Chapter 16

Izuku had seen what happened to the Nomu and he wasn't sure what to think anymore. Heroes shouldn't kill, yet his teacher appeared to have done just that. From his perch on the very edge of the awning above the stadium he could observe nearly everything that was unfolding below. The gruesome spectacle of the black monster being ripped apart had been mostly obscured by the dust in the air, but the bloody aftermath still made his stomach churn.

Mangled limbs...

Flayed skin...

And the ripped innards...

All spread out like a macabre art piece in a growing puddle of red.

Why did she do it? Couldn`t there have been a different way to resolve this situation?

Argent was a rescue hero (although she disliked that term) with a flawless record. She did not kill or maim. It was antithetical to the character profile he had scribbled in his notebooks. Never before did Izuku see so much gore and unfiltered violence in a single place. Media reports were automatically censored when things got that bad and for all the bullying his life had thankfully been rather peaceful up until now. Only Eraserhead's injuries could compare, but even those were not lethal!

Despite mortal danger, nobody died at the USJ or the entrance exam.

Witnessing his first true murder, changed something inside Izuku, but what exactly that was, he could not tell. The Nomu was a weapon, a brutal, vicious, brainless abomination of muscle and violence. However it was also a living being...

What was he supposed to feel about it being killed? Satisfaction that it could harm no one else? Relief that his classmates would be safe from its rampaging onslaught? Disgust at the loss of life?

And what did it say about him that he just felt... nothing?

"Deku!"

Ochako's voice snapped him back to reality.

"Should we get down there and help the others out or do you think we should stay up here where it's safe?"

"Ehm... W-why are you a-asking me?" he deflected.

"Because you are our team leader. And you are the smartest among us."

"Hey, I resent that!" cried Hatsume who was leaning dangerously over the edge of the roof; probably trusting in her hover boots to keep her from harm should she fall.

She was right though. He could not abandon his friends and teammates now. Similarly to how he could not abandon the civilians in the stadium. A true hero saved people whenever possible! All Might would not sit around and mope. Instead he would act!

"We are going down there and help with the evacuation. Ochako, we will need your quirk once again for a controlled descent. Tokoyami, have Dark Shadow keep his eyes out for any villains that may ambush us. Hatsume, do you have anything with you that could be of use?"

"Of course! My awesome babies will certainly come in handy!"

Yes. Together they would brave this storm and act like real heroes! Izuku had the feeling that Ms. Degurechaff would disapprove, but he could not suppress his daring desire to help. Even if it was stupid, he would not stand by and do nothing!

~[#҈#]~

Ochako was kind of amazed at how well she had reacted. One moment her heart felt like it was going to fall out of her chest and shatter on the concrete below from the pure dread that was filling her mind and in the next she was already leading dozens of people to the exits. As easy as vowing to be brave in the future was, in reality it took far more than a few bold words to actually move and willingly step into danger.

She had known that of course, but only now could she fully understand how difficult it was. Her body did freeze up for a second and her memories flashed back to the recent instances of her utter powerlessness. When she saw the purple smoke and the monster erupting out of it she was sure that somebody was going to die. And worse, a small, shameful part of her was glad that she was high up in the air, out of reach of the monster that began terrorizing her classmates.

Her friends were fighting for their lives while she watched and did nothing. Again.

Luckily Ms. Degurechaff showed up from... somewhere and took care of that problem. The gore though had seared itself into her imagination and was sure to haunt her dreams for many future nights.

Nevertheless, she pulled herself together and fell back on her new favourite strategy to do when in doubt: Ask Izuku.

His confused green eyes had cleared almost immediately and sharpened into stunning emerald orbs of absolute conviction. He knew what to do and she happily grabbed onto his plan like a lifeline. Regardless if it worked or if she went into more danger, anything was better than doing nothing, as she so painfully learned.

Ochako would stand strong, not as a victim or a damsel in need of rescue, but as a hero!

~[#҈#]~

Outside the teachers' lounge the members of the UA faculty stood around idly or left the school in different directions. The only reason Tanya had not stormed past them already was that she would under no circumstance admit weakness and give off the impression that she was fleeing. They might laugh about her, but she was not about to run away like a little girl from her bullies!

This forced appearance of casual disinterest however was also why she wanted to curse rather strongly when her currently least liked person stopped her in the middle of the hallway.

"What is it?" she asked with carefully masked disdain.

To his credit, the bandaged man did not squirm under her gaze that had sent many accomplished villains running in the past.

"I wanted to apologize. I was unaware of your... state of undress and used my quirk without thinking. It was an accident caused by my emotional investment in this case that made me act so regrettably."

"Hmph." she commented with no change of her expression.

Aizawa continued with a small bow: "It was irrational of me to use my quirk as an intimidation tactic in this environment and I want to assure you that something similar will not happen again."

Tanya seriously considered just suing him for sexual harassment, but being petty would not bring her dignity back. Making enemies with the staff and wasting much of her free time on a pointless court battle was also less than ideal. Not even factoring in that Nedzu would definitely assist his loyal subordinate which made her chances of winning slim to none.

In another life she would have arranged a demotion or manipulated the brass into relocating this guy to the most unpleasant parts of the front, but those times were behind her. Aizawa appeared suitably regretful, so perhaps he would learn from his mistake without such drastic measures.

"You should be more careful with your quirk cancelling in the future. Who knows which side-effects that could have on other people. Someone who passively relies on their quirk to stay alive could be seriously hurt simply because your 'emotional investment' made you lose control of yourself again. See to it that you teach your students the dangers of unsolicited quirk use in the future and then hold yourself to the same standards."

Man, her temper was slowly boiling over from this miserable day. Not that she let her frustration show on her face of course, but she wanted to get home as quickly as possible and take a long, relaxing bath before she accidentally destroyed something.

With a curt nod to her fellow teachers she exited the building in an almost hurrying fashion and flew off with maximum speed.

~[#҈#]~

Haggard.

That was how her senpai looked. Like some disgusting leech had sucked off ten years of her beautiful life, diminishing the normally blazing fire in her eyes and burdening her shoulders with an invisible weight that seemed to shrink her small frame even further. Witnessing the sun of her personal universe so dimmed physically hurt Himiko and she desired nothing more than to see her light up again with life and joy as she properly deserved.

Jumping up from her spot on the couch where she had anxiously awaited the return of her beloved, Himiko hastily closed the door behind her senpai and helped her take off her shoes before embracing Tanya in a tight hug. The target of all her affection remained stiff as a board and made no attempt to hug her back.

"It's okay. We are alone. Let it out."

Only after she rubbed her beloved's back in soothing circles did she relax, slumping into her like she only did when they were unobserved. If the feeling of worry had not overshadowed anything else in Himiko's brain at that moment then she would have been giddy that Tanya trusted her so much as to let her guard down so much.

As much as it hurt to let her go, the younger girl knew what had to be done in order to soothe the agitated mind of her senpai. Chocolate coffee was not something that could be served every day, but tonight it would work wonders for her love. A good bath would also do her well considering that the filthy hands of that maggot had nearly touched her wonderful skin...

The spoon in Himiko's hand slightly deformed as she thought about that wretched scum who dared to-!

No, she needed to calm down. Her beloved needed her with a clear head right now. Vengeance could wait for later.

Tanya sat still on the couch where Himiko had deposited her, eyes closed and rhythmically breathing in and out. Silently she sat the steaming mug down on the table in front of her to let the smell slowly rouse her from her meditation. Interrupting her love when she was ordering her thoughts would be akin to blasphemy!

It did not take long for her nostrils to twitch and eyelids to crack open, filling Himiko with joyful anticipation. Reverently she watched as her goddess's slender fingers grasped the cup and brought it to her lips.

Would it taste right? Had she messed up the recipe? Would she disappoint her senpai with a culinary failure? Oh, the shame-

The minute tugging at the edge of Tanya's lips dissuaded her fears and she let out a sigh of relief. Ever the attentive one, her Senpai naturally noticed and gave her a small smile.

"I'm fine, Himiko. Just a... disappointing day, I guess..."

Of course she was not 'fine'! Nobody on this planet knew her Tanya better than she did!

"Senpai, are you really alright?" she whispered, peering deep into those azure stars that enchanted her heart.

"Perhaps... not." Tanya admitted dejectedly as her gaze turned towards the floor.

Himiko patiently waited, absentmindedly trying not to stare at the hole in her uniform too much. If Tanya wanted to open up and share her thoughts then she would need time.

"I almost got killed..."

Oh, Shikaragi would be begging for death when she was done with him!

"Dying doesn't scare me. It's just... It has been a long time since I was in a situation like that. I got distracted and 'whoosh'... I could have lost it all. Makes you think, doesn't it... ha ha..."

Huddling closer, Himiko slipped an arm around the person that mattered most to her in an attempt to ease the pain with her companionship. Apparently it worked because Tanya leaned a little bit into her touch.

"And... It seems my time as a teacher is rapidly approaching its end and I will not leave as a positive example to be remembered, but as a mockery. A shame really... I liked that job. The food was good. And until today I thought the faculty wasn't too bad... And I think without my interference All Might is going to ruin their education... These kids really deserve better... But that is the way of the world. We must adapt and roll with the punches. Yes, exactly!" she spoke distractedly as if to convince herself of the truth of that statement. "Everything changes and we must change with it or suffer the consequences. This life is no different."

'This life'? What was her beloved talking about? What a strange figure of speech.

"I am so, so sorry that this happened. If I had known what he planned I would have squished that worm before he had any chance to come close to you. Maybe things would have been different-"

"No, Himiko. There is no use in thinking about what could have been. I am not mad at you in the slightest. Even if you had known, the higher-ups would not have allowed you to share it with me. Plausible deniability and all that hogwash. In the end we both made it out healthy and with our secret identities intact. That is all we can hope for as long as we are agents of the HPSC."

'As long as we are its slaves' went unsaid.

They both sat in companionable silence until the coffee mug was emptied and dusk was replaced by night.

"I am going to draw you a bath, if you are alright with that. The one with lemon bubbles."

"That would be very nice. Thank you, Himiko."

Overall her senpai looked a lot better now, but she was still not completely recovered. With tender love and care she would be back to her usual unshakable self in no time!

Humming cheerfully she entered the bathroom and prepared the water. As sad as it was, the tub was too small for two people, but she would not have done that anyway. Her beloved needed the space right now and she wasn't in the mood for that specific kind of intimacy. The missed opportunity was regrettable, but that sacrifice of skinship would prove her devotion even more.

"It's ready!" she chirped when she turned off the faucet.

No response came from downstairs.

"You can hop in, Senpai! What is it?"

Any further word froze on her tongue as she entered the living room. Tanya was glued to the screen of her phone. Lifting her head at a snail's pace she turned in Himiko's direction, her face once more a hollow mask.

"A new order came in."

Himiko's blood froze. This couldn't be good!

"It appears that my service as a teacher just got drastically expanded. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that this is not a good thing."

~[#҈#]~

Nedzu knew that the fight was lost when Endeavour's name was dropped as a supporter of the 'security oversight program'. He would need way too much time to work against the media presence that the number two hero could conjure with his far reaching PR network and he had his paws full with other problems at the moment.

What exactly had persuaded the Flame Hero Endeavour to take a stand with the HPSC was anyone's guess, but Nedzu strongly suspected that it was connected to the recent developments regarding his son, Shoto Todoroki. Where the young boy had previously refused to use the fire side of his quirk during the official recommendations exam and in the first week at school, this attitude changed after Argent forced him to attend regular meetings with Hound Dog.

It was most tempting to look into his psychological profile, but Nedzu would not breach the trust of a student under his care. Not yet at least…

However, he didn't need to see the contents of the school counsellor's notes to discern the origins of young Todoroki's dislike for fire. His father was a career oriented man who surely drove his progeny to excel in anything if it benefited his image. Furthermore, Endeavour's harsh and distant attitude was apparent even in his fan interviews, so it stood to reason that his parenting as a single father away from the public eye would only be worse. How much worse Nedzu shuddered to imagine. There was a rather prominent burn scar over his son's eye after all...

The principal made a note to investigate this further, which judging from the already booked out calendar on his desktop would have to wait for a while. Nonetheless, caring for the well-being of his students was no less important than the rest of his tasks and he would give this case all the attention it deserved.

Back to the most pressing topic at hand: the encroaching tentacles of bureaucracy that the HPSC attempted to slither into his domain with the finesse of a charging bull.

Normally he would have been pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of the generally slow-moving governmental apparatus, but for the finished letter to appear mere hours after the 'sport's festival attack' as the media unimaginatively called it was highly concerning.

Their proposal for the 'security oversight program' was pretty straightforward and consisted of two parts: A bi-yearly examination of the internal security by an independent team of experts (which was not too unreasonable) and the permanent installation of an 'Autonomous Danger Mitigation Manager' into the school hierarchy.

What precisely that job description entailed was hidden behind three whole pages of flowery legal speak, but for an intellect of Nedzu's calibre it was so obvious that it could as well have been written in red paint on his office wall. This meant that a government puppet with access to everything vaguely related to the protection of UA was about to legally infiltrate his home.

Such a transparent ploy was to be expected after they had forced Ms. Degurechaff to substitute for Aizawa, although the principal was glad that his employee got the time to properly heal instead of overworking himself like usual.

Truthfully, he could still cash in some of the many favours that humans around the earth owed to him in order to avoid these changes, but if he put up a fight then the HPSC would only double down harder on their efforts to undermine his authority. If his worst assumptions were true then they were not above causing villain attacks on civilians or infiltrating his campus in disguise. Rousing their anger would escalate the situation to levels that even he could no longer control.

It was better to lull them into a false sense of victory, to make them believe that they had won the battle and weaken them instead where they would not expect. When the rules of battle stood not in your favour then you needed to change them. And the HPSC did present him with the perfect opportunity...

The tool with which they sought to monitor him was not as willing or as obedient as they thought...

"Yes, Ms. Degurechaff, I am sure we can work together wonderfully in the future. UA Highschool aims to make true heroes out of everybody who enters its halls and you will be no different."