Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Vlad King's Green Bean
Chapter thirty-four: Give back the girl, villains! (Part five)
Ryukyu, backed by her interns Izuku, Uraraka, and Nejire, was able to pull out all captured villains in the immediate area of the Shie Hassaikai hideout, about ten men in total. The interns had knocked out the ones that were still awake, not really wanting to deal with hearing their boasts on how 'their soon to be new boss' will rescue them. After setting the knocked out thugs outside, Ryukyu and her interns went about rousing as many of the knocked out heroes as they could, succeeding in rousing only Endeavor's intern Bakugo; the other heroes, as well as all police, were still out of it, save for a small handful of police too injured to be of much help.
To the immediate relief of Ryukyu and her interns, though, none of the heroes or police had been killed. Bakugo himself had expressed surprise over how he survived being attacked by Felgrand of all folks, immediately knowing full well he's only alive because the dragon villain decided not to kill him. As prideful as he tended to be, not even the explosive teen was going to let him 'surviving being attacked by Felgrand' fool him into thinking that he's stronger than before. All that was on Bakugo's mind was helping Ryukyu and her interns keep an eye on things with the knocked out police and heroes, the police who were injured, and the knocked out thugs.
As Izuku finished placing a field wound-dressing on a knocked out police officer's cut on the left cheek, he and the other awake heroes heard a voice call out, "Oi, Dragon Hero and her herolings!" Ryukyu, her interns, and Bakugo all turned to see Spinner standing there, accompanied by Magne, a fat girl, and a thin girl.
"Villains!" Ryukyu growled, ready to take on the villains before her even though she and her interns were worn out; Bakugo similarly had barely regain consciousness and wasn't really in any condition to help fight either.
Holding his hands up at shoulder level with the palms facing forward, Spinner said, "Relax, we ain't here to cause trouble. We just wanted to tell you a few things you ought to keep an eye out for and give you something, then we'll take off." Arching a wry eyebrow, Spinner went on, "I can tell that none of you are in any real condition to try to stop us from getting away anyway."
Izuku, despite wanting to take down the villains before him, realized that the lizardman villain made a good point. "...What is it that you wanna say?" Izuku asked, keeping his suspicions up about Spinner.
"First off, I hope it goes on record that the League of Villains was in no way complicit in the kidnapping of little Eri," Spinner began, "And as a matter of fact, we played a role in helping to get her back. I got it from Nagant via communication devices that Eri has been rescued and handed off to Fat Gum who's skinny now for some odd reason and some red haired boy who was with Fat Gum at the time."
Uraraka, hearing what Spinner said, smiled a bit. "Kirishima got Eri. That's good."
"Second," Spinner went on, "I also got it from Nagant that the jerk-nozzles identified as Chronostasis and Mimic had shot and killed some blonde boy with the number 1,000,000 across his chest. From what Nagant was able to figure, he died shielding Eri."
Ryukyu and her interns, as well as Bakugo, all looked shocked to hear that someone had died. Nejire, understanding what Spinner meant by 'blonde boy with the number 1,000,000 across his chest', began to have tears well up in the corners of her eyes. "...No..." Nejire said in a sad tone, sounding like she might start crying at any moment, "...Not Mirio, no..."
Spinner, with a grim look on his face, gave a single affirmative nod. "If it counts for anything, we of the League of Villains regret that you've lost a comrade to our mutual enemies in this case. Nagant and Toga killed Mimic and Chronostasis respectively, and before you go start accusing Nagant of being the one who shot and killed the blonde boy, the ammo between Mimic and the blonde boy won't match up. Trust me on that."
"...What else?" Ryukyu asked, keeping a wry look on Spinner and his companions.
"You ought to be informed that the last three Quirk Destroying bullets in existence had been expended, meaning there's no need to fret about them," Spinner said, "One was used on my comrade Magne here, but she was given a dose of the restoring serum and saw her quirk restored. The second one was confirmed to have been used on your blonde boy ally before he got a fatal headshot. The last one was, regrettably, used on Eri."
"Eri got shot with a Quirk Destroying bullet?!" Nejire exclaimed.
Spinner nodded once in confirmation. "Yes, but luckily for you hero lot, I have this." Spinner reached into a pocket, pulled out a small tin roughly the size of the small tins that mints sometimes come in, opened the tin, and pulled out a small capsule vial. "...This, heroes," Spinner said, "Is a dose of quirk restoring serum. Have Eri take it when you get her, and it'll undo the effects of the Quirk Destroying bullet that she was shot with."
Bakugo looked surprised that the League of Villains were being so... friendly... with him and the others, not to mention how they were acting with Eri's best interest in mind. "...You villains are actually helping us."
"We care about the well-being of that little sweetie too, you know," Magne replied.
Nodding once in the affirmative, Spinner went on, "I'll just give this dose of restoring serum to one of you heroes, then the girls here and I will get out of your hair."
The heroes were unsure how to proceed here; the League of Villains were, after all, villains, and as such normally couldn't be trusted. But they DID actually play a role in helping to rescue Eri, and from what all they got so far, the LoV isn't responsible for killing anyone aside from the top dogs of the Shie Hassaikai. None of them made a move right away, at least until Izuku took a step forward. "...If we do have Eri take that serum like you say," Izuku began, "Will it really restore her quirk?"
"We saw another dose of it work before," Spinner replied, "It ought to get the job done all the same a second time. Additionally, you have my word that we won't cause you hero lot any trouble here. We really will just give you this and then leave." Taking a nervous gulp, Izuku nonetheless took the risk and walked forward to receive the dose of restoring serum from Spinner. "By the way, it's taken orally," Spinner said, placing the dose in Izuku's outheld right hand.
As Izuku nodded once in thanks, Agari who was leaning to her side saw that there was a fairly bad cut on Izuku's right bicep. "Oh, that cut on your bicep looks like it might need stitches," Agari said.
Turning his head to see, Izuku did in fact see the bad cut on his right bicep. "Yeah, that does look pretty bad," Izukk replied, "I guess I was so caught up in what was happening, I didn't even notice how I had been-" Izuku was cut off when Agari placed her hand on Izuku's person. Her hand glowed, and suddenly Izuku felt the sting of his cut he was now feeling fading away. He also felt other soothing areas in his right arm, as well as in his legs. After the power from Agari faded, Izuku saw her pull her hand back; miraculously, Izuku's bad cut, which would otherwise have required stitches, had been healed without a trace.
"Hoo boy," Agari said, "You must have had some broken areas that were healed over, given I used enough energy to completely heal all injuries you had. Feels like it burnt up about nine kilograms." Indeed, Agari, who was still very plump, seemed ever so slightly less plump after she had healed Izuku.
"An act of good faith, heroes," Spinner said, "Showing that, at least here, we mean well. Anyway, we've done what we've needed to do, got what all we were able to get a hold of, so we'll be heading off. Oh, and fair warning." Spinner turned to walk away, with Magne, Agari, and Revy turning to leave with Spinner. "...Chances are that the next time that we meet, we may not be so friendly towards each other." The League of Villains then took off, leaving Ryukyu, her interns, and Bakugo be.
After the villains had taken off, Uraraka said, "They... they really didn't try to attack or kill us after all."
"Probably a pragmatic choice on their part, Round Face," Bakugo replied, "We're all shot to shit here. It's best for all persons involved to just rest and relax for now."
Izuku, who held the dose of restoring serum given to him by Spinner, looked back in the direction the villains took off in; they were now all out of sight. Izuku knew full well that they were villains, and as such they had to be stopped. But given that they were, in a way, helping the heroes just this once, letting them go could be excused. It helped that all members of all parties were worn out, so trying anything anyway probably wasn't the best idea in the world.
Now all that was left to do was handle the business that came AFTER finishing the raid on the Shie Hassaikai hideout.
Multiple prisoner transport vans were brought in to haul away all of the thugs who were arrested; with the exception of Agari and Revy, all of the thugs under the employ of the Shie Hassaikai were captured. Additionally, the bodies of Chronostasis and Mimic were also recovered, and an old man in a private medical room, passed out and with a machine helping him breathe, was discovered; this old man was transferred to a hospital where he would be able to receive more proper care. Given that he was found in the Shie Hassaikai's hideout, he was labeled a person of interest in the investigation.
To the sadness of the heroes, Mirio's body was also recovered. When the heroes saw him in the body-bag on a stretcher to be loaded into an ambulance for transport, the bag's zipper unzipped just enough to show Mirio's peaceful, closed-eyed face, Sir Nighteye in a rare moment lost composure, falling over Mirio's body as he cried in near hysterics, even pounding on the remains of his intern. The on-sight CSI crew confirmed that the caliber of bullet used to kill Mirio was different from the shots that had killed Mimic, meaning that what Spinner said about Nagant NOT being the one who killed Mirio had some validity to go on.
All other persons in the Shie Hassaikai hideout were recovered and, thankfully, no-one else had been killed. Rock Lock as he was laid on a stretcher while an ice pack was put over his (heavily) bruised stomach, said that he and the others with him at the time had barely been able to overcome the Twice clones they had to deal with, and he heavily suspected that it was due to what one of the clones said, how they actually were NOT aiming to kill. The Twice clone in that case had especially made a point on how they weren't going to kill Aizawa who they bound up and were planning to take along before all of them (the Twice clones) were busted.
After the heroes were given initial treatment in the field, they were awaiting for more ambulances to show up to bring the rest of them who needed more serious treatment to the hospital. As Ryukyu was handling some business with a visibly upset Bubble Girl and Centipeder, Izuku, Uraraka, and Nejire went about trying to find where Eri was at, so that they could give her the dose of restoring serum Izuku was provided with by Spinner to take. The interns of the Dragon Hero were joined by Bakugo and Todoroki, the latter of the two having been woken up and was now back on his feet.
"I got a text from Tamaki," Nejire said, "He's been woken up and is now with Fat Gum and Kirishima. They have Eri with them."
"Does..." Uraraka began, clearly upset with what all had happened, "...Does Tamaki-senpai know about what happened to Mirio-senpai?"
Nejire gently shook her head. "I don't know, it didn't come up in the texting. But chances are that he might know by now since he's with Fat Gum, Kirishima, and Eri who all know."
As the UA students were looking around for where Eri was at, they heard Aizawa's gruff voice call out to them, "Oi, brats." The UA students all took pause and turned to see the underground hero walk up to them; his face looked like it had been washed recently, particularly in the area around his eyes. The eyes also seemed red with very mild irritation, but aside from that Aizawa seemed no worse for ware. "What are you doing?" Aizawa demanded in a dry tone.
"Trying to find Eri, Aizawa-sensei," Todoroki explained, "We-"
"-Will leave the girl alone," Aizawa interrupted, "She's been through enough, being kidnapped and whatnot, and had even from what I heard been shot with a Quirk Destroying bullet, rendering her permanently quirkless." Aizawa gently shook his head, as if in disappointment. "None of you could possibly even begin to imagine what she's going through, what she will be going through. Despite laws being in place to prevent it, there's still heavy discrimination against the quirkless here in our nation, and now because of the cruelty and greed of the villains, Eri will be subject to that harsh fate for the rest of her life."
Aizawa had no idea how much Izuku actually knew what he was talking about, could understand what Eri will be subjected to without a quirk. "...Actually," Izuku spoke up, "That's part of why we want to see Eri."
The underground hero gave Izuku a suspicious look. "...What do you mean, Midoriya?"
"We actually have a dose of restoring serum," Izuku explained, "We can give it to Eri so she can take it, and it'll undo the effects of the Quirk Destroying drug that had been used on her."
Aizawa arched a wry eyebrow. "...Really. A dose of some serum that can restore Eri's quirk."
Izuku nodded in the affirmative, then pulled out the small vial so Aizawa could see. "This is it right here," Izuku began to explain, "All we-"
The green haired boy was cut off when Aizawa quickly snatched the vial away from him, drawing surprised looks and cries from the UA students. "...And where did this come from, might I ask?" Aizawa asked dryly, clearly sounding suspicious.
"That lizardman villain in the League of Villains gave it to Green Bean," Nejire explained, "And a chubby girl who was with the lizardman villain even healed Green Bean."
Aizawa closed his eyes as he considered what Nejire said. "Ah, I see." To the shock of the UA students, Aizawa dropped the vial to the ground and stomped on it, grinding it into the asphalt under his heel.
"Aizawa-sensei, what the hell?!" Todoroki exclaimed, "That could have been used-"
"-To do all manner of unsavory things to Eri," Aizawa interrupted, "It was provided by a member of the League of Villains with the intent for it to be given to Eri. No doubt that it was either laced with a fatally toxic poison, or was straight up poison itself, or something else that would have harmed Eri rather than help her." Giving the UA students a scowling look, Aizawa said, "You all ought to know better than to trust villains at all."
"Are you really that much of a paranoid nutjob?!" Nejire snapped, "If you were really that suspicious, then why couldn't you of at least had the dose examined first to determine if it really was something bad before destroying it?!"
The underground hero gently shook his head. "Because there was no need to have it examined, because I'm certain that it was something foul because it was provided by a villain. The examination would have revealed that my suspicions were right anyway. Anyway, get yourselves cleaned up as much as possible before you head out from here when dismissed by your work study mentors." Aizawa then turned to walk away, followed by further cries of complaint from the UA students.
It annoyed Aizawa that none of the UA students he left behind were competent enough to realize that villains, without exception, can never be trusted. Aizawa also became further suspicious of Izuku as he was the one that was given the poison meant for Eri, not to mention how one of the other members of the League of Villains had actually healed Izuku. Aizawa saw it as further proof that Izuku may be the suspected UA Traitor, but this was still circumstantial evidence at best. In order to build a concrete case, Aizawa knew that he'd need more, that he'd need concrete evidence.
And he was planning to get it.
It had been a few days since the Shie Hassaikai raid had ended, and Izuku was surprised to find himself summoned to Sir Nighteye's agency, on personal invitation from Sir Nighteye himself, in the afternoon an hour after the memorial service for Mirio. Furthermore, upon arriving, Izuku saw two things in Sir Nighteye's office that caught his attention. One, it was decorated with all manner of All Might merchandise, including a few items Izuku recognized and was instantly jealous that Sir Nighteye had the items in question.
Two, All Might himself was seated in the office at the time, although now he's just Toshinori Yagi given he had used up the last of his residual One For All embers during the Battle of Kamino Ward.
"All Might?" Izuku said in surprise, "What is-"
"There's... a few things that we need to discuss, Young Midoriya," Toshinori said, "Please, close the door behind you."
Izuku nodded in agreement, closed the door behind him. "My room here is proofed against eavesdropping and other methods of spying, so we're free to discuss all manner of secrets," Sir Nighteye said, "Mainly, how I myself am also in on the secret of One For All."
That got a surprised look out of Izuku. "You know about One For All, Sir Nighteye?"
The salaryman pro hero nodded in the affirmative. "Once, long ago, I had served as a sidekick to All Might," Sir Nighteye began to explain, "Acting as the brains to his brawn, as it were. I also took care of various legal work, mainly desk work such as filling out and submitting official reports and other details to the appropriate bodies. It was during this partnership that I became privy to the secret of One For All."
"I see," Izuku said, "So I- Wait, you said you were All Might's sidekick?"
"I... originally didn't want to take on a sidekick in the first place," Toshinori confessed, "But Mirai here was persistent."
Looking to Sir Nighteye, Izuku asked, "Why did you want to be All Might's sidekick?"
Sir Nighteye arched a wry eyebrow. "...All of the All Might merchandise I have in here ought to be a hint."
Izuku took a look around, took in what all All Might merch (again, Izuku was jealous that Sir Nighteye had some of those items). "You're a fan, I take it?"
"Still am, if I'm to be honest," Sir Nighteye replied, "Although even my admiration saw its limits tested."
"How?" Izuku asked.
"My first battle against All For One," Toshinori said, "Over half a decade ago." Izuku and Sir Nighteye turned to look at the former Symbol of Peace. "...During that battle, where I thought I had killed that vile villain," Toshinori said, "I received my injuries that limited my ability to do hero work to a few hours each day. After I woke up following some initial treatment, Mirai begged me to retire, not wanting me to push myself to death. Even Nezu, and before you ask Young Midoriya yes Nezu's also privy to the secret of One For All, said that he'd look into finding me a successor to inherit One For All from me among UA's students."
Hearing that there was talk of finding a successor to wield One For All being around for that long surprised Izuku. "Really? For over half a decade?"
Toshinori nodded in the affirmative. "Of course, I was being stubborn. I couldn't stand down, not sure if someone would be able to rise to be a Symbol of Peace in my place, a beacon for the populace of Japan to draw strength and hope from. I kept on trudging, a decision that saw Sir Nighteye break away from me, straining what we had between us."
"While All Might laid unconscious in the hospital following his first battle with All For One," Sir Nighteye began, "I used my quirk on him to see his future. I looked as far as I could, but couldn't get more than a little over half a decade ahead before I saw nothing but black." The salaryman pro hero let out a troubled sigh. "...I had feared that it meant that All Might was doomed to die at that point."
Izuku immediately became alarmed. "All Might's going to die?!"
"...Eventually, yes," Sir Nighteye said, "But only because he's human. He actually had lived past the point I had foreseen he'd die at originally, and after checking him a second time shortly before you had arrived just now, he's got roughly two decades left from what I can tell." Gently shaking his head, Sir Nighteye went on, "But I was wrong about him dying before, so I may be wrong again. Heck, for all I know, he might end up even achieving a solid century of life."
The green haired boy took note of how Sir Nighteye had a hint of elation in his words. "You... sound happy that you might be wrong."
Sir Nighteye let out a gentle sigh. "...Originally, I had thought that the visions my quirk allowed me to see were paths into the future that were set in stone, events guaranteed to happen. It's part of why I had insisted to All Might following his first battle with All For One to retire and find a successor to inherit One For All. Heck, it's part of why I had taken Mirio as an intern."
"Mirio-senpai?" Izuku asked.
Gesturing to Izuku, Sir Nighteye said, "I'm... going to be honest with you, Midoriya. Mirio was being set up to inherit One For All from All Might. He had the strength, the drive, even the right personality for being a pro hero. Even All Might saw that Mirio had a lot going for him. So when I had heard that All Might had trained you and passed One For All onto you instead, I... was a bit confused, to be honest." Letting out a sigh, Sir Nighteye went on, "As well as annoyed. Hell, the thought had even crossed my mind to try to get you to give One For All to Mirio. It's part of why I had asked Mirio to look into getting you to come to my agency so I could hire you as an intern during the work studies, although Ryukyu had unknowingly beaten us to the punch when it came to getting you."
The bombshell that was dropped on him just now, that Sir Nighteye was willing to go so far as to try to get Izuku to give up One For All to Mirio, surprised him, as well as giving him at least a tiny bit of annoyance towards the salaryman hero. "You... don't say."
Sir Nighteye nodded in confirmation. "Indeed. Of course, I did all of that without taking into consideration what All Might thought. He wanted his successor to be someone who he felt was worthy of taking on the duty, someone who, in his view, possessed true heroic personality and the willingness to do what it took. Someone who acts to be a hero without even thinking about it." Gesturing to Izuku, Sir Nighteye said, "Someone like you, Izuku Midoriya. If All Might saw fit to deem you as worthy to take on his quirk, then personality wise, you have to be at least as noble as Mirio was before his tragic death."
Izuku, although initially annoyed with Sir Nighteye when he confessed he was more or less planning to make Izuku give up One For All, was starting to relax said annoyance since Sir Nighteye was basically admitting that he had been wrong, and what's more he was clearly being sincerely apologetic. That alone improved how the green haired boy felt about Sir Nighteye, greatly raising Izuku's opinion of him back up. At an absolute minimum, Sir Nighteye was proving to be leagues better that the sorry excuse of a UA teacher that was Shouta Aizawa.
"As... a side-note," Sir Nighteye went on, "It turned out that you inheriting All Might's quirk ended up being for the best. The autopsy on Mirio showed that he had been rendered quirkless, further backing the claims he was shot with one of those horrid Quirk Destroying bullets. If he had One For All at the time as I was originally planning, then the greatest quirk in the world would have been lost. You, a person who has proven just as good, perhaps even better, getting One For All means that the legacy of heroism that All Might has been a part of shall live on."
Izuku gave a single nod. "On... the subject of the Quirk Destroying bullets, I got it that there were only three left in existence. The last two had been used up during the raid on the Shie Hassaikai's hideout, one on Mirio and one on Eri."
Toshinori nodded grimly in confirmation. "Yes, I had also gotten it that Young Eri was rendered quirkless." Turning to look at Izuku, Toshinori went on, "I also got it from Young Bakugo that you were provided a dose of Quirk Restoring serum by the League of Villains, only for Aizawa to take the dose from you and drop it on the ground before he grounded it into the asphalt under his heel."
Scowling over being reminded of Aizawa's asshole-ery, Izuku said, "Yeah, it's Eraserhead's fault that Eri's stuck as quirkless now."
"From a neutral standpoint, I can see why Eraserhead had acted as he did," Sir Nighteye said, getting both Izuku and Toshinori to look at him. "In Eraserhead's defense, the dose was provided by a villain," Sir Nighteye pointed out, "And typically heroes, as a rule of thumb, shouldn't be trusting villains period. However..." Letting out a gentle sigh, Sir Nighteye went on, "...From what all I've been able to gather on the League of Villains in their involvement in the raid on the Shie Hassaikai's hideout, as well as what we have on them when it comes to Eri, they actually acted in good faith towards the heroes' side of things. They even helped with rescuing Eri, and the only bits of them fighting us came about because, with all due respect, we did force them into it."
Izuku nodded in agreement. "As much as we need to take them down because they ARE villains, in this one instance, they were an ally."
Sir Nighteye nodded in agreement. "Indeed. They even avenged Mirio's death, and had supplied us with the means to undo the poison that had been forced onto Eri. It's a shame that Eraserhead destroyed the dose of restoring serum before it could be used and, although I did admit I can see why he destroyed it, with all evidence that we had showing that the League of Villains had been acting in good faith towards us, at the very least we could have examined the dose of serum we were provided with in a lab to determine if it really was tainted in any way. Eraserhead, despite having good reason to act as he did, did admittedly jump the gun."
It was clear that Sir Nighteye was offering a middle ground point of view on things here; he was saying in his own way that both sides had a point. It was... actually a bit refreshing to Izuku. But that's besides the point. "Midoriya," Sir Nighteye said, "Although you weren't the option I provided, you have nonetheless proven yourself as a hero worthy to carry on the mantle that All Might had borne for at least forty years. I would like to take this moment to apologize to you for what misgivings I had about you initially, as well as ask and encourage you to keep up with your training. You carry a mighty legacy on your shoulders, after all."
Sir Nighteye, although he did have his bad points, made up for them by acknowledging them, apologizing for them. He admitted that he was wrong, and was now asking that Izuku continue doing what he had been doing. This, once again, proved that Sir Nighteye was leagues better than Aizawa. Izuku nodded in agreement, saying, "Well I wouldn't be much of a hero if I didn't work to prove All Might's decision in me as valid." Sir Nighteye, with a single smile, nodded once to Izuku in thanks, ending their talk on a rather light and friendly note. It gave Izuku hope for the future, encouraged him to live and train on.
He was going to need to do what all he could to become a hero.
END, CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Author's notes;
This chapter wraps up the Shie Hassaikai shenanigans, focusing mainly on Spinner providing a dose of restoring serum to be used on Eri, only for Aizawa after the villains were gone to take said dose and destroy it, citing how as it came from a villain it couldn't be trusted. Aizawa also grew more suspicious as the dose had been entrusted by the villains to Izuku, who was also healed by the villains. Two more points, albeit still circumstantial, that lend credit to the idea that Izuku could be the suspected UA Traitor. Where this will go will need to be seen to be believed.
After that, Izuku meets with Toshinori and Sir Nighteye in the latter's office at his agency and learns a number of things, some of which did sour Izuku's personal opinion of Sir Nighteye. However said opinion improved as Sir Nighteye, while acknowledging his faults, explained himself, and finished off by apologizing for how he had been acting while acknowledging Izuku as a good choice to carry on the mighty legacy All Might was a part of. At the very least, Izuku's opinion of Sir Nighteye is better than Izuku's opinion of Aizawa.
Anyway, the next chapter will cover wrapping up things before going right onto the school festival arc shenanigans; the remedial course bit with the bratty elementary school aged kids will be either skimmed over or skipped entirely because Bakugo and Todoroki got their provisional licenses already, the stuff with Izuku being befriended by Aoyama will be skipped because they're in two separate classes thus Aoyama isn't exactly privy to problems Izuku has, and a fair bit of focus will be given to Gran Torino and his group rustling up Kurogiri while everyone else was distracted with the raid on the Shie Hassaikai's hideout.
Remember when it was stated that All For One had a personal bodyguard of his own? Yeah, that bodyguard's gonna show up.