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 twenty-nine: Enter! A pro hero who's marginally better than Eraserhead personality wise!
It's been a few days since Eri, the little horned girl under UA's protection, had been kidnapped by two weirdos wearing bird beak-like masks because Nemuri took her off campus with her in what was eventually revealed to be Nemuri wanting to prove Hizashi wrong about if she had the ability to be responsible for a small child or not; Nemuri said she was, Hizashi said she wasn't. To Nemuri's credit, even Aizawa, once he got down what all Nemuri did, had to admit that Nemuri WAS being responsible with Eri, it's just that the kidnapping was an all-of-a-sudden random event that no-one could have seen coming.
Aizawa's students Uraraka, Kirishima, Bakugo, and Todoroki, as they went off for something related to their work-studies, all had an aura of gloom on them; all of 1-A had been devastated by the kidnapping of Eri. Even the four of them being met up by Izuku from Class 1-B could only do so much to pep Uraraka up, given that he had also been called up. Similarly, Tamaki and Nejire had also met up with the first years, bringing with them their friend and final member of UA's Big Three, Mirio Togata. Upon meeting the first years, Mirio pointed to Izuku.
"Are you Izuku Midoriya?" Mirio asked.
Curious that Mirio was asking about him Izuku said, "Umm, yeah. Why do you-"
"I was actually looking for you," Mirio explained, "Sir Nighteye had an interest in seeing you, maybe even employing you as an intern. But I guess Nejire beat us to the punch on that one, huh?"
"Oh yeah," Nejire said, "Izuku, this here is me and Tamaki's friend Mirio. He had challenged and defeated all of 1-A single handedly shortly before the work studies began in the hopes of getting to try you out as it were, only to learn you're in a different class."
"You wanted to try me out?" Izuku asked Mirio, surprised.
Nodding in the affirmative, Mirio replied, "Yeah, but I guess you can't win 'em all. Anyway, we need to get going! Sir's hosting this meeting, and we wouldn't want to keep him waiting." The first years proceeded to take off after the Big Three, wondering what all awaited them.
Later, the UA students reached Sir Nighteye's agency and went inside. Upon heading to a meeting room located on the second floor of the agency, the students were surprised to see so many pro heroes already there; Fat Gum who employed Kirishima and Tamaki, Ryukyu who employed Izuku, Uraraka, and Nejire, Endeavor who employed Todoroki and Bakugo, and two sidekicks identified by Izuku as Centipeder and Bubble Girl. Gran Torino and even (to Izuku's immediate and mild alarm) Aizawa were there as well. And that was more or less just scratching the surface.
"W-Wow," Izuku said, taken aback as if starstruck, "There's a lot of pro heroes here..."
Going up to Ryukyu, Nejire asked, "Hey, when's the meeting starting?"
"As soon as Nighteye says, Nejire," Ryukyu replied in a gentle and understanding tone, "Be patient, Nejire."
"So what I heard is true, Ryukyu," Aizawa spoke up, getting the Dragon Hero to turn to look at him as he came up, "You are also employing Midoriya."
Ryukyu arched a wry eyebrow at the underground hero. "...And that is a problem?"
Aizawa shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "...Let's just say that I wouldn't have approved of Uraraka working for your agency during the work studies if I had known ahead of time you were also employing Midoriya. As of right now, he's at best a suspicious individual."
"Excuse you!" the Dragon Hero snapped, "What do you mean by that?"
"That I'll be going 'I told you so' to your face the moment Midoriya proves me right," Aizawa replied coolly. The underground hero spoke as if he knew full well that he was going to be proven right, seemingly born from a belief that he was always right about everything.
Ryukyu would have gone on, but was cut off when a pro hero dressed as a salaryman entered the room. Mirio identified this man as his work study mentor, Sir Nighteye. Izuku recognized him given that Sir Nighteye had a rather long history working with All Might. Looking around the room, Sir Nighteye saw that some of the pro heroes who were present looked to have raised tensions, and most of said heroes like that were looking at Aizawa.
The salaryman-styled pro hero looked right at Aizawa. "...I get the feeling that, in order for things in the meeting to flow smoothly, Eraserhead ought to apologize to all persons looking at him with offended expressions before the meeting starts." Scowling, Eraserhead nonetheless obliged Sir Nighteye his request, issuing curt 'sorrys' to everyone looking at him with offended looks. With that out of the way, Sir Nighteye said, "Anyway, thank you all for coming. Thanks to what all information I had gotten from some of the present pro heroes, as well as info from other sources, my agency's investigation into the activities of a group called the Shie Hassaikai has made a lot of progress as of late."
The group name that Sir Nighteye had just used, Shie Hassaikai. That caught the attention of the UA students. Everyone was soon directed to sit down at the large meeting table before the meeting could begin in earnest. "Now, for those among you all here who don't already know," Sir Nighteye began, "My agency has been, for at least six months prior to the start of UA's current school year, been looking into the activities of the Shie Hassaikai, led by one Kai Chisaki. However, the investigation had hit a bit of a snag."
That caught the attention of Endeavor, who turned to look at Sir Nighteye. "A snag? what do you mean by that?"
"A snag in the form of Kai Chisaki himself being seen knocked out and spirited away by unknown assailants," Sir Nighteye replied, "Very shortly after the tragedy UA suffered when their USJ facility was attacked." Aizawa winced in bitter annoyance upon being reminded of the day five of his students had died. "Kai Chisaki did end up popping back up, however," Sir Nighteye went on.
"He popped back up?" asked a dark-skinned pro hero who Izuku was able to identify as Rock Lock. Rock Lock had helped Ryukyu, Fat Gum, and Edgeshot with escorting civilians away from danger when the chaos of the Battle of Kamino Ward went down.
"Indeed," Sir Nighteye replied, "In the form of one of the Nomu killed by Endeavor's agency during the night that chaos in Hosu went down, the chaos in which Stain the Hero Killer was himself killed."
Hearing that Kai Chisaki was one of the slain Nomu from the chaos in Hosu rattled many of those present, especially the UA first year students. "The slain Nomus from that incident were taken and studied," Sir Nighteye explained, "And it was discovered that they were made as a result of dark experimentations on human corpses, an idea further backed by the personal musing of the late villain All For One taken from a journal that was recovered following the Battle of Kamino Ward. Kai Chisaki has long since been dead."
The UA first years, even the calm and stoic Todoroki and normally unflappable Bakugo, all gulped out of nervousness. Tamaki and Nejire also gulped out of nervousness, and Mirio himself was BARELY able to tough it out. "Examining the remains of the slain Nomu also confirmed whose corpses went into making them," Sir Nighteye said, "But the only one relevant to the meeting here is the one made from Kai Chisaki's remains." There was a worried twitch in Sir Nighteye's expression, one that belied a great worry. But the salaryman pro hero didn't mention it because, as he said, it's not relevant to the meeting.
"Sir," Mirio began after raising a hand, "Would it be fair to say that the death of this Kai Chisaki fellow had thrown his organization into upheaval?"
"Indeed," Sir Nighteye replied, "You see everyone, serving the Shie Hassaikai, more specifically Kai himself, is a group of eight villains known as the Eight Bullets. One of the Eight Bullets, between the attack on the USJ and Kai's estimated time of death, had made off with what all Kai had been making, using the blood of a little girl." Sir Nighteye turned his attention to Aizawa. "I believe you can provide some details here, Eraserhead."
"Yeah," Aizawa spoke up, getting all eyes on him. "...After she had calmed down enough," Aizawa began to say, "Eri, the little girl who had been entrusted to UA, revealed more of her life prior to being rescued. Basically, a villain had been keeping her, using her blood to make stuff called Quirk Destroying Drugs and Quirk Restoring Serum. The first one, when used on a victim, utterly destroys their quirk factor, rendering them quirkless. The second one reverses the effects of the first one, restoring a victim's quirk."
The entire meeting got into something of an uproar over the news, but they were made to settle down by Sir Nighteye. "The reason why Eri's blood was being used," the underground hero went on, "Is because of her quirk, called Rewind, which lets her 'rewind' a living target to a prior state of being, undoing what all had happened to said target since, weather good or bad." Aizawa looked at Ryukyu, and then Endravor. "...Two of us here had benefited directly from Eri's quirk."
After Aizawa sat back down, Sir Nighteye said to the meeting as a whole, "All of what Kai had made from Eri's blood at the time, all doses of destroying drug and restoring serum, along with Eri herself, were taken by a member of the Eight Bullets who turned traitor against Kai Chisaki, fleeing while Kai and the rest of his brood were distracted with a news report on the attack on the USJ. The former Bullet in question is one Kendo Rappa, who we now know is a stalwart member of the League of Villains headed by the villain Dabi."
"Question," Rock Lock spoke up, "How did we rescue Eri from the League of Villains in the first place?"
"We didn't," Aizawa replied, "They had turned her over to us of their own volition, via breaking into Midnight's house and leaving her there, making off before we could catch them. From there, Eri told us that Rappa intended to destroy all doses of the destroying drug, both complete and the incomplete ones which only temporarily disabled a victim's quirk. However, she also mentioned that Rappa intended to keep all doses of restoring serum."
That got a surprised look out of Fat Gum. "Really. The villains surrendered the young girl, rescued from other villains, to hero custody."
Aizawa nodded in the affirmative. "We can't tell if it's because they didn't want a little kid around dragging them down, or if it's because they genuinely didn't want a kid getting mixed up with them."
"Getting back on track," Sir Nighteye went on, "Recent efforts in the investigation have confirmed that what remains of the Shie Hassaikai, two men who are respectively known as Chronostasis and Mimic, leading what's left of the Eight Bullets and all of the thugs they employ, are trying to make the League of Villains submit to them so they can assimilate them and what all assets they have. Similarly, the League of Villains are trying to do the same to Chronostasis and Mimic. It's basically a conflict of villains versus villains."
"How do both sides look right now?" Gran Torino asked.
Nodding in understanding, Sir Nighteye brought up some figures on a big screen behind him. "Chronostasis and Mimic lead the Shie Hassaikai side," Sir Nighteye began, "Which including themselves also has seven of the eight members of the Eight Bullets, plus an estimated one-hundred and twenty-five thugs. As for the League of Villains side, they only number at a total of thirteen members. Dabi, Kurogiri, Spinner, Toga, Rappa who had joined them from the Eight Bullets, Gentle Criminal, Gentle's assistant La Brava, the ex-hero Lady Nagant who was secretly sprung from Tartarus, Twice, Mr. Compress, Magne, Mustard..." Letting out a troubled sigh, Sir Nighteye finished by saying, "...And that monster that Dabi calls his bodyguard, the villain Felgrand."
Folding her arms over her chest, Bubble Girl said, "If we go by just the numbers alone, then many would assume that the Shie Hassaikai side holds all the chips here. But that isn't really the case, especially if one takes a look at each notable individual on both sides."
"Bubble Girl has a point," Centipeder began, "Chronostasis and Mimic, plus the remaining seven out of the eight members of the Eight Bullets, are the only notable individuals on their side. Although nine compared to the thirteen isn't too even, it's still nothing to sneeze at. But all thirteen members of the League of Villains are very notable persons, especially their members Twice and Felgrand."
Sir Nighteye nodded in agreement. "Indeed. If the action here is just between the Shie Hassaikai side and the League of Villains, then the latter is guaranteed to win in the end. Twice on his own could overwhelm what all that Chronostasis and Mimic can bring to the table with sheer numbers thanks to his quirk, and Felgrand..." The salaryman hero trailed off, let out a resigned sigh. "...Well I don't think that I need to tell any of you how much of a threat Felgrand can be, especially if something's able to rile him up sufficiently."
"How about we just let the two sides here beat on each other until one is totally wiped out," Rock Lock began, "Then we swoop in, beat the exhausted winning side, and then arrest all of them? I mean, all of the persons on both sides are villains and various criminals. Letting them beat on each other will save us some trouble."
"A few problems with that, Rock Lock," Sir Nighteye spoke up, then held up a finger before continuing, "One, if we do allow both villainous sides to beat on one another until one is wiped out like you have just suggested, then it's virtually guaranteed that the League of Villains will end up winning and taking what all value they can from the Shie Hassaikai side, including what all members they're able to assimilate into their fold. We'll be stuck dealing with a stronger League of Villains in that case." Holding up another finger, Sir Nighteye said, "Two, given that the League of Villains will most likely win, we'll have to deal with Twice and especially Felgrand."
"I can just use my quirk," Aizawa offered, "Disable-"
"Twice or Felgrand?" Sir Nighteye interrupted, "Both as they are can overwhelm what all we have. Regardless of which one you pick, the other will be free to bring untold levels of hurt upon us, potentially even freeing the one you have pinned with your glare. No, we shouldn't try to tackle the League of Villains head on, not while Twice and Felgrand can't be subdued at the same time." To the meeting as a whole, Sir Nighteye went on, "Third, Chronostasis and Mimic were seen kidnapping a young child, so they have a hostage that we have to worry about." Bringing something up on the screen behind him, Sir Nighteye said while everyone saw a still image from a video feed showing Eri being taken by Chronostasis and Mimic, "That's the young child in quest-"
"That's Eri!" Nejire exclaimed, "Chronostasis and Mimic had taken Eri back from UA!"
Nejire's panicked exclamation got the whole meeting murmuring in worry; Eri, who had been established as the Shie Hassaikai's source of making their foul Quirk Destroying drugs, was taken back by those very villains. "...Yeah," Sir Nighteye said, "I was figuring that things would go south with the Shie Hassaikai having a child hostage. But to think that things would go THIS south..."
Aizawa growled under his breath, clearly unamused. "Damn it, Nemuri."
Standing up from his seat, Izuku said, "So our main objective here is obvious; rescue Eri from the villains who took her."
Looking to Izuku, Aizawa looked unamused with the green haired boy having attention drawn to him. But the underground hero was cut off from saying anything when Sir Nighteye spoke up, "Well that much is clear. Rescuing the girl is a top priority, and not just because she's the source of the main thing that makes the Shie Hassaikai the threat that they are." Holding a hand up at eye level so the back of it faced everyone else, Sir Nighteye clenched it shut into a fist. "This is a little girl having been taken and now currently being held hostage by villains that we're talking about here. None of us here will have any right to call ourselves heroes if we don't do anything to rectify this terrible error."
"Do we at least have any idea where those villain bastards took little Eri off to?" Fat Gum asked, a serious look on his face, "We need to rescue her pronto!"
"We can't go in guns ablazin', Fat Gum," Sir Nighteye replied, "None of here are All Might." Looking to the meeting as a whole, Sir Nighteye went on, "But yes. The Shie Hassaikai have only one real hideout, a place that my agency has long since been secretly monitoring as part of our investigation into the activites of the late Kai Chisaki. But a bit more recon and info gathering will have to be done, given what all developments had taken place." To everyone present, Sir Nighteye said, "I will inform you all when the planned raid on the Shie Hassaikai location will be carried out." With little else keeping them there, everyone took their leave.
...
Down on the first floor of the agency building, the UA students all had varying levels of looking downcast. "They..." Mirio said, "...Those villains took little Eri..."
"And the villains who took Eri from them and turned her over to the heroes in the first place are also involved," Nejire went on.
Izuku, despite looking worried, also had a hint of consideration in his expression. "You... you guys don't think that the League of Villains, if they know that the Shie Hassaikai took Eri back, will be wanting to rescue her from them a second ti-"
"Quit that idealistic thinking, Midoriya."
The UA students all snapped to attention and looked up to see Aizawa come walking over to them. "It's obvious now that the reason that the League of Villains handed Eri over to the pro heroes in the first place is because they didn't see any value in her that could benefit them," Aizawa droned on, "Unlike what their rivals in this case see. But the League of Villains obviously should be well aware of what they could accomplish if they get Eri in their hold again."
Izuku glared with an unamused look at Aizawa. "Li-"
"Wipe that look off your face, boy," Aizawa interrupted, giving the green haired boy a contemptuous sneer, "When you address me, you will pay me proper respect. Words, tone, even the way you look at me. Any hint of disrespect in any of them will NOT be toler-"
"Pull your head out of your ass and listen to someone else for once, you stuck up pompous iron-fisted dictator," Izuku snarled, interrupting Aizawa in the process and catching everyone else present by surprise, even Aizawa himself. "First off, it's been firmly established that the League of Villains already knew ahead of time what all was being done with Eri, what was being made from her blood. The League of Villains, despite knowing all of that stuff, still turned her over to Kayama-sensei's household. Furthermore, it was you yourself who said that the League of Villains's member Rappa intended to destroy all doses of Destroying Drug while keeping all doses of Restoring Serum. Name one way Rappa doing that will help the League of Villains do what the Shie Hassaikai want to do."
The only response Aizawa was able to give was a steamed glare at Izuku. "...Got nothing, huh?" Izuku replied, "Figured as much. Ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, the League of Villains might have had altruistic intentions when they handed Eri over to the heroes, when Rappa declared intent to destroy all doses of the Destroying Drug?"
"Then why would he bother keeping all doses of the Restoring Serum, boy?" Aizawa asked, his tone practically snarling.
Shrugging, Izuku replied, "I dunno, maybe he's the cautious type and believes that the group he ran away from might have had a few doses of Destroying Drug squirreled away?" Looking to the underground hero, Izuku said, "The League of Villains are still a very much credible threat, don't get me wrong on that, Eraserhead. But what benefit to them and their efforts can they gain from letting Eri go to hero custody, from destroying all doses of Destroying Drug they got but keeping all doses of Restoring Serum?"
Mirio actually nodded in agreement with Izuku. "With all due respect Aizawa-sensei, Midoriya-kun's got a point." Folding his arms over his well toned chest, Mirio went on, "It seems to me that the League of Villains, despite what people would expect out of them given that they're villains, actually legitimately care about the well-being of little Eri. Hell, with what all I've heard about their interactions with her, I think that what Midoriya-kun was trying to say before you rudely interrupted him, that the League of Villains might be liable to try rescuing Eri a second time provided that they know the Shie Hassaikai took her back, might actually be reasonable to happen."
The underground hero gave Mirio a dry look. "...I would figure that you were taught better under Sir Nighteye's guidance, Togata. But instead you've just proven that you're just as irrationally idealistic as Midoriya." To all of the UA students, Aizawa firmly said, "This is something that you all apparently need to be informed about both the League of Villains and the Shie Hassaikai side. They are all villains. They do nothing but evil, think nothing but evil, care for nothing but evil. They cannot be trusted or expected to do anything even remotely good or kindly, and even entertaining any idea to the contrary is nothing but an irrational waste of time."
"...You still haven't named even one way Rappa doing what all that he did will help the League of Villains do what the Shie Hassaikai want to do," Izuku remarked dryly, folding his arms over his chest.
"Why don't you name one way the League of Villains can do the business the Shie Hassaikai want to do despite surrendering Eri to hero custody and destroying all doses of Destroying Drug?" Aizawa retorted.
Izuku chuckled, gently shook his head. "Figures that you'd resort to asking something like that when you failed to prove your point." Looking to Aizawa, Izuku went on, "As much as the heroes still do need to take down the League of Villains and the Shie Hassaikai, there's still no denying that the League of Villains, at least when Eri is concerned, had actually done at least some good. Can't you at least admit that, in that one lone sense, that you were wro-"
*SWING*
*BLOCK*
To the surprize of the other UA students, Aizawa actually swung a backhanded slap at Izuku, only for the green haired boy to bring an arm up to block the attack. "...Well now," Izuku said, looking and sounding like he had just learned something interesting. Giving the underground hero a wry look, Izuku went on, "It would seem that I've discovered one of your buttons."
Pulling back his blocked hand, Aizawa gave Izuku an annoyed, angry glare. "...You must be out of your mind, Midloriya, thinking that the League of Villains is capable of doing any legitimate good."
"Oh, I'm out of my mind?" Izuku replied, "Says the teacher who physically strikes students when he can't refute what they say."
"...We'll be talking about your blatant disrespect towards me when this business against the Shie Hassaikai is over," Aizawa warned. Looking to the other UA students, Aizawa practically snarled, "And as for all of you. I will handle this issue with the problem child here myself, so don't think about dragging in any unnecessary extra persons. That goes double for those of you who are students I'm responsible for." Aizawa sharpened his glare, sending shivers down the spines of the other UA students. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Sir yessir," Tamaki replied right away, clearly having been cowed by the intimidating underground hero. Seeing that none of the other students were going to raise any stink, Aizawa decided to take off.
After Aizawa was gone, the other UA students all let out sighs of relief. "...Holy shit," Bakugo said, looking honestly freaked, "That... that was actually scary. Way scarier than my tango with that sludge doofus that Deku tried saving me from before All Might saved both our skins." Turning to look at Izuku, Bakugo went on, "Umm, Deku, when this mess with the villains blows over, can you and I have a private talk in the school's library? And this time really come alone, because I get the feeling things in said talk might get a bit personal for you and me."
Izuku was surprised that Bakugo wanted to talk to him privately, and in UA's school library, after this business with the villains was dealt with. Izuku was also able to tell that Bakugo wasn't showing even an ounce of malice or ill intent, further piquing his curiosity. Nodding once, Izuku said, "Sure, Kacchan." With the agreement made between the two boys, some of the tension raised by Aizawa earlier had dissipated, bringing a measure of relief to the UA students. And they'll be needing that relief too, given what all awaited them in the future.
That night in an undisclosed location, Chronostasis and Mimic were going through handwritten documents written and left behind by the late Kai Chisaki. Although they now had Eri back in their possession, her blood was useless in making more doses of Quirk Destroying drug without the instructions on how to make said drug. As far as both Chronostasis and Mimic knew, only Kai knew the process, and that knowledge was taken by Kai to his grave. Chronostasis and Mimic both hoped that Kai might have written the instructions down somewhere, hence why they were searching through his handwritten documents and notes.
"Hey Chronostasis," Mimic began, his tone clearly casually conversational, "Is it me, or did the brat look like she'd gain weight since we last saw her?"
"What are you talking about, Mimic?" Chronostasis replied, sounding honestly confused, "By no means is the girl fat."
"I never said that she was fat," Mimic began to clarify, "She still clearly counts as thin. But she's not as visibly thin as she was before Rappa betrayed us all by taking the girl and what all was made from her blood save for the three Quirk Destroying bullets that was squirreled away."
Chronostasis, after looking like he was giving it a bit of thought, eventually nodded in agreement. "Yes. I clearly remember that the girl did have a starved look before Rappa betrayed us all. Chisaki, despite being the girl's primary caregiver, wasn't feeding her as much as he should have. And now that I think about it, it would have been a benefit to Chisaki's goals in the long run had he made sure the girl was given proper nutrition."
As those two men were talking while searching for anything that might help them figure out how to produce the Quirk Destroying bullets, in another room in the undisclosed location, a scared and cowering Eri was laying in a bed with the lights off, covering the side of her head with a pillow as the other side laid on another pillow, and the blanket was drawn up to her shoulders. She was scared that she had been taken back to the place of nightmares that she had been rescued from the first time when Mr. Rappa, at great personal risk to himself, betrayed the mean people he had been working for and with in order to get her out of there.
Granted, Eri had been told that Mr. Rappa is still a 'mean person', as are his new friends. But are Mr. Rappa and his new friends really mean people? Sure they have done some mean things, but they've also done nice things. She didn't think that mean people can do anything but mean things. So Mr. Rappa and his new friends, who have done both mean and nice things, can't be mean people, or at least wholly mean; Eri decided that they were complicated people. Thinking about Mr. Rappa and his friends gave some measure of comfort to Eri, who was trying her best not to freak out.
She was hoping to be rescued again, and soon. Hopefully by nice people, or at least complicated people.
END, CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Author's notes;
This one sees the meeting held at Sir Nighteye's agency, with things taking multiple different turns due to how events had played out here. And rescuing Eri from the Shie Hassaikai is still going to happen, but now there's extra layers of complication involved there. Aizawa also confronts the UA students after the meeting, and very nearly comes to blows when Izuku (unknowingly?) stumbled upon one of his buttons, leaving after giving the other UA students a bit of a scare. Things then end on a bit with Chronostasis and Mimic, struggling to find any hint left behind by the late Kai Chisaki as to how to make doses of the Quirk Destroying drug. Well anyway, the next chapter will see the raid on the Shie Hassaikai kick off, and hoo boy is it gonna be a doozy here.