"I'm home" Ochako announced as she walked through the door. It had been another long day with hero work. It just felt like more and more villains was popping up. In fact, crimes were at an all-time high compared to the last 8 years. Something that was worrying her ever so slightly.
"Hi mom" Eri replied from the couch. She was looking at a news broadcast. They were talking about the recent rise in crime. Then one of the news anchors started to speculate if it had any connection with the phoenix revolution.
Ochako quickly walked over to the couch, picked up the remote and turned off the TV.
"Mom" Eri said in a mildly annoyed tone. "You can't keep turning off the TV whenever they mention something related to dad. I know you like to remember his good side, but he still made the revolution" She said.
"Whatever has happened to that revolution now has nothing to do with your father. And it doesn't help to listen to mere rumours. They have been inactive ever since…" Ohcako said and took a deep breath. "You know…that day" She added with a quiet voice. "Anyway" Ochako said, quickly returning to her usual self. "Did you pick up Koshiro?" She asked. "I hope it wasn't too burdensome"
"It's fine. I'm glad to help wherever I can. He is in his room upstairs playing with his toys" Eri replied.
"Thank you" Ochako said and began walking towards the room.
"Oh, just as a warning. He seemed a bit aloof when I went to pick him up. He wouldn't tell me anything. Said he wanted to talk to you" Eri explained.
"Alright. I'll see what I can do" Ochako replied before walking away.
After walking up the stairs and to the door labelled "Koshiro" Ochako gave a quick knock before opening the door. "Hi Koshiro" She said as she saw her son playing with his toys. "Did you have a fine day at school?" Ochako asked.
"It was fine, I guess" Koshiro replied. He laid down his toys and turned around, showing his face to Ochako. It was easy that this was Izuku's son. Koshiro had freckles on his face, similar to his fathers, and the same unruly hair. Luckily for Ochako, the only green Koshiro had inherited from Izuku had been the eyes, his hair had the same shade of brown as hers'. Something that had saved her from the already speculative press back when she announced her pregnancy. Though, the quirklessness had caused some attention later on.
"You may say that, but your face says something else" Ochako said. Koshiro was a kind boy who usually had an aura of happiness around him. But now he looked more sad than anything else. "Did something happen?" Ochako asked.
"No" Koshiro answered. "It's just that…" He said, but trailed off. "What was dad like?" He asked quietly.
The question caught Ochako a bit off guard. While she had told some details before, she knew the day would come when Koshiro would want to know more. However, Ochako didn't feel ready to answer that question. Koshiro was still young, she couldn't tell him about everything Izuku did. Both because of what Izuku did and because Koshiro was too young to fully understand.
"Tell him the truth mom" Eri said, having managed to sneak up to the room. "I was younger than him when dad saved me" she added before Ochako could protest.
"Fine" Ochako said with a sigh. "Go back downstairs. I'll tell him" she added. Eri seemed satisfied with that left the mother and her son alone. "Follow me. I need to find something" Ochako said and began walking towards her room with Koshiro following behind.
Once in her room, Ochako began searching through her wardrobe while Koshiro sat down on her bed. Eventually, she found what she was looking for and pulled out a small box. "Here it is" Ochako said with a gentle smile and sat down next to Koshiro. "I guess it is time I tell you about your father" She said. She pulled out a picture she had gotten from Inko of Izuku as a little kid. "Your father was very similar to you when he was little. Kind, happy and quirkless…" Ochako began, with Koshiro listening closely.
Ochako told her son about everything. From Izuku growing up and being bullied, to him turning into the leader of a revolution and his final sacrifice to end All for one. She didn't share every detail though. There was still things that wouldn't be fitting to tell Koshiro about. Izuku's experiments and the cruel ways he could come up with to kill people for example. But still there was so much for Ochako to tell Koshiro about. At the end she felt like a weight she didn't know existed had been lifted off her.
"Mom, you're crying" Koshiro pointed out.
"I am?" Ochako wondered and dried away a few tears she didn't know was there. "I guess I was" she muttered. "Anyways. Do you feel better now?" Ochako asked.
"Yes. Thanks" Koshiro replied. "I just wish I could have met him" he added.
"I wish that too, and so did he. But I had just gotten pregnant with you when he passed away" Ochako said and gave a comforting hug to Koshiro. "But there is this one place we could visit. I spread some of his ashes there. We could take a trip there this weekend" She said. "Maybe even bring along grandma Inko" She suggested.
"Can't we just go now?" Koshiro asked.
"It's a long way to travel there. It's too late today, and I got work tomorrow and the day after. But in the weekend we can go. I promise" Ochako replied.
"Yay!" Koshiro exclaimed and began running towards his room as Ochako looked on him with a smile. "Oh, and one more question" he added before he disappeared into the hallway. "Where do babies come from?" Koshiro asked.
Ochako's smile immediately dropped and her face turned red. "That conversation will wait until you're older" She replied sternly.
"Okay" Koshiro said before running into his room and closing the door. Leaving behind a flustered Ochako.
Later that night, Ochako was awakened from her sleep by an alarm going off on her phone. "What is it now?" She mumbled half asleep. She reached out her hand and grabbed her hand to see what it was. Once Ochako saw what the alarm was about, she quickly shot up from bed. "A meeting? Now!?" She exclaimed quietly, careful not to wake Eri and Koshiro. She quickly change into her hero costume and headed towards the location of the meeting.
After multiple wrong turns, Ochako eventually made her way to the designated conference room. Inside she could recognize several people. Some she had worked with before and some were former classmates. Even Aizawa was there, napping in his yellow sleeping bag. Ochako found a vacant seat next to Bakugo and sat down.
"Do you know what is happening?" Ochako asked the explosive hero.
"Does it look like I know shit?" Bakugo replied sarcastically. "I just hope it is quick so that I can get back to sleep" He added, clearly agitated from the interrupted sleep.
More time passed with nothing but low murmurs between various heroes, wondering why they had been summoned so late. Eventually something happened when Tsukauchi entered the room, followed by to men in black suits.
"I'm sorry that you were all summoned at this time, and that you had to wait" Tsukauchi said as panel in the wall opened up, revealing a screen. "I wasn't the one who summoned this meeting.
"Then who fucking did?" Bakugo asked aggressively.
"The US. Specifically their quirk investigation agency, also known as QIA" Tsukauchi replied. "They have found information about the phoenix revolution" He explained, gaining everyone's full attention. Even Aizawa got out of his sleeping bag. "I'll let them explain" Tsukauchi said and moved aside.
One of the men in suits walked up and began talking in Japanese with a heavy English accent. "About a month ago the QIA sent one of our heroes, Gaia, to I-island to investigate some suspicions related to smuggled items on the island. To the public it seemed like a normal PR trip. Then, just 3 days ago, while looking for leads at the dock, she came across this" The man explained before the other one turned on the screen and began showing the footage from a body cam.
"It should be around here" The hero mumbled as the screen showed her walking amongst stacks of containers. "A green contained with a phoenix on it. Shouldn't be too hard" She added as she turned around another corner. And as if one cue, she found a green container with a small phoenix painted on it.
Gaia went to open the container when something large suddenly busted out from the neighbouring container and tackled her. What followed was a very shaky and unstable footage showing just small clips as the hero fought the creature that had attacked her. The creature was quickly recognised by the people in the meeting room as a nomu. An unnatural dark skin, lifeless eyes and an exposed brain.
Eventually, Gaia seemed to come out on top. The footage turned more stable and showed the nomu encased in vegetation that had grown from the ground.
"What the fuck was that?" Gaia asked herself, sounding like she spent a lot of power during the fight. She then returned her attention back to the container. Gaia slowly opened the container, keeping a watchful eye for another nomu. However, she didn't pay enough attention to what was actually inside the container.
"Such a shame. We only got a few left now" An unknown female said in Japanese from inside the container. The voice sounded familiar to Ochako. Something was then briefly glistening in the mysterious person's hand before Gaia was suddenly knocked back. She was pinned to the opposite container by something outside of the camera's view.
"Who hell are you?" Gaia asked as she tried to get loose.
"Who we are is not important to you" A second person said in English, this time a male. The figure could be heard walking closer to the pinned hero before he entered the frame. Ochako let out a small gasp as she recognized the red and white hair. "We have no business with Americans" Todoroki said with a cold look.
The first person the walked out from the container, finally showing her face. But what else was in the container, was still obscured by shadows. "What should do about her? We don't know what she may have seen" Mushou asked in Japanese as she twirled one of her throwing knifes.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. But I won't let you villain's get away" Gaia hissed and managed to tear herself off from the container.
But before Gaia could attack, Todoroki simply released a wave of fire, sending the hero back in a scream of agony. This move also caused the body cam to fall of Gaia and fall to the ground. Showing for only a split second what was inside the container, or at least a glimpse of it. The footage was blurry and shaky, only showing something giving off a pale white light.
"I'm afraid you're a bit unlucky with your match up" Todoroki said as he calmly walked out of the frame and towards the injured hero. "I'll try to make it quick" He said before a roar of fire could be heard along with a short scream.
"Why would an American hero investigate us?" Mushou wondered once the fire died down.
"I don't know. Could just be that we were caught up during a different investigation" Todoroki replied.
"Yeah" Mushou said. She then caught the attention of the still functioning body cam. "Shit. We need to hurry up the transfer" She muttered before quickly stomping on the body cam, ending the footage.
"Tsukauchi told me you should all be aware of who the attackers in the footage were. Therefore I will go ahead with what we know" One of the agents said once the footage finished. "A team was sent a few hours after the footage ended. The remains of Gaia's body was found but nothing else. The nomu and the container had disappeared along with Todoroki and Mushou" He explained.
"Just get to the fucking point. I won't sit here if all you got to say is that the revolution showed up just to disappear again" Bakugo interjected, making the agent slightly annoyed.
"I'm getting to it" The agent grumbled. "The only way a container could get off I-island within that timeframe would be via a cargo ship. Unfortunately, that night was a particularly busy one. There were 6 different ships that left that night between this footage and the team arriving there a few hours later. Luckily, 4 of these ships are unlikely candidates due to their destinations taking them further away from Japan. The last two however are both heading for port in Japan. The primary suspect is the Norwegian the container ship Angvik. 2 days ago after having left I-island, it scheduled a new and previously unplanned stop in Osaka. Even if none of the registered cargo needs to go there" He explained. "Therefore we recommend a joint task force to-" the agent began, but was cut off.
"It's a trap" Aizawa stated, interrupting the agent. "These people have been one step ahead of us all the time. Not to mention staying completely invisible of 8 years. Something this obvious isn't a mistake they would make. It's either a diversion or a trap to kill off any pursuers" He explained, with murmurs of agreement coming from the other heroes.
"Everyone makes mistakes eventually. And we know they had to hurry up because of Gaia, increasing the chance of making mistakes" The agent argued. "Besides, a sudden change in destination must mean that the crew has been threatened. Which would mean that we have a hostage situation on our hands" He explained.
"I see your point" Tsukauchi said. "I'll talk with a team of hero coordinators and make a taskforce that will head out to the ship. But the main goal will be determining if it is a hostage situation and if so, rescue the crew. Locating and securing the container comes after that" He stated, leaving no room for discussion.
"Our agency can agree to that" The agent replied.
"Good" Tsukauchi said with a small bow. "Everyone else can go back home. You'll be summoned tomorrow if needed" He said. The heroes then began walking out of the meeting room.
"Aizawa is right. It'll be a trap" Bakugo grumbled to Ochako.
"But if it is a hostage situation we need to do something" Ochako said.
"For all we know, the crew could be in on it" Bakugo suggested.
"The crew of a Norwegian cargo ship? Why would they be a part of the revolution?" Ochako asked.
"I don't know. I just got a bad feeling about this" Bakugo replied.
The conversation the turned silent as the heroes started heading their separate ways back home. Except Aizawa who was still on his shift.
Around the same time, a certain white-haired woman with a single horn was walking through a dark alley. She was muttering as she tried to find the way.
"You got to stop doing this" A familiar voice said from behind the girl, making her jump "You know I won't let you join" He said quite calmly.
"Don't walk up on my like that Dabi" Eri said, still recovering from the jumpscare Dabi caused. "And why not? I'm 19 now. Todoroki, Mushou and not to mention dad was younger when they started" She wondered.
"You're the one who's following clues into dark alleys" Dabi retorted. "And I won't let you join because I can't" He said. "Normally I would let you join. You're old enough and you have the devotion. It's just that…" He admitted before trailing off. "Your father left us a few orders before he passed away. Amongst those was an order to keep you, your brother, grandma and Uravity away from the revolution as long as it was feasible" Dabi explained.
"But dad is gone. He's been gone fore 8 years" Eri stated. "Can't you make an exception?" She asked.
"I can't. There are other factors in play right now" Dabi answered.
"What factors?" Eri wondered.
"I can't tell you. But if everything goes to plan then things might change" Dabi replied. "Until then, stay away from the revolution. Live a normal life with Uravity and your brother" He said and began walking away. "A life I didn't get" He added in sombre tone as he disappeared into the shadows. Leaving behind a confused Eri.
A/N: I don't really have much to say this chapter. School has begun now. So while I'll try to release at least one chapter a week in the future, I won't guarantee it. Also, a huge thank you to all the positive feedback on the first part. I was up in the clouds. Anyways, I'm hoping you're all having a wonderful day. Goodbye.