later, the rest of the police force arrived, but when Izuku described the incident and the witnesses, the sergeant made a disgusted noise. "You let Wairo take the witnesses? Christ, this is going to be a mess. You say he called this man, Chisaki, Overhaul?"
"Um, yes, is that an issue? He showed his identification and it checked out," Izuku said nervously, giving the sergeant Wairo's badge number.
The Sergeant frowned and scratched at himself irritably. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I'll just have to talk to him later is all."
"What about this Chisaki and his daughter, Eri?" Shinso asked. "Are they an issue?"
"Well the name Overhaul rings a bell, can't recall where though," the sergeant said, shaking his head. "But they seem like they were innocent enough. He just used his quirk to save you and the girl, right? Perfectly natural, but we're gonna have to fill out a ton of paperwork for it. And he put this punks arm back on? Weird, but rendering emergency aid is fine too. Still a bunch of paperwork. Oh well. You two just make sure to fill out the forms we send you, but Endeavor's agency has been pretty good about that lately. Thanks for the help."
With that, Izuku and Shinso headed back out on patrol, heading towards the business district. Stopping the robbery was sadly routine, and simply meant they'd have more forms to fill out when they got back to the agency.
"You get a weird vibe off the girl and her father?" Shinso asked as they walked along the street, watching for further crimes.
"I think Chisaki had some form of OCD or something, he was very bothered by the blood and he wore gloves and a mask," Izuku said. "Eri was sick with something, maybe she has a form of OCD as well?"
"Is that anything like autism?" Shinso asked curiously. "Just wondering, he did remind me a bit of Mei with his little twitches. Did you see how he kept scratching and rubbing at himself?"
"Um, maybe, I don't know much about it," Izuku admitted. "But they seemed nice enough. I wonder why Officer Wairo hauled them off so fast, or why he called Chisaki Overhaul? Maybe he was a former hero?"
"I've never heard of him. I thought you were the expert on obscure heroes," Shinso said.
"Even I don't know every hero and sidekick that's in Japan, or even in Tokyo, there's hundreds of them," Izuku said. "He seemed to have a powerful quirk though, I wonder why he's not active anymore?"
"That's above my paygrade," Shinso laughed, then pointed to a ramen stand. "Hey, let's stop there and grab a bite to eat. I'm starving."
"Sure," Izuku agreed. They had a pleasant visit with the stand owner, Izuku signing an autograph for his daughter, and chatting with him and the other customers. Endeavour encouraged Izuku and the other interns to take time to socialize with the civilian populace, making themselves more affable and personable. They listened to a few complaints, but the business district mostly had to worry about white collar crime, which wasn't something heroes got involved in.
They were just about to leave, when Shinso suddenly froze. He was watching a man walk into one of the businesses, his eyes wide. Izuku was about to ask what the problem was, when Shinso quickly turned away.
"Hari, do we have access to the information from the phone we retrieved from the raid," Shinso asked as he hurried along the sidewalk, Izuku having to jog to keep up.
"Sure, what were you looking for?" Hari asked.
"Do a search for the numbers 19 dash 2000," Shinso said quickly.
"Huh, that number keeps popping up in the phone's records, but we're not sure what it means," Hari replied.
Shinso shook his head, grimacing. "It's the address for the headquarters of Feel Good Inc. Street 19, building number 2000. Weren't we having a hard time tracking the MLA's communications? If they were using Feel Good's network, we'd never find a trace of them, they'd obscure it."
"Well, that's not really proof," Hari said slowly. "But we could investigate."
"I just saw a goon identical to one of the ones we fought inside the laundromat, one of the ones who melted since they'd been made with a replication quirk. He walked into Feel Good Inc. I think this could blow the case wide open."
"Alright. You two get back here. I'll call up Endeavor. This could be big for us," Hari said excitedly. "We'll see if we can find any more references to Feel Good Inc on that phone."
Izkuku and Shinso both broke into a rapid trot, heading towards Endeavor's headquarters.
"We just might nail Re-Destro and take down the MLA once and for all," Shinso said, his tombstone grin predatory. "Feel Good Inc would be just the sort of money and influence the MLA could hide behind. We'll do just Endeavor said. We'll burn them out."