I do not own My Hero Academia, it is owned by Horikoshi
Chapter 26 - Chargebolt's Intervention
U.A. High School - Principal's Office
Nezu just finished getting off the phone with the lawyers involved in the custody dispute over Izuku Midoriya and Minoru Mineta, when there was a knock at the door. "Come in."
Toshinori Yagi and Sorahiko Torino walked in, "So you called us here I hope it's some good news."
"Well the good news is that young Mineta's mother has agreed not to pursue regaining custody of the boy again," Principal Nezu folded his two front paws in front of him.
"What's the bad news?"
"It looks like the two boys are being split up, Ryukyu now has sole custody of Minoru Mineta though he will continue to be a student at U.A.," Nezu looked apologetic.
"I don't think that's all bad news, I don't see her isolating Mineta," Torino commented, "She's probably going to let him hang around Midoriya in any event, and he'd primarily still be living here so that's not a big deal."
"What about young Midoriya?" asked Toshinori, 'Not more bad news, the kid has been through enough.'
"His case is still being worked through, I do know it has cost Hawks his relationship with Miroku," stated Nezu, "Apparently she didn't want to deal with an adopted kid in the mix."
"Harsh," Torino commented, "Then again, it's better for that to happen now then after Hawks adopted him."
"So is Hawks getting young Midoriya?"
"The situation is still being weighed, and honestly All Might, how much longer would you be able to protect the boy if he were in your custody?"
"He has a point Toshinori, besides Midoriya is kind of Hawks' out concerning covert operations," Gran Torino pointed out.
"There is also the outside possibility that Ryuku will end up with Midoriya as well, however as it stands right now," Nezu shook his head, "I don't know how this will fall out."
Police Station - Detective Tsukauchi's Office
"What do you mean he's in Japan?!" the Detective yelled at his subordinate.
"Sir, I'm sorry, I didn't tell you earlier but I felt given your history with him it was better you didn't know!" Samsa Tamagawa cringed at Tsukauchi's outburst.
"Don't you remember the mess that Vigilante caused?"
"He isn't a Vigilante anymore and besides he's managed to pay off all the lawsuits and legal fees, also he was the Hero sent to deliver the reports of what they found in the US regarding the Midoriya case, I felt it would be a distraction if you knew."
The Detective had to acknowledge his subordinate had a point, "Fine, so where is Koichi now?"
"I don't know..."
"You WHAT?!"
"He sent me a message that Eraser wanted him for something," Tamagawa's fur was starting to stand on end messing up his grooming.
The Detective closed his eyes and took a deep breath as her tried to calm down, 'Okay why would Eraser want the Crawler for something? Wait, the summer camp... At first glance it would be totally insane, however even I have to admit that the Skycrawler is someone that we know with absolute certainty is not associated with the League of Villains.' Finally he re-opened them, "Okay, are you sure he wasn't bull-shitting you about Eraser."
"Yes sir, Nezu confirmed Eraser had him posing as a bus driver! Sir, the Skycrawler has become a fairly popular hero in the states, despite his early verbal gaffes, he is credited with some fairly impressive rescues, as well as take downs of villains," Tamagawa breathed a sigh of relief, "You really should bury the hatchet concerning him, and not in his head."
"So anything in the report he dropped off?"
"Yes sir."
Summer Camp:
Aizawa paired Izuku Midoriya off with Ojiro since it would be logical for the boy to learn martial arts, 'He can't use 10% let alone 100% of his power, so it is only logical for him to learn how to use martial arts to fully utilize what he can currently use. It will also benefit Ojiro to teach someone else so it's more fully ingrained and Midoriya can see openings Ojiro has even if he isn't good enough to exploit them.' He then turned his attention to Shinso, "Alright, we're going to have you continue to practice how to use the capture scarf, but also how to learn that collapsible bo-staff."
"Sir, I'm sorry for not making any progress..."
"You're progressing faster than I did, I wouldn't waste my time on someone that has zero potential."
"Isn't this favoritism?"
"Not really, I'm the only one that is qualified to teach someone how to use a capture scarf and it benefits you the most to learn it."
"I also notice you show a lot of favoritism towards Midoriya," Shinso pointed out, "Not that he doesn't deserve it, given what all he's been through."
Aizawa acknowledged Shinso's point, getting annoyed about it wouldn't be rational. "Midoriya has suffered from the results of DQMS, with his quirk being of a stockpiling nature you can imagine how dangerous that could be if he were to experiment on his own."
Shinso turned pale at that comment, "Y-yeah, I can imagine as well as the backlash on his own body."
"There was something else?"
"Yeah why is the bus driver for our bus still hanging around, it's pretty suspicious given everything else that's gone on?"
"It's good you are keeping your eyes open, however I actually asked him to stay here for the duration," replied Aizawa, "for the opposite reason, now lets get back to your exercises, your mobility is paramount to use your quirk effectively and your combat expertise is needed so you can defend yourself."
Base Camp:
Kota Izumi snuck into the room where the bus driver had been sleeping, there had been something off about the guy, 'I'm not sure what his angle is, he took a look under the bed and found a suitcase. What he didn't hear was someone entering the room behind him and a hand suddenly came over his mouth muffling his startled yelp."
"Okay do you do this to all the guests here, or just the bus drivers," the voice said keeping him pinned, "Sorry, I suppose you can't answer, okay I'm going to let you up and take my hand off your mouth, if you can give your word not to shout or raise a big fuss. Nod once if you give your word." Kota nodded and his captor took his weight off him.
"What the hell? Who the hell?"
"Only a handful of people here know who I really am," Koichi gave one of his air-headed grins, "I couldn't let you spill the beans, it's better if as few people as possible know. Now I answered one of yours, now why the heck did you decided to go snooping in my things?"
"Someone was spying in the boy's bath last night, I thought it..."
"You thought wrong, but you're probably right that it wasn't simply a prank."
"Who are you? Wait that suitcase, Dad and Mom had something like that when they traveled..."
"I was asked to tag along as a favor to Eraser," Koichi admitted, "Thanks for telling me about the bath incident, guess it means I should be more on guard. I'm curious why did you decide to trust me at all."
"Your foot's too big."
"Okay I suppose that's a reason," answered Koichi.
"You didn't answer my question."
"I'm a Hero from the United States," Koichi replied grinning, "And I already know who you are Kota, I'm really sorry for your loss. I met your parents once."
"I don't believe my parents ever went to the United States," Kota's eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, that's cause I was originally from Japan, not sure if you ever heard of the 'The Crawler?' Have you?"
"Not really?"
"Okay never-mind then, just so you know I'm a hero okay."
"Great another fake," Kota muttered.
"Kota, I know you've just met me, and I know your sentiment, I have met fake heroes before, I've seen the dark side of the hero society, however I've also seen the best of heroes also. Just believe me when I say it is vital you not tell anyone about who I really am until the time is right?"
"Does my Aunt know who you really are?"
"She does, you would have too if Pixie-Bob hadn't sent you over the cliff."
"Still need to get her back for that..." Kota muttered.
"Just don't get yourself in too much trouble..."
That night Kota withdrew up to the small cave that was his secret hideout only to find Izuku Midoriya had followed him with two plates of food, initially Kota was going to just shove it away, but then again out of anyone else here, Midoriya knew what he was going through.
"I snuck a peek in the bus driver's room, but he kinda caught me, he claims he's a..."
"I know who he is," Midoriya replied cutting off Kota, "S-sorry f-for interrupting."
"How did you?"
"I recognized him, i-it was kinda m-my thing, I-I've always been into analyzing quirks," Midoriya replied, "He is who he says he is." The two went back to eating for a while, "So why did you head up here?"
"This is my secret hideout."
"It's nice."
"Why did you come up here, shouldn't you be hanging out with..."
"They wouldn't understand," Midoriya looked out over the forest in a mournful expression, "Also, I just figured if you wanted to talk, it would be best if it was someone that actually understood, you aren't like most five or six year-olds, and people shouldn't be talking down to you."
"What hurts the most, is I didn't get to say goodbye..."
"From what Mandalay told me, there wasn't much to say goodbye to," Midoriya admitted, "Your parents' bodies were pretty torn-up, even worse than my mother's..."
"What?"
"I-I made i-it past the police lines and saw h-her, i-it's..." Midoriya looked on the verge of breaking down.
"Seriously..."
"I-I a-also saw what happened to those that tried to protect her, Rocky was lucky mom shoved him out of the way at the last moment, as it was he had a broken arm and shoulder on the same side, 2 broken ribs, and they had to do surgery to remove a bunch of bone fragments."
"Rocky, he's the one that people often call the kid hero, right?" Kota really wasn't that interested in pro-heroes but he figured he needed to let Midoriya calm down in his own way.
"He's not a kid, but he isn't that much taller than you are, I worked with him under Hawks," commented Midoriya then abruptly changed subjects, "So you have a water quirk that you can shoot water from your hands..."
"It's kinda stupid..."
"No, you'd be a perfect rescue hero."
"It's people wanting to show off quirks that's why my parents are dead, that's why your mom's dead why can't you see that? If you hadn't been showing off your quirk maybe your mom would still be alive!"
At that Midoriya took off, 'He's right if I hadn't been seen in the sports festival, mom would still be alive.'
'Great and he left his plate behind,' Kota grumbled picking up the plates and walked back, neither boy had noticed the damage left behind where someone had apparently damaged the side of the cave earlier.
Not long afterward, Kaminari had managed to run into Midoriya before anyone else had saw the aftermath of Kota's words and managed to get his friend calmed down. 'I really don't want to do this, I'm not the best at words,' Kaminari watched Kota walk up to him.
"Your friend isn't much of a hero leaving..."
"Shut up," interrupted Kaminari. As Kota opened his mouth to protest Kaminari shut him down, "Don't think I don't know what you said, you're lucky I managed to get him calmed down before Minoru or Ochako saw him."
"What do I care?"
"Minoru probably would have broken your nose and consequences be damned, Ochaco well I don't know what she'd do but it would probably be very painful."
"Pffttt."
"Damn it his parents were murdered..."
"So were mine!" Kota snapped, "How he can be such a sycophant concerning pro-heroes is beyond me, I tried being patient with him, but he's..."
"Man you really know some big words for such a little guy," Kaminari rolled his eyes, "look Izuku can be irritating, but he's still a friend; however you kind of crossed a line in what you said. He wants to be a pro to help others, and he doesn't want what happened to you or him to happen to anyone else."
"Whatever."
Kaminari watched the small boy walk away and sighed to himself, 'Hopefully, I can get Izuku distracted with something else before Minoru finishes playing chess against that kid from 1-B." He trudged back towards Midoriya's sleeping bag, it was just a little bit off from everyone else, as was Mineta's if he thought about it.
"Where's that little..." Uraraka was storming up the path.
"Hold on where's the fire?"
"Have you seen that little..."
"Mineta's playing chess..."
"Not him!"
"I've already talked to him," Kaminari sighed, 'This just isn't my day.' He thought for a moment, "Let's see if we can cheer up Midoriya and save our fantasies of revenged for another night."
"Fine."
When they both found Izuku sometime later he was curled up with his hands around his legs with a haunted look in his eyes.
"Deku," Uraraka ran up to him, "Come on snap out of it."
"He said I was at fault for my mom being killed and he's right..."
"That's not true."
"It is!"
"Oh yeah why's it true?" Kaminari asked not expecting the response he got back, a fairly lengthy story all things considered. 'Man no wonder Izuku thinks its his fault.' The boy spoke quietly often glancing around to be sure nobody else was listening in.
"So you see, it is my fault..." Midoriya got to his feet only to be decked by Kaminari.
"Are you crazy?" Uraraka looked aghast at the boy with the electric quirk.
"Don't you ever say that again, a lot of us wouldn't be alive if not for you," Kaminari spat, "Get a grip, Deku, you are Izuku Midoriya, the 9th Holder, and Apprentice to the Number 3 pro-Hero. Your mom is dead, I get it, the villains did that to break you, but they don't know you like I do, you're stronger than that. SO WAKE THE FUCK UP!" Kaminari hadn't meant to yell the last part, but his face then turned to a grimace of pain, "What the hell is with your jaw; I think I broke something."
"What's going on?" came a tired voice.
"I think Denki just gave me a wake-up call," Izuku answered with some embarrassment.
"I think I broke something," grimaced Kaminari holding his hand.
"You just dislocated your finger," Aizawa commented pulling hard and there was a loud pop as Kaminari was on his knees.
"Mr. Aizawa who else knew about Deku?" asked Uraraka.
"Don't blame Midoriya for this I think Kota hit him right where it would hurt him the most and I kinda pushed him into talking."
"Kaminari, we'll discuss your unique wake up call later," said Aizawa, "Midoriya you okay?"
"Yeah, he didn't break anything, truth is I probably needed it," Izuku admitted.
"Don't go into any more of those funks, I don't need to break my hands trying to knock you out of it," commented Kaminari.
"How much do the two of you know?"
"About what?" Kaminari looked at him innocently.
"That Kota said some things he shouldn't have," Uraraka replied.
'Okay I guess he told them everything, but they aren't about to admit it,' Aizawa was annoyed with Midoriya at the moment, though he supposed he couldn't blame him, "We can discuss this at school later, not here. Midoriya, starting tomorrow afternoon I want you to suit up, Tokoyami will be active during the day."
"Yes sir!" Midoriya's eyes glowed green in the shadows with their own inner light.
Aizawa walked away and as he passed a tree just out of earshot of the students, "I take it you heard everything..."
"Yeah, don't worry," promised Koichi, "I'll keep an eye on him."
I kinda feel embarrassed for letting things slip to Kaminari and Uraraka, they don't deserve to be dragged into my messed up life. However, I will be the first to admit I needed that wake up call, for little did I know that tomorrow it wouldn't be simple practice like what I thought it would be, it would be the real thing. We would discover we had a traitor among us, and Minoru would be fighting for his life. - Journal of Izuku Midoriya
Ledge above Kota's Hideout:
"Not yet, not everyone is here."
There were some grumblings but nobody wanted to tick Dabi off after the three missing members arrived and apologized for being late Dabi pulled out a few pictures.
"Now remember these people are on your capture list, this fellow here was on both, but our employers now prefer he's alive and in good health, though they understand if we have to beat him senseless."
"Yeah, yeah..." said one large individual, "I'll try not to go overboard."
"And these individuals are on the priority kill list." Dabi held out one picture from the rest, "This guy is special our boss already has an agent in place to kill him, but just in case."
Notes:
It took some real thinking on my part how this chapter would go down. I had quite a few things to cover.
I had several iterations of how things would progress in this chapter but ultimately decided on Kota losing his temper with Midoriya, at which point I had to figure out how things would progress from there and ended up with an intervention of Denki Kaminari and Ochako Uraraka.
Ordinarily, Midoriya would not have let the truth slip out but in this case in his condition, odds were he would because he was drowning in guilt (even though it is misplaced). I figured Kaminari would be better at having a level head than Uraraka.
