Author's Note: So I know it's not a Saturday, but I was mad busy yesterday, so here's a rare Sunday update! Enjoy!
Also, if you want to get into a place with other lovers of MHA, and specifically IzuJirou stuff, come on and join this Discord server that I'm on: /eFtmT8cTbY We're only kind of crazy, and not at all a cult... except, we also kind of are. Anyway, yeah, join that! Or maybe you want something a bit less niche with still a lot of great authors? If so, I have another server! /6ZCTyGy7zZ I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's cross-posted on Ao3 as well. Leave a review if you want to. I welcome the feedback! See you next time.
"So what's the plan?" Shouto whispered.
"We work best with sneak attacks. Some of our quirks fall off once prolonged combat starts." Izuku replied before he touched his earpiece. "Overwatch, they're in that building, right?"
"Yeah, I'm getting about thirty heat signatures in there." Mei replied over comms. She was sitting in their base since it was so close to the warehouse that this deal was happening in.
"Wonderful. Which side?" Izuku asked.
"They're closest to the Western wall, but they're pretty close to the center of the room as well." Mei explained.
"We can work with that." Izuku responded. He then turned to Shouto. "Watch and learn, Dragon."
Izuku and Kyouka dragged Shouto down to the Western wall while Himiko, Fumikage, and Hitoshi went to the opposite side of the building.
"Infiltration plan Beta." Izuku said over comms.
"What is that?" Shouto asked.
"Infiltrate at the same time. Go in. Look badass." Izuku said.
"Seems simple enough."
Izuku and Kyouka both approached the wall. Shouto followed them as they moved. Izuku simply put his hand up. Shouto stopped in his tracks. Izuku took a few of the dice bombs out of his jacket pocket and laid them down next to the wall. Kyouka followed him and placed her speakers right alongside the dice bombs. They backed off, and Shouto followed them closely.
Within a few seconds, Izuku put his hand up, his hand spread open. He then began to put his fingers down. Kyouka nodded and put her ear jacks into the ports on her shoulder. As Izuku's countdown reached zero, the wall exploded.
"Activate your mask." Izuku told Shouto as he did the same and walked through the now open wall into the building.
"What the fuck?" One of the people in the weapons deal exclaimed loudly.
"Oi, it's the fuckers that took down Stain!" Another one said.
"Wait, they took down Stain? What chance do we have?"
"None if we keep acting like little bitches like you!" The first one said, charging at Izuku with a crowbar. Izuku simply sidestepped the downward crowbar strike. More people began to charge at them when a roar shook the building and the other side of the building came crashing down. That stopped the charging villains in their track as Kyouka punched the one that had first charged at Izuku.
"Dammit, they've surrounded us!" Another one yelled.
"Well we've got guns, right?" A woman asked right next to the crates.
"Defend yourselves!" A larger man yelled. "You've paid for these, after all!"
The woman began trying to open the crates, but a blur of shadows dashed from the fresh ruins and knocked her out.
A wave of ice lanced towards a group of a few of them, freezing them in place. A few minor explosions knocked a few others off balance before they were either knocked out with a sound enhanced punch, pummeled by a rending claw of darkness, or glued to the floor via Mei's adhesive rounds.
They had taken care of this small group of thigs rather easily. About 20 or 30 total people had been taken down. Himiko darted around, collecting blood from the people.
Izuku walked up to the glued down large man that had commanded the others in the room.
"What the fuck do you want?" The man asked, spitting at Izuku.
"I just want some answers." Izuku said.
"Yeah? Good luck with that." He spat again.
Izuku crouched down in front of the man. "You're going to tell us what we want to know. Or else you won't like what happens to you next."
"You don't know anything about me. Good luck doing anything that will make me talk. You don't have shit."
"Do you have a son?" Izuku asked suddenly.
"What? Why?"
"Oh, no reason. You just seem like you're a decently fatherly type. You've encouraged those under you. A rather fair sort of leader for… What you're working with. They were worth every cent, that I'm certain."
"What are you-"
"You son would need a great role model and symbol of leadership like you. It must be great being a father. Raising a kid. Having the ability to love and cherish this other person. To protect them." Izuku said. "You want to do that, don't you? You want to protect your family, right?"
"You don't know anything about my family. You don't know where I live, you fucker!"
"I can change that easily. Changeling, you have ways to find out, right?" Izuku asked.
"Yes, sir!" Himiko said, walking over to the prone man. She took out one of her knives and slid it slightly into his shoulder. He didn't feel it, but he would. She took one of her vials, downed the blood, and gray goo began to slough off of her form. Her form then changed to the same man that was glued to the ground.
"Mastermind. Cut him loose and do your thing." Izuku instructed.
Hitoshi did as he was told, cutting the man loose from the glue. "What do you think?"
"I think I'm gonna-" The man began to yell before he stopped talking.
"Tell him to hand you his phone, unlocked." Izuku instructed.
"Hand me your phone, unlocked." Hitoshi repeated.
The man did as he commanded.
"Overwatch, down him again." Izuku said. Mei fired a point-blank shot with her rifle, blasting him off of his feet and plastering him to the ground.
"Wh-What just happened?" The man asked.
"Oh, you just gave us your unlocked phone." Izuku said simply. "Changeling, go ahead and look for any contact labeled 'wife' or anything similar."
His eyes immediately widened. "Wait, no… No please…"
"I found it!" Himiko said excitedly in the other man's voice.
"Go ahead." Izuku said.
Himiko pressed the call button. The phone rang twice before a woman answered. 'Hey hon. Is something the matter?'
"I'm a bit drunk. I forgot our address. Can you…" Himiko pretended to hiccup. "Can you give it to me?"
'Of course, hon.' The woman said before she gave Himiko the man's address.
"We don't need to know anything about you to find out where you live." Izuku said. "Now I ask you again. Do you want to protect your family?"
They could all see tears beginning to fall down the man's face. "Fine. I'll talk. Just leave my family alone." He pleaded.
:Good boy." Izuku said. "You'll start by telling us who you work for."
"The Shie Hassaikai." The man said.
"The Yakuza group." Izuku said. "What does your leader want you to do?"
"Our leader doesn't want us to do shit!" He said angrily.
"You don't like your leader?" Izuku asked.
"We love our leader!" He shouted. "But the boss is sick and in a coma. A new guy took over, and he's been having us do shit like this! But we can't say no to him or else we end up dead."
"I see…" Izuku said.
"He's been making us sell these fucking bullets to other people so that he can monopolize the hero industry." The man said.
"Do you know how they're made?" Izuku asked.
"There's a girl. He gets pissed any time she gets out, and he kills whoever is on watch when she escapes. His quirk is terrifying and so strong." The man said, shuddering.
"What does his quirk do?" Mei asked.
"It's called Overhaul. And that's what he wants us to call him." He said. "I don't know what it does, but he can kill people with a touch. I saw him splatter a friend of mine across the wall. And then I saw him touch the remains and bring him back! That's all I know about him, I swear. Well… I do know that you guys can't touch him. Nobody can."
"We'll see about that. Where is he located?"
"I… I can't tell you. If I do and he finds out that I did, my life is over." He said.
"Alright, then. Changeling, you're good to go." Izuku said. Himiko nodded and began to walk off.
"Wait! Wait, please! Osaka! It's in Osaka." The man sobbed. "Please don't hurt my family!"
"It seems you've learned. Good. Last question." Izuku said. "Who do you sell to?"
"We…" He trailed off, eyeing Himiko, who still looked like him, and then sighed in defeat. "We sell to a lot of groups. Today was some low life crime gang that I can't even remember the name of. But we've sold to a quirkless supremacy group called Humarise before. One of their Japan sects. And a few other organizations, but they're our biggest buyer. That's who these guys are… Please… Please, let me go now…"
"Alright." Izuku said. "You're gonna be the only one that we will release. You're going to need to find some new place to live, by the way. You did just give information about your Yakuza clan away to random people. I don't think they'd appreciate that."
"R-Right…" He said. Hitoshi cut him out of the adhesive cocoon that he was stuck in. As soon as he got up, Himiko, now back to looking like herself, handed him back his phone.
"If you're thinking about attacking us right now, that would be a bad idea." Kyouka said. "Just wanted to let you know."
"I'm just gonna go…" The man said quietly, running out of the building.
"So that's that." Mei said. "Now we have a lot of these bullets again. What are we gonna do with them? We haven't used a single one so far. Surely we don't need more of them."
"You're right." Izuku agreed. He turned to Shouto. "Dragon." He said. Shouto immediately stood at attention. "First of all, stop that. I'm your leader, not your military drill sergeant. Anyway, secondly. Burn the bullets. You can do that, right?" Izuku asked.
"Of course." Shouto stepped up to the box of ammunition and guns. The room quickly went up in temperature as he unloaded flames onto the wooden box in front of him. It was soon reduced to a pile of smoldering ash.
"Good work. NightHawk and Heartquake, grab the money for the deal. That should help us out some more." Izuku instructed. "Overwatch, set up the egg."
Mei nodded and put one of the eggs against the far side of the wall.
"What is that?" Shouto asked.
"It's an egg." Mei said.
"Yeah…?" Shouto asked again, face completely deadpan.
"You'll see how it works soon." Mei waved off his concern. She pressed the button on the egg and stepped back. Shouto began to walk closer to it to get a better view. Mei put her hand out, stopping him. "You're gonna want to take a step back." And likewise, she took a few steps back, taking Shouto with her.
The egg expanded and sprayed the adhesive and pain around it onto the wall nearby.
"Now let's get out of here." Kyouka said, grabbing hold of one of many briefcases full of money.
"What just happened?" Shouto asked.
"That's how we leave our mark. So people know that we stopped these guys." Hitoshi said.
"All thanks to one of my babies!" Mei said excitedly.
"Enough idle chit chat." Izuku said. "We gotta get out of here before people come-to." Everyone nodded and fled the building rather quickly after that. "Good work, everyone. I think that Dragon did rather well for his first mission. It wasn't something too out there, just some standard goons, but he did do well. He listened to what was needed and made the rest of our jobs easier."
"I thank you, sir." Shouto said.
"Now onto my notes for improvement." Izuku said.
"Oh…"
"You're new, so I won't hold this against you too much." Izuku said. "But, if you're unsure of what something does, stand back and wait for it to either be shown to you or explained." He explained.
"I… I see. I'm sorry." Shouto said.
"Just be sure to keep that in mind moving forward." Izuku said. "As I said, it was your first mission with us. We'll work with you moving forward. Take this as a lesson. Move forward."
"Of course." Shouto nodded.
"Good, now let's head back and count our earnings." Izuku said.
"What is the legality of that?" Shouto asked.
"Dragon. Hun. None of what we're doing is legal. But we do have to have some way of staying afloat." Mei said. "Selling off my babies can only help so much. We have to get more money to survive."
"I… I guess that makes sense…" Shouto says.
"And we never take money from good people. Only the villains that we stop." Kyouka explained.
"That makes it more bearable." Shouto said.
"We can't make a difference if we can't support ourselves." Hitoshi said. "I know that with being trained to be a hero, you're not used to this, but if we're going to change things, we have to be able to live too. If you're out because of that, now is the best time to get out of here. But if you stay, you're one with us in this."
"I'm in until the end." Shouto nodded. "We can make real change here."
"Yes we can." Izuku agreed. "Now, let's settle back home. Get some good sleep for the next few days. There's going to be a lot going on. We have a few new leads to go off of." He instructed. Just a few minutes later, they rounded the corner to their warehouse and ducked inside, safe from any prying eyes.
Shouta was pissed. Of course his target was found by Societas Requiem before he could get to them. Of course that stupid little mark was there. Of course they had gotten everything that had been here. Of course they had stolen his job from him.
His opinion of this group has always been somewhat uncertain. They were strong, and they were his fault, from what he understood. But dammit, if getting upstaged left and right wasn't frustrating to no end for him.
And then he saw it.
He saw the massive ice spikes that had immobilized some of the people. And then he saw the charred remains of what looked like crates of… something.
"God fucking dammit!" Shouta shouted.
"What's this? The Eraserhead showing actual emotion?" A police officer asked. "Every time I've worked with you, it's been cold and calculating. No nonsense logic. So what's this all about?"
Shouta took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "It's… nothing. Do you all need anything else from me before I head out? I have some important things to do."
"Oh no, go ahead. We're just booking all of these criminals. Go about your business." The officer waved him off.
"Thank you. Have a nice night. I'll contact you again if something happens." He said before leaving. Once out of earshot, Shouta took out his phone and dialed the number of the absolute bane of his existence.
'Hello? To what do I owe the pleasure, Shouta?' Nezu asked.
"Care to explain why the student you told me was visiting his family is now actually working for the most up and coming vigilante group in all of Japan?"
'I'm not sure what you're talking about, Shouta. Mr. Todoroki went home with his family.' Nezu said. Shouta could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Cut the bullshit, Nezu." Shouta said. "Don't lie to me. This is my student we're talking about. And it's also connected to my mission regarding Societas Requiem."
'You mean your obsession with Societas Requiem.' Nezu said.
"Obsession? No, I want to make sure that they're safe and that they don't become villains!"
'You should make sure that is the case for your students first, Shouta.' Nezu said. 'You've become so focused on rectifying your failure with Snake Eyes that you aren't seeing the issues that have come for your current teaching. Do keep in mind that the biggest lesson that they've had that wasn't from the USJ event was from Societas Requiem.'
Shouta wanted to argue, but he couldn't. His students' performance had increased tremendously after Societas Requiem had beaten them.
"I…" Shouta started.
'I know that you're concerned, but there are things that you need to do. Things that are a bit more of your responsibility than a group of seven kids.'
"So you know there are seven now!" Shouta said.
Nezu sighed. 'Shouta… I know you think a lot. You had a good teacher that taught you how to think. And I suggest that you think long and hard about your next steps moving forward. There is a correct answer.' And then Nezu hung up.
Shouta sighed. He sat down on the sidewalk and stared at the passing cars. "Maybe… maybe he's right."
'Today's story, we're taking a deep dive into the shocking Societas Requiem group. What we know, and what you should know going forward.' A nearby street screen showed a news station.
"Looks like I'm not the only one that's obsessed." Shouta chuckled to himself. He stood up shortly after the news station really began to do a deep dive into the group. "Maybe I should take a break. They're clearly scoping out the jobs that were originally mine. I guess that means that I can devote a bit more time to teaching… I mean, All Might has done a good job lately. He wasn't that great in the beginning, but after Kamino…" Shouta realized that he had been talking to himself outloud and sighed again. "I need some sleep. That is what I should devote more time to." He decided.
He made his way to the nearest public bathroom, changed into his civilian clothes, and then boarded the closest train to Musutafu. Instead of going back to UA temporarily like he would typically do to do some paperwork and class prep, he instead headed home. He was going to get some rest. He smiled to himself as he thought of his students' faces when seeing him rested for the first time and cracked up on the inside.
Yeah, he needed to sleep, and his bed with Emi next to him was calling his name.
