This was the type of thing Tenya Ida, better known to his co-workers and the community at large as the Turbo Hero: Ingenium, hated the most about his day. Still, he knew this had to be done.
Better to rip the bandage off quickly after all.
The young speedster towered over the intern in front of him, making the head of the Team Idaten hero agency wonder if he was ever that small while still in school. The boy in front of him was short but stocky, with a build of a wrestler that played well with his ability to absorb kinetic energy from the movement of his body. Effectively this quirk turned the hero student's body into a living cannonball. A unique quirk, to be sure, but how he used it had quickly become a problem.
"Care to tell me what happened during your patrol last night?" Tenya bore down on the younger man. His voice carried little anger but more than enough disappointment to let whoever heard him know he was serious.
"Sir..." the teenager paused, looking somewhat confused for a moment as he readjusted his footing." I captured the villain! He was..."
"You went off on your own." Tenya cut him off, the tone of his voice enough to silence the younger teen." You disregarded your seniors' orders and decided to chase after the criminal instead of helping the injured civilians. That's what you did."
"But.."
"And in your pursuit, almost caused a car accident and nearly killed the criminal you were chasing," Tenya said. He wasn't shouting, but that almost made the situation feel worse.
Tenya had reread the arrest, and hospital reports for everyone involved nearly a dozen times since the night before, memorizing every detail of the case. A gang of three well-known lowlifes, small-time crooks looking for a bigger than average score. With the added 15-year-old dropout, they had convinced to take part in the armed robbery that would be their shot into the "big time."
Everyone involved with the crime, e the hero, police, or victims, agreed that the fourth and far less willing member of the four-person crew was far less villainess than his partners. He was far more in over his head than his aggressive compatriots, freezing at the sight of violence while trying and failing to convince his partners to leave before something got out of hand.
The fact that the boy even dropped his weapon to surrender when the pro heroes arrived was also noted. But, with all that said, it was a surprise for Tenya to see that that boy was now in critical condition and by far the most injured of anyone involved with last night's escapades.
"What was I supposed to do? Let the villain go?" The boy shouted back, gaining whatever courage he had left to speak up to his superior." What kind of hero lets a villain go when he can stop them?"
"What kind of a hero brutalizes a quirkless teenager when he surrenders?" Tenya said, flopping the tablet showing the security footage down on the desk." Likewise, what kind of hero ignores the potentially lethal car accident he caused to do so?"
The boy stilled for a moment, clearly surprised at the knowledge that what he did was caught on camera when he did it. It seemed the hero commission was doing a far less robust job with the country's hero ethics since the overhaul five years prior. The outcome was staring at him now with a dumbfounded look plastered on his face.
"A shattered orbital bone, internal bleeding, and a fractured skull." Tenya rattled the list of injuries off, his voice getting louder with each word." So tell me, how does that amount of damage happen when dealing with an untrained and unarmed combatant? What happened to following the basic rules of conduct!"
"You could have killed someone out there by both your actions and inactions last night," Tenya shouted, shocking the intern a bit if going by the young man's face. It was the first time he had seen the engine hero speak like that to anyone, let alone him." Because of that, I am officially resending my internship offer to you. As well as sending in my recommendations to your school to remove you from the hero course."
"You can't do this!" the boy shouted, fear and anger morphing his face into something far less human than it was a moment ago." Not over some quirkless...
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Tenya cut him off with a shout. Loud enough for Tenya to know that whoever was in the agency office was now fully aware of what was happening." You're lucky no one died, so I don't have to report this to the police, but as far as I'm concerned, your career in this agency is done."
"Look, I'm sorry." the teenager said, his anger subdued and replaced with fear and apprehension. "I made a mistake, and I'm sorry for it! You have to believe me. You can't ruin my chances at being a pro because of a mistake!"
"I'm not ruining your life. If anything, I might be saving it," Tenya said, readjusting his glasses as he stared directly into the intern's eyes." You must learn that hero work isn't about capturing bad guys but protecting the innocent. Not everyone who breaks the laws is a villain, and not everyone who follows the rules is innocent."
"I understand, sensei," Tenya said as he straightened his posture to see if there was even a possibility that what the commission had said was true...
"Good," Eraserhead said with his usual stern tone of voice. Tenya could tell his teacher took these accusations seriously, which meant there was more to them than even Tenya could imagine." I want you to be careful around Midoriya until we have enough evidence to make our move."
"I.." Tenya paused as he remembered his friend standing over him. Izukus raw power shielding Tenya from the hero killer Stain just a few weeks prior. Some of him didn't believe that the same boy back then could do what he was accused of. But what if he was wrong? What kind of hero would Tenya be if he allowed his personal feelings to get in between justice?" I understand sensei."
Tenya watched as the intern left his office like a zombie. As if every ounce of energy and happiness had been drained from his body. It wasn't until Tenya drained his first glass of whisky from the bottle he kept hidden at the bottom of his desk that he was embruing his own thoughts and feelings onto others yet again.
It wasn't until he poured yet another drink from the quickly emptying bottle that he realized that today would be much longer than he thought when he woke up that morning.
A knock at his door took Tenya out of his thoughts, causing him to quickly down whatever remained in his glass and hid the evidence before he allowed someone to enter his office.
"Are you gonna let me in or not?" a familiar voice filled the room, causing Tenya to move towards the door faster than he would typically. He knew the consequences of leaving his girlfriend locked out of his office for more than a moment. "The coffee is getting cold!"
Mei Hatsume strolled into the room like she owned the place. Considering her position as a head support consultant for Team Idaten and her dating the owner, it was more or less accurate.
Besides, no one openly told Mei she couldn't do anything once she decided to do it. So if she wanted to have a quick breakfast with her boyfriend before she isolated herself in her lab for the next day and a half, then that's what she was going to do.
"You didn't have to do that." Tenya started, grabbing the loose bags of food from his girlfriend's hands, already trying to take whatever burden from her hands the best he could. "The doctor said.."
"Oh, zip it, legs," Mei said with a smile as she sat down in front of Tenyas desk with a smile on her face and a hand resting on her stomach. "I heard this enough from the Doc already. Just think of it as a little mommy-daughter time!"
Despite her annoyance, it was the first thing people noticed about Mei these days. But the woman was 8 months pregnant, and despite her insistence to the contrary, everyone Mei ran into these days seemed to only care about one thing about her. Not her latest inventions but her growing stomach. Tenya figured that if Mei had to stop working on her latest prototype over someone asking about the baby one more time, the engineer would kill someone.
What kind of random person asked strangers if they started lactating anyway?
It was a shock for Tenya when he discovered Mei's pregnancy. Mainly because, for his life, Tenya thought he took all the precautions he could regarding the private matters he and Mei had, but it seemed life had other plans.
If someone had told him, he would have been the first in his class to have a child so soon after school. He would have called them a liar and then told them it was unbecoming to be talking about that thing on school grounds. But here he was now, a month away from being a father.
Tenya said nothing as he watched his girlfriend and mother of his future child set up for their meal. She made room on the spotless and orderly desk for the omelets, and crisp slices of bacon and fish Mei must have prepared herself before making her way to his office.
Tenya remembered when he and Mei first got together that the engineer could barely make a sandwich without burning something to the ground. But say what you will about the president of Hatsume industries. When that woman set her mind to something, she didn't stop until she was the best at it.
His mother had been ecstatic when the pink-haired woman had asked her for cooking lessons. Not a day had passed since then that his mother didn't ask him when he was going to "Get off his backside and ask Mei to marry him."
"so I'm guessing your intern didn't work out, huh?" Mei said, cutting to the chase as was her habit. "I told you before that you should have gone for an intern from U.A. Every other school has kind of fallen off, you know?"
Mei, of course, was right. The two had had an animated discussion about Tenyas refusal to take an intern from his Alma mater. Even years after his graduation U.A. was still considered the best hero school in all of Japan...
Despite everything that happened.
"I'm sorry, Midoriya." Tenya spoke, the tone of his voice emotionless and robotic as he stared down at his shorter classmate." but perhaps we could hang out together some other time. I've already made prior arrangements."
"It's fine, Ida." the green-haired boy said, trying to hide whatever disappointment he must have felt with a smile. "It's just that everyone has been acting really strange these past few weeks. I just can't figure out why you know?"
Tenya said nothing as he watched the boy turn away from him. It was harder than Tenya thought it would be, but it was something he knew had to be done to protect the rest of the class.
They had all agreed to it of course. Until more information could be gathered about Izukus crimes, no one and Aizowa meant no one was allowed anywhere near Izuku without a faculty or commission agent nearby. A part of Tenya wished this didn't have to be the case, but that part felt smaller than it did at the beginning of the investigation the more evidence became uncovered.
Registered quirkless at age four.
No history of a Quirk until the day of their entrance exam.
A father whose entire identity was considered so off the grid, the more it seemed like the name Hisashi Midoriya was nothing more than an alias for a man who didn't want to be found.
The raw power behind his quirk that seemed almost supernatural sometimes.
Tenya bit his lip to stop himself from calling out to the boy as he disappeared into the crowd of faceless students. Despite knowing what he was doing was right, he couldn't help but feel a chill run up his spine as the words of his teachers and the hero commission representatives filled his ears.
"You okay, legs?" Mei asked, pausing to take another bite of her eggs as she looked at her boyfriend." Did I over salt the fish again?"
"No, it is fine."Tenya said before shoving a piece of his breakfast into his mouth, swallowing it without even chewing to convince his girlfriend there was nothing wrong with her latest cooking attempt." I just have a lot on my mind recently."
"You know if something is bothering you, you can tell me, right?" Mei said in a quiet voice, sounding far smaller than someone like Mei Hatsume had the right to ever sound like." So you don't have to stress out all by yourself, right?"
"I know..." Tenya responded, his eyes drifting away from the pink-haired woman. "It's nothing serious, I assure you. I just dont want you to stress more than you already do. With the baby..."
"Oh please," the support engineer said with a smirk as she placed a hand on her belly," This baby is already a tough cookie! Just like her momma."
Tenya smiled as he watched Mei smile, feeling his mood brighten slightly at the sight. Mei could always drag him out of a bad mood through sheer pigheadedness and willpower, an aspect of her personality that only seemed to grow as she got older.
"But since that intern of yours is a no-go, I can always shoot a message to power loader if you want. Mei said as she cracked open an energy drink, the one brand of energy drink in the country that was deemed "medically safe" for pregnant women." He owes me a couple of favors, and I'm sure there might be one or two first years not feeling their chosen internships."
Tenya sighed again at the mention of his former school, but the fact was that U.A. might be the last place he wanted to look for a possible intern. Even after graduating years ago, the wound of U.A. still lingered, like a cut refusing to scab over. He felt for the scar on his shoulder; the mark left him by the hero killer Stain back in his first year, feeling the long-since healed injury burn under his clothing.
It might have been far worse, he thought to himself, If it hadn't been for Izuku...
Tenya paused from his meal, the name bouncing off of each corner of his head as he silently stared back to the desk drawer where he kept his liquor bottle hidden away. Truth be told, there hadn't been a day in the past five years where Tenya didn't think of Izuku Midoriya. He was his best friend, after all.
Was his best friend...
"We don't have to talk about this now if you don't want to." Mei said, her voice sad as she looked down at her food plate, toying with a piece of green spinach she cooked into her eggs." I know it's hard for you, but..."
"Midoriya, please don't make this harder than it has to be." Tenya said, his voice slightly muffled from behind his hero uniform's metal face mask." Listen to the heroes and surrender yourself before any of us do something we might regret."
"Speak for yourself." a voice called out from Tenya's side, a voice he couldn't place but knew he had heard before." I'm just waiting for an excuse to put the traitor down!"
"Tenya. What's happening?" Izuku said as he repositioned his back against the wall. Whether out of fear or in an attempt to minimize the chances of someone sneaking up from behind him." Just tell me what this is all about! Whatever this is about, we can fix this!"
"The time for talking is over." Their teacher's voice spoke up from the crowd, his red eyes glaring onto the form of the now momentarily powerless hero student. "Just get on your knees and raise your hands over your head, or else we will have to treat you as an enemy combatant."
Tenya watched as Izukus eyes widened at the underground hero's words, looking towards anyone in the crowd in front of him for any semblance of emotion beyond anger and disgust. Iida watched as Izuku made a fist with his hands, green electricity radiating off his body despite their teacher's quirk being activated.
A rumble moved throughout the assembled heroes and students. This had to have been the power of All for One. A power that not even Eraserhead's quirk could hope to suppress. No typical quirk had this type of raw power after all. No natural quirk anyway
"I'm sorry, Midoriya." Tenya said as his engine roared to life, his classmates and teachers readying beside him." But you forced us to do this."
"If you want to talk about it." Mei answered as she placed her hand onto Tenyas own, forcing the taller man to look her in the eye as she stood over his seated form." I'm more than willing to listen."
Tenya sighed as he placed his hand into his girlfriend's, squeezing the woman's smaller hands as the thoughts in his head made the room swirl around him. Five years had already passed, and even the memory of what he did was still enough to make him want to crawl into a dark room and drink until he was a blubbering mess on the floor.
Tenya was going to answer her before his words were cut off by the ringing of his office phone. He usually didn't work Saturday mornings, only coming into the office this morning to handle the issue with his former intern. Unfortunately, it was also so early that the team Idaten agency wasn't officially open. Only a few early birds who wanted to get some Overtime pay at their desks.
Tenya was willing to let the phone ring, deciding that whatever the reason wasn't as important as spending time with Mei.
"You might want to pick that up." Mei said as she cracked open yet another energy drink," It's gotta be important for someone to call before your office is open, right?"
Tenya couldn't fault the logic as he reached over to pick up the ringing phone off his desk, catching the familiar voice on the other end of the line by surprise.
"I'm telling you he's not..." The voice said, speaking to another party in the background before he focused his attention back on Tenya when he heard the phone line connection." Oh shit, you are there! Hey, Iida, it's me, Kirishima!"
Tenyas felt his lips turn into a small smile as he listened to the golden retriever-like voice of the "Sturdy hero" Red Riot. It had been a long time since the two had talked. Still, Kirishima was one of the few members of his former class. They operated closely enough to Tenya that the occasional Team up wasn't an impossibility.
Or at least Kirishima was one of the few heroes from his former class who worked near Tenya that Tenya was willing to work with.
"Good morning Red Riot." Tenya said in his practiced and professional tone of voice, ignoring the smirk on his girlfriend's face as he did so." What can I do for you?"
"It, Katsuki." Kirishima said, his voice becoming a low whisper as he spoke like he was telling Tenya some grand secret." Something happened to him last night, and he's in the hospital."
Tenya stiffened as he listened to the redhead's words, squashing down the intense distaste Tenya felt for the explosive quirk user as he did so. It wasn't a secret that the two never got along well in school. Whatever relationship they could have had become unsalvageable by the time they graduated. The two barely spoke more than a few sentences to one another in the Class A reunions they attended these past 5 years. But whatever dislike Tenya felt for the man, Tenya wasn't the type to wish misery on anyone, especially a fellow hero.
"What happened?"
"Here's the thing. I don't actually know." Kirishima's voice spoke up again, evident distress and confusion tinting each word out of his mouth." He says he's fine, but beyond that, he's not saying much. So doctors are going to release him this afternoon."
"That's good." Tenya said, readjusting his glasses, a habit he formed whenever he thought he was waiting on bad news." Whatever injury he received isn't something to worry about..."
"Katsuki wasn't injured by a villain." Kirishima's voice spoke back up, interrupting Tenyas line of thought with yet another surprise." He wasn't on patrol last night. The EMTs that brought him in said he just sort of started freaking out at a crime scene and was rushed to the nearest emergency room."
That was certainly odd. Say what you wanted about Katsuki Bakugo. He wasn't the type to react in such an extreme manner for no reason. Whatever had been the cause of something like this had to have been serious.
"The Doctors say he's fine, and the only thing Bakugo is saying beyond that to me is that he needs to tell everyone something vital." Kirishima paused, Tenya almost imagining the man turning his head to ensure no one was listening in before finishing." It's kind of freaking me out, to be honest."
"Let me guess. Katsuki asked you to call me because he wasn't sure I'd pick up the phone if it was him?"
"Bingo, Class President." Despite the situation, Kirishima still managed to find his sense of humor." Todoroki says he might be able to make an appearance as long as you were going. But Uraraka..."
"I can't say I'm surprised," Tenya said, thinking of the last time the gravity and explosion user was in the same room as the other. The memory of brown eyes full of tears was enough to swear off another one of Mina's get-togethers for a while, or else he would put Neito through a wall." I don't exactly know what Bakugo wants to talk about, but it might be for the best if we leave Ochako out of it right now."
"Yeah..." the voice on the other line drifted off like Kirishima was thinking along the same line as Tenya was for a brief moment." So that might be for the best after all."
The conversation paused for a moment, the same way every exchange broke for Tenya whenever he spoke with one of his former classmates, even for the ones he kept in contact with and still considered his close friends. However, the unspoken topic that seemed to weigh on everyone's minds seemingly came to the service whenever one spoke to another.
It was...hard for Tenya to keep in touch with his former classmates. For a while, Tenya thought of them like a second family, an admission that only made him want to weep at what tore them all apart.
Kirishima didn't have to say a word for Tenya to know the redhead was thinking about Izuku at that moment. God knew Tenya was.
"I'll see you soon, Kiri," Tenya said, ending the conversation before one of them broke their class's unspoken agreement. We should do something soon, you know, something that doesn't involve villains and hospital visits."
"Yeah." Kirishima said awkwardly but honestly as the phone call ended." I'd like that."
Tenya stood motionless for a few moments, just listening to the sound of his phone's dial tone as he hung up. For some reason, Tenya couldn't get over the strange feeling that filled his gut about what was about to happen, like a cow being led to slaughter.
"Well, that sounds ominous." Mei said with a small smile as she tried to ease the tension she saw growing on her boyfriend's face." Anything serious?"
"Just a bad feeling." Tenyas answered honestly, seeing no reason to lie to his girlfriend." But, unfortunately, Bakugo is in the hospital."
"Oh shit."
"He's fine, according to Kirishima anyway," Tenya said as he took a bite out of his thankfully still warm eggs before plating another piece of fried fish onto his plate. "Apparently, he has something he wants to tell our old class."
"Hasn't he heard of texting?"
"I guess he thinks it is serious enough that he wants to tell it all to our faces." Tenya said as she took a huge sip of his orange juice, downing the entirety of the bottle in a single gulp." It has been a while since we've all been in the same room..."
But they won't be all together, will they?
A part of him wanted to call Ochako. The last thing he wanted to do was leave the woman out of the loop despite her distaste and growing aversion for her ex-boyfriend. But something stopped him. Whatever had happened, Ochako would find out eventually. That always seemed to be the case whenever a new detail appeared in one of their lives.
Tenya just hoped that whatever Bakugo wanted to say was worth whatever drama would sprout from this.
Turns out I got a lot of weird Private messages about me choosing to imply Ochako and Bakugo were in a relationship. Some people hated it and some people demanded I make them end game. So to put it to rest right here and now, Romance will not e a huge factor in this story. I'm not good at writing it and I think pairings and shipping distract from this type of story.
However, I will say the same thing to you as the people telling me to never write gay ships. The more you tell me not to do something, the more I am likely to do it out of spite.
I hope whoever read this enjoyed it and if you did check out some of my other stories. They're bad but they're bad in the same way this story is, so they might be up your alley. Leave a review and favorite or follow or whatever else you crazy kids and your fancy smartphones do nowadays.
If you'll want to throw a tip in my direction, KO-FI At whoinvitedthatguy. It is greatly appreciated if yu choose, no worries if you can't