Three Conversations. Two Sweet, One…
AN: Because this wouldn't be MHA without delaying the plot to develop and linger on an endless bevy of side characters and their relationships to the protagonists, here's a quickie before date night!
She sat there in the locker room cornered as the other heroes stripped out of their costumes and into street clothes. Half of her own suit sat a tattered mess in a laundry cart, Hatsume kept eyeing her in disbelief, trapping her when the mad genius found the costume in such a state of disrepair.
"One day back, and you've blown my baby to hell."
"The suit's government issue. I don't think you can-"
Her words fell on deaf ears as Hatume's hands were stripping the last of the body suit off her and turning the fabric over in her hands.
"Reinforced Kevlar mesh and you've torn right through it. Weighted grappling gauntlets that look like they've been blown to hell, gears shot, and your HUD's got a crack in it that should have shattered the whole piece. What have you been doing Urarivity?"
She couldn't answer. The support expert stood uncomfortably close to her mostly naked body. She folded her arms over her chest and took a step away from the inventor.
"I had a large amount of ground to cover today. Shattered my own personal record for arrests."
"Your equipment isn't designed for confrontations like that. You're a recovery hero."
"Then maybe you should rethink the design," her hands flew to her mouth, and then back and forth between covering her tits and keeping anymore sudden outbursts from flying out of her.
Her suit was the work of hours of consultation and redesign by the madwoman before her and a team of certified government scientists. It was calibrated to ensure she could handle any recovery situation. Her helmet alone had an integrated Heads Up Display to give her a tactical read out of any situation and she had gone and used it like a bludgeon while head butting an escaping bank robber with a tentacle quirk.
She looked at the cracks that spiderwebbed through her visor. She could have kicked the criminal, and by all accounts she should have. After her calls from Izzy and Tsu, she'd sped through the rest of her day in an angry haze. The logical hero side of her grappled and churned in her mind with the hopes and excitement she had for tonight. Yes, she could say that. She was still excited for tonight, despite every part of her training and Tsu's concern knocking on the walls she was putting up to preserve those feelings. Why had she lied to her best friend? They didn't know anything for sure about Izzy. Innocent until proven guilty, right?
"Rethink the design for combat…" Uraraka snapped back. A scary look came over Hatsume's face. She tried to take a step back, but it was too late. Arms shot out and lifted Uraraka up in an exuberant hug.
"That's a wonderful idea! I'm so glad to hear you're branching out and I'll get started right away. Ohhhhh…I have so many designs for new babies you are just going to love!"
"Hatsume! Stop! I am not comfortable with this!"
The support specialist put her down and took two large steps back. Uraraka caught her breath and took the time to wrap a towel around herself.
"Sorry! Bad touch. I get it. Please don't sick HR on me again."
"Seriously, how is there not an open harassment case against you?"
"I'm uncannily successful at my job, and socially inept enough for people to know my actions aren't sexual or intentionally harmful!"
Uraraka glared at the woman. It was like talking to a brick wall. A genius, hyper self-aware, brick wall.
"That's not an excuse, but alright. Will my suit be ready for tomorrow?"
"This hobo suit? It's garbage. You'll need to use the spare till I can make your new suit."
"What? A whole new suit? I just wanted some adjustments."
"And I want a whole new lab with those handmade micrometers the Germans still make. Oh they're so cute! But you know what they say…" the pink haired inventor put down the replacement suit's case at her feet, turned around, and began pushing the laundry cart toward the door. "…you can wish in one hand and piss in the other and see which one gets full first."
Her voice rang out through the locker room. Various heroes watched her leave. Some of them turned to Uraraka and gave her a knowing look, a few chuckling under their breath. She smiled back at her coworkers and made her way to the shower. At least everyone else understood the agony of a Hatsume visit.
She stood in the mirror now, putting the finishing touches on some natural make up and paying extra attention to a slight bruise that was forming under her cheek. That tentacle villain landed a few lucky hits, one of them going for her chin but connecting a little way up from her jaw. The inside of her mouth stung from where her teeth bit into the soft flesh of her inner cheek, but there was nothing to be done for that. Still, for a record day in her career, the scratch and bruises could be hidden quite nicely under clothes and a bit of foundation.
Uraraka stepped back from the mirror and gave herself a final once over. Tonight, she'd go simple, seeing if Izzy cared for a more everyday version of herself. The jeans still fit her well and hugged what curves she had. It was no skintight hero costume, but they were flattering. She went with her pink cashmere sweater, a gift from Iida for their three-year anniversary/her birthday. She'd barely worn it while they were together, figuring she'd ruin it or stain it or wash it wrong and then she'd have to explain to his mother why she couldn't take care of nice things. Once they were over, she'd considered burning it. That felt wasteful though, and so it spent its life neatly folded at the top of her janky closet until she'd grabbed it this morning on a whim. Seeing herself in it now, she was glad she'd spared it from the furnace.
Someone sat down behind her with a groan, cracked their back, and let out a low whistle. Behind her, Uraraka could see her boss decked out in sweats, nodding in approval.
"You're pretty put together. Going somewhere to celebrate?"
"I have a date," she said, taking a seat on the bench next to Ryuku. Her boss nodded and pulled her in close for a side hug. Uraraka warmed up. Ryuku acted both tough and elegant in the field, office, and in front of the press, but the dragon lady really was a mother bear at heart. Uraraka heard horror stories from her classmates about bosses who made it their mission to break, fuck, or ignore every new hero who signed on with their agency. Momo had gotten it so bad that she'd walked out and threatened to turn in her license. It'd taken endless amounts of assurance from her friends, and a surprise move from Shoto opening "a place for us to do things our way," that kept her in the game. Uraraka, at the time, wanted to join their new business, but Iida insisted if she was going to leave, she was to join his agency, and really, she couldn't leave Ryuku yet. The woman mentored and cared for her like one of her own. You didn't find that in a boss, especially if she'd been her own like she would with Shoto and Momo.
"A date, huh? Well make sure he's taking you somewhere special. You kicked ass for me today, and you deserve it. Actually, I think the matre'd from Jack's owes me a favor."
"Thank you, but no thank you. I asked him to keep it casual tonight."
"Why would you do that?" her boss searched her face. She couldn't reveal too much, but Ryuku would know if she was lying.
"I want to see if he likes me…like this. How I really am. He moves in a lot of fancy circles, and I don't live there. After what happened with Iida I don't want him to feel like he's dating down. I want to see if he's okay being on my level."
Ryuku said nothing for a time, sighed, and pulled Uraraka closer to her.
"You're worth a thousand of the pigs that waste space in those rooms and parties. Don't ever forget that. Tenya is an idiot and lost sight of that. Don't you go doing the same."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. You're starting to get sweat on my sweater."
Ryuku let her go and stood up, laughing as she went to her locker and began to change. Urarka noticed she was putting on her hero gear. Ryuku noticed her staring.
"I've been stuck in meetings all day and need to blow off some steam. Thought a workout would do it, but I figured I can give the young bloods a break and handle the night shift. Cracking some skulls tonight is what I need to get my mind off of things."
"What's going on boss? Why have we been so busy? There's a lot of people from this morning I didn't recognize."
The dragon lady huffed and closed her locker. She bit the inside of her cheek, waiting for the right words to come.
"You saw how riled up the villains are getting, right? The HA knows about it too, and I think they know why, but not talking about it. They're filling every agency with people who are monitoring the situation," she moved closer to Uraraka.
"But they aren't telling us a damn thing. Not us anyway. I heard Fatgum might know something, and folks are suspecting Sir Night Eye isn't as retired as we think. Things are strange in the hero world right now, and all this secrecy has me worried?"
"So what are we going to do?"
"Have you filed your report on the STS sting yet?"
Uraraka froze. Her mentor saw it in her face and smiled.
"Don't worry. I figured you haven't. The suits were asking for it and I told them we'd give them all the details after we'd completed a raid. I hate paperwork, and sending them one neatly wrapped up case seems better than stringing it out, but they said no."
Ryuku crossed her arms and looked at the ground.
"They only want information and, how did they put it, 'something we can use' on the man who owns the club. They told me not to move on him at any costs."
"That sounds like the HA is looking for blackmail or something. That's…wrong."
"Glad to see we agree. So when you file that report, bring it by me first. I want to see why the HA is so interested in this man but doesn't want us to take action against him."
"Yes ma'am."
"Good girl. Now enjoy your date," Ryuku began to walk away, looking over her shoulder at the end of the locker bay. "And Superstar, record number of arrests or not, if you call me ma'am again, you'll be back on that desk," the older lady gave a maniacal laugh as she exited the locker room, filling Uraraka with dread at the thought of backsliding after she'd come so far.
He flipped his wrist to check the time, seeing he still had an hour before he needed to meet Ochaco at her building. The timing as always was terrible, but he expected All Might wanted to play the concerned teacher for another night. Maybe he thought he could scare the bad boy away from his "daughter," playing the fatherly role the Symbol of Peace had been denied due to his obsession with cleaning up the country and routing out evil. In another life, he'd dreamed of the man filling that role for his own missing father. The man who ended up taking the role was catastrophically not the person young Midoriya had envisioned. He shook himself from his thoughts, but kept facing forward.
"You're alone, and not trying to take me down. Is everything okay, Mirio?"
Izzy turned to see his friend behind him, and out of costume. The blonde wonder walked forward. Izzy readied himself, but Mirio walked past him and leaned his arms on the ledge of the building, looking out on the city.
"All Might had another episode, and the doctors are doing what they can. At this rate, I'm starting to wonder if he'll make it to the end of the year."
"We need him to. Losing him now would blow everything to hell," he finished and pulled out a cigarette. Mirio eyed him, asking really? with a glance. He put the case back in his pocket but lit the cigarette anyway.
"Eri's gotten to you too, huh?"
"She tells me everything, Izzy. You better start taking care of yourself. I'm not letting cancer beat my nemesis. That's just insulting."
"So I hear," he took a drag to emphasize the point. Letting the smoke blow out, he looked at his oldest friend. The boy scout wouldn't budge, those stupid blue eyes imploring him to always do the right thing. He took one more drag and flicked the rest of the cigarette off the roof.
"That was Turkish tobacco, you ass."
"You're welcome." They stood there together, watching over their city. Izzy remembered another time just like this, three days before he left for America, looking out on a similar scene. His master had been some paces behind him, talking over things with Sir Night Eye and keeping both the heroes in check if they moved to try something. Eri clung to his leg, almost asleep. The days leading up to that moment had been exhausting, but the peace of the view and the thoughts of a new life in America filled Izzy with a level of hope he thought he was incapable of anymore.
"Remembering the last time we had a moment like this?"
"Sharing the view on the precipice of change? Something like that," Izzy sighed. "I wish All Might would let me cure him."
"No offense, but not even I trust you to put your hands on the man. Letting you that close to One for All? That's a risk we can't take."
"It has to be given willingly."
"Like AFO hasn't found a way around that. Like you haven't."
He shrugged. He wasn't wrong, but even as he was, Izzy wasn't strong enough to take One for All by force. His father, maybe. Not as he was, but if they failed tonight and didn't track the old villain's location, AFO would be one step closer to his rebirth. The thought of facing the man in his prime was one of the last things that truly terrified him. It couldn't come to pass.
The young men talked over the details of the operation, giving updates where requested, and assurances where needed. Both had to trust that the work would be carried out by the capable men and women they'd placed in position, and that AFO's desperation would lead in him taking the bait. Hungry cornered animals always lashed out in desperation at a last chance meal, and Izzy's "encouragement" of smaller gangs and personal raids insured that LOV would be starving.
"It's late, you better not keep your date waiting."
"I take it you, like All Might, don't approve."
"Actually, I think it's good for you," Mirio…was that a smirk?
"Elaborate. How could you approve of one of yours dating…well me?"
Mirio clapped him on the far shoulder and faced him.
"Because I think she sees in you the man I see, even when you don't. I'm hoping having her around helps you nurture that part of you," he said and began to walk away.
"And at the very least, it's another person I know that while she's around you, you're not committing crimes. One more villain not raging against society, while my friend gets to make eyes and babble like a total nerd in front of a girl he likes. Win win for me."
"Blow it out your ass, hero."
Mirio waved him off, taking the stairs to preserve his decency, and left Izzy to his thoughts. The young villain considered his friend's words and jumped to the streets below.
Across the country at a secure government air strip that, by all accounts and satellite photos of the area, did not exist, a black C -137 touched down and taxied to a stop. At the far end of the strip, a convoy of armored trucks waited, packed with heroes and tactical officers. The body of Tomura Shigaraki came down the ramp and was loaded into one of the five identical trucks. Fatgum sat in the lead of the convoy waiting for the signal to move out, and offering up a silent prayer to whichever god or entity still watched over heroes that the men and women under his charge would make it through the night.
"They're loaded. We're ready when you are, Tai."
"Thanks Eijiro," he nodded to his former apprentice and switched on the comms.
"Alright everyone, we're rolling out. Hero names from here on in, and I want eyes and ears open. Stay frosty, and let's make this a nice and easy delivery run." He killed the com and added one last plea in his prayer. If they ever found out, let his team forgive him for what was about to happen.
