Questions and Rescues
Gohan sat in an interview room, surrounded by white walls and a one-way mirror. A blank-faced man wearing a detective badge sat on the other side of a table, staring at Gohan.
"Son Gohan. No family, no place of residence outside of UA. Currently a teacher's assistant at UA and you just got your provisional Hero License. Officially listed as having an unknown Quirk relating to energy manipulation. Are these facts correct?" The detective kept staring at Gohan, his expression never changing.
"Essentially. Is there a reason that I'm here instead of with the UA staff or my students?" Gohan's own expression was carefully blank, though a certain tension filled the room.
"You killed someone," the detective said. "That's something the police take an interest in, even IF you have a provisional Hero license. We can't just have people, particularly heroes, killing people."
"So I should have just allowed that thing to continue to rampage, possibly killing my students or coworkers?" Gohan leaned forward, his black eyes hard.
"No, but surely there could have been a different way to take down the villain without killing him. Your scores at the Provisional License Exam indicate that you are exceptional in villain capture. Why not show off that ability here?"
Gohan sighed. "This was a threat against my students and coworkers. The other villains boasted that it was designed to hold up against All Might and told it to murder every student in the complex. I felt justified in my use of force to preserve the lives of twenty children and three staff members."
"Alright, well, I have a few questions," the detective said with the same blank expression. "First: How did you know there was an issue at the USJ? You were supposed to be coming back on the bus with Snipe from the Provisional License Exam, correct?"
"I didn't know about the issue. I dislike vehicular travel and I can fly, so I wanted to skip the bus ride to get back to work. Class 1-A was in the USJ today, like 1-B will do tomorrow, so I went straight to the USJ instead of stopping at the main building."
"How did you arrive so quickly? A suspicious person might say that you had foreknowledge of an attack."
"A fool might say something similar," Gohan said with a glare. "I arrived quickly because I'm a fast flier and I was already en route to UA after the conclusion of the exam. Next question."
The detective held up a conciliatory hand. "Very well. Student reports show you immediately sent the students and All Might away from the main villains when you arrived in the central area. Why would you send away the Number One Hero and three capable Hero students? Are you so arrogant to believe that you could handle a situation that All Might couldn't?" The detective leaned forward, his expression finally changing into a snarl.
"When I arrived, All Might had just escaped the grasp of the black-skinned creature with the help of Todoroki-san. I noticed his injuries and determined that it would be better for him to find and rescue the other students from around the USJ than to continue the fight with the creature."
"And you are qualified to make this decision?"
"Qualified enough for All Might to listen, apparently. You'd have to ask him why he followed my directions."
The detective reined himself in, sitting up straight in his chair. "Yes, yes. Let's move to your encounter with the creature."
"Shigaraki called it a Nomu. According to Midoriya, the Nomu had some sort of shock-absorption capabilities."
"And he knew that how?"
"He punched it. Midoriya's Quirk-enhanced strength was enough to create a whirlpool from just a finger flick. A full-strength punch should have been enough to grievously injure the Nomu, at the very least. He said it did nothing even though the wind pressure caused damage on the sides of the USJ dome several dozen meters past the Nomu itself."
The detective leaned forward again, shuffling through a sheaf of pictures in a folder. He laid a picture of Midoriya on the table. "Midoriya Izuku. Registered Quirk: Superpower. He only registered this power a couple of months ago. Did you know him before that?"
"Some," Gohan said with a shrug. "I helped train him for the UA Entrance Exams, since his mentor isn't the best at teaching the basics," Gohan chuckled. "Physically, he's still got a long way to go, but he has the heart of a hero."
"Yes, I've heard that," the detective said without a smile. "But how could a Quirkless suddenly develop a Quirk at 15? Everyone knows you get your Quirk at 4."
"You make being Quirkless sound like such a bad thing," Gohan said, his tone suddenly cold. The detective's face contorted into a snarl.
"Of course it's a bad thing! Those freaks have no place in our more evolved society!"
It was Gohan's turn to snarl. "Watch your tongue." An oppressive weight fell over the room, causing the detective to choke on his saliva. "If you have more pertinent questions, I will happily answer them. If not, I'll leave to check on my students."
The detective blinked and tried to catch his breath, eventually sputtering out, "You can't just leave! You killed someone! I have more questions for you to answer before"
"I seem to recall having lessons on self-defense laws, particularly in regard to those holding any form of Hero license. I defended myself and my students, that is all. If that makes me a villain," Gohan paused and flexed his aura as the detective blanched, "who exactly is going to stop me?"
The detective sat, white-faced, as Gohan walked out of the room. Once the Sayian left the room, the detective gasped for a breath. "Someone has to tell the Commission! He's too dangerous to leave unchecked." He scrambled out of the room, ripping the door open and running into a tall man wearing a trench coat.
"Who are you?" the tall man asked. "You aren't one of my detectives. What division are you from?"
"I'm from Central, special attachment to the HPSC. Move aside, I need to speak to my superiors immediately!"
Tsukauchi stepped aside, narrowed eyes following the other detective. He slipped his phone out of his pocket, placing it to his ear. "Principal Nezu, we may have a problem."
Gohan stepped out of the police building and took off into the sky. He needed to blow off some steam after the interrogation by the mysterious HPSC detective. An explosion under Gohan drew his attention. He flew down quickly, noting that he ended up flying over Hosu. As he landed in front of a burning building, Gohan noticed a figure in silver armor arriving on the scene.
"Hero-san! I'm Sayiaman, a new Provisional Hero," Gohan said to the hero as he approached. "How can I help?"
"Ingenium," the armored hero said without looking at Gohan. "Any idea what actually happened? I heard the explosion and rushed over. My sidekicks are en route, but no one has any information yet."
"Same. I heard the explosion when I was flying by and came over." Gohan focused for a moment to feel for ki signatures nearby. "There are five people still inside. Three are moving around and are uninjured. Two are injured."
Ingenium stared at Gohan. "How do you know that? You know what, never mind. It sounds like the three who are uninjured either caused the explosion or were involved in some way. What else can you do?"
Gohan cleared a hole in the destroyed building's front in a blur of speed. "Super strength, speed, flight, energy-based attacks."
"Well, alright. Let's go, Sayiaman. Try to keep up." Ingenium's engines roared to life as one of his sidekicks arrived behind him. Ingenium shouted to his sidekick. "Bigshot, make sure there are no other injuries from the explosion! Send Enigma to cover the rear exit of the building just in case victims try to escape the back or the villain is present! Anyone else should help with any wounded!"
"Roger, boss!" Bigshot ran towards a hastily assembled first aid station, shouting Ingenium's instructions to the other sidekicks nearby. Ingenium launched himself forward to the building, Gohan close behind.
Gohan blew open a door with an invisible blast of ki before he and Ingenium got to the building. The pair rushed inside, fire licking the walls around them. Ingenium shouted for anyone who was conscious to call out while Gohan lifted a fallen column into place to brace the ceiling.
"Ingenium-san, there are three civilians just through that door," Gohan said, pointing to a doorway that hadn't caught on fire yet. "I think they're ok, but it's hard to tell specifically. There are two more deeper in the building."
The older hero revved his engines and burst through the door, seeing the three civilians Gohan mentioned huddled in a corner. Ingenium knelt down in front of them, noting that one was a child and the others were older, likely parents. "Alright, guys, lets get out of here! Any of you having difficulty walking or have any major injuries?" All three shook their heads, scared looks on their faces. The armored hero guided the civilians out of the building, handing them off to his sidekicks before running back into the building.
Gohan had placed the last support pillar back into place as Ingenium dashed back into the main room.
"Sayiaman, where are the last two?"
Gohan concentrated for a moment. "Two floors up, one in the center of the main room and one is running up the stairs?"
"Up?" Ingenium questioned. "Why would anyone be moving higher in the building?" He shook his helmeted head briefly. "Nevermind, questions for later. Let's move!"
Ingenium ran up the stairs to the civilian running upstairs while Gohan ran to the civilian who was stationary. Ingenium grabbed the civilian and prepared to run with him outside. The civilian twisted, dropping his backpack, and started swinging at Ingenium, yelling for him to get away from him.
"You get away from me, you Quirked bastard!" Ingenium flinched at the civilian fighting, but held on as he began to run him out of the building. "I don't give consent to be rescued by you! Leave me alone!"
As the armored speed hero ran out of the building, he radioed his sidekicks.
"Something is going on here. Keep an eye of the civilian that I'm bringing out, he was acting oddly. Sayiaman, have you gotten to the stationary civilian?"
While Ingenium ran up the stairs for the other civilian, Gohan sped to the civilian sitting in the middle of the floor, hovering to put less stress on the crumbling building. As he came near her, he noticed a series of wires scattered around the ground leading to the woman. They were laid out in a wheel spoke pattern originating from her, crossing the room in a way that anyone running inside would hit them.
"Ma'am, I'm here to help," Gohan called across the room. "If you're injured, please hold still. I will be there in a moment!" An uncomfortable feeling twisted in Gohan's gut. Something was wrong. "Ma'am, can you hear me?"
The woman turned, her eyes wild. "Hero! You're finally here! Come help me!"
"Of course. Can you tell me how you got here?" Gohan focused his senses outward while his eyes were on the woman. No one was in the building now that Ingenium evacuated the person on the stairs. Who put this woman here and why did she have wires running to her?
"Come closer, I want to leave! Hurry up!" The woman stared into Gohan's eyes, an unrecognizable emotion roiling behind them. As Gohan reached the woman, a terrifying light blazed in her eyes. "NOW DIE, YOU QUIRKED BASTARD! HUMAN PURITY FOREVER!" She grabbed at a cord on a vest she wore. The vest was hidden by her sweater, but Gohan could see wires peeking out. Gohan lunged out, ripping the vest off the woman and tossing it away from the pair. Just before the explosion, Gohan turned and covered the woman, protecting her from the blast.
BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!
Ingenium's head whipped around as the explosion went off. "Sayiaman!" The hero's voice was cut off as Gohan jumped out of the window with a woman in his arms. "Sayiaman!" Ingenium shouted as he ran over. "Are you injured? What happened?"
" This woman had explosives strapped to her," Gohan said, "and I think she was the one who strapped them to her."
The woman tried to thrash around in Gohan's arms. "You Quirked bastard, let me go! Why the fuck didn't you die?!"
Ingenium gave Gohan a flat look. "You think she strapped a bomb to her chest? I'm fairly certain she tried to blow you up." He looked back at the woman. "Ma'am, stop struggling. The police have some questions for you."
The woman continued to struggle and scream as the police took her out of Gohan's arms.
"Ingenium, why would that woman try to blow herself up? I don't get it. What's the point of it?"
Ingenium sighed. "I really don't know. From her comments, I would guess that she is part of a terrorist organization that hates people with Quirks. I don't really get it, either. I've heard some rumors about a new Quirkist terrorism group, but I always figured it was going the opposite direction."
Gohan tilted his head in confusion. Ingenium sighed again and ran a hand through his hair.
"There are a disturbing number of groups that think Quirkless people are relics of the past who should be destroyed. They have a tendency to lash out, a few have gone into human smuggling of Quirkless people out of Japan to nations that still deal in slavery. This group, however, seems to be different. They appear to hate people with Quirks and Quirks in general." Ingenium put a hand on Gohan's shoulder. "I'm not sure what will happen with this investigation, but that's something for the more investigation focused agencies to work on. Come on, we have paperwork to do, even though you aren't part of my agency."
Gohan sighed and nodded, following the older hero back to an office building nearby. Something didn't sit right with him about the entire situation. Between the weird interactions he had at the Provisional Licensing Exam, the mysterious detective after the USJ, and these new people trying to blow themselves up. It sounded like a mystery to be solved. Gohan just had to find somewhere to start.
Sorry this took so long to come out. It's been written for a while, to be honest. I just don't know how I feel about this chapter. I've struggled with it for months. Feedback is always welcome! Hopefully the next chapter will be sooner!